#how did she manage to both die of old age AND have her death still be used as a shock factor thing!!

[cascadiiing]

Sometimes I forget leafpool is dead and then I remember and my day is ruined

[mishy-mashy]

Anyway I wrote about this in my fanfic notes but I think this is credible

En. He's a One For All user, young, and dies from being cut in half by All For One. He cries, but manages to pass on One For All to Nana with a smile, and hides Nana with his Quirk so she can escape.

So En. Sixth. This cutie patootie guy right here

He's been viewed as cool and collected and I'm gonna call a bit of bullshit on that.

First: he is young. He doesn't have the fullest emotional maturity (brain caps out in the mid-20s), and even if he did, he can still freak out. But that's not what I wanna talk about with him

It's more the time period in which he was born and grew up.

Kudo and Bruce, at the least, die 18 years before En receives One For All. En was born during All For One's rule, and grew up in a society struggling to cope with the new Abilities on top of Japan's crumble.

En was born at an anxious time, and grew up in the flames of it as society tried collecting itself. Since he was born while people were just barely adjusting to Abilities, and were flighty and shellshocked from the events, En was the same: used to Abilities, but quick to jump and flee. He was raised in a world like that, and thus was like the others of his time.

Look at En at his death. His Smokescreen is active. He died with his back turned. He was running away and using his Smokescreen as cover.

He later asks, fearful and stressed, why Midoriya/Ninth doesn't just run away. And Tomura calls him out on this. We'll go back to this later.

En is a product of the time he grew up—a time of trying to pick themselves up in the midst of civil war, shifting humanity, where no one trusted anyone and everyone ran to save themselves.

His Quirk is literally Smokescreen. There's no application to it beyond making smoke from the user's body to hide in. It obscures others' visions.

His Quirk hides him from others. That's its main function. He isn't as brave as the others. He's a coward when pushed into a corner. Nana describes his last smile in ch. 92 as this:

But All Might, who does this smile, describes it in ch. 1 as—

—tricking the fear inside of him. En is a combination of both; he smiled to reassure Nana, but was no doubt terrified, as he died running and got cut in half.

I imagine the reason En was the first One For All user shown passing off the Quirk with his hair was because he was too afraid to reach down and feel himself cut in half. He could've gotten the blood from there, but the cognitive dissonance alone of feeling air where your lower-half should be is terrifying as is.

By hiding her in his Smokescreen and giving his hair, En let Nana run away too, to safeguard herself and the Quirk. En ran, he made Nana run, and later on, he wants Midoriya/Ninth to run, even knowing there's no next user or chance to beat All For One/Tomura.

En knows All For One is powerful. He's scary. He killed Banjo-senpai, and Shinomori-san hid from him until he died of "old age". Everything is mustered in Midoriya/Ninth, but even then, En wants to run away because they realize they can be stolen and really die.

Now, going back a bit to [His Quirk is literally Smokescreen], they would've started calling Meta Abilities Quirks around the time En is growing up. All Might is alive somewhere when Nana receives One For All, and Meta Ability is the first term for Quirks.

Since Quirks are reflective of personality, and En was born in the coming down of the peak of fear that's trying to create some semblance of normalcy, it makes sense that, with his Smokescreen, he encourages Midoriya/Ninth to run. Because he did the same thing.

That's how he grew up, that's what he knows, it's the first thing he thought of when he realized they really were in danger. They were facing death in the eye.

Tomura/AFO even calls him out for this. Look at En's face when he's called out; he's scared of him. En is scared of just catching his attention.

The OFA vestiges know they can see into each others' realms. They wouldn't be surprised by this. They look into AFO's, they know AFO can do the same vice-versa.

Tomura is basically saying he's about to catch all the vestiges (rats) by their tails to make sure no one gets away this time.

Even if En was a vigilante or Pro Hero when he was alive (he's Banjo's kouhai, and Banjo was one of those), he has a faint heart when he feels cornered and running is an option, no matter how bad.

En acts calm and rational, and entered into the Vigilante/Pro Hero scene, but he is terrified when it comes down to it.

Like Kudo and Bruce with the Resistance, Shinomori with society's state then, and Banjo stepping up when Japan was "a lawless land", En is a product of the era he grew up; trying to find stability in a lawless land, where it was everyone for themselves.

[sync24]

It was always the Doctor who would have to forget Clara. "Look how far I went for fear of losing you" describes not only the end of the universe, caused by the twelveclara timelordhuman hybrid, but the entirety of season 9.

In the preceding Christmas special, Clara lives a long and happy life. Though she still looks exactly the same to the Doctor, she is barely strong enough to pull on a Christmas cracker, both of them know they can't travel together like this. This is where the Doctor sees Clara's life without him in it for the first time, laid out. Of course, Clara and the Doctor had been lying to each other, pretending to have found their own piece of happiness and leaving each other to it — Gallifrey and Danny Pink alive and well, though even if that were true, the Doctor and Clara would not be able to find happiness and contentment in Gallifrey or with Danny Pink: they've tried before and it did not work. But, even though they're left to their own devices, the Doctor knows very well he could swoop back in to take her away at any second; it's a test of his will, not a permanent end, not if he doesn't want it to be.

A "Christmas miracle" allows him to find her again at the age she was when they lost track of each other, and he pleads with her (I'm begging you, please, don't even argue) to join him again, all of time and space is sitting outside in a blue box... I would argue that this is when Clara officially starts living on borrowed time, when her death becomes absolutely inevitable. Because there was an opportunity to let her live a full life away from the Doctor and he wouldn't let her, couldn't bear to, begged her not to, and perhaps most crucially: Clara would never choose a normal life, if presented with the choice, for the same reason the Doctor would never go back to Gallifrey and "live like a king" even if he could, even if things were peaceful and just. (Moffat: When I first wrote Clara, I thought, “Oh, this is fun. If the Doctor were a young woman living in contemporary Britain, it’d be a bit like her.”)

In season 9, nearly every two-parter episode puts Clara (and, to a lesser extent, the Doctor) in unprecedented danger. We see several demonstrations of what the Doctor might be capable of, should he actually lose Clara, but he manages to find a way, or Clara manages to find a way, Missy manages to find a way — like any member of team TARDIS always does, because they get themselves out of every shenanigan imaginable — until they don't. He doesn't care if he has to break the rules he has so carefully constructed for himself (I'm changing history to save Clara and The Doctor isn't here anymore: you are stuck here with me).

When the Doctor finds himself under the threat of death, Clara is there to demand him to find a solution, because he always does, this can't be the end, you owe me, die with the next person but you will not die with me. She finds a solution or demands he does, and they work it out. Because they always do, until they don't. Clara is a lot like the Doctor after all, and becomes more like him with every adventure they go on, but she does not have access to the same things the Doctor does: a TARDIS, a sonic, theoretical immortality. This is part of why the Doctor blames himself for what happens. (Clara, there's nothing special about me. I am nothing, but I'm less breakable than you. I should have taken care of you.) Had the Doctor succeeded in erasing Clara's memory as planned, he could look out for her, visit her, come back for her — and he would have. For the same reason he stole her away on Christmas day, taking her away from the love of her life (or so he believes) and a happy, fulfilled human lifetime (according to old!Clara). Even without his memories, of her, misshapen and riddled with holes, he is actively searching for her, despite knowing the dangers, remembering to some extent what happened and still, he searches. The only reason his memories get to return at the end with no consequences is because 1) he believes that she has returned to Gallifrey to face her death once again and 2) his regenerating body is about to force him to move on, to enter his next phase of life, become a new person, leave previous attachments to his previous iterations (literally and metaphorically). Look how far he went for fear of losing her. He had to be the one to forget.

[slasherhoe87]

The Gift

Peepaw Michael Myers x GN Ghostface OC

MDNI

Warnings: Gore, Death, Murder etc

Note: Set during Halloween Kills - only difference is that the Johns do not live in Michael's childhood house. So all HK scenes in Michael's home plays out in another house owned by the Johns.

Blood soaked the ground of Haddonfield once more on this Halloween night.

It seeped into the asphalt of the roads, melted into the wood of aged floorboards, crept into the tiny crevices of tile and concrete, nourished the damp soil of the grass.

Michael stared down at the vacant eyes of his aggressors who littered the road around him - the ever hungry voices within his mind sated. Fat, full and quiet from the bountiful feast he had provided.

Fools the lot of them.

They should have known better.

Rage welled up within The Shape of Haddonfield knowing that he had only slaughtered one instigator of tonight's 'Kill Michael Club'.

Laurie Strode and her kin were still out there. Alive. Unacceptable.

Taking in a shaky and pain-filled breath, Michael took a wobbly step forward and gripped his knife tightly. The anger and frustration vibrating throughout his entire being.

Laurie still being alive was downright mockery at this point. How did she manage to evade death every time Michael finally had her in his clutches?

Michael grunted in both pain and frustration. Laurie can take a dive off a building, get hit by a car or eat his blade - he didn't care, he just wanted that bitch to stop breathing once and for all.

Well, if he couldn't end her ridiculous existence yet, he would hurt her so terribly that he'd break her spirit and heart, hopefully irreparably.

With a limp to his gait and wheezing breaths Michael stalked off towards the house where he had left Karen's daughter with a broken leg. Laurie Strode would die this night, not physically. But he would shatter her.

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Michael's eyes fluttered open. They felt heavy as if he had been drugged. He knew that feeling all too well after been locked up in an asylum for 40 years.

He looked around the room he was in, groggy and confused. He was in his parents' bedroom in his old house. The double bed he laid atop was dusty and moth eaten. The room was dark and smelled stale - it naturally would, after decades of decay and dormancy.

Had he dragged himself to his old home after killing Karen and Allyson? It concerned him that he couldn't remember.

Michael looked at the window which was slightly ajar, letting a breeze in to freshen and cool the room.

It was night - stars glittering and sky as inky black as ever. Yet when he stepped out of the house where Karen and Allyson's lifeless bodies lay the sky was tinged a pale orange and pink, indicating dawn was fast approaching.

Michael then noticed the next strange thing... his jumpsuit was pooled around his waist, his injuries bandaged and seen to. He looked to the old nightstand beside the bed and saw a glass of water and a bottle of Tramadol sitting there, along with a juice box, a store bought pre-packaged sandwich and a bag of mixed candies.

Now he knew why his injuries felt dulled, his head fuzzy and eyes heavy - he had been given pain medication.

Anger rose within him again. Who did this and why? And why couldn't he remember anything?

Who would want to aid the Boogeyman of Haddonfield? Curiosity swam around his mind as he sat up, wincing at the slight pull on a stitch from a particularly deep stab wound.

Hundreds of thoughts ran through Michael's mind as he reached for the candies.

Satisfaction was the leading feeling coursing through his veins. He had taken away the two most precious things in Laurie's life and for once, she could not stop it. Surely this would lead to her letting her guard down? Her motivation to carry on will have been quelled... perhaps she'd off herself and be done with it?

Michael would lay low for a while and then strike. He would not fail this time.

Just as Michael popped a candy corn into his mouth he heard a thud from downstairs which immediately caused him to stand and grab his knife which was also placed on the nightstand.

He perked his ears and tried to listen for any other sounds but all was quiet again - the house once again its ghostly self.

Slowly he crept out of his parents' bedroom and into the dark hallway. Seeing and hearing nothing out of the ordinary he made for the stairs intent on ending the life of whoever was in his home. He didn't care if it was his "savior", he didn't ask for or need any help and they would die just the same as all of his other victims.

As he stepped into the moonlit kitchen he spotted his mask, washed and sitting on the counter beside the sink. Michael made a beeline for his second skin. As he grabbed his mask and placed it over his head he let out a barely audible sigh of relief.

He had nearly lost his mask once already the previous night when Karen had stolen it and if it was truly lost to him he wasn't sure what he would do. The mask is as much a part of him as he is to it. Losing it would be losing a very substantial part of himself.

Something large and black catches his eye and he turns to face a body shaped thing in the middle of the kitchen floor wrapped in black giftwrap with red heart prints all over it. A big red bow sat atop its middle, practically begging to be undone.

Michael tilted his head to the side, studying the.... gift.

This must have been the thud he heard. Someone had deposited the body here and left as soon as it touched the floor.

He cautiously stepped forward and crouched down, sighing irritatedly at the popping sounds his aged knees produced.

Placing his knife beside him on the tiled floor he reached for the large obnoxious bow and began untying the ribbons. The more he handled the thing that was wrapped up the more he came to realize that yes, this was indeed an actual body.

Michael's body practically vibrated with curiosity and intrigue.

Clearly this was a gift for him. And again his mind ran with who and why.

With the bow and ribbons now off and chucked to the side he tentatively reached towards the clear strips of tape holding the giftwrap together along the center of the body and started ripping.

The first thing he saw was a blood soaked black blouse, a few buttons missing - having been ripped. Stab wounds gaped from the holes in the blouse and they looked very deep. The stabbings were clearly performed with a lot of force and emotion.

Michael began to pull the wrapping apart again higher towards the face and stopped dead in his ministrations as he came face to face with a now very dead Laurie Strode. His breath hitched and his eyes widened, he fell back onto his backside and took in deep labored breaths at the sight before him.

Thousands of thoughts and emotions ran through him like a freight train.

Laurie was dead.

Laurie Strode was dead.

Her lifeless eyes and bloodied and bruised face stared up at the kitchen ceiling and--- Michael did a double take... not eyes. Eye. He leaned forward and saw one eye was missing, entirely pulled out from its socket. He wondered if it was coincidence that it was her left eye that was missing - as she had damaged his own left eye so many years back.

Who had done this... for him. And why?

This person had succeeded where Michael had failed time and time again.

Michael didn't know whether to be impressed or pissed off.

He didn't care how Laurie died, he just wanted her gone. And now she was. But he had to admit he was ever so slightly peeved that he was not the one to witness the life being snuffed out of her eyes.

He rolled his shoulders and felt as though a weight had been lifted. The thorn in his side had finally been removed.

The woman with supernatural-like luck on her side was finally dead and soon to be buried.

For once in his life, Michael could say that he was feeling something pretty close to happy.

Before more thoughts pushed to the front of his mind the ringing of a phone rang out somewhere in the kitchen.

Swiftly standing, Michael spied a cellular phone lit up and buzzing on one of the counters in the kitchen.

He picked the black device up and squinted at the screen, just like with Karen's cellular phone when Laurie had called her after he had killed her, he didn't quite know how to use it. Did something as simple as a phone have to become so complicated?

Finally he managed to swipe the green button in the correct direction and brought the little piece of plastic hell to his mask covered ear. He didn't speak, but let his deep breathing indicate he was there and listening.

After a few beats of silence a distorted voice greeted Michael from the other end.

"Hello Michael"

Michael looked down at the gift that was Laurie's corpse before he focused back on the mysterious caller.

"Do you like my gift?" the distorted voice asked him in eager anticipation

With Michael feeling such elation at Laurie's death he decided to gift the killer on the other end of the line with using his voice. Something Michael had not done in years.

"Yes" came Michael's soft and raspy reply

The voice on the end's breath hitched and their breathing became noticeably heavier.

tap tap tap

Somewhat startled, Michael spun to face the direction the tapping had come from - the kitchen window.

"Boo!"

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Hope ya'll like.

Part 2? Yes/No?

[gamerbearmira]

I have a story for the Vampire au! Okay, so vampires live in the Encanto and are hiding among the regular people, Senora Guzman is one of them. A little after Antonio is born Alma is worrying about whether or not he'll get a gift, but Pepa had a difficult labor and so she doesn't really care about his gift, she's just glad he's here and healthy. Pepa gets upset at Alma for caring more about the gift than Antonio's well being, and Mirabel gets brought up, so Julieta comes in to defend her daughter, Bruno also gets brought up. It devolves into a screaming match about how Alma treats everyone and their gifts until Julieta yells, "well maybe the reason Mirabel didn't get a gift is because of YOU!" Casita then starts to crumble, just like it did in canon only five years earlier. Pepa shoves Antonio into Alma's arms and tells her to get out of the house, Alma and the grandkids manage to get out, but the other adults, including Bruno who was still in the walls, don't escape time and die in the collapse. All of this is too much for Alma and she passes out due to a heart attack, she almost died, but Senora Guzman saw what happened and realized if Alma dies the children won't have a guardian, so she turns Alma in order to save her. Once Alma wakes up and gets her bearings, she realizes Julieta was right, and her mistakes cost her even more family members. She vows to change her ways and keep her grandchildren safe, she turns the grandkids into vampires so she won't have to watch them grow old and die, the Madrigal family becomes really close to the Guzman family since they're both secretly vampires, that's how Mariano and Dolores met, Casita is rebuilt with a more gothic architecture and a graveyard for the deceased family members, which includes a memorial for Pedro, the magic does return, and Mirabel gets her own room, but the color of the magic is red instead of gold. The townspeople are a little spooked by how everything changed, but they chalk it up to the sudden death of the adults affecting the family and the magic so they don't really question it, and the slowed aging is waved off by Alma, who says it must be the magic's way of protecting the grandkids.

I’M RICKIN WIT IT⁉️⁉️

Honestly I am. Only thing that I would change is Alma. She was born a vampire (a LONG) time ago. She was just good at hiding it. EVERYTHING ELSE IS SO RAD THO 🗣️🗣️ honestly Alma saying the magic is what’s keeping the kids from aging is so real.

I imagine Guzman probably has to help Alma cope though. I mean it was clear Alma didn't wanna do it, and even with convincing. She was still pretty catatonic after the fact. But Alma slow gets over it (over it is a strong assumption though). After all, she's not the only one who had to resort to that. Mariano and a number of other kids at the time had to be turned, and a lot of families didn't want to subject their kid to that life, but had to for their safety.

And the argument before hand. Would make sense. How it escalated so fast is baffling, but stuff adds up over the years ig 😭 still sad asf tho. W for the memorial at least (┳Д┳)

Alma whenever anyone asks her about what happened those two nights:

[dirhwangdaseul-archived]

it feels true to life that the martínez family is consumed for these girls' story, both in the wilderness and irl, like we know already who survives, only three of those people are of color, and one of them is dead for nat's story while on our present, and it's like with travis death their very souls all end up being consumed, who will remember travis like nat did, and who will remember travis like javi did, so now who can travis be without nat and the girls and the wilderness? travis has no identity without javi or his father or. mother because what kid fucking does,? not. completely not without conditions or parts of ourselves smashed with the lessons of the world built by that unit, his rage was so.obvious, so easy, trying to distance himself from. his family to be someone by himself, someone away from flex, a teenage struggle well known to everyone, to be someone that doesn't feel shaped entirely by those around us, is it hormones? is it that our society and community can't be enough? is it that simply is human to travel? to adventure? to experiment with the self? to have the the opportunity to break into a million pieces and still be... something, someone?

but... his coming of age, his next universe stunted by the wilderness, his next world is built on gutting all of that off from his heart, so that it can be nat's and the wilderness's, to be able to acquiesce to the society chosen by the girls who make the wilderness' power a reality by the power of storytelling, and specifically through the heads of the pack, nat, van, misty, shauna, taissa, lottie.... of them... nat is truly his perdition, she who doubted, she who runs, she who is loved by travis, his last doubts fade to her radiance and his love, and so he literally destroys his brother's remains for a life with her, an identity forged for them, the king of nat the queen, united in heart and hearth forever, and all it took was this brown family as an offering to the land, like i said, consumed for the story to take place, no adults, no hearts of old are allowed, just the things built out there like nat and travis kingdom

im not sure if it's intentional but it is a mirror of life how often brown families get consumed for white womanhood to rise to power, but simply for white hegemony to break away traditional structures that don't belong to a globalized white supremacist world and that separate families to the point of no return but even so a simple desire to participate in the comforts of capital usually means cutting parts of one self to achieve a certain, white, ideal, like the nuclear family in commercials, i think yellowjackets could benefit with some delving into propaganda and media and civilization vs life proper (van is right there), but what im. trying to say is that modern life asks of brown and black families to mold themselves into whiteness to fit in, and maybe the current hegemony asks that of all of us, because nat too has to break herself and the love she bears for javi and travis to acquiesce to that white womanhood that rises in strength as the story goes, and like maybe it was accidental. i. dont think the writers see the imbalance in how many white girls survived and how many girls of color will die and have done so already, but regardless, accidental or not, that story doesn't belong entirely to white society either so maybe they stumbled upon it, because it's the story of how we manage to belong to the world, by understanding which parts of us go with other people and which parts get cut off for not being able to do so as well

idk what the wilderness does represent truly, because it is not meant to be just nature or one thing in particular if you ask me, the. ambiguity has been the point, and with that in mind there's something there that speaks of its form belonging to the observer, which means that maybe, as audience who observes too, we get to see different things there too, and for me a lot has to do with acquiescing to and preserving human life wherever we are because that's human, we want to love and live, our nourishment isn't just hearth but the warmth in the story of the hearth too, stories as this motivators to live; what greater motivators than the love of life itself as seen in the hearts of others, and this society, this modern world we live in, the ones they inhabit, it's a society that has put white womanhood as the face of all the stories, nat is given to these myths as not herself but as the tool of the group and the wilderness, but it's misty, another white woman, that affirms the violence that the group gets more comfortable with, it's been said, but it's another woman of color, a black girl, akilah, who shows restraint in the face of violence as well as travis who does try to save nat but we don't know if he would have saved anyone else the same save his own brother, interestingly enough he gets crowned king as does travis by the love nat and travis bear each other, he too was doomed always by the poison that drips through their love, with his brother's raw heart he reaffirms his commitment to this society, that maybe it's ours, the only way to belong, the wilderness knows, is by breaking the bonds before like shauna with jackie like misty with kristen, like travis with javi, and in. contrast to them, mari who i don't think was ever to have depth has been calling for violence for a while, so like a really interesting collection of opinions we did get when it came to cannibalism, but they all paled before the strength of the girls that survived because the season already showed us that when it came to opinions, the core yellowjackets' will reigns whole, but it's in the story they build in their hearts a story tied with religious awe and belief, in turn tying them to the wilderness, a wilderness that i think, finds strength in that union. and the ability for its will to be enforced seamlessly with the face of chance and accident, and with this i wonder did the wilderness teach us to break to bond and survive, or did it teach itself that didactic cruelty from us?

[lunieloon]

WAIT PEEPS I DON'T THINK I EVER POSTED THE HOWARD AND DEWEY LORE/CONCEPTS HERE LEMME FIX THAT-

BASICALLY-

Howard Y'Doin and Dewey D.S. (Decimal System) met when they were kids in their home city of Crimson Point. Most people ignored triangles there, but Howard was taught from a young age that a person's worth isn't determined by their shape.

Howard was born to a star and a triangle shapeling. His dad- the star shapeling- left them both to pursue the life of fame all star shapelings were destined for. Leaving him to look out for them both. His mother was always sick, and she was always preparing him for the worst despite his insistence that she would recover if she kept her hopes up. Howard managed to get a guitar when he was 10 and took to performing on the streets for cash as a kid. That's where he met Dewey.

Dewey was born to a rectangle and a square shapeling who were leaving him behind in Crimson Point to have a "fresh start" in Cyber Square. He knew something was wrong with him. He could feel it in the way his wings and chest ached every time he flew. Because of this, he would walk everywhere. He was fending for himself near the ground level of the city when he heard the strumming of a guitar.

There was another Shapeling on the ground, playing for the people that flew by without even looking at him. Dewey got closer and the star smiled at him.

From then on, the two were inseparable, and Howard vowed to find a way to save him and his mom from the early deaths all triangles were destined for.

But street performing could only get him so far, and as time went on, his mother's condition worsened. By the time he was 14, she was gone.

Dewey knew he would follow sooner rather than later, he saw how much Howard was doing for the both of them, and he didn't want him to waste his destiny as a star watching over him of all people.

So he suggested they run away to Cerulean Circle- where there was a better chance for someone to notice Howard's talents so he could live a good life.

But Howard saw this as his chance to get enough money to save Dewey.

So the two ran off and crossed a whole ocean to make it. When they saw the shimmering lights of the blue city, they were 18 years old. Dewey was holding up surprisingly well. Howard saw it as a sign he would be able to save him. The two carved out a place for themselves. Dewey was hesitant to put a label on their relationship (he still believed he would die soon) but Howard would always remember him as his soulmate (platonically and romantically)

Howard began attending auditions, and did find success in performing. But he never took the bigger jobs that required him to move a lot, because he didn't want to leave Dewey.

But the world was catching wind of Howard Y'Doin, and when auditions for the Generational Big 3 came around, his fans wanted him to try out.

So he asked Dewey if he should.

Dewey said he would never forgive him if he didn't take this chance, since this was his dream since they were kids. So Howard agreed to audition. (On the condition that Dewey came to support him) ((That's also where THIS image happened!))

Of course, the world fell in love with him almost as much as Dewey had. But nothing good could last forever, and Dewey knew his aching wings were only getting worse.

He held on as long as he could for Howard's sake.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

2022 Fic List!

This is a compilation of all the fics I've posted on Ao3 in 2022, plus some ficlets I like that I posted here! As always, Journal Pages is still being updated but I'm not gonna put it on this list because I made it last year (I think??)

Memories, Just a Bit To the Left

Being kidnapped was, honestly, not incredibly horrible. It wasn’t a good thing, for sure, for sure, but Barry could deal with it. Was he low on hit points? Yeah, and it was shitty. Did he feel like he was going to die? Occasionally, that’s just something that happens sometimes, you know? But it wasn’t all bad. Some of the gerblins were nice. They gave him some water, kicked him around a bit more, gave him an orange that they refused to peel so Barry just kind of spat the peel out as he went. A solid three out of five stars.

But he wasn’t too worried about the whole thing. Even as low as his hit points got, he knew that Taako would come find him. It was just a matter of if he would find Barry too late.

This was for the 2021 Candlenights exchange and it is killer, I think. I really enjoyed getting to write this and explore the space of this AU.

Archaeology Excavation on My Body

“How do you always know everything?” he asked instead of rising to her bait. “That’s the secret I want to know, ma’am. You’ve got prying eyes anywhere? Listening ears?”

"I run a secret organization on the moon,” the Director said dryly. “I’ve grown accustomed to knowing both everything and absolutely nothing at the same time. If you don’t want me to know, then I won’t know. I’ll never bring it up again. I’m simply offering us a way to, uh-” she glanced at the wall. It had been twenty minutes since the Reclaimers went offline. “Pass the time. And perhaps a way to help manage your pain a little better. No one else has noticed, Angus, but you do tend to limp a bit.”

Fuck, Angus thought.

This one was a pure vent fic, but I'm glad other people could relate to it anyway! I love giving characters I like everything that's wrong with me.

Tedious Familiarity

Déjà vu. Noun. A feeling of having already experienced the present situation. A tedious familiarity.

Barry Bluejeans woke up in a cave, fresh out of a pod filled with green goop, and saddled with an unsettling feeling that he had been here before. If you had asked forty-year-old Barry if he would follow instructions left by a talking coin, he probably would have asked you what type of drugs you were on. But, y’know, fifty… two? Fifty-one? How old was he? Fifty-two sounded right. But, y’know, fifty-two years old Barry didn’t really have that many other places to turn, so this couldn't be all that bad.

Barold my beloved!! I love any take on Barry's years alone and I thought I'd give myself a stab at it! Or several stabs, if we're going by death count. I really like how this one came out!!

Heart-Shaped Stickers

A collection of my blupjeans week prompts for 2022!

As seen on the tin sldkfsd.

Keep Your Friends Close (And the Lich Who Gives You Cryptic Advice Closer)

“There’s a lot you don’t know and I can’t tell you yet,” the Red Robe said. “And I’m genuinely sorry about that, Magnus, but right now, from the Bureau’s perspective, I’m not the good one.”

“From your perspective?” Magnus asked.

“From my- I…” he stopped again, contemplating, as if no one had ever asked him this question before. "I try to be, I think."

AKA: Magnus has questions and no one from the Bureau is giving him answers. He goes looking for the one person who will.

This baby is my pride and joy of this year, I think. It has always taken me Ages to write any chaptered fic but I'm very very proud of this one.

Autumn-Themed Notebook

Prompt fills for TAZ November Celebration 2022.

Again, as seen on the tin!

Now onto the Tumblr Ficlets!!

This list would not be complete without this ficlet about Magnus, Carey, and Killian discussing Magnus's top surgery or this one about a heart-shaped locket Barry picked up. Some other favorites from this year include:

Voidfished Taako interacting with Red Robe Lup and Barry (x)

June/The Temporal Chalice finding Barry's worst memory (x)

Merle and Hekuba talking post Story and Song (x)

Lucretia and Magnus talking about emotions and the stars (x)

Lucretia discovering the umbrastaff broke early (x)

Barry and Lucretia forming a truce to fuck over Governer Kalen (x)

Lucretia trying to discover who's stealing from the Fantasy Costco (x)

Taako taking the fall for all of Lup's deaths (x)

The Starblaster Crew stealing Magnus's shirts while he's dead (x)

Taako, Kravitz, and the mafia - Werewolf edition! (x1, x2, x3)

I gotta stop there or else this will go on forever sldfksdf. Let me know if you have any particular favorites from what I've written this year :D! It'd mean the world to me. My writing tag is #ise cube writing as always and my ao3 is IntrovertedHappiness if you wanna go check me out there!

[lizardrosen]

The Bridgerton Family Hamlet cast list

this post is partly @glintglimmergleam's fault for having a line about Eloise playing Ophelia (badly) and partly Luke Thompson's fault for having played Laertes in one of my favorite productions.

Hamlet is Anthony's favorite play, so of course he chose it for their family theater experience, and of course he plays Hamlet himself. His father was his whole world for eighteen years, and then he watched him die and his mother become a ghost. He's responsible for far too much and doesn't know who he is without the grief that's shaped him, and the certainty that he will not live past his father's age.

Benedict plays Laertes, the protective but silly big brother, who goes out having wild libertine adventures and discovering who he is, and he was also old enough to feel the loss of their father in a way that even Colin didn't, and he brings his endless capacity for love to the role. In some ways he and Anthony are as different as two brothers can be, but in other ways they have the closest relationship, so they make good foils.

Colin has the acting chops to memorize long meandering speeches, so he gets to be Polonius. Everyone thought that should be Anthony because he's bossy and dad-like, but he's the oldest so he gets to be the hero, so there! Colin is also Polonius because he's self-important and paternalistic and won't shut up about his travels, and thinks Polonius is heroic in the same way Polonius himself thought Julius Caesar was the hero of Julius Caesar, lmao.

Everyone assumed Daphne was a shoo-in for Ophelia, the young beautiful ingenue but Eloise was very persuasive that it should be her role, so instead she plays Gertrude, trying to keep a handle on her world that has changed so entirely with her husband's death, and she can exude queenly dignity just as well as youthful exuberance.

Eloise has one goal and one goal only, and that's to give Ophelia some much-needed agency in a world of men telling her what to do. She's not so good at playing the early scenes where despite her best efforts the script still has her obey her father, but she plays the "mad" scenes with a boiling anger at her circumstances that says she's completely sane and that's what's causing her such grief.

Francesca was really excited to play both Claudius and The Ghost, a common conceit in Hamlet, and she has the range to make the brothers feel distinct and memorable. She was also the only one who could get through a scene of pretending to be married to a sibling without giggling (how did Anthony and Eloise manage as Hamlet and Ophelia? well they were both so into the character analysis that they didn't mind too much who was playing opposite of them)

Gregory is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Yes, both of them; he has two hats he keeps switching between whenever he's in a scene. He's also the soldier Marcellus, and whatever minor roles are needed.

Hyacinth gets to be Horatio, Hamlet's best friend and confidant, and also the one who observes everything happening around her and asks questions to clarify the plot. Anthony thinks there's something nicely full-circle about Horatio carrying the story to Fortinbras and all the survivors, and Hyacinth being so much younger she's almost in a different generation from him.

[anotherrosesthatfell]

STARCROSS AU [E.L.A] endings!

Good ending

Lux died and instead of Merciless who gets locked up in the cage, it was Starcross this time. Palette was about to kill Starcross but Drop begged him not to do it. Even if Drop scared of Starcross, Starcross is still a kid like her.

He spent in the cage for a long time. He didn't age up even one bit, he stay as 10 years old but he is mentally 21.

Drop did visit Starcross to tell him stories and give him books along with his favorite foods. He miss his parents and sister :')

He never get to see the world until Pastel (Palette and Goth son) decided to check him out of boredom. Pastel secretly started to visit Starcross. Surprisingly, they both shared lot of something in common...

So one day, Pastel take his father magic wand and freed Starcross. He help Starcross disguised himself. Starcross pretty much lived a normal life for a few months until he envy how happy Palette is after killing Lux.

So he pretty much planned a revenge and stab Pastel on the back and but Palette managed to take Starcross down once again.

This time, Palette killed Starcross.

Bad ending

In bad ending if Merciless died at young age, Lux didn't planned to destroy the multiverse. She just want the throne for herself even if it mean to eliminating her siblings. Since Starcross want Lux to take the throne, she didn't kill him. Lux after manage to get the throne, she accused Palette for treason and threw him in the dungeon.

It was a torture for Palette since Starcross basically absorb Palette magic by drinking his bloods day my day.

Palette gave up and he doesn't want to restart again, Nim (thankfully) after seeing how much Palette suffered, she decided it's the end for her grandson. (Note: Lux also execute Crescent for being unfaithful to religion.)

But

If Merciless were still alive, Lux would rather Starcross to take the throne since she want to live happily with Merciless.

Instead of fighting, Lux framed Palette. She poisoned Starcross drink and accused Palette for trying to kill her little brother because of jealousy.

Everyone believes it (expect for Crescent and errorink family). He was executed by Dream, it was a painless death for Palette, it's a second betrayal.

Even if they want to defend Palette, nobody can fight someone who has the highest authority.

So Palette gave up and Nim pity him.

Starcross took the throne and make Drop as his advisor. (Poor Drop, she's scared asf). Nobody die expect for Palette in here.

Merciless and Lux live a happy life and boom, Moonrise and Sunrise.

Surprise ending

Surprise ending can only happen if Merciless is alive in here.

Merciless is unaware of Lux and Starcross doings. So Palette kind of kidnap Merciless and begged him to persuade Lux and Starcross to stop this evil doing.

Since Merciless is a good dog that don't bite like the original, he helps Palette.

Merciless know how much Lux love him so he use it as an advantage. Lux luckily agreed not to hurt Palette anymore (because Merciless legit threatened Lux to unalive himself)

For Starcross, Lux told Cross and Dream about how badly she had influenced Starcross.

Dream was upset and Cross is ready to protect Lux from Dream wrath but at the end, they both get scolds by Dream-

Lux is not a princess anymore but Dream still let her live comfortably. For Starcross, Dream and Cross did what parents should do. Fucking communicating.

Starcross is sad and upset about Lux was banned from royal family. He throws tantrum like a child he is. Palette who saw the scene decided to comfort Starcross.

They had the talk, Palette made a promise which is if Starcross get better, Lux can be a princess again. Starcross agreed so he became better, it was not easy but he managed it.

For Lux, she is actually happy since she have Merciless. It's not like she care about Passivemare anymore. As long Merciless is with her, she will be happy to stay.

[rennsdeaddoves]

Incidents Pt. 2

This happened when tao was around 6 years old (physically cause demon aging is weird). Also please keep in mind that significant character development would have happened from the first insistent till now (Wukong making up with DBK and the bull fam being super chill with the monkey king)

Triggers; being hunted, corpses, maggots, graphic content.

It was supposed to be quick, both of them agreed it would be... they would hold onto one another to not get lost, leave, explore the first prefecture outside of the jade district and then go back. But neither Tao nor Red Son expected the crowds to thicken as they had.

a rough shove from an unknown demon had them letting go of each other, the crowd managed to pull them apart with Red being shoved into a familiar face while Tao was pushed further and further into the crystal district till she eventually ended up on the border of the obsidian prefecture, though she couldn't exactly tell.

the six-year-old cub wandered further and further calling out for her friends, if there was one thing she knew from observing the crystal district with her dad and uncle it was that people who stood still got hurt. So she made sure to keep moving from time to time. However, something that she never learned was to not give away your status... especially in the obsidian prefecture

"why hello little cub... are you lost?"

the voice was deep and had a certain scratch to it that made Tao instantly anxious, her fur prickled, and a shiver went down her back. she swung around immediately to face the unknown voice with sweat beginning to drip down her forehead. Tao didn't dare speak, she had a feeling that if she did her fate would be sealed and it would not be good for her. slowly she began to back away from the wolf, he noticed this of course and followed her steps. Every time his grin would grow his sharp teeth peaking through more and more till Tao was backed against a wall and this demon was snarling down at her.

"Here's what's gonna happen cub, your gonna take us back to the jade district and get us through those guards there. cause if you're calling out for the bull prince you're close. do this, and you don't die."

her eyes widened at the threat put in her face but she knew she couldn't do that.

'what would baba do?! what would baba DO?!??!'

that was the only thought in her head till she remembered, her baba was reckless... so she spit in the demon wolf's face and dashed between his legs. as she ran she could hear his scream and then a howl. he was calling for back up.

and oh, did backup ever come. Wolves surrounded her and if she got to close to them while running they would snap their jaws at her or they would pop out of random alleyways and try to get the cub in their maw. soon enough it got to be too much and far to dangerous to stay on the ground so the first chance she got Tao lept up and to the lowest roof she could reach.

then began the game of roof hopping and trying not to fall to her death. admittedly it wasn't the same as branch hopping, something she would often do back at her home on flower fruit mountain, but it was still similar in some ways so Tao managed to adapt pretty well.

so well, in fact, that she had a very good lead on the wolf demons. the princess could still hear their barks and snarls but they weren't as close. things were certainly looking up for the little monkey demon until she came to a jump she couldn't make...

it was far too big and it was also taller than the ones she had been jumping to. but everything was getting closer and Tao didn't know how much longer she could run for. her only option was to jump down into the alleyway, possibly break a leg?

no- something was down there- she could tell by the smell, and when a gust of hot air greeted her face she almost fell off as she tried not to heave her lunch up. it was bad- so very, very, bad. like some of the meat, the rest of the demon monkeys ate that had been left out too long and were covered in flies. that only happened a few times but every time it did her baba would always get really mad. calling it rotten and disgusting.

looking down she saw people covered in flies. they weren't moving at all and with her keen sight, she could see some flies going in and out of mouths, eyes, and noses... those people were no longer alive-

"THERE ON THE EDGE!!!! SHE'S CORNERED!!!!!"

she couldn't think about it anymore. her body moved off pure instinct and she dove to the pile of corpses that cushioned her fall rather well. she was surprised at how high it was and wanted to get off and away as fast as possible, but just as she had made her way to the side that she needed the wolf she had spit at rounded the corner...

"GOTCHA BITCH!"

"N O!"

her voice broke and the only thing she could think to do was move into the bodies, begin to crawl under them and hide herself like it was a game of hide and seek. Pushing back through the corpse was hard, some of the bodies were solid, others tore and caved in when she pushed on them or stepped the wrong way. In her panic she couldn’t keep herself clean, blood, puss, ooze and other fluids going on her, torn flesh stuck to her fur in places and maggots began to crawl from the rot onto the new.

Every time it got a little darker, every time she pushed herself just a little further down, claws would break through the dark and let little beams of light in. So she kept pushing. Going down further and further till her back hit the dirt and the pressure was almost too much.

Breathing was already hard with something on top of her, but the smell made it so much worse. Tao tried desperately to breath as little as she could, her lungs screamed at her to take a deeper breath, to give them some rest but she couldn’t.

The bugs had gotten to her face, as quickly as she could she worked a hand up to her nose and screwed her eyes shut. Images of the flies going in and out of every hole they could flashed in her mind which made her hold her nose tighter, fold her lips in on each other, press her eye lids closed till they hurt.

And then she remembered her ears.

Her eyes shot open, she could feel the bugs crawling over them now, she wanted so bad to scream and crawl her way out but she knew the threat was real and the smell was the only thing keeping those wolf demon at bay. But she couldn’t hear them anymore- maybe they had left-

Light broke through, her hiding spot was uncovered and she screamed. She screamed harder when a hand grabbed the body she was under, but when it was pulled away to reveal the very concerned and bloody face of her father she couldn’t help but being to whale.

The relief from seeing her dad was almost too much to bear, his hands that went all around her body and smeared blood in her fur didn't seem real. but she knew they were, she knew he had saved her, and that she was safe.

"baba! Baba!-"

"shhhhhh, it's ok xiǎo ɡōnɡ jǔ, i've got you, i promise i do"

his voice was edging on panicked rage, Wukong was anything but clam though he couldn't really be anything but clam for the sake of his daughter who had buried herself in his clothing and smelled so strongly of rot and decay that he was doing everything in his power not to puke.

he could hear Iron Fan coming up behind him, he tilted his head in her direction only slightly and watched her freeze in place. he almost couldn't smell the fear coming off her in droves due to the smell of his daughter but it was still there.

"Wukong-"

"if you value your life. Leave."

she did. he could hear the bull boy asking if Tao was alright, but Iron Fan only silenced him, taking him away.

Underneath them both Wukong formed his summer salt-cloud and blasted off from the underground to his home. He would not be taking her back- not even at his brother's insistence. this shouldn't have happened- it shouldn't have been allowed to happen, he should have kept a closer eye on her- he should have-

"baba"

his thoughts were broken at the sound of her frail voice calling out to him.

"hmm? What is it peaches?"

"please don't blame Red Son... it was my idea..."

his eyes widened but he shook his head.

"what do you mean? "

she only turned her head into him more but that was enough of an answer for him.

over the next three days after he didn't let tao from his sight. he washed her as much as she needed to get rid of the smell and when he put her down for a longer rest (with the help of some sleeping herbs cause she was having so many nightmares that she was getting no sleep) Wukong took to the skies once again but this time in the direction of Guanyin. The monkey king had some very choice words to tell the goddess especially considering she promised to take care of Tao as part of the deal but failed to do so now twice when it was significant and many more times when it mattered a little less.

but this- this was, this was it. He was fucking done.

"Wukong-" Moksha. "how can we be of service today? is Lady Tao alright?"

"no, she's not. Now where the hell is your goddess?"

-------

did everyone have a good cry? don't worry, Tao is only suffering from major trauma and will have severe ptsd from this and a bug phobia from what happens after. but you won't get to learn what happened after till the fic!

(side note, xiǎo ɡōnɡ jǔ means little princess)

@jscribbs come and get your angst babe

[anghraine]

After 2+ years, the D&D campaign ended! It ended on a good note for all our (surviving) characters, and it concluded with the character of my closest grad school friend (now a PhD specializing in post-colonial literature) overthrowing the colonial oppressors of her people and liberating her home, which then became my character’s home as well.

My character, an aasimar, came from a very small and far-flung diaspora on the human side, with very little contact with others of her people since her parents’ death a few years earlier, and the main consistent figure in her life was her immortal angelic ancestor who got killed in the course of the campaign. She’s drifted too much to have significant relationships until she met the rest of the party, particularly my friend’s character, and they bonded over both natural rapport and having lost their ancestral homelands to conquest, and we decided that my character ended up as a sort of platonic life partner to her character and gradually formed a quiet camaraderie with the love interest of her bff.

(It did not start as quiet camaraderie; he fucked up and my very lawful good character took him aside and quietly told him that if he hurt her friend again, justice would find him. :) Sleep well :)). One of the only times I got inspiration, lol.)

At the end, my friend described the family the three of them build that encompasses the children of her character and the NPC as well (our characters in a future campaign!), and the peace they ultimately find as a family unit in the liberated homeland. But it’s bittersweet because her very lovable character is human, while both the husband and my character are much more long-lived, and have to figure out how to sustain the family without her after she dies of old age (if you’ve followed me for long, you know this is 100% my jam).

We decided that living in her(my friend’s) ancestral homeland would be too much for our characters, who are already intense, brooding kind of people, and they end up moving back to the NPC’s drow community with the next gen kids, and my very visually unsettling character is welcomed among the drow and lives as a healer and defender of the community (she’s a level 16 sorcerer at this point, so not really someone to be trifled with!) as well as a sort of surrogate sister to the NPC she once threatened and loving/beloved aunt to his children. The people she knew in her youth mostly die while she has decades left, but she does eventually age and die as a pillar of this community even though she looks wildly unlike everyone else in it (like... she has wings and her eyes are just glowing light by the end of the campaign!).

The DM was really happy with how things ended up for all of us, but especially my friend and me, who were the only ones who played the same characters through the entire campaign. And it was one of the only long campaigns he’s ever managed to complete. And the setting is a homebrew one that he runs different campaigns in (all sharing continuity; he is very much a “go hard or go home” type DM). He assured us that, while we were personally saying goodbye to these characters and it was hard (it was!!! I’m both happy and sad), that they still exist in the world and it’s possible that they could show up in other campaigns and any of us might end up having guest roles in those other campaigns with these characters if we felt like it. So it’s not totally the end of their stories.

It’s definitely a melancholy sort of satisfaction since I’m deeply fond of my character and she had one of the main arcs of the story in the end, so it’s hard to say goodbye.

RIP, sweetie, you righteously consumed a lot of terrible people in celestial light <3

[look-a-diversion]

Sing, muse, of the intrigue of my mother's condo board.

What you need to understand is that my mother is an extrovert who does not know how to be anything but busy and who will die if she does not say yes if anyone asks her for help with anything. She is someone who will make a new best friend anywhere she goes. She came to visit me and I took her to the local public library, because of course I did and because she was a public librarian for her entire working life until she retired this past year. She had never been in my local library before, and within five minutes she had become fast friends with the employee on the reference desk and she and I were both being given a personalized tour of the entire building, including the staff-restricted work areas.

My mother also lives in an expensive high-rise condo. You know, the kind with a doorman and fresh flowers in the lobby, where the age demographic of the residents skews north of sixty. Of course she knows everyone (she claims she does not know that many people). So when one of her friends asked her to run for the condo board as a write-in candidate, she did not say no. But she couldn't advertise her candidacy, see. That would spell disaster.

And what follows, as she explained to me, rivals quite a few large-cast political fantasies I've read. [all names changed for anonymity]

Regina, a resident not on the board, has beef with Isaac because Isaac's daughter works for the new property management company. Regina preferred the old management company and alleges that New Property Management Company bribed Isaac under the table to vouch for their services when he was on the board. She has no proof of these allegations other than Isaac's family connection with the company.

George, who also served on the board, also has (unspecified) beef with Isaac.

Isaac, after the recent death of his beloved wife, has opted to step down (also because he didn't want to deal with Regina screaming at him at meetings anymore). However, he doesn't want to completely yield control to the likes of George. He and my mother are in agreement on many things, so he asked her to run in his place-- and maybe he could tell her his opinions of how he thinks things in the building should go? A little? As a treat?

Of course my mother agreed to this, because she's constitutionally incapable of saying no.

Isaac suspected that George would not run-- unless Isaac did. George and my mother have no particular beef. However, George knows Isaac and my mother are friends. George must not find out my mother is running, or he will run, and there will be a George Sweep.

And so my mother launched her stealthy word-of--mouth write-in campaign, carefully (she hoped) navigating who to tell who would tell other people to vote for her but would NOT tell (or tell other people who would tell) George that she was running.

Alas, the Condo Cloak and Dagger operation was not successful, and George found out and launched his own write-in campaign. The results were as predicted.

My mother's friends assumed she would be upset and disappointed, but she's simply relieved to not have yet another obligation on her plate. She still plans to attend the "You Didn't Win!" party one of them is throwing. It was going to be a victory party, but why cancel a perfectly good party when everyone is already invited?

My mother still took eighteen percent of the write-in vote. "That's really not bad!" she said. "For someone who doesn't know anyone."

[coal15]

I managed to get Ch.10 of All Roads Lead Back posted yesterday. In this chapter Aziraphale and Crowley learn how Maggie's mum ended up in Heaven's Corrections Department. Here's a short sample:

It was business as usual in Heaven. Gabriel strolling around enjoying how his very presence intimidated the lower Angels. Sometimes he even said hi to one just to watch them stammer out a ‘hello, sir.’ Lower Angels were always a hoot. But then Baxter, a mid level scrivener assigned to the Corrections Department flagged him down, waving a file folder in the air.

“I thought you should know, sir, that apparently one of those little pissant Angles we like to keep out of our way went human back in the 1980s and no one noticed, and now-”

“Who gives a crap?” Gabriel shrugged. “Let them age and die a mortal death, it’s their own fault for choosing well dressed monkeys over their own kind.”

“Oh I agree sir, but this particular human-humper is trying to go Angel again and work a miracle!”

“WHAT?!” 

Gabriel summoned the Metatron immediately and the two of them took exactly thirty one and two tenths of a second to absorb the file’s disgusting contents. Not only had this Angel chosen to be human, she actually conceived and birthed one? Gross. How dare she expect grace or favours from Heaven!

Meanwhile on earth, Zoe closed her eyes and drew deep breaths to hold impatience at bay as the familiar power of Heaven soaked into her flesh. The second her grace was fully restored she would work the miracle, then accept whatever came next.

“NO!” A voice she never wanted to hear again barked.

Zoe spun around to see Gabriel marching down the street towards her, imperious as ever. Having been so low on the totem pole as an Angel, she hoped it would take the Higher Angels at least a few minutes to get word of her sin. Enough time to change her family’s fate, at least. But no such luck. 

Was this all for nothing? She wondered as her heart sank. “Please Gabriel, please just let me-”

“Silence!” The Supreme Archangel stood an inch away from Zoe’s body with stiff posture, looming over her with the wrath of an angry Heaven at his command. “You clearly do not understand the enormity of your sin, Zoe, so allow me to explain,” he paused to snicker at his choice of words. “Haha, allow me. Yeah, I am going to explain and you are going to listen, like it or not. You did not just choose to go human, Zoe. No, no, you did worse. You procreated. And not even with another former Angel, but an actual earth-born man! The whole thing is beyond blasphemy! I mean, did you even think about what you were doing? Because we both know even a former Angel is still technically a divine being.” 

The Supreme Archangel tensed up and shuddered at the word ‘technically.’ It annoyed him to his core that some elements of the previous Almighty’s design remained seemingly unchangeable. Half the reason he and his Higher Angel peers conspired to help the Metatron overthrow that old bat in the first place was so they could take charge. Full charge. But for the time being all he could do was hope eventually they would discover a way. Crack the code to demolish every natural law of Heaven and earth, and do things better. Correctly. Case in point: as far as Gabriel was concerned if an Angel decided to go human, that should be it. They give up every hint of the divine and become 100% fashionable monkey, no takebacks. 

“You turned your back on us, Zoe. The Metatron tells me God was devastated to hear what you’ve done.”

“WHY?!” Zoe shrieked. “So what if there’s a few slightly divine humans running round down here what harm does it do?”

Gabriel replied calmly. “It is not part of her natural design, and that is all we need know. It is unnatural, and gross, and you are to be sent straight to the Corrections Department. No trial, no appeal, and remain there until you renounce the decision to become human and beg forgiveness.”

“Fine,” Zoe sobs. “But Allan and Maggie are blameless in this, and at the very least my daughter deserved a future so please, I am begging you, let me work one last miracle!” A hollow pit opened up in her stomach as she realised no amount of desperation would help her cause. All the sorrow of all the mothers on earth wouldn't be enough to move Gabriel to sympathy.

So how the hell do I convince him to do me a favour? Has he EVER done a favour for someone?! She was fast descending into heartbroken panic when suddenly a new idea struck, offering a sliver of hope. Think like him . . .

“What if my time here ended in horrific pain?”

Gabriel’s eyebrows hitched up. “I’m listening.”

*********To read from the begging go HERE

[thereareothersfnaf]

Mikayla Walters

This is an author blurb about my thoughts on one of my OC characters, Mikayla Walters. And yes, there are going to be spoilers for my fic "There Are Others" in this commentary, so the actual thoughts will go under the cut.

Mikayla Walters. Or as she is called now, Mikayla... Afton. There's a lot to unpack here, but I'll start with the basics. Originally, Mikayla was written to be Cassidy's older sister. She was meant to have blonde hair, as to resemble Vanessa more. Mikayla was meant to have an important stake in the story, even before her role was revealed, but when I started putting words on the page, the time period changed as well. Suddenly, Mikayla wasn't some twenty-something looking for a job change out of a career in literature, and she was instead a twelve-year-old who babysat Michael's younger siblings when he wanted out of the house. That should've resolved my issues, because didn't I already say that she was initially Cassidy's older sister? If Cassidy was meant to be Mikayla's younger sister, then she'd have to be around the same age as Michael, which wouldn't have been possible in the original storyline I'd come up with. Still, while changing the setting enough to make that make sense, I'd somehow managed to place Cassidy into a different family entirely. I don't recall how exactly this came about, but Cassidy ended up with a different older sister, and an even older brother who both had their own focuses and lives. Not the greatest family combination, but then, not all older siblings endlessly torment their younger ones like Michael did. Mikayla was left without any siblings at this point. That bothered me immensely, because her motivations would have to be changed in order to explain why she was so motivated against William Afton. So I gave her a new sibling: Jason. We'll get back to him at a later date. Mikayla went from being an older sister to a twin sister, and with that change, her personality became more fierce. I made it so the two siblings were protective of one another, almost to a fault. Mikayla would die for Jason, and vice versa. It worked pretty effectively in the story, if I'm honest. His death had to be at least a little bit crushing on Mikayla in order for this all to work, after all.

Mikayla got her babysitting job as a favor to her family, but she didn't tell anyone except her brother. Her father wouldn't be very pleased about her creating a source of income for the family as it would be a blow to his pride, so she avoided mentioning it to him at all. She practically begged for her job with the Aftons, even as William dug his feet in and said they didn't need a babysitter. What they needed was for Michael to be a better older brother, which I actually kind of agree with. Anyway, Mikayla formed a bond with all three of the Afton children, something I hadn't initially planned. Sure, she was going to end up meeting Michael eventually since he's the main protagonist of the original series, and excluding him would mean more work for me, but at twelve, Mikayla had given Michael more attention than anyone ever had, aside from an old friend (another person we'll get back to). It's kind of funny to me how this changed things in the story. By meeting Michael so early, and by making friends with Michael before the bite, it meant that I had to work things out a different way. Their friendship would pressure Michael to improve himself, as Mikayla would never treat her siblings that way. This changes Michael from canon in so many more ways than I thought, actually. By developing a crush on Mikayla, Michael's character had shifted to try to instigate more positive interactions with her, and in turn made him nicer to Evan as well. Haha... the feelings... I wasn't sure I even wanted her to end up with Michael at first. I mean, I'd written Michael to be somewhat attracted to her, but I knew that could change. Twelve-year-olds can have crushes, after all! But Mikayla... Well, she was a different story. Even now, realizing how I want her to behave, it still comes through as a struggle for me. I don't know enough about the sexuality I want her to have in order to properly write her into it. I mean, she doesn't need labels of any kind at all. She married Michael, and that should be the end of it. But her behaviors to me are important. Why does Mikayla act the way she does? What motivates her? I'd been trying to keep Mikayla motivated by her family. First it was the firm belief she'd held that Jason was in some kind of danger from Afton. After his disappearance, she does have that bit of time where the illusion disks work really well, and honestly, I should make a short post explaining that as well. But anyway, when Mikayla recalls what William Afton had done, she's angry. She tells the police what she knows (eventually) and she does the most damage against William Afton. This does tie-in later, but I'll save that for when I decide to do spoilers for later on in "Of the Others." Mikayla remains devoted to her family and protecting them, but she also feels personally responsible for all of the remaining dead children. If she'd said something immediately upon discovering what she knew, maybe this could've been avoided. Mikayla isn't the only one with this internalized responsibility. Several characters feel this way, including Evan, Cassidy, Michael, Elizabeth, Scott, Jeremy, and Peter. It's just part of the way things ended up for them. They all blame themselves personally for some aspect of the children being dead, so they all have a belief that they have a duty to the dead children. Mikayla does take things a lot heavier than she appears to. While I'm absolutely terrible at portraying the fact that she is scared of the animatronics, I do want it on the record that she's as terrified of the Foxy models (if not more afraid) than Jeremy is. The idea of getting near Funtime Foxy in any capacity terrifies her, simply because 1. he murdered her brother, 2. he helped in the plot to scoop Michael, and 3. he looks a lot like our friend Mangle who caused the Bite of '87. I... cannot think of much else about her atm, so I hope you found this interesting!

[tardytothesimspardy]

Deathhh

It was their time

So I realized that Rich had two days left to live, and I wanted him to have the same death as Bernard Broke, which is drowning. So, after a day of playing in the household (they moved into the same house that Mary Lu and Buck used to live in, in Britechester, which was weird), I took him over to the gym and put him in the pool.

He pretty quickly started to have a not-good time, until it finally happened.

The terrible thing (more terrible than drowning an old man 2 days before he was going to die naturally) is that Buck saw all this happen. It was awful when I realized that he was there.

Since I only brought Rich, the game flung me back to Latoya's family, so I kinda lost the tombstone. I checked the inventories of all the Sims nearby, and even moved around the foundations and the pool, in case it was there, but I couldn't find it. So that kinda sucks, but after killing Rich, I decided to hang out with Laurie and Summer again for the first time in a while, until Laurie and Summer died of old age.

For some reason, Summer had a fear of being cheated on, I guess because Laurie hadn't been laying it on thick enough that she loved her wife enough to leave her asshole partner and two sons, but whatever. I had Laurie flirt with her a few times, and it was fine.

Just some elderly sapphics <3

While I was there, I had Shawna get closer with her daughter, Evangeline (whose dad is Kale, who is Latoya's son. Weird.)

Flower Day also rolled around, and both Ali and Evangeline had a fun time. Laurie didn't really have as much fun, since she was skill building for a hopeful promotion (she didn't get it), or sleeping.

Eventually, the day came for Laurie to die, and it was actually in the middle of the night. Somehow Summer didn't wake up, but Ali was up, and she saw it all happen. It's all so terrible to think about, honestly.

Ali then got a want to be friends with the Grim Reaper (for some reason??), so she did, by spamming interactions until he finally left.

When Summer woke up, she seemed completely destroyed, which is utterly understandable.

What's less understandable is the fact that Shawna and Evangeline were completely unaffected by it. I mean, I'm just comparing it to when Trigger grew up and immediately was mourning Moira's death, despite her dying while he was still a baby. Also, Sims will usually be upset when a Sim they know dies, or even if they see a Sim die, so I don't get why they're so unbothered by it. Laurie was Shawna's stepmother, and Evangeline's step-grandmother, if that's the proper term.

Idk, maybe when I load into their family again, they'll be sad.

I was planning on waiting for Summer to die of old age as well, but according to MCCC, she somehow accrued 34 bonus days? I didn't even know Sims in TS4 had something like bonus days (I know that in The Sims 2, if your Sim ages up with a platinum aspiration, they get bonus days), much less how she managed to get them. I mean, if anyone should have gotten them, it should have been Laurie, since she completed her aspiration. But because of those 34 days, I will instead go over to Buck, Mary Lu, and Trigger, because it's probably time for a new family member.