#dystopian urban fantasy

[acourtofquestions]

Does anyone else think Sabrina Carpenters style gives Bryce Quinlan vibes?

[ofdinosanddais1]

So I'm writing the first chapter of my untitled dystopian urban fantasy and I realized it's just me creatively venting about my suicidal thoughts amongst a capitalist hellscape.

[hellsgate-roadhouse]

📺 📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺📺

[whereserpentswalk]

Somewhere out there within the dark woods of somewhere or another, in days some time past, there was a town. And that town worshipped one god, and that god was a hole.

Yes, a massive hole, at the center of their town. Deep and dark, perhaps leading all the way down to oblivion. Some people said the god lived at the bottom of the hole, others said that the god was the hole itself, or even the shadows that lay within. They had no temples, no alters, only the hole. And the hole of the hole demanded things of them. It was hungry, strangely hungry. It did not have sacfices, it demanded tribute. Taxes in a way. People would scrounge up what little money they had for the hole, and the hole promised back that it would give them good things in return.

There were those who warned them of the hole. The cryptids of the dark forest, and the occultists and demon hunters, and even the deep ones that lay in the dark ocean and the scaled men of the forgotten ruins. But the townsfolk didn't listen, the hole made them feel good. It felt good to give it money. And even though they never exactly saw how the hole must have been helping them. How could it not be helping them if they had given it so much. And soon the hole banished all supernatural things but itself, and the people said the hole was making them safe.

And soon the hole was bigger. What was once the size of a well had grown to being big enough to consume a house. And soon the town changed, the hole began to be its center, the entire town shifted so that all public life was around the hole. And soon those who didn't like the hole, or who questioned it, where seen as evil or strange people, greedy for not wanting to give the hole their money, they were seen as selfish and entitled, entitled to all the hole's benefits without paying their share. It was a tragedy when someone grew up to move out of the town and not follow the hole.

And soon the hole had more and more demands. And everyone listened as it grew larger and larger. Soon it didn't want money, it wanted things too, televisions, automobiles, books, family relics, grandma's ashes, works of art, perhaps even beloved pets. And it became taboo not just to question it, but to feel sad when you lost something to the hole. You couldn't say you missed it, or replace it too soon, the hole wanted you to not have it, you were so obviously wrong to miss it. You didn't just have to give to the hole, you had to understand that it was improving your life.

There was a movement of young people, who wanted to get rid of the hole. But it was too late by then, they had no other gods, no other spirits or creatures, and the hole was as large as a city block. And either way, the town police belonged to the hole now, and they would kill for it, and they would die for it. Some young rebels moved away. But most found themselves not being able to give up their family, their freinds, and their safety to fight the hole. So for a time they pretended to like it, and when you do something, and say something for long enough it can become your truth, and soon enough those who pretended to live the hole truly did love it.

And soon there was no music or movies that the hole didn't approve of. Everyone followed the hole's rules. And everyone loved the hole so dearly and so brightly. They couldn't imagine a town without a hole. When they thought of other towns they imagined that they must have had holes too, and every idea of a place without it was sad and depressing. And as the hole was then a quarter of the size of the town, it was hungry, and demanded not just things but flesh. And people happily gave, it would be weird to not want to give. They gave eyes, ears, teeth, testicles, tounges, fingers and toes and hands and feet and arms and legs. And they didn't miss their body parts at all. And when one day the hole demanded people jump in, and give their lives to it, they didn't mind or question at all, it didn't feel like death, and nobody missed that they weren't there.

And now, in the dark woods, there is a hole where a town used to be. It has eaten the entire the thing, every last inch and citizen of it. It is not satisfied. But it has grown all that it could. And one must wonder if the hole is lonely now, or if it knows that it has done all it ever hoped to.

[ominous-feychild]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! Where in your setting would you most like to visit, and where would you avoid at all costs?

This is an interesting question! And a really rough one, haha.

For one, it would definitely vary in the time period / exact moment in time regardless of the location, haha. But I'll pick from overall time periods! (And assume I can easily speak the native language.)

For those who don't know the countries in my world, check this out!

MOST ENJOY VISITING:

Haha, sooooo I technically have a tie here??? And both technically wouldn't work for one reason or another. 😂😅

MINOGUA (during RFtA)

Minogua is a country that's drawn a lot of inspiration from Latin America + Hawaii and, uh... well previously had a lot of themes of colonialism. That's why it feels a little rough to want to go there as a kinda tourist, haha.

But! Shortly before the time of RFtA, they evicted the direct authority from the colonizing countries! So by the time the story comes around, they've had a few decades of trying to turn their country into what they want it to be / what it was before they were invaded!

I grew up both in Texas (there's a LOT of Mexican people and influences there!) and Florida (near-tropical and has a lot of Puerto Rican people / influences!). I may not be Latina, but two of my closest friends are (and one is now my gf 😂) and I have a lot of positive experiences relating to the culture. I think that's a huge reason for my fondness for Minogua and Tzakah, haha.

Besides that, as I (hopefully) alluded to, Minogua is also a tropical country! It's got a rich, surprisingly friendly culture and I'd absolutely love visiting it on holiday. It just... would feel wrong due to the whole "colonization" history, haha. 😅

To be fair, I don't think a majority of them would mind it. But it's only been a few decades since they got rid of the direct authority of the colonizing country, so other people exploiting their history for their own "entertainment" would definitely not rub some of them the right way!

TZAKAH

The real place I'd most like to go... if I'd even be able to remember the experience!!! 😭😭😭

So, the problem with Tzakah is that they're kinda hidden! They're actually a massive city built into a seaside cliff in Cirrane's rainforest as well as an isolationist "country" (read: city-state) with no connection to the rest of the world!

See, there's two ways to go if you'd like to leave or enter Tzakah: through the forest or by the sea. Only... there's a couple problems with that.

Go by sea, and there's practically endless storms raging off the coast. And not just your average nasty equatorial storms--but hurricane-type stuff! Not close enough to bother Tzakans, and actually not even permanent! But any time anyone goes near that approximate area of the world, knowingly or not, storms begin to barrage them until it destroys their ship or they (wisely) flee the area.

Many around the world refer to that area "the Gods' Land", theorizing that the gods' home is past the storms and the storms themselves are meant to keep out all but those who are worthy.

Making the storms "the Gods' Trials", of course.

Tzakah is lucky to just barely be at the edge of the Gods' Land, managing to avoid the Trials even when they go out to sea for fish. Besides that, they don't travel much further--they learned a long time ago of the dangers associated with it.

On the other side, they have the rainforest. And, somehow, it's worse.

Beyond the usual dangers of wild nature, Cirrane's rainforest is known to be haunted by malicious spirits--theorized to both be faerie in origin and those of deceased victims--that kill all who encroach on their territory.

Those who wander too far into the forest are known to never come back. Most--the Cirranians on the other side of the rainforest--don't know exactly why people who wander into the forest disappear. Again, they just theorize it's spirits--they don't know for sure. All they do is that they should never go past a certain landmark in the forest... lest they never be heard of again.

Those of Tzakah, however, know of the "spirits" by name.

The Melijé.

Merciless hunters they're locked into perpetual war with, and will be forever until the end of time... or until one finishes the other off.

Why?

Well, for the horrible crime of having left the Melijé centuries ago!

OH, YEAH, BUDDY, IT GETS DEEP! I LOVE TZAKAH!

Anyway, yeah! Tzakah is a safe haven hidden in-between the Gods' Trials and the Melijé haunting the forests of {insert forest name here, probably sounding vaguely like "Melijé"}. Uh, I've definitely named the forest, don't worry! I'm just too lazy to look it up! Yeah...

Tzakah was formed by refugees who fled from the Melijé long ago. They're a peaceful people--descended from those who hated the Melijé's violent and hateful ways--and have created a completely pacifistic utopian society for themselves... outside of a select group of warriors who've trained under Torcaiz (their god of Protection) to repel any Melijé attacks. However, they're all warned of the struggles and pain associated with it beforehand, and accept the burden.

The people of Tzakah are isolationists due to the whole "actually kinda separated from the rest of the world" thing, and... another piece of their history that makes them see the rest of the world as a much darker place than their utopia. (Which obviously is fair. I mean, have you seen most of my worldbuilding??? It's bad.)

However... that Very Purposely Ambiguous "Piece Of History™" has also made Tzakans cautious of the very few outsiders that do make it there. (There's a few ways, but it's mostly them rescuing people who got lost in the rainforest before the Melijé kills them... or idiots who try to sail through the Gods' Trials, thinking they're "worthy".)

Instead of welcoming outsiders in with open arms like they'd want to (but they pretty much still do--), they're more cautious of and careful with them. Outsiders tend to get questioned by one of Tzakah's gods--usually Torcaiz alongside one of the others to keep him from deeming them all "unworthy" 🤣--to verify they don't have any ulterior motives.

And then, if and when they leave... they're stripped of their memories of their time there.

Yeah. Another one of the Tzakan gods--Marmorin--is able to completely remove people's memories. Except... he doesn't 99% of the time. Instead, he messes with the memories to "repress" them--leaving the effects of their time in Tzakah, but making it so, at best, they'll remember it as a dream.

Soooooo... if I were to ever visit Tzakah, I'd first have to put my life at risk and then be forced to lose my memory of my time there, anyway!

Haha, definitely not worth it, unfortunately.

In spite of all of that, Tzakah is an awesome place to visit. Like Cirrane (which the Melijé was once associated with) and Minogua, Tzakah has strong Latin American influence! They're in the middle of a rainforest, but obviously completely locked within the "city" itself!

(There's always at least one Melijé huntress patrolling the woods outside of Tzakah. Their rivalry is bitter, harbored and continued mostly by the Melijé, and one of Torcaiz's jobs as their god of Protection is maintaining a barrier that keeps the Melijé out.)

Again, their culture is very utopian, with most everyone being incredibly supportive of one another and each others' problems. The few who don't feel that way are instead given space and patience to do whatever they wish. Many of which eventually become (or already were) Warriors and develop a solidarity with the others, or leave Tzakah under the watchful eye of another god...

BUT YEAH, I LOVE TZAKAH AND WOULD LOVE TO VISIT IT IF I COULD REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT THE VISIT!!!

(To anyone wondering, the Melijé aren't any sort of "native peoples are inherently violent" thing or whatever. They're actually in the minority being that way in my story! Most of the time--like with Minogua--it's the opposite. Native peoples just want to be left alone. The Melijé's history actually separates them from most indigenous groups, tbh. Send an ask if you want to know more about them or Tzakah in general! Though please specify what specifically you want to know more about...)

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

CIRRANE

Aaaand on the other end of the rainforest is CIRRANE! (Somehow there happens to be both a utopia and dystopia separated by nothing but a rainforest, some magical nonsense, and a ravaging cult bent on destruction of all others and growing their own power...)

I've spoken about Cirrane before, but it's definitely scattered across posts, haha. Long story short? Since this post has been LONG--

Cirrane is an incredibly impoverished nation with a massive wage gap and next to no middle class. Their way of "solving" that?

Bread and circuses!

... no, I mean it. Almost literally--

Context! The origin of the term "bread and circuses" to placate the masses is actually from Ancient Rome, where they'd use food ("bread") and entertainment ("circuses", which originally referred to what are now called coliseums)!

So... want to guess what Cirrane does?

Yeah, so, basically people have the option to risk their lives by fighting in arenas / coliseums to raise their status. Likewise, it's incredibly cheap to buy into and watch them! Lowkey, their entire economy is based around the arenas and the whole "political structure" around them.

Even the current monarch has fought in the coliseums before!

(In order to display their sheer magical prowess to the masses and intimidate them into falling in line.)

Similarly, Cirrane is known to be a debt-trap country, which will often try to entice people (but especially outsiders) into gambling... and using that to hook them into the many available vices.

I'm sure you can see why Cirrane is the "AVOID AT ALL COSTS" country.

Oh, and btw? It's VERY relevant in Rising From the Ashes! 🥰

Yeah, so, you'd really think it would've been Glavnran, but no. Somehow, as bad as Glavnran is, Cirrane is worse.

(PS: "Melijé" is pronounced "Mehl-ee-hey")

Worldbuilding tag list: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @paeliae-occasionally (Ask and ye shall be added)

[technicallyclassyperfection]

Via print:

[art4hhart]

୨୧ the echo-pioneers: a dystopian henry danger story

part one

this part contains: mentions of anxiety & fear, cigarettes. third person and your POV (for now)

summary: in which swellview's municipality has set new and more strict town regulations. the citizens are kind of blinded, they all think this new system is going to make the city and environment better. the so called the echo-pioneers start working together and go against the constitutions, wanting to let everyone know it will slowly destroy their lives by following the new regulations. but, it is a lot harder than they think, so the group put their lives at risk for the future of swellview's people. as they grow closer to each other when planning and doing missions together, interesting and messy things happen.

wordcount: 2.9k

you were in your own thoughts, swinging your legs in the air and looking a little bit around the area, watching the rest of your friends from up high. even though the sentences you spoke were very limited, you still managed to keep the ongoing conversations going. you leaned your head against the wall behind you and grabbed a small strand of hair. out of boredom, you proceeded to carefully separate your split ends while one of your friends from school, zoey, was sitting next you and did most of the talking while you were listening to her, saying something every once in a while.

you suddenly were desperate to know what time it was, you knew it was already after midnight, so you couldn’t wait too much longer. the screen lit up, turning it around when you grabbed it from the back pocket: 00:46. you knew you had to go now, and besides, you were so tired since you barely got five hours of sleep last night due to the same reasons as of what was waiting for you tonight.

"i think i'm gonna be heading home now..." you said to zoey after a few minutes, when she nodded her head sadly, realizing she probably wouldn't have anyone to talk to now since every was busy. after giving her a goodbye hug, you placed your hand around the pole next to you for support. you jumped off the concrete block, wiping off your hands when a bit of sand and dirt sticked to them. just as you were standing, you spoke up to everyone else.

"i'm sorry guys, but i gotta go. i'm really tired.." you said apologetically as you picked up your jacket from the fence you all used as a coat rack tonight, since it was a lot warmer than everybody thought it would be. you spoke up, as everybody nodded their heads in agreement, understanding but it was still a shame you went to leave.

"bye!" you said while putting on your jacket over your shoulders and walked away, as you went towards the path along the bushes. you still heard their voices: "please be careful!" "see you tomorrow!" "bye love you!" you couldn't see them anymore, so you started to speed up your walking pace slightly, going faster along the direction of the road towards the agreed place; you knew what was ahead of you.

it was a friday night as usual, and you would spent it on this 'secret spot' you found with your friends from school a month ago, on a random day in the middle of the covering bushes so we wouldn’t get checked too often. as of right now, it was very risky to be outside at night, especially for you.

the municipality patrol started checking all over town for non-citizens loitering youth at exact hours by checking if you had a specific pass to have a reason to be outside and be a citizen of swellview. all of your friends carried one, except you and your group. you always had to be careful, one, because you didn’t carry a pass, and two, you couldn’t let your friends know you didn’t have one. you’re surprised they didn’t even find out yet after all this time.

but, after finding this particular, almost deserted place with your school friends, friday night has always been the time to come hang out there, for sometimes even the whole night. it's not like you had better things to do, so why not spend the whole night with your second favorite people, right?

but tonight you had different plans.

you lifted you head up to the dark sky, looking at the stars as you yawned, getting more tired each second. however, what your friends didn't know is that you didn't leave because of that. i mean, you were tired, you'll admit that. but that's not the reason you left.

the reason you left was because you went to meet with your group the echo-pioneers tonight, like you did mostly every night since the beginning of this year. the name was very known amongst the town, and unfortunately the municipal patrol administration had gotten it in all their systems and computers. luckily, it was a mystery for every resident who the members were that formed the group. it would've been a terrible misery if they found out, it could lead to arresting or killing every single one of you.

the patrol administration tried to find out multiple time who these people are, but they failed due to the cleverness to dodge them all and the secret meetings in the woods everyone attended to plan every detail of the missions. more than two days passed to even plan one single mission, four if it was a major one.

the weight of your decision hung heavy in your mind, but you had gotten used to it by now. you could say it even excited you. the laughter of your friends was already faded into the background, replaced by the pounding of your heart. if your friends found out you went to see these people, even be apart of this group, they would quite literally never be speak to you again. your whole family as well, you were sure of that.

you were unintentional drama creators for sure, the group everyone loved to blame for everything. rumors swirled around you all like leaves—so many stories of, apparently, trouble and crime. although, most were made up by a lot of citizen and the city's patrol who claimed to know everything we did. you were one of the few persons to know exactly which of these rumors were actually saying the truth. and let me tell you, that number is shockingly low.

in the distance, about fifty feet away, you saw someone hiding behind the bushes, but not clever enough to keep it a secret from your eyes, because you saw them moving around, paying intense attention to the surrounding area. fear rushed trough your body, but you figured it must be someone from your group, since the person was wearing half a balaclava on their face. you walked a bit faster in their direction to find the person recognize you, as they lifted themselves up from behind the green leaves.

“henry?” leaning his way, you yelled-whispered, still not sure if it was actually him. the dark made it almost impossible for you to make out it was him, but his known silhouette gave it away.

“i didn’t see you, hey.” he walked up to you as he gently took off his mask, and a smile formed on his face. "i didn't know if you'd still show up tonight. i was scared i would be hiding behind that bush for hours. probably wouldn't have made it out alive.” he said, breathing out a little sigh of relief and a chuckle while he brought in a hug, which you returned happily. you wrapped your arms around him for a good five seconds and smiled, since it was long ago you last saw him in the group. three days ago you all thought he was captured or killed by the patrol of the city's municipality. you were all panicked, but fortunately that didn't happen. he was just grounded for a few days because his little sister piper told their parents she saw henry smoking, which was not true at all but for some reason they always believe the younger sibling. especially her.

"i told you, just had to make up some excuse." you waved your hand, it figuratively showing it wasn’t too hard to slip away from your friends. your mind suddenly questioned why he was coming to meet you on his own and this particular place. “where are the others?” you asked nervously, as you looked around for any signs the group was nearby.

“i told them to go already into the forest to find useable wood for the fire. but we’re not going crossing over tonight.” your face shot up in confusion and a little bit of anger, remembering the message he sent you an hour ago; he literally said you were crossing over the border tonight, and to have all your needed stuff ready.

“what? but you told me—” you were practically yelling at him, not realizing that was now very dangerous if someone heard you. you were practically risking your life by even staying on the street, forgetting they would come check in ten minutes.

“shh i know, i know… i’ll explain later. we gotta get outta here before they come check.” he friendly placed his hand on your wrist, making sure you got the hint to start walking towards his small moped, which he said was parked secretly on the other side, parallel to the street you were standing on.

“fine.” you scoffed, being annoyed with him as always. you shook your head in disbelief as you elbowed his side and removed his hand from your arm. you were angry at him for saying this, because you had old friends you wanted to help get pass the border tonight, since they also didn't own a pass and needed to desperately get into swellview again. you didn't care to know why though, probably some family issues. but you knew they couldn't get trough without your help, so you decided to let them know the next time you were crossing the border for a mission. and now it wasn't possible tonight.

your fingers found the small pocket in your jacket and grabbed your mask. you were putting your hair up in a bun with a small tie found on your wrist as you slid down the mask over your face. your eyes turned to the side, letting henry know to do also, only to find him doing the exact same thing. "this way."

you swiftly went through the bushes with him as fast as possible to get to the other avenue, it was too risky going on the streets at this moment since the new regulations were set. both anxiety and adrenaline rushed trough your body, knowing if you got caught not carrying a pass meant immense consequences for both of you, and you didn't wanna spend your time thinking about it.

"did you see any patrol on the way here?" you barely could get the words out, both of you were out of breath due to fast running, while you were trying to keep following him and find the easiest way to his motorcycle in between the covering leaves and branches sticking out.

"no, but we have to be fast as possible. we can't risk anything." he said, turning my way as we finally reached the end of the patch of trees leading to the sidewalk. you wanted to catch your breath for a while, but you knew there was no time for that.

as soon you were standing on the sidewalk, he gripped your wrist a little too hard, making you wince in pain. "henry—" he tugged at your arm, running towards the vehicle just around the corner. "henry you're hurting my wrist—" you winced in pain, letting out a heavy breath while trying to get rid of his grip on your arm.

you reached the parked moped in the corner and he let go of your hurting wrist. he looked you in the eyes for a second, pointing to the backseat. he whispered something inaudible trough the black mask, while both your breaths were shortened, almost being on the verge of passing out. you fixed your mask a little while swinging your left leg over the motorcycle, as henry waited for you to be seated and kicked in the stand with his foot. that's when you realize he didn't bother to lock it, which made you scoff to yourself. so typical of him.

your heart was pounding so fast during the whole ride, you thought it was gonna explode right there and then. you’ve never experienced this much amount of anxiety before, it was probably gonna be 1 am in a few minutes so you knew you didn’t had much time to get to the group. he was going so fast, yet he couldn't drive the speed he wanted to go; due to the wind being very strong this particular night, almost pushing you off the vehicle when leaning a bit to the side.

he suddenly took a sharp turn to the left and drove into a deserted street, where all pavements were nearly completely concealed by leaves of trees and scarce plants growing out of joints in between tiles. in the distance you could already spot the abandoned houses, some of their roofs and walls on the verge of collapsing onto the ground.

he took another turn; this time rightwards and going into even a greater derelict alley, directly in the course towards the forest outlying from the inhabited town. no one dared to go near it, since it was close to the border of swellview, which was very in your advantage. since the new regulations set they made it impossible to cross over if not carrying an accession pass through the designated gateways. the fence was too high to climb, if you tried you probably would fall to your own death. there were traps set everywhere; on the top and all around the fence were barbed and electric wires. going near the border meant you could get seriously injured, at least for normal people.

henry slowed down and parked the vehicle somewhere safe and hidden, almost in the middle of the forest under a big tree, making it very hard for someone to find it unless they followed him.

"you could've just blown a bubble. you know they won't check you if you're kid danger." you spoke up and scoffed a little, realizing you didn't have to be in such a rush if he would be in his costume. it happened quite a few times he would get checked when being outside, since there were kids who dressed up as kid danger at night trying to not be caught trespassing or loitering.

schwoz thought ahead of that and made henry a specific pass and made it valid with captain man's logo on it. the patrol started checking him less since they often saw him when he had an emergency outside. in fact; sometimes the patrol even helped him catching a criminal. little did they know he was the leader of the very group they wanted gone.

"no, because they would recognize me on the motorcycle, and they'd still check you." he replied, while you walked behind him and moved branches out of the way with both hands.

you knew the four minute walk to the meeting spot all too well, recognizing every single tree or plant on the ground; even at night. you've been here countless of times, and with henry walking in front off you and checking the way, the path was even more safe.

you heard their chatter getting louder when we reached closer to the fire which they had already lit. my hand reached towards my mask, sliding it down as soon we stepped from behind the trees. all of a sudden silence overtook the whole group, when they all noticed we were back.

"what took you two so long?!" charlotte spoke up in front of everybody and lifted herself up from the ground to look our way. relief washed over all their faces when they saw us after almost an hour, even though henry said to them it'll only take fifteen minutes to get to you.

"sorry. lost track of time." you shrugged your shoulders while henry spoke up, walking towards the middle of the group. you slowly sat down next to jasper and niki, not really caring about the fact the whole group was worried about you. you know you should care, but your mind was so consumed with everything that was happening; the town taking our freedom away for about seven months now, the guilt of lying to your own friends and family, the adrenaline rush from just running trough the trees.

you couldn't ignore your feelings like you've tried for the past weeks— even months. after all this time, you still couldn't believe this was your life now. escaping, running, failing, hurting and fighting. you all knew you had to do this, or else they would take away all our freedom one day without even realizing, and then it will be too late.

you placed your hand on your chin and looked at the ground beneath. all you wanted to do in this very moment was just cry. you weren't even paying attention to henry who was standing in the middle of the group next to the fire, speaking about the planned missions and why crossing the border wasn't necessary tonight.

your gaze was fixated on the fire right in front of your eyes, and you looked over to the other side of the group. milea was holding a cigarette in her hands, slowly bringing it up to her mouth and inhaling. that's gonna kill you one day, you thought. your eyes made their way around everyone, you were sure that nobody was actually paying attention to the words henry was saying.

"...so we're gonna do it tomorrow, we just need to make a few changes in." these were literally the only words you heard him speaking since you were too distracted to listen. you were too preoccupied thinking about the people you promised to help, how would they even feel? they were probably already in so much fear, so you needed to make sure they got into swellview; even if the group didn’t want to go with you to help them. maybe you could just go alone, it'll probably only take fifteen minutes to get them trough the holes you made in the fence together to do missions outside town.

and it was not like you didn't have experience with it, right?

thank you for reading!!! i realize this part is veryyy long and maybe quite boring, but it had to happen because it is the first part. i promise that the next parts will be more interesting to read. the second part will also have more background info about the group and the people :)

i have a lot of cool (and romantic ;)) ideas for the series, but bare with me because i've been busy, hope y'all understand!

also if you have noticed, this series is kinda inspired by the shatter me series. i really love the books and i thought it would fit with henry danger, so decided to make this :)

ps. this probably will be a looong series, i have a lot of ideas for it but in order for some thing to happen it needs to be a lot of parts.

[cabeswaterdrowned]

I feel like I’m in a headspace where I really am in the mood to read urban fantasy more than anything else, part of me wants to start the Lynburn Legacy reread I’ve been wanting to start for a while and apparently unspoken is quite cheap on iBooks so that’s doable but I’m already doing my in depth trc reread buddy read with notes + rereading other things more casually. If I do the TLL reread I’ll definitely liveblog it because I want to propagandize it to my followers who are here for other modern or urban fantasy I talk about lol. Maybe I should read a Sarah Rees Brennan book I haven’t read yet? I also have been wanting to start reading the Vampire Chronicles but I think I should leave that for when I have more concentration to give over to it / my brain is processing new content better. The TVD books are another possibility, if nothing else I think that could be really funny. There are other possible candidates but if someone wants to recommend me a thing now is your chance

[xarrixii]

F/B Chapter_43 : "One of the Good Ones"

CW: none that i can think of previous chapter | beginning | masterlist

/ / / / / | ---

“You’re the best pyro I know, Alph,” Reggie mocked silently. “I’ve never seen anyone in my 34 years of life that wields fire better than you. Good control, Alph⸺”

Alph put a hand over Reggie’s mouth. The gym teacher made them want to vomit excessively all over the floor. With cat hair, stomach acid, and that mildly radioactive meal served on that blue hot-lunch tray. Reggie licked their palm and they pulled off.

“Just saying. He’s weird, dude. Like retired intel recruiter weird. Are you being scouted?”

“No?” As far as Alph knew, the government wouldn’t want a pyrokinetic in its special programs anyway. “I think he’s just a piece of shit.”

“Kineticist piece of shit,” Beth nodded, suddenly leaning on Alph’s shoulder. “This guy needs a new hobby. I think he just stalks all of the kids with kinetics. Doesn’t help he runs the yearly exam. So the government can have information on its citizens.”

Alph snorted impolitely, then laughed at the sound of it.

“The fuck was that?” Reggie snickered, lightly punching Alph.

The gym teacher whistled, yelled blue, and Reggie shrugged and walked back into dodgeball hell. Alph replaced him in line, then turned back to Beth. “What’d you purposefully get out to tell me?”

“I did not purposefully get out,” Beth said loudly, then leaned in, “but Flash Fire’s getting an update. AJ was looking at his smartwatch for notifications on the ‘medic scooter’ waiting for someone to go down. Multiplayer and ranked battles. Something about secret maps for them?”

“Multiplayer?” Alph said louder than intended, glancing over at the gym teacher who stoically stood around doing nothing. “Like, online, anytime, no arcade multiplayer?”

Beth nodded. “They finally figured out how to code their AI models to fight more than one target at once reliably. Also some lag fixes and blah blah blah.”

“Urban.”

“Quit it with the fictitious boyfriend,” Beth understood which Urban Alph meant quick enough to be sarcastic. “We get it, you have to make excuses each time as for why he can’t come down to the arcade⸺”

“For your information he’s real and he’s cooler than you are. And he’s not my boyfriend.”

Beth pretended to become offended, scoffing and rolling her eyes as Alph was whistled back into play. She whispered with her teeth as Alph walked away, “But you wish he was.”

She received a polite middle finger back.

The conversation didn’t resume until Alph was walking home, head buried in their phone screen. “Yeah. They’ve released map teasers and have beta testers testing out the AI right now. Apparently accounts in the top 5% of players can access the beta for early feedback. No online play though, only lobby codes and LAN play.” 

Alph chuckled at the statistic, pausing halfway through a text. Camdyn waved it off. “Yeah, so what exactly? Alph?”

“If we want to play at my apartment, I’m sure my dad wouldn’t care. As long as no one else has any obligations.” Alph hit sent and looked up. “What? Come on. It’d be cool.”

Reggie voiced a leading note before actually speaking at a crosswalk, “Nah. I agreed to take over a shift. I think I’m already gonna be late, so I’m gonna split.”

“Seeya,” Camdyn said. Then he turned to Alph, Reggie already halfway down the intersection. “You’re not actually top 5% are you? I distinctly remember beating you at an arcade before, and it was remarkably easy. And I’m not even top 20%.”

“Uh, 4 point.... whatever. I don’t remember.” The remark reminded Alph all too painfully of walking into Decked Games at twelve years just to find out their high score had been beaten—eight times. UR. Over the next few weeks, with a month lapse stuck in the middle, each and every arcade in the city that had Flash Fire as an available game was overrun by a new winner that Alph could never catch in the act.

It was Urban, obviously. It was rare when Alph beat him on console. UR was for Urban Reichler. The kind of thing most everyone knew now from a simple search query, but four years ago was a fact known by the handful of people who either read the comics or did 100% runs. “Skill curve gets insane beyond that point.”

“We’ll see the real number when we get to your apartment anyway,” Beth jostled.

Alph threw up a hand the second the blast inched their vision, skidding across the street suddenly filled with glass and swiveling around to Beth and Camdyn. Ringing filled their ears more than their own voice, “Are you two okay?”

Beth gave a silent thumbs-up and Camdyn groaned out a thanks.

When they turned back to look at the newly-exploded building, they expected fire, just not the screaming child. “Call the cops,” Alph managed to get out before pushing off the ground back across the street to the burning building. The decision was met with barely any hesitation, Alph’s hands grabbing hold of the fire and whisking it away from themselves as they went toward the kid.

Alph could hear Camdyn protesting outside over the roaring fire.

“Hey, kid! It’s gonna all be okay, I promise you!” Alph yelled into the newly awakened pyrokinetic flame. “We’re gonna walk through this together, alright?”

next chapter | masterlist

/ / / / / | --- missing a content warning? let me know

it's actually so jarring to see how short this is compared to the two latest chapters i've written

taglist (ask to go on or off): @lychhiker-writes, @madeoforgansandtissues, @fins0up

[roleplayfinder]

19F looking for oc x oc fandomless rp 🌷

I'm a literate/multi-para roleplayer, from a minimum of ~6 lines to a maximum of ~40 or 3 paragraphs.

My favourite genres are urban fantasy, slice of life, tasteful dark realism, post-apocalypse, dystopian and modern settings!

f/f, m/m and m/f are all welcome ; nsfw and kink friendly.

I roleplay on discord and telegram, like this post if you're interested and I'll reach out with my contact info.

.

[anitatapio]

Rainy day, June 9th 2024

I love days like these. Woke up 6 in the morning, listened to a random nostalgic song from the Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie soundtrack that reminds me so much of 2010-2011, then at 7am I put on my corset and victorian gown (for some reason my corset decreases my anxiety like a constant hug and boosts my productivity, makes me feel like Violet Baudelaire with her ribbon) and started writing.

Usually I'm so addicted to checking all the apps (I like tumblr so far since it's text based and not as addicting at least so far when I don't follow too many people except friends). Today it's been raining the whole day (and still is). It just clears something up in me and I haven't felt the need to distract. I wrote 10 pages from scratch which was intimidating as for most of this year I've mostly gone over and edited/rewritten small sections of years old chapters. Then I took a nap (yes my corset is comfortable enough for me to sleep in even if it's not recommended), I read a little before I napped (trying to get into slow living instead of chasing instant dopamine), and now I've gone over writing physical notes into the computer, working on chapters 17 & 18 simultaneously. It's a good day and I feel productive enough to take a break to just relax enjoy the petrichor through my open windows.

Nostalgia is a creature of balance. I try not to live in the past while enjoying reminiscing from time to time... I also try to ground myself and remember that the present is always potential "future nostalgia." Enjoy the little things. As the youtuber Jennifer Myers says, "the little things are not small" and it's so true. It goes for many things in life.

[hellsgate-roadhouse]

[wordswithloveee]

[whereserpentswalk]

Your new job is to sit at a desk, looking at a single camera feed monitoring a small white room, writing down everything that happens in the room, and then reporting it back to your bosses. The first day, two men are brought into the room, possibly unwillingly, and are instructed to fight to the death. Neither of them think to refuse, one of them wins. You realize there's very little you can do. Though you can hear what's going on in that room from your office, it's in the same building as you, the feed is live and it is near you and there's nothing you can do.

You write the report. Your bosses say it's good work but you need more detail, they'll give you further instructions. The next day the same happens, two men are brought in, two men fight, one man lives. You can hear it all going on across the hall. But you know to add more detail, your bosses love it, they love that you gave the amount of information that you did, they say you have a good eye for these things.

Every day at your job is the same. The men are different most times but survivors come back sometimes. Sometimes they have more then two men, sometimes on teams sometimes not. Sometimes they give them weapons, things that you would find in a hardware store. Sometimes there will be special rules. Sometimes it's just two men fighting to the death. Occasionally it won't be equal, but it will always be fair, but sometimes it'll be something like a man with a fireaxe agaisnt a man with a baseball bat, or three elderly men agaisnt one man in his prime. But it's always fair.

You write down the details well. You always typed fast. Everything anyone would need to know. Anything they said. Every move each of them made. How each injury effected them. The way the blood splatters. If when a man wins if it's because someone dies or because someone is too injured to fight, if he tries to kill of an injured man or let him bleed out. If a man uses his left or right hand to hold a knife. How long a man tries to run or dodge before he starts throwing punches. It eventually stops becoming like a real thing that's happening in the same small building you work in, and more like a game, and it's a game you're winning.

Your bosses might not be human. They never show themselves, and say that you'd be horrified by them if you ever saw them. They refer to humans as separate from them, as a type of synapsid, which is technically true but still. They also just don't talk like people. They could be billions of years old, all of this could be so meaningless to them. They could be demons, or aliens, or creatures from another dimension for all you know. Or they could be rich and powerful people doing their best to scare those who work for them, though they'd be putting a lot of effort into not appearing human if that was the case. It almost seems like them being aliens or something is the less conspiracy minded answer. But still, it doesn't matter, you don't have time to question it. This job pays better then anything else, it's getting you through college, it's gotten you a much nicer apartment in a much better neighborhood then you could with any other job. Who cares if they're demons, they're paying you.

There was one day where you saw a wounded man limping out of the room where the fight had happened. It was the first time you saw someone from the fights in the flesh. It was horrifying, you wanted to turn away, not because of his wounds but because you didn't want to be a part of this. You're just someone who watches it, just someone who reports on it, you're not going to actually be involved.

There was also a time someone screamed at the camera for someone to do something while his opponent was stabbing him to death. There was nothing for you to do, but it was strange to write about. You questioned if you should describe him as begging the camera for help, or begging you for help. But it felt weird for the reports to contain the word "me", you don't think your bosses would like that. You just wrote that he was begging for someone to help, it was the easiest way to describe it after all.

There was one fighter who you really enjoyed seeing. He was young, handsome, and very good at fighting. He wore a smirk when others wore frowns, and had these beautiful blue eyes. He knew how to taunt his enemies and get in their heads. And you always rooted for him to win, and he always did. You started thinking about him more and more, reading into the smallest movements, theorizing about why he was so good, about his past, his hopes and dreams. You read his personality into all of his actions, and loved him so much for it. Part of you hoped you'd accidentally meet him on your way out, and that you'd get to know eachother. Once you even touched yourself to the thought of him with you, but the act gave you a weird type of shame. You never knew his name. After one rough fight he was too injured to fight anymore, mostly blinded from slashes to the face it seemed. You were sad about him for a bit, and then moved on.

Your bosses want you to do a major report on the fights. You get to choose the specifics and your thesis, almost like a college paper. It's so cool and exciting to get to have so much creativity in your job. You wonder what they'll do for you next. You still don't know what your bosses are but they've been talking about a promoting. You're so lucky to have gotten this job.

[redxdesign]

[technicallyclassyperfection]