#hes the wasp final boss

[pjshermann]

willem's name meaning "helmet protection" is so fucking funny. yea man he couldve used a helmet in the car crash for sure. wasnt very helmet protection of him then was it.

[bones4thecats]

Jettwins x fembot jet reader, They both fall in love with the reader who is part of the Prime team

TFA! Jet-Twins w/ an S/O on Team Prime

Characters: POLY! Jetfire and Jetstorm (Transformers Animated) Requester: 🔥Anon A/N: Imma call you 🔥Anon since I use that emoji for Jetfire and wanna save the other emoji just in case! I do hope you like this, it was fun to write for these two goofballs <3 ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: Nothing bad really ⚠️

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Jetfire + Jetstorm ════════════════════════╝

🔥⛈️ When Jetfire and his brother came onto Earth for the first time, you were arriving with Sentinel, whom you found driving at a higher speed than normal in Detroit, and were shocked to see Optimus fighting a large mech

🔥⛈️ When Sentinel began to yell at Optimus, you stood up for him, yelling right back into the Elite Guard member's face

"Oh for crying out loud, Sentinel! If you're supposed to be a Prime, a mentor to many up-and-coming Autobot soldiers, you need to listen to others and not just that annoying voice in your processor! Listening to yourself alone is not a quality of an Autobot, it's a quality of a Decepticon!"

"How dare you call me a Decepticon!"

"How dare I?! How dare you treat the only Bot that you have left in your life, one of the rare few who ever truly cared about you, like a hunk of scrap metal?! You need to grow up and quit acting like a sparkling! It's pathetic."

🔥⛈️ The twins were shocked to see how quick Sentinel backed down when you began to get more and more angry. And the way you stood there and glared at their boss, one of the highest-ranking Primes of that time, and scolded him like how a Carrier or Sire would their own offspring

"Just- get out there and find that fugitive!" He barked at the two.

🔥⛈️ After the whole... Wasp-incident... you remained in contact with the twins, sending them some photos you would take around the city. Heck, sometimes you'd go for drives outside of the city with Sari and/or Prowl to get away from the business

🔥⛈️ They loved to look at the scenery of the planet you protected, and from time to time, they would try to get Sentinel to let them go back to Earth to 'check on you guys'. Yeah... Jazz always knew something else was on their mind, Sentinel on the other hand, not so much. He's pretty dumb when it comes to relationships

🔥⛈️ Anyways. They both struggle with certain things when you eventually enter a relationship with them.

🔥Jetfire

He is much higher with his voice, meaning he yells more than his twin. So, if you are sensitive to loud noises, do tell him early on so he can tone himself down more often

Jetfire also has issues with his emotions, though it's more severe than his brothers. This was shown when Ironhide tried flirting with you and he went from a happy-go-lucky bot to a glaring and borderline-possessive one

Speaking of possessiveness, he has his moments. It's not severe like others like the Decepticons, but it does appear when he thinks your relationship may be in danger. Even the most arrogant have their doubts

Finally, his fire sometimes flares up when his anger gets out of control. And, unlike Jetstorm's winds, his are far more destructive, so, if he ever gets mad, keep your guard up in case of a metal-melting outburst

⛈️Jetstorm

Like I said earlier, Jetfire may be the loudest twin, but Jetstorm is the more physically threatening despite their similarities. His wind is something he uses to his advantage, since he has to control such a strong energy, his strength is slightly better than Jetfire's

He may be more loose than Jetfire when it comes to your interactions, but he is also protective. One time, you were speaking to Sentinel when he almost blew a gasket, and when he nearly yelled at you, the flying Autobot glared, making the Prime stand down in slight fear

He knows you can handle yourself, but he feels the need to protect you. Sometimes it can seem like he was coddling, and whenever you brought this up to him, he would apologize, and you could tell it was sincere. His Decepticon CNA just messes with his processor like it does with Jetfire

Speaking of his CNA, he may be less showing when it comes to his dark thoughts, but make no mistake; he, much like his brother, would do anything to keep you safe. Nothing would be bad enough to keep their love safe

🔥⛈️ But, despite their flaws, the twins do prove to be good partners. They don't get jealous of one another badly, instead they just pout like sparklings until you pay them the same amount of attention as you did their sibling

🔥⛈️ Jetfire and Jetstorm also like to take you patrolling with them. While it may not be easy to handle, as they were rarely ever free after the Decepticon lock-up, since they were still looking up for any rogue signals, they would try making any time up for you

🔥⛈️ When you returned to Cybertron after getting the 'Cons locked away, you were appointed as a head in the Council, a Bot who would replace Longarm Prime, or rather Shockwave, and would lead the Cybertronian Intelligence unit

🔥⛈️ After taking that position, you managed to get Ratchet back into the medical field as a head medic, you got Bee and Bulkhead into the Elite Guard (though they still had to move up the ranks on their own), you helped attempt to repair the relationship between Optimus and Sentinel (with the help of Jazz), and you got Prowl to be marked down in the history data-pads as the hero that helped remove the threat of the Decepticons from Cybertron that he was

🔥⛈️ It was hard to adjust to such a ranking change and with the additional work that came with said position, but you proved to be very capable of it. And with your future sparkmates by your sides, you could handle any challenge you faced

[qwimblenorrisstan]

Surprise Pt. 5 | Soap x Reader

Summary: The boys learn that they don’t know you as well as they thought they did, while you find some newfound ‘friends’ in an American and his unofficial boss in Urzikstan.

Word Count: ~ 4.6k

Warnings: Descriptions of death, knives, blood, guns, explosions, debris, gas, torture, kidnapping, shooting, choking, heavy topics, biting, it’s a lot yall

A/N: umm sorry ive been gone for a week here’s some food!! *runs away* this is a big switchup though from mainly 141 to Alex, Farah, and a few more pieces of reader’s backstory so lmk any thoughts or theories (yk I love them) hope you enjoy<3 (side quest: find how many characters you can recognize from cod!)

Requests are open!

Previous | Masterlist | Next

The first thing Captain John Price registered when he walked into the room, the rest of his Task Force following closely behind, was that they were in some deep shit. They’d just gotten back from a mission. The one they’d been called into during the volleyball game. It had been low stakes, but instead of going back to the apartment, they’d been told to get back to base as soon as possible.

Laswell was pacing back and forth, fidgeting, two things she never did unless everything was falling apart at the seams. The last time he’d seen her so worked up had been years ago. When she caught sight of him, there was no sigh of relief or relaxation, she breathed out four words.

”They got her, John.”

He tried not to let the tension in his body show, tried not to look just how internally panicked he was right now. Simon stiffened, hands balling into fists. Price knew it was a conscious effort to not lash out immediately.

”What.”

Ghosh ground out, eyes narrowed. Soap tried putting a hand on his shoulder, a hand that Simon only shoved off immediately. Laswell just shook her head, looking to be in shock as she only sat down at one of the chairs in the dimly lit room, pulling documents out from a drawer under the long table.

Price was the first to sit, followed by Gaz, then Soap, and finally, Simon who refused to relax, his leg bouncing impatiently under the table, hands on his knees.

Laswell opened one of the files, sliding it around to where they could see it. Lo and behold, it was a picture of you from a few years back, maybe when you’d been 14 or 15. You shouldn’t have been able to get in that early, it shouldn’t have even been possible. You wore a uniform, the file listing you by your first and last name, your callsign in the center. There was no official position or branch like there should’ve been.

“Wasp.”

Price stared at it for a few moments, reading whatever he could glean over in the file before glancing up at Laswell, who in turn pulled another file out. This one looked newer, the corners were not bent or warped yet. When she opened it, there was no picture on file. This time, it stated “Marines” as your branch. Your last name was listed as “Woods” instead of Riley.

To keep Simon from finding you on the database, most likely. Or someone else.

And the thing that caught his attention the most?

The “Captain” title right next to your first name.

”That’s nae possible.”

Soap said, jaw clenched as he glanced at Simon, the man refusing to meet his eye, glaring down at the files.

”It is,”

Laswell said, breathing out a shaky breath. Trying to calm herself, Price knew.

”They found her in a camp at 12, Frank Woods took her in, pulled some strings, and enrolled her early off record. He kept her mostly off base in a safe house until she turned 18.”

Gaz’s gaze was on Laswell now, narrowed, pinned on her. Interrogation was his specialty, after all.

”A camp?”

A nod.

”Essentially a POW camp, her relations to Ghost meant she was a valuable asset to bargain.”

Price didn’t need to glance over at Ghost to see the way he’d nearly stopped breathing, the shock being a common aspect among the group. Gaz let out a deep breath, hand going to hold the brim of his cap, his gloved finger running along the seam.

”Then how the bloody hell is she in high school?”

Simon asked, trying to reason with how this could’ve happened, how you could’ve lied to them, to him, for so long about everything and he’d never even caught on. It hadn’t been a volleyball camp keeping you from attending his mum’s funeral, it had been a POW camp, one you had been in because of him in the first place.

Simon asked, trying to reason with how this could’ve happened, how you could’ve lied to them, to him, for so long about everything and he’d never even caught on. It hadn’t been a volleyball camp keeping you from attending his mum’s funeral, it had been a POW camp, one you had been in because of him in the first place. And the new, somewhat stable foster home you’d been in? A safe house provided by your new foster parent, Frank Woods, an American Sergeant that Simon had heard whispers of.

He’d allegedly been a force to reckon with during the Korean and Vietnam wars, retired now and pushing 60 probably, but no less legendary by military standards.

”She’s 23, Lieutenant. It was a cover mission.”

Another surprise.

Another lie.

“Steamin’ Jesus…”

Soap muttered, the gleam in his eye dimming from what was most likely concern.

”It was an undercover mission, but with her gone, I don’t know how we’ll handle Nova…”

Laswell muttered to herself, catching herself just in time to shut her mouth then and there, probably realizing she’d already said too much, when Price stood up, staring her down.

”Nova? The hell is that?”

He asked sternly, and Laswell gathered the files in her hands, putting them neatly back into stacks, falling back into the controlled woman he usually saw her as.

”That’s classified, John.”

“Considering we’re closely involved with her, I don’t think it is, Kate.”

He saw the slight whiplash it gave her to call her by her first name, which made sense considering it was always Laswell. Her face grew stern, despite the worried frown lines already carving into her face.

”Don’t. We’ll get her back.”

The rest of the boys watched as she walked out of the room, Gaz muttering something sarcastic under his breath, Price pacing, Soap cursing not so quietly under his breath in his full unbridled accent, and Ghost sitting deathly still.

”I’ll talk to Briggs.”

Price said firmly, words stiff as he walked out of the room.

A moment of silence between the remaining three in the room.

Soap was the first to speak.

“Fuck!”

~

The sweet and irony smell of blood filled your nose as you shakily tried to move, limbs trembling for some reason.

Blinking to try and clear the blurriness in them, you opened your eyes, only to begin rapidly blinking as something small and grainy lifted from a sudden draft and blew into your eyes.

Sand.

You hated sand. The way it shifted under your feet, how it got under all your clothing and in your mouth, under your nails, and in your shoes. The grainy, grinding texture of it against your skin when you had a high-stakes mission and had to lie in it, waiting for the perfect shot.

But sand of this texture was in a handful of places, so at least you could narrow your location down a bit. Getting up and looking around would also help.

You were in a small room, from the looks of it, leaning against a wooden beam that dug at the clothing on your back with jagged edges. Textured, colorfully patterned quilts and blankets hung around, and shifting your head to turn right despite how it throbbed, you saw a corkboard filled with pins and images of people, locations, and notes. A few of the faces were recognizable, not in a good way though. Recognizable in the sense that you had seen those faces before you thought you’d killed them.

The sandy floor beneath you had wood underneath, by the feel of it. Your palms pushed against the floor, trying to get the leverage to stand up, only for you to slump against the wood again.

You needed to get up.

This time using your good leg to push against the floor, as well as your palms, you got almost halfway up the beam, nearly standing, when the sand made your foot slide back out and you fell onto the floor again.

A small, breathy chuckle from the other side of the room had you immediately turning your head, the quick movement making it spin slightly, even as you heard the sound of metal moving against the floor as well as only one footstep every few seconds.

“I don’t like the sand either. Hard on my leg, or what’s left of it, anyways.”

The American from earlier came in, maybe Alex? You’d been so disoriented when he’d told you that you could hardly remember. Fragments of foggy bits came to light, but nothing more than that.

His hair was a sandy color, dirty blonde almost, with a mustache and hair that was sticking almost straight up but short enough to not look ridiculous. His one leg was perfectly normal, but on the other, there was a curved piece of metal to replace the lower half of it where a nub was all that was left.

He offered you a hand, one you hesitated before taking. An American soldier wasn’t a threat, or at least shouldn’t be. He pulled you up as you stumbled to your feet.

“Where are we?”

Your raspy voice asked, throat dry. You tried to clear it to no avail. He grabbed a canteen from a table a few feet away, near the corkboard, and handed it to you with the lid already popped off.

“Zaravan City, Urzikstan. We’re not close to much anything, though, this is one of our safe houses.”

He spoke while you chugged the water, it flowing down your throat mercifully and filling your empty stomach, only serving to remind you that you were also starving. Food could wait, though. When you handed the nearly empty canteen back to him with a small sigh, you raised a brow.

“Our?”

A woman’s voice, thick with a familiar accent, spoke then.

“Yes, our.”

She was standing by the corkboard, glancing over the information with a sharp eye, before walking over to Alex. Her hair was dark and thick, tied tightly back into what seemed to be a ponytail beneath her dark garb. A gun hung from her hip, something semi-automatic. You weren’t sure if that was legal or not here, but couldn’t find it within you to care.

“Farah, in case you don’t remember, Riley.”

You were glad she’d told you because you most definitely did not remember her name. Her gaze met yours, and you held it for a long minute, recognizable facial features coming to your mind, like a dream, you could reach but not quite hold. And then—you remembered.

“Karim,”

You breathed, eyes narrowing. General Karim had proven to be more than capable more times than once during the scandals throughout Urzikstan, especially to the boys.

The boys.

You’d nearly forgotten until now, but you wondered just how much they knew. Whether someone had spilled, or Laswell had told them everything. They would probably be biting at the leash, but there was nothing that could be done now, not with the mission having failed.

They were on their own now.

Farah nodded.

“It is not every day we find an American in a Mexican facility,”

A pointed glance at Alex, whose lips curled slightly up at that.

You grumbled, legs still shaky, probably from the gas that had managed to slip in before you’d put the gas mask on doing rounds through your body, the last of it yet to leave. Managing to stumble over to a chair near a small round table in the corner of the room, you sat down, it groaning under your weight.

“Not every day I see a group from America and Urzikstan in a Mexican facility.”

You shot back and watched as Farah and Alex exchanged a glance, a silent conversation happening right in front of you. Rude, but you couldn’t say you hadn’t done the same thing before.

Alex sighed, grabbing the chair with one hand and easing himself down onto it with his leg, propping the prosthetic up on a nearby crate.

His blue eyes met yours as he set one elbow down on the table.

“We were going after Santiago Garza, a key member of their cartel, which we have reason to believe has…”

He exchanged a glance with Farah, who gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head.

“…access to things he shouldn’t.”

Alex finished. Farah spoke next, already sensing your oncoming interrogation despite not being in control of the situation.

“We answered yours, now answer our question. Why did he want you?”

Her tone was demanding, leaving no wiggle room for you to try and keep anything from her. If this whole arrangement was going to work out, you were going to have to be transparent with them, anyway. Or as transparent as you could be.

“I have a… personal history with the Garza family. Not a pretty one.”

Farah pressed her lips together but didn’t question further.

The American wasn’t as smart.

“What kind of history?”

He asked, brows raised in an almost innocent expression if it weren’t for the gleam of suspicion in his eyes. You shook your head. Not willing to talk about it. Not now. Woods was the only one you’d ever talked to about it, other than David when the bastard was even there.

Which hadn’t been often.

“What’s the date?”

You then asked. If you’d been captured in America, and then taken to a supposed Mexican facility, then to Urzikstan, it must’ve taken quite a while. Not to mention the travel from there to the safe house…

“The 24th.”

Farah answered, hands moving to idly wipe sand off of the barrel of her gun, back leaning against the wooden post. Her finger remained near the trigger. Untrusting.

It had been nearly four days.

By then, someone had to have noticed the body of Nalani in your room, and your obvious absence. A homicide and a missing person’s case as well, most likely. The boys had definitely heard of it then, despite what you assumed was a mission they were on, considering how early they left that volleyball game.

Had Woods been informed? Had anyone on your team been informed, or were they still too deep in their work in your absence?

Alex’s eyes snapped to the window as he heard something rustling outside, and within moments he was down on his haunches, you and Farah were quick to follow as he lifted one of the thin sheets lying over the windows from the bottom, glancing out for a second.

The pain in your limbs was barely even noticeable compared to the mini-adrenaline rush you were flooded with, mind and body sharp and alert. You’d performed while in much worse conditions, you could manage this one just fine, you were sure.

But without a weapon, you were defenseless.

Reaching for a gun that was laid out on the table, Alex’s hand grabbing your wrist stopped you and refused to let you grab it.

“We’ll handle this, stay inside.”

He said in a hushed tone, voice firm, even though Farah was the one with the most authority here over the both of you.

Farah slowly opened the door, peeking out, dark eyes scanning the dusty roads and markets, when several shots rang out, feminine screams following quickly as the sound of people running became all too obvious.

“Al-Qatala.”

Farah murmured, jerking her chin to Alex, before slipping her gun from her side and walking out of the door, the American man giving you one last glance that clearly said “Stay here.” before following.

Racking your brain, you tried to remember anything that might help you. Urzikstan. A small country in Western Asia. Violence wasn’t uncommon, by the sound of it. And Al-Qatala…try as you might, you couldn’t remember anything about whoever they were. Maybe some sort of gang? Probably, judging by the gunfire and angry Arabic being barked out in the streets.

But you weren’t going to be helpless, stuck in this tiny “safe house” that had two entrances and one large window a man could easily fit through. You stood up, careful to stay clear of the window to avoid catching any strays, only to find the gun that had been on the table gone.

Alex must’ve taken it.

They surely had more weapons somewhere, except for the fact that no matter where you searched, there was nothing to be found. Nothing except documents of blacked-out information, pictures on the board, and a small stash of food and water lying around. A lot of dates, too.

It wasn’t an ideal situation, but you could work with it.

A few strands of rope that you quickly picked up were lying around. Every lesson you’d overheard Woods giving to his team, drilling it into their heads, began repeating in your mind. Like a dream, almost.

“Can any of you boys tell me the five rules of guerrilla warfare?”

His voice, sharp and brusque but not hostile, asked the men in front of him.

You were crouched down, hiding in one of the small areas where the metal of the walls dented outwards slightly, giving you an area to lay down and peek through at him.

One of the men raised his hand in a salute, chapped lips opening to speak.

“Hit and run, sir!”

Woods nodded, hand shooting out to point at another man down the line of soldiers. Mostly young boys who stupidly enlisted, living for their country and dying for it. You didn’t see the point, even if Woods did. You’d never seen the point, not even when Simon had enlisted.

He could’ve been one of the dead.

He still might be. You hadn’t seen him in a while.

“Ambush, sir!”

You snapped back into focus at that, eyes watching keenly as the man nodded again. He had a habit of it; nodding very often. Even if you just inclined to take a bite of soup, he’d nod. The praise was sort of nice, you supposed. Even if you barely knew him, just having arrived here a few weeks ago.

They’d found you on one of the starving horses from the camps, near the front of the marching people, leading their way to freedom despite how sickly and beaten most were. You weren’t much better.

And when the bastard controlling that camp must’ve ordered his remaining men to circle like vultures and take out as many of the surviving prisoners as he could?

Everyone alive after the vicious attack had huddled together in a small cave, the people at the entrance usually being shot from overhead planes by the men too cowardly to approach.

They’d found you huddled up, a warm body on top of you, on one of the sides. Thrown you over their shoulder. Taken you away despite your hitting and biting, and brought you here to domesticate you again. They weren’t bad. They were just soldiers. And soldiers were all about duty and honor, two things you couldn’t find within yourself to care about much anymore. You wondered if Simon still cared about them, or if he’d been numb to it for much longer. After the death of his mother, and how pissed he’d been that you’d missed the funeral, you seriously doubted it.

Snapping out of your thoughts, you watched Woods nod again. You must’ve missed the others, but you knew them by heart by now. After watching and listening for so long.

Harassment.

Mobility.

And finally…

“Surprise.”

A hand grabbed you by the arm, yanking you forward and through the wall, through the hole you’d been watching from. Woods held you by the arm infuriatingly easily, which made sense considering how much of a runt you were. Or had been at the time.

The metal had scraped against your shoulder, cutting open a shallow scratch from collarbone to right arm. You glared at him, kicking at him even as his soldiers chuckled.

Laughing at you.

You despised how patronizing it felt, leaning forward and sinking your deceivingly sharp teeth into the wrist of his hand that held you. Blood drew, and he didn’t drop you, simply moving to hold you in his other arm, smiling warmly at you as his shoulders shook from silent laughter.

“Feisty, huh?”

He said in an amused tone, ruffling your hair while someone went to grab a medic.

The memory felt warm and fuzzy, a reminder of a long time ago, though it only felt like yesterday.

But you had more important things to do than have an existential crisis.

Spying a fan in the corner, you pried the metal caging off, wrapping both hands around one of the metal pieces on it, and yanking until a piece came off. Jagged and sharp. Just how you needed it.

Wrapping your little pieces of rope around the base to protect your hand, you crept towards the back exit, listening for the sounds of any footsteps nearby. It would be hard to overhear, especially with the sounds of yelling, screaming, and gunfire in the streets. You wondered if your little makeshift friends had joined the dead or not.

A near-silent step, a branch accidentally cracking under his step, and you were on him.

Hit and run.

The metal slid smoothly into his throat, a quiet wheeze being all he could get out before you leaned his body back, watching his eyes glaze over as the blood ebbed and flowed. You pulled the gun from his hands, searching and taking what was left of his weapons as well.

One flash bang.

One knife, the case of which you strapped onto your hip, the flash bang being tucked into it soon after.

Mobility.

You crouched down, glancing left and right on the street, and breaking into a low sprint to a building down the dusty road. A restaurant by the looks of it. You couldn’t read the Arabic on the front, it having been one of the languages you hadn’t learned, even in your training for Special Forces.

More if the men flooded the streets just as you ducked behind the counter. Letting them all know you were here with gunfire wasn’t beneficial yet, not when you were so badly outnumbered. You needed to find the central point they were getting in from.

You needed to move.

Waiting for the men to pass by, you eventually went out of the back exit of the restaurant, passing the cool chill of its freezer near the kitchen before jumping onto a ladder in the alleyway outside, climbing up, and falling prone onto the ground as soon as you were there.

Looking up over the ledge, you could see now how there were so many.

Trucks were spread about the city, men exiting them and taking cover for a few seconds until they got to where they wanted to be, and started opening fire. They communicated through their radios, but why they would be here didn’t make sense.

Why try to raid a city when you couldn’t gain much, if anything from it?

Unless they weren’t trying to gain but to take someone out.

Someone who had always been against what you assumed was their little group. And that someone was none other than Farah, judging by how quickly she recognized them, and the gleam of hatred in her eyes when she looked at them. She’d been a bit too eager to slaughter them.

And with how quickly the men were flooding the roads and streets, and their communication, it wouldn’t be long until they found her.

Unless…

Glancing at the rooftop a few buildings over, you saw none other than a large tower. Not just any tower, but an antenna tower.

You observed the crowd for a moment, scanning, watching everyone, until you saw it. Heard it, rather, the loud boom it made, the man yelling “RPG!”. It was the second story of the building across the street. You couldn’t get there in time, even if you got over there without being killed or without too many civilians dying.

You needed to buy time.

Gathering the fractures courage left in your body, you got onto the balls of your feet, and against everything you’d been told, to stay quiet and unnoticeable, you began a mad dash across the building, jumping, and not stopping to marvel when your feet hit the solid ground of the other rooftop, only running further.

You still hadn’t gotten his attention.

You were almost to the antenna tower. Now or never.

Harassment.

Slipping the flash bang out of your belt-ish thing, you pulled the pin out, throwing it up in the air. You heard it when it went off, your vision blurring white as you dove and hit the floor. He must’ve heard it too, considering that when you glanced over, the large weapon was aimed at you, and when he fired, you saw it sail through the air not only at you but at the tower as well.

Diving over the edge of the building, you heard the blast, and chunks of debris and wire began raining from the sky in your area. Your ankles burned when you stood, legs screaming against any movement. Ash floated into your nose and throat, as well as the smell of fire, and you took off into another run, diving into a building, only to run face-first into another man.

Ambush.

Your fist met his jaw before his bullet met your body, but barely. You both rolled to the floor, kicking and flailing around, landing hits on each other. He jabbed at you with his gun, his knife out of reach. You rolled him onto his back, your knife coming out, only to be knocked away by his calloused hands.

Your arm went around his neck, hand locking into place with your other elbow as your knee pressed on his neck. Your breathing was pants, more gasps than anything as he gave a final few kicks, before going limp.

You picked your knife back up, head jolting up when you heard a familiar female yell just a few streets down.

The members of the Al-Qatala seemed lost, some shouting to others in Arabic, others going on rampages against civilians just for the hell of it, seemingly. You didn’t doubt that Farah had a small army of her own, but they hadn’t been prepared.

Neither had you.

Sinking lower to not attract attention, you crept through the streets, watching carefully, or as carefully as you could through your blurry vision. Sand and dust blew into it, but you couldn’t find the strength to blink it away.

Your head was throbbing again.

You weren’t sure how you managed the journey there, brain taking a temporary lapse in recording memory maybe, but the next thing you knew, you were near an old warehouse.

Talking came from inside.

A raspy voice. Old, but not kind or warm, not like the voices of the old men you were used to. Harsh and sharp. Like a whip wailing as it flew through the air. Cut paths through it.

“Where is it?”

Silence. As you crept up to the entrance of the warehouse, where the door was just slightly ajar, you could see the outline of Farah tied into a chair. Multiple other men inside. Maybe three or four. Pulling your gun slowly out, you set the handle against your knee, putting your eye right on the scope.

“We know you have the gas, Farah, or should I call you Karim?”

Cruel.

Unnecessary.

But it gave you a kernel of information.

Information you would think about later if you had the time. If you didn’t die here.

A harsh hit to the face. Audible.

You could tell it stung, but she didn’t budge.

You lined the scope up with his head, finger closing in on the trigger, holding down, just not enough until.

Surprise.

The blast of the shot alone rang out through the warehouse. Except it wasn’t who you’d been expecting to fall to the ground who did.

It wasn’t who you’d thought it had been. Not Al-Qatala, not Cartel.

No, instead, Philip Graves, director of the Shadow Company, fell sideways in the dirt.

And the men surrounding Farah?

None other than your own team that had been handed off to Graves during your departure.

Tags:

@yearninglustfully

@kazuyatokue

@kurokitty6

@popcornlauncher

@karleequinn

@sharkluver

@100percentlazybonez

@kiwibao

@juneonhoth

@theyoungeagle

@kee-0-kee

[illarian-rambling]

can we get i an oc tour pretty please?

Sure!

Up first, we've got Izjik Meautammera, from Honor's Outcasts

(I'm so serious when I say these memes are the best refs I have)

She's 26 and a halawemavar selkie, which is just a selkie with catfish seasoning. Out of the four Outcasts, she's somehow both the most responsible and the most reckless. Her sense for emotion is keen, so she does her best to help everyone work through their pain, even when someone else might not notice they're upset. However, she's also the most likely to wrestle a greased elephant seal for a free beer. Let's call her the dad friend. She has a connection to a mysterious entity known as End as well, though she doesn't know much about it and would like to keep it that way. All she knows is that it gives her the ability to kill what shouldn't be able to die. Because of this ability, she was imprisoned in an undersea oubliette for eight years, alongside the man who would become her closest friend.

A man who's name is Sepo Kaiacynthus!

Sepo is a siren, though he can assume a human-like form as Izjik can. He was a priest to the god of song and drowned sailors until he burnt down the siren empress's palace and killed her daughter as revenge for the unfair execution of his brother. As punishment for this, his tongue was cut out (negating his vocal magic) and he was tossed into prison, where he met Izjik. Personality-wise, Sepo is prickly, easily aggravated, and generally grumpy. He loves to argue, even if he'd never admit it, and has a nobleman's sense of refinement tempered with a healthy dose of having lived in a pit for eight years. Together with Izjik, he took in a runaway sorcerer girl, by the name of...

Twenari Undetasib!

The daughter of the most successful smuggler on the Janazi sea, Twenari was raised as a tool more than a child due to her prodigious sorcery. When she finally broke under the strain, she ran away, pursued by her mother’s agents. She's a genius and not only a naturally talented sorcerer, but an ambitious one as well. She seeks to understand magic in all its facets, down to the most minute level. This can lead her down some dangerous paths, as she cares more about learning than her own wellbeing. Other than that though, she's a perfectly sensible and pragmatic girl (probably more so than the adult Outcasts). She can be rather awkward in social situations, as she's used to being a business asset, not a twelve-year-old. However, thankfully, she's not the face of the crew.

That distinction would go to one Djek Kagura

Djek is a 19 year old human who grew up on the streets of Fayuki after his parents abandoned him during a famine in an effort to save their six other children. This has left him with some pretty severe people pleasing problems, as he's terrified of being abandoned again. When he was fifteen, he fell in with the Tunnel Wasps (Twenari’s mother's smuggling operation), and was taken under the wing of a woman named Tyche, who forced him to commit many unsavory acts, including trying to recapture their boss's runaway daughter. Djek has a class clown sort of vibe. He's always trying to get a laugh, even if it's only as a distraction while he picks your pocket. Deep down though, he has a sensitive heart and longs for meaningful connections. He, like Twenari, is a sorcerer, though his magic is pretty measly compared to the average, and laughable compared to Twenari’s.

And that's the Outcasts quartet! They're a cute found family whose favorite hobbies include religious terrorism and uncovering maddening eldritch truths. The other group (just the MG crew, no catchy name) exists 20 years down the road from the adventures of the Outcasts, and though not directly connected, have a few similar encounters. Without further ado, here they are!

Up first is Astra DuClaire, the best witch of the borderlands

Or, at least, she says she's the best. Astra is a self-taught rune mage (hence the title witch, not mage, since she has no license) from humble beginnings. She seeks to pay off her mothers' debtor contracts, thereby releasing them from service in debtor's prison. Her personality might best be described as forceful. Astra is a loudmouthed braggart with an opinion on everything and a chip on her shoulder the size of a mountain. She believes deep down that she'll never be a truly good mage with her subpar education, so she covers this up with arrogance. Her story starts when she discovers a mysterious robot broken on the side of the road and decides to fix him up.

Said robot goes by the name of Mashal (surname Darezsho, but he doesn't know that at first)

Mashal doesn't remember anything before waking up in Astra's wagon. All he knows is his name, that he's lost, and that anything having to do with magic fills him with terrified paranoia and an urge towards violence. He seeks to discover what happened to him and who he is. Astra decides to aid him in this, and the two of them develop a friendship and later a romance on this quest. Mashal himself is rather soft-spoken, with a gentle heart that struggles to make sense of his violent instincts around magic. He has a talent for art and swordsmanship, and though his timidness can come across as weak, anyone who pushes him finds his morals are iron hard.

The third piece of this puzzle is Detevtive Ivander Montane

Born to a wealthy banking family, Ivander was always intended to follow along into the family business. When he was sixteen, he learned the truth of his family's dominance over the city of Unity's finances; the Montanes had made a deal with the god of greed. The contract Ivander signed with this god gave him the ability to call on miracles in exchange for his service. Only, when he couldn't bear hawking payday loans and convincing desperate fathers to sell their children as factory indentures any longer, he ran away. This default on his divine contract caused a curse to befall him. Slowly, Ivander's flesh is being eaten away and turned into smoke. This leaves him in terrible pain, though he covers his disfigurement with an illusion. Now 30 years old and disillusioned, Ivander works for the Unity Bureau of Arcane Investigation. His last hope to not die and be condemned to hell lays in mysterious killer known to strip the magic from their victims. Despite the horrors he's endured, there's still some good deep down in Ivander's heart. He's an incorrigible gossip, a selfish fop, and avoids emotional intimacy like the plague, however, he still loosely holds his childhood dream of helping people.

The next two characters are introduced in book 2. Sadly, I don't have funny little portraits for them yet.

First up is Elsind Cavernsight!

Elsind is a 20 year old changeling working for the Salis Legion of the People (a Skysheerian revolutionary group) as an infiltrator and spy. In Skysheer, changelings are frequently exploited, and like many of her kind, Elsind was kidnapped from a life with her loving elven mother at 13 to be used as a marquis's court freak. When they were 18, an SLP cell robbed the mansion they were kept in, and Elsind took a chance and escaped with them. Since then, he's been a loyal soldier fighting for his nation's freedom from tyranny. You might expect such a figure to be tough and jaded, but Elsind is nothing of the sort. They're a chatterbox, cry when nervous, and can't help but empathize with nearly everyone. They also have a deep appreciation for cheap romance novels.

On the other side of the coin, we have Duchon Avymere Kalaphon Spearsong III

Avymere is the Duchon of Salis (gender neutral form of Duke/Duchess), only child of the Archduke Eluan Spearsong. They are 153 years old and have been expertly manipulating the Salis gentry for nearly all of that time. To the court, they are a kindhearted, if ditzy, noble, who seems content to spend the rest of their days making social calls and practicing their odd martial arts hobby. In private, however, Avymere is a peerless spy who uses their unassuming persona to gather information for their father, to whom they are faultlessly loyal. They view themself as a servant of their people - more a tool than a person with wants and dreams. Despite their good intentions though, there is a disconnect between Avymere and the reality of Skysheer. They would consider easing tariffs to be a generous act, when in truth, most Skysheerians couldn't care less about foreign goods, and are more concerned with not starving or freezing to death.

And that's all the main characters! This turned out to be longer than I expected, but please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I also have their full bios (not Avymere or Elsind though, still gotta get on that) linked in my intro post, if you'd like a more in-depth look at anyone. Thanks for the ask, and you have yourself a bitchin day!

[ozzgin]

Not a request, just something I feel I’d share after reading your Pickle stuff He gives off ‘little brother’ energy. Like his mom definitely had a handful of kids before him, and he turned out to be a feral child. Eating wasps or bees even after she’d warn him not to; oh there a wild dinosaur that’s been destroying everything in its path? Pickle must see this specimen obviously! He definitely gave her grey hairs.

No because his poor mom was probably up there in despair, wondering why her last child hasn’t joined them in the afterlife, until some other sibling points down and goes “Mom isn’t that him?”

And they all stare at Pickle in his jeans and baseball cap wrestling Hanayama in the middle of Tokyo, because somehow he ended up frozen for millennia and now he’s messing around with tiny modern humans. Mom is probably facepalming herself at this menace that quite literally transcended time and physics just so he could cause trouble once again.

So yeah, I like your approach a lot! Pickle is definitely the final boss of little brother shenanigans. Best part? He has a Reader that can help him secure a legacy, so you know the feral child curse will go on. :D

[bugs-in-situations]

finally drew tsm2 hoaxe/the wasp wizard he's a funny little guy. he roughly takes venus's role, being the boss of chapter two and then showing up randomly for healing later

the healing comes from these little will o' the wisp things

[blueikeproductions]

Ok.

I’m just gonna say it, I don’t care who it offends:

Earthspark is by far THE weakest show Transformers produced. It’s certainly not the WORST though for the most part it’s still not very good, Cyberverse has that honor at the top worst kids TF show… The adult themed shows are still utterly terrible though and I don’t know if I blame Hasbro or the writers specifically. RiD15 and Beast Machines are far superior shows by comparison, their main faults are being (loose) sequels to (mostly in Prime’s case) stronger entries.

I DESPISE tonally uneven shows made in the modern era due to how subversive modern writers feel the need to make everything. This is why Hollywood is struggling so bad, heck the trending kids TV shows on Paramount wasn’t EarthSpark, the first two things were 2012 Turtles & SpongeBob followed by mostly preschool shows. People just don’t want to watch EarthSpark and if they are I guarantee it’s pirating or taking advantage of a free trial… But mostly pirating, let’s not kid ourselves.

I skipped ahead to the end because I was more interested in Terratronus than really anything else. And I’m told the other episodes aren’t much better.

The final episode of the batch sums up what I think the show was trying to be, because it’s so much course correction. So so sooooo much course correction.

The show has rebranded itself into a more traditional Autobots vs Decepticons plot, but realistically it’s more strictly the Terrans vs the Decepticons. The Autobots don’t really get to do much of anything here. As much as I do like Tudyk in the role of Optimus, and I get he’s a busy guy, but he’s wasted here. They would’ve been better off having the more readily available Peter Cullen be Optimus still.

The positives: The Decepticons back to being proper villains again. Starscream is allowed to be Starscream as we know him and he’s amazing, this is basically the five part pilot Prime Starscream without the universe molding him into the pathetic twerp his Aligned self became (despite a rebound in RiD). The Decepticons rally behind Starscream who seeks to turn Earth into a replacement Cybertron, ala similar plots back in G1 and one instance in Prime. They thankfully soft retcon the domestic abuse thing with Starscream too, which sees him correct Hashtag in his advice from before, to only look out for yourself. As such Starscream is free to be the maniacal gear shaft we all know he can be and what Skybound reminded us he could be! In a way it’s similar to Heathers, where when confronted by Veronica, Heather Duke accepts and admits she is a Mega Bitch because she can be.

The Chaos Terrans are more interesting than the Autobot Terrans. Fully aligned with the Decepticons and powered by the chaotic energy of the Emberstone shards, they’re ready to rumble and tear Witwicky apart. Spitfire is functionally the Foot Recruit in Rise of the TMNT mixed with TFA Wasp.

Nightshade is allowed to be a character and not a soapbox for stock Tumblr-Twitter brand Non-Binary rhetoric. (Turns out the NB people I know don’t like how TV portrays them as only being NB and not getting to be actual people with desires & interests, who knew!) They get to be a cool and quirky scientist and they elbow punch Thrash when he’s being dumb, just what I want to see.

The newest Terran introduced is functionally the matriarch, the grandmother of the Terrans: Terratronus. She is a Titan created on Earth during its early days, and was meant to protect the stone from the Quintessons, who wanted to take it from Quintus and use it for their own ends. She went into stasis lock after tricking the Quints, and eons go by, she was buried underneath the town, and is the source of the tech, ruins and Quintus blessed water. She doesn’t seem capable of Transforming atm, but she’s the final boss of the batch, as Starscream uses the Emberstone to make his own sleeve to control her to destroy all humans to pave the way for New Cybertron.

The negatives: -neck cracks- Oh boy.

If you aren’t already on board with the Maltos, this isn’t gonna endear you to them. Robbie takes over as the leader of the group, a role he was intended to have to begin with, but he’s still overshadowed by his sister. He seems throughly done having the Emberstone gizmos after seeing Starscream is stomping the town with Terratronus, but he gets over it pretty quickly when circumstances happen later.

Mo continues to have this uncanny valley look, and now has this sassy teenage girl boss vibe despite still not being a teenager. She doesn’t crap on anyone she seems to care about, in contrast to most girl bosses, but the energy is still there and it’s off putting. I do at least like she was willing to punch Starscream in the face. I don’t like this incessant need to make all girls action girls. I hated it with Webby, and I don’t like it here. Let Mo be a little girl who likes girly things, and please for the love of Primus, let the next little girl character be this. Can we please go back to Carly, Sari and Mikayla? They’re a much better balance of what these shows are trying to do with the human cast. The funny thing is Dot seems to have the opposite problem, she was initially more stern but loving but she’s lost a lot of her grit now. Dot is where a lot of the sass and grit should be but no.

I hope you didn’t grow attached to the Terracons, because due to things I’ll get into later, they’re deader’n dead. A means to an end to the Decepticons, Starscream yanks out their shards to complete the Emberstone, that part makes sense. It’s what happens later that screams “Slag you.”

The shard plot is dealt with surprisingly fast, I guess an artifact of not being guaranteed a full run in the modern era, and the so called lack of attention spans from kids. If kids can keep up with modern anime plots, they have the attention spans, I hate it when kids are always treated like they’re morons. They just largely have no interest in Twitter-Tumblr writing. On that note, when the Maltobots realize they’ve collected all the shards (including the ones the Decepticons currently have), they have a very forced and cringy dance party that comes out of nowhere. And it becomes a reoccurring b-plot until they’re dragged back into reality by Mo & Hashtag revealing Terratronus. It feels like an attempt to do a similar gag in Fosters, when Herriman starts a party when the cruel Dutchess is adopted, but it lacks the build up and punch, it just happens and it’s embarrassing.

Also while I do like Robbie in the leadership role better than Twitch, the lack of being able to say Transform & Roll Out due to copyright issues is aggravating. Especially when the present Terrans don’t Transform into ground vehicles. Rev Up & Roll Out and Roll to the Rescue were fitting for the Bee Team and Rescue Bots, why can’t the Terrans have their own battle cry?

Starscream piloting Terratronus is more or less a retread of Mandroid and his Howl’s Moving Castle rip off. On one hand, it’s a more impressive version, I wanted a proper MetroTitan fight and this scratches that itch. The problem is that due to the Decepticons petrifying the all the Autobots Dr. Stone style with the Emberstone, it just leaves the children, Thrash and Hashtag to largely run away. The only thing they are able to do is Bubble Terratronus Steven Universe style and leave her in Stasis Lock in the destroyed half of the town. So not a great showing for the grandmother of the Terrans, and it makes Hashtag and Thrash look useless. Thrash even more so.

The Decepticons abandon Starscream really for no reason. Starscream borrows Steeljaw’s plan to make a Decepticon homeworld out of Earth and has the capacity to do so with Terratronus, but outside of killing the Terracons, Starscream has no real interest in killing the other Decepticons. Caught up in his glee, he (accidentally?) knocks the other Decepticons from the cliff they were cheering him on from. Shockwave, fed up with Starscream, makes the others follow him but they also unknown to the kids, get trapped in the same Bubble, unable to outrun it.

While not a negative exactly, it feeds into the awkward restructuring of the show, where it’s trying really hard to borrow stuff from Transformers Animated, a far more popular show still liked today. Starscream piloting Terratronus is very similar to when he took over Omega Supreme, and that’s when he was reduced to a head. It’s also similar to the Lugnut Supremes, though Starscream didn’t pilot them strictly. Him going power mad also harkens to many past instances with the Underbase, the Omega Lock, and the Allspark itself. Curiously the only difference is Starscream wasn’t actually driven insane this time, he was just having fun piloting a giant robot and getting revenge on the Maltos.

Shockwave doesn’t see the point in Starscream’s plan, instead wanting to go back to Cybertron. Starscream rightfully tells off the purple people eater he hasn’t been able to prove if Cybertron even still exists. This is somewhat at odds with Shockwave’s earlier portrayal when he seemed mostly fine at taking over Earth back then. I guess the idea was to give Starscream his own disagreeable follower, but I don’t know if it works with Shockwave here. Maybe Swindle or Nova Storm, though neither are a good fit either…

Also the Emberstone itself is destroyed. The kids try to heal it but it just disintegrates. All that trouble and the life giving relic just goes kaput. Which also means Aftermath and Spitfire are super dead baring some last minute thing in the final episodes that revives them. So the only Decepticon aligned Terrans we get and the best characters get killed off.. Terrific. Mo is mortified but Robbie is surprisingly chill about it, saying they already got what they needed out of it anyway. I hope Quintus wasn’t expecting more grandchildren because he ain’t getting them. The only fix to this is if Terratronus is capable of making new Transformers like the IDW MetroTitans were able to, and that’s assuming she doesn’t die too in a half skid plate way.

Finally the animation. A flash back by Terratronus details how the Emberstone and the Quintessons came to Earth in the first place. It’s rendered a 2D comic book style that far better shows off the stylization the show is tricking for and it looks amazing. The CGI is still good but nothing beats old fashioned 2D animation with polish. Let’s get Mook back to 2D animate Transformers if we can’t get Trigger, but we really need Trigger to do a new TF show in our life time. Because this string of debatable quality CGI for older kids since Prime needs to stop. When the Beast Machines Vehicons, especially the Diagnostic Drone which doesn’t even HAVE a face, are able to express better expressions 20+ some years ago, there’s no excuse!

The next thing needs to either be Bravern or 4S Gridman visually bare minimum or at least have writing on par with Beast Wars and Animated. This is nonnegotiable. We need better writers, and writers who at least are capable of making fun stuff that isn’t tethered by IDW’s bad ideas.

Earthspark is one step forward, two steps back so far. I can at least tell tell they’re trying, and that’s an improvement, but it’s not enough to win anyone back and the changes are gonna cheese off people like Skywalker did to Last Jedi fans… On to the next and presumably final batch I suppose.

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

(anon playing through bugfables) HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD HES DEAD I FUCKING KILLED HIM FIRST TRY AFTER NOT PLAYING FOR A FEW DAYS AND I KILL THE IMMORTAL WASP OHHHH IM SO HAPPY. IM SO FUCKING HAPPY curious by what he meant by "this body will obey me" or whatever the line was. Thats not a thing normal people say. Hoax fungus also? idk Im just. ohhhh my god hes dead. I fucking did it. so so happy. I can indulge in my want to play cobblemon now, see what the new updates like o/Z

YEAHHHH RIP HOAXE CONGRATS ON DEFEATING THE FINAL BOSS

[chowmoon2]

Okay,time for another Kirby AU idea! (man,I have a lot of those)

This time,it’s one that I had for a while and some parts of it inspired Mortal Souls AU Sectonia (though,the AU is not entirely flesh out yet,just a quick notice!)

So basically,it’s Magolor Epilogue but with Sectonia after her defeat in Triple Deluxe and she ends up in the Mirror World with little to no powers,but with a twist!

She is split in two!

One is her before the corruption,Joronia and doesn’t have any memories after Taranza first showed the mirror to her,a bit stubborn and a overthinker (especially with her appearance) but still a kind hearted person

The other is after her corruption,Queen Sectonia,who doesn’t remember anything about her previous form and her defeat by Kirby,she acts like how she is in Triple Deluxe but maybe smidge less evil(?)

So because of their memory loss,they don’t recognize each other as being the same person (they will find out the truth later on)

They *really* don’t get along but are forced to work together because of the Mirror World being invaded and corrupted by a dark force,they must find 5 shards of a glass flower (basically the Fruit Fragments of this Au) before it’s too late….

The question remains though,will they be able to accept themselves despite everything?

Some more details about this au

Since they are split,Joronia mainly specializes in Swordplay and Queen Sectonia in Sorcery,they can upgrade their skills like Magolor!

Shadow Kirby occasionally hops in and helps them,either he giving them a item or helping in battle

Dark Meta Knight will watch them from the shadows and appears ever so often to give cryptic info,he is the third to last boss they fight but ends up helping in the final battle (he didn’t personally corrupt Sectonia in this Au btw)

They bicker comically often but both soon kinda grow respect for each other (it becomes more complicated after they learn the truth though)

The Mastermind behind the Mirror World invasion is Dark Taranza who serves Dark Mind and wants to revive him through the glass flower,he does manages to do that but like with King D-Mind,Dark Taranza immediately get absorbed by him

After everything is said and done,Joronia and Queen Sectonia finally becomes one again,with a appearance that is a mix between a spider and a wasp (basically something like Dark Taranza),she is uncertain of the future or even anyone would forgive her past misdeeds but tries to go on with courage and jumps into the mirror back to Dream Land,

That’s about it,still need to iron out some details but I hope you enjoyed either way!

[pro-bee-sisters]

Updating The Queen Bee and the Vesperia: Chapter 2

(Previous preview)

Chapter 2: Chloe the Queen Bee and Zoe the Vesperia

Down in the basement of Audrey’s fashion house, there lived and slept a young girl that looked almost similar to Audrey’s own daughter, Chloe

Both in age and appearance. She even had a similar body type, light blonde hair, and both also shared the same colored-blue eyes as the young girl woke up to the sound of the basement’s air conditioner awakening her; though this didn’t bother her at all due to the room’s hot and stuffy environment. The young girl yawned and stretched herself out of the rusty bed she slept in and looked down as she saw her one and only companion she had: A stuffed honeybee that she called Mr. Buzzy.

“Time to start another day in Hell, Mr. Buzzy.” The young girl let out a sigh.

“VESPERIA!” A similar voice shouted, which made the young girl gulp. The door to the basement then slammed open hard and the reveal of Audrey Bourgeois came out.

“You’re still in bed?! Lazy as ever!” The fashion designer screamed, and all the poor girl could do was take it.

“Well, come on!” Audrey ordered. “You got a job to do. You need to get the thread I’d ordered, restock the fabric, polish the mannequins, and I need you to go into town to mail off a new dress line by two o'clock!” Audrey completed her orders. “You understand me, Wasp?” Zoe glared at her with despair in her face.

“My name is not Wasp, or Vespa, or even Vesperia. It’s Zoe!” The young blonde fought back, but her “employer” didn’t seem to care about the correction at all.

“Just get it done.” Audrey growled through her teeth as she walked out of Zoe’s “room.” The young blonde glared at her “foster mother” and then took a deep breath while she held her dearest bee plushie to her chest. She then began to talk to it as if it were real.

“Don’t worry Mr. Buzzy, we’ll get out of here and reunite with daddy again.” The young girl flashed a smile now and finally decided to get ready for her day.

Making her way up to the Haunt Coutre fashion house upstairs in her day clothes and all cleaned up now, Zoe began to start on her morning duties for the fashion designer, and those that worked for her.

“Good morning, Anasis.” Zoe sweetly told one of Audrey’s employees.

“Hmph, about time you’re here, Wasp.” The Anasis woman snapped with venom. “Didn’t you hear your mother? You have supplies to get for us!”

“She’s not my mother,” Zoe argued back. “She’s only here so I can help pay back my father!” Another snobby woman joined the conversation.

“Oh, you mean the actor from New York?” She teased critically as she pinned on a sash to a dress she was currently working on. Anasis laughed viciously. “Oh yeah, how poor is he again?” Both women laughed with malicious intention, that all Zoe could do was angrily glare at the two rude women.

“Vesperia, come now!” Audrey shouted from across the room. Zoe sighed and walked up towards the horrible baroness who was at the front door, aggressively glaring at her.

“Honestly, you are just as worthless as my own family!” The blonde girl walked out the door as the older woman handed her a list of tasks as well as a golden tote bag to help the girl carry whatever she needed to get for her boss.

“And don’t be late!” The bossy woman demanded as she closed her door. After that was finished, Zoe once again let out a sigh of sadness before heading off until town to start her orders.

Meanwhile, at a school called College Francoise Dupont, a bespectacled girl with red hair wearing a purple sweater vest and teal-blue skirt was waiting anxiously outside the school, holding two cups of coffee.

“Oh, I hope she’s not running late!” The girl started to panic, to the point where she almost dropped the coffees. Meanwhile, two other girls, a girl with blue-black pigtails and another redhead with glasses, were viewing the anxious girl from a distance. The redhead shook her head and smirked.

--

And that's it for now. The second part to the chapter will be posted on my writing blog tomorrow

Enjoy and Buzz On!

[atamascolily]

Lily liveblogs: Thunderbolt Fantasy 4x07

Well, that escalated quickly.

Chao Feng and her party get their asses kicked by some ordinary demon goons... only for the camera to pivot to them standing around looking confused as Lin Xue Ya appears. Another victory for the Enigmatic Gale, everyone!

Lin recognizes Chao Feng and decides to keep her around as a potentially useful pawn--everyone else can come, too, I guess. Meanwhile, Chao Feng demands that he kowtow to her, but once Lin reveals he's seen Lang recently, she'd follow him anywhere.

meanwhile, Azi is lounging around at home on his Brooding Couch (where did he get the furniture, Lang and Spider trashed everything) drinking wine and video chatting with Xing Hai

Xing Hai wants to know what's going to happen in the future given all of the scheming, and Azi's like, "hahaha, no, can't be bothered"

also it turns out that something weird happened to Azi as a result of meddling with space-time and he lost all his memories up to a certain point (~200 years ago) and has no idea how he got here and no desire to do anything, so he advises Xing Hai to tone it down with the drugs demonic magic, lololol.

the only thing that makes Azi happy anymore is drinking tormenting Lang, lolsob

this supports my theory that Azi doesn't care if Lang kills him as long as he fucks shit up in the process/breaks everything

all this is to say: the Madoka Magica vibes intensify

elsewhere in the Demon Realm, Covid Safety Protocols and Megamind are having a nice banquet together.... and unlike Ansarto's banquet, the food actually looks pretty good?

how does Covid Safety Protocols even drink with her mask on is one of this show's greatest mysteries

but it doesn't matter because they're both abruptly murdered from behind!

Cut to Spider and Wasp yelling at each other for "accidentally" killing their allies, lololol

they take the seals, but THEN Xing Hai shows up with a steel chair a scrying mirror and banishes them to the Shadow Realm because it's one thing if Lang kills a noble (he's a demon and her boss says it's okay) but she can't allow ordinary humans to get Ideas.

all of this happens in like three minutes, btw, and it's a lot.

wish we'd gotten a full season 5 and an extra episode in S4 so this could be less rushed, sob.

meanwhile, Lang drinks the Dubious-Looking Potion that Ansarto gives him over Ling Ya's sensible objections, which is supposed to transform him from caterpillar to butterfly. I thought this was a metaphor, but then after he coughs up the requisite blood, Lang gets rolled up in a silk cocoon, so actually that was entirely literal.

is he gonna wake up with insect legs now

... anyway, Lang has to confront his Inner Demons, which turn out to be important people from his past like Shang and Tian Ming telling him he sucks.

weirdly, no sign of his mom, though - bet they're saving that for the next episode

also that final shot where he passes out on top of his own reflection... poetic cinema

In the Wasteland of Spirits, Shang Bu Huan whips out the broken magic sword that You Qing used to fight Lou Zhen Jie back in s2 (making this the most unexpected callback/cameo EVER) and takes advantage of its innate attraction to demonic energy to hover in mid-air and yeet himself into the abyss leading to the demon realm

Shang Bu Huan: "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"

also that little somersault he does... this show is delightfully Extra

Dan Fei and Juan Can Yun are just gonna wait there for him to come back, I guess?

anyway, the preview for the next episode shows Shang reuniting with Tian Ming and Chao Feng going into a glowing green square portal, which makes me think that Lin is going to find out her dad's true identity this way, hahahaha.

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S1 Ep 7

-Previously on TGCF…

-Xie Lian: I didn’t mean San Lang. Ruoye: Really? Ok! *lets go of him* (Sorry I just love coming up with dialogue for Ruoye, and you’ll see more of this later in Season 2!)

-Oooh the sudden chirping during the Sandstorm music, sounded similar to the noise Gale makes in Frozen 2

-He got him!

-It’s official!  Xie Lian is shorter than San Lang people! 

-It’s like they’re fondly embracing each other…

-Don’t be sorry Xie Lian, you’re doing amazing sweetie

-Hi Fu Yao and Nan Feng!  XD

-Xie Lian: Listen better!  You’re a bad band!  Ruoye: Sorry…

-Time to wrap up this rescue!  Pun count: 7

-There’s that wind chirping noise again

-I’ve heard of a close knit unit but this is just insane!  Eyyy (I’ve been waiting to use this one in another of my fave S1 episodes). Pun count: 8

-He doesn’t have any other options Nan Feng

-A cliff!

-Well it’s good to keep everyone together

-Is that Rock Plateau also similar to the Si Won Rock the Gaang found in the same desert episode? (Another good reference, and I hope there aren’t any buzzard wasps/circle birds and weird gross cave honey)

-I wonder who’s watching out for them anyway?

-Oooh a light spell from The Owl House (It’s official, TGCF has been helping me cope with the end of The Owl House people)

-I love NF and FY’s banter so much

-Aw he was concerned for Xie Lian

-Yeah how does he know so much about the perceptors?

-Oh really…

-It is really dark

-Well that ain’t great

-There’s so many people

-There’s pissed off Nan Feng

-I almost the uncle’s name was Jeong (like Jeong Jeong from the avatar) but it’s actually Jiang

-Diplomacy wins again

-Oooh now San Lang’s skeptic

-Why does the Guide Zhao also have red eyeliner?

-Man the only kid in the caravan

-The Sandstorm hasn’t let up

-He sat on a tombstone!

-The writings in Hanzi and not Arabic

-So savage Fu Yao

-I’m learning Mandarin and even I don’t know what it says

-They’re reading together folks

-And now Tian Sheng’s curious too

-The soldiers look similar to the army in Disney’s Mulan

-Yes that is so complicated right now

-Ooooohhh That poor poor general

-Fu Yao has experience of being on the battlefield

-Aww Tian Sheng

-Tripping on your shoe laces is not how anyone would want to go out oooohhh

-Yep it’s just comical picturing that final moment

-And then they all bow to it to respect the general it’s both funny and endearing!

Yep still can’t read it

-San Lang totally said that to trick them

-Oh and the way Xie Lian called San Lang a ‘Prankster’ *Fangirls like crazy!*

-COBRA!

-He caught the tail fwoo!

-That’s an animal that would totally fit in the Last Airbender world (I wasn’t kidding when I said this is for the Adult Last Airbender fans)

-San Lang using the cobra as a jump rope has added at least 10 years or more to my lifespan!  XD

-SO MANY COBRAS!

-Thank you Fu Yao and Nan Feng

-The Sandstorm is over

-No the kind merchant uncle!!!

-He got stung!

-Oooh that’s how you stop the venom from spreading

-Oh no and 4’s an unlucky number in China

-That’s good reason alright

-No telepathic communication out in the desert

-Oh no another cobra!

-He saved San Lang!

-Oh no now Xie Lian got stung!

-Oooh San Lang ordered Ruoye to become a bandage

-(Another spell that inspires my TOH AU, including the venom sucking for healing magic!)

-He is sucking the venom out like a G!  Get yourself a man like San Lang people!

-This moment between XL and SL is so freaking sincere

-I could do an essay on why Hualian is the superior ship than Stolitz is right now, but I might end up pissing off fans that watch and defend HB’s problems, so it’ll never happen

-Xie Lian’s so brave during the venom sucking

-You know we’re all thinking what Xie Lian’s thinking about how he’s going to clean San Lang’s bloodied lips (I’ll let you share your answers in the comment section)

-And San Lang makes the snake explode like a boss

-Aw Tian Sheng’s concerned

-He’s so selfless

-And Fu Yao’s stuck with merchant sitting

-Oooh a travel montage

-Really lovely desert travel music!

-And then Fu Yao gets pissed off while the merchants sneak away!  XD

-They made it to the ruins

-Yeah he does know an awful lot

-It’s those women again

-Oooh foreshadowing with that banter

-Uh oh the woman in the black cloak spotted them

-Another cliffhanger people

I know episode 6 in Season 2 came out today, but I’m finishing my reaction compilation of Season 1 before I get to the next season ok?

[akajustmerry]

when I did the press event where I interviewed Paul Rudd I also got to interview ant man director Peyton Reid but my boss decided not to use anything from it. ironically it was the interview I enjoyed the most on the day because I do genuinely love the ant man films because there's such a clear love of scifi and adventure running through them. so I asked Peyton what his scifi influences and inspirations were and his face lit UP. my guy started listing off the CLASSICS like twenty thousand leagues, the lost world, the island of Dr Moreu, at the mountains of madness and a whole bunch of classic scifi comics I hadn't even heard of. I told him I could see very much see the unironic love for strange world stories in the ant man films that aren't in any other marvel movies and also told him how much I loved the references to Indiana Jones and other iconic adventure stories including Michael Douglas/Jewel of the Nile he was like "you got that? You're so young". he also explained how he mixed practical with CGI for as much of quantumania as he could because he wanted it to have the sort of feel that 80s adventure flicks like Bill and Ted had but ANYWAY my favourite part of the interview was when I asked him about picking the cast and he mentioned he had to chase Michelle Pfeifer down for months to ask her to play Janet before she said yes. so I asked what he said that finally convinced her and he said that she wasn't interested in being some superhero's mum or the villain which is what she assumed the offer was, but he told her no you're going to be janet van dyne aka the wasp and APPARENTLY she was chuffed because she'd never been offered a hero role and she'd always wanted one after being type cast as a villain for so long so she said yes!!! all this is to say that it's really cool and I'm so lucky to ask ppl who make things i really enjoy about the parts of those things i enjoy the most. Like I do genuinely think it's a shame that the antman films are so panned but I think that's because that's how ppl have always treated sincerely weird scifi!!

[racefortheironthrone]

In the 1886 NYC mayoral election, is it true that Hewitt won unfairly and Henry george was frauded out of a win?

Heh, I feel like I'm being asked to adjudicate the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primaries of the 19th century...

Unfortunately, my answer is that we don't really know. It's true that people in Henry George's camp believed that Tammany had won through fraud:

“On Election day groups of Tammany repeaters . . . filled the ballot boxes with fraudulent votes. . . . But the vote of the labor forces was so overwhelming, that even piles of fraudulent votes could not suffice to overcome it. one final result was left. This was to count out Henry George by grossly tampering with the election returns and misrepresenting them. And this is precisely what was done, if the testimony of numerous eye-witnesses is to be believed. The Labor Party, it is quite clear, was deliberately cheated out of an election won in the teeth of the severest and most corrupt opposition.” (source)

While it wouldn't surprise me that Tammany Hall would engage in electoral fraud, it doesn't seem like hard evidence ever turned up that could have proved this for certain.

What we do know is that Henry George's campaign as the United Labor candidate for Mayor of New York City scared the hell out of the political establishment and there very much was collaboration between the two main parties against George. Richard Croker, the Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall, handed Abram Hewitt the Democratic nomination because as a popular anti-Tammany reform Democrat with moderate labor credentials, he could unite both Tammany and anti-Tammany wings of the Party while hopefully staunching any flood of working-class votes to George. Likewise, "Boss" Platt of the Republican machine nominated the 28-year-old Theodore Roosevelt as a sacrifical candidate.

During the campaign, both Democratic and Republican papers and parties united in running a red-baiting campaign against Henry George while ignoring their traditional rivals. And when Henry George took a "heavy" lead in early returns, Platt mobilized the Republican machine to turn out the vote...for the Democratic nominee Abram Hewitt. This swung somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 votes from Roosevelt to Hewitt - which probably was more significant than whatever vote-tampering Tammany may or may not have done.

(In the official count, Hewitt won the election with 90,000 votes to George's 68,000 and Roosevelt's 60,000.)

Now, keep in mind that Henry George had gone into the campaign thinking that he would get 30,000 labor votes as a protest candidate - thus demonstrating that socialism was a real political force in NYC politics. Given the end result more than doubled that initial benchmark, I think he was broadly successful in putting together a coalition that combined Jewish and Irish working-class voters who normally voted Democratic with Italian and WASP working-class voters who normally voted Republican - but not succesful enough to overcome the effects of a united political establishment or the partisan loyalties of Tammany regulars.

And George did succeed in scaring the hell out of Tammany enough that it felt it needed to shift to the left on the "social question" to avoid losing its traditional working-class constituency to socialism.

[ratsoh-writes]

Okay last one. Masterlist 25 So is scared of bugs an one flies into their shirt an bra. Mafias if ya please 😌

Snipe: he whips out his enhanced nerf gun (uses it on his brothers when they break into his apartment) and the second SO whips off her shirt snipe nails the fly with a nerf bullet. Bullseye. She doesn’t even feel any sting cause the fly took all the damage. Nailed it

Bruiser: he’s laughing like a hyena as he slides SOs shirt off (at her insistence). The ladybug is actually on her collarbone but he says it’s in the bra so he can get that off too lol. Once the bra is off, he just flicks the bug off her shoulder to SOs annoyance

Butch: his SO isn’t so lucky. When a full on wasp gets in her shirt, butch freaks out with her. She’s allergic after all. He’s set to just rip her shirt off but she screeches “don’t you dare” at him. She loves that shirt. Boss is in the room as well and just rolls his eyes and glitches the shirt off while looking at the ceiling. Butch reaches into SOs bra and crushes the wasp bare handedly. If boss hadn’t been there, SO would’ve lost her shirt whether she liked it or not

Boss: he’s quick to react and simply glitches his hand to reach “into” his SOs clothes before she can flip out about the grasshopper in her blouse. What a hero.

Ace: SO is screeching and flailing around trying to get her shirt off as ace is attempting to calm her down. It was just a little millipede. They don’t even bite. The shirt is thrown off, and he fishes the traumatized bug from out her bra. SO and him burn the bra in the fireplace together that evening. Ace promised to get her a new one

Slim: he just kinda stares uselessly as SO starts stripping to find and get rid of the daddy long legs in her bra. Finally everything except her shorts are off. The spider had been crawling around and was hard to catch. She slaps it onto the ground and gives it a few stomps. And when she looks up at her useless boyfriend, slim has the gall to ask if she needs any help.

[kindheart525]

Tag yourself! I’m Slowly Dying, Discord Server Mod, and Poor Little Neigh Neigh

[Image Description: Chibi-styled headshots of the Thirdverse cast with the following descriptions under them (character names indicated in parentheses, not part of image):

Homophobic Dog (Celestial Blessing)

Would rather drink a smoothie than go to therapy

“You have depression? Just cheer up”

Gives you a dirty look if you start crying

Constantly judging everyone

Slowly Dying (Bismuth Sun)

Full time student with a job, doesn’t even need it to survive

Three majors and five minors, considering another

Attends every single community event

Somehow has time for online discourse too

Quiet Quitter (Evergreen Blaze)

Does the bare minimum at work

Works with someone for 5 years and never learns their name

His favorite color is “personal information”

Avoids his coworkers at the grocery store

Influencer (Moonray Chill)

Goes on annual trips to Disney, thinks this is normal

Believed in Santa until she was 14

“If you’re homeless, just buy a house!”

No concept of money whatsoever

Common L (Lantern Glow)

Looks at themselves crying in the mirror when they have a breakdown

Has daddy issues or mommy issues if not both

Finds comfort in their childhood interests well past that age

Can’t find a therapist so they have several diaries

iPad Kid (Strawberry Breeze)

Bites people like a rabid dog

Life goal is to scream louder than Krakatoa

Picks her nose and wipes it on the wall

First word was fuck

Better Than You (Earth Day)

Always dresses in style

“I won’t have my son doing makeup like that, his eyeliner is all wrong”

Can convince you that you need something you had no interest in

Joins every single conversation just to be the center of attention

Nepo Baby (Princess Cut)

How much could one banana be? 10 dollars?

Thinks Kim Kardashian is a self-made millionaire

Saves money by cutting out avocado toast and Netflix

Also dad owns a business

Chihuahua In An Itchy Sweater (Sunny Sweet Dreams)

“It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me”

Takes even the slightest teasing personally

Selective in showing affection including to herself

Thinks being school project partners is "too intimate"

Dont Mine At Night (Laffy Taffy)

Curses at you in the Call of Duty lobby

Has a meltdown when the game lags

Fall Out Boy blaring in headphones 24/7

No sleep, bad grades, but defeating the final boss was worth it

Shallow (Galatea Candyheart)

Everyone wants to be her friend

Because she has the cool 24 pack of crayons with the sharpener on the back

She has to check her schedule to plan playdates…in preschool

Calls people she just met her best friend

Oh Worm? (Tiger Lily)

Says I love you to the cashier at McDonalds

Holds the door open for people who didn’t ask

Offers snacks and band-aids to everyone including strangers

Cries harder than you do when you scrape your knee

Discord Server Mod (Daisy Wasp)

The only one with conflict resolution skills

Stays up till 3am to moderate the group discussion

“No venting in the general chat”

Calls herself the friend group babysitter

Poor Little Neigh Neigh (Fairyfly)

Puts all the pressure on himself because his parents won’t do it

Complains about the stress he’s under as if it isn’t self-imposed

Thinks it makes him a better person

“Shut up I’m not short I just hit 4’11”

International Harvester (Blackberry Maple)

Posts travel pics at 12pm on a Tuesday

Accepts every single friend request on Facebook

Knows every stranger’s life story

You only ever see him at Thanksgiving dinner

Living Pinterest Board (Orchard Sunrise)

Does school notes about horrible tragedies in cursive with a pink highlighter

Every outfit is coordinated, even the work clothes

Spends hours in the bathroom doing her makeup

Asks you for help but nitpicks every step of the way

Useless Little Fuck (Fireside Jam)

Quotes distracting vines while his family does dangerous yardwork

Tries to carry the groceries inside but spills the whole bag

Offers to carry one (1) thing and hands it back to mom when it gets too heavy

Parents have to re-do all the chores he did badly

End Description.]