#i have a really hard time killing them and i can't put down d-earth to keep myself safe from paranoia bc i feel too awful for them

[piplupod]

,

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #309: To Find OLYMPIA!

November, 1989

Namor looks like he's got some negative things to say, in the zone.

And it is canon sometimes that the Negative Zone makes a person feel negative. Its the Bad Vibes Place.

I have no idea why dead Gilgamesh was drawn with the What's Going On He-Man face. Or why She-Hulk is in her Fantastic Four duds.

So, lets get into it.

Last times, in Avengers: Captain America held a meeting to declare that all the Avengers teams were one team and he was in charge of the Avengers. Also, the Avengers got kidnapped by Lava Men. And so did Namor. They were taken to the Last Lava Man, a priest called Jinku, who accused the Avengers of genociding the Lava Men, which they kinda sorta did do by killing a random demon named Cha'sa'dra during Inferno. The Avengers don't beat Jinku and the giant monster he summoned so much as run out the clock. Some of the dead Lava Men turned out to not be dead so much as incubating. They hatched into golden men and told Jinku to knock it off. Alas?, Gilgamesh got fatally slapped while fighting the lava monster and is now exceptionally dead. The Avengers take Gilgamesh to Sersi who can't help and suggests they take him to the Eternal city Olympia. Except Eternal Sprite managed to blow it up like ten minutes before they get there. The whole city.

Just a big, steaming crater now.

Thanks Sprite, you screw-up.

Sersi: "It is... gone! All of fabled Olympia! Snuffed out as a flickering candle flame! How can this be??"

Captain America tries to offer any help the Avengers can do. But Sersi just dramatically faints after psychically scanning for any trace of Olympia.

She murmurs about emptiness and enormity and the loneliness of endless space.

Such a dramatic person.

There's also a weird bit of choreography where Captain America caught Sersi when she fainted. So he's clearly not holding his shield. He tells She-Hulk to hold it for him but she's already holding it and must have grabbed it when he dropped it to pick up Sersi, since she's right behind him in that panel.

And she gives it right back to him as soon as he's put Sersi down.

So why was it necessary for Cap to tell She-Hulk to do something she was already doing? Did Byrne worry that the choreography wouldn't stand on its own?

Ah well.

The Avengers wonder if there's something wrong with the Eternals lately. Because, well, Gilgamesh is mostly dead despite being Eternal and the Lava Monster didn't hit him THAT hard.

Gilgamesh should have been able to heal himself, since all Eternals have the power of molecular manipulation over their own bodies.

Sersi drifts back to consciousness and explains that "all Eternals an sense the minds of all other Eternals no matter the range" so she tried reaching out.

She sensed them near but not on Earth.

Which Cap finds baffling. But Thor has an idea what she means.

Remember how his hammer used to be able to create dimensional portals and then it couldn't? Well, it can again.

He figures that near but far probably means another dimension. And he doesn't have to be precise. When all you have is a hammer, it helps if its a really, really cool hammer.

Thor just wills "let the powers that split the raging heavens now be focused here, into a single place, a single purpose... and let any barrier betwixt us and Olympia... be SUNDERED!"

And bippity boppity boo, a portal is opened through.

To the Negative Zone, apparently. Well, the cover spoiled that. You're not special for realizing it on sight, She-Hulk.

Sersi confirms that Thor hit the nail on the head. In the Negative Zone she can indeed sense Olympia.

She-Hulk: "In the Negative Zone? But... how the heck did it get there? I thought the only access was through the portal in the Fantastic Four's headquarters." Thor: "Nay, green one. That is but one way to reach this parallel dimension. Mjolnir hath opened this small gateway by drawing on the residual energies of whatever force dispatched Oympia hence."

Namor says that the time for discussion is over. If Olympia is in the Negative Zone, the only hope for Gilgamesh will be to find it.

Sersi agrees.

Sersi: "We must go now where Olympia has gone... into the Negative Zone!"

"Meanwhile, elsewhere" we check back in on old guy who blew up his own house subplot.

Professor Harker takes the blueprints for his fantabulous new invention to the Polydyne company and blows them away!

A guy in a tie: "It's absolutely amazing! Something like this is going to make cold fusion seem as antiquated as rubbing two sticks together! Why... the kind of power that could be harnessed from a single such device would be enough to supply the needs of the whole world for centuries!"

Professor Harker himself prefers to think of it as more the power to re-shape the whole universe maybe. But the Polydyne peeps warn him the money men won't understand that so maybe stick with the 'makes cold fusion look like a joke' sales pitch.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Great Lakes Avengers!

Huh, I guess Byrne really is writing three teams in two books since the GLA is showing up in East Coast Avengers now.

I do worry that it's going to be hard to balance between the needs of the book's actual team and whatever Great Lakes Avengers content is showing up this month.

Hawkeye tells the Great Lakes Avengers that they did okay against the Absolom University chumps but they could have done a lot better.

I mean. They were only in action for a few pages so I don't know how you can tell.

But anyway, Hawkeye and Mockingbird have come up with carefully tailored training for the team!

Carefully tailored until they ran out of steam halfway and decided Mr Immortal and Doorman's powers were too weird to train and just have them training in athletics.

Didn't even try with Flatman. Hawkeye just tells him to do whatever he wants.

Pretty amazing how quickly Hawkeye goes from Tough Coach to half-assed.

So they have Dinah Soar flying while dodging hay bales, Big Bertha doing track and field, Mr Immortal and Doorman doing an obstacle course, and Flatman also doing an obstacle course but with more wiggling.

Hawkeye decides to throw a wrinkle in the training by shooting a grease arrow right in front of Big Bertha.

She slips, bumps into a fatphobic Mr Immortal, and he falls into Doorman.

Literally into.

This is weird because Doorman's powers are only supposed to work if he's against a door or a wall. Y'know, so his body can function as a door?

He's never had someone go through him when there wasn't a through.

Dinah Soar doesn't wait around for them to talk through the situation.

She flies right into Doorman. Literally into. And soon after flies out carrying Mr Immortal.

She cradles him against her chest as he shivers that it was so cold inside wherever he was.

Y'know... Next time the Great Lakes Avengers gets a miniseries or whatever, they should resurrect Dinah Soar. She missed out on a lot of the modern fleshing out the team got because her death basically kicked off the plot of the Dan Slott miniseries.

A new Great Lakes Avengers thing could have a lot of fun bringing her back and making it a whole thing about comic book resurrections.

C'mon, do it.

Anyway, Hawkeye decides they're gonna do a bunch of tests on Doorman, until they figure out how he works.

I was going to joke about Hawkeye trying to do science but I did then remember that Mockingbird does have a Ph.D.

In biology which may or may not wholly cover whatever is going on here. But in comics, a Ph.D. can do all the science.

Look at Hank Pym, revolutionizing robotics (derogatory) when his degree was in biochemistry. Almost as far from robotics as you can get.

Meanwhile, the A-plot.

I've missed it so.

... Actually, its the Save Gilgamesh plot so I didn't miss it so much.

Byrne is blatantly pushing to make the Great Lakes Avengers a thing but the main plots in both the Avengers plots are so blah that I don't actually mind the Great Lakes Avengers panel-time takeover so much.

Anyway, instead of just walking through the portal, the Avengers stopped to go get their Quinjet and are flying it through the Negative Zone.

I guess this is one of the space capable ones.

They're relying on Sersi's psychic connection with all other Eternals to guide them and she says they're on the right track.

Although the Avengers are doubtful about that since they just passed themselves.

I didn't know the Negative Zone did that.

Sersi insists that they're going the right way but she doesn't sound sure.

Cap agrees to keep going the way she's indicating but only for another hour or so! After that, they'll presumably have a very serious conversation about trying something else!

But Sersi was leading them right. Because right after that interaction, they find Olympia.

Just floating in the Negative Zone.

(Dammit, Sprite!)

The place is deserted - although most of the population was already gone before Sprite blew the place up so grain of salt on it looking deserted when it practically already was.

But it also looks decrepit, like its crumbling into ruin.

Sersi still senses her fellow Eternals... somewhere. So they land to look.

Namor flies off on his little ankle wings to scout around the city. And soon returns reporting he found nothing but a vague sense of unease.

He didn't see anyone in the city but he felt a presence all around.

Cap echoes his unease. The place feels haunted. Which Sersi dismisses since Eternals can't die.

Namor: "Yet that is precisely what is happening to Gilgamesh."

Acksually, he's only mostly dead.

Sersi wonders whether Olympia being lost in the Negative Zone and the Eternals being missing might somehow be related to Gilgamesh's advanced case of being sorta but not really dead.

Cap suggests they Split Up, They'll Cover More Ground That Way.

Thor is sent off on his own because he's a big, tough guy. She-Hulk and Sersi are sent off as a team. And Namor and Captain America make up the last team.

=_= Like. Did he put all the girls (all two girls) on the same team on purpose? Did he just want to hang out with his Nazi-punching World War II buddy, Namor?

Because. They discuss World War II as they're hopping and flying around the city. So it could very well be the second reason.

Captain America and Namor discuss how Olympia feels similar to Berlin in the last days of World War II. How it feels like there's an emptiness of spirit or the bitterness of "the death of dreams."

Cap worries that all they've accomplished on this journey is bringing Sersi to witness the end of the Eternals.

BUT NAMOR DOESN'T HAVE TIME TO CARE ABOUT THAT.

He re-steers the conversation back to how cool it is to hang out with an old-Nazi punching buddy. He misses the old gang.

Cap mentions that hey, recent revelations are that Vision wasn't made out of the Human Torch which means the Human Torch is maybe, probably, still around!

Namor: "Aye, and aye again! If he could be found... reactivated! The Invaders might well live again..."

Ugh.

I assume that was a huge part of Byrne's reasoning to do the VisionQuest plot.

He was big mad that robot Human Torch got tied up in Vision's origin and he wanted to peel him away so he could bring the Invaders back as a team again.

Either as a third book he'd be writing or as a fourth team he'd be writing in the two books he already had.

Every so many years, Marvel tries to bring the Invaders back.

I assume due to trademark reasons.

And it never lasts. Because the team doesn't make much sense outside a war. And any modern wars they've been shoved into are... just fraught with issues.

A new Invaders book was spun off from the Avengers way down the line to deal with the War on Terror and it was not great.

Anyway, a mystery off-screen person also agrees with me that reforming the Invaders is stupid as fuck and blows up Captain America and Namor.

Alas.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk and Sersi (designated lady team not cool enough to hang out with the Nazi punching boys) walk through the High Tower of Olympia, toward the Great Hall.

She-Hulk tries to mention she heard a far-off distant sound like thunder and also muses on how weird it is that the Negative Zone has breathable atmosphere but Sersi tells her to shut up.

THIS IS THE HIGH TOWER OF OLYMPIA, HUMANS DON'T USUALLY GET TO WALK THIS PASSAGE. BE IMPRESSED BY THE GRANDEUR, SHE-HULK.

Sersi: "This is the High Tower of Olympia -- the seat of our government, the holy of holies. No human has ever walked this passageway... Ahead lies the Great Hall, the central meeting place of all Eternals. Tread softly now in this hallowed place. Choose every word with care. Beyond these doors lies the very heart of Olympia. Draw your breath in awe at what will now unfold..."

Then she walks into a door.

Honestly, that's a funny gag.

Presumably the doors are supposed to swing open when an Eternal approaches them.

But, obviously, that's not happening.

So She-Hulk just shoves the doors open and strides on through.

She-Hulk: "Excuse me if I don't pay this place quite the respect you seem to think it's due, Sers... but let's try a more direct approach to opening these doors."

I hope She-Hulk sticks with the team whenever Sersi ends up joining. These two seem like they would have a hilarious dynamic.

The Great Hall seems to have been through a war, of some kind.

There's holes in the walls, pillars are shattered, the stonework is cracked.

In shock, Sersi declares no force on Earth could do this kind of damage. Especially not the Deviants. Not that there are any on Earth, since they were all launched into space as a cube. Probably.

Also, they're not on Earth. There's a lot of things in the Negative Zone that are heavy hitters. It's why people don't go there for fun. That and it makes people depressed to be there.

Weirder than the damaged state of the hall, Sersi can sense her fellow Eternals here, somehow! Here in this room! Everywhere around She-Hulk and Sersi! Despite the two seeming to be alone here!

Still angered by the idea of the Invaders reforming, someone blows up the Great Hall.

She-Hulk and Sersi are sent flying by the explosion.

And despite being gamma strong, there's something weird with gravity, so the fall knocks She-Hulk out despite cannonballing through seventeen stories of building in Avengers West Coast. Gravity is to blame.

Thor is aggroed by all these explosions. Like She-Hulk, he assumes that its the sound of thunder and this is a man who loves thunder.

He flies to the central tower and finds the place in ruins and Sersi in a weird intangible state.

Then Thor must have been thinking about the Invaders or something because he also blows up.

Nahhh just kidding.

It's Blastaar. He's been blowing people up.

He's incorrigible.

Unsurprisingly for a guy designed by Jack Kirby, he looks incredibly like a Kirby character. I think he goes to the same tailor as Darkseid. And the same beard barber as Highfather.

Anyway, Blastaar being the answer of 'what happened to the missing Eternals' sure is something. Not very satisfying as an answer but maybe him getting his ass kicked will be cathartic.

Follow @essential-avengers because one day that sub-tumblr will be up to date. One day, yes. Also, like, reblog, comment, and other such ways of interacting with this post.

[the-firebird69]

There's a whole bunch of people who are very stupid out here and the max below and this is impossible now I see what he's saying these people are stupid and as hell those people down there are dumb as hell and your whole realm doesn't get it and no one can spare a square. And it's a stupid show about nothing and these people are rambling on and on that guy's doing some work and nobody else is and they keep bothering him it's a sign they need to leave you're trying to use extortion and you're getting a song killed Trump and you're losing all your stuff that's an extortion does to this particular group you don't do it because they're on you all the time and you're smart enough to do anything you just keep saying s*** and pissing them off they're finding every nook in the freaking cranny if you're out organization and the whole world is going after you and you feel confident you can do what the whole world's not watching they're going after you and you'll be gone you're down to like percentages below 10 the island is contained a little 10 off Island so what are you saying it's below 5% off Island and what are you say you don't understand mathematics all day long you can't get a clue every day of the year until your dead doesn't matter. It's a very simple question you don't care about your arm is getting demolished your weaponry your computers your way off the Rock he's going to sit here and see you have a computer on Saturn and they're kind of saying what probably happened. We don't understand why you're so mean and so ornery and need to sit there with nothing and he told you a f****** new one in the laundromat is telling you what's going on that's all really are you sitting there and your eyes are glossing over and you won't stop doing your stupid f****** antique to stop the entire planet from crushing you and other people to death and I need to know what the f*** you're doing that stupid s*** for he's going to handle the empire and not tell you about it and you're stupid you want to kidnap him and that's what you're doing and I figured out something you are a simpleton and a piece of s*** he said it too He's a bully and when you look at him you tell him no and you go and you tell him you're just going to beat him up eventually backs up so I did it a few times and it works and I said you're a p**** and he knows it and we're in trouble you won't back off me or him and you're going to die everyday because it is f****** huge huge failure now I could have followed him around because of what he's saying he shouldn't know this s*** he knows a lot about what's going on and he says it's really not hard to figure out the dishing it out they're putting the news out there and he has you fighting and figures the news out and you're stupid and he's controlling you too at times I see how and he needs to you know this whole thing is not controlled by anybody to smacking power just sitting there waiting for foreigners to clean them out and he's saying it's almost like they don't care about life and done some kind of drugs that makes him not care and that she's not closer does that and they're not coming out of it and I can't afford this s*** I don't know what to tell you it's from your dead it's so stupid but you're doing is so dumb.

I'm going to have no army at all y'all are fighting each other you two gifted jackasses and then macs hv quit or something. Is sit there and make stupid noises to people out loud all day long like signaling wear jackasses how about you f****** f**** with a stupid clicking thing is Robert Duvall he comes up and he's making the stupid f****** noise smiling and giggling like a 10 year old child what are you going to wake up and smell the coffee pal you go around like a 10 year old child and you're going around like his uncles and their screwballs and they're having fun and they usually let people often you don't you just think it's a technique and you're pissing everybody on Earth off and they see you what's the deal here you say it too you're acting so bad you have to have some clue you're just completely out of control it's horrible you're horrible horribly wrong you come out of it and you have to fight for your life and who cares you go down

Mac Daddy

We do see something we can't figure out what we're doing wrong no we're running around being a little kids getting in trouble getting hurt and getting killed that's the way it goes it says good we need you to go down we need your information we don't need you that's what it is Robert Duvall what do you think I need you for it's coming and stink my life haven't you haven't learned another language to overcome stuff to get like half a twix bar instead of a twix bar which makes me sick anyways that's your stupid s*** now you're just Street salesman and in Calcutta and this kids on the street this kid's room this is what you are you're a loser you want to be a loser you just keep talking the way you do and do the stuff we're irrepressible homos and you have to have a better answer than you just dog s*** on a stick cuz you're going to be dead for real

Zues Hera

We lost a lot of loved ones a lot of troops and some of us don't care and that's what it is and the empire can't seem to do anything so we go in and make noises and people get rid of us

Robert Duvall

So this is a mighty great empire that you commit suicide on the swords of d******* and miners little girls gets his taste your blood I mean that's despicable I understand that a certain class that are getting small and they disappear it seems like a lot more than just a few and your pussies I'm surprised actually cuz your p**** is under pressure and Mac is very upset didn't think he would cave but you caving in. I'm not really here to give you sympathy but mac daddy is helping me and he's having a problem with you people and these idiots you want to be suicidal worms you know jump into a f****** pit of acid leave people alone or are you going to torture then die you know I have some common sense there's people around here who should have been killed a long time ago and he just hide in a little house a little apartment or room inside somewhere and go around spitting on everyone's spewing peeing like you're some sort of King that naturally should be in charge of your not es you're a bunch of fags

But you're right now these ones that have been hiding want to come out and spew all over the place and say they've won two and it's your big huge plan coming up where I can see East when you can immaculate deception yourselves and what a bunch of weasels I didn't think you guys would do this with you so stupid and easy I really did not but now you are and I have to take advantage of it now I'm going to crush your entire stupid empire because I can see it cuz you're lazy and stupid and crass you want to tell me you're really getting beat up by these f****** idiots and you're not going to do anything so we will I mean what's the message you're sending little idiot Jesus Christ did you ever graduate from from grade school

Zues Hera well you told my husband is you're just a suicidal freak and you're fair game we're going to put this out there Robert Duvall to see your final statement

I guess it is there a certain clans who are from Europe and places like that and they're too small to support us and we went Billy up her bunkers are gone no see if they were committing suicide and we don't see it there's a lot of us I guess and we're getting killed unfortunately have to tell you something these people are going after us and we're here getting killed and we don't care for it but you know what people keep clamoring over to you and ask for protection you're saying I don't know what you're talking about and I do understand something it's really odd that they do it and stupid and nobody really should do it and they didn't do it in the past and you're confused and I think you're right we figured it out we don't really want to get hurt and we feel hopeless and we're not that bad off but these people are saying that hurtful stuff because they have this a****** plan you said the other day and they try and suppress it then they want people to know we're all dealing with this wagons these s*** wagons East

Robert Duvall

And the Mac proper do it a little but these guys do it all the way like every day we don't need you you're nobody and they're planning to do their ass plan they're asinine plan and they do ahead of time and it sounds like I'm not going to make it here cuz they're ready to do their plan on me now and we have to get rid of them cuz that's what they're saying cuz they're all threatening to try and get pole position and weapons this idiot still has the stashes and caches and thinks he's going to take it out and use it and he won't stop that idiot needs to leave he's he's a major problem for these people and we don't need the problem to be that bad we keep telling you this is AI boy hey boys or anything anything you think Saturn will save him and Saturn's defunct and you don't know about it the computer is and the clans are up there and you're a s******* I've never seen so and so stupid in my life the empire is fighting them and foreigners and they know what the status is and you people have no clue so between those two things this place is a disaster and these people are cream puffs and we need to get them out of here and body bags tonight there's more dead already today they lost like $650,000 to radiation poisoning and they're so stupid they don't know what that is I mean holy s*** that's dumb they're sitting here waiting to die saying it won't happen this guy's riddled with cancer from it it's Trump and he's saying he doesn't have it and everybody is saying I can see it and he won't leave it alone I mean Jesus Christ it's like dealing with means you dogs that are dying that they're so gosh darn stupid. And they are saying they're dumb plan the whole thing is people who are running it and they're really really dumb it's just a cork guy and he's a living piece of s*** and Brad is a complete moron it's like you're not going to win at your plan at least we could do you could do not us by the way is try and you're not even trying you just get a flush yourself down the toilet information is key and motivating people and who cares what you say you're so goddamn dumb foreigners don't want you to go in there pseudo empire is now your enemy because you're so Swift the empire is your enemies they don't want you coming in there and they're huge so what is this you don't have a plan that makes a f****** hill of s***. And I want your gas she doesn't have any free that doesn't any match at all with mine she's an enemy and you're a f****** stupid cow so sick of your f****** milk flying out of you you people are all dead and the mystery assault you won't control yourself you refuse to it's time for you to leave..

That was our son and daughter buddy in budding in and he's right you know it's time for you to leave $650,000 of you dead in Charlotte county dead. You're screaming yell and you get free lead for your head I mean is it really common sense or brad you out there doing work you should know. Doesn't matter if you don't control yourself you end up dead that's the message you didn't go be a p**** somewhere else without your mom you f****** a****** f****** loser I don't think I did kill these jerk off nobody sits there smiling saying that stupid s*** to us what a f****** pussy.

I want some action on these people right now I'm assigning teams but I want people to come to me to get rid of these people cuz they're damned annoying and it's a military method of their own let's move it right now

Thor Freya

Olympus

[giorno-plays-piano]

Superstitions and Curses

Pairing: mummy!Bucky Barnes x archaeologist!Reader

Warnings: slight dubcon, obsessive and soft!dark!Bucky, mentions of torture and being buried alive.

Words: 2163.

Summary: It wasn't your first expedition, but pretty much the first time when you had helped to bring an ancient being back from the dead.

P.S. Huge thanks to dear @navegandoaciegas who helped me get inspired again <3

_______________

"Please, let me in."

You clenched the amulet in your hands, nervously staring at the door of a hotel room and hoping he wouldn't enter. Despite the fact that you were an archeologist, a woman who believed in nothing but science, you were ready to pray to all the gods if it would help to keep this creature away.

"I mean no harm to you." His husky, dangerously low voice made you lick your lips as you thought of all the things he whispered in your ear the other night. "Didn't you like the way I treat you, love?"

"It was a spell you put on me!" You furrowed your brows, making a step away from the door and bumping into a nightstand with a loud thud - the bottle of water in top of it fell down to the floor.

"A spell?" The man behind the door chuckled, and you could hear him breathing out loudly as he peered through the crack in the door, his hands pressed against the dark wood. "You know I haven't done anything of this kind. What you felt was the chemistry between us, don't deny it."

It was true. That night when all you wanted was to forget the events of the last couple of days, forget all about the whole reason why you came to this ancient country, you rushed to a bar to get drunk like a fish, hoping the next morning once you'd wake up, it would all be a bad dream and nothing more. That's where you met him, the man who you had seen laying in his grave just a couple of hours before. Of course, you didn't know it was him - he looked like any other man, enough flesh on his bones not to cause any suspicion.

Oh, but it was him. He had followed you in that bar, pretending to be a stranger eager to know you; fooling you, he soon slipped into your room where he made love to you, completely drunk and fallen under his charms. How stupid you were, trusting a complete stranger after what had happened that day.

It was several hours after when you woke up in the night, and the moonlight coming from the window lit the room a little: as you stared at the man sleeping soundly next to you, you saw the ancient symbols on his chest.

The next minute you were out of your room, hoping he wouldn't wake up in the next hour. It would give you enough time to reach the railway station.

Why was he following you? You could understand his reasons since you had pretty much broken his tomb and opened his grave, but why on Earth did he sleep with you? Why didn't he kill you? Was it some kind of a ritual? Despite the fact that you were specializing on local customs and traditions, you have never heard of anything of that kind.

"You can't get rid of me." He murmured behind the door, and you sensed something wicked, resentful in his voice.

"Why can't I? What do you want from me?" You asked on the verge of tears, your arms trembling - you very much doubted the amulet you were holding was of any use to you.

"Shhhh." He cooed softly, feeling you fear and somewhat content with it. "I promise I won't hurt you. Let me in, love. Let me in."

For a couple of seconds you froze, listening to the man breathing softly behind the door. Strangely, you could almost hear his heart beating in his chest as if he really were human, not a rotten corpse you saw in the coffin a couple of days ago. The night you spent together you felt like he was the most tender and affectionate man you had ever met. Why did he do it? What was his purpose? Why were you opening the door for him when he ordered you to do it with that hypnotic voice of his?

You realized he had entered your room once he touched your cheek with his hand, rough fingers brushing against your wet skin. Oh, apparently, you were crying.

"I know it is beyond your comprehension, but please trust me, My Immortal Beloved." He made a step forward as you shriveled and slinked back, staring at his perfectly blue eyes adorned with black kohl. "Do not be scared. Even though it seems horrifyingly wrong to you, things are exactly as they were meant to be."

Despite the fact you had a thousand questions inside your head, the words were stuck in your throat. You couldn't even scream, asking for help. Besides, it would be pretty worthless, wouldn't it? No one could protect you from someone who rose from the dead.

"You were meant to open my tomb and set me free. You were meant to resurrect my body and let my soul return to it."

When you reached the wall, your back pressed to it as if you wanted to slip through the stone, the man had inched closer to you and lowered his hand on your chest, the other one right in front of your face as he moved his hand, drawing a circle in the air with his palm. I see you. You are important to me, a sign of both trust and affection - you had seen it so many times on ancient drawings it was imprinted on your brain.

What? Why was he doing it? Why it was you who set him free? You were just one of a whole team of archaeologists and wage earners. You did nothing special, nothing that differentiated you from others - you weren't the one who physically opened it nor did you read any ancient spells locals were so superstitious about. You were as much in shock as all others when the mummy had suddenly disappeared from the tomb.

At first, even though most of you were people of science, all of you thought of ancient curses and all those archaeologists who had supposedly died from it. Then, when you came to your senses, you thought of the thieves who might had taken the mummy. But then again, although it were the remains of someone very, very important, no treasures were buried with him - apparently, this person had done something terrible when he was alive, especially remembering the curses written on the walls. So why steal just the corpse, then? Without decent care, the bones would crack within minutes of carrying them. Why would thieves want the mummy?

"I want to come back home." You whispered, shivering and averting your eyes.

"I will bring you whenever you want once you swear loyalty to me, love."

You blinked as you stared at his tanned face, symbols painted with gold shining on his temples. It was getting more and more insane with every passing minute.

"Why would I swear loyalty to you?"

"Because I am your Sun, Moon and the Stars in between."

The silence felt heavy, suffocating as you kept looking at the man, not knowing what to say. He was right - you didn't understand a thing. You didn't even know who he was and why you swearing loyalty to him seemed so important so this stranger. The only thing you knew for sure was that he was dangerous, far more dangerous than any other human being - you felt it in your bones.

"Before I d-do that, may I know your name?" You wanted to add something like "Your Majesty", but you had no idea what kind of title the man once had - that is, if he had any at all.

He chuckled, "It would be hard for you to pronounce. But you can call me James, it is the closest you can get."

A part of you was offended - for heaven's sake, you were specializing on this exact area and surely knew how to pronounce ancient names - but the other part of you now wondered how come this being knew a real English name and could actually speak modern language. Surely, he was at least a thousand years old. How come?..

"Why were you buried so disrespectfully?" You started questioning him out loud, furrowing your brows. "This is not my first expedition, but I have never seen a tomb like yours before. No treasures, no name, nothing that could identify you at all."

"The Witch-king, that's how they called me." His handsome face darkened, and the man took a step away, turning his back to you. "The one who had surpassed his high priest and could read the Book of the Dead. Once my chancellors learnt about me practicing the magic of the ancient, they made my priests spread the word to my people, and I have been overthrown. They have tortured me, blinded me, cut off my limbs, and then sealed me away in the tomb when I was still alive. Because of their fear of me and my powers, they condemned me to the worst of fates, and broke the line of kings."

As he kept speaking, his dark long robe fell down to the floor, opening his half-naked tan body to you: you saw two deep scars on his shoulders that still looked raw, horrifying you - the man was telling you the truth. He had been dismembered.

"They have cursed me to stay neither truly dead nor alive till one day somebody would open my tomb and set me free. They have kept the location of my grave a secret, thinking no one would ever discover it in the sand, but they all were wrong. I will suffer no more in that place where not a single ray of light had shone over two thousands of years."

Your head was spinning from all this, and you quietly slid to the floor, your hands in your hair as you tugged on the roots in frustration and fear. For the love of God, was it all true? Did you help resurrect the ancient being that could use some scary black magic and probably kill lots of innocent people? Did he want to drag you along with him once you swear loyalty to him? If you didn't, would he actually murder you?

"But this is of no importance now." The man turned back to you and, suddenly seeing you on the floor, hurried to gently pick you up and place you on a spacious bed, watching you with worry. "I am sorry for I have frightened you, love. I swear this was not my intention."

You had troubles understanding what his intention was, but you kept silent, too scaried to say something to him. You had a dozen thoughts what a creature like him would want to do to people for all his suffering.

You should have left that damn tomb alone when your team found twice more death traps than in any other grave. You read the curses left on the walls, but they only fueled your interest. Of course, you had never been superstitious in your entire life, so you simply disregarded all the signs that now seemed so clear you were ready to slap yourself.

"Why am I important?" You asked in a shaky voice, your eyes trailing down his chest with ancient symbols tattooed on it. "Why spending a night with me? I am just a woman. I have opened the tomb, but I was one of many."

"No, you are special. You won't understand now, not yet, but think of it as your destiny. Your fate is bound to mine."

As he inched closer to you, you finally realized you were almost in bed with a half-naked handsome man resurrected from the dead. Immediately crawling back, your stared at him wide-eyed. No, no, no, whoever he was and whatever he thought your fate was, you didn't want him in your bed the second time! Well, almost. Maybe you wanted a little bit. Just a little.

"S-so, are you going to destroy the country and claim your kingdom again?"

Your words made him laugh as he bared his perfectly white teeth while touching the side of your face.

"Two thousand years were enough to change my priorities. Ruling the world of humans who know nothing of magic isn't interesting to me anymore."

"I see. That's a relief." You murmured, still very uncomfortable with him being so close to you. "Please, can I just leave? There are millions of women, I'm sure you'll find someone more attractive to be your... your concubine."

_____________

"Concubine? I did not have a concubine, and neither did my ancestors." The man tilted his head to the side, looking at you surprised as you were ready to bite yourself for your own stupidity: of course, the rulers of these lands only started having concubines in the fourth dynasty and onwards, James was definitely either from the first or second one. "I can't let you leave, love. You will have to come with me."

Part 2

Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki   ​@helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin @abyssaint @heeeyitskay @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @navegandoaciegas @rosalynshields @brattycherubwrites @sllooney @angrythingstarlight @lookiamtrying @buckysbunny @soleil-dor @stargazingfangirl18 @dillybuggg @literate-lamb @cosicas-cuquis @sarge-barnes-sir @iheartsebastianstan @ninefuckingoneone

[waynewifey]

Fading away. —

Pairing: Jason Grace x Roman!DaughterofPluto!Reader

Sumary: after moths of over working, a colapse makes you get into a coma and reflect on your feelings.

Warnings: coma, angst, Pluto as a caring dad, fluff at the end.

Words: +-3k.

A/N: This is my first Percy Jackson Franchise fanfiction, so take it easy on me. This is also my biggest and favourite one. I hope you like this! My requests are always open.

(Y/N) (L/N) had a good reason to hate Jason Grace. How could she not? Jason was so annoying, self centred, selfish, stubborn and worse of all? He dated Piper McLean. Piper was great, (Y/N) knew that and they seemed happy together. But, still, he chose Piper, not (Y/N), his girlfriend back at Camp Jupiter, who he totally forgot about. How come Percy remembered Annabeth but Jason wouldn't remember (Y/N)? And when he recovered his memory, he chose Piper. But she also loved him still, and seeing him hurt like a bullet going straight through her heart. She decided to spend a year at Half-Blood Camp to stay with her half-brother Nico Di Angelo when Gaea were defeated. She thought she could manage to see him almost every day, but she couldn't. So she started doing anything to get her mind occupied. Going on meaningless quests, travelling to New York randomly, volunteering for literally any service in the camp and barely sleeping — because sleeping meant dreams.

"It doesn't have to be like that, (Y/N)." Her brother gave her another shot of Nectar. The sunlight that entered Hades' cabin was leaving slowly as they talked, (Y/N) leaned on her bed watching her fingertips become solid again.

"I'll learn how to do it right and I promise I won't push myself too much, but I can't stop practicing." She avoided eye contact with Nico, feeling ashamed of herself. After all, she was supposed to be the one taking care of him, since she was older. She came back from a "quest" for her father, that was staying a weekend on the Underworld. She started using Shadow Travel to get there. The problem? She had no idea how hard it was, and she almost died every time. He sighted.

"I'm not talking about Shadow Travel. You should talk to Jason and sort this out. You're almost killing yourself everyday doing the craziest stuff just to keep your mind off him. He already broke up with Piper, what's stopping you now? I'm your brother and it pains me to see you suffering, I won't just sit and watch while you literally desapear." He got up and walked to the door. The (h/c) girl forced a smile so he believed she was fine. Nico left the cabin.

After hours reflecting and thinking, she heard the trumpets that announced the convocation to a game of Capture the Flag. Since she was feeling better, she changed her clothes and walked outside. The teams were: cabins 1, 4, 5, 9, 12, 14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29 vs. cabins 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 20, 24, 25, 26. They started the game. (Y/N) had to protect the boundary with a kid from Hipnos' cabin while a group attacked the opponent's flag and another protected their territory and their flag. Everything was going as planned, she hadn't seen anyone yet. Out of the sudden, she saw a blond guy running in their direction with a sword. Oh hell no, Jason Grace wouldn't attack her like that. But he did.

"What the hell?!" She screamed, reacting to the blade flying in her direction. Her teammate was asleep. She defended herself with her own sword and counterattacked. He invested against her leg, trying to make her fall. Her instincts took place, she jumped, attacked again and they started a meaningless battle. Jason looked the same as always. He was almost the same Jason that used to take her on cute dates in New Rome. But he fought like a greek. And that was when it hit her, he changed. The mixture of love and hate made her loose her senses for a bit, giving Jason the lead. He focused on her leg but hesitated to hit it, giving her time to get back on the fight. She knocked him to the floor, her foot on his chest and her blade on his neck, when she heard footsteps approaching quickly. Of course. It was a trap. She turned around and saw a son of Hebe holding her team's flag running, followed by two daughters of Hephaestus. She grabbed a knife from her belt and threw it to his leg, hitting exactly where she wanted. She then grabbed Jason's blade and Shadow Travelled. For a moment everything was fine, while she drowned into darkness, but then she couldn't get out. She saw her father's face mixed in the dark. He raised his hand and touched her face, than she was back at the forest. Realising not even a second had gone through, she attacked the — injured — boy and the two gigantic girls at the same time. She wasn't really expecting to defeat them, just trying to win some time so, hopefully, someone would come help her. The boy dropped the flag and got a small sword. The two girls had hammers... oh. The three of them attacked at the same time and she protected herself with Jason's sword, which flew away. She was out of hopes when a figure appeared beside her and started fighting them.

"What are you doing here?! You're not supposed to help me, we're enemies, remember?" She said, fighting Hebe's son.

"I guess you're welcome then." Jason replied smiling, fighting the hammers-girls. (Y/N) sighted in annoyance. Seconds later, her teammates came running from the enemies' territory with a flag and the three-people group surrendered. Everyone started screaming and celebrating. (Y/N)'s head hurt with the noise and she looked to her brother, feeling numb.

"Hey, can we talk?" Jason said, getting in front of her with a big smile. He was proud of himself for helping her? Of course he was. He was going to take all the credit for her team's win. The anger rose inside of her burning everything. She furrowed her eyebrows and with the last energy that remained in her body, she tried to Shadow Travel for the perhaps hundredth time that day.

She fell into the darkness while feeling her body desapear quickly. Her heart was very accelerated but then it stopped. She saw herself at the barks of Lete's river. I'm dead., she thought. The desperation started taking over. She remembered the face of all her friends. Her siblings, Hazel and Nico. Her mother. Her best friend Reyna. Camp Jupiter. New Rome. The Lar Vitellius. Lares? Lares! Maybe she could go back as a ghost! She would at least see her friends again.

"Didn't expect to see you this soon." A voice said with humor. She turned around, as always enlighten by her father's presence. But his face was sad. Not the everyday-sad-Pluto, but the my-daughter-just-died-sad-Pluto.

"Am I d-... dead?" The anxiety forbid her from crying in front of her father. The one she never knew and once she did, she didn't want to disappoint him.

"Yes and no. You see, my darling, there are things more powerful then death. Right now, your physical being is exhausted from travelling through darkness and light — which I told you not to, but we'll talk about this later, you have a decision to make. You're body is surrendering to Death out of hopelessness. But your soul, on the other hand, still fights for the heart beating in your chest. And your conscious, the controller of both body and soul, has to decide which one of them you'll support right now. As Lord of the Death that's all I can say to you. But as your father, I would like to say that we have a room for you in the castle, if you'd like that. And also, I feel obligated to show you what is happening on Earth." When he finished his words, an image formed in the air, sort of an Iris message, but no one saw them. (Y/N) saw herself laying on the grass, surrounded by some campers, Nico and Jason.

She was watching them from above. Jason put two fingers on her neck, trying to feel her pulse. She — the one in the Underworld — gasped as the blond boy whispered 'nothing'. She glanced at her father, who had a pained expression as he stared at Nico freaking out. Her brother had his hands on her chest and was murmuring something in greek. Then, he opened his eyes, filled with tears of desperation, and glanced at Jason, who didn't look any better. She wanted to scream and go back to up there, but her voice wouldn't come out of her throat.

"Half of her is already gone." Nico struggled to say. Everyone around gasped. "I can't Shadow Travel with her, it- it would k-kill the other half..."

"Let's take her to the Infirmary. Everything's gonna be fine. She'll be okay." Will Solace had appeared in the crowd and kneed down to take (Y/N) in the arms, being helped by the other two. As they walked, (Y/N) held herself in her arms, sobbing. She didn't want to die, not like that. The image faded away and Pluto hugged her. He never did that before. She left out all her emotions through the cry. Her father caressed her back and gently kissed the top of her head.

"Now you see, my child, what those on Earth are going through. You have a family up there. And if you'd ask me, Jason Grace is a good person, even being a son of my brother. You have a choice, so make it wisely." Pluto said, not backing away from the hug. She nodded and he immediately knew what her choice was. "You know I'd love to have you here with me, but I'd love even more to see you happy. Don't be reckless. And listen to your brother. You don't have to worry to come see me, I'll make sure to visit you during your recovery." As he said that, a white door appeared out of nowhere. "Here's your carpool." The girl started to walk to the door, when she heard Pluto say: "(Y/N) I lo-... Good luck." She smiled to him and went through into the door. It felt like eons in the nothingness. She felt so much pain all over her body. Then she gained conscience. She didn't knew how long it had passed. She also couldn't open her eyes or say anything, but she knew she was laying down something comfortable, a bed, perhaps. But she could hear perfectly well.

"... and I'm so sorry you had to die for me to gain the courage to say this. Please come back to us... Come back to me. Nico barely leaves this room and nor do I, Will had to force him to go eat. It's not the same without you, (Y/N/N), it really isn't." Jason's words gave her the urge to cry, but she couldn't. It was like her body had shutdown completely. She felt his warm hands on her cold ones and after that, a door was opened. Footsteps. Only one person. Jason didn't move. Someone sat down next to them.

"Dad- I mean, Hades said she will be okay." It was Nico's voice. He sounded extremely tired.

"Didn't he say that last month?" Grace was annoyed, but he didn't stop holding her hand.

"I know, I wish I could do more... I'm... I'm sorry Jason." The blond sighted.

"I should be the one to be saying that. I know there's nothing else to do. I'm sorry for putting the blame on you. It's just- if we've talked before, nothing of this would have happened. If only I was brave enough..." (Y/N) felt weak and her consciousness was back at nothing again. When she heard something again, it looked like a lot of time had passed by, but she wasn't sure at all. Jason's voice was happy as he told her his plans to the future.

"I realised you would like to work with me training the legion. You're obviously skilled and the payment is quite good. And I've heard they are planning to build a village here as well, but I don't know if you-..." Every time she tried to stay conscious, she felt weaker. 'Rest', her father's voice said inside of her head, so she let herself.

Some time...? A long time...? She didn't knew. But the next time she heard, she was way stronger. She waited until then, so she could stay longer and try to understand her emotions. She heard almost an entire day. Her friends entered and left cabin 13 — she found out that she was there. Some of them talked "to" her, some just sat there in silence. When alone, Nico talked a lot about Will Solace. (Y/N) smiled mentally. Then Jason entered. She could already recognise the sound he made walking. He sat beside her bed and held her hand, as usual.

"Hello, princess. You look better." She reunited all the strength she had storage and sent it all to her right hand. She softly squeezed Jason's hand, for a small portion of second, trying to say 'hi'. She felt exhausted. He gasped.

"She just squeezed my hand!" He screamed, laughing. Nico jumped out of his bed, laughing as well. They both stared at her, waiting for more. "You're there, right? I knew you were! It's been long months, but you're getting better. Don't work too hard. We'll see each other soon, don't worry." He kissed her forehead. After that, it was easy for her to let go and dive into her sleep again.

She was slowly getting better. She noticed her comas were smaller now, and she got stronger every time. She started communicating by squeezing people's hand. One time for 'yes' and two times for 'no'. But it still was exhausting. She met with her father a couple times through dreams, but it never lasted long. She was sick of it. She wanted to jump out of the bed and run through all the camp. She was alone with Jason, as he talked about the last time he went to Camp Jupiter, telling every change. She slowly forced herself to open her eyes. It wasn't for too long, just enough for her to see the big smile he had while talking, her favourite blond hair and how he gesticulated while speaking. By that time, her feelings were completely lined. She declined her childishness and stubbornness to accept the fact that she obviously loved him. Her lips were able to form a small smile. He hadn't noticed her yet. I can do this, she thought.

"J." She whispered for the first time in five months. Her eyes were already closed again. He gasped.

"Did you just say J? That's me! I'm here, i'm right here, love. Can you hear me?" She squeezed his hand one time. Yes. He chortled. "You're so strong. I miss you so much." He started softly crying. She squeezed his hand two times. No. Don't cry, she wanted to say. "Alright, 's fine, 's fine. Gods, you're coming back. I bet Aphrodite is watching us closely." He chuckled but suddenly stopped. "I forgot we haven't talked about that yet, i'm sorry. I don't wanna be intrusive, you know. It's just, by what Nico has told me, well, you still liked me." She squeezed two times. "That's... that's great, love. But don't worry about that just yet. You should take some rest now, my love."

Five days. She had woken up every single one of them, but only listening. No squeezes, no talking, no looking. Just storing strength. She knew she was close to fully waking up. She was already able to keep track of the days. It was a Sunday, the day she received the most visits. It should be morning, because she only heard Nico's snorting. She slowly opened her eyes. The same place. Different clothes. She wondered who had changed them. Perhaps Will did. She systematically moved her arms, pushing herself to sit. Her back was laying at wall. She took a deep breath. It was going fine. She wanted to wake Nico up, but she decided to wait to see if she would be able to actually stay awake. About an hour later, Nico woke up by himself. He yawned and turned to her bed. She looked at him with a big smile. He jumped out of bed.

"Holy shit, (Y/N)! You're up! How- Wait! I need to- Wait! Don't fall asleep, I'll be right back!" She blinked slowly to sign 'ok'. He was back moments running later with a bunch of teenagers in pyjamas. They all froze at the door, staring at her. Hazel, Frank, Annabeth, Percy, Jason and even Piper. Hazel was the first one to wake up from the trance. She ran to her sister and hugged (Y/N).

"Ouch." She managed to say, reacting to the tight hug that made her head hurt.

"Right, sorry! I forgot. Wait, you speak!" Hazel answered and laughed. All of the others joined in, amazed by her friend, and started talking, telling everything she had missed. (Y/N) couldn't speed properly, only a few words like 'hi', 'ow', 'miss' and 'food'. Later that day, Will came to check on her. He said everything looked just fine, but that she should rest.

"Hey." Zeus' son said, once they were alone.

"Hi."

"Gods, it's so good to finally hear you again. I've talked to myself for a long time." They giggled softly. (Y/N) wasn't showing any signs of it, but that day had been extremely tiring. Her entire body hurt but she couldn't give up just yet.

"I... heard." She whispered. "A bit." Her eyes tried to close but she opened them wide, fighting her own nature. Jason noticed that.

"Hey, no need to over do it.” He brushed her cheek with his thumb.

"Sleep... here." She begged, placing her hand beside her. He froze for a moment, embarrassed. And then, with a rubor across his face, he sat on the bed beside her. She laid her head on his chest and quickly fell asleep.

“Go to sleep, love. We have all the time in the world.”

[moosefrog]

Damian: *SIiiiiiigggggghhhh*

Dick: Uh oh, I know that sigh. What's up, little D?

Damian: Father lacks imagination and ambition and I fear he is dragging me down to his level.

Dick: Woah. Not what I had been expecting to hear.

Damian: Sometimes I wonder why Grandfather so admired father?

Dick: Is this because he said you can't drive for a month after you stole his new Lambo?

Damian: *hand wavey* Not at all. I can gain access to a vehicle whenever I need one. Father's 'punishment' barely affects me. No, I am speaking of the bigger picture... or lack thereof.

Dick: Ah. I don't see.

Damian: Grandfather wanted to transform the world, to save the natural world from the greed of Man. Father wants to punch bad guys in the face in a single city and he refuses to scale his ambition up to make real change.

Dick: Erm, yeah. Bruce is kind of... well, single-minded about what he does and the boundaries he sets.

Damian: I approve of the Justice League but they are a reactionary organization and nobody appears to proactively solve the world's problems.

Damian: I am going to inherit more wealth than some nations have and so much more can be done to change the world with that money than buying better armor or faster cars.

Dick: You really like fast cars, tho.

Damian: I like hitting people, too, but that doesn't mean I can't do things to help. I just feel that Grandfather had loftier goals than Father has which... makes it hard for me to understand why Grandfather is referred to as being evil. He was trying to help, in his own way.

Dick: *runs a hand through his hair* Woof. I mean, no wonder you were sighing, this is a lot to be thinking about on a Sunday afternoon. Uh, I guess the thing is, forcing your will on other people is inherently an evil act? Like, small-scale it would be blackmail or rape or abuse but large-scale it makes dictators. Bruce has a lot of power but he chooses to pay his taxes, which he really ought to pressure his peers to do, too, and focuses on law-breakers and society-disruptors whom existing structures and processes can't handle.

Dick: It's kinder for Batman to take down some of these villains and put them in a place they can get treatment than to kill them, which is what current systems would do.

Damian: Is it justice to treat these villains gently when they have killed innocents?

Dick: *sharp* Have you been hanging out with Jason, again?

Damian: *shrugs* He has a point. If MY son had been killed there would be only scorched earth where his murderer had stood.

Dick: *SIiiiiiigggggghhhh* You two... Part of Bruce's strength is his dedication to his ethics. You need to trust in the bat-thos; Damian. It will help keep you on the side of heroes.

Damian: *frowns* So I shouldn't ask for a senator for my birthday?

Dick: *CHOKES* N-no! You can't just BUY people!

Damian: You can. It's not that hard. If father hadn't insisted I get community service I could have easily bought my way out of that speeding ticket. I could own half the police department and not even worry about being pulled over for driving too fast.

Dick: DAMIAN! That is... cynical. And probably accurate. But we don't do that as Waynes, okay? Bruce would be so mad at you if he heard you talking like this.

Damian: *SIIIIIIIIGH* Which is why I'm here with you instead of at the manor preparing to go on patrol. I've been grounded and told to write an essay on ethics and power. 9_9

Dick: Good! Look, I know it's hard for you to unlearn the things your grandfather taught you but the world doesn't need a powerful dictator telling it what to do. Anyways, if you tried it the Justice League would kick your butt.

Damian: *snorts* Like it kicked grandfather's butt? I don't think so. But.. point, taken. It's just... so difficult sometimes NOT to do these things when it would be so easy and effective.

Dick: Gimme your hand.

Damian: *eyes narrow* Why?

Dick: *motions with his hand* C'mon. I won't bite.

Damian: Fine. *holds his hand out stiffly. Dick grabs it and pushes up the sleeve of Damian's shirt and writes WWBD? on his wrist*

Dick: There!

Damian: *squawks* What is the meaning of this graffiti?!

Dick: It's a reminder for you, WWBD stands for, 'What Would Batman Do?' Every time you think about doing something questionable, I want you to ask yourself, what would Batman do? If Batman wouldn't do it, then you probably shouldn't either.

Damian: *yanks his sleeve down, clearly annoyed* I have never had someone WRITE on me like a common piece of PAPER before. >:(

Dick: *snortlaughs* The look on your face! You are so adorable sometimes.

Damian: *reaches for his sword*

Dick: Ah-ah-ahhhh! What would Batman do?

Damian: Ugh. Fine. Your desire to cosplay as a police officer was rooted in a fantasy where you get to be 'normal'. You were raised in a circus and adopted by a crime-fighting billionaire and are preternaturally attractive, there is nothing 'normal' about you and you should just accept that to be true.

Dick: WTF?!?!!?

Damian: Father likes to cut people down with scathing observations when they annoy him.

Dick: ...I asked for that.

Damian: Another acceptable answer would be to punch you. Batman punches people.

Dick: Okay, see, I feel like you're not addressing the spirt of th—

Damian: He also carries around kryptonite even tho Superman is his best friend.

Dick: I just... Go write your essay.

Damian: *grinning now* And he has sex with adversaries in tight catsuits!

Dick: Staaahhhhp!

Damian: I think 'what would Batman do?' is a great guide. Thanks, Grayson! :D

Dick: *drags his hand down his face slowly* What have I done?

[itsmoonphobic]

Elemental Souls (SBI+Tommy 4 elements au)

(🌿) ♡ (🔥) ♡ (🌊) ♡ (🌬)

Techno Blade -Fire:

"Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products."

You can either see Techno as rude,cocky and egoistic or you can see him as loyal,determined and smart.

Becouse of his cold facade,Techno can scare poeple off easily.The fact that he gets aggressive easily doesn't make it any better.He tends to be very sarcastic and loves to tease/ignore people badly which is another reason poeple tend to stay away from him.

Techno can be described as terrifying.Becouse he is very intelligent and silent poeple around him can only wonder what he is thinking and if he is planning on killing someone soon.Of course Techno never killed anyone and he would never do so but his scary aura makes people believe he did and would do it again.

He doesn't take things very seriously and will only get invested if he is deeply committed and interested in them or if he gets something out of it.Techno may say that he isn't a competitive person but god is this man lying to himself.

Challenging Techno to something is probably the most dumbest move you could make.Not only will he destroy you and win but he will make a whole ass war out of it.This guy won't sleep,eat or talk to another human being until he's won.And you can bet your ass he will totally humiliate you and rub it in till it burns-

That's what Techno can be seen as from the outside. But on the inside he is anything but confident,cocky and unbeatable.He is very shy and socially awkward. He only picks out certain people who he will let take part in his life.On some days his insecurities will get the best of him and he won't come out of his room for weeks-

Hours and hours spent on crying only then become evident once he leaves his room and reveals this mess of red and puffy eyes,dark valleys and pale skin.The vibes he gives off basically scream "back of and leave me the fuck alone or I will burn you to death"

Others may think that a fiery person like him has to have exciting and risky hobbies-When in reality Techno loves peaceful and quiet activities like reading or studying.May I add that in his free time Techno absolutely loves to be outside and farm potatoes on a daily-

Sure Techno does fighting and skill upgrading from time to time but when he is left alone with his head full of thoughts he will scurry to the local library and spend the rest of his day there.Nobody questions why he goes there or makes fun of him that such a tough guy reads books-Becouse they very well know he will personally beat them up and burn down their houses.

Techno's best friend Phil is the only person who he truly trusts with everything and anything.The two of them grew up together and developed a really strong emotional and family like bond.Techno only allows Phil to see his vulnerable and fragile side,he will cry infront of him and even let Phil hug him while he reassures him that everything will work out and be fine.

Techno isn'a touchy guy,for him pda is disgusting and unnecessary-like,why the fuck would you put your hands on another person?What kind of person enjoys sharing physical contact?Not Techno that's for sure.

Over time Techno became more open and extroverted so he agreed to meeting two of Phil's friends,both of them having different elements.Phil commented something about how he thinks that opposite friendships are way more exciting and fun!Techno didn't think much of it,he simply rolled his eyes and went along with it.

That was the day Techno met Wilbur and Tommy.He could immediately tell that Tommy would be annoying as fuck and really hard to deal with-I mean the kid was only twelve when they first got introduced.Wilbur on the other hand sparked some sort of feeling inside of Techno that made him feel welcomed in his presence.

So yeah over the course of the next four years the four element benders became really close.Yes even grumpy Techno had to live with the fact that he would die for all of them-even Tommy.And speaking of Tommy,he and Techno do everything together-

If you would to make fun of Tommy or tease/annoy him in any be it negative or positive way-Techno would hunt you down and burn you-If it isn't intense he will stick to only a threat-but if you actually physically or mentally hurt Tommy??Oh boy-I may have said that Techno never did and never would kill somebody,but in this case there is a high chance of an angry Techno being after you.

Techno sees his friend group as family members.Phil represents a huge father figure,Wilbur his younger brother and Tommy his youngest brother.He is very overprotective of them all,especially over Tommy if you couldn't already tell.With how much shit he gets himself into and the fact that he is only sixteen years young and his braincells are still producing he can't but worry for him and take care of him,even if he does bully the fuck out of him :)

Wilbur and Techno have the best moments.The two of them both enjoy reading so you can occasionally discover them in the local town library where they are just enjoying the peace shared between eachother. Although Wilbur does have a chaotic and wild side to him which he lets out when he's around Tommy,he becomes quite and relaxed when around the fire bender.Techno knew from the moment he met Wilbur that the two of them would get along great.

Techno isn't really good with showing his feelings or dealing with his emotions-Like I said apart from pride and anger he doesn't reveal much to the world.Phil used to be the only person Techno trusted but now with the whole gang on his side he earned himself more poeple to rely on.Of course it took time for him to open up and really let himself go infront of Tommy and Wilbur but the waiting definitely paid off.

When Techno practices,for example his weapon usage and fire bending it is best to leave him alone and stay a safe distance away from him.There is a chance for him to attack you,though he will most likely just snap at you and tell you to piss off if you don't wanna burn alive and if you wanna keep all your fingers in place.

Also not to mention,Techno is on the way of becoming a vegetarian.At the start he only hated eating anything related to pigs,like bacon or pork chops.But after developing his love for farming he noticed just how unnecessary eating meat is.Sure he still consumes meat from time to time but in most of the cases he will turn it down and eat a baked potato instead :D

Squid and Dream(A water bender and a earth bender) are both in a rivalry with him.Techno is probably the one who started randomly picking on Squid at one point and from there on out they kind of grew close?Not too close but most definitely a form of friendship.

Dream on the other hand is hundred percent the one who constantly competes with Techno.Be it in element bending or grades in school.If Dream manages to get even half a point more on an exam he would literally celebrate.The most annoying part is the fact that Techno doesn't even acknowledge Dream. Just to see Dream's face when Techno only shrugs and lets out a small "ehh" while saying that it doesn't matter and he sees no point in anyone trying to be as good as him or better,makes it more entertaining ;D

To sum it all up: Techno is a natural born leader.His dedication and determination along with his loyalty are a healthy base for a powerful soul.The reason behind his aggressive,confident and somewhat rude side is due to the fact that he is a fire bender and his element is naturally fierce.He fights for what he thinks is important and right and never lets anything happen to the poeple he deeply loves and cares about.He is not the best when it comes to showing sympathy and affection and he doesn't seek it from anyone else.He has to deal with major mental health issues but he's more than thankful for his friends that are by his side and help him out on his journey.Once Techno opens up to you more you know he likes you,like I said to earn Techno's respect and trust you have to meet his expectations and show him that you actually care for him and his well being.He needs some love guys <3

Like fire itself, fire benders tend to be passionate, dynamic, and temperamental. Fire can keep you warm, or it can do great destruction. While fire burns out quickly without fuel to keep it going, it can also regenerate its power from the ashes. A single spark can set off a forest fire. As a result, fire benders need to be nurtured and managed carefully.

Phil Watson - Air:

"Air refers to the Earth's atmosphere. Air is a mixture of many gases and dust particles. It is the clear gas in which living things live and breathe. It has an indefinite shape and volume. It has mass and weight, because it is matter."

The most hardworking,kind and caring guy you will ever encounter.Phil is the definition of wholesome :)

Phil is a very understanding and empathetic person. He patiently listens and respects people's boundaries and insecurities.He is a great comfort to many poeple with phobias and mental health issues.A part of his element is care and gentleness.Phil is very careful and elegant with his words and actions.He tends to not be hasty and obnoxious around people he first meets or knows who don't like that type of behavior.

He and Techno are very close.Phil trusts Techno with his eyes closed and the same goes for Techno.The way the two of them interact with eachother suprises people all the time.How could such a gentle soul deal with a feisty one like Techno's??Outsiders and even familiars wonder if the two share some sort of telepathic connection.All in all they share an unbreakable and strong family like bond.

Not only did Phil introduce his other really good friends to Techno and managed to get him to open up more and trust other people apart from him,but he also helped Techno realize that there are other poeple out there who care about him and want to give him nothing but undeniable love <3

Techno may be close with Wilbur and Tommy but the only person who knows about Techno's struggles and his biggest fears is Phil.He knows exactly in which way he needs to talk to him and how to act around him.Phil knows Techno doesn't like affection like hugs and holding hands but as a sign of appreciation and gratefulness Techno allows Phil to hug him while he calms him down and takes care of him.

The way he acts with such precision and grace makes anyone feel welcomed and comfortable around Phil. Phil is very helpful.He doesn't wait for poeple to come up to him and ask him for something,he goes up to them and asks if he can help them out with anything.

He stands up for justice and always does the right things.Phil has a big heart,if he sees anyone who is hurt or feeling down his parent like instincts will activate and he will immediately comfort them.

All three of his best friends(Techno,Wilbur,Tommy) look up to him as a father figure,which warms Phil's heart and he honestly he thinks it's super cute <3 So naturally Phil can't but see them as his three polar opposite,chaotic sons.He would do anything for the three of them,even risking his own life.

Tommy and Phil's relationship is probably the most cutest one.When Phil tells Tommy to quit it or to stop fighting with Wilbur or Techno(mostly Wilbur),Tommy instantly goes quiet and apologises for it.Phil's air bending is something that Tommy loves about him.He will always ask the elder if he can twirl him around in the air and make him fly.Phil gladly does so and he will tickle him with the wind he creates until Tommy is a giggling mess :D

Wilbur and Phil on the other hand are a completely different dynamic than Techno & Phil or Tommy & Phil. Most think that Phil would be scared of Techno like any other person is but it's actually Wilbur who genuinely scares Phil from time to time.Sure anyone who sees him doesn't think that something like "I just wanna fucking murder everyone around me and drag them to the bottom of the ocean-" would come out of his mouth.It's not only what he says it's how and when he says horrifying things like that.They could be out on a walk and Wilbur would just have the most blank expression while he says sentences like that.Phil is pretty sure that he even caught Tommy holding onto Techno's hand once while Techno shivered slightly with wide eyes.

Phil is known for being very respectful and polite.He doesn't like to be mean and angry towards anyone!He is a big pacifist(unlike other poeple 👀)who likes to sort things out with a nice and peaceful conversation instead of turning to immediate violence.He will argument with someone,but only when he has a good reason to do so.If he sees people arguing or fighting he will confront them about it and make sure they settle down and put their differences aside.

He's affectionate and really interested in the problems of others,as if they were his own.He will always be there if you are stuck with something and need help solving or overcoming said problem.He'll make sure that both of you find a way to get rid of it! <3

Air benders are also the most forgiving element benders,so Phil can tell the difference between acting out and just plain old meanness,and he understands that in moments of strong emotion, people can say and do things to can hurt others. Not that he'd ever do the same!His cool, collected vibe helps him navigate the drama and analyze it throughly.

Phil is a master of both small talk and deep convos, and he knows how to use his wit to get him out of awkward moments.That's another way Phil instantly gets the hang of strangers he just met!!He knows what subjects to bring up and what topics to talk about that they are interested in!

Also I quickly wanna say that Phil's laugh is super contagious!He could be out with Techno,Wil and Tommy while the three of them rant on and on about their days and just talk about random,shit.Phil will silently listen to every detail in the background while he uncontrollably laughs.He will let out a small "What?" or "No way dude" but apart from those small phrases he just prefers listening and cackling.He loves to see other people laugh and smile and is even more happy when he is the reason they do so :3

Phil is generous and selfless.He puts the health and safety of others before his own.He doesn't require many things to be satisfied in his life.As long as he has his family and friends he couldn't be more grateful <3

He definitely has a love for birds such as pigeons and doves.One time about two years ago Tommy brought Phil a beautiful silver feathered bird for his birthday. Even with his element being air,Phil sometimes wishes and dreams of flying himself,being able to feel that freedom for himself you know?He sees birds as lucky to have a gift such as flying.

Air benders are all about action, ideas, and motion—they are the “winds of change.” When a strong gust hits you, you can’t help but move. While some within their ranks may be true-life “airheads,” others are as powerful as a gravity-defying G-force. Air benders bring everyone a breath of fresh air when things start to get stale. Like the breeze, you can’t quite catch them, and you never know where they’ll drop you once they sweep you up. It will almost always been an adventure, though

Wilbur Soot - Water:

"Water is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms. It is vital for all known forms of life, even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients."

Charming,suave and flirty in a way that can only be from fiction.Do men like that even exist?Apparently they do and they go by the name of Wilbur Soot.

Ever stand under a waterfall? That’s what it’s like when a Wilbur is feeling an intense emotion.

Intuitive, emotional and ultra-sensitive,Wilbur can be as mysterious as the ocean itself. Like water,he can be refreshing,or he can drown you in his depths.Security is important to him,after all, water needs a container, or it dries up and disappears.

He tends to hold on to people and items long past their expiration dates,and his emotions are always flowing like the waves of the oceans.Wilbur has intense dreams,visions,and an intuition so strong that it’s basically a psychic power.He can see situations happening from a mile away before they occur.

He might intentionally seek out sad music or movies, and he probably has childhood photos framed in his room.Emotional and creative,he relays on his heart and gut to make a decision.Logic and reason are second to his feelings which is how he navigates the material world.Wilbur also longs for security at all times,which makes sense as he's protective of his loved ones and himself.He'll do everything he can to help the ones he cares about,even if it’s at his own expense.

However, like most things beautiful, below the surface many complexities often arise and the same is true when talking about water benders.

Wilbur is notoriously perceptive and he possesses instincts when it comes to sussing out people and situations.He's guided by his gut feelings and more often than not his first instinct about a person are dead on.He can get a feel for whether someones intentions are honorable or not just by observing their body language and general demeanor.

Like a river filling in every crevice of its path,Wilbur covers every detail and often picks up on things that others miss.No riverbed is left to dry as the water flows through each and every intricacy.

The water signs are no stranger to emotion, in fact, they often feel things rather intensely.

On one hand,his emotional side can provide him with a lot of insight and wisdom into the human experience which he can even then pass on to others.On top of this,it allows him to be incredibly empathetic which helps him form strong bonds with others.

But sometimes he can get so overcome by his emotions that it feels like a giant tidal wave just hitting him all at once. When he feels overwhelmed like this he can find it tough to think straight and make rational decisions.

Because he is so prone to analyzing absolutely everything he can sometimes overthink things a little too much and make life more complicated for himself then it needs to be.He has a bad habit of coming up with problems and obstacles in his mind that don’t actually exist or aren’t nearly as bad as he's talked himself into them being.

Sometimes you might catch Wilbur acting withdrawn or shy but the truth is he's probably just deep in thought and mentally a million miles away.He often finds his thoughts are racing at a million miles an hour and that he's powerless to do anything about it.

Just like a bustling river,Wilbur can be a bit wishy washy and kinda all over the place… especially when it comes to making important decisions.Too many options can sometimes leave him overwhelmed and struggling to make any decision at all.

He's also known for being easily distracted and can go from paying close attention in one moment to being totally away with the fairies the next.He doesn't do it out of rudeness he just can’t help himself sometimes!

Wilbur has a very private and mysterious side,he doesn’t like to reveal all of his cards at once.He's known for putting up walls and can be particularly guarded when he's around people he doesn't trust.

From time to time he needs space to himself to think and unwind. As much as he loves his friends and family there’s just some times where he's gotta have some alone time to spend by himself.

Wilbur sure has a unique way of looking at the world. His perspective combined with his vivid imagination makes him naturally gifted in music or anything involving a creative flare.He is a dreamer at heart whose ideas aren't limited by pesky rules or conventions.

He has a big musical talent,his voice is a perfect balance between rough and velvety.It's not too high and not too low,not too loud and not too quiet.The moment he strums his guitar strings he can wrap anybody around his finger.

Wilbur is emotionally manipulative.He can make you feel bad for something you didn't even do.He can make you regret things or certaint actions that aren't supposed to make you feel regretful.He will only use this "talent" of his in a worst case scenario.If you ever hurt his friends or loved ones he will make your life a living hell,wouldn't even wonder if you never decided to show your face to the public ever again.

Techno's and his relationship is wonderful.Wilbur has helped Techno so much to open up more and come out of his shell.They both enjoy the peaceful and quiet times in their life.Reading,going on walks or strolling along the beach while watching a sunset is just some of the many things they love doing together.He isn't as close to Techno like Phil is but he is close second. He sees him as his older and stronger brother who will always be there for him when he needs him.Honestly the two of them have such a beneficial dynamic <3

Now Tommy's and Wilbur's interactions are something absolutely opposite.When the two of them spent time together,they become these chaotic and annoying siblings that go around town and fuck with people. There was this one time where they flooded a barn which belonged to Phil's neighbors and the two reckless idiots ran away laughing.Sure Tommy steals Phil's stuff all the time or uses it without permission but Wilbur,just like Techno,is very overprotective of Tommy.If he finds out that somebody hurt Tommy in any way or made fun of him he will beat them up. Literally he will call in Techno for help to go and pay the little fuckers who messed with Tommy a visit.The only ones who are allowed to tease and bully Tommy are Techno and Wilbur,no one else.

Phil and Wilbur have some of the best moments when spending time with eachother.Not only is Phil a great source of reassurance and comfort but he knows that Phil will seal his mouth shut if Wilbur speaks to him about his insecurities and problems.He loves that Phil listens to him and never judges him about anything. Like the other two Wilbur sees Phil as a father figure. A great and inspiring role model he can look up to.

He likes to collect sea shells and old treasures he finds scattered over the sand at the beach.He doesn't like swimming or diving,which is really unrealistic to not only other water benders but benders in general.It's not that Wilbur is scared,he simply likes to admire it from the shore.He will do it from time to time must mostly he will just sit down and let his legs and feet rest in the cold liquid.

I can imagine that when he was a kid he used to pretend to be a pirate.He still has his old eye patch and hook that were part of his costume.Now,even after thirteen years he still likes to go up to the harbor when the fishermen arrive with a freshly caught catch and watch the ships glide across the indigo waves.

Tommy Simons - Earth:

"Earth materials are vital resources that provide the basic components for life, agriculture and industry. Earth materials can also include metals and precious rocks."

Tommy is outgoing,energetic and he isn't afraid to speak up and share his thoughts with others.A very openminded and positive guy.He always looks on the bright side of every situation he finds himself in.

He is down to earth.He doesn't believe in having dreams,he only believes and accepts things the way they are and how they are portrayed in his eyes.

People don't realize it but they are seriously underestimating Tommy.When you first see him you don't expect him to have good strategies and the ability of leadership like Techno clearly has.But that's the thing.One of the many things Tommy picks up while being in a friendship with the fire bender is experience.Techno will lazily teach the young earth bender how to protect himself and lead a team. Without Techno's guidance Tommy would have been in trouble countless times.So you could say that Techno is Tommy's mentor :)

He's a great mood booster!If there is awkward tension in a room or between others he will make it up by just being there and doing what Tommy does the best, brighten up the atmosphere!He will start random conversations and just try to get everyone else to do something fun like play a game or watch a movie.

Techno may help Tommy with things like self defense and how to establish dominance but the earth bender helps him with his potato farming!He will hurry up the process of their growth and make sure they are perfect before they are harvested.He keeps track of the amount of soil and vitamins the earth their roots grow in receives.

Speaking of Techno's and his relationship: The two of them are so close it's insane.They do everything with eachother!They train,upgrade their skills in bending and fighting,they go out to eat or have a drink,they go around town and fuck things up-the two of them are huge pranksters.Tommy always tries to prove himself infront of Techno and impress him in any way.Tommy loves spending time with Techno,the blond earth bender admires him in so many different ways- They don't have to be doing much together,it can be mindless talking or simply being in the same room.

Wilbur and Tommy are ehhh- special?On one side they are funny and entertaining together but on the other side they can be insulting eachother with such vulgarity that you could think they are about to commit murder any moment.Tommy talks so much shit about Wilbur.If you're dumb enough and actually choose to listen to him,he will ramble on about how Wilbur thinks he's so smart and good with the ladies- Yoo would think that after trash talking him that Tommy hates Wilbur's guts but it's the opposite!!If he catches you talking bad about Wilbur behind his back he will call Techno and they will hunt you down.

Tommy like everyone else sees Phil as his very caring and cool dad!Phil somehow always finds out about all the shit Tommy does and he gets scolded for it.Like most people,if Tommy ever has a problem he's dealing with or he's in a uncomfortable situation,Phil is the first person who crosses his mind and therefore the one he turns to.

The way Tommy goes around their town and picks fights with others is so stupid.At the end he comes home with bruises and wounds all over his skin.One time his best friend Toby brought him to Phil with a bloody nose and Phil's reaction was screeching-

He is extremely curious and stubborn.He doesn't really think before he acts and dives into unknown things he's not familiar with head first.Techno is the one who laughs at him and teases him about how clumsy he is.

Earth benders keep it real. They are the “grounded” people on the planet, the ones who bring us down to earth and remind us to start with a solid foundation. Slow and steady, these “builders” are loyal and stable, and stick by their people through hard times. On good days, they’re practical; at worst, they can be materialistic or too focused on the surface of things to dig into the depths.

Hope you enjoyed this au!!I am currently writing MULTIPLE stories and au's so bare with me guys!I don't like working fast becouse my work afterwards doesn't feel completed:( I hope all of you have a wonderful day/night <3 Love ya!!!

[randomfandomz]

GET READY FOR A LOT OF HUSK HEADCANNONS

Im not sorry–

Depressed as f*ck so he doesnt have the modivation to take care of himself

He drinks mainly to forget, and to releive stress

Not only that but he H A T E S water(not as much as Baxter does, but he still avoids it like the plauge)

He never showers until he absolutely has to

Like his fur is always matted and alchohol scented

And he thinks licking himself clean like non-demon cats do is absolutely out of the question, it is gross and undignified, he doesnt want to lick himself and water makes his fur feel heavy and cold and he w i l l argue with you about this

He hates having fur. He just hates it. Its hard to take care of and things get stuck in it, it gets caught in things and just hhhh h h h H H - NO

Will straight up refuse to shower until Charlie makes him

Everyone in the hotel knows about shower day

The day when they make Husk take a shower because e w g r o s s o l d m a n -

Baxter somewhat sympathizes with him about his hatred of water

Not like he actually shows it or does anything to help him though- because 1) Bax really doesnt give a flying f*ck, he just wants to do science and this doesnt concern science so he couldnt care less, and 2) He doesnt wanna speak up because s o c i a l a n x i e t y . S o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n ? N o t h a n k y o u .

Hes literally a cat, so he hates water with a burning passion

Husk's self image is kinda... ehhhhhh- I mean, its not like he really is that bad looking, if anything he looks pretty damn cool, but he honestly finds himself pretty unattractive. "The fur and wings d o n t h e l p "

Doesnt care if you call him old unless youre trying to be offensive; Hes proud of his age and experience

Even though he acts like an old man(well, he kinda is, but-) hes actually younger than Baxter, Mimzy, Alastor, Angel, and Nifty

Only Vaggie and Crymini are younger than him

When Husk first arrived at the hotel he didnt really wanna interact with anyone; New places kind of stress him out, so it took a long time for him to adjust and not snap at every little thing

Dont get me wrong, hes still a pissy alchoholic^tm, but the anger is less serious/genuine and more just because thats how he is

Husk fought in the vietnam war, and he attempted(and failed) suicide multiple times after the war until he was eventually beaten to death outside of a bar

He turned to alchoholism and gambling as a coping mechanism

Husk suffers from PTSD(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), along with the obvious alchoholism and gambling addiction

He is very salty/sad that he's a war vet but died in a bar fight, and wouldn't be remembered for his fighting but rather for being beaten to death in a bar while trying to drink away the feelings he had about not being welcomed home because of the way the media portrayed him and his fellow soldiers that fought in Vietnam

Upon learning that Husk is a vietnam war vet(he mentioned it while drunk off his ass- more than usual) one patron who attended the hotel for a short time told him "Welcome home doc!". Husk was surprised, as he had come to terms with the idea that he would never be thanked or welcomed for his services, but he did make sure to be maybe a bit less pissy to that particular guest. He will never forget them. It meant more to him than he would like to admit.

((I can't really think of a better reason as to why Husk would bring it up, but having seen one or two instances of someone saying "welcome home" to Vietnam war vets, I really wanted to add this. The "Welcome home doc" thing was me referencing a specific instance of this ive seen. Im so sorry if I'm wrongly portraying this in anyway, I tried to do enough research first before typing this part out, but I just wanted to point out that I tried my best to be respectful while talking about the subject.))

Moving on- L A S E R P O I N T E R S

One time Angel was just casually messing around with a laser pointer, out of boredom or something

HUSK'S RESPONSE WAS IMMEDIATE

HE WILL CHASE THAT RED DOT TO THE ENDS OF THE GODDAMN EARTH

"That DAMN RED DOT where the FUCK did iT gO!?"

He HATES that he does this, but he really cannot help it

Being a cat demon, and being Husk, his hunt and kill instinct is through the roof(hunt and kill instinct is why cats chase laser pointers btw)

Was VERY pissy for the next few weeks after this incident

Husk will purr involuntarily whenever someone pets him or strokes his fur

He WILL murder anyone who attempts to pet him or make him purr without consent(*COUGH COUGH* ANGEL *COUGH*)

Same goes for the wings DO NOT TOUCH THE WINGS, JUST DONT-

In his room, Husk's bed is literally a mound of blankets and pillows inside a box

Even he needs to get warm and comfortable after a long day

He never lets anyone in his room

Like n e v e r

Angel snuck in one night- Husk's half asleep drunken a*s shoved him out and yelled at him, waking up practically all the hotel staff and a few guests

In his defense, Angel, upon seeing the sleeping Husk, scratched behind his ears. Husk started to purr, but then snapped to somewhat conciousness, and realized what the f*ck was going on-

Yes, Husk is v e r y defensive

Give him a compliment? He wont accept it under any circumstances. He will probably be flustered and claim that the other is either lying or just kissing up to him

"You know you dont have to kiss my a*s to ask me something, right? The fuck do you want?"

Charlie honestly finds his reaction to compliments very sad

Has a kind of "well ya didnt need to point it out" attitude towards insults

Alastor insults him with the worst names in the book? He accepts it and couldnt give less f*cks

Even if its someone either than Alastor insulting him, usually even if he acts offended and p*ssed off, somewhere in his mind he just accepts it

Usually Alastor is the one insulting him, but in a "best friend rights" kind of way

He likes being creative when it comes to colorful language

"Look out to my sea of f*cks, and see how it is barren"

Doesnt have a "soft spot" for kids like Angel, but doesnt mind lessening the swearing a bit and doing a few magic tricks for the occasional child that somehow found their way to the hotel

He HISSES

If Husk is hissing at you you better f*ckin rUN-

He usually refrains from hissing- its part of him rebelling against his cat-like nature, but if he is openly hissing at you it means he is at his wits-end and is honestly P * S S E D .

sERIOUSLY, F*CKING R U N -

Crymini has a blog documenting all the cat-like things Husk does, and she sometimes does the classic "THIS IS A HUSK IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT" or "LETS SEE HOW THE KITTY REACTS TO THIS NEXT THING" bit, and Husk honestly finds it insulting as f*ck

Crymini pranked Husk with a cucumber(you know how cats on the internet are terrified of them) and Husk was actually scared of it, and he ran up a f*cking tree and wouldnt come down for a solid hour, partly put of legitimate fear, and partly out of spite from seeing the slightly guilty look on Crymini's face after the first 20 minutes of him hiding up there

Being a cat demon, alchohol is actually slightly toxic to him, and he is prone to alchohol poisoning. He usually drinks beer, which has low ammount of ethanol(5-7%)[ethanol is what makes alchohol so toxic to cats]

Baxter has a spray bottle to use on Husk if he is being particularly stubborn or bothersome. Charlie sometimes uses her own spray bottle for similar purposes, but she usually says something like "Bad kitty! No!" Along with it to tease him. Husk finds it humiliating and hates when his fur is wet, so surprisingly the spray bottle thing usually works.

He is demi-panromantic and asexual

H A T E S being touched, like under any circumstances

"The last time I voluntarily made physical contact with another being was in 1970 and it was while I was loosing a bar fight. It was also the day I was beaten to death and setenced to hell."

Bonus:

Angel: Hey kitty~! Wanna cuddle~?

Husk: The last time I voluntarily made physical contact with another being was in 1970 and it was while I was loosing a bar fight.

Angel: Oh really? *snickers* And how'd that work out for ya'?

Husk: Well, it was also the day I was beaten to death and put in hell. So I dunno. You tell me.

[miertje1000]

Tears of starlight (chapter 4)

Here’s my contribution to the D. Gray-man Big Bang. My partner is @limesicle​ who made beautiful art for my fic. Enjoy!

I divided my fic in chapters based on the artworks

summary Lavi’s mission is simple: retrieve some books from various cities and bring them back to the agency, called the Black order. Though unneeded in his opinion, the agency decides to assign him a partner with its own mission. Bookman warns him to keep an eye on his partner, but he doesn’t see why this scrawny looking beansprout would be interesting in any way. However, everyone seems to have forgotten to tell him the most important part: Allen is a dragon. Soon his own mission seems dull compared to his partner’s and he ends up getting more involved than he would have wanted. And in the meanwhile his feelings for his partner keep growing. But between a human and a dragon, let alone one born many lightyears away, a relationship can only be doomed.

rating: T

fanfiction.net : https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13056154/1/

Chapter 4 

art: http://limesicle.tumblr.com/post/177734132136/illustration-4-of-4-for-dgraymanbigbang-this-is

"That's it. We're here."

They were the first words Allen had spoken since last night. Ever since the obvious rejection the mood had just been awkward and painful. None of the two had known what to say, so they had continued their journey in silence.

However, it all was pushed to the background when they were confronted with a building hidden inside nature. The stones it was made of were cracked and overgrown with plants that had sought refuge in the little slits. The colors that had once probably decorated it, had paled in the sun. Parts of the construction had spontaneously crumbled under the inevitable hand of time. An ancient temple would be the best way to describe it. Especially with the two dragon statues lying at the door. Most of the delicate scales and eyes had been scrubbed off by erosion, but Lavi was sure they had looked majestic at the time they had been made.

"So, this is where that Neah guy is sealed." Lavi let his eye travel over it in investigation. "It doesn't look much like a prison for great evil."

Allen's face was covered with shadows. "There's no doubt about it. This is where Neah sleeps." The muscles clenching his jaw showed how tense he was. "Legend says that Neah is an ancient dragon master that will control the last dragon, born in the night sky, to take down the stars and burn the earth. But it's just a story. I won't let it happen. I will kill him before he awakens."

Lavi watched his companion with worry as he walked up the stairs towards the entrance. He followed carefully. A feeling of discomfort settled deep in his stomach, but he was sure it was because of what Allen had told him and nothing else.

When they stepped in, it turned out that the state of the temple wasn't as bad as it had seemed from outside. Strangely enough, the room seemed perfectly maintained. The paintings on the walls, indicating stars and dragons, were as bright as if they had been made yesterday. The only sign of decay were the bats on the ceiling and the rat droppings on the floor.

In the middle of the little room, flooded with light from the entrance, was a heavy stone altar, with on it a massive coffin. With all the decoration everywhere else he would have expected some on there too, but the thing was completely bare, like the person inside of it wasn't worth the effort.

Allen's breath came out like mist from his mouth, even if the temperature hadn't dropped that low. A lightly burned smell spoke of its origin.

"Well, here we are." The boy sounded like he wasn't really sure where to continue now. "We finally made it and in time it seems."

"So what now? Do you think you can open that thing?" Insecurity passed over Allen's face. "I… I guess." He made his way towards the monument with little unsure steps. "It doesn't look too heavy for a dragon."

Lavi stepped aside to give some space, so two pale hands could lock on the massive stone lid and push it off on the other side. Then he quickly joined his companion, peering into the coffin curiously.

There he was.

A man with skin as dark as Road's lay on his back, seemingly asleep. Seven star-formed shapes scarred his forehead. The grey, sly hands were bound together on his chest with chains that glowed an eerie green light in the dusk of the temple. Strange, otherworldly inscriptions inside of them caught Lavi's eye, but he'd never seen them before in any book he'd read.

Finally he could hear Allen let his held in breath escape in a rough breeze.

"We're lucky. He doesn't seem like he'll pose much of a problem to defeat." He shot a look at his partner. "This is your chance."

Allen had gone even paler than usual. His hands trembled on the edge of the coffin. "Yeah, we made it in time."

"So what are you waiting for?" He tried to put his support in the question.

Allen pressed his lips together so tightly that they turned white. Then, with a flexibility Lavi could only dream of, he lifted his foot on the edge of the altar and pushed himself up. The boy climbed over the coffin, putting his feet on the edges, so he was standing over the resting man. One of his hands deformed, growing sharp claws and tiny scales.

"Go on, Al. Get rid of your tormentor. This is your moment to take your life back."

Allen nodded determinedly. He lifted the claw, fixing his eyes on the man's face. With an almost terrified scream he launched the attack…

and stopped just in front of the man's neck.

Lavi blinked in surprise.

Sweat dripped down from Allen's face. His eyes had gotten a haunted look. He pulled his weapon back again, then tried another attack. Again the claw stopped just before it tainted the dark skin.

"Al, are you okay?" Carefully he reached backwards, pulling his hammer from his belt. It was a nasty job to do something like this with it. But if his companion really needed the help…

He didn't even get the time to suggest it. Something, similar to gravity, seemed to get hold on his body and suddenly he was flying through the room. The stone walls didn't make a soft landing, nor did the ground under it. The already fragile construction crumbled and showered him with projectiles of aged rock. His body burst out in pain, almost completely numbing the rest of his senses. When the haze of hurt finally pulled up enough for him to see, there were suddenly multiple dark shadows in the room that hadn't been there before.

Noah

Alarmed he tried to reach up to defend Allen, but his muscles wouldn't move. Something was still forcing him down. As he gave up, panting, his eyes met Road's, who smiled victoriously. So she was the one holding him down.

Allen had frozen on his spot. He seemed unable to move as a fat figure with clown's clothes and a high hat stepped forwards.

"Allen Walker, thank you for coming. We've been waiting for you. Nobody else but a dragon can kill Neah, but the same goes for the seal that's been holding him. Now, would you be so kind to free him of his chains?"

Allen's eyes had widened. His pupils had grown so much that almost all the silver had been swallowed by the blackness. Sweat was trickling into his collar. His muscles were trembling.

They had walked straight into their trap! Lavi couldn't believe it. After all the effort Allen had put into coming here to kill the man, this was how it ended up. He knew he had to help him somehow, but the power forcing him down was too strong. "Kill him, Al! You can do it!"

Allen didn't show any signs of hearing him.

The man however, of whom Lavi was pretty sure it was the earl as the books had described him, shot him a quick look before turning back to the boy. "Now, now, no need to stretch this so much. You know you can't go against these orders. He is the dragon master after all. He's been sleeping for a very long time already, give him the chance to finally open his eyes again."

"I… I can't…" All of Allen's muscles tensed, sending heavy tremors through his body. For a moment it was like he would somehow control himself, but just before Lavi could yell another form of support, the boy closed his eyes and the claw shot downwards.

Immediately silence fell over the room. Lavi scrambled desperately in a useless attempt to get up and see what had happened.

The earl's face was hard to read. A handsome Noah man had gotten a surprised expression. Road was just staring at the coffin in interest. The others didn't give away any more information.

Finally Allen opened his eyes. For a moment he stared at the results of his act, then he pulled back in shock, losing his balance and toppling over the edge onto the ground in front of the earl's feet. Then he pushed himself up and scrambled back, away from the altar.

This didn't seem good.

"Al, what did you do?"

Allen turned his head towards him, sending him a glance of pure terror. The silence was a clear answer.

And surely enough, a few seconds later, Neah rose from his sleeping place. His eyes were as pure golden as those of the other Noah as he took in the surroundings.

"Welcome home, dear Neah," the man bowed in front of the dragon master. "My sincere apologies you had to wait for so long."

Neah blinked slowly, then let his eyes travel over the party again. When they passed Lavi he could feel the gaze pierce straight through him: powerful, demanding, ruthless.

"Where's my dragon?"

It wasn't a real question, more like a demand. The earl turned around to Allen and pointed a finger at the boy. "He's here. He's the one who's claws set you free."

Allen froze. Neah investigated him coldly, then raised a hand, gesturing with his finger. "Come here, I want to see you."

The boy stayed where his was. Lavi could see how much effort it took him, but he still wasn't listening to the orders. A shimmer of hope rose in his chest. Maybe Allen could still end this. Neah didn't have full control over him.

However, the golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "Come here, I said."

The order was absolute. Allen crawled up almost mechanically, though clearly outside of his will, and made his way forward.

"Al, no! Don't listen to him!"

The boy turned his head to look back at him, but Neah grabbed his chin and spun it back forcibly to inspect it. He lifted it, then pulled it back down and seemed to look deep into the silver eyes.

"He looks strong and he's definitely a star. I'm taking this one."

A jolt ran through Allen's body. Then the boy started resist, tensing his muscles like he was fighting restraints.

The man rose his fingers to the stars on his head, pressing them to the scars firmly. Afterwards he reached out and pushed them on Allen's forehead.

The boy screamed. Struggling turned into a cramped state of agony. Lavi scratched over the ground, yelling in frustration and fear: "Allen!"

Finally Neah seemed done. He pulled his hands away, letting the boy drop on the floor. Allen's skin had turned dark. On his head were clearly the same star shaped scars the ones around him wore as well.

What was the meaning of this?

Neah finally got up from his coffin. He climbed out of it elegantly. The Noah gathered behind him.

Finally Allen was getting up too.

"Al, are you okay?" there wasn't a response. "Say something!"

"You, dragon." Immediately the boy's head shot up towards the dragon master. "We're going outside. Fly us towards the stars."

White brows knitted together in confusion.

"Aahh~," the earl interrupted with regret. "I'm afraid this dragon can't get us there. He's been banned himself."

Neah frowned, clearly displeased. "A dragon that can't bring us to the stars. How useless." However, he made his way outside and turned around. "Come here. We'll be flying somewhere else. We have some planning to do."

Allen's legs set in motion mechanically.

"No, Al, don't!" Lavi reached out with his hand, trying to catch a pale ankle as it passed him by. However, he couldn't get to it.

For a moment Allen turned his head. There was no recognition in the now golden eyes. They seemed empty. Though one desperate part in Lavi's mind thought he saw a glimpse of fear and sadness pass through them for just a second. Then the boy turned around and left.

Only when the beat of heavy wings had vanished, did the force stop pushing him down, but Lavi didn't feel like getting up anymore.

The journey home was possibly even more painful than his last few hours with Allen. It took him two miserable days to get to a train station. Then three more to make his way to The Order. The whole way he clenched the broken tooth in his hands until the point finally broke through his skin and it got smudged with blood. When the stars came out and stared at him through the cabin window, he would turn away his face, resentment filling him like acid. They had done this. They had sent Allen down like this. They hadn't warned them that the Noah were trying to use them to awaken Neah.

Road had been right, they didn't care about Allen at all.

And now his companion was fully under the dragon master's control.

He pushed the last remnant of his partner against his chest.

He didn't want to think of what they would let sweet, kind Allen do. He knew what the dragon thought of hurting people. Taking down the stars and burning the earth was one of his biggest nightmares and now he would be forced into taking part in it himself.

It just all hurt too much to think about.

The weather wasn't much more optimistic. As soon as he reached the tall tower on the island, the rain was showering from the sky like tears. Thunder rumbled like an angry dragon. Lavi entered drenched, his hands covered with blood and his clothes torn.

But the worst part was probably how he had to tell where he'd gone wrong.

Somehow he managed to fold out the whole story for Komui and his henchmen. The old man was there too. His eyes silent but judging. Afterwards he was sent away to take a shower and rest.

The hot water didn't feel as good as usually. He didn't wash himself, just dropped his head under it and wished he could somehow drown in the streams.

Sleep wouldn't come either, and instead of rest, he lay awake for half of the night, his head running wild on painful memories and feelings of guilt and self-resentment.

How could he ever had let this happen?

The question was still unanswered by the time he woke up again.

"The plan goes like this," Komui stood in front of a giant electronic screen. He spoke to the group of people gathered in front of him, Lavi one of them. As he had been in his room to rest, the scientists had taken their time to work out a solution for the situation. Now it was time they all got to know it.

"Most of the Noah were banned from the stars and thus lost their almost invulnerable position. They can be killed. Every Noah will be fought by groups of three to five people, led by one special agent. We'll divide those immediately after this."

The screen showed a picture of all the Noah. Most of them didn't tell Lavi much, but the sight of Road and the earl made his blood boil with anger again. It didn't get any better when a push on a button turned it into the man who had taken Allen away from him.

"Then, lastly, there's the fourteenth of them, the dragon master, Neah. When the stars banished him he'd already gathered so much power they couldn't rip him from his place in heaven the same way they did to the other Noah. According to our sources," with this the chief sent a quick look at Lavi, who tried to keep his face straight, "he can only be killed by a dragon. Unfortunately, our only dragon has fallen into their hands."

Another button press turned the image into Allen and Neah. The dragon's scales had turned dark grey. His eyes golden. It didn't look anything like his companion anymore, but Lavi knew it was him. His heart squeezed together in the wish to see the white dragon again the way he should be.

"So this is how we'll take care of this problem: long ago the stars gave us one sacred stone. The object was originally meant to bind our dragon to the earth if anything were to go wrong with the curse they had placed on him, but we're sure it should work on the dragon master too. This stone will cut all ties with the stars, turning the victim into a normal human. Since we only have one, it is more than logical we use it on Neah of all."

There was a little murmur of agreement.

"Then, lastly, we'll need to get to the dragon master first." Reluctance was clear in the chief's voice as he continued. "As mentioned before, our dragon has fallen in his hands and will defend him. This creature has to be handled with the utmost care. He's very powerful. If you get the tiniest chance, kill him. Using the stone on Neah will prove to be impossible otherwise."

Lavi could feel his blood turn to ice. He opened his mouth to protest, but Komui silenced him with one stern, but sad look.

"I know, Allen has been a precious colleague to some of you." Now Lavi realized he hadn't been the only one ready to make a move. "But I'm afraid there isn't another option. I hope you too, can see that it's the most humane thing we can do. Everyone here should know how gentle Allen was and how much he hated to see people hurt. Right now, he's being forced in doing terrible things. He must be in terrible pain. It's only merciful to put him out of his misery."

Right. He'd been thinking about it too. How much Allen had to be suffering right now. Komui wasn't wrong. Again the truth hurt like someone was using his heart like a pincushion. He clenched his hands into fists, thinking of what Allen really would have wanted. Then he lifted his face in determination. "I'll do it." Suddenly all faces turned to him. Komui's eyes widened in surprise.

"If anyone has to kill Allen, then it will be me," he stated, meeting the chief's gaze firmly. "I know how important it was for him to not fall under Neah's control. I'll get him out of there and take care of Neah."

Komui closed his eyes. For a moment it was very clear how hard all of it was on him as well. The mask of control reappeared on his face when he opened them again. "Alright, then that's been decided. Lavi Bookman, you will take care of Allen and, if possible, the dragon master."

He had said it back then, but as they made their way there, all of Lavi's doubts returned. He clenched Allen's fang in one hand, the stone meant for Neah in the other. Was there really no other way to fix this? Did he really have to kill Allen?

He had a new hammer on his belt too. Just before they had left The Order, the scientists had come up to him with the weapon. They had thought he might need something better to fight a dragon. This thing could apparently grow in size and extend to great limits. It was perfect for reaching distant targets, something very useful when your opponent was a flying dragon.

And useful it proved indeed. They finally got to the Noah a few days later, inside a big city. Night had fallen and the buildings shone in a cold grey shine. Their opponents had apparently been waiting for them, because they were standing in an orderly line with Neah flying on his dragon above them.

Fortunately, The Order was very orderly too. The members knew exactly what their jobs were. Before the Noah could make a move of their own, the assigned groups chased up to their own opponent and pulled them into a fight. Their screams and yells in the heat of battle echoed through the dark air, filling Lavi's veins with adrenaline.

He was lucky. He didn't look like much of a fighter at all, so nobody really paid any attention to him as he pulled the hammer from his belt. He breathed deeply and tried to not look the dragon in his eyes as he swung the object back. Then, giving it a mighty shove he yelled: "Extend… grow!"

The weapon, suddenly as big as a house, crashed into the reptile. Allen cried in agony as a nauseating cracking sound echoed through the streets. The impact blew the two away, making the dragon crash out of sight.

The hammer had shrunk and disappeared again so fast, that most Noah were still searching around in shock in an attempt to find the one responsible for hurting their leader. When members of The Order distracted them with a fight again, Lavi managed to slip out without getting noticed. Of the group of seven that had been assigned to him, only three managed to do the same.

They ran between the houses, following the enormous cloud of dust that was starting to form after Allen's impact. However, as soon as they arrived, they were met by a sea of flames.

The two men in front of Lavi screamed. Only one of them rolled when he hit the ground. The other stayed motionless. He himself could feel the heat of the flames scorch his skin, but he got away much more lucky.

The dragon roared dangerously as he reared up. One of his wings lay on the ground in a strange angle, but even earth-bound, the reptile would be very dangerous.

"Al, I'm here buddy!" He couldn't help but hope the words would somehow reach the boy. "I'll get you out of this, I promise!"

It seemed to work. The dragon calmed down a little, letting its body slide back on the ground.

"So you're the cause." Neah was standing next to the reptile by now. He was beating the dust from his clothes. However, apart from a few tears in the fabric, he seemed perfectly unharmed. "I've been wondering why this stupid animal wasn't completely obedient, but now I get it. It's you." He turned his golden glaze to the winged creature next to him. "Well, lucky me. That means I can fix it now. You, dragon,"

Allen's golden eyes widened.

"Kill the red haired guy."

A low, dangerous rumble collected in the creature's throat. Smoke escaped through its nostrils.

"Wait, Al, it's me." The memory of that day with Road returned. Then a rampaging, furious Allen, had somehow heard him through the red haze. Careful, just like that time, he closed in on the reptile. "You don't have to kill me. Nobody but you can decide what you want to do."

The animal lifted its lips, baring a row of pointy white teeth.

"You were so mad at me when I called you beansprout, are you really going to let a guy like that treat you even worse? Shouldn't you at least drop a bottle of ink on his head too?"

Apparently something was holding Allen back. The reptile was still just growling at him. It hadn't taken any preparation to actually hurt him.

"and what about the stars? Aren't you going to return? When I saw you dancing like that, that night, I knew you belonged there. If you stay like this, you will never be able to."

He put a hand on Allen's snout, just like that other time. The scales felt warm and smooth as always. The desire to climb on his companion's neck and just fly away took him over. He smiled painfully. He would never do that again. He knew he was just stretching this to create his chance. He knew sooner or later Allen would have to obey his comment.

Neah folded his arms in annoyance. His foot was resting on the last man of their group. Only Lavi was left. And soon he might be reptile food as well.

The man narrowed his golden eyes. "I said to kill him. Now get on to it!"

A flash of pain shot through the eyes of the dragon. The muscles under Lavi's hands rippled when the reptile's snarl grew even more. However, he was still unmoving.

Lavi leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the giant grey nose. "I know you can't resist him, Al. I'm really sorry it has to end like this. You will probably hate me after this." He smiled sadly as he scratched the scales. "and it's okay if you do. You'd have all the right to. I rather have you circling around me, out of reach, than not at all. I'm sorry."

"KILL HIM!" Neah had lost the last of his patience.

The order was so harsh, that Allen jolted upwards in response, roaring towards the dark sky. Then he curled back like a snake. His maw opened. Red lights danced at the back of his throat. Flames, meant for the human in front of him.

Lavi clenched his hand around the tooth. He stared into the face of death. Memories bubbled up. Allen and he on the train roof, talking about the stars. Allen crying into the folds on his shirt. Allen dancing in the starlight, his skin glowing a miraculous white light. Allen's lips, brushing over his. Allen's breath as it filled his lungs.

Allen really was going to hate him for this.

His other hand shot out of his pocket, holding the smooth, round object he'd been carrying ever since his visit at The Order. Sending a little, desperate prayer to the stars he pulled his arm back, then swung it straight at the reptile.

The sacred stone cut through the air like a projectile. Even Neah, suddenly coming into action of shock, couldn't stop it before it reached its goal.

It disappeared straight into the light dancing in the dragon's mouth, deep into the creature's innards.

Lavi watched the reptile convulse with a sinking feeling. It howled, squirming in agony. Finally the golden eyes rolled away and the giant serpent body went limp, colliding with the ground with a deep rumble that shook the ground. The contours shimmered, then the beast started to shrink, scales disappeared. Claws shortened and rounded. The grey color turned to a pale skin and light hair that dulled to a natural white color. A normal, human boy was lying on the ground. Unconscious, but breathing.

Lavi had just taken the biggest risk of his life. He might just as well have condemned the world to a future of burning.

Still he knew he couldn't have done it any other way.

"YOU!" A hand locked on his throat, smashing him into a wall with inhuman force. "How dare you take MY DRAGON!" Two golden eyes cut through him like knives. Neah's dark face had contorted into a furious grimace of killer intent. "This is it. You've just surpassed your boundaries there. You're going to die in long and pure agony."

The hand around his throat tightened. Lavi wrestled in its grip. His hand slipped in his jacket, finding Allen's fang. He clenched it, closing his eye and letting memories of the boy grab hold on him once more. If Allen could just live, that would be enough for him.

"I'll let you watch as the world burns and everyone dies. I'll let you scream until your voice dies and you beg me, whispering, for death. Even then, I will torture you, until your little mortal heart uses up the last of its strength and sputters out softly." The mouth of the man cracked open in a grin that made Lavi's blood turn to acid. "And there's nothing you can do about it. You wasted the only means of defeating me on that stupid dwarf star. You're out of options now."

It was a stupid idea. A risk he should never have taken. It was the tiniest presumption that it might work. Still, Neah was almost right. He was out of options now. He had just this last one. The one he hadn't spoken about with Komui, because he'd been sure the chief would have put him on another team if he had.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket, clenching the hard object in it so tightly that he might have broken it if it hadn't been made from dragon enamel. He grinned at the man, then launched his arm upwards in front of him.

The dragon master's face cramped in shock when Lavi felt the object in his hand sink into flesh. The eyes opened so far that the white around them was clearly visible. Pupils, dark as black holes, ate up the golden irises.

"You…"

The hand around Lavi's throat loosened. But the redhead didn't stop yet. He kept pushing, his hands sinking further and further. Something jolted at the fang a few short moments, then the man collapsed.

Neah, the dragonmaster, was forced to the ground by the redhead, a dragon fang deep in his chest, puncturing the black heart.

Finally the redhead let go of his weapon. His fingers were sticky with dark blood. His own heartbeat suddenly felt strange and miraculous in his chest.

He'd done it. He'd killed Neah, no, Allen had killed Neah.

Tears jumped in his eye as he stared at the dark man in front of him. He'd done it. He'd freed Allen from his tormentor, and given him a new one instead. A single tear slid down his cheek. He'd saved him, but imprisoned him in the worst way possible.

He'd even taken flying away from the star.

Still his legs raised him and carried him to his partner. The boy was still lying on the ground. Lavi kneeled in front of him and stared at the pale face, looking so peaceful in his sleep. This was probably the last time he was going see it again. Allen really was going to hate him after this.

Eyelids shivered, then fluttered open. A set of grey eyes discovered the world with confusion. When Allen tried to get up, his arms folded back in and Lavi had to catch him to prevent the pale face hitting the tiles.

"What…?" Allen shook his head in confusion while he let himself get helped up to his knees by his companion. "What happened?"

The boy stared at the dark body next to them in silence, then back at the redhead. "Is this a dream? My body feels so different too. It's like gravity has gotten even a little stronger."

However much he wished to do it, he couldn't lie. Not now. "It's not dream, Al." He stared straight into the grey eyes, confronting his own guilt and responsibility of what he'd done as he continued: "I just cut all your bonds with the stars. You're a normal human now. Your fang was the thing that killed Neah."

Allen turned his face away in disbelief. His eyes stocked on the man lying on the ground, a pointy tooth sticking out of his chest.

"I'm sorry, Al," Lavi whispered softly, "I couldn't kill you, but I did something probably much more horrible instead. You definitely won't return to the stars anymore. You won't even be able to fly."

However, when the boy looked back there wasn't any resentment on his face. The sadness was there, but it wasn't nearly as much as that night the dragon hadn't been able to return to his home. Instead the boy smiled through the pained emotions. "You didn't kill me. The Order and even the stars had planned to kill me once I got under Neah's control, but you didn't. When everyone would have lost faith you still tried for me." Tears glittered like tiny stars over the pale cheeks. "Thank you, Lavi. Even if I can't fly, being alive, next to you, means much more to me. I knew long ago already, that I would never return, because even if I would, it wouldn't be the same without Mana."

Lavi leaned his face closer, their noses almost touching. "You're really not angry?" Allen closed the last distance. The skin of his cold, soft nose felt almost healing on Lavi's scorched face. "No, of course not."

Lavi wrapped his hands around the delicate boy, pulling him close. For the first time, tears didn't stop streaming from his eye. They blurred his surroundings, making the sensation of touch even stronger. "You know, Al," his voice cracked desperately, "we aren't a human and a dragon now anymore."

Allen's body shocked. His breath came out in short bursts. Was he crying or…?

When the boy grabbed his face and pressed a kiss on his forehead he realized it was both. Allen moved downwards, pressing his head against Lavi's. "I know." The whisper was almost too soft to hear, but the kiss said more than any word could.

This time there wasn't anyone breaking them apart. Lips brushed over each other gently. Hands caressed soft skin. Fingers tangled through red and white hair.

The salt of tears filled his mouth, but strangely, it tasted miraculously sweet to Lavi.

[phoorn]

SWORD

I'm a writer, a cliche. When I was young writing was easy. Now it's hard. How?

Well, you get scared, don't you? And too ambitious. Your mouth's bigger than your stomach, your arms are puny.

And you're not at school any more. That's the tricky part. There's no Sword of Damocles hanging over your head. You need one, or you sit around wasting your one and only life. It's insane, but that's how it is.

So let me organise one. I, **** ***** do pledge to have written this new story I've come up with before seven days have passed. It's 10 Dec right now, so let's say I get it done by the end of 17 Dec, next Thursday.

I'll say a bit more about my situation. I've been published -- a small publisher, the book sank. I mean, I think people bought it. But I never saw any of the money. I'm not sure to this day if I got scammed.

That was quite some time ago. I was contracted to write a follow-up, but terrible things happened, I went mad, I had no idea what I was doing, I slinked away into the shadows. As I say, I'm not sure to this day if I got scammed. I'm also not sure if scammed my publisher. I've kept my head down since.

It's been quite some time since then. What have I done? Well, not much, right? I did nothing for many years. In the past couple of years I've done some writing, finished one story, nearly finished a bunch of others. I mean, I've always got to the end of the first draft. I've retired from the race every time somewhere about the middle of the second.

Some of these stories are ... not bad. The truth is, though, they're not amazing. They're not what someone of my ego would expect from someone who was published for the first time as early as I was.

I HAVE BEEN HUMBLED. God knows I needed it. You're not as good as you think you are. Someone on Youtube a while ago said something like the tricky thing is we think we're great because we know we have great taste. We read books and go, "I'd do that part better." "I hate how she does this. God, is she stupid?"

It's like watching streamers on Twitch. They are in fact better than their audience, but their audience goes, "Why did he get supply-blocked there?" It's cause he was doing a bunch of things you don't have the eye to notice, and he's 2000 MMR higher than you, shut up.

But I am getting better. I can see improvement in all these stories. Each one is mostly better than the last. Sometimes the ideas are worse, but they're still better-executed.

I just need to do more. I'm not young. It's a bit scary, to have considered yourself a writer all your life but not to have really practiced.

So that's that; there's my pledge. I'm gonna post a diary entry every day, too. Short. I won't go on and on. I like talking, you know. I like writing. But I have no writer friends to talk to. I don't think you need them. Talking does help, though. Some of my best story ideas come from my talking to myself, explaining to imaginary journalists how I made my millions.

I'm putting the source on Gitlab. If you know about Git, you'll know you'll be able to go look at all of the different revisions. You might find it fun. I've thought about streaming on Twitch, too, so you can watch every word, every hesitaiton. But thinking about it today made me nervous, so, no, I won't bother.

This secret blog is about enough for me. It's public, but not really, cause it's unknown. Pretty perfect.

Here follows the first day of notes. They actually written in my diary. I won't post notes like this again. It'll all be in the repo.

I should also say I don't plan to be very comprehensible here. I don't plan to be a blogger, though right now in the throws of enthusiasm it seems to me doing this (pledge, blog) for every story is a very intelligent thing to do. But it's a means to an end. The end, by the way, is riches, fame, an editor. I'd give my right arm for an editor.

FIRST DAY

2020-12-10T06:26:36+00:00

I'm not going back to mogen. No. One day I will. Let's do something new. Yes. 5,000 words for real. I've had plenty of ideas. As usual I'm influenced by things I've been reading.

Something I've always loved is spies. Really I mean "darkfriends". In the Wheel of Time, there's darkfriends -- they follow Shai'tan. Anyone could be one. It was the thing that made WoT really good. A Song of Ice and Fire has the same thing -- people aren't "darkfriends", but they can betray you. There's always danger.

Though in a short story I don't think I can do that. I could write a story about a guy who's found a spy. Or a guy who's a spy himself. Though that would involve coming up with a palace/court. But I wouldn't have to go into detail. Do I have one already? Not really.

There's also the shogun's wife idea. A story about a shogun's wife trying to keep him occupied, save him / the country in some way.

Since it's a short story it could be about her trying to get his mistress back. She's leaving because he's unstable. But the wife needs her back because she keeps him stable.

A story about a spy who needs to get some papers for his country. That'd need a few more thousand words to be worth it.

A dangerous world. That's another idea I've been having. I've written it down. Worlds with danger -- monsters, weather -- in them are the best. Middle Earth is dangerous. Randland (WoT's world) is dangerous (because of darkfriends). The Shadow of the Echo of All That is Lost's (James Islington's trilogy, not its real name) world is dangerous -- it's full of ancient, dangerous powers.

Another idea I've been having is about a magic that's only "items". Only objects of power, no power that a person can themselves wield. But I've always liked that, fuck knows why.

A story about a magic artefact. That sums up 90% of fantasy.

A fun story about a fun girl.

Which of these do I want to write? I'll look briefly through my story ideas first.

OK, something important: I've made a note to write a story about a character that wants something, needs something else and cant have either. This is how Brandon Sanderson writes. I will make sure to do that.

Another pertinent note: it says to think of the "perfect" world, thinking of all the books, games and films I've read/played/watched.

Middle Earth: loneliness, emptiness. Xenoblade Chronicles: a world on a God's body. Final Fantasy VII: Midgar, black pipes. Final Fantasy VI: cold waste, mechs. The Shadow of the Whatever: an ancient place filled with dormant, dangerous things. WoT: the atmosphere of the first and second novels. The world isn't amazing, come to think about it.

CJ Cherryh's Alliance Universe: it's sci-fi, but there's a lovely tenuous feel. Everyone's vulnerable going through space, everyone's weak.

OK, let's think about that. There's a new season of Attack of Titan. That's got an incredible premise. I could do something similar.

Rather than huge monsters, let's have small beautiful people. Who are kind and intelligent. That's scary because you're the bad guy.

You're an ancient monster. You're perverted, you love fear and pain. Or maybe you're a human. And perverted -- actually perverted but also basically normal. But the "monsters" are these beautiful creatures. They're elven. And they have no respect for you. They'll lock you up or kill you if they find you.

You WANT: To be accepted You want to be one of them You've found a magic spell that can make you into one of them To escape To kill them all, start the human rebellion To escape with A magic artifact Something that could kill them all A weapon that could be used to wage war A portal or ship that could take you to the moon Your mother sister girlfriend father The monsters are: Humans that changed themselves Using a spell They gave themselves magic powers They look just like you, so you can't tell who's who at a glance You can tell pretty quickly, though

It seems ... OK. What the opposite of perfect monsters? Imperfect humans. Maybe it's our guy who is perfect. No, I wouldn't know how to write that.

Let's just try out a lot of these wants and needs.

He WANTS: To be accepted. He NEEDS: To live happily, discrimination-free?

So, he wants to be one of them, but needs to just be accepted. That's fine.

How does he go about getting what he wants? How do you become someone else? He could use the same magic spell they did. He could use a different one. They somehow do it the real way, he the fake way. A bit like Gattaca.

Let's make the community small. It's not a world, just a village. An interesting village, and this will have something to do with what changed the rest of them.

Well, first, how about people start disappearing and appearing outside? It's a bit Attack on Titan. And not that original. Really cool, though.

But that wouldn't come into it. That would have already happened. And maybe wouldn't be explained. So, they became the superior humans by this mysterious mechanism. He's trying to fake it.

They all left and seemed to become really happy/intelligent/healthy. But they won't come back into the city.

They keep disappearing. Are they being taken? I think yes. Finally our guy is the only one left in the town. And he leaves, tries to become one of them.

They look different. They're covered in hair. So he shaves all the dogs and cats in the city, covers himself in their hair and leaves.

He finds a small camp of them. They don't accept him.

Or they do, though they know he's not one of them. I mean, they don't care. Or maybe they do. Maybe whenever he gets close they leave. Or maybe they just accept him. Do what you want, they say. They don't run away. But they don't really talk to him.

If they run away, that'd be cool. Nasty. Lonely for him. If not, you'd be able to see what they say. Maybe it's only when he covers himself in fur they let him stay. But they know he's not one of them.

He'd need to figure out what happened to them. In the end he doesn't do it in time and they all leave.

Or maybe he does figure it out and they leave. He just doesn't get something.

So what is it?

A drug A book A religion A small sphere They keep going to the sphere, standing around, then leaving When he finds it, he stands around He doesn't feel anything, but he changes to look like them The next time he sees them, they're walking -- not as a group He follows, tries to talk to them and they don't say anything. A minstrel

That's a nice mystery. It's got a nice feel to it. Btw I just took a small detour -- 2020-12-10T08:17:37+00:00 -- to make rsn's random number not be based on the time.

Randomness in programs. You start by "seeding" a random number generator. The classic way to do this is "srand (time (NULL))". srand takes an integer. time (NULL) returns the current second (since the start of Unix time).

The problem with with this approach is if you run the program more than once in a second you get the same result. Because the seed is the same.

Now I'm reading from /dev/random:

int fd = open ("/dev/random", 0); int seed; if (fd != -1) { ssize_t ret = read (fd, &seed, sizeof seed); if (ret != sizeof seed) { /* warn ("Couldn't read from /dev/random: using time (NULL) instead"); */ seed = time (NULL); } } else seed = time (NULL); srandom (seed); if (fd != -1 && close (fd)) err (1, "Couldn't close /dev/random");

You will see it defaults to time (NULL) if for some reason /dev/random can't be opened.

/dev/random is a psuedo device. Linux "collects" entropy over time and sticks it in a kind of pool. I have no idea how that works. But you can read random numbers from /dev/random.

Back to the story. It's a nice mystery, one of those what's-going-on stories. Do I explain what's going on? Stephen King says that stories that don't show the monster are cheating. But when you do show the monster you lose something.

Let's just come up with a half-explanation. Like a book, drug or sphere. But say nothing else.

Maybe instead of them leaving they go back to the village and don't let him back in. "Get the fuck out! And stay out!" Or they just acts as if nothing's happened.

Maybe it's him that's put them out there. Magic.

How could he be responsible? It'd be hard for it to be him, if they're supposed to be content.

Maybe they're experiencing something more. They're actually logged into the magical multiverse net.

Maybe he spoils it in some way. And they don't get to ascend.

The important thing is what's the thing that's brought them out there.

It's got to be something weird or incredible. Let's favour weird. Let's get some random sentences:

Its a garbed jollified Its a refractable corrugate Its a remindful hiccupping Its a backboneless chum Its a upland erase Its a cacuminal compart Its a accented bishoping Its a emendatory deceive Its a isoperimetrical reground Its a agrostological appear Its a urticant hinnied Its a reunionistic presses Its a homodont barber Its a unscrupulous cellars Its a psychic harp Its a Laodicean prevaricate Its a clipped hurries Its a quartic worst Its a stimulant eulogised Its a tangiest processes Its a numerable dosing Its a cornered totalizes Its a raggle-taggle focussed Its a sacrificial dissuade Its a synoicous enable Its a kingly recapped Its a unconscionable woofs Its a silver depone Its a self-confessed heathenized Its a led flocks Its a microseismical cons Its a hypodermal rehangs Its a fogless trephined Its a urbanized mutating Its a bewitching trauchling Its a boozy untruss Its a unanxious blow-dries Its a elenctic platinise Its a usurpative alleviates Its a unsatisfiable overbids Its a Jugoslav embedded Its a redder booby-trap Its a torn rinsing Its a intelligible fans Its a decorative restrict Its a annalistic bandying Its a oral shikars Its a sejant outlast Its a sapindaceous mussitate Its a evoked antiquates Its a secular impaled

Of those I like:

Its a psychic harp Its a accented bishoping Its a silver depone Its a backboneless chum Its a refractable corrugate Its a secular impaled

A psychic harp. That's straightforward. It'd be just sitting out there, playing itself sometimes. Or is someone playing it? Our guy thinks about going up there, touching the empty space. That's scary.

The accented bishoping -- an accented bishop. Just a bishop, sitting out there on the hills. Not that great.

Its a silver depone. I'm not sure what a depone is. But it doesn't matter. I've settled on the psychic harp.

It's psychic. That means it can hear your thoughts. It can communicate, though, but only in music. Is it communicating, our guy thinks?

It could play folk songs. Our guy would know the words. But he'd know various words and wouldn't get far.

Maybe the crux of the story is the meaning of the tune it's playing. Is it "My Johnny Went off to War" or "The Silver Plate", which is about a woman who kills herself because her Johnny cheats on her?

Or maybe the songs are about the town, or God. Let's just say he listens and changes. He thinks about marching to war. And then everyone leaves.

Probably best to not bother with the words stuff. Won't be able to make it work. It's just a mesmerising tune, and it changes him.

And then people leave. This is fine. Will people think it's just weird / feel unsatisfied? I can't know.

I'm feeling a little self-conscious now because I'm thinking I'll go post this on my blog, announce that I'm going to finish this story in a week, put the repo on Gitlab, stream this on Twitch. I like the idea of it. Probably best not to bother with Twitch.

Alright, let's plan that. Where to post? I can stick it on my Tumblr. Toks has made a website, apparently. I could do the same. I won't, though.

Today Make repo, stick it on Gitlab. Write post for Tumblr, include these notes. Write All characters, names, etc -- temp names -- wants, needs Synopsis Clean kitchen Call Mother Put money on phone Read

[the-firebird69]

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Is Pregnant, Expecting Second Child with Jason Statham! | Jason Statham, Pregnant, Pregnant Celebrities, rosie huntginton whiteley | Just Jared

And the two is screaming that it's them is too idiots down at the end of the hall telling people what they're doing so is a casting call for Jason stratham and he's up the news and that's what it means it's probably by Dan does it go after each other all the time like they did in New York chopped each other up half of them were dead took their heads their heads came off we grab it John C Reilly for Hard knock kicker 5150 and they fight over who bothers him and complains I don't know why they're killed more of them if they're bothering me and they're doing it backwards it's very commendable that's what you should be doing but we get the Intel and stuff on you so they're going at it and they don't care they say this is this is hardly any of them here after you look around and you start slaughtering them again when they start looking around starting to think of something what he's saying is still do this or slaughter you or getting slaughtered it's going to go out there and so don't do this well slaughter you personally now that's what it means so going to teach him now we've got so many people wondering what this damn thing is saying because you a****** retards keep modifying it that just start to work on it and he's just leaving it there because it takes too much effort to change and to change everything that you sent sometimes and it cost you a lot of money and stuff you don't seem to care and you haven't rigged anything you're just a bunch of boobs I got this morning to somebody yelling at me are these caverns empty and it wasn't him it wasn't her either it was you d******* asking about the chasms and he said it wrong and I said no just still full of your blood why don't you go up there and make sure it's topped off and said no I'm saying sarcasm do you have a go up there make sure it's topped off anyways we grab you for your outbursts and start grabbing them and start getting worse we'll grab more so they started getting upset and we said that's terrible really grab more pretty soon there won't be any of these assholes here so I'm looking around the room of ours and saying I don't want to put up with these idiots he says take over all the companies that they have because they're easy prey and every single one of them is falling today isn't they practically can't even tell they're so dumb too and I look cuz they're just sitting there smiling at what he say cuz they're jackasses I said I want his heavy stuff too and we can make this game out of it and finding out where everything is and completing them to nothing and taking all the areas cuz that's pretty much all they have just make it into not a black hole but center of business for us and will be in business because we'll get there iron and use it for our stuff so they started frowning they said f you and all the stuff but he says Hera is backing him up because you did start this business with big tanks and you are interested with it and you're a piece of s*** and shouldn't be so I'm going to destroy it because you're trying to destroy him you have no use here you stated all the time so you're done so you can take your big fat prick while somewhere else's Hera says and we back it up! Is stand behind her actions and convictions and we go ahead and we put warrants out on all of these idiots here who are bothering us and her and him and we're going to take them apart meaning we get the intel we're going to take them apart we have absolutely no reason not to and they're just providing so much more when we say it. The next to the half-ass job but I'm killing people are harming them and they didn't go after the company is the stuff they sit there that's ridiculous as I expected to do this stuff on their own I'm just going to lose all the chemicals and the companies and access to everything cuz we're going to take over Walmart now cuz to see you guys moving to grab all sorts of stuff and taking over Walmart suppliers first

Thor Freya

We hire now and we are new people of ours so please volunteer sign up come down we have tons of paying jobs you don't have to go to the solar system here in Earth and all in any way we have security jobs and our own places and we have tons of them and we're hiring like mad so please come in and sign up and sign up for what you want to and there's different pay grades and different pay levels

All of it is good money and they're ways to make bonuses all the time decent bonuses and get you ahead and all sorts of things you need and they're also we have places for the families that they go with you and there's training for kids and so forth to train with them it is exactly what he said to do is exactly what works because we helped him come up with it

Olympus