#do not ask what happens in the vampire arc. there are no vampires in ba sing se.

[airshipvalentine]

I have seen you post about it forever and yet I still haven’t been able to parse what it is or what it’s about. What’s Fremont County?

HAHAHAHA i was wondering how long it would take for someone to ask this!!

fremont county monster hunters is a monster of the week rpg campaign i've been playing sporadically for the past 2.5 years. (and when i say sporadically i mean we've played 4 arcs in about 6 or 7 ~6 hour sessions over the past two and a half years). and because of how long we go without playing (and because we are moderately obsessive people), we get reeealll hiatus-brained in the interim. i am irrevocably obsessed with it.

the premise is that the party is a group of people who can see through the Glare (like the Mist from pjo), who all attend fremont county community college in *mumble mumble* pacific northwest america. i always imagine it as northern california but i honestly don't know if there's a more specific location?

there's a prophecy involving the world ending in fire, and the five people who are there for it. (presumably to stop it, but the prophecy is pretty vague and the only person who has access to it recently lost their clairvoyance) but before that happens, we fight vampires and stuff

that's the short version. i'm gonna talk more about it though bc i can talk about this campaign forever

i play shay song, photo/journalism major first, reluctant Chosen One second. he found a meteorite sword in the woods a few weeks after his dad died under mysterious circumstances, and he's been fighting monsters ever since! he's down to earth and moderately neurotic, and desperately wants to just be normal. (sucks for him though, because that is straight up not going to happen)

also in the party are:

shamsiel, the divine. she's a cherubim sent by The Bureaucracy, a consortium of angels that's essentially a corporate office. she's been tasked with protecting shay and ensuring the prophecy comes to pass. she's a fish out of water who doesn't exactly know how to interact with people, and she's devoted to her cause above all else. i talk about her and shay most on here bc her player is also on tumblr (hiiiii sofie)

levi, the monstrous. a obnoxious rich boy and literal demon. he's sent by his demonic father to do ?????? carry out his demonic bidding? it's unclear. he likes to hang around the party and make passive-aggressive comments and be helpful when it's convenient for him. he's also shay's roommate! they had a homoerotic streak going that was probably a thinly veiled excuse for my partner an i to flirt with each other in the most roundabout way possible before we started dating. he also kidnapped a beloved npc in the most recent session! we're gonna beat him up

anna baker, the spellslinger. absolute sweetheart and heart of the party. she started learning magic and took on a superhero moniker to fight monsters and crime! (<- this doesn't come up nearly as much as it should, btw. i want a tales of ba sing se episode about cold turkey asap) oh yeah, that moniker was "cold turkey". her catchphrase is "you're about to quit crime... Cold Turkey." she's the best.

claire fitz, the mundane. currently in the "denial" stage of realizing she's a lesbian. she's a culinary arts major who carries around a fireaxe. she's kind of weirded out that she's part of this prophecy, but she's very capable and helps about as best she can. she's also lying to all her high school friends! they all think she's going to yale right now! what's that about???

and mila, the seeker! former cheerleader, constant conspiracy theory enthusiast. she's 100% convinced that aliens are real and will do her best to make sure you believe too. psyched beyond belief that she was right and monsters are real. will hold your hands and say "i don't need you to believe. i just need you to trust me and open your mind to the possibilities." kind of miffed that she isn't part of the apocalyptic prophecy, but it's fine.

also, notable npcs!

don powers, shay's former soccer nemesis. business major. kind of a dick, but we're trying to reform him. buried the hatchet with shay recently due to, uh, a common enemy forming. canonically in love with alder as of arc 4.

alder caine, don's roommate. my favorite. got into some shady deals with demons, and now they're hunting her down! levi kidnapped her in the most recent session!

nin, former clairvoyant. elected to give up their powers recently, with aid from the bureaucracy. it was sus as fuck! also dating anna. they're cute

there have been four arcs so far

from rush till prom, the vampire frat arc

the vengeful spirit stick, the cheerleader ghost arc

the switching hour, the doppelganger bottle episode

the deck of many flings, the tarot/love spell episode

ok that's the broad overview. i could talk about this for hours but i will leave it at that :) there's an in-character twitter feed i made though

[feralshadowdemon]

i’ve realized that tumblr has absolutely zero clue about many of my bsd AUs and I have to change this, so you’re getting a post about one of my favorite ones

Port Mafia Kenji/Defenestration AU

(a bit of a spoiler warning for the cannibalism arc? not much of the actual plot of it is said though)

- Kenji joined the Port Mafia at ten years old, right around when Dazai left. 

- Kenji’s an Akutagawa. He wasn’t born into the Akutagawas, but at a young age he did manage to stumble across Gin and Akutagawa and he just stuck with them after that. 

- One of the most important factors to this AU was he was around with the Akutagawas when Dazai mentored his older brother. Which. was. yeah you know how badly that went

- Due to these events, Kenji has a burning hatred for Dazai (which made Chuuya immediately gain a liking to the kid)

- His mentor is Chuuya and they get along pretty well. He also maintains a good relationship with his two siblings and likes telling Akutagawa how cool he is and how much Kenji wants to be like him. Supportive little brother!! Yeahh!!

- Since Kenji is raised in the Port Mafia at a young age, he is very violent. Still cheery of course but, more terrifying and violent. 

- Kenji knows assassination tricks since he sat in on Gin’s training sessions, and yeah it did contribute to his violent nature and numbness to violence and dead bodies.

- Kyouka stays in the Port Mafia in this AU due to the fact she reminds Akutagawa of his little brother and he cannot hurt her without thinking of his little brother. Also yes Kenji technically adopted her as his sister. that contributed too.

- Since the Agency is minus two members in this AU (both Kenji and Kyouka being in the Port Mafia), eventually Poe and Lucy join the Agency, mainly to give it more equal fighting grounds but also because why not 

- Kenji has black hair in this AU. Not naturally black hair, but it’s dyed because he likes looking like his siblings. He also wears a vest in this AU

- He’s sadly lost his original family motto so he made one up instead:  "If someone annoys you, kill em!"

- At one point, Dazai takes Kenji along for a mission and Kenji has his first encounter with Fyodor. Kenji gets along with Fyodor because he ‘has a cool hat’ which terrifies Dazai severely, Fyodor takes note of this and purposely also gets along with Kenji to terrify Dazai. Yeah this AU contains a lot of dazai bullying but it’s fine

- In the Cannibalism Arc, while the Agency and Port Mafia are fighting, Kenji and Poe encounter each other. Instead of a dramatic fight, it turns into Kenji noticing Karl and taking a liking to the raccoon. As war breaks out around them they silently talk about raccoons, Poe being nervous about a small child touching Karl but he seems fine enough

here’s some memes of Defenestration to thank you for listening to my rambling:

edit: this AU has a fic now!

[adhdeancas]

Dean Winchester (and the script leaks last night) possessed me to write this.

Dean happens upon Chuck's latest book: Carry On. Except it ends differently than it really went, and the ending? It's really fucking bad.

tw: suicide mention, transphobia (quickly shut the fuck down) 

Dean doesn’t make a habit of going to bookstores. Not because he hates books, contrary to what Sam might think; he just prefers to buy used books. There’s something comforting about a book that has already been worn and read over and over, that already shows how much the previous owner loved it. Plus, y’know, big corporations are evil and all that. And Dean only allows himself to overlook that when his stomach or his wallet wins over his hatred of the shitty mass-produced products. 

This time it was Jack who won; he’s obsessed with this new fantasy series and the new book just came out, so there’s no way he can hunt it down on Ebay. He makes his way to the fantasy and sci-fi section, eyes roaming over the displays of new releases, and his eye catches on something that turns his blood cold. 

“Supernatural: Carry On, The Final Book of the Winchesters’ Epic Journey” takes up a whole table, the generic and overly serious cover jeering out at him. 

He storms over to the display, anger covering up for the way his body feels light as a feather and like lead all at once, and picks up a book. “Why is Sam always fucking shirtless?” he mutters, the only thought that allows itself from the mess inside his head to his mouth. 

“Book sales.” A voice behind him says. He turns to see a teenager with their arms crossed over their work polo, pierced lip fixed into a customer-unfriendly frown.

“People want to see that?”

They snort, a small grin turning up the corner of their lips. It reminds Dean of Cas. “No. But that’s what advertisers think all ‘women’ want,” They use air quotes. 

He raises an eyebrow and asks. “Women?”

They shrug and uncross their arms, leaning back against the display table behind them. Their nametag says Jadyn. “Supernatural’s biggest block of readers is queer. I’d go out on a limb and say a lot of those the marketers think of as ‘women’ aren’t, or if they are, they aren’t itching to see Sam’s six pack.” Jadyn smirks. 

Dean takes a second to digest that, then grins down at the book, thinking past Sam’s apparently badly-received nudity now. “So how’d they like it?” he asks, waving the book a bit and looking up at Jadyn. Apparently they know a lot about the fans of the books, and for once, he’s proud of the way the story ended. 

Jadyn’s face sets into all hard lines. “Most people fucking hated it.” they say bluntly, then, probably remembering that he’s a customer, correct. “Sorry. I mean, it got some good reviews, mostly from people who like Wincest, but beyond that, it had some problematic plot points.”

Dean winces at the reminder of the ship between him and his brother, then scrunches his whole face together in confusion. “Wait, what? Why?” Why would Wincest fans like it? What was problematic about their end?

Jadyn shifts from foot to foot. “I don’t wanna spoil anything for you-”

“I don’t care about spoilers, just give me the short version.” Dean says quickly. A quiet panic is rising in him, and suddenly he has a horrible feeling that he’s not holding the truth in his hands anymore. 

“Uh, okay… Well, the most obvious thing is the bury-your-gays thing, then there’s the fact that it completely contradicted the rest of the lore. And it was ableist, misogynistic, and messed up, like, every character’s arc.” they take a breath, clearly worked up by it. “Even if they changed any of the details too, it was all built on Dean’s death, and that’s just bullshit. Sorry.” they apologize again, apparently mistaking Dean’s stricken expression to be in reaction to their rant and swearing. 

“No, nah, you’re… you’re okay. Uh, thanks.” he waves a hand and wanders away from them, only remembering Jack’s book when he’s almost to the register. He manages to make his way back and find the damn thing, but he’s still in a fog when he gets to the register. 

“Did anyone help you in the store today?”

“Huh?” he looks up and meets the middle-aged cashier’s gaze for the first time. Brent, from the nametag, looks at him impatiently. “Oh, yeah, uh… Jadyn. Jadyn helped me.” Brent scoffs and starts typing with a shake of the head. “Uh, is there a problem?” Dean asks, a little annoyed at this cashier’s unnecessary attitude. He usually doesn’t care if an employee’s rude, because they have to deal with assholes all the time and honestly Dean isn’t much better, but this one gives him a bad feeling. 

“No, no, sorry. It’s just - “Jadyn’s” got this idea that he’s a girl. Makes everybody call him that name now too. Just-” Brent shakes his head. “I mean, you get it. Their generation, everybody wants to be special.”

Dean glares. “No, I don’t get it, Brent.” He says through gritted teeth. “Seems to me like Jadyn probably deals with enough assholes like you that her asking for a little basic decency is the exact opposite of special. Sounds pretty normal, actually.” He can see the fear creep into Brent’s eyes, and he knows the cashier is reacting to the murderous look in his eyes more than his actual words. 

Brent hands Dean his bag of books with a quiet, “Here you go.”

Dean snatches it away. “Oh, Brent?” he checks over his shoulder to make sure they’re alone and then leans across the counter into Brent’s space. “You should find a new job, one where you don’t have to interact with other people. At least until you learn how to stop being a piece of shit.” He starts to ease away but thinks better about it. “And if you think that’s a suggestion, it’s not. My husband likes this book coming out next month that I’ll need to buy, and if I see you here when I come, well… it would be really embarrassing for you to tell all your little friends that you got your ass beat by a ‘special’ guy, huh?” He pats Brent on the cheek condescendingly and leaves with a huff. 

Damn transphobes. 

He only remembers the book once he’s back in Baby, and he takes the time to drive out of town before he pulls over to read it. It’s an old abandoned church, the cross long since fallen from the roof and the doors hanging off their hinges. He sits on the steps just because being in Baby seems claustrophobic for once in his life, and going back to the bunker to look at this is just… not happening.

Dean only skims the beginning to see that it starts the same. The ground erupting with bodies, hell spitting out its most-conveniently placed nasties, Rowena sacrificing herself, Cas leaving. His throat closes up at that, at Chuck’s description of Cas’s heartbroken expression as he climbs the stairs of the bunker. He clears his throat and skips to the end, right past Cas’s death that he doesn’t have the time to think about right now, past them defeating Chuck and then stops. He goes back a few pages, trying to find the disconnect. 

The story’s different.

After Jack takes on God’s power, in the book, he’s totally fine. Not almost vibrating out of his skin or anything, not crying like the three year old he is because he’s scared. Not like it really happened. He just smiles and leaves him and Sam, and they let him go. 

Dean scoffs, skimming over the story as it just gets more ridiculous. 

In the book, he doesn’t even try to save Cas. They barely even mention him. And they never mention Eileen, either. In fact, Dean notes disbelievingly, practically the only characters in the last few chapters are him and Sam. They’re hunting again.

“What, is Chuck trying to keep the series going?” he whispers to himself, anger flaring through him. They let Chuck live, and he decided to write obnoxious fanfiction about them? He’s gonna kill that shameless little fucker. For real, this time. He deserves it.

In the book, Sam and Dean torture some vampire mime, and they enjoy it. Dean cringes; this is really what Chuck thinks of them. Then they tussle with more vamps in a barn and- 

Dean’s brain stops working. He rereads the scene again and again. 

“There’s something in my… something in my back. It feels like it’s right through me.” 

Dean Winchester dies in a dirty barn, on a piece of freaking rebar. 

More than that, Dean realizes on his fourth read-through. This Dean? He tried to drag out his speech, Dean can tell by the way he pauses for fucking drama. He would never do that. He would never talk to Sam for fifteen hellish minutes when he could be trying. Trying to live, so he can actually get his life back on track, get his family back. No, he made that speech stalling. He made that speech so Sam wouldn’t try to save him. 

“You gotta admit, I had one helluva ride.” He was strangely calm.

Chuck made him kill himself.

Dean reads the rest of the book through blurry eyes, reading an ambiguous and nothing-ending, one where he’s somehow happy to be dead and driving around in heaven alone while Sam raises a kid into hunting and cries about Dean decades after he’s died. Eileen isn’t mentioned. Cas is mentioned once, and Bizzarro-Dean doesn’t even think about seeing him, apparently. The whole book ends with a hug between him and Sam, both dead. Both alone. 

Dean rips the ending up. He tears through the stupid paper covering and keeps ripping the pages up until they’re the size of confetti. His lower lip wobbles. He throws the whole thing against the side of the building, and it tumbles through the broken doorway and drops into a pile of dust and dirt. “That isn’t the fucking ending.” he grounds out, knocking his hand against the flimsy handrail. It gives a little under his fist and he kicks at it. “That isn’t the fucking ending!”

He’s having a panic attack. Again. He tries to take deep breaths, but they’re gulping, too big, they’re making him panic more. He scrambles back to Baby and grabs his phone, presses the first number on his favorites list and waits for him to answer on speaker phone.

“Hey Dean, what’s up?” Sam sounds like he’s been laughing. There are voices in the background, and Dean tries to convince himself one of them is Eileen. 

“Hey Sammy.” he chokes out, trying to sound normal. “You busy?”

There’s a pause, and then the sounds in the background. “Nah, Rowena’s just over.” he says casually. 

“So those voices in the background were-”

“Rowena and Eileen, yeah. They’re trying to convince me we need to go to Mexico. For the beaches.” A smile in his voice. Dean lets out a sigh of relief.  What’s up, Dean? You need something?” The smile drops, and Sam’s worried. 

Sam’s okay. Sam’s okay. “No, nah. Hey, you heard from Donna lately?” Dean just needs to triple-check.

“Uh, no, not since Sunday dinner… Dean, you okay?”

“Yeah, she just- she hasn’t been answering my texts. Just wanted to make sure.” Dean lies quickly. His breathing is still uneven, but his body is settling into uneven shakes. 

Sam sounds skeptical. “Yeah, well, she did tell us it’s been pretty busy at work lately. Y’know, everybody going out for the first time with COVID, getting stupid. Plus, y’know, nowhere’s drowning in EMTs right now.”

“Right. Yeah.” Dean takes a deep breath, a distant memory of Donna talking about that coming back to him.

“Pretty sure you were setting up a D&D session with Charlie while she was talking about that,” Sam laughs. Dean knows he means it as a subtle jab, but there’s too much relief flooding through him to care. Still, a string is pulled taut in him, and Sam can’t fix that completely.

“Gotta go, Sam,” Dean hangs up before Sam can say anything else, and goes to his next contact. It rings for far too long, and Dean’s heartbeat picks back up to thundering.

“Hello, Dean.”

“Cas,” Dean breathes out. “Cas, you know I love you, right?” He needs to test all the bounds of this, to make sure, just to make sure. Make sure Chuck isn’t still fucking with him. Because apparently, Chuck won’t let him be queer. Not in his story. Not out loud.

He can hear Cas’s eyebrow raise through the phone, and his chest is overcome with stupid fondness. “I would be a little worried if you didn’t.”

Dean grins widely. “Like, romantically. I’m in love with you. Because you’re the love of my life and I’m bisexual.” He says it all like it’s a checklist, like he expects some cosmic being to slap a hand over his mouth before he gets each next phrase out.

“Yes, Dean. We’ve been married almost two months.” Cas is smiling. It happens everytime he talks about their wedding. Dean adores it. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, now it is.” His whole body relaxes, still vibrating with leftover panic, but satisfied. “I got Jack’s book.”

“Oh, good. He’ll be so pleased.” Cas pauses. “Dean, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Dean eases off the ground and sends a last look at the dilapidated church before climbing into Baby. “Just- read a bad book. I’ll tell you about it later. When I get home.”

[fakeyellow]

Based on multiple prompts.

Kamilah pretends to join Gaius but things go terribly wrong.

Summary: Kamilah and co. win the war against Gaius but at great personal cost. Fifty years have passed since their pyrrhic victory when a stranger, looking exactly like the woman they lost, enters their lives. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. 

Prologue:

“I’ve spent the last hundred years denying who I really am, pretending to be someone I’m not, but I can’t do it anymore. I don’t want to. 

“I love the woman I am when I’m with you. There is no greater feeling than the power that rushes through my veins when I’m by your side, killing all those who dare oppose us. Why should I protect humans when I am superior, when they should be begging me to feed from them?”

Kamilah stared resolutely at Gaius at the end of her impassioned declaration. He looked back at her imperiously from his throne, Priya draped over his side like a purring cat. 

“And the girl?” Gaius asked without a hint of emotion.

Priya pouted, wrapping her arms around his neck and speaking intimately into his ear, “She wouldn’t even let me play with her precious little human.”

Kamilah ignored the woman, focusing solely on the man she had once thought she’d loved, “I thought if I pretended to love a mortal, I could fool myself into thinking I really loved humans. It was all an act of course, but still, I never did like sharing.” 

Gaius remained silent, his eyes calculating as he tried to see into her, tried to see any signs that she was lying to him. But he would be unsuccessful. She knew Gaius and his pride was his greatest vulnerability. Kamilah would pretend to be the woman who had blindly followed his every word, and he would see only that. The woman who loved him. He would never believe that Kamilah’s heart lay with an inconsequential mortal, even if she was the Bloodkeeper. 

At last, Gaius rose from his throne, causing the woman at his side to frantically catch her balance before settling back onto the armrest. 

“I knew you would return to me. We are inevitable,” Gaius proclaimed as he walked down the steps to where Kamilah stood. 

Priya clambered down to join them, her brows furrowed in disbelief, “Excuse me?! You can’t seriously believe she‘s telling the truth?! She’s just trying to protect her human loving friends and her dirty human whore!”

Gaius waved at her dismissively, “I tire of you.” 

As a fuming Priya marched out of the room, her heels clicking angrily on the tiled floors, Gaius embraced Kamilah.

“It’s been so long, my Queen.” 

The title felt nearly sinister in the way he whispered it to her, but Kamilah forced herself to relax into his arms before pulling back with the corners of her lip upturned into a coy smile. 

“My King.”

—-

The next time Kamilah saw everyone, they were on opposite sides of the battlefield. 

As if she was in one of the TV shows she liked to reference so much, Lily’s jaw dropped upon seeing her presence at Gaius’s side. Jax’s sword was pointed directly at her, his face contorted in fury while Adrian looked at her with a crushing expression of betrayal. 

But she looked towards Laia, Laia, who had never been good at hiding her feelings. 

There was an infinite sadness on Laia’s face and somehow, it made Kamilah feel small despite the over two thousand years she had on her. She’d expected anger, betrayal, or hatred, but this sadness almost made her cave in before she caught herself.

Jax spat at her, “I can’t believe you’d go back to him. People really don’t change, do they.”

“I guess they don’t, mutt,” Kamilah snapped back at him, twirling her daggers with a hungry look. At Gaius’s nod, she and all of their forces charged and were instantaneously met with all of Adrian’s forces.   The battle had begun.

—-

Hours had passed and Kamilah’s hair had turned black from the ashes of all of the vampires she’d killed. By herself, she was a terrifying force of nature, but with Gaius at her side, they were unstoppable.

He let out a laugh as he carved through another man and Kamilah knew from experience that this was but a game to Gaius. He was exhilarated when he killed, and his excitement had once been infectious.    

But now she forced herself to smirk back at him, as if she wasn’t killing vampires she knew, vampires who were part of Adrian’s clan, her clan. 

Adrian, Jax, and Lily were all busy fighting against Gaius’s Ferals and Kamilah was grateful for this small mercy, that they didn’t have to face each other in battle. Priya had disappeared a long time ago; she hated getting her hands dirty unless it was from some hedonistic act that left her satisfied and her lover dead. 

And Laia was...

Kamilah couldn’t find her anywhere. Her head swivelled around in a quick scan of the room but there was no sign of the mortal woman amidst the fray of fighting vampires. She struggled to keep her panic from showing; Laia was probably in a safe place. Adrian wouldn’t let her come to harm.

And then Gaius suddenly burst into a series of fluid actions that cleared a thirty feet radius around them, a flurry of ashes settling onto the floor. 

Their opponents backed off, wary of drawing close to them after this ruthless display, and Kamilah looked at him questioningly when suddenly she saw Laia.

Priya was clad in her immaculate, white dress that plunged down to her navel, but more importantly, she was dragging a chained Laia behind her. 

Laia looked worse for the wear, her clothes sooty and tattered at the edges, unable to do anything but struggle futilely against her chains. But her eyes were fierce with hatred and she was otherwise unharmed. 

Priya confidently strutted towards them, revelling in the attention and the fact that no one dared attack her. She yanked at Laia’s chain, causing her to fall over onto the ground and Kamilah’s blood boiled at the sight. It took every bit of self control she had to not show any signs of her fury. 

“What is the meaning of this, my King?” she asked tightly.

Gaius gave her an easy smirk, “I have to admit, I haven’t quite forgiven you for your role in my captivity. But if you killed this human, it would put all of my misgivings to rest.”  

Her daggers clutched tightly in her hands, Kamilah walked carefully over to Laia, feeling the weight of every step. Laia seemed unaware of what had happened, spitting on Priya with a nasty grin.

Priya grimaced but otherwise contained herself in an uncharacteristic show of restraint, keeping her keen eyes on Kamilah’s every move.

And then she was face to face with Laia, who finally looked up at her. There was no fury or hatred on her face, and although there was fear, it was outweighed by the overwhelming amount of trust in her luminous eyes.

There was no way they could speak to each other, not with the eyes on them, but Laia simply nodded and closed her eyes, ready for whatever Kamilah was going to do.

And Kamilah broke at this display of faith, that Laia would trust her to the point of facing her death…

As she had planned to since the moment she’d seen Laia come in, Kamilah ceremoniously raises her daggers before turning and slashing viciously at Priya. 

There was no time for any feelings of satisfaction, even though she had finally ended the life of a woman she’d wanted to kill for over a century, and Kamilah immediately turned around, ready to face Gaius head on. 

But then she froze as she saw Laia dashing in front of her, her arms outspread. Gaius’s sword fell in a silver arc until it burst into Laia’s chest, the silver point poking out from her back before it was withdrawn in one cruel move. Kamilah’s daggers fell helplessly to her side as Laia toppled over onto the ground.  

Bright scarlet bloomed around and on Laia, a seemingly unending flow of blood streaming out of her. Kamilah immediately dropped to her knees, turning the woman’s body to her and cradling it in her arms as she furiously shook her head in denial

“You brave, trusting fool. Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?” Kamilah’s voice broke on the last word as she gazed upon the suddenly pale face of the woman she loved.

Blood seeped out of her mouth and her chest wracked with spasms, but Laia fought to gasp out, “I couldn’t let you die… I never stopped believing in you.”

Her words were slowing down now and Kamilah wasted no more time before her fangs were bared and a shower of blood was spraying from her freshly cut wrist.

Laia gurgled, “I love you.” 

And then Kamilah placed her wrist into Laia’s already bloody mouth. 

When at last Kamilah gingerly placed Laia on the floor and rose, she was drenched in the blood of both Laia and herself. Gaius eyed her with disgust, unable to believe Kamilah would be so consumed with grief over a mortal, and opened his mouth to say as much.

But Kamilah let out a fearsome roar and charged straight at him.

—-

It had taken too long a time and too high a cost, but the war had finally ended. Gaius was completely and utterly dead and no amount of the First’s blood would be enough to revive him. The world was finally safe from his clutches.

But there was no time to celebrate.

Kamilah raced through the thick fall of ashes, her mind focused solely on the woman she had left behind. Her body was still where Kamilah had placed it, and she pushed past the people surrounding Laia, barely registering their presence.

She gathered Laia’s body into her arms only to pause at the cold touch of her skin.

No. This couldn’t be true. She had still been alive when Kamilah had fed her her blood. No. This wasn’t possible. It made no sense. 

She rose, Laia’s body safely in her arms, and finally saw the expressions on everyone’s faces. Jax was pointedly looking away, a tick in his jaw betraying how tightly his teeth were clenched. Lily was openly sobbing, her eyes blotchy behind her glasses. 

Adrian laid his hand on Kamilah’s shoulder but Kamilah rejected the pain and understanding in his eyes. She shrugged it off and spoke urgently, “We have to put her in a dark space. Now.”

Adrian merely shook his head, “It was too late.”

“She’s gone.”

—-

A/N: So I almost barfed while writing that brief scene with Gaius and Kamilah lmao.

If Gaius can canonically give MC time to shop for new clothes and fuck her LI one last time, Gaius can give MC and Kamilah one last moment in my story.

Kamilah thought the only way they’d get a chance at defeating Gaius was if he believed she was on his side again. So, without telling anyone, Kamilah joined Gaius’s side as a double agent. But she knew he’d still be wary of her which is why she went so far as to fight/kill the vampires on her side. Once Gaius trusted her, she was going to end him. But of course, Gaius trapped her with MC, and Kamilah blew her cover. Then she just went against him directly. 

Kamilah Turned MC but for reasons that will be revealed later, MC didn’t revive so now they all think MC is dead (is she really dead or am I replacing her with a new character? You’ll have to wait and see).

[keyofjetwolf]

Jet Wolf Summarizes Act 30

The manga and I kind of hate each other. This is unfortunate, but still, I’m determined to come out of this with something. Rather than spend energy on a liveblog that’s increasingly negative, I’m reading each manga act (mostly) silently, and then writing up summaries at the end. I won’t pull my punches. There’s going to be criticism and snark about the manga, either wholesale or in details. If that isn’t a thing you feel like reading, please skip this post!

Mimete is dead, and while nobody’s specifically celebrating that, I like to think they are in their true hearts. They’re mostly preoccupied with the appearance of Uranus and Neptune, a move which seems to have particularly shaken Minako, which might be interesting if anything else were done with it, but of course, it won’t be. I quite enjoy this panel out of context, though:

It’s like even though they just met three seconds ago, Rei and Minako immediately realize they will never be as gay as these two giant gay losers.

Michiru, who is also there, manages to further fuck up the entire concept of a secret identity by constantly flashing her mirror around, to the degree that THE TEN-YEAR OLD puts the pieces together. Fucking seriously, this issue goes on about how Uranus and Neptune are supposed to be all distant and secret, and literally ALL HARUKA AND MICHIRU HAVE DONE is throw themselves at the Inners and say “DON’T FOLLOW US DON’T INTERFERE WE WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU”. They’re fucking Luke Skywalker saying “DON’T FOLLOW ME” and leaving a map, yet somehow even more dramatic because they’re shoving the map at fucking strangers.

Everyone has a round of saying “The mirror is a talisman?!” (seriously it’s three times on one fucking page), and then Haruka gets super threatening again, because the only thing she loves wearing more than mustard is asshole. Then Michiru plays her violin (IT’S HER THING YOU SEE), and does it so badly that everyone crumples in pain. It’s here that Mamoru recognizes Neptune as Michiru, making him a good five minutes behind the first grader. I hope that Michiru takes personal offense that what triggered him to recognize her was AGONIZING MUSIC. Haruka, always a creature of subtlety, smacks everyone with a World Shaking, and they fuck off.

Usagi wakes up later in her bed with the other Senshi crowded around her. Luna and Artemis fill in some Outer Senshi backstory, while also claiming to know nothing, and I’m pleased to announce that this will not be the first time this contradiction shit happens in JUST THIS ISSUE. Usagi does her Usagi thing:

But the best part is the panel immediately after with Minako:

Who not only is like “okay and you’re basing that on what, exactly?” BUT IS HOLDING HER SWOLLEN AND BANDAGED FACE. It disappears immediately after this, and I don’t trust Takeuchi’s ability or interest at all for this to be more than “ooo mysterious strange Senshi whose side are they on?!” Still, it’s nice to see someone not only directly challenging Usagi, but even being a little pissy about it. It’s a whole lot easier to believe people won’t hurt you when you get to wake up in a comfy bed without a mark on you surrounded by your bloodied and bruised bodyguards.

Chibs is walking with her past parents, and says much the same as Usagi, but at least she’s basing it on her actual experiences, rather than Usagi who wants to ignore every conversation and encounter she’s had with them. Later, at Mamoru’s, he watches Chbis and Usagi sleep. ISN’T USAGI STILL FOURTEEN AT THIS POINT DON’T HER PARENTS EVER WONDER WHERE SHE IS AT NIGHT AND HOW DOES SHE ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS. Mamoru then has a full page dramatic premonition dream.

Later, Usagi’s waiting for Mamoru at the park, but nope, it’s Haruka instead. Michiru is NOT also there. Usagi please, Haruka is kind of creepy, everything is very “ba-dum”, and then Mamoru interrupts the whole thing. Haruka runs off. ANY BETS THAT SHE’S GOING TO MICHIRU TO CONFESS AND APOLOGIZE? NO?

Chibs arrives at Crown looking for Mamoru (CAN I HAVE EVEN ONE FUCKING PARAGRAPH THAT DOESN’T DEPEND ON THE WHEREABOUTS OF FUCKING MAMORU JESUS WEPT). Mako is weirdly mean about the whole thing, which is so confusing and unnecessary. Then everyone makes fun of her clay art project, and I can only assume it’s because they’ve all given in to the hate and bitterness now, and I’m finding it difficult to blame them.

THEN SHIT GOES OFF THE FUCKING RAILS

Chibs says she wants to make a holy grail. Tiny Kitten, fulfilling every cat’s sacred duty by just popping up to provide exposition, explains that:

I fully prepare for this to be a translation error, but it sounds like NQS is a fucking vampire right now, and I have to be honest and say that would not surprise me in the slightest. But okay, hold up. Because I thought it was the ginzuishou that kept them immortal? So is the Holy Grail just basically Crystal Tokyo’s version of Covergirl Simply Ageless? I’M NOT SAYING I WOULDN’T BELIEVE NQS COULD BE THIS VAIN I’M JUST QUESTIONING THE LOGISTICS. But then it gets even worse.

OKAY NO

FUCK YOU AND ALSO NO

I CALL UTTER BULLSHIT ON THIS BECAUSE I JUST HAD TO SIT THROUGH AN ENTIRE FUCKING MANGA ARC ABOUT NQS AND CRYSTAL TOKYO GETTING ROYALLY FUCKED NOT ONCE BUT TWICE IN EVENTS NQS UTTERLY FAILED TO PREVENT

AND WAS SPECIFICALLY TOLD MORE THAN ONCE THAT IT WAS THE ONLY SPOT OF TROUBLE IN THIS “UTOPIA” FOR NEARLY A THOUSAND FUCKING YEARS

You don’t spend an entire arc hammering that bullshit into me only to turn around in the next and act like NQS is saving the world every other Thursday by splashing on a little Holy Grail foundation. I mean can you whip up a batch of headcanon spackle to patch these holes? Sure, of course you can. BUT I’LL BE FUCKED IF I’M GIVING THE MANGA A SINGLE GODDAMN SECOND MORE TIME OR ENERGY THAN I HAVE TO. This is lazy and sloppy, and it’s SO EASILY AVOIDED if the manga weren’t so fucking determined to try and sell me on NQS and Crystal Tokyo as these visions of perfection. You can’t have Death Phantom/Wiseman as the only blips in an otherwise harmonious and perfect nine hundred years and then turn around and also have this. Fuck you. Fuck you and no.

THEN IT JUST GETS WORSE, as Chibs and Tiny Kitten suddenly know nothing the second they’re asked a plot-relevant question

Including bonus Distressing Parental Hints like NQS forbidding her only daughter INTO HER ROOM, and Tiny Kitten apparently having no affectionate means of referring to her parents at all. Then Chibs suddenly knows a lot again, as she reveals she and Tiny Kitten snuck into her mum’s room A WHOLE LOT (proving once again that NQS is the worst parent ever by never noticing it, never being in the room herself, and also not knowing what a fucking lock is). Then as all these thoughts make her homesick, she admits she wishes she could go home, but can’t because NQS made her promise she wouldn’t go home until Chibs was a strong and powerful Senshi, at ten until whenever-the-hell, for a world so peaceful it shouldn’t need child soldiers anyway.

Good fucking god I hate Neo-Queen Serenity.

Meanwhile, at Mamoru’s (THERE IT IS AGAIN RAAAAARRRARRGH), he and Usagi have coffee and intense uncomfortable silence. He watches tv and says nothing, which is always an A+ way to resolve any personal conflict, I find. Usagi is about to bring it up when Chibs bursts in. With Mamoru in full earshot but ignoring them I guess, Chibs demands to know why and how Usagi pissed him off and then is like “Did you cheat on him?!” and this entire sequence of events could only be more painful if one of the cats came in to explain it to us. Usagi angsts about this and we’re supposed to care a whole lot I guess, but then Chibs demands help with her holy grail assignment from both of them. Mamoru, happy to be a pompous ass yet again, tells us what a holy grail is, and this whole thing is like four endless fucking pages. After Chibs passes out from all that grail-making, Usagi and Mamoru Have A Moment, by which I mean it’s another three excruciating page. As it so happens, you cannot simply wish for death and have it visited upon you.

God, let’s get it over with. Usagi apologies and says that she was super jealous to see Mamoru having a conversation. Mamoru then says he was really jealous of Haruka, “but I’m sure you have your reasons”. Fooorr ... also have a conversation? BECAUSE NOTE USAGI HAS SAID FUCK ALL ABOUT THE KISS YET NOR WILL SHE. Then Mamoru’s like “I think those two must be going through a rough patch together”, though I feel maybe this is mistranslated? Whatever, they’re basically blaming everything on Haruka and Michiru having relationship problems that I’m going to bet you a shiny nickel we’ll never actually see, AND I’D LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE BY THE WAY THAT MICHIRU HAS LITERALLY DONE NOTHING BUT BE IN PLACES. Ugh, whatever, they make up I guess, and then start making out, and Chibs peeks out from under the blanket from two feet away all “tee-hee, they could be conceiving me right now!’ and I have seen the fire-licked face of hell itself and it is the Sailor Moon manga.

Then it’s the contractually obligated Hey Remember We Have Other Characters portion, this time featuring Ami! It’s possible you guys didn’t know this? But Ami’s smart. No, like, super smart. ONE MIGHT EVEN SAY GENIUS. AND WILL. OFTEN. She’s going to prep at the new Infinity Cram School, and I’m sure nothing will go wrong. The top student at the cram school takes particular interest in Ami. What do you mean it’s one of the other Witches?! I DID NOT SEE THIS TWIST COMING. Ami gets recruited for death, basically, courtesy of Viluy and Viluy’s boobs.

Seriously, those are magnificent.

In a rush to ruin everything, Ami runs through like twelve “DO NOT ENTER” doors, followed by Haruka. Michiru is also there. All three are captured with the plan for them to be turned into “hosts”, but Ami cut punches two brainwashed students and throws herself out of the thirteenth storey window while transforming. IT’S ACTUALLY KIND OF BAD ASS. So much so that Haruka and Michiru do it too, only they don’t need to transform because they’re cooler.

Viluy finds Mercury and is wrecking her shit when the other Senshi show up. Again Usagi evokes NQS, which is really starting to irritate me. JUST USE THE FUCKING TOY USAGI. Viluy is tough, but Haruka literally slices her in two, so I guess maybe not all that tough. Goodbye, Viluy’s boobs. I’ll treasure our time together.

Finally, at a university that does not actually for this moment contain Mamoru nor mention him anywhere, Motoki tries to get Reika to go for drinks, but she’d rather study rocks. SUCKS TO BE YOU MOTOKI. Reika wanders around and sees someone moving into the office next to hers. IT’S MAMORU

Sort of.