#can fly and i believe has some form of shapeshifting

[delta-pavonis]

Dreamling Week 2024 Day 4

Dreamling Week 2024 Day 4 Prompts (from @mr-sadman): shapeshifter, storm, finger food, dirty

Dreamling || Rated M || 751 words

tags (other than the prompts above): fantasy, urban fantasy, solarpunk, drow druid/sorcerer Dream, half wood elf bard/gunsmith Hob, investigator partners with a history, they get captured and held for days as torture, escape from torture, cannibalism metaphors for love, discussion of taking joy in revenge

In chronological order: Day 2, Day 1, Day 3

Day 4 comes soon after Day 3

They crawl out of the cave system into a raging thunderstorm. Might as well be a hurricane for how the wind is blowing the rain and trees sideways. However, the sight of cypress trees and the salty smell of the ocean limits the possible places that they have been taken to. 

“Holy shit we're in Port Essen!” Hob gasps in breathless laughter. When Dream looks at him he is smiling, almost glowing, underneath all the dirt and grime and soil and debris they are covered with, that is all rapidly turning to mud as the forceful winds and driving rain wash them clean. He looks to Dream and it is like the sun has risen, warmth diffusing through Dream's skin. “I grew up here!”

That raises a red flag in the back of Dream's mind–he doesn't believe in coincidences. 

“We need to move. Get as far away as possible. Fast. Get on.” Dream doesn't say more, doesn't explain, just grabs some of the reedy dunegrass at his feet and pops it into his mouth as he makes the appropriate hand motions. 

Hob lets out a yelp as Dream transforms into a dire elk, huge and black. He wouldn't be able to fly in such rain and he has no meat for a spell component, so his dragon form is out; the elk will give Hob a smoother ride over the widest variety of terrain. 

Once fully shifted Dream drops onto folded legs, but that still means his back is at about the height of a horse, so he angles his head towards Hob to lend an antler for leverage.

Luckily Hob catches on quickly, hefting himself up onto Dream with a grunt. “West,” he says as he buries his hands in the ruff of thick fur around Dream's neck, “We’ll hit forest and freshwater fastest if we go west.”

Dream stands, looks back at Hob once to make sure he is settled, and then leaps into action. Hob lets out another yelp the first time Dream lands from a bound, but he sets a rhythm and the bard in Hob cues onto it almost immediately. 

Then he outright laughs.

“Dream,” he whispers into his fur, must be leaning over to get so close to his ear, “you are amazing, dove.”

Dream would laugh as well, if he could. 

He has never had a rider before, not in any shifted form he has taken, and that it is Hob on his back, moving fluidly with him, legs around him, clinging to him… well. Apparently one doesn’t need wings to fly.

But first they need to disappear. They need to get gone and regroup and get food and maybe bathe in a cold stream and start assembling their meager knowledge of their captors so that they can send out feelers for information and start the tedious process of revenge. 

Because Dream will eat their hearts raw for making this the bower in which he tells Hob the nature of Dream’s connection to him. He will make them watch as he sucks the marrow from their living bones for how they have treated his Mate. He cares not that he himself has been tortured; Dream has done more than enough terrible things in his life to have earned such an experience. But Hob? No. He will not let them survive this insult.

However, getting to that point, when he will be able to revel in the suffering of those who caused so much of the same, will take time. Dream is always thorough in his planning.

And while they wait, keeping to the shadows and gathering their knowledge and power, Dream will sup upon his Mate. He will devour the finest meal he will ever have. Savor the small pieces that he can pick up between his fingers and drop into his mouth and lick from under his fingernails. Drink long draughts of pleasure of Hob’s body and thereby nourish his own soul. Dream has been starving and did not know it, did not really understand what he was missing, until his body was weakened by the captivity and his mind sharpened by the pain his Mate experienced. 

Dream vaults over some rocky ground, avoiding it completely, and then as they crest a hill the treeline comes into sight and he could cry for the relief of it. Within the embrace of the forest Dream will have all the tools he needs to keep them safe. And then he can look towards the future.

[lianatheowl]

HUMAN RACES in my TCOD MLP AU

I'd like to introduce you to human races that exist in my MLP AU:³ (I'll add more species as soon as I draw 'em)

Let's begin^^

EARTH PEOPLE (EARTHLINGS)

• These are the most normal human species

• Earthlings are physicaly stronger than other species

• 1000 years after Twilight's reign ended Earthlings got their G5 plant powers

PEGASI

• Pegasi are more enduring than other species

• They have small outgrowths on their backs that represent featherless wings

• Every Pegasus has astral wings that let 'em move faster, jump higher, etc.

• Their astral wings can become visible and can be used for an actual flying. However, only a few can master it. Moreover, wings can stay visible only for a short time(example. A fight no longer than 10 minutes), so this isn't permanent feature. Rainbow Dash was the first and only pegasus to unleash her astral wings without needed trainings at a very young age('cuz she's 20% cooler;³)

UNICORNS

• "Unicorn" is short for "unique person", just edited to sound more pleasant. I know, it's stupid, but who are we to judge the ancient historicans?:0

• Unicorns use catalysts(which represent a cutiemark) to control and guide heir magic properly. Anything can be a catalyst, take a magic wand as an example. But it's mostly some kind of jewelry

• The catalyst is recieved at the age of 5-12 years

• The way unicorns get their catalyst is quite similar to the way Genshin Impact characters recieve their Visions

• Most unicorns are aristocrats or descendants of nobility. Those who were born in a "middle class" family can only use telekinetic powers, meanwhile nobles are taught to perform more complicated spells(Twilight is one of them)

• Unicorns have silver blood due to the magic flowing through their veins

ALICORNS

• One of the most powerful kinds of creatures in Equestria

• With age their magic becomes so strong it takes physical form of a pair of wings.

• You can be an alicorn by birth but you'll only get your wings and powers with a help of a special magical ritual(That's how the Princesses got their's)

• Common folks believe that alicorns are angels sent by Fausticorn to protect their people from forces of evil

• Luna and Celestia are the descendants iof a long alicorn bloodline, while Cadence is a half-blood: half pegasus, half alicorn.

• Twilight was the first alicorn who had no blood relation to an actual alicorn.

• Flurry Heart was the only alicorn who was born with wings

CHANGELINGS

• Yep, they are still half insect, half human.

• Aside from wings, they have other insect atributes such as beetle feet or antenas

• Changeling's body is covered with chitin shell, spots with no shell are just meat and rough skin. So, yeah, that's why they have kinda normal hair

• Their eyes have blurry white pupils

• Reformed changelings are more colorful

• In this AU changelings consume love only to keep their shapeshifting powers so they had no need to steal love from other species until their kingdom was destroyed one day.

• Changelings presenting in Equestria nowadays are survived subjects of the Queen and the Queen Chrysalis herself with her three children: Pharynx, Thorax and Ocellus

DRAGONS

• Dragons are a warlike people. There were multiple wars against Equestria until they finally signed a peace treaty.

• Dragons have their wrists and backs of their necks scales + BIG scales on their ears

• At the age of twelve Dragons recieve their wings. Puberty•³•

• Some dragons have horns

• They have narrow pupils

• Dragons can enter their full dragon form in the moment of need

• They still breathe fire btw

To see

YAKS

HYPPOGRIFFS/MERFOLKS

GRIFFONS

and

KIRINS

Go here:

For the rest of species go here:

Now, let's talk a bit about this AU's

✨️RELIGION✨️

Here comes

The Goddes

FAUSTICORN

Fausticorn is the Mother of all living beings of Equestria.

The first and the only Divine alicorn. With her magic quill she wrights the best things to happen to her beloved believers and creations.

Not the only god of the Divine Pantheon but the Head of all lesser gods(who represent the biggest and some smaller MLP content makers:D).

The closest creations of hers, Alicorns, were created to rule and protect humans(including half-human species) from the forces of evil and from influence of the "local Devil".

Speak of the devil...

FATHER OF MONSTERS

Grogar existed just as long as Fausticorn since she created this Universe.

The cruel lesser ram god, creator of strife, diseases and sorrows.

He created the most dangerous and cruel creatutes to destroy mortals, for these actions he was banished from the Divine Pantheon. And because of this he is known as The Father of Monsters.

The reason Grogar wanted to terorrise human kind is quite silly, yet tragic from his perspective: the only Fausticorn's creation he adored was a sheep. He just couldn't stand the way mortals treated sheeps, the worst case of this treatment being an act of murder of his favorite sheep-like angel.

The most perfect kind of monsters he created, according to Grogar himself, was a Draconeequus. There was only one at first, but as soon as he got banished from the Divine Pantheon Grogar created more to conquer the lands of Equestria.

Grogar's infamous bewitching bell is an artifact of his own creation, made to gather and give magic powers, use his own powers and threaten mortals and the ones who disobey him.

He didn't gave up on his attempts to conquer Equestria once again even after his own creations rebelled agains him, dethroning their "Father", so he had to hide in shadows to succeed.

Grogar was never able to feel joy, sadness, empathy, other ''side emotions". Only feelings he knew were affection and anger, yet a very VERY few beings deserved his so called love.

Untill nowadays, Grogar hasn't been active for 300 years. There are rumours that the tyrant is dead yet some people dare questioning his whole existence.

[partywithponies]

BEGGING U TO ELABORATE ABOUT THE WHIFFERDILLS

OKAY OKAY listen. listen. I'll give you the brief version.

Whifferdills, originally from the Doctor Who comics, where things can get already get really weird and conceptual, are one of the most alien alien species in the Whoniverse, even by comics standards. They're shapeshifters, right? Nothing new or strange in sci-fi. Except usually when a shapshifting character or species is plot relevant and lore-important, the writer will write in some kind of limitation to their powers. Some kind of set of rules. But when it came to Whifferdills, they just... didn't.

Whifferdills can be anything. Literally. They can be inanimate objects. They can be puddles of liquid. They can be microbes. They can be the size of mountains. They don't seem to have one set default form that they revert back to, they're supposed to be always changing. Frobisher staying in one form most of the time is established to be him just being a little freak by his own species's standards, and even then, the form he stays in is. A penguin. Because he just likes penguins. Whifferdills don't age, at least not physically, unless they actively choose to, because they have conscious control over what their own bodies do at all times. They are functionally immortal. They are almost impossible to kill. Try to throw them off a cliff and they'll shapeshift instantly into something that can fly. Try to drown them and they'll shapeshift into something with gills. Throw them into a vacuum and they'll shapeshift into something that doesn't need to breathe at all. They don't inherently need to breathe at all. Shoot them or stab them and they'll just shapeshift the wound closed. In his first story Frobisher shapeshifts into a burger and survives someone literally eating part of him and is entirely unaffected outside of being mildly annoyed.

All this to say, Whifferdills are weird as hell and OP as shit. There is literally no reason to assume they reproduce sexually or organically. Why would they even? How would pregnancy even work, in a being whose body is by design supposed to be ever-changing? And how can you spend half your existence living as insects or cash registers and still have a concept of gender? Again, why would they even?

And to bring up just a few specific moments: in one comic, Frobisher (in penguin form) mistakenly believes he's laid an egg, and The Doctor (with the air of someone who's had to explain this before) tells Frobisher that this is impossible, because he's a male penguin, and Frobisher still seems a little confused by this. And to be clear, Frobisher is supposed to be highly intelligent. Frobisher is a notorious wanted criminal. Frobisher is a professional private detective. The Doctor sees Frobisher more as an equal and a partner than a companion. Frobisher plays chess against the TARDIS for fun. And Frobisher struggles to remember the difference between male and female penguins, the species he has a vaguely autistic special interest in.

And in the Big Finish audio The Maltese Penguin, Frobisher makes an offhand comment about he finds the humanoid form particularly tricky, because they have all these "odd dangly bits" that he can't see the purpose of.

I put it to you that Whifferdills do not even have a concept of biological sex or gender, because it's just so far outside of their perception of life and the universe. The TARDIS just translates Frobisher as "he" and Francine as "she" for the benefit of us the audience and the benefit of people like Peri, who in return could not even begin to fully comprehend the lived reality of a Whifferdill.

[apocalypsecraftstudios]

🐦‍🔥💖 Nimona Meets Captain McCrea 🐦‍🔥💖 | A Tale of Shapeshifting Adventures AU (Crossover)

♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡

(Nimona lands in the high-tech futuristic floor and turns around surprised by lots of amazing robots).

Nimona: whoa, this is super cool. I cannot believe I am among high-tech machinary. Look at these robots being silly to each other, ha, ha! They seem to be sentient.

(Nimona hides off her wings and walks around the robots who look at her weirdly but curiously. They basically never seen someone coming from other world).

(The teenager regrets her decision of retracting her wings and extend them one more time to fly in the artificial sky. She yells happily and makes some stunning tricks in the air).

Nimona: THIS IS AMAAAAZING! WOHOOOO!

(She suddenly notices something real cooler: a facility where a robot with a red glowing eye is operating with a human at its side. She stands in the air thinking for a second. Her wings flapping without rest. Until she gets a better idea).

Nimona: mmmm, I got a better idea: I could shift into my normal kid self and demonstrate them I am completely inoffensive. I am friendly, very friendly but chaotic and stubborn. It does not matter. I will try!

(She flies towards the captain's facility and claws her hands to prevent herself from falling down to the window without getting watched. She finds a way to get in and magically shifts in her kid form).

Nimona: ugh, I can do this!

(Nimona hides off her wings once more and touches the captain's clothing. She patiently waits until the captain turns around and gets shocked by her presence).

Captain B. McCrea: YO kiddo, what are you doing here?! You're not supposed to be here. Who are you and what do you want from us?

(The red-eyed robot extends its panels and scans Nimona as she laughs. It immediately detects she is more than a simple human).

AUTO: Sir, I think this little girl is more than a human. She may come from other world. That's what my data base tells me.

(Nimona blushes and crosses her legs shyly).

Captain McCrea: I also THINK you are BROKEN, blinky. How can you say that? She does not come from other world. She must be lost. Hey, little one, what's your name?

(Nimona chuckles and happily says).

Nimona: I'm Nimona! Nice to meet you. What's your name, sir captain?

(Captain McCrea takes off his hat for a second and rubs his finger against his head like he had a inch. Nimona? What a weird name for a girl. He never heard such fictional name in his whole life).

Captain McCrea: Nimona..? That's such a sweet...but weird name for a kiddo, I mean, for a little girl like you. I sincerely never heard such name before. But who cares? I can respect that! Ha, ha. Right, AUTO?

(AUTO answers with a cold voice tone).

AUTO: aye, aye, Sir!

(Nimona gets surprised by AUTO's appearence and curiously tries to touch his bars and panels).

Nimona: whoa, you look like a ship's rudder. Your design is so sweet! AYYYY!

(Nimona squeaks in excitement as she accidentally summons her big wings. McCrea and AUTO take a step back, seriously scared).

Captain McCrea: you're not a human, what are you?!

AUTO: Sir, I already told you she comes from another world. Didn't I?

Captain McCrea: I'm sorry! I should have listened to you!

(Nimona gets embarassed and quickly hides up her wings. She's worried now).

Nimona: please, Sir McCrea, don't tell anyone! They could kill me. Don't freak out, the same goes for you AUTO! Imagine what could happen if I get killed just because I am completely different from this society that doesn't even belong to me. I beg you, don't freak out and don't tell anyone I can shapeshift!

(Both of them, AUTO and Captain McCrea nod together and get firm about their upcoming decision).

Captain McCrea: show us your true form! We promise we won't tell anyone.

(Nimona shifts in her teenager form and spreads out her wings one more time).

Nimona: pinky promise, please. I really hate betrayals! I mean it.

(Captain McCrea puts his hand on Nimona's shoulders and he determinedly repeats).

Captain McCrea: I said, we won't tell anyone. Pinky promise!

(Nimona smiles and happily bounces. Her wings softly moving up-down).

(Captain McCrea, AUTO & Nimona immediately formed a friendship bond. They never expected to become friends like this but the fact Nimona is someone with magical powers increment the curiosity and mutual respect for each other. Nimona runs away and jumps down from the broken window as she flaps her wings to go. She will always remember those friends she made).

♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡

Tags

[shadowqueenjude]

ACOTAR ASK GAME

Tagged by @sonics-atelier and @crazy-ache and @hieragalbatorixdottir

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

Lucien Vanserra basically since the moment he stepped on page

Who's your least favourite character?

Rhysand.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

Uhhhhh, he makes a good power bottom for Tamlin?

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

Damn, this is tough. Tamlin and Tarquin are super close for me, and I like Beron for his villain potential and Kallias because he’s a simp for his wife…I’ll go with Tamlin though.

Favorite minor character?

Not sure what qualifies as a minor character! Does Eris count? If so, definitely him. What about Gwyn and Emerie? Or are they also too important? If we’re talking truly “minor” character in terms of screen time, then Jurian for sure.

Favorite ship?

Elucien obviously

Favorite court?

AUTUMN COURT. There’s so much potential for an in-depth plot there, and the intrigue, the Vanserras, the aesthetic, that FIREEEEE…

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

A Court of the dead! A court where witches and seers and all kinds thrive and interact with the living dead. The High Lord/Lady of that court also rules over the Underworld, which you can reach by descending a super long staircase behind the throne. Weather? Think San Francisco. Hella foggy and misty. High Lord/Lady’s power? Raising the dead. Silver fire. Like Nesta.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

The relationship between the Archeron sisters. Everyone and their mothers interfered in their relationship instead of letting them be girls and figure it out on their own which I believe contributes to how weird their relationship is rn.

What’s your unpopular opinion?

Basically all my takes on the bat boys…

What is your favorite headcanon?

I have two: One that Elain has healing and earth magic, and two that Eris is a pianist.

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

Jump into the Cauldron.

Immerse myself in the culture! I’m trying aaallll the food, and the wine, and convincing one of the High Fae to give me faerie sight for a sec so that I can see everything as it truly is, maybe jumping into the starlight pool…😍

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

Shapeshifting is SUCH a broken ability, like??? Imagine being able to turn into whatever you want??? Don’t wanna be seen? Shapeshift into a mouse. Wanna go places? Fly by bird, baby. Wanna check if your spouse is cheating on you? Shapeshift into their suspected lover, or hey, become a fly on their wall. Your natural form feels ugly to you? Just make yourself hotter! You can experiment with genders and sexualities, scare people by shapeshifting into a dragon or some shit, like??? Where’s the drawback? It’s sooo cool and it’s not explored enough. As much of a Vanserra girlie I am, I NEED those shapeshifting abilities.

Tagging: @valkyriepegusus @ennawrite @positivelyruined @rin-u-pos @sunbrightheart @tilseptemberends @decadentpostnacho @yoddhasblog

[litcityblues]

The Absolutely Charming 'Nimona'

I had no idea what to expect when we sat down to watch this movie. The kids wanted a movie night, so we set up the screen and the projector in the living room and, due to prior experience and not wanting to spend thirty minutes arguing with them about what to watch, the Missus and I reviewed our options and after watching a preview of Nimona decided to give it a go.

And guess what? It was absolutely charming. Just a ridiculous delight and I enjoyed every minute of it.

A thousand years before the movie begins, the legendary heroine Gloreth vanquished a 'Great Black Monster' and enclosed the Kingdom with a high wall to protect it from monsters, founding The Institute for Elite Knights to develop a fighting force to protect the citizens of the kingdom from future danger. In the future, when the movie begins, Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint) is trying to change some traditions so that 'anyone can be a hero' and the first commoner to go through the Institute, Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) is set to become a Knight and fulfill her vision.

During the ceremony however, a laser shot from Ballister's sword kills Valerin and in the shock of the moment, his boyfriend, Ambrosious (Eugene Lee Yang) Goldenloin (that last name, ha!) disarms Ballister, taking his right arm in the process. Ballister escapes and becomes a fugitive, crafting himself a replacement arm and getting visited for the first time by Nimona. Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a teenage outcast who has been persecuted for her shapeshifting abilities-- she declares herself to be Ballister's sidekick, sensing a 'villainous spirit' in him, but Ballister is more interested in clearing his name and reluctantly accepts her help.

The duo starts by kidnapping DIego (Julio Torres), the squire who gave Ballister the sword-- the night of the ceremony, Ballister kind of does a double take on his sword, maybe noticing that something isn't quite right, but thinks nothing of it because, why would you? Diego gave him the sword, so he wants to go to the source to see what was up with that: turns out, Diego has video evidence that it was the Director of the Institute (Frances Conroy) who switched the swords because she didn't want Ballister-- a commoner-- becoming a Knight because she felt it would lead to the Kingdom's downfall. The evidence of the switch is destroyed, but Nimona disguises herself as Ambrosius and they manage to get another confession, this time records.

The Director doubles down though, alerting the populace to the presence of a shape-shifting monster who is impersonating her and convincing Ambrosious that Nimona is the Great Black Monster that Gloreth defeated a thousand years before. When Ballister begins to wonder about that, Nimona flees into the woods. We see Nimona's past and her friendship with Gloreth- who initially accepts her, but when she is outed, Gloreth's parents believe she is a monster and Gloreth becomes hostile. Remembering all this, Nimona transforms into the Great Black Monster, deciding to enter the city and commit suicide by impaling herself on the sword of Gloreth's statue.

Ballister stops her before she can do that and apologizes- Nimona changes back to human form and the two embrace and the watching citizens of the Kingdom are moved by this, but the Director is not. She directs the laser cannon to be turned onto the city to destroy them, Ambrosius protests, knowing it will kill everyone, but the Director then turns on him. Nimona saves the Kingdom, transforming into a red-phoenix-like form and flying into the cannon, appearing to sacrifice herself to save the Kingdom and killing the Director in the process. The explosion takes out part of the wall, which reveals a beautiful, mountainous valley beyond it.

Sometime later, Ballister's name has been cleared, his relationship with Ambrosius mended and the wall now has a passageway where citizens can come and go as they wish. Nimona and Ballister are honored as heroes and when he visits his old hideout, he hears Nimona's voice, indicating that she may have survived after all.

Overall: Again, this was absolutely charming. I also love movies that fuse fantasy and science fiction so seamlessly (Bright was much maligned by critics, but I enjoyed the heck out of it) and I loved the setting of this. Futuristic Knights on speeders with laser guns and swords and armor? Yes, please! More please! The story worked: I liked that Nimona's punk sensibility is looking for a villainous sidekick, but she doesn't question Ballister's plans-- she tags along and causes chaos, but helps him.

The internet being what it is, I'm sure someone, somewhere had a meltdown over the relationship between Ballister and Ambrosius Goldenloin- and I'm assuming that last name was deliberate and an elegant middle finger to all the haters. 'We can't have movies about shape-shifting monsters and futuristic knights because of woke' is a tiresome argument to make, but I'm sure someone has. Personally, I think it was perfectly done. Do I like representation that beats me over the head as a viewer? No. Do I like representation that has to go 'SEE, LOOK, WE GOT ONE OF EVERY ETHNICITY HERE' over and over again? No. I want representation, but I love subtle. There's no big deal. No big show. Ballister and Ambrosius are in a relationship, we see affection between them and that's about it. The movie doesn't linger on it, and doesn't make a big deal of it. It just is. And that to me, reflects the real world quite nicely. Some people in this day and age are dudes who are in relationships with other dudes and that's fine.

The animation is also gorgeous as well. I may be dating myself here, but it reminded me a lot of Treasure Planet and that era of Disney-- I know this got picked up by Netflix, but you have to think that Disney might be kicking themselves a bit over letting this one slip through their fingers because this screams Disney to me. My Grade: **** out of ****

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Question asking! How would you depict Morph in the X-Men Evolution cartoon? And if you could redo Pyro’s depiction in it, what would you change?

Ooooh, boy, I actually had a vague fanfic type idea awhile back about putting a version of Morph in Evolution. Basically? I'd put him on the Deadly Genesis team.

So, the first team of mutants that Xavier ever recruits is a group of teenagers - Vulcan (I think in this case Xavier does NOT know that he's Scott's brother), Darwin, Petra, Sway, and Changeling. (I'm gonna go with Changeling here rather than Morph.) After a few early missions, he sends them to investigate a mysterious island (Krakoa, of course) that appeared in the Pacific Ocean, while he stays onboard the Blackbird monitoring them. The mission is a disaster. Krakoa lashes out with an enormous blast of energy that appears to kill Vulcan, Darwin, Petra and Sway, as their life readings disappear, and Xavier feels their pain and fear. Changeling, who had shapeshifted wings and was flying above the island to scout it out, is spared the brunt of the blast and is knocked into the ocean, badly injured and apparently the only survivor. Xavier rescues him, and Krakoa sinks back below the waves.

Xavier returns to the mansion with his only surviving student, and nurses him back to health. I want to emphasize, Xavier is absolutely devastated and fucked up over what happened. I think Evo Xavier is kind of a bastard, but like all Xaviers I think he has good intentions. As far as he knows, his X-Men were a complete failure, he failed them, and he led four teenagers to their deaths. When Changeling wakes up, and is determined to go back to the Pacific to search for his missing teammates, even growing wings and physically flying there if necessary, Xavier makes a decision. He has no hope of starting another X-Men team, and he decides that the best possible thing he can do for mutant Kevin Sydney is to protect him - by erasing his memory of the team, and of ever being a mutant. I think Changeling in this universe generally uses a human form similar to Morph's human form in TAS/X-Men 97 as a default, and if the featureless white clay form is his "real" self, he hasn't found it yet. Xavier locks Kevin in human form, suppresses his X-Gene, and sends him back to his parents believing that he was in a terrible car accident at "summer camp," and leaves him to lead a normal life as a "human."

Xavier then spends a few years deeply depressed and not doing much.....until he hears reports of the weather-controlling mutant in Africa. Storm is enough for Xavier to start considering an X-Men team again, and believe that there might be some hope. He tells no one about the original team, it is his deepest shame. In the meantime, Kevin has become a relatively successful actor - not a superstar, but doing pretty well for himself. He's been in a few movies, and by the time Evolution starts, he's starring in a CW sexy vampire drama similar to The Vampire Diaries. For self-indulgent reasons, I'm gonna say that it's a Dark Shadows revival that is actually really good. (Kitty absolutely loves the show, and loves Kevin's character. Rogue is probably into it too, but won't admit it.) Xavier never contacts Kevin or removes the blocks on his memories/powers, convincing himself that it's for the best, Kevin is obviously happy and successful and there's no need to throw his life into chaos. But also, because re-recruiting Changeling would mean telling everyone about the first team - his greatest failure and deepest shame.

Then, at some point after the end of Evolution, Krakoa re-emerges in the Atlantic. I'd say at this point, it's about 10 years after the Deadly Genesis team, so Kevin is in his twenties - not super old, but an adult compared to the Evo teens. Seeing news reports about the island knocks something loose in Kevin's mind, and he starts dreaming about Krakoa, and seeing occasional hallucinations of his old teammates (the kind of quick "blink and you'll miss it" thing where the ghost appears briefly in a mirror or in a crowd that horror movies do before the scares start ramping up.) Maybe he even starts to involuntarily shapeshift while asleep, but assumes that it's part of a dream. Xavier absolutely forbids the team to go anywhere near the mysterious new island, but won't say why.

Meanwhile, someone emerges from the island - it's Vulcan, who went into a deep coma while basically trapped at the center of Krakoa. Vulcan doesn't know exactly what happened or how he survived, but he is pissed. While flying towards Xavier's, he sees a billboard for Awesome Dark Shadows Revival That I Wish Existed, with what appears to be an older version of his teammate Changeling. Taking a quick detour, Vulcan tracks down Kevin and demands to know what happened. Kevin doesn't know what Vulcan is talking about, but realizes that he does recognize him from....somewhere. And at some point while Vulcan is somewhat violently confronting him, Kevin shapeshifts as an instinctive defense, and realizes that this isn't a dream, he is actually changing forms, and is probably a mutant, and there is something very wrong with his memories. Vulcan realizes that Changeling doesn't know what the fuck is going on, and assumes that Xavier must be to blame for this as well (he's right!) and drags Kevin off to confront the Professor.

Once they land at the mansion, a fight naturally breaks out. Vulcan wants Xavier and is willing smack down anyone that gets in his way. Kevin continues to not know what the fuck is going on, but I think he winds up on Team Protect Xavier, because he doesn't want to kill anyone, he just wants some answers. Everyone mistakes him for Mystique at first, and he gets knocked around a bit. I'm imagining Kitty, when she realizes that he is not only NOT Mystique, he is actually Kevin Sydney from All-New All-Different Dark Shadows, she is absolutely appalled that she kicked her favorite actor in the face.

After Vulcan smacks everyone around for a bit, and it seems like he is about to kill Xavier, he suddenly freezes and collapses, and another figure emerges. It's Darwin, who had merged with Vulcan all those years ago in order to allow them both to survive. They both went dormant within Krakoa, but Darwin woke up along with Vulcan when the island returned to the surface. Darwin has been fighting this whole time to stop Vulcan's violent rampage, and finally managed to put him down (for the moment).

Xavier finally explains everything. Everyone is angry. But also, they decide to go back to Krakoa for reasons I haven't decided yet - maybe they are worried about human researchers who are approaching the island, maybe Vulcan wakes up and flies out there, and the team wants to stop him before he starts wrecking shit again. The entire team, including Changeling (with the blocks on his memories and powers now fully removed) and Darwin. I think on the island there will be another fight with Vulcan and maybe with Krakoa itself, but it will stop when the team makes another discovery - it's Petra and Sway. Still alive, because fuck it, they deserve better and in my version of Deadly Genesis they get to live. They are trapped inside a time bubble that Sway instinctively created with her powers the moment the blast hit, and have been basically frozen in stasis this entire time (which is why Xavier couldn't read their life signs.) Xavier has to reach out telepathically to "wake up" Sway and cause her to drop the bubble, freeing both. For Petra and Sway, no time at all has passed, they haven't aged, they don't remember anything about their time in stasis. At this point, seeing all his old teammates still alive, I think Vulcan drops the vendetta (at least temporarily) and flies off into space, still very pissed. How does the team deal with Krakoa itself? I dunno, Xavier puts it to sleep or something.

I'm not sure what happens to the X-Men team after this. They have to reckon with Xavier having done some awful things and kept massive secrets, but unlike comics Deadly Genesis, it turns out no one actually died. Storm and Wolverine would demand to know ALL of Xavier's secrets and threaten to leave if he holds anything back. The kids are probably divided, but lose some respect for him. I think at least one person out of the Petra, Sway and Darwin trio will decide to stay at the mansion. Kevin does not stay - he doesn't want to hurt Xavier, but cannot forgive him for the memory blocks. Kevin also offers to use some of his actor money to help Petra, Sway and Darwin start new lives if they want (I think one of them might take him up on it), and tells the rest of the X-Men that they can call on him if there's a major emergency that requires a shapeshifter, because even if he hates Xavier he likes the rest of the team. The he runs back to Hollywood to stay on sexy CW Dark Shadows. I think he wrestles with whether or not to "come out" as a mutant, now that he knows, because a mutant celebrity might help the cause, but it could also destroy his career.

No Banshees were harmed in this version of Deadly Genesis.

As for the character in general, I think he'd have the same upbeat, kinda sassy personality as TAS/X-Men 97 Morph, but you wouldn't see as much in this story, since it's mostly Changeling getting dragged through the two worst days of his life and dealing with some very confusing memories. He's also not non-binary - at least not yet - but is kinda gender-nonconforming. I think he's probably questioned his own gender a bit, maybe he'd be nonbinary in the future after some soul-searching. I think Morph in TAS can also really hold onto a grudge, and I think Changeling would be the same about Xavier. Like, "I'm not going to attack or hurt you, but I do NOT want to talk to you, and you are NOT forgiven. Your student are cool, though."

As for Pyro - If given a chance, I'd make him a high school teen so he can be part of the Brotherhood the whole time, but I'm not sure how he would fit in, and what his dynamic would be with the rest of the group (or which X-Man would be his official "rival." Maybe he'd cockily keep trying to challenge Storm, just like in the comics.) I think he'd get along well with Boom-Boom during her Brotherhood time. He'd have a massive crush on Avalanche (that he's not very good at hiding) and get very jealous when Lance shows interest in Kitty. I'd like to see him actually have some opinions about mutants and politics rather than just "Hee hee, I like to burn things!" (Although that's fine, too.) His grandmother raised him in Australia, but when she suffered a major health crisis, she sent him to America to live with his deadbeat mother. His mother then kicks him out when he displays mutant powers. His grades are decent when he does the work, but he mostly excels in English and creative writing. He reads a lot, and has a laptop that he is constantly using to write. Mostly fanfic, for now. The best way to piss off St. John is to read his stories without his permission, and I imagine there are some Brotherhood keepaway games with his laptop. When not writing, he's usually playing with fire or looking for some kind of adrenaline rush.

Of course, I'd be satisfied if we just got to spend some time with Evo Acolyte Pyro after he joins the Brotherhood, or whatever their SHIELD team becomes. Just flesh him out more beyond "Laughs at violence, loves fire."

Edit - I just realized that my version of Deadly Genesis makes Vulcan like, several years older than Scott. Which makes no sense for his origins. Eh, don't worry about it. Maybe he got aged up prematurely in a Shiar breeding pod or something. Maybe he's actually Corsair's brother and therefore Scott's uncle. Whatevs.

[xandriagreat]

Ballister | Chapter 13

Prologue | Last Chapter | Next Chapter

Notice/warnings: food, pain, wounds, attack(s), arm chopping/exposition, fire, screams, crying, ANGST

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Ballister flew high in the sky.

He was crying as he flew.

'I can't believe it... I lost another friend... Because of me...' Ballister thought as he flew.

Before he got to the wall, his bat ears overheard a call that the guards of the wall were getting.

The call: “Guards, keep an eye out for the monster. It’s trying to escape!”

Thinking quickly, Ballister quickly flew down into the woods to avoid being spotted.

He shapeshifted into a fox when he got close to the ground and started to run to anywhere where no one would find him.

He ran until he tripped over his paws and started to tumble until he slid to a stop.

“Ow…” Ballister groaned as he slowly sat up. 

Ballister shapeshifted into his teen form as he looked up to see where he was.

He was in a familiar small clearing of the woods with an old wishing well.

Ballister stared at the well before looking at the huge statue of Ambrosius in the distance.

The shapeshifter shapeshifted to his child form, hugging himself as he remembered his side of the hero and monster story…

◇flashback◇

Ballister was a newly formed shapeshifter, living in a village of mythicals (or monster, some people would say) and some humans.

Ballister can shapeshift into a lot of humans and animals. But he has three favorite forms.

A seal, a cat, and his human form.

His human form is a 6 year old British-Pakistani boy, since he's young and new. So it would make sense that his human form is a child.

His human form wears an old light gray shirt and brown pants, black hair was short to his ears and two different color streaks of light blue and dark indigo in his black hair.

Ballister was walking through the village, saying ‘hellos’ to some of the neighbors as he got ready to go explore beyond the village. 

When Ballister was ready to explore beyond the village, he went to the edge of the village.

As he took in a breath, he heard familiar running footsteps and giggles going to him.

Ballister turned around to see a group of village kids running to him.

“Hi, Ballister!” a few of the kids of the village called out to him, running to him.

Ballister smiled and said, “Hey!”

“How are you?” Teddy, one of the kids, asked when the kids got to him.

“I’m good. How are all of you?” Ballister said to them.

“We’re good. Want to play with us?” Abigail, another of the kids, asked excitedly.

Ballister smiled a bit sadly at the kids as he said, “Thanks for offering but no. I’m going to explore beyond the village.”

“Aw…” the kids said in disappointment.

“Sorry…” Ballister said to them.

“It’s ok, Bal.” Frankie said, handing him the ball. “Mind starting us off?”

Ballister chuckled softly as he nodded and took the ball from them. Then he tossed the ball in the air to start the game, which made the kids cheer excitedly.

Ballister waved at them before shapeshifting into a fox and going on an adventure beyond the village.

◇

Ballister looked around as he went through the woods.

He was trying out different forms as he went.

He changed from a fox to a bear to a wolf to a squirrel. 

He noticed a finch bird on a tree branch.

Thinking that he could make a new friend, he shapeshifted into a finch bird as he flew up to the branch. 

He landed on the branch, which got the finch’s attention.

As he got a few tweets out, the finch flew off to other finches that were flying, leaving Ballister alone. 

The young shapeshifter sighed and flew off, looking for another possible friend.

Ballister noticed a river and a school of fish swimming. 

Thinking that he could make at least a new friend with one of them, he dove down and shapeshifted into a fish. He swam to the group, attempting to join the school of fish but the fish all swam away from him.

Ballister blew out some bubbles before shapeshifting into a wolf to get out of the river.

He shook some water off of himself as he got out of the river.

Then he noticed couple of deer bounding by

Thinking that he could make a new friend at least one of them,  he shapeshifted into a deer and ran after them.

He prancing after the couple other deer, mimicking their every move.

The deer noticed him and just continued to bound off, leaving him alone again in a clearing of the woods.

‘Dang it…’ Ballister thought as he stopped following them and sat down. 

He shapeshifted into a cat and he curled up.

Then he heard faint humming and giggling in the distance.

Ballister perked up and looked at where it came from as he got up before walking over to it.

Ballister hid in the bushes as he looked at a wishing well. He also saw a human village in the distance behind the wishing well. 

Ballister shapeshifted into his kid self.

Then he saw a little boy, who was walking to the well while carrying a bucket.

The little boy was wearing an off white shirt, a blue jacket, brown pants, and brown boots. He also had a red scarf wrapped around his head.

The little boy looked at the village for a moment before taking the scarf off, revealing that the boy is blonde east asian.

The boy put the bucket down to pick up two small stones and climbed up on the well. He looked at the two small stones before looking at a nearby tree stump, smiling.

From the shadows in the forest, Ballister watches the boy play by throwing one of the stones into the nearby tree stump.

The stone landed into the stump.

“Woo!” the boy said excitedly, carefully jumping on the well wall.

The boy threw the second one but it missed the stump and landed near the bush that Ballister was hiding in.

The boy sigh and jumps down from the well, walking over to get the stone.

Ballister was about to step back, to still be hidden, but he didn’t look where he was stepping as he stepped on a twig and it snapped it, which got the boy’s attention.

The boy picked up the stone before going to the bush and pulling a few branches back a bit to find Ballister.

“Hi there!” the boy said, smiling at Ballister.

Ballister waved nervously and awkwardly to him.

“Hey, it’s ok.” said the boy, who gave Ballister the stone and helped him walk out of his hiding place with a smile. “Want to play with me?”

Ballister was unsure but nodded with a smile.

He tried to throw the stone but it landed at his feet.

The boy giggled at that and explained, “That’s not how you throw.”

The boy taught Ballister how to throw. 

Then they both played, laughing as they played.

The two of them laid on the grass at one point, both of them giggling.

The boy looked at Ballister and asked, “I hope you don’t mind me asking but, what’s your name? My name is Ambrosius.”

Ballister just stared at Ambrosius.

"Can you talk?” Ambrosius asked, sitting up and looking down at Ballister.

Ballister looked at the boy and nodded. “My name is Ballister.” he said, smiling at Ambrosius. 

“That’s a pretty name.” the boy said, smiling.

That’s when Ballister made a new friend, Ambrosius.

◇

For the past couple of weeks, Ballister and Ambrosius meet by the well. 

They normally go into the woods, but not too far into the woods so Ambrosius could make it back home in time for dinner.

The things that they normally do in the woods is walking through the woods, talking about a few things (Ambrosius would do most of the talking while Ballister listened), jumping on stones of rivers (Ballister did save Ambrosius from falling into the river one time), and have sword fights (well- a wooden sword and a stick fight). A few times, they sometimes take nap in the woods.

But sometimes, Ambrosius has to be in the village to do chores.

So, Ballister goes into Ambrosius’ village and they normally play tag or just chase each other while doing chores. 

Ballister and Ambrosius was grabbing some apple picking baskets as they noticed Ambrosius’s father working on a lance, adding something to it.

“So, what’s your father working on?” Ballister asked as they walked to the apple picking field.

“He’s been adding a type of machine to the lance, you know the pointy wood thing that knights use to knock other knights down.” Ambrosius explained as they got to the field and starting to get some apples. "I don't know why."

Ballister hummed and started to get some apples too.

They put the apples in the baskets.

It was just them.

Ballister set a basket of apples down as he noticed that Ambrosius was struggling to get an apple out of the tree. 

When the little boy was about to give up and lay on the ground, Ballister shapeshifted into a little bird in front of Ambrosius for the first time. 

Ballister got the apple down and shapeshifted back to his little boy self as he caught the apple with a smile. He held the apple and looked at Ambrosius, who looked at him in a mix of shock and amazement.

Ballister’s smile faded into fear when seeing the look. “I-” he started but was cut off by Ambrosius exclaiming, “Wow! That was amazing! How did you do that?!”

Ballister didn’t expect that but he smiled at him again. “Well, to let you know, I’m not really human. I’m a shapeshifter. To answer the ‘how’ question; it’s more like what I’m feeling or I think of what I want to shift into.” he explained with a chuckle.

“That’s so cool!” Ambrosius exclaimed again. "Are there others like you?"

Ballister nodded, still smiling at him.

Then Ballister told Ambrosius to keep about him shapeshifting a secret and Ambrosius agreed to keep it secret.

◇

Ambrosius and Ballister’s friendship grew more as they got to know each other more for the past few months. 

They have gone on adventures into the woods and Ballister shows more of his shapeshifting to Ambrosius when they ’re in a good spot of the woods.

He shows mostly animal forms.

Ambrosius was amazed by all of the forms.

They were very happy with each other.

But that all changed one day, when the sun was setting…

Ambrosius and Ballister were playing with each other. Ambrosius had his wooden sword and Ballister was in his bear form.

Ballister playfully swats at Ambrosius before hugging him. Ambrosius giggled as he hugged him back before gently tapping Ballister’s head with the sword.

Ballister started to go back and did some somersaults, still hugging Ambrosius.

The both of them laughed as they hugged and somersaulted.

They were having so much fun that they didn’t notice that they were no longer in the woods and at the edge of Ambrosius’ village.

They stopped somersaulting at the edge of the village. 

Ambrosius was on top of Ballister, laughing while the shapeshifter smiled at him.

Then he noticed that his claws accidentally caught on Ambrosius's scarf. Carefully, Ballister was flapping his paw to try to get the scarf off.

Ambrosius noticed and he took of the scarf as he started to say, "Here, let me help yo-"

Then there were screams from the grown ups of the village. 

“Ambrosius!” Ambrosius’ parents shouted worriedly.

“Bear! There’s a bear in the village!” a villager shouted, warning the other villagers.

The next thing Ballister knew was that Ambrosius was pulled out of his arms by Ambrosius’ father and took a few steps away from Ballister. Ambrosius’ mother ran to her husband and son as some of the villagers ran over to help take care of the bear.

Ballister looked at himself, thinking that this form is scaring them, before shapeshifting into his little boy form, showing that it’s him and there’s nothing to be afraid of. He still held the scarf and he offered it to them.

But instead, that made all of the grown ups of the village start to freak out.

“What is that?!” one villager asked in fear.

“Get the kids inside!” one of the parents shouted to their kids to stay inside.

“Stay back!” another villager shouted at Ballister, pointing a pitchfork at him.

Ambrosius noticed that the grown ups started to get weapons.

“No! Stop! Stop! He’s my friend!” Ambrosius cried out to the grown ups. Then Ambrosius’ mother turned him around and said, “No, he’s a monster.”

Ambrosius started to get visibly shaken by his parents’ reaction. His apprehension grows as he looks at Ballister while more grown ups of the village run over with weapons, mostly pitchforks and torches.

Ballister was getting more scared as the grown ups of the village surrounded him, afraid and angry looks on their faces.

Ballister tries to explain but they relentless and don't listen to him.

Ballister shapeshifted into a cat as he tried to run but there was no way as the grown ups surrounded him, blocking him from running.

Some start to poke at him with their weapons, making Ballister more scared and shapeshifts more.

Ballister’s different forms started to blend together as  Ballister got pushed around and poked at more, leading him to be more defensive. 

His eyes burn with fear and anger as he lets out a piercing roar and slash his claws at the air.

The crowd lurches back in fear as Ambrosius’s father grabbed lance that he work on and pointed at Ballister.

“Everyone, watch out!” Ambrosius’s father shouted at the mob.

The mob got out of the way as the pointy part of the lance opened up.

Ambrosius saw this. 

Without thinking, he got out of his mother’s grip and grabbed his father’s arm to try to avoid Ballister being shot as the weaponized lance shoots.

Ballister was shapeshifting when the weaponized lance went off and it hit him. It sent him almost flying back when it hit him. Ballister hit the ground while a big piece of him, that was on fire, flew in the air and then landed on dry grass, starting a fire that became a wildfire that spread quickly to the village.

The grown ups quickly went to get the fire put out.

Ambrosius looks around at the chaos before just stares in fear at Ballister, who just shapeshifted back to his little boy form.

But this time, the form looked different.

Ballister had a fresh scar over his right eye and he was missing his right arm. Instead there was a black burnt shoulder and a small bit of an arm stump with some red.

Ballister was crying as he held his shoulder and had his right eye closed. He still held the red scarf. He looked at Ambrosius and noticed that he was scared.

Ballister tried to speak to explain but was in a lot of pain. The only thing that he could say was, “R-R-Rose…?”

Ambrosius took in a breath, mustering all the courage he could as he picked up and held his wooden sword at Ballister.

“Go back to the shadows from whence you came…” Ambrosius said in a loud clear voice.

Ballister stares at Ambrosius with a broken heart before he backs away and then disappears into the shadows.

That wasn’t the last time that Ambrosius said those words to Ballister or the last time they saw each other.

◇

Throughout the years, the village became a kingdom.

When Ambrosius became a grown up; he became a knight and helped train knights to help him fight the monsters, which was mostly Ballister.

But that didn’t stop Ballister from trying to have a conversation with Ambrosius or just seeing him from the shadows of the woods to see how he was doing. 

It did break his heart when seeing how happy he was with his own family. But he was happy for him.

One point, Ambrosius led a hunt for Ballister, to end the mayhem and chaos that he made.

Ambrosius and a big group of knights chase after Ballister to catch him, but that leads to their undoing.

After catching Ballister, Ambrosius and the knights ran into a few of the monsters of Ballister’s village. They were very angry at them while the knights had fear.

Then a fight started.

No one knows who started it. 

But it ended when  all of the knights’ lives were ended and Ambrosius was knocked unconscious.

Ballister got freed and was about to be on his way but he noticed that Ambrosius was still alive and badly injured.

So, when no one was looking, Ballister carefully picked up Ambrosius, put him on his back as he shapeshift into a horse, and took him back to the kingdom.

Ballister shapeshifted into a traveler before they got to the kingdom. 

The shapeshifter noticed that a wall was being built around the kingdom as he carried Ambrosius. ‘What’s the use for that? I can just fly over it or dig under it.’ Ballister thought, still carrying Ambrosius.

“Help!” Ballister calls out in a deep voice, getting nearby people’s attention. “This man needs help!”

A few people ran to them and guided Ballister to get Ambrosius some help.

After Ambrosius got some help and lay on a bed, Ballister looked at the injured man who he used to call his friend.

Ambrosius didn’t look very well. His skin was becoming more pale, his blonde hair was a mess, and he looked very weak.

Ballister sighed and shapeshifted into his little boy form when it was just the both of them in the room.

Ambrosius groaned a bit as he woke up and looked at Ballister. 

The weak man glared at the shapeshifter and asked with a growl, “What do you want?”

“I just want to give you back something.” Ballister answered before taking off the red scarf and putting it on the bed.

Ambrosius stared at the scarf before looking at Ballister again.

Ballister nodded and said, “I thought that you need it more than me.”

Ambrosius stared at Ballister for a moment before looking away. “You should take it and leave…” the man growled low.

That caught the shapeshifter off guard. “What-?”

“JUST GO!” Ambrosius shouted at Ballister.

Ballister jumped at that and grabbed the scarf, wrapped it around his neck. He shapeshifted into a bird before he flew out the opened window.

Ballister glanced back as he flew, seeing Ambrosius’ family enter the room to check on Ambrosius, who was crying.

Ballister started to cry too as he flew up in the sky, leaving the man who he called ‘friend’.

◇back to present time◇

Ballister was crying as he stared at the statue of the kingdom’s hero. 

A lot of people think that Ambrosius passed away as hero, but in reality, he died as a broken and injured man.

Ballister looked down as he started to remember all of the bad things that people have said about him.

‘What is that?!’

‘No, he’s a monster’

‘Freak!’

‘Monster…’

'You freak!'

‘What are you?’

‘Was everything, you helping me clear my name, was a lie?’

‘Go back to the shadows from whence you came…’

The words got louder and faster that they overlapped in Ballister’s mind.

Ballister started to believe the words as he stared at the statue of Ambrosius.

Then Ballister started growling and breathing heavily.

Ballister began clutching his hands as he started to shapeshift into a sometype of beast made of shadow and smoke. He was growing bigger and bigger as he shapeshifted, leading him to scream so loud that it could be heard everywhere.

[lucianinsanity]

Had a dream/nightmare about a group of families going back to a city to try to forget a traumatic event that happened five years prior

There where five families, it's unclear if the older couples are grandparents or parents, but each has one or two "kids" each (they are all adults) (there's five couples, and each has at least one kid)

They all stayed at a mansion and apparently they all have "superpowers", mostly they don't use them and just go around the city visiting touristic sites and all that

Then the traumatic even starts to repeat, this time targeting the younger ones, creatures and villains try to kill them and the only safe place is the house, they have a meeting talking about that

One of the guys has like, a tree body somewhere else and when he goes to visit someone starts to cut it

And apparently during the time he wasn't checking on the tree it just became sort of a dungeon so he fights skeleton knights to get to the top where the cutting started and finds a rich kid trying to get a tree house, he then fails to convince the kid of not cutting the tree and the tree is cut

Nothing happens to the guy but he keeps visiting the new tree that was planted over his and feeling lonely

Then one of the "kids" doesn't believe in that and goes to have a touristic bus ride and the driver starts to say something about the incident five years ago and the girl/guy (it changes through the dream, he ends up being a guy) says it was their family that went through that

And then the bus comes to a bridge and suddenly there's screams and stuff behind them and someone says something about a guy that pukes corrosive acid or fire or something is going around and the guy starts to get nervous and looking through all the windows

The noises and screams start to get worse and the driver decides to not stop anywhere and just get this people somewhere else, and they pass through a place with big walls around the houses and statues all over and the guy asks something about living statues and the driver says there used to be one but it stays still now, just for a statue to look directly at her with glowing eyes and melting metal

Then she gets out and starts running away through different places and finds a crowd and starts trying to get lost there but the thing that is trying to get her already saw her and is not really against crushing and melting everything on its path, and when she looks back she sees that the thing is a gargoyle that is starting to fly to catch her

Then she starts using her powers, which is shapeshift

He gets in the walls becoming graffiti and trying to get from wall to wall, the problem is that his powers work leaving a body behind, basically body jumping from a form to another, and his graffiti is very distinct, so he becomes just letters and tries to get away from the gargoyle that keeps shooting at the walls

At some point he gets away and sees the gargoyle go away just to pass close by on a car (yes, the gargoyle can drive, even the dream pointed out it was weird), he then notices he is close to the house and gets in the garden, transforming in a toy snail and staying like that until he's sure he can go in without being seen

He enters the house and there's like a labyrinth of fucking stairs and he gets in them (he also took the snail toy with him and is holding it tight the whole time), he finds a woman at the top of the stairs and says "who are you?" Waving a hand at her face very slowly, she takes pity on him and guides him to the others that are also hiding (they knew each other, he was just paranoid) he also does the same with them and they start talking about how to survive, since their elders where the one to survive originally (they are also not there for some reason)

The guy shows his snail and says "this was the form I had to use to escape, this is the body I had to use"

They keeps talking while the guy keeps staring at his old body cradled in his hands

And then I woke up, also at some point I was just me going on a date with a classmate in a fair, nothing to do with the rest of the story, but it was nice

[rjalker]

It's so cute I can't believe it's my own character. Look how cute it is.

And you can get it on a shirt from my threadless store. I might get myself one for our birthday :)

Each of these "styles" of Cenotaph exist in different, but parallel universes, cannonically. Because it's more fun that way.

Anyways here's another version of a "Wheelchair" for Flatlanders -- a "swimmer" that gets attached to the muscles inside the exoskeleton so that the paddles(? haven't decided the exact terminology yet) will push you along, if we assume that Flatlanders "swim" or "fly". (the only difference is your perspective of density)

For aethers (aka daemons) who shapeshift until they settle, your options are limited for mobility aids unless you limit yourself to only forms that can use the ones available to you. After you settle, and finish growing, then you can get some more long-term options.

Getting mobility aids in Flatland as an Irregular is an extremely harrowing and illegal process.

[ID: Three digital drawings on a black background, with white outlines, showing different styles of an original Flatland character, Cenotaph. The first style is labeled, "Literal Line", and shows an upward pointing arrow with a small box around the straight tail, with small curved lines coming off the sides, like cilia. The second is labeled, "Speculative", and shows a more detailed Flatland version as seen from above. In this form, Cenotaph has a grey exoskeleton, and a body with a rounded main section, and two long ear-shaped sections at the top, with its eye in the center. Its blood is purple, and its brain, lung, stomachs, heart, and reproductive organs are in different shades of pink and dark red. Attached to the sides of its main body section are two cage-like contraptions with five points boring into Cenotaph's exoskeleton, with the outside covered in the same short curved likes as the simplified version as cilia or fins. One side of the "swimmer" is colored gold to make it easier to see, the other is greyscale. Where the barbs are injected into Cenotaph's exoskeleton, there are thick black lines of scar tissue around them. The final drawing is labled, "Stylized", and shows a three-dimensional cartoon rabbit walking on all fours, with an orange and yellow wheelchair holding its back legs up off the ground, with orange straps and yellow cushioning. The rabbit is dark brown, with three black stripes on its back, a black fluffy tail, and two stripes, one thick, the other thin, on its ankles and ears, with a single large orange eye with a brown slit pupil in the center of its face instead of a mouth.

End ID.]

[tibalt-the-fineblooded]

I know I'm a bit late but I was really enjoying Thunder Junction as a drafting experience, even if I found it a bit muddled from a lore perspective. But I wanted to ask the question if your oc had there own Mount what would it be?

Ceral, while having the ability to fly, would probably use Raz as a mount. She's getting a little to big to ride him like a scaly backpack nowadays so they've been flying parallel, but once she's a bit more into her full dragon size, it shouldn't be an issue

Laan would probably, if needed, use his geomancy to summon a more earthen form of that 4RR Horse, Calamity.

Except is a shapeshifter and doesn't really need a mount, she could become a mount. Or just a centaur-esque being

Y'lona would like to be able to fly more, so she'd try to get a larger bird of some kind, but if it has to follow the quadruped rule then a griffon/hippogriff

Zoya I could see using either a lizard type mount or something more armored like an armadillo or pangolin, provided it has a level of heat resistance

Atlan, given how much time he spends transversing mounts, would need a ram as a mount.

Sturn, I hesitate to give a mount given his lichlike nature and his ship. He doesn't really need one.

Samuel is in a similar situation to both Ceral and Sturn. He can fly and he's a vampire. He doesn't have need for a mount and honestly, he believes it to be a bit beneath him to rely on something he can do on his own.

Kitai would use a Pegasus. Its the mount closest to an angel as far as she's concerned.

Aseri can summon her own mounts from her tattoos, which allows for a variety of applications based on the area she's in. But the general type is monster or dinosaur

Cas, in standard cowboy fashion, gets a horse. This follows the rule of Roach from the Witcher of course, it looks the same everytime and he calls it the same name, but you're pretty sure you've seen is horse die at least twice.

[bitterrobin]

tiny appreciation post/insane rambling about Tom Bronson

re-re-re-reading JSA 2007. Tom Bronson is a good character, fight me. Everyday I claw at the air in rage for the many characters introduced into the JSA and then never given any more detail. There's just too many people in the '07 JSA, man. Too Many. Tom is unfortunately one of those comic characters that has a super niche fanbase and nothing to follow up on outside of JSA.

so, in light of me inserting him into the TAXONOMY!verse and putting the guy smack dab into the Battle for the Cowl and Bette Kane's radar - I'm just gonna gush a little bit about his first appearance. (and include some headcanons for the au).

Putting aside my favorite Old Man Trio, can I just say that I like how pretty the art makes Tom look? The first time I read this comic, I got a very James Dean/1950's bad boy vibe from Tom. I'd like to think it was a little bit intentional in order to parallel Ted Grant and his eternal Old Americanism. At least it's something I'll keep in mind.

Getting into the main post though, throughout his first appearance and the later fight with Vandal Savage, its made clear that Tom is surprisingly knowledgable about superheroes and the surrounding goings-on of them. He knows who Wildcat is (though obviously Ted is canonically an old hero, he has to be somewhat well-known) and he instantly recognizes Vandal Savage.

(sidenote: Ted looks like a stiff Barbie doll being thrown into the kitchen there)

I take the fact that he recognizes and correctly identifies heroes/villains as a point towards my "Tom is an observant and analytical person" hc.

Earlier on in issue #3, we see that Tom gets right to heart of things when talking with Ted and that he's quick to reach (somewhat right) conclusions.

Despite this, he doesn't really show it anymore as he quickly drifts into a side character spot as the comic run goes in. I choose to believe that Tom doesn't voice his thoughts to the JSA bc he doesn't know them well and he prefers to make snarky remarks in conversation instead of inserting himself into anything personal.

Later on in the series, Tom is reluctant to learn how to box and is shown to dislike fighting in general.

Given the whole estranged-dad-is a famous boxing champ thing, Tom probably doesn't like boxing specifically because of Ted. He says that he doesn't like fighting because of his were-cat form, which it's assumed that he would unconsciously shapeshift into whenever he got into conflict.

(sidenote: why is this the only time I see his inner monologue in comics *sob*)

This distinct trait of disliking combat, at least the personal fist-flying kind, is definitely something I'm including in the au.

Both Tom and Bette are chosen for the au partially because I like them, but also because they have distinct personalities and philosophies that clash with baby Damian Wayne who's coming fresh into the Bat-scene. There will be conflict as Damian will dislike and mostly abhor Tom's personal disdain for fighting. Tom doesn't seem to fight unless necessary and he canonically prefers to rely heavily on his powers to get out of fights. He's only shown getting more violent than usual after Grant Emerson's death, which is pretty reasonable. They were clearly fast and close friends.

Hooo boy Grant should not have died. Especially in Blackest Night, of all things. Despite my personal dislike of it though, I'm still flip-flopping between leaving him dead and then resurrecting him in the au - or just ignoring his canon death altogether. On one hand, I like Grant and I like their friendship so I want him to appear in the au somewhere (alongside Maxine). On the other, his death allows for a just a little bit of dramatic character development/detailing for Tom that lets me explain why he's not with the JSA and instead is in Gotham. Choices.....

Ending the post here with the final smorgasbord of headcanons and blurbs for the au.

he is Mexican-American, but distant from his roots because his mom raised him single and cut-off from her larger family.

he and Bette will enter a relationship. It came to me in a vision and I decided to implement it bc why not. Tom/Bette is bi4bi.

they start dating bc they both strike me as "why not?" type of people, but it develops relatively quickly after Damian enters the picture and they have to co-parent/watch over him as Gotham collapses in slow-motion around them

its shown in the background of some of the panels above that he's into music, specifically guitar and piano

so he will be in a band at some point

bc Alfred does not have the same relationship with Damian in the au, Tom is one who gives him/lets him keep the kitten

(also bc I don't subscribe to the "League of Assassins hate/kill animals" idea - Tom bonds with Damian over a mutual care for animals/cats)

Tom and Damian are a rocky pair, and it takes them longer to get along than Bette does with Damian

He treats Damian as the annoying little brother he never had, and their sense of humor kinda lines up

Tom fully encourages Damian’s sarcasm and rude comebacks

Believe me, there will be a scene where Tom unconsciously purrs in his werecat form and Damian definitely notices

adding to the maybe Grant stays dead part, I'm still iffy on whether to include a one-sided crush on Tom's part that adds to the angst

unlike Grant though, I'm definitely keeping Yolanda Montez alive

Tom and Yolanda have a semi-distant sibling relationship that's a little awkward bc of the age gap and differing experiences with Ted

Might also resurrect Jake Grant, I need the Wildcat family reunion

Ted and Tom still talk, and even though Tom doesn't stick with the JSA, he's still regularly invited to whatever gathering they have

Tom still keeps up with working out/a bit of training - but he focuses on defense and avoidance instead of out-right conflict

Tom got into heroism bc of Ted, but he stuck with it bc of Grant and Maxine

he does not have strict ideals or a drive to save the world, but he likes to focus on the small things and helps where he can

[your-old-sins-tournament]

12 YEAR OLD OCS; SIDE B

Drake Blue [@silveredcircuitry] (she/her)

I was OBSESSED with Drake for like. several years. I drew her so much. Funnily enough though she was never the main protagonist, generally serving the role of "the narrator's best/first friend who knows magic in this urban fantasy setting". She was the extroverted, knowledgeable, tomboyish foil to my various introverted, new-to-this, vaguely feminine self-inserty protagonists I wrote. Her full first name is Dracanea or something but no iteration of her is terribly fond of it. She also for some reason used an abbreviation of her last name in early versions (I guess to either sound less pretentious or blend in) but eventually i just made Blue her actual last name upon understanding nobody does that.

She's half dragon on her mother's side, giving her an array of abilities that shifted a bit depending on whether I felt like including them. These almost always included superhuman strength and resilience, flight, and some flavor of pyrokinesis. She has wings that she could shapeshift away in some iterations but her flight is more magic channeled through having her wings out than actually using them properly. Also sometimes fangs which I rarely drew on her. Generally not great at the magic in the setting but not so much catastrophically terrible so much as she just. doesn't use magic that often.

She fucking hated dresses and preferred to wear whatever was comfortable and easy to climb/run/fly/fight/do whatever else in. I have one drawing of her burning a bunch of dresses and other girly accessories and I genuinely cannot tell if this was me characterizing her as a TomboyTM, just part of my "let's be feminist in the most cliche ways possible because i have unresolved issues and all the boys in my class bully me" phase, or Indicative of Something TM. Or like. All three.

She was a whole bunch of things kid-me thought was cool, but not in what seems to be the usual way. She wasn't someone I wanted to BE so much as someone I wanted to be friends with. Strong in a lot of ways that I was weak in, and I think having more distance between her and myself than the aforementioned dozens of self-inserts helped get me more obsessed with her. ALSO one of my earliest developed non-insterting-an-existing-person-or-character-into-the-story OCs.

she also made it into my very dead webcomic that i will not share a title or too too much information about besides the fact that i made her slightly terrible at hiding her powers and also in a lopsided rivalry with a sorceror who keeps trying to beat her in a fight just to prove he can. He doesn't actually succeed ever and she is increasingly annoyed with him especially once he dragged someone else into it. She could shove him in a locker and he would not be able to stop her.

Max D. Rose [@therealsirsticker] (she/her)

I did make when I was 12, she’s a demon who attends a demon boarding school and is an orphan who was raised in the human realm and believed she was human. She’s like. 16 I think. I still have like pages of old comics I made of it, I can send those in if you want lol.anyways shes half plant demon and half fire demon and plant demons are Rare and Almost Extinct. Oh and of course like all demons she has a super powered up form because I was really into Naruto at the time. She’s gay with her roommate.

[possiblyfunny]

AAAAAAA- I can’t believe I’m doing this. (Please forgive my awful formatting I have never done this before-)

Don’t expect this on my page too often, but with the release of the Pokepasta Perdition Demo I got inspired to pick up a tablet and draw for the first time in several months! (I’m rusty and don’t draw often and it was my first time doing this color palette cut me some slack-) So: Introducing…

Rari & Yu! (Aka: Red & ゥ .4)

These two are just my own take on the characters from the secret song in the mod: 8F. I really, really like that song and couldn’t help but to draw them. You’re welcome to draw them or write about them if you like. I don’t mind, so long as you give the proper credit!

Some Headcanons I have for them are listed below!

Rari:

-He’s completely mute and communicates using ASL/Sign Language. He can also communicate via textboxes, though they are just a way of making his message/thoughts clear, and are not an indicator that he can talk.

-Rari is anxious, but an absolute sweetheart. Just a nervous ball of sunshine.

-Rari is afraid of Yu. (For good reason)

-He’s very shy and awkward, but he wants to interact with others and make friends.

-Rari is 13 years old, 4’11” tall. (150 cm)

-Rari is permanently stuck in the old Gen1 color palette.

-The only Pokémon Rari has is Yu. (You’ll find out why in a sec-)

-Large numbers stress him out.

-Fearful of/Traumatized by Glitches and Gamebreaks.

-Very tired and would like a nap.

-Would enjoy a warm hug right about now.

-Rari really likes bagels.

Yu:

-Little Creature :)

-Very mischievous and likes to play pranks.

-Wants to do something all the time. Don’t matter what—he just wants to do something and will use Rari to do it. (Yu is kinda like a Symbiote to Rari. Sort of. I don’t have a better parallel. He just makes him do stuff.)

-Yu just kinda decided that Rari was its trainer the moment it saw him. Not for any particular reason other than he seemed interesting.

-Yu is basically a baby MissingNo. (Who already has godlike powers) (kinda like Kirby-)

-Yu can corrupt/glitch things it touches at will. That includes people. (He already knows how to Super Glitch.)

-Yu is Rari’s only Pokémon because it corrupted all of his actual ones as punishment for not listening to it. (Yeah. Yu might be a baby, but it’s still a dangerous glitch Pokémon.)

-Can teleport and shapeshift. (So far he can take the form of the Kabutops and Areodactyl fossils) (The Areodactyl form can fly so be on the lookout for a mini flying dinosaur)

-Yu cannot speak, but can communicate/vocalize with a variety of chirps, beeps, and/or ear piercing screeches depending on how it’s feeling or what it wants. It can also influence technology around it to communicate as well. (Ex: hacking your phone or computer and using instant messaging to talk.)

-Overall a very dangerous, very annoying cat…bug…thing.

Bonus: a couple Doodles I made.

[dick-chugger]

I'm bored so I will now ramble about gods and science.

I have always been a person who believes in science. Not 100% but like 99%. It is pretty convincingly proven and I can't think of much that contradicts what we know about like evolution and stuff. But also, I am religious (Hellenic polytheist in case you didn't know), and believe in a lot of myths, including ones about gods being responsible for the creation of some animals and plants. So let me explain how that makes sense in my head.

To put it shortly, I don't think gods are suoernatural. I think they're a completely natural part of the universe just like you and me. Their powers seem supernatural to us because we don't understand how it works, but we always thought of many natural things as impossible or supernatural. Not to reference It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia but there's that scene where Mac explains how his religion makes just as much sense as science. You may have seen this image.

While most things Mac says in this scene are insane, he definitely has a point. Basically, his friends tell him that evolution is proven by science, and he argues that many things have been "proven by science" butvturned out to be wrong. Humans' understanding of this world constantly changes, hopefully, to a more accurate direction. So I think it could be very possible that there are gods, and humans just haven't figured out how to prove it yet. In the 1400s people didn't have microscopes and in the 2000s we don't have whatever tools would help us see gods.

Your next question might be "But what are gods in this scenario?" And I think I have an answer to that. Basically, in my opinion, gods are just another type of organism, like animals, plants and fungi. And I could compaew it like this: Gods are to humans (or animals in general), what humans are to bacteria. Both humans and bacteria are organisms but we are so different, that we can't possibly even understand it. We can examine how bacteria work biologically but we can't know what it feels like to be a bacteria. And they can't possibly understand how humans feel. We have brains, they don't. We are so huge compaeed to them that they couldn't comprehend it wven if they did have brains. And like that, we can't understand what being a god feels like and they can't understand what being a human is like. (Except those who have been humans at some point but anyways.) To us shapeshifting, for example, feels impossible. But to plants animals being able to fly must feel impossible.

The hardest question in my reigion for me to answer is some of the myths? "If you believe in evolution, how can you believe that Zeus and Prometheus created humans?" So first of all, I'm more confident with my belief in evolution than I am in that myth. That myth is so old and gone through so many people, that it must have changed. I'm assuming someone once heard it from some god and it got changed and changed over the years. Or maybe someone just made it up. What I think would explain it is, that Zeus ans Prometheus helped with evolution in some way and are therefore responsible for humans' existence. In the same way that humans have bred dogs to be certain way. We didn't necessarily create pugs, but we are responsible for their existance.

Then there is the question of the timeline: "According to myths, Dionysos' mother was a Greek human named Semele, but there is evidence of people worshipping him wah before Greece in it's modern form. How does that make sense?" Again, I think that myth and many others have just changed over time. Maybe his mother actually lived thousanss of years before Greece as we know it, but a few thousand years ago, the myth was changed to take place in Greece to make it more relatable for the people living there. Who knows what actually happened.

And then we're gonna do my last point and finish this post: "Why were these gods only worshipped around Greece?" I think that many gods just settled down there, maybe on Olympus. Far enough from humans that we couldn't see them, but close enough to interact. Maybe once humans figured out how to get on top of Olympos, they moved. Or maybe they're still there and we just can't see them. Like the human-bacteria metaphor I used earlier. There are many myths of gods traveling to other places too or coming to Greece from other places, just as Dionysos' travels to Asia. So yeah, maybe they just like/liked Greece.

Anyways, if this didn't make any sense to you, feel free to ask questions. I just really like thinking about religion.

[trashcanfills]

An Otherworldly Slime God in Teyvat (Crack)

Inspired by @i-put-the-yan-in-polyandry slime god name and the i reincarnated as a slime anime

What if player gets isekai’d into Teyvat with a twist?

Yes they become a Slime.

To differentiate them from the other slimes, their goo takes on a golden with a bit of rainbow shine/iridescence to them. They have tiny wings to fly with, and CAN shapeshift, but it takes some concentration to hold onto the form (which can improve with practice but even then its a LOT of practice).

Player is literally the Ultimate Slime amongst Slimes in Teyvat and all the slimes worship them. So do other mobs and creatures. They also still have control of Teyvat to an extent since Teyvat itself also worships the player.

But wait then what abt humans??? Apart from the archons and vessels aka the characters the player has taken control of before in their game, no one else would believe that the golden slime is their otherworldly god in a different form, just another slime creature.

This can be funny because one, ITS A SLIME AS A GOD. What do u do to even worship a slime god. Most offerings turn out useless cus no hands, no legs. Like letting a slime wear a headpiece???? Headpiece just sinks into slime and then spat out. Lmaooo.

Second, when humans see a golden slime, the first thing they are gonna do is try to capture/kill it.

Good luck lmao. Esp when u can’t exactly TALK as a slime. Prob would manage to learn some form of telepathy since u know, divine being and all but u gon have to wait for humans to stop and listen to u first.