#especially when they want to focus on alters and shit

[faggling]

finished my emotional support fic and now I feel alone again

[lovelywritinglady]

Strangers (Part.1)

Reiner Braun x fem!Reader

Season 3 Spoilers and Season 4 light spoilers You and Reiner use to be a couple until you found out he was the Armored Titan…

Time line is going to be ever so slightly altered for the next part.

Third Person Pov

"How could you Reiner?" You cried out to him trying to keep yourself balanced on the tree branch below him.

"What do mean, if you're talking about why I took you, it's simple. I love you and I just couldn't leave you to die along side these devils." Reiner spat in disgust as his eyes lingered on your shaky from below.

"Devils, how could you ever think we are devils?" You questioned him

"I'll tell you more when we get back to my home town. It will all make sense when we are there." He answered you looking hopeful

"You assholes are gonna pay, you hear me!" Eren screamed from behind you waving his severed hand like he was going to punch Reiner.

"Shut it you two, it's not like we can do anything right now anyway. See those titans down there?" Ymir questioned as you looked down to see dozens of titans looking up twords you. "Even if we could, we'd have no chance of escaping. Plus Y/n isn't one of us so she'd die easily especially sense you ain't got your ODM gear." She soke sounding rather disinterested.

"Ymir is right, we'll leave at nightfall when the titans are sleeping." Reiner spoke scanning the three of you. Ymir started talking to them, but you blocked out her words trying to focus on calming down and not losing you head. You picked up on a few words an phrase in particular caught your attention.

"We'll get Christa and then we'll go, I can't leave her here!" Ymir pleated which caused your anger to spike.

"Ymir what the hell!" You shouted walking towards her as her limbs grew back.

"What, I have nothing here except Christa and Reiner and Bertholdt have a future. This place will be dead soon any way, don't you want to live!" She screamed at you walking closer

"Calm down you two! Y/n hear me out." Reiner pleaded jumping down from the tree branch he was standing on. "Y/n please, everyone here will die and the last thing I want is for you to die with them. My hometown is special and there are so many things that I want to show you. Sights that you'll never be able to see, I can show them to you. Please let me take care of you in a place I know you'll be safe. I love you." Reiner declaired with pleating soft eyes that would normally make your heart melt.

"I'd rather die here with them than live a lie with you." You spat as frustrated tears began to form in your eyes. Depsite the fact that you loved him too and the very idea of departing with him shatters your soul.

"Go to hell!" Eren screamed jumping at Reiner hitting him across the face multiple times until finally Reiener hit him so hard that it knocked him out cold. Reiner began panting looking at you silelently telling you to follow him.

"Reiner look, it's the scouts!" Bertholdt yelled in in desperation gaining Reiner's full attention.

"Shit, looks like commander Erwin is a lot smarter than I thought." Reiner yelled jumping down twords you. "Get on my back sweet heart we need to go." He asked you holding out his hand. Part of you would like nothing more than to hold his hand and feel his body against yours. Except now he had betrayed you and your friends and there was no way in hell that you were going to let him take you, Eren, or Christa. So you took a page out of Eren's book and punched Reiner too. You were a lot better than Eren at hand-to-hand combat and this was the only thing you could think of. His nose began to bleed heavily and despite his best efforts, he was not as fast as you. You hit him anywhere you could thinking that if the fight lasted long enough the Scouts could get to you faster. However, your actions came to a painful halt as Bertholdt punched you in the back of the head knocking you out cold, just like Eren.

Reiner grabbed your unconcious body and securly held you to him with as much gentelness as he could. He hated seeing you so hurt and broken and vowed that no matter what he'd do whatever he could to make up for all of the mental strain he put on you, after all, he did love you. After some time flying through the forest, he turned into his titan form after handing you over to Bertholdt. He jumped down as Bertholdt and Ymir, who also assumed titan form, landed on his back after she went serching for Christa. Ymir then took her from her mouth causing Christa to cough.

Reiner ran as fast as he could trying to outrun the scouts, but they were too late. Commander Eriwn, along with a massive horde of titans, scouts, and MP's were coming twords them. All Reiner could do was brace for impact as he protected you, Eren, and Berthold underneath his armored hands and pray that Ymir was holding onto him tight as he smashed his way through the titans. And as scout by scout and titan by titan came at him trying to get you and Eren. Despite their best efforts, the scouts took you, Eren, and Christa back and Reiner had lost you and the coordinate. All he could do now is protect Berthold from the titans trying to eat them as he watched you being taken away from him on the back of Erwin Smith's horse.

Operation To Retake Wall Maria…

“You’re not going cadet.” Captain Levi commanded as you were getting ready to join your friends to retake wall Maria.

“Forgive me sir, but why the hell not?” You questioned him with clear anger.

“Calm down, Commander Erwin thinks you’ll be a liability. We already know that Reiner and Bertholdt wanted to take you back home with them. So it’s safe to say that they’ll try again. We simply can’t have that.” Levi reasoned

“Wouldn’t I be useful then, Sir?” You yelled still angry and confused at the situation.

“No, no offense to your skill but Erwin said so. That’s final cadet I don’t want to hear anything else about it.” He spat walking away from you because he didn’t want to continue arguing with you.

You were so furious at the commander but you knew deep down that he was right. That you would confront Reiner despite saying otherwise because what he did to you was unforgivable and you needed to know why. You desperately needed to know why Reiner was a Titan and what the hell he meant by “home town.” You needed answers and you only prayed that the scouts would be victorious so that you could receive some.

A few days later…

The scouts came back as they reetook Wall Maria. However, the casualties made it seem like thee was no win whatsoever despite the people of the walls rejoicing. Especially the people of Wall Maria as they would now be able to go home, including you.

The commander had died which made Hanji the new commander of the Scout Regiment. You were shocked to say the least, but you were glad that your friends survived. You asked Captain Levi about Reiner and Bertholdt and he told you what happened to them. Hearing that Armin nearly died and it was between him or the commander as to who would be come a Titan brought tears to your eyes. It was such a cruel choice and one that should have never have happened. Both should and deserved to live in your mind. Yet you remembered that this world is cruel and unfair. However, now with this victory the Scouts would now be able to venture further outside the walls than they ever have. You were excited to see the ocean and potentially see the world beyond. Little did you know about the dangers and hatred lurking not too far from your island home…

Three years later…

Three years without him. Three years of resenting him and hating him. Long nights filled with cries and nightmares from that day. Reiner was your rock and someone you always thought you could rely on. A lot of people throughout those three years thought that you were somehow a Marley spy, but that was soon forgotten as Hange made a public announcement about it. You needed answers for everything but more than anything you just wanted to see him, talk to him, and hold him. Because above all else, you still loved him.

You were now a high ranking official in the Scout Regiment. Your intelligence and experience helped you land the position. Especially with the recent developments with other countries. You had helped Hange and other become more diplomatic. While maintaining the idea that your island is still dangerous.

Now here you were on a boat, disguised as a tourist with a few friends and other me members of the regiment. You were tasked on getting intel on Marley. And so here you were feeling the wind blow your hair as the salty sea air filled your lungs. You felt peaceful despite the aching feeling in your heart. As Marley was Reiner’s homeland and there was a small chance that you would see him and that terrified you. You tried preparing yourself for it even taking to the commander on what to do if you should see him. But no amount of preparation could ever prepare you for the experience that lies ahead…

Thanks so much for reading💜 I apologize if the first part isn’t the best. I have better plans for the second one. Including flashbacks and more angst.

Please feel free to like, comment, request, and reblog.

Click here to see what I’ll write for and HERE to see my master list.

•I do NOT own any characters except y/n•

-L.W.L

[lisa-grdjc]

more NegaPosi angler thoughts…🎣

practically dissecting the entire scene (as painful as it is) atp but i simply can’t get over the way their body language and expressions are animated throughout their argument and compiled all the random little things that just… really got to me (⬆️). like. how it starts off so subtle, with an averted gaze, some fidgeting. and it keeps us on edge, bc we know they’re bound to reach a breaking point if they keep chipping away at each other’s patience (spoiler they do, a few secs later—)

(what’s also so satisfying to me is how clean and consistent the animation has been overall and im not exaggerating when i say each frame is screenshot-worthy. gotta appreciate a top tier animation especially for such an underrated gem ; its one of the many strengths of the series and i had to point that out even tho it’s not really what i wanted to talk abt in this very self-indulgent post)

indeed there were times where i was momentarily distracted and couldn’t rly focus on the dialogues so i had to replay some parts—and im not ashamed to admit it was whenever takaaki was on screen. cuz i was too busy staring at him and his lethal face card—(actually that’s been my problem in every episode since he’s been introduced, seriously, he’s attractive as fuck, and his voice and its playful, velvety lilt is to die for, ok? but. it’s different in that episode’s case)

bc i believe this is the first time we’re seeing takaaki looking so pained and angry and violent after having known him for almost ten eps out of twelve being sunshine incarnate and the sweetest guy you could ever imagine—and it shook me to my core.

im a simple person. basically, kind characters who’ve always been depicted as cheerful and carefree (often wth a sad backstory and traumatic past) who suddenly find themselves wth said past catching up to them and you can see the very moment their facade starts to crumble apart—that shit does smth to me and boy do i eat it up every goddam time. it hurts so good.

so yeah seeing that kind of devastated look on takaaki’s face caused me the emotional whiplash of the century and im positive it also chemically altered sth in my brain.

mind you this is all without mentioning how he was fighting with a (dying) person who means so much to him and whom he cares about more than anything and how it must’ve been tearing him apart to hear those words coming out of hiro’s mouth with his little brother’s death still plaguing him and—

yea im not ok

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

silly question time, those marks on the sides of Drifter's face, are they tatoos, scars, or just like, weird wrinkles? In-game the shading makes them look like scars, but they are perfectly symmetrical. Is it like a Dregen thing? Result of some blood ritual, maybe?

They're scars. We can see them especially clearly in Gambit openings that focus on his face.

As far as I know (and I have searched pretty extensively through the Ishtar Collective and the Destiny Lore Vault) there is no current in-game explanation for the Drifter's facial scars.

We do have some interesting tidbits, though. One is from Cayde in his post-death message to the Drifter.

He says "back when you were still handsome." Implying the Drifter is less-so now. I'm going to put aside the obvious inaccurate concept that scars make someone less beautiful but use this as an example that the Drifter may have been different, physically, in the past.

(There is a strong counter-argument here, that Cayde's definition of 'handsome' may not be entirely physical. It's highly congruent with the Drifter's character for him to alter his appearance and behavioural patterns to make himself less appealing when he wants to be left alone. And Cayde could also just be being a little shit. All of these are possible and potentially simultaneously true.)

The Drifter also has a pretty antagonistic relationship with his ghost and has refused its help in the past so it would not be out of character for him to not allow it to heal him and instead want to heal any wounds he's sustained 'naturally.'

So there's basically three main possiblities: Either he was risen with the scars, has somehow chosen to keep them between resurrections (I'm unsure if this is even possible in D2 lore, but it's a popular fan theory), or he hasn't died since he got them (and refuses to allow his ghost to heal them with Light).

While your theory of a Dredgen/blood ritual is possible, to me it seems far more likely the scars are so symmetrical because they're from an explosion near his face. Such as in the concept art below:

He's also got several voice lines in his Gambit preamble, and elsewhere discussing his many adventures in kit-bashing and engineering which have involved considerable personal danger to himself. The Drifter has never been one for OSHA compliance.

This is in addition to his brutal past detailed in A Man With No Name and elsewhere, which involved quite a lot of shrapnel, explosions, buildings collapsing, fire, and other unpleasantness.

It's also plausible that, rather than shrapnel, they're tooth or claw marks from the creatures he encountered in the Ancient Apocalypse armour lore where he, once again, murdered his entire crew to survive, as shown in this concept art:

One of the (many, many, many) things I love about the Drifter is that he is just so full of stories. The scars on his face are just yet more stories. The details of his physical portrayal all speak to so many different narrative tidbits. Everything about him is story-rich.

He's a fascinating creature, filled with contradictions and sorrow.

I went combing through D2 concept art for this post and it took me so long to answer specifically because I was trying to find an image that I remember seeing where the Drifter is pulling off some eye protection after an explosion and the scars on his face are where the eye-protection wasn't covering. It stuck in my memory because the Drifter actually using eye protection at all seemed very noteworthy to me at the time. However, I haven't been able to find this image anywhere and this makes me think perhaps it was fan art and not concept art. I asked a bunch of people about this, but no one I've talked with knows wtf I'm talking about. It is also possible I may have imagined it. At this point, I have, sadly, given up on ever locating it again (if it ever existed in the first place).

On the off-chance anyone does know what image I'm talking about, though, here is my desperate plea for a link to it.

That is all.

[whatitsdecending]

Chokehold: Alternate Ending

Noah Sebastian x Reader x Vessel

Word Count: 4.6k

A choice was made that altered everything you worked for, but in the end it was the best choice you could’ve made.

Content warning: cheating, smut, despair, angst, lots of crying

A/N: here is the alternate ending for those who wanted Y/N to choose Noah:) I do know it’s kinda a lot with the cheating, so if you’re not comfy with that please do not read!

—————————

You stood in the sound booth with Matt, the energy of the room filling you with excitement as the time drew closer to when the boys went on stage. It was their first headlining show for the European leg and with a new song to perform, you could not wait to see the crowd’s reaction.

Matt started signaling to you as you got to your spot next to him, readying to get the opening video to play before Artificial Suicide. Each movement you made had become part of your muscle memory, each button you hit and every step of the show flowed through you like water in a river. It had all become so easy, so normal that you felt at ease doing it.

The show was going amazing. The first performance of V.A.N took your breath away as you watched Poppy grace the stage alongside Noah. You and Matt bounced along in the booth each time Noah told the crowd to jump, laughing at each other as you did so.

“Now,” Noah said into the mic after they finished Limits. “Tonight is a special night, only because we’re debuting two songs. One you’ve heard already and the second one…. Well I hope y’all know the words, this is Somebody else.”

Confusion racked your body as you looked over at Matt, his focus clearly on the mix for the song. You glanced down at the setlist on your side and not seeing the song anywhere on it. What the fuck?

Noah started singing and the room seemed to shrink in size, leaving just the two of you.

“You said enough, you never loved the thought of us. You’re too good to be true, yeah. I gotta go, gotta run, you don’t want me the way I want you, no.”

A pit opened in your stomach and you felt your heart sink into it, especially when you could see Noah looking at where you were standing. He was singing about you. Out of anyone he’s ever been with, he chose to debut this song to you.

You nervously glanced around at everyone in the crowd near you, the faces of those excited to hear this song played live for the first time and recording every second that they could, singing along loudly to Noah. You felt like throwing up.

Noah stepped up onto the elevated platforms on the stage in front of where Ruffilo stood, his eyes focused on where you were and a finger pointing toward your direction as he sang; “I know we said that sex isn’t love, but it seems like enough for us. I know we said that we’re having fun, but I’m getting too numb to your touch.” Your heart shattered and you gripped the ledge in front of you, waiting for the song to end and the misery you felt with it.

As it ended and the cheers of the crowd rang out around you, you grabbed at Matt’s arm. “When did they say they were gonna fucking play that?”

Matt stared at you with a confused expression. “They told us yesterday? Noah specifically said it was a song he wanted to do live, you didn’t know?”

“No! When the fuck was it rehearsed? I wasn’t told shit about anything.” Your throat tightened as tears threatened to spill, whether it was from embarrassment or pain you didn’t know.

“Noah said-”

“I don’t give a fuck what Noah said!” You shouted, luckily the crowd was still loud enough that no one turned to stare at you. “I had no clue that was going to happen.” Matt looked you in the eye and you watched as it finally clicked in his mind.

“Shit…” he braced himself against the ledge and stared at the stage. “I’m sorry Y/N, I didn’t realize what he was doing.”

“It’s okay. I’m just,” you bit at your lip as the tears slowly slipped from your eyes and you prepared to get the next song going. “Really disappointed in him.”

Matt nodded and took a step back as you began to work. “You gonna talk to him?”

“Yep.”

“Gonna rip his head off?”

You purse your lips. “Yep.”

He patted your shoulder. “Atta girl.”

————

You sat outside the bus again. It had become too cramped in there, the atmosphere was stifling as the guys were happy and riled up about the success of debuting the two songs tonight and the show itself.

Noah was nowhere to be found, he’d told Ruffilo that he needed to take a walk and left… It’s been about an hour since then.

All you wanted was to talk to him, hopefully a civil conversation about the stunt he pulled tonight. Each passing moment made your anxiety spike higher and higher, not knowing when you’d be able to speak to him was driving you crazy.

You got up after the building anticipation of waiting for Noah to come around that corner finally died down, and you decided that you needed to take a walk as well. It was cold outside but nothing unbearable, your hoodie, jeans and confusion that ached in you was enough to keep you warm.

You walked to wherever your heart desired, passing by pubs full of people getting wasted and having a time with their companions. Restaurants where people dining inside eyed you as you walked past, keeping your eyes ahead of you so your teariness didn’t accidentally catch the attention of random strangers.

After ten minutes of walking, you found yourself at a bridge overlooking the creek below you. The water rushed a little more than it normally would due to some of the melting snow around you, but you liked the noise that came from the extra water in the creek.

You felt the person before you heard them, and turned around swiftly in case you needed to defend yourself. But when you did, your eyes landed on Noah as he stood a few feet from you, his focus also on the creek.

His face was soft as he stared ahead, his hands shaking slightly as he waited. He was waiting for you.

“Noah.” You said, a rasp coming from you as you hadn't spoken since the show. He turned his gaze to you and a clear, broken expression was now on his face. And that just about set you off. “How can you look at me like that after the stunt you pulled earlier?”

“What stunt?” His voice was raspy too, but in a different way… like he’d been screaming.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Noah. You know exactly what I’m talking about.” You stared into his eyes that were shadowed by the night. “Why the fuck did you play that song without letting me in on the fact you guys were gonna play it, leaving me confused and fucking hurt especially when I could tell it was directed towards me.”

He shifted on his feet, your words were working, but he didn’t respond.

“Noah.” You snapped at him, your voice breaking as you waited for his answer.

He shoved your hand down. “What the fuck do you want me to say, Y/N?” He didn’t yell, but his voice was full of every emotion he felt.

“I just want you to tell me why you would do that to me.” Your voice became quiet as you wrapped your arms around your body and hugged yourself tight.

He stared at you for a long while, waiting for you to speak again. Once he realized you weren’t going to, he wiped at his face and spoke. “I miss everything we were, Y/N. And I’m angry that you’re with someone else.”

You stared at him for a long while after he said that, the tears flowing from your eyes as your heart sank. His eyes became watery as the silence stretched on longer, he sniffed and glanced over at the creek. “I knew this would be pointless.” He turned to leave but you were quick to grab his arm and stop him.

“Noah, wait.” You say watching the back of his hoodie as you silently pleaded for him to turn and face you. After a few seconds, he turned and you saw the raw emotions on his face.

“I fucking love you Y/N and I can’t stand seeing you with him, he doesn’t deserve you.” His voice was heavy with the despair that plagued him. “Vessel might have been your cushion for months, but I’ve always been here and I’ve never stopped loving you since the day we were stuck together on that stupid band and crew bonding thing.” You huffed a laugh at the memory of that day, how annoyed you both were with the game that was supposed to be a good idea for bonding with one another.

It turned into a competition of who could make a better paper mache of Noah.

He stepped closer to you. “I never thought you’d ever think of me the same. I know we put up that boundary of ‘no strings attached’ when we started having sex, but it wasn’t enough.” He took your hand from where it still rested on his forearm into his, staring at how much his hand covered yours. “I never wanted it to go the way that it did.”

Silence washed over the two of you again, the creek even seemed to grow quiet in the tension between you. A small drop of water landed on your hand, you looked up and realized his tears were falling.

“Noah…” Your voice croaked as you took your freehand and wiped the tears from his cheeks, leaving it on the side of his face. “Don’t cry.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been holding this back for so long, Y/N.”

“I know.” You whispered, catching another tear on your thumb as he stared into your eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” He whispered softly. “I shouldn’t have put that song on the setlist and not tell you, let alone make it known to you that I sang it about you.”

You shook your head. “It’s okay, I understand.”

“No, it’s not okay. I hurt you.”

“And I hurt you first, so I guess we can call it even now?” You quipped as you stared up at him, looking for some sort of glimpse of humor in his eyes at your words. But all you saw was the sorrow and longing that dwelled in them, so you looked away and back to the rushing water in the creek.

After a long stretch of silence, Noah said, “I hate this.” You broke your stare from the creek to face him, a brow raised in question. “I mean… I hate that we’ve caused this much pain to each other.”

You smiled sadly. “Unfortunately I think that only applies to me. I hurt you without knowing it.”

“Stop saying that.”

“No. I can’t, because the guilt is about to eat me alive each time I look into your eyes and see the pain I caused you.” Your voice wavered as tears threatened to come spilling again. “How could you still love me, after all that?”

You could see the gears shifting in his mind as he calculated a response to that. The flash of shock that lightened his eyes and then turned to disbelief as he really took in what you said.

Perhaps it was the cold finally sneaking through your layers or the look in his eyes that sent shivers across your body. Noah’s stare was unfaltering as he accessed the look in your own eyes, there was something on his tongue that he wanted to say but he couldn’t get it out.

“I love you too.” It spilled out before you could even think, the words rushing off your tongue like a waterfall. His eyes widened at the sudden confession, clearly not what he expected from you at all tonight. “I-I think I’ve loved you since we first met too. I’ve just always been scared of it and how it’d affect my career… that’s why I put those boundaries up so fast when we chose to have sex for the first time. I couldn’t risk losing my job because of a relationship-”

He put a finger to your lips, hushing your words. “I’ll stop you right there because you know damn well that I’d never let that happen.” Noah quickly pulled you to the side of the small bridge as a group of people walked by, almost going unnoticed by you until they were hollering at one another. You’d completely forgotten how public this space was. “You wouldn’t be opposed to taking this conversation to a more private place, would you?” He asked once the group was off the bridge, watching after them as they pushed each other around.

“It might be better, and a little warmer.” You say, realizing now the temperature was dropping to the point where your jeans and hoodie no longer kept you warm. Noah just nodded and turned, starting at a slow pace until he knew you were following him.

After just a few minutes, he turned to a doorway that led into a massive hotel. Your brow arched at the back of his head as he walked right to the elevator, pressed the button and waited for it to come down to the floor. You remained quiet, looking at the lobby of the hotel and its quaint design. Eventually the doors opened and you stepped inside, watching as Noah punched the button for a floor and the elevator moved up.

He’d been staying here, probably since he’d told Ruffilo that he was taking a walk. Smart of him to get a hotel room in case things went to shit between you and him, and eventually everyone else on the bus.

Noah used the keycard on a door you now stood outside of and opened it, holding the door as you walked in and observed the room. On the smaller side with just a king sized bed in the middle of the room, his bag was on the chair that sat to the side of the bed. Other than that, the room was tidy and looked as though he was in there for only a moment.

You sat down on the edge of the bed, savoring the warmth that now calmed your freezing body. Noah removed his hoodie from his torso and placed it over your hands that were shaking from the cold. His hoodie was warm and you wrapped it around your hands, sighing as that part of your body finally went back to a normal temperature.

“Didn’t realize we were out there for so long.” He finally said, glancing at the time on the clock next to the bed. You looked over your shoulder and noticed you’d been gone for three hours, hopefully there wasn’t a search party going on for the both of you. “It’s alright, Jolly knows where we are.”

“Oh, okay.” You say, a little shocked that he had kept in contact with Jolly the entirety of the night.

As if he read the thought in your mind, he sat down right beside you and said, “He’s the one who’s been helping me through this whole thing. He almost kicked my ass because I was being a stubborn asshole for a while.” He paused and looked at you. “Someone has to know where we are in an unfamiliar city.”

You smiled at him. “I know. You were just very sneaky with letting him know everything.”

Noah flashed his teeth in a toothy smile and laid back on the bed, sighing as he stretched. “What can I say? I’ve always been good at sneaking around.” You looked at him over your shoulder and he gave you a wink, causing you to immediately turn around as a blush crept into your cheeks. “Hey.” His fingers brushed against the back of your arm, toying with the fabric of your hoodie to grab your attention. You faced him again, and the lazy smile you’d always loved pulled at his face. “Come here.” You set his hoodie onto the end of the bed and turned, scooting yourself up a bit closer to where his head laid and lowered yourself into his arms that waited for you.

As you laid there, your eyes focused on him, an extreme feeling of guilt began creeping from your gut and into your heart. The smile on your face vanished and you closed your eyes. “I’m a horrible person.” You breathed, nothing more than a whisper.

Noah’s fingers brushed your cheek. “We’ve been through this, I don’t think y-”

“Not to you.” You cut him off and opened your eyes, noticing the understanding that flashed in his. “How am I going to tell him? I… I do love him, he’s a wonderful man and was always so good to me. This is going to break him.”

His fingers found your hand and gripped onto it tightly, bringing it to his lips and pressing a kiss on the skin. “It’ll be alright, Y/N. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” He pulled you closer and despite how near you were before, this time his body pressed against yours and he draped your leg over his. “We won’t worry about it now, because now I just want to have this time with you. It’s what we deserved from the beginning.”

He was so close to you now that his breath touched your skin, sending a shiver across your body. This closeness was something the two of you never shared, each time you were alone it was quick enough for the both of you to enjoy. Never did he hold you like this, talk to you like this, and not once did your heart swell to the size it is now.

Noah brushed his lips against yours, almost as if he could see your heart and the size it was. The second time he began to brush them, you pushed forward to seal the kiss.

His lips were soft as you moved yours against them, saving that feeling of them that you didn’t know you missed. He pushed himself up and rolled you onto your back, not breaking the kiss once. The weight of his body on top of yours was everything you wanted as he nipped your bottom lip and your lips parted in answer, letting his tongue slip in and fight against yours.

You began to ache with need for him. The taste of his tongue was driving you up the wall, and you wanted nothing more than for him to rip your clothes off.

And he could tell. Your hips had bucked up a few times, pushing against his own and letting you feel the erection he was getting. He only pulled back from your lips and stared down at you with a wild look in his eyes.

“Are you sure this is what you want tonight?” He asked and you nodded in response. “Use your words, Y/N. You know better than that.” You damn near turned liquid when he said that.

“Yes, Noah. This is what I want tonight.” You breathed. He smirked in answer, immediately moving to pull off your hoodie and chuckling as it was pulled over your head.

“No wonder you were so cold.” His eyes marveled at your bare breasts in front of him, tracing their shape with his finger. “You never stopped being beautiful.” A blush crept across your cheeks as he took his shirt off, the tattoos you admired covering his entire torso had you taking a deep breath.

“And you’re still kinda beautiful.” You joked, earning a small glare from Noah as he tossed his shirt to the floor. His fingers undid your jeans and you lifted your hips so he could easily remove them, leaving you in only your underwear.

He laid against you again, chest warm against yours as he kissed you. Your hands roamed the muscles on his back and you weren't surprised to find that they’d become larger since the last time. Your fingers trailed to the edge of his sweatpants, going to push them down before he grabbed your wrists to stop you.

“Not yet, Y/N.” He kissed the corner of your mouth. “Allow me to show you,” he kissed the spot on your neck that turned you on in an instant, and continued to trail lower. “How much I love and miss you.” Between each word, he kissed at different points along your body. Each raising goosebumps on your skin as his lips grew closer to the place you wanted them most.

You looked down at him as he locked his fingers under the fabric of your underwear, watching his eyes glimmer with need as he pulled the fabric down. “Beautiful.” He whispered, his hands tracing the skin along your pubic bone and where your thighs connected to your hips. You writhed underneath his touch, wanting him to relieve the ache that had built.

And then he finally did, running two fingers through your lips as a shuddering breath escaped you. He lifted his fingers up and observed your arousal that now coated them, sticking them into his mouth and humming as he licked them clean.

“So good, every time.” He quietly said before settling in between your legs and pressed his face against your core. Your hips bucked up the moment his tongue met your clit and flattened out against it, putting pressure as he slowly moved his tongue around.

You moaned. “Noah…” This was so different from the times before, he went slow and worked to build you to your release. He didn’t go quickly because it wasn’t necessary, you had enough time to enjoy each other. The slower pace was good, really good and your hands were tangled up in his hair as worked on you.

The sounds from your mouth turned filthy the closer you got to your orgasm and Noah had to pin your hips to the bed to stop you from grinding against his tongue. You glanced down between your legs and noticed his eyes were on you, dark with lust as watched the sinful look on your face.

You were so close now, the tightening in your lower abdomen growing more and more as he continued. You gripped his hair and he groaned, the sound rumbling through your clit and being enough to send you over the edge. Your body shook as your release rattled through you, the sensation of Noah’s tongue still applying pressure and a slowed pace of movement had you seeing God.

“Fuck, Noah!” You screamed. His fingers dug into your hips as he kept going, your now sensitive bundle of nerves twitched under his tongue and sent impulses of pleasure through your body. It was like the orgasm was continuous, not needing the time to build again and again, only wanting to be set free at once.

When you could feel it finally subsiding, your grip on Noah loosened and you relaxed back onto the mattress. He pulled away from your core and stared at your breathless state. “Do you need a break?” You opened your eyes and noticed how he hovered over you, making sure you were all good.

“No.” You say, taking a deep breath in and out. “Keep going.” He nodded and you watched as he got off the bed, taking his sweatpants and briefs off and tossing them with the pile of clothes. You stared at his considerable length and your need for him grew again, maybe even stronger than the last time. He climbed back up on the bed, hovering over you again and brushed a strand of hair from your forehead. He leaned down to kiss you, gentle and soft as he reached between your bodies to guide himself into you.

You gasped as he slid in, stretching your walls to accommodate his size. He groaned and muttered curses at how tight you were. Once he bottomed out, he stayed still for a while and placed his lips on yours once again, then slowly slid out and snapped his hips back against yours.

Noah fucked you slowly, just as he had done with his tongue earlier. He savored every bit of this, the feeling of you around him and each moan that spilled out of your lips. This was the intimacy you craved from him. The kind of sex you wished he’d give you when you two fooled around, the ability to be in bed for hours and make love with no time limit and fear of being caught.

He flipped you over in one smooth movement and you were in his lap, he sat up on the bed as you straddled him. From this angle you were able to stare down slightly at him, take in his features as the shadows hit his face differently. He truly was the epitome of male beauty, and you couldn’t help but smile when you realized he was yours.

You moved your hips around as you straddled him, gasping as he felt even deeper in you than before. Noah’s hands were locked around your hips, his fingers dug into the flesh of your ass as he guided you along. Small, supple movements, but enough to make him whine your name and gape in pleasure.

“Y-You’re so good to me, Y/N.” He breathed as you quickened the pace ever so slightly, noticing that his demeanor changed as he grew near his own release. “Stay with me for as long as we live. I want you more than anything.”

You smiled down at him, the plea in his eyes and the words that wrapped around your spine. “Yes, Noah. I will.” He nodded once and pulled your face to his and kissed you deeply, as your hips moved more and more. His moan was light and fluttered across your skin as he came, your hips continuing to move as he did.

His release passed and your movements stopped, staying still in his lap as you both breathed heavily. Noah pressed your forehead to his, the stickiness of his sweat wetting your hair.

“That. Was. Amazing.” He whispered, taking deep breaths between words. You chuckled and brushed the side of his face with your knuckles. “Can we do that again?”

You pulled away from his face and studied it. “You think I’d decline that offer?” His smile grew in a wide grin as he flipped you over onto your back, a squeal leaving your lips.

Into the early hours of the morning, the two of you made love. The intimacy you shared was enough to make you keep wanting more, despite the exhaustion you felt. And as you laid here in his arms, the quiet sounds of his calm breathing as he slept slowly luring you to sleep, you felt a sense of peace. Even if there was that guilt that’ll plague you until you finally called Vessel, you still felt as though you could breathe easier.

These last five months of your life have been a whirlwind of emotions. Ones you thought were right and thought were what you wanted, to these. The ones that were actually right and not just what you thought when you were faced with the doubt of Noah not loving you the same way you loved him.

And now? Now that doubt was gone, only replaced with the reassurance that he did indeed love you the same.

[improbable-outset]

Do you ever feel like you're going insane when you read smut that makes like ..no fucking sense for the character. Like when ppl write Kenji as if he's some sort of bad boy womanizer and it's not an au he's just like that and it's ..that is???? Not the same man from the movie??? Like yeye bad boys hot but that's a decently polite young man? He memorized all of the reporters names... And knows their favorite teams??? He literally packed his entire life and career because his mom asked him to. Like he only lost his cool under extreme sleep deprivation blatant harassment and the assumption that his father was dead. Tbh the fact he didn't go villain after he though Emi died. Kinda a testament to that man's good boy status. Cause love Miguel but he'd have snapped in that moment (might feel bad after but like that would be after the fact) actually Miguel would've snapped way sooner probably between being told to go back to America and baby getting hurt the first time.

Also aside from baseball stuff Kenji touches things very gently like minimum points of contact, he's terrified of breaking his surroundings people please stop asking him to choke you and choke him instead and call him a good boy. He needs the validation to thrive.

TL:DR

Ouff anon, when I received this ask in my inbox, the first thing I thought of was, “I really hope my writing doesn’t come off like this.”

Because while fanfiction gives writers the freedom to explore characters in various ways, I do think that there’s something special and more refreshing about honoring the complexity of characters and their flaws.

Fanfictions are meant to be fun and imaginative, but it can be jarring when a character’s entire personality gets altered for the sake of fitting a popular trope.

I understand where you’re coming from, though, anon. It’s common for characters to be written into a familiar trope like the ‘dominant bad boy’ even if it doesn’t fit their canon personality.

However, this isn’t something new. People have been doing this for a long time, and I think it’s influenced by platforms like Wattpad, where those kind of characters are super popular.

People gobble that shit up so fast. And it’s become more prominent now and I think it might be because of BokTok. (Don’t take my word for it, this is an extremely biased opinion)

People will apply that trope to attractive characters from different media, and it can often lead to the character being portrayed in a way that contradicts their established personality.

And you’re right, Kenji's softer, more respectful nature might get overwritten because people might prioritise their own fantasies over canon, which might make them feel out of place a litte.

My guess, self indulging.

He is polite and thoughtful, and he definitely has that ‘good boy’ energy like you said. Those small details that you’ve mentioned paint the picture of who he truly is, but sometimes can be lost in fanfics when the focus is on making him fit the bad boy role.

I’m gonna drop some headcanons here, but I think part of Kenji’s politeness came from the struggles he faced when he lived in LA— being made fun of for the way he talks, his culture, and the food he ate.

It makes sense that he might have developed some people-pleasing tendencies from that, almost gentle demeanor, especially on camera. He’s someone who doesn’t want to mess up and tries to stay composed because that’s what people expect from him.

You mentioned Miguel and how he might’ve snapped way sooner. But, you have to understand that Miguel isn’t like for no reason.

His intense emotions and anger is rooted in his guilt. He literally collapsed an entire dimension and accidentally committed omniscide by disrupting a canon unknowingly.

He’s angry and defensive because he doesn’t want to make that mistake again. His strict, no-nonsense attitude is a shield and a defence mechanism as he prevents another catastrophe.

I don’t want to make it seem like I’m comparing their traumas. Both men have their own issues and which makes them unique and shapes their character in different ways.

Kenji is dealing with the pressure of his strained relationship with his father, the expectations of taking over his Ultraman duties, and the lingering pain of being bullied and his absent mother.

Similarly, Miguel’s trauma of losing a dimension and disrupting a canon unknowingly fuels his strict personality.

The only reason I’m delving into Miguel is that he’s another character who often gets rewritten for the sake of thirst or popular tropes, (and mischaracterised for being aggressive) when in reality, his harshness is a product of his deep emotional scar.

And just because a character is attractive doesn’t mean we should ignore the layers that make them compelling.

Both Kenji and Miguel are rich characters to explore with emotional depth shaped by their past experiences.

And I think it’s important to understand and respect those complexities (unless it’s an AU), rather than moulding them into a trope that doesn’t align with their backstories.

Of course, fanfiction is about fandom’s creativity and self-indulging, and people are free to interpret characters how they like, but I understand the frustration when you come across a fic or a set of headcanons that feel out of place with the original character.

[teecupangel]

Ok so like I've been having thoughts about this. We usually go with how Juno and Minerva royally fucked Desmond over right? Plus aita (and I think Jupiter I can't remember, I think Demeter was a thing too but I'm rusty on Isu lore.) with their bullshit.

Anyway, so remember how Anubis was emphasized in Origins and Bayek actively worked for him in a way? Especially after losing Khemu. Naturally, I think Anubis would follow and protect the bloodline down to Desmond. Because Khemu wasn't supposed to die and now, what if the same thing is happening with Desmond where he isn't supposed to die either? Juno and Minerva are messing with his shit so much that they've basically altered the death date of his favored mortal's descendant.

And Anubis does not take kindly to the tampering of the balance. Of Ma'at. So what if he intended to set it right? So when Desmond is supposed to touch the Eye and do the bidding of either Minerva or fall for Juno's trickery, a third option rises up. Anubis cannot force the outcome to change with force, but he can nudge it off course for a mere moment to alter the result of the Calculations and give Desmond a fraction of a chance to survive.

And maybe if Desmond survives (knowing his luck, he likely will) they could look for the records of Thoth to figure out another way of saving the world. Since touching the Eye and altering the result might have caused only a temporary protection from the solar flare and another is coming.

OR

Desmond dies and Anubis offers him an afterlife of his choosing, but not the kind Desmond expects. It's essentially a do over, a go back and start over kind of thing. Because although he lived, his life was never his own. And Anubis wants to give him that. A life of his own. A chance to change everything. But not without being prepared. Anubis will offer guidance when it is needed most and Sekhmet will not let him be without training.

Technically, Aita didn’t screw him over. He screwed Desmond’s son, Elijah, a lot though XD (Tinia/Jupiter had the least connection with him so I’m not sure how much he screwed Desmond other than being part of the Capitoline Triad that decided to pick him and Demeter didn’t have any appearance in AC other than maybe Odyssey? In a ‘someone uses a god’s name as an expression or something’ kind of way. As far as I remember anyway)

So let’s focus on how we can make this work.

Anubis would probably be part of an Isu research team that focused on the afterlife, maybe even becoming one of the Isus to escape the Solar Flare by using the afterlife program and… live in the Calculations as part of its system.

As the overseers.

The Calculations itself isn’t an entity but the very foundation of the world.

Many would say the soul.

Its fate.

The overseers are tasked with ensuring the Calculations do not end. That the world continues for eternity.

The death of the world means the death of the Calculations.

And without the Calculations, the overseers cannot exist.

He would be the one in charge of ensuring the Calculations stay the course in respect to the lives and deaths of the people.

There is always a margin of error, of course, because humans can show impressive feats of unpredictability at times and it is Anubis’ job to ensure the system can handle those margins of error.

But then…

More and more error pops up as time passes.

And Anubis, as a system administrator and having fused with the system itself, is tasked with finding what the anomaly would be.

And he learns it soon enough.

Juno wants Desmond to die, whispering to him the importance of human life. How one sacrifice is worth to protect the world.

Minerva is telling Desmond to stay his hand, to let the world burn. To keep Juno imprisoned or to save Desmond is unclear. Minerva is asking Desmond to be selfish and prioritize himself.

Either option does not bode well to Anubis according to the system.

The death of billions was not part of the Calculations. They were risking the destruction of the overseers that kept the Calculations going. They risk killing Anubis.

The death of Desmond Miles is a Calculation that will lead to many more deaths and damage to the world. The Calculations is already moving to that path for Desmond has a 98% probability of sacrificing himself at this point in time.

Anubis could let him die.

The tragedies and disasters that would follow his death were far apart enough to keep the Calculations and overseers in motion with minimal problem.

But…

Anubis was an overseer long enough to find… a bit of affection to life. The way mortals live, knowing they will die but doing everything they can to live nonetheless.

Looking for a reason for their lives.

Simply living their lives to the fullest.

Having hope for a brighter future.

Even those in the throes of despair, those who believed they could not get away from the darkness around them.

Whether they crawl out of it or if they are swallowed by it.

They were all beautiful in Anubis’ life.

Living beings are beautiful because they are all unique.

Even if the difference with someone else is minimal, it is still that difference that makes them one of a kind.

Makes them special.

And Anubis cannot do nothing when so many of them will be snuff out before they could live their lives to the fullest.

But he is an overseer.

He cannot intervene directly.

But with another overseer’s support…

He might be able to nudge it a bit.

To give Desmond Miles a bit more life than he actually has.

He knew the people who would be willing to give a part of their life for him.

The three men connected to him the most…

Their data exists in Anubis’ domain.

They might be dead.

But their lives…

No.

Memories.

For what is the very essence of life but the memories made?

As for an overseer to support him?

Sekhmet would help him.

Sekhmet oversaw war but her focus had always been in the lives that were saved. The warmth that lies in the people’s will to live.

Anubis can persuade Sekhmet.

There was still time.

.

.

.

“Entering the next room.” A team of armored soldiers with the logo of Abstergo at the back of their vest walked inside the innermost chamber of the Grand Temple, rifles drawn but finger not on the trigger.

“Target sighted.” The one leading the team said as he aimed his rifle at the lone figure lying on the ground. They begin to fan out as the one in front walked towards the figure cautiously. He made a hand signal and three more men aimed their rifles at the figure while they stayed further back. The other men aimed their rifles at the opening they came from and at the ceiling.

Just as the point man reached the figure, he turned around quickly when he heard a thud from behind him.

“What the fuck?!” The man shouted and the others turned around as another of their team is struck down before he could make a sound.

The darkness of the Grand Temple meant nothing thanks to their night vision goggles but what they saw…

Large figures with dog-like heads…

No.

Masks.

They were masks weren’t they?

“Fire! Fire!”

The three imposing figures used their shield to cover their body, the bullets ricocheting dangerously all over, hitting one of the men closest to them who fell back as he let out a scream.

“Aim for the legs!”

The figure simply covered their legs with their shield as they made their way towards the team and some of them shot at their head as well.

The bullets simply bounced off their heads.

One of them got lucky and managed to shoot the shoulder.

There was no blood.

The point man’s headgear was hit by one of the ricocheting bullets and he had to take it off before the shattered glass could harm him.

That’s how he saw it.

Black smokes coming from the wound. With golden sand falling from the wound.

As it slowly close up.

“Mayday! Mayday! We need- Argh!” Their radioman was struck down by an arrow from one of the figures just as its two companions reached them.

More fell to the other’s large axe.

While the pointman comes face to face with the last one, holding a sword…

He aims his rifle at the monster.

And screamed in pain as the monster cut both his arms off before he could pull the trigger.

He fell to his knees as blood pooled underneath him.

His eyes focused on the monster in front of him.

Behind him, he saw the rest of his team…

Slaughtered.

The figure…

No.

Subject 17…

He was being carried by the monster with the axe.

Did his blackened hand twitch?

He could not be sure.

The last thing he saw was the pommel of the monster in front of him.

The head of the eagle as the world turned dark.

.

.

Excerpts from Juhani Otso Berg’s report, December 21, 2012, 21:55.

“… there were no survivors. The remains of Sample Recovery Unit 3 will be collected by a separate team. Tech support informed me that all recording devices have been burnt. They do not know what could have burned them but there’s a high possibility that this was the work of a POE.”

“… my initial conclusion is that this was a trap set by the Assassins.”

“… Desmond Miles is still at large and is possession of a highly dangerous POE. Find and apprehend with the utmost caution.”

.

(The jackal masked figures are based on the Anubis servants you can fight in Origin’s Curse of the Pharaohs DLC. Up to you if they’re mindless servants sent to protect and support Desmond or I was hinting on ‘who’ they truly are XD Desmond wakes up later on and that’s when he comes to contact with Anubis.)

[the1975attheirverybest]

A Hard Day’s Night

A/N: FwB Matty is back! I honestly can’t tell if this is good or not, so I’ll be relying on y’all to let me know. warnings: smut, soft dom!Matty. —

She laid in her bed, before it was even fully dark out, staring at the text on her screen, blinking rapidly.

Matty: I’m just down the street. Alright if I drop by?

His contact picture showed a sweet photo that she took of him, at the park, one random morning when he’d been out of cigarettes and dragged her out of the apartment with him to go look for some. Her eyes lingered on his smile for a bit, thinking about how she would love to be in his company, especially after the day that she’s had. A small piece of her wondered if it’s such a good idea, though. She was feeling vulnerable tonight. She desperately needed comfort. And, Matty already had a dominating effect on her. One right look from him and she would be on her knees. She didn’t want to blur the boundaries or confuse their relationship. What they had was pretty special. He was one of her closest friends and the best sex she’s ever had, why risk messing with it?

Her heart pounded in her chest when she felt the phone suddenly begun to vibrate. A FaceTime notification popped up to let her know that Matty was now calling. She smiled, shaking her head in disbelief. He was persistent.

And that’s how she’d found herself pinned underneath him. The world fading into the background as her subdued body and mind focused on nothing but Matty. His voice, commanding her every action. his touch, gentle here and rough there. His lips, kissing down her body like it’s a temple he would worship at the alter of, morning, day, and night. 

Her body jolted in shock when she felt Matty’s lips at her right nipple, his teeth slightly nipping at the sensitive skin. “Shit!”

his eyes shot up, looking at her through his curls,“was that…not okay?” His voice laced with concern. He knew her body well enough by now to know what she liked, but Matty was nothing if not attentive in bed. Besides, her comfort was always a priority. And, looking into his eyes, seeing how carefully and protectively he watched her every move, she was overwhelmed with emotion. She didn’t want this flood of feelings to overtake her and ruin their moment. They’d been building up to this pleasure for a while now, and she needed it. Really needed it. Needed the relief. Needed the feeling of complete surrender. Needed to focus on him and his pleasure to help get her out of her own.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself to sit up and slowly switch positions. Matty smiled, reading her mind, and letting her get on top of him. She heard him whisper encouragingly when her trembling legs struggled to adjust around him. “You got it, baby. No rush.” He offered her a steadying hand to help get her into position. “That feel alright?”

He kissed her forehead when she nodded, slowly sinking down on him, taking him in, inch by inch. She mewled, softly, as she felt him stretch her out, the discomfort turning into pleasure. Matty tipped his head back, his hands around her waist squeezed her sides. 

“Fuck!” His eyes shot open when she began her movements, aiming to settle into the rhythm she knew he liked. “Th-that’s it- right there. Keep- keep that up, Angel. Just- ohhh- just like that.” He squeezed his lips together, relaxing into the headboard, his breathing now turning shallow. 

“You’re so, so good to me. Perfect cunt. Takin’ me so well, babe.” He spoke frantically, his praise only turning her on even more. 

Soon, she was gushing and moaning around him, his words alone, sending her mind spinning. Matty lifted his back off the headboard, pulling himself closer to her so they were chest to chest. He could feel her trembling on top of him when she hit that spot within her, a shockwave of pleasuring rattling her. 

“Don’t hold back, honey. Can feel you’re close. Cum with me, alright? Together…”

She’d rested her head on his shoulder, avoiding eye contact. Hesitantly, she shook her head, “no.”

Matty was stumped. His approaching climax making it difficult for him to think of speak, he simply mumbled, “w-what? Why not?”

Her voice was merely a whisper, but he swore he heard her say, “this is about you.”

“It’s about us” he corrected. “You and me.” He bucked his hips, thrusting upwards into her, the surprise of his movement, coupled with his precision, tipped her over the edge. She clenched around him, her orgasm bringing on his own. 

The room was hot and quiet, the sound of their heavy breathing  filled the air. Matty’s hands, as if on cue, caressed her hair as she lay her head on his shoulder, the sweat keeping their bodies glued together. He tipped his head to the side, planting a kiss to her hair. “You alright, darlin’?”

“Mhm” her jaw brushed against his collarbone as she nodded. 

“Talk to me.”

She felt her cheeks go hot. She knew what he was alluding to, but she was kind of hoping he wouldn’t bring it up. 

His hands squeezed her shoulders, pulling her up, her damp skin peeling from his. He gave her yet another kiss, but this felt different. It felt like a non-verbal coax, a nudge. She knew him. Once he set his mind to something, he wasn’t going to let it go, so she might as well save them both the time and speak.

“Know I’m not your girlfriend. You don’t have to comfort me or, anything….” Her rosy pink cheeks shaded a darker blush as she spoke. “Just- had a bad day, and….I don’t know- feel confused.”

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked, not missing a beat. 

“That’s the last thing I wanna do. I don’t even wanna think about it.”

“Well, why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Matty chuckled, a devilish grin gracing his face. “I can make sure you don’t have a single thought, for the rest of the night,”

She felt his hands wrap around her thighs. “Let me take care of you.” A finger traced down the side of her leg as he crashed their lips together. “Let me help you forget all about your day…hmm? May I please do that?” 

She moaned into his lips, and he knew he had her approval, but he loved the way her entire body responded to his words, so he wasn’t about to stop now. “Hmm, my Angel? Will you let me make you feel good?” He kissed down her neck. “Make you cum?” His head dipped further to kiss her shoulders, “over and” his lips grazed her skin lightly, traveling down her chest, “over and over…? Can I please?”

“Fuck, yes! Yes, yes, please, Matty, please!”

“Well, since you’re being so polite about it…” she could hear the grin in his voice. 

[letsunity]

With Thunder Comes Lightning

Summery: Peter and MJ tried again, but the spark wasn't there; they stay as friends to raise their soon-to-be daughter. Everything was going great until evil goop and a spooky vampire guy fall out of an orange portal. Little does Peter know that the biggest pain in his ass and future mutant best friend has landed right at his feet.

art by darknessdearm

Chapter 3 - Society

"That's it?" MJ questioned, confused by the broken sphere on her coffee table. "This is how a super sinister snot has been killing entire universes?"

"Essentially," Peter answered, equally unimpressed. "He'll be hopping from body to body now, trying to find this."

"Another question. Why can't he do what Venom and Eddie do?"

"It's like a compatibility thing. Symbiotes need a host that fits them. Klyntarus is so toxic that people melt and burn."

"Oh, so Miguel's compatible?"

"What?"

"You said that he doesn't burn when Klyntarus touches him. That means he's compatible, right?"

Oh, shit.

She's right. Of course, MJ was right; under all that glowing ruby hair was a brilliant brain that could detect things Peter couldn't.

That explains why Klyntarus is so obsessive, at least. The fact that his fellow spider wasn't a puppet meant that there was something more to it, though.

Whatever made Klyntarus so toxic and unstable must alter how he takes over people that are compatible with him. There's a lot that Peter doesn't know about him, although he's aware that the beast is vindictive.

Who taunts someone over the death of their child? That's horrific, especially when they're the killer.

"This is why you're the brains between us."

"Alright, we destroy whatever this is and hunt the goopy bastard down. Is that about right?"

"Pretty much. The sooner he's gone, the sooner we can focus on the little one," he smiled, unable to look away from her bulging stomach. "Don't worry yourself, MJ. We got this. We always come out on top."

That's what Peter wants to believe, anyway.

He can't do anything against such a monster. At most, he can be a distraction. How do you fight something that you can't hit?

Fighting alone wasn't going to work. They needed to talk to the others.

He doubted that the Avengers would be open to Miguel; he's already stolen from Stark. The X-Men, however, are more open-minded.

Wolverine would be an annoying bastard as always, but with help from Professor X, they can kill this bug.

"You can't stay here." Jesus, how is such a big guy so quiet? "He'll be coming for you. Staying here isn't safe."

Their guest had taken a morning shower. Annoyingly, he also decided not to put a shirt on afterwards. It was his choice, of course; it was better than no pants.

The problem was that he looked good.

Without the bandages, burns and blood, he looked good. Great, broad shoulders with detailed muscle. His arms were thick, and his waist surprisingly slender.

Peter could see the V line of his hips disappearing into his pants.

His hair was still wet from the shower, making those dark brown locks frame his face perfectly. Those cheekbones could cut through paper. Beautiful red eyes, the same he regretfully punched at, didn't look nearly as menacing on him.

The scars, though...

They were so deep, long, ragged and twisted. Many of them stretched with age. What disturbed Peter the most were the clinical, surgical scars. Although it was probably from surgery due to being Spiderman - it's an injury-prone job - something told Peter there was more to it.

"About that. I was thinking - shock and horror, I know - we should go to the X-Men for some help."

"They won't be as helpful as you think."

"I mean, it's better than the two of us."

"They'll all go after him, Peter, and they'll all die. He'll hop from their bodies, trying to find the most stable and abuse their powers. I've seen what happens when Xavier loses control over his power - it's not pretty."

The idea of that was terrifying.

"What haven't you seen?" MJ asked, which was a good question.

"I haven't been to the universe where everybody is a zombie, so I technically haven't seen that."

"I wanna see that."

"No, MJ, you're not going to the super dangerous zombie universe," Peter sighed, wishing Miguel hadn't mentioned that.

"Don't be a buzzkill!"

The smartest of them wanted to go to zombie land. They're doomed.

"That entire universe is on lockdown; nobody can go to it."

That sentence confused him. What did he mean by that?

Quickly, the other spider regretted saying that.

MJ looked to Peter, seeking answers that he didn't have.

"Are there others with you?" she asked.

"I'm not talking about that," Miguel shot down, silently sinking away in the corridor.

Peter's not going to let him slither out of this.

"Miguel, do you have like a team or something? Is that what Klyntarus meant by "no backup"?" Peter pressed, but it only made the other spider close up more. "If there's help, we should ask for it."

MJ couldn't move quickly, but she wanted to know what happened.

He would get answers.

Peter followed. If he decided to leave the house, Peter might be unable to follow. Annoyingly, his fellow spider is adept at disappearing without a sound. It's a little creepy how little sound he made when he moved.

He heard the window open, and Peter shot his web, sticking Miguel's hand to the wall.

"¡Ay, coño!" he hissed, glaring at Peter. "Could you not web me?" the other spider growled, scratching the webbing away.

"You're not going to run. We're in this together, big guy. We're going to be open and communicate - alright?"

Miguel growled again, his fangs peaking. They do things that they shouldn't to Peter - did he have a vampire thing? That's awkwardly unhelpful and sudden.

His new friend was pacing, distressed and irritated. He sounded like an upset dog.

Peter crossed his arms, waiting.

They will talk about it, and Peter will chase him if he has to.

"You didn't mention that there are others," Peter stated, less than amused.

"You weren't supposed to know. That's obvious."

"Well, why?"

"That's not a rabbit hole you want to go down, Parker."

"A super evil snot killed my friends and nearly buried me alive. I'm down the hole already. I'm deep underground and tanning in the planet's core!"

Part of him felt bad for pushing his friend like this, given how malicious Klyntarus was, but it was necessary. They needed help, and badly.

If they can get any assistance, they need to take it.

"You're not going to like it."

"Oh, right, because the past two days have been joyous and sunshine and rainbows. Can't you see how happy I am? I'm glowing! I cracked my back; I'm shining like a glow stick," Peter huffed, hands on his waist.

He's getting more self-conscious over his weight for some reason. It's already something he hates about himself, but compared to Miguel, he appeared obese.

"Alright. Fine."

"Great."

"You're contaminated."

"And immediately, you've lost me."

"Earth-1610B. You and four others were pulled into that dimension. The Spiderman of that universe died and was replaced. I made my first autonomous universe jump a few hours afterwards. That entire universe is in quarantine now."

He's completely lost.

Miguel knew who Peter was the whole time. He's always known. He knew about the others, too.

"Alright, why's it in quarantine? Is Miles alright?"

"Miles is why it's in quarantine. The spider that bit him was never supposed to - it belonged to another universe now lacking a Spiderman. As soon as Miles got bit, that universe became unstable. Holes were torn in the multiverse, and people are falling through - we call them anomalies, and our job is to put them back where they belong. Miles is designated as the original anomaly."

"That's a whole lot of information."

"I said it's a rabbit hole!"

"There's a rabbit hole, and then there's an entire tunnel system. I mean, it's not Miles' fault that he got bit! It was those Alchemex idiots. He shouldn't be treated as some "anomaly" for that!"

"That's not the only reason. It's also because he might be... compatible."

"What? Compatible with what?"

Peter already knew the answer, but he didn't want it. Not the kid.

Miles was a good kid. He didn't deserve that level of burden on his shoulders. He's just a kid!

"If Klyntarus realises that there's someone else he can use, someone that can't fight him off, the kid won't stand a chance. He'll already know about the situation with you and the others. We... deliberately avoided you so he wouldn't catch on. All of your universes have been quarantined unless there's an anomaly."

"And the goop himself became an anomaly in my universe."

"I grabbed him as he tried to escape through one of the holes Earth-1610B tore. He's been much harder to track because of those holes. He's a slippery bastard."

"Your watch thingy is broken; you can't call anybody, but you were alone when you came through."

"I've been putting together a Spider Society - they voted on the name; I think it's stupid. Spiders from different universes support each other and provide help if Klyntarus or another anomaly shows up. And I came alone because... I wasn't going to repeat a mistake."

Miguel pressed his back against the wall and slid down, sitting awkwardly.

It felt like an interrogation, but Peter didn't mean that. He wanted answers about this utter clusterfuck.

How is he supposed to feel?

None of this is Miles' fault, of course. It's not fair. While he didn't know about the spider, it's still not Miles' fault. He hated that Miles had to be alone because of that vicious slime.

If it weren't for Klyntarus, so much would've never happened.

The idea of a spider society sounded incredible, and Peter wanted to dive headfirst into it. He hadn't been allowed to because of something nobody could've foreseen or controlled.

Except for Kingpin, obviously; that's his fault.

Peter sat beside the younger spider, feeling bad since it visibly weighed on him.

"I'm going to guess that you weren't alone last time," Peter said, keeping his tone soft and non-accusatory.

"It was early on. There wasn't a lot of us, only a small team. Ten spiders, including me. They all died," Miguel sighed, sounding a little detached, possibly a sign of disassociation. "I decided to bring them, and ten universes suffered; I wasn't going to let that happen again."

How many people has he lost to that evil slime? The stress of enduring all of that must be horrible.

How much has Klyntarus taken from him? All because he was compatible?

Peter couldn't imagine how lonely that was.

"You went after him on your own?"

It's not a question, though his voice made it sound like that. It didn't feel right for this to be happening. How can someone be carrying all of this on his shoulders alone?

That's how it is as a lone Spiderman, though. You're all alone, lost in a sea of web and tragedy.

The mere concept of a Spider Society was almost a glimmer of hope. It gave them a chance at community, to be with others like them. People that understood the burden that they carry.

"That's how it always is and how it should be. When people try to "help" me, they die, Parker. You and MJ are in danger now, and that'll never go away; he'll always wait to break you, no matter how far you think you are. And that's because I failed. Again."

Depression is a bitch to live with. It's a physical piece of you that doesn't go away, only going briefly dormant.

Peter spent a while dealing with it alone. He was isolated, depressed, miserable and tired of everything. Meeting Miles kicked him up the butt and made him feel alive again.

At least he had somebody.

"You don't want anyone to help because they'll die."

"They always do. I failed to kill him, and now all of you are in danger."

"You never intended on surviving that bomb."

"If it means killing him, I don't care."

Peter is picking up PTSD, depression and possible suicidal ideation. That's not great.

It's possible that Peter could repay what Miles did for him. Help somebody, offer a hand while they're drowning in nothingness.

His friend was alone, and Peter knew how suffocating that could be.

"I care."

"You shouldn't."

"Too bad, kid."

"Don't you dare start the age card with me!"

"My knees pop like bubble wrap. I earned my age card."

"If you call me a kid, I'll call you old man."

"Sounds like a deal."

"No!"

The mood was lightened; the true power of Spiderman!

"I'm already fat. Being called old is sprinkles on the ice cream."

"Estás obsesionado con la comida."

"It would've been great if I paid attention to Spanish in college."

He was busy falling asleep in class and swinging everywhere at night.

"At least you got to go to one."

"Motherfucker, you built a watch that takes you to other dimensions but never went to college?"

"Didn't go to any school. My "father" kept me locked in a basement for my childhood."

That explained a lot.

Everything about this guy was just miserable. His universe sucked.

"Fuck that guy."

"Yeah. Was it any good? College."

"Honestly? Waste of time."

"Good to know I didn't miss anything."

MJ opened the door, probably having been listening to them.

She came in and awkwardly shuffled beside Peter, laying her head against his shoulder.

They're in a messed-up situation. Somehow, they'll stop interdimensional splooge with as few casualties as possible. It sounded much easier than it was.

That sludge was infecting people, jumping like a virus to survive. They need to find him and burn him.

Also, they need to fix Miguel's funky watch. Despite his reservations, they need help.

"I shouldn't have sat down," MJ huffed, regretting her choice. "Can you boys help me?"

"Yeah, I'll carry you," Peter sighed, emotionally drained. "Don't stress yourself, MJ. We got this. Don't we, buddy?"

"You're overly optimistic."

"And you're a negative Nancy."

"My name isn't Nancy."

"It's a saying, dude."

"If it's because of the alliteration, it's a stupid saying."

"Both of you shove it before I take off my slippers," MJ chastised, annoyed.

MJ's the boss of the trio, as well as the mini-MJ.

Honestly, Peter wasn't confident about anything. He felt useless, regardless of his endeavour to help.

She wasn't safe in this house anymore, and that hurt. What father couldn't protect the mother of his child?

"We need to get you somewhere secure," Peter said, wrapping his arm around her. "It's gonna be dicey for a bit."

"We'll find something. I've got faith in you."

At least he has that.

[kariachi]

Morning fic! Post-OV, Ben and Argit, good deeds and shocking competency.

~~

“Benny, sign this.”

When it came to dealing with Argit, you quickly learned those were the most worrying words you could hear. Ben had nearly lost out on a percentage on his likeness the first time the con had caught him tired, same story with Gwendolyn. It was precisely the sort of near miss that made you immediately come to attention anytime the words came out of his mouth. Just to be on the safe side, Ben threw a suspicious glower his way as he took the tablet that’d been shoved under his nose.

“The fuck are you up to this time?”

“Work.”

A likely story. Warily, Ben scrolled to the top of the mass of text and began scanning through. His expression softened and face screwed as he went along.

“Proposed amendment to…,” he muttered under his breath as he went. “Account for and acknowledge…non-Earth native… Dude, are you petitioning to change the ADA?”

“Amend,” Argit said. “Right now it’s all based on Earth tech before the the whole alien thing went public, and assumes everybody involved is human or working with Earthen limits.” Face still contorted, Ben turned his attention to Argit, resting his elbows on the dining table- and someday he really was going to have to find a way to keep the Levins from breaking into his house.

“Okay… And you want to fix that?” It wasn’t that Argit hadn’t done a good job so far in his stint as mayor, much as it pained him to admit the fucker was doing more good than harm and after everything with the Rooters he was clearly better for the job than they’d ever expected before, but Ben still wasn’t passed being shocked every time he did something that wasn't solely for his own gain. Especially something like this, that affected more than just his town and his voters.

“Already getting real tired of people not being able to leave town ‘cause their shit ‘doesn’t count’,” came the explanation with ears held partially back and a crinkled nose. “There’s some mobility shit you can make an argument for, but I want it clearly in there, and nobody came to Earth just so they could get told to retire their service animal and get a damn dog that might not even fucking work for them.”

Ben hated situations like this- where his reasonable suspicion of nearly everything Argit did hit against pride in who he was becoming without Servantis’s mind-altering holding him back and making him worse, and then again against the constant surprise that came with him being anything less than completely corrupt and ineffectual as a politician. Sleezy and corrupt, yes, but then he pulled shit like this and the educational buildings that were under construction. Worse yet, he was probably right. Ben didn’t actually pay attention to this sort of stuff, his focus on more overt things like preventing major clashes and acts of violence. He pretty much always managed to get blindsided by reminders that aliens and non-humans didn’t necessarily automatically get the same rights and protections humans were afforded, and that laws may need to be amended beyond even that to accommodate them.

Sometimes he found himself thinking back to his Dimension 23 version, and breathing a sigh of relief that he had the likes of Kevin, Rook, and yes even Argit to bring that sort of thing to his attention.

“You should run it by Gwendolyn,” he said, cutting off Argit’s answering glower quickly, “you know she’d help, and between the two of you this’ll be law within the year.” Argit huffed, but nodded with a begrudging noise.

“A’ight,” he said. “Still, sign it. Want your name on there first, put that fame to use.” Snickering, Ben nodded. It wasn’t the first or last time, and another reason he had to be careful what he signed anymore. But everything seemed in order as best as he could tell, and he’d check in with Gwen to make sure it’d been run by her in a few days. And it was a very important cause.

With a pleased smile that earned one in kind, he scrolled back to the bottom and put down his name.

[darkpoisonouslove]

💛 Yellow

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

💛 Yellow: Do you ever alter, highlight, or de-emphasize certain canonical traits in a character? If so, why and describe how.

Since you didn't send a specific character and I already did Valtor, I'll go ahead with Griffin. I intensify pretty much every part of her character if we're being honest. But let's look at the main things:

I'm of the opinion that they made her too nice post 1x17. It almost feels like she's a different character afterwards. The only time we see her doing some truly questionable shit is when she kind of used the Winx as bait for the Trix in 2x18 (which the RAI dub tries to deny but that is pretty much what happened). I think she should be allowed to be ruthless and scathing but she'd have to be a force that the plot has to take into account for that to happen in canon so I see why they didn't really do it (though it was somehow okay for her to almost kill the Winx in 1x06). So fics will have to do. I try to show that she's calculative, kind of always scheming or at least analyzing a situation to figure out what the other party wants from her (the exception being most of her interactions with Faragonda because I don't think she'd feel the need to be on guard around her outside the periods of time when they're basically enemies).

I definitely lean very firmly into her familiarity with Valtor, which I think was absolutely something they should have done on the show. Forget shipping but the fact is that she worked with him and he himself - even after she betrayed him - speaks very highly of what they could do together. Showing the similarities between them and how well she knows him - even through a little dialogue with the Winx ffs if they didn't want to devote a lot of screen time to that - would have set up Valtor and his story better. But forget canon! I like to really make her specifically very familiar with his methods (when it comes to him, I don't think he'd know her that well anymore after his imprisonment in Omega but he could definitely read her very well before). I try to show that by making her have a pretty easy time figuring out what he's planning and seeing through his words.

Since she was hinted to show remorse and guilt over the situation with the Trix, I can't imagine her existing without some kind of leftover guilt for her actions in the past as well. Especially when she's faced with Valtor and her former partnership with him. This I don't really begrudge canon for ignoring (they did imply she felt guilty for working with him) since it's been 17 years and Griffin is bound to try to repress that shit when Valtor is around and would have a field day poking her about it. And in general, she'd probably try to keep it locked down as much as possible. Seeing her fail a little would have been nice but this is a lot more pertinent to the CoL era so I'm not complaining too much that they didn't do anything with that in the show. It is somewhat a cornerstone of my fics though because they focus on her almost exclusively (not to mention that it also annoys Valtor).

[thecreaturecodex]

Theo Gravois

"Necro" © deviantArt user Asahisuperdry, accessed at his gallery here

[Another in my series of tributes to PCs past, this time moving on to Curse of the Crimson Throne. A game where I got a TPK in the final battle, which had never happened before and never happened again in my long history of running published adventures. Pro tip: do not teleport to the boss room without clearing the rest of the dungeon. Especially when said boss is a bard who can turn you against each other long enough for her minions from the rest of the dungeon to flood into the room. Theo technically survived, albeit dominated, which is part of why I picked him as the PC of choice. Also, as you'll see in the flavor text, Theo went through some shit (and was the first gay character that player made after coming out). So I wanted to finally give him a happy ending.

I ran Crimson Throne the first time around, in D&D 3.5. So mechanically, this version of Theo is quite different than that version. The original Theo was an archivist from Heroes of Horror (the divine class that tended to be most popular at my table), and for most of the game he had the necropolitian template and the Necrotic Cyst line of feats from Libris Mortis. I made him an oracle of Lore because a) he was very bookish and b) the same player played an oracle in both Jade Regent and Shattered Star. The lich oracle curse was used to reflect his time spent undead, and the inflict line of spells, plus various other necromancies, are standing in for the Necrotic Cyst spells.]

Theo Gravois CR 19 CN Humanoid This human has white hair, intense gray eyes and broad features. He wears chain mail and fine robes, and carries a staff, wands, books, and other magical paraphernalia.

Theo Gravois may simultaneously be the luckiest and unluckiest man alive. Theo was always interested in grisly crimes and tragic love stories, but didn’t expect to find himself in one. His fiancé, Ilya Kushnir, was murdered by the crime boss Gaedrin Lamm and fed to his pet alligator. All Theo had to remember his love by was Ilya’s severed hand, still wearing his engagement ring. Although Theo helped bring Lamm to justice, and then was embroiled in the chaos in Korvosa following the death of its king, he still dwelled on the injustice. Eventually, as his own body was wracked by tuberculosis and the city around him was gripped in the blood veil epidemic, Theo transformed himself into an undead creature in an attempt to cut off his grief and all emotions. The culmination of this ritual involved wrapping his love’s severed hand around his heart.

And then Ilya came back to life.

After months of adventures and just before fighting Queen Ileosa the Thrice-Damned herself, Theo and his colleagues were gifted with a Harrow Deck of Many Things. Theo drew the Unicorn, allowing him to undo any event in his past. Of course, he made it so Ilya never confronted Gaedren Lamm, which rippled through reality. Theo had a loving, living fiancé, so of course he never would have made himself undead. Just in time to fight Ileosa and lose. Because now that he was alive, he was vulnerable to her mind-altering magic.

Theo was the only survivor of the fight against Ileosa, and she kept him as a dominated pet until she could complete the ritual to grant herself divinity. The ritual failed by inches, as Theo had used stone shape spells to reshape half of the statues intended to focus the ritual into images of Blackjack, a Korvosan folk hero (the mantle of whom had been taken by no fewer than two of Theo’s close friends). Both Ileosa and Blackjack were transformed into powerful outsiders, Ileosa a devil, Blackjack an azata. And Ileosa, enraged, tortured Theo to death and left his body to rot in the dungeons beneath Castle Korvosa.

And then Ilya had him brought back to life.

Queen Croft of New Korvosa offered Theo his pick of any role in her city he wanted, but Theo refused—Theo distrusted authority before his many woeful experiences, and he is understandably somewhat paranoid about queens. Theo and Ilya now live on a small island in the Ironbound Archipelago, being perfectly happy to be alone together. Theo spends most of his days reading, sculpting, and playing games with his husband. It would take world-shaking events to bring Theo out of retirement. But if there’s one thing Golarion is known for, it’s world-shaking events.

Theo Gravois   CR 19 XP 204,800 CN Medium humanoid (human) Init +7; Senses Perception +3 Defense AC 32, touch 21, flat-footed 26 (+6 Cha, +3 deflection, +9 armor, +2 natural, +2 luck) hp 222 (19d8+133) Fort +17, Ref +15, Will +20 Immune death effects; Resist cold 10, positive energy 10 Defensive Abilities negative energy affinity Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee +2 quarterstaff +19/+14/+9 (1d6+6) Special Attacks arcane archivist (2/day),brain drain (DC 29, 19d4 damage, 10 rounds, 4/day) Spells CL 19th, concentration +29 (+33 casting defensively) 9th (5/day)—mass heal (DC 29), time stop, winds of vengeance (DC 29) 8th (7/day)—discern location, mass inflict critical wounds (DC 30), moment of prescience, orb of the void (DC 30), stormbolts (DC 28) 7th (7/day)—destruction (DC 29), ethereal jaunt, greater scrying (DC 27), mass cure serious wounds (DC 27), mass inflict serious wounds (DC 29), vision 6th (8/day)—harm (DC 28), heal (DC 26), mass inflict moderate wounds (DC 28), mass owl’s wisdom, wind walk 5th (8/day)—contact other plane, mass ghostbane dirge (DC 25), mass inflict light wounds (DC 27), planeslayer’s call, slay living (DC 27), true seeing, undead anatomy II 4th (8/day)—aura of doom (DC 26), dismissal (DC 24), divine power, freedom of movement, inflict critical wounds (DC 26), legend lore 3rd (8/day, 1 used)—cure serious wounds (DC 23), inflict serious wounds (DC 25), locate object, magic vestment, remove disease, stone shape, undead anatomy I 2nd (9/day)—align weapon, command undead (DC 24), inflict moderate wounds (DC 24), lesser restoration, remove paralysis, resist energy, spiritual weapon, tongues 1st (9/day)—bless, cure light wounds (DC 21), doom (DC 23), identify, inflict light wounds (DC 23), hide from undead, shield of faith 0th—bleed (DC 22), create water, detect magic, detect poison, guidance, light, read magic, resistance, stabilize Statistics Str 16, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 27, Wis 16, Cha 30 Base Atk +14; CMB +17; CMD 33 Feats Abundant Revelations (arcane archivist), Combat Casting, Greater Spell Focus (necromancy), Improved Initiative, Lunging Spell Touch, Oracular Intuition, Quick Draw, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (necromancy), Spell Penetration, Toughness Skills Acrobatics +22, Appraise +15, Craft (sculpture) +16, Diplomacy +20,  Escape Artist +22, Fly +22, Heal +14, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, local, nature, planes, religion) +30, Knowledge (engineering, geography, history, nobility) +20, Linguistics +15, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +30, Use Magic Device +25 SQ legendary, oracle curse (lich), revelations (arcane archivist, brain drain, mental acuity, sidestep secret, spontaneous symbology, think on it) Languages Abyssal,Aklo, Boggard, Celestial,Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Infernal, Necril, Shoanti, Sylvan, Undercommon, Varisian Gear tome of leadership and influence +4 (expended), manual of bodily health +2 (expended), belt of physical perfection +4, headband of mental superiority +6 (Acrobatics, Escape Artist, Fly), +1 deathless cold resistance mithril chain shirt, staff of the hierophant, rod of quicken spell, ring of sustenance, ring of protection +3, mnemonic vestment, cloak of resistance +4, amulet of natural armor +2, handy haversack, wand of cure moderate wounds (20 charges), wand of spectral hand (30 charges), scroll of greater spell immunity, scroll of resurrection, scroll of greater restoration, scroll of heroes’ feast, guardian grimoire, (no preparation ritual), 13,000 gp worth of gem dust for material components, silver engagement ring worth 25 gp, 2 eye ointment material components for true seeing, 7 pp, 5 gp Special Abilities Legendary (Ex) Theo’s statistics are built on 25 point buy, and he has the gear of a PC of his class level. These advantages increase his CR by +1.

[spacemanxpaninis]

Pippin

Being in a group project

Swearing/Cursing

Gale

Playing card games

Waiting for a long time

Marc Spector(WOOF any of them)

Acting/pretending to act a certain way

Being in a party.

Karlach

Being in a group project

Waiting for a long time

How the FUCK did I never answer this I am so sorry 😭 bro this was so fun though thank you for asking omg

Pippin

1- He genuinely wants to carry his weight even if it doesn't seem like it. Being neurodivergent his focus only tethers to very specific things, but Let! Him! Work! On! Those! Things! He is so dedicated and will get so attached to his group he'll want to seem them all succeed just cuz he likes em. Unless they're dicks then he ain't doin SHIT or he's doing his part so good while they helplessly flounder at the rest.

2- Most of the fandom would probably see him as the guy who curses whenever no big deal, cuz he's the silly goofy guy they wanna get high and chill with. But in reality he still has this wholesome youthful innocence around him that thinks it's wrong or just, you know, wrong for him because mama said no! He's not a rough guy! But he always laughs when other people do it and would probably only actually curse when he was quoting something or really upset.

Gale

1- Twirls cards around in his hands, occasionally dropping them, especially if the nature of the game does not depend on total secrecy of one’s hand. If the game involves guessing identities or any sort of counter-effect cards, prepare for a triumphant, dramatic ‘ha ha!’ from the wizard. Drily smiles as he calls out cheaters who think no one is clever enough to catch them, but oh, how he could sense it. Rolls dice in the air with magic just to make a fun sparkly little display of things.

2- Someone save Gale, he forgot his books! Why didn’t he slip a tome in his bag? Ah, well, good things come to those who wait, right? Heh, yes indeed! He can practice things and reflect while he stands and how has only four minutes passed?

Marc

1- Marc has built a life, a living, on carefully constructed facades. It’s why he’s so concerned when Steven begins to cut through- not only does he want to keep his alter safe, but his own whole life’s work. Never let them see when they’ve hurt you. They’ll just know what works best. Words like that echo through his mind as he wears a face of stone, swiftly blinking away tears before they can cut to the corners of his eyes. Weaknesses are weapons.

2- Get him out of that crowd. If he didn’t have to be there he could just be having a drink on his own right now, but there he was, brushed by bodies on one too many sides. At least this time they’re dancing. Alive and well and happy. That thought brings a wry smile to his face, that and the way a passerby claps him on the back like an old friend. How long has it been since someone has greeted him that way?

Karlach

1- Can she build a diorama or a model? Please? Hands-on is this girl’s specialty over writing and stiff presentations and besides, anyone can do that stuff anyway! Well, in actuality she is quite happy to present because talking to people is fun and that’s basically just what presenting is anyway, right? What’s the big deal? Sure, she’ll be the one that talks, too, sign her up! Fuck all those people who won’t do their share. This is her team now and she doesn’t let her team sink.

2- IDLE. DANCING. IDLE FUCKING DANCING. Boredom kicks in, but Karlach kicks harder. Say, that’s a good idea. How high can she kick? Oh wait, public location. Back to grooving. What? She’s got moves.

[justatalkingface]

Can I vent one thing? I kind hate the hipocrisy of some (a big number here) fans on regards Izu and Endeavour.

Like it goes more or less like this:

Fans:😒look at Izu defending Endeavour even through Dabi told how abusive he is.

Me: what you want Izu to do punch Endeavour and praise Dabi? A fucking villain who killed and has no remorse?

The hipocrisy here is how they blame Izu for "siding with an abuser" but Shot befriend BK is cute.

Following that logic, they should hate Shoto too as he is Bk's friends...somehow. BK for all his many flaws, I say this, he is honest in his hate for Izu. Never tried to mask.

As for the other ask I sent and yoy answer. Look, Hori just hates Izu and at this point is just easier to say he is a bad writer (feels lazy but I swear this is the easiest and real explanation here) we dont know why Izu wants to be a hero or anything about his family. His complex of martyr makes no sense (does AM have the same thing? It also makes no sense ....bc we know 0 about AM)

There is so much cognitive dissonance baked into Bakugou and how much people love him, there really is; he hits Izuku and there are Bakugou fans that basiclly say Izuku should thank him for the privilege.

Relatedly, a lot of people apparently find him attractive which... I don't get. But hot people do get away with a lot more than unattractive people, so I could see some unconscious biases on the fact that they think he looks hot, and is therefore more tolerable than if he looked like Mineta but acted like he does in canon.

To be fair, a lot of it is ultimately on Hori himself and the writing; no matter how bad I find his character arc at times, Endeavour's abuse and behaviour was never treated like a joke. Brushed over, sure, but it was never funny. Meanwhile, we passed a point in the story, long before Endeavour's redemption kicked in, and suddenly every abusive thing that Bakugou had been doing, bad things which were Serious Problems he was supposed to deal with, was nothing but a joke, even while Endeavour was still on and off being given shit for being an abuser; it's annoying, but I don't find it surprising people don't take Bakugou's behavior seriously if the story itself doesn't.

Meanwhile, while people's interest in Izuku has died to some extent because of how bad his writing got, I've seen people saying (and I'm not completely disagreeing with them) that Dabi has been carrying a lot of Post War, with all the focus on him and his tragic backstory being something that's actually interesting, and how much character he's allowed to have compared to everyone else, which, ironically enough, is probably enough to make him a more sympathetic victim to a lot of people over Izuku, who isn't even allowed to think about his past abuse with how much his traumatic backstory is being suppressed by the writing.

Granted, it feels like a lot of that was altered to make Endeavour (and Dabi) more tolerable to the readers, and while Dabi is supposed to be a villain with sympathetic origins, some people forget he's very much an unsympathetic person at this point, by his own design, and that would probably be insulted by some of the nicer takes on him.

Ultimately, what Endeavour did was worse than Bakugou, yeah, and I see people say that for why Bakugou is more defensible, but it's not a matter of degree; Endeavour doing shitty things doesn't excuse Bakugou doing shitty things, though there's also the fact that abusive fathers are more universally loathed than bullies, especially with all the extra stuff going on with Bakugou to try and mitigate him.

On the other thing....

Izuku is easy. Izuku wants to be a hero because: societal brainwashing about the heroic system as a whole making the system popular to the people, wanting to help people, and wanting acceptance from others. Being a hero, for him, is wrapped up with all three of those causes.

On All Might... Well. It's been awhile, but back when All Might was allowed to be a character, it was pointed out multiple times that Izuku is, in fact, exactly like All Might (seriously, if we look at what we know about Young!All Might, and it sounds like he's basically taller, more muscular, and to some degree more confident Izuku from the start of the story. He's basiclly Izuku if Izuku never had Bakugou in his life, constantly knocking him down, and maybe had an extra foot or two in height), and while Izuku liked being like his idol, everyone else in the know was worried because All Might went exactly down this road Izuku's going down.

That is to say, All Might is now a lonely old man, scarred and broken, without a life of his own, and the fact he's still alive means this is the good ending for him, compared to him getting himself killed.

(looks at the newer manga chapters meaningfully)

The Izuku and All Might self-destruction parallels is something that came up within the first couple of chapters; it was a very deliberate choice, and it seemed clear, at some point, that All Might was supposed to help Izuku be better than him, temper his natural martyr tendencies, and not get himself killed or horribly maimed, a process that would help the both of them grow past these tendencies.

And yes, we know little about All Might, but after a certain point his development stopped and... in all honesty, as much as Hori seems to hate Izuku, he seems to hate All Might just as much, if not more (or at least All Might isn't mandated to be strong and victorious, anyways, in ways that give Izuku some protections). All Might took this scrawny little boy to the beach and over the course of a summer bulked him up to the point where he could host OFA; he's not this horribly incompetent person that the later parts of the story seem to want us to see him as.

And yet, the more he's developed the more Hori just adds flaw upon flaw to the poor man, starting with being completely incapable of helping Izuku in pretty much any way all of a sudden ('clench your butt' my ass) and turning more and more pathetic over time as his powers waned, and he never got to grow as a character to filled the void in his characterization.

Presumably, mixed with the part where he was meant to teach Izuku... literally anything, All Might's backstory (beyond being basiclly tall Izuku, anyways) was probably going to be organically expanded on over time as their mentor and mentee based relationship developed, but that never happened, and so we have a character whose defining traits are largely having super powers, who no longer has those super powers.

[zetathedraconequus]

A small rambling mess of a speech for Lucky

Whew ok ten years. Should of like planned for this given I've known this is going to be his tenth year since like February. Got no art. Got no party. Man I suck huh? But uh. Anyways. It's luckys 10th birthday. Well technically the 10th anniversary of us meeting. Hes 26 now. Which meant he was 16 when we met. I was 10. I've either had his plush for ten years or just under I can't really remember. His eyes have uh, darkened because my dumbass keeps rubbing him against the oilest face known to man kind. His skin has like more of a grey-bluish tint compared to a new plush. I want this plush to last forever but I'm also not ready to replace or alter him. Got off focus there. Right. Lucky. He's been through three main generation-changes. The latest one and the one people probably know the best is Gen 3, which is like 8 years now? 6th grade, yeah that'll be 8. I'm kinda just writing this as I'm thinking but I just don't really have anything. Everything that's been known has been said already by me many many times. He's my best friend and family. He's been with me through everything. From small shit like falling off a bike, to going through my parents divorce and going to the mental hospital. He's always protected me from danger, shouting out or pulling me back from cars or alerting me of something just *wrong*. When I've had nightmares he'll stand there just watching me to make sure I feel safe. If I'm cold he'll try to wrap me in his wings or share his sweather. He wipes my tears away and gives me the strength to pursue on. He sits by me when I'm sick and even if he doesn't say anything or do anything I just know that he's always there. Even if sometimes I can't see him, I just know if I call out he'll respond and be here. He really is my everything, and that's not even including the adventures I've had with him. Spiders and slime and one time he got covered in honey which attracted a lot of bees and well...

I've helped him as well..or at least I like to think so.I know that sometimes he feels as If he can't come to me for whatever reason or that I wouldn't understand. Sometimes I don't. We live different lives so I can understand that. Maybe he's afraid that I'll think less of him. Buddy I've seen you passed out in the alley and I still love you. I'll drag your ass out of there over and over and over again and never think less of you. I know you're listening somewhere, you're always listening in, I can't have a single private thought to myself. Even if you won't exactly tell me what's going on I just know that your silence speaks volumes, especially when its connected with a bottle. You've been through so much shit. You've done so much shit. You're not the Saint or the angel and I don't expect that from you. I love you and hold onto you with all of your problems. Your baggage. Your addictions. Your attitude. Because I know that you would do the same for me. Even if I call you out on your actions, you've done the exact same shit for me and so I don't want to hear that you think I'll think less of you.

I'm rambling and got off task there.

You're attached to me. Literally. You did some shit, yes I'm blaming you, and now we're stuck together through life and death. I know you're going to haunt me, if not then I'm haunting you. I can't imagine a life without you because I truly don't think I would have one without you. That's not really being metaphorical either. I want to create to *be* closer to you. I picked up drawing so that way I could look at you. I picked up plush making so I could hold you. I started cosplay so I could be you. I try new foods because you're glaring at me and calling me a bubble blowing baby if I don't. I picked up drinking tea because you really liked it. Surprise I like it too. I don't think people understand that we are a package deal. Even if the bond isn't nearly as close or they don't understand really, If I like them then I want them to know about you. They don't have to love you or understand Who you are or what you do for me and with me, but they don't have to. They just have to know that you exist and you're important. That's all I ask. If they can't accept you then I just can't have a true bond with them. Simple as that. There is no way around it. And if they do accept and understand then it's even better. I wish more people could come to your birthday besides those just kinda in the dome, but I guess we gotta make it work. Who knows. Maybe in ten years we'll have more people.

I love you. All variations. All iterations. Lucky. FTL. El. Even the bad ones like Evilous and Foyzur. Because they're all different sides of you and I would be a hypocrite to not accept one of them. I still find it so silly how you, yes you Lucky, fight with the rest of them. You really all got that superiority complex don't you?

This is all of yours birthday. We're making the cake to reflect that. Maybe I'll make a better art piece then the silly cake doodle I made. But anyways I'm running out of words and thoughts. You've been quiet today, I'll wait for you to speak. I will say there is just one question.

Why are you British.

I did not make you like that, dummy.

Love- ZetaTheDraconequus

[violent-j]

Ever notice how older Juggalos are rude and gatekeepy as fuck? Like, I was browsing R/Juggalo and someone posted selfies of themself in their face paint asking to make some wicked clown friends and the comments were filled with "Elder Juggalos" calling them a Juggaho and an attention whore and telling them to go outside. Like, y'all were a kid trying to find a community once too and now that you have it this is what you're doing to someone who was exactly like you at one point? God y'all are fucking terrible. Makes me scared to interact with anyone above the age of 25 who's a Juggalo to be honest. I'm sorry for the unnecessary dump of information I just had to put it somewhere where someone would understand.

yeah i mean. outside of tumblr i don’t really go on the internet that much, so maybe i’m not the right one to ask. but i can see why you’d be put out by interactions like that.

the ‘older vs. younger/longtime vs. new fan’ friction is something that happens in kinda every fanbase ever, if you look around. gatekeeping is a bummer, but that’s sorta just what happens when any familiar landscape starts to change, it makes people uncomfortable en they start pushing back. in the case of ICP, there’s been such a huge wave of new (and reeeeally young) juggalos lately (i think cause of tiktok and homestuck getting more popular again & stuff?), so the landscape is changing like …….. a lot. & incredibly fast.

from what i’ve seen on this blog, it seems like a really high proportion of the newer and younger fans getting into ICP are also blogging about topics like dissociative identity disorder/systems/alters, being neurodivergent, neopronouns, xenogenders, OCs, furry stuff. i’m personally all for minding my own business and letting people talk about whatever they want (especially when they’re minors, like what the fuck? leave ‘em alone), but yknow. that ‘type’ of fan is understandable really, really different from the type of fan who grew up 30 years ago. yknow? i’m a young person, i’m intersex and queer, and even i don’t really ‘get’ what a xenogender is. if i was a cishet white guy born in 1980 who only uses reddit and facebook, i’d probably be confused as shit.

not defending anyone being a gatekeepy/bigoted/sexist asshole, but it’s something to consider when you’re wondering where all the hate is stemming from (i.e., discomfort). with a ton of new, wildly different fans starting to enter an established fan community, there’s some likelihood of people getting defensive and reacting immaturely about it.

ULTIMATELY THO …….. pls remember, people are basically always more shitty on the internet than in real life. if you show up to the Gathering or a local show, i think you’ll find people to be a lot more welcoming. any self-proclaimed ‘juggalo authority’ who wastes their days posting insults on reddit is a crusty piece of shit and not worth your time, if you ask me.

listen to the music if you want, wear facepaint if you want, go to a show if you want. being a juggalo is about not giving a fuck and watching out for your homies, & anyone who’s doing anything to the contrary has strayed from the path. focus on the clown love, don’t let shallow dumbasses posting on some website ruin shit for you.