#hell be like 'anything in the name of science' and then someone from his family gets hurt and suddenly hes blaming everyone but himself

[chatonfils]

Starting off by saying I hate “mom Danny” bc it tends to be p transphobic and misgendering, so if anyone adds it to my post I’m blocking them.

Tim making his Kon clone baby, but the cloning chamber isn’t stable enough for the fetus. He’s desperately trying anything that he think might work, when he comes across Phantom. Phantom who has experience with stabilizing clones.

Danny had heard whispers through the grapevine (Ellie who’d joined the Teen Titans as Phantasm) that there was someone attempting to make clones. He’d only meant to snoop and see if it was a Vlad situation. If any clones had been made and needed liberating. What he found was a newly minted Red Robin crying over a red blinking message on a cloning chamber. He warbled a quiet “please, Kon, I don’t want to live without you.”

Danny quickly realizing this wasn’t an attempt to replace and destroy, but actually someone grieving, in probably an unhealthy way, but who was Danny to judge, he’d once replaced Sam and Tucker with robots for less. So he decided to help Red Robin out. Sure, he hadn’t dealt with kryptonian dna before, but he was at least 89% sure halfa dna was way more complicated. And Red Robin had already figured out ways around the dna shenanigans, it was just the stability that wasn’t going well. Honestly, he didn’t think it would be as easy as an ecto dejecto like it had been for Ellie. But his parents had a lot of inventions that they’d started making to help out ghosts, once they’d realized Danny was Phantom. Maybe telling Red Robin about ghost IVF wasn’t his most thought through plan.

“I think what might help is an incubator.” Phantom had suggested.

Tim could only gesture at the cloning chambers that had failed him thus far. They were essentially huge incubators.

Phantom awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “I meant, like, a living incubator. Like a surrogate.”

“Where am I going to find someone that I not only trust to carry the baby, but also would volunteer?” Tim raised an eyebrow at him. Hell, had Tim had the equipment to do so, he would have carried the baby, everything else be damned. He just didn’t want to be alone anymore.

Phantom blushed green and looked away. “It might take a little tinkering with the embryos to work with the physiology, but…. I could carry the baby for you. I mean, I’m trans, and even if I wasn’t, ghosts are kind of malleable in a reproductive sense. And there are options for IVF in ghost science. And like, my own clone is like my little sister. I’m also a protection spirit, so I would protect the baby with my entire afterlife. And I’m kind of rambling so you should say something before I embarrass myself.”

“You would be willing to carry a baby for me?” Tim was shell shocked by the offer.

“I mean, yeah. You’re a good guy. You’re not cloning him for a malicious reason. You’re just trying to bring back a piece of your friend because you love and miss him. Dedication that strong for someone who has left the living plain, is admirable. You realized early on that you wouldn’t be able to increase the speed in which the clone grew. You’ve been trying despite knowing that this clone will be a baby that’s going to be your child, and not just the friend you lost. And I wouldn’t mind giving up my body for a little bit so you can make your family.”

Tim certainly hadn’t meant to surge forward and kiss Phantom. “Thank you.” Tim pulled Phantom into a fierce hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

It took about a month for them to work out the kinks of making the baby safe for Danny’s body. In this time, Danny showing Red Robin his human form, and Tim revealing his own identity. It felt kind of wrong to keep his name from someone he intended to get pregnant with his child. Tim and Danny got close as they worked together on the baby. And there may have been a few more kisses shared between them. In the end, the baby ended up spliced with mostly Kon’s dna, some of Tim’s (to stabilize the kryptonian dna), and some of Danny’s (to keep the baby safe in the womb).

Once Danny was well and truly pregnant, he encouraged Tim to find Bruce. “I’ll keep the baby safe. You find your dad. If you need me for anything, I’m only a call away.” Tim hadn’t forgotten about Bruce, he’d just never thought it would take so long to set up cloning Kon. So much of his hurt and loneliness had fallen away in Danny’s presence, and Danny had let him hyper focus on making their baby.

“Probably terrible timing, but I’ve got to ask,” Tim swallowed nervously. “Be my boyfriend?”

Danny’s lopsided smile, thawed Tim’s nerves. “I think I could work with that. I hope you don’t mind kids though, I’m kind of pregnant.”

Tim huffed a laugh. “I’ll keep in touch while I’m away. Please keep me updated on the baby.”

Danny pulled him into a proper kiss, “I will.”

I’m mostly imagining Tim getting bump update photos and falling in love with his increasingly pregnant boyfriend, while he finds Bruce.

I’m also imagining after Bruce is back, Tim being like, “anyways gtg, my boyfriend is in his third trimester and I don’t want to miss the birth of our baby.” And peacing out before any bats could react, let alone stop him.

And also maybe when Kon comes back, there’s maybe a poly relationship started.

Also thinking about Tim getting Danny pregnant without the science.

Danny gets Dad, Tim gets Papa, and if Kon joins, he gets Poppy.

[thearcanecat]

Hatchetfield headcanons?

Let’s see…

Holloway has lots of scars from living for centuries and hides them with the jacket. These include:

Lightning scars

Wiggly: sucker/tentacle marks

Pokey: cracks

Blinky: eye like circular pattern. Red vein squiggles at end.

Tinky: hoof print

Nibbly: bite marks

Her accent gets stronger when she’s mad. Same for Duke, but you rarely hear it.

Original name was Holly-May Logan.

The strange carving it’s mentioned she has in Killer Track, is a part of Pokey’s mask.

Ryan Reynolds is the person running against Solomon for mayor. He’s pushing the problematic pooch story because it shows how horrible the town has gotten under Solomon’s rule. You’d think the disappearance of his wife right before he got elected would be a bigger deal, but no, time for our daily Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel segment!

The Obnoxious Teen is actually different versions of Pete after an encounter with the Bastard Box. He now lives in a never ending hell of minimum wage jobs.

Grace’s birthday is September 9th, buy a priest a beer day.

The Honey Queen sacrifice takes place on the summer solstice at midnight.

Description of the tree that grew from Willabella: Gnarled roots extend from a bulbous center. No leaves hang from its crown of branches. It is not natural. Nothing grows near it, except the apples that grow for its branches, never ripe and always rotten. A hollow in the center is swarming with spiders whose web spans across it. Several scars are evident from where the Hatchetmen, once they realized their mistake, tried to cut it down. From its branches hand charms of protection and containment that replace old ones of worship. It grows behind the old Waylon Hall, over the sight of Willabella’s execution. Like the Hall, many rumors swirl around it and foolish children often dare each other to touch the bark.

The Blade of Truth that MacNamara uses on the Sniggles is one of multiple PEIP has constructed. With help from Holloway, they were able to harness the White’s energy into physical form. Each Blade requires a secret to be whispered into it as it forms, one no one has ever heard before. If someone tells a lie while holding the Blade, it shatters.

The Foster family are descended from Willabella and a Hatchetman with the last name Forester. Willabella had no love for him and only got pregnant to delay her execution.

The Stockworth family vacations in Hatchetfield because they have connections with the Church of the Starry children. Lucy is not aware if this.

Charles Coven was part of PEIP and went by Carlo at the time.

PEIP has ID numbers based on the Stith Thompson’s Motif Index of Folk-Literature. Basically a collection of a bunch of different motifs in folklore.

Wilbur: D1310.10.1. Magic apple gives supernatural knowledge.

Holloway (Holliway this identity): G220.0.1. "Black" and "white" witches. Malevolent and benevolent.

John: B147.2.1.2. Eagle as omen of victory.

Xander: J1291.2. Theological questions answered by propounding simple questions in science.

Douglas Keane Sr. was an informant for PEIP. Basically, PEIP goes around to various people in professions where the supernatural may be encountered (law enforcement, medical, park rangers etc.) and gives them a little presentation with very vague language about if they seen anything unnatural, or out if the ordinary, to give their office a call. Since Hatchetfield is such a hotspot, Douglas knows a lot more about the supernatural than most informants do and is on first name basis with several PEIP agents. (This is heavily based off a book called The Rook by Daniel O’Malley.)

[loudlittleecho]

Too Late to Save Them: Frozen in Time

Previous

Part 5

Forever Ice

F.I.

A company that has its hands in commercial and medical. 

An insulated cup that keeps your drinks cold? In perpetuity?

An insulated container that keeps your medicine cold, without refrigeration? Helpful for the unhoused and migratory? Keeps donated organs cold during travel. Supports medical supplies and food supplies to war torn countries.

Makes Nathan millions. 

No other company can replicate his Forever Ice. 

Many try. Many fail. 

Nathan reaps the rewards of a good businessman.

His company has grown, and so many want their hands in his stock. 

His investors want to know the secret. They want him to duplicate his ice and have more of it available. (He tried; but the ice will only grow back after some is split from the main source. . . the boy. It won’t grow on its own. He did think about. . . splitting the child, but even he wasn’t that inhumane).

The world had developed and changed drastically from when he was a child. 

World ending threats and superhuman aliens existed.

He should have accounted for someone wanting his ice. . . for using unsavory means to get it. 

As he stared at the assassin in front of him, he attempted to bargain. To pay him not to kill him. 

The masked man shook his head. 

“If only it was that simple.”

- - - 

Nathan’s body moved. Nathan’s body spoke. Nathan’s body performed decent enough for no one to realize that it wasn’t Nathan controlling it. 

Meanwhile Nathan begged and cried out in his mind as his body was piloted by someone using a chip embedded deeply in his brain. 

The one controlling Nathan made him transfer funds to an undisclosed account. The one controlling Nathan made him break into the Ice. Made Nathan see the boy again. 

Observe with his eyes as the frost built up and covered the boy in ice. 

And again, this time with specialized equipment. 

The one controlling Nathan made him warm up a bit of the boy's arm; to put in a specialized syringe. To pull out his blood.

The one controlling Nathan made him watch as the boy shivered lightly, before the frost built up around him again. 

The one controlling Nathan sent the vial away. 

The one controlling Nathan had him repeat this process over the course of months. 

The one controlling Nathan got along with his workers; his friends; his family.

No one noticed anything was wrong. 

Nathan was trapped in a living hell.

- - -

Darla’s boss was a good man. He owned the company, but he always made time to talk to every employee at Forever Ice. 

Darla was part of the night security. Nathan would strike up and keep up conversations with every member of staff, staying personable and down to earth. It wasn’t often she was offered (and good-humoredly reminded) to call a CEO by their first name. He made sure they had competitively good pay and benefits, and asked about their lives and families, and remembered what they said! 

Nathan Anderson was a good man. 

- - -

Tim had paused looking into the company for a month, but he was back at it now. 

Forever Ice had. . . inconsistencies about its creation. In the published history of the company it stated that the unique material was created by Nathan Anderson, a Wisconsin native who was also the head of the company. 

However Mr. Anderson’s education history was in business. He had an abysmal employment history, often jumping in on frankly embarrassing inventions and companies that had no chance of success. However, he seemed fairly charismatic and seemed to have found his ‘Golden Goose’. 

Now, having a formal education was not necessary for success. (Tim was the poster child for that). Unless Anderson was hiding a great intellect- and a lab- this wasn’t his own creation. 

Tim paused. Anderson could have created it. Not by science, but perhaps by his own biology?

Was this a metahuman using his…abilities… to make a profit? (Wouldn’t be the first)

However, there were plenty of groups that liked to stop that kind of thing. 

Tim sighed. So far everything seemed to be working fine for Anderson. 

He filled out a report documenting the company and added it to the ‘possible concerns’ folder for the JL. He also added alerts for himself; if anything changed with the company, he’d look back into it. 

At the moment, he had more pressing cases to attend to. 

- - -

This place had loyal employees. Leonard Snart was impressed. His team took out security (non-lethally), and had cameras altered to repeat feeds. He wanted to see the process of Forever Ice. This Ice had worked well in his guns against the Flash crew, and he wanted to see if he could advance it further to his uses. 

That’s why he was here, at the source. 

However, it seemed his crew wasn’t the only ones here, as he noticed the now frozen security camera. He sighed. It had the tell-tell signs of Mr. Freeze Of course that one from Gotham had been thinking the same thing. 

He alerted his crew quietly. 

Freeze could be reasoned with. Sometimes. 

- - -

Nora felt so ALIVE as she snuck into the facility. 

There wasn't any guards; the camera’s she easily froze. 

In the before, she never would have done something like this. 

She wasn’t a good person anymore. She admitted it. 

Before the illness, she had tried. Be the good daughter, the good student, the good wife. Once she had her diagnosis she had been gentle. Gentle to her family, her friends, her ballet company, to the doctors, to Victor. To give them a good memory of her once she had gone. But now? . . . 

This was her life, and she was going to LIVE.

Now, where. . . 

She paused. She had expected a lab, but not. . . hmm.

There in the center of the room was an irregular chunk of ice. One side chipped in fairly deep. There were carts and pics on tables near the ice.

She went over to the chipped side. Was this Forever Ice?

Ah, there was probably a machine in the center that created the ice, similar to one of Victor's inventions. That’s simple enough. 

She began to gently break into the ice.

. . .

Snart found the door slightly ajar, the security panel frozen over. 

He listened. 

“Oh…”

A woman’s voice. Soft.

“What have they done to you?”

Snart paused. That certainly wasn’t Mr. Freeze. Was this another rogue with ice? Or even worse- a new hero?

He pushed the door gently open and saw a woman; deep blue skin, blond hair- gently trying to remove. . . something from a large block of ice. 

She didn’t seem to notice him. He continued to watch. 

She was incredibly gentle, snapping ice under her hand (she had enhanced strength it seemed), before pulling-

Shit. 

Was that a child?

She hefted the boy up; pale blue skin, black hair- and moved to the entrance. 

They locked eyes.

Her expression was surprise, then anger.

“Are you a part of this.”

Her voice, cold with growing fury.

“No.” He slightly paused, watching her expression. “I’m here to rob the place. Surprised as you.”

He observed her appearance. She wasn’t Mr. Freeze, but her suit mimicked his. 

Did Freeze make someone else like him? Glancing at the child. . . Someones? 

Snart made a decision. 

“I have a secured place not far from here. We can keep it cold for the both of you.”

The woman looked angry for a second; an expression of desperate independence Snart was well familiar with. 

“Look. I don’t hurt kids. This one obviously needs help.” He paused, glancing at the boy. Already a thick layer of frost covered his skin.  “And you seem like you want to help him too.”

He didn’t voice that he thought they were related; that was their business. 

He waited.

- - - 

Nora held the boy- a young teenager- in her arms. His body was warm, but also produced ice. It was like he had a fever, and his body was attempting to fight it. 

This was not what she had intended to find. 

A child, frozen in his own ice. Used by a company. 

The man in front of her wore a winter outfit, holding a type of gun loosely to his side. He carried no emotion throughout their conversation. 

She had meant to simply rob the place of all the ice she would need to update her suit.

But this boy. . . 

She was getting angry. Angrier. She walked over to the man, gently handing him the boy. 

“Get anyone you care about out of here. Keep the kid safe. Give me a moment.”

The man took the boy and swiftly turned, walking out of the room.

Nora began to release her fury. 

Slowly at first, but then she couldn’t control it. 

The room, the halls, the building froze under her cryokinesis. 

She cried and screamed, unsure where all this emotion bubbled from. 

She had been frozen against her will. Returned in this altered state. Intended to follow someone else’s life.

There was a boy, sick, his body used for someone else. 

Life was cruel. 

Unfairly cruel.

- - - 

Snart watched impassively as the entire building froze over.

The child in his arms was already heavier, another layer of ice building up. Soon he would have to put him down. 

The woman stumbled out, looking spent. He didn’t comment on the frozen tear streaks lining her face. 

His crew already had a truck prepped. He placed the frozen boy in the bed, and motioned to the woman. 

She got up and sat beside the ice.

Snart closed the tailgate and headed to the driver's side. 

He hadn't planned on this.

Part 6

[janitorboy-writing]

My Jay, Nya, Pixal, Zane, Kai, and Lloyd Headcanons about their expertise in STEM

I was struck by inspiration and I just had to write it down. It doesn't help that I'm taking a programming class and have a bunch of STEM friends and family, so I was given plenty of ideas

Please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes. I forgot to switch my keyboard from Portuguese to english

Jay

He is good with circuits and hardware

If he had the funds and motivstion, he would have been an electrical engineer, or at least become certified as an electrician

He practically already has the experience since he always tinkered with circuits and wires as a kid

His parents would always have him fixing the toaster, fridge, TV, basically any electrical appliance at home

He never had once touched a computer program until he came across his first computer at the junkyard

After tinkering with it and booting it up, he began to mess around and trid his best to understand the programs in it

He understood a little, but he wasn't a pro at it until Pixal came along (she taught him about different programming languages and the fundamentals, and he found out he's not into programming as much as he is with messing with circuits)

He does know mechanics and car stuff thanks to his dad, but he's more interested in wires and circuits

Nya

Mechanic

She definitely has a certification as a mechanic

Thanks to Kai, she had the time to study for a technical education

She also knows enough about electrical engineering to make all the cool cars and mechs

She didn't know very much about programming but she was very interested in it

She went to the library and read outdated books on programming (the local library near their village isn't the most well funded)

Hey, at last she grasped the fundamentals even though she learned an ancient language that most programmers don't use or learn anymore

When Pixal joined the team and started to teach her about programming, she was ecstatic

Now all her inventions could be more modern!

Pixal

She is just like her dad, so robotics and computer science are her thing

She does know a bit about everything since she has an entire database in her head to glean info from

Still, programming is her favorite thing and the thing she considers herself the best at

She leaves vehicle maintenance to Nya and any circuitry to Jay

When Jay, Nya, or Zane aren't around, she handles all the things they handle even if she doesn't enjoy it as much as programming. Someone has to be there to take care of all their tech

Whenever there's a bug she can't seem to fix, she explains her code to Zane to help herself think

Zane listens and i happy to be helping his gf <3

When Zane isn't there, she talks to Nya, her bestie, instead

When neither are there, she talks to Jay

Jay only listens since he's not very experienced with programming, but he does try to help from time to time

Zane

Zane doesn't consider himself to be an expert in any tech related field

Like yeah, he knows basically everything and can do it all, but he's not very interested in them

He will fix cars or fix a line of code, but only when it's necessary or if he's asked to

Unlike the others, he doesn't spend his free time inventing or tinkering with anything

He's mostly meditating or hanging out in nature

He likes plants, like, A LOT

Plants, cooking, and animals are his expertise

He also knows a lot about herbs and tea, so he's basically the team's medic

Pixal is his medical assistant just like he is her programming assistant <3

Zane and Cole go out on walks and hikes a lot, and they drag Kai along just for fun

Kai

He knows a bit about mechanic since he sometimes helped Nya with her homework and projects

Him and Nya know exactly what they're talking about when Jya asks him to bring her the thingamabob

Kai had to teach Jay what the hell a thingamabob and a doohickey is so Jay could actually help Nya

In return, Kai learned some of Jay's weird names for tools like the thing and thingamajig

If things are really dire (like none of the team's inventors and Zane are with them) then Kai will try to fix a vehicle

50% chance of failure, 49% chance of success

The 1%? Who knows

It explodes

Lloyd

Like Kai, he knows a bit about mechanics, if not more because he spent a lot of time with Nya when he was younger and when nobody knew he was the green ninja

He has more success fixing vehicles than Kai, so Kai is always the last resort

Lloyd also knows about plants and herbs since he read about them after Wu was gone

Someone had to take care of all the plants for Wu and Zane after the merge happened

Lloyd also knows a bit of programming and electrical engineering, though it's not very useful

He could tell you what a variable is but he cannot write a program to save his life

He can tell you what XOR does, but he can't build a circuit

Due to his interest in video games, he's been trying to learn programming, but due to everything that happened in his life, he hasn't learned much

He's still trying, and that's what matters

[shower-phantom-ideas]

You guys just don’t understand

You can’t even begin to grasp the amount of pranks Danny could pull on super heros (is that one words? Superheros?)

Added a read more because I hate long posts

Danny as a ghost is so powerful. Like our boy can walk through walls, disappear, and fly! Do you even grasp how much more unique he is than the others guys??

Jokes aside just imagine if you will. Danny could leave batburger cups next to Batman all the time (he comes back later to toss em out of Big ol B doesn’t)

Like hell we talk about Danny just showing up basically stalking the heros but ok hear me out. He didn’t mean to figure out Batmans identity ok but he was in the right place at the right time and over heard some stuff. Now he follows Bruce Wayne around instead. Always spitting out if a batburger cup. Maybe Bruce makes eye contact with him and one time Danny just leans his drink out to as one does to offer a sip xD the man is horrified.

For the ?Robins? The other bats maybe he leaves gifts of sorts. Stuff they would like made from his ice or something. He can understand becoming a hero young and most (if not all) of them did that. He plays favourites with the younger Heros for sure. But hes still making them have there “God?? Is that you” moments like everyone else.

Hell he could follow Superman around and always make his cape flow against the wind and the Hero wouldn’t know wtf is going on. Maybe Superman hears a very slight snickering maybe but the prank is harmless enough so why worry too much. I mean it’s probably bad someone can do this without getting detected till they give themselves away by laughing but nothing harmful yet. (Yet would emphasise Batman)

I don’t know anything about GreenArrow but I assume he uses a bow and arrow so I could imagine Danny grabbing his arrows and making them fly in crazy wild paths before hitting their mark.

Idk honestly how he would fuck with GreenLatern besides like using his ghost powers to try and one up his ring. Like Lantern makes a shield? Danny makes a better one next to it or in front of it. Tbh it’s actually helping Danny get better at his powers so he does this a lot rip Hal (I did not know he was played by Ryan Reynolds maybe ill watch the newer movie)

He refuses to mess with Wonder Woman because the Phandom has told me she is his fav thus he refuses to prank her. He respects her too much and is a huge enough fan that hes too nervous to even approach. Thus she thinks she is this pranksters least favourite since she is never bothered.

Aqua-man (thx for the correction siri) is pretty fun to prank because Danny can follow the man underwater. Idk anything about science of it but imagine Danny like making a space he can talk in with his ice powers (making a bubble of sorts) to make spooky noises at ?Arthur? (R we seriously going with Arthur in this one?) like I assume without actual fish related powers, or with them I havent seen any thing aquaman, you can’t talk underwater. But also if Danny figures out his real name hes 100% gonna be playing the Hey Arthur theme at this man all the time.

He just lowkey overshadows cyborg. Not in a controlling way but just along for the ride kinda way. He was gonna make remarks about his tech but ended up being stunned by how good it is. “Fam I aint gonna lie. I came here to follow you around and make comments like a streamer but your tech is crazy cool. I mean you could have saved a little room with a more compact cooling unit but I mean this is probably some of the best stuff I have seen outside my family!” Or something idk. Maybe he goes full on antman in coldwar

As for the Flash thats pretty simple. He doesn’t let the Flash run from him. I don’t think Danny could keep up with the Flash at all. Like man cants have everyones powers (can’t he tho) but he just hangs on and pretends to have followed. I mean hes invisible the whole time so not like anyone can see lmao though if (idk who the flash is? So ill use Barry cause thats why google say) if Barry goes too fast he might get Danny to give up the game cause boy is on the side vomiting. Barry is pretty smug about probably being the first to throw the prankster for a loop but Danny is just on the side like “how can you go that fast and not be sick dude”

Like tbh I was gonna just make a list of pranks he pulls on Batman but yall seem to enjoy the Justice League so here go off I guess.

Honestly I had to charge my phone so I forget a lot of the post rip this kne

[moonyasnow]

TWST OC Showcase: Victor Dragomir

(The younger twin brother to Veronica Dragomir)

Voice Claim: Antony del Rio (in his performance of Silas from Fire Emblem: Fates)

Victor Dragomir 1/4 Fae - Salamander Left-handed Briar Valley - Ignihyde Dorm 170cm / 5'6 - #fad489 / 227, 191, 120 October 17th - Libra - 17-18 y.o. 2nd year - Sophmore - Class B, no. 5 Science Club Best Subject: Animal Language Hobbies: Taxidermy Pet peeves: Weak people Favorite food: Gelato Least favorite food: anything bitter or spicy Talent: Keeping a Poker-Face Floyd-given name: Anglerfish Rook-given name: Monsieur Sang Cater-given name: Vi-vi Signature Spell: 'Dark of Night' So long as there is still a skeleton, he can reanimate any dead creature for a temporary amount of time and use the body like a puppet to do his bidding

Link to all my OC Showcases here!

A few quotes:

“Ugh, chaos, chaos, chaos! How unorganized!”

“Humanity truly is a scourge.” — “Oh! Haha~! You misunderstand; the fae are no better. The only truly clean beings are animals. Animals hold no malice; when they hurt, it is out of necessity, no ill-will harborered. When humanity is overthrown, trust me to be one of the first to switch allegiance. I pray the day approaches quickly.”

“Oh hell…oh hell, hell, hell, hell, hell!”

Victor and his twin sister Veronica, born three minutes before him, were born to an old family of knights in Briar Valley, a clan of lesser dragons— Salamanders— with close ties to the Draconia family, having served as their guards and knights for centuries. Though by the time they were born, the Salamander blood in their veins had become diluted, with Victor and his sister being the closest the clan has had to 'pure-blood Salamanders' in centuries. Salamanders, as both lesser dragons and a fire-elemental type fae, are prone to catch fire. Literally. Their skin and hair can catch fire when they're experiencing severe, negative emotion, though mostly anger. It burns a bright gold— like when you try burning sodium. A Salamander cannot be hurt by their own fire, but that's not to say things around them are immune to it. Veronica, Victor and their parents are immune to their own and each other's fire, as well as most magical fires. However, regular fire can still affect them due to the human part of their heritage. A pure-blooded Salamander would not be affected by normal fire. This weakness was exploited and used against them.

Cecilia Dragomir (maiden name Cecilia Cornix) and Vladimir Dragomir died in a fire that engulfed the Dragomir manor when the twins were just five years old. A fire started by someone seeking to end the family, holding hatred for the quantity of human blood in their veins. The twins themselves only survived thanks to being rescued by their distant relative, a man named Diaval Dragomir, who adopted them and raised them as their father from then on. Veronica was the heir to the Dragomir family, her brother Victor second in line, Diaval the head of the family until Veronica comes of age. Victor remembers a lot more of their life before the fire than his sister does. He remembers his parents incredibly fondly, and how they alongside Veronica would always protect him, and try to comfort him whenever anyone had been mean to him. And he remembers far too much about the fire for his liking. Remembers seeing his childhood home go up in flames, and remembers his parents' voices, screaming, then silence. Afterwards he became even more timid than before, and reliant on Veronica as the only familiar thing he had left. Victor was often described as a calm, quiet and polite, though a bit of a doormat, shy and very timid. He often preferred the company of animals over people. This often lead to other, less timid, often older, kids picking on and teasing him. But Veronica stood up for him in his place, and he always felt safer when she was there. He was the only person who seemed able to calm her down. Veronica comforted him when his bullies made him cry, and he comforted her when she had become upset and thrown a tantrum. But— though he felt guilty for it— he was also a bit envious of his sister. She was so strong, and never scared, and was never afraid to say how she felt or what she thought. And he wanted to be just like her. But no one around them ever seemed to agree. People always compared them to each other, and were always in Victor's favor... Because while neither were viewed particularly favorably in the eyes of the adult fae around them, there was one thing that, in their eyes, made the two inherently different, and Victor better. Victor was a magical prodigy, even by fae standards. Veronica was magicless. Though none of them yet seemed to understand that he and his sister were different from them in terms of their race and what that meant, they could just feel the lack of magic from Veronica. In their eyes it made her different. And since their peers were also afraid of Veronica's violent temper, they always excluded her. Victor was her only friend, making the two even closer.

However, when the twins were just about to turn 8, Victor was kidnapped. He still wouldn't stop crying even after Veronica had scared off all his bullies, so she took him to a nearby shop to buy ice cream, since his sweet tooth meant he often stopped crying when he got to eat sweets. Veronica was right next to him, walking proudly with a small, recently obtained practice sword on her hip, and only let go of Victor's hand for a single moment to pay for ice cream for the two of them. That's when he felt a hand close around his arm and someone's hand over his mouth. Before he could understand what was happening, an adult had picked him up and was dragging him away into an alley. Victor had started crying, his one free arm reaching out for Veronica, who had her back turned as she payed. But when she looked back, she started running after them, sword in hand...but a seven-year-old could never defeat a grown adult. Victor remembers seeing a bolt of magic hit her head, then her falling to the ground. He cried harder, but quieter after that. The next thing he remembers is an image of descending into massive hole in the sea. He and his sister were inseparable before he was kidnapped. They were each other's polar opposites and complimented each other. Victor comforted her, and she comforted him. As long as she was happy, he was happy, and vise versa. Victor never celebrates his birthday anymore. It feels wrong to do it without Veronica. But also because he doesn't want to grow up any more than he already has; it would feel like admitting just how much he's lost.

He had been kidnapped by Warren and Mina Cornix, two relatives from his mother's side of the family, both able to pass for human. As for why they kidnapped him, it seems they were planning to use his great affinity for magic, along with some fancy new modern technology and technomancy, to 'bring back the Dragomir family to what it once was'. He didn't understand what that meant and became scared it meant they would hurt him, which only made him even more terrified than he already was. For a very long time after initially being abducted, Victor was constantly confused and scared, almost always crying. Warren always yelled at him when he started crying, which quickly taught him that crying was unsafe. But he couldn't stop his tears even though he wanted to; they just kept flowing out whenever he was scared, which was almost always when living with Warren. In time, Warren became upset enough at this 'bad habit' of his that he began to use force to get him to stop. Mina, Warren's wife, for her part, was nicer. But she too was too scared of her husband to be able to do much to lessen the abuse Victor had begun to be regularly subjected to whenever Warren felt he 'wasn't trying hard enough'. And whenever Victor wasn't progressing at the speed Warren wanted him to, he would yell insults at him, calling him a 'rotten half-breed', implying that must be why Victor could never be good enough.

After kidnapping him they first cashed in a favor from a person who worked at the Island of Woe, and were allowed to hide out there for a while. During their stay at the Island of Woe, he met two boys his age, two brothers named Idia and Ortho, who also lived there. He was scared of both of them at first, since in his experience, other kids who weren't his sister were always horrible to him. But they were nice to him. They asked him tons of questions, being curious about what Briar Valley was like, having never left the Island of Woe themselves. The back and forth eventually drifted to Veronica, which always made him start crying from missing her. But having them as friends for the time that he did meant a lot to him. For the year that he knew them, they were the one comfortable thing in his life after being ripped away from everything he'd ever known. He didn't stop crying for two days when he had to say goodbye to them. They gave him a little dog plushy to remember them by, whom he named 'Hugo'. After that Victor and his guardians moved around a lot in order to take Victor to tutors, doctors and specialists who could both help him hone his magic and teach him about technomancy, modern technology, alchemy, and anything else they thought he might have use for— all with the aim of making him even stronger. Victor was trained by a lot of different people in technomancy, technology, alchemy and the like, meaning he had to move around a lot. He didn't like it. They also took him to various doctors and people working with technological enhancements and basically turned him part technomatic cyborg, giving him abilities like night and heat vision, stronger bones and muscles, tougher skin…and also one which just implanted a microchip into his body, so his guardians could always know his location. The procedures were very painful, the more painful the more stressed, tense or scared he was. As a result Victor was forced to learn to numb his emotions. He never quite got that back. For a very long time after initially being abducted, Victor was constantly confused and scared, almost always crying. Warren always yelled at him when he started crying, which quickly taught him that crying was unsafe. But he couldn't stop his tears even though he wanted to; they just kept flowing out whenever he was scared, which was almost always when living with Warren. In time, Warren became upset enough at this 'bad habit' of his that he began to use force to get him to stop. Mina, Warren's wife, for her part, was nicer. But she too was too scared of her husband to be able to do much to lessen the abuse Victor had begun to be regularly subjected to whenever Warren felt he 'wasn't trying hard enough'. And whenever Victor wasn't progressing at the speed Warren wanted him to, he would yell insults at him, calling him a 'rotten half-breed', implying that must be why Victor could never be good enough. It was obvious even to Victor that Warren only wanted to use Victor, caring only for his magic and not his personhood. He was the guardian who pushed for the enhancements to Victor's body and kept moving them around to find new tutors. Mina went along with what he wanted because they were scared of him and was being abused, too, just verbally and mentally instead of physically.

But through all the studying he did discover he had quite a scientific mind. He wanted to study things himself, relying on his own observations to find out the 'how' and 'why'. He was just more interested in biology than anything related to magic or technomancy or the like. Sometimes he wondered what certain animals would look like if he were to cut into them. The thought that it meant killing an animal made him sad at first...but not afraid. He felt like he was supposed to feel bad at the thought. But he didn't. So he started wandering the sides of roads after school, looking for roadkill to dissect. But eventually that wasn't interesting enough. You can only look at the same types of long-dead tissue so many times before you've learned all you can about it. And fresher samples would be more intact. And though he claimed to love animals, he didn't seem to have any qualms about them being dead, or even killing them himself— though he didn't like the sounds they made when in pain, and disliked them suffering. But that got better when he learned how to kill them quickly and...as close to humanely as an adolescent boy killing animals in secret can manage. Once after just dissecting an animal, he felt words in the back of his throat, ones he felt oddly compelled to speak: 'Dark of Night' Next thing he knew, it was up and moving in his arms again, though seeming much more docile then it was when he first caught it. Maybe, he thought, it wasn't scared anymore because it was already dead; after death, what else could there be to fear? At the age of 13, he had just discovered his Signature Spell. And with it, an interest in taxidermy, so he could still reanimate the animals without them starting to stink. The idea of bringing back the past started to really resonate with him. He missed his home. He missed his parents. He missed his sister. He missed the way things used to be, and wanted to return to it, developing a love of things that never change. He began to see undeath as the most desirable state of being, because your existence continues on, yet you can't die again.

He also began to wonder more and more what it might feel like to kill a person. So one day, while it was just him and Warren, traveling up a mountain to find a tutor living in a small town near it, Victor decided to just push him off of a cliff. He was a little surprised at how little he felt seeing him fall to his death— didn't even feel much seeing him splat against the ground, maybe a bit of satisfaction at most. He was briefly surprised that he felt so little taking a life at first, but didn't really care. When he came back down the mountain, he told Mina that Warren fell on his own. She didn't openly question it. And so they started living a somewhat quieter life just the two of them. But Victor had grown attached to the idea of bringing his family back, so he kept studying. Not in school, no, most of his grades dropped to Es— just enough to keep him in school- as soon as Warren was no longer around, simply because he didn't care about anything else. His only A was in Biology, any other good grades being purely accidental due to him just having so much fun learning that his teachers managed to catch on that he knew a lot about it.

As a child, he remembered he often begged in his mind for his sister to come and save him. From Warren, from all the doctors, from everything. But no one came to save him. So at some point he stopped crying out for help. He eventually found he could barely feel fear anymore. Nowadays, very, very few things are capable of truly scaring him. If he almost dies, sure, he'll be shook, but he'll recover from it fairly quickly after some deep breaths. But there are some things that truly scare him. To this day, hearing 'half-breed' makes his body flinch and blood run cold, bringing up his guard even higher than it already was. He basically dissociates for a little while until he's forcefully snapped out of it by something like someone snapping their fingers in front of him, after which he'll be confused for just a second before remembering what he was supposed to be doing.

He still likes animals more than he probably ever will people. To the point where he feels more bad killing animals than he did killing Warren. To him, humans aren't as human as him, if that's how to word it. It's like in his mind, he is an animal, and that's why killing animals hurts him but killing humans doesn't. Oh, except for when it comes to his Creatures, of course. In pursuit of making a new Creature, he never feels bad about killing an animal, believing he's 'saving' them from the grip of mortality. Though on the rare occasion he likes a human at all, he'll compare them to some kind of animal. For example, he'll call someone whose loyalty he admires a Guard-Dog, and maybe even want to scratch their chin if he genuinely likes them. It may sound to others as though he's putting them down when he says things like that, but to him it's how he shows affection. As a child, apart from his sister, his only friends were all animals. So he just decided he had no need for human friends. One reason for his hatred of humans is because he grew up being bullied for being half human and 'weaker' than his fully fae peers, and so hates the part of him which is human with a passion, since he hates anything he thinks makes him 'weak'. But Warren thought the reason he was such a talented mage from such an early age must have been due to his fae side. So since he was no longer surrounded on all sides by pro-far sentiments and this 'talent' from his fae side lead to his guardian abducting and abusing and trying to mold him how he saw fit, he sees his fae side as chains which bind him. Doesn't help that he hated the other fae kids who bullied him, too. He hates both parts of his heritage equally and wishes he were anything else. So then, with his love of animals, beastpeople and mer are the only 'people' he doesn't dislike. Them having some connection animals makes him associate what he sees as animals' good qualities with them, just by association. He outright believes beastpeople and mer are better than both humans and fae.

Some miscellaneous info about him:

He is a seemingly nice, polite person, but in no way a pushover; the kind of person who, if you bother him too much, will give you a polite fake smile, laugh in a lighthearted tone and tell you he really wishes murder wasn't considered a crime so he could make you shut up. And his smile always looks rather cold and insincere unless he's talking to or about one of his Creatures.

He loves uncovering mysteries more than anything in the world, and his curiosity often gets the best of him. He tends to get hyper-focused tunnel-vision once he finds something fascinating. He has trouble stopping himself while in this kind of situation. He'll become absolutely obsessed with a potential avenue of research and won't move on until he's learned as much as he possibly can about it. He is dedicated to following the rules. For civility' sake, as well as because he knows from experience that if he lets himself disregard one, it's going to lead him down a slippery slope of 'rules mean nothing; I am God'. But if he finds a rule stupid and gives himself even one second to think of what he could potentially learn from disobeying it, he'll throw it out the window. 

He is polite, but only to the extent that's societally mandated. He doesn't like being in the company of humans or fae, but knows there's not really anything he can do to change the necessity to. Unless he's been actively provoked he keeps up appearances, just so people won't go rooting around and find out about his hobby of digging through pet cemeteries and do anything crazy like 'reporting him to local authorities'.

He's not the kind of person who would beat you up when he's truly mad— no, he wants to make you suffer in the long term. He might create an army of Creatures comprised of animals the one who wronged him is terrified of and then let them run loose in that person's home. Or he might just release those same animals, but living, in their home. If someone was scared of ants he'd drill multiple small holes in the wall behind some kind of furniture— somewhere his victim wouldn't find it— all over their residence and scent them with something irresistible to ants.

He gets along with others well enough and can sometimes even like some people, but that doesn't mean he isn't also a cold-blooded murderer. And he can be extremely petty when someone has bothered him enough to make him want revenge.

He has a major sweet-tooth and adores all kinds of sweets and candy.  He actually can barely stand bitter or spicy tastes at all, always eating white chocolate, and pouring so much milk and sugar into his coffee that you can barely see the actual coffee in the sugary sweet concoction.

He's the same when it comes to smells. Without the tons and tons of sweet-smelling herbs, potpourri and incense he's hung up in his room, it would smell like carnage and roadkill. He also has a taste for cute things! That's another part of the reason he loves animals so much. He would definitely want have a giant Squishmallow collection, but needs to limit himself to just one or two. His room is already quite unsanitary, since keeping sterilized medical equipment where he sleeps isn't exactly feasible, and his taxidermy hobby takes priority. And since he can bring his taxidermies to 'life', it's like he has his own personal army in his room.

At NRC:

As basically everyone in his life had been expecting since he was just a child, he one day recieved an invitation to Night Raven College. SInce he has already spent most of his life planning to go there anyway, he didn't have a lot to sort out before the carriage came for him.

At the sorting ceremony, he went before the Dark Mirror, who said that the nature of his soul matched that of Ignihyde: Diligent, just as the King of the Underworld was. He was quite pleased with this, and thought it fit him.

As he was looking around the room in boredom waiting for the ceremony to conclude, he thought, for just a second, that he spotted someone who looked like his sister in the crowd. The thought made him strangely anxious. He tried to shake it off, reasoning with himself that there's no way a magicless person like her would be a student at Night Raven, a school specifically for mages. But he couldn't rid himself of that uneasy feeling and spent the rest of the night feeling tense, though hiding it well enough behind a practiced, uninterested smile. He was, evidently, distracted enough by his thoughts to have entirely missed the part where the floating tablet his new Housewarden had attending in his place said his name as he urged all the Ignihyde students to follow him through to their dorm.

He was still caught up in his thoughts when he distantly heard a call of his name— then something big collided with his side. He tensed and his elbow came down to wedge itself between his body and that of the object and flung it off with all his strength. 'Wo-ah!' was heard, as something metallic-sounding collided with the floor. When Victor looked to the source of the noise he saw Ortho.

His childhood friend. ...Who looked like he hadn't aged a single day since he last saw him. His eyes were blown wide and his arms fell limp to his sides as he watched the little boy get up on engine 'feet' and ask if Victor remembered him, saying something about how 'his scans indicated a state of shock.'

Victor confirmed that yes, he did remember him. And his brother, too. And when Ortho took his hand and said he'd take him too see his brother, that both he and Idia had really missed him, he went along with it. He really thought he'd finally started to go mad and was seeing ghosts: first his sister, then his childhood friend. But when he passed through the door to Idia's room— behind which Idia himself was groaning that he really didn't need Ortho to try to bring some freshman to speak to him and to 'keep the NPCs out!'— and saw an older Idia, he realized he wasn't insane. Well logically he did, at least.

Both he and Idia stared at each other in shock, the latter having let out a baffled squeak Victor couldn't help but want to liken to that of a little mouse. Ignoring his protests Victor walked up to Idia, grabbed his hand to yank him out of his chair and hugged him. He buried his face in Idia's hair to hide the smalls tears that had come to his eyes; the first tears he'd cried in years.

He never asked what happened to Ortho. He didn't need to. And Idia and Ortho never asked what happened to Victor, though he was sure they could both see the massive change he had undergone.

They just let each other...exist, in the others' presence. It was the closest to peace Victor could remember feeling in a long time.

And Idia, despite calling it extremely weird and also kinda gross, never really cared too much to stop Victor's hobby. He thought his robotics hobby wasn't all too different, in a way. Both originating from a desire to preserve. He didn't know how to feel about Victor sometimes jokingly referring to him as a mouse though.

His only real friends are Veronica, Idia and Ortho. The rest, he just observes from a distance, as though they really were ants in a terrarium.

He HATES Rook. If someone killed an animal to eat it or because it attacked first, he'd think it was understandable, just how nature goes. But if someone killed an animal just because, he would not be able to stand that person. Animals have always been kinder to him than humans or fae(with VERY few exceptions, such as his sister), so he feels more at home with them (and kinda by extension beastmen and merpeople) and anyone who hurts them for no good reason should die, in his mind. Sure he'll kill an animal for science, but it's always for a clear purpose, and he always makes it quick. (he may or may not be a little bit hypocritical)

But he gets the most upset when anyone says he and Rook are alike. You'll see his smile become strained, and his brow twitch in annoyance.

Now, he may be a sadist who loves seeing others' squirm, but he has standards. He will only let loose his sadistic side if he's been attacked in any way. Living things attack if threatened, do they not? He dislikes attacking the innocent who have no will to fight. It's pathetic to him, and reminds him of his younger self, not to mention makes him feel like one of his bullies, which he detests so much it makes him nauseous. So he always avoids it unless absolutely necessary. But his curiosity will always trump this. If he thinks someone is fascinating, he's going to study them no matter how it makes them feel.

His grades, just like when he was younger, in every subject but Animal Linguistics, are only really passing enough to keep him enrolled.

About the Salamander 'catching fire' thing... Victor, who is very good at keeping his emotions in check for the most part, doesn't bother fireproofing his clothes, especially since it can get quite expensive. However this doesn't tend to end very well when he DOES get angry. The tips of his ears also catch fire when he's flustered. Which is almost never.

One thing that didn't change at all from when they were children was that, whenever anyone tried to be mean to Victor in her presence, Veronica would always step in, either barking at them until they went away or threatening to do something to them. Seven forbid anyone actually laid their hands on Victor…

Once, Veronica smashed her lunch tray into another student's head for punching Victor. She did it without hesitation.  Afterwards, like clockwork, they went into a familiar routine; she took his hand and started walking away. Without even needing to ask Victor picked up the plot immediately and said 'Ooo, yay, ice cream!' and giggled. The warm pressure of her hand around his guiding him away from danger to comfort him made him feel so nostalgic…so safe. They skipped lunch and just had ice cream that day instead. 

Victor later learned Veronica's Housewarden, Vil, was upset with her over the incident. But also that Veronica refused to back down, and didn't even try to argue with him about whether what she did was right or not. When it came to Victor it didn't matter what was 'right' or 'wrong'— just caring for him. It warmed his cold heart for the first time in years. Enough to melt a tiny piece of it enough to let his sister back into it. It felt like coming home.

More sprites:

Bonus: family

Father Vladimir and mother Cecilia. Since he remembers them so well, and didn't grow up being raised by his adoptive father Diaval, he doesn't consider him his father the way his sister considers him hers.

[igotanidea]

Selflessness : Matt Murdock x fem!reader pt 1

Request: Ages ago (I'm so, so, sorry) @somest1 gave me an idea: in her free time from law school(*) reader does kind of volunteering - helping people in the church under the guidance of Matt's mom. Season 3 where he is healing in the church, so she basically helps him, but doesn't know who he is.

I changed it a bit and decided to divide it into parts (probably up to 3 or 4) but the main idea stays unchanged. Once again, I'm sorry and hope you enjoy it :)

***

„I’ve taken care of the kids in the room 6, sister Maggie. They seem unruly, but to tell the truth all they need is some care and attention.”

“Thank you, Y/N. You are a saint.” Sister Maggie Grace smiled lightly at the girl. Normally, she was far more reserved in her opinions and praises but this girl brought on the softer side of the nun.

“I assure you. I am not. I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Some worse than others.” Said girl looked down, a bit ashamed of her past.

“We all did, Y/N. What is important is that you are trying your best to do good. You help people.”

“I still think like I’m not doing enough….. Like there are so many men and women and kids who are suffering …..”

“You sound awfully like someone else I know…..”

“Really? Who?” that little tone of curiosity In her voice was not a good sign. Y/N was the nicest person even but also the one who wouldn’t take no for an answer. If she wanted to do or know something there was no power in earth, heaven or hell that would prevent her from it. She would charm her way around, getting exactly what she set her mind to.

“Doesn’t matter. But he has the tendency to put himself on the cross and take the pain and suffer from everyone in the name of greater good.”

“Seems like a charming person.” Y/N smirked

“Oh, you poor girl…..” Maggie sighed and shook her head. It was better to just distract her little helper from whatever was going on inside her head and heart “if you are done talking here, off you go. You might have covered for 6, but little Tom has been crying all night again. I have no idea why, but you are like the only person who can get to him, so why don’t you focus on the job?”

“On it, sister Maggie.” Y/N flashed her most beautiful smile and with her sunshine and rainbow attitude left the nun by herself.

“Don’t you think she could be the one to help our guest downstairs, Maggie?” the second Y/N was out of sight father Lantom emerged from the adhering porch.

“No.”

“Maggie.”

“No, Paul. I’m not putting her into this mess. She’s been through enough.”

“And you are wondering who Matt took his stubbornness after.” Lantom muttered, but it was done with his representative sympathy. He was not the one to mock people. “I’m just saying, that perhaps she will help him see the other side of life. Not all the darkness and evil. And bring him back up. She has a natural talent for it, and you know it.”

“If anything it would consume and crash her. Just like it did to Matt. I’m not letting another kid go through something like that.”

“She’s not a kid.” Lantom shrugged but turned serious under the nun’s stern gaze  “Just think about it Maggie, that’s all I’m asking.  She’s been through a lot and nothing broke her, so maybe she’s stronger than you presume.”

“Hm.” Maggie scoffed

“Promise me, you’ll consider it. You know I only want what’s best for both of them.”

“Fine, fine, I promise.” she threw her hands in the air “you are so persistent at times. God have mercy on us all if they were to meet.”

***

Y/N Y/L/N was a perfect kid. Obedient, helpful, cheerful. Great student coming from a good family. An only child, never causing any trouble. Listening to her parents, her teachers, her lecturers. Graduated with honors and getting her MD, even if it came as a surprise to those who knew her. She always gave an impression of a person who would focus rather on some humanistic studies like  literary science or philology.

Her choice however was deeply rooted in her past, in her good family heritage.

You know this saying that every family has its secret. Some of them have more than it seems, and sometimes so called good ones are truly the worst, after you strip them from all the window dressing and hypocrisy.

Y/N had to be good and avoid trouble. Otherwise, any manifestation of disobedience, even the slightest would be met with extensive punishment. Most of the times leaving her with literal bruises, that she had to learn to cover and in tears and sobs that she had to muffle to avoid harsh words and accusation of her being weak and pathetic. Both of her parents were esteemed at work, mum being a CEO and dad a computer programmer and were extremely busy. To say the least, they have little to no time to take care of a kid, more often than not leaving Y/N wondering why the hell did they decide to have one in the first place. Their relationship was based on the how was school, did you do your homework  and what grade did you get from the test questions. And that was only from her mother, her dad never cared enough to even form them. Excusing himself with tiredness and the argument that woman should be taking emotional care of the kid, especially a girl.

All things considered, Y/N was lonely. She did not really have any friends, because how can you form any relationship if you have no good patterns of how it should look like. How can you connect with someone when all you know are quiet evenings filled with work and avoiding another members of the family. What was surprising about her, was that despite all this gloominess and coldness stemming from her closest surrounding she developed this quiet, inner happiness, calmness and peace. When there was problem she was the one to keep straight head and solve it. When someone was in distress she was the one to ease the situation and placate the conflict. But despite that, she was lonely. Always looking for something more, trying to make it better for people who were less privileged then her. And that was how she ended up volunteering at the convent under sister Maggie’s guidance.

She quickly proved herself to be great working with kids, and Maggie warmed up to this optimistic, energetic soul in a way that surprised and delighted father Lantom. It’s been three years of her work there now and she gained sympathy and trust of both.

***

 “Hey there little guy” Y/N entered the room when Tommy was placed. His back was to the door but he turned around as soon as he heard the girl’s voice.

“Hi, miss Y/N.”

“Some little bird told me you had a hard night?”

“I wasn’t sleeping” he rubbed his eyes with fists, looking so small and fragile, Y/N heart was breaking.

“Come here.” she sat on the edge of the bed and opened her arms, in which the boy immediately dived in. This poor little one, abandoned by his mother was in desperate need of warmth and whatever little joy could be given. And Y/N was more than willing to give hugs to him. “Did you have nightmares, again?” he muttered something, hiding face in her sweater “come on, Tommy, I need you to use human language.” She laughed

“It was the clown.” He pulled away, a few tears dripping down his cheeks

“Again? Oh, you poor thing.” Y/N caressed his cheeks rubbing the water away “was it that guy at school again?”

“Yes. He’s making me scared…..”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll settle that matter” she embraced him once again rocking gently from side to side “and in the meantime…..”

“Why is the time mean?”

“Oh, no, it’s not like….. “ the girl could not stop the giggle. Luckily the boy smiled as well, dispelling her worries that he might feel laughed at “ you know what, in fact, we are going to have a really, really nice time. I got a new book if you are interested. No clowns there. How does that sound?“

“Ok.” he mumbled

“Ok? Good. I’m gonna pick it up in just a second…..”

“Can you hug me some more?” the boy asked

“Sure, Tommy. We got time here.”

“Y/N?” Lantom was like a literal ghost, appearing out of shadows, out of nowhere “how’s out little fella doing?”

“I think it’s nothing  a good story and a serious talk with certain guy from room 11 could not fix.”

“Was it Anton again?”

“Mhm. Unfortunately. I’ll talk to him.”

“I think this boy may need some more seriousness than you can treat him with.”

“I can be serious.” She scoffed moving towards Lantom with twinge in her eyes, causing Tom to hold onto her tighter and  whimper.

“That’s good. Because we got one serious matter we need to discuss.”

“We being me and you, father?”

“We being you, me and sister Maggie.”

“Oh. I don’t know if I’m worthy enough.”

“You are the most trustworthy person we know, Y/N.”

“All right then. I’ll meet you after I make sure Tommy is taken care of.”

***

“You want to me to take care of a guy in the basement.” She repeated, both Lantom and Maggie watching her reaction carefully. She showed no emotions and it was hard to guess what was going inside her head. “Is he in need?”

“Yes.”

“All right then.” she shrugged “I’ll help.”

“Just like that? No more questions?”

“Why would I need any? If you trusted him enough to take him in. It’s not like he is the daredevil, right?" she smirked (not realising how shocked her interlocutors were for a moment) "So of course I’ll help. Should I go now?”

“You know the way.” Lantom managed to say, since Maggie couldn't force herself to say a word.

“On it, father.” she smiled, using her typical sentence and walked away.

“I think we made a mistake here, Paul.”

“She’ll be fine. She’s gentle but not naïve and know how to take care of herself.”

“I still think we made a mistake.”

to be continued (part 2 is up)

@pinksirensong

[redrydersrequiem]

Reunited chapter 1

Ok ive been reading ALOT of avatar fanfiction lately and i like many other am obsessed with miles Quartich. So heres a fic for him. Again this is just for my own sanity i think of stuff and i have to write them down or they’ll never leave my head. Love all yall who actually read this again everyone be kind none of this is prof’d. Also just warning for language and I am constantly adding stuff to these because I am always re-reading them and finding issues so again just hang in there with me I like to use gifs/videos and pics to make the story more theatrical in my mind

Updated this 5/2/23

Next chapter

Ok video log 230 My name is y/n y/l/n I was a Corporal for the RDA. I went to Pandora for one reason.

I needed the money

My only living relative, my aunt, was sick. Terminally sick and the regular military benefits were not working. That’s when the RDA swooped in and found me. A young former soldier with experience who needed financial backing, yeah, I see now I was an easy target for them. Anyway getting to Pandora I was placed on the one and only Colonel Miles Quaritchs team. Luckily or maybe not now that I look back I was strictly security for hell's gate. While the others did more field work I was dealing with perimeter checks,Hot headed soldiers fighting, Fixing up my team whenever they didn’t want to deal with the science quacks, and a shit ton of unnecessary paperwork. You know Basic duties, until I was assigned to start helping the scientists out more.

They wanted to start going back out into the forest more often and after watching the beauty of it from the window all the time, I was all for joining them. Even though I was a soldier it didn’t mean I was one of the inhumane jug heads like some. I had passions and loved nature and music, culture, literally devouring anything I could. Grace actually kind of liked me which is why I started spending a lot of time with them despite my unit's protests.

Now don’t get me wrong I loved my unit. After getting past some of their personal walls, all of them were amazing. Loyal to one another. Funny, goofy and everything in between. They were my family, the Lovable brothers and sisters I had never had albeit VERY rough around the edges. It's actually funny now how close i am to everyone and how protective they are over me cause when I first showed up they all almost laughed me out the door. All thinking i was just a young gun that wouldn’t amount to anything just their cute little doctor but after they saw me take down a drunk guy twice my size from another team with vicious savagery,during a night off for all of us, in heels might i add, they all started looking at me in a new light.

(Think something like this clip)

Once comfortable everyone really showed me their true colors.Lyle, as annoying as he was, was also very funny. Just straight up class clown behind closed doors. They are the kind of brother that just comes up to you randomly to mess with you for like a second and then runs away.( his intrusive thoughts when a lot) but he was always my go to to hang out with just cause he would make you forget about the stress of the job.

Zdinarsk was the annoying older sister, beautiful but playful, a piece of candy in every pocket she had, but always willing to share. She also likes to playfully pick on me all the time, but if someone else says something. God help them.

Mansks was more the silent but deadly brother. Always watching out for me, especially when I am out in the field. His eyes trained everywhere you just can’t see it from behind all those sunglasses he owns. He would back up z whenever they heard someone say shit about me, those people never came within my vicinity again. But he also had a softer side, like being an incredible cook. We all call him the grill master, and live for the days he decides he wants to cook. We eat well those days. Ja, brown and prager were like the three stooges together. Sometimes I honestly wondered if they all shared a brain cell. Lopez was cool. He would teach me a bunch of Spanish, mostly curse words but still would teach me. And anytime some music would come on he would be the one to dance with me.

Sorry I'm rambling. All in all I was very close to everyone in our squad of thirteen rowdy marines but it was my home. Now while the others were family Miles was much more.

As soon as I met the colonel I was enamored. It was hard to even describe why or how it happened. At first you think of him as just some hard ass old geezer who would never look twice at you and then you catch him helping his fellow members in tasks. Checking up on them like a dad almost. Learning how I liked my coffee so he can bring it to me in early meetings. While everyone simply thought of him as some hard ass to the book soldier, I thought of him as a trusted leader that has and will continue to bend over backwards to help the people he's loyal to.

Simply put I I fell in love

Despite his rough figure and reputation. I fell in love with him. With the warm smile he only showed when we were alone. With how he knew I loved the plants and things of pandora and would occasionally bring me non threatening flowers when he found them while in the field. How he actually would listen to me ramble to everyone about the stuff I had learned from grace without complaining or zoning out of the confirmation like the others.Stuff like that all garnered points in my heart towards my colonel It wasn’t until almost two years later when I confessed to Miles and to my absolute surprise he reciprocated. Even though he thought he was way too old for me I didn’t care. I had been surrounded by death my whole life so I quickly learned to seize any moment I could never know if that person would be there the next day. It wasn't until a year later that he proposed. That was the same year that Jake Sully arrived.

Jake Sully was granted access I would have killed for. To be an avatar.

Jake was cool, another fellow marine who even though he tried not to show it, was fascinated with the world of Pandora and everything he was learning. A strong and independent person that despite his personal and physical trauma was such a goof. Miles liked him, I could tell. He respected jake for not letting his physical issues take him out. He liked people who persevered through issues. So it was no surprise that Jake was working with grace and i but he was still under the command of Miles.

When Grace decided to take her norm, Max, Jake and others out to the old shack to work instead of hell's gate I was given the option to go with them. Unfortunately I couldn't stay all the time. I wanted to be with my family and closer to better medical help for the life that was now growing inside me.Grace understood that but I for sure could feel the divide that was happening between the two groups of people I found myself Entangled in especially as Jake got to know more and more about the omaticaya clan.

You see, I saw something on both sides. The RDA was all about money and with the way the economy and everything was back on earth money was a necessary evil. While I don't agree with what they were doing, I understood why. With grace, norm, and Jake I saw the beauty of pandora. How much different she was from our own planet that is now no more than dust and metal it feels but here in the plush forests of color it was amazing. I could understand why the natives were so protective over it, myself slowly joining them. A little while into Jake's expedition I even got to meet Neytiri.

She had shown up to the little shack at Jake's persistence to meet me,and norm and to reconnect with grace since she had known her from before. Jake was trying to show her that not all humans were bad, which I can’t say he fully succeeded on but she respected all of us. I mean she was definitely standoffish at first with me, but once she saw my pregnant belly I could see something in her shift. She asked me about human babies and if they were very different from Navi ones. And she asked me about our family’s and about nature and we even bonded over teasing Jake which I found great, much to his detriment. Neytiri was great honestly. She was beautiful and strong and when it all came down to it we found we had more in common than not. I truly started considering her a friend and her doing the same with me.

Unfortunately when I got later in my pregnancy I could no longer fly out to the old shack anymore Miles being a worry wart. Actually all of the team were worriers but I just took it in stride. I knew how much they all loved me and I was happy to stay put to give them peace of mind. The only thing I wish I could do was get them to all stop taking Parker’s orders. It was like we weren’t even soldiers anymore, more like Parker and the RDAs hunting dogs. Even though I tried every day to tell them that the RDA was wrong. I know they were all loyal to a fault but I thought that loyalty was to each other over the RDA. Some would listen to me and agree with some of the things i said but some would just shake their heads at me and tell me we have to do the best we can for our own before trying to change the subject. Hard headed soldiers every last one of them but none more so than miles. No matter how much i speak and i know he listens hes loyal to the rda almost to a fault.

But I didn’t have a lot of more time to try and convince him that the shit Parker was whispering in his ear was all bullshit. It was late evening right before the eclipse that my water broke. God was that fun. 13 hours of labor and my son is finally welcomed into the world. He was so small. Beautiful light blond hair on his head, and his fathers eyes. It was unfair how I carried him for 9 months and he came out looking just like his dad. Everyone was so excited about him though our little Miles Lyle l/n quartich

*(couldn't find if spider had a middle name so just went with they made Lyle his god dad and named him that)

I had just taken the baby to the nurses unit to get his one month evaluation. It’s nice to get out again after being on bed rest for the last month. Everyone’s been very hush hush about any missions and stuff that have happened recently and it's not until I saw Miles and the others in a lab with Parker, that my interest was peaked, since they all would rather die than come over to this section. Walking through the doors everyone went a little quiet. Like teeenagers trying not to be caught in a lie. That was red flag number two.

I see miles talking into a camera and ask what he’s doing. He sates my curiosity by telling me Parker is making the team catch up on their logs so that the RDA has a good view of what's been happening. I know he is lying to me and he’s lucky I'm tired from staying up with our son or I would call him on his bullshit but that will be a conversation for later. He pushed me off to go get some sleep while baby miles was at his check up and that daddy would pick him up and they would join us later and i agreed. Placing a kiss on his lips i make my way out of the lab and towards our shared courtiers

Unbeknownst to him I learned what they were really doing video logs for. After leaving the lab I heard other soldiers talking about how sick it was seeing that big tree go up in flames. And I froze in my spot. No, I couldn't have heard that right. After pulling rank on them they told me what happened and to say I was pissed was an understatement, then being told that the others were now going to attack the omaticaya clan. I was seething. I immediately called Jake and the others knowing grace would tell me what's been happening without sugar coating anything,but found that they were no longer there. That's not good at all. I quickly made my way to the research sector and try to find max or really anyone. Bursting in the labs side room i see max running around like a chicken without a head

“Max where are they whats going on”

“y/n. You shouldn’t be here”

“Max what’s happening the others aren't answering and i just learned Parker wants to declare all out war basically”

“I'm sorry y/n. You’ve missed a lot since you’ve been out with the baby.”

“Well quickly fill me the fuck in.”

Max quiets me and takes me over to a side office shutting the door securely behind us. That’s when he tells me what happened. Tells me how the RDA had attacked Hometree and were now trying to take over the Forest. How Jake and the others tried to help the Navi and were caught and labeled traitors. How he and Trudy helped them escape. Each piece of info was like a knife to my heart. Everything pierced through me, when I asked about what had happened to them All he could tell me is that Jake was trying to get all the clans together to stop the RDA and that the board had somehow been set with jake neytiri and the natives on one side and my love and family on the other being pawns for the rda.

There’s no way. There was no way the people who would come see me and my baby and gush every time they saw him would lie to me. There’s no way the man I loved would lie to me and tell me everything was fine. No I, it couldn't be. I couldn't be stopped as I ran from the room. Once back in my own quarters I empty my stomach in the toilet almost shaking from rage and disappointment when I hear miles come in.

“Mamas your boys are home” Miles comes into the bedroom seeing me sitting on the bed looking pissed.

“What’s wrong darlin.”

“Don’t call me that right now miles.”

“Darlin?”

“DONT.! I got to know miles where do you and the others get off lying to my face.”

“Whatcha talking about”

“I know miles I know about the attack on hometree. I know about Jake and the others I KNOW.” I say screaming. Little miles now crying as I storm over and take him from his father, lulling him back to sleep and putting him in his little room while his predecessor tries to figure out what to say to me.

“Darlin now.”

“No miles this is wrong. I thought we understood each other I thought we agreed that we”

“Well you thought wrong. Darlin. We are not here to make friends with the natives, we are here for the rock in the ground.”

“Fuck that rock miles fuck the RDA the Navi are people they have emotions they have families just like us what makes us so much better to them to do this. They did nothing to us beside try and protect their home the same we would if the roles are reversed”

“Darlin, I think you forget who you're talking to.”

“No, I know exactly who I'm talking to. I'm talking to the man I thought was the love of my life but with every word is slowly proving to me he’s just as bad as everyone originally said.

Miles just grits his teeth as I get in his face. Just because I had a baby did not mean I wasn’t still a soldier. And he was about to relearn that real quick.

“y/n this is the mission i knew i should have pulled you from hanging out with those scientists sooner i knew you were getting too mushy for that natives.”

“Mushy miles what the fuck.”

“ENOUGH! He yells silencing my rant. “At the end of the day i am Colonel Quartich, at the end of the day i'm doing my duty to the human race, and i will not compromise that for anyone.”

“I'm not anyone, I'm your fiancé, the mother of your child. Im”

“You're still a soldier. A soldier under the RDA. Now I think it's time you take a little bit to remember whose side you’re actually on. Our or the savages outside.”

“The only savage I see right now is all of you.” I say as I throw my ring at him before snatching up baby miles things and locking ourselves in the spare bedroom.

I don't see that Miles breathes heavily, clutching his head as he tries not to punch a hole in the wall. I don't see how he reaches down and picks up my ring and pockets it or how he leaves and locks me and the baby in our quarters with strict orders to make sure we are taken good care of. Making sure i stay there while the next mission is about to commence, cause he knows deep down he'll lose me if i go out there.

But like miles said i am a soldier and even though i just had a baby i was not about to let my lover fuck everything up.

It took me most of the next day to get out of the room. But once i finally wired the room door to open I was met with no one there thank god most being called to the front lines. I run to the lab to find Max and others still there trying to figure out what to do. I run over and grab max

“y/n what are you doing”

“Max i dont have time. I have to stop this.”

“y/n there’s nothing you can do now”

“No stop there is always time ok. I need you to help me though i need y’all to look after my baby”

“What y/n no”

“Max, I swear to eywa right now help me.!”

He just puts his hands up and relents one of the female scientists Abby comes over in all her goth glory and takes little miles from Mac promising she would help look after him. I trusted her, she had a good head on her soldiers and was constantly coming to see the baby. She called him her ray of sunshine in the lab. I kiss Miles' little head breathing him in as he smiles up at me, his beautiful little blue eyes the picture of his father.

“I love you my baby. And I pray we are reunited. But I have to go knock some sense into your papa first. Please take care of him.”

“We will y/n. We promise, go give them hell.”

All I can do is nod as I rush away. Leaving half my heart behind in hells gate as the other is lost in the forest. Take one of the new roving speeders and hustle to try and get to the shack its a god ways way but the pilot having my gun to his head helped speed thing along. That is until an arrow comes flying in disabling the copter hurtling us down. The landing was definitely rough and my pilot was dead but i was close enough I could make it on foot. I start rushing through the forest making my way when out of nowhere Dickson comes into my view

He was a fellow soldier. Was on the same transport as me when we first arrived on Pandora but like his last name implied he was a massive dick.Misogynistic, self absorbed, everything wrong with a guy he had wrapped up in a package.

“Well ill be damned the rumors where true”

“And what rumors would that be.”

“That you turned your back on the colonel and the others from some blue dick.” I just grimace at his stupid face waiting to see what move he would make

“I know quartich said not to harm you but if your turning ass and hanging with the tree fuckers then you deserve to die here and now.”

“Then do it you punk ass bitch.” I say before coming at the soldier with gusto. My life is on the line, my son's life. The life of my friends. I have everything to lose and I won't let some gung ho jackass soldier take it all away from me. I need to get to Jake and the others I got to get somewhere to stop miles. Gun shots ring out as I ditch my gun to rush Dickerson. My knife meeting his chest multiple times effectively ending his existence. So long to bad rubbish

I don’t even look back, It wasn’t until I was finally speeding to the old shack that I felt the burning in my side. Shit. I yell out. I have nothing to stop the large hole in my side but I can’t let that stop me now. I'm almost there. I almost have everything I need in the palm of my hands. I know seeing me will stop miles I know I could get him to stand down.

Finally getting to the old shack I see Miles and Jake are going at it, both not backing down from the situation at hand. All I can do is clutch my side trying to stop the bleeding caused from that bitchs gun. I finally get into the clearing yelling out to the both of them.

“MILES, JAKE PLEASE STOP”

They both look over toward me seeing me stumble into the clearing. Jake is all done up in his warrior garb war paint on his face. He has a couple of cuts and nicks all over him. Miles wasn’t any better i dont know what happened to his amp suit but it now had no glass protection. Just miles with a exo mask over his face. The face that briefly looked upon me with worry and anxiety before his colonel mask came back up.

“Y/n get out of here it is not save”

“You don't speak to her sully”. Miles turns slightly to me still keeping jake in his peripheral vision

“Darlin what are you doing here you should be hooded up somewhere with the baby

“This needs to stop, Miles, this is wrong. You know that

“Darlin, I don't have the time to argue with you right now. I have to make sure this deserter piece off trash gets what’s coming to him

“Miles please, he just ignores me turning back to jake fully

“Jake i don't know how you and those scientists took here away from me but ill make sure you regret it

“Miles, listen to me please Jake has nothing to do with this. This is me please, I say trying to stumble further in front of jake. Him trying to reach out to me being shot back by the amp suit taking a giant step.

“Miles don't do this, let's just walk away please. We have little miles we have each other, everyone else that is left from our squad we can all stand down and go be real people, we can all be at peace with the Navi and have our own family. We don't need to fight.

“Darlin i know you aren’t telling me to turn my back on humanity

“No im telling you to choose your family and the people that matter over orders fro people who give two fucks if you lived or died today. Im begging you miles

I see his eyes cloud over with indecision. But I also saw Neytiri. I hadn’t noticed her before, preoccupied with my own wound and trying to save my family.

“Darlin you're right I.” “Neytiri NO.”

But everything is too late. Her arrows pierce through the air just as her battle cry does. All finding their target in my fiancés chest, as he and his suit go crashing into the pandorian forest floor

“NO!!!!!” I scream fumbling over to Miles exo suit.

“NO NO NO no come on miles please please please.”

He is still awake choking on the blood now filling his lungs. His eyes come over to me and he tries to lift his hand to cradle my face

“Miles please no”

“I'm sorry darlin”

“No don't be sorry I'm sorry please don't leave me. I love you so much. Please”

‘Darlin i love you tell miles I love him to”

“No you have to live to tell him yourself please.”

All i can do is clutch his hand against my face praying to whoever i can to save him. But it does nothing as the light leaves his eyes

“y/n”. I hear jake say behind me Gently coming up to me

“y/n”?

“No, leave us alone.”

“y/n come on it's not safe out here”

“It’s too late Jake please.”

Jake doesn’t listen to me and comes up kneeling next to me. Placing his giant blue hand on my shoulder I finally turned into him, letting him envelope me in the hug I oh so needed. Momentarily forgetting I was bleeding out and my love just died in my arms

“y/n I'm so sorry” he says but as he comes up to pull me away and look at me does he notice the blood now staining his hand “Shit y/n are you hit?.” he starts looking over me seeing the gaping wound in my stomach. He gently sits me to lie back on the ground trying to find something around us he can stop the bleeding with.

“Yeah one of those bitchs shot me.”

“It’s ok y/n will get you cleaned up ok Neytiri.” He yells but I just put my hand on his face to bring his attention back to me.

“Jake, I need you to do something for me ok.

“What y/n no you’ll be fine.”

Jake please i'm a soldier i know when a wound is bad. Neytiri please just stop. Neytiri now joins her mate next to me. She looks over me with a sad look in her eyes her ears pinned down almost guiltily but I didn’t blame her

I'm sorry, tiri i'm sorry for everything that has happened to you because of humans but I must ask you. Ask you both a few more favors.

I want you to take care of miles. He's just a baby. He's not his father, he's not me, he's the perfect mix of both. He will be a wonderful human, I know it in my heart. Please don't let him suffer. Please

“We will y/n i swear.” neytiri says next to me, taking my other hand in hers, placing it against her cheek.

I have something else to ask jake. Please give these to miles too.” I hand Jake my dog tags with my ring on them as well as quartichs tags with his.

Please tell him his father wasn’t a monster. He was just lost, and I failed to lead him out. Please

“We will y/n I promise”,

“Tell him I'm sorry I couldn't stay with him but I know he will be better off on Pandora instead of earth.”

They both just nod to me, tears filling their eyes. My body has long since gone cold and I know my time is near.

“My final request for you is to bury us both somewhere nice.

What? Jake asks solumely

“Yeah somewhere beautiful, somewhere in the sun together, maybe then we will be together in the next life.” They both promise me and watch as the rain begins to drop slowly the light finally leaves me and they both just look down in shame and saddens neytiri hugging my small body to her saying prayers to eywa for mine and miles soul. How could she refuse her friend's wishes? She may have not agreed with who her friend's love was but love was sacred. Her and jake would follow the women’s wishes

After the fighting was over Jake, Neytiri and the other avatars and people that had known followed my wishes. Neytiri draped me in a beautiful fabric covered with flowers. Miles was given the same treatment given a warriors garb. Both of us positioned next to each other for the rest of eternity. The omaticaya tell stories of the butcher of the hometree and how he wasn’t evil, just misguided and how it takes those around you to help each other find the right way. The story is really becoming an essential teaching lesson for all children. Miles or spider as he likes to go by now grows alongside the other sully children. Jake and Neytiri really stepped up to be parents to him along with the others who were allowed to stay alongside the Navi after the humans' mass exit. He was definitely wild but very much loved. He knew who his birth parents were and he learned how much they had loved him. Every year he and the others all go out to the grave site to pay their respects.

Everything is perfect for 16 years until one night more stars than usual fill the pandorian night sky.

[blue-grama]

The Empress of Ayodhaya Ep 1: Elephants! Intrigue!

If there is anything I need in this life right now, it is a period piece with historical scheming and royals murdering each other, and Ep. 1 of Empress of Ayodhaya has my back. Can I induce you to join the fun? I hear there will be gals making out with gals in a pond later, if that helps.

Sales pitch in the form of a recap INCOMINGGG

We open with the backstory: Ayodhaya is a kingdom established by the Lavo and Suphannaphum dynasties. They were bad at sharing, so they had a war, etc etc and Suphannaphum's been in charge for a century. Luckily, the Lavo family has just been blessed with a succession crisis and the murder of the 5-year-old king by a usurper! Yay! (No seriously, this lakorn absolutely murders a 5-year-old 3 minutes in. If there is anything I've learned about One31, it is that no child is safe from the narrative demand to establish your villian as Absolutely The Fucking Worst.)

Enter Jinda, our heroine. Her dad is like, hey, need to pimp you out to the evil king and have you murder the him a little bit so we can take power back for the Lavo family. She's not too happy because she already HAS a hottie, Wamon, played by Film Thanapat Kawila who I follow on social media and who has been thirst-trapping his way through his preparation for being 100% shirtless in this role.

It's pretty hot and heavy, but they do not fuck against this wall, because Wamon is all "You have to be pure for the king!" and Jinda is all "Dammit." GET CREATIVE, PEOPLE, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX (literally). But, alas for Jinda, it's a no. They have a little commitment ceremony, promising to be together once they get evil king dead.

Fortunately, we're soon rewarded with some pretty homoerotic concubine preparation lessions between Jinda and her lady's maid.

Anyway, off they go to Ayodhaya, where they meet.... the other concubines! There's the nice one:

Jinda's like, "What the fuck."

There's the "I'm not here to make friends" one:

Get it, girl

And there's the been-around-the-block-and-not-gonna-give-an-inch elder consort/schemer, who avid viewers may recognize as Jan from To Sir, With Love:

If evil, why pretty.

She has already has a cute-as-hell toddler with the evil king, but all the concubines immediately clock that the toddler has Down Syndrome so the race for the heir is still open. So, Jan from To Sir, With Love, whose name is Jittrawadi, institutes some royal cock-blocking in the form of having the court astrologer claim there is just no auspicious time for the new concubines to get down with the king. Meanwhile, evil king is having nightmares about the 5-year-old he had killed and Wamon is rolling into town and setting the local aunties atwitter.

You know you're in the demographic for a show when the lady catcalling the male lead is probably about your age.

Wamon sees a guy building a prang, and is all "nice prang you got there, shame if someone made it into a lightning rod and it exploded into one million pieces."

The explosion of the prang causes great consternation, and the king goes out to see what the hell is going on, only to find Jinda out there doing materials science:

She explains that the prang got hit by lightning and the bricks were subpar quality, so the explosion wasn't a bad omen against the king, but shoddy workmanship. The king's all, "Your forensic anaylsis of this prang explosion is super-hot, but it's a death sentence for you to leave the palace on your own" and lets her get arrested, but not before slipping her a royal ring.

SHOWDOWN TIME. Jinda pleads her case before the king, while chief consort Jittrawadi's astrologer does his level best to get her executed. Jittrawadi is all, "Seems like everyone was trying to do their best for the king, let's call this one a draw!" But the king determines that the astrologer was trying to undermine him with his talk of bad omens and has the astrologer exiled. Point, Jinda! EXCEPT. Jinda still broke the rules going out to do science on the prang, so the king orders her execution anyway. She looks up with determination, and ...

Bitch, you are watching a lakorn, you know we're cutting to black on this cliffhanger. Current rating: 11/10, excellent escapism with period clothes to die for and a wig budget that could have been a little bit higher, but we're not gonna let that get us down.

[ear-worthy]

Navigating Narcissism Podcast: Helping Those Who Battle The Self-Involved

Psychological disorders seem to be trendy, just like fashion, memes, and food. Two decades ago, bipolar disorder was a thing. Any disruptive or toxic person seemed to be diagnosed as bipolar. Today's go-to psychological diagnosis is narcissism. I was at a dinner party where gossiping about non-participants was expected. For every lurid tale of bad behavior, someone concluded with: "They're a narcissist."

Don't get me wrong. The world is full of narcissists, but not every Karen is a narcissist and not every narcissist is a Karen. I think many people have a sketchy idea of what defines a narcissist. So let's try to do that. 

"Narcissism is extreme self-involvement to the degree that it makes a person ignore the needs of those around them. While everyone may show occasional narcissistic behavior, true narcissists frequently disregard others or their feelings. They also do not understand the effect that their behavior has on other people."

That's why the podcast Navigating Narcissism with Dr. Ramani can help people to deal with true narcissists.

The elevator pitch for the show is: "We all have to deal with narcissists. Now, it’s time to heal from them. In this groundbreaking series, clinical psychologist and world’s leading expert on narcissism Dr. Ramani Durvasula talks to survivors and experts to help millions left reeling from narcissistic abuse."

The Navigating Narcissism podcast can break down classic narcissistic patterns like manipulation, control, gaslighting, and love bombing and help unpack feelings of betrayal, shame, confusion, pain.

The host of the show is Ramani Suryakantham Durvasula, who is an American clinical psychologist, retired professor of psychology, media expert, and author. In 1989, Durvasula obtained a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Connecticut. She has also received a Master of Arts in Psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical Psychology from the UCLA in 1997.

So the good doctor is eminently qualified. 

 She has also appeared on media outlets discussing narcissistic personality disorder and narcissistic abuse, including Red Table Talk, Bravo, the Lifetime Movie Network, National Geographic, and the History Channel, as well as programs such as the TODAY show and Good Morning America.

I mention these TV appearances so you can understand that Dr. Ramani is good in front of the mic and camera. She's comfortable on her podcast discussing one of her areas of expertise, and she's a solid interviewer. Unlike other podcast psychologists, Dr. Ramani does not make extravagant claims about treatments and cures.

Dr. Ramani also reminds listeners that "this podcast should not be used as a substitute for medical or mental health advice." One of the most intriguing yet disturbing episodes was about Hollywood producer Scott Rudin, who The New York Post called "Hollywood’s Biggest A-hole." The male guest was not identified by name and had his voice modulated. 

In her opening, Dr. Ramani explains that Rudin is one of those rare producers who have won a EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). But the doctor chides, "You can spell EGOT without ego." The episode is a freak show of horrible behavior by Rudin, who adopts a familiar delusion that geniuses can get away with anything. Listen to the episode, and realize that Hollywood -- with its Weinstein's, Rudin's, Mel Gibson's, Bill Cosby's, -- can be hell on earth.

 Dr. Ramani has an episode on narcissism in the fashion industry. In another powerful episode, we hear from Dylan Farrow, daughter of actor Mia Farrow, about surviving sexual abuse, and one of the engrossing episodes was in June 2023 when Dr. Ramani talked to singer Jewel about how she survived an abusive father, a mother who abandoned and betrayed her and found healing in the most profound ways.

The June 2023 episode with dancer Cheryl Burke relates an all too familiar tale of a family friend who raped her as a child. 

In her September 28, 2023, episode, Dr. Ramani eschews guests for an Ask Dr. Ramani episode. Dr. Ramani answered listeners' deep questions about the most difficult - but most effective - way to heal from narcissistic abuse: going no contact. While that seems self-evident as a successful strategy, Dr. Ramani has taught us loyal listeners that narcissists have powerful weapons at their disposal -- gaslighting, playing the victim, love bombing, and blameshifting. 

Check out Navigating Narcissism with Dr. Ramani. Whether your particular narcissist is in your workplace, in your family, or in your own home, the podcast episodes can help people identify and then separate from narcissists.

As Dr. Ramani once said, “Relationships with narcissists are held in place by the hope of a ‘someday better,’ with little evidence to support it will ever arrive.”

[dont-leafmealone]

we took a hard left (but we're alright)

A missing scene from chapter 11 of cancel your reservations / no more hesitations, where Jet is reunited with part of his found family and Smellerbee learns about her best friend's new boyfriend.

read on ao3

"Bee? Someone's here to see you!"

Smellerbee looked up from her notebook and the summer homework she had for Science, frowning. Anita — her soon-to-be stepmom — knew the names of her friends, which meant whoever was at the door wasn't one of them. Who is it, then? She wondered. It was late enough that anyone visiting was weird.

She put aside her notebook and took out her earphones. They didn't work for playing music anymore, but helped at least muffle the noise around her and let her focus on her work. She opened her bedroom door; Anita stood outside in the hall. 

"He asked for you. I don't know if you know him from school, or..."

He. That at least helped narrow it down, though not by much. Bee sighed. "Thanks, Anita." She squeezed past her, going toward the front door. Anita's footsteps were close behind her. Through the window, she could make out the bed of a pickup truck, but the dim light made it hard to distinguish a color. Don't get excited. Everyone and their mom drives a truck around here, she told herself, squashing down the ridiculous hope that had come up. If it was somebody from school, chances were it was their mom's, or dad's, truck.

She opened the door. For a second she didn't register who it was; when she did, her jaw dropped. 

"Jet."

"Bee!" Jet smiled, the same crooked way he'd always done, and Smellerbee could have killed him. 

Jet was still riding high on the feeling of being back here, having Zuko reunited with his uncle, and getting to see his family again. It hadn't crossed his mind, until Smellerbee answered the door and immediately leveled him with a ferocious glare, that maybe he should have called or something a little sooner. Possibly three days sooner. 

"When did you get here?" Smellerbee demanded, pushing past Jet to get out on the trailer's small porch. The door shut loudly behind her. 

"Today," he said, stepping out of her way. "What's going o—"

"It's been days since we heard from you! I had my mom call the hospital after you didn't get back with us, and they couldn't tell us anything except that you were gone. And you didn't answer your phone." 

Jet winced. He'd been unable to find his phone at the cheap apartment he, Bee and Longshot had been less-than-legally renting, and had figured it would turn up somewhere in his truck. It hadn't. "I'm sorry."

"Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?"

"I didn't," he said. "Now I do."

"Well, what the hell else were you thinking about?"

Jet had a choice here. He could tell her what he'd been thinking about, that he'd been selfishly thinking about turning around and going back to the shitty apartment, about staying in Washington, until he'd seen Zuko standing there by the road. That, for a moment, it had seemed possible — easy, even — to make a new life somewhere nobody knew him, nobody depended on him, and the excitement he had felt at the prospect terrified him now. 

Or he could keep his mouth shut, shrug, and say none of that, because that would only make her more upset, and the thought of delivering a blow like that felt like someone dropping a brick from ten stories up into his stomach. He hadn't been thinking about her and the other kids, when he'd considered staying away, but that was the problem, wasn't it? The last thing she needed was being forgotten and abandoned, even if that wasn't how he meant it. 

"I guess I wasn't thinking," he said, which was close enough to the truth for now. The heavy stuff could wait. 

"God, you're such an asshole," she said, throwing her arms around him. He instinctively returned the hug, feeling the tension ooze out of her bony frame. 

"I'm sorry," he said, burying his face in her shaggy hair. "You can still be mad at me if you want."

"Don't give me that permission," she grumbled against his chest. "I'll hurt you."

"Understood," he chuckled. He stepped back. "Am I allowed to come in?"

Bee sniffled, rubbing her eyes with a glare that dared him to say anything about it, and nodded. She pulled open the door. 

"Anita! Jet's coming in for a while!" she shouted. 

Anita. The name was familiar from dozens of phone calls, and the description he remembered matched the tall, dark-skinned woman who'd answered the door. "That's your —"

"Mom's fiancée," Smellerbee said. "They're getting married in winter."

"Huh." Jet tried to decipher Bee's attitude. "You like her?"

Bee shrugged. "She doesn't bitch about me wearing boys' clothes or too much makeup," she said, shoulders hunched. Jet guessed that was the closest thing to a 'yeah' he was going to get. 

"Well, that's good." He ruffled her hair. "Come on, it's too hot out here."

"Syd and Cameron are at the house this week," Bee told Jet, handing him a cup of iced tea. He sat in the rocker next to the couch, his tattered tank top and cutoffs looking out of place with the old-fashioned carved wood and plaid cushions. He gave a hum of indifference as he sipped the tea through the straw. 

"Were they disappointed to hear I made it?" he asked, putting the cup down. Smellerbee frowned. 

"Syd didn't really say anything when I told her what all had happened. Just hung up the phone. I guess she'd probably already got a call, being your guardian 'n all that."

"Some guardian," Jet muttered. He sighed, rocking the chair a couple times while he sipped, ice cubes clinking in the glass. "Guess I'm sleepin' in the truck bed again. You know how many bug bites I got over he last couple days?" He held out his arm, where red bumps covered his wrist. "Total nightmare. It's just a good thing it didn't rain overnight."

"Your piece of junk truck made it over all the state lines again?" Smellerbee asked with wonder.

"Yep. She's stronger than my ribs, you know," he said, and Bee couldn't help flinching. His amused look faded, guilt replacing it. "Sorry. I'm working on not doing that."

"You wouldn't be you if you weren't making people uncomfortable," she said, taking a long drink of her tea. "Other than the bugs, how was the drive?"

Jet held his cup with both hands, looking down into it. "Pretty good," he said, ducking his head, not enough to hide the red creeping up his neck. His voice was a couple octaves higher than usual, and he quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, it was fine. You know."

Bee stared at him, before getting up on her knees and shoving his shoulder. "Don't tell me you went and got a girlfriend!"

"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder, and rebalancing his drink to keep it from spilling. "Fine! I don't have a girlfriend!"

It was too genuine to be a lie, but that blush hadn't faded. Smellerbee scoffed. "What happened, you hook up with some guy at a truck stop?"

"No! Jeez." He rolled his eyes. "He needed a ride home, so I let him tag along. We got along pretty well, so..."

"Oh my god. You picked up some random guy and, what, wined him and dined him in the back of your shitty truck?" she asked, laughing.

"This is why I don't tell you things, you know that, right?" Jet said, deadpan. Bee shook her head, still in disbelief. 

"I thought you had standards, man."

"I do."

"It's been a total of, what, a whole week since you left Washington —"

"Three days."

"And you found your true love at some truck stop —"

"It was a quarter mile from a bus stop, get your facts straight —"

"And in that time you've gone and fallen in love with this random stranger." Bee stared at him. "Do you even know where he lives?"

"Next county over with his uncle. He knows Jin," Jet said, with a raised eyebrow like he dared her to argue with that point. What are even the odds of that? she wondered in bewilderment. 

"Fine. Fine," she said, raising her hands in surrender. "I'm sure you and the weirdo who somehow fell for you after spending time inside your truck will be perfectly happy together."

Jet shoved her shoulder, but smiled a little. "His name's Zuko," he said, with the sappy look she'd been used to seeing in association with Jin's name; then Haru's; then Katara's.

 Oh brother. He's in deep, isn't he? 

"Zuko like the guy from that crappy '70s movie?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. Jet rolled his eyes. 

"No, ​​​​​​not Zuko like the guy from Grease. You think I'd date a tool like that?" he asked, leaning back in his seat and chewing on the end of his straw; he looked off at the other side of the room, his expression suddenly a million miles away. "He's...he's like me, you know? He knows what it's like to do shit you regret and to run away from it. And...you can't, you have to come back and face it. I think I need someone like that."

Smellerbee watched Jet, quiet. He didn't really talk about his feelings a whole lot, but when he did, it was hard not to listen. She sighed. 

"Okay," she said. "I wanna meet him, though, so I'm reserving judgement until then. And I will put the fear of death in him if he so much as looks at you wrong," she warned. Jet cracked a wide grin, ruffling her hair. 

"I missed ya," he said. 

"Oh, cut it out," she huffed, pushing his hand away with a fond glare. She got up, grabbing his empty cup. "Come on, Anita made cookies this morning, let's see if she'll let us have some."

Jet smiled and got up, tucking her under his arm as she led him to the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the dry-grass and gasoline smell of his clothes. 

It was good to have him back. 

[delilahrosenvold]

[ taylor swift,  female, she/her ] - was that DELILAH ABIGAIL ROSENVOLD i saw walking down the strip? i heard that the TWENTY NINE year old who has been in las vegas for NINE YEARS and works as a/an ANIMAL REHEBLIATOR  has a reputation of being SELFLESS, but also Stubborn. You will more than likely associate them with AN ENDLESS SUNDRESS COLLECTION, A SNAKE WRAPPED AROUND HER ARM  A PAROT ON SHOLDER, HONEY SUCKLE SWEET KISSES welcome to las vegas! [ laura, 25,they/them, cst, none ] (filling the wc of the mother of Nathan’s twins)

THIS IS RUSHED AND DIDN'T CHECK SPELLING OR ANYTHING DON"T COME FOR ME hehe!! super excited to be here! If you wanna plot like this and i'll message you.

basics ♡  

full name: Delilah Abigail Rosenvold

nicknames: Lilah or abby but only family or her closest friends call her that

gender: female

pronouns:;  she/her

occupation: animal rehabilitator

sexual preference: queer

birthdate & age: june 18th, 1994, twenty-nine years old

birthplace: silverton, colorado

currently resides: las vegas, nv

relationships ♡

mother: Margert Rosenvold (dead)

father: John Rosenvold

siblings: 3 brothers all younger

spouse / lover: she's single

exes: tbd

children:  twins

pets: a corn snake named frank and a hamster called ellie but many animals stay in her home

— favorite things ♡

ice cream flavor: mint chocolate chip

food: sushi

time of the day / night: dusk

season: spring

holiday: christmas

animal: horses, beaver and hawks

color: periwinkle

scent: hay fields, fresh cut grass, lilac

musician/band: noah kahan

misc. ♡

education: animal science degree and vet premed

bad habits: biting her cuticles and dressing the twins alike

a cherished item: her mother's locket

random fun fact: doesn't like the term crunchy mom yet she doesn't like giving the twins dyes or letting them any chemicals in their clothes

bio ♡

Deliliah grew up in what would be considered a upper middle class family, her mother stayed home making money from redo peoples closets and reorganizing their life's but she did that so she could be around her kids more. Her father was the main bread winner, he worked in city planning. Which is funny since Delilah's home town only have a population of 690 people and it's not changing anytime soon. Silverton is tiny and up in the mountains and was only Delilah knew until she left. She's a small town girl first. Hell, she owned a horse from ages six to nineteen when sadly she passed away. Not the last time that year Delilah would lose someone close to her. First her horse in an accident then her mother died. Margret was a wonderful mother she doted on her kids and made up for the fact all John did was work and go hunt and drink. He'd rather be in the mountain than with his family most times. This is turn made Delilah close to her mom. Not only was she the eldest but the only girl. So, when her mom get sick around Delilah's sixteenth birthday she did what any daughter would do, she stepped up. She knew her father couldn't or wouldn't handle taking care of her brothers working and taking care of her mom. Instead, the sixteen year old child did. She began to help her mom with house work, cooked food for her bothers, bathed her mom when got to weak. Did it all. Even put off going to school. Delilah didn't go to college until after her mom passed. She was going to stay and take care of her brother's even longer but she was already twenty and lost so much time plus on her death bed her mother told, " go be you". That has stuck with her for a long time. "Go be you" It plays in her head daily when she thinks she doing wrong. Moving away change her relationship with her family. Her father and her where never close but that only worsened when she came to him her fourth year of school and told him she was pregnant. Anger doesn't cover how he reacted. He called her a whole, a slut, told her she'd never be a vet now. But all she heard as he screamed at her was her mom's voice echoing in her mind. "Go be you" That's where she is now four years after she had twins. Being herself. Not being close to her family or at least her dad made her find herself. No she didn't get to finish vet school. Her pregnancy did change that but now she's an animal rehabilitator and works on her own time. Her home is always filled with animals some that will go back into the wild but others that will go to rescues and zoos. Most rewarding job . Just like her mom she gets to be with her kids. Gets to be a good mom. But mostly not taking to her dad took away the pressure of her being the perfect daughter. Being herself has opened her world and shown her while she might have kids with a man but she's mostly gay. Being openly queer is still new for her. The almost thirty year old didn't have her first queer experice until last year. Nathan had the kids and she went out to a club and for the first time had sex with someone who wasn't assigned male at birth. That moment a light went off in her head, "Go be you", she's gay. She might still like men and not regret a second of her life with her girls and their father but she likes women way more than she ever liked men. She knows she does like men still but there is way more to herself. She's calling herself queer now but still exploring and coming to terms with everything it's still so fresh for her. Now she just finds herself trying to live up to her goals and just co parent well and be a good mom.

wanted connections ♡

Best friend- self explanatory

The person she hooked up with at the club

mom friends/parent friends- they can go on play dates

her brothers- love her brothers she might not be close with her dad but maybe it's different with them??

Cousin?? Maybe

secret lover???

someone she's been in love with for a while but she figured it out?? Maybe they don't like her at all? Or maybe it's her best friend?? Maybe they are straight??

Someone she doesn't vibe at all with??

open for any and all!!

[andromedaexists]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

Hi Hi so Locke accidentally tagged me as someone who tagged them in this when I've never actually done it, so imma go ahead and do it now! @lockejhaven

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yeah, I am! I am named after a saint in Ireland that my mom feels a deep connection to! My middle name (pre name change) was also a family name, derived from my Great Grandmother.

2. When was the last time you cried?

uuuuuhhhh like a couple days ago? I don't cry often but I have been Very Stressed™ as of late and that may or may not have lead to me crying over something kind Nats said to me.

3. Do you have kids?

Hell. No.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

ooooh yeah, but i've had to real it back since learning to unmask because a lot of people don't pick up on dead pan sarcasm

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Their style. I like looking at people's outfits.

6. What’s your eye color?

hehehe as far as any of y'all know, red (there are like 3 people who know my actual eye color and I am glaring at them rn, don't say anything)

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Neither? I don't handle horror well but I also think a lot of happy endings are tacky and forced so I don't tend to like them.

8. Any special talents?

uuuuuuhhhhhh, good question? I can play damn near any instrument that you put in my hands at a basic proficiency level? I can grow plants from seeds? I can ski??

9. Where were you born?

sadly, Ohio... It explains a lot actually

10. What are your hobbies?

I have a couple! Obviously I write, but I am also a high level skier! In the summers I like to explore and rollerblade. I also do the music thing quite often!

11. Have you any pets?

Yes! I have an orange baby named Dude (he's a 6? year old orange tabby) and a tortoiseshell angel named Autumn (she's like 15 or smth, I don't know how old she was when we got her but we got her when I was 9 so like 14 years ago)

12. What sports do you play/have played?

I literally have a post about this here. The basic take-away from that post is that it is easier to ask what sports I haven't played lol

13. How tall are you?

5' 8" (or 172 cm for you non american folk)

14. Favorite subject in school?

Science! I would say Chemistry specifically, but that was only one year out of many. I fucking love chemistry though

15. Dream job?

This has changed a lot for me recently. Just a few years ago I would have said a Forensic Chemist or a Nuclear Chemist, but now I think I want to be a Professor of Classics. I would love to focus just on Mythology, but I know that won't be possible

Now, I don't think I have 15 mutuals who haven't already done this, so imma list of a few of y'all and if you haven't done this then feel free to! @blind-the-winds @saintedseraph @ceph-the-ghost-writer @smol-feralgremlin @crypticcodexcreations @antlerhymnals and @dogmomwrites!

[alketaire]

ce lore pseudo-liveblogging under the cut

link to an upload post

started with the osiris logs. always fucking stoked when ikora and ophiucus are doing their thing.

he can’t even say Sagira’s name nooooo ;_; IKORA CAN’T EVEN DESCRIBE HOW HE LOOKS AT HER SHELL NOOOOO TT_TT

and then he’s a tea snob lol ofc. if you hand osiris anything he’s prob encountered it in at least 320400 timelines, he’s a ___ snob all day every day

we’re at a 2-harrumphs-per-page consistent rate so far, most excellent

significant discussion so far of potential ways both Sagira and Savathûn could be brought back. HMMM.

ooh, use of “katabasis” in the mythological sense as a metaphor for what Osiris thinks Savathûn might have gone through, neat

why is Osiris mumbling to himself a point of worry, he’s been talking to himself for three kajillion years. plus he’s mumbling about inanna and i am ALWAYS down for more sumerian mythology in media

lol Ikora and Ophiucus talking again is great bc the second one of them agrees with the other they switch sides and keep arguing, love it

-

ok on to calus! dan said this one has people in an uproar which. the woman is a civilization of problems in a 500-pound bag, i think i’m ready *immediate missing mom* oh no.

baby caiatl slip slidin around you deserved so much better than the everything ;_;

oh, cool, specifics of uluran biology/history/culture! love it except this family is still a fucking nightmaOH JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK

ok why is Umun’arath the least insane person here

wait. wait. WAIT THE FUCKING SECOND. THIS SEEMS TO IMPLY THE PSIONS ARE THE ECUMENE. WAS OXA MADE FROM TAOX. I THOUGHT THAT SHIT ON REDDIT WAS PURE SPINFOIL BUT WHAT THE FUCK

this whale riding shit sounds like if you asked calus what he thought “drunk driving” should be

aw MANNNNN i wanna turn into a monument of solid bone when i get too old

gotta say all the like uluran worldbuilding so far is just. cool as fucking hell. lithium-carved cave art would be super shiny for a while compared to the oxidized rock surrounding it. shame torobatl and the uluran homeworld wherever it is are fucked.

speaking of cool as fucking hell, caiatl, empress of ‘rip to my copilot but im different’

lol @ calus smooshing his face through a model of the Almighty as he throws a drunk tantrum at umun’arath. he’s, uh, not wrong tho?

glad that caiatl and dan agree about ghaul’s voice. that man could be telling you to go to the corner store for milk and you’d be ready to duel someone to the death for the last carton of lactose-free 1%

OOOOOOO THE GHOST PRIMUS WHO WILL RESURRECT OUR EMPIRE HOLY SHIT HOHOHOHO guardianghaulsomehowplease

mood whiplash, am now crying

so MUCH fucking light imagery around ghaul, cmon now

aaaaand ahamkara. fuck’s sake. do we - OH NO. oh shit. caiatl empress of being fucking BORN paracausal!!

fortunately, she is caiatl and spends the entire next page going “yeah fuck all this bullshit” because a wish for someone to love does not mean a wish for someone who won’t be your downfall lol

omg cabal fantasy football i’m DEAD

-

on to the elsie book! i have known tokki for two lore entries and three paragraphs and i would die for her

oh so cloudstriders are uluran-sized. neat.

hmm. wonder if pouka’s communication works that way with guardians. or even non-exos, for that matter.

oh so elsie knew there was a mega-human out on a station near pluto two four years ago but nbd, what is this fish thing?????? ig it helped her learn stasis but ma’am really?

lol after a bunch of people being all like ooh hive magic is the next darkness class ooo! nah brah hive magic was fancy stasis the whole time

OH NO. yeah fuck that timeline elsie. ooh THAT timeline fucks though

ooh so does that one! mara with stasis yes please

OH POUKA IS AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DARKNESS FISH, VERY COOL

the image of elsie breaking out of stasis prison shouting SCIENCE is pretty good, not gonna lie, but for a second i thought it was gonna be ALLAHU AQBAR and that’s also pretty fuckin good

man i knew the brays were all fucked up but “i didn’t in hundreds of years think of just loving my sister (eta: WHO SPENT TWO LIFETIMES DESPERATELY SEARCHING FOR WHAT IT MEANS TO BELONG. IF YOU DIDN’T NOTICE.) like a normal goddamn person until i was threatened with death over my need for total control” is a pretty big L, elsie

[gremlin-dreams]

A firefighter in the apocalypse

(As usual fake names for privacy)

So the planet was under threat. 

I was a firefighter, lived on my own, didn't really speak to my family much, and naturally when the news broke out that the Earth was basically going to be destroyed I tried to calm, soothe and save as many people as possible. Obviously it was hectic as fuck, people rioting, screaming, running, panicking. The whole world was scared. 

Now, something weird happened, when I was trying to help some kids find their mother in a huge panicked crowd, someone called my name. A voice I hadn't heard for years. I didnt turn the first time because I found the kids’ mom, they ran off but I heard it again. I spun around only to see someone peeking out of the crowd I never thought I'd see again. It was my cousin Isaac, who for the purposes of my dream looked exactly like Jared Padelecki. It was sort of an Anna and Elsa deal, he was my favourite growing up and vice versa, but we drifted when he started getting crap from the family too. 

I went over to him and he hugged me tight saying what a wonder it was to see his favourite baby cousin all grown up and saving people. I asked him what the hell he was doing there and I was starting to get a little emotional because the only way I'd planned to get through this at all was just to help as many people as possible, but now confronted with a family member I couldn't possibly ignore the fact that I was going to die and so was everybody I'd ever cared about..

This is where Isaac spoke up, he said someone from his university had a plan, someone I knew actually. He dragged me along by my hand, out of the crowd, explaining that his friend had a plan to artificially clone a bunch of humans so they could be identical but with a different genetic makeup, in order to slip undetected and unshredded through this weird black hole before the planet was decimated, hence saving and preserving some of humanity, sending them god knows where and hoping it was better.

It sounded incredulous to me but I followed him nevertheless, didn't have much of a choice with how fast he was dragging me. At the end of this path, there were these weird looking medical buses at the top in a carpark, and we were pretending to be calm and such but then last minute he bolted, dragging me with him, I almost closed my eyes it was that fast and I didnt want to be blinded by a stray branch. We got onto a bus and were finally loaded into this big building where we were reunited with the rest of our family. It seemed they had tasked him with coming to get me, and we were both apprehensive but it also seemed like the end of the world was a good enough reason for them to let past shit go and treat us well for once.

We all joined up and went into the labs in the building, greeting Isaacs friend who took us to be cloned. It was a very weird experience, and gave us time to chat, though we weren't all very chatty. Despite all this effort my folks and stuff were still quite panicked. I even brought Juju (my cat) along. The guy explained that we would have a strange shared consciousness with the clones until one of them ceased existing, a science they had been working on and hiding for years.

Isaac was a little worried about the risks so he went first, turns out he'd been missing me for years but never said anything for fear of shame, but deep down he was still that protective sweet big brother figure. He came out and said it went smoothly, and I gotta say, seeing his clone was eerie. 

Then it was my turn, I went in and got cloned. Very spooky experience, but something went wrong. It wasn't major but as soon as it was done an annoyed looking Isaac ran to my side, and on the other side of the walls, the cloned Isaac did exactly the same to my clone.

It wasn't serious, just some of the cloning process had triggered some parts of my brain that shouldn't be in order to copy them over, they said it should wear off but basically I was “regressed” and had a headache. 

So our clones headed onto these ships, getting as comfortable as possible, mine even got candy. I'm a little jealous, it looked delicious. Like a strawberry pencil but mango and pineapple. The scientists told us it would be better and less stressful for us and our new bodies if we focused on the clones consciousness instead of the real us, left on earth. I was apparently the only one struggling with this, because I was regressed, in and out of this childlike state. Isaac seemed to understand and didn't even mind because he said he really missed little me and sometimes wanted to go back in time and treat her better and now he had the chance.

We got into the seats, all watching these safety videos and getting buckled in, Isaac running his hand through my hair and feeding me candy, and the ships launched. It was a scary feeling, and finally being off the planet and in orbit, scariest thing I'd ever done, felt so weird, but I was doing my best to stay calm.

Unfortunately my consciousness wandered back to the real me, I guess out of fear and concern, and honestly I'm glad it did. There I was, firefighter me, scars and all, with my family who looked unconscious, and I woke up Isaac because I was scared. He said it was okay as long as the clones were on the ship, they couldn't do much more, but we could not stay in this consciousness whilst the planet was destroyed or we'd be screwed. We'd have to switch back. 

However, I had different plans, being regressed and scared. I wanted out, I wanted to run as far as possible as if it would save me. None of us knew the impact the destruction would have on the earth yet, we didn't know if survival was possible. Nevertheless Isaac and I woke the family now that all the clones were supposedly safe somewhere up there in space for the time being, and convinced them that we should try to run anyways, just in case. We don't know if the black hole would even work, we don't know if the planet will even really be destroyed, or if it would just be surface level like the big bang or a war.

We all piled outside towards Dad's Jaguar, even though for some reason that thing was big enough to fit a whole family in, a bit like the Galaxy my mom used to have. We decided we had to get out of there even if we didn't know where we were going yet. This was partly due to people getting roudier and roudier outside, rioting around the science building. We began reversing out of the lot and trying to get through all these people, Isaac and I were in the boot seats. First we headed off to his friend’s house because we were nearby and frazzled and didn't know what else to do and it was Dad's only idea. 

His friend Anthony was inside with his wife, they were sending off food packages to the homeless and people panicking outside, he was like a weird apocalypse santa. Seemed calm until Dad really started talking to him, then in that weird manly way they both kinda let go how angry and terrified they were. Dad didn't mention the cloning thing, he didn't want to rub it in, or give hope where there is none. 

Whilst waiting at the back of the car, playing with Juju and showing her to Anthony’s daughter Jess who was about the same age as Isaac, so a few years older than me, I remembered my own friends from college, Liam and John were among them. Surprisingly in the midst of the chaos, Liam actually replied to a message I sent him. It was vague and mysterious and I had to dig a little bit but he revealed that he had a secret, it was a bunker, and stood more chance of hope or survival than simply waiting on the surface for your doom, so he was going to try it. He gave me the directions and coordinates, saying not to let anyone else get their hands on it, and that I could bring my family. I didn't tell him about the cloning either, not yet.

Anyways I ran to my dad and pulled him aside, telling him about it as best I could whilst in and out of regression, which was a little humiliating actually but Isaac helped translate. Anthony kinda caught wind of it and begged we take his daughter with us, and Dad said yes, and we all piled back into the car. Just then, as we were reversing away from Anthony’s house these gas thingys went off like a hundred feet in front of us, over by the science buildings. Then one a little closer, and one a lot closer. They were canisters that exploded in yellow gas, it looked like chalk honestly, designed to impede vision which was bad enough, but you could also hear people coughing and crying and screaming (probably mustard gas?). We tried to do up the windows as fast as possible and it was a close call when I pulled the boot door shut and we drove away. It got all over the car too, and made it hard to see, so dad drove through this ford of water, clearing it off as much as possible before we began the drive out into the country, it was out towards Dorset.

A few times I flashed in and out between my consciousness and the clone up there on the ship, it was scary, both of them could die, it could all be for nothing. The clone me on that ship was starting to get restless because of all the panic, and the clone Isaac kinda took care of her even though he wasn't holding the consciousness currently. Anyways back to reality, we're driving for a long time, there are a few mental breakdowns from various people, my mother, me, yadda yadda, kinda expected in an apocalypse situation, and eventually we reached this little town that looked like it hadn't been updated since World War 1. We tried to remain calm and not draw any attention to ourselves, but me being in and out of regression was making it rather difficult and Isaac was having to distract me as we made our way up this hill out of town into the rural parts. We passed some people I recognised from school and it was way too hard to describe why the hell I was acting so weird, but they didn't care much, as far as they were concerned everyone was gonna die, people were gonna act weird, but I kinda told them in passing that I had a clone up on a spaceship who was gonna live. Thankfully due to the regression and Isaac pulling me away by hand, they didn't believe a word of it.  

Eventually we reached our destination, limited supplies and belongings in bags on our backs, and were welcomed by Liam and John at the entrance to this weird bunker. The only way I can describe it is if the Torchwood bunker and Supernatural bunker and Alterra from Subnautica had a baby. It was somehow old-timey and modern at the same time, like a time capsule, like the safe house in Primeval. It was expansive and large but you couldn't tell from all the small winding hallways and rooms. 

We all got settled and could barely believe the place was real, Dad and Liam were discussing the strength and capacity of it all, if it were enough, even though no one really knew the extent of the damage Earth would take. I was in this kinda old main room, lots of seats, dusty, a record player and piano in the corner, stairs up to higher levels (we were pretty far underground). I started becoming friendly with John and we got to know each other and he was so sweet and kind. They did ask who Anthony's daughter Jess was and how she was related to us, so we all sorta panicked and blurted out that she was Isaac's girlfriend, which was fitting because they were getting on like a house on fire.

Later on I was wandering the halls looking around and I found John, Liam and Isaac all talking in a small corridor full of important looking pipes and gears and controls in one of the lower levels. I stayed hidden around the corner and listened, just like a little kid, they were discussing our clones and consciousness, how it was a strange and dangerous plan. How neither party were assured to be safe. Isaac wanted to know which version of him he should go with to prevent his consciousness from being ripped apart when either his clone or his real body kicked it. They were brainstorming and stressed and obviously I heard it all and got quite scared. I ran away down the hallway again crying, and they knew it was me because I dropped this stuffed animal that I'd found in the parlor room (looked like Floppy from Bluey) and Isaac and John ran after me, trying to calm me down because panicking wasn't going to help either. Now it was just a countdown between both realities to see who stood a better chance. It was terrifying. I don't know how long we were in that bunker, could have been hours, could have been days, but Isaac kept shifting between consciousness' to check things up there were still all good. I don't remember much else, just endless terrified waiting, the regression slowly wearing off, and something about a wedding in the bunker, Isaac and Jess, it was bittersweet.

[jupiter-reimagined]

Dealer's choice for the OC ask game, but with Julius. I wanna learn more about him, please and thank you.

i have an ungodly amount of free time between classes so... heres answers to them all, in varying levels of detail. dealer's choice is "yes." bdbshs

1. Do they sleep with a stuffed animal? If they have multiple, who's the favorite?

he does not, even when he was a child, he just didnt like sleeping with them

2. Can they take care of a plant? What about a pet? What about a child?

considering hes a scientist, hes exceptional at raising plant babies, as well as human children. he did somewhat raise his niece and nephews. dont give him pets tho. hes bad at that

3. Ask them to describe their love interest.

aromantic king. n/a

4. Do they look good in red?

HELL YEAH!!! but i may be biased because i think everyone looks good in red, its just a matter of syling. he does love his burgundy turtleneck

5. Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Will they give one, and what about?

hes nerding out and probably would do one about a recent research paper he did. i mean... that counts so,, yeah

6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won't they take advice from, no matter what it is?

he would have taken any advice from his brother, if he were still alive. and he doesnt trust a single word coming from the mouth of famous people in general. no matter what. if they have fans, their word means shit to him

7. Describe them in three words. Now let them describe themself in three words.

my description: science loving dad

his description: not good enough. <- ow

8. Do complex puzzles intrigue or frustrate them?

he has a collection of puzzle boxes. he loves puzzles, no matter how frustrating or stupid

9. Do they empathize with non-sentient things (dolls, plants, books...)?

he does!!!! hes lived alone for years. he was bound to get attached to his possessions.

10. What age do they most want to be right now?

n/a. hee content as he is. its natural to age and hes not too bothered by being in his 60s

11. They've won the lottery. Spend, or save?

he sets up a college fund for oliver, and gives the rest to the rest of his kids. he trusts they'll use it well

12. Do they like romance in the books they read (or in the book they're in)?

aromantic king part 2

13. Name one thing their parents taught them.

value his family. thats it. thats why hes like this.

14. Would they agree with the term 'guilty pleasure'? Do they have any?

well. he has things he likes, but he isnt guilty about them

15. What would they consider a waste of time- other than school or work?

not really, no. he believes its important to wind down every once in a while. or as he calls it, play time

16. If money wasn't a limit, what would they wear?

same crusty lab coat as always. his clothes are all like 10 years old. if it aint broke dont fix it

17. Do they like children?

he does :)

18. Kissing: tongue or no tongue?

AROMANTIC KING PART 3. jesus.

19. Do they study before tests? Practice before job interviews?

nah. hes a fucking nerd, so he knew everything all of the time. and hes had the same job for like 15 years. no interviews for him anytime soon (hopefully)

20. What do they like that nobody else does?

n/a. hes not telling me anything

21. What would it take for them to break up with someone? What would be the last straw?

SIGH. AROMANTIC KING. PART. 4.

22. Do they like being called pet names? Do they call other people pet names? What's their go-to?

he calls everyone some variation of son/daughter. sometimes, everyone is sonny to him

23. Stability or novelty?

stability

24. Honesty or charity?

honesty. hes got no time for bullshit

25. Safety or possibility?

safety!!!

26. Talent or effort?

effort. he didnt get anywhere from talent

27. Forgiveness or vengeance (or...)?

forgiveness. mostly

28. Would they date a fixer-upper?

oh for FUCKS SAKE. AROMANTIC. KING. PART. FUCKING. FIVE!!!!!

29. What recurring dreams do they have?

he dreams of his brother a lot. and the kids, whenever hes away

30. What would they do if they knew it would be forgiven?

probably make his own drugs