#checks plot

[dont-touch-my-soup]

Blackbird

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CW: captivity, failed escape attempt, multiple whumpees, manhandling, threats, torture, magical torture

Kell didn’t want to wake up. His sleep had been dark and dreamless. But now pain and fear started to seep through the fissures of his consciousness like water into a sinking boat. He knew he was waking up and there was nothing he could do about it. Still, he desperately clawed to the darkness wrapped around him. For a while his mind faded in and out, but the darkness cleared inevitably.

He hated his own body for betraying him like this.

Tears leaked through his closed eyes as pain pulsated trough his body.

He had forgotten how much he hurt.

Distant voices drifted through the fog in his mind. He wasn’t sure who they were or what they wanted but he knew better than to move.

He shakily took a breath. Then another one.

He had to stay calm. He had to stay still.

But the pain was like a needy child screaming inside of him.

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. It hurt to move.

His head felt like it was pinched with needles from the inside and his eyes burned when he tried to blink them open.

He had to open his eyes. He had to know what would happen next.

Opening his eyes was a herculean task. And when he finally managed to hold them open long enough to see something, the room started to spin around him.

Hastily he closed them again.

Nausea hit him in waves, and it took him a while to calm down enough to try again.

As soon as the cool air met his dry eyes, they started watering. It took a while until he could see through the veil of tears.

He was still in the cursed theatre. Laying helplessly on his back. 

At least his arms weren’t restrained anymore. He carefully moved his head to his side.

He wasn’t prepared for what he saw there.

His arms were littered with burns. Some had already formed blisters, others were oozing. He slowly moved his fingers in disbelief. It truly was his arm. He started to tremble.

“No,” he said. But only air came out. “No,” he said again. Tears started to run over his face.

Kell’s heart beat painfully fast in his chest. He had to calm down. He had to calm down. He had to ...

Kell tensed as footfalls came closer.

He wasn't alone.

Oryn, his brain finally connected the noise to a name.

Kell held his breath trying to locate him.

Oryn kneeled on his side, his face swam into Kell’s vision. Kell squinted his eyes closed and turned away, tried to shield himself, tried to prepare himself for another wave of pain.

A pained whimper formed deep in his throat as Oryn vehemently turned him back on his back. Then something pressed against his lips. Cool water ran down his throat. He nearly choked but then he managed to swallow. The water tasted so good, so cool against his raw throat.

He opened his eyes. But it wasn’t Oryn who knelt next to him. It was Blackbird. Kell blinked in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. He flinched at the sound of his own voice. It was so hoarse his words were barely intelligible.

At least he still had a voice. 

Blackbird just stared back at him without answering and Kell realised his mistake. Of course, he wouldn’t answer. He barely spoke any Varsennan. 

But something still didn’t add up. Thinking was hard and he was thankful when Blackbird pressed the cup against his lips again. Kell drank another cup of water until the thought finally manifested fully in his brain. 

Why was Blackbird here all by himself? 

Why would Oryn let him walk around here freely?

His thoughts were interrupted when the door was yanked open. Kell tensed before he even saw Oryn. 

“Rise and shine, my darling bird,” Oryn chirped.

Hands pulled him up into a sitting position and Kell hissed in pain as Oryn’s finger pressed on his burns.

“How do you feel?”

“Like someone burned me with a spoon,” Kell answered weakly.

Oryn’s hand was in his hair before he had even finished his answer and yanked his head back painfully. “If you can’t answer my questions politely, I expect you to stay quiet.”

“If you want me to answer politely maybe you shouldn’t ask stupid questions.”

Oryn smacked his face so hard, Kell toppled to the floor again. For a second his vision turns white.

“Let’s try something else.” Oryn’s voice sounded from far away.

Cold fear crept up Kell’s spine and wound around his throat. He could barely breathe around it.

It was quiet for a moment. Then he heared someone singing. A dark and heavy tune that laid down on him like a blanket. The voice was low, barely audible but Kell recognized it immediately. He opened his eyes in confusion. Why was Blackbird si-...

A slim hand winded around Kell’s wrist and he flinched as fingers met his burns.

Then the whole world exploded in agony. Pain flooded his body. So sudden and so fiercely he started to scream. Kell tried to get free, kicking and screaming violently, but there was no way out of it. The world grew dark and hazy around the edges. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe. There was only pain. 

And then the darkness swallowed Kell.

***

For a moment Kell didn’t know where he was. Then he remembered. 

He was lying on his side, hugging his own body, desperately choking for air.

He couldn’t hold on to his thoughts. They slipped away like quicksand. 

His face was wet and hot.

Fingers carved through his hair as if to soothe him. It only made things worse. 

He wished they would just stop touching him. 

He concentrated on the ground under his body. Steady and cool.

It took a long time until Kell had calmed down enough to blink his eyes open. 

Oryn’s face hovered over him. It was blurred and when he opened his mouth the words didn’t reach Kell. The room moved around Kell, and he pressed his eyes closed again. 

Something cool brushed his face. Someone cleaned his face. 

He was on the verge to fall into darkness again when a finger flicked against his cheek. Again, someone was talking to him. 

He opened his eyes again. 

Oryn was smiling down at him without the least vestige of kindness. His eyes looked nearly … hungry.  

New tears fell over Kell’s face.

He still hadn’t processed what had happened, but he knew it was magic.

The realisation was enough to bring back memories he had pushed into the deepest corner of his brain. He desperately tried to concentrate on the present but every time he closed his eyes, he could see broken eyes and blood.

Kell swallowed once, twice. His stomach still felt nauseous, his mouth so dry his tongue was glued to the roof. “Water please?” he whispered.

His chest rose and fell. Two words had been enough to drain him from his remaining energy.

Oryn motioned to his left. A hand moved into Kell’s peripherals, and he flinched when he saw Blackbird. He tried to shove himself away from him, but he barely managed until hands held him back. 

“Still,” Oryn ordered, holding Kell’s left arm in an iron grip. “He will only hurt you when I tell him to.”

He took the water from Blackbird and to Kell’s lips. Kell drank. 

Most of the water landed on his clothes but for now it was enough.

When he finished, he was still shaking. His whole body was covered in sweat, and he was shaking from a coldness that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

“Do you have an answer yet?”

His head was throbbing. It was hard to think. He had almost forgotten why Oryn was torturning him.

A single tear fell over his cheek. “Pl-please,” he whispered, his voice shaking. 

“So no,” Oryn said. He nodded to Blackbird. 

Kell rolled to his side, tried to escape his reach, but Oryn pressed him firmly to the ground.

This time it was even worse. It felt like lava, eating its way through his body, until he thought he would just die of pain. 

He choked on his own tears; the suffering never seemed to end. 

The fire extended all over his body until he wasn’t even sure he still had a body. There was only pain.

He tried to regain his breath, but it didn’t matter how many times he inhaled, his body just wouldn’t take it in. His lungs were burning and Kell's vision started to get hazy when Blackbird finally let go of him. 

As sudden as the pain had started, it stopped. Kell turned to his side, hugging his own body, pressing his knees to his chest. He didn’t care how the cloth pressed painfully to the the burns on his arms. The pain in his chest was just so unbearable. He drank in the air around him so desperately, he choked on it. 

No matter how hard he blinked, the white dots in his vision didn’t vanish. 

“You still don’t want to tell me?” Oryn asked. Somehow, he had the audacity to sound offended.

Kell desperately shook his head. He wasn’t sure if his mouth could even form words anymore. He didn’t have the energy to try.

Oryn sighed. “Help me understand. Why did you try to run away?”

“I gave you everything. A warm bed, food, wasn’t singing always your dream? I made it real. I made it happen. Thanks to me you are famous. You could have had everything. And still you tried to run away.”

The silence between them grew, only interrupted by Kell’s panting breaths. It took a few seconds until Kell realised, Oryn really wanted an answer.

“Dunno,'' Kell choked out, his lips felt numb and the words came out slurred. “Maybe because of the torture?”

He hadn’t expected Oryn to slap him. Somehow the pain of that stroke helped Kell ground himself a little.

„Haven’t you thought about what I’m going to do to your little Sparrow when you try to escape? I thought you cared about him.”

A joyless laugh escaped Kell’s throat. “He is gone. You can’t hurt him anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Oryn asked. “Last time I checked he was practising his new song in the rehearsal room. Where else would he be?”

Kell’s heart stopped for a second.

“You’re lying.” The words tasted like poison.

“Why should I lie to you?”

“He is gone. He is … You are lying.”

“I can get him here if you insist,” Oryn said. “You do love having an audience, don’t you?”

_______________________

Thank you for reading! @whumpzone @jo-doe-seeking-inspo @whump-cravings @tears-and-lilies @imagination1reality0 @suspicious-whumping-egg @i-can-even-burn-salad @siren-of-agony @villainsvictim (please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!)    

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[gale-force-storm]

Thinking about the fact that, to pull Gale from the stone and get him in the game at all, you have to decide to try to touch an extremely dangerous looking swirling mass of unstable magic. Something that is, objectively, a terrible idea

Like, the options it gives you are to either touch the sigil or leave, and if you leave you just... don't get Gale in the party

You have to take the risk. You have to let your curiosity override your common sense. You have to look at this unstable, possibly dangerous malfunctioning magic sigil and go "...Ok, but what if I poke it?"

In short, to get Gale in your party, you have to do exactly what he would in that situation, and indulge in a moment of reckless curiosity. And I just think that's delightful

[taskmasterhistorian]

Alex brings up fanfiction, again

CoC 3 outtakes

[yuviur]

Summer vacation, 4am.

Tons of easter eggs in this one! Click the image to find them (and for better quality ofc)

Close ups and process shots under the cut, description in alt text

[hellmandraws]

I accidentally got really into X-Men lately, and I'm not immune to... them. 🥺❤️

[orion-kenobi]

I absolutely love how the alleged Virgin Birth of Anakin Skywalker is (at least in film) never elaborated on at all ever. We don’t know how it happened. Nobody in universe knows how it happened. It just did. 12 year old Anakin asks Obi-Wan where babies come from and Obi-Wan explains as delicately as he can, then adds “Not you though.” Darth Vader’s fun fact about himself at Imperial getting to know you activities is that he just spawned one day. Luke and Leia aren’t even phased when they learn this because their dad was Weird Enough already.

[sleepy-grav3]

We Became Heroes Because You Didn't

The Justice League don't specialize in much. If you ask them, they'd say otherwise. Unless they're one of the Bats, because they acknowledge that, especially with magic. They hate it, but they have connections and will at least ask for more details to deal with the situation at hand. Though they'll need proof.

That's the thing really. Proof. Because how are you going to get proof of something if everything gets repaired by the end? Or maybe you're the villain here according to the public. Or maybe everything you say is just plain crazy that nobody even knows what's going on from the start!

It was only when another group was formed when everything became clear. They were frowned upon, unknown, spoke nonsense, and never asked for help. They were the survivors that played hero. They were the shadowed version of the Justice League.

They were Justice League: Dark

A fanfic (or multiple small ones grouped together?) that isn't really about them joining forces, but more about the discovery of more dangerous territory that's being handled by kids/teens. Lift some weight for these kids. They really want a safe net by now in their hero careers.

Like- maybe a few of these wouldn't be the JL's fault. Maybe it was the government (at least for the US). Like Danny Phantom and Gravity Falls mentions the government, maybe they blocked off those regions from outside connections.

I feel like it would be funny if maybe Constantine just ends up collecting kids like Batman with his.

They're just kids! Itty bitty toddlers. It's supposed to be our job to take care o' that shit, ain't it?

And JLD now has a bunch of young professionals cause what the fuck, kid. Why do you know this??? Ya know? Maybe the JL just randomly finds these things, calls Constantine after Zatanna fails to know wtf is going on, and he just calls over a kid. Or a group of them.

JL: We need a professional, why is there a child here?

Constantine: Cause even when you fuckers ignored their calls for help, they still at least try to help where they can

JL: We never-

Constantine: Shut your traps! School's in session

*Child tries to explain*

JL: You have to be kidding me. ___ doesn't exist.

Constantine: Oh bloody hell-

Child: And they wonder why they get more attention than us.

idk, I just like the idea of Constantine being a father for OP characters and desperately want a Young Justice League: Dark. I read a couple of Danny and/or Billy being adopted by him, but the cravings... And if it's a whole big crossover thing, that would be great. Tag me if you see or write about something like this. I wanna read too :)

Don't put too much hope in me writing it though, I'm seriously bad at continuing/finishing stuff. But if I do, I'll edit this post with links to whatever I write.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

you are so whimsical i qant to check out this mdzs (..??) because of your whimsical nature thank you sorry im very high and your art moved me emotionally

This is simultaneously the sweetest and funniest thing someone has sent me, thank you.

[zestys-stuff]

A little pov of Ralak checking you out from across the bonfire 🔥

Unholy… unholy thoughts behind those eyes

[smallidarityfan]

smallidarity highschool au

came up with this au like actually 2 years ago where it's mainly empires 2 smallidarity centric, with Jimmy as a student council member and Joel as an honours student who doesn't like the way Jimmy runs things around the school.

As payback for the regulations Jimmy put up that Joel thought was stupid, Joel does these elaborate 'The Office' style pranks on Jimmy (specifically) while Jimmy retaliates by trying his best to dig up dirt on Joel. This banter goes on for a while— however Joel ends up doing the pranks less as a statement, and instead more just to see how Jimmy would react... with his comical, cartoony villain yells, and... weirdly cute face....? (YAOI YAOI YAOI YAOI)

very very old au drawings below:

from July 2023

😭😭 joel does NOT look like a highschooler here 😭😭😭😭 (i also wanted to draw angst in the first two ig idk a year later it's pretty cringe [i am still cringe]) (also partially inspired by when I read "Go for it, Nakamura!" and the mc reminded me of joel for no actual reason. or maybe i was just thinking about that manga while drawing smallidarity. idk)

from November 2022:

I think these doodles were genuinely the first instance of me converting from being against mcyt shipping to for shipping LMAOO

[columboposting]

genuinely insane to me that Torchwood gave Jack a secret evil brother and somehow he is the least interesting character in the entire goddamn show. No character traits allowed. His one outfit is BEIGE??? What if Hayden Christensen like, actually couldn’t act. Sucking black hole of charisma. Jack having a fucking secret evil brother should be the campiest wildest shit imaginable and instead its like watching fucking paint dry. Unreal. (It does not help that John Hart is standing next to him the entire time serving cunt). How did they fuck that one up that badly.

[copypastus]

She was running around the whole Spring Court using her mind powers on everyone and not once did it occur to her to check what Tamlin's up to. Too busy plotting petty revenge I guess.

(There's a blank version under the cut so you can fill in for yourself what Tamlin's thinking about)

[here-comes-the-moose]

Crosshair: I’m sneaking out tonight to meet with a guy, I need you to cover for me to Echo.

Omega: Sure.

Wrecker: No problem.

Hunter: Alright.

*later that night*

Echo: Where’s Crosshair?

*all responding at the same time*

Hunter: Sleeping.

Omega: Practicing.

Wrecker: Pooping.

Echo: …

Hunter: …

Omega: …

Wrecker: …

Tech from beyond the grave: …

Echo, sighing: Honestly I’m not even mad I’m just disappointed in how bad you all are at lying.

[thewingedwolf]

the arryn line has died out so many times they always have a backup line ready to be the next arryn, these bitches are just sooooo bad at living. everyone’s always picking on the starks for getting nearly wiped out but damn ned & cat really hunkered down and repopulated the hell out of the family tree, like the starklings aren’t doing that bad, meanwhile you just like, sneeze too hard in the direction of the eyrie and the whole arryn line is on the brink of extinction, but it’s okay, they follow strict osha guidelines in the vale and they have a protocol for this very common scenario

[mima-sama]

Love that The Neopets Team added the board for the new upcoming plot and now it's just become a free-for-all featuring some actual speculation about the plot, but mostly jokes about THE VOID and what seems to be the start of a cult dedicated to this very specific dead Chia

NEOPETS IS BACK, BABY

[frieren]

It's the 7th year anniversary of the "ciel" reveal and we still don't know our ciel's actual name