#grimm just thinks he looks so bully-able

[deivorous]

@endhell​ || Cont. from here

“Yeah. That’s the point.”

[demonvibez]

[Yandere] Satan ♡

Characters: Yan! Satan x GN! Reader Rating: Mature [Minors DNI] Tags: dark content, stalking, manipulation, possessiveness, dubcon, drugging, implied violence/murder, reprogramming, spanking, smut, penetration, dom/sub, hand binding, whipping, mind control, no specified pronouns/body parts for reader Word Count: 2k+ A/N: Happy Birthday to the Avatar of Wrath! Love my lil angy demon so so much, just had to give him a yan hc ♡ Pls enjoy!

♡ Yandere Satan, who studies you like one of his favorite murder mysteries. He yearns to know everything about you - every like or dislike, thoughts, dreams, nightmares... He needs to know everything about you.

-> He slips into your room and looks through your things when you're not home, making sure to look through your private notes. He's gone through your phone once or twice - and once he gets closer to you, he bullies Leviathan into showing him how to put spyware and keyloggers on your DDD.

-> He even goes so far as to breaking into Lucifer's private study to find your file and gain every little bit of insight he can about you. Any info from your life in the human realm, and he'll take it to use to his advantage - all so he can map out the perfect plan to guide you right into his arms.

-> He keeps all of this information about you in a secret journal, cursed for his eyes only. Every single one of your preferences - whether it is your favorite foods, or music, your personal opinions, your past memories, your turn-ons, your preferred sleeping positions, what makes you smile, what makes you wrathful…anything he can find. He has it all perfectly organized in his Little Black Book of You. 

♡ Yandere Satan, who meticulously plans the perfect dates for the two of you - every detail thought of in advance.

-> He pours hours and hours into researching the perfect evening together, daydreaming your reactions in his mind as he plans it all out. Sometimes his daydreams get carried away, thoughts of having his way with you dancing in his head - causing him to need to relieve himself with the pair of panties he stole from your room.

-> Sometimes the dates seem too perfect, with bizarre details you don't remember telling him about yourself. Best not to question it - he went through all the trouble to make the day perfect for you.

-> He has all of your anniversaries committed to memory - he'd certainly never forget such an important day. He has a section in his secret journal with all of your special days charted out - every little first in your relationship, and he plans dates to commemorate them all. He's sickly romantic, to the point that he may build his expectation of these events a little too high. And on the days that you don't remember these little anniversaries, his rages builds up, threatening to spill over through gritted teeth and a sinister smile - Do you not love him?!?

♡ Yandere Satan, who uses his connections to keep tabs on you - even when you think he's not there, he's got an eye on you. He's just keeping you safe.

-> Of course he is able to get his brothers to easily comply with him in regards to keeping an eye on you - since they all adore you, it isn't hard for Satan to convince them that it's in your best interest. He's the demon closest to you, and he needs this information in order to adequately keep you safe - one of the rare times in all of Devildom history that he willingly follows an order from Lucifer…or at least, that's what he told them.

-> He also has his network of spies looking after you - regardless of if you are with his brothers or not. He can't always trust them to be completely honest with all of the details of their whereabouts with you - they adore you far too much, after all. A little Grimm and a few thinly veiled threats, and Satan's spies are always trailing you in the shadows, eagerly ready to report back. Whether it is Mammon and Asmodeus getting too handsy, or the Majolish shopkeeper's eyes lingering on you for too long, Satan punishes each of them accordingly.

-> And if any of his little spies get too close to you, or so much as look at you in a way he deems unfit, his wrath will eviscerate them in the utmost agonizing ways - mercy is not his strong suit. It only takes one or two of his spies to go missing, before other demons start to get the hint and start showing you proper respect. They never address you directly, or even so much as look at you - everyone always report directly to him, and scatter quickly after, fearful that the slightest mistakes may cost them their lives.

-> The same goes for anyone his spies tells him of; anyone getting too touchy or chatty with you would suddenly disappear, and your time would slowly start being dominated by him. This even applies to your classes as well - your potions lab partner? You were told they suddenly transferred. That one group project for Seductive Speechcraft? Oddly enough, your entire group contracted some type of rare Devildom virus and had to be quarantined indefinitely - but luckily for you, your loving boyfriend was right there to help pick up their slack the entire way. He always insists. 

♡ Yandere Satan, who would stop at nothing to keep you by his side forever.

-> He'll forge whatever documents needed to keep you in the realm far past the exchange program ends. He believes Diavolo and Lucifer will be none the wiser, but they do notice and ultimately let it slide - wanting nothing more than to avoid a reimagining of the Celestial Rebellion.

-> While he's manipulating documents, he takes it upon himself to alter your class schedule. What better way to keep you on a tight leash than to have you be his little shadow throughout the school day - this way he can keep you close, and continue keep an eye out for any undesirables. 

♡ Yandere Satan, who insists you spend all of your time, reading with him, alone in his room.

-> He wants to fill your mind with a curated knowledge, brainwashing you into being his perfect little darling pet. Everything from dark romantic novels, blood ritual spell books, BDSM manuals...he spends hours reciting them all with you, his eager little student, perched upon his lap.

-> Despite how stern his tone may be, and the scowl displayed on his face, he secretly loves it when your attention wanes or you start to fall asleep - he loves giving you a little punishment. The way you perk up, the way his hand stings as the flesh of your thigh ripples, the way you apologize profusely with your eyes wide and promises of being a good little kitten…he just can't over how obedient you can be for him, or how much it truly arouses him.

-> It's through his lectures that he breaks you down and remolds you into his perfect little pet, your identity one of his creation. Slowly your thoughts and interests shift, so that you and him are of the same mind. He loves being able to anticipate what you're going to say next and answering for you instead, a feeling of satisfaction washing over him as you just stand there and nod along with him.

-> The use of your pact has been tested to the point where he can now take control of you, if he ultimately has to. He only truly enjoys using that in the bedroom with you, but he takes complete control of you if he feels he needs to. He wants your feelings and actions towards him to be (mostly) genuine, so he tries to keep that to a minimum.

♡ Yandere Satan, who cooks all of your meals for you, slipping a lil something extra into your food or drinks every so often.

-> Sometimes he slips an aphrodisiac into your wine, teasing you mercilessly about how needy you are for him before he fucks you raw into the early hours of the next morning. Of course you'd beg for him and his cock, don't you know he's the only one for you? Such a silly human, he'll have you whining it before long.

-> Other times, he doesn't want you to leave - so he casually slips various sedatives into your drinks or your snacks, and keeps you in his room for himself. He always teases you when you wake up, joking about how tired you always are. He makes you put on his shirt and get comfortable - you might as well make yourself at home.

♡ Yandere Satan, who starts wars with his brothers when it comes to you.

-> You've lost track of the amount of times he has destroyed parts of the house in retaliation to Lucifer's punishment of you - you've stopped trying to prevent it, lest the wrath be turned on you. You learned that the hard way one day, and now just let him interact with his brothers as he sees fit.

-> Which he certainly is training his brothers how to interact with you. Lucifer eventually begins to grow tired of the Avatar of Wrath's explosive fits, prompting him to somewhat avoid the two of you. The brothers that are more prone to showing you physical affection, well...he physically threatens them, and you start to see them reign themselves in and be more platonic. 

♡ Yandere Satan, who has no idea of the difference between love and obsession. 

-> He is extremely possessive of you, getting easily irritated if you accept invitations for plans with other people - why would you want to spend your time with them when you have him? He'll be having a chat with them, unbeknownst to you, and out of the blue you get a text cancelling. He holds you in his arms and kisses you as he talks about how you don't need flaky friends like them anyway - you'll always have him and he's all that you need.

-> He needs to be with you every second of every day. You're the first person in his life that's ever made him feel like this - why wouldn't he wanna spend every moment of his time with you? Not only have you been spending more time in his room, but you start to notice his insistence on keeping the gifts he gives you in his room permanently. Then, one random night while you were asleep in his bed, a mysterious fire burns down your room - and most of your belongings with it. 'No need to worry though, darling. I've got everything you need; you've already been staying here anyways, lets look at this as an opportunity.'

♡ Yandere Satan, who wears a mask around you, the ever poised and refined demon he makes himself out to be in public - it's so easy with you around after all, you have an effect that naturally calms him.

-> He does occasionally fly into a rage, but it's always in a private room with one of his targets - someone he'll be sure you never see again. The screams of his victims are like a soothing lullaby, the taste of their blood satisfying him like a delicious Demonus. 

-> There are the very rare occasions in which his anger is pointed at you. He'd never raise a hand to you - he'd rather burn down the realm than truly hurt you. But he will be rough with you when he fucks you angrily - binding you with ropes, whipping you with his tail, and using your holes to his satisfaction. Don't you know that you're his to do with as he pleases? Maybe if he fucks your head empty, you'll be a more obedient little kitten for him.

♡ Yandere Satan, who will never let go once he sinks his claws into you.

-> While holding you in his arms he laments to you over the turmoil of learning to love, kissing you gently and passionately as he professes he only feels this way for you. "You must have me under some kind of spell," he whispers sweetly into your ear. He knows for a fact that you have bewitched him, even if you didn't mean to, making him feel all of these emotions that were so foreign to him before he met you. He never wants to let this feeling go - and he doesn't ever intend to.

-> He would tear all three realms to the ground with his own bare hands if it means he can keep you at his side - and you know he has the ability to do precisely that. No one is safe when they try to stand between the two of you...

"You truly are something else, kitten. There is nothing in existence that can keep you away from me."

· demonvibez ♡ 2023 · do not copy, repost or modify · · likes, comments and reblogs are deeply appreciated! ♡ ·

[gutz3rfryer]

TEAM RWBY IDEAS

some ideas i have for my rewritten version of RWBY MAIDENS Maidens can only control environments and the weather. Also they can change their surroundings, from a high tech hallway to a red maple forest (like an illusion). (so no sword making or whatever just purely environmental) - team rwby becoming the Maidens a. Ruby becomes the Spring maiden (can control flora and wind) b. Weiss becomes the Winter maiden (can create snow storms and ice powers) c. Blake becomes the Fall maiden (tornados and clouds/rain) d. Yang becomes the Summer maiden (heatwaves and thunderstorms) Maidens can used their combined powers to make combos, Fall and Winter making it hail or Fall and Summer making a dessert storm. YANG Technically she shouldve graduated at this point, however she chooses not to, after finding out that Oz invited Ruby (15) to train at Beacon Academy, she managed to convince Oz to let her redo her senior year at the academy to support Ruby. JAUNE the Jaune we know will be put in the bully team from the 1st vol, my version would be more of an androgynous-femme presenting guy BLAKE & RUBY they can make their own little book club :) BLAKE & WEISS I think Blake would stand up for Weiss (and the other way around), especially if Jacques would come to visit Beacon, after finding out that Weiss went to Beacon instead of Atlas Academy. Before Jacques would be able to hit Weiss, Blake would step in and put him in hsi place. BEACON, HAVEN, SHADE & ATLAS ACADEMY DRESS CODE Most strict in dress (1 being most strict to 4 least strict about it/only cares about results) 1. Atlas (has to wear assigned uniform, miss a tie or want to wear pants instead of a skirt? get expelled scrub (also the most discriminatory school)) 2. Shade 3. Haven 4. Beacon (''male student wears a skirt? ok and?'') Beacon Academy ''Dress Code'' Honestly they dont care if you bribe a fashion student or get a tailor to make a longer skirt or flared pants, as long that it has the Beacon Academy Pattern™️ and ''wearing'' the tie, anything goes

ADAM (vs YANG & BLAKE) Making him more obsessive and weird by wearing Blake's tail (which he cut of before she escaped) as a belt. Also making him more Bull than original, because to this day i still dont see what makes him a Faunus. Like the black colored horns are cute but those can be easily mistaken for colored hair. Fall of Beacon (Adam vs Yang & Blake Round 1) Same story but instead of Yang immediately being defeated after getting her arm cut off, she powers through and uses her firey semblance the stop the bleeding in her arm, while Blake keeps up the good fight. After the bleeding stops Yang steps back into the ring to give Adam a burn scar. After losing too much blood Yang caves in while tries to keep her on her feet. Adam also takes Yangs severed arm Comm Tower (Adam vs Yang & Blake Round 2) Adam teases Yang by throwing her severed arm at her, but shrugs it off and tells him he can keep it. QROW & RAVEN Instead of turning into normal looking Ravens/Crows, they turn into a Nevermore look alike. Originally a power given by Oz, now turned curse by Salem. Both Qrow and Raven now constantly have to fight for control with their Grimm halves. Qrow has partially given up, hence the drinking, so his hands look like bird claws and his body is covered in feathers. Raven keeps her distance to avoid hurting anyone. Unbeknownst to them Salem is using their eyes to spy on Oz. SALEM/White Fang im not sure of this idea but instead of the White Fang (which will be renamed to something else) being a equal rights group, they're followers of Salem, the False Goddess, who gives promises that by serving her, they can save their world/make their world better. And that the Grimm exist to ''get rid of the bad people/sinners'' However i think there is a sort of White Fang group but only in Atlas where the most hate crimes, slavery and discrimination happens. As SDC and other companies in Atlas use Faunus for entertainment (for example Bull fighting for Adam) or for slavery. Yes that would imply that Blake was once a follower of Salem's, but turned around after the train incident. TEAM STRQ this might be the worst idea but hear me out. Team STRQ was a polyamorous quad. (in this version Raven and Qrow are >NOT< related) After Summer's death (at assuming Salem's hand), there was a lot of trust issues after, considering neither Qrow nor Raven told Tai what actually happened, and they slowly drifted apart but they all stayed in touch or checked up on the kids and Tai, Qrow would visit more often, while Raven stayed away for their (R&Y) safety. Raven and Qrow keep butting heads cuz they blame eachother for Summer's death/not saving her, but deep down they still care for eachother. Both Ruby and Yang are their kids (its Remnant they can like make kids in a tube or something). Yang has Qrow's alcohol problems (they sometimes drink together) Ruby has or had Raven's selflessness well thats all the ideas i have, nothing solid, just seeing what sticks to the wall. Admittedly the STRQ one might be a bit out there, considering Qrow and Raven are well known as siblings, and yes its weird as fuck idea to have them being/or were together as a couple. But if you remove the context of them being siblings, and see them having arguments, they argue as if they're a divorced couple. Also Qrow is more of a dad than Tai, protecting the gang when they're going on a trip, when Ruby is 15-16 yrs old (in the actual show). And generally being there for the gang. Even before Vol 4 Tai didnt even visit once, but was able to send Zwei. Qrow stayed the whole time, hanging out with Ruby and Yang but i dont remember in vol 1-3 Ruby or Yang ever calling Tai, y'know their dad? But again these are all ideas, nothing solid, just me rambling about RWBY stuff, uh uhm.... are these good ideas? most likely not feedback and criticism is appreciated :) my team rwby redesign v

[howlingday]

jaune in Glynda class fighting cardin who thinks he will win but didn't know he was facing a rhino faunus.

Jaune use scream.

"You'll have to fight back at some point, Mr. Arc." Professor Goodwitch called. "The Grimm will not be as merciful as Mr. Winchester"

"This is merciful?!" Jaune called back in fear.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Jaune turned and found the much larger student charging at him, his weapon at his side and ready to swing and destroy him. Jaune's legs were jelly and refused to move. This made Jaune an easy target and was sent airborne with no weapons in hand. "Where'd you go?!"

Jaune fell with a thud, making Cardin turn around. But as the bully looked around, Jaune noticed that he kept looking even though he was dead ahead of him. Well, he was ahead of him. Dead was yet to be determined.

"Mr. Winchester, are you wearing your prescription glasses?"

"Of course not!" Cardin barked back in reply to Professor Goodwitch's question. "I never needed them before, and I don't need them now!" He swung around and his bushy tail swung with him.

"Jaune! Your weapon is right behind him!"

"I-!" Jaune clapped his hand over his mouth as he was about to reply to Pyrrha. Yeah, he noticed, but thankfully Cardin didn't notice.

"Ms. Nikos, I'll thank you to not interfere with the match." Professor Goodwitch glared from behind her own lenses.

"Okay..." Jaune softly said, creeping forward. As Cardin turned, Jaune froze.

"Where are you?" Snarled Winchester. Instead of continuing to turn, he chose instead to walk towards Jaune. He could have jumped away, but instead his legs were jelly. Again. Jaune was trapped. He could just scream. In fact, he did.

Slowly rising to stand erect, he took a deep breath, then decided to be stupid and call out to his opponent.

"HEY! CARDIN!"

As if his tail had been set on fire, Cardin ran in the opposite direction, jumping over the side arena, nearly landing on Professor Goodwitch. Nearly, as she used her semblance to keep Winchester suspended in the air. He squirmed around like a... like a... like a squirmy thing.

"Winnner..." Professor Goodwitch sighed, "Jaune Arc. One day you students will realize the importance of both using the tools you were given, and even PRESCRIBED, and that although some tactics may work on opponents, it won't work so well on the Grimm."

To be honest, Jaune wasn't listening. He was still reeling from his victory against his rival.

Fun Fact! Rhinoceros are nearly blind, only able to make out vague shapes. As such, the most they can make out from the distance is a blur, and if that blur moves, then it's probably not normal. To compensate, their bodies are especially thick, and they have a keen sense of smell. One tactic to deter rhinos from attacking you is to stand your ground and shout in their direction. If that doesn't work, you can also toss an item of yours to make them think your scent went elsewhere.

[beladusnotsosecertdiary]

Twisted Wonderland OC

Disclaimer: I used picrew to make my oc this was not drawn. Link is here

Couldn't use more than ten text boxes, also the description of JJ's unique magic may be hard to read

Better view of JJ: ⬇️

LIKES AND DISLIKES

Likes: Food, training, sweets, their friends

Dislikes: Azul, history, bullies, Crowley

VA

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

UNIQUE MAGIC (or what is considered to be their UNIQUE MAGIC)

"Dual Scythe"; JJ can summon a dual Scythe that is capable of manipulating the elements and can create a defensive barrier when spinning in a circle

What the scythe looks like ⬇️

Other things to know about JJ

JJ's pronouns are they/them

Pansexual

Left handed

Does come from Earth, was in Argentina at the time the Ebony Carrage kidnapped them

Uses Yoga as a stress relief

Depending on their mood will wear either boy or girl clothes

Big Mamamoo fan, knows all their lyrics and choreography by heart, basis/spirit animal is Hawasa

Has older sibling/parental vibe or "mom friend"

Also has chaotic moments

The Protective Type (TM)

Physically incapable of holding back

Ex: Once broke a table while arm wrestling Jack

Could have been in Diasomina but ended up becoming the Ramshackle Perfect

Like Lilia will say something interesting but will not answer on how they know that (most of the stuff they say protains to the stuff that is in the fairytales we are familiar with)

Very intimidating when angry, even Malleus gets scared

Has several scars littering their body and a winter soldier like prosthetic left arm, will not talk about them no matter what

Most notable scars are the large ones on their right arm and back

Very talented chef

Joined the Horseback Club as a means of honoring someone important to them, also happens to genuinely like horses

Crushes on Malleus

Drops hints about their past wondering if anyone will be able to figure it out

Nicknames for their friends

Grimm - Fluff ball, Raccoon

Ace - Idiot Genius, Braincell 1

Deuce - Uce, Braincell 2

Jack - Best Boi, Wolf Boi

Epel - Shortstack, Feral Child

Sebek - Megaphone, Simp

Malleus - Male Maleficent, My Noble Dragon

Kalim - Sunshine, Party lover

Quotes:

Warning for strong language and mentions/threats of violence

"So I'm stranded here? Perfect, absolutely perfect."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"The kiss on the cheek? Ah! Sorry it's just that back home in Argentina it's a greeting."

"Hey did you know that the dark mirror belonged to the Beautiful Queen?"

"Burh you wanna die?"

"Your a terrible friend Trey."

"Riddle, ... your parents were toxic. They treated you like a doll than a child!"

"Do you think Leona is actually lazy or depressed?"

"Hahaha! Get wrecked Leona."

"You wanna go? Alright then you son of a bitch let's dance!"

"Yes, I know I'm violent Ace. I thought we went over this."

"It's called Yoga Grimm. Want to learn?"

"You sure you want me calling you whatever I want? Alright then Male Maleficent."

"Boi you must think I'm stupid if you think I'm gonna believe that bullshit."

"Azul you have one mintue to release Ace, Grimm, and Deuce from their contracts or else I'm gonna murder you and make it look like an accident."

"Jamil, I fucking swear if you make Kalim upset again I'm gonna break every bone in your body."

"Strength comes in all shapes and sizes Epel. It's like unique magic, everyone has their own unique strength. You just gotta find yours. It won't be easy, but I'll be here if you need me."

"Oh I knew exactly who he was, but he said I could call him whatever I wanted."

"Okay which one of you fuckers touched my friends?"

Update:

JJ's uniform

Link:

[variousqueerthings]

Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part Two of Three

Part 1

Part 3

6. Sexual Awakenings part 1: Love, Obsession, & Size Differences

[Insert that post talking about the creators making sure that Daniel’s antagonists were much bigger than him so that the audience would sympathise, spawning 10000 size kink fics]

I’m sure this won’t awaken anything in Daniel

Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two pictures

The hallmark of feminine fairytales tends to be growing into womanhood, with all those symbolic sexual under/overtones, searching for a prince, encountering monsters (or evil stepmothers), on the surface tending to be quite passive/reactive, but actually being about young girls and women getting out of their environment and choosing to tussle with those deep, dark desires – monsters. They’ve got to function within the limitations of power that they have – escaping an abusive situation through marriage, chasing forbidden desires under the guise of duress, asking questions about sexuality through things like symbolic plucking (flowers) or consumption (fruit) or pricking (needles), etc.

Daniel isn’t striking out to find his fortune or win a girl or a kingdom Like A Man, he’s not a threat to Silver, who – like Jareth in Labyrinth – is in control for almost the whole of the narrative, he’s not actually able to do much more than react until he makes the decision to stop training, and even then he’s immediately ganged up on and assaulted, needing to be saved by Miyagi while he stands and watches, bloodied and bruised. 

Daniel’s journey in the third movie is to be forced into an impossible situation, seduced by Silver, and then prove that whatever violence Silver did to him isn’t enough to destroy him. It is incredibly similar to Sarah’s in Labyrinth, who by the end declares: “you have no power over me,” and that’s her winning moment. Not strength, not wits, not a direct fight, (although Daniel does fight Barnes and gets beat up again – only winning in in the end by taking him by surprise, unlike in TKK1 or TKK2 where you could argue that he proves himself to be a capable physical opponent to Johnny and Chozen), but by declaring that whatever power was held over her is now void.

Daniel’s narrative isn’t satisfying in the same way, because the dynamic of Silver and Daniel only accidentally emulates this - it’s not an intention on the side of the film-makers.

When Miyagi tells Daniel that he has strong roots, when he tells him not to lose to fear and Daniel wins over Barnes (in an almost fairytale-esque set of events), on paper he’s defeated whatever hold Terry Silver has over him. In the film itself though, Daniel never defeats Silver (which will likely be confirmed once he returns in Season Four). Daniel cannot simply say “you have no power over me,” and see Silver shattered into glass shards. 

The film is a contradiction: It wants to be a masculine sports film, but it exists in the same realm as Goblin Kings seducing young girls with the promise of: “Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave.” Unlike Sarah, Daniel doesn’t claim the power that’s been promised to him on his own terms. His subtextually sexual awakening is so corrupted that all he can do is pretend it never happened.

Still, Daniel proves in the film that his strength is not in his fists. It’s in his praying to the bonsai tree that’s healed despite a violent boy brutally tearing it in two.

These looks on Daniel and Silver though?

So why does Silver become obsessed with him? What’s up with all those red outfits (that he doesn’t wear in Cobra Kai)? What does the temptation reveal about Daniel? How does it recontextualise TKK1 and TKK2? Is Daniel bisexual? (yes).

Ah, beach-Daniel, in your red hoodie and your cut-off jorts. Iconic hot-girl summer vibes. 

If you didn’t want me over-analysing this, you shouldn’t have put him in so many red outfits and then have this man leering at him like he wants to eat him alive.

Surface-level it’s not hard to read into a Dude Story: Masculine power fantasies are about strength in a very direct way. Fighting, control, suaveness – and if you’re not the most traditionally masculine of guys, asserting dominance through being a good lover or intelligent or overcoming that unmanliness in some way through beating the bully or convincing the hot girl to go out with you, levelling up in coolness. Being A Man. It’s not too dissimilar from Daniel’s arc in the first movie, if you watch it without taking later events into account, although Daniel is never interested in proving himself as a man, and more in making Miyagi proud. Still, he does win and gain respect, and arguably “get the girl,” although Ali’s interest in him was never dependent on the fight.

7. Sexual Awakenings Part 2: Sexual Assault, Liberation, and Queerness

Feminine power fantasies are often about sex. Metaphorically. More accurately it’s “owning sexuality.” Even more accurately: “Freedom.” They also inhabit a fluid space in which empowerment through monstrous desires and non-consent can happen at the same time. And on top of that, many of these “fantasies” are actually being written by men, so whose fantasy is it really? A lot of them are based in oral traditions so presumably they were originally from the mouths of women, even if modern iterations (starting with Grimm’s collections) are filtered through cis men’s perspectives.

All of that being acknowledged: In Angela Carter’s “The Company Of Wolves,” Red Riding Hood unambiguously sleeps with the wolf. Belle discovers her freedom from expectations and unsuitable suitors (and in some versions, evil stepsisters) by falling in love with a Beast (the original novel was written by a woman, the 18th century Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve). Jareth informs Sarah of his obsessive devotion to her in Labyrinth. To lean into horror for a moment – Buffy is stalked and eventually has relationships with both Angel and Spike, Lucy in Coppola’s Dracula (which I have mixed feelings about) is raped by the werewolf and Mina is stalked by Dracula, The Creature Of The Black Lagoon kidnaps Kay (the lead’s girlfriend) – subverted in both The Shape Of Water in which Eliza forms a consensual relationship with the amphibious sea-god and in the short-lived horror series Swamp Thing, in which the connection is purposefully framed as seductive…

and in The Karate Kid Part Three Daniel LaRusso punches a board until his hands bleed because an attractive, older man tells him to and in this moment he gives in to what he (thinks he) wants.

Not all of those examples are equal. Some are consensual, some are hinted as abusive and/or stalkery, all of them have large age gaps, and a few are outright non-consensual.

But they’re all fantasies.

They’re all power-fantasies.

Except for Daniel, because he’s a man and the idea that being obsessed (lusted) over by an older man who keeps you in his thrall, specifically because you tickle his fancy for whatever reason, because you’re beautiful, breakable, different – could in any way be considered empowering is a difficult concept to wrap your head around. It doesn’t contain that “but I’m a good girl, I’d never go off the path and pluck flowers if a bad wolf told me to, honest,” societal context or the social context of rape culture. It’s closest comparison is closeted (perhaps even unknown until that point) queer identity.

There have recently been some comparisons of Daniel LaRusso to Bruce Bechdel in Funhome (and everyone who says that Ralph Macchio ought to play him in the upcoming movie: you’re right and I’m just not going to enjoy it as much without him). I’ve written a post about Sam being the heir to his legacy and trauma, specifically as a queercoded man. It’s not dissimilar to the plot of Funhome in a lot of ways.

The other interesting source that’s been going around in connection with Daniel is the essay “The Rape of James Bond,” which discusses the use of sexual assault as a plot device for women and not for men: “About one in every 33 men [in the US] is raped. … [your statistically average, real life man] … doesn’t have a horde of enemies explicitly dedicated to destroying him. He doesn’t routinely get abducted, and tied up. Facing a megalomaniac psychopath gloating over causing him pain […] is not the average man’s average day at the office.” That last bit is just a descriptor of Terry Silver, (although I take issue at the blasé use of psychopath).

The two part youtube essay  Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs posits that there is nothing more de-masculinising than the threat of sexual assault and therefore any narrative that features this “rightfully” must mock any man who has been a victim or who fears being a victim of sexual assault. It is feminising. There is nothing more humiliating – and therefore unheroic – than a man dealing with sexual assault.

So what do we feel when we see an attractive young man being put into a vulnerable position by an older man? A trope associated with female characters, a trope that is considered unpalatable for men (see reactions that happened when the hint of sexual assault was introduced in Skyfall).

Was it the fact that he was being threatened, or the fact that James’ next line is: “what makes you think this is my first time?”

Some thoughts added by @mimsyaf​ are around the idea of safety in how a lot of cis women might relate to this narrative through Daniel’s eyes. He’s not a woman, he has – societally – more power than a girl or woman would have, which makes this a different watch to, say, if Danielle were to go through the same narrative. Daniel doesn’t carry that baggage of rape culture, or of the male gaze that you might find in a similar scenario of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Christine in Phantom of the Opera (and once more the age differences between these characters and the men who love/lust over them are substantial), which makes the narrative “safer” to engage with.

I agree with that, although as a transmasc person I also come at it differently. I specifically like to headcanon Daniel as a trans guy and find his fraught interactions with masculinity through his own non-toxic lens relatable, as well as the way other boys and men react to it – also I think Terry Silver is hot. I know there are people who write Terry Silver with female OCs, which is also a form of empowerment.

On the flipside putting Daniel in this space runs a risk of fetishising him as a queer youth who is either Innocent and Pure, or a bisexual stereotype that deserves to be assaulted for not being a real man. After all, Real Straight Men don’t run the risk of sexual assault.

 Alas, the road to empowerment never did run smooth. 

The comparisons between the way Daniel is treated by the text and how female characters are often treated in texts are undoubtedly there. Through Ralph Macchio and TIG’s casting and the direction and acting, but also within the text itself. 

It might not be with the same purpose as Neo’s symbolically trans journey, but it puts the whole narrative that Daniel’s going through from TKK1 under a different light than if there had only been one movie that ended on a triumphant sports win and a girlfriend.

Johnny’s masculinity and the use of tears as liberation, now that’s a whole other analysis….

[obeyme-headcanons]

Now this is something I really want to do in the game. And I'm so dissapointed that we cant. So....I've written it down!! :)

What if MC helped clear ALL of Mammon's debts??

A/N: Much fluff, a G/N MC, and possible TWs.

TW: Much fluff, blood, some cursing, mean witches 😡, some bullying, and a wholesome baby Mammon 💛.

Please enjoy!! :) 💛

Mammon comes into your room all bloody and bruised. He staggers a bit before plopping on your bed next to you.

"M-Mammon...are you okay??" You question. You hear a muffled grunt from your left side.

"Mammon? Who did this to you?" You hear silence. Mammon must not want to answer. You think about who could've done this. His brother's are abusive, but only mentally. No lesser demon would dare mess with the second-born. Hmm. Wait, wasn't Mammon summoned by the witches earlier? It must have been them. They're always attacking him in some way,

"Mammon? Did the witches do this to you," you ask. "Please tell me the truth." The second you finish, Mammon lifts his head to you, and you see tears running down his face. From his reaction, it's safe to say the witches did it.

"Why would the witches do this?"

"It because of my DAMN debt!! I don't know what I did to them...*sniff* I never even met them before they came up and told me I owed them!!"

Poor Mammoney. He didn't deserve this. Every day, he either came back with nothing, bruised and bloodied or so emotional. Mammon kept talking about the witches, and what they'd do to him. He was spiling his heart out.

"And one time...OH!! I can't forget about...then they said..." Mammon kept going. Eventually, he stopped talking, realizing what he'd just said. You getting more furious, you kept thinking if a plan to get Mammoney out of debt. Getting more furious at the witches with each of Mammon's words, you can't think of anything. So you decide to try and make him feel better at least,

You fix Mammon up, get him emotionally stable and watch his favorite movie. He rests his head on your shoulder, and you die inside. How the hell is he so cute?! You slowly take out your D.D.D, set the brightness all the way down, and snap a few pictures. You head over to devilgram, of course stopping by your settings to update your wallpaper, and scroll around. You find a certain demon's page, supposedly the owner of ristorante six, and scroll.

You see a post of the demon stating that they need more workers. The pay seemed pretty good! 10 hours a day for 10k Grimm! Sure, it'd be hard. And painful and annoying. But you already had quite bit of Grimm saved up. About 666k (😈) to be exact. And you'd do anything to see him smile. So you DM the demon and ask for an interview. They accepted and wanted to see you the next day after 2. You smiled and sighed, praying to Lord Diavolo you could get the job.

"Hey, human. Where are ya going?" Of course Mammon had to barge in. Not that you hated it, now just wasn't a good time. All dressed up, you glance around nervously.

"Ahh, I'm just...going..." You couldn't find the words. You had to make up an excuse for this man. "Ahhuumm..."

"Jeez human. Just say you're going out! It's not that hard, ya know?" He sighed. With his hands on his hips, he pauses, and walks out. You're confused, but understand when he comes back with your backpack.

"H-Here you go. Sorry I took it. I was looking for Goldie-"

"It's okay Mammon." You walk over, kiss him on the cheek and walk out the door. His face turns red and he's very glad you walked out. After he's calmed down, he knows something is up. Everytime you go out together, you never dress up. Are you going to see someone? Do you not like him?? His thoughts spiral until he convinces himself that even if you did find someone, at least they made you happy. Not like a scummy, stupid brother would be able to do the job. But hey, he could hope. Right?

"So that's why you want this job..." and you nod. You see them ponder for a moment. "Okay. You're hired!!" You jump. It was unexpected and surprisingly very easy. You thank them over and over again and ask them when you can start.

"Right now if you're up for it! We're short on staff today, so I'm paying whoever works a little more today." You eagerly nod, and you're shown to the staff room. You put on your apron, and get to work. At the end of the day, you get 2k more than you should have. And including the tips you form in total you got 15k Grimm. Not bad for a first day! Exhausted, sweaty and hungry, you walk home with a coworker and head inside.

It's a good thing no one was awake. You make it to your bed and melt. To help pay off his debts and give him a little extra money, you're going to have to work-overtime. Meaning you can't hang out with the brothers anymore. Especially Mammon.

"Sorry Mammon..." You whisper, before falling into sleep.

It's been 5 months since you've started working. Luckily, Mammon had also been trying to pay off his debts. Which has helped you alot, but now you have enough money to help pay Mammon's debts off. But you're tired, and he can wait until morning, right? You slowly walk home and luckily no demons come to pick on you. You thank Lord Diavolo. You slowly open the door so it won't creak.

Luckily no one is awake. Except for Lucifer and Beel. You practically zombie walked into your room because you were so tired. Your about to open your door, but you hear a small sob. You stop in your tracks and listen.

"T-They don't love me. Why would they? I'm just a s-scummy second-born..." it sounded like Mammon. And by what they said, it confirmed your beliefs. And you're pretty sure he was taling about you. You open your door and walk in. Mammon looks up at you in surprise.

"Y-You weren't supposed to be back for another hour." He says while sloppily wiping off his tears.

"Well, they let me go early," You respond. You need to tell him. "Mammon..I have something really good to tell you. I-"

"Save it human. I already know, I don't want any details."

"You do? Mammon, isn't it wondererful?! Now you won't be bullied by your brother's or the witches!"

"If anything, they'll bully me more..."

"W-Why would they continue...?"

"Because they know I love you," he slams his head onto a pillow that oddly looks a lot like you. " And now you're going out with someone. I don't want any details. But...do they treat ya well?" His head pops back up, and you can see the tears in his eyes. His question hurt. Why would he think that?

"Going out with someone? Why would you think th-" you finally connect it all together. Leaving at 2 to get home at 12, if not later. Always dressing up and giving Mammon less and less time and attention to Mammon. It doesn't help that this has been going on for 5 months. And now that you got your last paycheck, you thanked them, quit and wished them well. You were free of that hell.

"Mammon, I'm not seeing anyone." You walk closer to him and rest you're hand on his cheek, and he blushes a little.

"Then why were you gone so much?"

"Silly demon. I was helping you pay off your debts!"

"You what...?" You could see the confusion in his eyes. But you also saw a glimmer of hope.

"That's right. I was gone for 5 months to help you pay of your debts to your brother's and the witches! And...I may have put a little money of Goldie."

"B-But why?" He realized there was no reason to lie about this. His eyes lit up and he perked up. But he was still so very confused.

"Because, I see what they do to you. And you just take it, like a man." He blushes at the word 'man', but gladly takes your compliment. You climb onto your bed, make room for him and pat the side next to you.

"Now come on Mammon. I'm tired, and I need snuggles." He blushes but gladly climbs in. He wraps his body around yours, pretty much pretty much protecting you from anything to come.

"Goodnight Mammon..." You whisper, before falling into the best sleep you've ever had.

The next day, Mammon is more than ready to pay off his debts. He pays off the witches and each of his brothers. You loved the look he had on his face. The witches could no longer attack him and his brother's could no longer verbally abuse his either. At the end of the day, he was excited to find out he had 500k Grimm on his card. He thanked you and pulled you into the biggest hug ever.

"Thank you MC...I feel more safe than I have been in decades." The comment made you sad, but made you smile. No one could hurt him, because you'd be there to protect him.

"I love you Mammoney...💛💛"

"I love you MC..." And you share a tender kiss.

The end~!!

Did you enjoy it? Give me more ideas please! My brain is too smol. Bye my little Grimm!!

💖 💛 💚 💙 💜 🖤

[willownoir1112]

Hello beautiful people of Tumblr! Wyn here with day one of White Rose Week 2021 to break my silence! I hope everyone enjoys, and I'll see you tomorrow with day 2!

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Love Bites

Summer Rose vanished, and Ruby suffered.

All her life, all Ruby has ever wanted was to belong. She tries so hard to fit in, first with her older sister's friends. But, they all told her to go away. That she's a baby compared to them. "Why would I want to bring you too?" Yang would always declare. "You're still just a baby!" Her friends would laugh with her, call her names as well, and leave her behind just like Yang did.

Her sister's words hurt her, and destroyed any chance of them having a sisterly relationship.

She tried so hard to be a good daughter. But, her father spent more of his time worrying about his troops, his responsibilities, his duties to Goddess and Country. "One day you will understand, Ruby." He would always tell her. "One day, you'll have to make the same sacrifices for a family of your own." His words never changed, nor his actions. He would be gone constantly, leaving her and Yang alone for weeks or even months at a time, meaning she had to grow up far too quickly.

Her father's priorities hurt her and robbed her of her childhood.

She tried so hard to be a good student. But, subjects like english, history, anything really to do with reading simply didn't make sense to her. She could stare at the page of a book for hours and all she could see is a jumble of letters. Everyone called her simple, stupid, a waste of time. "Oh look, it's little Stupid Ruby!" Cardin Winchester would declare every day at school. He and his cronies would torment and belittle her, and once even cut her long hair off. She suffered in silence, her arms the only evidence of her inner pain. Arms she always kept covered even in the worst heat of summer.

Her peers hurt her with their words, with their actions, and made her withdraw further into herself.

She finally stopped being a good sibling. She shut her sister out of her life first, Yang never noticing that Ruby stayed closeted in her room constantly. She was the bright shiny sun of everyone else's lives, with her outgoing and boisterous personality. Everyone's but Ruby's. If Yang is the bright sun, then Ruby has become the darkest moon of the family, and she likes it that way now.

She finally stopped being a good daughter. She did her chores without complaint and without needing to be told, save late at night when her father would already be in bed or Yang too preoccupied with her latest significant other. He never noticed that his younger daughter dresses in nothing but blacks and reds, or that she never let her hair grow back longer than above her shoulders. The career he chose to continue to support his family had a long ago casualty, and Ruby keeps it that way.

She finally stopped being a good student. She kept going to school, despite all but failing in everything. She went through the motions, ignored everyone when they called her things like Queen of Darkness or Salem's heir, or even worse. She ignored the shoves, the bullying, everything done to her until they all finally grew bored of it and her. She was finally left alone to sit in the deepest corner of all her classes, doodling to pass the time until she could return to her room and her solitude.

But then Ms. Peach, the choir director, invited the secretly shy and lonely girl to her class one day and encouraged her to sing. From the moment she heard the piano play, her soul became exultant, and her voice rose in response. Even Principle Ozpin, who was walking by at that moment stopped and listened as the shy, moody, rather dark girl who kept to herself was in possession of a voice that could bring even him to tears. Peach was enthusiastic in teaching her how to read music, how to project her voice, how to truly appreciate her hidden talent for music.

But, Taiyang finally noticed when he was forced to retire. He noticed the true state of his family, and decided to take firm control. He destroyed her growing dreams when he declared she and Yang both were to join Beacon Military Academy to finish school. That they needed discipline and not freedom to thrive like he once did. That neither of his children will follow in his long disappeared wife's footsteps, and lack the discipline needed to succeed where she obviously failed.

He was furious when Glynda Goodwitch admitted her as Ruby, allowing her to keep that one small bit of freedom.

She suffered like never before at Beacon. She was admitted two years early as a favor to her father, and she hated it. Her hate translated itself into her becoming a powerful fighter with her chosen weapon, a red and black fifty caliber sniper scythe she named Crescent Rose, and soon where she was once either dereided or ignored, she was now feared. Even her own sister fears her now, and that makes her happy.

She is the Darkest Reaper of Vale, and she hates them all.

But one person did not fear her. One person saw past her pain, her grief for her denied life. Weiss was from Atlas, a mysterious, inclusive land far to the north, where they say even the Grimm do not tread. A land of dark magic, of creatures even fouler than the enemy of the world. A land even the demiurge Salem has forsaken. Weiss did not fear the Darkest Reaper, and took an odd delight in hearing the whispers about her, about them both.

She has her own secrets, secrets Ruby will know all too soon.

She cannot help but to feel an attraction to the white haired girl from the north. Her porcelain skin is always smooth and cool to the touch. Her brilliant blue eyes are like the clear blue skies she would once sit under with her long departed mother while they laugh and imagine whimsical beasts and imaginary places. Her long white hair moves like the finest of silk curtains as she walks from class to class, her nose turned up to their peers as if they are all beneath her. All except for her. She treats the Reaper with respect, with courtesy, and after a time, holds out a hand of friendship to her, one she takes willingly.

She finally has a friend, a real friend. Someone who cares for her, Ruby Rose.

But certain things stand out to her as well. The way she barely eats anything but meat, and even then almost bloody and nearly raw. The way she approaches every mock battle with the cunning of a predator on the hunt. The skill with which she wields her rapier, a dust revolver styled weapon she has named Myrtenaster, with near lethal intent even during the simplest of spars against anyone willing to challenge her. She is the only one who can stand against her, her own formidable rage and loathing a match for the heiress's feral cunning and ferocity.

But one late night, during a restless night they both secretly shared, a truth is told, and their lives are changed forever.

She herself couldn't sleep. It was the one thing she could always count on being able to do. It was her refuge from the reality of her world, and she retreated to it every chance she could. But tonight, she tosses and turns, she begs and pleads with the treacherous brain that won't stop thinking, and finally surrenders and gets dressed. Taking up her scythe, she easily steals away into the Emerald Forest, the guards ignoring her out of fear. She runs deeply into the darkened woods, no fear for the Grimm that hide in the shadows as well as whatever other creatures may dwell within.

She never realizes that a pair of blue eyes follow her, belonging to the single person who doesn't fear her. The only person who is beginning to secretly adore her.

She finally stops near the old temple to the Brother of Light, which has been long abandoned when he left Remnant to it's fate. Sitting down, she begins to cry deep tears of pain and sorrow. She hates her life now, she hates being taught to kill, to end the lives of others. She despises the fact that she is good at it. She never wanted this. All she ever wanted was to be a good sibling, a good daughter, a good student. All she ever wanted was to belong, to love a certain white haired girl and be loved in return.

She almost screams in terror when the great white furred head lays in her lap, with sad blue eyes that reflect her pain.

She stares at the great beast, marveling at the fact that a wolf has appeared here. One of the few things she has managed to remember from her poor studies is that the Grimm killed all the wolves when they first came to Vale. None were spared, and somehow she knows this one knows that. To her surprise, she begins to pet the wild creature, smiling softly at the way it's tail begins to wag as it whines. And then she begins to talk to it. She talks about her mother, her father, her sister, her life. She is soon sobbing in grief at the sadness of her life thus far, and is surprised to see tears in the white wolf's eyes as well.

But she forgot that sorrow is a feast for the Grimm, and they soon gather around her and the white wolf both.

She makes her decision. She throws her scythe to the ground and gives in completely to her sorrow. She is so tired. She is so tired of being turned into someone she wants nothing to do with. She's so tired of hoping people will finally love her instead of hate her or fear her. She is so tired of dreaming of a pair of blue eyes that will never look lovingly at her. She is ready, and the Grimm will feed well on her. But she doesn't expect the snarling, the sudden sounds of battle. Opening her silver eyes, they widen as she sees the once four legged wolf has vanished, a naked Weiss snarling in her rage as she wields Myrtenaster against the foul creatures.

"YOU KILLED THEM ALL!"

She stares at the rage filled young woman. She's never seen her fight with this much savagery, this much hate. Even in battles in which she is outclassed or outnumbered, she is still controlled. She uses superior tactics, the icy calm she is infamous for, and her obviously hidden rage to still rip victory from the jaws of defeat.

"ALL THE PACKS OF VALE ARE DEAD!"

She picks Crescent Rose back up. The white haired girl is beginning to frighten her, and she does not frighten easily. She watches in growing terror as an Alpha Beowolf appears, howling in challenge, Weiss's answering howl frightening her to her very soul. She watches as the white haired woman tosses her sword to the side and begins to growl as she grows. She listens to the popping of bone and sinew as fur begins to spring from her bare skin. She stares on in horror as the one friend she has ever made turns into…

A werewolf. A creature from Remnant's darkest stories has come to life before her, and is defending her while taking vengeance for the long dead wolves of Vale.

"You will not hurt my Ruby…"

She screams as Weiss leaps towards the Alpha, her fangs bared and her still hand shaped front paws slashing at the creature of darkness. The Alpha charges her as well, it's own jaws wide open to bite and tear at the white werewolf, it's own claws slashing at her unarmored and exposed flanks. She hears her friend's scream of pain as the Alpha strikes harder than she can, and causes more damage than she can possibly manage in return, and she finally leaps into action. Weiss is the first person to be her friend. She is the first person to treat her like a person. She is the first person she's allowed herself to start having feelings for in her short life.

She may be ready to die, but she will not let Weiss die for her own selfish desires.

Crescent Rose strikes the Beowolf quickly, breaking the Alpha and the werewolf apart as the Grimm leaps back to avoid the deathblow Ruby aims at it. But Ruby is enraged now. She sees the bright red blood upon the moonlit ground, and it adds to her fury. She hears the whimpers of the injured wolf, and it increases her rage. She roars in her righteous anger as her scythe becomes a blur, the Alpha soon howling in pain before Ruby's final blow comes in her scythe hooking around its neck before she pulls the trigger, decapitating the beast with one final roar of triumph. It takes her a moment to calm herself, a long moment in which she has forgotten her anger, her sorrow, her self loathing. And then she finally remembers Weiss. In a panic, she begins to look for her friend, desperate to ensure that she is safe.

It doesn't take her long to find her, and her scream of anguish can be heard back at Beacon.

Weiss has managed to get back to a small cave, her clothes as well as some supplies stacked neatly in the back. She herself is panting heavily as blood flows steadily from her injuries. But her tail thumps on the ground weakly as Ruby slides to the ground in front of her. She doesn't hesitate, but begins to treat the slashing wounds, bandaging them carefully while doing her best to ignore the pain filled shrieks from the badly injured werewolf.

"Oh Goddesses, I'm so sorry, Weiss. I'm so so sorry!" Is her litany as she keeps at her work, until the blood finally stops. Until the white wolf goes silent save for her panting.

The sun rises, then sets once more, but Ruby has yet to leave the white werewolf's side. Weiss has slept the entire time, but she has stayed awake. She is too scared to close her eyes, terrified that if she relaxes her vigil for even a moment, she will lose the most important person in her life. But her body's needs will not be denied, and she finally falls asleep, the large canine head still in her lap and her grip firm on Crescent Rose's handle.

She dreams of white fur and sky blue eyes. Of days spent watching the skies and laughing. Of feeling loved once more, and being confident in being able to return that love.

She moans as she feels the urgency of the lips on her own. Of the feeling of cold skin upon her own now bare skin. Of cold hands exploring her body and her own hands wandering across smooth, uninjured skin in return. She moans in longing as lips caress her skin with feather light kisses. As her own fingers discover places on the other willing body that bring moans of pleasure from a voice she has come to adore since beginning at Beacon.

But she moans loudly as teeth sink into her collarbone, a tender, almost loving bite from the woman she knows she loves deeply.

"Ruby…" Her voice is husky as she releases the love bite, full of longing and need. She can feel a certain heat against her leg that is foreign to the cold that the rest of her skin belies. She herself feels so hot, so needed. She has never felt like this before, and she wants more. She needs more. But her eyes widen as she catches her lover's hands as they grab at the hem of her panties, her face full of fear once more.

"Weiss… I…"

"I know, Ruby." Weiss smiles softly at the Reaper. "I know what you are. But I have wanted you for months now. Since I saw your strength for myself. Since I got to know the real you, and not your mask of anger and self loathing that you hide behind."

"Weiss…"

"Ruby, I am the last of my pack." The werewolf informs her sadly. "I came to Vale seeking the packs that once roamed here, hoping to join them and be safe." She sighs sadly, her blue eyes dimming. "I am beginning to fear I am the last of my kind."

She sits up and pulls the werewolf into her arms. She knows all the signs of sorrow, being well acquainted with them herself. "I… Weiss I'm damaged. Why would you want someone like me?"

Their eyes meet, quicksilver staring into sky blue. "Because I have been alone since I was a child. But you make me feel like I am home now." She cuddles deeper into the Reaper's arms. "I feel safe with you, and I know I can trust you with my secret."

Ruby takes a moment to think, to gather her thoughts while considering everything she has been told. But her thoughts always return to a pair of sky blue eyes she loves to look into. Coming to a decision, she lifts the werewolf's face by her chin with a single finger and kisses her deeply, while her free hand pulls her even closer.

This may be a mistake, but it is going to be the best one she ever makes.

The cavern is soon filled with their moans, their cries of pleasure, their whispered words of love, their need for one another. Their lovemaking is tender at times, frenzied at others, and intense throughout. Morning found them once again asleep, this time in each other's arms and in a tangle of limbs, a part of Ruby still inside the white werewolf, who smiles as she sleeps deeply. They wake upon that glorious morning and decide that Beacon has nothing left for them, and decide to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Someplace where no one knows either of them.

Someplace where their future children can grow up safely…

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Weiss declares her love for her, and for the werewolf, she will throw everything away for a future with her...

Ruby opens one silver eye, smiling at the blue eyed pup staring back at her eagerly as she whines. Sitting up, she yawns as she stretches, her mouth opening wide as her fangs gleam in the light of the morning sunlight. Bowing her head down low, she nuzzles the white haired silver eyed pup tenderly before the two of them leave the comforts of the small, modest home she and Weiss have built together. It has been a decade since she and the white werewolf left Vale far behind and traveled to Mistral. To their surprise, as they explored the deepest parts of the wilds of Anima, they encountered a village full of others like Weiss, led by a lioness named Pyrrha Nikos and her own mate, a human woman named Nora.

She had heard of Pyrrha, who had been reported killed in a massive battle at Haven Academy. A report fabricated by the woman herself so she too could escape with her own mate and their hard won freedom...

They had met so many others, who had fled the destruction of their own packs and prides, their own groups and hutches. They met Velvet, who was a kind and gentle soul of a wererabbit and her mate Coco, who was the heiress of Mistral's largest corporation and their secret benefactor. They met Blake, a panther who loves to read, and her chameleon mate Ilia. There had even been a tearful reunion between Weiss and her older sister Winter, who had also barely survived the destruction of their pack and had also fled. They even met a pair of birds who squabbled constantly, an overly violent Raven and her dusty, drunken Qrow of a brother.

But the biggest shock comes when they reach one small cabin in particular, where a lonely woman lives. A lonely woman long thought vanished by the young woman, but who in truth had been forced to leave by the man she thought loved her.

Ruby sobs as she rushes into her mother's arms, Summer Rose holding her tightly as she too weeps in joy. A mother and her daughter are reunited to their eternal joy, and Weiss cheers in her happiness for them both.

They talked late into the night, the white werewolf asleep in her mate's lap as mother and daughter catch themselves up on years of their lives. Summer is livid at how Ruby has been treated, how she has suffered for so long because of her absence. Ruby had been furious to discover that her mother had been driven off due to a twist of fate, as she had been bitten by another werewolf during a mission. She had been bitten to save her life, and had been punished for it.

Ruby made her own decision that same night, and smiled as her beloved sank her fangs into her skin in a love bite that would change her forever. She turned willingly, determined that Weiss, her sister, and her own mother will not be the last of their kind.

She quietly cheered her mother onward as she found the courage to move on with Raven, who adored her and treated her with kindness, respect, and love. She had happily held her baby sister when she was born two years later, Weiss still at her side and a smile on her own face to match the look of peace in her eyes. She and Weiss had themselves celebrated the birth of their twin pups a year later, naming them after both their mothers.

But the biggest surprise is still to come.

She still checks her scroll from time to time, she and Pyrrha both agreeing that they cannot remain ignorant of the outside world. There is still danger out there, both from the humans and faunus as well as the Grimm, and all while quietly offering safe haven to others like them, as well as their families. They as well as Raven and Nora are the defenders and leaders of their small community, and they take their responsibilities seriously. But Ruby had been surprised to find an email waiting for her one day, when she had travelled far to the south before turning it on, a feat she can accomplish with ease thanks to her semblance and now enhanced senses and superior stamina.

She never expected to hear from her sister ever again.

Downloading it, she returns to the village and her mate, asking her to read it for her. Weiss of course does so, having been the one who finally helped the Reaper figure out that she was not stupid like everyone in her life claimed, but struggled with severe dyslexia. She and Summer have been helping her learn to finally read and write, but it is a slow process, one she still finds herself getting frustrated with as well as embarrassed. Opening it, she soon stops to summon Summer, the two of them sobbing at the state of the brawler's life since they fled. Tai has placed his blame on his eldest for her disappearance, and she has suffered greatly for it. Her life is a disaster now, and she has already been in a failed marriage. She begs Ruby to at least reassure her that she is alive, that she is at least doing well, that her suffering is worth it if it means that the sister she long ignored is finally happy.

That they have traded places, and that her sister is finally whole in spirit and at peace.

Pyrrha does not hesitate to give her permission to bring Yang back. To allow them to reunite, so that she can see for herself that her wishes are indeed true, and that Ruby is happy and thriving. She goes and meets Yang at Mistral's airship port, where the two of them meet in a long overdue hug between sisters, and not the strangers they have been all their lives. They return together, where Yang is also overjoyed to be reunited with her own mother, Raven. Ruby herself nods in satisfaction that her sister is on her way to a peace of mind she now enjoys, and is grateful that she too settles into life in their village, calling it home as well.

Only she and Weiss bear witness to Winter sinking her fangs into Yang's flesh, the two of them falling in love in this place they too call home.

Summer and Luna play happily with the other children, who include their cousins and their aunt. They are gentle with their younger brother, and fiercely protective of their newborn sister. Ruby and Weiss have slowly become the leaders of their still growing safe haven, and lead both by excellent example as well as with hard learned wisdom and knowledge. They share a deep, beautiful commitment to one another that many envy, one forged in mutual understanding and undying love.

Weiss Schnee came into Ruby's life, and she has prospered...

[maxwell-grant]

(Personal rant) What Moe Shrevnitz means to me

Shrevy is as good of a man as I’ve ever met on this world - Twilight Zone: The Shadow

So, as I was writing my reply to jcog’s ask about my Top 5 Agents of The Shadow, I ended up discovering that my number one favorite agent was actually Moses Shrevnitz, The Shadow’s cab driver. And as I was writing about it and gradually figuring out my reasoning, something happened to me. I’m putting it along with the rest of my reply under the cut. 

This is a very, very personal rant, maybe the most personal thing I’ve ever posted or will post on this blog, and maybe it’s not something I should be talking about in the context of discussing a fictional character, but it’s my blog and, idk, it felt like something I needed to get out, so read at your discretion

In a way, Shrevnitz is the only agent besides Margo who's sort of "survived" the phasing out of agents in recent Shadow stories. Thanks to the radio show, Shrevy has been able to carve a niche for himself as comic relief, the closest thing The Shadow has to a "sidekick", often made into a stooge in the show despite not being one in the pulps, and even in a lot of later adaptations Shrevy is generally prone to mistakes as the go-to comic relief. A lot of fans don't like it and I certainly am not a fan of Shrevy being just a bumbling idiot, but I don't actually mind at all that Shrevy's come to take on a role of comic relief. I mean, someone has to, in a world so dominated by shadows.

I like Shrevy a lot because he might have overall the most consistent personality out of all the agents, in the adaptations. He's a shrewd and friendly NYC cabbie who works as The Shadow's main driver. He is an incredible, if reckless, driver who's not afraid to jump into a fray with his fists if necessary. He loves to scare tourists with reckless driving and tell outlandish stories of life in the big city. He loves to read anything he can get his hands on and even collects comics. He can be rude and even a little brutish. He talks in a more rough, common language than the other characters, and makes mistakes at points, but is by no means stupid or mean to anyone other than people who threaten him and his friends. He's got a likeability to him often reminiscent of Ben Grimm.

I’m thinking, while you’re gone...I’m gonna go to night school. Maybe then I can figure out what you’re always talkin about - Midnight in Moscow

He's an ex-boxer, sometimes he's got a family, he's Jewish and proudly so, he's a little on the ugly side but has a great smile. Clyde hates his driving and the two don't get along. He looks after Margo and often frets over her involvement in these grisly affairs. He's a little scared of the Chief sometimes but never lets that get in the way of his interactions with him. While a lot of the agents are created as audience surrogates, Shrevy to me feels like not just the most consistently characterized of them, but also the one who feels the most like a real person. We all know, or knew, someone like Shrevy. We all met someone like Shrevy at some point in our lives. 

I think all of us have known, at some point or another, a stranger who helped us in a way, big or small, even if they had no particular reason to do so. Someone who just took a moment out of their days to make your life a little easier. A cleaning lady whom you've helped pick up garbage off work and she never forgot your name for it. A cashier at the market who took the time to wrap up your products with extra care so nothing would tear or spill. The cooking lady who lets you grab an extra bite when no one's looking. A janitor at school who lets you hide from bullies in his break room. A doorman who talks to you about a funny little thing he saw on tv the other day. Just small interactions with people that we are generally told to overlook or dismiss, but who often have so much kindness to spare and even more so to repay.

I've seen a couple of Shadow fans displeased at moments when Shrevy interacts more closely with The Shadow, citing that "The Shadow shouldn't be chatting with his cab driver", like that's some form of insult or something too "low" for The Shadow, and it saddens me to imagine having that kind of thinking. They seem to forget that The Shadow himself mops floors in disguise a lot of the time and never looks down on good people regardless of their station.

I've always learned a great deal through the various drivers that I've met or worked with at one point or another. It can be an incredibly personal thing, to share a trip with another person, something that most of us take for granted or don't engage in. So many stories can be shared, so much can be learned in such small details and such personal conversations, even with people you may never meet again after the trip is over. People who often find you at moments where you are getting ready for something, steeling yourself for something, most exhausted and tired or even injured by something. I recall fondly a lot of conversations I've had with drivers, even people whom I've only talked to once, who just happened to be there at a particular moment that made a difference.

(And to be honest, part of the reason I bring this up is because of my uncle, who was the closest thing I had to a father and whom I mostly interacted with as he drove me to school and college. And, as I discovered while I was writing this post, has now just passed away after a grueling struggle with brain cancer, something I haven't really begun to process and probably won't for a while).

Shrevy is the Shadow's driver, yeah, but being someone's driver, for any extended period of time, isn't something that goes by unnoticed. Having any kind of extended contact with someone who drives for you opens a doorway not just to learn much about them (which may not be a good thing, to be clear, I've obviously had terrible driver experiences as well), but also for them to inevitably learn much about you. The horror of being known, and all that. Shrevy is the Shadow's main driver, for himself and his agents. He has to interact with all of them, ferry them through their journeys and rescue them from trouble, speeding through the streets with his expert knowledge on them, and jump out of the car to rescue them if necessary.

He's often there when The Shadow has to switch back and forth to Lamont Cranston, or apply disguises via a hidden kit and mirror stashed in the backseat of Shrevy's cab. Shrevy picks up The Shadow when he's injured, when he's in the middle of gun fights, when he has to make a quick get-away. There are people who are closer to knowing The Shadow's secrets, people with whom he entrusts more information about his secret identity. But nobody ever quite sees The Shadow the way Shrevy does.

Nobody gets to watch The Shadow transform the way Shrevy does. Nobody gets to pick up the pieces and rescue The Shadow the way Shrevy does, and regardless of how close they are, this is something that inevitably would affect their dynamic. I've seen a couple of takes on Shrevy that play up the fact that he's more elderly than The Shadow, and even sort of turn Shrevy into a pseudo-paternal figure for the agents and even The Shadow himself, and to be honest, I don't mind that at all. Maybe not that close, but, I don’t mind the idea of Shrevy sort of being one to look out for The Shadow in his own way, even when he scares him, even when he’s cold and distant and grimly focused, because Shrevy looks out for everyone and he’s not gonna let the fact that his boss is terrifying to get in the way of that.

I think the premise that The Shadow has to stay distant and cold and unassailable from his agents (and the completely wrong idea that he treats them like cogs in a machine), as necessary as that has to be, inevitably doesn't last once you start giving the agents focus, once you start humanizing The Shadow through interactions with them, as the pulps did. You cannot put a group of people fighting crime and getting into danger and rescuing others together and not expect bonds to form, and I think Shrevy is the kind of character who would be right at the center of a lot of them. 

The one guy who's always got a bad joke to share or a piece of urban wisdom to impart, a guy who really is just like anyone else you may have known in your family or friends, or someone who you could have met and made friends with, if only you'd paid more attention to your surroundings. The kind stranger, and in The Shadow's case, a part of legions of kind strangers all of whom united under one cause, under the guidance of one mysterious being. And when that mysterious being needs to get around quickly or escape trouble, there's one kind stranger he can always rely on.

I guess ultimately, that's what Shrevy means to me. Fond memories I have and wish to impart on others. That’s part of why I think the agents are so special, and why I want so badly for them to get the appreciation they deserve. 

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 45

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I cut down the Grimm in front of me. It was green where it should have been white. The discoloration a sign of the modifications Merlot had subjected it to. I spun the broadsword with one hand easily.

Neo was by my side and she tore through the Grimm with grace enough for two.

I wasn't quite sure what the point of the modifications were. Were the Grimm stronger or faster? Maybe. But not enough for it to matter. At least to me.

We'd left the horse back in town. Godo had given his word it would be safe in Wutai while we worked our magic. I sliced and cut into the creeper's flesh. I put out a boot and crushed a green one like it was a child's toy and not a ravaging killing machine.

Neo had her stiletto in one hand and the umbrella in the other. She worked methodically covering my flank as we marched further into the Grimm infested territory.

We'd yet to see the humanoid Grimm I'd been wary of. Just these modified Creepers and Beowulfs. I spun my sword around my body and brought it down, crushing a Beowulf as much as slicing it.

Lately I've been fine in my ruminating state but it felt good to blow off some steam against some enemies which definitely deserved it. Grimm weren't like people and for a moment I was able to remember the light.

I cut down monsters left and right, conserving my energy as we pushed deeper into the woods. I spent my Limit Break on blade-beams when I got it and held onto the strength and speed as long as I thought I could manage before I threw it away and started on the next one.

I once Finishing Touched an Ursa Major we'd come across. The whirlwind of attacks stormed the beast until there was nothing left of it and it dissolved away into grime and smoke.

I wouldn't even need to clean my blade after this. It had been so long since I'd fought these. The true enemy of humanity. I had forgotten. I was a slayer of monsters, truly.

I heard Mother's voice even through the fighting. It was beckoning me to the kingdomless lands. To take the relic and fly to her. I could pull it off too. If I just gave in to that alien goddess it would all be fine. The voices and the bugs would stop.

Instead I marshalled myself and pressed on. Neo flickered out to one side and stabbed through two Beowulfs with a refined ease. She was acrobatic as she accompanied me. Flickering out from the wedge I was driving and destroying and Grimm which dared to get close.

I reached out and crushed a Beowulf's neck with my left hand. I easily strangled it until it was naught but dust and ash.

I would have taken a smoke break a while ago but the Grimm had been unrelenting. It was like disturbing an ant hill as we pushed deeper into enemy grounds. The more we killed the more we seemed to aggravate the whole until I at last caught a glance of a lopsided creature.

I thought it was a Beowulf but it moved more raggedly. It was entirely bipedal with one arm disproportionately larger than the other and ripped with barbed white claws. It was fast but slower than I had been expecting, than I had been afraid of. It's face was the least human thing about it. It had a looming maw in place of a head and seemed to detect me without any eyes.

I blocked it's strike and riposted hard. It went down, bisected by my enormously wide blade. The six feet of range never allowed it to get close to me.

I stepped nearer and looked at it as it dissolved. Neo and I shared a look and I could only hope that she felt the same disgust I did over the monstrosity.

How had Merlot made these monstrosities? How had he made me? Was I like them? Godo had called these ones failures… was I a successful model? Who and what was I really? Time could be my only guide as I pursued the truth.

Neo and I held the line together as we moved apart and chopped away at the Grimm that was swarming us. It was possible I was in a bad mood thinking about my origins.

Oh well. Godo-Dono would be appreciative of us killing more Grimm and so far these weren't threatening. It was the sheer number of them that made them dangerous. They were trying to swamp us. I Cross Slashed two Beowulfs at once. The strikes, the same ones that had killed Ren, demolished the Grimm bodies. Tearing away chunks of red and black Grimm flesh the same way they'd torn into my friend's aura.

It had a sort of sickening familiarity to it.

It wasn't good, I'd spent the last week nearly constantly wasted on greens to hold back my psychosis and it was biting back at me now, as if to punish me.

I blinked rapidly trying to get the bugs out of my eyes and ignore the sweet whispering call of Mother's voice.

“Child, my child…”

“Obey me… come to me…”

I fought through it. Whatever it was I was born with it. I could beat this. I rubbed my eyes and stuck a finger in my ear. I changed the motion and rubbed my earlobe. As though I'd be giving her power if I acknowledged the hallucinations.

I heard Mother... Salem- laugh softly.

I couldn't go back. I'd gone too far for that. Besides, I wasn't the sort to listen. To Salem or Ozpin, Ozma she'd called him. I climb-hazard a Beowulf and slammed it back into the ground in a brutal action, releasing some pent up rage. I Limit Broke and became an absolute wall against them, spinning my blade around me and slicing any Grimm foolish enough to come into my long-long range.

Another two 'human' Grimm approached me and I blocked their long claws and stepped back. I swiped low and took off one's leg at the knees. I thrust forward into the other's chest and it died. I brought the blade down on the still crawling one's head.

The person-like Grimm came at us enforce then and we had to give ground to take ground. I jabbed, thrust, and bit my way through them. I was a terror with my weapon and though I backed up, the enemy kept dying around me.

Neo stood with me. Lashing out from behind me when she saw the opportunity and alerting me when we were going to be overwhelmed at our position.

I front flipped and brought the blade down in a massive Limit Breaker attack and it shattered the ground along with a half dozen of them.

I normal Cross Slashed when I saw the opportunity and danced with my blade all through the enemy.

I removed limbs with a casual ease and beheaded the fast Grimm with a casual calm. They were driving us back but they couldn't keep this up forever.

The only advantage they had was numbers and they started to thin out as I bust the cuts out on them. I opened deep gashes in the enemy, ones which would never heal and I smashed them under my foot.

I lacerated them with the massive blade, crushing Grimm white bone at the same time I opened up that red inside. I clipped heads off and rolled my wrists making my weapon a blur as I worked my way through them.

I panted as the last of them died and leaned against Crocea Mors for a moment to catch my breath.

We'd arrived at a steep cliff and there at the bottom sat a white metal roof. It was stained and bullied by the Grimm who constantly attempted to undo the work of humanity. Godo-Dono was right. This place had been built to withstand assault.

Assault by the Grimm perhaps, but not by trained huntsmen like yours truly.

The whole place was giving me a sick sense of Deja Vu. I'd been here before. I knew it like I knew the feel of my own heartbeat, like I knew the long red padded handle of Crocea Mors.

I charged Limit to absolutely full. Then I just jumped and before I hit the ground I climb-hazard the wall, rising back up after falling without even hitting the ground. I stood on top of Crocea Mors, embedded in the rock. I pulled it free of the cliff face and then I landed and simply took my weight on my legs.

I looked up to witness Neapolitan drifting down with her parasol. She looked peaceful, relaxed.

The structure looked mostly clear and I stood still, charging Limit Breaker while I waited for her to land. I left it a hair away from being charged and resumed my patient waiting.

I searched my way around the sides of the building, looking for a way in until I found a set of blast doors on the Eastern side away from the cliff. They weren't made of Titania, forged of some kind of cold steel instead. That meant I'd be able to cut my way through.

I activated Limit Breaker and Cross Slashed the doors. The steel fell away to reveal another set of blast doors into which I'd partially cut. I just charged my semblance again and came down with a massive overhead strike and two horizontal swings to pry it open.

Neapolitan landed on the roof above me as I finished breaking my way inside. There was a fury in my heart I couldn't quite place. I was pissed off at being born somewhere wretched like this.

I hovered my way inside. The light I cast from Limit Breaker shed a fine shifting glow over the walls.

I closed my eyes and focused on holding onto the Limit as long as I possibly could. I didn't want to be in the dark in here. I needed the light.

Wisps of my semblance washed over the ceiling as I paced my way inwards. Neo teleported beside me and gave me something like a reassuring smile. I just frowned. The genius loci of this place hated me and I hated it. The feeling was totally mutual. We came across rows and rows of… pods I guess you'd call them. Inside each came a soft greenish glowing light which was familiar to me. Like some distant fever dream.

I could hear Salem's voice whispering louder now.

“Bring it to me… come to me child… my beloved son…”

I didn't buy it. It was getting annoyingly distracting, though. Shadows loomed from every corner of the place along the thick tanks. I walked up to one and peeked inside. There was one of the humanoid Grimm in there. For all the world lifeless and floating, naked and shameless.

"Is this what I am? Just one of these… these clones too?" I asked.

Neo didn't answer. She looked distinctly concerned though. I breathed and tried to relax. I cast light with a wave of my arm upwards. At the top of the rows and rows of tanks there was a larger one. With an inward blue light emanating from the glass window. I walked up to it and traced my fingers across the glass. Nothing floated inside.

"This… this is where I was born. Where I was made. This tank right here. I remember being on the opposite side. The blue light… all of it. It seems surreal to see it from this side now."

True enough I felt almost a sense of vertigo to be looking in from the outside.

I walked down the steps and Neo followed, skipping to keep up, umbrella at the ready.

"If I'm supposed to be comforted by the feeling of having a special tank amongst these cloned monsters I'm not. Let's see what else we can find."

I paced downwards away from the rows and rows of tanks. There was an office there. It had a wide chalkboard… and rows and rows of books.

There was a security terminal too. I booted it up but it asked for a password. I hadn't the slightest clue what the password could be. I turned to the books.

"Let's see… Jaune Arc, perhaps. No… it seems he only gave model numbers to successes. If I'm a true failure I won't be in here. Perhaps it's this one."

I pulled a book from the shelf and breezed through it. Notes on the DNA of the creatures in the tanks. And graphic illustrations of those monsters.

"One of these will be about me. Or my line of models at least…"

I tossed the book behind me and grabbed another. It was full of details on a vivisected Beowulf. I leafed through it and tossed it aside. I was beginning to make a bit of a mess.

"You want to help?" I asked Neo.

She gave a slow cautious affirming nod.

"At that terminal, try variations on Jaune Arc. What with caps and spaces and all. Maybe it'll work. I don't know."

She nodded and began typing away at the computer with resounding mechanical clacks .

I tossed another book over my shoulder. Adding to the growing pile. I ransacked the shelves but whatever labeling system Merlot had used didn't agree with me.

Eventually Neo stopped typing.

"No luck?"

She shook her head.

"I thought not… Did you try 'password?'"

She gave me a flat look and did. No dice. Just that same login screen.

"Hey wouldn't you? If you were me?"

She sighed heavily but she did nod.

I tossed a book on Creepers over my shoulder. It landed haphazardly and I found I didn't much care. If Merlot ever returned he'd find his collection in a state of miserable disarray.

"Wait this is it." It was a vitruvian man which kinda looked like me. It was in the cheekbones and jawline and around the eyes. It had my tank's label to it.

"I was… I was made from Salem's cells. And some donor's. It doesn't say who. How in the world did he get his hands on Salem's cells? Doesn't she like… live on a kingdomless continent? I feel a pull in her direction but I cannot tell how far."

"I was grown here from a fetus. In that tank until I was nearly an adult. The tank educated me, I think. There are vague impressions..."

"Salem's cells… it must explain her control over me. How she's able to get in my head. Why I still hear the whispers. I can still hear her now."

Neo pantomimed smoking.

I nodded, relieved at even the thought and pulled my pipe out. I packed it from the grinder with some Lemon Drop Haze and took a long pull using my lighter. My semblance died out around then. I sighed and started to recharge. I took a long pull as I did and the only thing I could see was the glowing red embers in the pipe, slowly growing, then slowly dying out as I roached the entire thing in a single pull.

I exhaled and like a light switch my semblance turned on. I breathed out in Neo's direction by accident and she waved a hand through the smoke, looking annoyed.

"Sorry," I breathed. "Sorry."

"It says here… it says I was a partial failure." I wasn't sure what to make of that. At least I had a face unlike the humanoid Grimm and he counted those as...something I guess. I felt something bitter rise up in me. Something howling.

A failure without so much as a birth.

I couldn't even be a failure from birth.

I had no model number. My father… Merlot...

Instead on through the notes. "This explains my fake memories. They were given to me by the tank. And my… and my sisters. There's no mention of them. I wonder if they were successes." I put the little book in my pocket and perused the rest of the shelf. "They'd have a different model number if they were successes…"

I searched through every last book but found no mention of them, my sisters and no more references to me, myself, either.

"She said I was Merlot's. Could my sisters have come from somebody else? The more questions I have answered the more questions I have!"

I swung out with Crocea Mors and shattered the glass on the tank nearest the office. Neapolitan shot up, looking alarmed. The Grimm thing stirred but I reached through the broken glass and strangled it with my bare hands. Liquids from the tank dripped over me and the green light dimmed. It fell apart into a disgusting black fluid.

I growled and wanted to scream.

"Nothing about this makes sense. Nothing about this is fair . I'm going to get my hands on Merlot for real. I'll make him pay for ever creating me. Every ounce of agony I have ever suffered I shall inflict upon him ten-fold."

I laughed madly and shattered another tank. I stabbed straight through it and the Grimm thing inside. Malformed. A reject. A bad batch and nothing more. That's all my existence was. My entire life and every emotion I'd ever felt.

The only people who could answer my questions were Salem and Merlot and lords only knew where Merlot was. I had no intention of going near Salem. Just so she could control my mind again? I wanted nothing to do with that.

I skewered another tank and this time I did scream. I pierced the thing inside and it died a bubbly, gurgling death.

Neo watched from the sidelines, transfixed. Her face was ashen white.

With shaking hands I pulled my pipe out again and set up another hit. I pulled hard and long and coaxing.

I fell to my knees with it and for a minute or two I just let myself be fully and truly mad. My semblance evaporated and I was in total darkness.

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-WG

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY didn’t “pretend” to take the “real world isn’t a fairytale” seriously. This is a problem that has been shown in V1-3. Faunus racism was ALWAYS a problem, and they killed off Tuskon in V2 to establish the world is cruel and unpredictable thing. V3 was meant to be the point the world finally caught up with Ruby. It’s so supposed to be idealistic realism. The world is harsh, and full of Grey areas, but you still move on and try your best. The show became too idealistic.

Not to imply that my memory is the be all and end all of RWBY analysis - beyond the obvious problems with that, the fact that every day I go “Oh yeah!” about an aspect of the show certainly says something lol - but I think the fact that I had no idea who Tuskon was makes my point. The fact that I had to look up this minor character who existed in a single scene and remind myself of his (supposed) importance demonstrates that the impact of his death isn’t anywhere near the level of someone like Pyrrha’s - for Ruby or the viewer. Tuskon didn’t tell us that the RWBY world is a cruel, unpredictable place. It told us that our villains are villainous, hunting down people who escaped the Evil White Fang and were just trying to live quiet lives as bookstore owners. That’s simple: villains being villains. And we don’t care about Tuskon. Tuskon doesn’t shake the very foundations of our expectations for the show. 

I’m not going to pretend that RWBY didn’t mess up its racism allegory - it absolutely did - but RWBY also isn’t the first show to use discrimination as a simplistic backdrop. And Volumes 1-3 pre-Fall (or, more accurately, pre-having Pyrrha struggle with the Maiden powers) was very simplistic and, as a result, idealistic. That extended to the Faunus. How we as the audience think the show SHOULD be tackling a topic (seriously and with nuance) doesn’t erase how the show WAS tackling it (simply and with a Good vs. Evil lens). There are lots of examples here - Blake as the Good Faunus, the group smashing White Fang goons with a smile - but I think the most obvious is Cardin. He’s presented first as a generic bully, then as a racist bully who targets Velvet. How is this solved? By Jaune, the white dude, standing up for himself. It’s a double whammy of a) ignoring the race aspect in our “solution” and b) the solution being an absurd - but very familiar - message of, “Just show your bully you’re a person with worth and they’ll back off!” That’s not a story that tells us the world is dark, but you should keep shouldering forward regardless. That’s a story that tells us the world has pretty straight forward problems that can be solved with equally straight forward actions. 

Early RWBY was like a cartoon with some extra violence thrown in and, occasionally, an overt hint at that more complex world. (Example: Yang telling Blake about Tai’s struggle after Summer’s death.) I’m on the record as saying that RWBY handled nuance better in the earlier volumes, but it was still a kid’s level nuance with one Obvious Right Answer. Early RWBY conflicts read as something like, “Susan took Sally’s bike to give it a new, surprise paintjob for her birthday. Sally is very upset when she thinks her bike has been stolen and then later angry at Susan. The audience is suppose to understand both Sally’s anger and Susan’s good intentions, but in the end Susan learns not to take things without permission.” Ironwood learns not to be too hasty. Penny learns that Good People will accept her existence without question. Weiss learns that racism is Bad. It’s all very neat and tidy because although we were always able to read into how bad the world actually was, the story didn’t draw overt attention to it. It didn’t want to tackle it. Compare something like the Mountain Glenn battle to the Argus battle. The first is Good Team RWBY fighting established Bad White Fang Goons, breaking rules because their headmaster explicitly allowed them to with a wink, grappling with a personal conflict about what they want out of life (generic coming of age), and ending it all by peacefully watching the sun set. Argus is the Now On a Secret Mission to Stop a Horrific War Team RWBY fighting an allied woman who is trying to do her job, causing the battle in the first place by stealing an airship/drawing the grimm, absolutely breaking the law without any wink-wink permission, grappling with a personal conflict surrounding their betrayal and rejection of another ally, ending with them flying into a dystopian looking Atlas. That is way more complex than what we had before. And RWBY wasn’t able to manage that complexity well. They should have kept to their simple world that only hinted at more. We can take any story, think about it realistically, and go, “Man, that’s messed up.” It doesn’t mean that the story itself is drawing attention to that and encouraging its audience to grapple with it. Volume 1, 2, and a good chunk of 3 discouraged us from overthinking these conflicts. 

I didn’t get into RWBY until the end of Volume 3, so I didn’t have the experience of watching it live, but I absolutely remember my reaction to all the events. In Volume 1, 2, or early 3 would the average RWBY viewer really have expected something like the Fall? The conflict in the snow? Atlas? I certainly didn’t. If someone had told me, “In a few years, RWBY will be killing off/maiming main characters, attempting realistic depictions of PTSD, doubling-down on the (supposedly) morally gray aspects, having our heroes turn against their allies, and showing us child torture across two episodes” my reaction would have been asking if this?? was the same show???? And that there is the difference. Early RWBY was a fun romp that (mostly) ignored its dark undertones, admittedly causing problems with the audience who wanted them to take sensitive subjects like racism more seriously. Current RWBY is a show doing everything possible to emphasize the dark and complex nature of this world, the morally gray, insisting that they’re no easy, right answer anymore... while also insisting that one girl’s optimism can really solve these (now overt) problems and ignoring how they’ve  failed to write Ruby as the Pure and Good Hero they want her to be. 

[good-rwbyaus]

Be Careful Who You Blackmail pt. 1 / 2. | #Criminal Minds RWBY AU | mod lilac

AU Description: Based on n3b1r1us's AU Prompt where Jaune's plans usually consist of crimes. Also, Ren is the sole voice of reason because the rest of team JNPR are filthy enablers. 

Cardin blackmails the wrong person. Story’s written in Cardin’s POV.

previous piece in this AU :: The Voice of Reason

Uggh. His head. Why’d it feel like he got hit with a sledgehammer or that all the blood in his body was rushing to his head? Did he fall out of bed or somethi-

Wait. Something’s wrong. It’s too windy. Wasn’t he sleeping in his tent earlier? Why was he outsi-

Cardin startled as he opened his eyes, the world upside-down as he dangled from a tree branch. Even worse was that the tree branch he was hanging from happened to be jutting past a cliffside, and underneath him was the forest of Forever Fall, cloaked in the shadow of night.

The alarming thing was that, underneath the ropes tying him like a hog, he was clad only in his boxers. No weapons, no armor, just him and the very real dangers of Remnant. Seriously, he needed to get out of here and find his way back before the Gri- 

“Grrrrrrggr.”

His gaze turned directly downwards and met a pair of glowing red eyes. His throat dried up as a large vague outline peeked out of the treeline, a stalwart figure that only meant one thing in these parts. 

The Grimm. An Ursa. 

“Shit!” he couldn’t help but yell when the Ursa rose on its hindlegs, its attention clearly on him. Wiggling and flailing like a worm, he screamed to anyone that would listen, “Somebody. Anybody! Help!”

“You know if you keep screaming and moving, I might not be able to keep hanging onto this rope,” spoke a familiar voice.

Wasn’t that....

With dawning horror, Cardin lifted his gaze from the Ursa and spotted the last person he expected to see on the cliff. Peeking out from behind the tree he was tied to, Jaune waved his hand jauntily while holding his lifeline in his hand. 

No way. Jaune didn’t have the guts to do what he was threatening. This was after all Jaune, a doormat shaped like a person. Didn’t voice a complaint despite the humiliating things he’s requested Jaune to do in exchange for not telling Ozpin about the blond’s faked transcripts. Hell, even during this trip, he was always scurrying away and hiding in the most random places in Forever Fall just to avoid him. A clear bluff. 

Cardin gritted his teeth in anger and sent a sneer towards his fellow classmate.

"Jaune! When I get out of these ropes, I’m going t- AHHH!" Gravity suddenly took hold of his body, the ground closing extremely fast. His eyes closed shut as his screams rang through the night.

“Hurk.” A sudden resistance took hold as the rope around his feet pulled taut. 

Realizing he’d been given a momentary reprieve, Cardin opened his eyes once more and found the Ursa was a lot closer than he’d like. Its claws groped skywards trying to reach the tasty morsel just dangling out of its reach. A warbling discontent growl echoed from its maw as he felt himself being pulled upward towards the cliff edge and met the face of his tormentor once more. 

"I was really patient, you know. Ren said that bullies go away if you don't give them a reaction,” Jaune explained as he kneeled down to meet him eye-to-eye, the same innocent smile still plastered on - as if the blond hadn’t tried to send him to his death seconds earlier. "And well you just didn’t go away. So you thought to blackmail me instead.” The blond began unfurling the rope in his grip, Cardin belatedly realizing what his classmate was going to do again. 

“STO-!” 

He felt another jolt as he descended the cliff in freefall, screaming. Only when he felt the rope pull taut against his legs did he have the courage to open his eyes once again. He wish he hadn’t. He saw the metallic glint of the Ursa’s claws sail right past his nose, the wind of its swipes beating upon his face. He was so close to the abomination that he could smell it, a disgusting cloying mix of sugary syrup and iron. And within its eyes, he could see his brutal death reflected in its crimson hues. Even with Aura, you don’t survive an Ursa, even a Minor, without weapons and armor. "Stop lowering me Jaune! Pull me up! Pull me up! If you don’t, I’m going to-!” 

What was his stupid mouth about to say?! Threatening Jaune at this point? When Jaune was already willing to go this far?! 

“Jaune! Come on. We can talk it out! You know you can’t get away with this. I won’t say anything if you just st-"

"Oh. I am going to get away with this; I just haven’t gotten to that part yet,” Jaune grinned. “You know, I nearly died several times trying to find the most obscure places to hide, knowing that you and your team were looking for me, even after off hours." The blond rubbed his jaw with his free hand. “I even remember taking a couple punches for inconveniencing you too.”

The insane boy moved his hand away from his chin and snapped his fingers. “But now team CRDL has the reputation of being reckless explorers, breaking the rules to explore deeper into dangerous areas. Such a gunner, you. Even going out at night to prove your worth.” The blond sniffled a few times, hand wiping a fake tear, as if he were a proud parent watching his kid get an award. 

“Not a bad result from a game of hide and seek, right?” the blond looked straight at him, grinning.

How- Him chasing Jaune through Forever Fall was part of Jaune’s plans? How many steps was Jaune thinking ahead? How long was he planning all this behind his back? How deep was he in the other boy’s schemes?! He’d always thought it a joke when people said Jaune was a brilliant tactician, but....

Cardin shivered as he felt himself being slowly pulled upwards towards the cliff again. His blood turned cold upon seeing the expression that met him, Jaune looking like the very cat that’s found a mouse to 'play’ with. He wanted to say something more to Jaune, but the fear that he’d say the wrong thing and be sent plunging to his death stayed his tongue. 

“And well, as for me getting away with this...”

Jaune opened up a Scroll and revealed a screen displaying a live recording dot and a familiar blond figure talking to the rest of team JNPR at the campfire. 

Cardin could only stare at the Scroll in horror. 

"How?”

“You don’t have to ask where I got the body double. In any case when morning comes and roll call happens, everything’s going to think Cardin Winchester bit more than he can chew and never came back,” Jaune said solemnly. “Your team...well, your team will go on an ill-advised journey to avenge you and then disappear forever into the depths of Forever Fall. No one will ever find the bodies.” 

The blond held his chest with his free hand and closed his eyes, momentarily silent.

“I’m sure Beacon Academy will provide your families the appropriate remuneration.” 

This lunatic's going to kill him. And he’s not going to let off the rest of his team. His heart pounded like a jackhammer. Jaune’s seriously trying to kill him. This isn’t a joke. He’s going to die. He doesn’t want to die. No-

“Look Jaune. Jaune. Buddy. Friend. I wasn’t really going to tell Ozpin. Really. It-was-a-joke. And-”

“Yeah about that, I'll admit those forgeries weren’t my greatest work,” Jaune scratched his chin in bemusement. “They look good at first glance and even at second glance, but well it was my first time, and I might’ve overdone it when I realized it might give me a chance to meet my idol.” 

“But there’s no good excuses for poor work, and I really have a reputation to keep,” Jaune stated sincerely before looking at him straight in the eyes, expression as serious as death. 

This didn’t seem quite right. Wasn’t Jaune scared about being expelled from Beacon? When did this becom-

Jaune must’ve seen the surprise in his eyes because the blond laughed. 

“Oh. You were thinking Professor Ozpin would expel me for something like a fake transcript?” Jaune laughed, “After I made it this far? After showing I can learn and become a great tactician and leader? When there’s students from Beacon who’ve never been to any sort of combat academy at all? As far as I’m concerned...”

“He’d probably give me extra credit if he knew,” Jaune bared a toothy grin. “Cardin, the only reasons why I let you blackmail me was because I didn’t need to be known as someone who did shoddy work and that I didn’t want my peers thinking I cheated the system to get in. Even if I totally did.” 

“Wow. What a funny misunderstanding. But... well now we’re here, “ Jaune shrugged, “Though one of us won’t be shortly.”

His heart skipped a beat, alarm bells ringing in his head. His breath turned unsteady as he tried not to succumb to the growing panic and horror; he thought he had Jaune figured out, only to find he’d been provoking a complete psychopath all along.

“Look. Jaune. I won’t say anything at all. I won’t bother you ever again. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll clean your clothes. I’ll clean your team’s clothes. I’ll pay y-”

“Your offer sounds really good,” Jaune held a hand up as he interrupted, “but I’m the type to get rid of trouble before it festers. I mean, if I get rid of you and your team now, I don’t have to worry about having my reputation smeared in the future. Don’t worry, Cardin. I’ll make sure you have company.” The blond began unwinding the rope from his arm again, “Bye Card-”

“NO! Please! I don’t wanna die. My mom and dad are waiting for me back home. Ihaven’tmade a name for myself. Please! Idonwanttodieireallywanttolive. illwalkyourdog. ill make pancak-” The incoherent blabbling wasn’t something he could help, the words forming faster in his head than his mouth could say them. The tears and nose dripped down his face and forehead as he tried everything to appease this demon from hell. Pride - who needed pride at this point -  just as long as he could stay alive!  

As he babbled continuously, the blond boy just hummed as if considering his words. 

“illbeatupwhoeveryouwant. illbeyourlackey. illfetchyouyourlocker. please don’t kill m-”   

“Hmmm,” Jaune tilted his head, “Okay.”

“and I’ll- Huh?” He couldn’t help but drop his jaw in surprise, his brain screeching to a halt at that simple single utterance. After all this talk about killing him, was- was Jaune seriously going to let him go? 

“Oh, you’d rather the Ursa have you? Well if that’s the cas-

“No!” 

The blond smirked in amusement. 

“Alright. I’ll let you go for now. But remember, if you speak a word about this or the other thing to anyone else...”

“I won’t. I swear. I’ll-” He was definitely going to stay far away from the clearly unstable blond if he could help it. No one can pay him enough t-

“Just remember, I can get to you at any time. It might be eaten by an Ursa today,” Jaune whimsically said, “It could be maimed by a disgruntled bunny-eared Faunus tomorrow. Well. Good night.” 

“Good nigh-? Urgkurguurugurg.”

His body spasmed uncontrollably as something struck into the back of his neck. And then he knew no more.

[thruthetwstedlookingglass]

Hello, if it is not a problem I would like to ask for something. After the tournament and after Leona returned from the overblot, another problem: a demon was summoned, immune to magic, FemMc had no choice but to show up as a half-demon, murdering the demon, used to being called a "monster " out of fear, but it hurt. After days he finds her together with Grimm in the greenhouse, comforting her after hearing that she had fallen in love with him, but who would want to fall in love with a monster??

Sorry that this took so long! I had a hard time trying to decipher the request, but I think I got the gist of it. I actually enjoyed writing this one a lot because it's got a moral to it at the end :3 I hope this is what you wanted and that you like it!

Warnings: mentions of bullying (bullying is not okay!)

Leona x halfdemon!fem!MC!reader

The night after Leona Kingscholar had been purified of his Overblot, much to her relief, (Y/n) sensed another evil within the castle of Night Raven College. There was a reason She could sense it. You see, (Y/n) was a half demon. As a half demon, she could sense when other evils were around, track them down, and dispose of them.

And that night, she sensed something foul.

Sneaking out of bed while She was in the infirmary was not exactly easy. Leona and Ruggie were both there as well, and this evil was obviously in the infirmary with them. It would be a difficult task; dispatching the demon and keeping it quiet was not exactly easy for her. Even if it was night time, her powers were still at half capacity because she was only half. But she did these tasks in order to atone for her sin; no matter how kind and compassionate she tried to be, she was still a monster, and that was the sin that made her fearful. Nobody knew of this, and she hoped to keep it that way.

(Y/n)'s pace was slow and silent as her bare feet touched the cool floors of the castle. Every hair on her neck bristled; it was very near. Her form slowly changed, her fingers and toes becoming black as curved talons appeared. She sniffed around and then she sensed it.

Right behind her.

She spun around on her heels to see a grim and disgusting creature with large leathery wings and a boney tail that was barbed at the tip with what looked like a harpoon.... and it was about to dig into a sleeping Leona for a meal.

Instinct took over and (Y/n) flew at the beast, inadvertently crashing through the window. She didn't think of it then, seeing as she was a bit preoccupied grappling with the evil creature.

"WhAt Is A hAlFbReEd LiKe YoU dOiNg HeRe?!" The beast growled in a twisted and gravelly voice.

"I'm a student here, and I will not let anyone here be the meal for a demon!" She growled back.

This made the demon almost keel over in laughter.

"YoU!? A hAlFbReEd AnD a DeMoN sLaYeR?! tHaT's RiCh!! Oh, ThE mOsT pRePoStErOuS nOtIoN!"

(Y/n) was pissed by this monster's mockery, and she attacked, her anger being the fuel for her attacks. This didn't catch the demon off guard, however, and about a dozen punches, kicks and slashes later, (Y/n) was at the mercy of the vlive creature. Its hand was wrapped firmly around her neck, but it didn't seem satisfied just yet.

"ThAt'S iT?! iS tHiS rEaLlY aLl YoU'vE gOt?!" It laughed at her as it held her up, and then its mouth curved into a sickening grin. "YoU'rE hOlDiNg BaCk." It laughed. "YoU aRe! I cAn TeLl!"

"Th-That's not..." (Y/n) struggled to speak.

"WhAt'S tHe MaTtEr, HaLfBrEeD?" It sneered with a grin, bringing her in closer as if he were about to take a bite. "AfRaId ThAt If YoU uSe ThE yOuR fUlL tRaNsFoRmAtIoN tHaT yOu'Ll bECoMe tHe ThInG yOu HaTe MoSt?!"

(Y/n) glared at the beast and then drove her claws into the beast's chest, wrapping her fingers around his heart.

"I still... want to keep my humanity..." she said, squeezing its heart in her hand and making it grimace. "Because I have someone to fight for!!"

The creature howled in pain as its heart was crushed, and dropped her. She didn't quite land on her feet, but she wasn't about to let her guard down. The demon fell to the ground, its body turning to ash, and then suddenly the dying creature laughed.

"YoU... wIlL nEvEr... BeLoNg... HaLfBrEeD..."

She clenched her fists and then stomped on its head, crushing it to ashes.

"Maybe not... but I'd like to try..." she whispered before watching the ashes blow upward.

As she raised her gaze, her blood ran cold when she saw a very familiar figure standing at the broken window. Her worse fear had been realized. She had been seen... by Leona. In fear, she turned and ran, tears forming in her eyes.

'He saw me... Leona saw me!' She thought to herself, running far away to hide.

~~~~~

(Y/n) didn't return to Ramshackle, and she didn't go to class. She had long since returned to her human form, but she didn't dare show herself. If Leona had seen, she was convinced that the rest of the school knew what she was too. Ever since she was young, (Y/n) had been called a monster and a parasite. Since coming to NRC, she had been able to keep her true nature a secret, and the vile whispers of her childhood were kept at bay.

But now... they had returned... much louder... and this time in the likeness of the voices of her friends.

'Monster!' 'How vile!' 'Rot in hell where a disgusting creature like you belongs!'

(Y/n) covered her ears as she cried, trying to stop them.

"Please... make it stop..." she whispered shakily. "Make it stop..."

"Oi, herbivore." A familiar voice said. "You know how long I've been looking for you?"

(Y/n) froze and looked up a little. Her eyes widened.

"L-Leona..." she whispered.

She didn't know what to do. She was frozen like a deer in the headlights. Why had Leona been looking for her? When Leona took a step closer, (Y/n) shrunk back in fear.

"Don't..."

"What? I'm not going to hurt you." Leona said. "I want answers."

"No." She said.

"No?" He asked, confused.

"No." She repeated.

"Why not?" He asked, crouching down to look at her.

"Because I'm a monster. A vile creature." She said, co wearing her face. "No matter what I do... I'll never belong... and I'll never be loved..."

There was a silence, and (Y/n) thought that he had been a figment of her imagination trying to haunt her, but she was suddenly pulled into a hug and it frightened her a little.

"Geez... you're an idiot..." he said with a sigh.

"Eh?"

"I believe that you once said before that we forge our own paths to walk." He said. "That we shouldn't let the traumas of our past define us."

(Y/n)'s eyes widened and she looked at him. She had indeed said that... when she had helped bring Leona out of his Overblot.

"Y-You heard me...?"

"Every word." He said before looking at her. "So, I offer that same advice to you, along with this." He gently stroked her cheek, making her blush at his touch. "Its no use hiding from yourself when you know yourself so well." He said. "You said that you're a monster, but is that really what you believe?"

"W-Well..." she said.

"Because the way I see it, you are kind and compassionate to everyone you meet." He said. "Your birth shouldn't change those qualities you have."

She blushed brightly and looked away a little, only to be pulled back to look at him and a pair of lips brushing against her forehead. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she looked up at him.

"Everyone is worried about you." Leona said. "So, tomorrow, come back to class and bring back that stupid smile."

She had been about to say something in retort when Leona laughed at her reaction. And (Y/n) found herself smiling as well.

The next day, she returned to her friends and her classes. She was truthful about what she was, and they all welcomed her, half demon or not, because deep down, she was still (Y/n) (L/n), a proud student of Night Raven College who never bore any ill will towards anyone and was kind and compassionate to all.

So, in the end, Leona was right; we are who we make ourselves, and while our past can hurt, we can either run from it or learn from it.

Whoo! That one might put a few through the emotional ringer!

[howlingday]

Do you think in the Nora and Cardin siblings au they ever end up bonding? (I literally just saw your new au and I love it especially ren and Nora speaking mistral)

"Well, this is really uncomfortable." Yang Xiao Long commented as she watched Cardin Winchester, the biggest bully of Beacon Academy, sit across from her at breakfast. Next to him, a much smaller girl angrily chewed through her pancakes, scraping her teeth along the metal prongs. "Someone mind filling me in on why Cardin is sitting at our table?"

"It's part of a family thing." Jaune sighed. "Nora got the idea from how you and Ruby always sit next to each other."

"We do not!" Ruby argued, before turning to her sister. "Do we?"

Yang shrugged next to her sister. "I mean, we do sit next to each other every day."

"In class, too." Blake said.

"And the bathroom." Weiss added.

"Eh, it's better than us fighting each other all the time." Yang shrugged.

Cardin glanced at Nora, then straightened at her death glare. Clearly, Nora still wasn't thrilled about her new big brother. With a sigh, he cut his pancakes into three slices.

"What are you doing?" Cardin looked down at his sister, who was staring at his pancakes.

"I'm cutting my pancakes." He answered.

"Why into thirds?"

"Because I want to?"

Nora pondered the question, but said nothing more. It seemed her chewing lessened in intensity, if only by a small margin. Pyrrha was grateful for the end result of her working migraine from the screeching metal.

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

"So, uh, why don't you swing from the side?"

"Because I don't want to." Nora looked at Cardin like he suddenly turned into a Grimm.

"I'm just saying, you get more of a workout if you swing from the side." Cardin said. "You also have to think about hand placement more."

"Please," she scoffed, "just because you put Jaune-Jaune into the ground, literally, that doesn't mean you know how to fight better than me."

"I'm just saying-"

"Well, you need to stop saying and start doing." Nora jabbed his chest with a sturdy finger. "In fact, stop talking altogether!"

"Alright." Cardin shrugged. "I'm just say-"

Nora threw Cardin to the ground. Their arms swung wide as the two scuffled on the hard ground like a bear battling a wolverine, and the former was losing horribly. Nora would eventually stand victorious over her big bro. Admiring that she was able to put him down. Like a little sister should.

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

"Am I seeing this right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Cardin helping Nora with her homework?" Jaune clarified.

"Yeah."

"Yup."

"They seem to be getting along just fine, right, Ren?" Pyrrha looked to the other male member of the team. "Ren?"

Ren was sleeping soundly on his bed. At this time, he was normally helping Nora with her grades, or supervising her when the others did. With this extra time without pulling his partner back to the desk, he was able to get some much sought after meditation.

For some reason, Nora seemed a lot calmer around her brother.

[razieltwelve]

Tag Along (Final Rose AU Snippet)

Yang had to admit that Taren looked absolutely adorable with his motorcycle helmet and so did Fury with his own matching helmet. However, she was not suicidal. There was no way she was letting either of them onto her motorcycle.

“Sorry, buddy,” Yang said. “But you can’t hitch a ride with me. Motorcycles aren’t exactly the safest things around, and you haven’t got the Aura to walk away from a crash.”

There was also the not-to-so-small matter of her girlfriend murdering her if something happened to the little boy and his even littler chocobo. Averia cut her a lot of slack, but if her brother got hurt because she got careless, she was in for a world of hurt.

“Aw...” Taren pouted. It was an utterly adorable expression, and Yang couldn’t help but feel that he must have practiced with Diana to maximise its effectiveness. “Averia lets me ride with her sometimes.”

“Your sister has Saviour. If you’re with her, there’s basically nothing in the world that can harm you, not to mention, she’d never crash either.” Yang knew better than anyone how good Averia was on a motorcycle. Without her Semblance she was amazing. With Saviour on, it was like playing a video game with all of the cheat codes on. “But, hey, if you want, maybe you can ask your sister if you can come with us next time we go down to the track.”

“I guess.” Taren made a face. “What if I had a personal forcefield generator? Could I ride with you then?”

“Why would you even have one of those?” Yang asked.

“My parents gave me one in case I ever get into trouble.” The boy shrugged. “They told me that if there’s trouble I should hide and wait for them to come help me. The personal forcefield generator is to make sure I don’t get hurt or anything before they get there.”

Yang would bet money that Diana had designed that personal forcefield generator herself, which meant it could probably laugh off artillery, at least for a while. More to the point, it would probably take days for an average Grimm to get through it, and there was likely some kind of emergency beacon built into it too. “Even if you’ve got one, I still don’t think it would be a good idea. I’d really need your parents’ permission.”

“Okay.” Taren nodded. “I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble with my parents. I like you, and I’d be sad if you got mangled.”

“Uh, thanks.” Yang did not like to even think about what Lightning and Fang would do to her if she got on their bad side. “How about this? I don’t have to go just yet, so maybe we could spar a little? You’re learning, right?”

Taren grinned. “My family is teaching me, and Fury is helping too.” The little chocobo chick glared evilly from his position atop Taren’s head.

“Is that so?” Yang tilted her head to one side. “How does Fury fight?”

“Can you show her?” Taren asked Fury. The chocobo nodded and then vanished in a blur of movement.

Yang felt more than saw the chocobo hit her in the back. An instant later, he hit her in the side and then in the leg. She bit back a laugh. The chocobo was zipping and bouncing around like a little ball of angry chocobo lightning. It was actually quite impressive how fast he could move, but he simply couldn’t hit hard enough to do any damage at all. Even without her Aura protecting her, she was durable enough to ignore him.

“That’s not bad.” She reached out and firmly but gently caught the chocobo in one hand. “But I don’t think you can fight like that.”

“Probably not,” Taren admitted. “But it would be fun to try.”

X    X     X

Averia pulled into her family’s driveway just in time to see Yang put Taren into one of her patented headlocks. Her brother thrashed and screamed melodramatically, but it was clear he was enjoying himself. Naturally, Fury tried to peck Yang in the face, but his beak bounced off her Aura-reinforcement. Still, she had to hand it to the chocobo. He might be little, but if Taren ever got into a fight, he’d be right there beside him. And, sure, he might not be much of a threat to a huntress like Yang, but he was fast enough to overwhelm and blind a normal person with ease.

“Are you picking on my brother again?” Averia asked. “I should have expected it from how you bully Ruby.”

Yang laughed and ruffled Taren’s hair. “Bully? I was saving her from choking on that cookie. Besides, everyone knows I spoil her rotten.” She grinned. “And you spoil me rotten too, you know.” She waggled her eyebrow suggestively. 

Averia rolled her eyes. She was fully aware of how good she looked in a motorcycle suit. Indeed, she had almost caused a car accident on her way home when someone had decided that staring at her ass was a better idea than watching the road. Fortunately, they’d managed to avoid crashing. Diana would never have let her hear the end of it otherwise. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m amazing.” Yang smirked. 

“Eww...” Taren squirmed out of her grasp. “Are you two flirting?” 

“Who told you about flirting?” Averia asked, making a mental note to murder whoever was responsible.

“Diana said you two flirt all the time.”

And there went that idea. Diana was one of the few people on her ‘can’t be murdered for any reason’ list. “We are talking. There’s a difference.”

“So...” Yang put one hand on her hip. “Want to go for a ride after this?”

“You’d better be talking about a motorcycle ride, Yang, because my brother is standing right there.”

“What other kind of ride would there be?” Taren asked. “Like riding on a chocobo or something?”

“You’ll find out when you’re older,” Averia replied. “And I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Yang. I was supposed to get back half an hour ago, but Aunt Vanille wanted to run some more tests on the bike.”

“Oh?” Yang’s eyes gleamed. “Anything I might be able to add to mine?”

“Not unless you feel up to driving a rocket-propelled motorcycle.”

“Okay... I might skip that. That sounds... crazy.”

“It was.” Averia walked over and gave Taren a quick hug before lifting him up onto her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He giggled, and Fury decided to move his perch from Taren’s head to hers. “But since you’re here and it’s a bit late, why don’t you stay for dinner? My parents wouldn’t mind.”

“Dinner, huh? Sure. I could go for some dinner. What’s on the menu?”

“Pizza?” Taren asked hopefully.

“Nope,” Averia replied. “Knowing my mom, she’ll probably be making a Yun stew.”

“Oh! Yun stew?” Yang had to fight to keep from drooling. “If it’s anything like the last one your mom made, count me in. It was so tasty.”

“Don’t worry,” Averia added, poking Taren on the forehead. “I’m sure mom won’t add too many extra vegetables to your share.”

“Eww...”

X    X     X

Author’s Notes

This is a glimpse into what an Averia/Yang relationship might be like in the AU I mentioned earlier where its Team ACYD (Averia-Claire-Yang-Diana) instead of Team ACEJ.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

I also write original fiction, which you can find on Amazon here. I’ve recently released two stories, Attempted Adventuring and Surviving Quarantine, as well as two audiobooks, Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Army of Golems and Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire. If you like humour, action, and adventure, be sure to check them out.

[kryptsune]

Fellswap {FXS, CXP} (UPDATED: 4/1/2020)

🌼It is an interesting story with Fellswap because I had no ideas for it only for it to turn out into one of my favorites and most extensive. I added the divider because this one is seriously one of the craziest and most fleshed out AUs besides WTU of course. This one has a lot to it so feel free to ask any questions you may have! Enjoy! If you enjoy it spread it around so I can gauge the interest! 💙

Alternate “Nicknames” Info: 

Sans: Crimson- Also goes by The Crimson Lord or Bloody Lord. Crimson the harsh ruler of the lands of Tundra and known to be a loyal “dog” to the Queen. His eyes used to be an icy blue but now they are primarily red. If you manage to pull that old him out then his eyes may turn blue again. It astounds him when Frisk causes him to enter this state. A dog without a leash rather. He is frigid towards real affection/emotion unless he has the goal to manipulate you. The only exception would be that of his brother. His pride and ego are legendary and rarely ever takes no for an answer. He is nicknamed the bloody lord for a reason as he has a vampiric nature. His love of the finer things in life leaves him very possessive and greedy as well. His kingdom, being the closest to the Capital, is the most lavish. He is not easily amused, however, if you are able to amuse him he will most likely keep you alive until your amusement wears out. He is also the younger of the two brothers.

 Papyrus: Grimm- Crimson’s older brother though even with his stature most think the opposite. He could be classified as the wild one. His eyes are usually a golden/yellow color looking more like pupils then the typical skeleton blank sockets. When he is more in his feral mode those sockets will turn black with that blazing yellow pupil. His eyes in this state resemble that of a wolf. He will be more docile unless it comes to the hunt. That is really when he is in predator mode. Grimm is also incredibly needy and does not care about the state of his captees which he usually brings to his brother. He is submissive to Crimson but that does not mean he will tolerate being treated like a dog. He is still the older brother after all. He is a flirt just to get what he wants and he loves it when others fight back. Unlike his brother, Grimm could care less about all the finery all he cares about is the pleasure, fun, and thrill. Grimm is curious by nature so if you draw his attention you may survive long enough to get on his good side. He also has a well known sweet tooth though his brother tries to discourage him from the habit. The running joke is that he had to have his canine teeth replaced with gold because the sugar rotted the true teeth. That, of course, is nothing but a lie. 

Chara: Fuji- Fuji is the twin sister of Frisk and the two could not be further opposites. She is mild-mannered and easily spooked. Her kind heart is often betrayed but she continues to struggle onward despite that. Her physical appearance forces her to cover her left eye due to horrific damage. Under those ebony bangs, she has a scar that is the opposite of Grimms. It is one of the reasons she first draws his interest (that and chocolate). Grimm eventually calls her his Chara-mell apple which is a reference to her name as well as how sweet her personality is. Unlike her sister, Fuji is relatively weak which is why Grimm becomes her protector. She is his little dove.  

Frisk: Frisk is known as the “bad” girl type. She picks fights that she knows she can win and likes to get into trouble. She is rather brash but if she sees a fight she knows she cannot win then she will not take that on. The monsters are one such factor of this. She adores her siblings and will do anything to keep her safe even if that means self-sacrifice. She is sassy and overconfident which makes her a perfect match for Crimson. Eventually, he refers to her as his little huntress as she takes just as much joy harming humans as the monsters do. They hurt her sister and therefore they must pay with blood. Her standoffish attitude is also a huge bonus for Crimson as he gets to learn more about her and break down those walls. They both do that for each other. She enjoys Crimson’s darker side rather than his gentle side. Aside from that only she and his closest family ever see. 

Undyne: Undyne is the Royal scientist and resides in her lab in Windyspires. A place that revolves around aviation. Undyne has a fascination for any kind of flying machines and is more an engineer than a scientist. In order to keep up with the hunt and help her Lord, Alphys, she creates a series of drone-like devices that monitor the “air” of the entire Underworld. It also doubles as a camera for those monsters not participating but watching the hunt take place. She has a very steampunk vibe to her work and likes to wear a pair of aviator goggles at all times. Her favorite type of anime is mech like Gundam or Voltron. She will occasionally wear her lab coat but she prefers her more casual attire. Unlike the rest of the monsters, Undyne does not directly participate in the hunts but rather helps Alphys instead. She has sworn off genetic or soul experimentation but no one knows the true reason why.  

Alphys: The Lord of Windyspires Alphys is the ultimate warrior type. She will do anything to win a battle which includes a little extra help from her scientist (eventually Lady) Undyne. She is the centurion of the Guard and usually participates fully in the hunts. Her desire for revenge and victory is something that drives her forward and takes extra delight in adrenaline that comes with the hunts. Just like Crimson, she is a formidable foe and usually brags that she will one day rule his kingdom which means their egos butt heads frequently. Alphys loves the spectacle even crafting an arena on the border of Magmire and Windy spires dedicated to combat. The weak cannot be a part of the Guard. She much prefers hand to hand combat and will rarely resort to any type of projectile attacks. She was the youngest sibling of 5 brothers and beat up frequently by her brothers which only made her stronger. She vowed never to be weak again though that mindset has made her into the bully she so sought justice for earlier in life. She likes to binge anime with Undyne when it is all Shonen. {probably a masochist… definitely a sadist}

Muffet: Muffet works side by side with her husband and Lord Grillby. Their kingdom is that of Magmire. They are known for their industrial prowess creating weapons and armor for the elite of the Underworld. She takes great pride in her side job which happens to be the only confectionary in the entire kingdom making hard candies and gummies. She is known to indulge in Grimm's sweet tooth habit as well. She appears kind on the outside but she is truly manipulative especially to those that are unfortunate enough to be caught in her web. Her original concept was that of Hansel and Gretel with her being the “witch”. She dresses in bright inviting colors which is a huge contrast to the rest of the monsters. Muffet also has the ability to spin sugar into horrifying amalgamations when she harvests the souls of captured humans. Human/ monster no more these creatures will do as she commands even sometimes devouring their targets. Just add a pinch of monster dust, a little bit of candy, and some soul.   

Grillby: Grillby is the Lord of Magmire. Unlike most of the Lords in his position, he does not sit on his throne but rather helps and works with his wife in the confectionary. He finds it relaxing though he does still have to attend to. Grillby is more laid back than most almost the opposite of someone who is sugar high. He is calm and collected which makes him a suitable warrior though he has placed those days behind him. His hobby is to work on new blacksmithing techniques even if his kingdom claims that is below him. His throne room is covered in metal work such as blades and armor only adding to the stigma of the industrial kingdom. He is not one for killing as he feels that there is no honor in such an act. He will send his captees back to the Capital or to whoever is willing to pay. He does not agree with his wife's tactics however he knows that he can not change that mindset and doesn’t press for it.   

Toriel: Known as the Ice Queen possibly due to her frozen kingdom or her attitude toward any and all life. Unlike the original UT Toriel, The ice Queen no longer can use fire magic as her soul has frozen over. She has ice abilities and magic in its place. There are rumors that she can cause one's heart and soul to become numb just being in her presence. She is what one would consider a despot as she does not care for much. Her grief causes her to lash out at others and is called by the lesser monsters, the Mad Queen. She is unaware that her son is still living and refuses to speak to her husband. Even the mention of his name can send her into a spiral of rage.  

Asgore: The former King of the Underworld Asgore was banished to The Ruins after Toriel’s maddened rage. He is kind and gentle though he knows his own limits. He is not a pushover. His time in the Ruins has shown him how insane his wife has become and with the help of his son they take care of the humans fortunate enough to make it to them. He does his best but even he has moments that force is required as much as he hates the violence. He is still a king through and through ruling over his own “kingdom” as the caretaker.  

Asriel:  The former Prince of the Underworld and son of Asgore and Toriel. Asriel was presumed dead but survived only to escape to The Ruins. His father comes upon him later and they work to help the humans that have been forced to suffer under the tyranny of the Queen. Asriel is mild-mannered and very polite. Even without his station he still acts like a kind Prince. He will stand up for what is right regardless of his own possible sacrifice. When he meets Fuji he sees a lot of himself and he takes on the big brother role for her. In conclusion (Precious Goat boy). 

Main Plot Synop: 

The Surface: 

The surface has been overrun by corrupt leaders. It is very much the concept of big brother. They are a council that presides over the affairs of the world. If you are seen as a threat you will be immediately thrown into “prison” without a trial. They hold occasional public trials in the guise of being fair. Just as WTU claims, the very concept of magic is a threat to them so those that have it are quickly disposed of but leaders don’t always do the dirty work themselves. No. In fact, they use another source by means of execution…the monsters. 

More accurately it is very similar to the idea of throwing your enemies into a kind of gladiatorial arena. It is not technically considered an execution if circumstances lead to death. The humans are not stupid they know what is going on. Some believe in rebellion against the state and some wonder if the monsters could fix their corrupt world. Either way, the corruption continues and they are not above tossing innocents into “the pit” if it suits their agenda. 

“The Pit” (aka the Underworld/Underground):

The underworld is broken up into different factions by location. The only location without a faction or any type of ruler is The Ruins, because of its size and its isolation this is where humans try to reach for some form of Salvation. Asgore, the caretaker, has made it into an encampment for those that have fallen (the innocent ones). It is almost like a refugee camp. Unfortunately very few make it to Asgore’s safe haven. He does his best. Poor goat dad. He is not like canon Toriel however as he will use violence if necessary as he knows that humans are simply using them as tools to get rid of who they deem criminal. There are signs of old campfires, broken tents, and habitation. Before The Ruins is, of course, the main factions. “Snowdin” is the beginning and Crimson is one of the most powerful in the Underworld. 

LOCATION SWAPS {INFO in order}: 

New Home= The Capital

Snowdin= Magmire 

Waterfall= Windyspires 

Hotland= Tundra 

The Underworld is backward to its original layout. The humans end up trapped in The Capital instead and they have to make their way to The Ruins to escape. So it would go like this: The Capital -> Tundra ->Windyspires ->Magmire. The closer the faction to the capital the higher the rank in other words because both Grimm and Crimson live in Tundra. Crim is the lord making him one of the most notorious. He is known for being a loyal “dog” to his queen. Whether that be out of loyalty or self-preservation is unclear. 

Each faction has a lord or lady that rules over it. The ones loyal to Toriel’s (As a side note she is known as the ice queen) regime and their supposed way of life. This also means the closest ones receive the most benefits. Tundra is the one with the most prestige and of course other monsters are trying to strip that title from its current holder, The Crimson Lord. Due to Crimson’s loyalty, he is almost exempt from any wrongdoing in the Queens’ eyes which means he can do pretty much anything he wants. Which is dangerous and I will explain why in a bit.

I have a faction ruler list sitting here so I am going to add that to this as well. They are as follows, of course, this does not account for potential power struggles during the story: 

The Capital -> QUEEN: Toriel Dreemurr

Tundra -> Lord: Crimson 

Lady: N/A

Windyspires -> Lord? (I mean she wouldn’t want to be called a lady SHE IS TOO TOUGH FOR THAT!): Alphys 

Lady: Undyne

Magmire->Lord: Grillby

Lady: Muffet

“It’s Hunt or be Hunted”: 

The motto of this verse. After so many centuries of humans being disposed of by monsters, they become aggressive. In addition, the anger toward all of humanity begins to fuel violence in the monsters. The hunts deter monster on monster violence. It also adds fuel to Queen Toriel’s fire that one of the humans that fell down the first time killed her son. This, of course, is a lie as Asriel seeks refuge with his father in The Ruins. He helps as much as he can watch his mother lose her mind from afar. It saddens him but he refuses to be a part of this new world order. That is when they realized that humans weren’t just falling into the Underworld. They were throwing the worst of the worst. Their undesirables, criminals, and anyone that dare went against their own agenda. 

At first, they just captured them and held them in the Capitals network of catacombs but then some began to escape causing damage across their “New Home”. Toriel wouldn’t allow it. A proposal turns it into a game of cat and mouse. The humans are detained and released and then the monsters hunt them down. It used to be about protection but now it’s become a sick twisted death game. The forests of Tundra are littered with traps and deadly pitfalls along with the rest of the locations. 

A Human's Fate:

Not all the humans that are being thrown into the pit are criminals. The monsters of higher rank occasionally take humans they deem worthy to be servants or slaves. It depends on the monster or the rank but at least those humans are still alive. The hunt is an unspoken death sentence. One monster, in particular, seems to have an interest in bending humans to his will and that is Crimson. The conditions vary widely as some treat their humans well and others poorly. Crimson is known to go through humans quickly due to his bloodthirsty nature. It’s not a common occurrence. In fact, the Queen frowns in distaste over the very notion. The only ones that are spared of any of these fates are the children. Toriel is even more disgusted by humans sentencing their young to die. She takes care of the children that have fallen. In total, she has taken care of 5 children in total. 

The Brothers Grimm:

Grimm is the wilder of the two brothers and is very much a predator type. His name is derived from the mythos of the Grimm or Black dog. I wanted to keep that dark omen symbology in both his name and design. He slinks around in the shadows so that the black dog aspect is not far off. He also loves watching from trees.  He enjoys the catching and hunting aspect of his job and even plays around with his “toys” when he finds them. He will specifically call anyone “chew toy” in a mocking kind of way. That does not mean though that he will not spare you if he catches you. He is naturally curious by things. He also has a little skele tail too. Unlike his brother, Grimm doesn’t really have an ego he just finds his job fun. He is like a giant untamed wolf. Grimm has a love of sweets as well. 

He admires his brother but he is not bound to his brother. In other words, this is not a master, dog dynamic. He is, however, the more accepting of the two. If he is asked to do something he doesn’t approve of then he most likely won’t. Also just because he has the whole puppy thing going on doesn’t mean he isn’t smart and cunning. Again he likes to play around with those he finds sometimes not even dragging them back to his brother for a while. If you are a threat he will kill you but if you’re not you can probably get on his good side. If he thinks you are cute he will probably flirt with you too. He is not beyond that. He plays the part of the dog quite well.

Crimson is more sophisticated. He doesn’t go out on “hunts” himself often as he has a faction to rule over but those brought to him will see first hand that he is an insufferable flirt. He is prideful, egotistical, and commanding. He also has a bad habit of keeping mementos from those he deems worthy (what those are… you don’t want to know). He is stern with his brother and seems very outwardly cold to most unless he is playing up his charm. He is not someone you want to make angry as Toriel considers him to also be the Bloody Lord. His weapon of choice is a scythe. His drinks of choice are red wine and champagne specifically the pink kind. Crimson’s incisor teeth also have that vampire point to them. They are longer than the rest of them. There is far more to Crimson than just a ruthless skeleton lord.

The Ultimate Unlikely Hunters: 

This backstory will involve Grimm and Crimson’s unusual infliction and conditions. They were both experiments under Gasters research team in the beginning. Having been weak monsters as children unable to gain any LV they had to think of a way to survive. They did not seem to possess the ability to wield magic. Tired, injured, and without hope, Papyrus carried his baby brother all the way to Windyspires banging weakly on the metal plated doors. The Royal scientist at the time, Dr. W.D. Gaster, took the boys in. Unlike Darrius FS Gaster cares about the two brothers. He gives them a choice if they want to become stronger as their souls are not capable of it on their own. Grimm takes the offer hoping it will save his baby brother offering to be the first test subject. 

At the time Unyne was nothing but a teenage prodigy lab tech watching the events of soul manipulation take place. At first, the process works. Pap is able to conjure new bone-like attacks with magic and all seems to be well. The results cause Gaster to start the experiment on Sans next. By this time complications have already begun to show signs. Pap seems to be more short-tempered and aggressive even with little things. His mood swings cause him to lock himself up being monitored day by day. 

Sans has never seen his gentle brother this aggressive before forcing himself to look away as they have to strap him down for a follow-up experiment. He tries to help his brother the best he can and takes on the older brother role due to Pap’s inability to think clearly. Even he is starting to change. The longer this situation continues the more Sans becomes numb to the feeling. That is until one day Pap’s condition takes a turn for the worse causing him to lash out, bones shifting and elongating. He drops to the ground in agony transforming into a skeletal beast like wolf tearing the entire lab apart. 

Sans, on the other hand, continues to take care of his brother but he too is feeling some strange side effects to the soul manipulation. It turns out that each monster’s ancestry buried deep within their soul draws upon a primal power. Not all monsters were about love and compassion in the beginning. Bringing this primal trait to the surface causes adverse physical and biological changes within the two. Sans is more gradual as he starts to be in immense pain. His soul struggles to keep itself together but even he snaps lunging at a lab tech. He zeros in on their soul pulling it from their chest and sinking his teeth into it, draining it of its life force. The pain is suddenly gone. He realizes that he needs souls essence and power to keep that hunger/thirst at bay. It gives him extraordinary abilities. He remembers a long time ago reading about a monster that humans had such a fear of, the vampire. 

As he comes into power he realizes that humans concentrated soul traits are even better than monster souls. The blood has a high concentration of soul essence which sustains humans as well as monsters (yes the monsters bleed in this). His brother learns to control this new beast within himself but not before he nearly claws his brother's socket out, hence the signature scar. Crimson has scars on his entire body from trying to reason with his once feral brother. They slowly work their way up to eventually ruling the second most powerful kingdom in the entire Underworld with exception to The Capitol. The constant hunts keep both the brother's conditions satisfied. No one is quite sure how the two skeleton brothers became this way after Gaster’s disappearance, all except Undyne.   

The Story:  

There are two siblings that fall into this world both twins. One is Frisk and the other is Chara. Since this is a swap, Frisk is more aggressive of the two and highly protective of her sister. She tends to be classified as the “bad girl” type. Chara is the sweet and kind one that will abstain from any violence at all. Frisk is not the usual Chara swap because I want them to find their place amongst the world. She has no problem using violence as a means of protection and self-defense but she won’t actively look for a fight if she thinks she can’t win. The monsters are one such variable in the unwinnable category. 

Sadly they have magic within their souls hence the soul traits. They both also have the same soul outwardly, Determination, however, there is one other trait that is housed within their soul that makes them very different. Frisk’s is perseverance and Chara’s is kindness. As usual, the leaders of the Ebott Empire are threatened by their potential for magical abilities and as such are sentenced to be executed. Thus they become part of the hunt. 

Frisk is the first to be captured by none other than Crimson and Chara is found by Grimm. It is strange that Crimson is not his usual self in their circumstances as he can tell, unlike so many others that they have captured in the past, that they are very different. Grimm can’t bring himself to harm Chara due to her innocence and Crimson enjoys Frisks headstrong and sassy attitude. In other words *slaps hands on table* you get a two for one. One Papyrus X Chara and one Frisk X Sans. Both the twins are of adult age.

Eventually much to Crimson’s reluctance they decide to help them escape as unlike most of the AU the monsters have no problem staying this way. Not all of them agree but the Lords certainly love their titles and don’t want to give up that power…that is until Frisk mentions that all those horrible corrupted humans on the surface could be like one giant hunt. In which case Crimson is all for. Grimm has his own motivations enraged that the humans did something so terrible to Chara but he would not sacrifice everything to get to the surface because of that vendetta. 

They make it to Asgore who has all the souls as the Barrier is in The Ruins. He tries to get them to stay instead of sacrificing one of them for their freedom. It’s obvious that the brothers actually don’t want either of them to die. 

As Crimson says: “What is another century or two? We have all the time in the world.”  

Frisk and Chara become integrated into the Underworld and though Grimm continues his hunting he doesn’t want Chara to witness it. Crimson just has Frisk as his little huntress. It is unclear if they will make it out of the Underworld in this AU. It really depends upon how I feel the story would make the most sense and I think having the two sisters happy and accepted into their lives is all they really wanted. They were considered “monsters” on the surface so why return there? Frisk wants to watch it burn… of course… for putting her precious sister through all this. 

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