#i was stuck on the regenerating monster and would never have come up with that solution on my own lol

[bereft-of-frogs]

listttttttt:

-finish work. be normal in afternoon meeting. just be normal, I'm begging you, just be normal--

-make a post-work beer run timed with doing laundry. exciting stuff.

-make more draft progress on main wip / start rewriting unexpected chapter 4 of 5 of 'omens'. I'm considering ending on a cliffhanger. That debate's back. It would just be adding another couple hundred words to the draft. Am I that mean? Probably. I don't know.

-knitting-wise: still have to ball up yarn I got last week, never did that, I'd also theoretically like to get through the short rows of this sweater I'm making so I can get onto the fun repetitive part and cease all this damn COUNTING.

-play dead space: I just got to a part where I think I get what's going on and I'm like noooooo isaac noooooooooooooooo and I want to see where that's going

-I'd like to write out the rest of the 'assignments' for the lord of the rings reread for lent in my planner, that's kept me on track pretty well this week

-book club on sunday: theoretically I should add 'finish book club book' to this list but god. I hate it. I hate this book so much. I've made it 70 pages in and I just hate it, so I think I'm just going to show up, drink my gin, and learn whether or not this is an unpopular opinion. maybe be convinced to finish it, maybe these were just bad character introductions, but also it's been 70 pages and the characters are so egregiously awful (and not in a fun way) and it's making me viscerally angry and you know what, life's too short and I'm not getting graded for this so. that's probably going to be a DNF from me.

[the-violet-galaxy]

Been getting really into my idea for a TSAMS Swap AU, the "Killswap" AU, which explores what happens when Sun had the Killcode instead of Moon.

Some ideas I'm playing with are like

Things in the AU start off mostly the same as canon -- Sun and Moon have the same personalities and backstory, the main difference being that, when they were in the same body, Moon never killed anyone (though he WAS still the same sarcastic asshole and was mean to the kids), and Sun is the one who ended up killing people. The Killcode works a little differently in this AU: it only takes effect inside Sun when certain things trigger it.

There are a couple ways to trigger it, but the primary one is the emotional core in this AU, which is that the Killcode reacts in response to Sun being mistreated by others, when he reaches a certain emotional threshold of anger or helplessness. It represents "hurting someone who has hurt you back"; the idea of revenge. Sun understands this is happening to him and desperately pushes back against that mentality and doesn't WANT people back, but the Killcode is like a switch that flips and forces this drastic violent behavior onto him. Sun fears having any negative emotions because he is afraid to snap and hurt people; even after seemingly getting rid of the Killcode, he is scared to feel anger. It feels almost like a monster inside him; especially later on when the Killcode regenerates and especially later gains sentience.

Sun wasn't dangerous the vast majority of the time, still loved and worked well with the kids, and was the twin who was out the most. (He would kill humans when the second major trigger of the Killcode took place, which is reaching a certain threshold of rage at people who "disrupt order" aka his anger at rulebreakers taken to the extreme. He took to so quickly banning people from the Daycare after they broke rules as a defense mechanism to not let things escalate to the point they got dangerous.)

(Sometimes Sun would get "stuck" in his Killcode-influenced state, and the only way to flip the switch back is if the lights went off and Moon came out. Moon coming out acted as a switch to turn the Killcode back off and Sun would come back to himself. This ties in with Moon's character arc for this AU, which I won't go into yet, but the best thing to highlight for it is "control.")

That's how things went in the backstory.

Then, Eclipse is born because Sun tried to get rid of his Killcode by secretly giving it to Moon when they were separating, which means Killswap Eclipse is a "Moon Variant" in this AU. (Free of the Killcode for a year or two, Sun and Moon live the same as they do in TSAMS canon up until Eclipse starts to make his move, and Moon begins to show concerning behaviors.....)

But after that familiar starting point, more things are different; characters are swapped around in a more traditional manner (Lunar and Solar, Roxy and Monty), or some characters who are either a Sun-types or Moon-types have their alignments shifted to the other one (the Bloodmoon Blood Twins become the Blacksun Burn Twins, etc).

Oh and Sun is the master magic user trained by Golden Freddy in this AU, and Moon has no idea about magic or how to incorporate it into his hypergenius technology. Because I said so.

I'm having fun with this one, I'll definitely try to make some stuff for it sometime.

[bi-bard]

I've Got a Lot to Live Without - Thirteenth Doctor Imagine (Doctor Who)

Title: I've Got a Lot to Live Without

Pairing: Thirteenth Doctor X Reader

Based On: Bigger Than the Whole Sky

Word Count: 960 words

Warning(s): season 12 spoilers (just in case), grieving

Summary: [Season 12, Episode 10] What is life like when the Doctor is gone and time comes to a stop?

Author's Note: Yeah... this one hurt. I wanted it to seem like a flow of consciousness more than anything.

MIDNIGHTS - TAYLOR SWIFT WRITING CHALLENGE MASTERLIST

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I never realized how annoying the sound of knocking could be.

It was.

Unbearable.

Like a drum growing louder and louder. It felt like someone had shoved an ice pick into my head and was hitting it with a hammer in the hopes of driving the tool deeper and deeper.

Yaz had started coming by to see me since we had made it home. Every day, just past nine. Like it was perfectly planned. A normal part of her daily routine dedicated to trying to get me to talk to her. Or anyone, I guess.

"(Y/n), come on, open the door."

"Please, talk to me."

"We all got stuck here. We can help each other!"

I ignored her every day.

I knew she meant well, but I didn't want her here. I wanted to be left alone in my grief. I wanted to hide away from everything around me. I knew there was this idea that misery loved company, but that phrase never accounted for grief.

I was curled up on my couch, a blanket thrown over me.

There was a plate sitting on my coffee table. The food on it was half-eaten. A mug of now-cold tea sat next to it. I was having trouble gathering the energy to do anything. Making the meal was accomplishment enough.

It was strange how fast it happened.

How fast I had gone from having enough energy to run across whole planets to suddenly feeling like moving from my bed to the couch was monumental.

I missed that version of me. The version of me ready to fight and run and explore. The adventurous one that finally got out of their hometown. The one that had learned what it truly meant to be good and kind and helpful. I wanted to see the version of me that wanted to be the best person that I could be.

Now, it felt like that was a pointless venture.

I couldn't decide if the low energy was an effect of the grief or if the high energy had been an effect of the... of the love.

Another strange thing.

Why could I only match a word to the emotions now that it was all over?

Now that the Doctor was gone.

She was gone.

I ran my hands over my face. I still hated having to acknowledge that reality.

She did it for us. She sacrificed herself for us. Sent us all away. That's the kind of thing she did. She may not want to admit it, but she was a hero. Everything she did proved it.

And I fell in love with that. With her.

I fell in love with the one person in the universe that I could probably never have. The idea of never having her was enough to scare me into keeping my mouth shut.

She never got to know just how much she meant to me. Not fully.

I wonder what her last thought was before she pressed that button. If she thought about her life or the Master or us. I wonder if memories flew by her eyes. I wonder if she just thought about her regrets.

How long would it take for a Time Lord to see their whole life flash before their eyes?

I didn't like thinking about things like that.

It made me question if she had been in a lot of pain. She described regeneration to me once. The burning of every cell in one's body. Genetic code being rewritten in a matter of moments and everything exploding like that of a dying star.

I wondered if her pain when she pressed that button had been worse than her regeneration.

The mere thought pulled on my heart. Made it feel like the organ was climbing out of my throat, ready to tear me apart.

I tried to look for the Doctor after we came back.

I searched for stories about aliens or monsters or strange sightings. I looked for any sign that I could. I kept a binder on a shelf. It was an old one from school that I had torn past assignments out of to write notes and print articles.

It soon felt pointless.

I was going in circles.

That's when denial shifted to anger.

I went back to the TARDIS. It had disguised itself as a house. Now it can hide itself. Very convenient.

The door wouldn't open for me. Probably a safety precaution that the Doctor put in place. It still made me angry.

I banged my hands on the doors. I yelled for the damn thing to let me in. I begged it too.

Nothing happened. Not even a grumble of the machine's engine.

I only left that day when I saw some nearby neighbor watching me through the window. Tears streaming down my face, voice stranded from yelling, my clothes messy. I looked like someone who had lost the person they loved.

I walked away. I went back home.

Locked the door, curled up in my bed, and went back to my hiding.

And I never escaped again.

Now, I was lying on my couch. I had some shit show playing just to fill some part of the silence that used to be covered by the Doctor's constant rambling.

I closed my eyes and rolled so I was facing the back of my couch.

To me, the Doctor was nothing short of the whole universe. Stars and planets. Supernovas and meteors. I imagined that her hearts were connected to the heart of the universe. That her travels through time and space had intertwined the two so they were one and the same.

She was everything to me.

What are you supposed to do when your everything burns to the ground?

---------------------------

Author's Note: I personally think this song can take on two forms of grief. One form is grieving the other person that you lost, and the other form is grieving who you were or could've been if that person was still here. Which might be obvious, but I wanted to show that in this story as much as possible.

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Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

[headspace-hotel]

any Minecraft tips for someone who has literally never played before and is about to play for the first time?

I really do suggest trying to make it as far as you can without looking anything up online, because the journey of discovery minecraft takes you on is really like no other. but there are some essential things to know:

You eat food by holding the food in your hand and using it like you would use a tool to mine a block. This took me forever to figure out.

You can eat rotten flesh if it comes down to it.

You have to mount a horse repeatedly to tame it, and only then can you put a saddle on it. You need a saddle to ride/control a horse. Some horses are faster than others.

You need to keep your hunger bar full so your hearts will regenerate when you get hurt.

Monsters spawn in the dark, so light sources protect an area from monster spawning

Make a fishing pole! Fishing has a chance of giving you good loot.

Since 1.18, iron is basically mostly found in very high elevations and in iron veins DEEP underground. Which sucks because iron is one of the first things you need to progress. Try climbing mountains but watch out for powder snow.

When caving, always take some logs with you. You might need to make a crafting table, get sticks for torches, or smelt them into charcoal for torches.

Don't dig straight down (directly below you). You don't know what's under there.

If you see something that looks like a cluster of lighted buildings, that's a village, and it WILL NOT hurt you. The villagers don't even care if you steal their stuff. Hanging out in a village is a good way to survive early game. But if you accidentally hit a villager in front of an iron golem, the iron golem will kill you.

If you're stuck outside in the dark, building a tower underneath yourself out of blocks or hanging out on an island surrounded by water can protect you. Watch out for Drowned if you do the second thing though

Mark your trail as you travel in some way so you don't get lost.

The Nether is accessed by constructing a portal; that's all i'm saying for now

[rainy-day-coffee]

hi... how about head cannons about the dorm leaders with a magical girl mc from either the puella magi magica madoka, magical girl site, magical girl raising project or princess tutu universe please?

I'll be doing Magical Girl Raising Project for this one! I’ll be using the abilities found in the anime since I’m not creative enough to think of any myself. The personalities of the characters themselves have nothing to do with the abilities I chose, they’re their own person! This is written as platonic! I hope this is alright!

As an extra note, this was a really interesting topic to write about. I enjoyed it! I actually just binge watched this anime for this request! It was quite good, I might pick up the light novels!

Warning: Mild mentions of gore; spoilers for Magical Girl Raising Project(?)

Dorm leaders reacting to a Magical Girl Mc

A new game has been released! Customize your own Magical Girl and work hard to defeat monsters!

Granted a 1-in-10,000 chance to be a real-life Magical Girl, the unfortunate souls who agree to the contract are unknowingly pulled into a world of bloodshed. All Magical Girls are expected to collect Magical candies through acts of helpfulness. Whomever is at the bottom of the ranking list by the end of the week is greeted by death. That is, if they can even make it that far.

Magic: Swimming through objects as if they were water - the objects do not affect the user as they pass through them.

He’s never heard of an ability quite like yours! It isn’t teleportation--it’s literally going through objects, ignoring any kind of barrier. It sounds impossible. Understandably, he doesn’t believe you until you show him.

Please refrain from popping out of random places in an attempt to scare him. He doesn’t want to be on edge everyday, the stress he has now is more than enough.

He’s curious about the whole situation. Just how and why did these “people” wrap you (and others) into such a terrible contract? How is it possible to grant these special abilities onto otherwise magicless people? Unfortunately, you most likely don’t have answers for those questions.

Sadly, Riddle doesn’t know of a way to help you out of this. The library may have some information, but the chances are slim nonetheless. He can offer assistance in candy collecting instead!

Something always seems to be going on at his dorm, it would help him greatly if you were to keep an eye on everything and everyone. He knows it isn’t much, but every little bit counts. You have his full support.

Magic: Entering the dreams of others - the ability to pass through the Dream World, granting access to the dreams of those who are currently sleeping.

He’s extremely annoyed. He doesn’t understand what’s happening. He’s only seen you a couple times before, so why do you seem to plague all of his dreams?

In his dreams, you move so vividly and in-character, it baffles him. Dream versions of people can be accurate, but never to such an extent each time. He’ll confront you about it soon enough. He has no evidence of what you’re doing, however vivid memories of dream-you push him to demand answers anyways.

Highly uncomfortable to know his dreams, his usual safe place, can be invaded by a person. He demands that you stop. You can go bother someone else, he doesn’t need that kind of help. If he sees you in there one more time, he may have to resort to other methods to get you to stop.

In regards to earning candies, unless you ask him specifically for help, there isn’t much he can do. You can always help Ruggie out with chores around Savanaclaw and you’ll be set. It’s a good deal for both sides, you can earn some candies and Leona can finally sleep comfortably again.

He finds the system you’re stuck in deplorable. Unfortunately, he can’t get you out of it, but if you ever need extra help he can always have Ruggie find one or two ways to get you those extra candies you need.

Magic: Hearing the thoughts of those in need - with enough training, the user can pinpoint the location of a person. Additionally, they can hear thoughts apart from cries for help.

Your special magic interests him greatly. He already has a good pool of information of all the students, but being able to hear their most inner thoughts is something truly amazing. No amount of research could easily give him those kinds of details.

He has the twins watch over you for a bit, gathering as much information as they can about your situation and what you go about doing.

Given the circumstances, he doubts he can rob this ability of yours through a contract. This does however present an amazing opportunity.

This could blossom into a wonderful partnership. You need to collect candies, and he’s always willing to accept requests from those “poor” souls who need help. By helping him, you can meet your quota! The rules never did mention what kind of help you were limited to offer after all.

He pities you, nothing can be done about your situation at the moment. You can rest assured though, you’ll never be at the bottom of the leaderboard with him around!

When time allows it, Floyd and Jade will be busy poking their noses where they don’t belong. The mascot that appears when you’re around seems to come from that phone you use. If they can see it, then that means these beings have made a mistake somehow. Is it possible to find a way to free you from this through that?

Magic: Transforming into any biologically living being - the size and shape of the creature do not matter, anything is fair game.

When he first discovers your special magic, he’ll be amazed! Transformation magic isn’t exactly easy, so being able to turn into whatever creature you want sounds like a lot of fun!

He’ll be begging you to turn into a wide variety of animals. Can you please turn into a tiger? How about an elephant? Maybe an alpaca? This could go on for hours if you don’t stop him.

Upon learning the darker side of the Magical Girl world, he starts to cry. He knows the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but this is too cruel. You didn’t know you would suffer this way. They should have at least given you all the information beforehand. Better yet, they shouldn’t be doing something so awful in the first place.

Because he finds it hard to keep secrets from Jamil, he ends up telling him about you. He then needs to convince Jamil that you aren’t trying to get him killed.

He goes around asking if people need help. He wants to do everything he can to ensure you survive. Money can’t get you out of this game, he’s tried to use it but that mascot that follows you around always refuses it.

Kalim doesn’t want you to die. Just thinking about it makes his head spin and worry bubble. It wouldn’t be his fault if you died in the first place, but the guilt would consume him entirely.

Magic: Freely manipulating sound - the user can generate sound from anywhere and even recreate the voices of others. As an added result of this ability, the user has enhanced hearing.

Vil won’t forgive you if you decide to mimic Epel’s voice so he can escape. He may be evading his lessons for now, but Vil will find a way to drill them into him later on.

He never would have thought such a thing was possible. This terrible fate you’ve had forced onto you makes no sense. The beautiful power you’ve been given is nothing compared to the price. He doesn’t blame you, he blames whatever is doing this. 

If such a game exists in the world of Twisted Wonderland, he’ll use his influence to dissuade people from playing. Vil will do this behind the scenes of course, his public image has to remain intact.

He actively requests your assistance. For example, helping his dorm improve their instrument playing--your impressive hearing can detect small mistakes they need to work on. Apart from this, he regrettably can’t offer more help.

Hone your abilities and work with what you have. He knows you can prevail. Please take care of yourself as you move forward.

Magic: Receiving one futuristic tool a day - the ability to randomly pick one useful tool out of 444,444,444. The tool breaks down and is no longer of use after a day passes.

He’s in awe. A real life Magical Girl! To think they could really exist outside of anime! Just what kind of world did you come from? Forget living in a world where magic is common, Magical Girls are on a different level entirely! Curiosity gnaws at him, but given how shy he is he won’t approach you with questions himself. Ortho is more than happy to ask any questions for him in his place though!

Once he finds out you’re one of those Magical Girls, he feels a tad sympathetic. You really got the short end of the stick in life didn’t you? He knew the possibility was there, that trope is not uncommon, but a small piece of him wished it wasn’t the case.

He supposes your special magic can be compared to gacha luck. You never really know what you’re going to get. Unfortunately, in your case you can’t even calculate rates for good rolls.

If you’re willing to let him, he’ll happily take apart the tools and gadgets you get from your daily pull. One of those future items should help him create even better machines than he can now! And even they can’t, disassembling and reassembling objects he’s never seen is a thrill in and of itself

If you happen to hear a small tip from Ortho or someone else about an issue occurring around campus, it may or may not have been Idia. He has eyes all around the school, spotting problems is quite easy.

He’ll be rooting for you from the sidelines. You’re a protagonist in this story, he hopes you can make it through to the end.

Magic: Extreme regeneration - being able to recover from any wound so long as a portion of the user’s body is left.

Mortified when he finds your body all mangled and bruised after a rough “accident.” Malleus is ready to destroy whoever or whatever did this to you. He cares about you greatly, the very thought of seeing you in such a state makes his stomach churn and pure rage wash over him.

Once you explain your situation, he can grasp enough to understand the major gist of it. He doesn’t quite know what a “Magical Girl” is but obviously it isn’t something good. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in such a terrible situation.

To know that you can take care of yourself in the face of danger, makes him relieved. Although he doesn’t like the idea of you getting hurt at all, a healing ability is always wonderful to possess.

While you earn candies, Malleus will be working on a way to free you.

Even if these beings who granted you this ability are “all-powerful,” his magical capabilities are among the top in all the world. Perhaps, he can start by politely asking for answers from the leader of this group. If that seems to fail, killing off that mascot seems like a good place to start instead.

[silvysartfulness]

Hi, silvy! It was really nice to read chapter 38 and re-read all other chapters❤️❤️❤️

There is one question which I still cannot answer by myself, it is about the way how Song Lan‘s body works. As far as we know he doesn’t need any food or water to function, but his body does have some fluids (like blood, because xy saw him blushing) and he loses some of them too(he can come and cry, if I’m not missing something). How does he regenerate them? For the living person it is a hop of metabolism, but how does not he get dehydrated?

I guess it is not so important in the cultivation world since they definitely can regenerate wounds with their zi, but it is still a wert curious subject for me 🤔🤔🤔

Okay. Hm. 🤔

So, this whole area hovers somewhere right in between obsessive nitpicking and extremely vague hand-waving.

The short and easy answer is that as a fierce corpse, he runs on 99% resentment, and as being a fierce corpse, it mostly replenishes itself, even though he isn't at all as resentful as a person anymore (or at least able to keep the destructive energies inside him balanced and under control, thanks to the mala). When he's really exerted himself, though, he may need it topped up from outside sources, like when Xue Yang poured the excess demonic energy from the zombies at the plague graveyard into him.

Fighting monsters and passing by graveyards, old battlefields and other areas teeming with resentment will also resonate with his own energies, strengthening them without him even being aware.

But his body was also the main guinea pig for Xue Yang's experiments with the spells collected to revive Xiao Xingchen - spells to preserve everything human about him, making his resurrected form as un-fierce-corpsy as possible. They were successful, to an extent - Song Lan is the most alive fierce corpse in existence, even compared to other high level fierce corpses like Wen Ning. We do see Song Lan cry at the end of the Yi City arc, for example, something Wen Ning said outright he can't do.

(Not saying Xue Yang is necessarily better at making fierce corpses than Wei Wuxian is Xue Yang would absolutely claim so, though but he had 8 years to work on Song Lan, who was half-fierce corpse even at the moment of his death. Wei Wuxian was on the clock to patch together a long dead Wen Ning from scratch in a cave.)

There are limitations, though - Song Lan was never experimented on to be made particularly alive-passing himself, those trials were a means to an end to make Xiao Xingchen perfect. So he's a walking patchwork, stuck in between.

Because he is still semi-alive, there is also a faint flow of living qi in his meridians, but it doesn't replenish as easily and naturally as it would in something truly living, and it's much, much weaker than it was when he was alive. Because of it, however, and because of the hun souls still bound in his flesh, he can still use his spiritual sword, use cultivation techniques to an extent, though he can't do all the things he was once able to.

It all adds up to a body that mostly passes for alive - he's not particularly pale, no corpse veins or black eyes (unless he goes feral with fury, lets all the resentment loose, running visible right under the surface). He can cry. He can bleed, to an extent, and yes, come. He has fallen back into the habit of breathing, he can sleep when he allows himself to relax and let go of his control enough. He can consume food and drink, but not digest it as a living human would - he is still a creature of resentment, and those energies are what absorb anything he puts into his body.

If you think about him as a machine, his body is frozen the way it was in his moment of death, with that amount of blood and other bodily fluids, that age and stature, the physical looks, the muscle mass, the marks on his chest and back where Shuanghua pierced him and finally took his living life away - something between scars and wounds woven together by resentment. It is the blueprint state his body constantly strives to remain in/return to. And the resentment inside him is the perpetual fuel for that process.

Energy = mass and so on. When he loses blood, or weeps, or when he gets hurt, the demonic energies inside him will regenerate his body and all systems within it to return him to that state of equilibrium.

Pretty much.

So like I said at the start, there is a certain logic and consequent approach to how I think of it all - even if parts of it hinge on me waving my fingers a bit and mumbling "resentment did it"! 😂

I hope this is a somewhat satisfactory answer to your question! Thank you so much - it was a really good one, and allowed me to ramble for a good long while about some of the behind the scenes-mechanics! ♥♥♥

[riversofmars]

Prompt: 13 and River babysit Anthony Williams (Amy and Rory’s adopted son)

This is such a cute prompt! I combined it with a similar one and hope this works for you, enjoy! <3

Rating: G

Word Count: 1800

Read on AO3 or below

All in the Family

“And you’re sure you’re up for this?“ Amy turned to River one more time, halfway out of the door of their flat in 1940s New York.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?“ River crossed her arms in front of her chest challengingly.

“You’re not exactly the most responsible adult.“ Rory couldn’t help pointing out and glanced to his wife to find out whether they were going to change their minds at the last minute.

“I'll take that as a compliment.“ River smirked. “Remember this was your idea.“

“Yes but only because we don’t know many people here yet!“ Rory admitted.

“And having your baby stolen once, you don’t want to trust strangers, I get it.“ River gave her parents a kind smile. She was very happy for them. They deserved to have the calm family life that they had missed out on with her. Adopting baby Anthony had been a wonderful idea.

“It’s just been such a long time since we’ve been able to go out.“ Amy explained. “I just didn’t understand how hard raising a child would be!“ She sighed, running her hand through her hair. She was more exhausted than she ever had been while travelling with the Doctor. “We just really need to have an evening just for us.“

“Say no more and get yourself going before I change my mind.“ River ushered them out the door.

“You are a godsend, River.“ Amy kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Don’t get up to anything stupid.“ She wagged her finger at her.

“What, me? Stupid? Perish the thought.“ River feigned hurt but laughed.

“Just make sure Anthony is okay.“ Amy implored her and gave a little wave to the toddler that was just coming up behind River and wrapping his arms around her leg.

“You can count on me. We’ll have a brilliant time, won’t we, brother dearest?“ River smiled down at the child and patted his head.

“Ri-ver.“ The toddler nuzzled into her thigh.

“See, fast friends already.“ River chuckled and lifted him up.

“Does she… do you know anything about toddlers?“ Rory asked, insecure for a moment.

“I am married to the Doctor, does that count?“ River countered and the Ponds laughed:

“Fair point…“

“Relax, we will be fine, it’s just for a few hours.“ River kissed the forehead of her adoptive brother who was giving her a koala bear hug. “Tea, books, bed. I got this.“

“See you both later, look after each other.“ Amy smiled and kissed Anthony’s head, as did Rory.

“This is a bad idea…“ Rory hummed to his wife as they waved their goodbyes and made their way down the corridor.

“It’s a brilliant idea.“ Amy waved off his concerns.

“Right Anthony, there is someone I would like you to meet.“ River smiled at her little brother as she closed the door.

“Meet?“ Anthony echoed as River carried him back into the living room.

“Someone very special: Your brother-in-law. Well, I say brother… sister-in-law? Alien-in-law?“ River grinned,and as if on cue the TARDIS became visible in the lounge.

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t let me see them!“ The Doctor stuck her head out, having waited patiently for the Ponds to depart.

“Because they never would have left and they could do with a break.“ River explained with a chuckle as her wife skipped out of the TARDIS and towards them.

“Hello Anthony Pond!“ She grinned, ruffling the toddler’s curls who just giggled in response. He appeared fascinated by the sudden appearance of the blue box and pulled away from River, seemingly wanting to be set down.

“Williams…“ River corrected the Doctor as she sat her brother down who rushed to the TARDIS, circling around it in wonder.

“What shall we play with, Anthony?“ The Doctor ignored her wife and dropped to her knees in the middle of a pile of toys. “See, we’re gonna have the best time!“ She pulled her screwdriver from her coat and sonic-ed the toys. All of a sudden, cars and toy robots started moving on their own accord. Anthony giggled in delight and rushed over to the Doctor, the TARDIS no longer the most interesting thing around here.

“Guess that means I’m making tea?“ River chuckled as Anthony threw himself at the Doctor.

“Would you want either one of us close to a hob?“ The Doctor retorted, hugging the child tightly.

“Fair point.“ River chuckled.

——

“I don’t know why I asked you here, it’s like babysitting two toddlers.“ River was cleaning up the kitchen after tea had turned into a food fight.

“'Cause this is the closest thing you and I have to a family.“ The Doctor answered with surprising candour. Anthony was jawing, leaning against her.

“As much as I try to, I don’t really feel like part of them…“ River answered thoughtfully.

“Our lives are more complicated than that…“ The Doctor couldn’t help but agree. Neither one of them was suited to regular family dynamics.

“Would it be so bad though? Settling down for a time?“ River mused, looking from Anthony to her wife.

“Maybe at some point.“ The Doctor gave her a soft smile. This River hadn’t done Darillium yet. She had all of that to come and the Doctor missed their time there more than she would care to admit.

“Bed time?“ She asked, seeing as Anthony was virtually falling asleep next to her.

“I think so.“ River agreed with a smile and walked over to them. “Come here Anthony…“ She scooped him up. “Let’s get you into your PJs…“

Both the Doctor and River had presumed bedtime would be easy, considering how tired Anthony was, but they had thought wrong.

“Stop turning the light on and off!“ River pleaded, picking him up again to finally put him in his bed. Anthony appeared to have saved up his energy just for this.

“Still want kids?“ The Doctor tried her best to keep a straight face as she watched her wife struggle with the toddler.

“You know all of a sudden, being a big sister seems perfectly adequate.“ River retorted.

“I’ll get him a bottle of milk.“ The Doctor suggested, just as Anthony got up again and raced past River to the light switch.

“Stop it with the light switch!“ River groaned and scooped him up again. “Please, will you just stay in bed now?“ She tugged him in.

“Well well well, isn’t this a lovely sight.“ A voice sounded from the doorway that made River’s blood run cold. She whipped around, standing protectively in front of the bed.

“Madame Kovarian, how did you…“ She stared at the woman in the doorway.

“I knew I would find you eventually.“ Madame Kovarian smirked, walking further into the room. “And who is this little man? Tell me, am I a grandmother?“

“How dare you show your face here!“ River growled, regretting immediately that she left her gun in the TARDIS. She hadn’t anticipated needing it for babysitting duties.

“I believe you and I have some unfinished business.“ Kovarian retorted. “How is motherhood treating you, Melody? Where is the husband? Leaving you to do all the child care?“

“Right behind you!“ The Doctor called from the doorway, armed with nothing but a bottle of milk. She quickly accessed the situation in front of her, glaring at the unwelcome guest.

“Oh well, not your child then, is it?“ Kovarian retorted with a cruel smirk. “Now then, I think it’s time for some good old fashioned revenge…“ She pulled a gun on them.

Suddenly the light flicked off! Anthony had snuck out from behind River and gone for his favourite game again. River jumped at the opportunity. She flung herself at Kovarian and disarmed her quickly. The moment the light came back on, Kovarian was on the floor and River held her gun to her head.

“Never underestimate a Pond!“ The Doctor grinned and scooped up the child into a tight hug.

“You little monster!“ Kovarian spat.

“If anyone is a monster here, Madame Kovarian, it’s you.“ River retorted icily.

--

“Surprisingly quiet in here… maybe River managed to get him to sleep alright after all…“ Rory mused as he opened the door to the flat and they walked inside. It had been a lovely evening, just what they needed.

“What the…“ Amy stopped dead in her tracks as they stepped into the living room.

“Amelia Pond! And Rory the Roman!“ The Doctor exclaimed and ran towards them, pulling them into bone crushing hugs.

“River?!“ Amy exclaimed, needing an explanation. Who was this woman? What was she doing in their flat? Why did she know who they were? And why was Madame Kovarian tied to a chair in the middle of their lounge?!

“What can I say… Mum, Dad… when my husband regenerated into a hot blonde I started batting for the other team, hope that’s alright with you.“ River answered, gesturing to the Doctor who grinned widely, barely able to contain her excitement.

“What?!“ Amy and Rory exclaimed in unison.

“She didn’t want to tell you I was here cause she thought you’d be worried we’d set the place on fire…“ River explained a little bit more apologetically.

“Instead you have a tied up Madame Kovarian in our living room?!“ Amy gestured to the unwelcome guest.

“Ouch!“ Kovarian groaned when Anthony chucked a building block at her.

“Good shot, mate!“ The Doctor grinned and gave him a high five. Of course, Anthony had refused to go to bed after the excitement.

“Sorry, just got to finish building this transdimensional teleport. Teaching Anthony the basics of temporal engineering as we go. One way trip to Stormcage.“ River explained, gesturing to a circle of electrical components that had been erected around Kovarian. Long cables connected it to the TARDIS. “Unless I get the coordinates wrong… might end up in a sun instead…“ She mused.

“Melody, don’t do it, I…“ Kovarian pleaded.

“You have threatened my family for the last time. This is goodbye, Madame Kovarian, for the last time.“ River finished attaching the cables.

“Good riddance!“ Rory mumbled in agreement.

“Anthony!“ Amy called when the toddler skipped forward and hit a big red button on the contraption. Something no child would be able to resist. Kovarian disappeared in a flash of light!

“Was the teleport even calibrated?!“ The Doctor looked to River who gave a little shrug.

“I’ll check up on her when I’m in Stormcage next… she may have ended up in the cantina rather than an actual cell… but never mind.“ She looked to her parents. “So, how was your date?“

“Certainly less eventful than this.“ Amy shook her head in disbelief.

“Come on, mate, let’s get you to bed.“ The Doctor scooped Anthony up who nuzzled into her neck.

“Doc-tor.“

[palbabor-writes]

I have, uh, thoughts...

M’kay, I know this has likely been harped on until nothing is left but little bits and pieces, but after reading this latest chapter, I realized what’s been bothering me about this current arc. It’s the imbalance of violence and aggression that is heaped onto Shigaraki.

I don’t know if this is Horikoshi’s intention, and I’m likely looking wayyy too into this, but I’d argue you don’t have your characters say things for no reason. So, if you’ve got a minute, let’s see if I can sort through these nagging emotions of mine.

warnings: manga spoilers 220 - 285, basically, no touch if you don’t want to see the current arc 

Ok. Let’s roll the clock back and look at something Shigaraki told us at the USJ.

Now, while he has changed a lot from these early arcs, that core motivation he carries here is the same. He wants society to see just how fragile and how ridiculous their reliance on a hero state of justice really is. And, I would say that he’s absolutely right in this assessment.

The idea of heroes and villains needs a foundation of violence. They need that evil, almost as much as they need the concept of justice. It’s the age old right and wrong theory. It doesn’t leave space for grey, for nuance, for differences in ideology or upbringing.

However, heroes like to ignore what they can’t fix. Like anyone, they’re human and humans don’t often take pleasure in looking at the uncomfortable. I’d argue that’s why Gran Tourino doesn’t check back in on Kotaro. Yes, he made a vow, but those memories of that crying child being placed with a trusted friend, and not his mother, not Nana, have stuck with him. Nana wouldn’t be any wiser, or any less dead, if he checked in on her son. In chapter 281, we finally, FINALLY see Gran reflecting on that choice both he and Nana made

If he had checked in, Kotaro might have known a different memory of his mother, or he might have at least been able to see the threads of aggression and abuse that were riddling Tenko’s life. He might have seen AFO, manipulating and watching. Might, might, might. No matter how you shake it, everything changes when there’s some kind of monitoring, of looking out for your fellow man.

With that in mind, BNHA’s world state, which is based on hero work, would need a strong set of checks and balances to function properly, to catch those falling into the cracks & I’d argue we don’t see much push for that from the everyday populace.

Which is wild. Because society itself is practically Quirkless. Sure, 80% have a quirk, but in Japan you cannot use your quirk in public. If you do, you run the risk of arrest or classification as a villain.

That is why we see moments like these

Izuku is likely one of the only people in this massive crowd who really has no quirk. There is a horde of people standing there and no one is lifting a finger. It’s kinda a “bread and circuses,” mentality. They look fucking entertained and no one is freaking out except for Izuku, who knows what it feels like inside that goop thing. Instead, they’re all waiting, watching for the next hero, or for All Might to show up. But wait, aren’t there heroes there? It’s a city and this is a massive attack, it’s brought foot traffic to a standstill, surely a hero will get there and save this boy who is literally dying.

Oh. They’re there. But they’re waiting too

They are all “managing,” the situation and hoping Bakugo will survive long enough for someone with the right quirk to come along. Not polling the masses of people to see if any of them could possibly assist in the meantime, no, all these civilians get to watch this miscarriage of “justice.” Don’t worry. If the kids strong enough, he’ll make it.

So far, Shigaraki’s underlying motivation calling for a more rigorous, critical, take on heroes doesn’t feel too far fetched. Looking at chapter 1 alone, the current way things are isn’t right and it’s not fair.

Now, Shigaraki isn’t going about asking for it the “right,” way, but I bet he’d see a similar response even if he wasn’t hurting and maiming people as he goes.

The latter would let him be swept aside just as easily as the former. We see this happen with Stain. The news isn’t talking about the Nomu, or the countless people who were terrorized and hurt. No, they’re talking about the Hero Killer, because just like in our real society, that’s what get the clicks, the likes and the attention. Again, people don’t like to look at things that make them uncomfortable.

Yet, even with this horrifying fact, that Stain could go down in history books as a villain, as someone who gleefully killed others, people, both good and bad, sat up and took notice. Many even identified with his ideals: That heroes are corrupt and they are only in the field for the fame and money. Only All Might was the perfect specimen to Stain. Because this is an idea that people can get behind, to me, that means that others know things are stacked against the underbelly, the downtrodden. But they can’t be bothered to call for change.

On the flip side, Shigaraki, who has a better grasp on the true ills and neglect of hero society is often told he has no “real,” ideology, no real conviction, and this is a theme that’s repeated over and over and over.

Like most things in BNHA, it begins with All Might

Then it’s carried to Stain, Dr. Ujiko, an ally and long time supporter of AFO, to Re-Destro, and, most recently, to Endeavor. They all can’t see what Shigaraki is wanting, what he’s calling for.

It’s easier to name him a monster, a freak, scum, then to listen or to absorb any of what he’s saying.

But, as he says, he’s got convictions. He’s got his father’s, he’s got AFO’s ideas on the ethics and morals of hero society, AFO’s drive to crush OFA, once and for all, and his own deep seeded resentment and neglect toward a broken hero society. Honestly, he’s got more motivation than almost any other character.

And how is he treated? How does Horikoshi show us the “heroes” response? He gives up a heaping of violence. From chapter 270 to 285, Tomura Shigaraki is hit, punched, burned and beat around a whopping 36 times. And, for most of this fight, he is effectively quirkless.

How many hits does he get in? A grand total of 6.

And his first reaction is never to maim, in these moments, instead it’s to talk, to rattle, and to question

He only goes for Endeavor after he’s been burned, likely, without his regeneration abilities, to the point of death. These heroes aren’t aiming to subdue, they’re going in for the kill. And yes, he has just decayed an entire hospital and the surrounding area, the heroes are warranted in their anger and their frustration. After all, they’re the ones who dropped the ball here. This was a “planned” raid and they should have been the only ones in any real danger. They’re heroes, so I’d argue that it’s their job, their life’s mission to save, no matter the cost.

Besides, if they can spare AFO, not once, but twice, they should be trying to spare Shigaraki just as hard.

This has been a long and drawn out arc, with many, many ups and downs, but the one thing I don’t wanna see is the heroes getting a pass. This society has pitfalls and it’s got big ones. People are treated as lesser if they don’t have quirks, or if they have the wrong ones, the ones that don’t make them look normal. People are pressed to the side when they don’t conform and a hero, the current number one, has gotten away with mentally, and physically, scarring his family for over 20 years.

Right now, there are no checks. There is no: who watches the watcher in this world and I’d argue society has suffered for it.

Yet how are we shown how to treat those who don’t agree with us? With anger, untapped rage and physical violence, of course. And this is true of BOTH sides.

At the end of the day, as he said back at the USJ: violence only breeds more violence and while I don’t like predicting future chapters or arcs, I’m hoping that thread won’t be dropped. It’s one of the things that drew me into BNHA and I hope we get to see more, not less, of that grey morality.

[votederpycausemufins]

Well, this is the last chapter of the sort of… intro part of this fic. But there is so much more to happen.

im always gonna tag @helleborusangel and then the scattered au was made by @hermitcraftheadcanons

False killed another drowned while Stress continued to fix up their base. A creeper had managed to show up and destroyed a bit of their base, and before they could fix it there was another, and then drowned were coming up from the ocean. While the two of them would have loved to move further away, even head towards spawn, but they had tried that already and it didn’t go well. Stress had gotten killed and was sent back to her spawn in the middle of the coral, leaving False to run back and help her out.

They hadn’t managed to get any beds to set spawn, as right now they weren’t even sure if beds would work since their starting spawns were messed up as well as chat bugging out and regen not working. So, because of all that they were on the island closest to the coral reef and were setting up a base there. With everything going on, they were doing pretty well, having gotten a good starter base set up and were almost at full diamond.

They hadn’t set up a nether portal just yet, prioritizing better armor. Of course, they would head in for the first time with iron armor for scouting so that they wouldn’t lose their hard work to a bad spawn, but if they were going to explore that dimension without regeneration, the more protection they had, the better. The priority after that was getting their way into a fortress and finding supplies for potions. Blaze rods, netherwart and glowstone were going to be a priority, but while it would be nice to have regeneration potions, but the pair had found melon seeds in a shipwreck, so instant health would be a much safer option.

False heard Stress call out to her, and then the fighter killed another drowned before running back into the base, the whole place now patched up and better lit than before. For the most part, it was just the essentials with the only decoration being the style of the build itself, but there was one exception, that being a small tank that held a tropical fish that had been stuck with Stress where she had first spawned.

“Well luv, do you fink we’re prepped enough to head to the nether?” Stress asked, ready to switch her armor up. “I’ve already got a portal set up that we just need to light.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Plus we might be able to find Wels and Keralis since they seem to both be in the nether.”

“Oh, Keralis is in there too?” Stress asked, taking her comm out to look at the messages.

“Well, he got killed by some piglins and also got Hot Tourist Destinations, but never actually used a portal to get to the nether.”

“Alright, well when we get through, we can look for the two of them.”

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Keralis was once again very glad he could make stew out of the new nether fungi. While he had found a few red and brown mushrooms, he hadn’t found many and fighting hoglins in a mishmash of armor wasn’t the most appearing idea right now. There was the slight problem of it not being mushroom stew and instead some suspicious stew, and he was getting various effects from it, but some food was better than nothing at all.

The builder was glad he had at the very least spawned in the warped forest, so the most he needed to worry about were endermen and any stray piglins that wandered into the forest from the nearby wastes. And even then he had gold armor so they wouldn’t really bother him unless they saw him opening his own chests which he didn’t think was fair.

Using some bone meal he had obtained from a soul sand valley, Keralis worked on getting another crimson fungus for some more stew. Warped fungi was easy enough to get, seeing as how he was in a warped forest, but crimson was much harder. But hopefully he wouldn’t need to do that much longer.

With his supplies from the forest and nearby basalt delta, Keralis had gotten plenty of gold to trade with piglins. The mobs gave him supplies in return, and they had almost given him enough obsidian for a portal into the overworld. Where he would end up when he got to the other side, Keralis had no clue, but either way it would be better than the nether.

He sighed when the bone meal ran out and there were still no crimson fungi. If he wanted to eat later that… day? Night? Just… later on in general, he would need to either head to the crimson forest, or get more bone meal. And right now, the soul sand valley was closer.

Keralis got geared up and then started the trek to the other biome. He already had a safe path there, so he took his time to walk and not tire himself out and need food he didn’t currently have on hand. That said, he was keeping his eyes out for any trouble on the path as well as looking for any piglin he could barter with. He mistook a ziglin here or there for their unzombified counterparts, but unluckily there didn’t seem to be any normal piglin in sight.

But while his luck for piglin seemed to be low, his luck in general was not, because he was able to spot a portal on a hill in the wastes. And it wasn’t a ruined portal. Even if it had been, Keralis likely would have gone to it to see if there were any supplies he could use. But instead, this was just a lone, lit, hermit made portal.

Keralis booked it to the portal, nearly falling into a gap in the netherrack that led straight down to lava. But he was fine and no mobs were around to attack him. So he stepped into the portal and let the magic whisk him away, coming out on the other side a few moments later.

He was glad to see stone brick on the other side of the portal, something that didn’t really appear in the nether. A set of stairs was nearby and Keralis walked up them, finding a nice looking starter base sans beds, but with a small aquarium with a single fish. He moved over to a window and looked out to see the sun rising and no monsters around. He could also see the ocean and a coral reef under the water. After days in the nether, it was an amazing sight, and Keralis just sat there to take it all in. And also hopefully meet whoever built this place when they returned.

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Scar had majorly screwed up and found himself caught in a death loop of sorts. He had accidently lost his footing while pruning some chorus plants and tumbled into the void. When he respawned, he happened to be looking right at an enderman, who promptly killed him. And then killed him again when he respawned. And then yet again. Eventually he wised up enough to keep his eyes closed tight for the next respawn, and he was left alone, but keeping his eyes closed suddenly seemed like a horrible option.

The end was already quiet enough, and other than the feeling of the endstone under his feet, Scar could have mistaken himself for floating in the void. It had been so quiet before with only the sounds of endermen, but now it was louder. Scar snapped his eyes open to look around for the source of the noise, only to get killed again, but then he was careful the second time, looking for what was making that new noise.

It sounded like whispering, but it definitely wasn’t endermen. It also sounded too close to just be something quiet in the distance like the shulkers at the end city. Feeling a little frustrated, Scar shouted, hoping whatever was making the noise would hear him and answer. “Hello?! Is anyone out there?!”

Scar couldn’t help but let a shiver go down his spine as the whispering stopped. That probably wasn’t the best sign, but at the very least whatever was making that sound could hear him. Though understanding might be a different story. “Hey, if you can, I need some help! I’m kind of stranded out here!”

Scar paused, hoping for an answer. At first none came, but just before he completely lost hope, he heard a familiar voice. “We may provide some help. You have done a number of things that we can repay you for. But that amount is still not much, and when we stop, we will stop unless you can give us more.”

Scar knew the voice of the vex. Technically he and Cub had left that behind in season six, but desperate times did call for desperate measures. The vex didn’t tell him how many times they would help him, so he knew he would need to be careful with using that help. That being said, he knew there was one thing that would definitely help. “Are you able to get me back to the overworld? Preferably somewhere safe?”

There was more whispering as the vex discussed between themselves, but after a few moments, they responded. “Unfortunately, we are unable to do that. A higher power is the reason you are here in the first place. However, there are strings we may pull to give you access to an escape.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Scar replied. While it wasn’t an immediate exit, having one on the way was still a good thing to have. “Um, well, do you know who the closest hermit to me is? Other than TFC that is, since I know he’s in the end with me.”

Scar was pretty sure that would be a good question. The closest player would likely be whoever was almost to the end themselves, or maybe they were in the stronghold. Once he knew that, he would hopefully have another request that the vex would allow and they could send a message to them for him. But instead, the vex gave him a much more unfavorable answer. “Look up.”

Scar was confused, but then carefully looked up, avoiding the gaze of any endermen. He scanned the horizon for something, anything that might show signs of a hermit, but there was nothing. His next guess was that maybe a hermit had already claimed an elytra and was flying around, so he looked further into what passed as a sky in the end. And then he saw the bright color that was Bdubs.

At first Scar wanted to smile as seeing his friend, but then he realized the man wasn’t wearing any sort of elytra and was falling fast. Without much more thought, Scar backed up and watched Bdubs get closer before he finally ran to the edge of his small island and jumped. Scar yelled Bdubs’ name as he reached for the hermit, the other man not reacting until Scar managed to grab his arm. Bdubs’ eyes shot open and he looked around in surprise before his eyes finally rested on Scar. “Scar! How did you get down here?”

“You were falling past the island I’ve been stuck on. Look!” And Scar pointed to the island which was rapidly disappearing above them.

“I thought I was just ages into the void. I lost my comm forever ago so I had no clue how far down I was. No wonder I haven’t died.”

“Yeah, well sorry that I can’t really get us out of this. But maybe you can shift yourself a bit to the side so maybe I can catch you when you respawn again.”

Bdubs chuckled, glad for some sort of hope. “Yeah. See you in a couple days.”

The two held onto each other as they continued to fall, but Bdubs watched in horror as Scar was the only one of them to take damage from the void. A few moments later, he disappeared into smoke which Bdubs tried to grab on to in vain, but a moment later, it was all gone, and he was back to falling alone.

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TFC hid behind an obsidian pillar to catch his breath as the purple magic of the dragon’s breath was blocked by it. He was running low on health again, so he needed to be careful about getting near the dragon so she could fling him up at the right time. Without blocks, bows and arrows, ladders, or anything really, TFC just had to hope that he could reach the crystals and punch them just before dying. He had already managed to take out two, but there were still plenty to go, especially the caged ones.

There was a roar and TFC cursed as the dragon phased through the pillar and he found himself falling a moment later. He wasn’t close enough to any of the pillars with crystals to try and take them out. That was, unless he somehow managed to catch himself on the iron bars around the nearest crystal and not kill himself. But that was unlikely. He was already old and prosthetics weren’t the best for stuff like this.

So, it ended up that TFC found himself hitting the ground and respawning on the obsidian platform again. He slowly got himself to sit on the platform without managing to throw his back out and used it as some time to rest. He knew the dragon would probably find her way over to him eventually, but right now he was done with fighting.

He pulled out his communicator to check on how everyone else was doing, frowning upon seeing Scar’s many end related deaths. TFC wondered if it would have been better if Scar were the one stuck on the island instead. He could probably deal with the dragon better than him. Probably anyone could. Maybe once upon a time defeating the dragon alone was a feat he could manage, but his old bones weren’t built for that anymore.

He knew it was probably in vain, but TFC tried to send another distress message into the chat. He didn’t really have many other options for what to do, and for all he knew, it could eventually fix itself and everyone would just assume it was still broken if he didn’t check. But, with a sigh, he just got another error message. Maybe another time, that’s all TFC could hope for.

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Etho continued to shiver in the covers of the bed he had been put in. When he respawned on top of a mountain, he was surprised to see Grian and the bots up there. Even though there weren’t any trees or animals or life whatsoever other than the other people themselves, they had somehow managed to get a bed and some food. And looking at his communicator, they had managed to somehow all keep from dying from the cold, only having a few instances of falling or even one of starvation.

Etho looked over to Grian, who was currently sitting in the snow and shivering even more than he was. The avian had their wings wrapped around himself and was rubbing his arms to keep warm. Etho had tried more than once to get out of the bed so that Grian could use it, but the bots had both insisted he use it instead.

At first, he had complained, saying he would be fine and he didn’t want Grian to deal with the cold like this. But then he watched as Grian suddenly summoned purple flames in his hands, the fire’s warmth reaching the bed at least a little. The color seemed to reflect in Grian’s eyes perfectly, his irises matching the amethyst color at the moment. At least, that was Etho’s first thought, but then he remembered Ren and Impulse’s eyes being different colors, and suddenly he wasn’t so sure.

“S-So, how did you g-guys get this st-stuff?” Etho chattered out, making the two bots tuck him into the cover more.

“Dad made them.” Jrum answered. “When he respawns, he’s able to use magic to make us stuff like food or this bed.”

Etho nodded, but then looked up again. “Wh-why hasn’t he tried making something to get you guys down?”

The bots didn’t immediately answer, instead looking at each other nervously. “Well, something’s been up with Dad. When we got here his wings got weird looking and then there was that thing.” And Jrum pointed to the small ice and bedrock structure Etho had spawned next to. “And then he started attacking us so we had to push him off the mountain and when he respawned he wanted us to abandon him here and then you showed up!”

“S-so in other w-words, s-something’s wrong w-with him, b-but y-you don’t kn-know what.” And the bots nodded. “W-Well, th-that sums up a l-lot of th-things going on. L-Like e-every time I r-respawn, I sh-show up n-near someone e-else.”

“Really?”

“Or s-something l-like that. I s-started out at s-spawn with Joe a-and Beef.” Etho paused to rub his arms for a bit more warmth. “When I res-spawned, I w-was in a r-ravine with Ren. H-He s-suddenly attacked m-me like your d-dad did so then I w-was in the e-end.”

“Did you find Scar or TFC?” Grum asked, surprised when Etho shook his head.

“Neither. B-Bdubs is s-stuck in the v-void and isn’t d-dying. I d-didn’t see him but I f-found his c-communicator. I d-died before I c-could find out m-more. After that was th-the desert.”

“So Iskall or XB, right? They’ve both died of dehydration so that means they have to be somewhere hot.”

“Y-yeah, probably. But I d-didn’t see anyone. J-just a l-lack of dead b-bushes.” Etho explained. “A-anyway, s-sort of at that point I r-realized I w-was a-appearing n-near other p-people, s-so I made s-something to j-jump off of t-to send me e-elsewhere.”

“Okay, where did you go next?” Jrum asked before getting an idea. “Oh! And are you able to look at coordinates when you show up there, because then you might help people who are safe figure out where those who aren’t are!”

“Y-yeah. I’ve g-got access to those. J-just haven’t taken advantage of th-that too much. I s-spawned with Imp-pulse next a-and used a-all the time I h-had to tr-try and break a block w-with him.”

“Well, he’s still dying a lot, so if you did, it doesn’t look like it helped much.” Jrum said, Grum elbowing him. “Ow! Hey! It’s true, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but you shouldn’t say things like that. Etho is doing the best he can in a situation like this.”

“I-It’s fine. I g-get it. After th-that, I sh-showed up h-here.”

“And you have surprisingly lasted the longest up here based on the death messages.” Grum agreed. “Well, actually, it was longer when you were with Ren, but it’s getting close. You slept for a while when we first got you into the bed.”

Etho nodded. “H-How long h-has i-it been?”

The bots both looked up at the sky to look at the sun before looking back to Etho. “It’s been at least a day. We weren’t really paying attention to when you showed up. Uh… it’s sort of like… the middle of the fifth day we’ve all been stuck in this season.”

Before Etho could respond, there was a chirp and Grian started using fire to warm himself up again. Etho stared at the avian and then Grum and Jrum carefully moved Grian closer to the bed so the warmth of the fire would reach him, but not too much in case they upset Grian. “When we first got you into bed and you fell asleep, Dad got upset and attempted to attack you, so we’ve been trying to keep that from happening again.”

“Th-thanks.”

Since Etho wasn’t stuck in the snow, the cold wasn’t enough to kill him, so the bots did their best to keep him warm and fed. At the same time, they talked things out with Etho about what they could do since Etho could find people and Grian seemed to be able to get them necessary items.

Eventually, night fell and Grian forcefully got closer to curl up with the bots, each of them finding themselves pinned under one of their dad’s wings. They were worried about Etho at first, especially when Grian moved closer to the bed, but the only thing then needed to worry about was Etho’s bones accidently being crushed when Grian plopped himself onto the bed and tried to squeeze all four of them on the mattress made for one person.

Surprisingly, they all managed to get to sleep in that position, but it didn’t help advance the day forward like the first time Grian used the bed. Despite being metal, the combined body heat of Grian and Etho kept all of them warm, as well as from them just being out of the snow. Since the bots technically didn’t need to sleep, they mostly stayed awake to keep an eye on things, though taking it in shifts so they didn’t overdo it. But the night was calm, and it looked like everything was going to be fine.

And then just as the sun was coming up over the horizon, things changed. Grian got up suddenly, winding Etho and causing the bots to fall to the ground. His wings were puffed up in agitation and flames came from his hands, though his hands were over his ears, making it look like his head was on fire.

Jrum was the first to get up and go over to Grian, but the avian’s wings just swiped at the bot and kept them away. Grum tried next but just got the same result, though he was hit away at a different angle, nearly sending him off the edge of the mountain. Etho, despite having nothing except a bit of food, got up from the bed to get close to Grian, managing to dodge his wings.

By the time Etho reached Grian, he had started hyperventilating. The ninja put his hand on Grian’s shoulder and he whipped around, bright amethyst eyes staring unfocused at Etho. “C-can you t-tell m-me what’s up? What’s going on?” Grian didn’t respond verbally, but his eyes flicked over to the pillar next to them on the mountain. “That’s c-causing it? L-Let’s s-see what w-we can do a-about it.”

Etho walked over to the pillar and looked it over before trying to break the ice since he obviously could break bedrock. He was a little weak from the cold, but Etho was sure he could do this. He had done it for Impulse, and that was underwater. The thing was, he couldn’t get far before he found himself face down in the snow, a hand on the back of his head keeping it down so he couldn’t look up. With a bit of struggling, however, Etho was able to twist his head to the side and his good eye looked up at Grian.

With his voice muffled by the current situation, Etho tried to say something to Grian, not sure if he would hear or even respond. “Grian, what are you doing?”

For a moment, Grian didn’t answer, then he cocked his head to the side confused as well as gave a smile. “Oh, do you mean-?” He cut himself off by laughing. “What I'm doing is making sure you keep going. You won’t fix anything like this.” Etho tried to question what Grian meant, but there was suddenly more pressure pushing him down and preventing him from talking. “Go on now. Freeze to death. You’re only really getting that here.”

Etho was vaguely aware of the bots trying to get him to the bed and pull Grian away, but they didn’t seem to be strong enough for that. There was the clank of metal hitting together, then on stone further down. “Welcome to day five. I’ll speed us through so we can get to the good stuff.” And then Etho froze to death.

.

.

.

As the sun was rising, Joe got up with a start. Something didn’t feel right. He jumped out of bed and went looking for Beef, finding him still taking a nap in his own bed. Joe shook the other hermit awake, not wanting to be alone if his new bad feeling was dangerous at all. Beef complained a little at first, but when Joe explained further, he dragged himself out of bed and geared up.

Swords were drawn as they left the building, looking everywhere they could for danger and making sure to watch each other’s backs. Any mobs from the night were dying from the sun aside from some creepers which they took care of with a couple arrows. But other than all that, there was nothing that really stood out.

Giving up, they started back to their beds, taking a different path back, and then suddenly Joe realized what was the problem, and why he felt off the night before. “Beef, I think that’s our problem right there.”

Beef looked over to Joe, then to where Joe was pointing. Right where the main building of spawn was, or at least, where it had been. Standing in its place, towering above the other buildings, was a tower of various blocks like obsidian, bedrock, endstone, blackstone, and more. The pair moved to get a better look at the new building, finding an entrance at its base which was a few blocks above the surrounding terrain, though it had also appeared with a hill.

“Well, I think we should stop working on makin’ more shelter.” Joe spoke up after they had just stared at the tower for a few minutes. “We can make signs to tell people what’s up, but we need to gear up and find X and Grian.”

[rohad93]

RWBY - Driftwood

~ ~ ~ 

Post Volume 8 finale

~ ~ ~ 

Her whole body hurt.

Not that Ruby expected much else when she and Blake fell from the golden bridge to the inky blackness below; their aura broken.

Actually, she really expected to not even be alive. Ambrosius’s warning not to fall had echoed in her head as the pathways grew more and more distant before all light vanished, swallowed up by the inky blackness.

She could hear Blake yelling and then nothing, like being smothered with a thick blanket. There was no sound, only a dull static buzzing in her ears along with the heavy thumping of her own heartbeat. The all-encompassing darkness had been suffocating. She couldn’t breathe, but she must have somehow.

She and Blake had separated at some point and the next thing she knew, she had hit the water with all the force of a rampaging Ursa, the back of her head slamming against the water and it may as well have been cement for all the force with which she landed. She thought that she may even have blacked out for a moment before the cold water and the need for air made her eyes pop back open. It took a long second for her to orient herself, swimming up toward the light.

The swelling ocean waves and an island laid out in front of her, a towering tree reaching up toward a ruddy pink sky. She didn’t spare it more than a glance before making her way to shore.

She coughed as she crawled onto the beach, sand squelching under her fingers and knees.

The sun was warm on her back but she was numb to it as she stared blankly down at the sand, watching the rivulets of water drip from her hair and face, leaving dark splotches in the granules.

Her head pounded in time with her heavy heart and her lungs burned with fire as she gasped for air. Her limbs weighed down every movement and all Ruby wanted to do was collapse on the dark sand and never move again. The dull throb piercing every inch of her body pulled her deeper into the miasma of despair.

She forced her head up and looked around at the expanse of beach that seemed to stretch to the horizon on either side of her, blank and unchanging.

With a pained grunt, she pushed herself up off her knees, stumbling a little as she climbed to her feet.

Where even was... this?  

The trees stretching out in front of her were like nothing she had ever seen before, twisted and bent in looping knots toward the ground before their leafy tops stretched back up toward the sky.

She pushed her soaking wet hair out of her face and took a tentative step toward the trees. She was bone-weary but she forced her aching body to move just the same.

When the spirit of the staff had warned them not to fall, she had expected something else.

A bottomless abyss…

Death…

Not a tropical island.

She moved, without purpose or sense of direction through the jungle landscape. The sounds of birds cawing echoed off the trees. The foliage was thick and wild and the air was heavy and humid.

She was slowly coming back to herself the longer she moved. Feeling returned to her limbs and the haziness in her head parted some. The oppressive heat and humidity was starting to get to her and she stopped long enough to pull off the insulated shirt, letting the air finally get to her skin. Her aura was broken, so she had no way to regulate her body temperature until it regenerated. While the fall didn’t kill her, she may very well sweat to death in the thickly insulated gear now that she had left behind the bitter cold of Solitas. She threw it down in the dirt and left it there as she moved.

The water beading up on her skin was as much sweat now as it was seawater.

If she had survived the fall, then surely Yang and Blake had to be here somewhere too.

Unless…

She stopped and turned to look back in the direction of the ocean that she could no longer see through the trees and the weight of everything began to settle on her.

What if they had drowned? What if instead of landing in the water they had hit the ground?

What about Weiss? Her aura had been broken when she shoved her out of the way of Cinder’s attack. Had she fallen? Had she gotten through to Vacuo?

Or had Cinder...

Water began to gather in the corners of her eyes and her fists clenched, the leather of her gloves squeaking in her grip as a sob ripped out of her throat.

Her partner, her sister, her closest friend… was her whole team just gone… was she the only one left? What about Jaune and Penny? Were they still fighting or had they fallen too?

She choked on another sob and sank to her knees in the dirt as her sorrow wracked her body.

All she had wanted to do her entire life was help people, keep them safe from the monsters that surrounded them. Make life better, like her mother…

Her mother, who had probably been turned into a creature of grimm by Salem for her eyes. Taken every good intention and warped it into something black, ugly, and malicious.

How had everything crumbled to ruin around them, again!?

Cinder.

It was always Cinder. Ruby clenched her teeth as her body trembled.

She understood now, why her eyes reacted to the woman. Her grimm arm stuck out in Ruby’s mind.

She was a monster, in every sense of the word.

“Argh!” Ruby slammed her fist into the dirt, over and over until it throbbed and she’d spent what little energy she had left pounding a divot into the ground. Something dark and ugly had pooled in her stomach, spreading through her veins like wildfire.

Hate

Hatred so bright and hot it set her aflame from the inside out.  

Salem might have been behind it all but it was Cinder who had continued to take and destroy everything she had ever fought for, ever cared about.

The fall of Beacon, Pyrrha, Haven, her sister, her teammates!

She tasted salt as tears dripped down her face, splattering in little dark spots on the ground.

Why… Why did she keep trying?

Now they had lost two relics and everything in between.

Maybe Ironwood had been wrong but how had her plan turned out any better? What good did saving the people of Mantle and Atlas do if Salem got the relics anyway and destroyed all of Remnant?

She sat there and cried. The burning hatred ebbing away to make way for something else.

Despair

The searing hatred bubbling beneath her skin fizzled out and bitter despair took its place.

Acrid and raw, burning up the back of her throat with a fresh wave of tears.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there in the dirt, lost to the world around her as despair reigned supreme and she didn’t know how long she might have, if a distant sound hadn’t finally broken through the haze of anguish.

Ruby looked up, sniffling as she strained her ears to listen for the far-off sound that didn’t fit the noises of the jungle.

A voice.

One she would know in her sleep.

“Ruby… Blake…. Yang!”

Was that…?

She scrambled to her feet and took off running in the direction of the voice calling her name as it grew louder and loud.

“Ruby!”

Ruby panted as she ripped through the thick jungle undergrowth, never slowing even as branches and plants whipped at her face. She was unconscious to it all; nothing penetrated except the sound of the voice growing ever closer and the furious pounding in her ears as she tore through the trees.

She burst through the tree line and skid to a stop the moment her eyes landed on the bright spot of blue and white in front of her that stood out like a beowulf at a dinner party among the dark greens of the jungle.

Weiss whipped around at the commotion she’d made and her eyes widened as they landed on her partner.

“Ruby!” She all but screamed before dashing forward and Ruby’s feet were moving without her even realizing until she crashed painfully into Weiss, arms wrapping around her in a near stranglehold. Ruby would take any pain in the world if it meant seeing her face again.

“Ruby... You’re okay…” She heard Weiss’s strained and desperate words against her ear and she squeezed her all the tighter as tears again started to gather in her eyes.

“Weiss…,” she choked, burying her face in the other woman’s neck. Her grip on Weiss remained air-tight but her knees were folding beneath her and the next thing she knew they were kneeling in the dirt, clinging desperately to each other. She could feel the cool drops of water dripping onto her shoulder where Weiss’s head was pressed against hers. They squeezed each other for a long, handful of minutes, relief washing over them.  

Eventually, they pulled back but didn’t go far, still clinging tightly to each other.

“Are you okay?” Ruby asked, silver eyes darting across Weiss’s tear-stained face as she stared back at her, nodding.

“Yes… I…” She sniffled. “I was afraid that you…,” she trailed off and if possible, Ruby’s hold tightened.

Her mind was still foggy with everything that had happened but the sheer relief she felt now that Weiss was here, in front of her, was like a ray of sunlight piercing the dark clouds of her misery.

“I’m not hurt…,” she assured, pulling back to grip Weiss’s shoulders, her thumbs running soothingly back and forth over her shoulders. She couldn’t say she was okay. Okay was the last thing she was right now. She was alive, and for now, that would have to be enough.

“Have you seen Yang or Blake?” Weiss asked, releasing her hold on her partner and Ruby shook her head.

“What happened after I fell, Weiss?” she asked and Weiss’s lips pursed, tears continuing their slow trek down her cheeks.

“Cinder took the relic…,” Weiss said quietly and Ruby’s jaw tightened, teeth clicking together.

“Did Penny at least get to Vacuo?” she asked and Weiss froze, eyes flickering to her lap and fingers curling into tight fists against the top of her thighs.

If she closed her eyes, she could still see it.

Penny’s body, an hour into becoming a living girl of flesh and bone, lying lifeless on the ground and Jaune’s sword, stained with dark, crimson blood.

She looked up at Ruby’s questioning face and swallowed thickly. How badly she didn’t want to say the words sitting like rocks in her mouth; but she had to.

“Penny…” Her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. “Penny was injured… and we didn't have the time to heal her. She… asked Jaune to kill her, so Cinder wouldn’t get the maiden powers…,” she trailed off, voice growing lower with the words. She could feel Ruby’s grip on her shoulders tighten into a white-knuckle grip and winced at the nails biting into her skin.

“He did…,” she mumbled and Ruby’s grip on her tightened for a brief second before she ripped her hands away and shot to her feet, turning on her heel and walking a few feet away before she stopped as Weiss scrambled up to follow her.

The air around them was tense and quiet, the chirping of the birds and rustling of the trees in the breeze were the only sounds between them.

Weiss didn’t know what to say as she stared at her leader’s back, watching the growing trembling in her frame.

Ruby hunkered forward, body shaking, then suddenly, jerked back, headshot back as a scream filled the air.

Cold chills ran up Weiss’s spine as she watched, wide-eyed and lips parted in silent shock as Ruby wailed up at the coral-colored sky.

The howl faded, turning into choked sobs and that knocked Weiss’s feet loose as she rushed to close the distance between them.

“Ruby…” She lifted a hand but stopped short.

“Why… Why Penny… why again!?” Ruby choked on her choppy breaths in between sobs. Weiss frowned, stepping closer.

“She wanted to keep the power safe from Cinder at all costs… to do the right thing. What she thought was right, like you would have…” She jerked back, eyes wide as Ruby whipped around.

“When have I ever done the right thing!?” Ruby screamed, slapping a hand to her chest. “Everything I’ve done, every decision I’ve made has only made everything worse!” she choked as tears dripped down her cheeks. “We lost the lamp, we lost the staff, we lost Penny…. again! All I am is a failure!” she screamed before sobs rocked her body and she crumpled to the ground in a heap, hands pressed to her face.

Weiss quickly crossed the remaining distance between them to kneel in front of the sobbing young woman. Her body shook and her head hung, refusing to meet Weiss’s eyes.

“Ruby, no… You’re not a failure…,” she said quietly but there was steel in her voice. “You are the bravest and kindest person I’ve ever known, Ruby. You always try to do the right thing and you’ve made some mistakes, we all have! You can’t know everything… you can’t be perfect!”

“I can’t do anything right, why do I keep trying? Everything just blows up in my face!” Ruby finally looked up at her, eyes rimmed with red and lips pulled back over her teeth. The fury and desolation flickering in her eyes struck at Weiss’s very core.

It broke Weiss’s heart to watch Ruby crack and fracture under all the pressure that had been building for months. She’d always been amazed at how strong Ruby had remained through everything but even her fearless and intrepid partner had finally reached her breaking point. The weight of their world having finally settled on her young shoulders.

Weiss bit her lip, feeling helpless just sitting there as Ruby continued to cry.

“You try… because that’s who you are, Ruby,” she said quietly. Reaching out to lay a gentle hand on Ruby’s forearm. “You want to make things better, you want everyone to be better and you actually work toward it, every day. You don’t just say it, you do.” Weiss squeezed. “Yang and Blake… you’ve helped them so much… you’ve helped me, more than I know how to say,” she mumbled. “You help everyone.”

Ruby’s cries quieted but they didn’t stop.

“I haven’t helped anyone lately… every decision I made was wrong,” was the gravelly answer and Weiss frowned, tears pricking her eyes as she watched her partner unravel before her eyes.

“I know that things have gone wrong… but you can’t do everything, you can’t fix it all. All we can do is try and you do. More than anyone I've ever known.” Weiss gave another squeeze as Ruby sniffled. “You’re…”

She hesitated, words stalled on her tongue. Words that had been sitting in her mouth, unsaid for some months now but there had just never been a good or right time for them to be said. Weiss was starting to think that maybe there never would be a good time.

“You’re amazing, Ruby. You make me want to do better and be better and that’s… that’s one of the things I… I love about you…,” she murmured, eyes trained on the ground between them. Ruby looked up at her, silver eyes glossy and red as tears continued their trek down her flushed cheeks.

“There’s no one else like you in all of Remnant and I don’t know what I would do without you to lead us, to remind us why we're doing this, why we have to do this. You inspire us… you inspire me .” She finally looked up and blue met silver for a long, silent moment. The buzz of cicadas and murmur of the birds in the distance being the only sounds between them for a long few moments.  

Ruby leaned forward and buried her face into Weiss’s shoulder and continued to cry. Not the earth-shaking sobs from before, just quiet, grieving tears.

Weiss wrapped her arms around her as tears fell from her own eyes, quietly carding a hand through the black and red strands of hair.

They sat there a long while, long enough that the sun had started to dip below the horizon, casting warm rays of orange light and the long, twisted shadows of the trees overhead.

Finally, Ruby pulled back and scrubbed at her raw cheeks with the back of her gloved hands.

“I don’t know what to do…,” she admitted sullenly.

“We’ll figure it out… like we always do,” Weiss said, giving another assuring squeeze and Ruby nodded. “It’s going to be dark soon, we should find some shelter,” She glanced at the sun sitting just over the horizon.

“Right…” Ruby climbed up on her numb legs, Weiss helping her as she pulled her to stand.

She went to pull her hand away but Ruby’s fingers wrapped around hers only tightened and Weiss looked at her, curiously.

Silver eyes were gazing back at her with an unreadable expression.

“Weiss…” She seemed to hesitate. “When... when you said you… loved me…,” her voice petered out and Weiss felt the embarrassment crawling up her throat. “Did… how did you… mean that?” she asked at last.

Weiss’s first instinct was to lie. To save face and not admit to this thing that had kept her up at night for a while now, right along with thoughts of Salem.

She wasn’t sure which she preferred to be the thing keeping her up at night.

Something about the barely held together look in her partner’s face though brushed away that instinct.

“I meant… I love you, Ruby. I’m… in love with you,” she finally said and watched the expression on Ruby’s face shift to total shock as her own face warmed.

“You… I…,” Ruby stuttered, unsure what to say.

“We don’t need to talk about this right now, Ruby…” Weiss cut her off before she could say anything else and Ruby’s jaw snapped shut from where it had been hanging open. They stared at each other for a long moment before she nodded.

“Right… later,” It was a promise.

Weiss nodded but felt Ruby give her hand another squeeze before finally letting it go. “We need to find shelter and we can look for Blake and Yang in the morning… there should be more people than just us that fell from the pathways,” she said and moved toward the trees with Weiss in tow. She was relieved to see a little life breathed back into her leader, even if she still looked broken.

That was okay. One step at a time and even if Ruby fell apart, Weiss would be there, to help her pick up the pieces.

[jack-o-cel]

I would like to officially introduce one of my OC's that live rent-free in my brain. He's a Resident Evil 8 OC. Even tho he's a fandom OC, he means a lot to me and has grown on me a lot. He's special to me :]

Also please spare me, Resi 8 is my first game in the Resident Evil series.

Forester Vein

Nickname: Ester

Biological Age: 138

Age Appearance: Early 20s

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay Demisexual

Place of birth: Norway

Occupation: Miranda's right-hand man. He essentially does her bidding and only takes orders from her. He also has power over the lords but is usually tasked with helping them. Besides that, he's a Botanist.

Family: Both his parents are dead. All he has is his little brother Foxglove, who looks around 7 years old.

Appearance: Forester is about 5'9". He's a twig. He's pretty pale with long white hair (It was originally brown before being implanted with his Cadou). He has light blue faded sharp eyes. He has sharp teeth (an effect of his Cadou). He also wears glasses.

When carrying out his duties for Miranda he wears a white tailcoat with gold accents, a black and white striped vest, a black dress shirt, a white and gold cross tie, black slacks, and black dress shoes with gold accents.

On his own time, he wears a white t-shirt, a beige knitted jacket, black sweatpants, and socks with sandals.

Personality: On duty, he's in what I affectionately call, customer service mode. He's very formal and helpful. He'll hold his tongue. He's Miranda's most loyal servant and does his very best to meet her expectations. On his own time, however, he more casual and sassy. He speaks his mind. Oh, and he hates Miranda with every fiber of his being (which is a lot :3).

In general, he's manipulative, obsessive, and smug. But also caring to those he loves. Would go above and beyond for them. He's a pretty serious and quiet person. Only when he's alone or with his little brother does his playful and goofy side come out. Despite his usual serious attitude, he's very expressive. His most common expression is a mocking smile.

He's very clumsy, especially when thinking about his obsession, whoever that may be. He's borderline yandere (His yandere behavior is a combination of Yuno from Future Diary, and Tsukiyama from Tokyo Ghoul).

Powers/Abilities: Enhanced strength, and regeneration.

Forester can control large thick vines (which look like large tendrils) and all plant life. He can release special pollen that allows him to control plant life (similar to Donna). The vines are different tho. He can control them without his pollen. To understand why first you have to understand how Ester's body works.

His body underneath his skin is made of vines. He also can easily regrow his limbs and regenerate his skin and hair. His vines are an extension of himself. Although his body is his main body, it isn't his core. His core is located underground surrounded by vines and impossible to get to. Vines from the core spread across the village underground. Forester can only go a few miles away from the edge of the underground vines.

The only time his core would be possible to access is when Forester transforms. His transformed state is a 50-foot tall behemoth made of vines. In this state, he's stuck where he transformed. The core is moved to just below the neck area of the vine monster. Fighting Forester is suicide in most cases. He attacks with huge vine tendrils from his arms and the base of the beast. He doesn't tire and his vines regenerate.

There are only two ways to beat him. The first way would involve killing him. You would need large amounts of fire-spreading explosives to slow him down. It makes getting to his core easier, you'll still be getting attacked tho. You'll need to be able to fly (or just about anything that's not climbing) to his core, climbing would take too long. You'll need to plant explosives where the core is sealed away. Once opened, jump in as fast as you can, the vines will close shut rather quickly.

The core is a large amber sphere. it's soft and gooey when touched gently, but if you were to attack it, it would harden. Inside the core is the shape of a man in the form of vines. That's where Forester's brain and Cadou is. Destroying that kills him.

The second method requires cooperation with Forester's brother, Foxglove. This method is to non-lethally beat him. In this method you cant use explosives, Fox won't agree to help you otherwise. You'll need a team to pull this off. You need someone, or a group, to distract the majority of the vines. You'll need a way to get to the core and something strong enough to pry open the vines long enough for Foxglove to enter where he'll take care of the rest. This method saves Forester, but kills Foxglove.

His Area: Just like the four lords he has his own area. You'll need the six-winged unborn vine key to unlock the gate that leads to his garden lab. The lab is outside with a greenhouse nearby. It's a small area. Most, if not all, would miss the entrance to his underground lair.

The underground area is seven floors down with an arena to the right of all the floors. You can peek inside the arena through 5 of the sub levels. sublevel 1 is above the arena, while level 7 is where the entrance to the arena is. The arena's ceiling is about 60 feet tall. It's used for testing Miranda's experiments abilities among other things. Forester uses it to test and train his own abilities (which is why the ceiling is so high :3).

From the main entrance to the bottom level is a spiral staircase. Each sublevel has a floor gate on the steps with a unique lock. To continue you have to find the key somewhere in the sublevel. Each level has its own tactics and enemies. They're all based on the five senses. Also, before entering you will be disarmed, one way or another.

Sublevel 1 - normal. There's an elevator on this floor locked behind a door that requires the vine key, that only Forester, and his little brother (who i'll talk about later in the post) have. The elevator goes to each level by going through hallways behind the arena walls.

Sublevel 2 - enemies that rely on sight. It'll be essentially hide and sneak kinda gameplay. If you get spotted you have to run out of sight and into a hiding place. You cant be seen going into a hiding spot.

Sublevel 3 - enemies that rely on hearing. You have to explore as quietly as possible. If a chase scene happens you have to hide in a special safe room.

Sublevel 4 - enemies that rely on smell. You'll have to regularly step into ponds that have a special substance inside that masks your scent into smelling like the enemy. But you can't get too close to the enemies there. They'll be able to identify you if you're too close. There are special rooms filled with an overwhelming amount of scents that the enemies wont enter.

Sublevel 5 - the enemies there rely on touch. They have long arms and hands that sweep across the floors. All you gotta do is avoid them. Harder said than done tho. The enemies can sense vibrations =). Dont move too erratically. Simple fast movements are best. Since they're rather big, they cant fit inside some rooms.

Sublevel 6 - The enemies here rely on taste. The key in this level is at the end of a large room that's packed with enemies with long tongues. They interact with their tongues. If they taste a human they'll attack. You have to explore the rest of the level for a vine suit to disguise as one of them. A few enemies roam outside the crowded room tho. They whip their tongues around them. It's a pretty wide radius, but it's not fast. To get past them you gave to see the whip pattern. There are no safe rooms or hide spots, besides the merchant room, in this level.

Sublevel 7 - All the above (with Forester roaming around as a treat =3)~

Arena - Boss Battle =))))))

Story: Forester was born in one of the poorest areas in Norway. His parents barely had enough to feed him, and themselves. When Ester was 10 he found a job at a garden owned by an old wealthy woman. To get the job he had to pretend to be rich. He did a lot of stalking to learn the behavior of rich kids his age; he got very good and stalking and slipping on a mask. He also stole clothes and food to look the part. The old lady was none the wiser. For 6 years she believed in his carefully constructed lie.

The old lady happened to have no living relatives, with no one else to give her wealth and belongings to, she gave it all to Forester when she died; He was 16. With his newly acquired wealth, he gave his family a comfortable home, with everything they could need and want.

Forester had always wanted to attend school, but could never afford or have time for it. Now that he could, he immediately enrolled. It was incredibly difficult. He was somewhat educated, he'd stolen books in the past and taught himself, but he was still incredibly behind. Regardless he tried his best and spent countless nights up studying. Eventually, he was able to do more than catch up, but surpass many of his peers.

After graduation, he went to college out of his country where he majored in botany and aimed for a PhD. He met Miranda in college. They had a few similar classes and got along well. Eventually, they became close friends.

After graduating from college they both went out to do their own thing, but kept in touch and traveled often together. Eventually, Forester decided to work as her assistant and learn from her.

In his early 30s, he took in his little brother, Foxglove, after their parents died. Foxglove was around a year or two years old at the time. While raising his brother, Forester felt a void in him filled. He had someone to love and take care of. Someone he could trust and love unconditionally. Both Foxglove and Eva got along well and played often together.

When Eva died, Forester was there to support his closest most trusted friend. When Miranda found the megamycete she went to her friend and explained what happened and her new plan. Forester, although wary, supported her in any way he could. He refused to go near the megamycete tho.

When he got close to it, Miranda pushed him into it. The megamycete grabbed Forester with tendrils and seemed to absorb him into it.

A few months after Eva died. Foxglove wandered into the forest nearby and found beautiful flowers. Ones that shared his name. Curious the boy ate a few of the flowers. Not too long afterward he came to his brother as fast as he could. He felt sick. Very sick. Fox explained what happened to Forester. Panicked he quickly tried his best to make a remedy, a cure, anything with what he had. But with no time or sufficient supplies on hand, Foxglove died in his arms.

It broke Forester. The void from before returned, larger than before. He desperately turned to Miranda for help. Miranda smiled, with something malicious behind her smile, and told him to go to the megamycete.

Inside the megamycete was an indescribable experience. While inside Ester could feel his body painfully changing. It also awoke something hiding deep in his mind. Something he was forced to forget. Miranda had been brainwashing him for years as an experiment in creating a truly loyal servant. He could feel his anger overwhelm him. He thought they were friends. He thought he could trust her. She knows things about him that he never said out loud before. He was hurt, betrayed, and pissed. Forester was determined to confront her, make her pay.

With his mind quieter, Forester remembered his brother. He found Miranda and approached her carefully and asked where his brother is. Miranda took him to an unmarked grave in the forest. He broke down. Miranda interrupted him, and asked him what he was going to do. Was he going to continue to wallow in despair or try to bring Foxglove back?

He clawed his way out of the megamycete. He felt heavy, but he continued. Eventually, he broke through after weeks of being trapped. With him a giant sphere like object covered in vines emerged. Upon inspecting it, he quickly realized what it was. He could believe what he saw. He had to hide it, and fast. He had looked down and had an idea.

He felt a newfound power within him, and with it, he sent his core deep underground where its vines would grow and spread. With his core safe he confronted Miranda. She initially tried to kill him, but found the effort futile. Instead, she spoke a series of words. Forester blacked out.

When he awoke he was sitting in a chair in Miranda's lab. Miranda was nowhere in sight. Desperate to find answers he returned to the megamycete. Touching it revealed the truth. When he blacked out, he was still awake, but he wasn't himself. He saw as he answered every question Miranda asked and did exactly as he was told. He calmed his growing anger and thought carefully. He needed a plan to bypass her brainwash effect.

Soon he began working on his lab and lair. He worked tirelessly on ways to bring back his brother. After years of research and testing, he was able to make an exact copy made of foxglove flowers. Forester not caring that what he created was a copy, embraced the boy and accepted him. Ester explained to the new Foxglove who he was.

Forester was content. He had his brother back. Still, the void remained. Regardless he could now focus on getting rid of Miranda. By then he had learned how to pass messages and take notes unconsciously. He informed his brother about his situation.

As the years passed, Foxglove stayed physically the same, but his mind grew.

Eventually, during the time that Heisenberg began preparing his army, Forester had Fox give him a letter explaining everything he knew. In secret, the two conspired against Miranda.

Currently: So Forester was created for an rp with one of my closest friends (@plague-doctorz). So what happened with Forester is that a war had started with three forces. Heisenberg's army, William's (Plagues' OC) army, Miranda's one-man brainwashed army, Forester. Will provoked Forester into transforming, according to Foxglove's plan. After dealing with many attack from Forester, the pair, with Lady Dimitrescu's help, formed a plan.

William acted as the distraction. With most of the vines focused on him, Alcina, transformed, swooped in through the middle, while dealing with stray vines, and brought Fox to where the core is. She pryed open the vines. Foxglove stepped inside and forced Alcina to let go. The vines shut closed. Inside Fox opened up the amber easily. Even in a brainwashed state, Forester trusted his brother no matter what.

Foxglove began flaking into leaves and flowers and flew into the crevices of the vines that made up Forester. He was able to snap Ester back to his senses at the cost of his life.

Forester had lost consciousness, and when he awoke, Miranda was already dead. He felt even emptier than before. The hole in his heart got wider when he found out what happened.

Right now, a few months later, Forester is at a state where he's on the brink of snapping. What he needs is closure, and something to fill the void in his heart. But can he have both? Will he even get either?

=)

So this is Forester! Please send me any questions and stuff if youre interested. I love to talk about him! Seriously, he lives rent free in my head.

Oh also, here's a picrew of him while I'm still working on his sketches~

His hair down too, cause im a simp,,,

Also here's Foxglove!

Also here's the link to a playlist on spotify based on Forester: here

one last thing

👉👈 @roxyourworld look what i did~

[hexusproductions]

Foxglove and Milo

Summary: Foxglove and Milo are two souls trapped in a pocket dimension, stuck in an endless time loop of survival and regeneration. Caught by Foxglove once again, Milo wonders why the guy hasn’t just killed him already.

Author’s Note: First full story for my horror OC Foxglove and his ‘survivor’ counterpart Milo! Very happy to get back into the swing of writing again. Trigger warnings for drugging, hallucinations, heavy physical scarring, violence/murder and character death.

The landscape was unrestrained nature as far as the eye could see. A mix of sparse trees and green-land, remains of structures that had fallen into ruin, and a graveyard with headstones jutting out from the earth. It was completely barren of people, minus two exceptions.

“How long are you keeping me here?” Milo complained, coughing under his breath. He was sitting in a cold patch of grass, propped against a stretcher bed. A few metres away, Foxglove was sitting on a wooden stool. The beak of his mask turned to look at Milo.

“What…? What do you mean...?” The question came partially muffled through the mask, the voice raspy and strained. Milo lifted one shoulder in a shrug. He paused before answering, looking around at their surroundings. Foxglove’s (home? Living quarters?) of whatever time loop dimension the two of them were stuck in, consisted of a caravan sunk into the ground. The roof and one side were ripped out, exposing its insides like a scavenged corpse. It contained all of Foxglove’s belongings, including Foxglove himself, and the stretcher bed Milo was currently slumped against.

“I mean here.” Milo continued, looking back to Foxglove. “You’ve won, you caught me. Congratulations. Now either kill me or let me go.” Foxglove’s head tilted to the side, considering Milo’s question now that he knew its meaning. Milo coughed again, spitting out a string of spittle from his lips. Foxglove’s living quarters were covered in the same fog as the rest of the endless landscape; a troublesome sweet-smelling mist that rolled low across the floor, wafting around moving calves and trying to reach open noses and mouths. It followed Foxglove around everywhere, spilling from the censer hanging from his staff. That same staff was currently standing against the still-intact wall, beside Foxglove’s foot.

“No…” Foxglove went back to the bowl in his hands, crushing and mixing various plant matter together. Milo’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“What’s the point of keeping me around?” He insisted, “You know as well as I do that it won’t be permanent. Nothing is.” Foxglove nodded, adding water from a glass bottle to the bowl of plant matter before setting both items carefully on the ground. Milo sighed, more of that lingering fog filling his lungs. He was starting to lose feeling in his feet and fingers. He slumped a little further against the stretcher, and he heard a quiet, amused chuckle behind the mask. “What?” 

Foxglove reached out and grasped his staff, using it as support to pull himself to his feet. The censer swung with every movement, disturbed and spilling out more of that damned herbalist’s concoction. He crossed the small space of the caravan, approaching where Milo sat. Foxglove was not an imposing man by physicality; even after years without any hard labour, Milo was still much stronger and broader in the shoulder than Foxglove was, and had been at least a little above average in the looks department in his old town. Yet as Foxglove stood over Milo, staring behind the black, unfeeling lenses of his bird-shaped mask, Milo shrunk underneath him.

“It won’t be long now…” Foxglove told him. He eased down slowly to a kneel, tilting Milo’s chin with a crooked finger before angling the staff down closer towards Milo’s face. “You’ll be gone soon enough...just wait…” Milo’s lip curled. He tried to inch further away from Foxglove, and he managed to make it a short distance despite the steadily spreading numbness in his limbs. Foxglove just watched him, leaning forward with interest, as if enjoying Milo’s reaction. Milo wasn’t sure which reaction was more intriguing - his response to the potion, or his slow, impending death.

“Crushing me would be faster.” Milo remarked. He launched into another coughing fit as Foxglove stood up again; wincing from a twinge of pain on the way up, but making it to his full height nevertheless. Milo squinted, shaking his head to try and clear his vision. Foxglove’s form was becoming blurry, shimmering into the dull black feathers of an avian beast. Its spine slouched, humanoid but with wings instead of arms, brandishing claws and talons designed for tearing flesh.

“Maybe.” A jagged beak croaked, before it turned back into just a mask. Foxglove shifted, inhaling a sharp intake of breath, and then walked over to the stretcher, sitting on its surface. Milo had lost track of how long Foxglove had been standing there before answering, too distracted by the monster that had briefly appeared in front of him.

“The hallucinations are starting again.” He deadpanned, only now realising that his face had become squashed against the stretcher’s metal frame.

“Good...” Foxglove replied. He patted Milo’s shoulder, then let the hand fall into his own lap.

Milo had become increasingly more familiar with the process of Foxglove’s preferred concoctions, after being trapped with the man for an eternity. It was an endless loop of Foxglove hunting Milo down and killing him. The methods varied, but the end result was almost always the same. Even when Milo had managed to escape Foxglove, he had never found a way out of this little piece of the world - a world. It had taken a long and gruelling amount of retries to find Foxglove’s caravan, and even longer to regularly visit without getting his skull caved in.

The skull-caver in question was still just sitting there, perched motionless on his bed as the staff kept drizzling poison around them. Summoning his will, Milo squirmed and struggled, trying to prop himself up. The hand he placed down slipped on the earth and he went tumbling backwards, his upper half falling out of the boundary of the caravan and onto the surrounding grass. The impact knocked the wind out of him, and the sharp intake that followed caused Milo to cough and retch on his own saliva. Once he had stopped choking, Milo’s eyes rolled upwards, the back of his head dragging against the ground as he looked at his close surroundings.

“...Is that Mary’s place? Over there?” Milo questioned, voice raising in realisation. He looked down; he could see all of Foxglove’s backside from here. His entire body was covered from head to toe in black and green cloth. He must have removed his mask while Milo wasn’t looking, because it now sat in the palm of his free hand.

“Over there.” Milo repeated. He tried to gesture, but his arms fell limp at his sides. His vision was going blurry again as Foxglove looked over his shoulder in the direction Milo had indicated. “I don’t know...I didn’t know her.” Foxglove replied, and turned back around. Milo stared at the fallen stone wall, upside-down from his point of view, before his mouth twisted down into a frown.

“Right…” He agreed quietly, before addressing Foxglove again, “Except you killed her.” Foxglove remained still, not even stirring at Milo’s accusation. Milo had gotten all this tears and cursing out years ago, but the memories still tied a knot in his stomach.

“Was that really necessary?” Milo sighed, looking at Foxglove’s back, “Did you ever consider another option?”

“Necessary?” Foxglove hissed. His grip tightened on the staff and he shoved the mask onto the bed, shooting to his feet. He approached stiffly around and out of the caravan, coming quickly towards Milo. Milo, eyes widening, tried to drag himself backwards, but his body was failing him, slipping uselessly.

“Was this necessary? Was this your town’s only option?” Foxglove’s boot pressed down on Milo’s thigh, keeping him in place. Milo stared as Foxglove threw the staff down beside him, crouching down and gripping Milo by the shirt, wrenching him upwards. “Did I deserve this?” Patchwork strands of dark hair fell out from beneath the snug inner hood of Foxglove’s clothing, partially obscuring his real face. Pale dead eyes were flooded with anger and hatred. Splotches of his pale skin were mottled with burnt scar tissue, completely surrounding the left side of his face and poking out from beneath his collar. “All of you voted to have me die at the stake. Did I deserve to be murdered?” Milo’s tongue twitched uselessly in his mouth, any response unable to escape his throat. Foxglove’s clenched fists were shaking, his normally slow tone instead clipped and venomous. His lips were twisted in a snarl as he yanked Milo closer towards his face, making sure it was all Milo could see. “Are you happy now? Did this help you when you all decided I couldn’t?” Foxglove’s voice cracked, and he threw Milo down against the dirt. Milo sank beneath the top of the fog, engulfed by it. He tried to breathe fresh air into his lungs, the intake coming in a wheeze. It was becoming hard to focus, but he managed to recognise the sudden grip around his jaw, prying it open.

“Here. Breathe deep.” The bird-creature’s voice ordered. His other hand tangled in Milo’s hair, wrenching his head back from the opposite end, so it was impossible not to inhale the dense toxin. “Maybe this dosage will cure your ailment.” Milo’s eyes were watery and bulging as they stared at Foxglove; he tried desperately to struggle, to speak, to do anything. Foxglove, or the creature, its own pale eyes were burning into him, watching his vision tunnel. His lungs were burning, and the numbness was replaced by a warmth, spreading across the rest of his body and torturously pleasant and welcoming. The grip on his jaw and in his hair remained like a vice. Milo looked up to the sky above them, the dark sky with barely a star in sight. He heard the garbled choking sounds from his own throat as his vision gave out, the warmth overtaking him, and he felt himself fading, falling into the sensation. The very last thing he could feel was his lungs screaming for oxygen as he slipped from the world once more, as he had over and over again for centuries.

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 35-40

This is the one-part “Xanado”, and the five-part “Final Fantasy”. 

So last time, we saw a Millennium team led by Rip Van Winkle take control of a British aircraft carrier, which forced Hellsing to send Alucard to deal with the situation.   He accomplished his mission, but now he’s stuck on the boat by himself, because vampires can’t cross running water.   I suppose Hellsing would have arranged a second aircraft to pick him up, but they’ve got bigger problems on their hands.   Just as Alucard finishes off Winkle, reports come in of communication breakdowns all over Great Britain.  Military, intelligence, police, all out of reach.  Integra recognizes this as Millennium’s next move.    By taking out the communications networks, they ensure a clear shot for their invasion force to move in.   But how did they pull this off?

Simple, they did it the same way they arranged all those vampire attacks during the summer, and the Valentine assault on Hellsing Manor, and the Brazillian Police raid on Alucard’s hotel suite, and Lt. Winkle’s takeover of the H.M.S Eagle.    They convinced a bunch of Brits to betray their country in exchange for being turned into vampires.   The only real surprise here is the sheer breadth of treachery this time around, as Millennium must have created dozens of sleeper agents throughout the country, each tasked with hijacking or sabotaging key defense systems.  And Vice-Admiral Penwood’s command is no exception.    Those a-holes who gave Integra a hard time earlier?   Turns out they were in the tank for Millennium all along, and now that the invasion force has arrived, they’ve revealed their true colors.   At first, they’re pretty thrilled to have captured Integra Hellsing herself, but she calmly informs them that they’re minor league vampires at best, and they’ve foolishly revealed themselves in the presence of expert vampire hunters.

And Walter calmly slices them all up with his magic wire powers.  Cool.

But that’s not going to stop the one thousand vampire soldiers currently heading into British airspace.   I think the most striking visual in this part of the story are the expressions of sheer excitement on these guys’ faces.  They’re just so thrilled for what’s about to happen, and when you consider how long they’ve waited, it only makes sense.   It’s almost infectious, until you recall just what it is they’ve come here to do.  

Meanwhile, Alexander Anderson watches the Millennium blimps roll in.   Oh, right, I forgot about him.    Back in chapter 25 he was still in Brazil, trying to locate Millennium’s HQ, but all he found were human agents trying to stop him, which he found rather insulting.   Then Maxwell contacted him to explain what he learned from the summit with Hellsing, and he ordered Maxwell to come to London in preparation for a great crusade.   But unlike the Crusads of old, their enemy is not Allah, but Mars, since Millennium is so devoted to war.   Anyway, Anderson’s here and ready to rock.

Meanwhile, the people of London finally spot these blimps rolling in, and it’s pretty horrifying stuff.   We’ve already seen the carnage that can be wrought by a few vampires, and now it’s a thousand vampires, and they’re all Nazi soldiers to boot.   The sense of dread here is just palpable.

Aboard the flagship (flagblimp?) the Major starts giving his men their orders, and they even have a stupid invasion handbook for the occasion.   Warrant Officer Schrodinger lost his and has to share with the Captain.   I suppose this is intended to alleviate the tension, except, no, it really doesn’t.    These guys are all horrible monsters in every sense of the word, and they’re about to do awful, unspeakable things.    Schrodinger’s comic relief moments only make it worse.

The Major gives an extra-long speech for the occasion, basically outlining all the buildings and people in London that he wants his men to destroy (tl;dr: “all of them”).  He then assigns Lt. Zorin Blitz to take one of the blimps with a contingent of men and head for the Hellsing mansion on the outskirts of town.   She figures that’ll be an easy gig, since Alucard is away, but the Major warns her not to underestimate Integra Hellsing or Seras Victoria.   He doesn’t exactly explain his concerns about Seras, but the mere fact that she’s Alucard’s servant is probably reason enough to be mindful, and Integra is Alucard’s master, and she comes from a long line of vampire hunters, so the Major considers them both to be archenemies on the same level as Al himself, despite their inexperience. 

So the Major explicitly orders Zorin to go to the mansion but not to attack.   Her task is to observe an wait for the Major’s order.    This will be important later.

Then the Major orders a bunch of V-1 and V-2 rockets launched at London.   I mean, geez, were the hundreds of vampire soldiers not enough?  Did he think he needed to soften the city up first?  

Then the troops jump out of the blimp to begin their assault.  They look like they’re parachuting down, but I don’t think any of them are wearing parachutes, since they shouldn’t need them.  It’s almost pathetic the way they talk to each other with all of this professional military talk and congratulating each other on a successful landing.    London is virtually defenseless and this is a slaughter, not a battle, but they’ve been psyched up for this for 55 years.

Back at Penwood’s base, Integra warns him to flee before the main invasion force arrives, but Penwood insists on remaining at his post.   He confesses that he’s completely incompetent, and he only has this position because of his inherited title, but he refuses to abandon his duty, since that’s the only honorable thing he can do.   Integra leaves him a gun with silver bullets and wishes him well as she heads for her own duty.    Penwood orders his men to evacuate, but they refuse, since Penwood can’t actually operate any of the equipment here.

So now we get an extended sequence of Milennium marching through London, basically sacking the city and slaughtering anyone they meet.   This is accompanied by the lyrics to “Akuma Stocking” which I think was used in the anime adaptation as well.   There’s a lot of gory scenes here, but the three main visuals that stuck with me in the anime are these:

First, this motherfucker eating a baby.   

Second, all the Londinian civilians they bite end up rising up and transforming into ghouls, who then join in the slaughter.    It’s easy to forget about ghouls at this point, but Millennium never forgot.   Their artificial vampires can’t turn virgins into new vampires, and I think that may be by design.   They were counting on their victims rising up to compound the horror.    

Third, just a lot of bayonet-usage going on here.   You’d think they’d be content to bite and shoot people, but these guys seem to enjoy hoisting up their prey to show them off.   It’s a horrific nightmare and there’s no end in sight.   

Integra and Walter speed home as fast as they can, but they stop to take out a Millennium soldier in a shootout with London police.    She can’t save the cops, but she does avenge them.

Back at the Naval base, Penwood sends out a final transmission as he expects the enemy to enter his post at any moment.    His men are all dead, with the last one shooting himself to avoid becoming a ghoul.  He tells anyone who can hear him to resist and do their duty.    Then he recalls his first meeting with the young Sir Integra.   Back then, he found it ridiculous that a 12 year old should be in charge of Hellsing, but she quickly puts him in his place, and established that she would be asking him for favors from then on.  

But Penwood won’t be granting any favors to the Kraut bastards who storm his post.  Instead he sets off the explosives they set up earlier and I guess they all die together.   I wouldn’t have thought an explosion would kill these vampires, but they are a lot less formidable than Dandyman or the Valentines.   Luke couldn’t regenerate his foot, for example.

When Integra shot that one vampire, she gave away her position, and now Millennium is on her trail.   Just when it seems they have a clear shot at escape, someone blocks their path, and Walter tells Integra to take the wheel and find another route.    He’s going to stay behind to fight this guy, but he doesn’t think he can hold him off for long.

Integra does as he asks, but orders him to return alive “at all costs.”   Hmm.

Walter uses his wire power, but it turns out this is the Captain, and he’s apparently powerful enough to foil his attack.    Walter recognizes him, presumably from when he and Alucard fought the proto-Millennium in the 1940s.

And then the Major flies along in his blimp and confirms it. 

Meanwhile, Integra gives the Last Battalion a merry chase, but eventually she crashes the car and seems to be cornered.  One asshole tries to get closer to finish her off, but she decapitates him with her sword.

His comrades accuse her of being a “sore loser” and tell her to give up, but she mocks them all for being cowards who surrendered their humanity.  She’s hardcore, she’s hardcore.

But before she can fight all these vampires alone, somebody comes along and throws a bunch of blessed bayonets at them.   These did a number on Alucard and Seras, but they didn’t cause any lasting harm.   Seras was even able to pull them out without too much trouble.   But this shithead just disintigrates on the spot.  Remember, the Last Battalion’s main advantage is their number.   Individually, they’re not terribly impressive, at least as vampires go.

But yeah, it’s Alexander Anderson, along with his two sidekicks, Heinkel Wolfe and Yumiko Takagi, the stars of Kouta Hirano’s earlier manga, “Cross-Fire”.   We’ve seen Heinkel in Hellsing before, but I think this is Yumie’s debut here.  They chastise Anderson for interfering, since they were only sent to observe, but Anderson is too fired up by Integra’s fighting spirit, and he wants to kill some vampires, dammit.

Turns out there’s quite a few of these Iscariot guys here, maybe all of them, but Anderson starts doing a whole routine with them, as they chant all this stuff about how they’re assassins in the tradition of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Christ.  I’m not sure I get much of this, but it’s nice that Hirano put some thought into Section XIII as the super-secret death squad of this fantasy version of the Vatican.

And that’s all we have for now.   

[corruptedbonecharm]

monster au? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻 do tell??!

alright i was SO happy to get this ask and was looking forward to answering it when i realized... wait a minute. this AU is pretty underdeveloped and i have no clue how to explain it. so here we go i guess—

the basic gist is, of course, that grim alex is a literal monster now. here's the design for that i'll post this on its own someday probably:

(i've posted art of it here and here as well)

more explanation under the cut:

this AU is mostly based off my personal little headcanon-y theory that alex’s current appearance and abilities came with time via prolonged exposure to the serum (i.e she just looked like hypatia at first but gained her own appearance as time went on), and the thought that if she was allowed to stew in that chemical nonsense even more, then maybe she’d get even weirder. and i doubt such “weirdness” would involve her becoming a 12-ish foot tall abomination creature with a noodle neck and yaoi hands but i mean. here we are i guess!

essentially the thought behind it is “what if she just never got cured/killed?” and thus i guess it’s simultaneously got an emily-loses-AU in the background though i’ve hardly really thought about that aspect.

past the coup and past the supposed defeat of emily/corvo (or whatever happens there), delilah and the duke have their hands full with more important matters and find that they really don’t need alex anymore—she’s fulfilled her primary purpose to them as the crown killer, and, as those feelings of being used set in for her, she’s far less willing to heed them and rapidly becoming much more difficult to handle. so they deem keeping her around not worth it and leave her be without further word. addermire becomes more of a ghost town than it already was: alex slaughters half the guards in a fit of rage and luca withdraws the remaining men so that he doesn’t have to pay to replace any more of them.

as a monster, she’s her usual disgusting hyperviolent self, but stripped of higher intelligence and reduced to something even more crudely animalistic, always hungry and always on the hunt for whoever’s unfortunate enough to decide the institute looked like a great place to explore (rumors of addermire's abandonment and the often laughed-off newfound legend of there being some sort of monster lurking there grow prominent, catching the interest of brave explorers).

new abilities include:

- regeneration—the vast majority of wounds will completely heal in a relatively short time span, as long as the brain and/or heart are not significantly damaged.

- vocal mimicry—like a lyrebird or particularly skilled parrot, she can mimic voices and sounds almost perfectly. this is generally used for luring and as a fear tactic, using screams for help and the like as a means to make well-meaning prey come running straight into her trap.

she's physically stronger than before, now with heavily reduced eyesight and an even more keen and relied-upon sense of smell.

and yes, hypatia does factor into this AU! but unfortunately she’s getting an even shorter end of the stick than she did before and is really not doing well here, both physically and mentally. she’s a sickly-looking mess: haggard, shaky, alarmingly underweight, with a vacant stare that betrays her near equally vacant mental state. the whole ordeal has really taken a toll on her. she’s not herself very often but when she is, she generally spends it wandering aimlessly, or curling up on the floor, or attempting to do science but ending up fumbling nonsensically with beakers, or trying to heal someone who’s been dead for days. there may not be guards anymore but she’s too out of it to even think of escaping the place at this point.

i feel like i’m missing a lot of details here but that’s the basic gist, really! i’m not very good with AUs and it’s doubly difficult to develop one when the central character is basically an animal who can’t talk and is perpetually stuck in one spot but this is one of my favorites, and ngl i’m a little proud of the design

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 49

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 49 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 49/? SUMMARY:    Elise Smith is now a teenaged Timelord. In addition to losing the Ponds,  the fields of Trenzalore are calling. But first they have to figure out  exactly who Clara Oswald is.

[A/N - Prepare to have your hearts broken in this one.]

“A question only I could answer. A truth field to make sure I'm not lying. If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place and that it's safe to come through,” the Doctor said.

“The Time Lords? Okay, so what then? If you answer the question and they come back, what happens?” Clara asked.

“Hell,” Elise answered.

The Doctor handed Clara a small round object. “Ah, you need to take this to the Tardis and put it in the charger slot for the sonic.”

“Why?”

“Elise is right. Hell. All hell, that's what happens if the Time Lords come back. There's half a universe up there already, waiting to open fire. Now please, go to the TARDIS and just do as I say.”

Clara ran out of the room.

“You’re sending her home, right?” Elise asked.

“This is between the Timelords and me,” he said.

Elise took her hand in his. “The Timelords and us.”

The Doctor offered her a small smile.

The moment was shattered by Tasha’s voice. “Doctor. Speak with me. Doctor! Face me now! Doctor!”

The Doctor put his jacket back on and they made their way to the bell chamber.

Tasha’s face hung in the sky.

“Mother Superious, there is only one thing I need from you. This planet, what's it called?” the Doctor asked.

“Trenzalore.”

Elise’s hearts stopped in her chest.

This was the end.

“If you speak your name, the Time Lords will return,” Tasha said.

“If they return, they will come in peace,” the Doctor told her.

“It doesn't matter. They will be met with a war that will never end. The Time War will begin anew. You know that, Doctor.”

“They're asking for my help!”

“And if you give it, war will be the consequence. I will not let that happen, at any cost. Speak your name and this world will burn.”

“No, this planet is protected.” He soniced the bell and it started ringing.

The citizens started to gather outside the tower.

Elise and the Doctor stepped out of the tower.

“So, you lot, a quick word, thank you. Spot of news. Christmas has a new sheriff. Hello, everyone. I'm the Doctor. And this my daughter Elise.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

There were many attacks on the town, but the Doctor and his daughter defeated them every time. Elise herself was becoming quite a warrior in her own right.

But something else happened on Trenzalore.

She fell in love. He was human of course. With sandy brown hair and green eyes.

Joey.

Elise came home one day to find her father sitting in his chair, working on toys for the children. “Maybe you should just retire and make toys,” she teased him.

He rarely did anything else nowadays. He’d aged in the many years they’d been here, his old age finally catching up with him.

When she wasn’t fighting, Elise worked at the schoolhouse. Clara would have been proud of her.

Elise hung up her scarf. She didn’t really need it, being a Timelord, but it had been a gift from Joey’s mother.

Elise walked over to the Doctor. He hadn’t greeted her when she entered the tower. “Dad? Is something wrong?” she asked him.

He looked up at her, sadness in his green eyes. He held out a letter.

“What’s this?” she asked. She took it from him and realized it was in Joey’s handwriting. She ripped it open and started reading. He’d gone to the front lines without telling her. Elise collapsed to the ground.

“Did…is he…?”

Her father just nodded and Elise felt her hearts shatter in her chest. Her sadness quickly morphed into anger and she ripped the letter up, chucking it into the fire. She reached for her scarf, but she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it. Instead, she stashed it deep in the chest where she kept her clothes.

She vowed she’d never love another man ever again. Elise pushed her lost love to the back of her mind and instead focused on the children. She loved the children and the children loved her and the Doctor.

They drew her and the Doctor pictures, which they hung up around their room in the tower.

It wasn’t as nice as her bedroom in the TARDIS, but it was home.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

One day, they heard the sound of the TARDIS engines.

“What is it? What's that noise?” Barnable, one of the children, asked.

“Well. Where have you been for three hundred years?” the Doctor yelled at the TARDIS.

Three hundred years? Was that how long they’d been here?

“What's that?”

“It's my ship.”

“Your what?”

“It's my TARDIS. That's how I got here in the first place.”

“Does this mean you're leaving?”

The TARDIS landed completely.

Clara was clutching onto the outside.

“What are you doing here?” the Doctor asked.

“I was in space.”

“Well, you were in the time vortex. She must have extended the force field. No wonder.” The Doctor pulled her off the TARDIS. “No wonder she's late, dragging you around.”

Clara turned to him with tears in her eyes. “You tricked me.”

“I saved you!”

“You didn't even say goodbye!”

“I'm furious with you!”

“Well, I am not even talking to you!”

They both started laughing and hugged.

They went inside the tower and Clara looked around. “Oh, Doctor. Fixing toys and fighting monsters.” She turned to Elise. “And what about you?”

“I teach,” Elise told her.

“The turkey isn't done yet,” the Doctor said, entering the room. He handed a few books to Elise. “TARDIS left these on the console.”

Elise smiled and ran her fingers down the spines. Her favorite books.

“Is it still asking the question?” Clara said, looking at the crack.

“Oh, never stops. Come upstairs. It's almost time.” The Doctor picked up Handles.

“What for?”

“Dawn. The light here lasts only a few minutes. You don't want to miss it.”

They went up to the bell chamber and the Doctor made a fire.

“Well, it's a standoff. They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords, and I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords. Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas. Could've been worse.” He adjusted Handles. “Right, there you go, buddy. Comfy?”

“Comfort is irrelevant,” Handles said.

He propped Handles up a bit more. “How's that, is that better?”

“Affirmative.”

“You just take it easy, buddy. He's getting old. I do my best for him, but I just can't get the parts, you know. Hey, I know the feeling.” The Doctor groaned as he tried to move.

“It’s fine. I’ll get it,” Elise told him. She reached over and handed him the bag of marshmallows.

“Where did you get those?” Clara asked.

“I have a supplier. The pink ones are best,” the Doctor told her.

“I have developed a fault,” Handles said.

“Hey, don't you worry, Handles. You're just dreaming. The sun's coming up very soon. You just hang on in there.”

“I have developed a fault. I…I have developed a fault.”

The Doctor picked Handles up. “Hey, Handles. Come on. Come on. One more dawn, you can do it. You've got it in you. Come on, just hang on in there.”

“Attention. Emergency. Attention.”

“Handles, what is it? What's wrong?”

“Urgent action required. You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit.” Handles’ lights faded out.

“Come back. Handles? Handles.” The Doctor sighed and Elise put a hand on his knee. “Thank you, Handles, and well done. Well done, mate.”

Handles was just one in a long line of people who had brought the Doctor comfort in these last few hundred years.

The sun rose between the mountains and the birds sung.

“What do you think of our new place?” the Doctor asked, “I come up here once a day for a few minutes, to remind myself of what it is I'm protecting.”

“It's beautiful. Why did you send me away?”

“Because if I hadn't, I'd have buried you a long time ago.”

“No, you wouldn't. I would never have let you get stuck here.”

“Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, Clara. Everything ends.”

“Except you.”

“Have you been paying attention? I'm an old man now.”

“But you don't die. You change. You pop right back up with a new face.”

“No, not for ever. I can change twelve times. Thirteen versions of me. Thirteen silly Doctors.”

“Okay, so you're number eleven, so...”

“Ha. Are we forgetting Captain Grumpy, eh? I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration.”

“Okay, so you're number twelve.”

“Well, number ten once regenerated and kept the same face. I had vanity issues at the time. Twelve regenerations, Clara. I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up. This face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves, one of them mine.”

“What? No. No!”  Elise cried. She’d lost so much and now she was going to lose him. How much longer could he hold on?

“Hey, Ellie. It’ll be alright. You’ve grown so much. You don’t need me anymore.”

“I’ll always need you.” 

“We’ve had some good times, eh?”

The sun started to set.

“Change the future,” Clara told him.

“I can't.”

“You've got your TARDIS back.”

“Ha! You think I'm just going to fly away, abandon everyone?”

“Of course not. But you've been protecting this town for over three hundred years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet? Can’t Elise do it?”

“There is no one else to protect it. I’d never leave Elise to fight alone.”

“It's not going to be you forever. It'll end the same way, whatever you do.”

“Every life I save is a victory. Every single one.”

“What about your life? Just for once, after all this time, have you not earned the right to think about that?”

The Doctor looked at Clara.

“Sorry. Wrong thing to say. We shouldn't be having an argument.”

“Clara, I've been having that argument for the last three hundred years in my head.”

“But you didn't have your TARDIS.”

“Ah. Yes, well, that made it easier to stay. True.”

As the sun set, thunder rolled in.

“Doctor!” Tasha’s voice said.

“Ah. Look who's woken up.”

Tasha’s face appeared in the sky. “The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified.”

“I'll be right up.”

“I'm sending a transporter.”

“Nah, don't bother. I've got me motor back.”

“It's gone dark,” Clara said.

“Yeah, well, the sun's gone down.”

“Already?”

“Everything ends, Clara. And sooner than you think.”

[terezis]

@myriadplethorae said: 

I’m still stuck on what happens in the complete lyctor process: in the flawed process, the cav’s body dies, their soul resides inside the necro’s body and it creates a battery of thanergy (and thalergy?). 

But in the perfect process, the cav’s body doesn’t die? Their soul still goes into the necro’s and provides a battery, and turns the necro’s eyes, but the cav’s body doesn’t die and the cav’s body’s eyes turn to the necro’s colour.

So where is the necro’s soul? Is it in the cav’s body, and that’s why the emperor can’t die because his heart is in a locked box (as the fairy tale goes) / the cav’s body is a phylactery in the lich sense? 

Or, both souls are in the necro and the cav’s body is alive but soulless and that makes it a monster which is why Alecto needs to be asleep for forever and never awakened? I’m torn. Because the former possibility makes more sense to me except that it seems like in-universe the location of the soul matters greatly for being the seat of cognition

when i started writing my reply just now i was pretty sure that alecto’s problem was a completely separate issue from her being a lyctor, but now i’m questioning that, too???

to hear augustine describe it, alecto only became a “monster” after the emperor resurrected her - or, at least, she became a lot worse after he brought her back to life. assuming that she was once completely human (i’m not super convinced), maybe that’s because he brought something else back with her when he recalled her soul?

i mean, look at the emperor’s eyes - originally alecto’s - which are black-on-black. the only other place we’ve seen that is in colum the eighth after his necromancer started siphoning him. silas sent his soul “elsewhere” and when his body was vacant, something else rushed into the place it left behind; and when it did, his body’s eyes changed. 

honestly i would not be surprised if he tried to bring alecto back and failed completely, like, he accidentally stuck someone/ something else in her body, maybe? who knows!!!

i am a lot less sure about the details of perfect lyctorhood. i feel like we just don’t have enough information!!! we probably won’t have a complete understanding until the next book :< but i feel like you might not be so far off with the thing about souls swapping bodies.

they keep coming back to the eightfold word, which ianthe describes as “hooking up the cables and getting the power flowing,” and something that the eighth house would probably find easy - so, probably more soul siphoning. then later the emperor says that the trick of it is to do it “slower, more methodically.” pyrrha says that she survived because she and og!gideon “compartmentalized” from it.

so ??? honestly i rly don’t know how you could avoid siphoning if the whole point is to use the soul as a battery. my best guess is that maybe if you do it slowly enough, the soul regenerates? like...

When Master Octakiseron siphons his cavalier, he sends the soul elsewhere and then exploits the space it leaves behind. The power that rushes in to fill that space will keep refilling, for as long as either of them can survive. You wouldn’t have to send anyone anywhere.

is the soul a renewable resource??? maybe so??? but how would that also preserve the cav’s body? is it just by virtue of being linked to their necromancer’s soul, who completed all the theorems??? is it that the cavalier’s soul powers the necromancer’s magic, and the necromancer’s magic keeps them both alive???

but if the emperor brought something else back with/ instead of alecto, how would that affect their lyctorhood? what is he drawing power from??? did he turn her into a monster as a result of siphoning gone wrong, like with silas and colum??? is that why he tried to hide the true process, because he was afraid of it happening again???