#drawn entity handling

[the-paranomaly-hotline]

A project in the works.

Hi, this is Atari! We are the Paranomaly Hotline (like paranormal and anomaly, cool right?!?), we help people when they deal with places or creatures (or even people) that aren't exactly...normal, for lack of a better vocabulary. There's several of us, but I'm the main one who'll be taking calls!

Have a good day, and I hope you guys have no need to call us!

(Oh, our sign offs! Here they are below!)

📝 -Atari (it/they/mem/crys, tolerates she/her) 💫 -Rune (hex/mystic/xey/they) ✈️ -Ev (he/it/ball/nine) [mostly a bit, wont really appear in the story] 🔅 -Moss (he/her) 💠 -Whip (she/her or they/them) 🍀 -Clover (he/him) 🎀 -Milo (he/him) 🎈 -Piper (she/he/they/it)

I'm still gonna keep posting the actual project on my main (@s0lar-ch3ri), but if you wanted to talk to the characters or something, well, here!

If you wanted to see updates about this little story project, just follow the #Paranormal Callings (And How We Got You Out) on my main. Out of characters, I use he/her/it/sol! Uh, yeah bye bye lol

oh also any ooc things are gonna be tagged "#paranomal shutdown"

for my reblogs of the written out chapters, check "#written entity handling"

for my reblogs of the drawn out chapters, check "#drawn entity handling"

the story will always be tagged "#Paranormal Callings (And How We Got You Out)"

because it is a hastel to tag all the posts, any non-actual story (like random office things or whatever) are gonna just be tagged "#backstage of the hotline"

if i give a lil detail about the hotline or whatever, itll go under #fun ph factoids

new characters coming as i work on this lol (maybe tags too idrk)

so fun thing, asks with little things can be for any fandom and shit, and theyll have their own side plotline things (not canon to the main story, but canon somewhere) so yeah!

finished side story things will get put in the pinned to look thro later :3

#cat-otic demons - An anon called in, talking about a peculiar demon who's been talking to their cat, Toothpaste.

#wooded elks - An anon called in about a mysterious elk who had been watching them in the woods.

#demonic possibility - Mysterious shop owners who might be a bit more then human!

CHARACTER TAGS BECAUSE I CAN:

#mossed up posting - moss

#gathering magics of runes - rune

#ataris time shining - atari

#whips up - whip

#interning piper! -piper

#newer friends to organize - for when i make new guys for this shit and just am too lazy to make a new tag for em

[mermaidchansons]

Divine Indeed: Part Two

Neighbor!Terry Richmond x Divine Wells (black OC)

Story Summary: Divine Wells, a 31-year-old seamstress, deals with waves of change after she picks up her life and moves to San Diego for a new job. She thought she’d finally found peace in her new normal; until Oshun decided to push her path to collide with her fine ass neighbor, Terry Richmond.

Words: 2300+

Warnings: mentions of loss, lust

Author’s Note: Better late than never lmfao. Feedback is always encouraged! Don’t keep your thoughts in that pretty head, share with me, bby <3 - Ashanti

Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt.3

Meow! 

“I hear you, T. Just give me 5 seconds, man.” 

Terry looked down at his watch, watching the seconds hand cross over the 12 and stopping the alarm just as it began to ring out. The music in his ears transitioned to the next song on Death’s ‘…For The Whole World To See’ album. It was 7:30 AM, which meant breakfast time for the one-year-old Maine Coon, and he was intent on making it everyone’s problem. He scampered over to where his human was sitting to tie his sneakers and placed his big front paws on Terry’s knees; claws slightly sinking into the outer layer of his owner's skin. Shaking his head, Terry headed out of his bedroom and over to the kitchen where elevated bowls with the name T’Challa written in black. 

Terry tightened the loop of his gym bag at his chest as he briskly walked across the room with his cat in tow; mewling at him in annoyance. He moved to San Diego just over two years prior, intent on putting his past behind him and finding himself again; or whoever he was now that his only living family member was gone. The sense of self that he had felt confident in was shaken and depleted. The Marines instilled Terry with discipline and determination where Michael gave him a sense of adventure and a purpose; a reason to keep going. For years, he had a purpose in two entities. But now that time and circumstance had ripped both out of his grasp, he needed a change of scenery; to get out of the south. Terry was stagnant for once in 10 years and in becoming familiar with the suffocating, muggy feeling of loss, he knew he needed out. Loss would have eaten him whole with no regret or second thoughts.

Terry reached into the tall food container, scooping up dry kibbles and moving to the food bowl. As if on cue, T’Challa stood on his stocky hind legs with his face in the bowl, waiting for the kibbles to drop. Terry attempted to push the cat’s long face away, rolling his eyes at the sound of a very long drawn-out meow. The little man was impatient as hell and acted as if Terry would ever let him miss a meal. T’Challa resisted as always, hellbent on being in the way and Terry poured the food directly onto his head, calling him an ‘asshole’. He would never get over how half of the kibble never made it into the bowl. When he first moved into this apartment, the woman who helped him sign the lease suggested that he’d get a furry companion to help ‘evade the inevitable loneliness’. And yet it was times like this that made him wonder if he should have chosen loneliness instead.

“I better not find any of that food in that damn bed, T,” Terry warned the cat as he walked out the front door, locking it behind him; jiggling the handle for good measure. Bypassing the elevator and heading to the staircase, Terry checked his texts to see that his client would be 15 minutes late. He flexed his jaw incredulously, shoving the phone in his pocket. He’d have to nip that in the bud. Tardiness was something Terry would not tolerate. After being berated by his Creole grandmother in front of her book club for his tardiness, a 7-year-old Terry had decided that he would never be late to anything ever again. And he never was. ‘Cause who would he be if he went against Grandma Thérèse’s orders? A smirk appeared on his face as he landed on the second floor, hearing her voice in his ear saying ‘if you’re on time, you’re late. And if you’re late, you may as well have stayed home, chile’. 

Terry waltzed into gym room #7 with his attention to his phone and stopped in his tracks. The music in his ears seemed to also be playing out loud, causing him to blink at the impending confusion. Pausing the music and taking out his AirPods, he finally looked up. A candy pink speaker sat against the farthest wall blasting the tail end of ‘Politicians In My Eyes’ by Death. Across from the speaker was a person high up on the stair master, squeezing her eyes shut as she stepped up each step. Her pink afro bubble braids were half up, half of them hanging down her back; just passed the cup of her thick backside. 

Terry hid a growing smile when he took a closer look at the gym set the beautiful stranger was wearing. A light blue with water ripples and bright yellow rubber ducks that warped and jiggled with each hike she made. It was almost comical, but not nearly enough to distract him. His mouth went dry as he observed the stranger, taking in every curve and roll as she climbed the stairs to the beat of a new song. He was staring for far too long and he knew it. But she made it hard to turn away; the swing of her plentiful hips with each step was enough to make him drop to his knees and beg her for an ounce of attention. Just an ounce, he knew he didn’t deserve any more than that. No one on earth was deserving of someone like her. Refocus, be cool. 

“My bad, I didn’t know this room was booked up,” Terry yelled over the electronic music. 

Her head whipped to look at him before she scrambled, trying to stop the machine and pause the music at the same time. She stood on the side of the machine, frantically ripping out the safety chord and turning down the music with both hands. Her chest bounced up and down wildly, trying to catch her breath. Terry fixed his mouth to ask if she was alright, but she stuck out her index finger, silencing him. He nodded and walked over to the panting goddess, holding out his hand in support. She gingerly placed her small palm in his, letting him guide her back down to safety. He picked up what he assumed to be her pink, sticker ladened hydro flask and handed it to her. Terry watched intently as she mouthed a thank you. 

“I didn’t mean to barge in on your time,” Terry apologized, one foot behind him, ready to leave her to her own devices. 

“No, no- don’t mind me, we can share for the last 10 minutes.” 

Pink bubble braids swayed around her as she made her way over to a pile of weight plates on the floor, left behind by someone in a rush no doubt. Terry watched as she bent down to pick up a plate, but stayed down. She had to have known it was too heavy, but she continued to strain. 

How long is she going to keep this up? Terry tried his best to quell the bubbling laughter rising in him. With arms crossed, he observed as she finally lifted the plate off of the ground and practically threw it onto the bench. He watched her face contort in the reflection of the mirror, scrunching her cute little round nose at the sudden clanging of metal. Down again she went, moving into a deep squat to lift the next plate. Terry shut his eyes tight, pulling his lips in as the laugh began trickling out of him, making an audible pffft. 

“You could help you know,” the beautiful stranger whined with an incredulous look on her face; which soon melted into a smirk once she saw the smile plastered on Terry. 

“Yes, ma’am.” Terry jogged over, trading laughs between them. He didn’t have much experience in the art of flirting, and never really had the urge to engage in it. Leading as many lives as Terry had, one would think romance must have wiggled its way in at some point. Yet, here he stood, unable to remember how long it’s been since he’d been on a date. It couldn’t have been in the last year, he’d been a hermit since he’d moved to San Diego. 

“It’s hard to take you seriously with all the ducks and cuteness.”

“Listen, you wouldn’t be saying that if you saw the lack of cute workout clothes in size fat. I had to make these myself.” 

Terry took the weight plate out of her hands. “Word? Is that what you do?” He bent down to return the plates, his eyes darting to the rubber duck charms dangling from her blue sneakers.

“Yeah, kinda,” she sighed before taking a long swig of water, “I’m a seamstress so I mostly execute other people’s visions. I don’t get a lot of time to work on my own stuff.” 

“By the way you sound saying that you might need to make some time for yourself. Otherwise, you gone sound like a depressed robot.” 

Terry nudged her shoulder with his and she dramatically swayed to the side. Her tooth gems gleamed in the light when her chubby cheeks squished up into a smile. Warmth radiated in the tips of Terry’s ears and he swallowed dryly to extinguish the growing desire in his abdomen. 

“Marvin? Stop, my mom used to call me that. She loves that movie.” She started to walk towards the door and Terry’s feet moved with hers, no thoughts required.

“That was one of the last movies I saw in theater.” 

She scrunched up her face and stopped in her tracks. Terry stopped with her in tandem and waited in curiosity. He looked down at her with his brow lifted in question. 

“Wait, that was like a bajillion years ago! You gotta get out more, dude. Listen, there’s a theater two blocks away that does $5 Wednesday showings.” 

Terry cheesed hard watching the little deity jump into a myriad of movie titles and where to watch them online. She looked almost offended that he had not had the chance to experience these movies, going into her recommendations for the month. Sure, he hadn’t dated in what felt like a century, but maybe a movie date would be nice. 

“My bad, I’m running my mouth about a special interest and I don’t even know your name yet.” 

Terry blinked away the date ideas swirling in his head and brought himself back to the present, rewinding and replaying the last sentence sent into the air. “You’re good. Nice to meet you, I’m Terry. Terry Richmond. I’m on level 5.”

She slid a small, gold-adorned hand into his larger one and pulled her shoulders back. “Pleasure to meet you, Terry of Level 5. My name’s Divine Wells, first of her name, keeper, and dweller of level 2.” 

He watched her bow into an assisted curtsey, giggling; clearly tickled by her joke. She was an absolute nut and he grew entranced with every word that fell from her pouty pink lips. Her name echoed in his head in a voice other than his own and rushing water sounded in his ears. The voice repeated her name until it melted into the familiar pitter-patter of raindrops against a window. What was she doing to him? Her brown sugar eyes broke away from his to look out the window at the sudden rain. He immediately missed their connection, desperate to be beneath her gaze once more. Looking down at their still connected hands, he felt almost magnetized to her. 

When Divine returned her attention to his face, her eyes grew large with shock and she took her hand out of his. “My bad,” she said in hushed tones.

“You’re good, Divine.” Terry’s eyes racked up and down her body once more before offering her a small, genial smile. She bit her lip and drew her eyes away. Was she blushing? Terry slyly dug into his pocket for a business card, getting one ready to hand to her.

“You know I-”

“Hermano, my bad bro, my alarm didn’t go off and I had this honey over last night. I lost track of time, bro.” An olive-skinned man projected his voice as he tip-toed in, vacuuming away the swells of lust in the air. Terry crossed his arms and pointed his eyes like daggers at the man. Divine’s shot between them and let out a small ‘oop’. 

“Stretch.” 

One word from Terry and the man damn near sprinted to the other side of the gym room, his overly large gym bag rustling loudly with each step. Terry looked over to see Divine gathering her things to prepare to leave. 

A waterfall of pink puffs covered her face as she bent down to her belongings into a bag. Rubber ducks jiggled with her behind as she stepped, drawing Terry’s attention again. He had to stop looking at her like this. If he didn’t, he’d have to step away from his client session to take care of the growing pain below his abdomen. 

Divine walked towards the door waving with one hand, and put on her headphones with the other. “Nice meeting you, Terry.” 

“You too. Hold up.” Terry took three steps forward, his heart jumping a beat as he watched Divine bite her lip once more; those eyes flooding him with heat. “I know we don’t know each other like that but here’s my number. Let me know if you ever need anything, I take this community shit seriously.” 

Her eyes lit up as she took the card from his hand and Terry flexed his jaw. He was in agony just looking at her.

“Whatever you say, Terry.” He watched Divine and her rubber duck-lined outfit walk away as the rain picked up outside. He was in trouble.

Tags:

@babybluepeaches @muse-of-mbaku @melaninmarvel @naturallyqueenie @howtoshuckatlife @goldieccentric @archivistofwakanda @alexundefined @minyara-kun @destinio1 @raysunshine78 @madamslayyy @notdsg @ghostfacekill-monger @soufcakmistress @greennightspider @bitchacho25 @jordanhelah @puremolasses @ajspencer1892 @monochrome-pineapple @psuedo4 @bubblyqueen @chaneajoyyy @blowmymbackout @tchallasbabymama @megamindsecretlair @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @jvzmine19 @ashanti-notthesinger

Thanks For Reading!

[justwannabecat]

Room For Adjustment

In their defense, the wording was vague.

“A circle, diameter of five feet, with an asteroid drawn in the center. The astrological symbol at the time of summons should be inscribed at the four corners. Leave room for adjustment.”

It was simple. And they really did need to meet this entity. They had to determine whether or not it was a threat. So they set up the summons in the middle of nowhere, an empty plain in Texas. Nothing was surrounding them, nobody could get hurt if negotiations went poorly. Between Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Zatanna and Constantine, they were fairly certain they could handle the singular entity that was summoned.

“Leave room for adjustment.”

Once activated, the circle grew.

It went from five feet in diameter to fifty. The ground began to shake and crack. An eerie green light shot up from between the earth, and two gigantic clawed hands began to pull themselves out. A head of white hair came next, followed by a long, serpentine body. Despite the size of the circle, the being still had to layer it’s tail over itself in order to fit.

Those present had the sudden feeling that they should have brought more magic users.

Who summons me?

[gratifyingdays]

Grat's Character Sheet:

(THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT A CHARACTER SHEET, PLEASE BARE WITH ME IM NEW.)

Name: Gratifying Days.

True Name: Feuer Days.

Username: GratifyingDays

Nicknames: Grat, Sun Child, The Sun King, Glowstick, Light Taker, Lemon, Silly Demon.

Age: 19 (In demon years!)

Birthday: April 20th ????

Pronouns: He/Him.

Gender: Male.

Sexuality: Homosexual.

Species: Demon (Pride/Wrath Hybrid)

Disorders: Insomnia, Autism, PTSD, CPTSD, NPD, OCD, Unipolar Mania.

Physicial conditions: Dichromatic Vision, Solar Retinopathy.

Addictions: Smoking and Drinking.

Religion: None, but he'll follow whatever benefits him the most.

Job: Puppet!

Past job: King (Dictator👎).

Past birthplace: Somewhere in hell?

Past homes: His fathers train, heaven, his realm.

Living: Daisy's house! (He sleeps in the trees, specifically the big one in heaven.)

Languages: English and Demonic.

Height: 6'8. (Tall guy!!!)

Powers: Shape-shifting, Possession, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Speed, Fire Magic, Light Magic, Teleportation, Invisibility, Barrier Magic.

Weaknesses: Cold temperatures, holy items, darkness, his loyalty.

Weapons: A golden sword, a golden axe, His claws and teeth.

Alignment: Chaotic neutral/lawful evil.

Favorite animals: Cats and Birds!!!

(Their diffrent in his realm! They looks as drawn in the image below)

Diet: He's not too picky with his food, but definitely prefers any type of cooked meat and any type of tea! And souls especially!!

Scent: Smoke and antique cologne.

Favorite flowers: Coreopsis and Yellow Roses. (Not sunflowers, surprising, I know!!)

Theme:

Playlist:

Fun Fact: After his God died, an entity took over their body to taunt Grat. It would hide in the darkness in Grat's realm to terrorize him.

Soul: Witch's hat mushroom!

Grat!:

Family: Ottone "Brass-Hat" Days and Cordelia "Svet" Days.

Friends: The Cultivator, Alice, Daisy, Dayfare, Ebrofour, Jessa, Asa, Lancia, Sotomania, Cosmo, Zailyn, Radio, Pixy, AND SO MANY MORE!!!

Pets: Three cats, Hope, Ambi and Faith!!!

Brief personality:

Grat is a very cheerful and energetic demon most of the time! He's always willing to help if he can! Sometimes, he can be a tad bit too energetic and get violent, but he really doesn't do it out of anger or hatred.

A lot of Grat's cheerfulness is an act, he fears people wouldn't like him so much if he wasn't so happy all the time, and if they don't like him... How could he accomplish his goals?

He tends to over think a lot.

When he's in the dark for too long, he can be very apathetic and distant due to his unresolved trauma and fears of his past.

Grat is an incredibly loyal worker and would do just about anything for the person he's working for! Unless it threatens the safety of his suns of course.

Very Brief Backstory:

Grat grew up on his father's train, would cause mischief there and steal from passengers. Stole a book about the sun. Became obsessed with that book about the sun and ran away to train so he could escape hell. Became big and strong and escaped hell, more training, beat up angels, became a cruel ruler in heaven. Befriended the God of that reality, created a realm together. Blah blah blah, went to other realities together and stole their suns too.

There realm couldn't handle all of the suns so the God sacrificed themselves to save the realm, blah blah blah, Grat lost most of his powers but didn't give up, now in a new reality working on getting more power and suns then hopefully returning to his realm when done!

(This is a very simplified version of this because there's still a lot of story things I need to figure out. I'm not a writer, so forgive me if it's not great or if things are misspelled. I have never created anything on the scale of this character or even shared any of my characters online, so I am very much out of my depth and would appreciate it if you didn’t judge too harshly!🙏)

[cheesemonky]

Chapter 5: Deeper Into the Forest

pairing: fairy!felix x fairy!reader

Series Masterlist

Word count: 1.5k

summary: A fairy gets their wings once they're 13. A normal one at least. You're 23, and still without any. This leaves you without a mate, because who would love a wingless fairy? So when you decide to leave, it's quite the surprise to find a fairy with a wing missing…

warnings: i dont think theres anything other than it being absolute word vomit and garbage, NOT PROOFREAD

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the windows of the holiday house, casting a warm glow over the room. You and Felix stirred from your makeshift beds, the events of the previous night still vivid in your minds. As you stretched and rubbed the sleep from your eyes, you couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of purpose. The mysterious clue in your pocket seemed to pulse with an unseen energy, urging you forward on your quest.

Heeseung and the other vampires were already awake, gathered around the ornate table in the centre of the room. The atmosphere was markedly different from the night before, filled with a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Heeseung greeted you with a warm smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough," you replied, glancing at Felix, who nodded in agreement. "Thanks for helping us last night. That clue we found… it feels important."

"It is," Heeseung agreed, his expression serious. "The journey you're on is not an easy one, but it's clear you have the strength and determination to see it through."

Felix looked down at the glowing rock still clutched in his hand, its light now a soft, steady pulse. "So, what's our next step?" he asked, looking around at the group of vampires.

Jay, the responsible one, spoke up. "The clue mentions 'those of green.' It could be referring to a group or an entity associated with the colour green. There are many possibilities, but one stands out: the forest guardians."

"Forest guardians?" you echoed, intrigued.

"Yes," Sunoo chimed in, his sweet voice filled with excitement. "They're ancient beings who protect the forests and all its creatures. They're said to have a deep connection to nature and are known for their green attire and abilities."

Felix's eyes lit up. "That makes sense! But how do we find them?"

Riki, the youngest vampire, grinned mischievously. "Leave that to me. I know a guy who knows a guy. We'll get you in touch with the forest guardians in no time."

As Riki set off to make the necessary arrangements, Heeseung turned to you and Felix. "While Riki handles that, we need to prepare you both for what's to come. The forest guardians are not easily convinced to help outsiders. You'll need to prove your worth and earn their trust."

You exchanged a determined look with Felix. "We're ready," you said, your voice steady.

Over the next few hours, the vampires helped you and Felix gather supplies and prepare for the journey ahead. They shared stories of their own encounters with the forest guardians, offering valuable advice and insights. Despite their intimidating appearance, the vampires proved to be kind and generous hosts, their initial theatrics long forgotten.

As the sun began to set, casting a golden hue over the forest, Riki returned with good news. "I've made contact. The forest guardians are willing to meet with you, but you'll need to travel to their sacred grove deep within the forest. It's a long and challenging journey, but I have no doubt you can make it."

Heeseung handed you a map, carefully drawn and marked with key landmarks to guide you on your way. "Stay on the path and trust in yourselves," he advised. "And remember, the forest guardians value honesty and respect above all else. Show them that, and you'll have their support."

With the map in hand and a renewed sense of purpose, you and Felix bid farewell to your vampire friends, grateful for their help and hospitality. As you stepped out into the cool evening air, the forest around you seemed to hum with anticipation. The journey ahead was fraught with uncertainty, but you felt ready to face whatever challenges lay in wait.

Together, you and Felix set off into the forest, the clue in your pocket guiding you forward. The path was winding and often treacherous, but you pressed on, driven by the promise of discovery and the hope of unravelling the mysteries that lay ahead.

“Do you think we can trust them?” Felix asked, glancing back towards the now distant house.

“I think so,” you replied, stepping over a gnarled tree root. “They helped us, after all. Plus, they seemed genuinely interested in helping us find the Heart of Eris.” Felix nodded, though his brow remained furrowed.

“I just can’t shake off how strange that whole experience was. I mean, vampires?” You chuckled softly.

“I know. It’s a lot to take in. But if we can accept that vampires exist, I suppose forest guardians aren’t too far-fetched.” Felix smiled at that, his mood lightening.

“You’ve got a point there. It’s just�� this whole thing feels like a dream.”

“A very weird, vivid dream,” you agreed, sharing in his wonder.

As night fell, the forest came alive with the sounds of nocturnal creatures and the rustling of leaves. The moon cast an ethereal glow over the landscape, illuminating your path and filling you with a sense of wonder. Despite the challenges, you felt a deep connection to the world around you, as if the very forest itself was guiding you towards your destination.

“Look at that,” Felix whispered, pointing to a cluster of glowing mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.

“They’re beautiful,” you murmured, pausing to admire the bioluminescent fungi. “It’s like the forest is welcoming us.” Felix knelt down, gently touching one of the mushrooms.

“Y’know, seeing things like this make me forget a little about how dangerous this whole thing is…”

“I know what you mean,” you said, crouching beside him. “But we can’t lose focus. You convinced me to help you with this mess, so you better not forget about it.” Felix stood, nodding resolutely.

“Right. Let’s keep moving.”

The path grew narrower and more winding as you ventured deeper into the forest. Trees loomed overhead, their branches intertwining to form a natural canopy that blocked out the starlight. The only illumination came from the moonlight filtering through gaps in the leaves and the occasional glow of phosphorescent plants.

“According to the map, we should be getting close,” Felix said, studying the parchment by the light of a glowing flower he had plucked earlier.

“I hope so,” you replied, feeling the fatigue of the journey beginning to set in. “I could use a rest.”

“Me too,” Felix agreed, his steps slowing. “But we have to stay alert. We don’t know what might be out here.” After hours of walking, you finally arrived at a clearing bathed in moonlight. In the centre stood a towering oak tree, its branches reaching towards the sky like ancient arms. Surrounding the tree were figures clad in green, their eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. Felix grabbed your arm, his grip tight.

“This must be it.”

You nodded, heart pounding with anticipation. Or maybe it was the way his hand felt against the skin of your arm. “Stay close.” As you stepped into the clearing, the figures turned towards you, their movements graceful and fluid. One of them, taller than the rest and adorned with a crown of leaves, stepped forward.

"Welcome, travellers," he spoke, his voice a melodic blend of authority and kindness. "We have been expecting you." You and Felix exchanged a wary glance before stepping forward.

“We’re here seeking your help,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady. The figure nodded.

“We know. The winds of the forest have carried your story to us. But tell us, what brings you to our sacred grove?” Felix took a deep breath and began to explain, recounting your journey and the clues you had uncovered so far. The forest guardians listened intently, their glowing eyes never leaving your face. When Felix finished, the leader of the guardians stepped closer, his expression thoughtful. “Your quest is a noble one. But to earn our aid, you must prove your worth. We cannot grant our trust lightly.”

“What do we have to do?” you asked, your determination unwavering. The guardian smiled, a hint of challenge in his eyes.

“There is a trial you must undertake. It will test your courage, your wisdom, and your heart. Only those who are truly worthy can succeed.” Felix looked at you, his resolve mirrored in your gaze.

“We’re ready,” he said firmly.

The guardian nodded. “Very well. Follow me.” As you followed the guardian deeper into the forest, the air around you seemed to thrum with ancient magic. The trees parted to reveal a hidden glade, bathed in the soft glow of fireflies and moonlight. In the centre of the glade stood a stone altar, inscribed with runes that seemed to pulse with a faint, otherworldly light.

“This is the heart of the forest,” the guardian said, his voice reverent. “Here, you will face your trial. Prove yourselves, and the forest will aid you on your journey.”

You and Felix stepped forward, feeling the weight of the guardian’s words. The trial awaited, and with it, the next step on your path to unravelling the mysteries that lay ahead.

“So travellers, are you ready to take on what is to come?”

taglist: @mumusreblogs @2minstan @painstakingly-juno @jinnie-ret @juskz @nvmkyuu @cinnabunnyongbok @mirbokk @stardustlixie @vampcharxter @michelle4eve @silverstarburst @abovenyx @palindrome969 @hyunjinloverrr @asp3ntr33 @starrymactavish send an ask to be on the taglist!!

leisel's note: am i back? yes! am i writing again? yes but very inconsistently! i had a brain wave and lost it halfway through writing this. ill be posting random short stories and writing peices more often than actual fics or chapters but please show support still !! reblogging helps a lot with motivation :3

[g0blintears]

Dark Devotion [Yandere! Dead By Daylight x Reader]

Summary: You are a mystery to both the survivors and killers within the fog. A servant of darkness, a creature created by the entity itself, you are the shadow behind the scenes that provides the survivors with the necessities they need to survive, while also assisting killers with the weapons they need to sacrifice. You are a servant void of humanity, but not one that seeks out despair. An empty slate that perhaps just needs to be taught a little bit of hope and empathy to help the survivors escape once and for all.

Six. Botany Knowledge

Once the sound of even breathing filled the silence of the room, you quietly stood up from your chair. The pierced scraping of wood scratching across the floor and itched at your ears. Your eyes briefly looked over the sleeping brunet, watching as his chest slowly rose and fell with every breath he took.

You could understand why he didn’t want to rest. For someone like you, sleep wasn’t necessary. You could stay awake for as many millennia as the realm remained without ever needing to rest. 

It wasn’t as if you couldn’t sleep though. You’ve just never tried. After all, if it wasn’t necessary, why bother?

It’s different for humans though. Since your creator had a very peculiar diet, you did everything you could to learn more about how to harvest the food source to its most beneficial potential. The more you learned about humanity, and the more you learned on how they functioned, the better you could do to ensure that the entity got to feast well. That’s why making sure the survivors were taken care of properly was one of your top priorities. 

Giving one last look to the sleeping survivor, you turned around and opened up the screen door; making your way over to the next row of cabins.

One by one you continued with your routine. You walked into each cabin, dropping off some bed sheets, and left just as quick as you had entered. It wasn’t long until you were finally down to the last cabin. 

Entering through the screen door, you were mindful to give the wooden door a gentle knock as you made your way inside. You looked around the room, your eyes searching for the brunette botanist, only for you to be met with another empty cabin.

Walking across the creaking wooden floors, your ears instantly picked up the sound of water droplets falling into a bigger body of water. You briefly gazed over to the woman’s desk where the source of the sound was coming from. Placing the neatly folded bedsheets on her bed, your focus went over to the table, intrigued by the contents that were scattered on the surface.

Dozens upon dozens of notes littered the desk. Papers scribbled with messages that started with ‘to me: from past me’ were written over in messy ink. Following the trail of papers, your eyes looked over the various plants spread over the window sill. Many of the herbs and flowers from the realm were planted into small tin cans with little noted descriptions of each flora written on a piece of paper taped to the wall. Each one of those notes had drawn diagrams of the plants, along with detailed paragraphs about the biology of each greenery and theories of what they did. 

All of the notes were so intricate and riveting that you found yourself immersed with all of the contents on the desk. Especially once your eyes caught sight of the very corner of the table where a bowl of water with a tubed outlet was placed. The tube allowed water to dribble out of the small hole and fall into another bowl of water that was placed underneath the desk.

Lifting a hand to the desk, your fingers lightly traced over the notes. Reading over the contents of scribbled passages with curious [eye color] eyes. You took in all of the information like a sponge. Not once did you take your attention away from the papers, not even when the cabin door swung open.

Claudette looked down at her hands with a tender smile.

Her fingers gently held onto the handle of her basket. Various flowers and herbs of unknown origin were bundled into the mahogany hamper. Her hands were scratched up with cuts and bandages, a few lumps and itchy rashes covered her dark skin, but she didn’t mind as she gazed down in awe at the mysterious bundle of flora.

Claudette had just gotten back from foraging around the camp. After the nice blonde woman named Kate had shown her around, Claudette had to excuse herself from the others. The wave of information of the realm had flooded her mind like a typhoon, and she needed an outlet to rethink everything she had just learned. 

She had gone back to the cabin Kate had said belonged to her. Upon entering, she had found herself staring at a desk with hundreds of notes written in her handwriting. All of the papers helped explain the situation to her in more detail. Not only that, but they also brought back some of her memories. 

She had died. 

She could still feel the pierced knives break through her skin. The many hooks that impaled into her shoulder, over and over again as she let out a horrid scream that scratched at the back of her throat. It sent shivers down her spine. Her breathing became disheveled and she began rocking back and forth while holding onto herself. Those memories were becoming overbearing. She couldn’t handle it. She needed to leave.

Once she had shakily grabbed her basket off the floor of her bed, Claudette ran out the door and sprinted into the forest. She ran and ran until the lights from the torches around the cabins began to fade, and she had found herself in the middle of the woods surrounded by towering trees and unfamiliar plants. After her heart settled back into an even pace, she began to recoup by throwing herself into the bundle of flowers.

With shaky hands, she studied the plants surrounding her, her once fearful brown eyes stared down at the flowers in awe. She was shocked to see how many of the flora looked like plants she had known back in her world. However, the plants in this realm were nothing like the ones she had studied. The flowers here were vastly different, glowing neon colors throughout the stems.

Memories of her life in the realm had slowly come back to her, but unlike the ones back in the cabin, these memories weren’t bad. They were fuzzy cut up images of her studying the flora of the realm. The recollection of broken memories were both comforting and familiar pieces of a puzzle that rose with each plant she encountered. She remembered how much she loved studying the flowers in the realm and how her knowledge in botany had helped not only her, but the others in this world. 

She also remembered that all of the plants in this realm were scientific anomalies that had her mind buzzing with questions. These flowers had different purposes, each purpose confusing her more and more as she dug through the dirt and pulled the roots of the plants from the ground to place in her basket.

She had explored the light fog until her basket was full to the brim with unknown greenery. Once satisfied, she went back to her cabin. She was no longer upset, but rather excited to study and learn about the nature of this new place once she was in the safe haven of her room.

All of that led to where she was now. As soon as she walked through the screen door, she paused. Claudette’s eyes widened a bit as she gazed upon the person standing by her desk. 

“Oh, hello.” She called out, placing the basket of plants by the door of the cabin. “Are you another survivor?” She asked with a small tilt of her head. 

You didn’t respond at first. Your eyes just intensely stared at one of her notes, as though you were contemplating on saying something. 

“I see your memories still haven’t returned.” You chose to respond before you finally brought your full attention to the botanist. “No. I’m not a survivor. I am the servant to the entity.”

“Servant?” She repeated, a frown formed on her face. She couldn’t quite remember you. Her memories were still a collection of broken fragments, but she did remember reading through her notes on things about you. 

You were the entity’s servant. The only being allowed to wander anywhere around the realm without being blocked off by an invisible wall. She didn’t know how old you were. What your name was. Or how you were even created. No one knew any of those questions. You were a complete mystery, much like your creator. 

All she knew about you was what she observed from the sidelines. And according to her notes, you were really nice and helpful. A little bit hard to talk to, but that could be blamed on herself since she was never the kind of person to easily talk to people. Other than that, she never thought one bad thing about you. If anything, her notes often wondered if you were anything like her. 

Claudette let a smile curve on her lips. “Oh, it’s you. Is there anything I can do for you?”

You shook your head, your eyes subtly trailing back to her desk. “Not at all. I was just dropping off some bed sheets.”

Claudette nodded. “Okay then. Well, thank you.”

The room was silent once more with Claudette looking at you and her eyes trailing over to her desk, anticipating for you to leave so she could continue to study her notes and bring back other memories to further study the plants within the fog. Although you said you were just there to drop off some bedsheets, you didn’t make any moves to leave after completing said task. You merely stood there, eyes glued to her notes. 

“You’re wrong.”

You finally spoke, your words catching Claudette off guard. 

“Huh?”

You pointed to one of her notes.

“The golden flowers. They don’t provide any aid to healing. However, they do grant one hundred percent bonuses to your currency.” You picked up one of the fragrant primrose flowers that was cut and strayed on the desk. You then twirled the stem of the flower in your hand, your eyes gazing down at the glowing golden petals.

Claudette’s eyes widened. Taking quick strides across the floor, she hastily picked up her notes, her eyes moving from her notes to the flowers between your fingers before her gaze met yours.

“Really? Because whenever I’d burn these offerings I would often feel like they had medicinal properties that would soothe injuries. I actually remember that feeling. I often felt like I was making a difference when it came to healing whenever I would offer the primrose to the campfire.”

You nodded, “Yes, I am certain that the primrose flora do not have any healing effects. What might make you think this could be a variety of factors such as your knowledge on botany or your ability to track injured survivors, however, I don't think that is exactly what you’re referring to.”

Claudette was quick to shake her head in protest, “No! I know the difference! When I would burn any of the plants in this realm, I can tell that it was doing something different, I just didn’t know what.”

“It’s the offering itself telling you what your main objective for that trial is.” You calmly explained. “For example, if you happen to burn a bog laurel flower, then you would feel the need to focus on generator repairs. If you burn a crispleaf amaranth, you would want to focus on escaping. Each offering motivates you to focus on an objective within the trials.”

Claudette gasped, “That makes so much sense!” 

She then fumbled through her papers, her fingers excitedly flipping through all of her notes until she pulled out a brand new sheet of paper. Grabbing a pen, the woman scribbled down the things you had just taught her. She could feel her head thump in pain. Memories of the things she learned from the realm were resurfacing. Thousands upon thousands of questions filled her mind, all in which crowded her thoughts as she turned her attention back to you. 

Regardless of how her head screamed at her, Claudette ignored the pain and grabbed some of her notes. The botanist then proceeded to push the papers into your hands.

“What about these notes? I’ve noticed that the leaves on the crispleaf are highlighted with crimson veins; that's not unusual since they’re amaranth flowers. But! What is unusual is that amaranth are short-lived perennials, or commonly known as annuals.” Claudette grabbed one of the amaranth flowers from the window sill. She brought the potted plant over to you, and carefully lifted it up to your eye level.

“If that were the case, then how come this one hasn’t died?” She then handed you the potted plant. You had to attentively tuck her notes into your arm as you held onto the shining tin of the planted amaranth. 

Claudette didn’t seem to notice you juggling between her things as she scurried back over to her desk and continued to pull out more papers. 

“The Amaranthaceae are a family of annual or perennial herbs. Depending on how the amaranth are stored and what species of amaranth they are, its lifespan can vary, but typically in a stored environment they can live up to a month or two. While in the wild they can live up to maybe a few weeks or months. The point is, the flowers themselves don’t live that long!”

Taking out the sheets of paper she was looking for, Claudette walked up to you and brought you a few charts. On the pages were tally marks scribbled across each line on the paper. Another page had squares with numbers and letters labeled ‘MTWTFSS’ along with a question mark on the top of each chart.

“What is this?” You asked, your eyes scanning over the paper, surprised and intrigued by the details of the notes.

“It’s my homemade calendar!” She exclaimed enthusiastically as she leaned over your shoulder. Her hand brushed against yours as she pointed at the different tally marks on the pages. 

“At first I started tracking time by using tally marks to show how many hours have passed in this realm, but since that got overwhelming, I’ve decided to keep track of time by making a calendar.” She then pointed at the corner of the paper, “Since I have no idea which month I’m in, I’ve decided to just label them all as question marks for the time being, but each one of my months have seventy three days and each day has thirty hours. It just makes things easier since there’s no leap year…or at least not that I know of.”

Scratching her head, Claudette continued, “My memories are still fuzzy, but from what I’ve read in my notes, I’ve learned about ancient civilizations and how some old customs used to use water as a means to tell time.” 

Claudette then left your side to pull out the journal that documented that day she had talked to the two scholars. Her eyes briefly read over the notes once more before she moved her attention back to you. “I had known this realm didn’t have a way to tell time. There are no clocks, there is no sun, and there aren’t any stars to track, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t at least try to record how much time had passed.”

Claudette then excitedly grabbed your wrist and brought you over to her desk. She went on to point at the large claymatic bowl you had previously been studying.

“See this here? This is a water clock, also called a clepsydras. I made it with the clay I molded from the dirt,” She spoke with a proud grin before continuing, “You see, I learned that many cultures used this method to track time,” She explained, her eyes looking through her notes. Claudette then crouched down, her hand still clamped around your wrist, bringing you down to level with her in front of the bowl of water placed on the floor. “There are two types of clepsydra. Inflow and outflow, both methods needing two large containers full of water. This right here just so happens to be an inflow type. You can tell because right here are marks for each hour.” She explained, her fingers pointing to the inside of the bowl where you can see numbers and lines marked across the clay. 

Claudette turned her head towards you. You could see how bright her brown eyes shined as she gazed at you with excitement. “With this method, I can track how many hours have passed in the realm!” She exclaimed, then paused. Her smile wavered a bit as she looked back at the water with her teeth lightly chewing on her lower lip, “Well, it’s not always accurate since I sometimes don’t make it out alive in trials and I come back to find my clock has overflowed, but it works enough for me to get a guess-stimate of how much time has passed.”

Her eyes then went to you and then the potted plant that was still resting in your hand.

“This is what brings me to my question. I know in some customs these flowers are said to be everlasting, immortal- they never die! But flower meanings aren’t facts. These are annual flowers and they aren’t supposed to last more than a few weeks, but they’ve surpassed that number! These annuals haven’t wilted since being planted! Why is that? Same question goes for all the other flowers that are supposed to be annuals!”

She scooted herself closer to you. You could see her cheeks flush with enthusiasm as she excitedly spoke in rapid words. 

“Does this have something to do with the biology of the flowers themselves? They aren’t exactly normal flowers, right? Or is it because the motion of time doesn’t exist here? I realized that like these plants, we don’t grow old. We don’t age no matter how much time has gone by! So far I’ve tracked that a few months have passed since I’ve created this clock, so it’s not a lot of time, but I can’t help but feel like it’s been maybe a few years…”

She then frowned, her mind began to stray for a moment, but before she could go back to any old memories of her previous life, Claudette shook her head. She didn’t want to think too hard on how long she’s been in the realm. What mattered was the present. So with her hands slapping her cheeks, she turned back to you.

“Well, that aside, I believe that we are like these plants,” Claudette brought her hand to her chin, her mind buzzing with questions that she let slip off her tongue.  

”I don't know how it is possible, but it seems as if we are somehow frozen in space and time. Everything I know about the science of how the universe works, it just doesn’t seem to apply to this place. It’s- it’s impossible. And yet, here I am experiencing it first hand…” Claudette pursed her lips, a deep frown settling on her face, “Does this mean that this place defies all laws of physics? I know time is technically just an illusion generated by the limitations of the way we perceive this universe, but still. Time is constant, and yet…”

Rubbing the space between her eyes, Claudette let out a tired sighed, “Oh wow, I shouldn’t be getting so worked up on this. After all, I’m no quantum physicist. I just have a love for the science field, so I don’t know why I started rambling. I doubt you’re even allowed to talk about this stuff, huh? ” She chuckled, moving her gaze to meet your stare.

As for you, you were honestly not expecting her to be so vocal after you had merely just corrected one of her notes. But here you were, sitting with her on the floor with your arms full of papers and a plant in your hand, having a one sided discussion over the nature of this realm. 

For a moment, you had no idea how to reply. There were certain rules that you couldn’t break. Ever since an incident with an old survivor, you couldn’t afford to make another mistake. Not if you wanted to disappoint your creator once more.

However, this survivor wasn’t like him. She was very intelligent, yes, but also carried herself in a way that was transparent. Much like you when you first emerged from the fog. So given what you’ve seen out of this survivor, you know that she is no threat to you. If anything, she could prove to be beneficial if you were to motivate her. 

“This realm is much different from your own. Think of everything you know about the properties that make up your universe, and disregard everything about it. This place isn’t your world. It is the entity’s.” You finally explained, voice stern as you faced the botanist, “Understand this, there are some things in this realm that I am forbidden to discuss, and there are some things that are just too vast for the human mind to comprehend. So know that I will do my best to answer any inquiries you have on this realm, and I’ll let you know if I am unable to answer.”

Claudette’s eyes widened and she took a deep breath. She was half expecting you to shut her down right away since that’s what you’re known to do when asked questions on the entity. Yet, here you were. You listened to her, you conversed with her, and you were ready to answer any questions she had (with some exceptions) but that's besides the point. 

It was unexpected, but it thrilled her. Her fingers fidgeted with the papers in her hand, but she wasn’t nervous. Instead, a fuzzy warm feeling bloomed in her chest, causing her lips to curve up into a bright, excited smile.

[desultory-novice]

Sir Uther walks up to Noir Fontaine with purpose, having his usual happy-go-lucky smile and perky attitude. It was a surprise to see yet another human in this tournament ...well, atleast human-like. He instinctively reaches out for a handshake, eyes locked on Noir's face.

"Are you human?! MY~! I only ever saw the other one named Jade! Unlike her, you seem to be named after a color in french! Do tell, are there still any left of your species? Or are you all nearly extinct? Do you also have a history with Dark Matter in particular? I have so many questions~!! ☆"

His crystal eyes twinkle in delight, this truly was an opportunity to gain so much useful knowledge!

"Oh! And that entity, Zero as well! Does she exist in your world?"

"Hi! Wow! You're big! Bigger than I thought you round guys got!" 

Noir greets you with a boyish smile, though... ...He does not accept the handshake.

"You look like one of those Galactic Soldier Alliance people! I wrote fanfic about you! I can't let you read it because it's really cringe, but that's only cause when I was young I dreamed of being a hero, so...if you're ever recruiting, let me know maybe?! I'm not all that strong... but I'm passionate and have a strong sense of justice and somehow, I've got a lot of experience handling situations where all the evidence you killed anyone is gone because their bodies just disperse into matter once they're dead enough and the snow hides all the blood!"

[cw: mild body horror below]

"...What was I saying? Oh, yeah! I'm human! Whoa, there's another human here too? I should've figured that out, huh? I feel like I've been in a daze since I got here (or maybe even longer than that) and have been having a really hard time paying attention to stuff till lately when it all started coming back into my head REALLY FAST!"

"?! Do you speak French?! My mom taught my sister and me a little French and Japanese, cause of our ancestry, (what's my dad? I don't know! Maybe he's French-Japanese too?!) though we mostly speak Global at home. My name's supposed to be in Global but it's pretty cool that it means something in French too. 'Dark.' Sometimes I wonder if I was named after my hair? Though my sister's is the same color, pretty much, so that couldn't be it. Probably a coincidence?"

"Speaking of, my sister's human too and she's still around! We're separated right now, but my little brother's with her! (He's Dark Matter, since you brought it up! Yeah, he's adopted, but he's my little brother and if anyone says anything mean about him, I'll ****** them!) They're surrounded by friends too, so I don't worry!"

"It was really hard to get off the planet last time I was there, and it was getting pre~tty cold and people who got left outside tended to disappear till next year when you could find them again thawing out on the road but it's hard to imagine we've just gone extinct! I mean, the people from the New World had to have gone somewhere!"

"Hmm? Z...e...?"

"...r...." "...o...!?"

"M-muh...M-Mas..." "...pl...ea... ey...e...c-can....t... "...bre...athe...."

-

Noir clutches his throat. The dark, burn-like cracks on his skin that had been easy to ignore till now seem to crawl up, to his chin and beyond. A thick metal collar around his neck, barely visible between his gloved hands, hums with a dark violet glow before he passes out.

Elsewhere, an otherwise unremarkable looking sword in the stolen stash of a small Dark Matter begins to vibrate, seeking its host.

@kirbyoctournament

PS: Wisp belongs to @moonsharkss and while he's still in the lead this round, it's close, so if you want to give him a vote...!

(Help I forgot his hands!)

-

Noir's Field Trip Masterpost

-

AN: Welp, add another one to Sir Uther's body count/list of crimes...

So, I still have some "Cheerful" (...although more like his brains have been scrambled) Noir asks to answer/send out that I'll get to when I have time (writing him is a bit exhausting tbh... ) but I have gone ahead and drawn this to "progress" back to the main tourney story! (You didn't think he could stay this way forever, did you?)

TLDR, We're back to regular Noir (...or whatever other AU hijinks happen to come his way that affect him in some manner?! Magic anons...???) but if you wished to interact with or send another question to Noir explicitly during his short lived cheerful phase, lemme know! Though whether I get to it will depend on how I'm feeling ^^

-

(...Fwiw, I'm pretty sure if he stayed this way for too long, the emotional cascade would eventually give him a full on mental breakdown as his refreshed, innocent psyche finally catches up with processing all the traumas that made up his life.)

[ziekkfreak2-0]

Gonna be playing my first DND campaign!!! It's a combat-centric 3rd lvl one shot though, so I'm not gonna invest too heavily into OCs and instead just yoink traits from my fav characters. Here's the first two ideas. I'll just ramble abt them + a few other ideas I haven't drawn yet.

Forgetful Gnome Warlock:

🌑 Name: Memento, they/them

🌑 Referencing Siffrin from In Stars and Time

🌑 A traveller who, after making a pact with their patron, lost all their memories. Now they wander the lands trying to regain any semblance of a normal life.

🌑 Either Hexblade or Great Old One subclass.

🌑 For the former, they have a sentient dagger with a coin imbedded into its handle. Their dagger patron, who calls themself "Encore", is a showy, sarcastic, and smug entity that loves to mock Memento. However, Encore does everything in their power to protect and help Memento on their journey.

🌑 For the latter, Memento made a deal with the DND equivalent of "The Universe" (I still have to research. Hopefully I can find a great one with comparable strength and theming to ISAT's universe). They still act under their patron, albeit unknowingly. Like it's a habit that they can't get rid off.

🌑 By the end, they'll probably have grown attached to their party.

Morally Grey Human Artificer:

🎀 Name: Bug, she/he

🎀 Referencing Tessa James Elliott from Murder Drones

🎀 An artificer that caused a Warforged uprising and aims to solve it on her own. Has an affinity towards guns.

🎀 Either artillery or battle smith subclass.

🎀 Bug originally went by the name "James Harker".

🎀 She comes from a royal family of humans that relied heavily on (and abused) automatons.

🎀 Eventually, he heard about Warforged and wanted to give life to his favorite automatons. But after making only a few, they began learning how to make more Warforged themselves. Not long after, the manor was overrun by vengeful Warforgeds that aim to wipe out all other organic life.

🎀 James had to flee. She couldn't bear the guilt of having caused a robot uprising, so she changed her name to "Bug" in the hopes of not being recognized. Now, she vows to hone her artificing skills so she can face the uprising head on.

🎀 By the end, he'll have learned to open up to and trust people.

Additional ideas that I didn't draw:

- Plasmoid monk (Goopy Le Grande from Cuphead). There's nothing more to this, I just like the visual and wanted to take advantage of the unarmored abilities.

- Half Vampire half human sorcerer (Uzi from Murder Drones). Listen, vampire is an actual race in DND and the DM didn't set any limits besides "no homebrow". She basically inherited her magic (or her solver) from her mom, so this basically makes her a sorcerer.

- Autognome cleric (Cyn from Murder Drones). You will not be discarded :} It's a choice between the cleric life, death, or grave subclasses.

Aaaand that's all currently. Gonna discuss it with my DM still, but my final decision will prolly be up to whatever role needs to be fulfilled by the party.

[duckapus]

WarioWare(and Waluigi because It's My House) Headcanons

Because I can't stop making it That Deep.

Yoshi's Island DS is canon, specifically the bit of the ending where Baby Wario never actually gets delivered to his parents because he was more interested in stealing Baby Bowser's treasure. Due to that, he grew up in an orphanage after somebody found him on his raft full of gold.

Never actually got adopted because people can be shits and didn't want the weird-looking greedy superpowered fat kid who ate garlic like it was candy, but he's not particularly fussed about it. As far as he's concerned he had a great childhood.

That said it did result in him knowing a lot of other orphans who were significantly and understandably less content with their situations, which is why he's seemingly so drawn to kids with complicated home lives.

He's known Jimmy, 5-Volt and Waluigi (Walter at the time, he picked up "Waluigi" later in life) since they were kids. He met Jimmy their very first day of Kindergarten and never looked back, met Walter in third grade by protecting him from some bullies, and that same summer hired 5-Volt to help him and the guys with their lemonade stand, because He Has Always Been Like This.

Walter had an older sister named Gloria who was just as into science as their dad, and who often ended up supervising/getting dragged into him and his friends' antics

No idea who their mom might've been. Honestly given what Crygor's like he could have made them in his lab a 'la the Membrane family and I wouldn't be surprised.

Waluigi's actually just as ridiculously super-smart as the rest of his family, he just isn't interested in science at all. This, along with several other issues, drove a wedge between him and Crygor early on that slowly got worse as he grew up. He actually moved out and cut off most forms of communication as soon as he graduated high school because they could barely handle being in the same room without arguing by that point.

They didn't talk to each-other at all for a few years after that, until the horrible day they both got calls informing them Gloria and her husband had been in a car accident.

Baby Penny ended up staying with Crygor partly due to Walter's living situation not being entirely stable at the time, and they decided to at least try to relearn how to be around each-other so they could both be part of Penny's life (and because the whole thing had been a wake-up call for Crygor to how badly he'd messed up with Walter and he wanted at least some form of relationship with the kid he still had left)

Also, the Waluigi name and slightly exaggerated personality were mostly a Bit he did for shits and giggles at the first Mushroom Kingdom Tennis Tournament, but he ended up liking the nickname and the audience ate up the act, so he kept going with it afterwards. Crygor and Jimmy's parents are the only ones who still call him Walter in casual conversations anymore, which he doesn't mind since he still likes his real name even if he usually prefers Waluigi.

5-Volt's been dealing with her inexplicable demonic powers her whole life. Her parents have always been really worried about it and convinced it's some kind of horrible curse, meanwhile there's little 5-Volt happy as a clam because she's always got a Player Two.

The shadow thing is...sort-of her spirit but also sort-of its own entity? It's weird and she has trouble explaining it because this is just how it's always been for her.

Also, she does have some anger issues and violent tendencies that are made worse by the whole demonic transformation thing, but being friends with Wario for most of your life gives you a lot of practice at self-restraint

As she got older, she became more aware of how her parents felt about her abilities, their attempts to "cure" her of them, and how they seemed to grow more and more convinced that they were a danger to her and those around her.

This came to a head when they found out she was pregnant with 9-Volt and didn't react well, at which point she decided she was sick of them treating her like both an invalid and a monster and cut them out of her life.

Wario, the Crygors and the Thangs were actually there with her and her husband(who I need to come up with at some point) when 9-Volt was born, which I feel has to have been one of the wildest ways for Wario to meet one of his future employees.

No notes on Jimmy's childhood. We have met his parents and they're freaking awesome.

Since he obviously doesn't remember the events of Yoshi's Island DS since he was a literal baby at the time, the first time Wario met Mario actually was Super Mario Land 2, though he's obviously heard of the guy beforehand. After that and a few other encounters he ended up invited to a Kart racing tournament and that was that.

The first time he met Ashley and Red was during an adventure in his "living in a castle in the woods" era. They were going after the same cursed artifact (Ashley to keep it out of the wrong hands and Wario because in his words "Cursed treasure's the best kind! nothing like a little danger to get the blood pumping"). They probably would've ended that adventure as rivals or even enemies, but the artifact turned out to be a "sentient and wants to kill you with lasers" kind of cursed and Wario took a nasty hit for her and smashed the thing.

At some point he decided that living alone in a huge castle full of treasure with only a pet chicken for company sucked, actually, and packed up to move back to his old hometown, Diamond City.

That's actually how he met Dribble and Spitz. He'd taken a Warp Pipe to the city instead of his car or bike when he was looking at houses for sale because he'd forgotten how big the place was, so after spending half the day pounding pavement with no luck he hailed a cab and got theirs. He wasn't having any more luck than before thanks to his high standards(because his previous house was a freaking castle, sue him) and comically small budget (Wario is Wario, after all), but the company was good and there was far less walking so he was far less miserable than before.

He did end up picking a house that day...because the cab broke down in front of a miserable little abandoned shack on a hill at the edge of town and he basically went "Fuck it! I guess I live here now!"

Mona knew about Wario and was his biggest fan before she met him, seeing as even back than he was sort of a celebrity, but they didn't actually meet until a few weeks after he moved into town, when he and Orbulon, both disheveled and covered in soot and scorch marks from a first encounter they have never and will never elaborate on, walked into the Gelateria and placed the two worst ice-cream orders known to man, which I will not actually come up with for the sake of our stomachs. She was the only one in the room not horrified or even phased by these proceedings, and the three have been friends ever since.

He met Kat and Ana through 9-Volt, who became friends with them during recess their first day of school.

Most of the crew that he met after Mega Microgame$ were just introduced to him through his other friends(or we've outright seen it happen like with Lulu), but Young Cricket and Master Mantis he actually met while helping Mario with one of his own off-screen adventures.

Wario's actually pretty rich thanks to his treasure hunting, his fame, and the fact that he literally owns a Gold Mine and a Ski Resort! All the references to him allegedly being broke all the time are mostly just part of the skits for the games, like the ones for everyone else's levels. That said, his house really is as messed up as it looks, but that's just because he's stingy and a slob.

18-Volt really is the same age as 9-Volt. His unusual size is partially because he's originally from New Donk City.

Wario does, in fact, still have his pet chicken. I have not thought of a name for her

(Edit: I have been informed by @plushietoon that the chicken is canonically named Hen. Which is adorable and hilariously on-brand for Wario)

[wings-of-ink]

hello! sorry for the incoming macabre ask:

you said you liked ghosts, which made me think 👻... do spirits of the dead exist in the GC universe? what’s ROs’ stance on ghosts? (who’s going to get outed as a scaredy cat?) also, if it isn’t something we’ll get to see in the story, what do funerals look like? do people usually get buried or cremated? are there any special ceremonies?

i’ve read whatever i could find of your (delicious) worldbuilding but i need more; i’m hungry!!

I wouldn't say that's so macabre, as long as we're not killing off the ROs or the MC, we're good! 

This is a fun subject, really!

The people of the GC universe have varying ideas of what happens after death - sort of how we do irl - but the most prevalent belief is in reincarnation. They don't necessarily ascribe to remembering past lives or anything, but they don't think the soul of a person just vanishes after, and that it's sort of "recycled" back into the world. There are some that think the souls of the dead return to the gods they served - sort of powering them up and becoming a part of them.

Funerals in the world can be big events depending on the person - whole towns may be involved. Most people are cremated in pyres. Loved ones stand watch and speak to the departed one last time. They say goodbye or even air grievances - and it is firmly believed that the dead actually hear or understand everything that is said at their funeral. The smoke is sacred - a representation of the soul departing.

Families usually handle the body of their loved ones with any traditions passed down from within. Otherwise, you may see healers or midwives assisting. Since some are still followers of the gods, there may be something specific to those practices that they'd want done. For example, if they follow the Deities of the Stars - their service would be held at night. If they worshiped Casimir, they'd have a really really big pyre and likely be burned with a weapon. Some families simply bury any ashes or bone that remain, keep them in urns, or actually use them - mixing into a clay to make a memorial pottery of some sort. There are a few regional traditions as well. Those in the north may leave ashes at the tops of mountains. Those in the south sometimes take ashes out to sea. The middle province doesn't really have anything quite like that - burying ashes is the favored tradition.

MC's mother was burned on a pyre according to Dov's family tradition. He's from a nomadic people that burned the dead after placing a loaf of bread in their hands (often the departed's favorite kind) - sort of like a last meal. The pyre itself would have the departed's name etched in it and sometimes mourners would write sentiments to burn with them. Kip and Dov made promises to see that MC was cared for. They buried her ashes among the roots of the tree where she was found with her baby.

Spirits exist - more so known as demons - but they are not believed to be the spirits of the dead. They are their own entities but instead of being corporeal, they're magic. Demons can take possession of the living, but in the current world, this is quite rare. Gods nearly eradicated demons (at least the ones most dangerous to people), so they're a rarer find, and are drawn to strong magic and even emotion. This is why the Fields of Desolation are not pleasant. 😁 (Guess where you're headed later, teehee)

Since ghosts as we know them aren't really a thing they would know about, the ROs attitude towards demons:

Oswin–unnerved

Zahn–scared shitless

Duri–fearless (and dumb)

Rune–trying really fucking hard to not look scared

???--annoyed

Thank you for the fun question Anon! I love that you're interested in the fabric of the world. I'll try to pop this in the codex as well. ^_^

[rubyreadd]

i was litcherally gonna ask u if uve read paint a pretty picture b4 goes absolutely crazy i feel like u know how in period romance esp arranged marriage stuff theres always this tug of war between the love interest having absolute power over the mc but also the fact the mc loves them anyways sort of like beauty and the beast i think that for sebmark that type of story almost takes the external professional difference between them and folds it into an interpersonal power dynamic which makes for great writing i think also abo has maybe 2 purposes to me 1-insane kinky sex 2-making a man experience misogyny and by god is mark my favorite sad lil man to see put in a situation

HELLO!! I am so so sorry it's taken me weeks to answer your ask, but now that I have my pesky academics out of the way I can fully commit myself to yaoi.

You're entirely correct about the power dynamics! One of my favourite facets of martian is it's a relationship built on the uneven distribution of power levelled in Sebastian's favour. Which is unusual for age gap relationships, but what makes martian so compelling to me. Seb is Red Bull's golden boy, the youngest ever F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher's successor; an indelible part of F1 history and culture.

Mark too is an influential figure in F1, but much of that, and especially the years he spent competing, is coloured by his relationship with Sebastian. Which puts Mark on the back foot in terms of defining his legacy as it's own entity, denying him power of this aspect of his personhood.

In the context of the omegaverse these power dynamics are further magnified by Sebastian also being an alpha, because not only is Mark at the mercy Red Bull polticking but also his own biology and the expectation and value placed upon it. Especially because Sebastian is this luminous Wunderkind alpha flush with charm and verve and Mark is an unmated omega who is too stubborn and too old and too tall to really be desirable, professionally and otherwise.

This is what becomes the crux of the power differential in Mark's and Sebastian's relationship. Sebastian is what he made of himself. Mark is what was left over.

Of course though this will all be made so much worse by them having sex about it. Drawn together by the intimacy of competition and primal compatibility Sebastian is going to show Mark just how much and what kind of verve he really has.

I also have fairly extensive lore on how Mark would handle being an omega, but I have another ask in my drafts where I'm writing out all those thoughts out in detail so I shall save the omega Mark character analysis for that.

[ganymedesclock]

So that #Syrin the Dread Blade tag, thats a new one. Seems like a interesting character, a sentient sword, how did Tyler happen upon them? What does the sword look like, and does it have any special magical abilities? How do they like the other members of the party? Do they actually speak or do they have a telepathic voice?

Technically it's just a tagging misconception; I haven't tagged Syrin reliably before because his nature as a sword does mean he's kind of attached to Taylor. But he is his own dude!

A short primer: magic items in this setting tend towards a level of awareness. Magic is essentially what souls are made of, ergo, if you stuff enough magic in anything, it starts to have a soul, and behaves accordingly. Entities as fully developed and chatty as Syrin are rare; far more common is that magic items tend to feel just a little bit haunted, inclined towards some things and away from others. It's a bit creepy if you're not used to it; enchantments are commonplace and widely accessible, so that 'not being used to it' is more a statement on if the individual is used to handling a particular thing.

Syrin himself is the ostensible opus of the previous Lord of Darkness, a Dark Sword that was meant to contest and cancel out the legendary sword of light wielded by the hero. Ostensibly, because for unknown reasons Syrin was left in storage the eve of the fateful battle. Being groomed exclusively for this purpose by someone he regarded as a father and then abandoned for ten years definitely wasn't traumatic or terrifying for someone with the cognitive level of a child, we promise. Especially since Syrin needs to eat.

Syrin's construction, and what leads Taylor to point out he's a bit like a 'needle', is a crystal-bladed thrusting sword with a hollow core. Despite its delicate looks, the blade is actually both quite sharp and highly durable; the thin tube at the center being essentially his mouth, by which he is supposed to drink blood. His victims', if he can get it, or, failing that, magically drawn from his host. As a result his blade itself ranges from grayish translucence to dark red if he's gorged to fullness.

From there, he has the power to generate and shape a kind of magical flesh, allowing him to weave more elaborate forms around his core body, the sword.

As you can guess, this gives Syrin a somewhat unpleasant and brutish first impression on people, as he has no verbal filters, was raised by a would-be conqueror of the world, and is dependent on blood and thus interested in more fights than not. I've described him before as like a preteen on xbox live who talks up a nasty game mostly out of loneliness and a need to be liked, where you can tell the kid themselves is not as bad as the people who taught them all those words and that they were "funny".

Deep down (and not all that deep, like I said, no filters), Syrin is a vulnerable child who was groomed to do violence and got no experience with it until strangers came to loot the dangerous ruins he was held in, at which point he did what you'd expect a strong but sheltered child to do faced with a home intruder, and killed/devoured that individual in a panic. His first kill being no glorious conflict or victory approved by his father, but essentially a desperate scramble in the dark with himself on the edge of fatal starvation messed him up even more than ten years of silence.

Enter Taylor and party, who happen to pass through those same environments. Syrin makes an attempt to body-snatch Taylor that fails due to the latter's particular properties, and Taylor, being both a good-hearted person and a stubborn busybody, feels obligated to bring this chatterbox with them and attempt to bully him into developing some sense of tact while Syrin attempts to Corrupt His New Wielder To Violence.

This doesn't work because Syrin has no real ideas how to go about corrupting someone besides loudly telling them to stab things more, while Taylor is an apprentice surgeon and mortician who is a lot more desensitized to bodies and their workings such that if they have a weapon, they'll at least consider it as a solution to most problems. So the punchline is that Syrin is more often thrown/flabbergasted by Taylor than vice versa, while the latter just sees him as a sort of annoying kid who's easily talked into almost anything as long as you compliment him first.

[cherryrainn]

HII!! How are you? I hope your well! I wanted to send in a request if that's ok! make sure your getting rest bc you writing must be energy draining but anyways...!

Could I request Alastor with a Male! or GN! S/O who has a Dokuro Mitsukai Personality from Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan? here's some info but feel free to look up some more about this personality!

 So basically the reader is an angel/demon ig that came from heaven and they get sent down to hell and decided to live at the hotel? They may look quite young and play the cute, innocent act quite well. However, every time something happens, they beats someone to death with Excaliborg, a special bat with thorns. But there is no need to worry, with the cast of a spell — Pipiru Piru Piru Pipiru Pi — they comes back to life.

I HOPE THIS ISNT TO CONFUSING--- THANK YOU ANYWAYS IF YOU CAN DO THIS REQUEST =^w^=

-Vocaloid addict anon

hi!! i'm doing great and thank you. this sounds fun! i've heard of this anime but i have a feeling i'm going to get this very wrong... it's worth a shot though!... i definitely did something wrong though this is so embarrassing

☽ ༚  ༵ ۰ ✧ ۰  ༵ ༚ ༵ ۰ ✧ ۰ 

— hellish harmonies

alastor x reader who has a dokuro mitsukai personality

alastor, the radio demon, presided over the happy hotel with an air of sophistication and charm. his wide, permanent grin masked a darker nature that few dared to cross. the hotel was a melting pot of eccentric personalities, and it was there that you, an angelic yet sinister entity, his loving partner, decided to take up residence after a peculiar assignment from heaven.

from the moment you arrived, alastor was captivated by your unique personality. your innocent facade and deadly tendencies fascinated him, and he found himself irresistibly drawn to you. it didn't take long for the two of you to become a couple, and you quickly became inseparable.

the other residents seemed taken with your act, and even alastor couldn't help but feel a strange fondness for your innocent charm. he knew, however, that beneath the facade lay something much more sinister.

one evening, when the hotel's common area was bustling with laughter and merriment, an unfortunate demon made the grave mistake of insulting your "sweet" demeanor. in an instant, a bat with thorns, called excaliborg appeared in your hands, and with a swift swing, the demon met their demise.

gasps filled the room as alastor calmly observed the scene. with every swing of excaliborg, you wore a mischievous smile, almost relishing the act. "quite the performance indeed," alastor remarked, eyes glinting with curiosity.

vaggie stomped towards you with a fiery expression. "what on earth—no, what in hell are you doing, y/n? we don't kill people here!"

you turned your innocent gaze towards vaggie, but there was a flicker of defiance in your eyes. "i'm just defending myself, vaggie. they were insulting me, and i had to show them i won't be pushed around!"

vaggie huffed, clearly not satisfied with your explanation. "that's no excuse for killing someone! we don't condone violence here, even if it's hell."

alastor, who had been observing the situation quietly, finally spoke up. "ah, my dear vagatha, let's not be too hasty. y/n seems to have a unique way of handling situations, and i must admit, it's rather intriguing."

vaggie turned her sharp gaze towards alastor. "this isn't a game, alastor. we're trying to run a place of redemption here."

you glanced at alastor, seeing a subtle amusement in his eyes. it was then that you decided to heed vaggie's words and show her that you could rectify the situation. with a nod, you cast the resurrection spell, bringing the demon back to life.

"pipiru piru piru pipiru pi!"

the demon groaned, holding their head as they regained consciousness. "what happened?"

vaggie crossed her arms, her anger subsiding slightly. "you were being rude, that's what happened. now apologize and learn some manners."

the demon looked at you and then at vaggie, realizing the gravity of the situation. "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to offend anyone."

vaggie nodded, satisfied with the response. "good. now remember, violence isn't the answer here."

you smiled, both sweet and sinister, and nodded. "i'll keep that in mind, vaggie!"

as the night's events unfolded, the playful atmosphere returned to the grand hall of hell's happy hotel. the demon you had confronted earlier, now revived and chastened, had retreated to a corner, keeping a wide berth from you. the other residents resumed their conversations and games, seemingly unfazed by the recent commotion.

you and alastor found yourselves standing side by side, the magnetic pull between you both stronger than ever. his eyes sparkled with amusement as he observed your interactions with the other residents. there was a sense of pride in his gaze, knowing that you were his partner in both mischief and tenderness.

"so, my dear y/n," alastor said, a hint of playfulness in his voice, "i must admit, you have a way of shaking things up, don't you?"

you grinned mischievously, leaning closer to him. "well, who would've thought hell could be so much fun? besides, it's not every day you find an angelic maniac in this dreary place!"

alastor chuckled softly, enjoying the warmth of your presence. he reached over and gently pinched your cheek, eliciting a delighted giggle from you. "indeed, it's a delightful surprise. you certainly add a unique charm to my existence here in hell."

you batted his hand away playfully, but your eyes softened as you looked at him. "i could say the same to you."

alastor's grin widened, his eyes reflecting the affection he held for you. "ah, my dear, you flatter me so. i must say, you bring a breath of fresh air to this place. life in hell can be dreadfully monotonous, but you make it thrilling."

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

Would you participate in a Bangtan bukkake session (kneeling on the floor while all 7 members stand in a circle jacking off)? If so, how would you make the most of your mouth and hands to help them cum?

Bring me the contract. Show me where to sign! :D

Oh, come now. How could I, wiyllt, say no to such a simple wish from such hard-working (and hot) men? (Spoiler alert: I cannot.) Real question is, would they want to jack off while seeing each other... We know they're close but... that's a crazy kind of close, no????

If everyone's consented to the bukkake circle, and we all test clean, well, then...

Ah, can I kiss everyone at least once? It gives me a really good feel of how much dom I should be. You can tell a lot from a kiss. Depending on what the resulting chemistry is, I'll keep it in mind for how I handle each member. ;) Not everyone can handle me at full power, keke. Hey, I can dial back and be nice... I'll do my best, heh.

Sadly, I am not a Machamp or a Hydreigon or a succubus with multiple tails that can grip dicks (working on it); I only have two hands and one mouth. Q_Q Everyone needs to accept that they have to take turns. If it's okay with them, I would like to use my mouth on every single one of them at some point. I can deep throat and lick balls at the same time. Use all my tongue technology and slip in a little extra of what the member seems to like most. (No mute silence! I better hear some noises! Harmonized moans! Just kidding... unless????) A dick in each hand while doing so, of course. Then I'll go around the circle so everyone has a chance in the mouth. I'm open to if they wanna fuck my face for a bit, but for most of the time I want to be in control. Just so I can show off my stuff, yk? :P

I'll spit for them if needed. Or lick their hand, suck their fingers, anything they prefer. Or they can spit in my hand and I'll jack 'em off with their own spit. You have to have the right consistency of spit though. Sounds like I need to be very hydrated. Someone have a water bottle for me, just in case!

I want to swallow the first load from each member.

What? The Void hungers! They can cum on my face after! I will use my mouth to get them hard again. Promise! Then each one dumps their second load on my face so that by the last one I have six loads of cum dripping down my chin and lucky number seven can finish off any missed spots. I probably won't be able to see at this point because my eyes are closed but I can tell by his voice so it's cool.

Then I can bend over and flex my holes and whoever wants to cum a third time can do so on my ass. If they need help, I'll just use the cum on my face (maybe some spit) as lube for a quick handy. Or my mouth if someone is nice and cleans my face for me (heh).

If they're not confident in multiple orgasms, then we'll only do one round (I'll use my mouth and hands on everyone and then keep going around the circle until everyone is about to cum) and then they all can cum on my face at the same time. Or staggered times, because all at once sounds kinda crowded for them. Or some can cum on my face and whoever wants to cum on my tits can do so. Then they can rub the head of their cocks on my cheeks, lips, or nipples for extended pleasure. I'll just have to ask them what they wanna do. But I'll still going to scoop up what I can and have a taste.

Mmmmmmm.

With this ritualistic cum dump, I may finally reach my final form of all-consuming void entity that compels all to feel incompressible addictive pleasure when they fuck, ah, never mind that, just ignore the scrawled runes and pentagram circles drawn in cum on the ground... >:3

[deathbxnny]

☆《Yanqing with an Edel Raid!Reader》☆

-----♡

A/N: So this is a special request from my Yanqing Anon! It's inspired from the anime "Elemental Gelade" and surrounds the concept of a female entity being able to merge with a human (a pledger) to become a weapon. An Edel Raid can only have one pledger at a time. If the Edel Raid wants a new Pledger, the old one has to die first. All Edel Raid are marked by a gem somewhere on their body, that stores all their power.

I've never seen or heard from the anime before this, so I'm sorry if I don't do this well! Thank you also for the interesting request, Yanqing Anon!<33

Content: Fluff, established relationship, mentions of fighting/violence, sfw

Reader is afab and has she/her pronouns!

((Not fully proofread!))

-----♡

He feels so honoured and proud, that you chose him as your Pledger of all people. He respects you deeply for it and makes sure to take good care of you.

He was fascinated by your existence the first time he saw you and was immideatly drawn to you. Especially when he found out, that you turned into a sword whilst in your weapon form. You are by far his best sword and treats you with the utmost care even in battle.

Likes to stare at your gem with wonder in his eyes, as his fingers brush against it. He finds it so beautiful and cute, his pride of having you as his swelling in his chest whenever he sees it.

With that said, he definitely doesn't like anyone else touching you and makes sure everyone knows. You are his weapon and therefore off limits to anyone but him. If someone tries taking you away from him, he becomes super protective.

Definitely tries learning everything he can about you and your abilities, so he knows how to use and take care of you better. He wants to be the best Pledger for you and makes sure you know it.

He works and trains very hard every day, because he feels like he can only wield you at his best. It's what you deserve after all and he's only worthy once he's strong enough to keep up with your power, even if you tell him that you love him the way he is. He just wants to make you proud of him.

He's honestly the best Pledger you can ask for and strives to prove himself worthy of handling you everyday. He just loves you and your abilities that much.

-----♡

A/N: I hope this was okay! I did my best with the information I had and hope it wasn't too bad. A special thanks again to the Yanqing Anon!<33

[ben-talks-art]

Having to win vs. Wanting to win, the appeal of Hero vs. Villain interaction, and building a bigger sense of rivalry

Something that I was wondering about for a while now was why between the two Spiderverse movies, the second one appealed to me so much more than the first

The first one is a more complete story, has a very solid beginning, middle, and end, while the second one feels like half of two movies pieced together with the Spot storyline and the Spider Society storyline which even together still don't even make a full movie...

And yet, I just find myself enjoying the second one a lot more and re-watching it a lot more often. 🤔

And the reason for it is probably because I'm just drawn more by the way this movie handles character interaction and banter, particularly between the protagonists and antagonists and how they establish connections with each other.

Spiderverse 1 is a great movie, but when it comes down to it, Miles only really has meaningful interactions with his parents and with Peter.

He doesn't really have a big heart to heart moment with Gwen or the other Spiders that much, and more importantly, he really doesn't have that big of a connection with the villains, Kingpin and Dock Ock. He does get a little with the Prowler, but that's really it, just a little.

Meanwhile, in Spiderverse 2, Miles gets to talk A LOT with everyone. With Gwen, with Pav, with Hobbie, with Miguel, and with Spot. There's just a bigger focus on having these characters not just interact but actually connect with one another.

When Miles fights Kingpin at the end of the first movie, I just don't feel that big of an investment cause these two barely talked with each other, so they have nearly no rivalry. While in the second movie, there's a huge rivalry born between Miles and Miguel because we see that both of them are fighting due to their conflicting ideologies, and we also see their relationship changing as the story progresses, as Miguel goes from being hostile to Miles, to trying to be understanding, to being frustrated, to back to hostile again.

This made me notice how much I rely on characters actually interacting and giving a sense that they're connecting with one another for me to feel invested in their confrontations.

It's one of the reasons why Kung Fu Panda 2 stands out so much compared to the other 2 to me.

The fact that we actually see the hero and the villain meeting each other early on in the story, talking, learning about one another, growing as they get to know one another, comparing their experiences, and giving a true sense of connection... We don't really get that in the first or third movie.

Po doesn't even meet Tai Lung or until the climax of the first movie, and his first conversation with Kai in the third is mostly just done for laughs.

It's also a small problem I had with the Castlevania show in seasons 1 through 4 (haven't seen Nocturnal yet).

In this series, characters don't really talk when they fight, and they don't really meet the people they're going to fight until they're fighting them. So a lot of times you're just watching people with nearly zero history between them trying to tear each other apart.

They feel like soldiers, fighting because they have to, not because they want to.

I think the biggest exceptions are the fight with Dracula at the end of season 2 and Death in season 4, because Dracula does have a history with Alucard since they're father and son, and Trevor does try talk a little with Death since he sees a lot of himself in it as both of them are like entities who only know how to kill things. But aside from that, a lot of the fights feel like Power Rangers battles where the heroes are just fighting the enemies of the week out of duty.

The show does its best to give each character the necessary amount of depth, motivation, conflict, personality, and history, but it kinda sucks in building the sense of rivalry between these people.

I think the biggest rivalry in the show is probably Hector and Camilla, which... are honestly two characters I care very little about since they have so little to do with the actual protagonists.

Frankly, I really wish I could have seen Trevor, Alucard, or Sipha actually talking with these two, or any of the other villains for that matter, to see how their interactions would go, but most of the villains just talk with each other.

Much like Spiderverse 1, and Kung Fu Panda 1, the heroes and the villains just feel like they're so distant from one another and only truly meet when the story is already about to end... And that feels like such a waste.

I wanted to see the main trio talking with Hector, Camilla, Issac, and Lenore. I wanted to see Po talking more with Tai Lung or Kai, trying to learn what makes them tick. I wanted to see Miles talking with Kingpin or Dock Ock, or heck, the Prowler.

Miles and Prowler interact so much in the comics and in the games, but in the movies there is so little of them.

I remember having similar thoughts with the Rick Riordan books.

The heroes in it usually have great banter with the smaller villains, like Ares, Seth, or the giants, but when it comes to the big villains like Chronos, Apophis, or Gaea, the confrontation with them is so brief and the way they're defeated is so simple, and more importantly, the connection between them and the protagonists is so thin, that it kinda feels anticlimactic.

The books try to build up the rivalry by having the characters see each other through dreams or visions, but they don't really talk much during the actual battles, and most of their exchanges prior to these battles are just generic stuff like "I'm gonna kill you! No, You won't! Yes, I will! No, you won't!"

Another example of the importance of interactions, Sonic Frontiers.

You get a ton of chances to talk with Sage as you go through the islands, and by the time you reach the third one, she kinda turns into a viewer excited about seeing how Sonic will defy the odds once again.

She's changing as they exchange words. Imagine how lame it would have been if she hardly ever talked to him, kinda like how it happened with Infinite where they just meet briefly before a fight and have the most generic banter ever.

Similarly, why does everyone love Superman vs. the Elite so much? Because the whole movie is about Supes butting heads with these guys who try to get him to test and provoke his ideals and beliefs.

This isn't just a hero fighting villains of the week to save the day or stop them from conquering the world. These people are trying to prove a point and they're using each other to do it.

Their interactions are causing them to develop an antagonism between each other that makes it even more exciting to see when they do eventually clash in the climax, because we followed their history and know where each is coming from, what they're fighting for.

Same reason people love Batman and Joker. Their interactions are always like that.

And then we have Kingpin in Daredevil.

That whole show's biggest selling point is just these two being constantly at each other's throats because they each represent something the other absolutely hates.

Anytime they're in a room together you just get a goldmine in writing quality because they have such amazing interactions and so much good chemistry.

Same case with Killgrave in Jessica Jones.

A lot of people often ask "Why do Marvel movie villains suck so much?" because they don't actually build this sense of animosity with the heroes. They're just things to be dealt with, not things the heroes personally want to deal with.

Ironman had to deal with Ironmonger, Thor had to deal with the dark elf, Captain America had to deal with Red Skull, but DD wanted to deal with Fisk and Jess wanted to deal with Purple Man.

This contrast of "want to" vs. "have to" does so much to increase the investment in a character for me.

Aquaman did that really well by making you feel like both villains really wanted a piece of the protagonist for very petty and selfish reasons.

It makes them feel more shallow, yes, but it also makes them feel more real, and it makes their fight more personal.

Mind you, I don't necessarily need a Hero X Villain banter all the time. There are many cases where I get really invested even if the characters don't talk.

The best example probably being Rock Lee vs Gaara, which is mostly a silent fight just like the ones from Castlevania, but unlike those where it feels like characters are fighting because they have to win, this one feels like they fight because they want to win.

There is no banter, but you still sense their motivations and ideals clashing through their fighting methods and expressions.

Same thing with Thanos vs. the Avengers. They don't exchange many lines, most of it is just Thanos' monologuing (which I kinda feel it's a wasted opportunity because I think Cap and Thanos could have had some really good exchanges), but you still get the sense that this fight is personal for all of them. They don't just have to win, they want to win.

The final battle of Chainsaw Man part 1. Same deal. Very minimal talk, but just enough talk to let us know that these are people fighting for personal reasons.

Avatar, The Last Airbender, lots of quiet fights, but the heroes do get to meet most of the villains before facing them and do build a rivalry before exchanging punches.

My favorite fight in My Hero Academia is, again, a battle of ideals, a fight of "I want to win", not just "I have to win," a fight where there is a lot of banter with their personalities shining through their words and actions and bouncing well off each other.

They make it more personal, more selfish, and thus, more interesting.

I love feeling this sense of connection when I watch or read heroes fighting villains in stories, and I really wish more series would try harder to develop this feeling so I can enjoy it more often.

I want to get more of this sense of "This fight is personal. I'm fighting for myself! I want to win!" and all that stuff.