#god knew i had the capability of being a fucking inhumane villain

[savage-rhi]

If I had this kind of power at the height of my rage with fibromyalgia, people and professionals seeing me as less than because of it, and considering going for virology as a degree, I would've been absolutely teriffying and a fucking menace.

I'm grateful I got nerfed in math.

[encyclopika]

Sneak peak of Missing Out Chap 4 - Home

Saw the work in progress Wednesday thing and...yeah, I owe a sneak peak. I haven’t been able to write for a while - a combination of computer issues and lack of inspiration has left me dry. Nevertheless, I got a whole scene done the other day. This isn’t all of it, and it’s probably not final, but you’ll just have to wait for the rest! Read Missing Out on AO3

***

There was that word again - “feral”. I've heard it all my life, here and there and more once I entered the underworld of villainy. It's a word to mean “person with an animal quirk”, and although it's not meant to be a slur, it kind of is. People let it slip from time to time. The human race has always craved an “other”. You would think with the advent of quirks that the uniqueness of every individual in the world would stop that bullshit, but you would be wrong.

Quirks are about as varied as there are people. Flight is boring as fuck compared to what some people have packing. Some people can make bubbles, others can summon camera lenses from their skin, some people can set themselves on fucking fire. And, hey, Ai could bring people back to life like they were never dead. But even with all of that crazy shit, there's just something about animal quirks that rubs people the wrong way. Something just clicks in people's heads that there is something fundamentally different about us. Something inhuman. And when you're not human, you don't get to pretend that you are one.

*

I left the scene of multiple crimes that night to follow the rest of my pay down the street. Flying all of a sudden became more of a pain than it usually was, and my side hurt like hell. I'd have to limit my time in the air. Landing on another roof closer to the murder warehouse, I listened for them.  

Now, I know what you're thinking – damn, Asuka is such a dumbass going after the guys that just beat the shit out of him. And, yeah, I was fifteen. Spare me the logic. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I figured I had the upper hand now. The guys thought they left me crumpled in the alleyway; they wouldn't be expecting me at all, kinda like that bear trap dick. The darkness is my element and I work best in the cover of night when I can blend in. They'd never see me coming.

But listening for them was easier said than done. Between my side aching and the warehouse still spewing out the agony of death in all its putrid slender for my nose to catch, my other senses really weren't getting equal access to my brain. As I got closer, leaping to the next rooftop, my quirk took over, and I could tell multiple bodies were piled up in the murder house. It had to be, but at the time, my quirk wasn't developed enough yet to get an accurate count. That's actually a skill UA helped me to hone.

(A sidebar – when UA says it will nurture young heroes into capable pros, they really aren't kidding. Search and rescue drills are tweaked with my quirk in mind. They actually put dead rats - the kind you get to feed pet snakes or use for class dissection or what have you - into the dummies we have to find. My classmates get so pissed because I can do the entire operation more efficiently than any of them with my eyes closed. It doesn't help that I went into first year an empty husk of myself, but still tried my best to go through the motions and amount to something, anything at all. I came in with a prior knowledge of how villains worked and how to fight, even if it was dirty, and ended up breezing through most classes with a look of boredom. I guess after a while they just chalked me up to being the “silent but still a douchebag” type. When I woke up in second year, they had already determined I wasn't a class friend, but the class rival. It was like junior high all over again. God, I can't wait to just graduate and never see those fuckers again.

Anyway! Back on topic...)

I wasn't concerned with the warehouse, though my curiosity was growing. When I finally spotted my prey, they had stopped to rest and count their earnings under a security light in an alleyway right next to that warehouse. Giggling to each other about how they easily duped me, they leafed through the cash and determined the prices they could bargain for the parts they stole. You know, under my watchful eye. The alley they sat in meandered through to the next street, which meant they had two avenues of escape if I were to jump them. There were also two of them, and I could still feel one their fists in my stomach. Swooping down behind the entrance wall, I watched them and planned my course of attack.

I'm a quick fighter – if I can knock out an opponent, then I will opt for that over a drawn out scuffle. I can be as muscular as I want but that won't ever save for the fact I have hollow bones and weigh a lot less than you can imagine. The club of bone at the wrist of each wing is my best weapon, so the plan was to smack that shaved head as hard as I could with one, steal the money in his hand, and fly away from the cyclops with haste.

However, before I could work up the nerve to actually do that, a fog bank rolled in from the opposite street. The thick mist flooded the alleyway and covered my enemies, reducing them to silhouettes under the bright security light. Out of no where, a third shadow appeared. In the next instance, he moved in, his hand clutching a blade that was followed by a waterfall of blood from the neck of the taller cyclops. The cyclops gurgled, his hands going to clutch his neck as he crumpled, leaving the guy with the shaved head to suffer the same fate. The ghostly apparition seemed to teleport in front of him, another cascade of blood following a lightning fast movement across the neck. The body fell, and that was the end of them.

In the next blink of an eye, I was staring down into Karma's serious face, his eyes wide with adrenaline, but his mouth in a thin, diagonal line of frustration. Oh, and his knife was a centimeter from my jugular.

“Birdy, birdy, I almost killed you!” he said with that sing-song in his voice, even though he seemed mad and still hadn't dropped the knife. “What are you doing here? Over here?”

I pushed his arm down, lowering his weapon as I answered, “Those were my targets. They didn't pay me-”

“Oh!” Karma cut me off. “Snooze you lose, I guess.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, it really doesn't matter. They have cash on them. You can have it.”

“You bet your ass I can have it! I'm takin' it! Not for birds, anymore,” he said, whipping his knife so the blood splattered against the brick wall to my right. He sheathed it in its holder, and I could hear it sharpen as it slid in. “Now, gotta find a nice dumpster to hold the funerals.”

Karma's fog bank still hadn't cleared, although it became thinner now that the attack was over. He kept the air space over our heads thick, shielding our identities from the security camera that hung off one of the roofs. He was very in tune with his hunting grounds – he knew where every security camera was and knew the layout of the downtown area better than most people knew their ass from their elbow. His methods were known throughout the underworld. Most villains didn't make it out of his killing sprees, and so his reputation was built up like a legend. No one had ever seen him, but the results of his punishments were sometimes left in conspicuous places, and so the legend propagated. It felt like I was the only one in the world who knew Karma was just a crazy dude and not, like, a creature from another world. The first time I saw him cut someone down, it had been after a job just like this one. Karma had been hunting my customer for a long time, and decided he didn't want to cut me down, too. Instead, he explained himself, got me to cough up the details of my situation, and I guess he took pity on me. He said he wasn't a fan of killing kids, and so said he'd help me. And here we are.

“You might not have to,” I said as I approached him. He had knelt down to claim the couple hundred thousand yen my customer had just been counting some five minutes ago and stuffed it into the ratty pockets of his well-worn purple-striped pants. “Another villain was also on a murder spree tonight.”

Karma paused for a moment before asking, “How do you know that, Bird?”

“Kicked his ass about a half hour ago...he was chasing some kids down the block,” I explained, but Karma only studied me more. I sighed, trying to cover for myself. “You don't smell that? They came out of this building right here.”

I pointed up to the warehouse in front of us. It was getting hard to ignore the strong signal of death that wafted over me as thickly and ominously as Karma's mist, beckoning me towards the single metal door off to the side. A shiver ran down my spine, the feathers there standing on end. I didn't know for sure if it was safe, but if Karma was going to follow me, I figured we could take whoever was down there if it came to it. I really couldn't stop myself from investigating, the curiosity pushing me further down the alleyway to that door. I needed to know what happened; the thought that I could be next was a subconscious feeling that planted itself in my mind and refused to leave.

The metal door was unlocked and opened with a whine as I pulled it open, revealing a set of stairs that descended into a very dark basement. There was a dim light on somewhere down there, but otherwise, it set the perfect mood for a horror movie. The urban tomb was open now, and its contents sent a very strong message to my quirk that felt like someone stuck a flamethrower up my nose. I almost smacked myself with how quickly my hand raced to close my nostrils.

“It doesn't smell that bad,” Karma murmured as he dragged the bloodied body of the guy with the shaved head past me and sent it rolling down the cement stairs into the basement. “Then again...then again, maybe I'm just used to it.”

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG // CHAPTERS 10 + 11

we had a week of peace and now we’re gonna get annihilated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have no clue how long this liveblog may end up but hell and high water i’m combining them both

she tore the jade pendant from her neck and flung it into the darkness.

let’s give a warm welcome, to sadness,

i’m very excited for all-new cinder content hhhhhhh if u havent gathered by now I Love This Bitch and I Love Her Many Problems so im thankful for this gift 😞

Cinder was a ruin, her pride carved and served like slabs of meat.

i can FEEL diesel n kc rly patting themselves on the back for every bit of wet meat they can toss at me!!!!!!!!!! U HEAR THAT I CAN FEEL U!!!!!!!!!!! but also i still love this shit w/ all my heart!!!!!!!!!! IM NEVER GONNA STOP SAYIN IT

She had never looked at Glynda’s files.

im so sorry cinder baby but that whole thing? is still HILARIOUS oh my GOD i cannot believe you fucked up that badly. u shoved yr entire head into a beartrap. u absolutely crapped yr pants on that one. yr gonna be thinking abt that on yr deathbed,

/looks at the chapter title again

hhhhhhhh im. so pumped. its gonna be hard to talk abt most of this w/o doing a million fingerguns a minute but i’m gonna try my best

Cinder approached the mirror and touched its silvered face with black-tipped claws,

I SAID IM GONNA TRY MY BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was iron barbs beneath the nail bed, glowing coals underfoot, the singular capacity to do harm. She was a beast, armed with fang and claw and a deep, dark void where her compassion should have laid, and she was dressed for dinner.

HHHHHH god YES THIS IS THE CINDER IM THIRSTY FOR............ i literally cannot say anything that isnt a massive 👈😎👈 but AAAAAAA

like im reading thru this and i cant cherry-pick lines this whole bit? is SO GOOD...  kc n diesel are Yet Again obliterating me w/ their mastery of the narrative style of offal hunt and i just love all of this i rly wish i could explain how offal hunt is EXACTLY MY BRAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F U C K

The final touch on her mastercraft disaster: the four sawed-off horn stumps which grew among her silver-streaked hair.

HOOOO B O I i am. Losin it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HER HORNS.......... CINDR...............

Wretchedly, she wondered: did Glynda even respect her now?

any other villain: my plan didnt work and im mad >:( cinder fall: my plan didnt work and now im mad but also mostly sad :(

CINDER’S TRYING HER BEST GOD.......... i literally hate how the remaster has made her So Soft, Actually... I BELIEVE IN U CINDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE U!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO YR BEST

Every part of her was hot and hollow. She was sick with loathing.

i LOVE HER.... CINDER I HOPE U KNO THAT YR LOVED... god tho i dont like how SAD I AM RN... cinder’s so small and the world is so big and wants 2 Shit On Her blease

honestly like. im rly- LOOK I SAID THIS BEFORE BUT. this is why im rly lovin the new cinder content because in the first version we only got glimpses of her internal machinations and now we’re in full-blown Always Sad territory and everything is suffering :)

She blinked. Her double did not.

‘well’, thought murphy. ‘that’s terrifying.’

she’d only survived thanks to a keen instinct for danger, cultivated during her tenuous teenage years.

i NEED. I NEED. CINDER BACKSTORY. all these lil nuggets dont constitute a meal! I WANT A BIG MAC AND FRIES. WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS BABY DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also again. the body horror of offal hunt? peak content. Im Lovin It

its getting harder to divine what is and what is not a 👈😎👈 because we got bits sprinkled around and theres only rly a spoiler potential if u glue em all together so im still being extra careful and the answer is blared in everyones faces so this whole kondor scene will go uncommented unless some Bullshit Happens which it will, so,

When she had become so invested in Glynda’s approval? When had a desire to be recognized as something inhuman, something ferocious, something black and terrible and capable of keeping up with Glynda Fucking Goodwitch turned into this?

oh! oh! i have the answer! i do! i know the answer! it’s you a lesbian,

The spectres of her youth haunted this city, owl-eyed children and fox-eared teens. They’d been a second sort of family, the only kind she’d had within these walls, and she’d wondered what had become of them in the past decades, but…

It was too sentimental, and she wasn’t meant to be a creature of sentiment.

oh boy okay wow

okay so actually this bit made me cry??? fuck OFF im losing it!!!!!!!! LET HER BE SENTIMENTAL!!!! LET HER HAVE PPL TO CARE ABT!!!!!!!!!! IM LITERALLY CRYING IM GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!

She would go barefoot from this point on, her heels clutched at her side. When she left the hotel room to steal into the night, she promised herself not to look back.

im sorry im just. so sad rn. i havent cried over a fic in YEARS and we still have another chapter ago i hate this SO MUCH..............

here comes chapter 11 

if i cry even once more im going to stab!!!!!! im not sure what BUT ILL STAB!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even without his wings, the Manticore would easily have been twice the size of any of the other Grimm, far outstripping them in sheer bulk.

HATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HATI HATI HATI

holy shit we actually get to see him this time!!!!!!!!!!! WE GET TO SEE THIS LEGENDARY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS CHONCC,

also hes a manticore now which is, Radical, may i just say, and just a little bit sexy,

The effortless grace in each move betrayed power most Grimm would not live to achieve. Once he stood, he had to dip his head low to meet her eye to eye. His canines were the length of her forearm.

if u werent here for the remaster? we never even SAW hati but now hes here, hes Big, and rly thats all that matters,

Like a child who’d been allowed to lie and lie until at last they’d strangled themself in the web they’d spun, Cinder couldn’t speak. Could only wait on his verdict.

every single one of cinder’s inherent themes is killing me and this business w/ family? stop. im dying. this is rude

The scant space between them popped and cracked like an sparking flame, warm and effervescent, and this time, Cinder lingered, hugging Hati close.

IF I CRY ONCE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF U ASSHOLES MAKE ME CRY ONCE MORE I WILL DOXX YOU,

aaaaaaaaaaaaaah im loving this content i rly dont have words for it dhjfgsdfgjh i just, rly like the words, and the order theyre in, and i honestly keep forgetting to liveblog it cause i just wanna READ EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tempting as it was—as it always had been, ever since she’d left the relative safety of the wastes and learned what happened to scraggly-limbed teens with horns and fangs and gleaming eyes—

with every chapter i desperately have 2 kno more abt baby cinder i HAVE to know i am so. UNBEARABLY CURIOUS... baby cinder what happened... what happened 2 u....

A lantern’s glow warmed her, bleeding into the darkness leeching at them both. It was a gentle gold across her skin, and like an answering signal from a distant outpost, Cinder saw a flush of light through the dark fur lining Hati’s throat, as though flames licked at his insides.

i forgot. that cinder glows like that when she feels Loved or full of pride and you know what i dont like these chapters. they were made to hurt me and i Dont Like That (im mclovin it)

From the safety of Hati’s neck, she found it easier—after all this time, he was still her bastion.

WHEN YOU REALISE? THAT YR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES?? STOP,

For a regular person, the machine would be able to draw out short bursts of power, the likes of which no Semblance could ever channel. The taxation would eventually destroy the soul so deeply, so thoroughly, as to leave it empty for good.

For a Witch? For—

the fact. she cut herself off before she could think ‘for glynda’. has me on the FLOOR. this bit is just So Much i dont like it

Glynda Goodwitch would not abandon this hunt. Cinder knew it, had read it from her palms like an open book—Glynda Goodwitch did not know how to stop. If it had been anyone else on Remnant, they might never return, might never pull themselves back into action after today—but Glynda did not have a shred of self-preservation.

me, knocking against cinder’s head: u kno for someone w/ so many schemes in yr brain yr pretty dumb and gay, huh,

firstly let’s talk abt cinder’s “””””””””””””””””””self-preservation””””””””””””””””””” instin-- whats that? not found? yes

[Glynda’s] eyes were empty, hungry, insatiable.

i feel like ive read this line before! lets jump back a chapter--

In [Cinder’s] eyes, there was a subtle, endless hunger.

WAKE UP CINDER SHE’S YR SOULMATE!!!!!!!!!!! THE COFFEE’S READY U CAN SMELL THE BACON FROM HERE WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a fluid leap, they were in the air, the ground quickly shrinking beneath them. Pressing her face against his neck to shield herself from the wind, she closed her eyes and prepared herself for what was to come, trusting Hati to deliver her safely.

that said i ADORE my boy hati is literally the best part of offal hunt kc and diesel do not interact,

He was frozen in horrific anticipation, like watching an imminent tragedy and being absolutely helpless to stop it. Like all the tension was mixed with grief and hopeless, futile fear.

when will offal hunt be nice to me. when will any of these characters get to be happy. hello. im full of sadness.

The sound was like a saw working back and forth, but resonating inside her head, rattling every tooth in her jaw, deafening to her ears.

im literally gritting my teeth at this i can hear it in my own head and its Very Bad!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay god i can barely handle to quote anything more this bit is hurting ME so lets swiftly move on before I Die

Cinder closed her weary eyes, sinking into sleep like a shallow grave.

BE NICE TO HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BE NICE TO HER JUST THIS ONCE, PLEASE, IM BEGGING YOU,

They only knew death, only ever sought death; fangs and claws slicked with blood, magic rending meat and marrow apart, and everywhere that choking, scalding heat, spilled blood like magma, like the core of a planet.

hmm... that seems like a 👈😎👈 ~reference~

They were all alert, ears pricked, hackles raised like Hati’s. They all fixed on the same spot, somewhere beyond the darkness of the cave opening, and though she could barely think, she knew:

She was out of time. The Witch was here.

oh no.

okay so THATS CHAPTERS 10 AND 11! i only cried ONCE and u kno what thats. a Victory. these two chapters were VERY GOOD i rly loved em and i can tell new readers r gonna have a blast w/ this shit!!!!!!!!!! meanwhile i, a veteran reader, am full of peril,

terrible.

[vadianna]

Empire’s End

I wrote this out as I read it, and usually I just leave these in drafts, but hey, why not, here you go.  Cut because this was way too long.

- Hmm... this starts in the middle of an action scene again.  As much as I liked Life Debt, I had a hard time getting into it for the same reason - I like the characters a lot, but these missions don’t mean as much without the lead-up and the baggage the characters drag into them, at least for me.

- I like that Norra is stalking Rae through the galaxy like Captain Ahab.  

- I also like that she chooses to leave Temmin again.  I like Norra because she’s a lot more like a regular person than many other Star Wars characters, who have to make the big decisions for the Good of the Galaxy.  Leia has to decide to let down the leader of the New Republic to go after her husband, who chose to liberate Kashyyyk over returning to Chandrila.  They have to defy the New Republic, because the New Republic refuses to intervene on behalf of the enslaved Kashyyyk population.  There’s... no real moral gray area there.  Norra left her 10-year-old son to become a soldier after her husband was taken.  She did not become a Hero of the Rebellion.  She leaves her son again here, still not really a Hero of the Republic, and mostly in disgrace.  Norra is, really, only letting down Temmin with her decisions, though one could argue the nobility of her cause still.  But you could also argue that she’s a shitty mom, and I love that.

- Also, when Nora chose her husband, she left her son with her sister and her wife, unlike Lyra, who left her daughter with a guerrilla insurgent acquaintance.  Sort of. Actually, she left her daughter in an open field to throw herself in front of Death Troopers while she watched, and called the acquaintance and assumed he’d pick her daughter up eventually.

- The Wookiees call the Imperials milk-skins, which is the most delightful insult I’ve run across in a Star Wars novel.

- Man I feel bad that in a universe with all sorts of assistive technology, Mon Mothma feels like having a prosthetic arm would make her “less than she is” and “inhuman” and that she associates such things with Darth Vader and evil.  I’d like to think such things would be so commonplace, especially in a galaxy that wars as often as this one does, that those associations wouldn’t really exist?

- Sinjir is still my favorite, and I like his conflict the most, though it is admittedly a simple one - he is a bad man that can only do bad things.  He doesn’t want to be a bad man anymore, but he doesn’t really know how to do anything else, and doing bad things for good people is the only way he can redeem himself.  Except he would never call it “redeeming himself,” because please.   He’s also very funny and capable, which is a huge plus for me.

- The friendship between Sinjir and Jas is so pure.  This author also nails the relationship between Han and Chewbacca, which I wasn’t expecting to like.  I am not the biggest fan of Han and Chewbacca in the novels.  Remind me of this when I start to read Star’s End.  Why would I buy that?  Why am I going to read it?

- There was no Rae Sloane until about a quarter of the way in the book this is unacceptable.

- THAT JAR JAR BINKS CHAPTER HOW DARE YOU

- Gallius Rax is... uh.  Yeah.  Also, he feels way too similar to Thrawn, but isn’t nearly as Extra, so he can’t pull it off.  He’s also... hm.  Hm.  Well.

- Sinjir just tortured one of his friends awake help me.

- Gallius Rax gets worse the longer this novel goes on, though I do like the conversations he had with Palpatine.  Palpatine salting the earth behind him after death is one of the most Palpatine things I’ve ever heard.  I also like that he straight-up lied to a kid and told him that he’d been alive for thousands of years.

- Temmin’s perspective on the ground as the Super Star Destroyer and the Starhawk impacted the surface was the written equivalent of Darth Vader turning on his lightsaber at the end of Rogue One.  It was fucking epic, and I wanted to rub my face all over it.

- Mon Mothma hiring Sinjir as an adviser and then telling him to go deliver the saltiest gift to her adversary gives me so much goddamn life.  I want a thousand stories about Sinjir and Mon Mothma.

- Of course the robot fucking dies.  God damn it, Star Wars.

- God I love Rae Sloane so much.  She’s great, because she’s a bad guy who wasn’t turned into a sneering villain.  The novel is very careful to spell this out - she’s contrasted against the cruelty and ruthlessness of Rax, and the “good” characters can stand to work with her.  But the “good” characters would be morally forced to arrest Rax or stand by and watch as he self-destructs - even Norra can’t force herself to pull the trigger on her enemy, though she really wants to.  Rae Sloane can disable him with shots, lecture him, and then fucking tear him apart.  She’s technically the bad guy, after all.  It is so satisfying.

- Rae Sloane also beats the shit out of that slob Brendol Hux.  Kick his ass, Grand Admiral.

- Rae Sloane is the fucking best and I want to know so much more about her and the beginnings of the First Order.  

- I have a habit of analyzing the structure of novels too much (which you might have guessed if you read this far).  So at the end of this one, the “good guy tragic” casualties are Brentin, Jom, and the robot.  And I fucking knew that’s what would happen.  Because who else was going to die?  One of the female main characters?  Sinjir?  Condor?  No, of course not, not here.  I like that these decisions are being made, because it’s about time, but I also hate the transparency, I guess.