#did the evil nature killing adults do

[rainingincale]

since you are still awake anyways did you get around to doing your garden thing? & if so how was it what did tou get up to :)

... i didnt end up doing it 🤣😭 i was simply too sleepy and then suddenly it was dark shsvfhdh i am planning to do it tomorrow but I really do not imagine I will be able to 😔

[1296-very-good-year]

ACTUALLY I'm not done complaining about this... I'm still so mad.

All Jayce and Viktor wanted from the start was to give magic to everyone. It wasn't fair for magic to only be reserved for those lucky enough to be born with it.

Naturally, they were fought tooth and nail by the rich corrupt council who wanted it only for themselves. BUT they found an ally in Mel (a young politician who ALSO believed in this dream!!), who helped them gain the influence they needed to boot Heimerdinger from the council, and pass a motion for an independent Zaun to end the bloodshed and share the hexgates. They were about to achieve their dream, but it was too late - in part thanks to the mistakes they made along the way. A wonderful tragedy!

But then it turns out that no, their dream was doomed to fail from the beginning by stupid inevitable timeloop shit. Viktor always goes evil no matter the decisions they make with Hextech. They both "die" believing their dream was bad, actually. Maybe people don't deserve magic, and everything they worked towards their entire adult lives was wrong.

The best thing they can do to fix their mistakes is to KILL THEMSELVES alongside their creations. That's NOT a tragedy brought about by human flaws, it's just bullshit (especially if you believe the writers that Viktor was manipulated by the Hexcore the whole time?? So it wasn't even his fault??? Oh well, he has to die anyway????). And it retroactively ruins everything that made Season 1 great. All the little moments where characters make the exact wrong choice at the exact wrong moment to push things closer to disaster? Where we screamed at the TV knowing if they just did ONE thing differently it could have changed everything?

NO ACTUALLY, none of those choices even mattered! It was always going to end this way, fuck you for thinking about it!

And as a scientist... It's just the worst message to leave your audience with. If you are scared of GMO's or molecular physics or space travel because humans "shouldn't have that kind of power", then this is the show for you!! I'm mad.

[nynyhaha]

Phantom Troupe - failed robinhoods?

As the new chapters told us,the Spiders started out as a revenge based organisation. That’s also what made them the way they are now.

But no one talks about the huge responsibility they have to carry to help their whole town.

Kurapika’s task for instance is to avenge the dead rather than changing the world to better treat the living. He doesn’t have a community whose situation he is concerned with. It’s tragic,but in a way that limits his responsibility. Leorio wants to treat people for free and actually addresses a bigger societal problem that was born out of a personal one.

The phantom troupe are very much concerned with avenging specific people,but they work on utilitarian principles. They’re ready to sacrifice themselves for the whole of Meteor City,so that no kids will be kidnapped again

For that they’re ready to throw away their own morals. Because kid Chrollo isn’t yet evil. He can’t think the same way adult Chrollo does,he’s not hat capable of committing a massacre but he already knows he will kill many people,without really understanding what that means. If you were to say something like this,would you know what it means? I wouldn’t. So in short,they’d chose to pull the lever and sacrifice one person for the five.(Unless it’s up to Paku and Chrollo is the one person)

If this wasn’t a revenge mission,what would it be?

Meteor City needs two things, protection and material goods.

Before the Troupe gained sufficient strength to have a say, the elders made a deal that exchanged people for the mafias “protection”. It seems heavily implied that the very same mafia who agreed to protect them was the one behind the kidnappings to begin with,they just exchanged children for adults.

In chapter 105 Leorio says the following:

Many years after the original deal,there was a second one, but this time the mafia offered goods. Why couldn’t they kept the “protection” deal?

Because the City no longer needed protection. Something must’ve happened for the mafia to take a step back and actually pay Meteor City rather than just not stealing their kids.

See how it’s a forced decision?

And the Troupe abolished even that.

Not only did the Spider scare off the criminals terrorising their town,they also put a stop to the mafia buying Meteor City’s loyalty.

Maybe it’s already pointed out by someone,but we need to talk about that more!

Suddenly their quest to steal makes much more sense. They’re not only scary guard dogs,but providers. It simply can’t be argued that the Troupe’s existence has no positive effects,when it changes everything for Meteor City!

Why then are they “failed” robinhoods? Because while they’re effective,they can’t change the world. They can only scare off the Mafia while they exist,should the Spider die it could all revert back. And also because they can’t help everybody. The cost of their constructive ends is destruction.

While I believe the Kurta clan massacre had other reasons,would it not be the perfect way to show the elders the Troupe is both capable of cruelty for the sake of their community and fit to provide money? “Oh you think you need the Mafia? Watch this.”

In that way they wouldn’t even need to hate the clan,it would merely be killing outsider children for the sake of Meteorian children.

It perfectly shows how trying to achieve radical change in an unfair world can drive one to insanity. “Robinhoods” seem noble. The work that the Troupe does can’t be noble. Just like Kurapika’s quest isn’t righteous,as much as he wishes it was.

Wanting safety for the kids of Meteor City is natural,but it seems unattainable.

Is the thesis here that you can’t help Meteor City without killing someone? Yes. It doesn’t mean killing the kurtas,but it means killing the Mafia. And killing the Mafia often= normalisation of killing. The more often you do it the easier it is,and the lesser justification is required. Eventually,that means killing the Kurtas.

The idea is that they couldn’t keep doing what they did without eroding their morals to the point they’re at now.

They can’t remain pure. But they have to do something.

Meteor City seems like an unsolvable tragedy. It’s sucks up all the misery and filth of the world, and while it’s supposed to represent hope and be a safe place for all the lost,that’s an unattainable ideal.

There will always be people in need is such a place. It’s like the shadow of the World, which is the actual problem. Meteor City is everything that is right and wrong with humanity.

And the saddest part? Any state of peace is fragile. ALL of the Troupe’s achievements might be lost once it’s gone.

So it really was all for nothing? And how is Chrollo supposed to keep caring about human lives back at home when he has ended countless lives himself? How can he feel any attachment to humanity when he uses bodies as bombs and sees himself as a worthless hostage?

If he doesn’t feel it tho..what’s even the point? No wonder bro is lost

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The Quartet That Started It All

As followers of this blog will note, this is not actually the quartet that started it all for me, but it DID launch author Tamora Pierce's career in the 1980s, and Alanna remains absolutely beloved among Pierce's heroines. Let's talk the Song of the Lioness Quartet.

In a classic case of "if I can't do this as a girl, then I'll do this as a boy and I have a handy twin brother to go full Twelfth Night with," Alanna of Trebond begins The First Adventure by dressing as a boy to train as a page in Tortall's royal court. This book introduces all our main characters and establishes Alan the page amongst his peers and Alanna as she finds herself and her place in chivalry.

One of the other amazing things about Alanna's story overall is that she begins it absolutely terrified of her own magical gift. Her arc includes learning to work with her magic rather than to fear it, and that's a twist on magic users that I really appreciated. We often get overly confident magic users--indeed, we'll get TWO of them later in the series--but it's rare that we get magic users who are fully aware of their powers and are still absolutely terrified of them. So of course, the story and the world and Pierce herself keep throwing Alanna into situations where she has no choice but to develop and use her gift. It's so, so good. This first book covers Alanna's page years, and we move into her squire years in book two.

In the Hand of the Goddess really expands on Alanna's key relationship with Prince Jon on Conte, Duke Roger of Conte, and Geroge Cooper. Alanna moves into a wider world of adult politics and stakes in this book. From being able to defeat an older, stronger, and more experienced opponent in a duel to developing her healing skills when a wound puts her out of commission during a war, Alanna cements her skills, connections, and position in society. This culminates with unmasking Roger as an attempting regicide and the accidental reveal of her gender.

This book is really, really good, and extends Alanna's childhood fear of magic to her fear of Roger specifically in a really natural, logical way. I could say more about the details, but these two books have an episodic vibe to them, so I won't spend too much time exploring every single key plot event.

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man sees Alanna spending her first year as a knight in the desert, with a Bazhir tribe. She becomes their shaman by way of self-defense; she murders their first shaman when he tries to murder her for "being unnatural." Then it falls to Alanna to train three magic users for the tribe, and this is where we see more nuance into how different magic users relate to their powers, from sheer hubris to fear to "this is just part of me, let's do this." It's a phenomenal experience for Alanna, and she learns as much from her students as they do

Book three also sees Jonathan bitching to hell and back about having to be king, which is not a great look, and it's one Alanna calls him on. He spends most of the book alternating between pitching a hissy fit, begging Alanna to marry him, and training to take over as Voice of the Tribes. The interesting thing here is that Alanna refuses to marry Jon. He is trying to fit Alanna into his own fairy tale, and she very much goes "That isn't our relationship, I can't do that. We aren't meant to be like that, and that's ok." If I could inject that lesson into humanity's collective head, I would. It's well done and it's great.

Lioness Rampant picks up on Alanna's travels after she leaves the Bazhir, and eventually sees her return to Corus with a magical artifact to help secure Jonathan's position as king.

There's also the teeny tiny complication that Alanna's twin brother, Thom, has resurrected Duke Roger. Absolute chaos ensues, and Roger almost manages to take out the entire court during Jonathan's coronation. Nobody should have to kill an evil sorceror twice, but Alanna did.

If you want to dive into Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe, starting with Alanna is absolutely a good choice. These books hold a very soft spot in my heart, and they're never not engaging.

[sonicjustbecause]

The Sonic 3 Trailer lacks of both spoiler and context, and that is about how a trailer should be. We already know what it is about. We only needed to see few scenes to make sure it might look good (or bad, it depends on what we except).

Now, I've seen a couple of crazy theories I've read and I believe both of them won't happen. I'll explain

Tom getting killed

Won't happens anything different to Tom that didn't happen before. he will be at worst knock out/neutralized and go off screen. Like in Sonic 1 (punched by Eggman) and Sonic 2 (encircled by flames)

Such happening would be the complete Shadow's assasination as character. We as fan won't forgive him and also this would push Shadow in the villains realm.

The past characterization.

Original Shadow (Adventure/Heroes/06) was very tame. There is a video on YT that analyze how Shadow behaves toward the world and underline the lack of destruction and violence in SA2, as opposite as we see in Sonic X and ShtH05.

in Sonic-X they changed slightly Shadow's personality, removing his intellectual and contemplative nature and replacing it with a more brash and violent personality. But even there, they prevented Shadow from killing Cosmo, making him acting like a cat who plays with his prey instead of being efficient (slow pace, talking, missing aim despite the short distance and when the thing failed just giving up on that). Shadow could have act smartly simply killing Cosmo in her sleep. As I say, I think they wanted to save his reputation.

In Sonic Force he indeed killed Infinite's squad. His first kill, most likely. Small fries, while leaving the boss alive, evil and stupid considering the aftermath. They saved Shadow's reputation by making Infinite lame and obnoxious and by not showing his gang at all (so we don't get attachted and we still cheer for Shadow). Sort of telling without actually showing anything.

Similar cases and why those characters have been tamed out.

Lupin III had a super rough star. His author got inspired by underground Western comics of the '60s and the original Lupin III was not a thief and a cheerful anti-hero. Lupin was originally a real godfather, a mafia boss, and despite he was mostly accompanied by Jigen and Goemon (who weren't really characterized back then) he had all underdogs, picciottos and so on under his rule. He did steal, but also he killed innocents, he raped women (includin Fujiko) and did several other hideous things.

Evil protagonists don't last long. They either get overhauled or they die like Light Yagami.

For this Lupin had to be tamed. Lupin killed less and less and more and more only with a reason and was more and more gentle with the innocents, including his main foe. And lastly he just virtually stopped to kill.

He's not the only one, many protagonists were born as unremedable villain and then they have been turned into antiheroes... or even heroes. Villanous protagonists never last long.

Shadow is beloved mostly because of his original personality. I noticed in most fan work, he is characterized the way he was in Sonic Adventure 2/Heroes/06 or Prime. Sometimes like in Sonic X and Shadow 05. Rarely like modern Shadow.

Back to Shadow

"What did you do?"

"What I had to!"

Those lines may be related to anything and everything. They might be related to Shadow's attempt to destroy the world like in SA2.

"I had to keep my promise!"

"What I had to do" suggest me something Shadow did not because he wanted to but for an external obiective. It might be world safety, keeping a promise, preventing the Sun going red giant, anything. Maybe even destroying Metal Sonic (if he appears like some rumor suggest) after Sonic convinced him to join the good side. Shadow has a long story dealing with living weapons.

Shadow stealing Stone's bike

Simply impossible. I already said Shadow's size is comparable to the size of a five years old child, about 1m tall. Stone is a 1,78m tall adult.

How Shadow would look on Stone's bike. It would be good material for the memes. And even if he would be able to ride an adult designed bike, he would be unable to do the Akira thing.

[pinksunsetsandstarrynights]

Adamsapple Harvest: Urban Legends

So this fill has nothing to do with the Human AU I wrote about in my other fills. I got the idea for this one while watching a Papa Meat video about asylums and one of the images in the video looked quite different from the corner of my eye...

Just a heads-up the Adamsapple is very light in this one.

"Remember to watch where you step," Adam warned his younger cousin, "and keep your grip on your flashlight, Butterfingers!"

"I'm not going to drop it," Peter answered back, annoyed. "I drop one of Emily's figurines one time…"

"I mean it, Peter. These abandoned places can be dangerous if you're not careful." Adam was really starting to wish that Emily hadn't insisted that he let Peter tag along for some "much needed family bonding."

Yeah, right.

Adam knew she just wanted her brother to be out the house so she could have a date over. It was good timing too since Aunt Sera would still be out of town for another day. Now normally Adam wouldn't mind helping Emily out so she could score some pussy, but he wasn’t checking out an old house this time.

It was a three story mental asylum miles outside of town with a long history of malpractice and patient death until it finally closed its doors sixty years ago thanks to a basement fire. The kids trying to scare their friends liked to say that the fire was the result of dark rituals that used the patients as sacrifices. Obviously that was bullshit. The story that the adults liked to gossip about was that it was arson, done to collect insurance on the property.

In Adam’s opinion, it was caused by probably the most overlooked and boring theory: an electrical fire that got out of hand. The asylum had become more run down in its later years, so faulty wiring wouldn't be unexpected.

But whatever reasoning for the asylum's closure, it wasn't the kind of place anyone would take their skittish teenage cousin. And honestly, it wasn't the kind of place a braver person should visit alone either. Adam had been planning to explore the place with his best friend, Lute, but she bailed on him at the very last minute. Just before Emily suggested that he take Peter instead.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why Lute changed her mind.

He wasn't mad about that, but damn it, Peter was not a good substitute. Adam wouldn't be surprised if their trip ended up being cut ridiculously short because Peter freaked out over some rats scurrying around. And if it did, then Lute was going to owe him big time.

---

It was so far so good, surprisingly.

There wasn't much inside, most of the furniture was gone. Strangely, there was no graffiti indoors, even though the outside was tagged to hell. Adam guessed that the stories were enough to keep taggers from actually going inside. Peter was still looking anxious, but when he was asked if he wanted to wait in the car, he insisted on staying.

Whatever. As long as Peter didn't start screaming his ear off, Adam will ignore the teenager's obvious trembling.

Less natural light was shining through the windows and the flashlights were now being kept on. Sunset was coming, so they would have to leave soon. But there was one more place Adam wanted to get a look at first...

"The basement-?!" Peter cried out before stifling himself, his eyes darting around the administration office. "But Adam," he continued in a frightened whisper, "that's where they killed those poor people for blood sacrifices!"

For fuck’s sake…

"Dude, there were no evil rituals in the basement. There's no such thing as black magic," Adam firmly told him. "The only creepy shit that happened here was just normal shitty people doing fucked up treatments and that ended years ago."

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

"Look, how about we both go down the staircase together and if you see anything before we get off the stairs, we'll turn right around and go home. Sound fair?"

"…I'm not going into the basement even if I don't see anything, " Peter stated quietly.

"Then you don't have to. Just stay on the stairs and shine some extra light for me."

Peter agreed and surprisingly took the lead down the staircase. "So I can keep an eye out better."

They took it slow, much to Adam's chagrin. At this rate, it was going to be pitch black outside by the time they leave. After fucking forever, Peter reached the bottom of the staircase, the beam of his flashlight moved frantically around the basement before suddenly freezing on one spot.

"Uh, Peter...?" Adam asked. "Do you see something?"

Peter didn't answer, instead turning around and shoving Adam out of his way back up the stairs.

Adam ended up tripping on the final steps and landed hard onto the floor. Pain lit up his senses as the taste of iron filled his mouth. The sound of Peter's retreating steps was echoing in his ears.

Did that fucker seriously just shove him and leave him here?! Adam huffed, yeah he so wasn't contributing to Peter's college fund after this bullshit. Fucking asshole.

He got himself back onto his feet, ignoring the stinging on his palms and knees. It was dark as hell here. Thankfully there was a beam of light cutting through the dark. Adam was lucky his flashlight didn’t shut off from the fall. He spat out the blood in his mouth and took a few steps toward the light. He grabbed his flashlight and aimed the beam around the basement. Now what did Peter see that made him bolt out like that. It better not have been a damn piece of burnt furniture...

That wasn't burnt furniture.

Adam felt sick. His heart began to race and his hands became clammy.

Furniture wasn't made up of charred bones.

Oh god, he could see a face...

There was fresh, red blood right on its lips, the stretched skin of which were frozen in mid-wail. Fuck his life, he desecrated a corpse...

Alright, Adam, just stay calm. You just need to get out of here and then you can call 911 to report the body. Okay? That's the game plan. Now turn around and leave.

What was that?

D-did those fingers just twitch...?

No, he's just stressed. It's not everyday you find a body. He should probably stop looking at-

Adam dropped his flashlight and took off running back toward the stairs.

Corpses don't lick blood off their lips!

He practically flew up the steps and didn't stop running once he reached the top. He needed to get the fuck out of here. There was still just enough sunlight that Adam could see where he was going.

Right.

Left.

Left.

He can see the front lobby!

His lungs were burning, but that didn't matter. He only needed ten more feet to reach freedom!

Adam's fingers skimmed the door knob of the exit.

So close!

Strong limbs wrapped themselves around him and yanked him back.

"Nooo!" Adam yelled, hope snatched away at the last possible second.

He stumbled onto his ass and before he could even try to get up, a hand - so pale that it practically glowed under the growing shadows - covered his mouth.

Adam moaned in despair. He was going to die in this shithole.

"Shhh… I won't hurt you, I won't hurt you," the voice, a harsh rasp from disuse and thirst, whispered. "I only want to make you scream."

Adam didn't believe it. He whimpered, and struggled some more. He knew no one would be coming to save him.

"Shhh... You'll love it," The creature murmured in his ear before licking the tears off Adam’s cheek, making him shudder. "My savior."

Adam's screams echoed throughout the asylum that night, left unheard by his cousin as he ran down the dirt road back toward civilization.

[desertfangs]

I haven't yet read the books (there's so many!) I've only watched the iwtv movie and TV show and I love Claudia in both but I've had people tell me in the books she's awful and considered to be one of the series villains. Idc about spoilers I just wanna know how true that is bc I dunno if I'd want to read that lol

Hi anon! I was excited to see your ask this morning because I'm gonna tell you something: Claudia was one of my first favorite characters in the series and her death devastated me. Louis was my first fav (understandable, he's literally the protagonist of the first book, we're meant to sympathize with him!) and when he lost Claudia and became numb in his grief, I related. I hated Armand for what happened to Claudia and I held a grudge for a long time.

Anyhow, I can't speak to the show so much as I've only seen season 1, but if you like the 94 movie, you will probably like the novel Interview with the Vampire. It's a pretty close adaptation.

To get to the heart of your question, no, Claudia not an awful villain. Anymore than Louis or Lestat are. If anyone is a villain in IwtV, it's Armand, and even he is not a mustache-twirling evil guy.* Everyone in this series in morally gray and does terrible stuff. I emphasize that because I've been in this fandom for a long time and I've seen all kinds of arguments about who is evil and who is not, and the fact is, all of our vampires do questionable things. That's sort of the point. So it's arguable how much there even is a villain in IwtV outside of Louis' own depression and grief, but Armand probably gets that honor.

Claudia in the books was turned around the age of 5. She is a very small, doll-like child who doesn't seem to retain much, if any, memory of her human life. She is more purely a vampire than Louis or Lestat can really fathom because she lacks that humanity and a connection to humans. She's a natural hunter and killer.

She doesn't understand Louis' sentimentality for humans, and resents Lestat for withholding information she knows he has about their kind. She is a complex and fascinating woman trapped in the body of a small child to the point where even Louis, who loves her dearly, cannot really see her as an adult and struggles to accept her agency. She does manipulate both her parents, in part because they don't often see her as a capable equal, which she very much is.

She does eventually rise up to kill to Lestat out of desperation. She believes he will not let Louis go and knows she can't travel around alone, given her appearance. Lestat himself is devastated by this and by her loss, and even says later he understands why she did it. That he probably deserved it for what he'd done to her, which was trap her forever in the body of a very young child, something he admits was selfish. (And something Marius had actually warned him against doing beforehand, LOL!!)

Like in the movie and the show, she does die at the Theatre des Vampires, and Armand is more responsible for that than I've heard he is on the show (he tells Louis he couldn't have stopped it, only to later reveal he orchestrated it, which Louis knew the whole time).

She appears later in The Tale of the Body Thief mocking Lestat and acting as a sort of voice for his subconscious, but she is just his hallucination in he book. He's dealing with a lot of trauma and grief and that manifests itself as Claudia's ghost.

Where you might be hearing she's a villain is from Merrick, where both her diary and spirit appear and are... not very nice. I gotta say, I am not convinced that is actually the spirit of Claudia that gets conjured, and even if it is, it's possible she's been warped somehow. But I also haven't read that book in decades and often tend to ignore it, so I am not an expert on that score.

I hope this helps! I'm always happy to answer questions about the books! (They are my special interest, if you cannot tell.)

But I do want to say that if you are a fan of the show and curious about the books--which are very different!--I highly recommend you read at least the first few yourself. The best way to judge if you'll like the book versions of the characters and story is to experience it yourself. There's a lot of misinformation that gets passed along about the books, and a lot of misinterpretation due to that because people just repeat what they've heard without having read them. And hey, they still may not be your cup of tea, and that's totally fine! But you won't know if you don't try, you know?

Anyhow, thank you so much for the ask! 💖 Claudia is awesome and deserves more love in the book fandom, but because she dies so early on, she doesn't get as much attention sadly.

*And even when he is, we love him.

[jubileemon]

Helluva Boss: The Controversy Around Stella's Character

After "The Circus" premiered, there was a decent amount of controversy regarding her portrayal. There are a decent number of fans who were upset that Stella is portrayed as the bad guy in Stolas' marriage. This is mainly due to people hating Stolas because he cheated, not caring that Stella abused him for their entire marriage and made him miserable. Others aren't as mad, but wish Stella had more personality.

While others aren't as mad, some people wish Stella had more personality. Another group knows that Stella was always evil due to her prior appearances and were expecting something like this.

Stella Goetia's malevolent nature was evident from her youth, as depicted in a disturbing photograph where she is seen strangling her pet dogs. This early sign of cruelty foreshadows the abusive tendencies that manifest in her adult life. If that picture was meant to endear Stolas to the prospect of marrying her, it suggests either that Paimon has no qualms about animal abuse or that said cruelty has become "normalized" in the Goetia household.

As it turns out, Stolas only married Stella because his father Paimon arranged it in the hopes that Stolas would father a powerful new addition to the family. As this episode shows, their marriage was absolutely miserable, to the point that Stella threw parties about how they hadn't divorced yet and talks trash about him to her friends while he's in earshot. While Stella gossips with her friends, she tells them how terrible in bed Stolas was, and how he just blankly stared at the ceiling while she did all of the work. She then gloats how happy she was that at least an egg popped out of her so she didn't have to pretend like she wanted to have sex with Stolas, but all Stolas can do is glower and order something stronger than wine to calm himself.

Special mention to the part where Stella merely refers to Octavia as "an egg", further hinting at the neglectful nature of Stella's relationship to her own daughter at best and viewing her as little more than a necessity to the family at worst.

For many years, she has belittled and humiliated Stolas. As for why Stella's still hanging around the mansion at this point, well, if her behavior at the parties in the past didn't make it clear, she likes to see him suffer. Her admission that she derives pleasure from tormenting her husband reveals her sadistic tendencies. Even when faced with the consequences of her actions, Stella's response is to threaten further aggression and leverage her status to intimidate. Even if their marriage was arranged and he wasn't at all happy, even if he only tried to preserve it for the sake of Octavia's home life, Stolas has had enough and demands a divorce.

Stella's reaction doesn't make it much better. Not only is she more upset about her stung pride than anything else, she takes a vicious satisfaction in pointing out that Stolas has pretty much ruined his own reputation by now, and that he'll be punished for it. She also moves to try to hit Stolas for demanding a divorce and standing up to her, the fact he catches her hand so quickly as she tries to slap him suggests that she likely has physically abused him before. In a drastic escalation of her vindictive behavior, Stella hires an assassin to murder Stolas, showing a callous indifference to the emotional trauma this could inflict on Octavia, especially at a time when father and daughter are mending their relationship.

Stella is also rather single-minded and short-sighted in her efforts to kill Stolas. She was willing to demand Striker to kill him over the phone with both her husband and daughter present at the family’s dinner table, not even being sneaky about it. In "Western Energy", her inability to grasp the consequences of her husband's potential assassination, as pointed out by her brother Andrealphus, suggests a lack of understanding of the ramifications of her actions. This raises questions about her awareness of the inheritance laws in Hell, which would see her daughter Octavia inherit everything, leaving Stella with nothing post-divorce.

Stella's reliance on her brother Andrealphus during critical moments, such as the divorce proceedings and the decision to call off a hit on her husband, indicates a dependency on external guidance for decision-making. Andrealphus appears to be the voice of reason, prompting speculation about whether Stella's actions are driven by emotional impulsivity rather than calculated intent.

Now that we know Stella hates being married to Stolas as much as he hates being married to her, why didn't she signed up for divorce as soon as Octavia was hatched? Stolas endured for the sake of Octavia having a normal life, but for what reason Stella stayed? It couldn't be for the prestige, since Stella using her brother as leverage against Stolas implies it's actually she the one with a higher ranked family. So my theory is that Stella's life was in the line unless she accepted to marry Stolas. Probably her family only saw her as an exchange piece in the game of power, and if she didn't play along until death do her apart from Stolas, it would be her the one to be disposed of.

It will explain why she's just so angry all the time and the reason why she resents, belittles and abuses Stolas: she sees him as the reason of her own imprisonment in this unwanted marriage. And before someone says it's too much of a stretch, remember this is Hell. If she can contract a hitman on her husband within earshot of him and he doesn't bat an eye, who can tell nobles don't dispose of troublesome children that don't fall in line to the family's desires? After all, Paimon has a lot of kids, so the other families might as well; they have plenty of spares.

Stella is a cautionary tale about people being born into privilege who think their status allows them to get away with everything She'll genuinely believe that because she's a denizen of Hell who's born into royalty, Stella can get off with abusing Stolas scot-free.

[bonefall]

what do you of "the man who sold the world" for fallenleaf? friend is getting me into nirvana and i cant do anything without thinking of the Beasts

Hmm... honestly? I think it fits other characters much better!

Man Who Sold The World always reads to me as like... a dangerous character, could be a demon, could be an evil parent, could be a more literal villain in some kind of story, who has unambiguously gotten its ass kicked and banished. In its defeat, it realizes that it can turn it around; by trying to convince one of their Victims to join them.

And succeeding.

(and it's why Nirvana's version is my favorite, Cobain's voice is just the right amount of hoarse that makes me feel like the Victim Character has lost a lot of sleep over it. Vulnerable and open to the offer of the Villain, possibly on the brink of desperation in their own life. It has that sort of angsty-young-adult madness that makes choosing bad decisions sooo much easier. Bowie's and Ure's versions are also fantastic, but imo they're a lot more dreamlike, like the victim is being more entranced than convinced!)

The song isn't about breaking out of that cycle. It's about "laughing and shaking his hand," returning home almost unaware of any change. But over many years, in tiny little ways that add up into even bigger ones, slowly the Victim becomes another man who sold the world.

They doesn't even realize when they died alone along their quest, just that it must have been long, long ago.

Some of that fits Fallenleaf, but it's not quite the same vibe. She killed Ashfur in revenge. She sought out Sol and took his deal for power, and tried to kill her own brother. She subjugated an entire Ancient Lake society-- and the only thing she can really blame Sol for is how it got bored of her and kicked her out of her own body.

Those were things she did. And they're things she lives with. Trickery was less a part of it than she might have wanted to believe at some point in her long, guilty life.

NATURALLY I'm inspired by Cheecat's really great animation they made with Brambleclaw and Tigerstar, and I think it fits Tigerstar to a T, but who I always think of is Hawkfrost.

Especially in BB, where RiverClan raised him to lean into his legacy. Not Clanborn, from a young age he had to work twice as hard, prove that he and his sister were "worth" keeping around, told that they were only protected by that diluted Tigerkin blood that trickles through their veins and that Tigerstar was an ideal to live up to...

Only the thinnest veneers of, "Be what he was, without his flaws" to hold him back from fully adopting everything his father ever stood for. A father he never met, who hurt his mother, who killed and traumatized countless clanmates.

And then Hawkfrost sees him. The song kicks in. "I thought you died alone, a long long time ago."

"Not me. I never lost control." It means that those "flaws," they weren't so bad. "You're face to face with the man who sold the world" and I can teach you the value of that.

He leaves that exchange feeling warm. "I laughed and shook his hand." He goes through the destruction of the forest (looking for form), the great journey (and land), and eventually finds himself in all the conflicts of TNP. No one knows at what point he stopped being the noble young warrior who stood up for Reedpaw against his tormenters, or when wanting to protect his sister became abuse and belittling.

But at some point, he died alone, long before his heart stopped beating on that stake.

He ends up in the Dark Forest with his father, preparing for the change that's coming in OotS, but not by the end of the song. At the end of the song his father has successfully dragged him down to his level, singing the same tune, trying to pretend that his dad getting him pointlessly shish-kebabed for a petty personal dispute wasn't a critical L to the chest.

[talonabraxas]

The Transmutation of Jacob Boehme

“I did not climb up into the Godhead, neither can so mean a man as I am do it; but the Godhead climbed up in me, and revealed such to me out of His love, which otherwise I would have had to leave it quite alone in my half-dead fleshly birth.”

(Jacob Boehme, Aurora, VIII, 7)

Four years prior to the birth of John Bunyan, a shoemaker named Jacob Boehme died in the village of Goerlitz, Germany. Throughout his adult life Boehme had supported his wife and children by laboring at a rough and dingy workbench. But he was more than a cobbler; for as Alexander Whyte observes, “While working with his hands, Jacob Boehme’s whole life was spent in the deepest and the most original thought; in piercing visions of God and of nature; in prayer, in praise, and in love to God and man.”

Under the spell of Paracelsus, Boehme had in his youth taken a keen interest in alchemy. But in his maturer years, disillusioned with what he came to regard as the groundless claims of the science of transformation, he began increasingly to attach a spiritual and eternal significance to its conceptual framework. In the process his outlook altered radically; yet when speaking of this profound inward change, he naturally reverted to the language he knew best – the argot of the old spagyric art.

There was a difference, however. For now when he referred to the Philosopher’s Stone, Boehme no longer envisioned a magical catalyst possessing the power to turn one substance into another. Instead, he understood the Stone as an image of the New Birth. And so it happened that Jacob Boehme, shoemaker and alchemist, abandoned his efforts to transform lead into gold and exchanged them for a quest to be transformed in the inner man.

In the story of The Sword of Paracelsus, Morgan’s father, John Izaak, finds himself compelled to follow a similar quest. This part of the tale is, admittedly, wrapped in shadow. Yet as it unfolds, one thing becomes sufficiently clear: it is largely under the influence of Jacob Boehme that Izaak has set out upon his journey – inspired, we may imagine, by passages like the following:

“The eternal fire is magical, and a spirit, and dies not. It is the same fire as a dying, yet there is no dying, but an entrance into another source, that is, out of a painful desire into a love-desire …”

(The Signature of All Things)

“For man’s happiness consists in this, that he has in him a true desire after God; for out of the desire springs the love. And the love tinctures the death and darkness, that it is again capable of the divine sunshine.”

(Ibid.)

“He that will not seek thereby a new man born in God, and apply himself diligently thereto, let him not meddle with my writings. I have not written anything for such a seeker, and also he shall not be able to apprehend our meaning fundamentally though he strives never so much about it, unless he enters into the resignation in Christ. For the way is childlike, plain and easy.”

(Ibid.)

“Awaken in me the fire of Your great love. Ignite it, O Lord, so that my soul and mind may see these evil beasts and kill them by means of proper, true repentance and Your power.”

(The Way to Christ)

“If love dwelt not in trouble, it could have nothing to love.”

(The Supersensual Life)

This is the true alchemy as Jacob Boehme — and John Izaak — understood it.

[ Artist • Jakob Böhme ]

[verdemoun]

What do you think Arthur's and Isaac's relationship is like? Technically, Isaac is around Jack's age, which by 1899 standards is a Fully Functioning Adult. But then again, that's Arthur's boy. The one who was killed so brutally by bandits. And he can see his boy again and raise him. How do they function together? Imo it's The One Very Overlooked Thing in this au how come none of us wanted it in depth yet ;-; them

YES FINALLY MY BOYS timewarp is really just a super convoluted Isaac lives au I love him so much.

Did you know because I am evil and vile my hc is Isaac + Eliza died 1896. Arthur hadn't seen them in an unusually long time because he was trying to help Abigail with Jack in John's absence. He asked Abigail's permission before going to see his son for his 6th birthday only to find their graves. :)

1896 was a very dark year for the VDLs between John deserting and then Arthur very much rendered useless by mourning. Esp because not all of the gang knew why Arthur was so broken it was really only the OGs + Abigail he told about Isaac. If not for the fact they happened to pick up the Callander boys in 1896 after Isaac's death it very much could have been the end of the VDLs.

Hosea in timewarp was the first to think oh shit I should check if Eliza and Isaac also got timewarped. I have a feeling I have written notes about this somewhere but I can't find them so I will re-iterate. Eliza is again working as a waitress and with much help from single mothers groups and community services got Isaac enrolled in school. She is overjoyed to see Hosea, pulls him into a hug, is so excited to see him and relieved realizing there are actually others who know about timewarp. She's been barely getting by learning how to not sound crazy so services wouldn't try to take her boy away and having to deal with modern era all alone.

Naturally Eliza very tentatively asks if Arthur is there (because of course that would mean he's died which is still upsetting) but it is before Arthur timewarps.

Isaac is 9 and fairly well adjusted to modern era but still 'knowing you got murdered and might not ever see your dad again' he's got some adolescent angst going on and is a certified shit. Very stiff and awkward meeting members of the gang he should already know, like he has no memories of 'Uncle Hosea'. Hosea and Bessie immediately start helping Eliza out as much as they can but she's a very stubborn strong-willed Abigail Roberts style mother she has been taking care of things all on her own and doing pretty well for herself.

Eliza and Hosea discussing how to actually tell Arthur and Isaac that they're going to be reunited. Like let's say Arthur died a few months after Hosea ignoring canon dates. Eliza agreed that letting Arthur try to settle into modern era first would be best - because it's been years like they're not entirely sure how either one will react??

Not immediately bringing them up with Arthur the same way they handled what happened to Dutch post-1899 - It is the one time, the one time in Arthur's entire life, he punched Hosea. Finding out his boy was alive and Hosea didn't immediately tell him. Would have sprinted out of the house to find them himself if he knew the address.

Eliza was thrilled to see Arthur again because her best friend is back. They were never really romantically involved Isaac was conceived during a one-time very drunk 'let's have sex to break the tension' because they were such good friends. Yes problematic age gap it was a different era and Arthur still very much regretted it I should probably make a canon era post about my Isaac hcs later. But she knows as happy as Arthur is to see her alive and okay he really just wants to see his son.

Isaac, all grown up, 9 years old, sitting at the table very crankily doing his homework only to look up and see his dad? Instant. Instant joy. He is no longer too old to be hugged he is running jumping into his dad's arms and Arthur is very much trying not to cry because he's so big now.

From the time he was old enough to have sentient thoughts Isaac idolized his dad. All of his happy childhood memories are Arthur's visits. The fact Arthur was gone sometimes was as normal as having a parent who travelled for work he really didn't know any different. And Isaac is a smart kid as upsetting as it was growing up in modern era for a solid 3-4 years without his dad he understood it wasn't Arthur's fault.

He also never blamed Arthur for not being there to prevent their murders even though it is really obviously something Arthur will never forgive himself for (and to an extent, John, who's stubborn abandoning of his own family is part of the reason Arthur wasn't around as often as he had been, even though that in no way means he would have been there or able to prevent their murders).

It is entirely possible if Arthur was there he could have been killed too. Hosea actually said as much at the time Arthur was mourning, which lead to the very distressing revelation Arthur was suicidal with grief and his weapons being confiscated.

Back to the point Arthur is very determined to be a consistent presence in Isaac's life in timewarp and they are constantly doing father-son activities. This is heavily based on Arthur's 1899 ideas of parenthood which Isaac is fine with. Yes Arthur is teaching him how to camp and hunt and they're going fishing together and how to clean and use a gun despite most of their households being 'no guns'. Trying to get him into horse riding but Isaac not really getting it which breaks Arthur's heart a teenie tiny bit.

Arthur is also very willing to learn about modern era parenting and thinks one of the best things about modern era is how much childhood as a concept has changed. Yes he will go to all the dumb school events and learn about Isaac's modern hobbies so he can do them with him too. They build cars together. Encourages Isaac's interest in music, pushing him to actually play guitar in front of people instead of just in his room. No he does not understand going to concerts and paying hundreds for tickets but it is worth it to see how mind-blowingly excited Isaac gets over watching some random group of men sing in a packed arena.

Arthur also timewarped in time to deal with all Isaac's teenage bullshit which is. Actually the hardest thing he has ever done in his life. Isaac's teenage phase makes young John Marston era seem tame.

He is very strict on 'you are smart you are going to school you are not becoming a gunslinger or outlaw' despite the latter sentiment being very outdated. However Isaac is still consistently skipping school as he gets older to go to protests because he has that VDL sense of social justice.

Poor Arthur is in denial about how much of a shit his son is for so long. He adores him so much and wants to believe he can do no wrong but there's only so many times you can get called into school for fistfights or your teenage son gets picked up by cops before admitting Isaac is as unruly as Arthur was at that age.

But still absolutely mutually unconditional love. Isaac being a child when he timewarped is the most adjusted and will help his dad with tech and modern era things, meanwhile Arthur might still tell him he's grounded for getting arrested defacing statues of colonizers but also buys him McDonalds on the way home. Sorry John and Jack are both bitterly jealous over what a good relationship Arthur and Isaac have.

[icedragonlizard]

Headcanons for how mirror world counterparts work in my Kirbyverse

In my headcanons, not everyone has a mirror world counterpart. In fact, only a select few of them do. Other than that, the mirror world just naturally created an ecosystem that mirrors the real world in a more generalized sense, as most of its people don't correspond to exact individuals in the real world.

The few existent mirror worlders that are counterparts to exact individuals were created by Dark Mind back when it was trying to conquer the mirror world.

Dark Meta Knight, Shadow Kirby, Shadow Dedede and Dark Taranza are all creations of Dark Mind. They exist because the four people that they correspond to came in close contact with dimensional mirrors, which allowed Dark Mind to create those four entities to use as pawns to help carry out its evil deeds.

One of them never followed its orders, though. Shadow Kirby is the outlier of Dark Mind's creations. He's the only one here that never obeyed Dark Mind, as he immediately defected. In contrast, the other three did obey Dark Mind, and did so up until the bitter end.

More info down below! This became a long post so I'm putting a 'Keep reading' tag so you can read the rest of it after clicking it.

Here are the specific circumstances for how Dark Mind created the four entities:

-Dark Meta Knight first came into existence at the beginning of Amazing Mirror when Meta Knight entered the mirror world. Dark Mind processed Meta Knight and then created DMK to distract him while it was conquering the mirror world.

-Shadow Kirby, much like DMK, also came into existence at the start of AM. When Kirby entered the mirror world, Dark Mind processed him and created Skirby in an attempt to distract Kirby, but this failed because Skirby immediately became disobedient. Dark Mind shrugged as it then let Skirby be, believing it didn't need him as DMK was doing well enough as a servant for it at the time.

-Shadow Dedede came into existence midway during Amazing Mirror when King Dedede tried examining the dimensional mirror that Meta Knight and Kirby went through after learning they entered it. At this moment, Dark Mind processed Dedede and then created Shadedede, which then showed up inside the mirror and scared Dedede off. This also made Dedede worried about Meta and Kirby until AM's ending when they came out of it okay.

-Dark Taranza came into existence while Taranza was gifting a dimensional mirror to Joronia. This happened midway during AM, when Dark Mind was still at its prime and was capable of creating Daranza after it processed Taranza being in contact with a mirror.

These four entities also first spawned into existence as the same age as their counterparts when Dark Mind created them. This means that DMK, Shadedede and Daranza never had childhoods as they quite literally spawned as adults... because Meta Knight, Dedede and Taranza are all adults. Skirby, however, is indeed a kid because Kirby is a kid.

Worth of note that immediately after Amazing Mirror's ending, Dark Mind didn't fully die. At first, it was reduced to a small fragment. And even though it was severely weakened and couldn't do much on its own, it was still capable of making DMK, Shadedede and Daranza follow its orders.

This didn't last forever, though, as eventually even the fragment was killed. After AM, Shadow Kirby then came to Kirby and asked for help on how to use copy abilities. After enough training, Skirby then sought out the Dark Mind fragment and then destroyed it with Sword many after years after AM, which was the blow that ended Dark Mind's life for good.

.... But not before Dark Mind, in fragment form, managed to pull something off with the help of its three still-obedient servants.

It was desperately trying to extend its metaphorical tentacles outside of the mirror world in an attempt to regrow itself, as it ordered its servants to search for people that were using dimensional mirrors.

They did find someone... that someone being Joronia. Dark Mind's servants observed Joronia using a mirror, the same one that Taranza gifted her years earlier. Dark Mind saw an opportunity in this, as it then ordered its servants to feed her dark magic in an attempt to spread its influence, desperate to do so after losing much of its power after what Kirby did to it.

In my headcanon verse, Sectonia's corruption was the combined effort of Dark Mind, Dark Meta Knight, Shadow Dedede and Dark Taranza.

^ Taranza would vehemently hate all of them if he met them. He already met DMK during Star Allies and basically wants him dead. If he met Shadedede and Daranza, he'd also want them dead. Fortunately, Dark Mind is already gone.

Sometime after Joronia got corrupted, Skirby then found Dark Mind's fragment and killed the evil monster for good, effectively freeing DMK, Shadedede and Daranza of its influence.

Skirby managed to befriend DMK, but he wasn't able to befriend the other two who were being especially insufferable to him. They just moved on without letting Skirby in their life, and they also hold a grudge against DMK because they deem him as a 'traitor' for allowing himself to become friends with Skirby, the person that permanently killed their master for good.

To quickly reiterate: Dark Mind is indeed dead now in the modern day of my Kirbyverse, but it took some time after AM. He didn't immediately fully die after the game's events, as what Kirby did just reduced him to a fragment that was still capable of making its servants listen to it. But many years afterwards, Skirby, after being trained by Kirby, then destroyed Dark Mind's fragment, killing it for real.

Dark Mind's "true death" in my headcanons was done in the hands of one of its creations. LOL. Its disobedient creation, but still one of its creations nevertheless.

After Dark Mind's death, that means there'll be no more mirror world counterparts to exact individuals after that. So whenever anyone comes in close contact with a dimensional mirror, that won't result in the creation of a counterpart.

Case in point: Daroach commonly goes to the mirror world to visit DMK because they're friends. But this happens long after Dark Mind died, so a mirror world counterpart to Daroach doesn't ever get made.

So yeah, that explains why there aren't any other mirror world counterparts in my verse aside from the established four.

That being said... Parallel Susie could probably count as a "pretend mirror worlder".

Parallel Susie didn't originate from the mirror world, so she is not a mirror counterpart to Susie, as instead she came from an alternate dimension. However, Parallel Susie and Dark Taranza met each other in Parasusie's home dimension and became friends. Parasusie frequently visits the mirror world because of Daranza, and it's also the reason why she has D-Mind symbols on her business suit.

So that's why she can count as a "pretend mirror worlder", but isn't actually one for real.

Like stated at the top of the post, the mirror world just naturally created an ecosystem that mirrors the real world in a more generalized sense. Most of its people don't correspond to exact individuals in the real world. The mirror world is just a mirror counterpart to the world in general.

Shadow Kirby has evolved into the mirror world's hero, as he now knows how to use copy abilities thanks to getting help from Kirby.

Dark Meta Knight, Shadow Dedede and Dark Taranza are considered 'menaces' to the mirror world society because none of them ever made any sincere apologies for following Dark Mind's orders. That being said, DMK is definitely the least bad of the three, as he causes the least trouble out of the three and is actually friends with Skirby, unlike the other two.

Okay, that's basically all I got here. Thanks!

[moon-mage]

heaves a heavy sigh because fucking crap I am in LOVE Okay so. This was not meant to even go this far but here I am. Absolutely far gone. My INITIAL plan was to try to come up with a big bad villain to write a TWST fanfic about because I love taking all my favorite characters...throwing them in hell...and then orchestrating the drama and chaos while going: "why would anyone do this to these poor innocent peoples?" and "hahaha this is SO fun their suffering fuels me!".

One of my all-time favorite movies growing up was Anastasia. The 1997 animated Don Bluth film. So, I was like "oh boy what if I did a twist on that version of Rasputin?" Which holds promise considering he is a powerful lich sorcerer coded in death, ghosts, limbo...all my favorite tropes that I cannot get enough of. But Rasputin aint shit without his sassy bat familiar, Bartok. Their dynamic is interesting considering Bartok spends the entire movie telling Rasputin to get a life and stop trying to kill Anastasia. So, I thought on twisted Bartok more and....it just...it hasn't stopped. It hasn't stopped.

Now we got Sashmir Magnifico. The twisted version of Bartok AND Anastasia. Originally, he was just going to be twisted Bartok, but I ended up adding in elements of Anastasia to him as well and I liked it.

Sashmir is a bat beastman and a lot of people assume he is an albino bat, but his lack of pigmentation is a side effect of his Unique Magic; "Together In Spirit". He doesn't go further into details about it other than 'the adults around him growing up were not knowledgeable of magic and forced him to use his magic for the benefit of others without thought of the consequences on him'. Only a few people know his UM and its capabilities, and he wants to keep it that way. The incantation for his UM is: "I am the key...that unlocks your potential...I promise we shall stay...TOGETHER IN SPIRIT." Sashmir is a 2nd year student at Night Raven College in Ignihyde dorm. He is interested in biology and the combined use of magic and science for enhancing and healing the human(oid) body and mind. He also has a passion for music, having learned how to play most instruments to a passable degree and he taught himself how to write sheet music. He does so with popular songs and makes them available to the public while recording himself playing them online. He loves teaching...and tutors for free on Monday and Wednesdays at 12AM in the Ignihyde dorm lounge. He had hoped to one day become a music teacher but decides the more practical route would be to continue magical medical sciences. He doesn't like shoes and has lost his shoes when taking them off and leaving them places. One of the first time of magics he had learned was levitating as it felt natural for him to not be on the ground all the time. Personality wise, he is rather chill and easy going. He speaks in a Romanian accent and isn't afraid to clap back with the sass or defend himself if challenged. Sadly, Sashmir is under the thumb of a powerful and dangerous sorcerer...and the days are numbered until his master makes his grand appearance and destroys the "peace" of NRC. All according to plan and...all that evil jazz. I have a LOT MORE THINGS TO SAY but I will make a post specifically for his info dump I guess. I'm sorry I love this boy... Also you see the candy and coffin...if you know...you know.

[riverswaltz]

I truly believe that the real evil isn’t the wilderness, it’s what is inside the mind of these girls. The wilderness just let them be their true self which they could never be in a civil society. That’s why the adult version of these characters couldn’t resist the game even though they had every option to do so. Once you taste the way of wilderness, it never leaves you. It makes even more sense when you think about the animal metaphors like deer, bear and rabbit. Jackie symbolizes bear which is a vulnerable animal. It says a lot about her fate.

The wilderness also makes me think about ancient religions. Isn’t that how those fire, sun gods got invented? People will always either worship or loath something they can’t explain, in this case it’s the wilderness. Human’s natural urge to submit themselves to these inexplicable things. Who knows what our ancestors did to survive during those ancient times. This violent animalistic instinct has always been trapped inside a faraway corner our minds. Human mind is so complex and nobody is immune to “it”. The girls are only different than the average person because they were in that situation which brought out their violent side. Those who refused weren’t allowed to live by the “wilderness”. Jackie would’ve killed herself before participating in that game and eating javi. By that theory, misty and shauna are likely to be the final girls. Misty has always been fucked up and she owns it. Shauna can adjust to anything with a straight face no matter how gruesome that might be.

[mortalkombartwistedreflectionau]

Mirror Smoke/TR Smoke Bio

Tomáš Vrbada, a Czech man and one of the most prominent agents of the Lin Kuei. As a child, he was victim of a dangerous cult, one formed by Earthrealmers who had somehow discovered a way to turn other humans into Enenras, demons with powers over smoke and vapor. The members of this cult wished to use this knowledge to gain power and serve their own ends by creating a powerful army of Eneneras, but first they needed to perfect their methods. Tomáš was just one of the many forceful test subjects they used for that.

The ritual he was subjected to was… horrible. The day that cult took him would definitely be his worst memory, if he could remember any of it. After his body was burned, the members of the cult used a certain kind of magic which allowed an Enenra to escape the Netherrealm by fusing their soul with that of Tomáš. The Enenra then reconstructed the boy’s entire body, thus turning him into the cult’s first successful attempt at creating a perfect Enenra soldier. Unfortunately for them, the Enenra was more aggressive and powerful than they had expected. 

None of the cult’s attempts to try to control them or hold them back worked. Now in Tomáš’ body, the Enenra proceeded to kill all the present cultists without mercy. They rejoiced, thinking they were finally free from the Netherrealm, until it turned out possessing a human body was more difficult than they believed. Tomáš’ conscience woke up, taking the control over his body back, but with no memory of his past life. The confused and terrified young boy would have had a very hard time if Lin Kuei warriors, which had already turned into protectors of Earthrealm thanks to Grandmaster Oniro’s reforms and had been investigating the cult to end their plans, hadn’t arrived just in time to save him.

The Lin Kuei tried to search for information about Tomáš to bring the boy back to his home, but all they could find was his name, since the cult hadn’t kept any other information about him. And in any case, given the nature of this cult, they weren’t exactly hopeful his family was unharmed… It really seemed that the boy had no home, and thus they decided to offer him one.

As a Lin Kuei, Tomáš was taught he had to do anything in his power to defend Earthrealm, to ‘ensure a better future’ for his realm. He earned motivation through the years as he continued training, believing he could prevent others from suffering horrible fates like his by stopping menaces similar to that heinous cult (while he himself couldn't remember what happened, it was never hidden to Jim by the Lin Kuei). He also grew very close to a fellow Lin Kuei of his age, Kuai Liang, his childhood friend and one of the most important people in his life. 

As an adult, Tomáš became a full Lin Kuei warrior under the mantle of Smoke. While he and Kuai Liang battled the Shirai Ryu and other allies of the Edenian Regime, they became familiarized with their ideology. He noticed that, while Kuai Liang still thought they were untruthful and Earthrealm shall remain independent from them, he also seemed to find some of their ideas tempting… and he realized he did too. Their ideas to persecute and exterminate evil, to unify realms to end all conflicts. Those really seemed like effective ways of preventing innocents from suffering fates like his, and to ensure the ‘better future for Earthrealm’ he had been prepared to fight for. Both he and Kuai Liang many times questioned if their clan could take an example of the Edenian Regime in some ways, although they decided to keep those thoughts for themselves.. until Bi-Han’s death, of course.

Tomáš made sure to stay by his friend’s side in all the grieving process, offering Kuai his support. He could see how it had ended up giving him motivation to change the Lin Kuei to fight for the ‘better future for Earthrealm’ he deep down truly believed in, thinking that his brother’s death would have been for nothing if that future didn’t come to be. Tomáš thought very carefully about the possibility, and was fully honest with him, saying that he also thought it could work, and that if he ever decided to act in his thoughts he would follow him. And so it happened.

After planning it carefully and reuniting their fellow Lin Kuei warriors who agreed with their ideals, Kuai Liang organized a coup against Grandmaster Oniro which ended with him becoming the new grandmaster. Tomáš stayed by his side at the time, despite feeling as regretful of turning many of his fellow Lin Kuei to enemies as Kuai. They both knew that their actions were questionable, but in their minds everything would be justified if they fulfilled their goal.

The new Lin Kuei under Kuai Liang’s leadership established a convenient alliance with the Edenian Regime, hoping to use their resources to unify and bring ‘peace’ to all Earthrealm, but still wishing for their realm not to fall under their influence. They knew they would need to turn against them at the right moment, once ‘peace’ was established, and for that they would need to find allies they could trust. They found some of them in the Netherrealm.

Sareena and many of the soldiers who had followed her when she turned against the Brotherhood respected the Edenian Regime, but they couldn’t fully trust them either, especially since they trusted Lady Cetrion more than they could ever. Those differences with the Regime alongside the trust Kuai Liang and Sareena built now that they collaborated in fighting for the same cause ended up making them allies they could fully trust. They have plans which could bring unexpected problems to the Regime and Cetrion in the future…

Smoke also found an advantage with this alliance. His new Netherrealm allies had enough knowledge about Enenras to help him deal with it, Sareena in particular had a very clear idea of what to do. With help of the experts in magic she had under her leadership, she allowed Smoke to communicate with the demon he shared body with, and also told him what he could offer them, believing they could be convinced to collaborate.

Despite giving it a chance, Tomáš wasn’t hopeful it was going to work. To him the Enenra was nothing but a being related to the worst day of his life, a monster he feared could take over his body one day. And while the latter was true, since they had wished to have a body of their own again since the day they were put in his, they were surprisingly more reasonable than he had expected. It turned out that what they had really wanted was to be free of the hellish realm they were born in. Now that they were being offered the chance to live freely if they collaborated with Smoke and shared his body peacefully, they accepted it. Surprised but glad by it, Smoke agreed to let the Enenra take over his body when they both agreed to do so. They are quite a deadly duo now.

One of the many Lin Kuei who is an ally of the Edenian Regime but has his own objectives, many surprises could come out of Smoke in the future.

[3cosmicfrogs]

for the ask game: naybe an AU where LXC is not on the stairs at thaf JGY/NMJ confrontatiom but baxia Got Attached so she refuses to be like. Slammed down?? And nieyao js now awkwarsly staring at each other, because whay is happening

hmmmmm you propose an interesting scenario.... i guess this could fit into the More Sentient Baxia AU that Woob and i have fever-dreamed up? in that case, five headcanons of what would happen if baxia got Attached:

baxia does not want to kill the Searching-Wanting-Waiting-Watching Human. she likes him, he gives nice skritches. and he always surrounds himself with a delicious aura of almost-evil that she just itches to sink her teeth into and rip away from him... Plus, her master clearly likes him too, he just needs her to show him!

baxia has seen into her human's heart and decided that he needs to get laid, immediately. She will take the necessary steps to make this happen, because she is a Good Sabre! now that she's saved the Searching-Wanting-Waiting-Watching Human, she only needs to find a way to make her intentions clear to the Floating-Calming-Softly-Quietly Human... her best course of action is clearly to start hovering in his peripheral vision from what she is sure is her most seductive angle.

Misunderstandings! Misunderstandings everywhere! naturally, because they are grown adults, mingjue and meng yao cannot possibly have a conversation about this. they will continue to Agonise separately and entirely unproductively while Xichen looks on and sighs. All the while everyone is being terrorised by baxia. Eventually someone breaks (my bet is on xichen) and demands to know exactly what is going on?! and if you think the resulting argument anything is but a sarcastic word-duel you'd be wrong! again, because nieyao are mature, grown-ass adults about this who can totally handle their feelings.

"are you upset you couldn't follow through, da-ge?" "I swear this has never happened before! I usually perform just fine!" "that's alright, mingjue-xiong, maybe you were just stressed?" "yes, there's no reason to be embarassed, da-ge." "a-yao is right, i'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time...?" "well did it ever happen to either of you?!" "...no." "whatever! let's try again then, i'm sure i'll manage this time!" <- this conversation will be overheard by an outside character of your choosing (nhs perhaps?) to Maximum Comedic Effect.

When the Issues Are Being Resolved, mingjue is faced with the absolutely mortifying ordeal of explaining to his increasingly incredulous sworn brothers that yes, nie sabres do in fact sometimes talk to their masters, of course this is normal what are you talking about, and also his magical bloodthirsty weapon has decided that he really really needs a romantic relationship and picked xichen and meng yao. yes she's been tormenting him. they can try a relationship he supposes, just to satisfy the Magical Bloodthirsty Weapon of course, no feelings will arise surely, and if nothing comes of it she will back off. this is entirely unaided by huaisang, who keeps orchestrating bed shortages and feeding the three of them aphrodisiacs because he is convinced that his brother is suffering from erectile dysfunction.

I'm not very good at making coherent plots or headcanons as you can see, but i thrive in crack treated seriously, and so this is what this will be.