#drops this onto tumblr with no explanation

[lil-frenchfri77]

Begin Again

Summary: Ever since Bella came back to Forks things between y/n and her boys have been different. Embry and Quil stopped answering phone calls and texts, they’ve even been avoiding her everytime she shows up at their house. So y/n does the only thing she can think to do, she latches onto Jacob just like Bella, and when he starts acting like Embry and Quil did, she makes the decision to not put so much effort into a friendship that is clearly one sided. But what happens one day when Sam’s pack is in town at the same time as y/n and her new friends and two certain boys imprint on their former best friend? And what happens when a former best friend doesn’t feel the same way?

Author’s Note: Hello to everyone that is reading this! This is my first ever time writing a fanfic, so (if you’re reading this) go easy on me. I would love to hear any feedback anyone might have in the comments. Super excited to be writing this Twilight fic, I’ve been inspired by others authors on here to take my own spin with Stephaine Myers characters, none of which I have any ownership to. This doesn’t really follow the Eclipse movie timeline, I'm making things up and stretching the timeline. So this is basically my own story just using Stephanie’s characters and some of her themes. There are also some other characters in here that I don’t have any rights to, I just thought it would be fun to put them in this story. I don’t know how long or short this is going to be, I might be able to get my ideas across quickly or this might turn into a few chapters. If you’ve read this far I love you and I really hope you like this!

(Also not beta read cause I can’t afford that)(Dividers from @enchanthings here on Tumblr)

Y/n/n means your nickname 

Embry Call x Fem!Swan!Reader x Quil Ateara

Slight Stiles Stlinski x Reader

Chapter 1 | Master list | Chapter 2

Things had been weird lately, with Bella back in Forks, the Cullens, and your friends on the reservation. It seemed like everyday more and more of your friends were leaving to go hang out with Sam Uley and his pack of assholes. Now it was just down to you, Embry, Quil, and Jacob. It’s not like you’re not fine with that, Embry and Quil were your best friends ever. So you were fine with just the four of you hanging out all the time. But they got so hostile of you whenever Edward or one of his siblings came around to talk to you or Bella. 

It was getting absolutely exhausting trying to mediate things between them. You didn’t want to have to choose between your boys or Bella, but if it came down to it, your choice would always be your family and by extension, the Cullens. Although it seemed like you wouldn’t be getting a choice anyways when Embry and Quil stopped answering your texts and calls. They were never home when you came to visit and see what was happening to them. You had even tried asking Jacob if he knew anything but he swore up and down that he had no idea. 

You never expected to see them hanging out with Sam and his pack, jumping off that stupid cliff. You had never felt more betrayed. They could do whatever they wanted to but it hurt that they felt the need to drop you, without any kind of explanation and go hang out with the few people (at least you thought) you mutually disliked. It was obvious that they weren’t going to talk to you anymore so you did the only thing you could think of, you left them one last voicemail in hopes to get through to them. 

“Hey, it’s me. Um, I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I still miss you guys. I saw you the other day, hanging out with Sam and his boys. It’s fine, I guess. I just thought that we were better friends than that. I mean, we’ve been inseparable since we were 6 but that’s not really the point of why I called.” You took a deep breath, trying to stop yourself from rambling some more. “I don’t really understand why you started hanging out with Sam but you have free will so I can’t stop you. But I miss you guys, and I still want to be friends. I don’t want to permanently lose you both because I can’t get over this petty dislike I have. So, call me back. Please. I want to talk about everything, but if you truly want nothing to do with me anymore then I won’t bother you again. This is goodbye, then.” 

2 months later

Life wasn’t the easiest thing anymore. The boys never called you back, which you expected but it still stung. You still had Jacob, but it wasn’t the same. Jacob knew how much Embry and Quil’s choice had affected you, but there wasn’t much he could do to help you. He couldn’t just tell you that they were werewolves. So he did his best to try and raise your spirits. You were wholeheartedly grateful you had him during this time. 

Bella wasn’t much help either, she had just been broken up with and she was rotting away in her room. It appeared as though life was hating the Swan girls right now. As much as you wanted to wallow in your own pity you knew you had to be there for Bella. It’s not like the kids from school were going to help her, and honestly Bella wouldn’t want them to. So you spent months trying to help Bella, you didn’t want to lose your sister too. 

“Please, Bells. Just talk to me, tell me what’s going on in your head. I’ll do anything to help you, you just have to tell me. Tell me what I can do for you, I want to take all this pain away. I know this isn’t about me or dad but we’re so scared for you Bells. We love you so much.” You plead  with her. Tears welled up in your eyes when she turned away from you and went back to looking out of her window. You walked out of her room before she could see or hear you start to cry. 

“Whoa, slow down there kid. What’s happening?” Charlie stopped you in the hallway. His hands gripped your shoulders as they shook with silent sobs. 

“I can’t watch her wither away like that dad. She’s changing so much, and I don’t know how to help her. I hate Edward for what he’s putting her through and he’s not even here.” You spoke through your tears. Hiccuping in between every breath you took. 

“Y/n,” Charlie whispered, cupping your cheeks and making you look up at him, “We will get her through all of this okay kid? You and me will bring our Bella back. I know it.” He assured you as genuinely as he could. Truth be told, he had no idea if he would be able to get his daughters back to the girls they were before all this happened. He was grateful that you seemed to be okay so soon after the Embry and Quil situation. He didn’t know what he would do if both of his kids were nervous wrecks he couldn’t console. 

You nodded at him instead of answering back. You knew he was just trying to make you feel better. As much as you wanted to stay and keep trying with Bella you had to go to school. You couldn’t miss any more days this week or you would fall too far behind. 

After getting dressed you head downstairs where you say goodbye to your dad and meet Jacob who’s waiting for you outside. Lately he has taken to riding with you to school and then walking back to the reservation afterwards so you weren’t alone in the mornings. It was also a way for him to keep an eye on you and Bella. 

“You know, you don’t have to keep doing this Jake, I’m perfectly okay with getting to school by myself.” You told him today. It has been on your mind for a little while now. 

“I know,” he chuckles, “but I like to. Sometimes I don’t want to be alone in the morning so I make you suffer and force my presence on you. You’re going to have to get used to it.” Jacob simply shrugged. 

You get quiet after that and it worries him, but before he can ask you what’s wrong you beat him to it

“If you ever want to be friends with Sam and everyone else, please don’t cut me off too. I don’t think I could handle that.” Your hands grip the steering wheel tighter as you pull up to a red light. You can’t bring yourself to look over at him, as you not so patiently wait for his answer. 

“Y/n/n, I will never abandon you to be friends with Sam and his pack of douchebags. Okay? It's you and me against the world now.” He says in such a loving tone that it brings tears to your eyes for the second time that day. “Oh god, please don’t cry. I totally didn’t mean for that to happen.” 

Watching him panic while he tries to get you to stop crying does the trick, and you start to giggle at him. The rest of the drive to your school is silent with the occasional sing along moment to whatever is playing on the radio. When you finally arrive at school you're in a much better mood. 

You say goodbye to Jacob and head into the building, putting on your headphones and turning the volume all the way up. Someone knocks into you from the side sending your phone and headphones sliding across the floor. 

“Oh my god. I’m so freaking sorry!” Apologizes spill from the mystery boy's mouth as his friend, the one who pushed him into you, hurries to gather your things. He turns around to his friend on the floor and hisses out “Dude. What the hell??” 

It wasn’t surprising that you had to clue who these boys were. When you were friends with Embry and Quil you didn't really talk to the people you go to school with. “It’s fine.” You shrugged it off, not wanting to create a problem with these two. 

“No, its not fine. I totally didn't mean to smash into you. Scott’s just an asshole.” The boy throws his friend, Scott, under the bus. “I’m Stiles by the way.” 

“I didn't mean to push him into you miss, I didn't even see you there.” Scott pipes in, before quickly realizing what he said. “OH! I didn't mean I didn't see you at all, like you're just hard to see. Cause you’re not hard to miss. Not that you're always in the way! I've never seen you before so… I'm going to stop talking now.” Scott sheepishly tugs at the collar of his shirt. He seems to be sweating now. The incredulous look on your face seems to shut him up well enough for his friend, Stiles, to get a word in. 

“Wow dude, that was bad.” He’s trying to hold back his laughter now. “I think what he's trying to say is that he was so preoccupied with being an asshat that he wasn't paying attention to our surroundings.” Stiles says it a lot more eloquently than Scott had and it makes you giggle. 

They both stare at you like you've grown a second head. “That was the worst apology I have ever heard in my entire life.” You state after getting ahold of your laughter. “I’m y/n. I accept your terrible apology, and it's okay that you haven't seen me around before, because to be honest. I've never seen either of you around before either.” 

They let out a breath of relief and apologize one more time, sounding more coherent and sincere this go around. Scott proceeds to ask you what you have for the first period and surprisingly you have the same class as them, so you all walk to your class talking and getting to know each other. When you get to class you part ways to your seats with plans to meet after class. 

Your class schedules were pretty similar, especially yours and Stiles. In the classes you and Stiles shared you decided to move seats and sit next to each other, getting in trouble a few times for talking too much. You were getting along with him so well that he invited you to sit with him and his friends at lunch. And since you didn't have any other plans you took him up on his offer. 

When lunch time rolls around Stiles follows you to your locker where you get your food before heading to the cafeteria to meet up with his friends. The table quiets down when the two of you approach. “Y/n these are my friends: Lydia, Allison, Issac, Liam, Malia, Kira, and you've already met Scott.” One by one his friends say hello and introduce themselves to you. This wasn’t at all how you thought it was going to go. You assumed that they would only give you a cursory hi and go back to their conversations, but they seemed genuinely interested in getting to know you.

[raystie]

[rosamundpkes]

Hello!! A couple years ago I posted this tutorial for making gifs with a moving overlay effect. In the two and a half years since I made that tutorial, I've learned some new tricks for this gif effect but most importantly I've learned how to explain things better.

For that reason, I've created this new and improved tutorial for my overlay gif effect. The basics are the same but it's simpler, I go into more detail, give better explanations, and have more comprehensive instructions.

The easiest way to do this effect with this method is to use smart objects and work in timeline. For this tutorial, I’m assuming you know the basics of giffing like cropping, resizing, colouring, etc. If you need help with this I’d suggest you look at some other tutorials and guides!!

First, we’re going to start off with three things.

1. A completed gif converted into a smart object that is going to be the base gif. I'm going to call this "gif1". You’ll want this gif to be at least 3 seconds because it needs to last as long as the overlay plus a little bit of extra time in the beginning. This is the base gif I’ll be using in the example (except I trimmed it so that I could meet the size limit).

2. A second completed gif converted into a smart object that is going to go over the base gif. We’re going to call this "gif2". This gif should be at least 2 seconds but I’ve made it work with shorter. Gif2 needs to be the same dimensions or bigger than gif1.  This is the gif I'll be using in the example (except I trimmed it so that I could meet the size limit).

3. An overlay in video form. These can be found on tumblr and youtube by search for overlay or transition packs. For this example, I'll be using an ink drop overlay I found on youtube.

Step 1: Turning the overlay video into an overlay gif Most overlays aren’t going to instantly fit the gif effect you’re trying to achieve right away. This is the overlay I got from youtube and as you can see it’s too slow and needs a crop/resize to be usable.

To fix it, I sped the frame rate up, cropped the overlay, and resized the overlay so it fits over my base gif. I also sharpened the overlay (500% amount, 0.3px radius) so that the edges were smooth. This is the new overlay gif and the one I’ll be using for the gif effect. 

A tip: I also like to add a brightness/contrast layer to get rid of the grey on the overlay gif. Because we’re working with blending modes to achieve this effect, any parts of the overlay that are grey will be a blended mix of gif1 and gif2. If you think this will look good for your gif effect then don't worry about it!

Another tip: try to get the entire overlay movement to fit into a 2-3 second window. Anything longer than that will likely be cut off when you have to trim your gif to meet the upload size limit and it would suck to only have half of the overlay.

Step 2: Creating the gif effect Drag a copy of gif2 and a copy of the overlay gif onto the gif1 canvas. I like to use Ctrl+Shift+V so that the layers are pasted in the same position as they were on the previous canvas. MAKE SURE that both overlay layers are in the same position on the canvas. If one of the overlay layers is higher/lower/etc. than the other then the effect won't work properly.

Then, make a second copy of the overlay and invert it (Ctrl+i). These are the layers you should have:

Before you go any further, trim gif2 and both overlay layers so they are all the same length.

Now, we need to rearrange the layers and set blending modes. The top layer should be whichever overlay goes from black to white. This is because when we change the blending modes, the white part of this layer will disappear and look like its being replaced by gif2. In this case, that is the overlay (inverted) layer. Then we want gif2, the other overlay layer, and then gif1.

A tip: this process can be done the other way where the top layer is the overlay that goes from white > black however, you are much more likely to have an error where there is a grey/black line around the overlay effect in your final gif. In order to avoid that, I always use the black > white layer on top.

Next, set the top overlay layer to darken. You should only see the black part from the overlay and gif2 should fill in the white part. Here’s how that looks in my example. 

Next, select the top overlay layer and gif2 and convert both layers into one smart object. Your layers tab should look like this now. 

Now, set the new layer’s blending mode to lighten and the overlay layer’s blending mode to darken. Once you do this, you should be able to see gif1 as well as the overlay gif. 

Step 3: Timeline and exporting At the moment, gif1 is still significantly longer than the overlay gifs. Since this gif is just over 10 mb (which is pretty small for this effect) I’m going to trim about 1/4 of a second off the end of gif1 and then drag the overlay layers so they all end at the same time. 

Now you’re free to export the gif! This is the finished effect for the example gif! 

A tip: sometimes, when I convert to from timeline to frames, the gif becomes a little longer and slower. It has to do with different frame rates across the videos and photoshop but I'm not smart enough to understand it. If that happens, just set all the frames with the overlay layers to 0.04 speed instead of 0.05.

And we're finished! I hope that was helpful and made sense. If you have any questions feel free to drop them in my inbox or send me a message!! <3

[detectivemarvelingcomics]

Not Your Classic Vigilante [Ch. 16]

Alternate Dimension AU TW: Language, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Slight Body Horror, Gore, Graphic Depictions of Physical Assault, Gun Use, Weapon Use, Talks About Traumatic Incidents, CW: OC Use, See the OC Guide [Here] Genre: Drama, Action, Angst, Light Comedy Pairing: Batfamily & Batsis!Reader, OC x Reader YN Pronouns: Female (She/Her) Word Count: 8.6K

(16/?) [First] | [Previous] | [Next] [DC Masterlist] | [Not Your Classic Vigilante Masterlist]

Notes: Coming out of my hibernation to drop the next chapter, as per usual, I will see you in many months (probably) AHjdhsjshkfhfdjs good news is i'm 5k into the next chapter so it shouldn't take as long as it usually does ahhhhhhh

Disclaimer: This series is originally by@fandom-meanderer who is a close friend of mine, but she has since fallen out of her Tumblr days and asked me to finish a few series for her, hence why I am now in ownership of the Not Your Classic Vigilante series, I hope I can still live up to her writing as I rewrite this series! (I promise not to change too much, hehe)

2019

The sky is blue. Your eyes were as heavy as every limb of your body was too, but still, somehow, you could count the few clouds in the sky.

This wasn��t Gotham.

You could feel the blades of grass dancing around your fingertips, you could feel the dirt under your heels, and you could breathe air clearer than you’d ever experienced before, surely, you were in Heaven. You died and you came to Heaven, that had to be the only explanation. As you stood up you felt the creak in your bones and the aches in your joints, nothing felt natural, and nothing felt real. There was still a soft fuzz in your ears, muffling sounds, if any, from coming through to your senses. You held your hands out in front of your face and, just like that, the rush of memories flooded you and the pain picked up where it left off.

Breathing became gasping, clear skies grew dull and blurry, that soft fuzz became your own past screams, or were they your current ones? You could still feel the blades, you could still hear the rushed mumbles of your assailant.

“Damned thing,” you remembered their voice. “Where is it? Why can’t I find it?” They said those same things after they’d pull off a piece of skin or bone from your body. Eventually, you stopped fighting it. What could you do? They seemed to tear through your flesh in an attempt to find something inside of you, anything. And you think you caught a glimpse of it too before your eyes shut for what you thought would be the last time.

A glowing stone, oblong from what you could see, your assailant held it like it was the most precious stone in the world. That was inside of you? How? It was in your chest, you think, but the pain came from everywhere so you weren’t quite sure if that was true.

You clutched your hands to your chest. You couldn’t find a heartbeat, and you couldn’t feel your pulse anywhere else. You hit it, you clawed at it, and you soothed it. Your nails were caked with the blood that oozed from your weeping wounds. The slashes around your body looked somewhat fresh or maybe in the process of healing, blood still ran through them and it flowed over the previously dried stains.

You just died. Why are you here now? Your throat was burning and it was then you realized how long you had been screaming in the middle of this field of grass. You gripped your hair, feeling the strands being pulled from your scalp as your eyes racked over your wound-ridden body. Hot tears rushed down your face and onto the scars, leaving a deep burning sensation in their wake. 

And suddenly you saw a blanket draped over you. A woman kneels before you, securing the blanket to cover your body. She’s speaking to you but no sound came through. She reaches over, wiping the tears and blood from your face with a handkerchief, and looks behind you, seemingly calling out to someone there, but you couldn’t move, everything hurt too much to. She holds your face gently and, slowly, the world settles around you.

“Breathe, it’s okay, you’re safe now,” her voice, you assumed, permeates your thoughts and everything stops ringing. You clutch onto the blanket around you and let her help you to your feet. You nearly stumbled forward from the pain shooting up from your ankles and you swallowed harshly with deep breaths following. You saw a man run up to the two of you and immediately supports your other side, helping you to their vehicle not too far off and settling you in the backseat. He straps you in and says something to the woman before they climb into the front seats and drive off. Your head hits the window next to you and you seal your mouth shut, hoping that you weren’t making a single sound. With no knowledge of where you were, who these people were, and what you were doing alive, there wasn’t much more to do than what you’ve always been good at. Observation.

The car stops in front of a home and the two help you out of the car again, leading you inside and seating you against a wooden chair.

In seconds the man opens the door and another larger man walks in. He had a large mask over their face that only allowed his eyes to be seen, but he was holding a clipboard with one hand and had a large bag in the other. He adjusts his lab coat and you feel his gaze linger on you.

The last thing you remembered before sleeping again was the woman holding onto your hand.

“You’re safe now,” her voice rang again. “Relax, you will be taken care of.” You closed your eyes.

And when they opened again, you were in a bedroom. Wearing a fresh set of clothes and with a few slices of bread and a glass of water on the table next to you, again your hands that were folded at your lap had taken your attention. The scars you had seen earlier were now dressed carefully with bandages, and they were everywhere. You lifted your hand, feeling the now numbed sensation from it. Nothing burned anymore.

You slowly picked up the plate next to you and started eating and, naturally, you downed the drink afterward. As soon as you had finished, the door opens again and the woman, seeing you awake, rushes in and sits on the bed next to you.

“You’re awake, how do you feel?” She asks aloud. You stare at her, then at your hands. “Are you still hungry?” She eyes the empty plate. You shake your head and she smiles.

“I’m Claire, Claire MacLennan,” she introduces herself.

“…” You kept your mouth shut, your words caught in your throat and your voice seemed lost to you.

“I brought you some clothes here, I’ve been moving a few of my old ones to this room so you’re welcome to borrow them,” she continues. You nodded slightly, and then you saw her expression change. “I know, I know,” she soothes you. You hadn’t even realized how much you were shaking until now. “You must have been so scared, it’s okay, take all the time you need, we can talk another day,” she says while holding one of your hands gently between hers. “Take all the time you need.” She releases you and steps out with a final smile.

With a harsh swallow, you pulled the covers back on top of you and you shut your eyes, silently praying that this was all a nightmare and that you’d wake up in your dorm room.

But you didn’t.

You continued to wake up in this same room. Eventually, you found the strength to even walk outside of it. Claire was always there, always helping you, and always soothing you. She showed you around the house and, silently, you offered your thanks. You were afraid that if you spoke you’d break the illusion of this dream, you were afraid that you’d have to accept it as your new reality. So, for a while, and with a selective muteness, you lived alongside this woman. You helped around the house, you went along with her to run errands, and for a while you watched over her bakery too. Nightmares plagued your thoughts every night, and every time she was quick to run over, hold you close and remind you that you were still alive, and just as fast she’d clean your body that had racked with sweat and fresh blood from the wounds you had subconsciously reopened. And soon it became routine, and you realized that you were starting to get comfortable, and that scared you. Her husband worked strange hours, he was always gone by the time you woke up, came home around the time you slept, and repeated that cycle. Then, one day at the breakfast table, a new resolve strengthened in you.

“(Y/N) Wayne,” your voice was hoarse and it felt foreign to you. And just like that, reality began to settle into you. Claire’s expression lit up.

“What a lovely name,” she replies. “I’m sure there’s much you want to ask.” You nodded and, trying to find your voice, you spoke again.

“Where am I?” You asked slowly.

“You’re in mine and my husband’s home in the Bloom District,” she answers. You nodded.

“Could I see a map?”

“Of course,” she pulls a small screen out from her pocket and places it in front of you, turning it on with a wave of a hand. You saw the holographic display spark to life before she opened a map on it. “Here we are,” she points at the glowing dot on the surface. You zoomed the map out.

True to Claire’s words, the district was called Bloom, the city you were in was called Haven, and the country was called Caelum. Strangely enough, a further zoom out showed you were still in the North American continent but it had a different name attached to it.

“Where are you from, (Y/N)? Could you point it out? My husband can take you back home.” Claire places a glass of water by your hands.

“Gotham, and it should be right here,” you point to its general spot on the map, seeing it empty. Claire’s face has a flash of concern for a moment.

“I see…” she says. She closes the map. “Do you remember anything from when we found you a few months ago? You gave us quite the scare there, if you’re alright sharing, what left you in such a state?” She asks softly. You leaned back on the chair and simply shook your head. You didn’t want to remember that. Claire could only nod. “That’s alright. You take your time, this is your home as much as you’d want it to be. I’ll talk to my husband when he gets home to see how we can help you, but until then do you need anything?” She asks.

“A cell phone, if that’s alright.”

“Of course,” she leaves the small screen with you. “Just call if you need anything.” 

“I…” you wanted to ask her why, why was she helping you so much, why was she devoting her time to you, it’s not like she knows you, and it’s not like you know her. You would’ve never done something like this at home, you were raised to be careful and vigilant at all times but… maybe that’s why you let yourself relax around her, something about her countenance was something you selfishly needed at this time. And you didn’t want to wake up from that dream just yet.

You pick up the device. It’s lightweight in your hands with perfect angles, a small slit ran across it from one corner to the next where the hologram would project from.

“I’ll just… move to that room for now.”

“Of course.” You felt her eyes on you up to the moment you closed the door. You sat down at the chair in the room and looked down at the square device in your hands, after you copied her movements it sparked to life immediately. You tapped on the phone icon and stared at the number pad before punching in the first number you thought of.

“Hello?” A voice you didn’t recognize.

“Hello, I’m sorry to bother, is this Richard Grayson?”

“Sorry, miss, but I think you’ve got the wrong number.” 

“I’m sorry about that,” you ended the call. Then you typed the next one.

“Hi, who is this?”

“Does this number belong to Jason Todd?”

“No, sorry."

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Barbara Gordon?”

“Who?”

“Hi there!”

“Hey, is this Tim Drake?”

“No, sorry, this is Leo!”

“Hey there, I was wondering if this number belonged to a Roy Harper?”

“Nope, never heard of him.”

“Hi, is this the line to Wayne Enterprise?”

“Sorry, ma’am, you’ve go the wrong number.”

You stared down at the device, looking at the series of outbound numbers. You knew you weren’t in Gotham, you were somewhere else entirely, but something about the confirmation of it weighed heavily in your heart. You were somewhere far, far, from home. For months you wanted to ignore it, you wanted to believe that you’d wake up back in the nostalgic smoggy skies, but no, you were still here. And so you did the next logical thing and you clicked on the News icon. You had to figure out where the hell you just landed. After skimming through the Sports, Health, and Culture tabs, you finally tackled the larger one.

Breaking News: The Royal Family Approves a New Law Affecting the Housing Crisis

2020 Templar Applications Open

Updated: Monster Hunting Board.

URGENT: Fallen Soldier Identifications to Cease in One Week

This Just In: Foreign Affairs Grow More Tense as Negotiations between the Republic of Chavent and the First Kingdom Press On.

Cease-Fire to Peace, the Negotiations between RoC and the Kingdom Soon to Conclude.

You continued to scroll through the various articles, reading through each of them to get a general sense of the world and how it differs from yours. Then you stopped on one article, recognizing the front picture to be the one of the men who helped you months ago.

The Now Captain Allistor MacLennan on his Recent Promotion Following the Battle at Keelfait Plains.

Following the First Kingdom’s victory on the Plains, the highly accoladed previous Lieutenant MacLennan led a successful charge against the Chaventian Army and was awarded with an immediate promotion. Despite the heavy casualties suffered, his efforts allowed for the cease-fire and the reopening of negotiations between the two nations. One year later he finally shares his thoughts on the subject.

“How do you feel?” You tore your eyes from the screen and looked at the man standing at your door. He looked identical to the one on the page right now. You tried to wave your hand over the screen to turn it off and he sighed, walking over to you and shutting it off himself by pressing on the side. “Allistor MacLennan, but you already saw that.”

“(Y/N) Wayne.”

“Claire tells me you’re from Gotham City,” he says. “That’s a long way from here, you know.” He was different from Claire, very, where she took the time to understand you, this man felt similar to your father in some ways. He was interrogating you right now, you could tell from the glint in his eyes. But that’s not what you care about right now.

“You’ve been there?”

“Once, a couple of years ago,” he says. You lean forward now. “Something happens to you over there?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“…” You sealed your mouth shut.

“Looked pretty bad, surprised you’d wanna go back there.” You bit your tongue back and looked away.

“My family’s there.”

“Right, that’s usually what it is,” he pulls up a chair and sits next to you. “You’re from a different universe.”

“I figured.”

“I have to report dimensional anomalies to the Royal Family by law,” he sighs.

“Then?”

“They’re gonna execute you,” he says, sitting up straight. “More specifically, I’m going to execute you.” You looked down at the small screen in your hands. “Something tells me you’re not ready to go yet, though. Plus, Claire’d have a heart attack if I told her that, so I’ll pretend I didn’t know. You don’t seem the type to try to usurp a government, at least.”

“I’m not.”

“Exactly what a usurper would say,” he whistles. “Either way, let’s make a deal,” he leans forward with his hands folded in front of his lips. “I’ll do my best to find a way to get you home. All you have to do is stay here in this house.”

“What possible benefit do you get from this, moving through dimensions seems… harder than staying at a house does.”

“Claire likes you,” he says. He looks at the closed door. “I’m not home as often as I used to be anymore, and I’ve started noticing her getting quieter. She started talking again when we brought you in, really just talks about you all the time, but for a second she seemed more like herself so…” he clears his throat. “I don’t benefit directly from it, but it’d be nice for Claire,” he says. You nodded.

“Deal.” You’d been wanting to find a way to repay her anyway. Your shoulders slump down, a feeling of relief washing over you. “Thank you, I’m grateful to have been found by the two of you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just not in the mood for death right now,” he says. “But to avoid suspicions let's establish a cover story.”

“Mmhmm.”

“You’re a distant relative of mine, some cousin’s kid, alright?”

“Sure.”

“You’re staying with me for a while since your parents are busy. You used to live in Brefig Row before the war. Keep it vague, don’t give details.”

“Alright.”

“Do not tell anyone you’re from a different universe.

“Yes, sir.” You nodded curtly. “But… I don’t want to freeload, what can I do in exchange for your kindness?” You looked at the bandages around your wounds before you looked at him. He huffs.

“Claire owns a bakery and I’m a Captain in the Knightsguard. Which one do you want to do?” He asks. You thought for a moment, weighing your options, and it reminded you heavily of a conversation you once had with your father. Play it safe as a civilian or protect that safety as a vigilante. “Sleep on it. You don’t have to let me know now,” he says as he stands up. He walks to the door. “Claire’ll fix your bandages later, so stop playing with them.” Your hands left the ends of the bandages, you hadn’t even realized you were tugging at them.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t mention it.” He shuts the door. You follow, leaning your ear to the wooden frame and carefully you listened.

“She’s no threat, I told you.” Claire.

“I just have to be sure, Claire. It’s our job.”

“It’s your job. I’ve been with her these few months and she’s the kindest soul.”

“Claire.”

“I’ve been inside her mind, Allistor, she’s hurting beyond words.”

“I figured that from the five rolls of bandages Sam had to use at first, and then the dozens you’ve bought after. If she didn’t scream bloody murder she probably would’ve passed away on that field.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” her voice had a sort of stern tone. “I don’t want to push her, Al, but she’s not the only one they found. Dozens of people scattered across the world all with clean scenes and unexplainable wounds… none of course as significant as hers but still.”

“Right, I know, Sam’s been telling me to keep it under wraps.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Neither do I, he doesn’t even want the Royal Family involved.”

“You don’t think…”

“I… she looks so much like her, I wouldn’t know.”

“It was shocking, yes. And her name…”

“Shh, let’s move somewhere else.”

Your breath caught in your throat and you opened the door. Allistor and Claire looked at you quietly.

“Yes, did you need anything?” Claire asks first.

“A pen and paper… please,” you cleared your throat.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find those,” she hums. “I’m heading to the market today, if you’re feeling up to it, why don’t you come along?” She smiles. 

“Sure, I’d appreciate that.” Claire walks beside you and leads you into the next room. 

“How about you, Al?”

“Hm? I don’t need anything. I’ll be in the office.” Allistor remained silently observing you until the door closed.

“Just wait right here,” she seats you down in their bedroom. “I’ll be just a moment.”

“Take your time,” you looked looked around the room and, with a quick furrow of your brow, you looked at her. “How… how did you do that?”

“Hm?” She doesn’t look over her shoulder and continues to pull out sets of clothes.

“My mind…”

“Ah, that! It’s my ability. They call it Empathy,” she says. “I can reach into your mind, understand what you think and feel, and I can walk you through it too,” she says. “I hadn’t used it in a while, I apologize if I startled you.”

“No… it’s fine, I needed that,” you say. She turns back around and disappears into the closet.

“I’ll be right out,” she smiles and leaves. Once the door clicks you make a move to pull the slightly larger sweater off of you.

Silently changing into the set of jeans and a tshirt, you looked around carefully. Picture frames of the happy couple, trinkets with stories behind them, and small hints as to their habits filled the room. You looked at one image in particular. Claire, Allistor, and a man with a mask, the same who helped you, probably. They were wearing uniforms that sported three gilded pins on their right breast. You stepped away just as Claire had finished and followed her out.

~

“Stand up straight in a single line, don’t move out of rank,” one of the instructors said sternly. You stood as straight as you could, glancing around at the other recruits with some level of discernment. You hoped that you wouldn’t regret this. “Chins up, hold your salutes! The Captain is arriving.” Allistor steps up to the incoming class.

“It’s gotten smaller,” he tuts. “Now that the war’s over no one wants to enlist anymore,” he shakes his head and lights a cigar. He stands in front of the first cadet. “Name.”

“Carter Adara, sir,” he holds his stance and Allistor moves down the line.

“Lucián Rubio.”

“Evangeline Chandler.”

“Kaila Anae.”

“Urbi Said.”

“Cosmo Volkov.”

“Seong-Ho Choi.”

“Nixon Jones.”

“Sekou Siby.”

“Alexander Wright.” Your ears perked up at this and your head whipped over to the voice quickly. Allistor was saying something to him and Alex maintained that rigidity you’d long known him for.

What were the odds? He can’t be the same person, surely. In new dimensions, there’s bound to be parallel versions. You wondered if you looked hard enough would you be able to find your brothers? Your sisters? Yourself? You snapped back to attention as Allistor made his way to your row of cadets, and when he finally got to you, you swallowed harshly.

“Name.”

“(Y/N) Wayne.” You answered curtly. Your eyes slid over to Alex’s position, and you saw him turned toward you, an expression as shocked as yours was just moments ago. Then Allistor moved on with the rest of the introductions. You kept your face forward, trying not to draw too much attention to yourself. Joining this Cadet class was probably one of your most impulsive decisions ever, but since that night that you first picked up a sword you knew this had to be the new path you went down on. You wouldn’t be content just sitting still anymore, you had to take action. But you wanted to do it the right way and follow the right steps, it was the least you could do to pay back the two who showed you gratitude. Allistor steps again to the front and you and Alex snap forward.

“Alright, to the 24th Class of Cadets, welcome to your first week of training. It will be difficult, you will want to quit, and you will wish you never signed up for this. Suck it up until your first advancement, once you take that you can quit, cry, or move on. You will follow your instructors to your respective areas and you will get acquainted with your group, you will be training, studying, and living together from here on out.”

“Yes, sir!” The responses echoed across the field.

“Disperse.” Allistor steps away and the instructors take charge.

“Adara, Chandler, Jones, Volkov, Wayne, and Wright you’re with me!” One of the knights called out and you rushed over. “I’m Lieutenant Syke,” he introduces himself. “I will be going over your drills…” and he droned on. You could tell Alex was looking over at you, seemingly studying your actions and likely wondering the same thing you were, but with present circumstances, you zeroed in on your instructions. “From here on out, you’re a unit together,” Syke steps between the group. “Three and three, these are your trios. For upcoming missions, you will act within these pods. Advancement exams are taken individually. Training occurs as a group.” He speaks as if he’s reading off of a list. You look at the two behind you. Alex and Carter. The trio next to you are Eve, Nixon, and Cosmo. “Alright, any questions?” He’s met with silence. “Then we continue with our tour. Training starts at 6 am sharp tomorrow, the schedules will be sent to your dorms,” he hands off the slips with each of your rooms on them. Yours seemed to be 7C.

“The thing with the dorms,” he says. “Well, you’ll know what I mean when you get there, but just know the higher your overall ranking the higher the upgrade.” He waves you all over to follow him, and while the group moved forward you stayed back, and so did Alex. The two of you look at each other a while longer before being called over and following quickly.

“Do you—”

“Are you—”

You both stop speaking and Alex clears his throat, gesturing you to go first.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” You ask him, the tour going deaf in your ears.

“Maybe,” he shrugs, “am I the familiar type?”

“You seem like the type to write letters.”

“And you seem the type to take forever to reply to them.”

“It’s good to see you, Alex,” a small smile settles on your face and he nods, pulling out a letter from his pocket and handing it to you.

“And so the last letter makes it to its destination,” he says quietly. You held it in your hands, it was old, folded, and starting to tear at some ends. In the corner was an international stamp covered with a ‘return to sender,’ in the next was the return address for Alex’s mother’s flat in London, and the destination was to Wayne Manor. “You can read it later, it’s nothing important.”

“Sure,” you chuckled quietly. It’s nice to see a familiar face so far from home… “What are you doing here?” You asked him, a hint of suspicion in your voice.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he crosses his arms. “To be honest, I was just as surprised to see you here. One day I was at home, the next day I woke up on top of some building’s rooftop,” he keeps his voice below a whisper as soon as he realizes the Lieutenant looking his way.

“We’ll discuss more of this later,” you mumbled and he nodded.

“This is it, don’t be late tomorrow,” Syke stops in front of a door with an inscribed 7 on it, next to it is a pile of everyone’s personal items and luggage looking like it was tossed to the side. “You are all dismissed.” He steps away, leaving the unit on its own. Nixon clears his throat and grabs his things, leading everyone to follow.

“Uh… I’m Nixon,” he introduces himself first.

“Evangeline,” she says from the floor, trying to pull her duffle bag from under a suitcase.

“Cosmo.” The man pulls his luggage from on top of Eve’s items.

“Carter.”

“Alex.”

“(Y/N),” you were the last to grab your backpack, but the first to step forward and open the door. You stepped in and then to the side to let everyone in, but you could feel the disappointment in the air.

“Would it kill them to give us bed frames,” Cosmo nudged the mattress with his foot.

“Be glad we each get one,” Carter looks up at the exposed lightbulb. Eve eyes the one dresser to the side that had one drawer per person.

The room was just big enough to fit the six twin-sized mattresses, there was a small raised platform between the head and foot of each, and it had a small walkway down the middle. On the wall next to each bed there was a hinge and indent that dropped into a small table about the same width as the mattress, and at the end of the aisle, just under the one window, was the dresser. On the ceiling were two rods that stretched across the room lengthwise, each with a curtain at each end that was as wide as the mattresses to provide some semblance of privacy.

“Way to motivate your recruits to work harder,” Cosmo steps further into the room.

“This is the leading military force on the continent?” Alex grimaces.

“Well… I’ll take this one,” you dropped your backpack on the mattress closest to the door and Eve was quick to grab the one next to it. You’d slept in worse, you think.

“Anyway…” Cosmo picks up the paper on top of the dresser. “Here’s the schedule,” he holds it up and reads it out loud for you all to hear. Meanwhile, you and Eve untie the ropes holding the curtains up and they fall open, stopping right before the walkway. Everyone starts to act on their own, some fixing the beds and some unpacking their things into the dresser.

“We should grab something to eat, it’s around dinner time right now,” Eve speaks up over the silence.

“I could eat,” Cosmo shrugs.

“If anyone remembers where the mess hall is I’ll follow,” Nixon was next.

“I’ll go since everyone’s going.” Carter.

“Sure.” Alex.

“I’ll follow you all out, I’ll just finish unpacking,” you nudged your head toward your untouched backpack.

“Sure thing, we’ll save you a spot, (Y/N),” Eve smiles and the group filters out. You, meanwhile, open the letter.

Hey (Y/N),

Finally, you’ve responded. I hope all things are going well with you. I’m glad Roy’s been helping you out with moving into the dorms. Things aren’t too bad on my end, Uni’s been kicking my ass but what’s new? I was thinking of coming to visit again once summertime comes but that depends on whether or not I get this legal intern position, it’s at that firm I was telling you about in my last letter.

Magic studies are going just as well, Constantine is still the exact opposite of how you described him, I can’t see an ounce of kindness in that man when it comes to practice. I’ll show you a trick or two when I come over, I’m experimenting a little something right now and if it works I may be able to help out a lot more people than I would in a courtroom. I took your thoughts into consideration and tried a few spirit tricks and it’s been working out really well so far, I owe you a bout of gratitude for those.

How are you and your dad? Your last letter worried me, (Y/N). I know you miss them all, and if I can be frank I know you’re too stubborn to take the first step. I know it’s unwarranted advice, but you need a support system right now. Who better than your siblings, at least. Don’t shut them out, (Y/N). I’ve seen how close you all are, and it’s a shame if you let your falling out with your father stop that. You have time, don’t forget that. Your thesis will only be as good as you are while making it. Talk to someone, if not them, talk to me. You have my number now, and while I love the classic styles of handwritten letters, there’s a more efficient way at the palms of our hands.

Take care, (Y/N), and be safe always.

Alex

It was just a letter, as ordinary as the ones he’d sent you before and as ordinary as the ones you sent him. But it was proof enough, proof that you weren’t alone in this world as you thought you were. And that thought alone brought so much peace than you could’ve expected. A peace that you followed just to the next building, and with an empty spot next to him, Alex flagged you over and you were swift in your movements.

~

2020

“Ugh…” you wiped the caked mud from your face. You felt like you could barely move, your muscles ached with every step and your mind was in the gutter.

This felt like hell, and that’s saying something.

“You good, Wayne?” Carter hands you a water disc and you open it, not even thinking to answer until all the grime was off your face.

“Why couldn’t I have decided to be a baker,” you finally muttered, wiping the loose water beads from your face and hair.

“Last time I checked you almost poisoned half the squadron,” Carter laughs. “Come on, Xan’s waiting for us at the mess hall.”

“Run off, Adara, we’re just finishing up here,” Captain MacLennan swung his sword in the air and kicked yours back in front of you. “Get up, Wayne.” You did. You grabbed your sword and held it steady. “I asked you if you wanted to make a name for yourself, and you told me you wanted to be greater. Work for it.” You steadied your breathing.

“Tell Alex I’ll skip dinner today,” you readjusted your grip and Carter let out a small sigh.

“What are we going to do with you,” he shakes his head. “Don’t work yourself too hard.” 

“Please, I’m just doing this much so he can let me take the advancement exam.”

“Good luck with that.” And with that, he was gone, and once you could no longer see his retreating figure, you charged forward. Every attack you sent was easily deflected, every defense you made easily broken, it was like Allistor could see everything you could do next.

“You’re too predictable, Wayne.” With the flick of his sword, yours flew out of your hand and buried itself yards away from you. “Change things up a little.”

“How would I do that?” You huffed.

“That’s not something I should answer,” he shakes his head. “Find your style. I don’t know who’s you’re using, but it doesn’t suit you.” Your breath caught in your throat.

Truthfully, you’d been trying to imitate Damian’s style, and it’s worked so far. He was the only one you had observed long enough with some kind of sword to even try to imitate and, funny that the Captain caught onto you fast. Maybe it was because Damian was two heads shorter than you, his fighting style had to make up for his height somehow. Or maybe it was because you’d never even considered holding a weapon until fate placed one in your hands.

Allistor tosses the practice sword into its bin. “You’re tired. We’ll stop here.”

“No, one more time,” you took your sword up. Allistor stood still.

“As important as it is to be stubborn and never quit, you should know when to fall back too,” he says. “Tell you what,” the Captain stands up straight. “If you’re able to disarm me once, I’ll consider you ready for the next advancement exam.”

“And if I can’t get it?”

“You never advance, easy as that. It’s the third advancement, a lot of knights stop after their second,” he shrugs. You tossed your sword into the bin.

“Fine then, you know more than me,” you snarked back and the Captain dropped his necklace.

“Go eat dinner, kid,” he ruffles your hair and pushes you toward the mess hall. “Those two are waiting for you, I know.”

“Ugh, I told them to eat without me,” you grumbled.

“Funny thing about trios, spend enough time together it starts feeling weird to do things without ‘em,” he grins and brushes the dirt off your shirt. “Go, eat, then sleep. Claire thinks I’m being too hard on you,” he sighs.

“Can you ask her if the Baker 2 job is still open?”

“It’s not,” he glares at you.

“Figured I’d try,” you threw your hands up and entered the mess hall.

“(Y/N)! We saved you some roast!” Nixon shouts.

“Yeah, we had to take it from those two before they finished it all,” Eve laughs, signaling you to sit next to her.

“Hey! We saved some originally,” Carter defends. “But your drills were taking too long and we figured it’d be a waste,” he adds quickly.

“You two suck,” you frowned and Eve reaches over, wiping the remaining mud from your face.

“Go eat actual food now, (Y/N), dirt can’t be healthy for you,” she says. You stared at the meal in front of you and took a deep breath.

One step to being greater, one step at a time. You were sick of sitting around waiting for something to happen. Now? Now you want to be the one who makes things happen.

And this group around you would become your new driving force.

“Shouldn’t you all be resting for the advancement exam?” You asked after taking a bite.

“What exam? We’re waiting for you,” Nixon steals a piece of bread from your plate.

“Oh, come on, don’t stunt your growth,” you rolled your eyes.

“No way, we entered together we finish together,” Cosmo tosses his gear down. You looked over at him, sporting a new set of cuts and bruises, he seemed to wince as he took a step toward the table. You didn’t miss the slight limp in his leg either.

“Easy to say for the guy who already took the exam,” Eve glowers.

“What?! (Y/N) said it was fine,” he pointed at you with his fork and you nodded.

“I’ll catch up to you all eventually,” you shook your head.

“No way, we take that exam together or not at all,” Carter chimes. “Plus, it’s recommended to take it in your trio, I have no clue how Cos did it without you two.”

“I’m simply better,” Cosmo kicks his boot up on one of the prongs of Eve’s chair, twirling some of her blonde hair around his hands.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she scoffs and scoots away from him, his boot landing heavily on the ground. She brushes her hair out and it lands on the other side of her shoulder.

“Ugh, gross, some people are trying to eat here,” Nixon gags and nudges you lightly. “Back me up, Wayne.”

“You should see what me and my ex used to do in front of my brothers,” you chided, thinking back to the times you’d invite him over to the manor. The way Tim would groan and grovel, at one point you just did it to make fun of them.

“Dear god,” Alex finally chimes in. “The paragraphs.”

“Still though, once we all advance we should have a party,” Eve hums. “Should be fun, I’d love to hear more about everyone’s hometowns,” she grins.

“Why don’t we celebrate Cosmo’s? You’ve gotta be damn good to do that advancement on your own,” your offer. “How’d you do it? Find a way to hack the system?” You asked him.

“Come on, you know me better than that, I do things fairly,” he says. “No point in a victory if it wasn’t achieved the right way.” On the cadet rankings Cosmo was consistently first. Archery, swordsmanship, hand-to-hand, you’ve even heard the Captain call him a perfect knight.

“Right, right,” you pushed your plate toward him. “I know you told them to give me yours so just finish it.”

“You did what?” Eve looks at him.

“Seriously, Wayne, just eat the food,” he grumbles.

“Man what a waste, I hate these vegetables,” you make a move to get up and he pushes the plate back down.

“Don’t waste it, no wonder you take longer than all of us to finish drills,” he says, dragging the plate toward him with his fork.

“Wow, the top of the class is nicer than he seems,” Alex whistles.

“Either that or I’m smart enough to know that making not eating a punishment is stupid if you’re training knights,” Cosmo defends. “Anyway, I’m serious, you need to get serious, Wayne, we can’t wait forever. What insane task does the Captain have you doing now to qualify?”

“I just have to beat him at a duel once,” you grumbled. “Tough luck.”

“Ah, the legend of the lucky dueler,” Eve says with a whimsical tone. “He’s never lost an actual fair duel.”

“That does nothing to make me feel better, Eve,” you frowned.

“How hard can it be, I know you’ve got a trick or two up your sleeves,” Alex says.

“Yeah, but none are technically mine. He keeps going on and on about how I need to find my own style, whatever that means,” you grumble. “I’m just annoyed that he’s actually barring me from taking the exam.”

“He cares in his own way,” Eve eases in. “It’s nice to see he looks out for you, you had a rough start.”

“Rough is putting it lightly,” you shook your head. You really did have a hard time adjusting. The nightmares, the ghost pains, and the day terrors. It was luck alone that you were found by him and his wife that day, and it was still luck that they took care of you after that all. To say you were indebted to them wasn’t enough, you should really credit your current life to them.

It was true, you wanted to make a name for yourself. When your mind became clear again you realized that this was your chance to start fresh, new, and different. In this world, Wayne is just a name. No bats attached, no dirty money to creep up on you, and no legacy to live up to. No shadows to loom over you.

So, on one of those sleepless nights, when the Captain dropped a sword in front of you, you picked it up.

And you haven’t put it down since.

~

It’s heavy in your hand, a simple short sword that had small chips along the blade and its handle was just as worn through. You ran through the motions with it now, practicing the techniques you had been learning and the techniques that got you to pass the first two advancement exams.

“Wayne.” You stopped your movements and looked behind you. Cosmo pulls a chestguard over his nightshirt while he yawns.

“Volkov,” you replied likewise. He picks up a sword and holds it at the ready. He nods at you, giving you permission to move first. You readjusted your grip on the sword and began to circle him, and all the while he matched your movements. With each nudge or twitch of your sword he copied you. “Playing games?”

“Trying to find out why you can’t advance,” he says. You nudged your head in annoyance and he copied that too. You narrowed your glance, and he followed. Then, you pivoted and charged forth. You expected him to block you, but instead he did the same thing and your swords clashed together. The sound of metal hitting metal filled the dorm courtyard, not relenting once and not slowing down. Then, you saw it, a flash in his eyes.

“You got an ability,” you said while the blade of your sword was pushing against his, threatening to cut his neck at a moment’s notice.

“I did want to try it out,” he pushes back and you hold your footing. That was the prize for the 3rd advancement exam, a specially bestowed upon blessing from the Royal family.

“Alright, Volkov, show me what you can do with it,” you pushed forward with enough force that he stumbled back.

“Sure,” he spins the hilt of his blade in his hands and you freeze. You knew this stance. Sure, he’d completed the advancement exam a while ago… “It’s called Mirror, by the way.”

“I figured.” How are you going to beat him? You racked your thoughts and tossed the sword down. He quirks an eyebrow up and you readied your fists.

He’s just a taller Damian.

You charged forward and he responded in kind, throwing out the same moves you had been practicing earlier. Mirror? He needed an ability to do that? You’d been mirroring your siblings since you got here. You evaded like Dick, you swung like Jason, you strategized like Tim, and you charged like Damian.

But even without you to be his subject, Cosmo was at the top for a reason. You swung at his legs and he stepped over, grabbing your arm and swinging you over him and onto the ground. Before he could think of the next move, you grabbed the previously discarded blade and slashed it upwards, stopping right at his neck. He bounces back and you stagger up. In seconds he rushes you, sending a flurry of strikes in every direction. You parry as many as you can, feeling the vibrations ring from your hands to your chest, but the fresh shallowed cut on your face proves you still have much to learn. You hold your sword at an angle and stop his final blow, then you turn it against him, flinging the sword out of his hand and once again slicing near his neck. A small line of blood drips onto his shirt.

“Alright, alright,” he raises his arms up and you drop the sword. “Good one, (Y/N).”

“You let me win.”

“I was just trying to find out why you suck at swords.”

“By mirroring my movements?”

“Sure.”

“And what did you find out?”

“Whatever style that was… we’re too tall to use it,” he shrugs. “You like to rely on your arms a lot, don’t forget to look down every now and then, and try not to trip over yourself in battle, geez, how the hell did you pass the first two advancements?”

“For the record, I carried those other two,” you snarked back. 

“I worry for the future of the kingdom, then,” he laughs tiredly. You wiped the blood from your face with your sleeve. “Did you have to cut my face?” You shot him an annoyed look. Even dead tired Cosmo was a skilled swordsman.

“Blame the technique,” he exasperates. “And you, were you actually trying to kill me?” He pulls at his collar, the edges of it spotted with red. “Geez… Line’s gonna finish the job for this,” he pulls the chestguard off.

“I’ll tell Eve I did it then she won’t do anything,” you shook your head. You look up at the dorms, seeing one of the lights on and a few loud shouts coming from it.

“Carter bet against you.”

“Fucking asshole.”

“If I didn’t have this limp I would’ve won.”

“Sure, Cos, let’s have a fair duel once we move up.”

“Once you move up.”

“You don't have to be cruel about it.”

“Cosmo! You better not have overdone it again!” Eve’s voice rang from the window.

“‘Course not, beauty,” he calls back. “See you tomorrow, (Y/N),” he takes your sword from your grasp. “Go sleep, if I gotta wake up to you talking to yourself out here again I’m actually gonna lose my shit,” he says with a small smile. “Plus, Carter keeps bothering me to check on you.”

“Yeah, right,” you watched him enter the dorms before cleaning up around yourself. You grabbed your duffle bag from the side and walked into the dorms. When did your hands get so calloused? It wasn’t even a thought until you pressed the pads of your fingers to the bridge of your nose. The hardened skin around your palm was just proof of what’s happened and what’s bound to happen.

The third placement exam. The first exam promoted you from Cadet to Soldier. The second exam promoted you from Soldier to Knight, and that’s where most people stop. But the third… if you pass that one you get to have an audience with the Royal Family, and you have heard many a time about how the Captain would be sent on inter-dimensional missions.

Instead of an ability, you wondered if they could get you home.

Imagine the look on everyone’s faces. Would they be shocked? Angry? Happy? Sad? You had run through the scenarios so many times. What would you say to them when you stepped into the manor? What would you look like?

Would you cry?

You could easily see Dick’s face. The slow contort from shock to relief. Jason’s was just as easy, knowing him his jaw would be wide open. Tim would be next to you in moments, studying but meaning well. Damian would have his own ways of looking through you. Barbara would’ve seen you coming from a mile away. Stephanie would pick up where she left off. Cassie would be on the other side Tim wasn’t on.

Your dad…

You paused just as you reached your room. Your dad… dad… Bruce Wayne.

“What the fuck…?” You shook your head and leaned against your bike.

Why couldn’t you remember what he looked like?

You took steady breaths, trying to remember the details and, well, there he was. A tall imposing figure whose shadow you constantly walked around in. As a child and as an adult, the name ‘Wayne’ weighed heavily on you. As the named heiress you had a mountain of expectations on you from learning how to properly run the company to achieving something great for your namesake. You didn’t dare make mistakes, the tabloids would have your face plastered on them the next morning, and if you weren’t careful enough there went a large sum of money to keep them quiet. And for what? Was it because of your name only that you were so careful? Some days you wished things stayed simple, you wished you stayed with your mother and that you never knew who your father was. It didn’t matter that she was a liar, at least she was in a way more truthful than the Wayne facade you held for years.

“(Y/N)? Are you coming in?” Eve asks. You didn’t even realize the door had opened. “You look tired, come rest,” she takes your hand and pulls you in, shutting the door behind you. After many missions, after many evaluations, and after many battles, your unit has moved up to the higher-end living spaces. High enough that you each had separate rooms, at least. You and Eve shared one, Carter and Cosmo in another, and Nixon and Alex in the last one. The three rooms surrounded a significantly larger middle room, it was the least the knighthood could offer high-performing knights.

You sat down slowly, kicking your boots off and pulling your shirt off in the process. Then, you collapsed on the bed.

“Come now, (Y/N), you should at least take a shower,” Eve leans over you.

“I’ll wash the sheets tomorrow,” you mumbled, feeling your eyes grow heavy. You force one eye open. “Did you bet for or against me?”

“Hm?”

“Who did you think would win, me or Cos?”

“I bet in your favor, obviously,” she chuckles. “Cosmo’s too prideful to change his tricks, and after training together for a year you know all of them. I knew you’d win.”

“Thanks, Eve, that’s nice,” you yawn.

“Just like I know you’ll beat the Captain and advance forward,” she smiles.

“Sure…” your voice trails, and just like that you had fallen asleep.

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[cornfieldsrambles]

I saw your explanation about lords in black and I have a question: tgwdlm the main lord in black is pokey, in black friday it is wiggly, and in npmd, who would it be?

oh god that post is going to haunt me forever (joke)

well, NPMD isn't really that simple I don't think. It's all of them. All five Lords in Black. And I think that makes sense.

Let me back up and explain. So NPMD happened after both Nightmare Times had been released. Obviously NPMD had been "in the works" before then, but for the actual finished show, I think Starkid assumed that a substantial amount of the people watching would've seen Nightmare Time. So I reckon they wanted to give something new to those people, while also not excluding people who hadn't watched it. That's just my assumption, though.

Not every Nightmare Time story is directly related to the Lords in Black.* About half the episodes have a bit more of a 'monster of the week' vibe. Hatchetfield Ape-Man, Forever and Always, Perky’s Buds and Killer Track are some examples. Generally, the pattern goes: a monster of the week, then a Lord in Black, then a monster of the week, then a Lord in Black.**

So when NPMD rolled around and (again, this is kind of me speculating) Starkid wanted to give something new/rewarding to those who watched Nightmare Time, while accommodating those who didn't, so they decided to do both. A particularly memorable and exciting monster-of-the-week is the main event, and we also get to see the Lords. Hatchetfield lore is referenced but you don't need to know much about it, and the stuff you do need to know is communicated through what the characters learn. The Waylons were in a cult and had their weird book which they used to worship Wiggly and co., and now they're dead and their house is cursed or something. Got it.

The other thing about Nightmare Time is... we've already seen each Lord in action. Heck, including TGWDLM we've seen Pokey twice. So what's better than one Lord in Black? FIVE LORDS IN BLACK!!!!!

So having not just Wiggly, but ALL of the Lords - with brand new Tumblr sexyman forms to boot - and showing them in a new and interesting role of pretty much the Deus Ex Machina of the show (this is hands-down the most helpful they've ever been) is something that feels very new and very rewarding to NMT watchers. Like "Oh my god! I know those guys! But it's all of them! This rules!"***

But also, showing Wiggly again gives the non-NMT watchers something to latch onto. Showing his brothers is in itself the new exciting thing, like "Oh my god, it's Wiggly! Wait - there's more of him? What the hell?!" At its core, their purpose in the plot is simple and comprehensible. It's deal-with-the-devil plotline, it's not rocket science. That, and showing all the Lords and dropping crumbs of lore could also get non-NMT watchers excited and interested, and would hopefully entice them to watch Nightmare Time. (Which I am once again encouraging you to do! There's so much you're missing out on!)

So TL;DR - My guess is that Starkid wanted the show to be rewarding to Nightmare Time watchers, and accessible to non-NMT watchers. They did this by combining the two main Nightmare Time episode formats (monster of the week and Lords in Black) in a way that felt new and exciting, wasn't too lore heavy to confuse non-NMTs, but was just lore-y enough to get them interested and feeling rewarding for NMT watchers who already knew about this stuff. So that's why they used all five Lords.

Wow I did not mean for this to turn out so long, I am sorry lol

*If you want to be pedantic, you could say everything/most things in Hatchetfield lead back to things like the Witchwood or the Starry Children or whatever, which arguably lead back to the Lords, but what I mean is not every Nightmare Time is about one or more Lord in Black directly making a mess. The 'monster of the week' things I mentioned are all related to stuff that happened years and years ago, so they don't count as much.

**Okay, NMT2 doesn't really stick to this formula as cleanly, but that doesn't really matter for my point.

***This was pretty much my reaction, after a lot of incoherent excited yelling lmao

[rowritesstuff]

Avoidance (Nikolai Lantsov x Female Reader)

A/N: Heyyyy... it's been a minute... soooo, I could just drop this without saying anything about my disappearance from Tumblr (I mean, I've still been active, but I haven't posted anything), but I figured I should say something. I'm fine. Life's good. I just didn't have the motivation to write. Anyways, this probably sucks ass, but here ya go.

Ro's Masterpost

WORD COUNT: 2.3k words

WARNINGS: SMUT, friends to lovers, argument/yelling, oral (f receiving), unprotected P in V (please use a condom), fingering (kinda).

You laughed while Nikolai told the story of a shared childhood memory he had recalled earlier in the day.

You had been seven years old and it was Nikolai's eighth birthday. Another noble boy, the son of a count, you believed, bullied Nikolai throughout his entire birthday party, and you had made it your sole mission to ruin the boy's life, or day at the very least.

You had actually succeeded. You had known that his parents didn't allow him to eat sweets, so you managed to convince him to have one of every pastry served at the party, of which there were quite a few, with it being a young prince's birthday party.

"The poor boy's parents were fuming when they caught him with his face covered in frosting," you cackled and Nikolai threw a pillow from your sofa, which you were both sitting on, at you, which only made you laugh harder.

"I believe they banned him from any social events for a month because of that incident." Nikolai took a small sip of his whiskey.

"I still think he deserved it."

"Oh, of course."

You settled in a comfortable silence, sipping your drinks, chuckling every few seconds. Nikolai scooted closer to you on the couch, moving the pillow he had thrown at you off your lap and next to him.

You leaned your head on his shoulder. He took a deep inhale before wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you a little closer to him as he took a final sip of his whiskey. Noticing that you had also finished your drink, he took your glass and placed both yours and his on the table in front of you before settling back into you.

"For the record, I would do the same thing for you," Nikolai said, breaking the silence.

You snorted. "You have done the same thing. Remember when we were sixteen? We had just enlisted and that stupid asshole-"

You were interrupted by Nikolai's lips crashing onto yours, pulling you into a kiss. You tensed up for just a few seconds, but before you could return the kiss, he pulled away and turned his body away from you.

"Nik."

Nikolai gathered his coat from your couch and stood up, leaving your room without another word.

Your jaw dropped at the shock that he just left right after kissing you without even giving you a chance to say anything.

Nikolai avoided you for two weeks. Anytime you tried to speak to him he would walk away as if he had somewhere to be. Which, with him being a king, he very well may have had somewhere to be, but it was still rude.

Since he wouldn't come to you, you would go to him. No matter if it was the middle of the night.

You banged on his door, aggressively knocking until he finally opened the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed. "It's late. You should be sleeping."

"So should you, but you're not even dressed for bed," you slipped past him and entered his room, stopping at a small table covered in piles of documents of work and you picked one up, "and you're working."

Nikolai closed his door behind you and leaned his back against the wall. "Well, you're dressed for bed." He gestured to the robe that was wrapped around you, covering your nightgown. "Why are you here?"

You dropped the paper back on the table. "I'm here because you kissed me two weeks ago and you have been avoiding me since." He lowered his head to avoid your gaze. "I deserve an explanation."

"I shouldn't have kissed you."

You stomped over to Nikolai. "Says who?"

"Me!" He pointed to his chest. "I shouldn't have put you in that position!"

"If you had waited one more second I would have kissed you back! I was just shocked because I didn't think you returned my feelings for you!"

Nikolai shook his head. "We're not doing this."

"Why?"

He gripped your arms, not nearly enough to hurt you, and pulled your body closer to his. He lowered his lips to your ear. "Because if we start, I won't want to stop," he whispered.

"And what if I don't want you to stop?"

He pulled back from you a little, looking into your eyes. E/C eyes that showed your love for him, your desire for him, and your anger toward him for ignoring you for two weeks.

He swallowed and moved his hands from gripping your upper arms to your lower back, covered by that damn silk robe. He had seen you in it many times before and he considered each moment a blessing. It was your favorite color and it suited your body perfectly.

"Are you sure?"

You nodded. "Yes."

Now having your permission, he spun the two of you, you now pinned against the wall he was previously leaning on. He captured your lips against his, pushing you even closer to the wall while one of your hands landed on the nape of his neck, curling into the short hair there, and the other went to his upper back, pushing him closer to your body.

He obliged your hand's desire, pressing himself against you. His lips wandered from yours to your jaw, then down to your neck. You let out a sigh as you moved your head to the side to give him more access. In appreciation, he sucked a hickey into your neck.

As Nikolai kissed down your body, your hand gripped his hair. Once he was fully kneeling in front of you, he looked up into your eyes as he untied the tie of your robe. He opened the silk fabric, giving him full view of your nightgown-covered body. He pressed a kiss to your clothed hip bone and looked up at you again. "Can you please take your robe off, darling?"

You pushed the robe off your shoulders and let it fall down your arms, dropping it into a pool of silk at your feet. Taking advantage of the robe on the floor, Nikolai placed it under his knees to protect himself from kneeling on the hard floors.

Nikolai dragged his fingers up your leg into your nightgown, pushing it up to your waist. You took the nightgown off and threw it off to the side.

You were left in only your underwear that blocked the one thing Nikolai had on his mind in that moment.

"Can I take these off?" he asked.

"Yes," you whispered.

He dragged the small garment down your legs, lifting your feet to completely remove them from your body.

He took a moment to drink in the visual of your completely naked body. You were perfect. You were the only Saint that he would ever worship, and he intended to do just that.

He nudged your right leg a little bit away from your left, giving you the hint to spread your legs. Once you were where he wanted you, his hands went to your hips and he gave them little massages as he moved his face closer to you.

You took deep breaths as you watched him move closer until he finally placed a kiss on your clit. You gasped, one hand returning to his hair and the other holding onto the doorframe next to you for support.

Nikolai kissed wet, open-mouthed kisses around your pussy, leaving you gasping and moaning while he kept looking up at your face. He kissed and licked and sucked at your entrance and your grip tightened on his messy blond curls.

He licked from your entrance to your clit, closing his eyes as he sucked at it. Your hand moved from his hair to the back of his head to push his face closer into you. After a little fluttering of his tongue on your pussy, then your clit, a high overcame you, making you lean your head back on the wall. One of Nikolai's hands came up to your side to massage it as he worked you through the orgasm, greedily licking at all of your wetness until you pushed his head away.

He smiled as he fell to the floor before he stood back up, holding you against him as he kissed your cheek, whispering praises into your ear while you recovered.

"I've got you, sweetheart. I've got you."

You pulled him into a kiss, tasting yourself on his lips. Slowly, you began making your way to Nikolai's bed until you hit his mattress. You fell down onto the bed, Nikolai following, placing himself on top of you.

You broke the kiss and scrambled to unbutton Nikolai's shirt. Your hands were still shaking, making it difficult to undo the buttons. Noticing your shaking hands, Nikolai took hold of your hands, stopping you. He pressed light kisses on your fingertips.

"Go ahead and lay on the pillows. I'll be right there."

You scooted yourself up his mattress, laying your head comfortably on his pillows as he had asked you to. Only a moment later, Nikolai was crawling above you, completely bare. You looked down his body from his chest, and lower, and lower.

Nikolai gently lifted your chin, forcing you to look him in the eye. He pressed a soft kiss in between your eyebrows. "Have you done this before?" he asked.

You nodded. You had had a few flings in your lifetime, as you were sure Nikolai did too, especially during his time as Sturmhond. He had his own flings on the Volkvolny, as did you.

"Good. I'll give you as much time as you need to adjust and if you ever need me to stop, you let me know. I don't want to hurt you."

You gave him a quick kiss. "You could never hurt me. Except for when you avoided me for two weeks, but- Saints."

His cock entering you interrupted you, though it was quite the pleasant interruption. He filled you slowly and perfectly. Nikolai kissed your cheek as his hips met yours. You took some deep breaths as you got used to the feeling of his cock inside of you. Finally, you gave him a ready nod.

Nikolai started off slowly and it wasn't until you asked him to go faster that he sped up. He kissed you deeply as he fucked you. You moaned into those kisses, the feeling of his cock sending you into euphoria.

"Fuck!" you cursed. "A little harder please?"

He obeyed, going just a bit harder, but enough to have you seeing stars. Your hand started moving down your body to rub at your clit, but Nikolai swatted your hand away and rubbed your clit in small circles himself.

Your hands returned to his hair for the millionth time that night, gripping the blond tufts. He gasped.

"Shit, can you pull it harder?"

You tugged on his hair, making him moan loudly. You smiled as you continued pulling on his hair, loving the sounds that escaped him at the feeling.

He began thrusting into you rougher, bringing you closer and closer to the edge of orgasm.

"Nik, fuck! I'm so close!"

Nikolai rubbed at your clit harder. "Me too. Where do you want it?"

"In me! Just-" You groaned, your orgasm overcoming you.

Nikolai wasn't far behind you. It was only a few seconds after your orgasm when you felt his cum shoot into you. He stilled, peppering kisses on your forehead and cheeks.

After you recovered, he slowly pulled out of you, rolling off you and onto the bed to your right. He opened a drawer in his nightstand, grabbed something, and closed it before rolling back to face you and handing you the Alkemi contraceptive. You drank it and he took the empty bottle, placing it on top of the nightstand.

He pulled you closer to him, where your side was tucked close to his torso. The both of you rested in this position for a few moments, you laying on your back, him on his side.

"I'm an idiot," Nikolai said quietly.

You smiled. "Congratulations, you've finally caught up with the rest of us."

He gently pinched your side before lightly laughing.

"What I mean is I shouldn't have avoided you. I shouldn't have left your room that night without letting you say or do anything. I'm sorry."

Your thumb rubbed his cheek. "Apology accepted. On one condition. You tell me how long you've been in love with me."

Nikolai groaned. "My eighth birthday party is when it started. When I saw how determined you were to ruin that idiot's life over him being mean to me."

You laughed. "Wow. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

"Now it's your turn."

You shook your head. "I'm not the one who owed an apology."

Nikolai raised his brows. "Fine. Since you don't want to tell me..."

He moved his hand from your side to your clit, rubbing small circles again. You threw your head back on the pillows, cursing.

"Shit, Nik."

He didn't stop. He kept rubbing your clit, occasionally dipping into your pussy for more moisture. He sped up his motions until you came once again. He gathered all of the wetness on his fingers and licked it all off.

"When we were 16 and had just enlisted. That asshole Novikov was harassing me. You punched him in the face one day. Three times. You broke his nose. That's when I fell in love with you."

"Awww. We both fell in love with each other when we harmed other people." He kissed your forehead. "Should we be concerned about that?"

"Probably, but right now, I want to sleep."

Nikolai hummed in response, pulling the blankets over the two of you. You turned to lay on your side as he got up to blow out all of the candles. When he finally got back in bed, he pulled you into him, your back against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around you.

"I love you," Nikolai whispered.

You closed your eyes. "I love you, too."

"Good night."

You softly smiled to yourself. "Good night."

[lanawinterscigarettes]

Kleptomaniac (Allison Reynolds x reader)

Summary: you and Allison get to know each other better after becoming partners for a school project

Warnings: strangers to friends to (implied) lovers, fluff, Allison's tendencies to compulsively lie and steal whatever she can get her hands on comes up a lot here, there's also a lot of science talk related to the plot (really giving away how much of a nerd I am with this one)

A/N: I rewatched the breakfast club and immediately needed to write something for it because there's practically nothing to be found on tumblr and it makes me really sad :( also for those who don't know a kleptomaniac is someone who has a really bad problem with stealing whatever they can get their hands on 👍

It was the first project of the school year, the teacher making the dreaded announcement of "these partners will be permanent for the rest of the year" when it was first introduced. The class had groaned in unison before everyone scrambled off to find someone to work with, not wanting to be left with the short end of the stick.

You ended up choosing Allison as your partner, of all people. Well, maybe choosing was a bit of a strong word. Everyone else had already partnered up by the time you realized what was going on, which meant you were stuck with her.

It wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be. She was pretty cool and seemed nice enough, even if she had a bad habit of stealing.

You were currently both sitting on your bed at your house so you could work on the project together. You'd taken your eyes off of her for two seconds so you could grab a pencil, which she took advantage of by snatching your stapler and shoving it in the pocket of her skirt.

"Hey, put that back!"

She let out a mischievous giggle as she de-pocketed the stapler, dropping it back down onto the bed in front of you. "Sorry," she apologized in a quiet and raspy voice, the impish grin on her face telling you that she didn't feel sorry at all.

Picking up the stapler, you set it somewhere off to the side where she couldn't easily grab it again. "The project has to be on some kind of scientific discovery, like space or the ocean or something-"

She cut you off before you could continue. "My grandparents lived in a boat for over a year. And one of my uncles was an astronaut."

You raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief. "Really?" The incredulous tone of your voice gave away just how obvious it was that you didn't believe her.

"Yeah, and one of my cousins is a deep sea explorer," she continued, ignoring the look you were giving her. The both of you knew she was lying, but neither one of you was willing to say it.

"Hm." You let out a sort of humming noise in response before turning your attention back to your notes for science. "Everyone's going to choose something big to do their project on, like space or the ocean, so I think we should think outside the box and pick something... smaller. Both literally and figuratively."

Allison quietly observed as you flipped through your science books, skimming over the different topics readily available. "Why don't we do something on the discovery of the atom?"

"I used to have a neighbor named Adam." She picked up one of your erasers as she spoke, feeling the rubbery material in her hand.

"No, not Adam, like the person. Atom, like what the universe is made of." You reached out and took the eraser back from her so she wouldn't steal it: she left out an indignant squeak but didn't fight over it. "Everything is made up of millions of tiny atoms that are impossible to see without some sort of high-powered miscroscope."

"Nerd," she muttered softly under her breath after you were done with your explanation. The corners of her lips curled upwards into a Chesire cat-like smile when you narrowed your eyes at her in annoyance.

"Anyway, I don't think a lot of people are going to choose to do the project on something like that, so we should, that way we won't have to worry about the teacher comparing projects and grading ours as a result of that." You reached for your pencil again, only to find that it wasn't there.

Sighing, you held out your hand as you waited for Allison to give it back. The lead harshly poked you in the finger as she did. "Ow!" You exclaimed in surprise as you rubbed the area where you'd been stabbed by the pencil. "You did that on purpose!"

"Did not." She crossed her arms and tried to appear serious, immediately failing as she laughed at the frown you were giving her.

"God, you're such a kleptomaniac," you muttered under your breath as you picked up the pencil and started writing down information about atoms on a fresh piece of notebook paper.

"You know, you're really cool," she commented while watching you with her big brown eyes. "We should hang out more."

It was hard to keep a soft smile from forming on your face. "Do you promise to stop stealing my stuff?"

Your question was answered instantly when you looked back up to see her trying to shove one of your science textbooks into her bag. "Nope."

"Allison!"

She erupted into a fit of laughter as you took it back from her, visibly pleased with being able to get on your nerves so easily.

"I'm glad you're my friend." Her voice was so low when she spoke you almost didn't catch what she'd said.

As upset as you wanted to be for her stealing your things, you knew she was just doing it to mess with you, and that she probably didn't have anyone else to joke around with like that. It made you feel special.

"Yeah, me too."

End notes: requests for the breakfast club are definitely open, btw! It's such a shame that I have almost nothing written with them

Likes < reblogs | comments are greatly appreciated | requests are currently open

Main masterlist | The Breakfast Club masterlist | wanna be added to my taglist?

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[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting: Holghras Results

Now for what everyone -- or at least a certain percentage -- has been waiting for: the results for the Holghras! Anyone who found that sentence confusing can catch up by checking this page: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting .

This time around, they should all fit into one post, as the response was a little smaller. I see how it is: everyone wants to draw Spooky Corpse-Eater With Magic, but nobody wants to draw Horny Bird With Problems.

I kid, of course. The Wutugald had some pretty clear visual elements that people could hook onto, but the Holghras entry is mostly about its behavior and doesn't give much information on what it looks like beyond "it's a bird". So it's pretty clear why people might have a harder time drawing artistic inspiration from that one. (And I really and truly appreciate those of you who took a crack at it anyway.) The level of physical description is going to vary a lot entry to entry, I'm afraid -- to some extent I think it's about whether it's an animal the reader is expected to be familiar with, but there are definitely a few detailed visual descriptions of animals most medieval Europeans would have seen because the author wants to do some symbolism. So it's a toss-up. Anyway, here's the link to the description people are working from:

And the results, again roughly in order of appearance. If yours isn't here, let me know -- I saw one post that said something about Tumblr eating their original attempt, presumably out of Bird Homophobia. I'm happy to reblog any that I missed due to Tumblr's functionality.

@bruncikara (link to post here) gives us our first interpretation. I really enjoy the medieval bestiary style, including the use of the Generic Medieval Plant that always reminds me of mutant asparagus. I think the border is designed to evoke the thorns in which the Holghras nests, which I also appreciate. The bird's pose, flat on its back with its neck curved up, is great, and it's shown performing its signature Hide With Dirt move. I think at least some of the inspiration comes from quails here, judging by the head... feather... thing... [Wikipedia break] ... okay, apparently it's just called a "plume", which I should have guessed. This is the first example of the common (and correct!) assumption that the Holghras is a member of the order Galliformes.

@jamiethekeener (link to post here) gives us this one, also posing with its signature dirt clods. I'm reminded of a cardinal, personally. The artist provides a brief comment on their design, noting that they are not a bird expert. I think this is a pretty cute juvenile bird, and the way it holds the dirt comes off as kind of playful.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has produced another very naturalistic drawing, which (in my non-expert opinion) manages to look very much like a real bird without specifically looking like any bird in particular. They apparently do know birds, because they specifically name-drop Galliformes in their description of their design decisions. I like the decision to also include one of the bird's Signature Behaviors, i.e., the mother carrying her chicks.

@pomrania (link to post here) has given their Holghras a selection of striking features, which they explain in their post. There's a lot in that post, actually, and I really enjoyed reading the whole journey of this particular drawing. You should go read it too -- the post linked above also provides a draft version, a link to a series of progress sketches, and a link to an explanation of their design choices that includes rumination on how to make a bird look "slutty". Go check it out, we'll be here when you get back.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) describes her design choices briefly, indicating that her goal was to pick Bird Attributes that could look unsettling in combination and suggest that the bird depicted has a "terrible sex life". Mission accomplished, I think -- that bird does not look trustworthy. Also now we know that thing on its head is just called a plume, so good for us. I really like the effect the -- watercolor? I think? I don't know art -- provides, and that seagull-esque spot on its beak really is a great touch.

@rautavaara (link to post here) has done another beautifully stylized drawing with a very pleasant color scheme. They provide a brief explanation of their design decisions in the linked post. I'm particularly struck by the fact that this version of the Holghras apparently carries its young in the same way that the folkloric version of the stork carries babies: in some kind of cloth wrapping held in the beak. I also like that the chick's feet are sticking out.

@mobileleprechaun (link to post here) apparently had some trouble posting this, but I'm glad they got it through, because it's delightful. I like the little bird on the right with its feet sticking straight up, and the other one under its mother's wing/arm. When I first saw this, I was briefly puzzled why the drawing contrasted male and female birds, because they looked quite similar -- then I noticed the tailfeathers -- then I looked more closely at the male's tailfeathers and cracked up a little bit. The linked post provides a brief explanation of the design decisions, including why the wings look so much like arms. It also has a couple tags that I find funny.

@karthara (link to post here) provides this excellent image as well as a brief explanation of their design choices. I love the over-the-top tailfeathers on the extremely-sexy purple male Holghrases, and the babies dangling from under the female's wing, and the fact that the clod of dirt being held up by the juvenile is at least as big as the bird holding it. Also, those ridiculous tailfeathers are apparently inspired by the Onagadori rooster, which means we're back with the Galliformes.

@embervoices (link to post here) did this adorable drawing of the juvenile Holghras. I particularly like that she's taken a different route than having it just hold up the dirt: this one apparently has a little hidey-hole like a trapdoor spider. This is just very cute all around, I like it.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) provides this excellent and action-packed depiction, along with a wonderfully detailed explanation of their design decisions. (I love reading those.) From their post, it's clear that they also know more about birds than I do, and also name-check the Galliformes as the most likely category. Apparently the bird-people of Tumblr have this critter's number. Also, that is a masterful depiction of a bird running off with an egg, I have to say.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has done another medieval-styled rendition, which I really enjoy. This is also, I believe, the first appearance of a human in any of these drawings. (Well. Live human, at least.) I enjoy the depiction of the female bird doing her fake limp to lead the human away from her nest while the males engage in their weird drama up in the right. They provide an explanation of their design choices and inspiration in the linked post.

@scarlettbookworm (link to post here) has given us a drawing that showcases several of the odd behaviors described in the entry. The linked post also provides a description of their design process and an explanation of their decisions. I think this is another very cute picture of a bird holding up dirt, and I enjoy the one at the top shouting "HOLGHRAS!" The egg-stealer over in the bottom right is very good also.

@moustawott (link to post here) has drawn this very vulture-like Holghras in what I have to say is a very well-done bushy area. I had to look twice to realize the background was actually cleverly-arranged splashes and blobs of color that strongly suggest that we're in a bush. Very good art, love the style, and that fuzzy baby Holghras is cute as hell. The linked post provides an explanation of the design decisions.

@strixcattus (link to post here) gives us this rendition of the Holghras, which they describe as being inspired by a prairie chicken and a potoo. Prairie chickens are, of course... Galliformes. Another tally mark in that column. I'm particularly delighted by the giant mouth on the chick in the bottom right. As they did last time, the artist has provided a detailed modern-naturalist interpretation of the animal, which is of course in the linked post. I recommend checking that out; maybe it's just because I'm the kind of huge nerd that I am, but I think these are great.

@treesurface (link to post here) gives us a Holghras that they describe as a cross between a bird of prey and a bird of paradise, which I think is a pretty good idea that fits both the aggressive behavior and the mating behavior described in the entry. I enjoy the fact that multiple artists have decided this bird Likes Big Tailfeathers (and it does lie, but about different things).

@ashfly (link to post here) gives us this picture of a juvenile Holghras holding up its clump of dirt. They also indicate that they have an idea of what it is, which I really hope they'll share now that it's posted and the bird's out of the bag, because I was 100% certain nobody would guess this one. The fuzzy bird is cute, of course, and the rainbow legs are really striking. (Pride legs, perhaps?) I also like that it's clearly looking over at the "camera" to see if we're buying it.

And finally, the official medieval depiction:

... hm. Yeah, some absolute bastard apparently cut out a bunch of the miniatures in this manuscript at one point. Luckily, we have the Ashmole Bestiary over at the Bodleian Library, which is extremely similar, so we can get an idea of the image that was here:

And also, this entry in the Aberdeen Bestiary comes with two images. Here's the other one:

I'm going to assume the choice of coloration was up to the individual artist and the missing Aberdeen illustration was also brown, because the Ashmole version of the egg-stealer also has the more colorful pattern:

Anyway, in case you haven't recognized it from these helpful and very accurate images, this is the partridge. Now you know what's going on in those pear trees.

I don't actually have anything else to add about that. I was frankly a little surprised there was even an entry for "partridge".

[elvisabutler]

good ole fashioned spanking

summary: you test elvis's patience at a party. he reminds you what should happen to bad kittens when they do things like that. fandom: austin butler | elvis 2022 | elvis presley pairing: austin butler elvis x gender neutral reader rating: m word count: 1393 warnings: spanking. mild daddy kink implication. mild dom and sub implication. copious use of the word kitten to refer to the reader. elvis's anger problems. elvis's possessiveness. unhealthy bdsm in relation to the spanking. use of spanking as a punishment. coming in one's pants. there is a hint of aftercare mentioned. author's note: welcome to day 23 of kinktober, spanking with austin elvis. i see 60s hollywood austin elvis with his or 60s elvis with this. pick whoever you want, i'm easy. been a while since i wrote spanking but i'm fond of this piece to be honest. also if you saw me post this twice, blame tumblr and their tag problem. i know this still isn't in the tags but i'm not redoing this again.

"I spoil you too goddamn much." Elvis mutters as he pulls you along through the crowd of people. "Only explanation for this nonsense you wanna pull. Draping yourself over every goddamn person in that room. Every single person had you in their lap except me. And you came there with me. Wouldn't be in here if it wasn't for me. spoiled brat thinking you can tease a man like that. Thinkin' you can tease me like that."

You're no stranger to Elvis's mercurial moods and his possessive nature- his possessive streak that can circle the globe. But this, oh this time you might have pushed him too far. There's always a hint of affection in his eyes when he's angry, when he's been like this before but looking at them now you are reminded of a raging storm at sea. Staring at those eyes makes you think of drowning and you're not sure if you can handle it, if you can pull yourself out from that potential whirlpool.

"Elvis." You say, trying to pull him close to you, trying to calm him down. "You were-"

"What?" He hisses, his hand moving to grasp your chin, forcing you to stare him down. "I was what, baby? Busy making sure you're taken care of? Making sure no one's out to get us? Let's hear what excuse you've got for being a brat."

He's right, you are a brat and it always shows in situations like this. In situations where you should be a good kitten you do the exact opposite. This time is no exception.

"You weren't paying attention to me. You took me there and left me alone. Had all those people hanging off of you, hanging onto you like they're taking you home. At least everyone who I touched wanted to touch me. They wanted to take me home." You pause, watching his nostrils flare and his brow furrow. "Maybe I should have let them."

Elvis's grip on your chin tightens momentarily before he lets go, and practically snarls the second you both reach your bedroom. The force he uses to open the door startles you just enough to make you jump. You know he won't hurt you, he never would but this reaction is something entirely foreign to you. He drops your hand as he shuts the door. "The hell you should have. You're mine and you know this. Ya know none of them can do the things I do for ya." He moves to grab your hand again, pulling you to the bed as he sits down on it. "Over my knee."

"No." Your answer is quick, practically spat out as you realize what he's about to do. "You're not about to-"

"Spank you?" He asks, his chest heaving in frustration. "Oh yes I am, you're acting like a brat, you're gonna get treated like one. Ya need to be taught a lesson and I'm 'bout to teach it to ya."

Before you get another word in, Elvis manages to get you into his lap, your ass in the air as he pulls down your pants. "Would've done this with the pants on but ya wanted it like this. Gonna get it like this."

Your body shivers involuntarily at the gust of air and you find a hint of arousal curling in the pit of your stomach. This should not turn you on and yet you find that it is especially after the first smack of his hand. His hand should have more rings on it, you know this but you figure the pause in when he pulled you onto his lap and when he spanked you was filled with him taking them off leaving only one on his middle finger. His hand moves back and falls down on your ass once again earning a choked off sound from your mouth. You think it was supposed to be a breath.

"Count." His voice comes out a low rumble, using a register you didn't know he possessed and his hand feels like a cool balm on your ass that feels as if it's on fire just after two hits. You have to bite your lip to keep a moan from escaping.

His hand comes down again and you grunt, your arousal becoming more intense. "Three."

Another smack. "You gonna throw yourself at people again, kitten?"

"Four." The number comes out as a whimper before you shake your head. "If you ignore me I will."

"Wrong answer." He growls and you swear you can feel the vibration through your soul as he brings his hand down once and twice before giving you a chance to say the number.

"Five. Six." Your hips move against his thighs, trying to gain friction, any kind of friction to alleviate your problem. "I'm yours but you didn't-"

He smacks your ass once more as you moan midway through your sentence. "Got ya ruttin' against me. Ya like this? Want me to spank you more often? You gonna come without me touching you?"

"Seven." You choke the number out, tears forming in your eyes. "I don't know. I-" You feel his hand gently stroking your ass before he raises his hand again and the sound of his skin hitting yours echoes in the room. "Eight, Elvis."

"Two more, kitten. Just two more and I think you'll have learned ya lesson." He murmurs, leaning forward as you continue to rut against him. His hand moves between your legs to discover just how aroused you are and groans before he smacks you yet again. "Oh ya gonna be the death of me. Gonna fuck you after this. Even if ya come, gonna have sex with you after this."

The desire to come is threatening to overwhelm you, threatening to force you into doing just that. You know Elvis won't appreciate it, won't approve of it but it's getting so hard as you get the friction you need and with his hand swatting you. It takes you a minute to say the next number, your head starting to loll down into Elvis's lap fully. "Nine." Your voice is practically a whisper and a whimper all at once.

"Atta kitten. One more and you can come. One more and you'll say you're sorry won't you." His voice sounds like it's in a tunnel but you get the gist of it, hearing the words come and sorry. It makes you shudder in his lap as he finally gives you a final slap. "Come for me."

"Ten!" You shout as you come almost instantaneously after what sounded like an order. It's never happened before but neither has this. Your body shakes as you come down from your high and as you feel Elvis stroking your now throbbing backside as he sees your release on his pant legs.

"Goddamn, kitten. Look at the mess you made. Gonna have to change my pants if we head back out to that party." His hand never leaves your backside, still stroking it as he takes his free hand to get you to look up at him. "You alright?"

A hum leaves your lips as you nod. Your behind stings something fierce but that was an orgasm you didn't think you were capable of having let alone with the promise of more to come. Elvis pulls you up into a sitting position and frowns as he sees you wince as you sit down. "Got some lotion for that in the bathroom." He gets up to go grab the lotion and a new pair of pants for you. He turns in the bathroom doorway, watching you as you watch him go and get the items. "You sorry about tonight?"

"I am." You whisper as you focus on breathing and not crying from the increasing pain.

Elvis's frowns only deepens when he reaches you after grabbing the lotion to help your backside feel less raw. He has you lay on the bed before rubbing it in soft circles, making sure to not miss a spot. His lips move to kiss your neck as he murmurs in your ear. "Such a good kitten. You still want more tonight?"

Your answer takes a while to form in your head as he continues to place light kisses against the back of your neck. When you finally do it's simple and just one word.

"Please?"

[jasper-the-menace]

Jasper's Barely-Hinged Discord Scorpion Rant

Alright, context, I started this rant because I was mad about how the tlincallis (of Dungeons and Dragons second and fifth edition) were designed and handled. I put my foot down at the point where they were reported to have eggs. No, I refuse to accept this.

PLEASE NOTE! While I will not be showing any actual images of real-life scorpions, there will be drawings of them and drawings of fantasy and sci-fi characters inspired by scorpions. Some of them are even weirder-looking than actual scorpions. Fellow arachnophobes, continue at your own risk.

We are also going to be talking about scorpion sex in the context of how they mate and launch babies out. This is my second Tumblr post on the subject and I'm afraid that this might become a repeating pattern. Everyone on Tumblr thinks I'm the scorpion person now.

With that said, have this barely-edited compilation of my feral Discord messages on the subject.

You can tell someone who doesn’t know a lot about scorpions wrote the lore for the tlincallis because there’s a heavy emphasis on egg-laying for their reproduction. Meanwhile, scorpions are one of the only arachnids that give live birth.

I’m not expecting WOTC writers to watch videos of scorpions molting or launching baby missiles over and over again, but I am expecting them to at least skim the Wikipedia article, ya know? I understand that I’m Scorpion Research Georg, but still.

Scorpions fuck weird. Both “sexes” have the same thing - an orfice known as the genital operculum (plural: genital opercula). In order to reproduce, the male will drop a sperm packet on the ground and “dance” with the female to lead her over it. If she’s game, she’ll squat and just kind of vacuum it up into her genital operculum. This is followed by what is called a “mating plug” to keep the sperm inside. The two scorpions will then split away from each other, because scorpions don’t believe in cuddles and aftercare.

Then we get to the actual birth. Or as I like to call it, the Fedex packages.

A scorpion will give birth to between 3 and 100 young, depending on the species - though notably, the size of the scorpion does not impact the number of babies they can have.

The babies are folded up very nicely inside of the mother, and when she gives birth to them, they launch out like little missiles into her waiting pedipalps and front legs, unfold, and then climb onto or are placed onto her back while their next sibling is launched. A mother scorpion is actually a super good parent, and the entire brood will attach to her with little suckers on their tarsi, because they can’t eat or sting yet.

Depending on the species, it will take between 5 and 25 days for them to undergo their first molt - in unison as a brood, taking between 6 and 8 hours - and reach the juvenile stage. Juveniles resemble small versions of the adults and can eat and sting, though they’re still soft and unpigmented. They’ll leave the mother’s back to explore in safety, but then scurry back to her if there’s danger around. Once their carapace hardens and gains color, they can start hunting on their own and will often leave their mother.

A scorpion will undergo an average of 6 molts to reach full adulthood, which, depending on the species, can take between 6 months and nearly 7 years. The average lifespan depends on the species, with some living up to 25 years.

Re: the biological terms I used, here’s a picture and explanation from the Wikipedia article:

1 = Cephalothorax or Prosoma; 2 = Preabdomen or Mesosoma; 3 = Tail or Metasoma; 4 = Claws or Pedipalps; 5 = Legs; 6 = Mouth parts or Chelicerae; 7 = Pincers or Chelae; 8 = Moveable claw or Tarsus; 9 = Fixed claw or Manus; 10 = Stinger or Aculeus; 11 = Telson (anus in previous joint); 12 = Opening of book lungs

Post-coitus cannibalism has never been reliably reported in scorpions.

Scorpions are also kinky fuckers but no one’s ready for that conversation.

So, I will give this much to WOTC writers regarding the tlincallis - most species of scorpions do actively hunt their prey. (Though there are several species that are just sit-and-wait predators.) They are also opportunistic hunters, eating primarily invertebrates but occasionally also going for things like lizards, snakes, and small mammals, though scorpions with larger claws will also go after earthworms and mollusks.

What I will not give them credit for is the method of hunting. A scorpion’s primary hunting tool is its claws. Only large and aggressive prey is given a sting - the method of death is still typically via claw, even in that case.

They also don’t chew. They rip off pieces of their prey and put those pieces in a pre-oral cavity, which uses digestive juices from the gut to start the digestion process. Once it’s liquid enough, it gets sucked right into the gut. Any indigestible matter is ejected at this stage.

They do have an anus separate from the genital operculum, and it runs up into the tail. Scorpions will eat a large amount of food in one meal, and when this is combined with their low metabolic rate and relatively inactive lifestyle, it means that they can survive for 6 to 12 months without starvation.

So no, Wizards Of The Coast, a band of scorpion people would NOT be migratory by compulsion, even if they were aggressive.

And yeah, scorpions are mainly found in deserts, but that’s so limiting. They’ve adapted to nearly every sort of biome and appear all across the world, except in Antartica. So you can literally put them anywhere.

The scorpion is found in Greek mythology (Artemis or Gaia sending it to kill Orion) along with in a page of the Anglo-Saxon Herbal.

Despite the scorpion’s usage in myths, stories, and weapons of war, very few of them are actually capable of killing a human (barring allergy). 25 species out of more than 2,500 have venom deadly to humans. Most of, if not all of these, belong to the family Buthidae, which is the largest family.

Now it’s time for “Jasper analyzes scorpions from different media”! I’ve already dragged the tlincalli for filth, so we’ll pivot to look at another WOTC media: Magic The Gathering.

Scorpions don’t get a lot of rep. At best, they appear as one-off cards. However. Thanks to vising two primarily-desert planes (Amonkhet and the Vorthos-panned Thunder Junction), we have some Guys.

We’ll start with the Scorpion God of Amonkhet. This guy did not used to look like this, but once Nicol Bolas got all up in everybody’s business, he twisted the Scorpion God, Locust God, and Scarab God into giant monstrosities and erased knowledge of their names, even from themselves, and then used them to “harvest” the mortals he had been cultivating to create an undead army. The Scorpion God killed the gods Rhonas, Oketra, and Kefnet, before finally being killed by Hazoret and a group of rebelling mortals.

He is notably the only one of the “twisted” gods to have been killed – the Locust and Scarab Gods both survived, as did Hazoret, and all three defended Amonkhet later from New Phyrexia getting all up in everyone’s business.

(Re: that third artwork, why is he kinda...)

Meanwhile, on Thunder Junction...

Oh, Thunder Junction. If not for the fact that no one in the design and writing department could agree on and work together to determine the right approach to Western tropes, you could have been interesting.

Having said that, the scorpion dragons? Not native to there. Instead, they’re from Gastal, a plane that was mentioned one (1) time back in the day. I’m willing to overlook some questions about these blokes for the sake of blaming the dragon half on everything I don’t think are scorpion-enough when it comes to these guys.

Now, for my third example... I’m going to preface this with the fact that LEGO’s Legends of Chima theme was a problematic mess in hindsight. I still love it with my entire soul, but it was a fucking nightmare.

But within that is the Scorpion Tribe, what is possibly my favorite current example of what you can do with scorpions in a (science-)fantasy setting.

The Scorpions were accidentally evolved with the magic MacGuffin of the series (Chi) thanks to some foolishness going on, and they were the antagonists of season two (or rather, wave two, as they were technically the latter half of season one and the beginning of season two). They’re led by a king, Scorm, and a general, Scolder. And yes, they all stick to the Sc- naming theme, with one exception from the online game.

So, how do you create an anthro Scorpion Lego figure? Like this, of course!

Now, something interesting to note is that because the Chi was not safely introduced to these guys, some of them didn’t “evolve” all the way and still have a scorpion lower body, like a weird centaur. Meet Scutter, posterchild for this, even though his brother Scrug speed-“evolved” to humanoid form.

Something interesting to note is just how flexible and catlike the tails of these Scorpions are. They can flick around and even hold things when curled up.

Another fun thing about Chima is that they don’t put my boys in the desert. Instead, they live in caves in a very hostile jungle. I’m so proud of them.

Analyzing the venom of these guys, though...

Scorpion God = full of god-killing venom

Akul = a "dark curse" that's basically fantasy tuberculosis

Scorpions from Chima = hypnosis mind-control agent that wears off fairly quickly

(Preface for this section: These were random additions that I sent a while later, with little connection to each other.)

Scorpion dads do tend to be deadbeats, but a scorpion mom figure? I would chew that right up.

Re: molting, it is a long, long process, even for something as small as a scorpion. So the bigger they are, the longer it's probably gonna take. It requires a lot of calorie-loading beforehand and can be predicted based on “air pockets” that appear at the sides of the exoskeleton, to give them wiggle room. Scorpions are soft for several days after molting and avoid eating anything until they harden back up.

And did I mention that scorpions glow under ultraviolet light?

So...yeah! Scorpions are so fucking cool, and this is just an overview! This isn't even getting into any particular species! There's just so much to explore in terms of scorpions in fantasy settings, so seeing them reduced to Desert Bad Guy over and over again annoys me.

Put these animals into some situations.

[autistickremylecroux]

Zhongli x GN!Reader

Zhongli x fae!reader,fluff bc fuck sad,I have never wrote on tumblr before and it shows,also the reader is a púca (fae shapeshifters) bc I said so,also tw for a small mention of an animal corpse on the second paragraph,mentions of a house fire that you might have indirectly caused

Word count:1329

A small humming noise rung throughout the cliff face, easy to miss by the way it blended in with the usual cluster of sounds. Whether it be waves crashing against the rocks, faraway shouts of the war, or the sounds of two crows squabbling over their next meal. But it was undoubtedly there, and Morax wasn’t happy about it. It had been going on for two hours now, and didn’t show any signs of stopping. They were in the middle of a war, and Osial had just been defeated. Most other gods were terrified of him by this point, scratch that, most other beings were terrified of him. Why did this creature keep bothering him? Did they find it funny?

He pushed himself off of the ground, determined to try and find the source of the song, it didn’t seem to be coming from a specific place, more of a blanket covering the area in silken music. Which, in Morax’s opinion, made it so much worse. How could he track this person down if he couldn’t even see them? He groaned, rubbing his temple as the two crows arguing got louder, they were both screeching at each other over some carrion.

“Oh come on you two— what did I say about arguing” He turned in surprise as the humming stopped, and a person came barrelling out of the bushes. Stopping to pick up both crows. “Where are your manners? I thought you would have known by the amount of times I have to keep telling you” the stranger continued, and the more Morax looked at them, the stranger they seemed. They had pointed ears, and a soft pinkish glow to them, not to mention the animal aspects they had. But, he was used to seeing people like that. This person was a new type of weird.

He glared at them, pulling out his polearm in warning. And they suddenly perked up, staring directly back at him. They looked…shocked? That wasn’t the right word… they definitely hadn’t meant to be seen, as they stood in front of him with their mouth slightly agape. Before absolutely bolting into the woods again, much to Morax’s surprsie, and distaste. With a sigh, he tapped his spear onto the ground, watching as the faerie ran directly into a stone pillar. He walked over to them, raising an eyebrow as they cursed in some language he couldn’t understand. And suddenly grabbed their collar, hoisting them up in the air before slamming them into the pillar. “Who are you?” He snarled, twirling his polearm. “And do tell me why you were watching me?”

“No I would not”

“Y’know what? Fair” they sigh, putting their hands up in a sort of surrendering motion. Which promptly gets them dropped onto the floor, and Morax watches as they stumble in an attempt to gain their footing, to which they eventually succeed. Mumbling something under their breath as they did so. “You’re the god of contracts right?” That piqued his interest, and he nodded, silently telling them to go on with their explanation. “Well I was wondering if you would like to—“ they started, not being able to finish their sentence before the spear was at their throat.

“I’m not making a deal with you” he snaps, his lip twitching into a snarl as the fae pouts,crossing their arms. Clearly annoyed their plan wouldn’t work. “I don’t need anything from you, and I know what you fae can be like” he says, turning and leaving them without another glance.

~~~~~~~~

The bustle of Liyue Harbour was a glorious sight, it had existed for just less than a century now. But it was already so full of life! And mischief, the shapeshifter watched from a nearby food stall, watching two kids plan to prank an adult with a gleam in their eye. They couldn’t help but like causing some mayhem, it was in their blood! It was natural, and most importantly it was fun. Who didn’t love the expression of someone after they’ve lost their favourite book, or when they realise they locked themself out of their house? It was just pure gold!

Someone tapped their shoulder’s, making them roll their eyes. They just wanted to eat in peace and cause some chaos! Was that so hard to ask? Apparently it was, as currently Morax was glaring at them, arms crossed as usual. “I thought I told you to stay away from here” of course that was what it was about, they hadn’t even done anything! Sure maybe they might’ve caused a house fire or two but it was on accident. Plus everybody involved came out fine! So what was the harm in it? Plus ‘insurance’ or whatever had been invented by that point.

“Yeah about that, I decided not to do the whole ‘stay out of Liyue business’. Not my style, also! This food is simply amazing” they smile, finishing the last of their meal and turning in the stool to face the archon. “Hm… I thought you only showed up once a year? Ooh! Making a special appearance just for me I see?” They chuckle, laughing harder when they see Morax’s look of annoyance, “I’m just kidding, no need to get all murdery on me~” they smile, standing up and handing the necessary mora to the chef before stretching. “Why don’t we go on a walk…? I’m sure we have plenty to catch up on after all”

Morax glares at them,before considering there offer. “Why not?” He answers, smirking slightly as he watches the faerie stumble mentally. Clearly not having expected him to agree, but happy he did anyway. He decided to shrug it off when hey looped their arm in his, essentially dragging them off through the busy streets, weaving through the crowd of people. They both stood out a lot, mostly because of Morax. I mean, he didn’t exactly look human. “And for that,I wanted to see what humans were up to.” He says, internally cursing himself for his terrible lying skills.

“Yeah yeah,we both know you just wanted to see me” they chuckle,and he hates that they’re right. Since their first encounter, they had a lot of back and forth. Mostly bickering or something of the like. But the faerie managed to bring an aspect of inconsistency to his life that was refreshing. It was… different to all the other contracts he was stuck maintaining, different to the boring sense of knowing what happens next. Or meticulously searching for any lies in his business partners.

“My sincerest apologies that I sometimes enjoy your bothering” he retorts, voice laced in heavy sarcasm as he lets himself be dragged to a sort of café. He raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. He didn’t need to, they both knew each other’s tells easy enough to know he was asking for an explanation for their choice of location. And they’re quick to provide with one, after they grab the menu and point to a specific drink in the alcohol sector.

“I came here recently and ordered this—it was really nice and I think you would enjoy it” they grin,raising an eyebrow. “Want me to order some? On me of course” Morax hummed,clearly contemplating the idea. “What’s the catch? I know you don’t give out things like this for free” that earns a chuckle from them, as they raise their hands in surrender, giggling to themself.

“You got me! The only catch is we have more of these… dates in the future” they smile, and Morax hates that he knows they’re incapable of lying. Fae rules and such. But he reluctantly nods, ultimately deciding it was worth it. And they never specified how many more they wanted, so it could easily be stopped if he wanted to. But he didn’t.

The fae grins, waving over a waiter, and orders two glasses of Osmanthus wine.

[actual-changeling]

I am going to say this once and for all because I am not about to simply shut up and sit back. I am chronically suicidal, I have tried to kill myself, I am still affected by ALL of that and struggle with it on the daily.

If you use suicidal ideation and suicide itself as a plot device just to hurt a character/characters and don't even understand the basic psychological foundation and thought patterns that lead to that kind of disordered thinking you are a vile, ableist human being and I hope you stay far away from me.

Whump and angst writing is one thing, using suicide attempts in your stories like they are somehow a fun new addition to your plot roster is nothing short of disgustingly offensive. You can write about suicidality in a respectful, educated manner even if you do not struggle with it yourself, but that requires research and the ability to LISTEN when people tell you you are fucking up. If you cannot do that, shut the fuck up.

I am tired of being nice, I am tired of seeing my disorders fetishized and turned into entertainment, I am tired of seeing something as serious as suicide treated like it's nothing but a fanfiction trope, I am tired of no one else speaking up and simply letting it happen. I am tired of people not caring that writing can and will hurt people, and with this topic in particular it is outright dangerous to write it in an irresponsible manner.

I did not want to get involved in drama, I did not want to name drop, I was not a part of it and simply made a vague post about it because Ellis is my friend, but I'm tired. This is personal for me and this is the last fucking line someone can cross.

If you still follow penandinkprincess and intend to continue to support her after this I want you to unfollow and block me.

The miscarriage fic was one thing, inaccurately writing about trauma and PTSD another, stealing my fic concept a whole different discussion no one probably cares about anyway but this? Using SUICIDE of all things as a funny whump device? No. This is disgusting, irresponsible, ableist, and dangerous. I would *never* write about suicidality in this manner and the fact that she does so after repeatedly not listening to people telling her the way she handles mental disorders is damaging is intentional bigotry and I want nothing to do with that.

If you come onto my blog to start drama over this I will block you. This is not tumblr discourse and this is not about headcanons and I have said so before. Look at my other post if you want more explanations, I will not spell all of it out again.

Bottom line, if you support that kind of ableist, offensive behavior I do not want you anywhere near my writing or my blog, this is supposed to be as safe of a space as possible for everyone. I am so fucking sorry for everyone who comes across her post without warning, if you need to talk my inbox and my dms are open, take care of yourself people.

[creativexspirit]

Rolling playlist gif for GIMP: a tutorial ▬ by Joy from @creativexspirit​ 

Credit where credit is due, I fell in love with this gif tutorial but EH I don't use Photoshop anymore so I made it my mission to recreate the effect in GIMP.

This tutorial uses AnimStack, a Script-Fu script for GIMP to give you tools for the creation of animated GIFs. As it's super useful, even if you don't follow this tutorial I highly recommend to download. How to install AnimStack to GIMP in tumblr's FAQ: https://animstack.tumblr.com/faq

This tutorial uses my playlist template.

Tutorial with screenshots is under the cut.

Like or reblog if you download. Please don’t request as your own, respect my work. Don’t hesitate to tag me if you follow the tutorial! I would love to see your edits.

STEP 01.

Change the titles, the colors, the icons. Tip if you want to change the song title that are not visible: move the layers group "Song list", so you can see the text you modify.

Add songs by copy/pasting the "Song 5" layers group. Keep this layers group inside the "Song list" group.

Try to move the layers group so that it is aligned with above songs.

To place back correctly the "Song list", here's a tip: use the align tool and click on the "Song list" group. In the tool's options, in the "relative to" drop down menu, choose "Selection". Back to the layers window: in the "Background" group, right click on the "Color nuance" layer and choose "Alpha to selection". Now you are free to align your "Song list" layer group to the top and center of that selection, and it should be alright!

STEP 02.

Now the tutorial actually begins. Flatten all layer groups using Image > Flatten Layer Groups. (Don't mind my GIMP language, it is in French but the AnimStacks tools are in English, you should have the same menu.)

And now your layers window should look like mine, minus the links on the layers.

Now, see the linked layers? Merge them all together. You should end up with only 4 layers: "Song list", "Background", "GUIDE MASK SONG LIST FOR GIF", "Arrière-plan".

Note: you don't really need the "Arrière-plan" layer, so if you want to, you can delete it or you can merge it with the background layer. In my case, I will delete it.

STEP 03.

Reorder your layers. This is very important as AnimStacks will process the layers from top to bottom, so the layers order counts.

Put your "Background" layer on top, your "Song list" layer under it. As for the guide mask, we don't really care as we will delete it later.

STEP 04.

We are now going to add AnimStacks tags to our layer names. Here you'll have to do a bit of maths because you can choose the number of frames your gif will ultimately contain and adjust the tags parameters accordingly. This might seem complicated but it really isn't. I'll start by showing the tags to add, and explain how this will be processed. I will then give you the maths to choose your parameters accordingly.

Below, the tags I have added to my layers. You will have to write the same things as I do but what you might change is:

the number of "30" in Background.

the y parameter of the offset tag "-12".

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO REMOVE THE [copy:0] and change it.

OK but what does each tag do? Remember, AnimStacks process is from top layer to bottom. Here the first layer is our Background layer: [*30] means it will duplicate the "Background" layer 30 times.

Now, onto "Song list" layer: [copy:0] will check all layers above the "Song list" layer that has no tag (at this point, all of our 30 "Background" layers have no tag), create a group for each found layer and place the "Song list" layer at position 0. Ok this explanation is wacky, for better explanation, please check the documentation.

The offset tag is necessary for the rolling effect: at each addition of the "Song list" layer, it won't just be a simple duplicate of the "Song list" layer, but the layer will have moved a little by (x,y) = (0,-12), allowing us to get that "rolling" effect in our gif. (And now you get why I said "y parameter".)

OK now, but how did I choose my parameters? So for reference, I only have 5 songs - I didn't add any song to the song list. For my maths, you need the height of the "Song list" layer. Check it with the scaling tool.

The height of my layer is 353 pixels (awful number meh). I choose to have 30 frames. So the move of the layers will have to be of 353/30 = 11.77 pixels. I choose 12 pixels because you can't have floats for the number of pixels, can you?

DO NOT FORGET the minus in front of the y parameter. My y parameter is "-12". Otherwise, the playlist will roll towards the bottom.

STEP 05.

We are now going to add a mask to the "Song list" layer to avoid seeing the title songs where we shouldn't see them. See that obnoxious orange layer "GUIDE MASK SONG LIST FOR GIF"? Yes, it is its time to shine.

Right click on the "GUIDE MASK SONG LIST FOR GIF" layer and choose "Alpha to Selection". (Well in French it's Alpha vers Sélection.)

Now, we are going to use that selection to create a layer mask on the "Song list" layer.

Right click on "Song list" and choose "Add a layer mask". /!\ Your selection must still be active. (Well in French it's "Ajouter un masque de calque" but you can see the icon right? By the way, you can also add a layer mask by clicking on the icon in the layer window, see circled icon in red.)

Now, choose Selection for the creation of the layer mask.

If you don't have the above results for the mask, it might be that you foreground and background colors are not the same as mine, meaning black and white respectively.

If you don't have the same colors as me above, click on the small pair of squares the blue arrow I draw is pointing to. It will default your foreground and background colors to black and white. Keyboard shortcut is D. (I don't think I changed it.)

And now, we don't need the orange guide mask layer anymore, so you can delete it.

STEP 06.

Last check before process: make sure you have no area selected (or you will get a weird result). Cancel all selection with Selection > None.

STEP 07.

We now begin the AnimStacks tags process.

In Filters > Animation, find "Process Animation Tags" and click on it.

The process might take a while depending on the number of frames you have.

If everything is correct, you should have something similar to that. Now, we can check if the gif is correct and if we liked the number of frames and y parameter by previewing the animation in Filters > Animation > Playback...

STEP 07.

This step is optional but you might want to change the time of our first frame to be longer so people have time to read the beginning. Do so by changing the layer group name by adding (800ms) to it. This means the frame corresponding to that layer group will be 800ms.

You can check if it's long enough by doing the playback again.

STEP 08.

Now, we have to flatten all layer groups if we want to export to a GIF. In order to do so, we will just use the same trick as the beginning: Image > Flatten Layer Groups.

STEP 09.

Optional, but good to do: to make our gif lighter, we are also going to optimize the gif. In order to do so, do Filters > Animation > Optimize (for GIF) I don't know personally the difference with the other optimization method. Choose either you'll have similar results it's a difference in the implied algorithm I guess.

This step might take a while, but it's ok. When it's done processing you should have a new image created with the same results as me above. You can playback to check if everything is correct but here our job is done! We will now export the GIF.

STEP 10.

You can now export to GIF! Go to File > Export as..., choose the name of your file and end it with the .gif extension.

If you get an error message because some layers are not cropped, no worries: just choose the "crop" option (but you should not with the optimization).

Now, don't forget to check "as animation" when saving the GIF, if you haven't done the optimization, choose the delay between frames (the first frame will still be of 800ms), and choose "replace".

WITHOUT OPTIMIZATION:

(With the optimization process, all layers already have delay and animation replacement type thingy specified.)

AND VOILA, YOU HAVE YOUR GIF! If you mess around more with AnimStacks, you can do cool stuffs with it!

Now, how do you pronounce the G in gif? Also shh, don't say you saw the mistake I made when changing the title's songs in the tutorial, I wanted to write Everybody Talks by Neon Trees.

[cerame]

heehoo i loke your Links, stuff abt them plz??

Oh hi! Sorry I didn’t get to this sooner! I didn’t check my tumblr for a hot second oops

But yes I’d love to talk about them! For botw/totk Link, I’m waiting to actually buy and play the game before I fully solidify him. I’ll give a brief rundown of each of them here, but feel free to ask more about any specific Link :)

Skyward Sword:

Tired in multiple ways. He was more carefree before the start of his adventure, but there are a lot of reasons to be concerned about these days, especially when you’re babysitting your reincarnations, some of which are older than you

That’s not to say he doesn’t know how to chill out and sit back. Given permission, he will instantly drop all responsibilities on whoever is left to deal with it

23 y/o

Huge sweetheart once you get him to stop worrying about things

Potential nicknames: Cloudy, Floater, Feathers

Minish Cap/Four Swords/Four Swords Adventures

I have an explanation for the timeline nonsense I swear. Don’t worry about it

Generally friendly, enthusiastic, and thoughtful, but he has his moments of absolute impulse. Knows far more than he should… probably. He very much enjoys being mysterious just because he’s a little gremlin

He hates being timed

20 y/o

Potential nicknames: Forge, Smith, Mini

Is currently undergoing a redesign

Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask

He’s in his edgy teen phase. Moody and has disdain for authority, but he’s still got that undeniable kindness in him. Avoids attachment but just can’t help himself

Mostly homeless, as he’s usually traveling, but he’s always got a home at Lon Lon Ranch with his friend Malon. Kakariko likes him, too.

17 y/o

Potential nicknames: Mask, Eyepatch, Sapling

A Link to the Past/the Oracle games/Link’s Awakening

Most people’s first impressions of him are that he’s quite untrusting and melancholy and that he’s very competent. Once he gets used to someone, though, he’ll open up and mess with them like an annoying sibling. Very clever, knowledgeable, and a jack of all trades. Curiosity will be his downfall

Helps his Uncle run the apple orchard. Has expanded it into farming berries as well

17 y/o

Potential nicknames: Collector, Cartographer, Pinky, Apples

A Link Between Worlds/Triforce Heroes

Very cheerful and friendly. Highly skilled in the arts, though he hasn’t had the chance to mess with yarnwork yet. Low self-esteem but only expresses it in the most concerningly casual ways

Fantastic liar. He fully blames Ravio for this

19 y/o

Potential nicknames: Artisan, Painter, Mirror

Zelda 1/Adventure of Link

At first glance, he is already done with everyone's bullcrap, but really he's a very patient and considerate guy. He is incredibly blunt about things, though. Not as suspicious of people as he probably should be, but hey, what's one more crazy thing happening?

Loves discovering new things. Has a soft spot for soft things like pillows and fairies. Tone deaf.

21 y/o

Potential nicknames: Mage, Explorer, Adventurer, Calatian

Twilight Princess

Generally quiet and reserved but will step in when he deems it necessary. Skilled at keeping the group wrangled. He is fiercely protective of his loved ones and is not as responsible as he comes off as

Doesn't turn into a wolf often. Alternates between helping out Mayor Bo with Ordon and taking commissions for the Resistance

24 y/o

Potential nicknames: Goatherd, Farmer

Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass

Friendly in a loud, boisterous sort of way, but when it comes down to it, he can quiet down and become reliable and responsible if he needs to. Fairly easygoing until he sets his mind onto something, in which case, he's going to accomplish his goals one way or another

Finds the others while mapping out the new continent, so for all intents and purposes, he basically goes missing. Does not like birds.

27 y/o

Potential nicknames: Pirate, Sailor, Sea Dog

Spirit Tracks

usually soft-spoken and polite, but will get a bit louder the more comfortable he is. Much better at puzzles and mechanics than swordfighting. Still works as a royal engineer and is good friends with his Zelda

He sees dead people :/

15 y/o

Potential nicknames: Engineer, Piper, Steam, Conductor

Hyrule Warriors

snarky in a friendly way and will joke around to lighten the mood, but he can be perfectly serious when he needs to be. A natural and skillful leader. Loves kids and dabbles in fashion

Regrets that he has to leave his era’s Hyrule because he’s got a duty to the kingdom, but his Zelda insisted that he went. After all, he’s got his duty as a hero, too

32 y/o

Potential nicknames: Commander, Sir, Ser

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom

very honest with his emotions and thoughts, and he will habitually go off and do things on his own without waiting for anyone else. Doesn't quite understand social conventions

Thought the others were either very creative yiga or very lost travelers when he first met them

20 y/o

Potential nicknames: Archer, Survivalist, Champion

[someidiotwithalaptop]

So I made a thing! Specifically a skin for Ao3 that adds screenshots of Almost Every RWBY Character to the character tags!

(I say almost because 1. I ignored the novels and stuff like that where there aren't screens to be shotted, and side content like Arrowfell or Grimm Eclipse. And also 2. I will inevitably miss someone lmao, I was *this close* to forgetting that Henry existed)

Most of these will not include spoilers for volume 9—however, for characters that are exclusive to that volume, the screenshots will be too, and those may be mildly spoilery.

I've tested it in combination with Reversi (i.e. with both this skin and Reversi added as parents to a site skin), and it seems to play nice with other skins so far!

It's hosted over here on Google Drive, as a zip file with three plain text files inside, and should be downloadable from that link! (If there are issues with that please let me know, I've never tried to host a file for others to download before)

For a peek at how it looks, both normally and with Reversi:

By default it's set up so that the text of the tag is hidden unless you hover over them, which looks like this:

But there's an explanation of how to tweak it to either always or never show text in the file, as well as how to set up the site skins. And obviously if there's any issues with it please drop me an ask!

Also, here's an extremely cursed sample:

Copy this CSS code into a site skin and YOU TOO can live in fear of getting jumpscared by Jacques' mustache glued onto someone else's face! :D

(Also, for anyone curious about where the images are hosted—they are in my drafts lmao. Tumblr actually makes a really convenient platform for this, since you don't have to publicly post something in order for it to exist at a link that CSS can use. In fact I'm pretty sure the images will keep working even if I delete those drafts, though I'm going to leave them alone just in case lol)

NOTE: these use the :has() selector, which seems to have support on most browsers at this point, but if you're in firefox you will have to enable it in your settings.

[kinomiya]

Mayblade Day #22: Cover Art.

Thanks @hellovivirose​ for collaborating with me on whatever last minute disaster this was that we produced. ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª

[ARTICLE TEXT: Another day, and another musician has been targeted by a series of leaks. Less than two weeks after Neoborg was embroiled in a series of scandalous rumors posted by someone using the pseudonym “crimson sunbird” on the anonymous gossip site DeuxMoi.

The anonymous leaker suggested the band used ghostwriters for their debut album, questioning the frontman’s authenticity in doing so. The band has remained silent regarding these rumors, despite the attention they’ve received.

Today, in what appears to be a continuation of these targeted leaks, an anonymous tumblr account has posted what they claim is a genuine leak of the cover art and tracklist to the bands highly anticipated sophomore album. Only time will tell if there is any veracity to these claims or if it’s simply an elaborate hoax intended to harm the bands reputation with their fans.

Prior to publication, we reached out to NeoBorg’s representatives but they did not respond immediately for comment.]

—

The door to the apartment violently swung open and Yuriy angrily stalked into the spacious Tokyo high rise. He approached the figure who was lounging on the sofa, playing on his phone and dropped an iPad into his lap.

Takao didn’t flinch despite the loud thud of the device hitting his knee. Instead he glanced from his phone to the tablet screen, scanning the article the webpage was open to. The disinterested expression on his face made Yuriy’s scowl intensify.

“What about it?” Takao inquired as he finished reading the article and looked up at the intruder in his apartment, an eyebrow slightly raised.

“You better have a real fucking convincing explanation to how this couldn’t be you, Kinomiya,” Yuriy said through clenched teeth.

“Why do you think I’d do this?” Takao questioned, as he shifted on the sofa, tossing the device in his hands beside him.

“Gee I don’t fucking know, maybe because you’re the only person who’s seen this who isn’t part of the band or the team!” Yuriy spoke, frustration and betrayal in his voice as he clenched his hands into fists at his side.

“Then it sounds like you have a mole on your team or in your band,” Takao retorted, his nose wrinkling in displeasure at the man's accusation.

Yuriy closed the distance between them, grabbing onto the collar of Takao’s yellow t-shirt and pushing him into the back of the couch, where Yuriy towered over him.

“Listen closely you little brat, my band is my family, and if you’re saying I should believe your suggestion that one of them is a traitor, you’re about to have a rude awakening,” he spoke in a threatening whisper, as his clenched fist turned white.

A bitter laugh escaped Takao’s lips as one of his hands moved to grab onto Yuriy’s forearm. His nails left red marks on the pale skin as he pushed the man away from him.

“Why are you always like this?” Takao asked, as he gave Yuriy an abrupt shove that caused the man to let go of his shirt collar. He spoke again, his irritation no longer hidden: “How long has it been now, Yuriy? Half a decade? But because I never had the misfortune of going to that shithole boarding school with you and your misfit friends, you’ll never even humor the idea that I don’t actually want to ruin your life!” Takao finished with a frustrated shout.

Yuriy stared between his open hand and the shorter man who now stood before him a bewildered expression on his face at Takao’s normally calm demeanor being replaced with anger.

Maybe he was right, how many trials and tribulations would Yuriy make Takao go through, how many more times would he move the goalpost on the man. Never satisfied that this wasn’t all just some elaborate plan to ruin him straight out of a generic coming of age film.

“Then tell me… who do you think is trying to sabotage us?” He asked with a sigh as he lowered his hand to his side and shifted his gaze away from the wild rage in front of him.

“I don’t know, maybe the dude who’s dating your manager's niece,” Takao replied nonchalantly, tilting his head to the side slightly as he continued: “you know, the one who thinks he’s better than you in every way.”

Yuriy closed his eyes, inhaling deeply as he recalled all the private arguments with Volkov about allowing Kai to take on a more significant role in the writing process as well as performances, insisting it would be to their benefit due to his popularity with their fans.

He wasn’t quite ready to admit how much sense it made.

“Sorry…” He muttered awkwardly, daring to sneak a glance at Takao.

“I’m used to it,” Takao replied monotonously, nudging his shoulder gently against Yuriy's, in a silent act of comfort before finishing: “Anyway I thought it was funny at first that he was gossiping about how you didn’t write your own music because it wasn’t like any of the music he was writing was better but… it’s less amusing the lengths he’ll go to sabotage his family, for his own benefit.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Yuriy grumbled as he returned the nudge, in a silent thank you.

“Or… you could just reveal that he’s the grandson of your record label's CEO?” Takao suggested, a hint of amusement on his face as Yuriy suddenly looked at him in shock

“What?”

Takao leaned closer to the man, moving a hand to gently cradle his jaw, as a smirk danced across his lips as his breath tickled Yuriy’s face.

“See, what did I tell you? It’s to your advantage to trust the vapid global superstar that writes your music for you… because I know things.”

All Yuriy could reply with was an exhale of air that sounded vaguely like a chuckle.

Maybe it was about time he cemented the post once and for all.