#gonna draw the other doppelgangers sometime

[cryinganabell]

The most basicest sexyman i hate him/aff

[hasanawolf]

What are your opinions on other ships?For example Phylot or Milkplane?Would you ever consider drawing them or just talking about them?

I like Phylot a lot actually! I’m trying to see if there’s a way that I can incorporate it to my AU, but it’s been rather difficult since I have Afton as the main villain 🥲 Tho I did do a comic of them interacting recently, with a bit of tension to add some spice 👀🌶️ It’s up on my Twitter, IG and Facebook, but I’ll be posing it here as well after I’m done posting all the crap that comes before it 🤣

As for Milkplane, I don’t really ship that romantically, but I do see them getting along and being good friends. Fun fact, in my comic of Margarette telling Lois and Raft that Izaack was gonna be moving into the building, originally I had planned Steven to be talking to Francis about it, but I was having a bit of trouble with the dialogues so I changed it to Steven and Afton cx. But yeah, I’ll try to draw Steven and Francis hanging out some time, in my AU they get along rly well.

As for other ships… In general I think I can say I don’t ship Francis with anyone else that isn’t Izaack or variations of Izaack (doppelgangers or Zoth). Pretty much the same with Izaack, I don’t ship him with anyone else that isn’t Francis and variations.

However, I have liked a few Izaack x Angus fan arts I’ve seen out there. I don’t really ship it, but they can have an interesting dynamic sometimes 😆

Speaking of Angus, I don’t like Frangus, I’m sorry :’)

And I really really dislike Francis x Nacha. I think Francis x Nacha is the only NOTP I have.

Frangus used to be a NOTP as well, but since I’ve grown more fond of Angus, I can swallow it better now, but I still don’t ship it haha 😅

And well, if there’s any other you’d like to know about let me know cx thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[bucklemonster2]

My Doppelganger (A Story) (Nederlands beneden)

My Doppelganger by Emilia Sameyn

29/04/2024

ENGLISH: (dutch below, nederlands beneden)

Apparently, I have a doppelganger. In fact I had two. So, you know what? I'm gonna tell you about my experiences with doppelgangers. First, in medieval times having a doppelganger was seen as an omen of death. I'm not sure what the logic is behind this. Are you seeing your future self from the 'de''ath realm'? Is it implying that your doppelganger is going to k''ill you and take your place? Anyway, I remember when I first saw someone's doppelganger, besides twins that is.

The first time I saw a doppelganger was when my grandma had recently died. Yet, I saw her,

riding a bus as if nothing ever happened, minding her own business. It was quite confusing, but logically I knew it was just an old woman looking like her. Then later in 2017, I was around 23, I was still living as a cismale (normal man), so I did not look particularly different. I remember a girl looking at me weirdly. She asked me if we knew each-other, and if I was from a certain college. I was a bit confused again, it turned out, she thought I was someone else. I had a doppelganger. Anyway, many years later, I slowly discovered I was a woman (or at least agender). Around 2021 I grew my hair, got bangs/ a fringe haircut and I also coloured my hair.

However sometimes people would honk at me, and wave as if they knew who I was, but I did not know them. I wondered is it because I'm trans, or look different with my coloured hair? In 2023 I went to a rock festival called Alcatraz. I did not stay long, I just wanted to see it,

feel the vibe. I had to admit the music was to loud sometimes, and I understand people complain if they still have loud music after 10 PM. Anyhow, again a girl stared at me,

as if she remembered me, but I did not remember her. Normally, I would have taken this opportunity to get to know someone new, but I must have felt tired, and I did not plan to stay that long. The signs were getting clear, but I was still oblivious.

So months later (actually a month or week ago from now). People honked at me again,

making rock-hand signs as if I was some sort of rock-star. I think I ignored it, I'm all for self-expression, but I hate people that honk without reason, being auti'stic as I am lol.

However the signs were there, do I have a doppelganger?

Anyway a week or so ago I went to a meeting with a bunch of people. I mentioned I'm an artist. I draw, paint, write and make music. I mean maybe my music is terrible, but I make it and I have fun making it. Someone asked if I performed live. I politely said no. I make music using my computer (composing and editing), and honestly I can't play music live, or it would at least sound like a drunk toddler playing with an electric piano.

The dude explained he saw someone that just looked like me, a rock star. Well, rock star, I'm not sure if that person is famous. I'm not even sure if that person is male or female. I look androgynous, and so do many rock artists. I should have asked who that singer was, but I somehow forgot. It was only later that all these little moments came back to me, forming one story. All these people honking and making "rock music hand gestures". No wonder they did this. I have a doppelganger rock star running around! Lol Even though I try to have a unique look, sometimes cute and pink, sometimes dark, (often casual out of comfort). Even though I'm trans and have my hair in 3 different colours. Somehow somebody still looks like me! haha!

PS: I'm not accusing anyone of faking me, or stealing my identity or something. I just happen to have a doppelganger, and therefore I am someone's doppelganger. Its a coincidence, a cionkydink.

--- --- --- --- --- ---

NEDERLANDS DUTCH

Mijn DubbelGanger door Emilia Sameyn 29/04/2024 Blijkbaar heb ik een dubbelganger. Sterker nog, ik had er twee. Dus ja, ik ga je vertellen over mijn ervaringen met dubbelgangers. Eerst werd het hebben van een dubbelganger in de middeleeuwen gezien als een voorteken van de dood. Ik weet niet zeker wat de logica hierachter is. Zie jij je toekomstige zelf vanuit het ''do'denrijk''? Impliceert het dat uw dubbelganger u gaat verm''oorden en uw plaats innemen? Hoe dan ook, ik weet nog dat ik voor het eerst iemands dubbelganger zag (afgezien van tweelingen). De eerste keer dat ik een dubbelganger zag, was toen mijn oma onlangs was overleden. Toch zag ik haar, in een bus rijden, alsof er nooit iets aan de hand was, en ze gewoon haar eigen ding deed. Het was behoorlijk verwarrend, maar logischerwijs wist ik dat het gewoon een oude vrouw was die op haar leek. Later in 2017, ik was ongeveer 23, leefde ik nog steeds als een cisman (een normale man), dus ik zag er niet bijzonder anders uit. Ik herinner me een meisje dat raar naar me keek. Ze vroeg of we elkaar kenden en of ik van een bepaald internaat kwam.

Ik was, opnieuw, een beetje in de war. Blijkbaar dacht ze dat ik iemand anders was.

Ik had een dubbelganger. Hoe dan ook, vele jaren later ontdekte ik langzaam dat ik een vrouw was (of in ieder geval agender). Rond 2021 heb ik mijn haar laten groeien, en mijn haar in een froufrou (bangs/fringe) laten knippen. Soms toeterden mensen naar mij en zwaaiden ze alsof zij wisten wie ik was, maar ik kende ze niet. Ik vroeg me af: komt dit doordat ik trans ben, of zie ik er anders uit met mijn gekleurd haar? In 2023 ging ik naar een rockfestival genaamd Alcatraz. Ik bleef niet lang, ik wilde het gewoon eens zien, de sfeer opsnuiven. Ik moet toegeven dat de muziek soms te luid was, en ik begrijp dat inwoners klagen als ze na 22.00 uur nog luide muziek horen. Hoe dan ook, opnieuw staarde een meisje naar mij, alsof ze zich mij herinnerde, maar ik herkende haar niet. Normaal gesproken zou ik van deze gelegenheid gebruik hebben gemaakt om een nieuw iemand te leren kennen, maar ik moet me moe hebben gevoeld en ik was niet van plan lang te blijven. De tekenen werden duidelijk, maar ik was me er nog steeds niet van bewust. Dus maanden later (eigenlijk een maand of week geleden vanaf nu). Mensen toeterden weer naar mij, ze maakten 'rock handgebaren' alsof ik een soort rockster was. Ik denk dat ik het genegeerd heb, ik ben er helemaal voor zelfexpressie, maar ik haat het als mensen toeteren zonder reden, ik ben dan ook een grote au''tist lol. Wat het ook was, de tekenen waren er: heb ik een dubbelganger? Hoe het ook zij, ongeveer een week geleden ging ik met een aantal mensen naar een meeting. Ik zei dat ik een kunstenaar ben. Ik teken, schilder, schrijf en maak muziek. Ik bedoel, misschien is mijn muziek verschrikkelijk, maar ik maak het en ik heb er plezier in.

Iemand vroeg of ik live optrad. Ik zei beleefd nee. Ik maak muziek met behulp van mijn computer (componeren en monteren), en eerlijk gezegd kan ik geen muziek live spelen, anders zou het op zijn minst klinken als een dronken peuter die op een gebroken elektrische piano speelt. De kerel legde uit dat hij iemand zag die precies op mij leek, een rockster. Nu ja, rockster, ik weet niet zeker of die persoon beroemd is. Ik weet niet eens zeker of die persoon man of vrouw is. Ik zie er androgyn uit, en dat geldt ook voor veel rockartiesten. Ik had moeten vragen wie die zanger was, maar op de een of andere manier was ik het vergeten. Pas later kwamen al deze kleine momenten bij me terug en vormden ze één verhaal. Al deze mensen toeterden en maakten "rockmuziek-gebaren". Geen wonder dat ze dit deden. Er loopt een dubbelganger-rockster rond! Lol Ook al probeer ik er uniek uit te zien, soms 'cute en roze', soms donker, (vaak casual uit comfort). Ook al ben ik trans en heb ik mijn haar in 3 verschillende kleuren. Op de één of andere manier lijkt iemand nog steeds op mij! haha! PS: Ik beschuldig niemand ervan mij te vervalsen, of mijn identiteit te stelen of zoiets. Ik heb toevallig een dubbelganger en daarom ben ik iemands dubbelganger. Het is toeval, een cionkydink.

[nittroy]

In anticipation,, a bit about this blog

You might have seen my art and been wondering wtf is happening in it. Well, tbh sometimes I also have no idea. But most of the time it's my OCs from one of my stories!

This blog is like a larva… It's just been lying there but soon enough it will just stir and become the strange creature: a blog for both serious long posts about my story and some absolute shitposts.

I want to do this post to talk a little bit about the process behind the stories I'm planning to tell: how they were created at first, what are they called, and how I'm gonna try and organize this blog! :D

Below is a long post with me talking about my stories and what I plan to do with them!!

DOZENS OF ASPECTS

"Dozens of Aspects" (or DA) is the main story that I'm currently working on. It's a detective fantasy story set in space!! It's also got lots of fantasy science and cosmic ace lesbians.

The supposed form for it is an illustrated book. The stage I'm at — character designs & script preparation!

It takes place in the year of 3012 in the cosmoopera-like universe, and the main characters are scientists who work with anomalies. One of them, Eli makes a particularly strange acquaintance (well, tbh, they kinda randomly adopt a kid. He is called Kayleigh and he has a secret. A secret anomaly friend...)

That gets them on a trail of a pretty strange series of events…

It's a story about different societies, plants, flowers' memories, red skies, and many other strange things... There's a detective story that has a complicated plot and shows life inside some of the planets in this universe.

Funnily enough, originally it was supposed to be a prequel to the DLG (the next story this post tells about), but the plot grew so complicated this story became its own thing. I've been working on DA for like 4 or 5 years now, but I haven't done much, as a couple of years of work have been taken from me by depression and health complications… Right now I have finally started somewhat digging the vibes again and, hopefully, I'll be able to progress with it soon! :D

Main tag for this story: #da_nt

DOPPELGANGER

"Doppelganger" (or DLG) is the next in line after the DA story, it follows the life of one of the main characters - Kayleigh. In DA they were 12 yo, and DLG tells about their adulthood after the DA events.

Supposed form of the story — maybe a comic? Or also an illustrated book? Idk I need to write DA first. The stage I'm at — idk I just draw OCs from there sometimes :D

(No, the tattoo-ed person is not grown-up Kayleigh, that's Qiyong, she is just very hot so I love to draw them A LOT) The events take place at 3019, Kayleigh, now grown up, goes back to Alta-Costar, one of the cities where DA events took place, to dig up more info. He makes some new friends and meets some older frenemies… And btw also there's a revolution boiling up in Alta-Costar.

While DLG is kinda frozen at the moment, it has the coolest cast of characters and immense vibes, so I still feel like drawing it sometimes... ;w;

Main tag for this story: #dlg_nt

GREAT LIVES

"Great lives" (or GL) is a story (it is frozen for now) that happens in the other corner of the same universe as the other two stories. It's a series of cosmic road-movies following one spaceship captain and her new alien girlfriend. Just fun and gay stuff.

Supposed form - a comic? Also illustrated book? Idk!! I haven't been working on this story for a while but one day I will!!!!

Old art!!!!! Not finished art!!!!! ARRRRRrrrrrr

Fun fact: I've invented GL when I was like 12, and I felt that this story can be REALLY COOL, but I'm not cool enough to tell it yet. So yeah, about 7 years later, I'm still waiting to become cool enough. But the main characters already went from a messy triangle to an nb lesbians polycule, so I think we are getting somewhere-

Main tag for this story: #gl_nt

That's all for now, hopefully, I'll work out the tag system here and will be able to post some lore soon! Other tags I have for now: #my art / #my OCs- for art on acc, as usual #generallore_nt - info for all stories, a bit about their universe maybe #kbnq_nt - Kayleigh, Benji & Niquole, very specific part of DA and DLG + name tags for characters that will appear later!

[littlemisssquiggles]

I said I would sketch him. Sometimes I wish I could draw as fast I can write. I feel like it would be better if I just make a separate continuation headcanon post describing my concepts for Imposter Oscar!

Like I said in my Pinehead headcanon post, I really dig this as a concept. I don’t really care if it doesn’t become canon.

I just think the idea of George the Greyhound Grimm creating a doppelganger of Oscar and using this abomination to infiltrate the hero team, pretending to be our true little prince while all the while the real one watches on helplessly from his prison of isolation---I just find that idea really neat =)

And I really wanna flesh out this Imposter Oscar character idea since I got some ideas for his persona since I technically see him as an extension of George the Greyhound but he’s part Oscar as well since, in my concept, the Imposter was made from Oscar...made from using a sample of his blood.

So I had this idea of the Imposter being psychically linked to both the Hound and Oscar. So whatever the Imposter sees, so does Oscar and he feels everything this abomination feels too and vice versa.

So if the Imposter kills someone or gets injured, Oscar will see and feel the sensation as if it were him experiencing it. 

So I had this visual scene of the Imposter mocking Oscar by voicing all of his most deepest, darkest and most PRIVATE thoughts and feelings---including how he TRULY felt about the other heroes particularly certain members (such as Ruby or Jaune) and it ends up being some pretty heavy stuff behind said out in the open when Oscar has been mostly trying to keep things bottled up essentially.

If you’ve watched Steven Universe Future like me, think of Imposter Oscar as a worse version of Cactus Steven.

That’s the concept I had. I dunno. Don’t mind me guys. I’m just gonna have as much fun with this concept as I can.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[flightfoot]

Ladycat Ch. 4

AO3/FFN

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette bounded through the city, running over rooftops, falling to ground level to duck and weave through the city, then jumping up to roof level again when convenient. 

 The wind in her fur, the agility and grace in her feline form - she’d experienced it before while chasing after Chat, but couldn’t truly appreciate it with the cat brain she’d had.

 Running over rooftops and swinging through the city had always been some of the funnest parts of being Ladybug (not counting getting to spend time with her partner of course). Getting to do it in an even more naturally graceful and acrobatic form was a real treat.

 Not that she could do anything too crazy - not yet anyway. She was all too aware of the box clenched between her jaws - and the consequences if she lost it. Best not to repeat the Style Queen incident.

 She hadn’t been the only one to lose a Miraculous that day at least, Chat had also lost… his Miraculous…

 Wait.

 WAIT.

 Chat was Adrien. Adrien had been statuefied pretty much immediately. 

 He hadn’t lost his Miraculous; he just hadn’t had the chance to use it.

 That little furball lied!

 Oh she was gonna have some word for Plagg later! ...Once she could speak.

 But that would have to wait another few days. Right now, she had more important things to attend to.

 Nudging open one of the windows of the Cesaire residence, she crept inside.

 Luckily the twins weren’t around, they would’ve been hard to avoid.

 She padded up to Alya’s room, headbutting the door a few times. She’d mew, but she didn’t particularly feel like letting go of the box with the Fox Miraculous, not until it was safely in Alya’s possession.

 “Would you two not-”

 Alya opened the door.

Looked down.

And blinked.

 “A cat?” she raised one eyebrow. “What’re you doing-”

 Marinette could tell the exact moment Alya noticed the box holding her Miraculous. Not that that showed any special understanding of her; her face practically breaking in half with her grin and squealing just within the human hearing range (she assumed at least. Being a cat made things like that harder to judge) were pretty good signs.

 Alya knelt down. “Is- is that-?”

 Marinette gently set the box down and nodded.

 Picking it up, Alya opened the lid.

 Immediately a light shot out, darting around.

 OOH LIGHT. PRETTY LIGHT. MUST CATCH LIGHT.

 YOU WILL BE MINE. 

 “HEY, woah, stop it!”

 NO. NO HUMAN STOP ME. MUST CATCH…

 She froze, shaking herself.

 “I guess her cat instincts are still pretty strong.”

 Marinette looked up at the voice. 

 Trixx looked back at her, bemused.

 “She’s not actually a cat I’m betting, is she?”

 “Nope!”

 “Then…”

 Alya held out her arms. Marinette jumped into them, purring. 

 She looked more closely at Marinette’s neck. “That green pawprint… Chat Noir?!”

 Marinette let out a startled meow. She guessed that made sense, but no. Just no.

 Alya’s brow furrowed. “I’d’ve thought he’d be black though, not gray.”

 “That’s because that’s Ladybug, not Chat!”

 “WHAT?! Wait, that actually makes sense. So THAT’S why no one’s been restored!”

 Glancing down, she noticed something on the floor. “Uh… Trixx? Could you maybe retrieve that piece of paper?” she asked, chagrinned. “My arms are kinda full of Ladycat here.”

 Trixx chuckled but complied, holding it up so Alya could read it without needing to dislodge Marinette.

 “Ladybug got turned into a cat and isn’t gonna be turned back for three more days,” she read out loud. “Which is bad enough, but we’ve got other issues. I know who Hawkmoth is, but he’ll also find out who I am very soon. I can’t go home, and… well, we’re gonna need Rena Rouge’s expertise for what comes next. Follow Ladycat, she knows the way.”

 Alya blinked. “The way? The way to what?”

 Trixx grinned. “The way to the Guardian of the Miraculous.”

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette darted through the streets, occasionally pausing to allow Rena Rouge to catch up. Technically they both COULD have run across the rooftops to get to Master Fu’s place even faster, but that would’ve attracted a bit too much attention. She was pushing it before doing that as a cat, but with Rena in tow? Best not to risk it unless they had to.

 Rena would arguably have attracted even more attention than that on the ground… if she had actually LOOKED like Rena Rouge. Before leaving she’d cast an illusion on herself, making her look like just another resident of Paris and definitely NOT Alya or Rena Rouge.

 Unfortunately, that also meant sticking to plausibly human speed. She’d had to detransform twice already to feed Trixx, but hopefully this would be the last time.

 She jumped onto Alya’s shoulders while they waited for Trixx to finish eating. With how small she was, she had plenty of room to perch on.

 Alya laughed. “You know, you might call Chat a ‘silly kitty’ sometimes, but I don’t think you’re far behind him.” 

She chuffed at that. That may be true, but she didn’t need to call her out like that.

 She shifted slightly, brushing herself against Alya’s neck. 

 Alya let out an impulsive laugh.

 Marinette’s eyes sparkled. REVENGE.

 Quickly she brushed herself all over Alya’s neck, making sure her tail brushed just so, along with nuzzling into her neck.

 And then had to quickly move as Alya sank to the floor giggling. “You- you win,” she gasped as she got ahold of herself after Marinette’s impromptu tickling. “You’re not nearly as much of a silly kitty as Chat. You’re sillier.”

 Okay she should have expected that.

 Brushing herself off, Alya got to her feet. “Hey Trixx, you almost done?”

 The fox kwami looked down on them, bemused. “I finished eating half a minute ago, I was just waiting for you two to finish up.”

 “Well, what are we waiting for? Trixx, Let’s Pounce!”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rena knocked on the door of the small shop. Didn’t exactly look like somewhere a ‘Guardian of the Miraculous’ might live, but that was the idea, wasn’t it? If Hawkmoth got his hands on this ‘Guardian’-

 She shuddered. She may not know what this ‘Guardian’ did, but Hawkmoth getting anything or anyone Miraculous-related would be very, VERY bad.

 A familiar face greeted her. She blinked.

 “Adrien? What’re you doing here?”

 “Uuuuuh, I’m not Adrien, no sirree, absolutely not!” he said hastily waving his arms. “I’m-”

 Glancing around the room, his gaze landed on a teapot.

 “I’m- I’m Earl. Just helping out my great-grandfather, you know how it is. Buuuut we’re busy, and closed, nice to see you please drop by some other time!”

Wow. He was not the best improv liar.

 Not to someone who actually knew him, at any rate.

 She caught the door before he could close it all the way - just long enough for Ladycat to slip through.

 “Ladyb- Lady!” He cried out, obviously catching himself before he could blurt out her full name. “What’re you doing with this person - wait is he Rena Rouge?!”

 She chuckled, releasing her illusion as she closed the door behind her. “The one and only. Also, that story’s not likely to work when you look exactly the same as usual. What’re the odds of you having a doppelganger?”

 “I’ll have to show you pictures of my cousin some time.”

 “Who?”

 “Never mind.” His expression darkened. “He’s not the family member we need to worry about.”

 “Can I punch your father? I’d really like to punch your father.”

 Adrien - or Adrichat she guessed - grimaced. “You might need to, but I’d like to avoid a fight if we can.”

 He stared at his hands. “I know he’s done a lot of terrible things, but… he’s still my father. He’s almost certainly going to go to prison, I can’t see him getting off for what he’s done as Hawkmoth, but I don’t want to hurt him if we can avoid it.”

 “Plus there’s your mother to consider.” 

 She’d been pretty shocked when he sat down and explained everything - his secret identity (HA! She was totally right!), how he’d followed Ladycat into his father’s secret lair, and everything that’d happened there.

 Emilie being alive, his father being more of an asshole than she’d ever conceived - this had been quite a day for Adrien.

 Something that Ladycat sought to help with, purring in Adrien’s lap like a mini lawnmower, nuzzling him every time he started looking especially downcast.

 She wished she could help Adrien more, but… well, they hadn’t really talked that much, one-on-one. Most of the time she was helping Marinette to try to win Adrien over or just chatting with him along with Nino - they were part of the same friend group, but they didn’t actually interact that much. When they did, it was usually because they wanted to help Marinette somehow.

 No wonder Adrien’d never been able to decipher Marinette’s attempts at telling him how she felt! Knowing how up front Chat was with his affections, how over-the-top? Marinette’s mixed signals wouldn’t be the easiest thing to disentangle, if his normal perception of how-to-flirt was that blatant.

 Plus, well… he already had his eyes on someone.

 She smiled as Ladycat stood up and brushed herself all around Adrien. Didn’t need to be a cat to see what she was doing; letting him know she was there, she wouldn’t leave him, just giving him the physical affection he needed.

 The bond between those two was hard to deny. It might not be romantic on Ladybug’s part (at least that she would admit; she’d noticed Ladybug being a little softer, a little gentler, giving him certain looks) but on Chat’s side? He seemed ready to melt into a puddle.

 Though the looks he was giving Ladycat right now, those partly lidded eyes, that gentle smile - on Chat she may not have been able to draw the connection. But on Adrien?

 They were just like his expression when he looked at Marinette.

 And Marinette had been missing ever since Catwoman’s attack.

 If Marinette and Ladybug turned out to be the same person, she wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry, or scream about the universe’s ironic sense of humor.

 The more she thought about it, the more certain she grew. 

 Strong sense of justice? Check. 

 Creative and good at thinking on her feet? Check. 

 Kind and willing to give second chances when need be? Check.

 Not to mention her selecting Alya as the first temporary miraculous holder, and securing Alya that first-ever interview with Ladybug.

 With herself.

No WONDER she’d been able to do that when no one else could!

 Ooookay, calm down Alya. Still don’t know that for sure. It could still all be a coincidence.

 ...Probably not, but she didn’t actually need to know Ladybug’s identity right now. Chat’s identity coming out couldn’t have been reasonably avoided, not with needing to confront Hawkmoth, to confront his father, and him almost certainly knowing Chat’s identity.

 She’d play along for now.

 She really, REALLY hoped she was right though. Knowing that on all those missions they’d had together, every time she’d hung out with Ladybug, she’d been hanging out with her best friend? That she’d teased Ladybug about boy troubles, had slumber parties with her, had kicked her butt at Dance Dance Revolution (and gotten her butt kicked in turn at Ultimate Mecha Strike III)? 

 Just… knowing who she was as Ladybug, who she was as Marinette, and putting it all together?

 It cemented Ladybug as human, as being a person and not some far away idol. She may not be perfect - far from it - but she tried her best. Sometimes she made a mistake, sometimes she got flustered and did something foolish, sometimes she made bad decisions, and sometimes she let her emotions get the better of her, like any other teenager.

 But ultimately, she was still a hero. Still a Hero of Paris. 

 She didn’t need to be some godlike figure. She just needed to try her best.

 Welp.

 There went any hope of convincing herself that Marinette and Ladybug might not be the same person.

 Hopefully Adrien figured it out soon too. She could keep a secret if she needed to, but if she had to watch those two moon around each other for much longer she’d be tempted to shove them in a panther cage until they figured out they liked each other already.

 Hey it’d worked for her and Nino!

 “Alya? Alya!”

 She startled at Adrien’s worried tone. Even Ladycat (or maybe she should say Marinette? ...she’d stick with Ladycat for now, no need to remind herself of her revelation more than she already had) padded over to her and meowed, pawing at her face to get her attention.

 “I’m fine, I’m fine! Just zoned out a bit. What were you saying?”

 He gave her another worried look, but continued. “We’re gonna sneak back into his lair. I’ll distract Father and Mayura if she shows up while you cloak yourself, Fu, and Ladycat in an illusion to make yourselves as inconspicuous as possible - invisible preferably, but you’ll need to be careful not to trip over each other.”

 She frowned. “You’ll take Hawkmoth and Mayura on by YOURSELF? You sure that’s a good idea?” 

 He grimaced. “No, but I’m used to handling myself while Ladybug figures out and implements a plan. I can manage for a little bit. And anyway, it’s only just long enough for Fu to examine my mother and figure out what he can do for her, if anything. Then we can retreat and regroup.”

 Glancing down at the kitty in his lap, he smiled. “Besides, I’ll still have my partner there. She may not be able to fight quite like normal, she’s still Ladybug, and she still has superpowers. We don’t need to be able to talk in order to fight together.”

 Considering the videos she’d seen of the Frightingale fight, with Chat and Ladybug dance-fighting in synchrony while RHYMING? No doubt about that.

 Oh hell, Adrien’d been forced to dress up as Chat and Marinette volunteered as Ladybug.

 “HA!”

 She quickly got ahold of herself, but not before Adrien looked at her worryingly again. “Uh… you sure you’re alright, Alya?”

 She waved him off. “I just thought of something funny, that’s all.”

 Seriously, Marinette and Adrien could change their body language so heavily that even though they looked practically identical to how they did as Ladybug and Chat (minus the masks, which she suspected they ‘lost’ on purpose), no one else had a clue they were one and the same, even with seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir minutes later? She’d never make fun of Clark Kenting again. 

 She softened her voice. “You ready to face your father now?”

 He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “...Yeah. I think so. Let’s do this.”

[flatstarcarcosa]

they say it’s good to start the story with a tragedy

Summary: Three months ago, Slade died. Four days ago, be barged back into the house like a whirlwind, and for a moment all was right with the world. Reese has discovered strangers can wear familiar faces, and to top it off: There is another Slade greeting them over morning coffee and acting as if nothing is wrong. 

How can there be two Slades, and what do either of them want? 

(part one) (part two) 

Ship: wilson&wilson Warnings: violence, swearing, slight depictions of gore? there’s a big fight is all im sayin. slade kicks his own ass, finally, his life long dream.  sidenote: i decided to structure this piece similar to the comic. there’s titles between switches scenes, and the timeline isn’t entirely linear. i think it’s still simple enough to follow, but it was a neat exercise. 

---------------------------------------------------------

Reese is no stranger to pain. They've suffered with chronic pain for over a decade. They've been through countless invasive medical tests, they've had surgery. They are also no stranger to blood and wounds. Slade's healing factor may make him durable, but it doesn't mean he heals instantly. They've seen more than enough different stab wounds and gunshot trauma, and even the remains of grenades going off too close to him when he's come home.

Logic would dictate this would be no different.

It's pain, and it's blood, and it's their pain and their blood, and it shouldn't be anything new and concerning.  Then again, Reese has never been gut shot before.

'Honey I'm Home'

Several Hours Earlier

Slade is looking at them from a clean shaven face with two eyes, and wearing a pair of soft blue scrubs. It's been a couple of minutes since he spoke, and Reese still has no idea how to answer what should have been an incredibly simple question. 

“What's wrong?” he asks again, pushing the chair back as he stands. “I know I've been—“ “Dead?” they interject. “Yeah, a little.” Their stomach feels like it's in their throat, and they're not sure if they're gonna throw up or pass out. They look up at him, gaze fixated on his right eye. “Your eye...”

Slade blinks.

“Oh,” he says, reaching up and popping the eyeball out of the socket. He bounces it in the palm of his hand. “Prosthetic.”

Reese says nothing, and he frowns.

“You still didn't answer me,” he says, taking a step closer. “What's wrong?” “I could think of a few things,” says a familiar voice from the doorway.

Slade-- the other Slade, that is; the one that stormed into the too empty house like a whirlwind and demanded answers or blood, is leaning against the wall with a wide, wicked grin on his face. There's a knife in his hand a gun on his hip and he stares at his other self, the original, the one that belongs with annoyance. “I was wondering when you were finally gonna show up,” he says. “It was bugging me, trying to figure out what it would take to get your attention. I shot your man Hosun, left Rose in a dumpster, paid a visit to Adeline...haven't found Joesph yet, but considering he was always the weak one, that's not surprising. Then I realized, if this is some mirror of my-- our-- life, well...that left one stone unturned.” Reese takes a few steps back, reflexively putting themself behind the familiar comfort of their Slade. He shifts to make sure they're shielded, and reaches for another coffee cup.  “Yeah,” he says, filling it. “I figured. I heard about what you've done in New York and I'm not happy about it. I'm less happy about what you've done to Adeline. Barry and I weren't friends, but he was a good man, and he didn't deserve that.”

“Sometimes when you wanna make an omelet, you crack a few eggs.” The other Slade shrugs as he speaks. If there's any awareness of how ridiculous he sounds, he doesn't seem to care. Regardless, he accepts his alters offer of coffee, slipping his fingers around the handle and taking a sip.  “I don't know what you're doing here,” Slade says, “but why don't we talk about it? Maybe we can come to some agreement. You clearly want something, what is it?”

“I want what's mine,” he says, glaring. He takes another sip of coffee and then sets the mug down, hard. Reese's breath hitches and their Slade reaches out behind him, brushing his fingers against theirs.  “Which is?” he asks, setting down his own mug.  “What I'm owed,” says his alter. He catches the movement, eye flicking to Reese and back, and sneers. Just like that, the kitchen explodes in a flurry of movement. Reese's Slade puts a hand to their chest and shoves them back hard enough for them to go tumbling to the tile floor. They grunt and look up, blinking. Slade kicks the kitchen table over and ducks behind it, and the sound of a knife thunking into it echoes. The other Slade pulls a lighter from his pocket, and flicking it open causes that solid, black armor to creep across him. Reese sucks in a breath as he draws his sword, realizing suddenly that their Slade has no armor. He's not wearing his Ikon suit under those scrubs, they can tell by the exposed skin of his arms. He's unarmed, and unarmored.

His duplicate is not.  “Slade,” they say. He doesn't turn to face them as he stands, shoving the table across the room. His duplicate gets buffeted with it, but not for long enough. He kicks it aside, wood splintering and cracking as it hits the wall, and has just enough time to deflect the kitchen knives thrown in his direction.  “This will not end in your favor,” he says, voice loud and tinny from the speaker on his helmet. “Nothing ever works out for us, you know that as much as I do.” “Go,” Slade says to Reese. He backs them both towards the back door and hits the metal panel on the wall. It beeps once, and a green light cycles on above it, signaling that it's unlocked the door to the armory hidden in the tool shed outside. Reese falters for a moment, only a moment, and slips wordlessly through the door without a second glance. The sound of the hydraulics slamming the armory door shut is loud enough to trigger the beginnings of a stress headache. It's quickly being made worse by the fluorescent lighting above, and Reese takes a second to rub the palms of their hands against their eyes. They ignore the wetness they feel as they pull them away, wiping their hands on their pants. 

“Identification required,” says a monotonous voice from an overhead speaker. Reese clears their throat and slaps their now-dry palm against the wall panel.  “Reese Aaron Wilson,” they say, slowly and clearly. “Security code override Jericho, priority access Grant requested.”  “Processing,” says the computer. A simple ding, and the inside door opening is the only assurance they have that Slade's security system hasn't decided to fill the armory with a toxic gas and choke them to death.  For now, anyway.

“Finnicky as he is,” they mumble. They lean against the table in the center of the room and take stock of, well, the stock. They know Slade intended for them to hide out in here, and wait out whatever he and his seemingly delusional doppelganger are doing, but they're still stuck on the fact that only one of the Slade's is armed and armored, and that it's the wrong fucking one. How did I miss it, they think, pulling open an old and faded green crate that still faintly has the words UNITED STATES ARMY painted on the side. How did I not...see that there was something not right with him.  “Fucking idiot,” they hiss.

[0poole]

Why I don’t really like anime

Alright well here’s one that’s pure “who tf asked” energy but it’s something I’ve legitimately been thinking about. Most of these are just me trying to organize how I think. I try to keep away from this general aura of saying I don’t like something completely unprompted, but my brother is a massive anime fan so I’m around anime a lot more than anything else I’m not into.

Obviously I’m gonna have to preface this with the whole spiel. People can do and enjoy literally anything they want so long as it doesn’t hurt other people. Apart from that, this is just me putting thoughts onto paper and shouting them out into the void pretending people on the internet care or even will hear in the first place. And, apart from THAT, I’m also saying I just don’t like it, not that it’s “bad.” Anyone saying something as expansive as anime can be universally “bad” is objectively an idiot who doesn’t know how things work. Also, I’m not trying to cover my bases as if I expect anime fans to hound me like people stereotypically assume they would, I’ll always cover my bases when saying things like this to catch literally anyone and make the undertones of what I’m actually saying perfectly clear to everyone.

And similar to that, absolutely none of this stems from the less affectionate stereotypes of anime fans. Let it be known that I’ve been a part of various fandoms, including My Little Pony, Steven Universe, Undertale, and probably some others that have just-kinda-bad to horrible stereotypes put on them because of the true weirdos in the fandom who act seriously out of turn. I know the feeling of being lumped in with those unfortunately remarkable people as if this giant group acts basically in the same way/agrees with the same actions. Plus, anime has grown so far beyond the “nerd culture” that I feel like it’s more normal to like at least a little anime than to not like it at all, so people that suggest all anime fans are weirdos are the weird ones.

    But yeah, over time I’ve definitely felt a full bias against anime for some reason. Obviously some fit into my interests and get into my mind when I had an anime phase (like anyone), as I’ll mention, but for the most part if something is brought up as “anime” I just lose all interest in watching it. I feel like in terms of my overall biases, there are only three types of series: Non-anime animation, Anime, and Live action. For some reason, live action series are even worse in the bias chart than anime. I literally can’t muster up even the slightest interest in a live action series, while I can at least sometimes get behind the idea of an anime (and it’s a whole different can of worms for movies/other forms).

    The reason why I say “non-anime” animation instead of “western” animation is because it really doesn’t have to do with place of origin at all. Also, calling stuff “western” kind of excludes non-Japanese eastern countries that don’t produce anime, like Russia and India. For me, the question is just anime compared to all other types of animation. Aside from the objectively bad art styles of course.

That really just gets troubling with the true definition of “anime,” though, but as far as I care to define it it’s entirely revolving around the art and animation style, and maybe various other stylistic things as well. It’s one of those “hard to define it, but you can usually spot one when you see it” sort of things. But, I feel like even though “anime” might literally just mean “Japanese animation” in general, I feel like there are Japanese animations that could not be “anime.” For example, the big one being anything by Studio Ghibli. It honestly could or could not be anime, but the fact that there is a debate suggests that there’s more to anime than it just being Japanese. If it’s not origin, then basically all of it rests on the style itself. Especially since so many people start off trying to draw “anime style” (like I did), and since some things have been called “French anime” (a term which honestly gets me infinitely more into an idea for some reason, I guess it being “French” reverses the negative bias from “anime”). Then of course it gets into murky water, though, like are Teen Titans (the original) or Avatar: The Last Airbender anime? It’s obviously something that doesn’t have a clear definition and it sucks. But, it’s easier for me to talk about if it’s limited to the art style, because that’s pretty much my main gripe with the whole thing.

I could also just not even remotely know what I’m talking about but just go with it.

If it had to be limited to a single sentence, the main reason why I don’t like anime is that it feels like 90% of it looks extremely similar to one another. See a few paragraphs down for the major exceptions, because there’s always exceptions. Also I’m sure someone somewhere is trying to pull out the “Calarts style” argument here and honestly nothing inoffensive pisses me off more than that and I’m gonna for sure make a separate rant on that some day. Obviously “western” animation isn’t the saving grace either, but it feels closer in general.

It may be one of those things that is supposed to be more functional, of course. I’d have to imagine it’s much more writing-focused, because, if I were an executive at an animation company, I could definitely get sold on a story much more easily if it followed very similar artistic practices that have been used by so many other companies/groups. Plus, for the audience, it’s probably easier to enjoy a story when you are pretty sure you’re going to be into the art style of the show by default. I’d have to imagine that’s why there are so many different anime (animes? Consider it a fish/fishes type thing) out there. For the most part, too, it seems like the vast majority of it is animated simply, with the higher detail and budget being saved for the big events. I’ll never say it’s not a reasonable thing to exist. It just sucks when the one thing made to be so universal is the one thing you don’t like. 

But I’m definitely realizing I care about the visual of an animation more than the story. Definitely, a few years ago, I went full stereotypical writer, and cared so much more about the story itself than how things looked, but I definitely have changed from that. I’m much more likely to enjoy a story that’s pretty simple and easygoing that’s told in amazing animation than a highly detailed and complex story that’s told in pretty simple and easygoing animation. I mean, apart from that, I definitely don’t like the idea of a story’s complexity being one of its selling points, but that’s beside the point. Also, not to suggest all anime are “simply animated.” Exceptions are everywhere.

I’m the type of person who can enjoy something by “turning my brain off,” if you want to discredit the value of simplistic stories. Plus, now that I’m starting to try and make animations of my own, whenever I see some crazy good animation I’m halfway between “The animators are legends for putting in the massive legwork of making that” and “The animators are legends for making so impossibly good and high quality.” It also boggles my mind a bit when I see an overly detailed anime character/mech/whatever move. Someone had to animate that.

And then there’s one specific gripe that’s basically exactly that, but distilled into its purest form, and that’s how practically all young male protagonists in a mostly realistic setting in anime look like actual doppelgangers with each other. But, again, that’s a product of japanese society being less racially diverse overall compared to the Americas, so obviously the archetypal male is going to look much more average compared to what I’m used to. Just because there’s a reason doesn’t mean I have to like it, though. And, obviously, a lot of anime doesn’t have this issue, especially with the slightly less prevalent idea of “anime protagonist hair” of the past. Plus, girl characters don’t really seem to have this issue, and lord knows anime girls are a big thing. And, even worse for my case, it’s the same issue I have with the Calarts argument: The protagonists are supposed to look more average/approachable, while the side characters and environment can go the extra design-distance. I will say though that if an anime features the main character who looks just like that one archetype, I just can’t like it at all. It’s too plain. Same goes for when characters attend a school, and their “main” outfit is just their school uniform. Obviously practically all schools in Japan have uniforms, but it’s just so boring from a character design prospective. 

Another big part of the style that I don’t like is just the level of detail anime characters/things often have. The worst part of this is always, ALWAYS the hair. It always looks so greasy and stringy, and it just makes me feel gross looking at it for too long. I don’t even care what color it is. Something a little less universal are the more fantastical side of outfits some characters wear some of the time. Obviously some outfits just go too far with detail, or maybe try too hard for a specific look that it thwarts the design as a whole. It’s kind of hard to say that without having specific examples, but I’ll always prefer bigger shapes and relative simplicity over the level of detail most anime characters have. Same goes for items too. 

One thing that’s very easy to avoid on the larger scale, but still pretty prominent and a thing I genuinely hate, is how much more sexualized things are in anime. Like I said, it’s pretty easy to avoid sexualization because you can usually tell from the get-go where it’s at its worst, but even in other cases it feels like it creeps in even in the best shows. Trust me, though, I’ll never not admit to being horny, but when I sit down to engage in a genuine story I’m not even joking when I say that there is practically no situation where I want sex to be involved. Romance can be on-and-off, but specifically sexual elements just really throw me off of taking a story seriously, even when it’s actually incorporated into the greater themes and ideas of the story. I don’t know why I’m so averse to it, but I am. But, really, this is more of a writing thing than a visual thing usually. I swear to god, whenever my brother shows me an anime (my family would be completely disconnected from anime without him), there is like a 70-80% chance some female character is going to call a male character a “pervert” (or whatever the untranslated word they use is) and have it play off like a casual joke/remark. That shit actually makes me want to die. It doesn’t even matter whether or not they’re actually being a pervert, the mere mention of the remote idea genuinely pisses me off to no end.

Even though it’s just barely relevant, the way they always draw people with blood shooting out of their nose when they see lewd things makes me feel uncomfortable too. I’m not sure what anime originated that trend, because it sure as hell can’t be a thing from real life. That just doesn’t happen on the scale it happens in anime. Plus, it can’t feel good. 

Strangely enough, one of the main things that doesn’t put me off is having to watch with subtitles. For one, if there’s any culture whose animation I enjoy inherently more by default, it’s French animation, so I still deal with it outside of anime. And, even when I understand the language being spoken, I still like watching with subtitles just so I never mishear or misunderstand something. But, also, I’m actually completely on the “sub” side of the age-old-and-probably-ignored-nowadays-but-i’m-behind-the-times “Dubs vs Subs” debate. For some reason, it is extremely hard for me to look at an anime with a very plainly english voice over top of it. It just doesn’t feel right, almost ever. Some get it right of course, but the general state of dubs is pretty low compared to just reading text with the default emotions behind them. It sounds kind of counterintuitive, because I can’t exactly admire the animation as much if I’m reading text, but I feel like I’ve watched and written enough (even though it doesn’t exactly take much to find this skill) to realize what the general effect of a scene is, and when I do, I can usually watch the actual animation itself instead of reading the text. Like with French stuff, I can pick up very few words that repeat and match them to the subtitles to learn just the slightest bit of another language. I actually took a French language class in high school though, so it’s much easier then…

And one thing that I actually wish non-anime did was make different intro sequences/songs for different seasons/sections of the story. Even though some classic cartoon intros are so insanely classic that it’s hard to want to get something else, I can imagine that, for the most part, the alternative intros could be just as good. I guess it’s because we have so many more episodic shows, so the same intro could reasonably apply to the whole show as if it’s practically the same thing over its entire course, unlike anime which are more structured and progress with each season. I just want more music.

Of course different anime differ in levels between these, with some being major problems in some areas and being completely fine in others. I really don’t like going super in-depth about things I hate though, so let’s just skip that.

But the only rule without an exception is the rule that states “everything has an exception,” so there are a few anime that I actually like, or ones that I respect from afar. I did have an anime nerd phase in my past, although it wasn’t super intense or long lived, but in that period a few anime did sneak into my radar and I still like them, mostly because I can’t help but love the nostalgia. 

The one that kinda doesn’t count is the Pokemon anime. I like it because it’s Pokemon and I love Pokemon. Plus, it’s based on literally the most profitable gaming franchise ever, so it’s not like a fringe indie series. I will say that I actually really like the artistic direction they’ve taken for both the series and the official artwork/design as a whole. The Sun and Moon series looked pretty cute but maybe took it a bit too far, but the current series has a great balance of the clean, expressiveness of the Sun and Moon series but the solid-ness of the series before it. Apart from that, though, it’s one of those things I only still watch out of obligation, and for the rare good moments. I just love watching Pokemon exist, you know? Since I’ve watched so much of it already, and don’t have too much else to watch on a weekly basis, there’s no reason not to just put on the newest episode. It’s funny, though, because I normally like the dub of the anime more than the sub, but since the Sun and Moon series upped Ash’s expressiveness up to 10 it felt like his old dub voice actress didn’t quite match him anymore. Since I had no impression on what his original japanese voice sounded like, it was easy to start watching the subbed version and apply his new traits onto that voice. Either way, watching the subbed version means I can watch further into the series, and can’t get spoiled on things that’ll happen weeks/months down the line in the dub. As I said, it’s pretty normal nowadays to be into anime, meaning so many more people are following the Japanese episode release times and posting about it ASAP.

One that’s pretty expected is One Punch Man, which I watched once I heard someone explain it as “a parody of anime,” or something to that effect. The greatest thing about parodies is that they can be enjoyed both by those who love the thing being riffed on, and those that don’t. So, I watched it, and loved it. Me thinking about it like a parody also let me pass by the usual gripes I had with anime as a whole, like over-the-top crazy strong villains explaining so much out in the open, only to get one-shot by Saitama. And, the more obvious parody elements, such as Saitama becoming so strong just by exercising a lot, and just being a generally understated guy who just kinda is around. Pairing him with Genos, the more stereotypical anime powerhouse protagonist, is a great choice. For the animation, they even go super hard on the battles partially, I’d have to guess, because it still is just cool, but also to juxtapose how relatively simple Saitama is. There’s even some great character designs in there, like I remember this one single-episode side villain who was like a silhouette girl (?) with sharp teeth and long, seaweed-like hair that I loved the most. There’s also that second-in-command henchman guy under the main season 1 villain who looked sort of octopus-like, and I think had a crazy stupid name. I even liked the second season, which I guess most people didn’t like as much? It might’ve not been the highest of highs but I didn’t hate too much of it. 

One of the weirder examples is Attack on Titan because of the artstyle. For some reason, it feels like the characters of AoT are drawn and designed so well that they can look anime, realistic, and just barely cartoonic at the same time, creating diverse and impressionable characters without having to resort to the crazy stuff like colored hair and weird clothes. Plus, this lends extremely well to the overall atmosphere of the show, which of course is more grim in a slightly more realistic setting, but with the occasional guise of happiness some scenes have. It can be everything at once. But, of course, I only realized that after watching it, and the main selling point was actually how interesting and unique the story was, while remaining, at first, pretty simplistic all things considered. I just loved dudes with giant swords jet boosting up to a shambling giant and slicing the back of their neck. Compared to most anime, it was so specifically designed, instead of having a lot of detail put into everything to have the uniqueness. The Scout uniform is basically iconic at this point, while remaining pretty straightforward and, even better, completely unrevealing. Even when you hear the idea of an “anime sword” you also kind of think of something super flamboyant and complex, while the Scouts’ swords are also pretty simple, but very recognizable, basically being a rectangle, and also being replaceable. The whole device they use to get around is also so simple, yet so cool, and relatively reasonable. From a writing perspective, it’s also really good to have all main characters be on practically the same playing field in terms of abilities (aside from, you know, Erin) so each knows their full limitations, and you don’t learn anything out of the blue in the midst of battle. Even better, it’s a type of power you have to be genuinely skilled with, not like how most stories pull the “you’re inherently powerful you just need to release it!” sort of deal (Again, Erin).

I am kinda falling out of interest with the story as it progresses, though, but it’s entirely not the creators’ faults. Part of the appeal initially was how mysteriously cool and terrifying the Titans were, and why everything in this world was the way it was. Like with pretty much everything going on for long periods of time, the explanation had to come eventually, and it never is quite as good as you thought it’d be. Now that I know exactly why everything is the way it is, a lot of the magic kind of dissipated. Plus, that subplot of the false royalty of their kingdom and all the politics of that got very Star Wars Prequels with me. I didn’t come for that stuff. I am still a bit in that “I’m obligated to watch it since I’ve watched so much already” camp, so if they ever continue the series I’ll get back in. I’m definitely not at all the manga type, though. I don’t really like long form comics as a whole, and my eyes genuinely hurt looking at most manga because it seems they don’t use different shades of grey as much as they should. It’s all black and white, and my eyes can’t stand it. It’s the digital age, dammit. Leave the old style behind.

Even though I already said it’s on the verge of being anime and even though It’s all movies (I think?) you gotta admit Studio Ghibli stuff is just impossibly magical. I can only actively remember seeing like 3 of them (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Ponyo) but I would actually sell my soul to keep these movies in existence. I’m highly considering watching Kiki’s Delivery Service next because I think it’s on some streaming service my family has, where I can literally just watch it whenever with no fuss. They all fall into that kind of foreign fantasy genre that I love to all hell, because the “usual” for western fantasy has gotten impossibly stale and I actually kind of hate it now. Literally whenever any kind of story is a fantasy story, but with fantastical elements coming from some culture that isn’t the norm for fantasy, I can’t help but love it. Even though I’m talking more about the high fantasy genre, I can still love Ghibli stuff for being so adorably casual and local, making it feel so much more like every little thing they show you exists in some magical recess in the real world. The artstyle also has that kind of feel, where it’s cute in that weird-looking way. Plus, it’s a movie, so there’s a more solid stream of higher quality animation, instead of the more necessarily efficient series. Also also, I would die for Chihiro. That’s all.

For the stuff I don’t actively engage with as much, you can’t not mention the big Shonen Jump names, like One Piece, Naruto, and the one I interacted with the most, Yu Gi Oh. I’ve watched all three of those to some extent at some point in my life, but they didn’t really stay too much. 

One Piece has another remarkable artstyle, being so weird and quirky and large-faced with everything. I can also appreciate the fantastical pirate elements, as well as the very unique superpowers of Luffy, and the rest of the Devil Fruit powers. I would totally try watching again if it didn’t have over 900 goddamn episodes. That’s the problem with watching super popular stuff like that, it goes on forever, and it’s so hard to make that commitment. Either way, I think that one guy with the cigarette/lollipop was a walking “pervert” joke so I don’t miss it too much. I also honestly think a non-episodic series that goes over like 200-something episodes can’t possibly have a truly balanced and engaging story all throughout.

Naruto also had that “High fantasy of another culture” appeal to it, and is probably the most classic anime that isn’t Dragonball (which I personally am not really into at all, never was). I don’t really have too much to say about it, but I did really like the Wii game I had where it was a fighter with all the characters. I haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure Naruto’s just like One Piece in that there are too many episodes to make the commitment and I think Naruto might even have a worse problem with “Pervert” jokes, but I don’t remember exactly.

Yu Gi Oh, on the other hand, is actually still sort of my jam. The recent stuff, whether it’s the cards or the series, is completely beyond me, and looks like the true anime BS that I don’t like, but the OG Yu Gi Oh stuff was awesome. I still know how to play the card game, at least with the earlier, simpler rules and card effects. I don’t even know how to play the Pokemon card game, and Pokemon’s one of my favorite things ever. I wish we still had those pre-made decks sorted so I could just play really quickly with those to regain my idea for strategy, and then make an original deck of the hundreds of hundreds of cards we have lying around. It’d be fun for no other reason than nostalgia. The video games are probably a good place to start, and I still have that old PC one where it was split into multiple versions for like Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey I think. I had the Yugi one, and last time I tried I actually had trouble beating him. There’s a semi-decent multiplayer one I have on Steam right now but it’s one of those things where I could either play that, or just… not, and continue life as normal. I might try it out again, but I already feel like I’m wasting my day. Oh my god, then Dungeon Dice Monsters on Gameboy Advance? Who needs anything else for that plane ride, am I right? I think there’s even those semi-story based RPGs on the Gameboy too that I should probably try out again. There’s just so much goodness.

And I haven’t even talked about the anime yet. Definitely the more meme-able of the classic anime, and I can definitely appreciate it for that. It was pretty weird in its own way. Especially with Yugi himself having what might just be the most insane and nonsensical hair style of all of anime. But, even then, I actually think it’s my all-time favorite, and I kinda love it. I have no idea why I do, but I do. I couldn’t even conceive of how to draw it from anything other than the front view. I also seriously appreciate when a character’s main icon/representation is something unique, and the Dark Magician is such an insanely cool character for just being some random dude on a card. Even apart from that, the Millenium Puzzle looks really cool, as does pretty much anything with an Egyptian flair to it. Then, we got the man, the legend, Joey Wheeler, who would not have been the same with any other voice actor. I stand by the fact that Tea and Tristan should’ve been fused into a hot-headed tomboy though, you really could’ve done without them both separately. Kaiba is also a classic anime antagonist/antihero, and he’s pretty lovable for it. Such great characters for something that really didn’t need them at all. I definitely have more nostalgia for the card/video game overall, but the anime definitely has an impression of its own. 

There’s also Zatch Bell, which I only know about in full because of that one Billiam video. I did have some vague idea of what Zatch Bell was, but only because we got those cool little books to hold the cards in. Honestly though the average character design in the show kinda sucks considering the fantastical elements are kind of cool. The only reason why I’m bringing it up at all is because I think Zatch’s design might be my all-time favorite character design in any anime property ever. His hair does still look pretty greasy, sure, but overall he has a very simple and clear design, and even though I’d definitely redesign him to look more puppet-like, the only reason why I see him as a puppet is because of the lines going down his cheeks. Those lines might be one of my all-time favorite single character design details for some reason. He also has a giant bow around his neck, and that plus the wide dress seriously makes him feel like a character I’d design (mostly because I have a character with somewhat the same details) minus the uber-generic anime boy protagonist sidekick.

For the list of anime I haven’t engaged with at all yet but can respect from afar, the shortest one I can describe is that one with that skeleton guy who has that average job and it’s animated very plainly, almost like a more western adult animation. You know, that one who got the meme with the subtitle of “Thanks, but reconsider!!!” with him looking all average but also anime-shocked at the same time. I can appreciate the deviation from pretty much every norm for sure.

For the more popular stuff, probably the second most likely for me to watch is My Hero Academia. The artstyle is just varied enough to make it feel better. Sometimes the hero outfits get a little weird, but most of the time they’re alright. What I’m really here for is the base character designs under them. Deku is an amazing average protagonist character design, who definitely looks average but still unique enough to not look boring. Designs like that are hard to come by, because it’s so much easier to use more over-the-top unique elements to make the main character unique. Doing more with less is always preferable though. I could list off all the characters and all, but beyond Deku I really would just be saying things like “The guy who looks like a crow or whatever.” Except for Tsuyu. Tsuyu is best girl, and if you don’t draw her mouth wide enough I’ll be sorely disappointed in you. I think there isn’t a single character I love more from a property I don’t engage with at all. To be honest, I don’t think there’s a serious chance for me really wanting to get into it, though, mainly because I’m intimidated by that little shitstain with the weird latex ball mohawk. As I’ve heard, he’s the walking “pervert” joke type. Could be wrong. I hope so.

The most likely is another Academia, that being Little Witch Academia. It looks adorable as all hell, and the fantasy elements look classically fun, being a sort of bubbly spin on the more generic Harry Potter-type stuff you might imagine for a witch/wizard school. I’ve heard that any Studio Trigger series is animated very well, but somewhat lacking in the story department, but as I said before I can very easily enjoy a simple story with great animation in front of it, so it really seems super up my alley. Plus, it’s just like, ON Netflix. I could literally just boot it up any second and start watching. 

I usually try to organize these paragraphs/lists in ascending order of interest, but I gotta break that for something that’s super half-and-half, and sort of the one that triggered me to want to finally write down all this junk. Madoka Magica is occasionally really cool, with the absurd and bizarre imagery of each Witch and Labyrinth, and I seriously love that part. But… Then it turns to the characters, which I honestly hate looking at multiple times more than the average anime character. Maybe it was somehow intentional, but their faces seriously look like those drawn by kids just starting out trying to draw anime, but just barely adjusted to look more polished for the sake of decency. I’m also not really into the story, being this massive juxtaposition of cutesy little magical girl antics and hellish demonic nonsense and brutal events. Trust me, I’m not the one to shy away from intense, adult stuff in animation, but I feel like the two extremes are almost too far apart from each other to really get into. That, and the magical girl dresses they each transform into was the specific inspiration for me mentioning designs that feel like they’re too set on doing one thing that it hinders their overall design. The yellow girl’s dress looks pretty cool though, since she has those weird poofy shoulder things, another character design trait I love. I just had to mention it because of how crazy interesting the Witches and Labyrinths are. 

I just remembered Sailor Moon existed as I was writing that, and I’m not insanely opposed to looking into it. It might fight with Dragonball for the title of most classic anime ever. It also looks kind of cutesy-fun, which I can enjoy, but I definitely would expect it being a bit old to be its downfall. The artstyle alone gives me some vicarious nostalgia, even though I’ve never engaged with anything styled like it (and honestly believe it’s objectively worse than the anime style that’s more common nowadays). People as a whole seem to be nostalgic about it, so it’s kind of hard not to also feel it a little bit. As I said, though, I do kinda hate it compared to modern stuff. Same thing applies to Dragonball and really anything of Toryiama’s work. I can see the nostalgia from other people, but I just don’t like it.

I’m sure there are others that are just barely being forgotten about, but you get the point.

So yeah, that’s basically why I hate anime except I talk more about the anime I do like instead of hating on it as a whole. Believe it or not, when I like animation, I truly do like it, regardless of whatever form it is. But still, anime as a whole is not at all my thing. Feed me my generic Disney Channel “Calarts” SJW shlock instead. 

[deathvoids]

12, 19

Questions About Creating Your OCs

12.  What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

Hmm, reminding myself that he simply doesn’t deserve any pity, and isn’t going to want it.

I think at times I like writing emotional things, and I struggle to remember that, as a whole, Doppelganger lacks most emotions. So I have to remind myself not to hang up on too much emotional things, when he is bound to not really feel it. Or, worse, I end up making him too emotional anyway, when I know I’ve felt that to be out of his character. 

So I try not to make it too boring (an emotionless character may as well just be nothing) I try to give him motivation (like being a slut for Dante) but overall I try to just strike a balance between his more dark and messed up aspects, and his desires and wishes to be given a place in life by his host.

Aside from that, I should learn to draw more often, because I really want to draw this bastard being evil and dark while dressed as Dante with black hair.

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

I answered this one here, but

My other favorite fact is that he is the worst boss fight in DMC3.

I mean personally I feel like sometimes Gigapede or Leviathan’s heart is pretty high up there on being garbage, Doppelganger is probably the worst one.

He’s invincible, he barely attacks you, and the fight can drag on and on with how limp and slow his fight is.

I don’t know why, I find that really funny about him, I like to chalk it up to him really just being tired and giving up.

Eh, whatever, I’m not even gonna try that hard, I’m just gonna let whatever happens, happen.

[dbhilluminate]

DBH: Illuminate- Hit and Run (part 2)

Characters: Connor-50 / Z, Dennis, Nick, Kate, Connor-51 / RK, Axl  Word Count: 5,857

Axl spots a trine of RK800's entering Detroit on a bus inbound from Belle Isle- Kate moves to tail them with the intention of finding out why they're there, but is spotted by Connor's doppelganger and forced to do something she regrets in order to escape.

( Chapter Art by triple_jays_art , Co-authored by grayorca15)

Previous Chapter

• Chapter Index • Characters •

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November 12th, 2038 This certainly wasn’t what Kate anticipated she’d be doing with her afternoon. Most days, if she wasn’t focused on any particular task, she’d spend her spare time combing the city for anything of interest, which could be defined as a variety of chores. Some days she found stray deviants in need of a hand, sometimes she’d take the opportunity to dig for information; sometimes it just meant rounding up supplies for Jericho’s ever-growing refugee population, or checking in with contacts she hadn’t spoken to in a while. But today was different. Today it was three unforeseen RK800s in disguise on a bus, inbound to the Rosa Parks terminal- or at least, that was what she’d been told. How it was even possible that a doppelgänger (let alone three) of a supposedly unique model of android was just as important a question as the why. Illuminate hadn’t exactly done anything in particular to upset the media lately, but then again, DCPD hadn’t made any significant discoveries in the deviancy case, either. And if they had more than one unit lying around unused, why wouldn’t Cyberlife send backup to hasten their progress? The last twenty hours had been anything but dull, in spite of this pressing revelation. Ill-prepared as she was for their arrival, Kate had been waist-deep in preparations for Markus’ broadcast from the Stratford Tower since she’d last spoken with Cyberlife’s resident Android liaison within DCPD the night before. Following her conversation with Connor, Kate returned to Jericho at Markus’ request to find him agonizing over what to include in his speech. Although she had specifically told him she would contact him when Illuminate was ready to brief them on the plan, his tired tone spoke volumes to what he’d really been wrestling with. Even though he’d had two days to prepare by the time she made it back, he’d gotten a whole lot of nothing accomplished in that time. Between Josh’s suggestion to take a pacifistic approach, North’s insistence that he phrase it more like a list of demands, and Simon’s ever-neutral ‘do what you feel is right’ stance, he was having a hard time hearing his own thoughts. Markus was desperate to speak with someone who could ‘see reason’- and by that, of course, he meant someone who had considered all the angles, who could see the bigger picture. She couldn’t really argue against that: as much as she liked Josh and could appreciate North’s passion, they were extremes on opposite ends of a very flammable argument, one which would undoubtedly either blow up in their faces or result in humanity slamming the door on compromise for good. What he needed was to speak with someone with a little more verbal finesse, who could hold the middle ground in an argument that held enough weight to balance the scales, but had the potential to tip them favorably when the time was right. Reluctantly, Kate agreed on the condition they give her crew one more day to finish preparations, since her visit would be taking time away from her ability to do so. While Markus had eagerly accepted her bargain, neither had anticipated just how long it would take for them to reach a consensus, in spite of how closely their opinions mirrored each other’s. For seven hours they went back and forth between lectures, debates (to which she’d played devil's advocate), and half a dozen games of chess. In the end, Markus found the message he was looking for (just the right balance of informative and ominous). But what came afterward had her seriously doubting whether he would have ever been able to pull this off, had he not had Illuminate at his aid. “I’ve been thinking about how we could get into the broadcast control room at the Stratford Tower.” “You what…?”

Kate put on a straight face, smothered the impulse to press her fingers into her eyes and sigh heavily, and humored him in spite of how asinine his suggestion that they just walk through the front door really was, when there were less conspicuous alternatives than showing every camera in the Stratford Tower their faces.

“As long as we don’t act strange and look like we belong there, no one will question our presence.” “Yeah, and I get not wanting to draw attention to yourself but still, it’s just not the best idea,” was all she could manage after a pause. Markus sighed in frustration. “Will you just… listen? Before you make your decision?” Kate had a feeling she knew how this conversation would end, but granted his wish and gestured for him to continue. “I’ll take the elevator up to the forty-seventh floor, change into a disguise as a working android-” “Stop- hang on a second,” she interjected to hold up a hand between them, as she tried to understand the thought process behind something so unnecessary. Already, he was losing her. “Why would you need to pretend to be a human… just so you could pretend to be a service Android?” “A quick change to throw off suspicion?” “But you literally just said that was the purpose of going through the front door- to not draw attention to yourself. If someone sees you enter the bathroom wearing one thing and leaving wearing something else, much less android clothing, they’ll get suspicious.” “Then we’ll just have to hope they don’t notice.” “Or, you enter through the sublevels of the tower as a working android and use prejudice to your advantage. Service androids are all over and those armbands make you invisible to humans, no one’s gonna think twice about why you’re here instead of there.” Markus paused for a moment to consider her suggestion before he nodded in agreement. “Okay… but we still need access to the server room on that floor.” “Those aren’t servers, it’s just a patch closet,” she corrected, “But you can still use them to gain access to their network.” So far, this was the first part of his plan that made logical sense. “Why do you need to get in there- to gain access to their security feed?” “No, to gain access to the window wash lifts.” Kate’s thought process came to a screeching halt, only this time she couldn’t hold back the condescending look that came as a package deal with the slow, confused blinking. “...and… why would you need access to those?” “To reach the top floor.” As much as she wanted to point out how they could just take the service elevator to do that, she held her tongue. “And... how do you expect to get out onto it?” “We cut a hole in the glass, crawl out onto the lift, and climb the cables for the other lifts-” “Markus...” The exasperated utterance of his name was a plea for him to stop in and of itself. “This is completely absurd. This isn't Mission: Impossible, and the Stratford Tower isn’t Fort Knox.” “If they see us enter the room, but don’t see us come out, they’ll assume we’re still working. No one would be the wiser to what we’re doing,” he insisted. “That’s assuming they don’t also have security cameras in the server rooms... which they will,” she reminded pointedly, “But never mind that- what then?” “From there, we cut a hole in the window of the top floor, re-enter and rendezvous with Simon and Josh-” “And how are they getting up there?” Markus hesitated to answer. Based on his reaction to the advice she’d given him as she deconstructed the first part of the plan, and the embarrassed shift of his eyes at her question, she could tell he was reconsidering. Kate lifted her brows expectantly to prod the question out of him. “... the maintenance elevator for construction.” he mumbled at last. Kate was silent for almost a full minute as she sat there processing what he’d just come back around full circle to. Disbelief painted her face as she took in a deep, calming breath, tented her fingers before her face, and covered her nose and lips to hide the annoyed twitch in her cheek. “...If you had no purpose for getting into the server room other than to gain access to the window wash lifts... and if they can get to the top floor without having to do any of what you’re suggesting… then why don’t you just save yourselves the trouble and all take the maintenance elevator?” As anticipated, Markus didn’t have an explanation ready. In his bewildered silence, she continued the train of thought. “Or better yet- take the fire escape with only a handful of security cameras in the stairwell that will take you right to the top of the tower. Why do any of this and risk getting caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing?” Markus’ eyes darted through empty air for a full minute as he searched for a reason, but sighed sheepishly and conceded her logic when he found nothing. “You’re right… I’m overthinking this.” “You’re making a very simple solution needlessly complicated,” she agreed with a sigh and a soft hand on his shoulder. “I said I’d get you in and I will, so just leave the planning to us. We have a lot of experience with these kinds of ops.” “So what would you suggest?” “You just focus on making your speech and getting out before security shows up. We can get you badges for access no problem, you shouldn’t need uniforms. Getting you in isn’t the hard part, it’s getting out before you get caught that’s the problem,” she explained as she rummaged through her bag for her tablet. “I actually have an idea for that,” Markus chimed in, “And I think you’re gonna like it.” Kate gave him a tired look, sighed, and nodded as she waited for his response. “The only way out, once security is alerted, is up- on the top floor, that takes you to the roof.” “Right…” “So then the only way off is to jump.” “Base jumping!? In the middle of a crowded city!? Are you-“ The initial suggestion sounded ludicrous, but the longer she thought about it, the better it sounded. Markus wasn’t wrong. Once cornered in the Broadcast room, the only way out of the tower was off it. But the problem with that became an unplanned escape route once they landed. Parachutes would give the police enough float time to calculate where they’d land, and jumping from the tallest building in the city would make anyone looking out a window in their direction a potential whistleblower. Only a handful of things could possibly ensure their escape. “It could work,” she admitted after a minute with a nod. “If all of you aim for different rooftops as landing points, you’ll minimize the possibility of being caught once you hit the streets. And if you’re lucky, and the weather contributes to low visibility, the odds decrease further.” “I take it you approve, then…?” “It seems like the only viable option you’ve got,” she agreed as she brought up the three-dimensional blueprints for the tower. “I’ll have Sarah procure the parachutes and run you through an exit strategy later tonight once we’ve finished our surveillance. For now, let’s talk about getting in” “I’m all ears.” “Since you’ll be taking the maintenance elevator all the way up, there’s no need for a working android uniform. Plain clothes are fine. Wear a coat over your parachutes, and board the maintenance elevator from the sublevels in the parking garage to avoid drawing too much attention on the street,” she explained as she marked their point of entry and zoomed in on a map of the top floor. “Once you get to the seventy-ninth floor, you’ll just need the code for the access corridor. I’ve got a hack that’ll get you right through, but beyond that, it’s all up to you. Now, how do you expect to get into the broadcast monitoring room?” Markus went quiet again as he tried to get an understanding of where she was coming from. “Didn’t you just say you could get us badges?” “Yes, but that won’t get you past the two human guards outside the door,” she noted as she gestured to a vestibule down the hall from the primary elevator doors. It wasn’t lost on Markus how familiar she already was with the building’s layout and security. “If I didn’t know better, it sounds like you’ve done surveillance of this building before.” “That’s correct,” she affirmed, “I surveilled Stratford before I started my broadcasts. I used to piggy-back off their network before I figured out how to utilize Detroit’s emergency broadcast system instead.” “Did they ever catch on?” “Thankfully no, careful planning and a confident presence went a long way in making people believe I belonged there.” “Then we’ll defer to your judgment.” “I would hope so- you asked for our help, remember?” Preparations were in full swing first thing in the morning. With the help of his disguise as an independent photographer working on an architectural piece about The Stratford Tower, Axl surveyed the building from the outside in as far as he could without drawing attention to himself. After he’d confirmed the maintenance elevator’s location in the parking garage and verified the need for a badge tap to take it anywhere, he made his way up the staircase as high as it would take him. Every ten floors he checked the stairwell corners for security cameras and jiggled the handles to make sure they could get back in. Each door was locked by the same system, which required a badge to open it, but with access to the building and rolling looped security footage as they ascended the staircase, it would still be a feasible backup plan, should the elevator not pan out. While Axl busied himself with his own surveillance work, Kate used Cyberlife’s servers to generate a fake service email that looked convincingly real and sent it to the department to notify them that their units had been ‘flagged for a potential defect and would need to be inspected to verify whether or not they had been affected’. Kate intercepted the outbound call to Cyberlife customer service and assured the human operator that a tech was ‘on their way’ and would be there by noon. As predicted, the humans didn’t think much of it. Posing as a Cyberlife Tech made it easy enough to fool the receptionist at the front desk, and a quick call to the monitoring room cleared her for entry. She slipped up to the seventy-ninth floor without a fuss. The two guards at the vestibule only spared her a glance and a “Morning, Miss,” as she passed, and the moment she set foot into the broadcast room, the human operators asked her to conduct her inspections in the employee break room. Careful not to take too little or too long examining each Android, she ran a diagnostic program on each (just for show), sent back the two that weren’t needed, then turned her focus to the third. Kate ran her diagnostic, but instead of sending him off right away, she ran one more program. The broadcast Android’s led flashed a solid orange to indicate the virus had successfully uploaded, then spun down to yellow, blue, then a soft white. Two blinks and she was in his mind. You have been Illuminated by the blessing of RA9- Jericho requests your assistance in our fight for civil rights. Speak of this to no one, and grant them access when they come knocking. The android ducked his head in understanding, then stood to leave the room. But before you go, I have a favor to ask. After she’d confirmed with the humans in the department that their Androids ‘had not been affected by the defect’, she left through the corridor from which she came. From the other side of the second door, she heard the security guards at the desk grudge over having to do anything but sit and watch the game. “The hell could that be…?” One of them scoffed as he got up from behind the yellow counter and made his way through the first set of doors, the second man in tow. It’s probably just a mistake, but we’d still better check it out. Kate faked dropping the tablet in her hands, baubled the piece of tech with a few nervous stammers, then stumbled into the security guard with a loud shriek. “I… I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t-...” “It’s alright, miss, just take it easy,” he assured as her hand moved across the badge on his hip and quietly slipped it into her coat’s pocket. “I’ll- I’ll just…” With a timid smile, she pushed past the two men, made her way to the elevator, and jabbed repeatedly at the button on the wall with a sigh and a small hair flip to keep up the flustered ruse. It did the trick. Once she heard the doors close behind her, Kate doubled back to the maintenance doorway in a vestibule five to ten steps away, and quietly opened the door into the hallway. The security code on the number pad to the unfinished side of the top floor hadn’t been changed since the last time she’d used it- an oversight on security’s part, but she wasn’t complaining. It was just one less thing they’d have to plan for. She stepped into the unfinished studio on the other side of the wall, approached the elevator and waited for it to arrive. As the doors rolled open with a hollow clanging, a familiar face glanced up at her from his position on one side of the car. Reese had already boarded, ready and waiting in android maintenance attire for her stolen credentials. As they descended the rickety shaft, a wordless touch to the badge on his hip transferred the data from the badge in her pocket to the RFID chip inside the card and reprogrammed the old data. Thirty floors down, he exited the elevator and slipped out into the halls of Channel Sixteen studios, pretended to service one of the cleaning carts wandering the floor, and waited for Kate’s distraction. A floor beneath him (after she’d changed the color of her hair, thrown on a ball cap, stripped off her Cyberlife duds in the safety of the unmonitored maintenance elevator, and dumped them in a garbage bin), she exited the East workspace and took a leisurely stroll down the hall to the emergency exit at the other end of the floor. With a pause at the door and big breath to steady herself and prepare for the sprint, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching- then pushed the door open into the stairwell and yanked down on the lever of the fire alarm box in one fluid movement. A split second before the alarm began to ring throughout the building, she was through the door and already trotting down the staircase. Please remain calm, and proceed to the nearest emergency exit. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Moments later, security scattered from their office one floor above and dispersed accordingly as the head barked evacuation plans to his subordinates on their way out the door. Out of the corner of his eye, Reese watched as the men flooded the staircase Kate had used to make her escape and shot a silent message her way to let her know they were coming. Security inbound, get to ground as quickly as you can. She already had a fair head start- Kate was six floors down by the time she’d received his message, and once the crowds of people from each floor started to enter the staircase, it made it even easier for her to quick change one last time and blend into the crowd. As soon as she passed out of sight of the last security camera, she stripped off the light jacket, pulled her hair out of the high burgundy ponytail as she removed her hat, and constructed a brown bob just short enough to conceal the features of her face. The preoccupied herd shuffled around her as she moved from the middle of the staircase to the right and blinked the grey of her irises away into an inky brown, then dropped the jacket in the corner of the staircase as she smoothed out the wrinkles of the white business shirt underneath. We’ve got access, Sarah confirmed a minute later over their frequency as Kate touched down on the bottom floor and headed straight for their rally point. It seemed Reese had succeeded in planting the hack in the security office. Fall back and rendezvous at Capitol Park in half an hour. By one they had finished their surveillance of the Stratford Tower and rendezvoused at Capitol Park to make sure no one had been followed. By two, Kate had circled back to their base of operations, changed into something more practical, and returned to the park to do some remote planning and clear her head. Axl had been back on Overwatch duty for a few hours by the time her facial recognition algorithm flagged Connor’s likeness on the cameras watching the interstate. It stopped him cold, even if the prospect of the deviant hunter being there was as incongruous it sounded. Even more bizarre, though, was the realization that he wasn’t alone. The way he was conversing with two of the other male passengers sitting in front of him seemed all too familiar. Suspicion inclined him to run a check through DCPD servers against known personnel, only for the search to come up dry. But when he ran their profiles against Cyberlife’s database instead, Axl realized he’d stumbled upon the mother of all rabbit holes. Before Kate even had to ask, he’d downloaded their files and forwarded them to her tablet alongside the cropped pictures pulled from the surveillance cameras. There was no mistaking the identities. Three RK800 Androids. November 12th, 2038 - 03:39 PM The three-hundred-and-sixty degree views in their files, shot against a stark white background, provided a detailed virtual model of each variant; but what was most intriguing was that these androids bore no resemblance to one another aside from their model number, serial numbers included. Customized appearances came as an option for many standardized models, but as androids designed for police work…? It just seemed unnecessary. Axl, are you sure about this? Well, yes and no- only one is a Cyberlife RK800, the other two are retrofitted Intelligents that flagged in Cyberlife’s database under the same category… “RK800 program”? The scowl that creased her forehead as she stared down into her tablet was hard to mask. As far as anyone knew, there had only ever been one RK800 produced, yet here she was staring down a dossier that implied not only was there more than one, there was an entire dedicated to them, deployed to major cities across the country- some versions of which included relics from a Cyberlife sister corporation called Intelligents that had gone under some ten years prior. Intelligents certainly weren’t commonplace- in fact as far as the rest of the world knew, there weren’t more than a handful of operational ones still out there. Cyberlife had bought up the company and repossessed its remaining property when they filed for bankruptcy, and the name was all but forgotten in favor of Cyberlife’s growing empire. She’d done her research on Ezra Izkierka at one point -or should she say, Elijah Kamski- and his attempt at marketing customized one-off Androids. The idea to manufacture them was as absurd as it was convenient for higher-paying customers looking for a niche product. Why he would try to compete with his own company didn’t make sense at all to her, but then again this was the same egomaniacal son of a bitch who'd erected the country’s biggest monument to his own ego. It didn’t have to follow logic, he was probably just bored. But the question still stood- if Cyberlife had the means to create superior models like the RK800, then why repurpose old technology? What was so important about these two Intelligents? And what was Cyberlife’s game? What the hell are ITGs doing in Detroit? she followed with a sigh and a forward head tilt as she furiously swiped into a keypad on the tablet to mimic angry texting. And what is this about a program? I thought Connor was the only one out there. Hell if I know - information is your business, not mine, Axl reminded as he lazily shifted from one camera feed to the next, following the boys as the bus pulled into the station and released its air-brakes with a deflating groan. You really never saw anything about an RK800 Program when you were digging into Cyberlife? I was only looking for Connor’s file, not an entire program, she reminded with an annoyed sigh, The category is just a detail I overlooked. So what’s the purpose of a program? If I had to hazard a guess…? To get a grip on the deviancy outbreak, she mused as she examined the footage of the new RK800 on her radar. There were no outward differences between Connor and this android, if it wasn’t Connor after all. The proportions of his face, the rich, sometimes bronze irises, right down to the stray tuft of hair that brushed across his brow every time he moved his head- there wasn’t even one freckle or follicle out of place. He was an exact match to the Connor she knew, at least at a glance. How do you know that isn’t Connor? came the question that was already on her mind. Was she absolutely certain it wasn’t him? They hadn’t spoken since the night before, so who knew what he’d been up to in the last twenty-one hours. But then again, the jurisdiction of his casework kept him chained to Detroit like a dog on a leash, so it didn’t explain why he would be coming in from outside the city over a bridge on I-75, and not just from Belle-Isle. And what about the others? The idea of Cyberlife creating an entire program of RK800s had her on edge. But she’d have to look further into that later. I don’t, she replied after a minute of silence, But I’m going to find out. Give me a minute. Brown eyes scanned the crowd as she lifted two fingers and double-tapped her temple; her eyelids flickered as she hailed the radio frequency they’d been using to communicate. The easiest way to settle the confusion was to just ask him for herself. Connor, where are you right now? There was an uncertain pause that she interpreted as confusion over why she was calling and asking for his whereabouts. On my way to Central Station from following up on a lead on the east side of town. Are you on a bus, by chance? Another confused pause, followed by an uncomfortable question. No, but- why do you ask? Kate’s brows popped in an almost mocking way and she shook her head with a half mumbled “of course”. No reason, just thought I saw you downtown… Well, you couldn’t have, he declared. Clearly, she conferred. Thanks for the info, I’ll check in with you soon. So it wasn’t him. This RK800 was someone else, someone new. Did Connor know they were coming? Or would it be just as much of a surprise for him as it was to her? Either way, it was likely he’d find out sooner rather than later, and her inquiry probably already had him guessing. With that out of the way, Kate turned her attention to the two Intelligents tailing their new person-of-interest. The two ‘sidemen’ certainly looked different enough to be called distinct at a glance. The shorter was fair-skinned with pink undertones and narrow blue eyes set in a deceivingly-oval-shaped face that cut sharper angles in profile than head on, with red hair just long enough to be raked back into a modest, professional sweep. With the exception of a distinct lack of freckles, it was clear Cyberlife had drawn their inspiration from the most characteristic of Irish traits. He probably looked better when he smiled, but in this stereotypical “mugshot”, he looked more like he was about ready to punch whoever had taken the photo. The taller Android was an even-stranger hodgepodge of qualities, the most notable of which were his heterochromatic brown and green eyes hidden under a mop of knotted, chestnut hair, which managed to make him look sensitive yet serious all in one glance. According to the available information, it wasn’t a fluke, an error in the image, or a rushed repair job. His facial features were far more angled and willowy, with just enough exaggeration in the brows, cheeks, and lips to be considered unconventional. Even in the photograph she could see how he inherently looked more nervous and timid than his counterpart, a smile could go either way with this one. Upon reading more into the blank slate of their profiles, there was an unsettling amount of “nothing” behind the boys, but that was expected of newly-activated, non-deviant units. Their kind virtually always started off the same: an open wordless book of impressionable metals to be written upon. In spite of what was in their files, she was sure the ITGs probably still bore the buffed-out impressions of their original experiences- unless those drives had been completely replaced, memory erasure always left streaks like irritated paper, which could be raised with the right shading. The thought made Kate’s heart ache in sympathy for whatever memories had been stolen from them. Perhaps with the right influence, she could sway their sympathies to their cause. Their RK friend, on the other hand, was one she’d need to keep a close eye on. Seeing as his sole purpose was to hunt deviants, there was no guarantee that this RK also possessed Connor’s deviant-leaning personality. If anything, she needed to expect the worst, and if these three were anything like Connor, it’d be better to get ahead of them now than wait and see which lead they dug up first. They’re on the move, Axl reported as their new persons-of-interest stepped off the bus and stretched their stiff limbs. Any idea where they’re headed yet? she asked curiously. Why don’t you go find out? They’re at Rosa Parks Terminal, a couple blocks southwest of your current position. If you hurry, you can catch them before they get going. Kate’s thirium pump regulator hiccuped as she glanced up to gauge the foot traffic that Friday afternoon. She didn’t want to have to go traipsing through the city just to follow a couple of ITGs when she wasn’t dressed for the possibility she’d need a quick change in the event she was ‘made’, but they were right there, right now, within easy reach, just a three minute walk away. A better opportunity may never present itself, once they reached their intended destination. Keep me posted on their movement, guide me right to them. You got it. Kate didn’t wait for his directions, just tucked the tablet into the inner pocket of her vest, placed an earbud into each ear and took a few steps forward before bothering to look up and feign surprise as she leaned out of the way of an oncoming man she’d seen coming several seconds ahead of time. Small tics like this came easily to her now after a year’s worth of practice. How did you even spot them? she asked as she jogged across and down the street, now that she’d had some time to think about it. Surveillance was what Axl did, but to have spotted them on a traffic cam coming into town? Even for an Android monitoring every security camera on the Detroit grid, the odds were astronomical. Wasn’t me, he admitted. It was your program that picked them up while they were sitting at the toll booth. Figures. A gloating smirk worked its way into her cheeks as she indulged in a split-second moment of satisfaction. It wasn’t the first time her algorithm had miraculously turned up a familiar face in a crowd. That it had proven precise enough to peg an off brand android disguised as a human was nothing short of brilliant, and she was proud of her work on the code. You’re gonna need to move faster if you’re going to catch them, he relayed as the men stooped to retrieve their bags from the subspace storage compartment. Head south on Washington and West on Michigan. If you run, you can get ahead of them. Combat boots slapped heavily against the sidewalk as she vaulted over a concrete barrier in her path and trotted across the street, dipped and zagged around a few lollygagging pedestrians who’d stopped to take a look at the statue of General Alexander Macomb standing sentry over the intersection, and sprinted across the other side of the street during a break in traffic. Looks like they’ve opted to walk, Axl noted over the frequency, as they started moving South from the bus terminal. Keep an eye out for three men in hats- a ski cap, a baseball cap, and a flat-billed driver’s cap. Don’t be obvious with your approach. Three men of varying heights of that description should have been easy enough to spot. There were only so many arrangements consisting of three hats to pick up on, most of which were wearing beanies by mid-November. The six minute walk turned into a three minute sprint, and she arrived south of the terminal just in time to catch a glimpse of the men enter the sidewalk traffic about two hundred feet in front of her. Compared to her, they’d been moving at a much more relaxed pace. You’re almost within range, move to intercept, but keep right and low. Try not to draw their attention. I know what I’m doing Axl, just keep an eye on them and tell me what you see, she snipped with an annoyed sigh as she pushed her way through the crowd and caught up to the brunette. Radio silence for now, emergencies only. Copy. As Kate maneuvered around him and the redhead, careful not to bump either, the earbuds honed in on their frequency mid-conversation to an amusing exchange that would have left her grinning, had she not been undercover. “-enough without getting dropped off at the front door. Worked out in your favor after all, didn’t it?” “Well- I never asked to be shown the favor. I only-” “Relax, Nick. I’m just pulling your leg.” “...How? My legs are over here.” “Figure of speech, remember? Add that one to your registry.” Their third remained unamused as she passed, stoic as his namesake in his early days with Detroit Police. Already, that was reason enough to remain on high-alert, but she kept her distance ten steps ahead- no more, no less, and waited to see what she could glean from their conversation.

[xxsovereignsarayaxx]

Elizabeth Mikealson - What If? (Chapter 3)

Authors Note: Hope everyone is enjoying the series so far! Continue the story or choose another fic here! Feedback would be lovely it helps fuel my creative sparks. xoxo Word Count: 4557 Warnings: None.

We were sat in Jonas's residence seems that after we departed yesterday the male witch had been busy and collected a few personal things from the Gilbert doppelganger. 

"How does this spell work?" Elijah asks as Jonas placed them onto a wooden table he looks up at us. 

"Give me your hand, both of you." Elijah and I held our hands out, our palms facing upwards. 

Jonas had a silver knife in his hand, I studied the intricate detail on the handle when I didn't realise he had sliced open my palm along with Elijah's. 

"And now place it here." Jonas says as he motions towards the photo of Elena in her cheerleading uniform. 

We both held the photo. 

"And now hold my hand." Jonas explains. 

With our free hand we both held onto one of Jonas' hands. "Close your eyes. Relax your mind. And look for her." We did as we were told and I focused my mind to find the girl and then he proceeded to chant the Latin spell, images were coming in and out of my mind. To where I see an image to which is familiar, I see Elena staring out of a window, she looks at me and Elijah confused and she turns around to see that no one is in the room with her she does this again and then we were gone. Elijah had opened his eyes and the connection was broken. My own eyes flutter open. 

"You saw her didn't you?" Jonas asks us. Elijah nodded as he proceeded to put on his coat and also helps me into mine. 

"I know exactly she is." Elijah announces. He gently takes my hand and we leave and head back to Richmond.

"There's nothing here for you." A familiar voice shouted. 

Myself and Elijah approached up to the three men in front of us, I quickly remove my jacket and hand it to Elijah and thrust my hand into the chest of one man, he falls to the ground with a thud and clutch his heart. 

"Oppps sorry." I say sarcastically dropping the heart to the floor. 

Elijah then hands me back my jacket which I take with my free clean hand, there was no way I was getting blood on this. And he speeds over to the two remaining vampires I carefully step over the body, my heels click on the laminate flooring. Rose immediately clocks us and speeds out of the door. 

"I killed you, you were dead." One said sounding shocked. 

"For centuries now." Elijah replied with his dry sense of humor. 

"And you ran away." He says pointing to me. 

"Darling I had glass in my face, I couldn't see and I didn't particularly want to have a stake driven through my heart like you did my poor husband." I reply crossing my arms in the process. 

"Who are you?" Elijah and one of the men said in unison. 

"I'm Elijah this is Elizabeth my wife." Elijah says to him. 

"We were gonna bring her to you, for Klaus. She's the doppelganger I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her." The vampire says. I walk up to the stranger and look him in the eyes. 

"Does anyone else know that your here?" I ask sweetly. 

"No." He says to me. 

"Perfect, Elijah darling would you do the honors?" I say. With that Elijah plunges his arms into both of the stranger vampires and rips there hearts out the bodies fall to ground with a loud thud. The black haired and blue eyed vampire gets ready to fight us but we had no intentions to fight today and with the simple turn on our heels we sped away.

We arrived back at Jonas' home, on the way back he had phoned us to say that the Bennett witch was channeling his son Luka and he had used up too much of his magic and was exhausted. We had gotten back before Jonas and so I was sat in the couch while Elijah looked into the night stood by the window. I heard the front door open. 

"How is Luka?" I ask quietly. 

"He's asleep." Jonas replies. I let out a small smile and nod at him. 

"Your shadow spell was successful. We was able to track that girl. However, we did have a little run in with one of the brothers that killed me." Elijah says softly, turning to face the witch. 

"I assume he didn't live to tell about it." Jonas says. 

"No we spared him, I saw his expression Jonas, Damon Salvatore would die before he would let anything happen to her. Both brothers would. Myself and Elijah agreed that Elena will be kept safe." I tell him. 

I stand up from the couch and brush the forming creases from my skinny jeans. 

"We best be going, let you settle down for the night. Good night Jonas, thank you for assistance." I say quietly. 

Elijah takes note and collects his coat and put it other his arm, he walks up to Jonas and shakes his hand. I follow behind and kiss his cheek and with that we left into the night.

"So do tell me, how is getting friendly with the historic society of Mystic Falls going to get us closer to the doppelganger?" I whisper. 

We were currently stood inside the Gilbert residence while Jenna was rummaging through the downstairs closet. 

"You'll see." Elijah whispers after that statement someone walks down the stairs. 

Breathing in I can smell its her, the doppelganger. 

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asks her aunt. 

"Perfect timing." she replies. Jenna hands Elena a large box filled with dusty smelly books, maps and papers. 

"What is this stuff?" Elena inquires. 

"Your mom's files from the Historical Society. I got roped into helping Mrs. Lockwood and by roped, I mean very excited to participate." Jenna replies. 

Jenna shuts the door to the closet and that is where our eyes meet, I smile and Elena takes a small step backwards she looks scared. 

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth and this is my husband Elijah, it's lovely to meet you" I say sweetly. 

"Their both in town doing research on Mystic Falls." Jenna says to her niece. 

Elijah steps forward to Elena. "It's a pleasure." As they shake hands. 

"So you're welcome to stay here and rummage through this stuff or Elena and I could help you load it into your car." Jenna say to break the tension. 

"How about I arrange to have someone come collect it from you tomorrow?" I reply. 

"Also a good plan." Jenna says 

"I do believe that great plans come from the female species" I say with a laugh. Jenna and myself share a small giggle, she was really nice. Hopefully she wouldn't get too caught up in this supernatural nonsense. 

"Thank you so much for inviting us into your home, Jenna and Elena." Elijah says with a small smile. And with that we turned to leave. Jenna goes back to whatever she was doing before. 

"I hope to see you again sometime soon." Elijah adds 

"Thank you again Jenna." I call out to her. 

"Anytime." She shouts from the kitchen. Elena darts up the stairs and that's when myself and Elijah also sped up them. She knocked on a bedroom door which  was guessing belonged to her younger brother Jeremy. Elijah gently grabbed her wrist and signals by holding a finger to his lips to not mentioned that he nor myself were present. 

"What is it?" The younger Gilbert asked. 

"Jenna was just asking me to get you to help her with the boxes." She says to her brother. 

"Okay" He says and leaves. 

"A wise choice." Elijah says to her. 

"What do you both want?" She asks us sounding frightened. 

"We just came to talk." I say softly to try and re-assure her. He gets us to follow her to her room. She sits on her bed, I take a seat at the edge giving her plenty of room and Elijah stands near the closed door. 

"Please forgive the intrusion, we mean your family no harm." I say to break the ice. 

"Why did you kill those vampires when they tried to take me?" She asks us. 

"Because we didn't want you to be taken. Klaus is the most feared and hated of the Originals, but those that fear him are desperate for his approval. If word gets out that the doppelganger exists, there'll be a line of vampires eager to take you to him and we can't have that." Elijah says to her. 

"Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do?" She replies. 

"Our goal isn't to break the curse Elena." I say, offering a warm smile. 

"So what is your goal?"

"Klaus's obsession has made him paranoid. He's a recluse. He trusts only those in his immediate circle." Elijah says to her.

"Like you?" I shake my head at her 

"No, not anymore" Elena stands up from the bed and starts to pace a little. 

"You don't know where he is, do you? So you're trying to use me to draw him out." She says sounding a little angry. 

"Well, to do that I need you to stay put and stop trying to get yourself killed." Elijah says sarcastically. I roll my eyes at husband, this talk is going to go nowhere if I don't say something quickly. 

"How do I know you're both telling the truth?" She says sounding angrier. I quickly stand up to face her. 

"I won't sugarcoat this but sweetheart, if myself and Elijah wasn't being truthful your family would be torn to shreds by now and we would be taking you to Klaus this very moment, myself and Elijah want to offer you a deal." I tell her. 

"What kind of deal?" She asks me. 

"Don't do anything Elena, live your life stop fighting and then when the time is right we will lure out Klaus and we will make sure your friends are protected" I say to her, I walk over to Elijah and reach out to hold his hand. I gave it a gentle squeeze. 

"And then what?" She asks us. 

"Then I will kill him." Elijah says proudly. 

"Just like that?" Elena asks. 

"Just like that, I'm a man of my word Elena. When I make a deal. I keep a deal." Elijah replies. 

"How are you gonna be able to keep everybody safe?" She asks us once more. 

"I notice you have a friend. Bonnie, is it? She seems to possess the gift of magic. We have friends with similar gifts." Elijah tells her. I noticed that Elijah has gotten back on track with this negotiation so there was no need for any further input. 

"You know witches?"  

"Together, we can protect everybody that matters to you. So, do we have a deal?" Elijah asks her. 

"I need you to do one more thing for me." She says to us. I raise my eyebrow. 

This girl had guts I like it.

"When she asked us for a favor I didn't realise it would be a rescue mission" I say with a chuckle. 

"Well we did promise to protect her friends so we are honoring our side of the deal" Elijah tells me, we was walking towards the tomb under Fells Church. On the way I had phoned and explained to Jonas we needed the barrier lifted to retrieve Elena's boyfriend. The door to the tomb opened and we saw Katerina and Stefan. 

"Katerina" I say to acknowledge her. 

"Elijah? Elizabeth?" She says frightened. 

"Good evening Katerina. Thank you for having the sense to be frightened." Elijah says to her. 

"Stefan your release has been requested" He adds. 

"What? By Who?" Stefan asks dumbfounded. 

"Miss Gilbert drives a hard bargain. However we arranged a peaceful agreement." I tell him smiling. Elijah gestures for Stefan to leave the tomb, 

"I can't." He says to us. 

"You can, we've had the spell lifted." Stefan then slowly walks out Katerina tries to leave also but is stopped in her tracks. I smile at Stefan. 

"Elena will be able to tell you the details for our arrangement, if she keeps her end of the bargain so will we." I say to him and with that he leaves. While I was speaking to Stefan, Elijah was compelling Katerina to stay put until Klaus comes. 

"Stefan! Please don't let him leave me here." She begs. 

"Goodbye Katherine." Stefan says bluntly and walks away. Myself and Elijah watched Stefan walk up the stairs and leave the underground compartment. 

"Good Night Katerina." Elijah and I say as he closes the door to the tomb locking Katerina away like a caged animal.

A few days had passed and we had spent the time in a B&B close to town, Elijah had some errands and loose ends to sort out so I stayed behind to work on my own I had gotten in touch with Penelope to see if she could work her magic to try and help us track down any trace of Klaus to which she could not. I was laid on the bed on my front in just one Elijah's shirts. I had my laptop out and my legs dangled from the edge of the bed while I furiously typed on the keyboard. I heard the door open and close and Elijah had walked into the bedroom and gently stroked his hands over my back and legs. I quietly moaned at the sense of his touch and he proceeded to massage my body, being irritated from the information I was trying to get made me very tense. 

"How about getting a change of atmosphere?" Elijah asks as his hands made his way to my shoulders, rubbing the aching muscles in circles. 

"Hmmmm, yes I could do with a change. What did you have in mind?" I ask him. 

"Well we have been invited to The Historical Society's Tea Party, and to make sure we keep good appearances we should make the effort to attend." He tells me. 

"What time does it start?" I reply. 

"I do believe we have a couple of hours free before we need to go." He says to me in a seductive tone.

I smirk to myself and bite my bottom lip. I rush up and pin Elijah to the wall, we kiss each other passionately taking turns to plant kisses down each others necks. Elijah flips me around so it is now him who has me against the wall and I jump up and wrap my legs around his waist. I run my hands up and down his body and moans are left from both of our mouths. 

"How about we continue where we left off?" He breathes. I nodded eagerly and flick my long hair to one side of my neck and I see Elijah's veins pop from under his eyes and see his fangs protrude from his gums. He gently grazes his fangs over my neck just like before and a sense of euphoria washes through my body. 

As his fangs sink into my skin I was in pure bliss 'blood sharing' was the most intimate act a vampire could share with another. Elijah removes his fangs from my neck and with blood stained lips he crashes them into my own. We part and then I proceed to bite him, drinking his blood was one of the best feelings, it tasted delicious and I did sometimes struggle to stop. But as the blood of my husband fell down my gullet memories of the two of us flooded into my mind.

"If you ever, EVER touch me or even come anywhere near me again Elijah I will rip your heart out!" I shouted at him tears flooded my eyes and all I saw was the smirk on the face of the witch Celeste Dubios. 

I gather up the skirts of my dress and brush past her. Elijah tries to stop me but I turn and glare at him. 

"You are no man of honor, unlike you I keep my promises! Now unless Miss Dubios over there wishes to see me carry out my threat, I suggest you allow me to pass."  I growl at him.

                                              __________________

"I never wanted you to be daggered brother but you were too much of a bad influence to Niklaus. I've grown too attached to Marcellus because I was using him as a substitute as I pushed her away, my wife I feel like I am lost without her. I have not the faintest idea on where she could be. I just hope that one day she will love me again. But I fear that the twisted ways of Celeste ruined our marriage and I was blind to see that then but I see that now."

                                              __________________

I pulled away from Elijah tears in both of our eyes, he gently wipes my eyes with his thumb and kisses me once more on the lips it wasn't lust nor passion but it was just full of love. "I love you." He tells me. He leans his forehead against my own and I let out a small sniffle. 

"I love you too." we stay like that for a few moments until I get up and usher Elijah into the bathroom. "Have a shower and while you do that, I shall sort out a new suit and a dress for myself for this so called 'tea party' " I say to him with one of my signature big smiles. 

I close the bathroom door and take a long and deep breath. I stride over to the wardrobe and pick out a clean suit for Elijah, a black suit and a dark blue shirt would go well and I selected a pair of black high waist-ed flared trousers with a white shirt and ladies suit jacket and dress scarf to match. 

I was not really in the mood to wear a dress and the ones I had where not quite appropriate - far too formal. Elijah had come out of the shower, in just a towel around his middle. I adored the moments where he slipped out of his 'noble and proper' mindset and just let loose a little. I swapped places and quickly took a shower, the hot water was welcomed on my skin, feeling the bad memories just drain away.

We arrived at the Lockwood Mansion in plenty of time, it had already started but we wasn't too late. Mrs Lockwood spotted us and walked over to us. 

"Elijah, so great you could make it. Is this your lovely wife you mentioned before?" Carol says to us, Elijah had his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him. 

"Yes it is, Elizabeth this is Carol Lockwood." Elijah says as he introduced us, I gently shake her hand. 

"Its a pleasure to meet you Mrs Lockwood, I look forward to working with you." I smile. 

"So, have you both spent much time in Richmond for your book? There's such a wealth of history there." Carol asks. 

"Well no, we're focusing mostly on the smaller regions of Virginia. Lots of research. Strictly academic." Elijah tells her. 

"Oh that is fascinating." Carol says back nodding her head slightly. 

"We've been to Richmond a handful of times, it truly is a magnificent place but the smaller towns are more like home, right Elijah?" I say to Carol, trying to keep up with the small talk. 

"Absolutely." Elijah agrees with me, while we were talking I heard the familiar voice of the eldest Salvatore brother, I gently squeeze Elijah's hand to let him know of Damon's presence. 

"Damon." Carol says to her friend has she approaches us and plants a quick kiss to her cheek.  

"Elijah, Elizabeth, I want you both to meet Damon Salvatore. His family is one of Mystic Falls' founding families." She informs us. 

"Hmmm, pleasure to meet you both." Damon says to us as he gently lifts up my free hand and places a kiss to my hand and then shakes Elijah's hand. I plaster a large fake smile on my face, I was not happy in the slightest of what just happened, and I presumed that Elijah was furious. 

"No pleasure is mine." Elijah says as he still has a firm grip on the Salvatore's hand and lets go. We departed and walked around the party a little taking in the odd conversation with the locals.

After about twenty minutes Damon requests our presence in the study. 

"What can we do for you Damon?" Elijah asks. 

"I was hoping to have a word." He replies. 

"And where is Elena?" I ask bitterly. 

"Safe with Stefan. They're laying low, you know, bit of a werewolf problem." Damon says. 

"Oh yes we heard about that." Elijah says sarcastically. 

"I'm sure the pair of you did since it was your witch that saved the day." Damon replies in equal sarcasm. 

"You are welcome by the way." I snap. Damon walks around to sit on the desk. 

"Which adds to my confusion on exactly why you're here." 

To be honest I was irritated the moment Damon approached us and I walked over to him. 

"Why don't you just stay focused on keeping Elena safe and leave the rest to us." I say to him tapping his cheek with my hand, and with that I turn and head back over to Elijah who was already stood at the door waiting for me. Damon however has other plans and speeds over to block my path to Elijah. 

"Not good enough." He says to me. I hear Elijah growl behind him. 

"Don't worry Elijah I have this, why not head back into the party and I'll join you in a moment." I say sweetly. I gave Elijah a re-assuring smile and he does as I asked and heads out of the study. 

I look back at Damon, now it was time to put him in his place. I grabbed Damon by his throat and pin him to the nearby wall, I glare at him in retaliation Damon grabs my throat and to which was a very poor choice for him, using my free hand I grab it and easily remove it from my throat, I bend it back far enough making sure to snap the bone but also crush it with my tight grip. I let him go but making sure to push him away with enough force, giving him the hint not to try anything else so foolish. 

"You young vampires are so arrogant, how dare you come in here and not only challenge me, but also an original vampire. Show some respect!" I threatened. 

Damon is still recovering from the damage I had inflicted, he grabs hold of his broken wrist and hand. "You or your deranged husband can't kill me, its not part of the deal." Damon laughed. 

I sent him a glare and just slapped his around the face. "Enough!" I shouted, I spotted a pencil that was laying on the desk I grabbed it and stab him in the neck, he shouts out in pain as I make sure to dig it in deep. 

Damon leans on the desk for support as he pulls the pencil from his neck. He hisses in pain and the puts his hand over the wound that is bleeding rather badly. I hand him my scarf and he hesitantly takes it to help reduce the bleeding as he heals. I step over to him and lean in to his ear. 

"Elijah is an Original, I am older and stronger then you, so it would be wise not to do anything stupid. But know this the moment you cease to be of use either myself or my husband your dead. So you should listen to what Elijah and I say to you, do your job and keep Miss Gilbert safe" I whisper. 

I turn on my heel and head out of the study and over to Elijah who was waiting patiently for me. "I do believe that our work is done here, shall we head off?" I say sweetly giving Elijah a kiss.

As we left the Tea Party Elijah says to me. "I heard what you said to Damon." 

I playfully roll my eyes. "You my dear where meant to, we both know that I can handle myself with situations like that. And I rather enjoy them." I tease. 

"So, I failed to mention this to you earlier but Penelope called this morning while you were out, seems like the werewolves are planning something, there has been an increase of them arriving over the last few days." I add. 

"Hmmmm, well the last encounter they had with Damon was not very pleasant, they want the moonstone as well. Perhaps we give it to them?" Elijah replies to me. A smile forms not only on his face but also my own, which meant that more hearts were going to be dropped tonight.

"Where is the moonstone?" A voice asked it had to be a wolf, nobody else smells that bad. 

"Get over it, honey. You're never gonna get it." Damon says in between deep breaths. Myself and Elijah walk into the room. 

"Looking for this?" Elijah says holding up the moonstone for everyone to see. 

Elijah also made sure he was the first to enter, a werewolf bite to him would be no big deal a few days bed rest and whole lots of sweating but for me? Well a bite would bring my life to a halt. One of the wolves tries and rushes over to grab the stone from Elijah but because Elijah was an original so naturally being faster and stronger he plunges his arm into the wolfs chest and rips out his heart, the body dropping to the floor with a thud. Two more wolves rush over to avenge their fallen friend but also led them to a untimely demise. The female wolf rushes past us and escapes before she is killed. Knowing that there was no more threats in the house I stride over to the cowering wolf who was hiding behind his jacket, I pick him up and I flash my fangs at him the veins raise up underneath my eyes. 

"What about you buttercup? Do you wish to take a shot? Yes? No? Yes? Where is the girl?" I threaten, as I drop the wolf back to the floor with a thud, he is still too petrified to move. 

"I don't know." Damon says as he tries to look around but his mobility is restricted due to the weird collar around his neck. 

"It doesn't really matter." Elijah finishes. Elijah punches the cowering wolf and he falls to the floor, he then goes to Damon and rips him free from the chains that held him to a chair. 

"So you realize this is the third time we've saved your life now?" He says with a smirk. Damon doesn't say anything to us and with out business finished we turned and headed off back to our make-shift home. 

"Darling this time it was all you." I say to my husband as I shut the door behind us.

[robininthelabyrinth]

A Winter’s Tale - 7 - Ao3 link

Fandom: Flash, Legends Pairing: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart

Summary: Mick Rory is on a mission to save his family, and if it means kidnapping Mayor Leonard Snart, so be it.

Though he’s not expecting it to go like this.

(Dragons and Faeries and Metas - oh my!)

A/N: For the coldwave winter week, run by @coldwaveevents

Chapter 7: Oculus Fix / Len Lives - 24th Dec + Christmas / Chanukah / Winter Holiday (+ New Year's Kiss)

———————————————————————————————–

“Who needs an eldritch monstrosity spell or the Fae? I'm gonna kill you."

"You're taking this too seriously," Snart says.

"Too seriously?! You're gonna die!" Mick roars. "All because you fucking gambled and lost -"

The game had, to put it politely, not gone Snart's way.

They'd played hard and fast and long, and in the end, to no one's (read: Mick) surprise, Savitar had emerged triumphant.

He won the dragon-fire spear, their only hope of fighting the Fae, and worse than that he'd won their time - virtually all of the month that Snart had bought them with his clever lies.

And with their time gone, Savitar meant for Snart to be sacrificed immediately.

"Sometimes a game is more about the play than the end result," Snart says. "Especially when you play with Central City rules."

Mick is going to strangle him.

"No, really!" Snart protests, undoubtedly in response to Mick's expression. "We played with favors and deals as part of play - you can sneak a peek at my tiles in exchange for one piece of my selection from yours, I'll put down half of a board if you put down the other half, I'll swap you one now if you swap me one later, that sorta thing -"

"Snart," Mick snarls. "I don't care about Rummikube."

Snart scowls. "Fine. Tell me more about this spell thing."

"You mean the giant eldritch monstrosity about to eat you -"

"Other than that."

"The Fae used to dominate the planet," Mick says. "They had all sorts of powers, which I guess is similar to what your world's speedsters had, and they used it to enslave humanity. Then the great sorcerer Tam Lin fell in love and fucked it up."

Snart frowns. "How's that? You didn't mention love before."

"Well, that's what happened. He fell in love with a Fae, a weaker one, and the only way they could be together was if humanity were free or something like that, I don't remember exactly. Either way, he came here on Midsummer's Day and set a spell locking the power of the Fae into the Underhill, keeping them from using all their powers and forcing them to stay there most of the time, and reinforced that spell with his love for his girl - maybe boy, maybe something else, I dunno, wasn't really paying attention - with his love for his soulmate, anyway. And the spell gets stronger every time some pair of lovers plight their troth with his name, which of course everyone does. But if you want to break it, you need the exact opposite."

"Huh. So that's why they needed you to get me, I guess? The necessary ingredient being a soulmate willingly sacrificed?"

"A seventh son's soulmate, willingly sacrificed," Mick corrects. "Tam Lin was a seventh son, too, and it's Midwinter - best time of the year to defeat a spell set at Midsummer. Besides, that's just the last ingredient - they've been pulling pain and agony out of humans for decades to build the spell up as much as it is."

"Does it matter that you ain't really willing anymore?"

"No. I agreed to a deal and as long as they keep to their half, I can't weasel out. And that means they can do whatever the hell they want to you as long as my family gets out."

"And what they want is to feed me to this spell."

"Yeah," Mick says grimly. "That spell."

He points.

The spell's even bigger than it was before: a glowing mass of blue light, snarled in on itself like a Gordian knot, pulsing with a hunger to consume and destroy.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Savitar comments, appearing by their side. He has the dragonfire spear in his hand, the asshole; he's just rubbing their loss into their faces now. "Enhancement spells built on enhancement spells - I wouldn't suggest casting a fireball anywhere near it, not if you wanted the city to remain intact."

"So it's the spell equivalent of a nuke," Snart says thoughtfully.

"A spell that gives whatever spell you cast around it nuclear force," Savitar corrects, then smiles unpleasantly. "And the spell we're going to cast is going to be a good one. Midwinter betrayal will free us all from our chains."

"Speaking of betrayal," Snart drawls, "what exactly are the terms you set for Mick's deal? He just needed to get you your items, right? Minus the ones you forgave as a 'gift'?"

Savitar frowns, and Mick frowns, too.

"That's right," he says, wondering where Snart was going with this.

"Well, then, he's done that," Snart says. "His family should be free to go already."

Mick turns to look at Savitar, who's gone from frowning to scowling, albeit with an expression that suggested that he was mildly impressed.

"You're good with words, for a human," he says.

"I used to be a politician," Snart explains. "You'd be amazed how well I eel through loopholes."

Savitar snorts, surprised into something almost human. "A politician. Really, seventh son? I would've thought you'd have better taste."

"So would I," Mick grumbles.

Snart rolls his eyes at both of them. "Deal done, yes?"

"Yes," Savitar says. "They're free to go."

A weight lifts off Mick's shoulders.

"I'll do you one better," Snart says. "I'll go down to the spell willingly if you guarantee their safe passage."

Mick's spine stiffens. He hadn't thought about that.

"Why would I care if you go willing or not?" Savitar asks, arching his eyebrows and crossing his arms. "I could carry you there in less time than it takes to blink."

Now it's Mick's turn to roll his eyes. "Because with his way, you won't have to go anywhere near the spell," he says. "Do you think we haven't noticed that it's all alone there? I bet it doesn't like you Fae all that much."

Savitar looks mutinous for a moment, then the expression fades. "Very well," he says. "Your willingness to proceed in exchange for safe passage out of the Underhill."

"Mmm," Snart says. "Not what I said. For a Fae, you really ought to be more careful with your words. Thanks for agreeing, though."

Mick frowns. "What's the difference between what you said and what he said?"

"He said 'safe passage out of the Underhill'," Snart explains. "I, however, said 'safe passage' - without any limitations."

"I'm not protecting that many people indefinitely!" Savitar exclaims.

"You should've been more cautious, then."

Savitar glares. "No. Trade down, or I'll break contract and take whatever consequences fall out."

"Oh, all right," Snart sighs, all put-upon. "You give his family safe passage out of Underhill and, hmm, seven years and a day of immunity, and I get to take whatever I like with me."

"Safe passage out of Underhill, three years and a day of immunity, and you can take whatever's yours with you. Best offer."

"Done."

Mick's head hurts. Also, Snart clearly took Mick's story about what his universe's doppelganger did far too much to heart.

Still, immunity for his family is good.

Just -

He wishes it didn't have to come at the expense of Snart's life.

He likes Snart. Even his ma likes Snart, and that's even after he finagled her into gambling against the Fae.

(Mick's dad is a little more iffy, but that won't stand up against Ma's views for very long. Everyone knows where the real power in their family lies.)

"What do you want to take with you?" Savitar asks, amused again. Fae are changeable like that. "Decide now - your time is up."

Mick swallows. It's too soon - he's just found Snart; he doesn't want to lose him -

"Mick," Snart says.

Mick looks at him.

"Come with me."

"Are you nuts?" Mick exclaims. "What, and get myself killed for no reason?"

"Please, Mick. I have a plan -"

"Oh, yeah, like the old one worked so damn well!"

"Mick. Please. Trust me?"

Mick just met the guy. They're not even together, not really, they're just a possibility, and so what if they're soulmates? Just because they affect each other doesn't mean they have to let it -

Mick's a goddamn idiot.

"Fine," he growls, ignoring Savitar doing something judgy with his eyebrows.

He grabs Snart's hand, and together, they go down to the spell.

"You take me to all the nicest places," Mick says as they draw near to the gigantic pulsing hunger of the spell.

"Next time, I'll pick a nice restaurant instead."

"There won't be a next time."

"No, there won't," Snart says. "Mick..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for trusting me."

Snart turns around and waves to Savitar. He's got a piece of white paper in his fingers. "Hey, you!"

Savitar peers down at him.

"One of yours for one of mine!" Snart calls, which - what?

"Is that from your stupid Rummikube game?!" Mick exclaims, because seriously? Now?

"It is," Snart says. "We played Central City rules, where you can also trade favors. I didn't use 'em up all."

"But what's the point of bringing it here? Those apply to the game -"

"Says who? I've made political deals over a game of Rummikube. Why not magical deals, too?"

Mick starts to get a bad feeling about this. A feeling, it occurs to him, that he should've started getting way earlier.

Snart did say that he had a plan.

Mick really should've believed him.

Man with the fucking plan...

"What the hell are you trading him?" Mick demands.

Snart smiles at him. "A soulmate."

And then, with a tug, Mick's gone -

He blinks.

He's standing at Savitar's side, all the way up the hill.

"No!" he shouts.

Savitar stares at him, human disbelief bleeding into his face, and then he looks back down the hill.

Snart's still there, with the spell starting to reach out bright blue tendrils to grab him. By his side, there's a woman - dark hair, dark skin, and a very confused expression.

"Iris," Savitar breathes. The spell reaches out a tendril, and wraps around her, too. "No!"

He's gone.

No, not quite gone.

He's down the hill, speedster-quick, but the spell is closer and it realizes what Savitar is doing and it's lashing out to grab its victims first - Savitar is slowing - no, not slowing -

He's stopped, so as to better aim the spear that he throws.

The spear of dragonflame goes straight to the heart of a Fae spell.

Opposites meet.

Everything explodes.

When Mick finally manages to open his eyes again, he's lying on his back on the hill.

He sits up.

Snart is lying beside him, alive and intact, the bastard. And beside him, there's the woman - Iris? - sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Mick suspects, but checks anyway.

Yeah, she's human.

"Hey there," he says. "Nice day, huh?"

"Is it winter?" she asks. "It's freezing."

Huh, yeah, she's wearing a summery blouse and not much else.

Mick shrugs off his jacket and hands it over.

"Thanks."

"It's Midwinter," Mick says with a shrug. "Winter Solstice. Guess you were inside or something?"

"Not exactly," she says wryly. "Last I remember, it was summer, and I was walking in a park."

"Iris," Savitar rasps. He's standing right behind her. "Oh, Iris..."

She twists to look at him. "Barry," she says blankly. "What's wrong?"

(Barry? Savitar's True Name is Barry? Really?)

"You - you died -"

"You're dating a Fae?" Mick asks her, deciding that he didn't want to know. "And here I thought you had some sense."

"You don't pick your soulmate, and anyway he grows on you," Iris says wryly. "Also, Bar, what do you mean, I died?"

"Wouldn't have called that, I admit," Snart croaks, sitting up. "But I guess the swap spell didn't pay attention to where your soulmate was - and it was nuke-powered."

"Wait, what's this about nukes?!"

Mick looks down the hill, but the spell is gone. In its place, the barrier shines gold, strong and unwavering.

A Fae and a human, soulmates, rescuing each other. Just like Tam Lin.

Instead of destroying Tam Lin's spell, they've strengthened it a thousand times over.

Oh, the Fae aren't going to like this one bit.

Savitar doesn't look like he cares, though, with Iris in his arms and his head on her shoulder.

Snart pokes Mick in the shoulder.

Mick looks at him.

Snart mimes a hasty exit.

...yeah, good idea.

They sneak out of there.

To be fair, they could have probably have made a giant racket and no one would have noticed – Savitar and Iris appear to be having their New Years’ kiss a bit earlier than expected, but hey, Mick’s not going to look gift Fae in the mouth.

(Unlike Iris, apparently.)

The second Mick's pretty sure they're out of earshot, he whistles for Garima.

She comes, of course, lights flashing happily and doors sliding open.

"Good girl," Mick tells her.

After all those dimensional portals, getting back Overhill is a cinch for her.

"So," Snart says.

Mick turns to look at him.

Snart grins at him. "Restaurant?"

Mick starts laughing.

[howtohero]

#094 The Multiverse

The universe is quite vast. Science records it as being hella vast (trust us on this one, we’ve seen charts). But, as it transpires, one hella vast universe is but a single cog in the vast tapestry of existence. (Wait, what, tapestries aren’t made of cogs. That’s a piss poor metaphor. Hey that rhymed!) You see, our universe (and your universe, perhaps you and I live in different ones) are part of a larger, vaster, multiverse. That means that there are a possibly infinite number of universes and each of them is unique with its own characteristics and rules (except for the ones that are just copies of other ones of course). 

It would be impossible for us to cover and discuss every single possible alternate Earth or universe that you might encounter, so we’re not even going to try (but if you came her looking for vacation recommendations, might I suggest going to Universe 3.789 Epsilon Qwerty {the name of this universe will obviously vary depending on how your universe chooses to name other universes} everything in that universe is ice cream and it is delicious. Just make sure you don’t eat anybody. And if you do accidentally eat someone don’t mention my name). What we will do however, is lay out some situations in which you might encounter another universe and give you the usual tips and tricks for dealing with them.

Many alternate dimensions will have an alternate version of you and everyone else around you. Some universes have doppelgangers of everyone from a different universe, which can be very disorienting for interdimensional travelers since many of these doppelgangers just resemble their alternate universe counterparts physically, while their personalities and personal histories can be completely different (for example there are several universes where I write an educational blog for supervillains and some where I write a blog on creative ways to stack and store cans of soup and some where I am Power Jones, the man with one million powers, defender of the galaxy, lover of tree nuts). Other universes however only feature doppelgangers of major individuals. Which can be very humbling. Imagine if you travelled to another dimension (suppose you had a three-day weekend or something) and discovered that versions of all your super-buddies existed there but there was no version of you. That would be terrible. Like the universe really doesn’t think you’re important at all. You saved your world from the menace of an evil disembodied mustache (named Megalexhar Fizzleton XVII for those of you keeping track of these characters) yet apparently that’s not enough to score you an alternate dimension counterpart. Rough. 

The first thing you should do when you travel to another universe is determine what the deal with your doppelganger is. Do you have one? Are they well liked? Is their life better than yours? Are they a superhero too? Are they a villain? Is their costume cooler than yours? And so on and so forth. Once you get a read on how your doppelganger is viewed you can decide whether or not you want to temporarily steal their identity, seek them out and become multiversial pals, permanently steal their identity, or disguise yourself as someone else. What you decide to do about your doppelganger might be dependent on why you traveled to another dimension in the first place. If you’re going just because you recently discovered the existence of the multiverse and so obviously you’re gonna want to check that out, then you might try to disguise yourself so you can observe the alternate dimension without alerting anybody to your presence of existence. If you’re going because you’re in pursuit of a hostile supervillain (say the Rambunctious-Red-Light-Runner steps up his game and becomes the Rambunctious-Reality-Light-Runner) then you’re going to want to get in touch with that universe’s super-community somehow whether that includes your doppelganger or not. If you’re going in a scientific capacity, to study other dimensions or the alternate physics other dimensions may possess, or as an anthropologist, to study the cultures of other universes, then you might want to make your presence known so you can gain access to certain people and things that you might want to study. 

I would recommend making friends from as many alternate universes as possible. For one, it’s always good to have more super-allies. For two, you can finally create an all-you a cappela group like you’ve always dreamed. For threes, if your nemesis captures all your friends in an effort to draw you out so they can kill you, you can just call in some pals from other universes that they didn’t even know about! For four (!!!!!), sometimes bad guys want to go above and beyond the normal call of evil and try to either take over or destroy the entire multiverse, uch, so extra. When this happens the heroes of the multiverse need to band together to kick some evil butt. It’s awesome. And it’ll be a lot more awesome if you’ve already got some friends from other universes that you can contact to get the ball rolling on this multiversial alliance. For your reading pleasure, and to prove that we are not bound by things that we say, even within the same post, here is a list of some common alternate dimensions that you’ll no doubt encounter during your travels through the multiverse.

The one where everyone’s allegiances are switched: Evil Hatmans, good Democratically Elected President Murder Kills (don’t be fooled by the name, he’s a huge softy), competent Professor Paleontologists. Maybe other things will be opposites too. Cold is hot and hot is also hot because the universe doesn’t want you thinking that you know it’s next move.  Topsy-turvy universes can be quite disorienting to the untrained dimensional traveler, proceed with caution.

The Golden Age: The adventures that were so feel good happy and idealistic that we had to shunt them into an alternate universe where everyone fights for truth and justice and everyone’s always smiling. A good place to spend a vacation.

The one that is a post-apocalyptic wasteland: Humanity has been wiped out. Except for the humans who haven’t been wiped out. But they all hate each other. And they’re plotting to wipe each other out. Because some things never change. Watch this space.

The one where all your friends are cute animals: Ultiman is a caribou, Dr. Python is a wombat (don’t ask why he’s not a python, he doesn’t have a good answer and he gets all frustrated). They’re roommates. Hilarity ensues. And it’s even funnier because they’re animals!

The one with thinly veiled copies of characters from a rival corporation: We have no rivals so we can’t give any practical examples of this. 

The period pieces: These universes have never left a certain time period. There are Wild West Universes, Russian Revolution Universes, Gangnam Style Craze Universes. If you’re the kind of person who can’t let go of a certain era, there’s a universe out there for you.

The universe where a monkey typed out the complete works of Shakespeare: If there an infinite number of universes that means there are an infinite number of monkeys and that means there are an infinite number of universes where a monkey somehow conned his way into getting access to a typewriter and that means that there are an infinite number of monkeys who have typed out the complete works of Shakespeare. (Also an infinite number of monkeys who have typed out the complete works of this blog {also an infinite number of monkeys who have typed out the complete works of this blog except these monkeys are so clever that every single word feeds into some larger, brilliant pun. I aspire to one day find the key to being that talented.})

The one where everyone is a talking animal except they don’t resemble any of your friends: These talking animals are completely original characters like Bunderclap, the thunder bunny and the Hurtle, the turtle with a temper.

The universe where someone or something kills everyone: Well gosh that sounds pretty frikkin’ dark. Don’t go there. Gosh, everybody gets killed? Worst alternate universe ever.

The one that is the future: Maybe it’s your real future, maybe it’s just a possible future. I recommend hopping into a few of these types of universes. Find the future that’s right for you.

The one that’s exactly like yours: Or at least it was until this one thing happened. Now everything’s different! Even if those things shouldn’t have been affected by the thing that originally changed by any stretch of the imagination.

Of course, these are only a few examples of some universes that you’re likely to encounter. There are plenty of universes that are nothing like any of these. There are universes that we can’t even fathom. Universes that we can never access. Universes that don’t support human life. Universes that don’t support three-dimensional objects. The multiverse is a vast vast vast place, there are people who spend there entire lives trying to catalogue it all and die feeling unfulfilled because that’s just how vast it is. So if you’re going to venture out into alternate dimensions, stay alert, stay safe, and if you eat anybody, don’t tell them I sent you.

[ko2vo]

THIS BLOG IS THREE YEARS OLD TODAY HOLY SHIT (edit: i started this post months ago and forgot about it, this blog was 3 years old on Sept. 7 pffffff-)

Anyway, its been a long time since i last did this, here are a bunch of OCs of mine and, below the read more, is some context for each of them. Probably gonna get long and rambly ‘cause i love them all. You dont have to read about them but please read about them i love them.

Guess the first thing to know is that these aren’t my only OCs. These are kinda the ones that I’ve had around the longest and kept coming back to. Plus, I have some for specific projects that I don’t really elaborate on cuz they exist in a game/writing/something self contained and to say anything would be to say too much, I guess? 

Yeah. Overall, I guess these guys are either so developed or underdeveloped that it wouldn’t be spoiling for me to say things about their personalities/relationships! And some of the stories have changed so drastically over the years, I don’t even know what kinda canon will be canon when i get around to making it.

SO they’re categorized by their different worlds/purposes. ALSO if you want to see more pictures of a particular OC, I made their name clickable and it will bring up their tag (some.... won’t have a lot of drawings tho criesss).

CANDY HERO has been my dream comic project since I was 14 oh man. It’s a superhero story, about homeless kids that have to save the world. The reason for saving the world has changed a lot, from alien invasion to robot uprising to super virus subtly ruining everything. But the plan has always been like a grungy futuristic city setting and long term ideas where each chapter would be a self contained episode.

Soda is one of the main characters and the only person that has superpowers. However, his super powers are candy-based and wicked unstable. He could intend to create crystal rock candy to make a barrier of some kind but accidentally whip up a cotton candy tornado. His superhero origin story has changed a lot, but I usually stick to the idea that he swallowed some nuclear experimental bubblegum and it unexpectedly manifested inside him in a way that gave him these capabilities.

Why would he eat questionable chewing gum?? Well, he’s pretty young when he does so most likely he didn’t realize gum wasn’t for eating at that point. He’s also homeless and isn’t picky about what he eats. He probably ends up on the street when he’s around 7 or 8 and his story takes place when he’s 14 or 15. So, somewhere between there is when he acquires his powers. 

His personality is basically relentless positivity and optimism. Always looks on the bright side and can be counted on as a morale booster. Super loyal and supportive of his friends. Believes in ideals and hopes to make the world a better place, believes the world can be changed for the better. It’s very difficult to upset him. However, his outlook often jars when he has to deal with an emotionally sensitive situation. His general response is “everything will be okay and I believe in you and support you” and, for a lot of people, it doesn’t work like that and it just makes them more upset, especially living among the homeless. Even though he can relate to suffering, his way of dealing things has always been to repress or move on since it couldn’t be helped and that’s usually what he subconsciously advocates.Depending on the person, it can be reassuring or it can feel like a rehearsed script.

All in all, he has a lot of issues he’s left unresolved and ignores in favour of smiling and focusing on the positive and he doesn’t really understand why people will fixate on the negative. So he’s not really good at handling any kinda negative emotions. ALSO his trusting nature makes him a victim in gullibility too. Even with someone that’s been a complete dick to him twenty times over, he’ll always give the benefit of a doubt and allow them second, third, fourth chances.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT SODA - His real name is Felix but he’s only ever gone by Soda. Rafter was the one that gave him the nickname cuz he’s bubbly and too sweet. - When he’s actually sad and can’t force himself to be happy, he isolates himself. - He’s always wanted to be a super hero! His earliest memory is running around with goggles on and a blanket tied around his shoulders like a cape, playing pretend. - He has an evil doppelganger named Seltzer; they look exactly alike, except Seltzer’s eyes are orange instead of blue. - He smells like a carnival’s trash can.

Rafter is Soda’s best friend. Both of them have been on the street for a similar amount of time, but Rafter’s circumstances for getting there are a lot more harsh. Soda ends up there almost by choice, but Rafter is forced onto the streets. He’s really mature as a result and pretty cautious. Generally, he prefers to be a lone wolf but Soda persisted in helping him cuz they were both kids and logically he understood that it was safer to have someone around. Most of the time, he appreciates Soda for his overabundant friendliness but it also makes him super nervous because jeezuz Soda, don’t talk to that shady dude behind the dumpster what if he harvests your kidneys or something plz exercise some self preservation.

Rafter is relatively quiet, thoughtful, and skeptical. He doesn’t trust people very easily and he tends to keep his circle of friends small. But when he does trust someone, he’s very dependable. Even though he doesn’t have superpowers, he’s got a keen eye for details and analysis. If he were older, he’d probably be a detective. More defensive than offensive, and a strategist. 

He ends up in contention with Soda sometimes, because of Soda’s instinct to jump into things indiscriminately (where Rafter likes to plan and evaluate) and also because of his inability to deal with emotions. Rafter is pretty stable emotionally, but when he does feel upset he goes to Noyal or TOI for support rather than Soda. Rafter needs to work through his feelings with someone else and understand why he reacts the way he did in order to feel better.

Overall, Rafter is very level headed. He thinks realistically and practically. But his caution borders on paranoia sometimes and prevents him from making many meaningful connections for fear of being hurt. And, when in contrast with Soda’s positive outlooks, he worries that he comes off as less realistic and more negative and jaded by comparison. It’s a thought that eats away at him sometimes.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT RAFTER - He plays piano and its the best way for him to relax. - Rafter isn’t his real name but no one knows it. - His dream career is to be a psychologist and help kids like him when he gets older, in order to help them avoid being homeless. - Dogs make him nervous. Especially big dogs.  - Even though he lives on the street, he’s very careful to stay as clean and hygienic as he can. Can’t stand feeling grimy or dirty.

TOI is an illegal android. She was a young boy as a human who was dying and her father was a scientist that transferred her consciousness to a robot. There is a law that states that any person under the age of consent cannot have their consciousness transferred because androids are not subject to the same laws as humans. It is completely legal for an adult to choose to become an android but there are really fucked up, blurred moral lines with the production of androids. Even if they have a living consciousness and not an AI installed, the only real law they’re required to follow is to be registered and have an owner.

Short of that, anything that happens to androids is damage against the owner, not the android. Because android parts are replaceable and, even if a consciousness is human or a highly developed AI, they are subject to selective memory wipes and can be transferred to other vessels. So androids are kind of resented by some people, able to forget their traumas with the push of a button and recover from damage that would be irreparable for something organic. There have been a lot of attempts at acquiring self ownership and more protection for robots in general, but overall it comes down to “if you can choose to forget, why are you remembering.” It’s a system that kind of works, but only for robots that have owners and owners who care about their well being (which logically they should, because an android costs about as much as a new car would and, if they are spending that much and the consciousness is someone they know, the assumption is that it’s an act of love).

ANYWAYS I could ramble about the messed up robot-human relations of this world all day, but essentially TOI is illegal for many reasons. For one, she was about nine when her consciousness was extracted. Though her mind does continue to age, it’s still morally grey because the public assumption is that all robots are considered consenting adults, even when they have a body that appears younger. It’s a means of avoiding fucked up shit that developers know would happen anyways by at least making it fucked up shit that only happens to adults??? If that makes sense??? im avoiding specific words, cuz its too dark for how PG i want the story to be and its not something i would really explore in canon, its just something i think about when considering TOI’s choices.

She’s also very illegal because, when she turned 15 her father died and her father was her ‘technical’ owner. She wasn’t registered but she had some protection with him around as his ‘scientific property’ but with him gone, no one faces any consequences for damaging her. It leaves her in a very vulnerable position should anyone find out she’s an android and unregistered. And she can’t advocate for robot rights because without an owner, she can just get wiped and no one could do anything about it.

Personality wise, TOI is very snarky. She likes to sass and tease and outsmart people. In canon, she’s about 32 years old, so she also takes a sadistic pleasure in making adults think they’ve been outwitted by a child. She is highly intelligent but operates under the radar because of her situation, usually relying on her human connections (Noyal) in order to save money or sign important documents.

In Candy Hero, she currently isn’t planned to appear for a handful of chapters. Soda and Rafter have a few adventures themselves, then they meet her when she is visiting Noyal. She trusts them as Noyal’s friends and sticks around, their antics amusing her. Plus, since they all look around the same age, TOI feels more secure moving around in public with them.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT TOI - TOI doesn’t need to eat or sleep as a robot, but she does need to recharge every other week depending on her exertion, and she needs regular maintenance. - She was a trans girl even before her consciousness was put into her robot body but socially closeted, except to her father and Noyal. - She loves cats and her favourite clothing items are cat themed. - Whenever she’s able to, she attends art galleries and musical events. - SHES GONE THROUGH THE MOST DESIGN CHANGES like, she used to be a super sexualized animu lady with big boobs and no pants (i want to fight 15 yr old me when i think about it honestly) then she was skinny dude with a gas mask and hood, then lost the mask but became purely a program, then a virus trapped inside a phone Soda had, and now she’s where she is and I’m happiest with her newest design

Noyal is a quiet guy that lives on a boat. He doesn’t say much but he’s empathetic toward Soda and Rafter as street kids. I haven’t really thought about how they meet but my guess is that Soda and Rafter are jumping around different places for food and shelter during the winter and Noyal notices them since he jumps around to the different places for his work. He doesn’t approach them though, it’s Soda that approaches him offering to help him with something (much to Rafter’s horror cuz holy shit Noyal is scary looking) and they all eventually begin to talk. Well, Noyal mostly listens but he talks more with them than he does almost anyone else (TOI being the exception).

Eventually, he offers them a place to stay for the worst nights. They can’t stay with him all the time cuz his boat’s pretty cramped as it is and Noyal likes his solitude. He can’t handle the idea of being a father figure to Soda and Rafter so he makes sure they understand that he views them as friends, not as children he needs to be responsible for. Even though Rafter was nervous about him at first, it turns out that he and Noyal have very compatible personalities and the equal ground he offers in defining that “I’m not an authority over you just because I’ve lived longer” ironically makes Rafter really look up to and respect him. 

I’ve not really thought out Noyal’s history to the same extent I’ve thought out TOI’s. He’s always been quiet, somewhat mysterious, but willing to help a friend in need. I imagine he’s been helped through a lot of things when he was young and that’s what makes him willing to extend altruism and sanctuary when he encounters someone that needs help. However, unlike Soda, he doesn’t go out of his way or beyond what he’s comfortable with. If he wants to help and is capable of doing so, he will.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT NOYAL - He owns a dog; an elderly and blind Schnauzer affectionately called Old Russ, who sleeps on his bed with him. - I’ve always imagined him with a Newfoundlander accent. - He’s actually a year younger than TOI and she’ll never let him forget it. - He has a twin sister that he doesn’t like to talk about; she sends him a care package every few months. - He works at a million different jobs. One of the running gags I’ve established in my writing is that he’s just everywhere; Soda and Rafter go to a circus, he’s running the ticket booth; they go to a theatre, he’s a janitor; they head to the mall, he’s working security. HE IS A BUSY MAN. - Covered in scars not because he gets into fights but because he loves animals, regularly works at places with big animals, and would willingly get mangled by a bear if it meant he was able to help it.

PURE FLUFF isn’t the name of anything but I just have no other designation for these two OCs (I used to call their story Day by Day but I’ve abandoned that name). I made them with the intent of doing a really fluffy gay webcomic and I still want to! But it probably won’t be a linear storyline like i originally intended, more like random snippets of their time together. I also specifically wanted to focus not on falling in love, but staying in love. Like, usually the plot and conflict of romance ends with people becoming a couple. Yet, there are so many fun and ridiculous issues that pop up while being a couple??? LIKE COME ON?? 

Also, it’s a super pure and wholesome story overall so the issues aren’t anything really terrible (at least, between Evan and Love). Usually its like “i dont care how in the zone you are, you havent slept in over 72 hours and im forcing you to sleep” and “dude i know you wouldn’t cheat on me but your hot tutor is making me wicked jealous and possessive and i need attention plz” and “oh nooooo looks like they accidentally put pineapple on both sides of the pizza, guess you’re gonna have to eat pineapple too.” Y’know. Small issues.

Evan is the epitome of lethargy. He’s tired 24/7 and monotone in his speech patterns. Emotions are difficult for him. He experiences them but numbly and has trouble dealing with other’s displays of emotions, particularly in the extreme. He doesn’t really understand people with strong passions or hatreds but he tries to be supportive in his own way. And he really does try but when people don’t know him, they assume his muted reactions are out of disinterest. He can’t force himself to react the way people want so he struggles in a lot of social situations. A lot of the time, he ends up overwhelmed and exhausted if he spends too much time with a crowd.

He doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents and moved out the moment he turned 18 but he has younger siblings that love and adore him so he tries to keep in touch with them at least. Evan is in post secondary and is majoring in computer science and programming. Again, not exactly because it’s his passion but he understands it and it’s an independent activity that he can work on. He also is minoring in ancient history because he enjoys the mythology and guesswork of studying ancient civilizations. 

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT EVAN - He is probably trans. Honestly, for a lot of my characters, I tend to keep things flexible unless it’s important to their story or I’m being self indulgent so most of them are like ‘maby they are maby they aren’t it doesnt matter’ if i dont say anything. I mention it for Evan cuz its been something I’ve considered as the reason his relationships with his parents being tense. - He is about 23-24, which is two years older than Love. They met in high school because Evan had to take a lower level art class to complete his diploma. Often, people think he is younger than Love because of his baby face and being so much shorter. The assumption tends to annoy him. - Evan is colourblind! Protanopia, or red-green colourblindness.  - He has a history of self harm that only Love knows about and he’s since found healthier coping mechanisms. - His favourite thing is spending a lazy afternoon at home, reading a book while Love draws beside him

Love is an artist and an asshole. He likes to tease and press buttons, but generally doesn’t overstep boundaries (and feels terrible when he accidentally does). He is a positive person, looks on the bright side but he has a lot of feelings and not all of them are happy. He’s sensitive, gets disheartened at the slightest off tone. Conversely, he’s extremely easy to please too, the slightest praise sending him buzzing. His mood jumps around a lot depending on where he is, but Evan tends to keep him balanced because he understands and appreciates Evan’s tranquillity. 

As an artist, Love focuses on painting and sketching. He loves to use a lot of colour and tends to lean toward impressionism and abstraction in his work. He likes deep thinking but he tends to lean toward making work that’s pretty and aesthetically pleasing to look at (which he gets shit for as an art student). However, a lot of the worst of his habits are associated with painting. He’ll go for days without sleep and eating if he’s in a good painting mood, usually much to Evan’s concern. In high school before dating Evan, he experimented with some hallucinogenics for the sake of artistic venture. He also used to smoke somewhat heavily. Evan helped him ease away from those habits, just as he helped Evan ease away from his.

Also, Love is absolutely enamoured with Evan. Evan loves him back of course, he wouldn’t be with him if he didn’t feel anything, but Love is way more deeply attached. He hovers and will do his best to accommodate Evan, he worries about Evan and tends to talk about him as a common subject in conversation, and he’s happiest when spending his time with Evan. Evan is a lot more independent in the sense that he doesn’t fixate on Love like Love does him, but Love is still the most important person in his life. Love doesn’t really try to tone down his affection either, he’d probably yell in a public space “GOD MY BOYFRIEND IS WONDERFUL??? IM SO LUCKY???” and get kicked out. But it’d so be worth it. He loves making Evan embarrassed.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT LOVE - His name, Love Jaakola, is pronounced Low-vay Yak-oh-law. His father was Swedish and his mother is Chinese (she’s the only one he’s still in contact with). He is an only child. - His hair is naturally dark brown but he regularly dyes it blonde. The ‘streak’ in his hair is actually dried acrylic paint from pushing his hair out his face, the only way he’s able to get rid of it is to cut it off (but it comes back cuz he’s in the habit of running his paint coated hand through his hair at this point). - Love is Evan’s first date person, but Love has dated about 4 people before Evan. Two were girls, one was a boy, and one was nonbinary. However, most of those relationships only lasted a few months, he has been with Evan for about 4-5 years (they’ve known each other about 6-7 yrs). - Ironically, he’s a bit of a technophobe. Evan keeps telling him he should post his artwork online or that he should network with people more to expand his art career, but Love’s like ‘maby.... one day... not today.......’ - His favourite thing is to draw/paint on Evan’s skin. Nothing really planned or meant to impress, just lazing around in their underwear and doodling thoughtlessly.

BAD SEEDS oh god. this is... my sin comic. Sort of. Last year around this time, I was fucking ITCHING to make a webcomic. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and like, in the time frame of Aug-Nov, my urge to make gore art goes through the roof (like, most people dont get how gross i am cuz i only draw it around this time, i tend to quietly absorb other’s gore during the rest of the year). So the plans for this comic came around. Psychological horror, gore, plants and flowers, bones, I threw a lot of self indulgent shit into this comic.

Bad Seeds is about two terrible high school kids that cause one another to do awful things by encouraging each other’s violent impulses (i say “kids”, they’re both 17 and would experience their 18th birthdays in canon, i literally just wanted a high school setting cuz bullies weeeeps). I did a lot of sketched out comics in my small travel sketchbook of really climactic, messed up scenes, then I tried to do an actual story line so I could do a comic. I made the first 14 ish pages and they’re still floating around but.... wow i hate the beginning. And need to rewrite it. Cuz I still like a lot of the scenes I made for the middle of the story and the messed up dynamics please me but, unfortunately, the main characters need to meet somehow. 

Daniel is a nervous, paranoid boy. He’s very jumpy and always feels like he’s going to be yelled at for doing something wrong. He feels like an outcast and kind of makes himself out to be one by thinking that way. Doesn’t go out of his way to make friends, isn’t interested by sports or clubs, and his grades in school are average or below average. However, people that do know him would say he was polite, quiet, and accommodating. Even though he looks awkward, they’d insist he was just shy and warms up to you.

In reality, he behaves that way because he’s almost been conditioned and guilted into being selfless by his dad (his only family). He takes up extra shifts at work if someone asks him, he’ll lend someone he doesn’t know money if they ask, and he will help with cleaning/organizing after school if he’s asked. He doesn’t volunteer and generally doesn’t want to do a lot of things he agrees to but he just can’t say no unless it clashes with other things he’s agreed to do (usually, his job). 

Other than that though, a lot of his internalized guilt stems from his fascination with the morbid and a fear of people finding out. In my old draft of Bad Seeds, he became fascinated after being exposed to guro on the internet, but I want the time setting to be late 90s-early 2000s, so I’m compiling a lot of texts and paintings that would feed that interest and be more time appropriate. I’m also trying to figure out if that would make him more interested in art history and specific classical literature but honestly, I don’t think it would; he’d probably fixate only on the most gruesome things and skim over all else haaah.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT DANIEL - He is a masochist. Whenever he gets injured, it tends to take three times as long to heal as it should because he picks and scratches and makes things worse. He also self harms on his upper arms for this reason, to watch it bleed and heal (though, I’m certain a warped idea of atonement for his guilt also plays into the action). - Before meeting Poet, he’d been watching him from a far for two years. Not exactly stalking, he doesn’t go out of his way, but they’re in the same small town school; he stares at him from across the cafeteria at lunch and glances at him when they have classes together and listens extra hard when he hears people talk about Poet.  - He works at a small cafe that doesn’t get a lot of traffic. - He sleepwalks and has really vivid dreams. Sometimes he self-induces insomnia to avoid them but that tends to have bad side effects. - He really enjoys his hair being played with/petted/pulled. 

Poet is seemingly perfect. He’s one of the top students, with exceptional grades in all of his classes. He’s the president of the student council and he’s well liked by most of the student body because he’s humble and, though hard working and busy, he tries to treat everyone kindly and make good impressions. The only thing he could be considered average in is sports, but he stays active by gardening and hiking. He takes to positions of leadership well, he’s good at improvising, and speaks eloquently. All of his hard work is contributing to his career goal of becoming a medical doctor or surgeon.

However, he has the same morbid fascinations as Daniel. Though, while Daniel is exposed to creative sources like fiction and paintings depicting violence or gore, Poet is more grounded in reality. He uses medical textbooks and pays a lot of attention to real life surgery photos. There was a point where, with the mental excuse that he would need to be comfortable with the grotesque, that he would look for dead things in order to do mock autopsies. He’s killed animals before but always with his version of a justification; to end something’s suffering or in self defence. He rarely kills animals because of this need for a proper explanation. In the old draft of Bad Seeds, his and Daniel’s meeting is him trying to explain that he killed a wild dog that had backed him into an alley and struggling to come up with a reason for why Daniel found him elbow deep in its guts.

HE’S SUCH  A BAD DUDE HONESTLY i hate him. Especially with Daniel, after they acknowledge one another’s fucked up impulses, Poet becomes really attached to Daniel but in a messed up abusive and jealous way. He begins to manipulate and gaslight Daniel, whose already isolated, to become even more isolated and only trust Poet and lets himself get talked into a lot by Poet. Well, they talk each other into things. Poet, at the beginning of their relationship, is still extremely preoccupied with appearances and knows what they’re doing is wrong as tempting as it is to have a willing participant and gives Daniel a lot of chances to say no to things. But the more Daniel says yes, the more of a power trip Poet goes on and god, they just make each other so much worse over time and it’s awful and unhealthy and i hate that I’m absolutely into this kinda psychological shit (ONLY FICTIONALLY THO i hate that i need to specify that; if this happened in real life, id fucking call the cops in a heartbeat).

But yea, if he and Daniel never met, they’d both be way better off in the long run honestly haha.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT POET - Probably goes without saying, but he is a sadist. Like, he likes to think he is clinically scientific about everything he does, but when he gets the chance to act out fantasies with Daniel, he starts paying a lot of attention to expression and reaction when he does things. - I mentioned he enjoys gardening but he really likes gardening! He does all the gardening and maintenance of his parent’s home during the warm months, and keeps a lot of plants inside too. - I usually draw him with black hair, but at some point he dies his hair silver/white.  - He has a fluffy medium sized dog named Styx, not sure about the breed. Probably a mutt but lots of collie. - Poet existed before Bad Seeds, as a character in Love and Evan’s story! He was still kind of awful but more harmless. He wound up having a crush on Evan while tutoring him in English, but Evan wasn’t interested and also is dating Love. Love had a small crush on Poet cuz he’s lowkey poly and super into intellect/glasses/charisma, which he talked over with Evan. Evan accepts it as part of him but personally wouldn’t be comfortable dating him if he were dating others, so Love compromises because hot damn he loves Evan. ANYWAYS Poet is still awful because, even after Evan says no, he pines and obsesses and tries to monopolize his time as a “””friend”””” (thankfully tho, Evan is not susceptible to his bullshit - which sadly makes Poet like him that much more criesssss)

Ray is a bit of an enigma. He’s technically in his senior year with both Daniel and Poet, but he’s actually two years older and is only back at the school to complete his high school diploma. But no one really remembers him as attending their school? Despite this though, he settles into the school atmosphere well. Even though he’s 19, he’s generally mistaken for younger. He has classes he does well in and classes he skips, but his passion is for music. He’s a skilled, adaptable guitarist who gets called into a few bars and clubs when a band is short and was practically adopted by the school band the moment they found out his skill level. Thing is, he’s also very lazy and wants to avoid things that feel like work, usually causing them to send the drummer to kidnap him in order to get him to attend practice.

He gives off an air of being laid back and aloof, but he’s rather observant. Ray is probably the closest thing to a friend that Daniel has, because Ray noticed he was a bit of a black sheep and decided to keep him company. At first, out of concern that he was being bullied, but after some time it was a little more personal because he realized that Daniel had a crush on another boy (since this story is set in a small town during late 90s early 2000s, repression and institutionalized homophobia are a concern but not really the focus). Personal because he is actually gay and trans and he becomes a little protective over Daniel, having figured this out. Though, his protectiveness doesn’t stop him from teasing Daniel (about having a crush, not about being gay of course).

Ray is also a little eccentric. He refuses to sit in seats properly, he wanders around the streets at like 3am and during rainstorms, and always packs a lunch but never eats it, usually giving it away to Daniel or some first year. He comes off pretty confident and he’s decent at improvising but overall he has no shame and no idea what he’s doing.

SOME EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT RAY - He has an ex who I haven’t developed but he’s also important, he’s a coworker of Daniel’s. Ray’s ex is actually a decent and understanding dude, but Ray broke up with him because he wanted to get rid of things that reminded him about being “Rachel” (his deadname). - He shares a basement apartment with like, five other lgbt people, but he doesn’t spend much time there and has a tendency to fall asleep where ever. - He’s an orphan. Dad died when he was young, and his mom was a police officer who died in the line of duty during the time he had disappeared. He has an older sister who’s moved a fair distance away. - Daniel thinks of him as a weird mom. Ray considers himself something of a big brother, since he can be a bit of an asshole. - Ray is driven by spite. His hair at the beginning of Bad Seeds is the fluffy mullet he has, influenced by other guitarists cuz he’s a nerd, but when he meets his ex again and his ex tells him his hair looks cute, he gets an undercut immediately after. 

STAINED is a project I used to be passionate about but honestly, it’s kind of abandoned. It had something to do with tattoos and corrupt hierarchical systems and someone unknowingly supporting the status quo before learning how fucked up and inhumane it is and trying to change the way the world works. I think I was reading a lot of dystopian things that influenced my ideas. Some of the characters from this project will probably be redesigned and put somewhere else but this project itself is kinda dead to me.

ALSO, ITS GONNA BE JARRING HOW SHORT THINGS GET FROM HERE ON like, the rest of these characters are not as developed/ I don’t care about them enough anymore to try to adapt their personalities elsewhere criessss

Marz was what I considered one of the most complex characters at one point. Bare bones, he goes from being sheltered but curious to really vindictive and dark following his best friend/lover being martyred. At the moment though, he’s very much a blank slate and, even though he was the main character, a lot of the initiative and plot was driven by his lover. I... literally have very little to say about Marz anymore IM SORRY MARZ, I LOVED YOU ONCE MABY ILL LOVE YOU AGAIN.

Stone is a happy dude. He was in the same universe as Marz, working on the outskirts of the city palace town, dealing black market potions and magic in a shop he inherited from Iris (who is dead in that universe - probably another reason i don’t like Marz’s story anymore). In his current canon, he still works at a shop dealing in occult things, but alongside Iris. Prior to their meeting, Stone was a very proper, uptight man, overly concerned with etiquette and very polite. However, he was also really tired of denying what he enjoys (he is bisexual and more feminine than his posh family find acceptable). One day, he decides to explore the grimier parts of the city and ends up cornered in an alley cuz pretty boy doesn’t think ahead that walking around looking clean and expensive in a sketchy part of town will get him into trouble.

Thankfully though, he’s saved by Iris and, to repay her, he works at her shop. Stone is a quick learner and finds his niche in the dark arts that Iris teaches him. He’s happiest when he can sneak over and help and, eventually, stops going home. He and Iris are in a relationship but they’re not exactly monogamous; Iris loves him but also knows that he’s bi and has been sheltered his entire life. She wants him to be able to explore his interests and not feel restricted by his attachment to her, especially since she’s had so much more time to love and be loved. So essentially, an open relationship.

Stone is laboured with a lot of learned prejudice and a concept of tradition that Iris helps him identify, understand, and either overcome or work on in the means of becoming less toxic. He finds Iris fascinating and loves to learn from her, both about the occult and about himself (because most of the time, he feels like she knows him more than he does himself).

EXTRA RANDOM FACTS ABOUT STONE - After a few years of working with and knowing Iris, Stone accidentally blinds himself trying to make a difficult potion. This is the version of him I draw the most. Before the accident, his eye colour was hazel. - Eventually, he and Iris get married. - Following the accident, he’s immortal. Nowadays, I focus on him during his days with Iris, but in the past I focused on his life after her death as he becomes slightly deranged. She grows quite old and dies of natural causes and he tends to pretend that she didn’t, keeping her skeleton around and lovingly talking about his wife with his customers.

Iris is a very ambitious woman. She doesn’t have much of a history at this moment, but she runs her own business, fends for herself, and has developed some very powerful connections. People that know about her but don’t know her personally tend to call her a witch and a sorceress and sometimes she plays it up to scare kids away from the dangerous area that she’s located. She’s intelligent and very down to earth, growing an indoor garden with plenty of plants that have magical properties. 

She can be brash and spontaneous sometimes though. She’s had some close calls with death by picking the wrong fights and mixing the wrong ingredients while experimenting. She mellows out a bit when she has Stone to focus on, but she can disappear for weeks on end with only a last minute notice for him to take care of the shop while she runs her errand. There are a couple of times that she lets him tag along but he’s really not in his element with fast action and near death stunts so he stops asking and just wishes for her safety.

MISC is OCs that I’ve always had but have never really settled into their own world. I honestly have tons like this oh man. But these three are ones that show up a lot.

Cinnamon and Chowder are two gay gals I started drawing way back. They’re both alien pop stars who came to earth and no one knows they’re actually aliens. Cinnamon is much shyer than Chowder, self conscious of her height and general... everything, but Chowder is super supportive and smitten and protective. Cinnamon is an alien from a planet where her entire species “identifies” as male; its a toxic, hyper masculine planet and, when she met Chowder, her entire world kind of expanded and she decided to escape with her somewhere that they wouldn’t be found. They found earth and made their place in the fashion and music industry. 

I drew a comic for class once, where Cinnamon tells Chowder that she feels ugly, but like, she knows she doesn’t look ugly, but she feels the anxiety like an itch and can’t get over it. And Chowder’s like “Oh! Like a Kiwi right? See, they’re all fuzzy and brown and probably feel ugly? But look at how nice and bright and lovely they are inside!” and then they eat a kiwi together PFFF yea that’s the extent of how much development I’ve put into them.

Liko is my baby. He is a chinchilla hybrid human and was created purely for self indulgent things. His personality for the most part is mischievous and absolutely hates clothing. For how much I draw him, he is embarrassingly underdeveloped as a character. I began to think of him as a splicing experiment that escapes from a lab somewhere but not super deeply... Honestly, his purpose is art trades, requests, and commissions. He’s the only oc I usually ask for art of because I like his design haaah

AND YEA THOSE ARE MY BELOVED OCS i honestly love you if you read through all this or even a little, please talk to me about your own ocs !!! I’m more than happy to do OC art trades and bounce world talks anytime !!

[lawdtl]

NEVER TOO LATE, BECHLOE ONE SHOT

It’s been two years. Two years since I last saw you, you and your beautiful smile and your gorgeous eyes. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to you. I should’ve been there, I was supposed to be there but I let my fears get a hold of me and now here I am missing you every single day of my life. I knew that if I went inside that coffee shop you asked me to meet you we’ll end things there and then. I knew it was inevitable. We were growing as individuals and soon enough we grew apart from each other. I know it was hard for us; me going to barden and leaving you behind in our town but I did that because of you. Because you told me that you wanted me to be just how you imagined me to be, a writer. We had our dreams, the perfect life; me working with your dad and us having a family then again it was all too good to be true. I miss you britt, and every day I wish I was there to stop you from crossing that road, to stop you from leaving me. Now I’m finishing my studies and this is all for you. Your mom and dad never left me, they’re paying for my college and we help each other through the grief, some days I feel like I owe them your life but some days I just feel like their my family too.

“Hi are you beca mitchell?”

I was suddenly interrupted from my daily dose of living in the past momentum by this girl. As I turned to look at her I felt my whole body shiver, as if I’ve just seem a ghost. She looks like britt. The only difference is she’s a redhead but god they look exactly alike.

“uhm yes I am, can I help you?”

“oh hi beca my name is chloe beale, I was texted by the dean to meet you at class..she said you’ll be helping me for my first week here at barden. If that’s fine with you I mean I can just you know ask him to ask someone else.”

“No it’s okay, I kinda work for her too and besides she already told me about you and uhm we have the same classes so no biggie, by the way if you don’t mind me asking are you related to the dean or something?”

“no, I haven’t even seen her to be honest”

“oh okay”

Britt if you’re playing some kind of game with me right now, jesus christ

“why’d you ask?”

“nothing, it’s uhm nothing, we should get to our seats the professor will be here any minute now”

“yeah sure, can I sit with you?”

“that’s kinda part of the package where I’ll be guiding you through your week so yeah”

“okay so lead the way grumpy”

The whole class I was stealing glances at her and when I get caught by her she just smiles at me. She has this look in her eyes, she looks sad but at the same time she looks like she genuinely just wants to be happy. The whole day was a little awkward, for me at least but chloe was the kind of person who is in no need of introduction. And in these moments I realize she was nothing like britt, she was quick to open up to me and she told me how she wanted this last school year of her life to be the best year, she also told me that she ran away from her parents and that for the last 3 years of college she’s been lying to them about how she’s taking up a degree on psychology but what she really wanted to do was write.

“so uhm thanks for helping me today becs and for walking me to my dorm”

“oh so I get a nickname now huh?”

“totes, I mean you’re like the only person I know here and I have a feeling we’re gonna be close friends, so see ya and I’ll text you okay”

“sure thing chloe, see you”

I was studying on my bed when my phone suddenly rang out of nowhere and when answered it was none other than chloe

“uhm beca, I know it’s late and I know this is pretty big for me to ask since we’ve only just met but is it okay if come stay with you tonight?, I was kicked out of the apartment cause I wasn’t able to pay and I don’t really know where to go and you’re the only person I know, I promise I’ll make it up to you and I promise to find a new apartment as soon as I can”

“hey hey chloe, it’s okay I mean we have an extra bed here so it’s cool, I’ll come pick you up”

“oh my god thank you so much beca, I owe you big time”

I was being nice. I thought to myself that in the past years I’ve never been this nice to someone I just met but here I am now picking up some girl I just met today who can basically be a killer or something but I don’t know why there’s something in her voice that just makes me feel sad about her or I don’t know it’s nothing maybe.

I got to her dorm and there she was with a luggage beside her and sitting on the doorstep. The drive to my place was endless thank you’s and I’ll make it up to you so once we got there I finally had the chance to breath

“so uhm here’s the place, it’s not that big but me and my friends think it’s the closest thing we can get to home, jess?aubrey?, you guys chloe’s here. They’re a couple and they stay in that room so you’ll probably be rooming with me, that’s cool right?”

“yes of course anywhere would be fine”

As they came out the room I saw them have the same reaction when I first saw chloe but then I warned them with a look so they just became their weird selves"

“hi I’m Aubrey and this is jesse my boyfriend, we’re beca’s A-mates”

“apartment mates, little beca here is our best friend and uhm it’s been quite a while since she introduced us to a new person she knew so you must be quite a fella chloe”

“oh uhm I just, I really didn’t know anyone but beca so”

“don’t sweat it red he’s just being weird don’t mind him”

“hey but at least now you know two more people, we can be like besties or something”

“yeah bree go ahead and chain her up”

Chloe looks at me and wonders what I just said

“ I was kidding red”

“oh so now I get a nickname too?”

“your basically my new roommate so yeah, that’s our room over there, you can go ahead and settle your stuff don’t mind us”

“yea thanks again beca and nice meeting you Aubrey and jesse, can’t wait to spend time with you guys”

She walks away with her luggage which and got in the room.

“I like her, I feel like we’re gonna get along well. I mean she looked like the type of girl I can hang out with”

“uhm bree, I’m a girl, that you hang out with, and I am nowhere like chloe”

“yea but you know you’re more into those….well things I am not into that’s why you have jesse and me well now I have chloe”

“are you replacing me with her babe?”

“no you cute little idiot”

“beca by the way I have to ask…you do know her face is like a copy paste of Brittany right? I mean besides the hair she’s like a total doppelganger of her. You’re not just doing these nice things for her because of that right?”

“I know jess, felt like I had a heart attack when I saw her this morning but no, I’m not doing this cause of britt, I know I’m not”

I got in the room and I see chloe finished fixing her stuff and was just sitting on the bed

“hey, I see you’ve finished unpacking quickly”

“yeah well there’s not much really to unpack since the lady from the dorm wanted me out so quickly I didn’t even had the chance to get some of my other stuff”

“wow that really sucks chlo, I’m sorry…okay well I tell you what since you’re new here and stuff, do you wanna work at this radio station down the street with me and the other two weirdos you just met? I just got the go signal to finally handle the booth so we need one more person helping to stack some cd’s plus it’s good since you’ll be staying here, jesse and Aubrey agreed to let you off for the first month of pay so you can settle down first”

“beca you have no idea how much you’re helping me, thank you so much”

She went for a hug and man it was so awkward I didn’t even know what to do so I just patted her back and not a word came out

“so uhm goodnight beca. Thanks again, really. You’re like my hero or something..thank you”

“no problem chloe. It’s all good, goodnight”

The next morning I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee and pancakes, I went out of the room to see jesse and Aubrey eating like hungry wolves and chloe cooking some new batch of pancakes

“wow didn’t know you two didn’t eat for a year”

“morning beca”

Jesse said with his mouth full of pancakes

“beca come on try these pancakes chloe made, they delicious oh my god”

“I can very well see that bree, so uhm chlo..it’s nice of you to cook breakfast but hey you don’t really have to cook for thing 1 and thing 2 you know”

“I got some for us too sleepy head, and it’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me”

I take a huge bite of the pancakes and damn they really do taste good

“okay I have to admit these pancakes really do taste good, not bad red”

“Thank you beca”

A whole week has passed, but I guess since chloe’s staying with us and the fact we’ve become close friends drove the whole one week only guide to college thing away. The same routine every morning, breakfast and coffee sometimes now even Aubrey cooks with chloe, school hours wasn’t that boring anymore sooner or later a month has passed and I have to admit that this redhead was starting to make me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time.

We were at the station once, just the two of us since jesse and Aubrey decided to take an off day teasing that me and chloe might need some alone time. Didn’t really get it at first but when they started drawing heart shapes with their hands I knew where they were going.

“uhm beca can I ask you something?”

“pretty sure that was already a question red..”

“ha ha very funny but seriously I want to ask you this but I’m not sure if I should”

“just hit me with it, go on”

“who is britanny?”

“how do you know Brittany?”

“I was checking your facebook, in which you haven’t approved my request yet by the way..i saw her, she actually did look like me and jesse told me that she was someone special to you, but he wasn’t the one who was supposed to tell me about this”

“Brittany, she’s my ex.. she..she’s the one you know..i loved her and we were happy but we were always together and when we started to have time apart, I realized that there was so much more than just us, than me and her, and slowly I started to lose that feeling of love but at the same time I didn’t just wanna lose her, I wasn’t ready to lose her because to me she made everything feel normal, she was the one I depended on and the thought of knowing it was all going to end, I refused to it.”

“do you still love her?”

“I do, but now loving her makes no escape to the reality that she is gone..i want this all to end, I want the pain to end, for all what ifs to end.”

“you can, if you allow yourself to..”

“look I’m just gonna go to bed and sleep this off, and hey for what it’s worth.. you may look like her but you are not the same…you’re way different.”

“yeah sure and maybe someday you can tell me more about how we’re two different people”

“I will red, goodnight”

I have to admit that after that talk with chloe about brit we became closer, as if there were no more barriers and as the weeks passed there were less and less things of the past to talk about but the present keeps us company. It was when we were having picnic near the campus fountain when I looked at her and felt the need to kiss her. No, not a need but a want.. the feeling I never thought I’ll ever feel again. And so I did. I kissed her and to my surprise, she kissed me back and everything seemed right as if I was in my new normal and I am here present and finally ready to be happy. after a few weeks we knew we’re not just what they call friends but something more. We were at the dorm me, jesse, Aubrey and chloe when my phone started to ring, Brittany’s parents were calling on facetime and I knew I had to answer

“hi beca, how are you”

“I’m doing great , just busy with some school stuff the past few days”

“that’s okay, so tell me, have you visited today?”

I couldn’t answer; I was in total shock and all because It was this day. This day I should be sad, I should be crying, that I should grieving. I was so caught up with happiness I forgot the days I was obliged to be sad. It’s not that I don’t miss her, but the change in my life was rapid. I know I deserved it but at the same time I felt like didn’t.

“I knew it, beca people talk and they say that you found someone, that she even looks like her. I didn’t want to believe. How could you do this beca?”

And at the right time jesse took my phone without knowing what the conversations was about because he just wanted to say hi. Wait not just hi, to also introduce our new friend chloe and there was it I didn’t know where everything was heading. As soon as had a perfect look at chloe the call ended. It was a beginning of my misery, I owe so much to them, the way they help me in school, the way they took me in, even helping my family when we were on our lowest and now I feel like a fool, like I used them and I just felt completely wrong. I have someone new in my life but I have a past I can never allow myself to escape.

Weeks have passed and I have been constantly avoiding chloe, It felt wrong when I was with her. It felt like I was cheating, a part of me wanted to talk to her but I didn’t know what to say. How could I tell someone i love them but at the same time I just couldn’t. it had to be so complicated.

“beca, my parents called. They want me to go back home once I finished this term, to go back home and to finish my degree there.”

“really?, do they know the truth?”

“yes, I finally had the guts to tell them and you need to do the same too..with birttany’s parents.”

“let’s not talk about that chlo, anyway are you gonna go?”

“do you want me to go?”

I couldn’t answer her, her blue eyes were looking at straight at me..i didn’t know what to say because I am not okay with her leaving but as long as she is here I wouldn’t know what the right thing to do is.

“why can’t you answer me?..why can’t you tell her parents the truth..about you not wanting to work with them that you want to be in the music industry and not writing..that you”

“cause I can’t chloe. I can’t. and why do you want me to anyway? Why do you feel like you have a say in my life? Even Brittany, who was my girlfriend for so long didn’t meddle with my life like the way you are doing it now.”

“I am not Brittany”

“I know you’re not, and you will never be her.”

“she is gone beca, why can’t you accept that?”

“because she is here, in my heart and nothing will ever change that”

“then where am i? where in your heart will you place the people who want to love you now?”

I stood there like a total idiot, like a fool who kept holding on to the past that is clearly gone. Before she walked away she threw a piece of paper at me. “3 pm comoselias” was the only thing written on it. A time and a restaurant, great.

I went to the restaurant and when I walked inside I saw Brittany’s parents. They already saw me walked in so I had no choice but to sit down with them.

“what are you guys doing here?”

“well that girl chloe told us to come here, that you have something important to tell us”

“look sweetie it’s okay, me and will understand whatever it may be. We’re here for you and I’m pretty sure that’s what britt would want.”

I told them. I told them about how I love music and that is the career I would want to pursue, that I would have to cut off the deal of working with them. I told them about chloe and how I felt love for the second time around. I told them that I love Brittany but I needed to let go of something that I can never have again.

Once everything was out and talked about, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I owe it all to chloe. To chloe who gave me the courage to finally own up to my what ifs but there’s so much to mend, so much broken pieces to be picked. One week before the term ends and I may never see her again. I went inside our apartment to see if she was there, to finally tell her how I feel but all her things were gone and all that was left was a note:

“you took me in and made me a stronger person, you are not like any other I have met beca. Thank you for everything that you have done for me. I can never repay your kindness and sadly I also can never be the person you want me to be so I should just leave now and let you go. I hope you find your happiness because you truly deserve it. Again, thank you.-chloe”

My heart felt so broken, I thought I would be able to fix things and finally have everything I want in my life but I was too late, I was always too late. The week has passed and since I changed programs me and chloe didn’t see each other anymore. Aubrey and jesse were there to help me but I know that even them, they miss chloe. Before holidays started I saw chloe walking to the fountain where we first kissed, I rushed to see her and finally now I have the chance to talk to her and tell her what I want her to know.

“chloe can we please talk?”

“what’s left to talk about beca?”

“I love you, please don’t leave”

“beca, you don’t have to love me because I love you, love me because you love me, because that is what I deserve”

“chloe I do love you, and I know now that it’s you who I want to be with”

“beca we all fall in love and we all know who we want to be with but life is not easy to just give us who we want. We met at the wrong time and we know that it’s still isn’t the right time. Maybe someday I’ll get to see you again in my story. I will never forget you beca mitchell. Goodbye”

And that was the last time I saw her. She moved back with her parents and continued her studies in a different university, some days Aubrey gets to call her and ask her about what she’s been up to and from what I heard she’s doing great and that she has busy with all her school work, they talk about how jesse proposed to Aubrey and that she has to go the wedding, sometimes I just wanna steal the phone and hear her voice again but I was scared to hear her or to even think about her. So now as the school year ends I am moving into LA and start a new life, I sent a few of my mixes that chloe loved back then to a record company there and they offered me a job, I was happy, I should be contented with everything I have but I couldn’t shake off the fact that I am missing someone.

ONE YEAR LATER-

Here I am, living the dream in LA, I am now working for this record company and I’m doing the job I’ve always wanted, Aubrey and jesse have a baby on the way, they’re doing great with their law firm together and well for me I guess that’s the only thing that’s left in my life; love. I don’t know if I will ever find someone again, maybe. But how am I still hoping to see her again.

Another typical no work day for me. Alone in the house and nothing better to do than eat and sleep and watch some movie that I’ll probably would end up hating. I walk to my dining table and saw this free coupon for some drink and cake at starbucks so what the heck it’s free and I have nothing else to do so I drove all the way there to find a completely full store and nowhere to sit.

“hi uhm lady, you see the store is full and I have nowhere to sit so is it okay if I sit here?”

I really couldn’t see her since she looked like she was making out with her laptop, god even I don’t get that close to the screen

“okay so I’ll take that as a yes”

“sorry I mean yes you may sit.”

“thanks lady who hasn’t heard of such thing like being too close to a screen can kill your eyes”

“ha ha very funny. I’m finishing this script I wrote for a play so i’m like totes focused right now”

The voice was familiar and hell the words even, without any hesitation I closed the laptop of that lady in front of me and there she was, chloe beale.

“I was starting to think I heard that voice from somewhere”

“beca?oh my god it’s been so long”

“yeah it has been, how are you doing chlo?”

“oh just busy writing, work you know. What about you?”

“record company and just pressing some buttons there like always”

“nice to see you got your dream job becs”

Oh god how I miss the way she calls me becs

“I see you got yours too”

“well we did try our best to not end up with those careers we didn’t want so I think it was all worth it huh?”

“hell yea it was….I missed you, just so you know… I don’t wanna pretend like nothing ever happened to us red”

“good cause I don’t want to pretend either. I miss you and I wanted to see you but I felt like it’ll be a wrong thing to do”

“well we don’t have to pretend anymore because now I want you to know that you never left my mind. That as the day passed by I wanted more and more of you, you’ve been in my hear t since that day I last saw you because that was when I realized I fucked up on something amazing that I could have had”

“we’re here now, and nothing’s better than the present. we are here now and maybe it is the perfect time.”

“I love you chloe, always have and I know back then this seemed so blurry but now I love you and it’s just because I love you. That’s it. I love you because I love you.

"I love you too beca, it may have been more than a year but you never really left my mind either.”

“I want to kiss you but everyone is staring at us”

We both laughed at the fact that everyone was probably watching us and our soap opera scene in the café so I grabbed her hand and walked her to my car, and as I look into her eyes I kissed her. We kissed and nothing felt more right than what I am feeling right now.

“so uhm now what?”

“oh I don’t know you’re the writer, we drive off to the sunset and we get that happily ever after crap I knew we’ll have”

“what about, this is a beginning of an amazing ride and I’m finally complete and happy now that I’m able to call you mine”

“very cheesy, I like it”

We didn’t drive off to the sunset but we sure as hell drive off happy. I’m finally complete and I finally am with the person I know I truly love. It didn’t matter how long it took, love found its way back into our story and I couldn’t be happier. It really is never too late to love again.

A/N:thanks for reading guys!by the way i got the idea of the plot from a movie in the phippines called “barcelona”.changed it a bit but you get the whole idea..anyway hope you enjoyed the story and sorry if messed up in any way.

[owlways-and-forever]

Author’s Note: I'm super excited for this story, and I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed planning and writing it. Huge shout out to @allons-y-to-hogwarts-713, who made the dope header for this story! Another giant thanks to you guys, the readers, for picking this story up, especially to those of you who choose to reblog and leave reviews, it's the fuel that feeds writers and keeps us going. I will be trying stick to a strict weekly update schedule, so you can expect a new chapter every Monday evening. Summary: Killian was the star of the basketball team, until an injury dramatically alters things for him. Emma is a talented usher and a very enthusiastic fan. Will Killian find Emma’s exuberant cheering endearing, or will she get lost in the sea of fans? Word Count: 1600 (1600) Links: ao3, ff.net

Prologue - The Fall

Killian was insanely nervous. More nervous than he had any reason to be, but it was senior night and the big rivalry game and he really didn’t want to let the team down. He knew wasn’t going to be starting the game – Graham was a senior after all - but Killian also knew that he would get plenty of playing time anyway, especially if Graham got into foul trouble the way he had been lately. Killian was only a sophomore but he had really come into his own as a shooting guard, with a .489 overall shooting average and a .518 from behind the arc. He was a rising star, with whispers of the Wooden Award floating here and there, in circles of people in the know. Killian tried not to pay much attention to such rumours as they only served to distract, but still, the could feel the pressure building. He made his way to the court for the final shoot around, just a few minutes before the anthem was sung and the lineups were announced.

Killian always felt slightly ill at ease when the anthem played, it just made him miss home and made him almost wish that he could have had all this back in England. Mostly he missed his brother. Staying in England wouldn’t have helped that however, since Liam spent most of his days traveling the world with the Royal Navy. He kept promising to make it to one of Killian’s games but his breaks hadn’t aligned yet. Liam assured Killian that he watched every game on TV or listened on the wireless, but it wasn’t the same, and the two brothers hadn’t seen each other since Killian started school almost two years earlier. For some reason, as he listened to the anthem blaring on the court that night, Killian couldn’t stop thinking about Liam.

Killian joined the rest of the team as they formed two lines, ready to introduce the starting five - #18 Will Scarlett from Detroit, Michigan, #30 Anton Maly from Mikulov, Czech Republic, #43 Victor Whale from De Soto, Texas, #8 Captain Graham Humbert from Waltham, Massachusetts, #12 Captain Phillip Fitzroy from Washington, D.C. As each of the starters was announced, they ran between the two lines, high fived the rest of the team, and chest bumped each other, smiles and excitement and blood pounding through their veins to the beat of the roaring crowd. Killian took his seat on the bench, knotting his fingers together as he prepared himself for tip off.

The game did not start off well. Anton got two quick fouls under the basket for not keeping his feet firmly planted, something the center had a problem with in general, as he generally felt far more inclined to go for the steal. It didn’t help that the Tar Heels had a power forward who knew how to draw the foul like nobody else, and made sure he hit the basket every time to boot. By half, they were down fourteen points, and Killian had only played two minutes. Graham hadn’t gotten in foul trouble, but he also wasn’t playing his best, with only 6 points on the board. Still, Coach wanted to give him a chance, so Killian spent most of the first half sitting on the bench, watching in frustration. They all got a pretty stern talking to in the locker room at half, Coach’s own frustration seething. Four-star freshman David Nolan sat with his head in his hands, and Killian thought the poor kid might burst into tears. He was such a nice guy, a bit naïve and innocent, and Killian had his doubts as to whether or not David was cut out for such a high profile position.

They began the second half with same starters, but it was only about two minutes before Coach got frustrated and told Killian to make his way to half to check in. Things lit up for Killian in the second half. Shot after shot when in, and he watched the numbers tick up next to his name – 3, 6, 22 points. He couldn’t seem to miss, every time, just fake forward, step back, shot, basket. Anton pulled down a defensive rebound and Killian seemed to know it was going to happen, he was already countering on offense - he was miles ahead of his defender. Anton threw the ball up the court and Killian caught it with no problem, dribbled the last few feet, and then launched himself into the air. The ball sank through the basket, and Killian’s hands closed around the rim, he could already hear the crowd reacting, roaring with excitement, and then…

Another body slammed into him, and he felt his own body flying past the basket, but his left hand was still holding on, and he could feel the tendons in his wrist tearing. As he let go and fell, his arms went out instinctively, and he felt another searing pain as he landed on his hands. He suspected that he would have heard the bones in his hands shattering had his own gut-wrenching scream not torn through the air and filled his ears instead. Pain was spreading from his hand but it was almost too much for him to process, all he could do was grit his teeth and try with all his might not to scream as he felt the vibrations of every footstep of the staff surrounding him. The team trainer gently tried to pry Killian’s arm away from where he was cradling it to his chest. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Killian could hear a scuffle on the edge of the court, but he was beginning to feel faint and he couldn’t concentrate on the sound.

“That is my brother, you incompetent ingrate!” a voice bellowed, and Killian’s eyes found the man fighting to get past security. He had curly, sand-colored hair, and from Killian’s vantage point, he looked an awful lot like Liam.

Liam’s doppelganger pushed his way onto the court, shouldering through the security guards as if they concerned him about as much as a gnat, and knelt down next to Killian on the floor, taking his uninjured hand.

“Killian?” he said, trying to get Killian’s eyes to focus on him.

“Brother?” Killian replied, but he felt hazy, the pain clouding his mind. “You can’t be Liam, my brother is in Oman.”

“Killian, it’s me, I wanted to surprise you.” His eyes widened; Killian was absolutely astonished that his brother could have made the effort to surprise him by coming to a game.

“You’re here,” Killian sighed, as if the idea of having Liam by his side alleviated some of the pain he was feeling.

Emma watched #5 fall to the floor and immediately knew something was wrong. It looked gruesome, and the way Jones was lying on the floor, it had to be serious. He just wasn’t moving, he was lying completely still, as if all his muscles had clenched at once. Emma knew that feeling, she could remember it from when she broke her leg, it was what happened when you were in so much pain that you couldn’t even fathom moving. One of the nursing interns in the hall looked up at the TV and shook her head.

“Poor kid,” Mary Margaret sighed, her green eyes widening sadly.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked, turning to her friend. “It looks bad, but he’ll recover, probably still go on to have a fantastic NBA career with a model trophy wife and everything.” She sounded just a little too bitter and she knew it, her present relationship problems reflected all too clearly in her voice.

“Em,” Mary Margaret answered, her tone somewhere in between scolding and pitying. “It looked pretty bad. If the tendons are severed severely enough or if there’s nerve damage… basketball requires two hands, and if he doesn’t make a complete recovery, his career will be over.”

“It can’t really be that bad, can it?” Emma asked, but her stomach knotted uncomfortably. She really needed to stop visiting Mary Margaret in the Emergency Room, she hated seeing the gruesome injuries, but she just needed a break from her lab sometimes. Her boss, Albert Spencer, was a complete jerk, and more often than not, Emma felt the need to duck out of the lab for a few minutes in order to maintain her cool.

“Hey Em, I don’t mean to kick you out, but they just radioed that they’re going to bring the guy over here, so unless you want to see a compound fracture, you’ve got about fifteen minutes to get back to your lab.”

“Yeah, okay,” Emma answered. “I’m just gonna steal some coffee from you guys first, and then I’ll go back to gene splicing.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Mary Margaret replied distractedly, her fingers toying with the hem of her pink scrubs.

“You want me to bring you some back?” Emma offered, giving her friend a curious look.

“Uh, yes, thank you,” she nodded. “Just half a cup, please.”

By the time Emma came back with the coffee, the emergency room was bustling, nurses and doctors moving at top speed as they prepared for the imminent arrival of the school’s star basketball player (well, one of them). When they wheeled him in (Emma had, of course, hung out just around the corner to see) Emma couldn’t help but notice how blue his eyes were, and she wondered if the pain was accentuating it, like a fever, or if they always looked that way.