#how many thousands of people dead and he can't bring himself to give a fuck

[endtimers]

how many emails have i sent my absolute cumrag of an MP. rat faced fuck. i have never emailed my representative to the federal government before but how could i not now with the genocide in palestine. maybe i should have tempered my expectations because he's a conservative but after 16 emails and no response what the fuck do i say. how do you get these people to care? i have literally begged this man to care about genocide. i shouldn't have to do that. representative democracy is a sham in the highest order i'm so fucking mad.

[thestormthatrises]

It's all fun and games in Moshang land until Shang Qinghua gets dead serious and quiet, and firmly says "No." Tô MBJ.

People think that MBJ is the ice demon that can make a room grow deadly cold with just one look, one arched brow. But, Lord in heaven! They have never seen the whole palace freeze under SQH stern and unyielding"No."

Because like, there are a thousand and one "no's" that SQH can say:

There's the nervous "No, no!" He says when something is bothering him but he doesn't want to talk about it;

The "No, nothing" when his cunning mind is scheming;

The whiney "noooo" for when MBJ drags him away from his Work because he forgot to eat (and secretly wants to cuddle);

There's the tired "No..." He sighs out when MBJ has to leave his bed on AD, silently begging for him to stay just a little bit more (but he can't, they both know this);

So many ways and tones and meanings to one word... And yet, the deadliest comes when SQH is genuinely upset or annoyed. He grows quiet before he says it, as if giving the chance to the offender to shut the fuck up and stop bothering him. When grace is denied, he digs his heels in the ground and firmly says "No."

And he means it.

MBJ, for all the bratty, spoiled prince that he is; for all he hates to be denied things (especially Qinghua), freezes on the spot because of that one word from the peak Lord. That tone. That look!

You would think an ice demon would be ok with a cold hand over his heart but When the ice cold hand of anxious trepidation creeps into his chest, he can't bear it.

Before SQH left him, he would rally against that "no" like the brat he was and would even punish Qinghua for denying him. But he what he didn't know then was that his cowardly servant had his limits.

He bent like bamboo in the storm of his rages most of the time. But when MBJ overstepped his limits, he would grow rigid and solid and strong. He would take each beating almost silently and each hit filled those honeyed eyes with scorn.

And worse of all: after the useless beating, he would get up, bow and call MBJ "my prince".

It was disrespectful. It was a threat. It was cold, distant and... bad. It was HORRIBLE! And he hated being called a prince by someone who always believed in him-- had always said that he would be a king.

He knew better now, of course. He rushed to correct whatever mistake was made but, sometimes, the best thing to do was allow SQH to leave and cool off. A tactile retreat to regroup resources and pamper his human rotten to get back into his good graces.

Qinghua was too dangerous to be on his bad side. More dangerous than Junshang. With LBH, you could just be killed. With SQH, he would keep you alive and destroy everything you held dear. He would bring down the greatest of houses and sects, he would take their treasures, Salt their land and bring their homes to ruin and decay. And he would do it all and make it seem like it was all your fault. And in the end, when you had nothing, when you begged for death, he would make you grovel for it. Not even honor could accompany you to the grave.

(MBJ always thought that ruthless efficiency was extremely hot. He loved it. He loved how 7 out of 10 times, Qinghua used it for his king and the advancement of the Northern Desert. Qinghua was so beautiful when he was driven)

Qinghua was also too precious to lose.

It was hard to put into words, to quantify, how much he loved his human. It was an intense, insane love that took him completely by surprise. He still fumbled with it. With how much he felt. It tripped the king most of time SQH just needed to breathe, to smile, to call out to him, and his treacherous heart leaped and raced. It order his body to act before he could think. He needed SQH always there. Always near. Always his. SQH was an intrinsic part of himself And when they fought, it was like being torn asunder. He hated it. He hated having SQH mad at/disappointed by him 🥺

Luckily for MBJ, SQH had a soft heart. A marshmallow one, really. But just for him. When he shows true contrition, his future Consort easily opens up and allows himself to be pampered and held and loved. He sighs and smiles and melts in MBJ'S arms. He sweetly calls him "my king"

But in those tense hours of separation, the whole north holds its breath and walks quietly to keep Peak Lord Shang's ire at bay.

("When mom raises her voice, everybody lowers their heads" was a loop in my head while writing this drivel XDD)

[catbountry]

I don't even know why the hell Sweeney Todd is on here (because that motherfucker gonna die), and not somebody like Carrie White or Ash Williams, though Carrie might be too OP due to her telekinetic powers, and if Ash were there, he would wind up winning through sheer dumb luck. Also, I don't know how the Hunger Games work, exactly, but Dr. Herbert West would be a force to be reckoned with if he was allowed to bring his reagent serum. I don't know if he would win, but he'd probably last a while in regards to the other humans without supernatural abilities. But they're not on this list and this is just me sperging. There are plenty of other interesting candidates not included, like Candyman, Pennywise or Pyramid Head.

Norman's the most normal of all of them and wound up becoming reformed over the course of the main movies, so unless he just manages to avoid everybody else, he's toast. I have no idea what Art the Clown's powers are since I haven't seen either of the movies he's in, so I can't comment, but as far as I know he's just a violent and particularly sadistic murderer and I guess immortal and hangs out with the devil? But otherwise not really that special in comparison to some of the other contenders, especially the supernatural ones. Leatherface and Hannibal Lecter are "normal," mortal humans, and Michael Myers can be, depending on the continuity you pick. Lecter's physical strength probably around that of Sweeney Todd and Norman Bates, with his main asset being his intelligence. And against the other humans, he'd probably do well... but then there's the supernatural fellas; Freddy, Jason, Pinhead and Chucky. Chucky's main ability is that he's extremely hard to kill, and is able to transfer his soul into the bodies of other living beings, so if Chucky is able to recite the voodoo spell over an unconscious Leatherface or Michael Myers, he stands a good chance because he's also quite clever and conniving. His size can also be more advantageous so long as he has more places to hide and ambush people. I'm assuming since this is the Hunger Games, he won't be able to lull his opponents into a false sense of security by pretending to just be a regular doll. He stands a decent chance, but then there's the other three.

Jason is an undead murder machine with superhuman strength and cannot be killed. The only way to really get rid of him is to toss his ass in Crystal Lake with a bunch of chains and cinderblocks and hope he doesn't come back up. He has a very obvious psychological weakness, and that's related to his mother. If you can trick him into thinking he's mommy, he's very easily manipulated, which could probably give Norman Bates a fighting chance and would be the best strategy for Norman to secure a W. Lecter could have a leg up here, but Jason also cannot die unless you were to blow him up completely, and even then he would, um, turn into weird worm things that would possess people to kill. Part IX was weird.

Freddy, however, out of all of these guys, perhaps has some of the most inconsistent set of powers outside of the dream world. Sometimes he's depicted as being reduced to essentially just a human with a clawed glove, other times he still has some supernatural abilities. If he was able to function solely in the dream world, then most of these guys would be fucked. Lecter could possibly outwit him, but Freddy is also quite clever himself, and while he lacks a formal education in psychology, he's very keenly aware of how to use the psychological states of his victims to his advantage. He also, like Jason, has the pesky habit of not staying dead, no matter how many times a teenager sends him back to Hell. Even if he did lose, he'd probably find a way back anyway, and I don't even know if that would count if it's a dude who cannot die. And then there's Pinhead, the guy that I think would win. As smart as Lecter is, Pinhead is a Cenobite that's thousands of years old who can murder angels and can only be sent back to hell by solving a puzzle box, which we don't even know if the other participants would even be aware of. Lecter's not beating him unless he is aware of and can find the Lament Configuration, he's going to have a lot of trouble against a BDSM demon, and unlike Freddy, he's able to manifest his powers in the physical world. If Lecter can find the Lament Configuration, he'd probably be able to send Pinhead back, but the conditions of his defeat at the hands of Lecter would be so specific that I would give Pinhead the win. Additionally, if Ash was involved in this, he would somehow trip and fall over the Lament Configuration, think it's some kind of fancy Rubik's Cube, and accidentally solve it while distracted, or solve it at the last possible minute as Pinhead is about to kill him, because, again, he's got dumb luck, stubbornness, and bravado on his side. The person he'd have the most trouble with would be Lecter because Ash is also dumb as hell, but it is possible that he could be so dumb, that it loop all the way back around to somehow outsmarting Lecter just because funny. If Ash were on here, he'd be my pick. But since he's not, I'm picking Pinhead. Jason and Chucky would be good dark horse candidates. I think people are overestimating Lecter similarly to the way that people say that Batman can beat any opponent if given enough time to prepare. If Lecter's thrown in there and doesn't go in already knowing the abilities and psychological profiles of all his other opponents, it would not be as easy as a quarter of the respondents seem to think it would be as of the time I'm writing this out.

TL;DR, Pinhead.

[zodiyack]

Rude! (3,000+ Follower Fic Special 1/3)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Female!Hopper!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Billy stuff, lyrics, fluff

Song: Rude by Magic!

Words: 1,798

Summary: Billy's love for Hopper's daughter is too strong to be stopped by the tough Chief Jim Hopper. Despite being told "not in a thousand years", he plans to love her regardless.

Note: Thank you so so much! I love you all, and writing your ideas, as well as sharing mine with you, has been so fucking fun and amazing! I'm sorry for my lack of words, I wish being an author came in handy with writing this, however, all I can say is that I love you all from the bottom of my heart. I've seen people do shout-outs, and ask-related stuff with their follower things, and I may do that, I'm not sure. For now, I hope you enjoy this... Thank you all, again!

Also 1/3 means that there will be two other fics released for the 3,000+ follower present!

Taglist: @urie-bowie-mercury, @matth1w, @redspaceace-writes, @fandom-puff, @darling-i-read-it, @simonsbluee, @sebastianstanslefteyebrow, @dpaccione

Masterlist | Stranger Things Masterlist

"Saturday morning, jumped out of bed and put on my best suit. Got in my car and raced like a jet all the way to you. Knocked on your door with my heart in my hands, to ask you a question, 'cause I know that you're an old-fashioned man. Yeah."

Billy was freshly graduated, working as a lifeguard whilst his girlfriend worked her own job, both saving up for their chance to ditch Hawkins and move to California. Sweet Cali. Billy was excited to show the love of his life around the place he called home. Though, physically, he left the salty ocean and windy beach behind, the place never truly left him.

You could see it in his eyes. The waves crashing in his blue orbs. He swore the scent had just barely clung to his belongings; the smell of the tangy air that followed a majority of the state. Working at a pool was the closest he got to the memory of California. Chlorine was most certainly not the salted ocean waters, but with the circumstances, he decided it'd do.

The way his face lit up whenever he talked about his home...it made Y/n more and more excited to see it. His girlfriend had grown up in Hawkins, stayed there her whole life. Never once did the Hoppers leave Hawkins.

But the second that was introduced to Billy, he knew it had to change.

Although they were saving for a big move, Billy had...other things in mind with what to do with his first large pay-check (or series, rather. Working as a lifeguard didn't pay well with just one check). He began to work more shifts to make up for the money he'd spent, and one day after calling in for a day off, he decided to put his plan into action.

"Billy, stop messing with the tie."

"It's annoying." Hands slapped away his attempts of adjusting the black silk tie.

"Well it won't stop being annoying if you keep fucking it up."

For the first time in a long time, Neil Hargrove was calm. Not happy, not amused, not pissed off for some unjust reason- just calm. He wasn't wreaking havoc and he wasn't being an asshole to his son. Billy hadn't seen this side of his dad in quite some time, in fact, he thought something important was going on and he was about to fuck it all up. And then, Susan retreated to the living room with a camera and a freshly ironed suit.

"You're not putting me in that."

"And who asked for your opinion?" Neil deflected with a raised brow. One heavy sigh later and Billy was leaving the bathroom, dawning the whole black and white getup.

Susan clasped her hands over her mouth, a tear leaving her eye, "You look so handsome! Just like your dad!"

Billy rolled his eyes, "Great."

However, his careless attitude was swept under the rug when the blue Camaro pulled up to the police station, interrupting a clearly distressed Chief Hopper bickering with his daughter. Billy had to get himself together before stepping out of the car, jaw slack after seeing the beauty he got to call his date.

"Hello Mr-"

"Don't even try play nice with me, Hargrove. She's not going anywhere with you. End of story." Hopper kept his eyes trained on the blond, body tense like a snake preparing to strike it's prey.

Y/n grabbed Billy's arm, slowly directing him to the car, "And in the sequel, we find out I am going with Billy. End of that story."

"There is no 'sequel.' The writer got drunk and lazy." She paused, turning to face her father who stood tall, arms crossed and face unamused.

"So his daughter picked up where her father left off, and then the sequel was published and the two lived happily ever after, the end."

While her dad attempted to search for a line that would better hers and force her to stay, she pushed Billy toward the driver's side and slid into the car as fast as she could, rolling down the window as Billy started it up. "Bye! I'll be back before midnight!"

The two drove off toward the school, leaving behind a trail of dust and very, very, pissed off Hopper.

Prom was better than Billy thought it would be. He didn't want to go at first, but after Max found out and spoke to her mom about it (the little redhead a cupid-in-the-making), Neil pushed him to go (as he was "doing something else besides being a lazy-no-good rebel"). It was then that he called Y/n and asked if she'd be going.

The suit came in handy. Clashing with his rocker aesthetic, he put it back on once more. The once-annoying tie proved to be somewhat okay in the end.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend, but the answer is no!"

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude?

With a deep breath, he ran-over the conversation in his head once more. Like a script for an actor, he had thought of every possible outcome and every possible line for him to face it with. He almost chickened out as his fist rose to the door, but it was too late, for his knuckles rapped against it before he realized he was even knocking.

El opened the door, eyes wide when she saw the familiar mullet and button-down. "Papa..." She muttered as she backed away and out of view.

Hopper traded places with her, his lazy expression sobering up instantaneously, replaced with a grumpy scowl. "Hargrove."

"Mr. Hopper, sir."

"What are you doing on my front porch?"

He swallowed roughly, palms sweaty against his sides. "I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"You seem to be doing just that right now, Hargrove." Hop crossed his arms and clenched his jaw.

Well, this was certainly not something Billy had thought of. He was on panic mode internally, attempting to find any response that could save his hide and accomplish what he set out to do. Unfortunately, the word-vomit button seemed to be misplaced under the button labeled "help".

"I'd like to marry your daughter, sir."

Hop's eyes grew just as big in size as El's had when she opened the door. He choked on his own surprise, coughing it off, then glaring at the boy in front of him. "Over my dead body, Hargrove. If that's all, I'd strongly advise you to get off of my fucking porch while you're still alive."

I hate to do this, you leave no choice; can't live without her. Love me or hate me, we will be boys- standing at that alter. And we will fly away, to another galaxy, you know. You know she's in love with me, she will go anywhere I go-

"Billy, he's just stubborn."

"No, no, I don't think he likes me."

Y/n sighed, rubbing her boyfriend's back. He hadn't told her of his proposal plans, only that Hop seemed to have it out for him. "It'll take time, but he'll warm up to you!"

"It's been how many years since he's met me?"

"To be fair, your reputation wasn't doing you any good until now..."

"It's not like that was fucking obvious." He slouched further down in the front seat of his Camaro. To Billy, all hope was lost. If he couldn't get Hopper to give him his blessing, he was sure he'd lose his goddamned mind.

Y/n frowned. Her frown flipped around as an idea popped into her head, her lips finding Billy's knuckles and quirking his attention. "Even if he never likes you, I'm not going anywhere."

Billy laughed softly, "he'll fucking kill me if you go against him."

"Eh, that's only if he can catch us."

"You're out of your fucking mind, Y/n Hopper."

"I know."

The rest of the night was spent in the Camaro, of course, doing one of Billy's favorite pastimes. By the time the sun rose, Billy was sneaking a kiss to a giggling Y/n before dropping from her window in the cabin and running to his car, parked far enough that Hop or El wouldn't notice. He blew her one more kiss, which she pretended to catch, then he broke into a sprint.

Maybe, he thought, just maybe; there was still a chance.

His knuckles hit the door again, shifting on his feet nervously. It swung open to reveal Hopper, an unimpressed look bringing no surprise Billy's way. It was quite expected, honestly.

"What." His tone made it clear he wasn't up for fucking around.

"Mr. Hopper, if you just give me one chance to prove to you that-"

"No, no, no, no, no. Let me make it very clear to you that I want you to have nothing to do with my daughter whatsoever. No marriage, no friendship, I don't even approve of you guys fucking or whatever-"

"We're in a serious relationship, sir. It's nothing like you think it is."

This made Hop laugh. He continued to do so, holding his stomach, until he realized Billy was unamused. "Oh, you're serious?... My answer is still no, Hargrove. My answer will always be no. Go find someone else's daughter's heart to break. You're not hurting mine."

"It's not like-"

Before he could even get the words out, he was met with a door in his face. Turned down, again.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend, 'cause the answer's still no!"

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude, rude?

Again, again, and again, Billy incessantly pleaded with Hopper. Different tactics were all met with the same answer; rejection.

He held up a sign outside the cabin, only for Hopper to close the curtain and chuckle as he sipped his coffee.

He asked at the door again, only for Hop to threaten to give him a black eye (which was met with "aren't you the sheriff? Isn't that illegal?").

He raced past the police station, Max leaning out the window with another sign, only for Hop to threaten them with holding cells.

He even went as far as to ask Max and El to help, but Hopper had none of that, and sent Max home with a rant full of nos.

However, if Jim Hopper thought any of it would get it into Billy's head that getting his blessing was just not happening- he was as wrong as Nancy when she claimed not to have feelings for Jonathan.

Billy had another plan in mind, and this one was impossible to say no to.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know. You say I'll never get your blessing "till the day I die, tough luck my friend- but no still means no!"

"Hopper." Billy stood before his desk, interrupting his nice date with a delicious doughnut, and earning a very annoyed glare. "I got Miss Byer's blessing. Aren't you two a thing?"

"You son of a-"

"I got Eleven's too."

"Hargrove, I'm gonna-"

"Before you cuss me out, I think you should know that I've got a stable job, an interview with a mechanic so I have a job when the pool closes for the winter, and I've got a house on the market I'm looking at. I'm devoted to your daughter and she's devoted to me. You may not like me, but I think you're a great dad, better than the one I was unfortunately stuck with. You raised a strong and amazing woman. She's incredible and I admit, she deserves better than me-"

"You don't have to say that twice." Hopper huffed, crossing his arms.

"I know she deserves so much better than me, I'm surprised she's even with me too. But she loves me, and I think you can see that. I love her too. I would never, in a million years, break her heart."

Jim stayed silent for a few minutes. The silence brought uneasiness to Billy, but that was intentional on Hopper's behalf. He finally piped up with a cough, clearing his throat, before his piercing eyes met Billy's blue orbs.

"I'll hold you to that, Hargrove."

Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too? Why you gotta be so rude? I'm gonna marry her anyway. Marry that girl, marry her anyway! Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say! Marry that girl, and we'll be a family! Why you gotta be so rude? Why you gotta be so rude?

Bonus:

(after the wedding)

"What was that about a no?" Billy quipped with his infamous smirk.

"You're lucky I'm sheriff, Hargrove."

Why you gotta be so rude?

[crane--here]

do you ever stop and think about how much grief crane had to go through when he lost the aldemir siblings? how much he mourned their deaths and how he never hid his sorrow?

like. i feel like not many players catch onto this. because it's swept aside in favor of his mission and fast-paced action gameplay. it kind of loses its impact this way

but when you take your time, look back and hear crane speak and voice out his emotions you can tell how much it affected him

rahim's death, as predictable from the gameplay standpoint as it was, was just so sudden, and it took crane aback. because kyle trusted rahim, just as much as rahim trusted kyle. he trusted him with the explosives after rahim promised he'll leave the job to him. he trusted rahim when he said he just "cut himself". and crane being so hopeful and trusting as he is, left him back in the train yard, only to be forced to snap his best friend's neck when he returned

and fuck, he mourned. right there. because when you go blow up that nest it's always the middle of the day. no matter when you actually go to do the quest it will always default to noon. just as kyle coming back.... always defaults to evening, zere's truck is always attacked right by the sunset. there's good 7 to 9 HOURS between both events. and while it's never directly stated i firmly believe crane just... stayed in the train yard for a while, grieving rahim's death. i would even believe he took his time to give him a proper burial

and god, jade.... where do i even begin?

crane failed her. he failed himself. rahim is dead and the blame is put on him. first amir dies saving his ass and now he fails to protect the stupid kid too? jade is understandably upset. and kyle tries to do anything to win her trust back, to apologize, say how sorry he is as he tries to make amends. and he had to do all this when time was so crucial. 48 hours. two whole days and nights only to stop the ministry from destroying harran

and he proves himself. gets jade to talk to him again. and when all seems alright rais takes her away. forces them to fight for antizin. and kyle just can't see jade suffering more, can't see a strong fighter, companion, his friend and family die to a stupid bite wound. he can't bring himself to sacrifice her... so she does that herself. and just like rahim she turns before his very eyes, and just like rahim he's forced to take the life of one of the closest people to him

and even with tahir dead, unlike with rahim he can't stop and give her a proper end. harran's fate is at stake. jade sacrificed herself just for it. she trusted him as much as rahim did

i feel like his biggest regret is leaving her body like that back at the museum

and mind you, all of this happened in the span of around 72 hours. crane had to go through such loss while literally fighting to save thousands of innocent lives and find a way to help with the cure. he never had the time to properly stop and just let himself process these emotions. and it's not like he hid it either. brecken knew and commented on how kyle and rahim were close. troy, despite sucking at pep talks, tried to comfort him as best as she could. everybody knew how close crane and those siblings were

and fuck, the guilt NEVER went away. even when in the countryside crane has relapses of both rahim and jade dying. this shit stung until the very end and left him with so many scars

so yeah. crane and the aldemirs, huh?

[lassieposting]

Do you think Skug's offspring with Wifey would have grown up to inherit the power of Gog Magog too

So here's my thoughts on this

I've talked before I think about how I have Gog Magog's story. He hits Earth, wipes out the dinosaurs, and goes into hibernation to recover. When he wakes up, humans have evolved, and he spends a few hundred thousand years travelling the world and going among the people of different primitive cultures, either becoming part of their pantheon or masquerading as an existing god of theirs. He does this by possessing people, and when hes burned through a vessel, he transfers himself into a new one.

When he's betrayed, he's mid-transfer. Picture the opening scene from X-Men: Apocalypse, except with Aztecs instead of Egyptians. While he's helpless, because he's busy switching bodies, his attackers take out his loyal bodyguards and sic their Sensitives on him to send him back to the gods' realm. Fuck this guy, there's demanding sacrifices and then there's demanding too many sacrifices, even for the Aztecs.

What the Sensitives actually do is get hold of his soul and basically rip it to pieces. He's free-floating Voldemorting this shit. He's now many untethered entities, but there's not enough of him left in one piece to cause any trouble. But a little part of him is already inside the new host body, and the Aztecs have Opinions about what happens if the sun god is killed (the sun goes out and the world ends, which isnt ideal), so they can't just kill the host. So instead they do what Cassandra did to Val and Argeddion: put up a wall and convince him he's someone else.

They don't give him a lot to work with. He's foreign. He's trespassing. He needs to leave.

So when Abrogate fathers children, he's literally not capable of passing on Gog Magog's full power. He's a fragment of himself. His children are all stronger-than-average sorcerers, and so would Skugbab have been, purely by dint of being fathered by Skug. Some of his children also get a special extra gift that they're not really aware of - like, Skug inherits a watered down version of Abrogate's Compelling Voice, which is why you "can't help but want to fight alongside him", but. He believes he's just very charismatic. No one would ever think that that's a magic he's subconsciously using, himself included.

But none of them are or ever were capable of using Gog Magog's full power.

However.

Skug is considerably stronger and more alien than his sibs. He's immune to mind-reading and compulsion. He can't be detected by Sensitives. He can bring himself back from the dead. He can look directly at the Faceless Ones for a year and not be a gibbering wreck. And he's like this because he's possessed. The townsfolk who thought he had the Devil in him were not technically wrong. He interrupts his father doing a ritual to some obscure god-of-the-month when he's about four or five. Abrogate has opened himself up psychically, he's reaching out to The Other Side, whatever, and one of his fragments has enough sentience that it's come to investigate. It recognises that another part of itself is here, somewhere.

But it goes after the younger host. Skug gains necromancy and a terrifying imaginary friend for a while and Carver gets to witness some deeply fucked up exorcist behaviour from his baby bro, and then things eventually settle down and go back to normal. Years go by. Centuries. Skug convinces himself that he freaked himself out, as little kids tend to do in spooky situations - he didn't really see a shadow monster in that room with Father. Lord Vile forgets he was ever anything other than human. They forget they weren't always together in one head, and the lines between them get blurry. But after this, Skug is now more "complete" - ergo, more powerful - than Abrogate himself.

This is not the same as being more powerful than Gog Magog. Abrogate is a tiny fragment of that power, which makes him a very powerful sorcerer. Skug is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, but let's remember Mevolent can still fight Vile to a standstill. We're still dealing with sensible, Phase One levels of "godhood", here. Skug's power level, with Vile riding shotgun, is basically on par with someone who has access to their true name, albeit with fewer abilities.

Anyway, he can pass that strength on to his offspring. It's in his DNA.

And Vile was part of him when he had Skugbab. So Skugbab could also potentially have inherited more of Gog Magog than the rest of the family, from Vile. When he's tiny, Skug is terrified that he'll have inherited his necromancy, and the Order will try and take him away.

But. No one will ever know. He starts showing elemental abilities as a baby - he sneezes and sets the curtains on fire - and by the time he's toddling he'll come climb on Wifey's lap to show her his own little flame he made, but nobody will ever know for sure who or what he might have grown into.

(He gets a watered down version of Skug's watered-down Compelling Voice. He's a very popular, likeable little boy.)

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Dude…. Toumura/AFO is a world threat that can’t be hold down by any prison in the world. Why wouldn’t she try to kill him? I mean, if there was a being so powerful that it can destroy city’s just by touching the ground and there was a good chance it might come to your home, wouldn’t you tried to stop it?

In fact anon, I don't think death is the answer to any of this and I'm really really thankful for this ask! It gives me the opportunity to explain it.

See, I understand why so many defend Star and Stripe's point of view. Tomura is very dangerous, there's not denying it. He has killed a lot, make a lot of people suffer, destroy thousands of lives and homes. And this new being that's a mix of Tomura and AFO is worst.

However, we can't bring this whole situation out of context. Star and Stripe understand very little about the whole AFO/Tomura conflict. Like the manga said, less knowledge can drive a person to make poor decisions, it's normal. She is trying to help, we can't deny that either, but we have seen this a million times in other hero movies. Sending giant missiles and having a giant fight is rarely a satisfying answer. Specially when the narrative is telling you that violence only generates more violence, and that Tomura's pain is only leading the world to its destruction.

What I'm trying to say is that, following the narrative, it's actually a bad move what Star and Stripe is doing out of ignorance. Aaaaaand there are also many problematic aspects of her whole character. But let's see it point by point.

First of all, we need to acknowledge too how exactly Tomura ended up in that situation. Not as an excuse, because there's no excuse for that, but there's also no way of understanding the problem by ignoring what caused it.

All his life violence has been the answer to his questions. The only thing he knows is violence, people trying to deny his existence, people ignoring him, looking the other way because it's not their problem, stuff like that. This is how a neglected and abused child became a murderer at a short age. After that, AFO nurtured hatred and violence within Tomura with gross and fucked up strategies like making him wear his dead family's hands all over his body.

What I need you to understand is that at this point Tomura can be seen as an ordinary person. He was raised in isolation, like those horror cases of kids being kept in basements. He gave little to none human contact, both because he couldn't touch and because he was exiled from society. There was a mad doctor wanting to experiment on him, his care taker was a half living being created from a dead boy and he had a skin condition that made propel fear him just by his look.

Added to it, he saw his whole family die in a horrible way by his own hands. He felt guilty and was looking for someone to ease his pain, because he only wanted to be happy, to be himself, to be truly loved and defended.

Instead, AFO took him.

There's no character in bnha that understands completely this situation, except for AFO (and he doesn't care). The person that comes closer is Midoriya Izuku, who has also seen similar cases over the years. Of course this happens because he's the main character, but all his education and experience tells him that Tomura is not wrong when he talks about how rotten society is. Deku heard Lady Nagant, he knows about Endeavor, he has seen the discrimination to mutant people and he has lived the discrimination against quirkless people.

I understand the fear of Tomura being too far gone. Trying to save him can end up with the whole planet dead, I know. But we, the readers, know that's not true. Horikoshi is showing us what the characters within can't see, he's expecting us to root for Tomura, to be afraid of him dying, to feel complicated about it. Because we know what only Deku knows, and Deku as the main character wants to save Tomura.

Why? Because that's what the greatest heroes do: what other heroes can't. And in bnha case, it's not a matter of having more strength or quirks or speed, but a matter of who is capable of saving the people who no one else can save.

Why Star and Stripe is not like All Might, even when she wants to be?

It's actually an easy answer. Like Stain told Toshinori, he was not All Might thanks to his quirk and muscles. It was his heart, his complete devotion to save others and bring peace to the world by saving (not killing) people, which made him who he was. Deku is more like him. Even when Bakugou was really mean with him, even when Shouto acted like he didn't care (to give a few examples), he kept trying to help them. Because heroes save people who "doesn't want to be saved", they go beyond the barriers, they try every single method and if they run out of options, they create more.

One perfect example was the situation with Nighteye and Deku. Both Star and Stripe and Nighteye were inspired by All Might, they both were highly respected pro-heroes and they had both good hearts. However, they couldn't catch the essence of All Might like Deku could. Nighteye saw the future of All Might and took it as the only option, what kept him from changing the future. The same way Star and Stripe takes as an absolute that Tomura is too far gone, Nighteye took as an absolute that All Might was going to die. Deku changed that tho. Because he's going to try until the very end.

The other thing you need to take into account is the fact that AFO is possessing Tomura.

Imaging AFO possesses Deku. Wouldn't you like to see his friends trying until the last minute to save him? Well, it's the same right here. We saw All Might always trying until the very end, so it's normal that people consider Deku more heroic than Star and Stripe because he's not giving up on Tomura just yet.

The whole problem here is how to see Tomura.

We know from the narrative that the titles of heroes and villains can be very damaging, because they can deshumanize characters. Take All Might and Nana Shimura for example, who lost themselves in the hero title. Or take Tomura, who is not longer seen as a person or a young man, but a demon king of some sorts.

Ultimately, they are just people. Strong people for sure, but people. They fear, they hate, they love, the celebrate... More important than anything else, they learn. Deku already found out about that. We saw in the War arc how much he regrets not knowing that before, because he could have saved other villains like Gentle Criminal or La Brava if he had seen them as human beings and not mere enemies.

He doesn't want to make the same mistakes all the people around him and before him have made. If he only tries to kill AFO, it could end up just like it ended up for the Vestiges, with AFO surviving and the cycle repeating itself. Instead, if he saves Tomura, that's going to weaken AFO. And since Tomura is so powerful, and because Tomura is the closest human being to AFO, there's a golden opportunity of using all that strength and knowledge against AFO himself. To kill Tomura is a foolish move.

Star and Stripe can't know anything of this because she doesn't know the context, just like I explained before. She's reckless and a little selfish, just like Deku was selfish for leaving UA behind and going by his own against AFO. Both Deku and Star and Stripe could get themselves and many many people killed with those decisions. What if AFO stole New Order? What if AFO took OFA? It's not just their fight, it's the whole world's fight.

They can't afford recklessness.

The difference between the previous fights against AFO and the recent fight is that the OFA user is not alone anymore. The whole world being invested in such fight is a good thing. When you can't rise against a challenge on your own, you ask for help.

I don't totally hate Star and Stripe. I consider she could have been more interesting if presented in other forms. I find personally annoying her whole persona because I find way too heavy the USA symbolism on her. Also I would like to see a N. 1 world woman hero inspired by All Might who was not more of a copy of All Might, nor a living personification of her country. Her quirk is super interesting, but I don't like how it was presented either. But that's personal taste.

Also, one of my other problems with her is that introducing a new super powered character by the end of the story is never a good idea. It feels anticlimactic. So in terms of writing, I don't like hers. Even if Horikoshi is writing her as a parody, I still don't think it was the best decision.

I'm really sorry for the long post. This was original longer lol, but I figure out here you have enough good points to support my discourse. You are free of thinking about Star and Stripe and Tomura as you like, but I hope you understand why the people who likes to see Tomura alive is also valid, and we we can be annoyed by Star and Stripe.

With that said and done, I hope you're having a nice week and please remember to take care of yourself, okay? Thank you so much for your ask!

[corysmiles]

It has now been 2 weeks since Techno's secret has been discovered, and needless to say, it was a huge weight off his shoulders.

He would still drink the potion from time to time, earning a small glare from his friends.

"Come on, it's not because I'm a giant that I have to stop seeing the world from your point of view. Plus I don't have to worry about crushing you or stepping on you everytime."

"Sure… but this better not have anything to do with your fears of rejection because we're humans. Because we told you-"

"-told you it's fine and we don't care and will continue to view you as the same person despite everything. I know." Techno finished with a smile.

And maybe he was still a bit insecure about the whole ordeal. Maybe. But he did his best to push his anxieties aside, and when the potion wore off, he would still hang out with his friends for a couple hours more. So it was progress!

Plus, while hanging with people at his real size, he found much more fun ways to torment his pals.

"Hey, that's not fair!! Give it back!!" Tommy yelled, jumping as high as he could

"Heh, if you want your Juke-box back, just come and grab it~" the giant taunted, dangling the precious object (carefully) a good 30 ft above the human. Wilbur and Phil simply laughed at the scene as Tommy tried to climb on techno's shirt, since he was lying down, only for him to fall back on the ground. ("It always seems so easy in the movies, what the fuck?! That's not fair.") Techno's movements always stopped as soon as he felt the boy trying to climb, and suppressed a laugh as he failed.

After a couple more attempts and laughter, Techno gave back the precious box to Tommy, who held it close to his chest.

"Oohh, my precious, how have I missed you"

"Come on, I only took it for 20 minutes" Techno snorted

"And that's 20 minutes of me being separated from my true love!! How could you" he said, overdramatically.

"What a vile creature I am, truly" he replied, deadpan.

Eventually, the conversation shifted back to random topics. It was nice.

After a moment though, Techno noticed Tommy staring blankly at him, silent. After a couple more seconds, the blond prompted.

"What is it like, to see things from up there?"

Everyone turned to look at Tommy. Techno raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"What's it like, you know? Because you can and have seen things from our perspective, but I don't know what it's like to have your eyes so up high."

Techno was taken aback. Usually they did not really mention their size difference, aside from jokes and nicknames. He felt his throat tightening a bit.

Before he could answer, though, Tommy asked. "Can you show me?"

Immediately, Techno's mind was filled with a thousand possibilities this might go wrong. He tried to mute them down hard.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you buddy, but I don't have any 'growth potion' so I can't really-"

"No, I meant like, you grab me up there." Tommy corrected, very casually.

Techno stepped back "WHAT? Tommy, I can't- … I …"

"What, is it illegal or something?"

Techno could only see thoughts of his friend getting hurt by his carelessness. He never held a human before! Not like that!!

"No, but- … I … what if I grab you too hard, or lift you too fast? Or if you fall?? I-"

"Well I'll tell you if there's something wrong, big man." Tommy reassured. "And don't worry. I'm not made of porcelain."

"I.. yeah, I guess so.." That didn't mean he couldn't get hurt by a giant. But oh well. Tommy seemed dead set on the idea, and no one can make Tommy deviate from his plans.

He swallowed back the lump in his throat and slowly lowered his hand until it was on the ground, next to his friend not bigger than it.

Tommy casually hopped on it as if it was the hundredth time he's done so, and looked at techno with kind eyes.

Carefully, he moved on to a sitting position, and, as he internally screamed for his morbid thoughts to stop, lifted his hand. Tommy lost a bit of balance at first, surprised by the feeling, but was fine the whole way through.

When the hand reached Techno's chest, however, he stopped. Dead still. Tommy's brow furrowed and he lifted his head to see the other's expression.

Techno's mind was frozen. It was one thing to imagine a human in your hand, but it was miles away from actually holding one.

He literally held a whole life in his hand,

and could do so as he pleases… He could do so many horrible things to the boy, who would be powerless to stop him.

And he could protect it. He was like a sanctuary for them to come to. He could wrap himself easily around his humans and keep them safe for as long as he desired…

So much power, simply sitting in his hand…

It was too much

So many thoughts screamed in his ears at once, and he could not focus on anything but the blond boy. He saw his lips moving, but couldn't hear anything.The overwhelming realisation hitting him too hard. So many images, contradicting each other. He could hurt them- protect them- squish them- keep them safe- kill them- make sure no harm came to them- imprison them- bring them to new heights-

"-no. Techno?? Big man what's up?? Come on, talk to us."

With a gasp, he finally regained his senses.

"I-I'msorry, I… I can't- I just can't." He hurriedly put the human back down, with rapid breathing. Before they could ask another question he reached for his potion and drank a good half of it and shut his eyes closed, desperately trying to shut the thoughts with it.

After a few agonizingly long minutes, he opened his eyes and, sighing with relief, registered he shrunk back to a human size. (One he could not hurt his friends with.)

Phil and Wilbur were already at his sides, with Tommy a few steps away.

"What happened, Techno? Are you okay??" Wilbur asked

Techno took a deep breath, and was immensely glad his thoughts quieted down to almost nothing. It was safe now. They were okay.

"Yeah- yeah… I'm fine." He took another deep breath and met Phil's sad expression. Guilt crushed him for a second.

"It's just… it was uhm… a bit too much. I, I didn't realize just how much… how much things it changes…"

Phil and Wilbur looked at each other, confused. Techno wanted to explain further, but the images threatened to flow back. He was stuck.

A mumble from behind broke the three of them out of their trances, and they looked at Tommy, shifting a bit at the sudden attention.

"I'm sorry Techno…" he mumbled again. "I should have known."

Steadily, techno stood up, taking a couple steps towards Tommy, who did not flinch. He let him close the distance, which he did with a strong hug.

"I'm sorry." Tommy whispered to his ear. Techno hugged back, holding the human like a lifeline. "That was probably too much."

"I saw so many things… I could do so many things… I don't want to hurt you" the giant's breath was shaking.

"I know, big man. And I know you won't." Tommy reassured.

"But it's so easy…" techno replied, loud enough that the other two could hear him.

"But you won't. The fact that you stopped the second you realised means that you won't."

Techno held onto the words, thought them back in his head, muttered them like a mantra.

"I won't. I won't. I won't hurt you."

"You won't. You're alright, big man. You're alright."

Slowly, techno let go of Tommy, who did the same.

He turned around and saw his two other friends. Immediately, Wilbur hugged him. He laughed in surprise before hugging back.

He then looked at Phil, and the guilt from before returned again.

"Sorry I took the potion." He mumbled "I wasn't thinking very clearly."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and suddenly, Philza was smiling at him. A sympathetic, unapologetic, precious smile that only he could manage. "It's alright mate. It's probably scary to be so different sometimes. If you feel like it's better, then I trust you. We'll wait until you're ready."

He swore his eyes were teary, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "Thank you."

"Anytime, mate." Phil replied.

First times often aren't perfect, that's for sure. But one day, he would be confident enough that he could make them see the world from his eyes.

NOT MY FIC, written by the lovely @melissa-s23 pls give them love

[gingerwritess]

ok this one is really really sad, one where the war in the whole universe is done and loki and reader has to part ways just because loki has to come back to asgard and live 5000 more years and like they're saying their goodbyes while reader is crying so bad she can't say i love you to loki and loki's like "see that shiny thing in the sky? that's asgard, I'll watch you all the time" but then on their last goodbye kiss loki just did a trick and cleared out reader's memories with him??? imsosorry

okayyyy i apologise in advance for this. and for doing this when i have like 20 other requests that came before this one.

i edited the plot a lil for clarification, so it takes place right before The Snap™️ but Loki was on earth with you so no stupid stabby boi. ohhh you wanted elliot in this too??? enjoy heh

also why is your url give-me-fluff when you’re putting ideas like this in my mind you sly dog

if you wanna cry, listen to this song on repeat while you read. trust me.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Something is wrong. Extremely, horribly wrong.

It brings Loki from a restless sleep before it hits you, shooting straight up from the pillows in a cold sweat.

Darkness still encompasses the room hiding you from view, so he reaches out to wrap an arm around your waist and pull you into his chest. His fingers slip under your shirt to spread against your stomach—you’re still breathing.

Relief floods his mind and he moves his hand up to find your heart, needing to feel it beating steadily under his hand before he can fall back to sleep.

It’s there. His heart is ready to pound out of his chest, but yours seems fine, calm and steady and thankfully reminding him that he’s fine, you’re fine, and Elliot is f—

Elliot.

The baby had been cradled in your arms when you fell asleep, only being a few days old, neither of you had wanted to leave him alone. Loki pulls himself from your warmth to flip on the bedside lamp, rousing you from your sleep as well.

“What’s going on?” You mumble, blinking groggily at him over your shoulder. He’s running a hand over his face, traces of slumber evident in his eyes, but his breathing is shallow and shaky. “Loki, babe, what’s wrong?”

“Is Elliot alright?”

He looks terrified, cheeks paler than usual and his eyes are frantic; it’s scaring you.

You nod and roll back over to check on your newborn son, but the little bundle of blankets you had fallen asleep next to is empty. You’re wide awake now, that’s for sure, and you fling the covers off the bed—babies are unpredictable, right? Maybe he slid further under or-or rolled off the bed??

“Loki,” you hiss, jumping off the bed and checking the floor. Nothing. “Loki, where’s our baby?”

He’s on his feet in a flash, ripping the covers off the bed completely. “What do you mean, ‘where’s our baby’?”

Your voice raises with the panic in your heart: Elliot is nowhere to be found. “Loki Laufeyson, this is not a fucking joke. I swear to god, if you are pulling some shit—”

His fist closes around your arm and he gives you a rough shake. “Why in the name of Valhalla would I joke about this?” He hisses, eyes flashing in anger. Anger.

It’s been ages since you’ve seen anger in his eyes, especially when he’s looking at you. But his grip on your arm is unyielding and only getting tighter, his fingers digging into your bicep until you meet his piercing gaze with fear-filled eyes.

He freezes at the look on your face, how you’re staring up at him as if he were straight out of a nightmare, and immediately the grip on your arms loosens. “Forgive me…” he whispers in horror, bringing a hand to the back of your head and pulling you flush against his chest. “Forgive me, my love, forgive me.”

You quickly wrap your arms around him in quiet comfort, reassuring him that you’ve already done so. “I’m sorry too. We’re both scared,” you explain, rubbing a soothing hand over his back. “We need to find Elliot.”

He nods and slowly lets you go, pressing a kiss to your forehead, and something on the bed catches his eye. The blankets the Elliot had been wrapped in are still piled on the mattress and he quickly picks them up, unfolding them and shaking them lightly.

There’s ashes? Some kind of dust, scarily similar to ashes, falling from the blankets, and you run a hand through the dark ashes, leaving black smears and stains on your white sheets.

“No, this couldn’t be…” your mind is running a thousand miles an hour, too many possible scenarios ricocheting around your head. Only one sticks out, keeps popping up to taunt you no matter how hard you push it away. “Loki, this isn’t…?”

Loki looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“He did it,” is all he breathes, setting a trembling hand on the bed and picking up a fistful of the ashes, turning his fist over to let the ashes pour through his fingers.

You can hear your heartbeat pounding and you try again: “Loki, answer me. Is this our son??”

His wide eyes meet yours, all colour drained from his face and the light in his emerald eyes promptly extinguished. You want him to just answer you, to tell you no, that’s not your son, that Elliot is in the room down the hall safe and sleeping soundly…but he just nods.

It doesn’t make any sense. But Loki grabs your hand, smearing the ashes—your son’s ashes—over your palm as well and he puts his other hand to your face, holding your cheek and he’s staring at you, absolutely terrified.

Waiting for you to turn to ashes with his son.

He should have known you were too good to be true.

To be his.

There are tears in Loki’s eyes, actual tears sneaking from the corners of his eyes as he watches you, waiting for you to be ripped from his hands.

The tears come to you before you have a chance to fully process what just happened.

There’s a flash of light from the window—the bifrost, you realise—and your door slams open. It’s Thor, who hasn’t been to visit you in months since he’d been on Asgard.

“Asgard has fallen.” Panic hides in his rumbling voice, but you can hear it loud and clear.

Loki is dressed in the blink of an eye, armour glinting from his chest. “To what end?” He asks, stepping slightly in front of you, quickly wiping the tears from his cheeks. His voice is steady, strong…fake. That’s not your husband.

“Half our people,” Thor hoarsely tells him. “Half our people are gone.”

Loki swallows thickly with a nod and you notice his hand shaking against his thigh. You step behind him and grab his hand, twining your fingers between his and squeezing tightly.

I’m here.

“Are there…are there ashes?” He croaks, pointing to your bed littered with the ashen remains of your son. Just hearing him brings another lump to your throat and you let your head fall against his back, holding onto his hand with a death grip and hiding the tears trickling down your cheeks.

Thor nods, his face ghostly pale. “I apologise to the both of you. This…this takes no prejudice in its victims. Brother, I trust you will do what is necessary.”

Loki finally squeezes your hand back, tighter than you can almost bear. “Leave us.”

As soon as the door closes behind him, he’s pulled you back into his arms and he’s shaking, his face buried in your neck. Shaking with sobs, fear, rage, you don’t know, but this, whatever this is, has done something to him and he’s finally broken.

Right when you were starting to piece him back together.

“Loki—”

“Don’t speak.”

Your mouth snaps shut, shocked and confused at his command. It’s not like this isn’t affecting you too, Elliot was as much your son as his! You open your mouth to argue, eyes narrowing at your husband—mmph.

His lips are on yours before a single angered word leaves them.

Wet. It’s a wet kiss, in the worst way possible. It’s all tears and tongue and he’s desperate, clawing at your face and your back and staining your cheeks with his burning tears. By the time he rips himself away from you, your skin is streaked with black marks from the ashen remains on his hands.

“I have to leave,” he whispers against your lips, eyes tightly shut and chest heaving. “I have to leave and you cannot follow me.”

“Bullshit,” you answer firmly, grabbing his face and wiping away a tear with your thumb. “I’m coming with you.”

He shakes his head furiously, grabbing a fistful of your shirt and pulling you even closer to him. “You are not. You’re safer here. I won’t be able to care for you in the way you deserve.”

“You think I care about that?” You smack at his arm, undeniably getting angry with him; he’s not allowed to make these kinds of decisions for you. “That was my son too, Loki. My son. Your son…our son.”

Your words hit him like a brick and he lets go of your shirt, hand coming up to caress your cheek. “That’s why you can’t come, my love,” he mutters. “I’ve caused you enough pain already. I will not bring you any more.”

“That is so selfish,” you hiss, wrenching your head from his touch. “Selfish, Loki, selfish. Clearly the better way to ‘care for me’ is to stay with me, right?”

Not that you could’ve ever known, but those words would haunt him for the rest of eternity.

His mouth opens and closes a few times, unsure of how to answer such an accusation. “I…you know I love you,” he says, practically pleading with you. “I’m trying to protect you! Don’t make this harder than it has to be—”

“Take me with you, Loki!” You cradle his head in both hands and force him to look at your teary eyes. “Just take me with you, idiot, take me with you.”

He can’t. There’s no way. It would never work, with Asgard now compromised and destroyed, leaderless and on the run. He knows you wouldn’t be able to survive a single unavoidable battle, and he wouldn’t be able to be there to protect you.

“I can’t. I love you, and because of that, I can’t stay with you.” He pries your hands from his face to hold them tightly in his own, bringing your knuckles to his lips. “You can hate me, blame me, wish I were dead. I don’t care. I refuse to put you through more pain than I’ve already caused.”

You back away from him, gaping and shaking your head in disbelief. He’s actually going to leave you. You want to hate him, to scream and yell at him until he wakes up and realises you can stay with him, but you don’t think there’s a bone left in your body with the strength to be upset with him.

“I can’t lose you too,” you say, your voice nothing more than a strangled whisper. “First Elliot. Not you too.”

He reaches for you and when you add a whispered “please,” his heart twists and breaks.

There’s only one way to rid you of this painful reality he’s created with you, but Loki wonders if he even has the strength to do it.

It would ruin him, the rest of his life, his spirits, and any hope for peace within him. But it would save you from a lifetime of pain, guilt, hatred…he won’t be able to live with himself if he doesn’t do it.

If he’s ‘selfish’ in your eyes, the least he can do is let you go.

You stare at him dumbfounded as he stands there, silent, out of words to say to you, his silver tongue finally stopped. Doesn’t he have anything to say to you? Any consolations, any comfort?

No, he’s just silent.

Then he puts a hand out, palm open in offering to you and you immediately place your hand in his. His skin is burning ice to the touch, biting through your fingertips, but you don’t let go, trying to let your warmth seep into his skin.

He curls his fingers around yours, his other hand coming to rest on the small of your back and gently leading you to the one window in your tiny apartment. Pulling aside the curtains, he leans down to press a breath of a kiss on your shoulder.

“You can hate me,” he murmurs, his voice steady. He has no more tears to shed. “You can curse my name. But I will not hurt you.”

“Loki, that’s not—”

He cuts you off by tipping your head up and kissing you again, molding his lips into yours. When he pulls away he stays there for a moment, just letting your breath caress his empty lips and running his thumb along your jaw.

“I will not hurt you,” he repeats, wrapping his arms around your waist. “Do you…do you see that star, my love? The one with four points, two to the left of the moon.”

He nods in the direction of the night sky, and you reluctantly follow his gaze to the left of the moon. Sure enough, a four pointed star blinks faintly down at you.

His arm wraps across your chest, running his thumb over your shoulder. “Let’s say that is Asgard. I will always be able to see you from up there, and any time you wish to see me, just look to the sky.” He presses his lips up the side of your neck, relishing the fading feel of your skin. “You see? I’m not leaving you, my love. Never.”

You know it’s a lost cause. He’s leaving and you’ve given up trying to convince him otherwise, so you just stand there silently in his embrace, letting him run his lips along the curve of your neck, knowing this may be the last time you ever feel his lips on you.

There’s nothing left for you here. It, whatever it is, took your son before he could even see the world you brought him into, and now it is ripping his father—your husband—from you too.

He lingers in your empty silence a moment longer before turning you to face him, cradling your head in both hands and brushing away your tears. “No more tears, my queen.”

He leans forwards, his eyes drifting shut and you know this will be the last kiss. You don’t know how you know, but something about it just seems so…final.

“I love you,” you blurt out, finally finding your voice. “I could never hate you.”

He rests his forehead against yours and smiles, a sad, heartbreaking baring of his soul, and he nods. “I know,” he softly assures you, then closes the tiny gap between your lips.

And for the first time, his kiss is warm. Not burning with passion, not the biting cold of a possessive lover, but warm.

He’s not speaking, but you can hear his voice clear as day echoing through your mind.

And I could never forget you.

The warmth of his kiss wraps your body in a saving embrace, filling you from the tips of your toes to the top of your head until his lips are barely touching yours.

The warmth is fading from his ghosting lips. Fading away, and you reach out to grab his arm, keep him here…

You’re standing in front of the window.

Why on earth are you up at such an early hour? You’ve got work in the morning. You should’ve been in bed hours ago.

With a tired sigh you trudge back to your bed, your bed that is much too big for just the one of you. Oh well, more space to sprawl, right? You pull the covers back onto the mattress—you must have kicked them off in your sleep—but there’s a dark streak of something on your white sheets.

Huh. You try to brush it off with your hand, but the powdery mark has stained and just rubs off on your hand. It’s weird, it’s almost like…ashes.

Oh well. You’ll wash the sheets tomorrow.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

hope you enjoyed, feel free to send me ideas!

loki tags: @bluediamond007 @himitoshi @drakesfiance @destiel1597 @dangertoozmanykids101 @archy3001 @jcalpha1 @yzssie @sciluvcatz @forthesnakeofdragons @skulliebythesea @wegingerangelica @storiesfrommirkwood @agarwaeneth @adaliamalfoy @laurfangirl424 @paradisaicsam @fitzsimmons-is-forever @ladylokimischief @katelinwrites @tarynkauai @polaristrange

[awed-frog]

(Looking at you like Dean to Cas) Keep talking about that wall that Dean has been pushing but that Cas can't and won't put down 😍 I'd like to know everything you have to say, how and when would Cas push that wall down? Will Dean give up? I just trust you more that the show itself

I don’t know who noticed it first. I think Dean realized very soon - if not on the very first night, then a few months later, when the end of the world was upon them both and Sam was on the other side of the country and who would ever know, anyway, uh? who would care? - that yeah, this Castiel dude was one hot motherfucker and if things had been different - if things had been different - but things weren’t, and that’s why Dean tried his line on Cas in that abandoned house - he did it despite his better judgement, and he did it knowing it could very well be the last thing he ever did, because Cas - because this was not someone like Anna, who’d grown up among humans and knew - hell, she just knew. No, this is something else. This is wind and storms and lightining, a creature more powerful than any other Dean has ever seen, a military commander and a warrior and a being full of faith and fury and also someone who could get angry -

(But what if he doesn’t? What if - fuck, what if Cas loses control and brings down this entire house around us and man, if I fucking die ‘cause I was stupid enough to go after a damn seraph, Sam will fucking kill me.) 

But still, Dean is Dean - brave and daring and desperate to be held and touched and wanted; also more than a bit suicidal, ‘cause, whatever, he’s learned at age four he doesn’t have much of a lifespan and that means jumping, every single time, and fuck the consequences - and that’s why he takes a step forward, and Cas - Cas stays still. Because Cas can read humans, but he can’t understand them, and that means he knew as soon as Dean knew himself - it means that Cas could see it and taste it and smell it on him - the hormones flaring, the blood speeding up in its vessels, that barely there whiff of ‘what the fuck’ and also ‘that’s a yes from me, Simon’. So Cas knows, and he’s starting to feel something himself - a bout of warmth and confusion and undiluted want that’s a thousand things at once - it’s the exhilaration of beating back a horde of demons and steal their prey, it’s seeing the Righteous Man for the first time, this one man who is the Chosen and Cas’ only mission and also humanity itself, somehow, and it’s how Dean looks at him, how well he masks his fear and how child-like curious he is about Cas underneath his in-your-face posturing; and it’s also Dean’s good heart, his unerring desire to help others and do good even when it’s hard and dangerous and bordering on useless to do so, and it’s that lust sometimes peaking in Dean’s eyes, it’s how he licks his lips and looks away, and it’s Cas knowing perfectly well this is not forbidden - it’s Cas thinking how he watched his brothers’ dalliances with humans and never saw the point in any of it - it’s Cas suddenly wondering if - if -

But Cas stays still, and Dean steps back.

And next, next come war, and blood, and folly, and the grey forests of Purgatory. Next is this love letter they write each other - it’s Dean writing and rewriting the same prayer every night, the words murmured so softly not even Benny could hear them, and then sometimes shouted to those skies that are empty now, because God has gone and Cas is lost and Sam is far away and no one gives a fuck about him anymore. And it’s Cas listening to that prayer every night, the stab of longing and love and regret and guilt piercing right through him like a demon’s spear, leaving him on his knees on the forest floor, his heart heavy with this hunger to give up on everything - on what’s right and on what’s proper and on what’s holy - this loud and sharp and painful need to just go back to Dean. But when Dean finally finds him - well, that’s another step forward he’s taking, because that’s what he sees in Cas’ eyes as soon as he’s swallowed down his surprise and shock and boundless relief - he knows Cas has heard him, ‘cause that’s how the system works, okay? It just does. And if Cas really did hear him, then - then they can -

But again, Cas stands still. He doesn’t hug Dean back, and he doesn’t want to be saved, because he’s Fallen now, enough to understand what that feeling binding them is, enough to refuse it and turn his face away. He’s not worthy, it’s what he tells himself as he pushes Dean back into a world where Cas is not welcome anymore. He’s just not. 

And after that, it’s a dance. It’s Cas keeping a careful distance when he comes back, it’s Cas trying his hardest to step away from this human existence that’s tempting him and confusing him and also the thing he wants most, and it’s Dean doing his best to respect these boundaries he understand nothing about. It’s Dean worried out of his mind after the angels are cursed and burned into mortality and decay, and it’s Dean hoping Cas will hear what Dean doesn’t have permission to put into words (that Man, I’d do anything to keep you here and I need you and Please understand) and it’s Dean listening to Nothing Else Matters - and that was random, okay? random - just the tape turning over, nothing to do with him, shut up - it’s Dean closing his hands on the wheel and trying to push the bitterness and disappointment and anger out of his mind, ‘cause Cas wants to get laid after all, yeah, he wants it from everybody but him and fuck and Dean shouldn’t care about that, ‘cause he’s a piece of shit and a damn poison and the more distance there is between them, the higher Cas’ chances at survival -

(but he cares, he fucking does, and what’s wrong with him?) 

- and so Dean drives away and lets Cas have his date and he holes down in some motel and he drinks and drinks and he’s just about to say fuck it and join the shots competition going down in the corner when Cas calls.

(And I can see them, can’t you? They’re both lying in their beds and Cas is human now, and he’s taken the bed closer to the window because Dean always, always chooses the bed by the door - an old instinct, or maybe he’s just drawn to danger and he can’t turn it off - and there are no colours and no sounds - just Cas worrying his bandage in the dark, and Dean who wants and doesn’t want to go over there, to hug that sadness out of Cas, to apologize, again, for being a drunk and an asshole and not even half the man Cas thinks he is, and that’s how he finally puts two and two together, how he turns on his side because his legs just won’t work and he has no right, okay, no goddamn right to get any closer to Cas, not now; this is how he watches as Cas’ sharp profile is suddenly painted into existence by the lights of some car passing by, and the words are there, on the tip of Dean’s tongue: You wanted to die. You wanted to die. I was right here and I needed you and you wanted to leave me. But he can’t say them, can he?

Because he left Cas first.)

So, all in all, it’s a relief to give up, to fall backwards in a world of darkness and blood - to be, perhaps, the thing he was supposed to be from the very beginning: a freak and a monster and a killer, and damn him to hell, ‘cause it’s what he deserves. And, sure, there’s something deep inside him that hears that promise (“Everyone except me.”), and that sound in the distance, yeah, that’s what’s left of his soul, howling in pain and misery at the injustice of it all, ‘cause it’s too late, okay? Too damn late.

And now - now they’ve both been dead a thousand times, now something has shifted between them. War changes people, and many choose to throw it all away and laugh at the few seconds of life they have left - they choose sex and they choose to black out with drink and they choose to forget, because everyone has things left unsaid and things left undone and there is no more time and that ain’t changing and that smell all over your skin?, that’s Death, coming for you. But Dean - but Cas - for whatever reason, they’re different. They know the end is just this close, and that’s why they are - careful, oh so careful and soft around each other. That’s why Cas keeps taking dangerous risks - because he knows his life is forfeit - he was bred for the violence of battles, and no one survives them all - not the firstborn, the mighty archangels, and not even the Lord himself - but what he can do, what he can try, is to make Dean proud and to make Dean safe - all these years, Cas’ been listening as Dean came closer and closer, and now it’s too late and whatever’s wrong with him, no one can fix, but he can do this one thing - he can show Dean he’s a fighter; that he will fight for him. That Dean’s earned his blade and his loyalty through and through, and how that won’t change. And Dean - Dean can’t see a way out. There’s those three words on the tip of his tongue, okay, and Sam - if he knew, Sam would just roll his eyes and Dean, spit it out already, but the stupid kid doesn’t get it, okay, ‘cause Cas knows by now, he has to, and - and he just doesn’t want him. 

Not like that.

(Hell, who would?)

Still, Dean wishes Cas would be more careful with his life - if not for him, then for himself, ‘cause Cas, right, unlike him - Cas is worth something, Cas is -

(everything)

- good, and yeah, so he made mistakes but he also fixed them, goddammit, and saved all their asses five times over, and what the hell is wrong with him and why won’t he listen and why won’t he love him back and if he does love him back, why does he keep - 

(Why do you leave me, uh? Why do you leave when I need you, when I can’t - when I won’t -

You stupid, blind bastard.)

It would be a dance, if they were moving. As it is - maybe there is no name for it. Maybe it’s just two people loving each other of a love so deep they can’t think straight - two people who can’t give up this one good thing they’ve got in their lives but won’t stand back and let it bloom, because - because they each believe they’re not worthy and there is no time, anyway. 

There is no more time. 

(“I love you.”

“I know.”)

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Alright so this is what happens when the warrior wishes to keep her child but if she doesn't then what? Is abortion condemned in the world of the Lay? Is it considered murder much like a lot of people on earth seem to believe? By the way I'm sorry If I'm tiring you with so many questions, your answers are so impressive and insightful I just can't help it.

Somehow, I knew this ask was coming.

The only time it is 100%, without argument and without doubt, on both sides of the Abyss, considered murder is when a woman is forced to miscarry or otherwise lose her child against her wishes.

Now, natural miscarriages happen, and they are accorded a great deal of respect, especially among Asmodians who, due to their generally more active and intense lifestyle, sometimes have trouble carrying to term; a lost pregnancy is treated the same there as if a born child had died of an accident, with all the same funerary rites and traditions. Only the strong survive in Asmodian culture, but that doesn’t mean the dead are not respected for their efforts. The Elyos consider a natural miscarriage as a time of grief and reflection, but they place a great deal more importance on procreation and the continuance of bloodlines, especially in the upper echelons of society, and this leads quixotically to many such Elyos blaming themselves. This is the most pronounced among the Helios, where a woman who is barren or simply has trouble conceiving and carrying a child, in a House were blood is paramount, is considered lesser than her sisters.

An Elyos woman post-miscarriage might hide away in deep-seated shame, faced with a rival arrogant enough to humiliate her for her failure to bring life into the world. An Asmodian woman post-miscarriage will simply tear that foolhardy rival’s throat out for disrespecting her passed child, presuming she can get there before her mate or family members do.

Despite it being against all sense of decency and rightness to do, sometimes enemies and rivals will attempt to harm or kill the unborn. This sort of behavior is condemned as the most foul of evils no matter from where in Atreia you hail; despite this universal outcry against it, it still happens. Soldiers strike down the innocent and hide behind the shield of duty. Jealous rivals for affections of mates slip poison or even simple herbs into drinks. Abusive mates lose control. In all of these cases, the death of the unborn against the mother’s will is viewed as murder most heinous, and the punishment for those caught perpetrating such acts is commensurately horrid. Intentionally or even accidentally causing the death of the unborn is the kind of thing that Daevas are jailed or executed for. Expulsion from society into the vast empty waste of the Abyss is considered a mercy by comparison, and one such criminals don’t deserve.

On the other side of the coin, however, we have those ladies who have found themselves with child and do not wish to be so. Viewpoints differ across the whole of Atreia and even in different regions of the same continent; there is no one true opinion on such a divisive topic, though I can give you some generalities.

In the case of children “ungently bred” - the polite, socially acceptable way to denote that a child was a product of rape - the Elyos are much more likely to keep the pregnancy, as many Elyos believe (in accordance with the huge cultural importance they set on bloodlines) that natural-born children are gifts from the hand of Aion. That said, such bastards are never allowed to forget their heritage or how they came into the world, and their mothers sometimes hold the children accountable for the sins of their father; there are too many children who are deemed unwanted in this way. Often, the only way these kids find loving homes is if they are given to another Elyos house, one where their mere presence does not evoke such terrible memories of trauma and violation. In contrast, an Asmodian who finds herself with an ungently-bred child is most likely to simply allow nature to take its course; if she miscarries naturally, then that is acceptable, but if the child is strong enough to survive and live to breathe free air, then she generally embraces it with the whole of her heart and love, and her family follows suit. Kaith is a good in-story example of such a bastard, as his brother loves him with a fierce and unwavering dedication, even while others scoff at Kaith’s ancestry.

In less violent cases - say, a mated pair find themselves accidentally expecting before they are ready to have kids, or a woman has a one-night-only tryst and has no interest in being a single mother, or a woman is physically vulnerable to the point that giving birth might put her health and life at risk - well, there are thousands of cases, you get the idea. In those instances, there are herbs that are known to cause a miscarriage if taken in large enough doses for a long enough period of time, and these herbs are commonplace enough that even a countryside maid might gather or purchase them in sufficient quantity. If a prospective Daeva mother is close friends with a healer or Cleric of requisite skill, such healers can induce a similar effect with magic. (it is worth noting that the opposite is also true, in that such a healer can sometimes prolong a pregnancy for a time if a woman’s body attempts to birth the babe too early for the child to survive outside the womb.)

All of these methods are most effective early in the pregnancy - and as any healer or Cleric worth their salt can tell very early on if a woman is with child, sometimes before the woman herself knows, as long as said woman is being regularly seen by a medic or healer of some kind, she has plenty of opportunity to end an unwanted pregnancy before the child develops. Herbalists who cater to poorer areas often provide the required herbs for a nominal or even waived fee, and registered healers, Ascended Clerics, and battlefront medics are all trained in the dispensation of these herbs, and if they have sufficient skill and magical ability, in the techniques described above.

Asmodians in specific often believe quite ferociously in a woman’s right to choose whether or not she should bear children - and few Elyos would deign to argue such a point when, to their view, by not bearing children, you are only passing up an enrichment upon your own house and thereby weakening your own position, meaning less strength of position when facing your rivals. There are no stigmas and few sanctions on induced miscarriage/abortion in Atreia as there are on Earth; the religious structures here do not translate there at all, and natural failures to thrive are unfortunately quite commonplace anyway. A loss of unborn life, no matter how it happens, is a sad occasion, but mortal women and Daevas alike lose very much wished-for babies every single day in Atreia. Not to mention that there’s a fucking war on, and in it Daevas representing hundreds of years of thought and effort and potential regularly perish. It seems silly to the Atreian way of life to get caught up over the issue when they fight every single day just to continue existing. Ain’t no babies getting born if everyone is dead.

That said, after a certain point, the above methods cease to be effective and the unborn child begins to become viable. Where this line is drawn, precisely, varies not only from region to region but from person to person; the only thing they can all agree upon is that once the pregnancy has moved forward past that point, miscarriage/abortion is no longer an option and the mother must proceed with good faith through the birth, though she is under no obligation to raise the child herself. This is sometimes seen in the case of mistresses becoming pregnant, or even fertile surrogates arranged to bear children for male heirs when their mates or wives are unable to do so; if the father persuades her to bear the child despite her reservations, he is expected to take upon himself 100% of that woman and child’s financial and social burden until she reaches term. Such ladies are generally feted as queens for the entirety of their pregnancy, and then give over the child to its father to be raised. It’s rather rare to see the mothers convinced to stay and participate even a little in the raising of these kids, but we’ve actually already seen one historical figure who was the product of exactly such a relationship - Osric Rivenstone.