#especially one that grew up with all the stories of child heroes going off to battle and fixing everything

[cursedkeyboard]

Babies shouldn't grow up ☆ Jason Todd & GN!Reader (PT.3)

What does Jason do after feeding and giving a home to the brat he stole from the slums of Gotham? Raise the kid lovingly like he wished he'd been raised, of course. [PART ONE ♤ PART TWO ♤ PART THREE ♤ PART FOUR ♤ PART FIVE ♤ PART SIX]

Pairings: Platonic Jason Todd & Child GN!Reader

In the beginning, living together wasn't very smooth

Despite your shared pasts, the immediate fondness from Jason, your eagerness for affection and love, you two were still very much strangers

You were hesitant and skittish, often sticking to the guest room Jason said it was yours, since for your entire life you mostly lived by yourself

Jason didn't actually know how to deal with a vulnerable and traumatized child, he wasn't Dick, he didn't have an innate charm that allowed you to be drawn to him easily

But that didn't stop him from trying

Every day, Jason made sure to get you out of your room to eat

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Eating was non-negotiable, even if you were used to only a bite or two a day, he wanted you to eat what you could

You felt sick for the first few days, your body unused to so much water and nutrients, causing it to think something was wrong

Jason almost went insane with worry, rubbing your back, carrying you around, and even refusing to go out when you told him you were fine

From your vomiting, you were anything but

Despite his fear and anxiety, Jason sat down to google all your symptoms and treatments when you finally fell asleep after throwing up again

Pushing the multiple deadly diseases and cancers aside, he learned that your body was just a little overwhelmed and all you two had to do was increase your meals little by little instead of shoving food down your throat

Though he still insisted on you drinking at least five cups of water every day

Then, maybe a week or two later once you two were a little more comfortable around each other

You not feeling like a bother anymore and Jason not eating himself with anxiety

The two of you started spend more time together

Jason cut some of his vigilante work, told Bruce to fuck off when he was questioned, and made sure to take you out to buy a year's worth of clothing using the old man's credit card

You started clinging a bit to him, asking him to teach you how to read and write, seeking validation when you managed to understand a whole page without needing help, asking about his life and past

And Jason always made sure to be honest with you, about the good and the bad because he wanted you to trust him

From experience, he knew that keeping things from you would only cause problems down the line

He'd tell you about his days in the slums while preparing a meal, you at his hip helping him put things in the pot

He'd talk about being a Robin with both fondness and bitterness while he helped with your hair, having done so much research to make sure he treated your type of hair correctly

He'd confess about what happened with the Joker, keeping it slightly less gory than it was

About his mother and Batman

About his death, hell, the pit, the after

He'd tell you everything as the days went on

And you'd sit by his side, cuddling with him, hugging him close when his voice trembled

Jason's hold would often tighten around you when he talked about something that made him sick to his stomach

Especially when it was a story about almost losing someone

Like he thought you'd disappear even in his arms

Like that, the trust between the two of you only grew as weeks turned into months and soon enough those months turned into a year

Jason had returned to his normal patrol hours once you were finally caught up with your studies and managed to put you in middle school

You were so damn excited and Jason knew exactly why

For a kid who was deprived of seemingly boring things since forever, school is a place filled with knowledge and wonder

The very first thing you did when you got home was show him a drawing of your hero the art teacher asked your class to make

Jason cried when he saw a poorly sketched version of Red Hood

He put it up in the fridge after printing it twice

You two definitely started matching, by the way

Jackets, shirts, shorts, hats, even phone cases

Jason never thought he'd be so lame as to buy stuff like that but once the two of you wore the exact same ugly christmas sweater, it was over for him

It was a little embarrassing, especially for you

But when you two went out with the same jackets and an elderly couple complimented the father and kiddo duo, you couldn't help but love it too

It was jarring for Jason, for sure

He didn't really consider himself your father, maybe your guardian or your older brother, but... it wasn't too bad

No, in fact, he kind of liked it

You are his kid

God, the restaurant dates

He'd take you to every food place in Gotham

From the ones that made you two throw up for the entire weekend

To the ones that made Bruce call him after spending eight hundred dollars on golden lobsters

It would be no surprise if you ended up liking burgers the most though

Like kid, like father

If you had any problem in school, Jason wouldn't try to hide away

He got himself a fake identity for the sole purpose of making himself your guardian through more than illegal terms

Doesn't even matter if he was in the middle of a meeting with other rogues, heroes or even his family

Jason would drop everything for you

Especially when you punched the fuck out of little Timmy for saying something bigoted

The dean and the teacher would probably try to make him scold you, telling the two of to you that this violent behavior is unacceptable and should not be rewarded

And Jason would look at them, at little Timmy's infuriated mother, and tell them that if Timmy didn't want to get his shit rocked, he should've kept his mouth shut

Of course, he also threatened them saying he'd let all of Gotham know that they protected and encouraged bigoted behavior from ten year olds

Needless to say, little Timmy didn't bother you after that day

And you also got ice cream after getting a two day suspension

"Did he make a noise?"

"Squealed like a fucking pig."

"That's my fucking kid."

Jason wouldn't let you act spoiled

Sure, he'd spoil you rotten, give you everything he wanted as a kid and what you want

But he knows the important of humility

That doesn't mean he'll let anyone ever try to bully you, though

To be continued...

[sobasluuurp]

Ok. About Tenko.

I understand why so many people are angry that he's dead. I really do. I would've loved for him to live as well. I cried when he died.

However.

Just because he's dead doesn't mean his character has been handled poorly. In fact, all things considered, this ending (even though it makes me real fucking sad) makes the most sense for both his character and his story. Let me explain.

First and foremost, there's the matter of Shigaraki's characterization and arc. It goes without saying, but he's an angry, used, and abused child who grew up into an adult who wants nothing more than for everything to end. His goals have always been destructive to an extreme and honestly, the logical end to "let's destroy it all" is LITERALLY everything, including himself. He's also had absolutely zero agency since the moment his parents even thought of conceiving him, and has been struggling to become his own person since the beginning of his arc. He, against his abuser, who covets immortality and eternity.

What better a way for a person such as himself to assert his agency is there than to go out the way he did? To shift his focus away from the faceless masses and to the (similarly faceless, lol) abuser who caused his pain in the first place? To destroy the control AFO has held over him and prove to him that he was always his own person? To say, this is who you molded me into. And because I am who I am, I will now kill you, and take myself down with you, and be glad for it.

(and in the process, destroy the worldview AFO showed us in the Star and Stripe arc, that the ones who survive are the victors. AFO has completely and eternally lost, but Shigaraki is victorious to his last.)

It's his first moment of complete agency in his life -- acting entirely against anyone else's wishes for himself or his actions. And he uses it to do the one thing he's been itching for his whole life -- to destroy the source of his pain.

It's a negative character arc, in a way. It's not what any of us would've wanted for him. In a perfect world, he would be able to recover and readjust, building a life for himself and his found family in peace. He'd be able to experience life fully for the first time, and see that the world is not so bleak after all.

(I'm choking up just thinking about what's been lost. It's a fucking tragedy.)

But not every character arc gets to end happily. Sometimes people do slip through the cracks. That's always been what Shigaraki's character is about.

....and what every other member of the League's characters have been about.

Because here's the thing. The story of Shigaraki's life and death would be incomplete without his relationship to his found family. He's their leader. Their symbol. Their All Might.

Shigaraki's death is not the grimdark, fuck-the-audience, senseless kind of tragedy. He is a martyr, yes, but the people he stood for will in all likelihood survive. He died for the League. His life -- his existence -- brought them together, gave them purpose, and showed them a bright future. It is my steadfast belief that he will be the only death among the main villains. Because this is a story about saving to win, after all. And given that My Hero doesn't like to kill characters off too often and each one of them still has a path to recovery, I think it's a safe assumption to make. Especially since (especially in Toya's and Toga's cases) each of them had a moment of reconciliation at the end of their fights -- the kind of thing that can help them move forward.

And to be honest, we've known for a very, very long time that BNHA is the kind of anime that likes to turn old cliches on their heads. Kacchan did not become a villain during Kamino. La Brava's literal power of love was not enough to win the battle. Deku fought tirelessly to talk-no-jutsu Shigaraki into redemption, and while he did get through to him, he still couldn't save him after everything that happened. It's nuanced and messy in a way that I've come to expect from BNHA.

So yea, Shigaraki died. But Shigaraki also lived. Despite everything that AFO and Kotoro wanted from him (despite the fact that he was never meant to really be alive in the first place), he lived on his own terms and fought so that the people he cared about would be seen. Because he lived, the old world was destroyed, and from his ashes, a better one can be built. He achieved everything that no one thought he could, and reclaimed his life in the process. What better ending could you ask for a tragic character?

[wandixx]

You'll never find the aswers ch.3

Words in this part: 5155

Story summary: M'gann was having an amazing day. She met with her civilian friends, drank an amazing smoothie, saw a cute dog. For a few hours, she didn't have to think about problems that took more than 20 minutes to solve. For a few hours, she could just be Megan.

And then there was a scream of a woman, mother, who thought too loud and faded too fast and M'gann wasn't enough to save her and it made her whole world come crashing down

And then Danny found her, with a soft smile and patient voice. He kneeled beside her to pick up the pieces.

And shards cut them both in the process.

This part summary: Team watches an action movie (it goes wrong), M'gann trains, Conner would like to not hear stuff sometimes and Danny explores Ghost Zone

Trigger warnings: Flashbacks, Panic Attacks, Self-Hatered (I think? M'gann blames herself for the death from frist chapter and it's prominent in her internal monologue), Self-Harm (in form of overtraining), Sensory overstimulation, Mentions of death and afterlife, Infinity

first chapter, previous chapter

They were having a movie night. Danny wasn’t there, but it wasn’t unexpected. He often couldn’t make it to the training. Relaxation, like movie nights, was obviously out. M’gann wasn’t sure what they were watching. She wouldn’t be there too, forcing her telekinesis past its limits, if it wasn’t too out of character for her and therefore would without a shadow of the doubt worry everyone. She told Danny not to tell anyone specifically because she wanted to avoid that. They had better things to do, especially since she was fine. She couldn't eat, sleep, or bring herself to do many things, but she was fine enough so that nobody should be inconvenienced. Fact that Danny found out was unexpected, and she was a little mad at herself that she was glad it happened. He probably had the most on his plate among all Team members, he didn’t deserve to be burdened with her mess too.

But it was nice to have someone listen to everything. It was freeing.

There were three enormous bowls of popcorn on the table, each already half empty. From experience, M’gann knew someone will need to make more at some point during the movie. They had Wally on the crew, after all.

She usually liked the smell of popcorn, it was quite nice and somewhat soothing, but that day it just made her nauseous.

She was trying to focus, really. It wasn’t like she had much else to think about. She shouldn’t struggle with following the simple storyline of an action movie about some guy going out of his way to get revenge because of something, something. But her mind couldn’t get on with the program.

She refocused again, just as the music grew louder and first gunshots exploded from speakers. She should look at least a little bit engaged, and from the years of experience with human media she learned some little tricks they used. Loud music meant Important MomentTM.

The hero of the story, whose name M’gann still didn’t know, looked younger, in an artificial, CGI way. Not wrong enough to make humans feel wrong, probably, but enough to be seen. He was surrounded by The Bad People. Man was fighting, three versus one, as if he tried to be a knock-off Batman. At some point, one attacker broke off and kicked down the door to the other room. Someone screamed and despite its clear fakeness, M’gann tensed. Too close, too close. The Bad Guy dragged someone outside by the hair, one person in each hand. Protagonist's wife and daughter. There was some yelling, but the world started slipping again so M’gann didn’t remember what was being said. Main character threw himself at the man with a gun, ignoring the knife lodged in his shoulder.

BANG, BANG.

Hero punched the gun out of the bad guy’s hands, but it was too late. There were no blown out brains or anything because the movie was PG13, but it was clear enough. Wife and child were dead. M’gann couldn’t breathe.

She too had been a few steps away, then she held the cooling body like a heartbroken man on the screen and- and-

“I‘m going to make more popcorn,” she stuttered, gripping tightly onto the edge of the bowl. She almost flew out of the room with her haste to leave before anyone had a chance to respond.

She crashed into the first room she found, falling to her knees as soon as the door started closing.

Scream pierced her ears, high and terrified before the noise of the body hitting something at high speed.

She should’ve seen it coming, she should’ve saved them, she should be better.

She couldn’t breathe.

Her hands spasmed, letting go of something. It clattered on the floor.

She barely felt her head bang on the door when she flinched.

She flinched away when the woman gurgled, when she tried to say something.

She couldn’t breathe. There were dark spots blinking and racing around her.

Hot asphalt was burning her exposed knees when she brushed hair away from the woman's eyes.

She was watching life leaving her eyes, and she couldn’t do anything. Nobody and nothing held her back, but she was too weak and blind to save this one life. So precious and important.

Her forehead touched down on the cool, rough floor, warm breaths forced her to blink. She wrapped her hands around her stomach as if the pressure would change anything.

Her cheeks were wet, tears creating patches of water on the tile.

She wondered if the little boy, too, was crying right then. She could ask when they meet. If he would look her in the eyes after she confessed to killing his mom.

The chill spreading through her face and her numbing legs brought her back a bit. Busy streets of Detroit were quieter, August's overwhelming heat let go a bit, so Mountain’s cool air brushed against her sweat-covered skin. She wasn’t suffocating on the stench of overheating asphalt. She remembered grounding techniques Black Canary taught them. She started breathing in a long forgotten, long ingrained pattern. It wasn’t hard. She could do it. She could at least do this.

In, 2- out-

In, 2, 3- out, 2-

In, 2, 3- out, 2, 3-

In, 2, 3, 4, ho- out, 2, 3, 4-

In, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2- out, 2, 3, 4, 5-

She was getting better, she could at least do this better. She could at least breathe.

That woman couldn’t anymore and it was all M’gann’s fault.

In, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, out,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

She got this. She was alright.

She stood up, her legs a bit wobbly from the long sitting. With a surprise muted by unexpected exhaustion she realized she crashed in a conference room, one of the only left, that was insulated against superhearing. It was good that she did. She didn't want to unnecessarily worry Conner.

She raised the plastic bowl from the ground and opened the door. She was alright.

She went to the kitchen, already calling a pack of microwaveable popcorn to her. She had to make a fresh batch. That's why she left after all.

She returned to the Team, smiling like her chest didn’t still feel too small for the breaths she needed to take. She was alright.

She had to be alright.

***

Thud, thud, thud

Her hands ached from repetitive attacks on a Kryptonian grade punching bag. It would be reduced to shreds if it was any less durable.

It was dark around. She turned light off when they became too grating for her eyes. Around hour and a half into her training if she recalled correctly. A little over two hours ago if the blaring red clock on a far away wall qnd her ability to count were to be believed.

Big, fitting five people without a trouble, couch was flying up an down, like a ball tossed by a bored kid.

She was right under it.

Her control began to be shaky. She used her telekinesis for too long. She couldn't stop now. She needed to push harder. There was some nice human metaphor or something for it, she remembered from her English classes. Impending doom of a dead thing, sword probably, right over ones head.

There was no part of her that wasn't in pain. Good. Training was supposed to hurt. She deserved it. She deserved much worse than that. Muscles needed to break to regrow stronger anyway. She needed to be better.

If she'd been good enough before, this woman would be safe. Would be alive. So she needed to be faster. Stronger. She needed to be better.

Thud, thud, thud

Her breathing was heavy, labored. There were spots in her vision and sweat on her brows.

Couch slipped from under her control and started falling.

She caught it before it crashed into her.

Thud, thud, thud

Right hook, left uppercut, sidekick, sidekick, sidekick, left hook.

Tapes on her hands have gotten bloody at some point. She stopped punching to flex her fingers for a moment. They trembled from exhaustion and ached when she moved them. Her whole body did. She took a deep breath.

She didn't deserve a break yet. Not until she was good enough.

Thud, thud–

“Meg?” a quiet question rang from behind her, muffled by the closed door.

–thud

Go away, she was busy.

Thud, thud, thud

“Hi Danny“ she called out, not stopping her exercise.

“I know you didn't expect me but I had a moment so I dropped by,” he continued, failing to hide strain and shakyness of his voice. She knew he was lying even without feeling his emotions. He came specifically for her, because she was a mess and couldn't even handle it properly on her own. He forced himself to use Zeta Tubes if she had to guess.

Thud, thud, THUD

“Meg? Can I come in?”

No. No, he couldn't.

She would prefer he didn't. He would try to stop her, tell her it wasn't her fault and bunch of other lies. And she would snap at him like she snapped at Wally for simple sin of being in the same room as her, and then she would yell and force Danny to spar and–

THUD, THUD, THUD

She didn't deserve a friend like that. She didn't deserve friends at all. She just kept lying to them or forcing them to lie for her or hurt them even though she didn't want to.

She didn't deserve friends. She was just going to ruin them all.

“Meg, I can’t hear your answer. Are you alright in there?”

Why did he keep being so nice?!

THUD, THUD, THUD

Couch slipped again. She caught it much lower than before. It probably was some sort of sign to her but she was content living it unread.

“Meg, you’re worrying me, I'm coming in!”

She twisted to face door so fast she couldn't see anything other than colorful dots for a moment. It was a miracle she stayed upright. Before she could yell “No!” the door opened with a low hiss.

There was bright, cold light in the corridor. Danny was just a frozen, dark outline surrounded by it, in a narrow rectangle of doorway, looking every bit like angels she saw in some movies. Eternal, delicate, helpful, good. A being of heavens.

After so long in the darkness, white glow sent a strike of unimaginable pain all the way from her eyes. Her brain cleared, leaving only an agony, burning along her nerves. Her eyelids moved, her hands tried but couldn’t, to shield her but it was already too late.

Somebody screamed.

“M'GANN!“ another voice yelled in panic but all she could focus on was how it was too bright and now it was also too loud and everything hurt so much and she couldn't even raise her hands to protect her eyes, or squeeze her temples or do anything about it and she kinda wanted to cry and–

Somebody slammed into her, fast, tackling her to the ground. She yelped, bracing for a new pain of crashing into training mats but it never came. Whoever attacked her twisted so she ended up on top. There was a low grunt from under her on the impact.

Thunderclap shook the floor from somewhere behind them.

She turned her head, much slower this time and forced her eyes to open. It was harder than it should be. She stared at the remnants of the couch with disbelief.

She had been standing there few seconds ago.

Breath got trapped in her throat and couldn't escape. She nearly died. She was almost crushed under a goddamn couch.

“Hey, Meg, are you okay? I'm sorry I rushed like that, I kinda panicked when I saw a couch falling. Why was it even up there?”

“Training,“ she answered distantly, still straing at the ruined furniture. Broken wooden frame stuck out of mess of plush and fabric. Whole thing was almost unrecognisable. Even engineering genius like Danny wouldn't be able to fix. Anger started to stir deep inside her. Why did he even come?!

“Okay… this is certainly an efficient technique, but it's freaking dangerous, you realized that, right?”

“I would be fine if you didn't distract me,” she snapped, rolling off of him and standing up. She needed to wait out some minor dizziness but after that she was ready to continue her training.

Confusion flashed across Danny's face before he also got up with a resigned sigh.

“Sorry, I was worried because I couldn't hear you”

“You have literal super hearing! You didn't need to come in!” she yelled. He could at least be honest with her, if he had to be overbearing.

“I di–”

“You called out Wally on the bluff based on his heartbeat literally yesterday! You liar!“ she threw the first punch. If he had to interrupt her, he could at least spar.

“Base has been ghost-proofed recently so my powers don't work in different rooms,” he said tiredly, dodging her without much effort.

“Why would it be ghost-proofed inside?!” If he had to lie, he could at least come up with something that made more sense. She knew he could so it was just insulting.

“Officially to make any enemy infiltration harder but unofficially I'm almost sure Batman just didn't like when I scared the shit out of him when I phased through the wall right behind him,” he explained with a cheeky grin. Insufferable.

“Stop joking around you idiot!” she screamed, throwing a piece of destroyed coach at him.

“Now, chill the hell out, M’gann“ he dropped down to dodge it and tried to swipe her.

“I was doing something important and you came in like it was nothing!” She floated and tried to kick him in the head but stopped her with his forearm. His limbs were trembling even before her shin connected to them.

“I didn’t–”

“You almost broke Artemis’ arm and she just tried to wake you up fro a nap, you hypocrite!”

Danny froze for a moment and then yelped when she managed to kick him in the ribs. It wasn't a strong kick but it surprised him anyway. He deflated like a punctured tyre.

“I didn’t want to and I was barely sane from exhaustion,“ he admitted, barely louder than a whisper, as if he shared some secret.

He didn’t say anything after that and didn't try to punch back. She punched and punched and punched. And he just dodged or blocked or went intangible like it was a game. M’gann screeched, wordless and furious, throwing all her weight at him. Danny caught her out of the air and restrained, keeping her close to his chest. She tried to break free, lashing out and screaming and whipping her head in fruitless attempts to smash his nose.

“I'm worried about you, Meg” he whispered, so full of concern and sadness and M’gann just wanted to scream again because she just had to do better and there was nothing to worry about and she was still too weak to evade simple hold and, and, and–

“Get off my back Danny, I'm fine!” she yelled back, trashing with more vigor than before.

“Are you?”

M’gann froze. She was fine, she knew it and she should say ‘yes, of course, I can take care of myself, who do you think I am’ but words couldn't leave her mouth. She took a breath, deeper than she did in long time but normal from outside perspective. Her fingers began aching again, adrenaline fading way faster than it should.

Danny released her from his hold and gently turned her around, raising his head a bit to look her in the eyes.

“I need to train more.”

“Later” Danny murttered, carefully taking one of her hands in his “Muscles grow when you let them rest. Same with neuronal connections responsible for learning. Rest” His fingers were freezing, way cooler than they usually were, as he swiftly unwrapped her hands, cold trail easing some pain and preventing bruises from forming.

M’gann didn’t deserve it. She didn't deserve it so much.

It took her a long moment to realize that a sob she heard came from her throat. In the meantime, she wasn't sure when, Danny freed her other hand and now held her palms in his, gently rubbing her knuckles.

“I got you Meg. I got you. You can cry now”

So she did.

***

Conner felt like sometimes his teammates forgot he could hear things. He wasn't too mad about it, they sometimes forgot their own powers (just Danny actually) or walked into walls hoping they would unlock powers they had no reason to believe they would get right then (just Wally to be honest).

Anyway, since he lived in the Team's Base full time, he heard quite a lot of stuff he probably wasn't supposed to hear. Shared secrets, ‘that one person at my school’ discussion, talks about insecurities… he was privy on everything. School was obviously hundred times worse in this regard but also, nobody could expect them to know they should keep their voices low. Even if sometimes he really wanted to yell in the middle of the corridor or break into radiostation (if his school had one) to make such announcement. He knew far more about cheerleaders’ and baseball players’ bodies than he'd like to. But he couldn’t because secret identities and stuff. But Team should know better. It wasn't something he held against them, afterall he forgot about some things Danny could do too, but one would think they'd be better at it.

But what brought this onto his mind wasn't another ‘keep it under the hat’ type of conversation. It was repetitive, migraine inducing thudding from the training area that had been going on without a break for the last two hours. He held back a sigh and tried to focus back on his homework. Wally dropped by for a study session so they weren’t in blessedly soundproofed rooms. M’gann’s training and her sobs were beginning to be a bit too much, especially when combined with electric current innthe walls, and dishwasher working through all the plates speedster needed to fit his snacks, and upbeat music redhead played on the speakers to “lighten up” the mood and help himself focus, and heartbeats and whatever he called life sounds of Red Tornado in his work room, and rush of everyone's blood and sound of air in the lungs, and AC and whatever festivities were happening in Happy Harbor city center and–

Pencil snapped in his hand. He stared at it for a moment, his mind still trying to comprehend what actually just happened. Wally turned off his music and ran off for barely linger than a blink, returning with Fenton-made, Bat-approved headphones that let him rest, making him hear a little bit worse than a healthy human teenager would (“I'll fix it” Danny muttered after the first roundnof tests). Speedster also brought him new pencil. Conner grunted because speaking felt like really bad idea despite world being already blessedly muted. They both knew he was grateful.

“You still up to homework?“

He nodded and read the question again, finally able to focus enough to understand it.

As he worked through his question sheet he wondered what he should do about M’gann. Obviously with headphones on he couldn't actually hear her but there was no doubt she'd keep going until someone told her to stop or she collapsed. He knew she wasn’t realy good at taking breaks since she started her intense routine few weeks ago. He heard it. On the other hand, he wasn't really good at this whole people interaction stuff and Wally with his fast mouth and unrestrained cheer wasn't good for this situation either. She was crying, it wouldn’t do any good if either of them messed up.

It was probably time when he should go to Black Canary and snitch. Or call Danny. He seemed to be really helpful all the previous times. M’gann would probably use talking with either of them.

Yeah, he would tell whoever he would meet first. It was probably not good for M’gann to keep going like that.

***

“Excuse me, has this lady appeared here lately? She died about two weeks ago”

Danny was sure that here was where he'd find her. He had all he'd need, her photo name, and photo of her grave, because apparently some ghost found it more helpful. He'd find her here. He was su–

“No, I don’t think anyone like that appeared here lately“

Alright, but it had to be it–

“Never seen her”

Here–

“I don't think she would be around here, have you tried Akhirah?“

“Yes, I did”

There was no way she wasn’t–

“Nope”

He had to find her, she had to be–

“Unfortunately no, have a good luck though“

It wasn't likely but–

“Fuck off punk before I make you”

“I don't want to fight you, I just need to find her, is she here?”

“Does it look like a place for someone with such basic-ass grave?”

Danny carefully didn’t think about the implications of the existence of the grave shaming culture among some ghosts. He carefully didn’t yell that this woman's family (just her son and wasn't that absolutely awful) didn't have money for the funeral so it was funded by whoever was legally obliged to do it. He carefully didn't cry that yet another place turned out to be fluke.

“–Another useful tool hides under the NURSE acronym. Each letter stands for Name, Understand, Respect, Support, Explore. Name means identifying the emotion–”

Level voice of the podcast lady grew more and more frustrating with each following hour he spent listening but he needed to get through it all before he met M’gann again. He couldn't mess it up and he would do it if he continued navigating the situation completely blind. He needed even the littlest amount of actual knowledge he could get.

It didn't meant that the urge to get the earphone out of his ear and chuck it somewhere in the bottomless green wasn't there or wasn't strong. He would risk losing his phone though, he wasn't sure whether hold of his pocket was stronger than the hold of his earphones wire on his phone.

At least it was good halfa-biology-kinda-sucks day (week, to be completely honest). His lungs didn't forget to breathe, his heart kept beating, his core hummed at the correct frequency instead of mimicking his heart, his ectoplasm kept in shape, his digestive system didn't get major failure… His body, no matter what form, didn't actually sabotage him in some time. It didn’t feel particularly well either, but he was going to cling to these silver linings like his sanity depended on them. Maybe it really did.

His finger twitched. Pencil, which he used to cross off potential places where he could probably find the victim, creaked in a slightly concerning manner. He hid it in the same pocket that he put his notebook in mere seconds earlier. It would do him no good if he lost either just because he forgot he was holding it (which happened embarrassingly many times in the last few weeks). He had approximately two and half hours before he arrived at his next-guess location, according to directions from the last helpful (but really annoying) ghost he met, who spent about an hour talking his ear off about how fascinating Ghost Zone geography was and, on the less annoying note, helped him sort all remaining places so he wouldn’t fly back and forth.

There was nothing around him. Ghost Zone, despite how lawless and chaotic it seemed, was fairly similar to space. It had rules that were often just hard to grasp by small human mind, had lots of beauty, once you managed to get over the constant threat of death, and had empty spaces. Tone of empty spaces. Space seemed crowded from the surface but as a nerd Danny was, he knew mostly it was void of anything. Closest star other than the Sun is as 4.25 light years or 24 984 092 897 479 miles away from Earth, closest planet, Mars is 140 000 000 miles away, Sun is as far as 92 955 807 miles and light, the fastest thing in the universe, travels it in eight minutes. Observable space is a sphere with radius of approximately 13,5 billion light years because these distances were so great that even light with its unimaginable speed needed all the time since Universe started, to travel from its source to the Earth. And it still haven't met anything on its way so it could hit humans telescopes or eyes.

Ghost Zone was really similar. Danny knew he was traveling through relatively densely inhabited area, designated Earth Sector where every dead of every race, religion, culture and generation had their own little place to spend their afterlifes. But it was still so empty at times. There were places like the one he was at the moment, where for miles and miles, as far as he could see there was nothing and no one. They were unsettling in a way, making him feel too small and dangerously exposed which was stupid because what made him feel that way was the fact that there was nobody who could make use of this fact. For miles and miles and miles. He tried to fly as fast as he could he was too exhausted to make it really matter and it wasn't sprinting distance anyway. He needed to preserve his strength. He wouldn’t make it to the Mars sector without Speeder anyway especially if Ghost Zone kept the proportions for distances between planets. Dang it, if only he could contact Wulf and get his help with teleportation. But alas, werewolf went into hiding and wasn't likely to just conveniently pop up into existence.

Danny thought he deserved at least one ‘convenient coincidence’ for all the bullshit he's been through lately.

Since he was only being for many, many miles, he let himself drop a few frustrated tears and voice a quiet sob.

First, since they didn't know anything about the woman, he had to go through way too many necrologies, where he searched for everyone with “Loving mother” but not “Beloved grandmother“ and was in right age group to have eight to twelve years old son. There were distressingly many women like this. After almost two weeks of work, he managed to narrow his search down to five ladies. Then he accessed accident reports from Detroit's Police Department. He send himself in catfish email to do it and he still found it… telling, that it actually worked. He shouldn't be able to do it, without too much problem. He should be in enough mess to need Tucker's help and be annoyed he couldn't get it. Team matters were supposed to stay between the Team after all, and he had no way of explaining why he needed to hack anything in the freaking Detroit of all places without bringing up at least some Team matters. And Robin was out because M’gann specifically asked him to not tell Team about it and, again, how else was he supposed to explain that he needed to find this one dead woman who coincidentally died the same day M’gann visited. Anyway, while he committed his minor cyber crimes he saw many things he didn't want to see ever again. Homicide. Rape. Fratricide. Clinically described stories of people dead, injured, traumatized, abused. Many without resolve because of lack of evidence or cop's negligence. Some part of him wondered if he should try solving some of them with the help of ghosts before more people got hurt. It would be a good, heroic thing to do.

And then he realized that he would have to sacrifice his remaining three hours of sleep to pull it off and he was already sacrificing it with this trip because Ghost Zone was empty like Dash’s brain and he wasn't going to make it home to eat breakfast before school probably, but he needed to check it out asap and Speeder was in repair for some reason, that was probably just his parents adding next safety hazard of the Ghost weapon on top of it, and he was tired of it, and tired of the traveling and searching, and he found right victim’s info, and of course it was three days after the funeral and now he needed to find her find her, and he only knew her name, how was he supposed to know which afterlife she’d go to, so he was flying around like a headless chicken and the idea of letting it all go and falling for eternity to the bottom of the Zone was more and more tempting with every second, fighting vehemently his fear of infinity and he had no idea how this lady would even react to him asking her for this favor and if he found her soon and she was mad about her death, he didn't even have an energy to talk her down or fight or anything really and why was it even his responsibility, why had he promised M’gann to keep jer secret, why hadn't he snitched to Black Canary first time he saw her amd podcast lady kept saying smart, useful things that he didn’t even register and he wanted to both crank her voice up so she'd make him feel less alone and drowning and crush his earphones or phone to never hear her again and, and andandand–

He screamed so loud it would break things if there was anything around it wouldn't, it wasn't his wail but he needed to feel powerful at the moment and ruffled his hair for a good thirty seconds, scratching scabs on his scalp in both painful, uncomfortable and somehow soothing manner.

He needed out. He needed out.

He needed to just not be in this situation for a moment, to close his eyes and don't think, he needed someone to help him out because he was drowning.

He needed an out.

He didn’t have an out. He fucking didn’t have and out.

He let himself cry a bit, curled as small as he could, surrounded by an unforgiving vastness of th3 Ghost Zone that seemed to press on him from every direction as if he was under high pressure and stared at despite him being so utterly alone.

“–Explore part aims to understand what our interlocutor finds the most important, what they need and what they fear–”

He dried his tears. He had a task to complete and school to attend right after. Mr. Lancer was getting really annoyed by his English naps.

“Excuse me, have you seen her around?“

“No, sorry”

******

I need you all to understand, to me at least partially the reason why Conner is so pissed in season 1 is because world is so overwhelmingly loud. 'm sure that Cadmus was somewhat soundproof, otherwise Superman or someone would find them much earlier. So now he is out and it's wonderful and so much better than he thought it would be but also he suddenly went from hearing everyone in a building (though pretty big one) to hearing everyone in the city and it's not something you can just brush off. Hence, the headphones. He doesn't wear them all the time though, because he wants to get used to noise.

As for Ghost Zone, for the purpose of this fic it's kinda like crossroads between various afterlives. You can't go to where you're spending rest of your infinity without getting through Ghost Zone and ghosts we meet in dp are either too scared to leave, designated administrators or actually in their afterlives and technically it's not a Ghost Zone anymore. So, in this fic Ghost Zone and nfinite Realms are not synonymous. In this scenario Ghost King (not Danny) isn't boss of all bosses as I've seen in few places, but more like a guy in control of Sues Channel or some other important trade road. They aren't an outright physical danger to your territory and citizens nor are they someone you'd think about often but if they freak out for some reason you're fucked.

AO3 link

Next part

[iitodoiidas]

got a bit of time tonight, so i want to ramble about my boy Iida Tenya, and my own thoughts and feelings about the manga's ending.

this is long, LONG, and rambly and perhaps filled with grammatically incorrect sentences, and i dislike capitalization, so click read more at your peril!!!!

---

as an Iida fan, the ending of the manga is a huge, HUGE let down. i'm actually expecting to be disappointed tbh, with the slow and steady pushing of Iida as a character off to the side to make way for the Midoriya-Bakugou-Todoroki power trio.

and you know, i get it! thematically, they are the inheritors of All Might and his spirit of Heroism. and they deserve the spotlight too, given how much they grew as characters vs the start of the story.

(((

i'm not a big Bakugou fan (tho i find him v funny at times, like how you'd find a rabid racoon funny) , but his character arc is very satisfying for me as a reader. love that even in the end he's still a lil shit ahha! but the way he initiated and funded the whole armor thing for Midoriya means he's still trying to atone for all the shit he did in their past. which! good on him tbh.

Todoroki, my sweet summer child, has been abused physically, and emotionally suffered enough all his life, and i'm so glad he's on the path of healing now, and also away from his dad's shadow too.

Midoriya… hmm, personally, i would have preferred for him to have remained a teacher instead of going back to heroics. it would have been a great call back to the original premise of the story that questions "can a boy with no super power become a hero too?", because the answer will be "yes!" because you know damn well he'll be looked up to by every class he handles. and given his expertise upon analyzing quirks, think of how valuable his battle advice and tactics must be, especially to kids who are just beginning to understand their quirks!

generations of student heroes, learning from his battle/fight strategies, his ideals on heroism, and most importantly his kindness and desire to help people, and then putting those values in practice in the real world. wouldn't that be a great way on how you begin to establish a truly peaceful society?

)))

but… Iida. i think... Iida's been left behind by the story by the end of it.

i almost didn't include this pic bc it offends me so much. like why is my boy banished off to the corner!? HE DESERVES A SPOT ON THAT COUCH TOO GDI!!

bias aside, you cannot tell me that Iida's contribution to story isn't IMMENSE. he is very much essential to Midoriya's growth as a hero and Todoroki's path to healing (and Bakugou's... as a classmate and a non-dear friend lmaoooo) that neither would be possible without Iida's presence and influence.

Iida (and Uraraka) being the first to offer friendship to a very insecure Midoriya, and how important Iida reaching out his hand again to Midoriya was again later on when Midoriya needed help the most; Iida reminding Todoroki of himself when Iida's going down a dark and dangerous path away from his ideals, saving him, and then being saved in turn, because of how well they relate to and understand each other. Iida being the foundation of their entire class, the way he's offered steadfast support to every one of them.

just... sighhhhh...... we didn't even hear his graduation speech as a senior? i like Mirio well enough, and i also get that the war's just happened before they graduated which is a bummer sure and that needs to be addressed, but i feel like we also deserve parting words from OUR student representative. it would have been a nice send off too to the Class A as we know them, by having their class president acknowledge their efforts and hard work.

and then... the timeskip.

---

sighhhhhhh.................

ok i'll get to timeskip Iida later.

i've mentioned before how utterly wasteful i find it that Hori didn't flesh out the Iida family, as a foil against the Todoroki's.

like you have these boys from two families, similarly deeply rooted in the hero culture but with such highly contrasting upbringing. on one hand you have the Todoroki's, led by the no. 2 hero of all of Japan, who bc of ambition, had abused and traumatized all members of his small, nuclear family. and on the other, a multi-generational family of heroes, not high enough in the rankings, but successful enough to be known and respected by most of the population (also they're def super loaded too, like they have a damn BUILDING with their signature hero name!!!)

Tensei's presence in the story was underutilized too. here you have a well-known, well-liked hero who was established to have a team of sidekicks who work well together (as per Vigilantes). how interesting it would have been to have Tensei (and the Iida fam) to appear again in the story just as the hero society is collapsing? this family who made it their identity and business to help and save people as quickly and efficiently as possible? like... how could they have dealt with the fallout of the common people no longer trusting them and being actively hostile against known heroes?

knowing what we do about Tensei though, i doubt this will stop him. he'll for sure still be trying to help out people in need, even if he's already retired and while wheelchair-bound. which i also think is super unfair btw like we have Mirko with her super cool prosthetics, why can't Tensei have robot-assisted legs too??? and that's considering the Iida family who seem to primarily have mobility/tech hybrid based quirks, for sure they must have a team of tech experts specializing on mobility on hand as well????

imagine Tensei calling Tenya up one day saying he's got a surprise for his bb bro! and Tenya comes over all curious and stuff, and then Tensei greets him standing up with prosthetics, with a design that is inspired by Tenya's own leg-Engine quirk. then Tensei goes to explain that even if Tenya keeps saying that Tensei is his hero, Tensei would also like to declare that the new Ingenium is his hero, whom he'd like to honor with the design, and that someone he'd hope to work with in the future, even as a civilian background support. and in a few moments after that sinks in, Tenya will just bawl his eyes out (and then Tensei joins in in a bit bc let's be real these brothers adore each other v much)

and also..... i keep thinking what a reunion it would have been if Stain himself could have witnessed that "altruism" is well and truly alive, not only from the younger, but also from the elder Ingenium, both of whom he'd failed to kill?

siggggghhhhhhhh......

---

anyways, back to Iida Tenya. (i'll use Tenya now to refer to him, since i'll also mention Tensei a lot.)

i mentioned Tensei and the Iida fam first, bc somehow i thought we'd see a glimpse of them again before the manga ends. like an acknowledgement that Tenya had indeed proven himself worthy of the Ingenium name. wishful thinking, considering Inko (main character's mom!!!!!!) wasn't even given the chance to comfort and acknowledge her son (the main character!!!!!) as a hero as to what he has gone through to save their whole society!

anyways, so the last we see of Tenya, he's working with others, touring elementary schools, and spreading awareness and expanding quirk counseling headed by Uraraka. it's a noble pursuit yes, and beneficial too, if it could help kids with misunderstood quirks like Toga. but i can't help but feel Tenya's talents and skills could have been better put elsewhere.

like... rebuilding the Team IdaTen for example.

now, everything from this point on is all wishful thinking on my part, as an Iida Tenya fan who loves his character and story arc, and thinks he deserves a better ending.

Team IdaTen, as per Vigilantes manga, comprises of Sidekicks working under Ingenium, and their credo is (not verbatim, sorry) "to come to people's aid as quickly as possible". And this is a credo that Tenya has taken to heart, and is the core of his heroism. As the inheritor of the Ingenium name, isn't it a logical conclusion to have him step up as the new leader of the team?

in an Iida-led manga, maybe Tenya's challenge for this is how to prove himself as a capable leader amongst his brother's veteran Sidekicks. For sure they already know Tenya as their former leader's baby brother, but how about as a leader? maybe some of them won't be able accept Tenya as a replacement, being too loyal or different from his older brother.

or... is there stil even Team IdaTen? maybe many of them quit when Tensei retired, maybe some got disillusioned and quit too during the collapse of hero society. and for sure many of them also died or got injured during the war.

Tenya's goal could be to search and recruit his own Team IdaTen, a team which specializes as first responders. like if there's any disaster or accident, you'd be sure Team IdaTen is first on the scene!! they'd be helping who they can, and relay info to other responding heroes and other pros.

hmmm..... maybe that can explain Tenya's presence in Uraraka's advocacy to improve the quirk counseling? maybe he's recruiting potential, future Team IdaTen members. he'd be on the look out for speed-based, or mobility-based quirks, but would also be welcoming of other types for sure! the only important thing is their desire to help people and that they agree to the Ingenium credo, which is saving people takes priority out of everything.

and yknow, maybe this is also his way to help curb Vigilantism, which is another problematic issue in a hero society, and help set people on a more lawful path into becoming proper heroes. like how Tensei tried to recruit Koichi after seeing his potential and desire to help without having the means. it would have been a great callback to the values Tensei had inspired on Tenya, which he would then be able to pass on to a new set of heroes/sidekicks he'd lead as a team.

siiighhhhhhh.......

okk i'm running out of steam now. i will just continue being sad over Iida's wasted storylines for the foreseeable future. ( ; ^ ; ) </3

[ladyazurith]

Vil Schoenheit Headcanons

These are some of my headcanon’s for Vil and how I write him/ characterize him.

The woman who gave birth to Vil walked out on both him and his father right after he was born. She and his father were never married, and he was born out of an on-set fling. The woman that is actually VIl's mother, was a makeup artist, who Eric met when Vil was just a baby, and they married, and the woman (I named her Caroline) treated Vil as if he were her son. This is why when he’s asked about who he could have gotten his magic from, he says he doesn’t care. That woman wasn’t really his mother. 

One of the reasons he loves the Fairest Queen and her story so much is because he remembers his mother reading stories about her to him as a small child.  Unfortunately, the woman fell ill when Vil was about 5 years old, and her health declined rapidly and she passed away. This was a very traumatic event for him, that he’s suppressed. 

Most of Vil’s interests lie in his line of work, cosmetics, fashion, acting, etc. But one that he doesn’t talk about much is gardening. Especially cultivating rare and exotic flora that can be used in various potions. 

Vil’s ideas of love and romance are very skewed and jaded because of the fact he grew up in the film industry. With the death of his mother, he lost the one positive example he had in his parents. And was surrounded by people who tended to treat love as leverage for PR and personal gain. This is also why he’s so harsh concerning Cater when he’s been shown to be rather unbothered by other people who are clearly out to use his fame to their advantage. (Azul, Jade, Ace, etc). It’s the romantic angle that ruffles his feathers so much, because of how he’s seen it play out time and again all around him.

He has a terrible sweet tooth, he just has enough willpower to fight it off most days

As shown in Chapter 6, he’s got a very clear personal vs professional side. He’s able to compartmentalize them as separate and distinct. When he talks about Rook’s actions not bothering him at the end of chapter 5 and the start of chapter 6, that’s his professional side talking. On his personal side however I do believe he was hurt, not that Rook voted for RSA, but the fact that he hid his obsession with Neige from him all this time. That I think would feel like a bigger betrayal. (And specifically not that he was a fan of Neige’s but the hiding it bit) 

Vil knows the nonsense that Rook gets up to, stalking Leona and the other beastmen, etc. He turns a blind eye to it because he doesn’t want to lose who he sees as the only real friend he’s ever had. Despite how he might act passively and brush off Rook’s behavior (like in Rook’s portion of the Tsum event when they go to his room) his companionship means more to him than he’s willing to voice. And Yes despite what I said above, I do believe they are great friends. Friends can hurt you sometimes, even if they don’t mean it. People aren’t perfect. 

This is also why I think Jack’s friendship means a lot to Vil, more so than it does to Jack. Jack was the first person who stood up for him and how he was treated. But to Jack, he was just another kid who lived in the neighborhood and hung out and played with him sometimes. 

Leading into, I think part of the reason that Vil has such strong negative feelings toward Neige, isn’t just because Neige was the hero to his villain, but because Neige, despite acting like they’re close friends, never did anything to stop the way he was treated. Yes I know Neige was just a kid, no I don’t really expect him to have truly done something to stop it nor hold him responsible for Vil’s treatment, BUT Vil was also a kid, and I can’t blame him for feeling that way. Kinda like that kid who says they’re your friend, then goes and hangs out with the other kids that bully you. Never registering what the problem is.

We know Vil is a deeply insecure person, especially when it comes to his typecasting as a villain, and I think this extends to his outlook on love and romance, as I stated above he hasn’t had the best examples in his life, but typically the villains don’t get a happily ever after love story, and I think he’d projected that onto himself. Something else he wants but feels he can’t have so he doesn’t try. 

I also think he doesn’t know how to make friends or communicate with people in a casual/social manner. This helps account for how few friends he has. And the one he does is Rook, who basically adopted him and didn’t go away. This is also why I think he can come off as abrasive even when he’s trying to help. Like how he dealt with Epel. 

I also defend his treatment of Epel. I grew up in a very small and isolated town like Epel. I grew up with a lot of backward views because that’s all I was exposed to as a child. In a place where being even slightly different can make you a social pariah, if you step out of line it can be a nightmare. And it takes a lot of stern force to help someone overcome that. Not letting them make excuses. I’m grateful for the people in my life who helped me see differently, my version of Vil essentially, and I was so happy that they showed that Epel appreciates what Vil had done for him. 

I have more but that’s enough for now. 

[mothfables]

tagging @kaite--s, you said you were interested in some of my other wips/fic ideas! there’s more, but i decided to only include those with definite titles

Beetle Hunting for Beedle: Wild looks for a gift for Beedle for his birthday; Wild Autism Moment where he hyperfixates on finding a golden rhino beetle for his friend, going back and forth between the Lakeside Stable and Kakariko until he finally finds what he’s looking for; based off my own gameplay experience where i took several in-game days just hunting beetles

War Stories: Legend finds out just who Ravio fought a war with; intended to be comedic; featuring blackmail, payment in the form of kisses/cuddles/dancing together, and Legend being inordinately gleeful about learning just what went on during the war (there were a lot of antics)

The Sailor and the Smith: Wind + Four bonding; Four needs comfort, which Wind is happy to provide; don’t have much for this yet but i know i wanted to write these two being brothers

Winter Chills: the Chain is dropped into the middle of a frozen wood with no immediate shelter in sight; follows those who are affected the most by the cold as they attempt to keep from freezing solid (Legend, Four, maybe others); ends in comfort so no worries

Legend(ary) Cuddles: cuddles from the Veteran are rare, but all the more treasured for it; Legend isn’t the cuddly type, preferring to let others take that role; however, when he is especially sleepy or someone really needs comfort he’ll let himself get close; he finds it easier to comfort the younger heroes than the older ones but by the Three he’ll try; assorted scenes of Legend doing his best to comfort his brothers; ends with a big cuddle pile in an inn with Legend in the center, warm and sleepy and safe

I’m Not a Child! (I Grew Up Too Fast): inspired by an audio clip (couldn’t find the source for it, but there’s plenty of animatics); Legend was forced to grow up too fast due to starting his adventures so young, and is still affected by it now; featuring Wars + Legend hugs; Legend isn’t sure how to properly cry anymore from pushing everything down for so long; definitely more hurt/comfort than i usually do

[neverchecking]

I offer some cute (and platonic) Wind content:

Obviously since he's a kid, Wind cant do what the other members of the chain do when it comes to spending time with Reader. Its unlikely that he even knows what goes on behind closed doors or secluded areas.

But he still wants Reader's attention so how does he do it? Simple. Sneak by and steal them away while everyone else is competing for their romantic affections.

In a cold area and the adults are fighting over who gets to snuggle with Reader near the fire place? Wind's challenging Reader to a snowball fight or sledding race.

Just arrived at an inn and theres debate on who Reader rooms with? Wind's getting them to catch fireflies in any empty bottles they have.

After all, Reader is probably one of the few people that let Wind be the kid that he is so why not return the favor? Though Reader is older surely they want times where they can have their inner child come out. That's what Wind can do and nobody else can.

And should any of the adults notice and try to protest (cause theyd probably get a bit jealous) all Wind has to do is go "And whats so important that I cant do this one little game with Reader?" knowing the answer will be extremely vague if whoever protests can even think of an answer.

Long story short: Wind is just as sneaky as the other members of the chain and will use the fact that he's a cute kid to his advantage.

THANK YOU FOR FEEDING US ANON

The Wind people are starving on this blog and I'm a little sorry. idk I just love platonic! Yandere! Wind sm and yet I still neglect him <3

Wind can get away with a lot more than the chain can bc Reader probably doesn't see him as part of the chain cult at first. And he's taking full advantage of it. while he is a kid, he isn't stupid. He doesn't know what goes on behind closed door, but it's probably less because he's blind to it and more because he doesn't wanna know. As long as he's getting his share of attention, who cares.

And he's using his age to get it. They can have the romantic affections, he doesn't care, but he's sure as shit using his status as the youngest to take Reader's time.

Oh the adults are fighting? That's cute. Wind already has a whole fort built and the only one allowed is Reader. Sucks for them. Wind for sure sleeps in Reader's lap just to piss off the others. And bc its comfy <3.

Oh, they wanna room with Reader? Reader doesn't need a room if they're outside, sleeping under the stars with Wind!

Idk if I mentioned this here or in my personal writing and I've finally gone delulu, but Wind is an older sibling. And, as an older sibling myself (Eldest daughter syndrome lets goo), to some extent your parents relied/ rely on you. I was my parents trial baby (my parents were teen parents if that clarifies). We learned and grew together. So Wind probably had to learn and grow with Aryll. He had to care for her when Granny could now. He grew up much too fast as both a sibling and when he was made into a hero. So when Reader lets him be the younger one?

He's clawing at the chance. Especially if it means taking away time from the others for time with him.

WIND CALLING THEM OUT AS HE SHOULD- And Reader just going like "No wait, he has a point." And none of the others would dare speak up against Reader

Wind being a chaos gremlin to get what he wants will forever live rent free in my head fofbfbn

[captainqster]

Dawntrail thoughts below. Major spoilers of course

I'll start off by saying that I enjoyed it. Some of the cutscenes were so fun and DT managed to make me cry at the end. The most important thing for me is that the story have an emotional impact on me and this one did. Not as much as SHB or even EW, but that's to be expected given they were the final two expansions in an ongoing story.

ANYWAY I don't intend to rant too much so I'll just make some key points about what I remember (which is never much, I have a terrible memory).

The environments! I'm not one to veer off course during msq to explore the scenery but this time I was doing that constantly. I was in HEAVEN in the desert areas especially, as I live in the Sonoran desert but Thanalan and Ahm Araeng never did much for me. Urqopacha was just beautiful, I could afk there all day. Solution 9 is even more incredible than I'd dared to hope. And Tuliyollal...my goodness.

The worldbuilding. I enjoyed the time spent fleshing out these cultures and the 'why and when' of some of their traditions. Cooking the...what was it called...was fun, I come from a Hispanic family and cooking massive batches of food together was always a big part of get togethers, especially around the holidays (I am made to suffer the tamale assembly line every year). So I liked when you were made to understand the people and why they do what they do and the impact it has on their community bonds.

The duties. Really liked those as well. Can I remember anything? No. Do I have a lingering feeling of "that was new" leftover? Yes.

The NPCs. New cast! Somehow I didn't anticipate the turnaround of both Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja, but I love a reformed cartoon bully and a Golden Child who crumples under the weight of expectation. Koana is incredible, I was iffy about him at first but you could hear the desperation in his voice when Wuk Lamat was kidnapped (fantastic job by the voice actor, sincerely) and from there I just continued to love him more.

For Wuk Lamat specifically she really grated on my nerves for the first few levels. I know the intention of her archetype/character growth, but it felt like some of her frequent complaining was played for comedy and it just fell flat for me. But the moment she said "hey I'm gonna turn around and be better" she really did do that. Asking to hold the WOL's hand and her little "um...do you want to explore with me?" AND WANTING THE WOL TO STAY IN TULIYOLLAL WITH HER god those just hit me right in the heart. She grew on me.

The final zone. I cried. I've seen some complaints about whiplash with the direction DT took from the first to second half, and I kind of get that, but for me it kept things a little fresher. I would have liked to see more payoff in Tural after all the time and energy you spent learning about the different cultures but it is what it is.

I love that SE decided that once you shut down a terminal you will lose the beauty of that area. It really made me hesitate and want to look around more, which just drove home the point of saying goodbye to the Endless. I was teary-eyed leading up to Cahciua's terminal especially. IDK I love my mom and it HURT SO BAD.

The cutscenes: Some of them were such a delight that I was in tears. I don't care if people found it cheesy, I LOVED the train bomb. At first I was disappointed that it wasn't going to be an interactive duty but watching G'raha Tia pull Alisaie back onto the platform just for the WOL to save them both? Jumping off the train? Everything my southwestern heart could want.

And the cowboys. The duels. The accents. I was in love.

Last thing I'll say is I've seen a lot of "do you need to be the hero?" questions/polls/etc. For me it's not about whether you're the hero, I just need to have that rapport with the NPCs and to feel present. So I appreciated the few times we got a bit of that.

Anyway I'm not gonna say anything negative because I just don't feel like it. There were a few things I would have liked to see done better, differently, whatever, but I'm satisfied enough. I'm really looking forward to what comes in the patches.

[nowis-scales]

Hello!! I absolutely adore all your fates headcanons! They’re always perfect for each character, they feel so canon to me 😤 Thank you for sharing :D

Just out of curiosity, do you have any echoes headcanons 👀 There aren't any birthdays in the game so I realized there wasn't an opportunity for your fun character birthday posts, but I figured I'd ask!

Oh my gosh, thank you so much! That’s very kind of you to say!

Hopefully you are able to enjoy some of the Echoes ones I have just as much. As I’m not quite done the game yet, I can’t say that they’re 100% totally and perfectly canon, but nonetheless I hope they satisfy!

Also, quick special thanks to @fayesdiary for agreeing to read these over for me even though I never actually made them do it lol. I still appreciate the willingness!

Now without further ado, the Echoes headcanons:

1. Potentially a pretty popular headcanon but… I definitely feel like Tobin is gay. The only thing is, is that by the start of Echoes, he hadn’t fully come to terms with that yet. Some time around the ages of fourteen to fifteen, he’d probably realized that he was starting to have some… feelings regarding other guys, but repressed it because, well, Gray and Alm both liked girls, and Kliff never really seemed to care. It would be weird for him to be the odd guy out, right? So he told himself he liked girls. As he grew older and began to grow feelings for other men, I think it definitely bloomed into him deciding that okay, he’s bisexual, but he still likes girls, right? Might even like them best, yeah. But by the end of the war, he knows he just can’t keep denying who he is, and finally decides to announce to the world who he is. He’s a little nervous about telling his friends, but they’re very supportive — especially Alm, although he’s a little bit embarrassingly overzealous about it sometimes.

2. When Clive was older and travelling around, he always made a point to bring back souvenirs for Clair. Whenever he got home, she used to always sit down with him and ask for stories about the world that he saw. Of course he’d indulge his beloved little sister, telling her everything he could think of — sometimes even going as far as writing down specific things he thought she’d be interested in while he travelled, so he could tell her later. Then, he’d always end off his stories with the souvenir present just for her. Sometimes it’d be something like a glittery hair pin from a large city, and other times, it would be something as simple as a bag of homemade cookies from a family’s store in a small town. Nonetheless, Clair always loved and treasured them, and looked forward to it every time.

3. Lukas is amazing with little kids. Being a knight, they already tend to flock to him thinking that he’s a cool hero, but his chill demeanour and patience meshes well with them. He’ll listen happily as a little girl tells him stories about the adventures her dolls take, walk with a toddler as they stop to show him every single stick and rock and bug that they find, and he’ll even teach the kids a few basic fighting moves if they ask. I don’t know if I’d say that Lukas is the kind of guy who would necessarily want to have kids, but they do like him and he likes them, so I think it overall just ends up being a very positive, reciprocal relationship.

4. Alm was very prone to getting injured as a child, not because he was clumsy or anything, but because of impulsivity. Gray could say, “Hey, Alm, you should go do this!”, and Alm would just… do it. If he succeeded, it would be funny, but if he didn’t… it often left Gray trying to comfort him while Mycen tended to his wounds. After Alm got stung by an entire nest of bees, eventually Mycen had to lecture the two boys on not doing stuff like that anymore. Occasionally, though, they might still do it — for old time’s sake.

5. If and when Mae and Boey are ever to enter into a drinking contest against each other, there would never be any actual winner. Neither of them would be all that willing to relent until they were like, totally hammered, so they’d just end up having to call a truce. That is, if they even remember that they were having a drinking contest. They could just as easily get so engrossed in having an argument or spirited conversation that they’d forget. Still, no matter what happens, Celica and Genny still have to make sure their stumbling, silly derrières get to bed safely.

6. Faye wasn’t always as intense as she is about Alm in the main game. It got steadily worse over several years. When everyone was little, it just started out as a simple crush. She liked to be around Alm, because he was nice and funny and he always made sure that the other boys included her. However, after the incident with Slayde happened, she became more interested in the idea of Alm as a hero. Soon she fell in love with him as more of an idealized Prince Charming figure, and her obsessiveness towards him just seemed to grow from there. He was perfect in every way and he saved her in her moment of need, and he would always be there if she needed him. Between her original crush being pretty normal and her sense of security now tied to him, she doesn’t quite gather that her actions are kind of creepy.

7. Saber would definitely try to play it off like he’s not, but he’s honestly a little uneasy around wyverns. Something about their beady little eyes… he doesn’t know why, but there’s something about them he doesn’t trust. Not to mention that a mouth full of sharp, scary teeth? No thank you. He’s not afraid to be near one, of course, but he still won’t get really close if he can help it. The wyvern can stay over there and he’ll approach it if he wants to, otherwise, he will not make eye contact. He is also VERY adamant that he is not afraid, to the point of being just a bit overly defensive.

8. Rinea has a really complex relationship with Berkut. Once upon a time, she really was madly in love with his charm and demeanour, but his fascination with war always made her uncomfortable. At first maybe she thought it was a matter of perspectives, and that maybe through discussion, they might be able to achieve better conclusions and solutions. However, as time went on, it became clear that neither of them would change their point of view. War is Berkut’s pride, and the more he immerses himself in it, the less she feels like she can trust him. Every time she tries to tell him how she feels, he shuts her down or ignores her, so she feels like she can’t talk to him about it. It leaves her wondering if she should go through with their engagement after all.

9. Palla, Catria, and Est probably all gave their pegasuses matching nicknames. Think like Tic, Tac, and Toe or Sun, Moon, and Star. Naturally, it was Est’s idea, but her big sisters were happy to indulge her just this once. Like the girls, the pegasi are bonded to one another, so it ended up making sense that their names all match together. The pegasi also have bonds of trust with each different sister. They will obviously prefer theirs, but because of this trust, they will let the other girls ride them if need be. If Palla were to be stranded somewhere without “Sun”, but Catria could get to him, then “Sun” would happily allow her to board so they could handle things. It’s like they’re all family in some way!

10. When Celica and Alm lived together in Ram, they used to have bad pun competitions. Usually at the dinner table. Some of them were really bad. At first they thought that Mycen was just indulging them by not saying anything, letting them have their little moment, but then there was this one night where Alm was stumped on coming up with a retort to something that Celica said… and then, out of the blue, comes the WORST pun you’ve ever heard from Mycen’s mouth. Like the single BIGGEST dad joke. Alm and Celica were shocked into silence for about thirty seconds, until they erupted with laughter. They agreed that nobody else at the table could win that night other than Mycen. They spent the rest of their time together trying to top that one — years later when they’re married, they’re still probably trying.

11. Genny has always been kind of shy, and is grateful that Celica, Mae, and Boey all spend time with her. There was no way she was going to get away from Mae without a little bit of friendship, and of course Celica would want to be kind to her at all times because that’s just Celica, and Boey would feel the need to apologize if Mae ever got overbearing… and then, it was like Genny blinked, and suddenly she had all these friends! She’s still pretty shy around other people — when Celica’s army joins up she mostly hangs around with any of those three people if she can get in there — but she’s definitely pushing herself to do a bit more when it comes to friends. It’ll just take some practice!

12. Leon has superb judgement when it comes to romantic partners. Is it important that your parents approve? Sure. But does your Leon approve? Because if something’s wrong with them, he’s going to be able to tell right away. It’s like his sixth sense. When he initially told Kamui and Valbar of his special talent in the area, they didn’t believe him. Yet, the next time they spent the night in a town during their travels, he identified couples that would break up and who would be the cause. Sure enough, they later left that village only to return later… and quickly discovered that most of the separations had come to pass. Kamui and Valbar were totally floored.

13. Though she insists that she’s never had any lessons, Sonya is quite possibly the best ballroom dancing partner than anyone could ask for. She’s so graceful and gentle, and incredibly patient, that others just can’t help but find her a beautiful presence when watching and a comforting presence when partnered with her. In all truth, it was her sisters who taught her when she was a girl, after reading about romantic tales from storybooks. Dancing alongside them, the two of them guiding her movements so kindly… she tries to do that for other people as well, and give them a dance worth enjoying. After all, the act always fills her with so much warmth. They are some of her most precious memories.

14. Celica is very sentimental, and will keep just about any present she is given. She still has sloppily-made friendship bracelets that Mae made for her, a plush bunny that Faye sewed for her when she was living in Ram, and many of the books that were passed down to her from her teachers at the Novis Monastery where she grew up. Anything you give her she’ll treasure, and it’s very sweet, but it also means she has a hard time getting rid of some things. That flower crown Alm made for her three weeks ago might be wilting and falling apart, but he made it with love! Surely she can’t just throw it away, right? Right? Okay, perhaps it is making a bit of a mess…

15. Mycen, while strict, is the local Grandpapa. He didn’t really ask for it, either, but after settling in Ram, the children seemed to just sort of flock to him as a war hero. It’s how the other kids all ended up befriending Alm, because they were curious about Mycen. He doesn’t mind his status too much when it comes to the kids, but it always feels a bit weird to have the other adult villagers eyeing him in any particular way. He’ll mostly keep his distance from the adults where he can, but he’ll always have time for the kids. Even years into the future after the war is over and they have moved out of the village, he would still welcome them back to see him if they want to come.

[gatheryourships]

So, because @gunslingerorchid asked, here's a post about my self-insert Tav, Rosenna.

-

I’ll be honest I don’t have a whole lot about her fleshed out. And even trying to write this up for you, so much got changed and rewritten a number of times, and even this response is a complete start over from the very long and honestly confused lore bit I wrote.

Basically what I wrote for the fake BG3 intro post I reblogged on here is pretty much all I got, lmao. But I’ll try to give some more info, as much as I got nailed down right now. Maybe some more that’s not so concrete yet either.

Um, so. Rosenna is an only child, born and raised by a farmer and his wife (last name undetermined) in a little hamlet (also name undetermined) located along the Chionthar river a little ways down from Baldur’s Gate.

Right around that little nook maybe, where the red dot is. I still haven’t decided which side of the river it’s on. But around that area. So that’s it’s between the Fields of the Dead and the Woods of Sharp Teeth.

Rose (for short) lived a nice, little life with her parents. Helped her mom with house chores and what not as commoner daughters do. Also helped her dad a little with the farm - probably a bit less common for daughter to do, but eh. She likes helping and only doing house chores drove her crazy. And it’s something different so she was fine with it, despite getting a little dirty sometimes because of it. Also it was spending time with dad, so… That’s nice. xD

From a young age, Rose had been immersed with stories about heroes. Not necessarily intentionally mind you. Just parents telling their kid stories, censored versions of course. And from there, as she grew up, just got into reading stories about heroes herself.

And between having a good, kind, caring heart and just being a feisty, determined woman who only wants to do right she naturally felt an inclination towards such a life.

However… her mother had another plans for her. Not out of ill-will, just normal life plans that a commoner daughter would typically live. Help her mother until she (Rose) found someone to marry, which her parents were starting to push that onto her, except Rose didn’t have much interest in that. (Yet, anyways. Hero thing first, romance later possibly, ya know.)

What Rose did have an interest in was going to the docks and rubbing shoulders with people who came from Baldur’s Gate and even elsewhere afar, wanting to hear real stories of adventures and journeys from real people that they’ve had, especially recently.

Now it’s here where I’m unsure whether to spin it off as how she picked up some sense of handling a sword. One way is that because going to the docks and rubbing shoulders with strangers is obviously a terrible, dangerous thing to do and her father (and mother) become worried for her and so her father (who’s also maybe part of the citizen militia for the little hamlet - no standing army) decides to teach her (in secret/aka behind mom’s back) so she stops trying to go to the docks (and possibly end up kidnapped or worse one day). Fun, nice, gets interaction with her dad. But like, I just realized it’s the same as the other self-insert for another character I like/liked. So, since I’m already doing that plotline with another character, I’ll probably go with the second option then lmao.

The other one was an idea I had before but was unsure about it (then not now) where she does meet someone from the docks. Not a romantic interest, but thankfully a friendly and honorably decent person. He obviously realized that she’s young (20s, since I didn’t mention that before) and a bit starry-eyed, but she means well and was looking for more in her life, more than this little hamlet could give her. He befriended her and indulged her in giving her stories of his travels and interesting little adventures and happenings he found himself in every time he came into town (only ever stopping by, as did anyone else whoever found themselves at the docks there). Eventually, he himself buys her a sword and trains her how to use it.

From there to BG3 events however… One day it’s too much. Rose’s reckless immaturity has become too much for her mother. So Rose and her mother got in an argument. Her mother had not been oblivious to Rose and her love of heroes, but had hoped that Rose would grow out of it as she got older (she didn’t, it only grew stronger). And enough was enough. It was time to be a grown woman, look for a partner, and settle down and become not just a wife but mother herself. To say Rose was unhappy about this would be a completely understatement. After a yelling match with her mother, Rose quickly packed some things (including her stashed away secret sword) and left home. She got on the first ship to Baldur’s Gate and that was that.

For a year, Rose tried her best there. She got jobs. But they weren’t great. Didn’t pay great. By the end of it, things were… pretty bleak, mentally speaking for Rose. (In my playlist, as confused as it is with this summarization of character, I literally have The Parting Glass (Walking Dead version) followed by the instrumental version of I Want to Live from BG3. I think that says plenty.)

The next morning as she’s going about town is when the mindflayers come and she gets unfortunately (or technically speaking, quite fortunately) snatched up. (Only way to become a hero is go on a crazy adventure right? 😉)

[enigmaticfossil]

Something irking me in this fandom is the constant arguments over Link’s age. This series has been my special interest for a good 25 years so I guess I feel like rambling a little.

There are massive discrepancies in the logic of supposed “canon” references. And even Nintendo, for example, through interviews and written word has said that Link was 9, 10 or 12 in OOT (adult link still qualifies as a child in my eyes since his body was aged 7 years, not his mind).

(Small addition, though I’m aware LOZ is fictional and the world is fantasy, Japan has had a law stating the age of adulthood as 20 since 1896, only recently changed to 18 this year. It does beg to question the concept of “adulthood” in this fictional world and how the people of Hyrule see age. Especially with the longevity of many races.)

Or if you look at Wind Waker, where it states in game his character is the age of the legendary hero which, at the time of release, seemed to reference OOT, we assume he’s one of those ages. But both the amiibo & a statement from Nintendo said he was 12 years old.

Okay—so OOT Link is 12? Still fits, since he hasn’t reached his teens. BUT also, the WW timeline takes place after Link defeats Ganondorf in the 7 year time skip—which he appeared to do as an adult between 16-19, as that is what he is legendary for. And he “disappeared” because he went back to his own time so he wasn’t there to stop what happened.

And again, if their timeline is correct, The Adventure of Link takes place 6 years after OOT, chronologically. Nintendo claims he was 16 in that game.

Making the 9/10 year old OOT Link supposedly accurate, despite the WW claims. Especially if we consider Majora’s Mask Link is the same or, at most, year older than his OOT counterpart.

In ALttP Zelda is 16, and since Link is typically “close” to her in age (it has never said the same age) we can assume he’s anywhere between 16-18, even then 16-17 seems more likely. Which says that in the follow up games he’s around that age too, probably aging up a year or two.

And while we can use things like Toon Link’s model to guess he’s the same or similar age in all Toon Link games, making the 12 year old hero predating OOT in Minish Cap, the “on model” solution doesn’t work for the 5-6 year time skip of BOTW-TOTK. In BOTW we can GUESS that Link is close to Zelda’s age, but that can still range from 17–18 years old at least, depending on what Nintendo deems as “close”.

And according to yet ANOTHER source, Twilight Princess Zelda is 20, and based off of an interview, Link is 17…so what does the unwritten “Link and Zelda are always close in age” rule imply?

Interviews, guides, the games and even the Historia conflict over and over again. These are just a handful of examples that I remember and poked around to verify again.

I’m not saying there aren’t canon instances of Link being CLEARLY a child or CLEARLY an adult or adult-adjacent (what Nintendo deems as adult in these games is convoluted sometimes), and those are important factors. But he’s also meant to be an immersion from player to the game.

Nintendo retcons nearly everything they’ve said or done, and theorizing by following one answer or another is fun, and having Zelda gives us a range to often put an age that’s close to accurate for him. It’s even more interesting to dive into these discrepancies that are just going to exist, Nintendo wrote the stories as they went and that’s okay! It’s fun that they’re trying to tie them all together, inconsistencies or not it’s still an amazing story.

Link is a character many of us literally grew up with, saw or ourselves, as we opened whichever game sparked our interest to start our adventures into this crazy series of wonderful, and magical games!

[soul-dwelling]

Any new thoughts about current one piece? To me its just seems like Oda is throwing things at the wall at this point - Oh the elder is actually a monster, oh but Kuma comes, but oh Bonney can control the other robots, but oh the giants come too, but oh now ALL the elders come when just one was supposed to be the "hype" thing.

I guess the problem is that instead of being cool and exciting it just devalues everything - like one elder not being able to do everything leaves room enough for the others in the future, but now all five not really being able to do their job makes the whole concept of turning them from ruthless yet human politicians that do cry when they have to do inhuman acts into generic demon monsters that treat humanity as bugs be kinda not worth it, atleast in my oppinion

I received this ask on March 20, 2024.

I better answer it now, given some non-One Piece spoilers I read that kind of screw up what I'm going to say below.

(My Hero Academia spoilers below; spoilers for Justice League Unlimited below; spoilers about One Piece throughout.)

One of the inadvertent advantages of enjoying One Piece, while not being as close to the series and not remembering all details from it, is that these kinds of details bother me less compared to series I have a lot more familiarity with. 

For those reasons, revealing that Saturn has a giant monstrous Devil Fruit ability didn’t bother me. If anything, I can enjoy the moment for the pure shock as well as, with reflection, what that may reveal: the reason Saturn has been in power this long is not just due to experience and intelligence but also a powerful Devil Fruit ability. 

But as you say, when thinking about it, it does lead to disappointment--maybe in different ways than what you describe. What I mean is, okay, sure, Saturn now shows he has this giant terrifying power…and we can assume Luffy will beat him, because Luffy. At best Saturn’s power means he’ll overwhelm other characters first, which could cause irreversible harm or at least long-lasting harm. 

As for the arrival of the other Elders and then showing off their powerful abilities: yeah, that is rushing things more than I think the story needed--that could have been saved for a future story. At best, it makes sense: the Elders are now just that desperate that they are going to do overkill to make sure to stop this problem right now. The problem is that, even if it makes sense for the characters, it does sap some anticipation in the story. As you said, “one elder not being able to do everything leaves room enough for the others in the future,” but now we got to rush everything to get to that reveal already. 

As for the Elders coming across as less human--I’m ambivalent. To complain about a different series, it’s like how I feel about My Hero Academia and All For One. 

On the one hand, yay, we made the fascist into a pathetic immature man-child and wannabe supervillain, showing that at the end of the day every fascist is nothing more than a bully who never grew up. 

On the other hand, it means the way of defeating All For One will always be unsatisfying, not only because in our real lives we (for good reasons) don’t handle fascists and bullies that way and hence those fascists and bullies persist (making My Hero Academia a bothersome moment of escapist fantasies that inadvertently suggests the wrong way to handle fascists and bullies and denies us a real-world example how to address them). 

Plus, by making All For One so pathetic, it leaves you thinking, “Why didn’t someone just do this to him before?” The manga at least does give an answer: in a society where no one extended a hand to help Tenko, why would you expect anyone to stand up to stop All For One? Then again, someone did stand up to All For One--a lot of someones, all the holders of One For All--and All For One’s long-term planning and massive power makes their sacrifices, especially All Might’s and Nana’s, seem pointless, and it requires the story to bend over backwards to act like All For One is so smart when, even within the story and with the suspension of disbelief, there is no way he could get every last bit of this stuff correct (up until he let his ego toying with Endeavor, Hawks, All Might, Stain, and Bakugo get in the way of just finishing the job).

What does all of my ranting about All For One have to do with the Elders? My point is, do you want to represent fascists as humans and hence they have flaws, emotions, maybe even sympathetic qualities, or for political motivation do you want to dehumanize fascists and portray them as just monsters? Each approach has its advantage--but neither version on its own is usually satisfying on its own. Probably the best iteration we got was Eiling / the Shaggy Man in Justice League Unlimited, someone who shows “honorable” qualities and perhaps some sympathetic ones, but who is still a raging fascist and, by his transformation, becomes monstrous on the outside and, as he concludes, “becomes what [he] hate[s],” another overpowered freak who hurts bystanders in a foolhardy quest against an equally powerful opponent. 

Maybe Oda will do that with the Elders what Justice League Unlimited did with Eiling--but then we don’t get the satisfaction of seeing them get their asses kicked. Maybe Oda will just have them get their asses kicked--but will we also get a motivation representation of how we should be handling fascists, by holding them accountable by law and, through their punishment, reassert how such threats will be stopped and make an example of them so that no one ever abuses power like that again? 

I mean, fascists do treat people like bugs. Even if they cry, that doesn’t suddenly change the awful things they have done (I’m not about to let someone weaponize their tears--going back to All For One again, cry harder over killing your brother, AFO). But, yeah, as storytelling, it is less engaging when the villain is just a straight-up fascist, because just about nothing they do is going to make you believe their emotions are anything more than an extension of their work to maintain their unsanctioned power over others. Unless you’re Odo from Deep Space Nine, it’s hard to write a fascist where you get how they eventually committed the injustices they did but can cheer on their redemption and understand their desires. 

As for the other details: 

Kuma showing up makes narrative sense, so that’s unavoidable. 

Bonney controlling robots… I admit, I’m ignorant as to a lot about Bonney and her power set, so I don’t have an opinion on this. 

The giants showing up… That is too awesome for me to worry about it: this is absolute fanservice, paying off the long wait. As I said, maybe if I was closer to One Piece then I would get annoyed; at the distance I have from the story, this is a feel-good moment of getting to see the giants return.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s11e8 just my imagination (w. jenny klein)

this uh, sounds interesting. oh, i've scrolled past gifs of this guy, try to skip by anything with an actor i don't recognize nowadays

DEAN Dude. Who you talking to? SAM Him? DEAN Are you having a stroke? Do you smell toast?

the sleepy face and morning voice but asking the questions while also making that face, very cute. 10/10 (wanna hear about how smelling burning isn't actually a classic symptom of stroke)

i, too, was taken aback by the marshmallows nachos, dean.

DEAN Come on?? Are you kiddi… Look… This… mother… You and me, library, right now. Come on!

dad's pissed

SAM Dean, when I was nine years old, you know what I wanted more than anything? Marshmallow nachos. DEAN Yeah, you were a weird-ass kid.

marshmallow nachos plot device

SAM In Romanian lore, Zanna are creatures who guide and protect lost children. Zanna intentionally appear as figments of a child’s imagination, allowing the child to move on with confidence once guidance is no longer necessary. Maybe Sully’s telling the truth. DEAN Okay. Say Bozo is legit. Right? Which, you know – hello crazytown, but okay. How is this our problem?

don't be an asshole, dean

DEAN Good. The Bert and Ernie pretext. Awesome.

if the shoe fits...

DEAN You know, this whole imaginary friend thing was dumb then and it’s dumb now. SAM Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear. DEAN You didn’t think to tell me he was real? SAM Well, Dean, I didn’t think he WAS. You saw the lore book too, I mean, maybe when I was nine years old I thought he was real, but I grew up. Or grew out of it. Whatever. I left it.

don't particularly enjoy when they do this. dean's an ass, sam gets hurt and we feel sad for him.

DEAN And what did you need Drop Dead Fred for in the first place? SAM I was kind of a lonely kid, Dean. DEAN You weren’t lonely. You had me!

preemptively getting upset. you had me, except when you were old enough (according to john winchester) to stay for who knows how long alone. you know, at that big age of 9 years old. episode makes it seem like we're supposed to be upset with dean but this is all dad. and how exactly did john take dean hunting when he was younger than 9, where was sam. bobby? pastor jim? let me tell you the logistics get more preposterous the more you think about it, and with every new little backstory they decide to toss in

comedy music and all, at least the visual gag was compelling what with the sparkly blood all over her hands and face

DEAN The whole family. Yeah, just get the whole gang in there… You know, the family that showers together… Kay.

dean.

combining this cracky murder mystery story with more groundwork of how sad and alone sam was as a kid, and how he spent so much of his life wanting to run away, blergh. meanwhile we see dean at that group home as a kid and considering staying, but seeing sam makes him decide to go home with them. thinking about it too much and making myself upset! great!

you can't make me cry and then have an extended air guitar demo by bleeding imaginary friend man.

slight reassurance that it's not that sam wants to run away from them, but that he just doesn't want to be left alone. which is a totally logical and understandable - especially for a fucking 9 year old - way to feel.

SULLY Yeah, it was really bad. You know, I’m not gonna lie to ya – when you went off to hunt, I considered that one of my biggest failures. It just seemed so clear to me that you wanted something else. But – I was wrong. And it all worked out, didn’t it? SAM I don’t know about that.

SULLY Come on. You’re a hero. Sam, you saved the world. I keep track of my kids. And you did really good, Sam.

real nice for someone to actually call out what sam did right

SAM Well… Not all good. There was some bad. And some really bad. Sully – I screwed up. I let something out into the world that was… SULLY You mean the Darkness? That’s what the others are calling it, I’ve just heard rumors. SAM I’m gonna fix it. I am. Dean and I, we’re – we’re gonna fix it. It’s just…

sam is being so vulnerable and earnest, hurts. good job, padalecki

SAM There’s this Cage in hell, and it’s where they keep Lucifer. And I’ve been in it, and it’s… And I think God wants me to go back. SULLY Ever think… about running away anymore? SAM I did. Um, I mean, I have. But not in a while. Not anymore.

so i'm not sure what direction that's to be taken. is running away going to the cage (surely not) then running away from the perceived responsibility of needing to do it? but we can't counsel sam on that without knowing for sure who's telling him this. because i mean sam has mentioned lucifer like, 4 times this episode. did you consider sam, my love, that lucifer is involved in the messages

DEAN Trust me. Revenge? Ain’t gonna make you feel better. Listen, I’ve seen more than my share of monsters. And I mean REAL monsters, bad. These guys? These are Sesame Street Mother Teresas. But when I wasn’t there for my little brother, Sully was.

will always take when dean admits he was wrong and didn't see how him not being around affected sam, but the setup went a little too hard (imo) on dean being a clueless jerk. first appearance of the mushy music i think in s11.

SAM Sully. One thing I’ve learned – heroes aren’t perfect. SULLY Mm. Sometimes they’re scared. But that just means the thing that they’re facing, it’s super important. And nobody else is gonna go for it, because nobody else has got the balls.

damnit sully.

SAM Dean, we need to seriously discuss me going to the Cage. DEAN Okay. Not happening. Good talk. – Sam, even if these visions are real… SAM Yeah. It’s Lucifer? And me? In the Cage? I know. But this – this lump in my throat… It’s not an excuse. Not anymore. DEAN We’ll find another way. Okay? There’s always another way. SAM Okay. Then tell me – what is the other way?

did they not have this conversation back in whatever, first trip to the cage? s5? when they had 99% more information than they do right now. i cannot believe. I CANNOT BELIEVE we're making decisions without knowing FOR SURE who the visions are coming from. and why isn't sam more suspicious they're from lucifer? ok, so he's all traumatized by lucifer and thinking with his emotions and fear and feeling like he deserves the punishment. but hell, DEAN. since he's all dubious. how about a position that's reasonable what with sam's and their history, that the visions are from someone - but if not god, then WHO

[sokkas-first-fangirl]

In the context of your story, how does the Legend of Zelda timeline work?

I basically made my own timeline! Took parts of canon, melded parts together and made up my own stuff

My notes are below the cut. My notes don't cover every single incarnation of Link and Zelda from the franchise, just the ones that will be mentioned most frequently in Luminous (and especially its sequel, Iridescent), and the ones with the biggest changes to the plot (and any OCs)

Trigger warning for discussion of grooming and sexual harassment in Hyrule Warriors' section

Hylia and First: As per Hyrule Historia, Link was imprisoned on false charges of treason. The lord of the land feared his growing popularity and power, and had him locked away. In prison, Link continually had visions of Demise’s rise and he feared he had gone mad.

He was freed after 4 years when the lord died. Demise’s armies had already swept across the country, destroying almost everything. The people begged for Link’s freedom, but were denied until the lord was dead.

While Link was recovering, Hylia arrived in the city, the last stronghold against Demise. Link only met with her because he could not refuse. He was presented to the people in his old clothes, praised as their hero, chosen by Hylia herself. Link was very closed off and icy at first, not just with Hylia, but with everyone other than his friends. He was torn between vengeance and his genuine selfless nature. His relationship with Hylia was a slow-burn and never had the chance to be fully realised.

Hylia, although she loved her people, had never walked among mortals before and found she did not always understand them. She was fascinated by Link; he grew to be much more than a piece in her plans, but she couldn’t explain what she felt.

Fi: “Your Grace, your heart is going at twice the normal rate, are you well?” Hylia: “I wasn’t staring at Link!”  Fi: “…That is not what I asked.”

Hylia and Link slowly grow closer and there’s definitely romantic tension there. They frequently spend time together, especially in Link’s favourite meadow, and Hylia has taken him flying on her Loftwing. 

Link dies moments after sending Skyloft to the sky, already mortally wounded. Hylia succeeds in sealing Demise away, but is slowly dying as well. She immediately goes in search of Link and finds his body. She breaks down, begging his forgiveness, and expresses her desire to be equals; to stand before him as a mortal woman and to see Link happy and free. 

Hylia buries Link in his favourite meadow and brings Fi to Skyloft, hiding her away. Barely clinging to life, she refuses her sisters’ calls to return to the Sacred Realm and goes to Link’s grave. There, she sheds her divinity and disappears in a shower of golden sparks. Centuries later, she is reborn as the first Zelda and Link is reborn as another child named Link, her very best friend.

Skyward Sword: No real changes. However, Link, Zelda and Groose do not establish the Kingdom of Hyrule. They establish settlements and alliances, and grant the Surface its new name of Hyrule. Link, Zelda and Groose are all buried in the Forgotten Temple.

Sonia and Rauru: Spoilers, shh! 

The First Great Calamity: A thousand years after Ganon was sealed away, the first signs of his return as Calamity Ganon began to appear. Knowledge of the Demon King has not yet been lost, though it has become fractured.

Crown Princess Zelda was joined by the very last pure-blooded Zonai, a young warrior named Illios, who was chosen by the Master Sword a year before the Calamity returned; he was the last member of the team to be found.

Together with the pilots of the Divine Beasts, they sealed the Calamity. Illios was granted the title “Link” in honour of the previous two Chosen Heroes. It changed from a title to a nickname to his preferred name over time. 

Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask: When he’s sent back in time, Link and Zelda succeed in foiling Ganon’s plans before they can begin. However, Navi soon disappears, leaving without warning. 

Still heavily traumatised by his quest, Link goes in search of Navi and ends up in the mysterious land of Termina. When this new quest is done, Skull Kid, Tattl and Tael accompany Link back to Hyrule. 

Navi’s fate remains a mystery. Link grows up to marry Malon, and Zelda remains his best friend. When Link, in his old age, decides to hide Fi within Korok Forest, Skull Kid immediately volunteers to watch over her. 

Twilight Princess: No major changes. Takes place two hundred years after OoT/MM. However, it is noted that tales of Hyrule’s founding have become mere fairytales and the First Great Calamity is fast becoming a mere myth too. Knowledge of the Divine Beasts and Guardians is practically nonexistent; it’s believed the princess and hero fought alone. History is being lost, along with the knowledge Hyrule needs to protect itself in the future.

Link/Time’s spirit is not quite as harsh and angry, though he is paranoid about Link’s/Twilight’s safety. He constantly urges his descendant to be as careful as possible and pushes him to be the very best he can be.

Unknown Princess and Hero: A close advisor of the queen, while helping to explore below Hyrule Castle, eventually found the Imprisoning Chamber. The queen was killed and the advisor was possessed by a shard of Ganon’s malice. He became little more than a rage-filled puppet, with ever-growing magical powers.

King Daphnes did what he could to protect the princess, including hiding and/or destroying knowledge of the Triforce from Ganondorf. Rauru’s seal was greatly damaged during this time. King Daphnes urged his daughter and her dearest friend (unknown to all, the destined hero that never got to be) to flee as far as they could, before the goddesses released the Great Flood. 

Wind Waker: No changes to the overall plot or character arcs. Almost all prior knowledge from before the Great Flood has been lost. The stories that remain tend to contradict themselves, and no one’s entirely sure of the true history of Hyrule anymore. More information will be uncovered when Hyrule is restored but, until then, the past is shrouded in mystery and is never fully recovered.

This Link was not Chosen, but took up the mantle of his own free will, determined to save his sister (and, later, to protect Tetra too.) The Triforce of Courage itself eventually chose him and accepted him as its wielder. 

Hyrule Warriors: Vastly different. Cia and Lana are not immortal Guardians, but mortal sorceresses, priestesses, and advisors to the Queen of Hyrule, and Princess Zelda. They are twins with the gift of prophecy, time magic, and magic over ice and fire. Their sacred duty was to guard the women of the royal family; they were to advise them, warn of any threats and provide any help needed. They had the highest positions on the queen's council.

Cia was always the more doubtful twin, never quite content with her station in life. She wanted to cease being a priestess and get married, she wanted to be a leader, not an advisor. But with Hylia herself commanding her to her station, how could she refuse? She felt trapped (and wasn’t entirely wrong on that point.) After a decade in royal service, she began to hear Ganon’s voice in her dreams. He played on her loneliness, promising her all manner of rewards if she would aid him and destroy the royal family. He swore she would have the life she wanted, free to love who she wanted, a leader in her own right, free to study any magic she wanted and give orders instead of following them. Maybe one day she could even be a queen...Her dreams for her ideal life were slowly twisted into obsessions. Love was replaced with lust and possession. Ambition was replaced with sheer greed and obsession with power.

As the Queen of Hyrule commanded, Cia and Lana began to try to locate Hylia’s Chosen Hero, should he have been reborn again. The queen wanted the hero to be Zelda’s husband, believing he would be the most ideal candidate for Zelda's hand. Cia found him first; a young knight trainee, only fifteen years old, named Helenus Link Altun. Preferring to go by his middle name, Link, there have already been whispers of his combat skills and his incredible beauty. Indeed, he’s easily the most strikingly beautiful person Cia has ever beheld. Cia immediately decides she wants him for her own, instead of "giving" him to the royals. 

Using magic granted to her by Ganon’s “leaking” powers, Cia blocked Lana from finding Link. Any visions her twin had of the Hero end up murky and confusing. They confirmed to the queen that Hylia's Chosen existed, but they don’t know who he is, or where he is. Lana sensed a rising darkness that she believed Princess Zelda will have to face with Hylia's Chosen, but couldn't See more than that.

Cia quickly takes to spying on Link, then begins seeking him out face to face. As time passes, she spends more and more time with him, slowly trying to win him to her side. The day of his sixteenth birthday, she formally asks to court him. Link is at first flattered by the attention (Cia always claims he’s so mature for his age, so clever, so talented) but slowly starts to grow unnerved when his friends point out the age and power gap (Cia is in her early 30s, Link is barely 16. Cia is a priestess and queen’s advisor, Link is still a trainee knight.) He begins to realise how often she doesn’t listen when he says no, how she insults his friends. She presses for physical intimacy much more than he’s comfortable with and is already beginning to hint at marriage. 

With Ganon whispering in her ear, Cia becomes more and more obsessed with power. Although she cannot find the Imprisoning Chamber, she can hear him. A part of her begins to wonder if she really must free him; won't he just relegate her to second place again? But no, surely not! He's her truest friend...Isn't he?

She turns to dark magic, desperate to keep Link to herself and grow her powers and station, not wanting to rely solely on "her friend." The day Princess Zelda and Link finally meet, Cia attacks with an army of summoned monsters. Zelda’s mother and most of her council are killed, Lana is badly injured. Link is injured but awakens the Triforce of Courage while protecting Impa. Cia’s attempt at taking him with her fails.

As the survivors of Hyrule Castle regroup and try to understand what’s happened and why, Cia sweeps across Hyrule, recruiting those with a grudge against the Hyrulean Royal Family, including Volga and the Yiga Clan. 

There are no gates to other worlds and other times opened. It is civil war within Hyrule. Cia demands that Link be handed over to her, as her “rightful husband.” Zelda is not willing to place her new friend in danger, even if he didn’t have the Triforce of Courage. With the Triforce added into the mix, no one is willing to risk it falling into Cia’s control. 

With Cia far away and no longer fogging Lana’s Sight, Lana begins to sense darkness deep underneath Hyrule Castle. As the war continues, Lana investigates and feels the “source” is incredibly powerful but contained, and somewhere deep, deep underground. The magic holding it back feels lighter and weirdly similar to Zelda's magic, but also unique in its own right.

Around this time, Cia’s forces kidnap Link from the battlefield. Link is Cia’s captive for a month. It’s said the only person who ever truly knows what happened to him during captivity is Zelda. He never told anyone else. Link is rescued by Impa and her soldiers. 

With Zelda and Impa’s help, Link locates and claims the Master Sword. He feels much safer once he has it, and that relief can get to his head. As he tries to overcome his trauma, he becomes more temperamental and impatient. Healing is a slow process with many ups and downs. Meanwhile, Cia practices with shadow magic, creating dark doubles of her enemies to use against them on the field. It’s said she created copies of Zelda just to destroy them in various tortuous ways, and copies of Link just to look at them and touch them. 

Link is referred to as “Helena de Ilion,” by defectors and gossips, in regards to his beauty. 

Lana, Zelda, Impa and Link work together to create a seal that covers the entire underground of Hyrule Castle. Anything deeper than the escape tunnels becomes impossible for anyone to enter, including them. Without Ganon’s voice, Cia feels more alone than ever and spirals faster. She feels abandoned by her “true love” and still conflicted about "her friend." Would he have pushed her aside or let her be Queen of Hyrule? He said destroying the royals would be doing him a favour, so how did he intend to repay Cia? Was he ever going to?

In the end, Cia is killed by Link and Zelda working together. Link lures her into a trap and Zelda kills her personally.

Link and Zelda eventually marry, years after the war. They have four children together. Right to the end of his life, Link still sometimes wonders if the whole situation was his fault. 

Princess Maryah and Conn: Over 1,000 years after Hyrule Warriors. Enemies to friends to found family. Princess Maryah was the youngest princess, the spoiled baby of the family. However, signs of Calamity Ganon’s return grew and her sisters were all killed, leaving just Maryah and her father. 

The sword called out to a young boy named Conn, a rancher. Four years Maryah’s junior, he has no problem calling out her spoiled and vain attitude. Slowly, she grows to care for him, viewing him as a younger sibling. Perhaps the first person she wants to protect with all her heart.

To everyone’s surprise, the Calamity never arrives. (Just as well, as they never even found the Divine Beasts, just a few hundred Guardians.) However, Maryah faces assassination attempts from the Yiga Clan and, when she’s crowned, an exiled noblewoman tries to rise up in rebellion. All attempts to kill Maryah are foiled by Conn. All attempts to kill Conn are, likewise, stopped by Maryah. 

The greatest threat the duo face is a poisoning attempt on Conn. As the Chosen Hero, he has some immunity to poisons. Instead of killing him, the poison places him in a coma. Soon, other courtiers and servants are poisoned. Maryah sets off in search of a cure, joined by Impa. Her council lead an investigation into the poisoner’s identity.

Maryah and Impa find the cure after successfully identifying the poison. Maryah’s council identify the poisoner: a spurned suitor who was desperate to be King, and never believed Maryah and Conn weren’t romantic. After his (eventual and furious) confession, he’s publicly executed. Maryah reigns as queen well into her 80s, with Conn acting as a beloved uncle to her children. 

Breath of the Wild: 700 years after Maryah and Conn. Link and Zelda’s relationship starts out as one-sided hatred, but grows into an incredibly close and protective friendship. Both were (and still are) willing to die for each other. 

With Link being a Zora Prince, they are considered to be on more equal standing. Zelda delighted in teasing Link about Mipha. 

Tears of the Kingdom: Spoilers, shh!

Note: The various "Ganondorf's" we see across time are always either evil men in their own right or "infected" by pieces of the Demon King's magic. Some are truly named Ganondorf. Some, like various Heroes, are given that name as a sort of title/nickname. It is considered a highly insulting title, though the history of why and the name's origins has been long lost.

[magnoliamyrrh]

Paul is a fucked up manchild who berates his mom the second he gets supernatural powers and sees himself as better than everyone. That’s only if you can get past herbert’s awful writing where his villains gotta be fat and gay and he repeats these facts every single time they switch povs as if the audience has somehow forgotten (seriously, highlight every time herbert mentions the villain is fat. It’s so common it’s just boring stale writing). Paul in dune is the worst kinda self insert fanfic. Dune is such a shitty book girl how do you enjoy it

ohh he definetely is a man child; i feel bad for him in like the first half of the first book mainly bc hes a teenager, hes 15, like, a teenager teenager not an almost adult 17-18. he may come from a powerful family but hes just thrust into very messed up circumstances, more or less tortured to prove hes human, has to grapple with being some sort of raised-to-be-exceptional genetic experiment and being used in some weird intergalactic lie and war, and incredible amount of historical pressure and other things. like, at 15, hes more kid than adult dealing w this. but also, while being 15, he is smart, and charming to others, and he quickly rises to great infleunce and is good at manipulation. and yea the moment he gets some more power he turns it even against his own mother, against himself, and against others and the longer they go on the more insufferbale he becomes; what ground of expeptionalism in him existed gets raised tenfold -hes an inherently flaued character by all means who even when he tries he fucked up badly many times. i mean like hell, among all the shit he ends up doing, even just that thing that he himself didnt have the power to put shit in order, so he ends up forcing it on his son, like how he was shoved into a bunch of things when he was younger

and yes lol i am well aware of the villan thing. i do get that in this context the "fat" thing and even the gay pedo thing is moreso an allegory for greed and the keeping of and hoarding of precious things (im Not saying fat ppl are like this mind u, im not saying its good either, but in many cultures fat has or is indeed revered as a sign of wealth; and this is used to contrast to those who dont have, and i reckon this is where it comes from in the story). but yes, i do think thats uhh i hate this word problamatic. the fat thing, the gay thing, the pedo thing. definetely part of an ongoing issue of attaching several of those characteristics to villans, and also of making villans generally ugly, thus associsting the two together. like yup, its definitely not good

idk tho, i think. dune was written in the 1960s by a white dude. like, it doesnt suprise me that that stuff is in there. ive read plenty of things that have parts of them that are problamatic or outdated or offensive and it just,, is what it is. like idk i can enjoy something while also being aware and critical of the parts of it that are fucked up - i think if i wasnt able to, i wouldnt be able to like,,,, explore a lot of the literature that exists out there, especially older literature, no matter from where its from in the world or if its written by men or women. most of it or most authors at least have written some weird shit or held some weird shit. idk just a stupid parallel off the top of my head i love the 1001 nights stories - i grew up with them - but theyre filled to the brim with weird shit and problamatic things and sexism and racism and slavery and whatever else, like absolutely filled - to an extend they reflect the times. i still, however, enjoy reading them tho

i also dont know how much paul is a self insert - maybe. ive never read the dude as sympathetic or a sympathetic anti-hero much. i did find the idea that out of this all-female order theyd have the idea that a male would be the one w the greatest power and some sort of prophesied force of power weird, sooo idk maybe. but idk, if its a self insert i rlyyy dont think its supoosed to be a flattering one much. the dude just gets worse and worse as the books progress, and he ends up after fucking up so much and being too weak to fix it, exiled, alone, spending his last yesrs wondering in loneliness and deep regret. so, i dont think its shown that his superiority complex or anything else brought him something good; it just lead to tragedy

mostly i like the series for the intricacy of its plot and the way its introduced, the messages it tries to send even if it at times fails or does so badly. like yea, its not perfect, but it is trying to ssy something about foreign meddeling and co-opting of religions and cultures and desperste situstions, or colonialism and capitalism, of exploitation, greed, power, etc. and also in very large part its lore, its scifi elements, its weird out there mysticism, and all the parts of it that are very, very weird. i am fascinsted by the world that this dude created. im a really big fan of magical realism and to an extent the books are like this - because they start more normal and over time become more and more mystical and fantastical and weird and less grounded as more concepts, creatures, and affects of the spice are introduced. i also do like that the main character isnt an actual hero. all this talk of prophecy and whatever, but its all bad, and it goes so fucking bad. its to an extent a subversion of classical fantasy tropes, combined with space scifi.... and yes. there are times when the writing isnt great, or when its outdated, or when it hammers things again and again (like the villan thing). i also think in many places the writing is intriguing, careful, and calls for attention and contemplation of what is happening

and idk apart from something like 1001 nights..... to an extend, i feel abt dune as i feel about game of thrones. i rly love those books. yes theyre writing by an old white man. yes there are parts of them (less than the show id say) which are problamatic and outdated and i could go on a whole list about that. but, i still enjoy them. i think the world grrm martin created is insanely insanelyyy complex, beautiful, fascinating, the lore is some of the deepest and most intriguing ive ever seen, and the character writing - the sheer complexity of the characters, the willingness to show how fucked up humans are and how often things are so stupidly complicated, the way he can get us to love even insufferable characters, the way there are no perfect good heros, the broader anti-war and even climate change message, the harsh and grounded realism of much of the series,,, the way theyre also kinda like magic realism, bc over the books magic keeps coming back more and more, the world becomes more full of mystic and mystery and prophecies which arent 100% true, the way the books are largely a subversion of fantasy tropes. like, yea. theyve got issues, grrm martins writings got issues. but i think theyre brilliant in many ways at the same time 🤷‍♀️

so i guess. yea. im definitely not saying the books dont have issues or theyre perfect or theyre the peak of literature. but im still able to enjoy parts of them

[sapphic-scylla]

Ok, this story is a 3-parter. Petra’s story is the anchor for my entire world that I’ve built and she is sewn directly into my heart so I wanted to tell her story in as much detail as I could. I love all of my OC’s, but Petra is my favorite and I hope you love reading her story as much as I do writing it. @ebevkisk

CW: Grief, Arrest, Mentions of Death and Madness, Dark Sequences

Angel of Blood Part 1

Before every story I’ve told for our heroes, there was a lie. Multanith’s lie was an execution of an entire race on the continent of Cor Varias itself. A war crime that shook the world of Luzitaria. Governments shifted and the gods themselves unleashed a deep wrath that would shape the continent into what it was today. What a lot of people don’t know is that this event shifted the fates of an otherwise normal Aasimar into the world’s most sought after creature and the world’s most dangerous individual, but in order to tell her story, we have to tell it from the very beginning.

On the other side of the world was the continent of Pelo Avias. Pelo Avias was known as the Realm of Wings as most of the continent was constantly floating above the Guridan Ocean. Unlike the Floating Cities of Steel and Titanium, Pelo Avias was built atop several magic infused landmasses. The people that lived there were a mixing pot of people all led by a magocracy of the world’s most prolific arcane practitioners. All of them were geared towards the betterment of the continent and it was thriving.

Living deep within the streets of Pelo Avias was a young boy. This 9-year-old child lived with two wizards who kept him safe and took care of him while he grew. He had fiery red hair, lavender eyes, and This boy had divine blood that ran through his veins, but it felt dark and malevolent somehow. This boy also struggled with a problem. He didn’t like the idea that he was born as a boy, though he’d never voiced it to his guardians before.

His guardians attempted to give this child a normal life because they knew they couldn’t protect him from his destiny for much longer and especially with how the Disparity had started to shake the world, the wizards couldn’t how much longer they could keep their secret under the covers.

This child was a prodigy. Magic of all kinds came to them so naturally as if the world was attuned to their presence. Arcane and divine symbols flared and even the child’s own writing sprang into vibrant shades of color as they wrote. The wizards were in awe of how much this child knew.

One day, the wizards spoke to the child and said “We fear something will try to take you from us, so we’re going to travel somewhere far away, ok? If there is anything we can do to make you happier, we would do it.”

The child looked up at their parents and said “Would it be ok if I was a girl instead?”

They looked at each other and said “Oh, of course, hun. We’ll do this spell really quick and then we need to pack our things.” With a quick wave of her hand, Petra became her true self. Beaming, Petra ran off to pack her things.

As Petra was finishing finding all of her books, a knock came to the door. One of her mothers came to Petra with panic in her eyes and helped her hide. Petra used a spell to cast Clairvoyance to watch over her other parent to see what was going on.

The other wizard went to the door. As she opened it, an imposing figure stood at the door. This being, even through the spell, radiated a deeply and uncomfortably powerful energy. Almost overpowering and yet familiar.

“Where is my child?” He said.

The wizard dusted herself off. “We told you years ago, you can’t see her. You had your chance. You and her mother treated her with vile abandon and you are not welcome in this home.”

The being’s eyes flared blood red. “You do not get to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own blood. I am a god, you insignificant creature. Tell me where she is or I will take matters into my own hands.”

The wizard stood her ground defiantly without a word.

“Fine. I’m the god of tyranny for a reason. Subjugation is my specialty and the mortal will is a mere toy.” Reaching out a hand, the man attempted to force her will and she countered. Right as a fight ensued, Petra broke her own concentration.

Her other guardian gave her a hug. “This is what we were worried about. I’m sending you to a place you’ll be safe, ok? Somewhere where life is more complicated, but he won’t be able to find you.”

Memories flashed through Petra’s mind of a man like that. One who had treated her terribly. “But what about you?”

The wizard smiled. “We’ll be right behind you, ok?”

As the wizard cast teleportation, Petra felt the whooshing she was used to as arcane runes covered her vision and in a couple seconds she appeared in a tower.

In an instant, Petra could feel the time shift. She was halfway across the world. As she looked around, she found herself in a gilded room with golden tapestries and all manner of artifacts and times. A door opened and she found an old goblin. “Ah, Miss Petra. It’s nice to formally meet you. I am Hybrill Grawne. I work with your guardians and they told me of your arrival just a few minutes ago. If you could please come with me…” He gestured towards the door he’d just walked through and Petra followed. She was barely taller than he was, but he felt like a humble kindred soul, so her nerves slowly began to calm despite the rushed nature of the day she had had.

The goblin led her to a window and she saw, sprawled out before her, a gorgeous city of pale ivory and vibrant colors and, beyond that, miles of wilderness and farmland, all leading up to the tallest mountain she’d ever seen sitting on the horizon. “Welcome to Cor Varias. This is the Capital City of Pelevair.”

Petra, still justifiably upset after the rush of emotions she’d just had. Going from the happiest she’d ever been to being ripped away from the only loving people she’d ever known, she couldn’t help but attempt to make sense of it all. The sun was setting even though she’d only been awake for a couple hours at this point.

“My parents are in trouble.” Petra said, failing to hide her concern. Hybrill gave a grim nod. “I’m well aware, my child, but if anyone can take care of themselves, it’s them. Tell me, do you like books?” The goblin said, leading her down the stairs.

Petra was dumbfounded. “I mean yeah, but what does that have to do with…”

Hybrill handed a book to her. “Your parents told me how truly gifted you are with magic.”

Petra snarled. “Well, yeah but I don’t see how that would…”

Hybrill continued to lead her down the stairs. “Well, your parents told me that you basically graduated from high school two years ago, so if you would like to help me with the library, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Petra snapped. “Why are you being like this? My parents might be dead!” As the words escaped her mouth, her lavender eyes welled up with tears as all of the bottled up emotions broke at the same moment and she collapsed to the floor.

As she cried, a worn, gnarled hand gently touched her shoulder.

“The world does not fight fair. Whether it be by the gods’ will or by the universe itself, fate does not always use a gentle touch. I may not be able to say the fate of your guardians, but I can prepare you to find them. I am the Arcane Protector of the Mortal Accretion. This library carries everything we know about this world we live in and of what we are capable. Work as my page and as a scribe and I will do all within my power to prepare you.”

Petra, still crying, looked down. Her world had changed in a matter of minutes, but this library gave her the tools. Enough time spent here and maybe. Just maybe.

~~~

A decade had passed and Petra had become an integral part of the library. As Hybrill Grawne’s star pupil and apprentice, the archive had never been more organized. When Petra turned 18, Hybrill Grawne offered to do her gender reassignment spell and she accepted. Finally, when she turned 21, she had completely caught and surpassed her tutor. Truly proficient in all schools of magic, she decided it was time to begin her search.

As she packed her bags, there was a knock at the front door. Hybrill Grawne moved to answer it and a panicked energy entered the library. Petra listened as she heard him speaking with two guards. She recognized their voices and the urgency within them.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“Council’s orders. We sincerely apologize. Step aside.”

“You take her and nothing will change. She has done nothing wrong.”

“Step aside!”

She heard the guards approaching and, as she turned, the guards magically restrained her and carried her off into the dead of night without so much as a word as to why, Hybrill audibly crying as she was arrested.

~~~

The next two weeks were a nightmare. The Divine Acolyte, the leader of worship and clergy of the church had ordered a seize and contain order on all Aasimar upon the continent. Hundreds of thousands of Aasimar were corralled without reason and brought to the Ivory City. Children, adults, elderly. All were brought and led into the catacombs beneath the city and left to rot as a safeguard to protect the commonwealth against the deities’ war that continued to ravage the world. Petra felt the tension and sadness that drifted off of all of the people that she was led with and the deeper they went, the worse it got.

The Catacombs of the City were an underground tower of stairs. Just a drop into darkness where thousands of people were kept. Fires were struck to keep the light from fading as people organized on the stairs to find places to sleep and reconnect with their loved ones. Several Aasimar even played music on the few instruments they had.

Petra had found a small alcove to duck into. She had managed to keep the one Satchel of Holding she used to pack all of her things. She could still feel the sadness echoing into her soul as she sat, dimly lit by a fire she had made out of some hay and a fire bolt cantrip.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Slowly with the passage of time, several of the inhabitants of the catacombs began to fade. The voices of talking became quieter as the days dragged on. People tried to keep everyone alive with the use of magic and spells, but eventually they fell into a deep endless sleep as well. As more time dragged on, some Aasimar were even driven mad by the conditions, wandering the catacombs in a state of insanity. So much so that Petra had to continue to move deeper down the staircase to avoid being found by her lost compatriots. The Aasimar were lost and Petra’s only hope for salvation was downward.