#kyro barks

[kyrothehornypuppy]

so I just learned that I'm allergic to weed which is annoying bc no one told me that my skin *wasnt* supposed to get itchy every time I smoked

this is bullshit/hj

[theclearblue]

Surprisingly it's been awhile since One Piece has made me cry idk if anything post timeskip has gotten me yet like anything in pre-timeskip? Kinda sad about it tbh I like a good cry

[innershoesuitcasebiscuit]

When I watched One Piece with the 1000+ episode I thought I wouldn't be able to finish it. The odd thing is that when I watch other anime or k-dramas, tv series from HBO, even though they have lesser episodes I would get bored and just skip it till the ending. But in One Piece even the Opening Song I dare not skip it. This is why the One Piece is GOAT. I didn't even skip any filler arcs 😂😂😂.

However this post is not actually me gushing about how far I have come in One Piece.

Now we head straight for the main topic:

Upon seeing the scene where Sabo met some of the crew in Kyros house. I've got this enlightenment regarding a certain scene in Thriller Bark arc.

Remember this? Robin eavesdrops on the conversation Sanji has with Lola's crew. Curiosity is Robin's nature after all, she's curious as to why Luffy has recovered miraculously while Zoro is in worse condition. Her curiosity I think stems from the worries she has for Zoro, I think on her mind she has this question 'what happened?' , 'why did he become like this?' . I mean at this point Robin cares about her crew mates unlike before when she first joined.

But this scene might connects with the scene in Dressrosa arc.

After seeing this scene you can see that Zoro is alerted by Sabo's presence and ready to take him down but caught off-guard when Sabo threw the booze to him.

He was just caught off-guard, he didn't lower it. The booze is also not a peace offering from Sabo to Zoro. Remember Sabo can take Zoro head to head. Sabo is not weak especially now that he has Ace's DF.

I think that Sabo gifted Zoro the booze as a way to thank him for the sacrifice Zoro has done at the Thriller Bark arc and the loyalty shown by him.

Also after they've done talking Sabo gave Zoro, Luffy's vivre card.

Now the question is why not give it to Franky? Or Robin? Which was closer to him. Why trust a person you've just met when there's someone you have known for two years.

The reason is within those two years time skip. Robin might have been the medium why Sabo held a debt and trust towards Zoro (with him paying that debt with a booze and giving Zoro the vivre card). She might have also told Sabo about the events at Thriller Bark especially what she has heard when eavesdrops on that conversation that Sanji has with Lola's crew.

Well I think this is enough. I would also like to gush out with my shipping but I'm holding it in for now. I'm going to enjoy watching and reading One Piece first before rewatching it again to drown in my ships.

I'm holding my Zorobin heart for now 💜💚.

But just for a freebie: I don't think Zoro would lower is guard even if you gave him a booze. Zoro's first priority is Luffy and at that time Luffy was still in a bad condition. He lowered his guard though when Robin shouted Sabo's name.

Notice the way he stands straight when he asks Robin "You know him?"

[roronoasrighteye]

one piece brain rot pt. 2

plot twist! its me rating their arcs. (MY OPINIONS!!) ((some are in order?)

romance dawn: 6/10. Solid intro for the show though! Zoro'a episode was sad + funny

orange town: 7/10. a bit slow paced, but it was great overrall. Shushu's backstory and buggy make it up though, a plus one.

syrup village: 5/10. MY BAD YALL. i remember being sleepy most of the time, captain kuro was a meh for me though.

baratie: 8/10. introduced sanji here and i fell in LOVE. the scene where mihawk appeared and sparred with zoro was great. it got very interesting + a bit of sanji's backstory.

arlong park: 8/10. i remember for always being pissed off at arlong so bad. an amazing opponent, nami's backstory was so fucking sad and i have to give it a plus one. the so felt relief when luffy defeated arlong was so fucking great.

lougetown: 6/10. i forgot 90% on what happened at lougetown tbh. but i did remember dragons appearance!

whiskey peak: 7.8/10. vivi mostly made me so pissed off at this arc (i love vivi now btw), zoro and luffy was awesome at this arc. they carried.

drum island: 9.8/10/ FUCKKK i cried so much during choppers backstory and on how luffy doesnt see him as a monster. it was so heartwarming and SO SAD??????????????????? LIKE WHO COULD EVER HURT CHOPPER?? VERY UNDERRATED.

alabasta: 9.5/10. shiitttttt dont get me STARTED. robins entrance was so fucking surprising? sanji's "mr prince" was so (redacted)). crocodile vs luffy was so ... THRILLING? if thats the right word

jaya: 6/10. i gave this a 6/10 cuz blackbeard pisses me off tbh

skypiea: 1000000/10. LOVE THIS ARC. very slow-paced but it was worth it. cried lots during this arc, eneru ON TOP

long ring island: 4/10. sorry all but i slept majority of the episode cause foxy and his crew pisses me off so much (esp the girl) + VERY slow-paced. but aokiji introduction was goated though

water 7: 9/10. loved it, the world building was SO GOOD??? villains were great tho, but mostly pisses me off too.

enies lobby: 1000/10. FUCL THIS ARC WAS SO FUCKING GOOD AND FOR WHAT??? PEAK fiction. the fights, robins backstory, luffy was INSANE.

post enies lobby: 8/10. cute, coby and luffy interaction and garp too

thriller bark: 8/10. the villains were fun BUT GECKO MORIA WAS SO PISSY? i love perona though. that one scene of nami made me uncomfortable.

sabaody island: 9.8/10. PEAKKKKKK!! kidd and law was introduced and i LOVED it. the celestial dragons pisses me off though. was relieved that luffy punched the shit out of that one (heart eyes)

amazon liy: 9/10. I??LOVE??BOA HANCOCK?? her backstory made me feel sad. BUT RAYLEIGHHH// HEYYYY...

impel down: 9/10. BONCLAY?>?>?>?>?>?> buggy was super helpful here. but it was so intense

marineford: 10/10. aha...aha... (insert opinions) (i love ace)

post war arc: 9/10. it was so suprising when luffy did the "3D2Y" thing. i didnt get it at first until someone pointed it out LOL

reutrn to sabaody: 10/10, FUCK ALL OF YOU!! kuma was si fucking sweet??? cried a bit though

fishman island: 100000000000/10. I LOVED THIS ARC SO MUCH I CRIED FOR THREE FUCKING DAYS AND IT WAS SO SAD :(( I LOVE SHIRAHOSHI AND HER BROTHERS SM

punk hazard: 9/10. I LOVE THIS ARC SO MUCH? theres a lot of funny scenes which i love, (that one law and chopper scene) and monet is pretty cute. LOVED caesar as the villain

dressrosa (current arc): 1000/10. favorite rn. doflamingos backstory and his usage of devil fruit was so fucking good? the introduction to luffy's gear 4 was amazing. the world building was GORGEOUS. and the backstory of kyros/rebecca, and king rikuo. that one booger villain pisses me off ??

(more coming soon hihi)

[m0thcl0wn]

so many emotions over one piece tonight lads

just finished dressrosa and OOO boy i love this story so fucking much, with dressrosa being like? 115? long i really thought it would drag like some other arcs (thriller bark im looking at you) but it was so wonderful until the end

and yknow what the art style hasnt really gotten bad like ive heard around, there is definitely some ODD and bad parts but then theres others that very much excuse it. (side note, no words cam describe how excited i am for the beauty of wano, i am so deathly excited to watch it)

anyways i am just rambling because i dont have many people to talk to about one piece

so there will be spoilers i caution newbies

i cried at so many parts of dressrose, sabo getting aces fruit, cora and law, toy soldier/kyros, and its like bad crying just, ive never had a series bring out the emotions that one piece has, it feels so silly but i feel like im 12/13 again, before everything went terrible, i cry, i smile, i laugh, i celebrate each fucking win like im right there, i hang into every word of every great speech, im so fucking happy i was convinced to finally start it (ive reached dressrosa in like, 2 months? i took like two weeks away when it got to marineford because i was genuinely struggling with Ace dying lol) hHHH see incredibly deep into this hyperfixation, it consumes everything i do, ive never had a hyperfixation like this before

[beaulesbian]

luffy trying to free himself even if it meant ripping his own hands, from the book prison on the whole cake island - really gave off the same energy as zoro trying to cut his legs off to free himself from being made into a candle statue on the little garden island, all those arcs before

(whole cake island, ch 850-852)

(little garden, ch 121-122)

and poor nami had to be there both times to see those idiots do this to themselves askjsd

(and fortunately, both times they were saved before they managed to actually cut the limbs)

(the zoro on little garden when luffy asks about the danger and he asnwers "no, no problem here." is kind of similar to the thriller bark's "nothing happened." ;-; something something strength for luffy, no weaknesses shown huh.. i wonder if there will ever be a follow up or consequences about this type of behavior sometime maybe even more later.. )

this part about both luffy and zoro acting in such similar way when captured that they would rather sever their limbs than to stay in that place - even if they were nowhere near each other at the moment, but have this type of same thinking woven into their being -

it reminded me of the time on fishman island when nami was also the only one present both times when luffy and zoro (separately) talked about how they didn't want to be heroes, because heroes had to share food/booze:

they really share the same braincell!!

(one more comparison- there's something similar about the cutting their own limb to protect something precious to them, to free themselves, just like kyros did in dressrosa flashbacks when he went up against doflamingo, ch 742, 776,. when even though he sacrificed the leg- it allowed him to fight even without it later on.)

(and last point - there's also something about this theme of losing limbs to protect something - when sanji had the handcuffs threatening to explode if he left the whole cake island, but i'm not at the end of that arc yet, so I'm not sure if it comes up again except his sister telling him they were fake, but still even before - he was trully terrified to risk it - both for his hands bc they cook for luffy(!!his captain) and for strawhats, but all the other threats he had to think about! truly what an intense and complicated arc!)

[chaos0pikachu]

here's the thing about the manga/Oda's writing in general; Oda is really good at bombastic emotion. It's become something of a running joke in general OP fandom of "who has the saddest backstory" in One Piece b/c so many chars and situations the Strawhats find themselves in has roots in like deep tragedy.

There's the Strawhats themselves: Robin, Brooke, Chopper, Sanji, Nami. Then secondary chars like: Law, Oden, Rebecca, Kyros, Ace. This has become such a prominent trend in One Piece that fans - especially on r/onepiece lol - are almost positive Zoro is hiding some sort of deep dark tragic past b/c his backstory is so benign in comparison to a majority of the characters at this point. Yeah Kuina dying is tragic, but in comparison to Oden being boiled alive or Robin's entire island being blown the fuck up by the government makes it look like Zoro had it almost easy lol

But this is what Oda is good at, these big moments of huge emotion. It can be tied to the general escalation of the series in terms of power as well, given how long the series has been running. After the devastation of a backstory like Robin, or Brooke's it's hard to be like "oh yeah and this guy? Well his dad got sick from cold and died and he's sad about it".

But this is one factor I think the Zolu of it all gets a bit lost in the sauce of the series for some fans.

Zolu is subtle.

Oda doesn't do a lot of subtle writing, the emotions, the fights, the characters, the stakes, everything is BIG. The Merry doesn't go out with a whimper she goes out with a viking funeral. Ussop can't just leave the crew, he has to fight Luffy for it. Luffy can't just defend Hatchi he has to punch a Celestial Dragon over it. Ace can't just die he has to die after the most agonizingly long marathon to the execution block (I don't vibe with impel down/marineford lol)

But Zoro and Luffy don't have a lot of "loud" moments outside of Thriller Bark (which IS their moment sorry I refuse to accept otherwise regarding this unless it's about sanlu) and maybe them reuniting in Wano.

A lot of their "moments" what makes them foundational is a lot of subtle moments. I've often felt like fandom doesn't give Luffy enough credit in regards to his emotional intelligence, Luffy is dumb but he's not stupid. There's a reason he's not only able to connect with people, but also able to change them.

Luffy and Zoro's moments are Luffy seeing Zoro eat dirty riceballs and deciding "yes, this is my first crewmate" that his dream is so large, so seemingly unattainable - like Luffy's own - is all the better. It's Zoro steadfast belief in Luffy and loyalty to the point of carrying his cage over his shoulder while bleeding out. It's crying and declaring that he won't lose again and being the first crew member - from what I recall - to declare Luffy king of the pirates. It's Luffy accepting that vow. It's Luffy wanting to go after Nami and even though Zoro disagrees - as he does when Robin and Sanji leave later, Zoro first and foremost takes people as they are and respects their decisions if they wanted to leave let them leave, but Luffy sees beyond that which is a pro and a con like with Ussop and why he needs Zoro to temper that - and Zoro following Luffy to the realization Nami needed help actually and he's all in.

It's Luffy trusting Zoro to take care of the crew while he fights Crocodile even though the rest of them wanted to stay behind, it's Zoro listening to Luffy in that bar on Jaya and not retaliating against Bellarmy, it's Luffy being shocked Zoro went down against Enel because Zoro takes care of the crew if Luffy can't. It's Zoro listening to Luffy and saving Smoker in Alabasta even tho Zoro didn't want to and tells Smoker as much, to thank his Captain not him.

It's Luffy saying the weight of being a Captain is heavy, and Zoro telling him he has to bare that weight or else who will. It's Zoro and Luffy on the sea train at the helm working together to fight a freaking hurricane, it's Luffy's innate trust in Zoro where all he has to say is "Zoro, cut it, it's in our way" and Zoro will do just that without blinking. It's Zoro telling Luffy that he can't let Ussop come back without an apology because it would undermine Luffy as Captain even though Luffy and the rest of the crew want Ussop back more than anything. And Luffy listens. Luffy the one who can't listen or follow a single plan almost always takes Zoro's advice.

It's Zoro throwing away his swords, his ambition, for Luffy's life, taking away all of Luffy's pain and surviving and never saying a single thing about it (and probably never will). It's Zoro being the first to be sent away on Sabaody, and Zoro bowing his head to his direct enemy because following his Captain's orders - getting stronger for Luffy and for the crew - is more important than his individual pride.

It's Luffy seeing Zoro before Bon Clay transforms back into himself. It's Zoro getting jealous of Luffy saying Sanji is worth a 1000 men and leading the rest of the Strawhats to Wano. It's Luffy's happy smile, the fact that the first crewmate he reunites with is Zoro, and that they take care of Otama together. A moment only they share that becomes the reason why they start a fight during the raid because the beast pirates spilled the red bean soup!

It's Zoro jumping after Luffy to join him on the rooftop to fight against Kaido, Zoro being consistently worried about Luffy during the battle, Zoro telling Kaido he'll follow Luffy into hell if that's where Kaido will send him, it's Luffy trusting Zoro enough to literally watch over his unconscious body during the fight.

Because if it's not Zoro who else could it be?

Zoro and Luffy have a lot of moments, they're just not the bombastic moments that other characters get with Luffy or otherwise - they're not Robin's I want to live, or Nami's Luffy help me or Sanji's I want to go back to the Sunny or Ussop vs Luffy. They tend to be smaller moments, interwoven into the overall fabric of the story. They're some of Oda's more subtle writing and that's one reason why I think people missed them until more recently - trust they're more popular now than they were 7 years ago I've been here I've been suffering.

With OPLA the show just brought all that history to the forefront, the show also emphasizes more interpersonal interaction with the crew. Luffy never talked to the Strawhats about seeing Ace die and he never will in the manga bet, Oda just won't write something like that. But in OPLA he probably would because the writing allows for it because of the medium change - not that they'll ever get there but ya know.

anyway zolu makes me feral and will make you feral too if you open your third eye or just binge the entire series

now that I’ve read/watched a significant amount of one piece…………. ppl who said “they put too much of an emphasis on zoro and luffy’s relationship” can stay mad bc they must have been looking at the source material with their eyes closed. zoro was jealous about luffy in the LA bc zoro is jealous about luffy in the manga (I’m worth 2000 men right, why did luffy choose usopp and not me, getting mad the second luffy compliments/thinks another guy is cool). la luffy told zoro he needs him/zoro could never fail him bc animanga luffy depends a ridiculous amount on zoro as his first mate and cherishes him (blushing at the sight of him and constantly telling him how much he missed him, ‘how could this happen with you here?’, trusting him wholeheartedly). la zoro promised to be by luffy’s side at least until they find the one piece, or die trying, bc animanga zoro has legitimately said he’d go to hell for luffy and has tried to die for luffy. the la just had them actually communicating their feelings to each other rather than 1000+ episodes of them understanding with a single glance

[kyrothehornypuppy]

Hiya! I'm Kyro!

I'm a transmasc, chubby puppy. 22 years old, MDNI. I adore puppy and bdsm blogs. Not quite comfy posting pics yet because I'm shy, but I'll get around to it.

Sort of a lurker, normally reblogs instead of posts of my own, but I will probably pop on occasionally bc im all puppy and stuff. Happy to be here, and excited to join the community.

Kinks:

Puppyplay, praise+degradation, dumbification, rope bunny, nipple play, blindfolding, BDSM, somno

Not for me (but you can still interact if you wanna):

Scat/piss/farting kinks, public humiliation

DO NOT FUCKING INTERACT:

MINORS, MAPs, zoophiles, detrans, misogynists, TERFs, fascists, racists, bigots

I will add to these lists slowly as time goes on.

Asks are open, ask me whatever the fuck you want as long as it doesn't involve personal details (unless it's like basic shit like pets and stuff, I will infodump about those guys all you want).

PLEASE DO NOT PM ME UNLESS YOU LEAD WITH POLITELY ASKING IF YOU MAY. I MAY NOT REPLY IF IM NOT IN AN OKAY HEADSPACE FOR THAT. ESPECIALLY DON'T PM ME IF YOUR ACCOUNT IS ALMOST COMPLETELY FUCKING BLANK. I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE TO ADD THIS.

#kyro barks = posts from my own dumbass brain

#kyro's pics = self explanatory (I'll only use this really once I get more comfy)

dividers are from @sister-lucifer, go check it out, it's lovely there

[kyros-tha-soldier]

AMAZING Fanart of my husband and wyper from the beloved TheAishere

Kyros got me barking like a stray dog this looks so good hihi 🤭

[monkey-d-ezekiel]

you know. im honestly surprised wano is in people's top 3. after a certain point in act 3 it genuinely felt like the most dragged on arc to me (yes even more than thriller bark or dressrosa). ig everyone has their preferences but i really didn't think wano would be in the top 3 considering that it's so fight centric and bloated with side characters and subplots.

ANYWAYS wrong thing to focus on. also im gonna list my top 5 because there's too many good one piece arcs (also mostly gonna ignore Straw Hats cuz otherwise it would be a SH sweep)

1. Water 7/Enies Lobby (Paulie, Franky, Rob Lucci, Saul and Aokiji (flashback), Sanji)

2. Whole Cake Island (Big Mom, Vinsmoke Reiju, Capone "Gang" Bege, Jimbei, Pedro, Pudding)

3. Dressrosa (Viola, Sabo, Fujitora, Doflamingo, Law, Kyros, Senor Pink, Leo)

4. Impel Down/Marineford (Whitebeard, Marco, Ace, Ivankov, Jimbei, Garp)

5. Alabasta (Mr. 2, Crocodile, Robin, Mr. 3, Koza, Vivi, Koza's father, Cobra, Pell)

im curious abt ur guys' top arcs and the characters u like from them, reply or reblog with ur top 3 !!

here's mine!! luffy is always my number 1 no matter what

1. wano (Yamato, Oden, the monster trio, kid)

2. dressrosa (Law, Cora, Doffy, Barto)

3. arabasta (vivi, crocodile, robin)

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Dressrosa (Part Two)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

wild how this is upwards of 750 chapters in and yet i still get a big dumb smile whenever luffy declares he’s going to be king of the pirates. one piece is a series very much driven by its main characters and their goals and dreams- i don’t think it would be nearly as good if the main character was anyone but monkey d. luffy. 

personally, i always just feel kind of proud whenever he says this, because- yeah!! he is!! that’s luffy, he’s going to be king of the pirates, and we’ve known that since day fucking one. 

i really think there’s something to be said about usopp never taking credit for saving luffy and law from sugar. it’s arguably his greatest feat in the entire series thus far- an impossible, perfect shot across an entire country, with an angry mob inches from his back- and he never even tells anybody he did it. he’s come a long way from someone who tells tall tales about heroic acts he never did to someone who doesn’t even feel the need to take credit for ones he really did, so long as his friends are safe.

i really like how corazon’s introduction and characterization throughout the flashback is handled. at the start of law’s flashback, we know a few things about him already: that he’s someone law loved very much, and that he was killed by doflamingo. we know how this ends. 

but then cora is introduced as a clumsy mute weirdo who nearly kills law as one of the very first things he does, and we as the audience aren’t really sure how to reconcile that- and then the rest of the flashback is us, along with law, slowly discovering what a complicated and contradictory but ultimately good person he is. something very similar happens with the asl flashback- we know the endpoint of luffy and ace’s relationship, but the flashback is all about how they got there, from attempted murder to willing self-sacrifice. 

i think it’s really cool the way law and doflamingo’s backstories are layered together. they’re characters who exist with a lot of parallels and similarities between them already, which is something they’re both clearly aware of- i’ve mentioned before i think the only real difference between them is that law got corazon where doflamingo got the executives- and presenting their backstories simultaneously only makes that more obvious. 

i’ve always found it so interesting that we get what’s pretty much our only substantial exposition about the will of d direct from a former celestial dragon. it makes sense- cora’s basically the only character we’ve met who both has this information and is willing to share it-  but i don’t know, there’s something that feels very poetic to me about him having this information that’s clearly been suppressed and hidden by the dragons and willingly choosing to share it in order to help protect law, a D, who should technically be the very enemy he was once taught to hate and fear. 

i really like corazon. 

it fucks me up that we can tell the exact moment cora dies from the moment law starts making noise again. 

this might be a controversial take? i’m not sure. but i like baby five. i think her and sai’s relationship is really sweet, and people might complain about her getting off easy or whatever but i’m honestly glad she gets a happy ending after being thoroughly emotionally abused and broken her entire life. and on a lighter note, she’s also just a fun character to watch through the whole arc- the running gag with her crying whenever law glares at her is still one of my favorites in the whole series. 

the shot of robin’s bloody back is a favorite of mine, because it’s a reveal that doesn’t get lingered on at all, and yet at once it gives the entire proceeding scene a lot more weight when we understand just how much pain she must’ve been in the entire time. and yet she never even flinched or faltered while protecting rebecca. nico robin is very, very strong. 

there’s something so deliciously fitting about diamante’s final fall ending with him cracking his head on scarlett’s grave, and something so lovely about kyros and rebecca finally getting their proper reunion there, when neither of them ever really got a chance to mourn.

law’s line about the strawhats trailing nothing but miracles in their wake is one of the first ones i always think of when i think about the strawhats in general and luffy in particular, mostly because it’s so true. from the very beginning, the strawhats have been doing the impossible, from sailing to the sky to breaking in and out of the world’s greatest prison, and law saw that and staked all his hopes on it and they did not let him down. 

also i think it’s very cool of law to, when held at gunpoint and down an arm, grin, flip doflamingo off, and tell him to eat shit and that luffy is going to kick his ass. love that for him.

i think dressrosa does a very good job of making the victory against doflamingo equally law’s and luffy’s. they cooperate and trade off fighting him throughout the arc to great effect, and i think it’s pretty clear that neither of them could have tackled the massive challenge of dressrosa alone. 

while the final fight is luffy’s, it’s made clear that that’s only after law’s done absolutely everything he could and spent the majority of the arc distracting doflamingo, keeping him occupied, and even fucking shredding his insides with pure radiation before finally needing to tap out. i think it’s a good balance, given that luffy is the protagonist but law’s grudge against doflamingo is the driving force behind the entire arc. 

conqueror’s haki clashes are always very cool, pretty much regardless of who or where or why, but the one between luffy and doflamingo is a favorite. 

one of the things that’s always impressed me about one piece in comparison to other shounen series is how it handles its powerscaling- in that it does it well with a gradual increase and villains who vary widely in strength instead of every arc necessarily needing to be bigger and better than the last- and i think the way it handles powering up the main characters is a big part of that. 

through the entirety of one piece thus far, i’d say luffy has had three major power-ups- second and third gear in enies lobby, haki at the timeskip, and gear four here in dressrosa (an argument could also be made for ryuuou in wano, but i think that’s less major than these others). this helps prevent runaway powerscaling and also makes new power-ups feel like a genuine event, which i really like. 

i once referred to luffy as ‘hopebringer’ in a conversation with friends, and it’s a descriptor for him i think sums up really well how he manages to save so many people while insistently not being a hero. luffy inspires people, inspires whole countries, starting all the way back with coby in romance dawn. it’s one of the reasons i think it’s fitting how thoroughly he’s associated with the dawn. 

doflamingo is very, very scary. which is interesting, because he’s indisputably less powerful someone like kaidou, but at the same time i find him a much scarier villain, and i think it comes down to doflamingo’s gleeful, wanton cruelty. not that kaidou is in any way shape or form a nice person, but our first introduction to doflamingo is him forcing marines to attack each other just because he’s a little bored. he hurts people just because he can, and finds it funny. 

relating to my earlier comment about hope, i really like how the whole country comes together at the end to cheer luffy on and count down to his return. it makes it feel all the more triumphant when it does, especially for the citizens of dressrosa who’ve been suffocating under doflamingo’s rule for years and can finally, finally see freedom.

other people have put a lot more thought of the symbolism of doflamingo’s eyes and glasses than i intend to, but i’ll settle for saying that it’s the breaking of the glasses, before anything else, before the birdcage even vanishes from the sky and everyone is safe, that shows us that, at long last, doflamingo is well and truly defeated. his glasses break, and so does his power. 

i’ve written a longer post about it before (here) but it’s a recurring motif that one piece’s worst villains are those that steal people’s freedom, including, in the cruelest cases, the freedom to express their emotions openly. we see it with koala and the celestial dragons, with the failed smile fruits in wano, and here, too, with kyros. and, much like koala, triumph for him means finally being able to cry. 

i mentioned it back in the first post, but i’m so, so happy rebecca and kyros get the happy ending they deserve. they’ve both been fighting a war that they never should have had to for years and years, and they both deserve to get to just live, now, peaceful and quiet and together and surrounded by flowers. 

i really dig the note dressrosa ends on. it’s happy, of course, obviously, with the liberation of the country, kyros and rebecca’s happy ending, the creation of the grand fleet, even law getting some degree of closure through his talk with sengoku, but it also leaves this massive, gaping question- what now? 

in a way, doflamingo’s speech here follows up on law’s new era speech from punk hazard. luffy and law have just thrown a major wrench into the delicate power equilibrium of the entire new world, and we have all these characters out there who might be affected, who might want to take advantage, who might try to seize the throne. 

[thatsadorbsyo]

Kyros - The King’s Bow

(cw: mentions of gore, putrescence, violence, and death of people and animals.)

Five weeks prior to the battle at the Duchy of Glenvale.

A murky drizzle coats the forest of the Hunter’s Glory in a dim light, even in mid-afternoon. The menagerie of creatures that dwell here are unnaturally quiet in this atypical gloom, but for once these beasts of sport are not Kyros’s quarry. Brother Guidry is still out here, somewhere, with nothing but a holy bow and a prayer to protect him from unforeseen dangers. Valorous fucking fool that he is.

The signs of woodland corruption grow thicker as Kyros travels deeper into the creeping rain. The Keepers’ scouts had warned him of the violent changes to the landscape, but he was ill-prepared for what he would face as he searches for his temple brother:

A tree with its bark melting away in a great claw swipe, leaving a rotten blackness in three gaping slashes that steam wherever raindrops patter into them. The wispy smoke burns his fingertips with a heat that cannot be borne from fire.

The carcass of a stag, bleeding out into the underbrush in a slush of viscera. Its wounds spread in round, cankerous arcs as its flesh is eaten by the acid that puddles against its bones. Its milky eyes stare up at him, frozen with long-passed horror.

Soft vegetation cored out in a scar across the landscape, burned straight through by an unstoppable blight. The now-empty passage of some great beast, its magnitude intimated by the blank space it leaves behind for Kyros to walk through.

Fresh pools of acid still line the path, collecting in the deep pawprints of a fleeing tiger. Thick enough to choke, the air in his chest betrays him. His next breath trembles, a shaking leaf on the dying trees. Is it for fear or from effort? The hunter tightens his grip on a spear held in both hands, making the wood creak against the silence of the forest. Where is Guidry?

Soon enough, he gets his answer. A body lies fallen across the path up ahead, bearing the colors of the Huntsman’s priests. Guidry, the champion Kyros seeks. Is he hurt? Off to the left, a murmur of voices can be heard through the blighted thicket. The snapping of twigs under passing feet. Who could that be?

And where is the fearsome beast that ravaged the Hunter’s Glory? Dare he speak the word that sits on his tongue? To suggest that a dragon stalks the forest would be nothing short of blasphemy. The god of the hunt himself, Cudorix, is said to have shot the last wyrm from the sky at the beginning of the age.

Something must be done. Kyros grits his teeth and...

1. ...continues his search for acid-spewing monster. It has to be taken down. 2. ...sprints up to the body. Guidry could still be alive. 3. ...turns into the thicket to investigate the voices. Whoever they are, they’re going to get hurt out here.

---

The air prickles his lungs with every pounding footfall as Kyros charges up the path. Tension spirals, clenching his grey knuckles to pure white when he bears down on his weapon. His steel gut is braced for what he will find, but his tender heart doesn’t want to believe it. Not yet.

His sprint slows to a jog as he approaches the body, and then to the halted stuttering of fearful backpedalling when the scene comes into horrible focus: Though his armor retains the shape he held in life, Guidry himself has been reduced to a pool of gelatinous, half-dissolved fat and tissue oozing from the space beneath his bronze breastplate. The mark of the Huntsman, a bow encircled by a halo of stars, sits brazen and untouched on his chest, while under the dome of metal his body seeps out from his clothes to taint the soil.

Kyros turns his head with a grimace, averting his gaze from this nauseous perversion. He’s seen all that he needs to see. The King’s Bow, the most holy relic of his faithful patron’s house, is missing from the shapeless corpse. He can return with neither the body of his brother nor his Baroness’s artifact.

In short, he’ll go back to Naffor as a fucking failure. Again.

Focus. There must be something he can do to make this right. He can still do some good for Brother Guidry, even in this piteous state of dissolution. Kyros swallows an aborted whimper and bends down close to the fallen hunter to...

1. ...rip the still-intact breastplate from the body’s muck. He can’t return empty-handed, and in lieu of remains, this may give someone closure. 2. ...say a prayer of rest for the slain priest. Denied a proper burial, Guidry will find his grave on the forest floor, amid the remains of both predators and prey.

---

The armor tears away from Guidry’s body with a sickening suck, like dislodging a boot from thick mud. The pain is immediate: a foreign burn in his palm, a searing sensation that should not be, not on someone like him. Kyros snarls with a furious curl of his lips, weathering the pain, and plants his foot in the dirt to yank the etched breastplate free.

Victory finds him panting in the tainted air with his paltry prize, hands singed and lungs screaming. The armor is difficult to hold. Kyros trembles with the phantoms of countless needles bearing down into his fingers, into the fleshy pad of his palm, through his calluses, into the cracks of his knuckles. He can’t breathe. The acrid taint, it’s coming from Guidry. It’s coming from the forest all around him, from the wounded grove opening like a canker to the rain-dark sky.

Somewhere, a rumbling roar echoes through the forest, vibrating with fear and agony. Kyros can’t see the panther, but it sounds close. Close enough to make his heart leap in his seizing chest, a lodged brick.

Panic makes him toss his head like a wounded bull, searching for something -- anything -- on which to anchor his focus. The scythe sweep of his horns cuts the air audibly with every feverish whip. Woosh, woosh...

1. ...woosh, this way. The susurrus of cracked branches where a wounded tiger escaped through the underbrush. 2. ...woosh, that way. Voices in the thicket, someone still oblivious to the danger, or perhaps too stupid to care.

---

His attention latches onto the dissonant murmuring, and with pinpoint focus, Kyros forces his way through the vines and brambles of the thicket. The underbrush is thicker here, relatively untouched by the vile secretions that eat away at other parts of the forest. With every step, his breath comes cleaner and the voices grow louder.

The thorns that rip at his clothes are nothing compared to the hellish acid he leaves behind. They dig grooves into his leathers and etch scarlet lines across his cheeks, but Kyros barely feels it. A familiar sting, mundane. He can take it, but his endurance isn’t without a cost. Something stirs in him that’s better left to sleep.

The insensate hunter stumbles into a clearing to find a small cluster of bodies huddled around an object of apparent intrigue. Its radiance glows through the dim curtain of their muddy cloaks.

“It’s made o’ wood, yeah? Should be as ruined as the rest, by all rights,” observes a stout figure. “Don’t trust it. Prob'ly cursed or some odd thing.”

“You’re not new enough to be that measure of a twit.” Disdain cuts through the leaves cleaner than the blight. “Of course it’s pristine, it’s holy.”

“Quiet,” hisses a third voice. The lanky thief turns to regard Kyros’s careless gait as he approaches the trio with a spear clutched in one hand and a breastplate dripping with congealed viscera in the other.

The hunter towers over them, a full head above even the tallest of the three bandits. Framed by his horns and clad in dark leather, Kyros cuts an intimidating figure in the unpredictable gloom of the Hunter’s Glory, even when his face isn’t wracked by a fury that threatens to crack his composure. The slumbering thing in his belly sits poised to burst through its thin veneer at any provocation and twist him into a meaner, larger beast. All it would take is a little more pain. A little more outrage. Come on, he wants to do it anyway. He’d like that. Come on.

His skin itches with the primal burn of impending transformation. It’s so close, he can taste the flood of excitement under his tongue.

Kyros...

1. ...calls out to the thieves. They can still be reasoned with, and he is still capable of reason. 2. ...gives himself to the rage. Criminals are naught but prey for the Huntsman’s hounds.

---

“My name is Brother Kyros of Saints,” he announces himself as though reading a royal decree, voice booming in the drizzle. The speaking of it reminds him who he is and why he’s here, snuffing out the rebellious fire in his core. Kyros holds up the stained breastplate like a badge of station, showing them the mark of Cudorix emblazoned on its dome. “I care not for you, I come only for the bow.”

The sight of him is magnetic enough to stun, halting their retreat for a few precious heartbeats. It’s time enough for him to cross the distance, clustering the four of them together in the center of the cramped clearing. Perfect targets, too focused on the scramble of limbs and shouting of obscenities to notice what approaches them through the trees.

“Go tell it to a nun’s quim,” spits out the halfling as he draws a handaxe from his belt, stepping between Kyros and the half-elf who struggles to notch a mundane arrow to the glowing bow in his hands. The third figure, still veiled by his cloak, is the only one who sees the unstoppable gait of the tiger barreling through the underbrush just moments before it’s upon them. One fucking surprise after the other. Nobody ever said thievery was predictable work, did they?

The white and black bolt crashes through a wall of brambles, oblivious to how thorns catch and pull at its sagging fur to reveal the muscle working below. A whole shoulder of bare pink fibers is exposed as its pelt peels away to drag like a bloody curtain, eaten alive by the acid that stays wicked to its fur. The tiger is mad with pain, all sense abandoned for the roiling throes of fearful misery. Claws and teeth are bared for anything that blocks its blind retreat, and it sprints in a furious dash toward the scuffle.

There’s no time to think. All Kyros can do is...

1. ...chase the bandits out of the thicket. His objective is singular, and this hasn’t changed. To return without that bow is dishonorable. 2. ...release the pitiful creature from its agony. His spear is swift, and his aim is true. To allow it to live like this is unthinkable.

---

There was never another choice, was there? Kyros’s mission was laid upon him by Cudorix’s faithful followers, but his duty to uphold the dignity of the Hunter’s Glory is a divine directive from the Huntsman himself, held above all others.

Or maybe it isn’t that lofty. Perhaps he’s just a scared man with nothing but a spear in his grasp, being charged down with murderous intent by a grotesque panther. The hunter drops everything but his weapon and digs his feet into the squishing mud, lunging forward with the point of his spear at the same moment that the deranged beast pounces.

The arrowhead pierces its skin, sinking far too easily into the meat under its shoulder as momentum carries the tiger carcass up the shaft nearly to Kyros’s knuckles. His whole body quakes with the force of impact, bones and muscles bearing down with every ounce of his considerable might to force the shuddering weapon in his hands into compliance. Do not splinter. Do not break. He wills it to be so, just as Cudorix would see it done by all His champions. His form is perfect, valiant and brave, but there is no one here to see it. Guidry is dead. The bandits have left with their prize, leaving the foolish hunter, the acolyte, to save their hides without a breath of thanks.

If Kyros would take a blessing of gratitude, let it be from the tiger that quivers on his shaft in its final moments. Its loping charge slows to a feeble stop mere inches from his face, a snarling muzzle close enough to kiss his flared grey nostrils. He feels the heat of its last breath, smells the stink of its delirium on the air vented between its fangs right before it stills. A dead weight, mad eyes open to the sky with an empty black gloss.

Suddenly, all is quiet, and Kyros is alone with nothing but his messy kill and the metal shell of a man who won’t be coming home. The only sound is his cracking breath, hiccuping with impotent terror as the weight of the moment crashes into him at considerable delay. Kyros drops his spear, and with it sinks the ruined trophy to the boot-tread earth. His hiccups gain mass, rolling into heaves and sobs -- and why shouldn’t he cry? Everything went to shit so godsdamn quick.

A hunter trembles on the edge of a bloody thicket, pawing at his face with his forearm until he is composed enough to retrieve his things from the mud. It’s a long hike back to Naffor, and he returns with heavier burdens than those his arms will carry.

[megashadowdragon]

to add to that

mr morjs idea sanji may end up facing imu

youtube commentsL

Sanji was also involved with all three "dispatched" subordinates -Helped against Satori -Stalled Vergo -Is now the strongest character directly in front of SaturnShow less

( there is a theory by pazzify that since sanji enabled luffy to take down satori the reverse will happen withsaturn where luffy stops saturn enabling sanji to take down saturn possibly killing saturn

sanji ended up facing enery and doffy to protect the weaker members of the crew

with eneru it was revealed that he destroyed part of his ship which hindered him with doffy sanji was able to actually fight him more then he did eneru

so its possible sanji will end up fighting imu and doing more then he did against doffy. plus sanji may end up damaging something important for imu

Also to mention is that everyone of this army leader guys (so Wyper and Kyros) had the chance to challenge the main bad of their respective arcs directly and they both initially managed to kill the main antagonist. Wyper pretty much killed Eneru with the Impact Shell until he made his heart beat again via his DF and Kyros cut of Doffys head and supposedly killed him until he restitched his head again via his DF. That also indicates to me that Dragon will get a shot at fighting Imu and will be able to damage him in some way so that Imu is dead for a couple of seconds. Great video Morj!Show less

Kyros only beheaded a string clone, but the pattern still tracks, both leaders have had a moment where it's seemed like they killed the big bad.

Another interesting parallel that might play out either in Egghead or in the final war during the confrontation involves Sanji. Sanji clashed with both Satori and Vergo and is right now present when Bonnie is attacking Saturn. There's a 99% chance that when Saturn hits back Sanji will defend her and engage Saturn. Which leads me to what he said to Kuma back in thriller bark: Sanji will play a significant role against Imu as he did against Enel by sabotaging the ship (perhaps this time by preventing the great cleansing)Show less

@bottlepiecemuses

Saturn Dies At Egghead: 3 Arcs Of Foreshadowing

@bottlepiecemuses

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Winner’s Curse Ch. 30

Calix and Circe transported them to Auradon Prep where the bright light enemated from the balcony where only two years ago, Ben had made his proclamation that changed everything. Guards were unconscious on the ground and others were running towards the villages, away from the sword, and the quartet that Jordan could see were watching the chaos. Wait there wasn’t a quartet? There were five. Morgana had joined them.

Ben was outside as well with FG, Mal, Jane, Carlos, Evie and Lonnie, and the young king was frantically talking to the guard who was stammering so hard he wasn’t making any sense.

“Ma-Maleficent is back. The dragon is here! She torched a house. We got it out in time but she put a house on fire! We all have to go right away!” And the guard ran from his king’s side, barking orders and running backwards till he tripped over a stone.

“I’ll go stop her,” Mal volunteered with Evie nodding at her side. “I’ll help too,” Celia popped up with several of Uma’s crew members that Jordan never bothered to learn their names.

Ben looked frazzled but his voice was anything but. “Mal, you, Evie, Celia and FG go find your mother. The guard said she was heading toward Aurora’s castle.”

“Jay, Uma, um Jay’s relative I’m guessing, and Jordan, you can go to Jafar. I’m not sure where he is but Circe can transport you there.” “Lonnie, Aziz, Cosette, Circe, Carlos and I will go against Nerissa and Lady Caine. They went to my parent’s home. Now go go go!”

Jordan allowed Aziz to wish her group to transport to Jafar who apparently hadn’t gotten very far as he was striding through the woods of Charmingburg.

And thanks to magic’s unsubtlty, Jafar noticed them all immediately when they fell in a circle around him.

Though he was surrounded, Jafar merely cackled, training his eyes on his son.

“Ssssson, I wasssss wondering when you’d arrive,” Jafar hissed, his snake tongue flicking in and out.

The black sheen of his robe turned dull, stretching longer and longer as his legs disappeared into a reptilian coil of a snake tail.

Jafar’s eyes turned red, his nose flattened disappearing into a cobra snout and his turban fell apart to reveal his flaring hood.

And just like in the stories, he was no average snake, but one as large as a dragon. His tail boomed as he slapped it down, causing them all to fall to their knees.

“You were ssssuch a disssaapointment. You weren’t ssssnakey enough like me.” Jafar crowed, before his human speech was lost entirely and his eyes lost their red. They turned black as his gleaming scales, and he rose to the height of the trees.

It was possible the cobra senses would overwhelm Jafar’s human brain, and they could try to catch it like they would a regular one but Jordan had some doubts. This cobra was intently staring at Jay, his head following Jay’s movements when the teen swayed to the left or right.

Jafar was silent, a sign that he was waiting to strike, and from the way Jay balanced on the balls of his feet, it was clear he knew it too.

But since Jafar was focused Jay…

Uma made a point to make eye contact with each of them, tilting her head to the snake and tapping at the sword on her sheath, indicating they should jump on him while he was distracted.

She whistled, signalling for them to jump but that only brought Jafar’s attention to them. Since snakes did not have good eyesight, he turned to face Jade instead of Uma who emitted the sound, but that was distraction enough for Jay.

He clambered up a tree and jumped onto Jafar’s hood, riding the cobra like a rodeo clown, he held on with one hand while punching him with the other. The cobra thrashed and they took their chance to hit it. Uma pounded against the torso with her sword even though it barely made a dent. No results but Jafar tried to coil away while bucking his head to remove Jay.

Jade began to clamber up Jafar’s back too, acting as another annoying pest for the snake to try to thrash around and get rid of.

And Jordan stood there, wishing that her powers allowed her to attack other humans instead of being forced to wait for someone to wish her to do so.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t change the environment a little.

She concentrated, imagining the taste of the gritty particles sand caught in her mouth, the painful pricks of never-ending assult of a sandstorm swirling around, and she visualized it to reality. She aimed the mini sandstorm to Jafar’s eyes, blinding him.

The snake flailed hitting a tree, and falling to his side. Several trees fell around them and Jordan spotted Uma in the line of one.

“Watch out!” She screamed, the urgency giving wings to her feat as she shoved the blue-braided girl out of the way. The splintered wood and green shubbery showering them with spears to the arms and face. A little rough but not as bad as the sound of a sickening crunch would have been.

Jay was standing on the ground now as the cobra began to shrink in size for no apparent reason. Jordan doubted a punch would be enough to magic out. But she sensed a change in the air.

The air crackled with electricity even though there was no lightning in the sky. The air felt thin, and she could see from the grimaces on Jade and Uma’s faces that it was affecting them though they tried not to show it.

Jafar was changing back to a human, but not the slender viziar whose luxurious robes overcompensated his lank figure. He was squant and bot-bellied dressed in pajamas. The one feather in his turban was frayed. Jafar looked down at himself, scraping out the dulled ruby in his turban to shake it angrily, “What happened to me!? My powers!”

Jay stared at him, barely restrained anger and disappointment were evident in his voice, “Nothing happened to you. This is how you always were. You have no power or skills of your own. You are lazy and selfish. The only power you had came from others like genies and your staff, and me doing all the work for you. And you lost all of it because you were always greedy for more. I’m not snakey like you, and that makes me better than you would ever be with all the power in the world.”

Jafar looked stunned, not even noticing Uma hauling him up to his feet and tying his hands behind his back with her belt, “But Morgana said… Jay?”

Jay began walking to the palace, refusing you to look behind him at the sad sack of a villain. “You are such a disappointment, Dad.”

They walked in silence back to Auradon Prep, Uma wasn’t even bothering to interrogate Jafar what he meant about Morgana. The mood was too somber for that as was the tension radiating off Jay who kept walking stiffily forward.

They arrived at the entrance where the others with similarly defeated and sluggish looking Maleficent, Lady Caine and Nerissa.

Uma handed Jafar over to FG who tied the four villains together with another magical bundle of pumpkin vines which she, Jane, Carlos and Evie took to the dungeon carriage with Harry, Gil and Cosette acting as the muscle in case the villains tried to do anything.

The remaining people looked up at the five on the balcony who seemed to be in a discussion of some sort.

“So we’re all in agreement that they’re behind this,” Mal nodded toward the mini Coven.

“Jafar said something about Morgana in relation to his powers.” Uma informed.

“Lady Caine mentioned something about how this is Morgana’s and her welp’s fault. I knew Morgaine was behind this.” Ben growled, some of his inner beastly side emerging though he cleared his throat and seemed to clamp it down.

At that moment, as if summoned by their discussion, Morgana, Morgaine, Kyro and Victoria appeared beside them.

“Wow, that was-that was bad but good thing my mother double crossed those bad guys by pretending to be on their side.” Morgaine said in a overly gushing as if she said it movingly enough, it would make her sound sincere.

Morgana smiled at her daughter’s compliment, undaunted by the unbelieving glares of the group looking at her. “That’s right. I was double crossing the Coven, and Lady Caine here. I knew about their plan to invade Auradon so I put myself in their good graces, and when these four managed to escape, I gave them this power jewel,” She plucked a ruby from Jafar’s turban, “It strengthens their magic, but gives me the control to shut it off. You’re welcome.”

Ben just stared. Jordan was surprised by how blank he looked like he just went from numb from the audacity of this women to lie so bluntly to their faces and present herself as a hero.

Luckily, Mal and Uma had no problem tearing down Morgana’s words.

“Uh yeah, no thank you. You’re going to join them in the Isle where you belong.” Mal cried.

“You’re no hero. You put the Isle and Auradon in danger for your own selfish wants.” Uma said.

“We’re trying to save Auradon, we’re trying to close the barrier. Alexandria is up there, trying to figure it out right now,” Victoria insisted.

“The glowy white beam you created says otherwise,” Mal retorted.

While the three teens looked away, Kyro in particular was pouting, Morgana remained calm.

Nonchalantly, as if they were talking about the weather she said, “We didn’t plan for it all to come this. But if the king won’t accept us as heroes and agree to our demands… we should get a new king.”

Morgana and Morgaine’s hands began to glow the mystical blue glow that was unique to Camelot’s sorcerers.

Kyro shrank to his normal fairy size, and Victoria unsheathed her own sword, clearly taken from one of the Royal Guard.

Morgana striked first, sending a blue ball of power at Ben’s heart which Circe blocked with a magical shield.

The threat seemed to snap everyone out of their shock.

Kyro buzzed around Ben, and Mal who tried to catch him with their hands but were pushed away by the shock of Kyro blowing flames at them. The fay was the son of a dragon after all. Mal transformed into a dragon herself to combat his flames with her much larger green. Ben tried to hold her back, “No, Mal, he’s a fairy, you’ll crisp him! And guys, careful with Victoria she is under mind control.”

“I’ll try. No promises.” Jay grunted as he pressed his back against his cousin as he sparred with Victoria who had been training for her dream goal to be a royal guard for ten years compared to Jay’s year of R.O.A.R. swordfighting.

He switched off with Jade who threw a sword to Lala who covered her back with Aziz, surrounding Victoria in a four way sword fight.

As Circe and Morgana faced off, Calix threw magic spell after magic spell at Morgaine, batting lines about his “poor broken heart” and how dare she not mention that she was an evil sorceress while they were sleeping together. The irrelevant comments clearly annoyed the teenage sorcereress who was trying to keep up her serious bad girl sorcerer vibe.

Jordan was about to jump in to help with Kyro when lighting cracked above them. Winds that wre blowing steadily suddenly turned rough,disturbing the fight with flyaway banners and broken tree branches. A storm was swirling above them and it was gaining the ferocity of a hurricane.

Jordan looked to Uma who didn’t have a specific sparring partner either and went to her, “We need to get to the balcony, it’s the source of the magic, come on.”

They burst through the halls where students were confusedly peeking out to see what was going on outside but the two ignored. They ran through Ben’s office to window but it was blocked by a magic barrier.

Uma was about to try to fight against it with her sword but Jordan placed a hand on her arm, “I can handle this. Phenomenal cosmic powers after all.”

She closed her eyes and pushed, feeling the strength of a brick and iron wall pushing against her magic but she kept going. She felt the solid barrier pressing against her whole body, giving her a migraine as she pushed forward. Pushed as if she was trying to blend into the wall. Pushed until she heard the crack.

She nearly fell over as the magic shield fell, and the two girls cautiously stepped onto the balcony.

But Alexandria wasn’t there.

Leaves swirled around, but there was no sign of the mermaid princess. Just a chalice filled with blood and the levitating sword of Camelot, glowing and pointing at the Isle where more clouds gathered and darkened.

Uma tried to lift it, muscles straining and cheeks puffing but it wouldn’t budge.

Only the one true king or powerful magic could move it.

Jordan tried her hand, but one touch of the iron burnt her palms and burned through her veins. Gasping she fell to the floor, shaking from the pain of it.

They were good, the sword must be connected to the Mini Coven if the blood chalice indicated anything.

Uma looked and dumped the chalice on the ground, waiting for the spilt blood to affect the sword somehow but it continued levitating.

Jordan stared, though the wind was blurring her eyesight, and patted her hands on her pants in an effort to cool the burns, but nothing came to her mind.

Allah, she wished they could get the sword to move itself. Or wish that the mini Coven would just be defeated or….

And just like Celia’s plan to play the Coven off one another, the idea was simple but obvious.

“You have to make a wish,” Jordan yelled over the blowing wind, spitting out the hair that whipped into her mouth and muffled her words.

“What?” Uma yelled, trying to cover her ears and lean closer to hear.

“Wish! Wish me to transfer the power, or get rid of the sword or anything!” Jordan yelled again, pointing at the sword than at the lamp in her hands that was threatening to get swept up in the wind.

Uma’s eyes widened as she took in Jordan’s words and previously Jordan would have seen a wicked gleam in them. But she didn’t. Maybe it was there, maybe it wasn’t, but she was trying to trust people’s best intentions. And if Uma had proven anything, she was a woman of her word.

Uma grasped the lamp, and rubbed, and Jordan felt the connecting touch of rubbing hands on her wrist. The tingle filled her as Uma’s wish got lost in the wind.

The sword disappeared in a poof of pink smoke. Lightning crackled and the barrier returned in a bowl of gleaming light. Rising back over the Isle.

Another poof of smoke and a team trident appeared in Uma’s hands, dripping with salt water and tangled with kelp but the smile that glowed on Uma’s face almost made up for the salty smell.

Uma lifted her mighty weapon up and the storm began to funnel, the clouds and lighting began to twist and shape into a funnel right into Uma’s trident.

For everyone knew, tridents were descended of Poisidon. God of sea and storms.

The winds ceased and moonlight glowed from the sky.

And Uma beamed in triumph.

That smile, for the first time, made Jordan glad she granted a wish. It was a selfless one but the pure joy that shined from her made Jordan happy with her power. That she could bring happiness to people without it being at the expense of herself.

Thinking about her powers this way, she could accept it. If she gave her wishes to certain people, she could bring some good to the world. A little bit of happiness or wonderment, giving something that someone longed desired but did not believe to exist. Much like genies themselves.

Maybe she wouldn’t be following the fate of so many djinn before her. Not if she chose who to give wishes to, she would finally be in control, the control she always felt she lacked as a slave to her lamp. She wouldn’t be degraded, not if she reclaimed this for herself.

Control and freedom of choice. The two greatest drugs to a genie.

Jordan began to beam herself, her smile fueled by relief and certainty that things would turn out alright, reflecting Uma’s as she made her last wish.

“I wish to be where Alexandria is.”

A swirl of smoke and sparkle and they were gone.

And rather ungracefully deposited at Alexandria’s feet.

Alexandria was in the museum, sneaking through the exhibit of a replica of Snow White’s house, tear stained and clutching Triton’s trident.

“Alexandria,” Jordan called, remembering Ben’s words, “It’s okay. It’s okay, we closed down the barrier, and Morgana will be hauled away. Whatever control she has over you is going to be over. Just come here and we’ll help.” “It’s over?” Alexandria questioned, inching backwards, “It’s- Morgana’s captured? Wait Ben won?”

The girl turned even paler if that was possible, but her dark brown framing her white face made her look like Snow White herself surrounded by the fake forest background.

“Yes, it’s fine. The heroes won.” Jordan said softly, holding out her hand as if Alexandria was a nervous tiger and she was trying to win her trust.

Uma stepped forward, putting her trident but did not set it down, “You’re not under Morgana’s control are you? This- this invasion was an idea you helped with.” “No, that’s impos-” Jordan was about to argue when she saw Alexandria slowly nod.

“You teamed up with the villains.” Uma said, more to herself as if she was trying to piece it together, but Alexandria didn’t let her continue.

She charged but Uma was ready. She held her trident up and two crashed with a clang. Uma’s feet slid backwards but her upper body remained steady as she struggled against Alexandria.

Alexandria was blinded by emotion and it showed in her sloppy fighting skills, repeatedly lunging forward in stabbing motions with no mind to deviate from what she was doing.

Uma was skilled and she easily feigned right and left, locking her prongs with Alexandria’s until the trident slipped from her grasp with a clatter.

Alexandria stared at her fallen trident and reluctantly fell to her knees, holding her hands out in front of her so they could tie them together, sobbing all the while.

But Uma did not move to contain her. Instead he went to her knees, and waited until Alexandria lifted her head.

Once she had her attention, “Why did you do it?”

It was soft, non-judgemental but also curious as if Uma really wanted to know.

“No was going to get hurt,” Alexandria murmured, wiping away bit of hair that got into her mouth, “I-That was my condition. We- we just wanted to show that things in Auradon needed to change.” “What things?” Uma questioned.

“Everything,” Alexandria sputtered, trying to search for words, “The uniting of kingdoms, the magic ban, everything. Auradon likes to pretend everyone is the same and perfect and in harmony but it’s not!”

“It was stupid to unite the kingdoms all under King Beast. He doesn’t know what each kingdom needs. Neither does Ben. And having an Auradon-wide election for Atlantica’s queen? That’s not fair. Everyone in Atlantica voted for my mother because she trained for it her whole life, she knows what to do. And everyone else in Auradon voted for Aunt Ariel because she’s popular. She doesn’t even live in Atlantica anymore! She helps Uncle Eric’s kingdom, how in the seven seas does that makes sense or is considered a proper decision. Now Atlantica is a polluted dump but no one cares as long as those land dwellers get their underwater vacations!” “Auradon failed you,” Uma said matter of factly.

“And the Magic Ban, it hurts.” Alexandria gasped, “It just hurts. Everytime I have to return to the surface from Atlantica I have to get used to breathing this suffocating and air and the feeling of my legs being stabbed when I walk. And for what? So I can be like the other land royals and attend Auradon. Why do I have to accommodate them? Why can’t they accommodate me instead? That’s why Morgana, Kyro and I teamed up. We wanted to defeat the villains ourselves and show that-that magic can be good. Our magic is needed to fight magical enemies. It’s not bad. We shouldn’t have to deny the magic that is part of us.”

Jordan nodded sagely, bending down to her knees like Uma so she could be at Alexandria’s level, “I completely agree with you… But why did Victoria join?”

“Because if King Beast was wrong about the uniting of kingdoms and the Magic Ban, he’s also wrong about the Isle. Putting all the villains in one Isle just across from us was a mistake, and Victoria thought it was a mistake to bring Vks over too. That Auradon allowed too much time for them to stew and resent us so they should be cut off completely.”

Uma didn’t bristle at Alexandria’s words like Jordan expected her to. In fact her face didn’t change from her look. Her look was one of total empathy, that she was really listening to what Alexandria was saying.

“We- we- I just thought that if we allowed the villains to get in, we would show all the holes in King Beast’s decisions and maybe things would change.” Uma stood up to her full height, “Even though this hasn’t worked out how you planned, your stunt did make a difference. Things are gonna change around here.”

With one hand regally holding the trident, Uma held out her free hand to Alexandria, offering to help her get up. Alexandria sniffed and accepted it.

Once they placed Triton’s trident back on the mantle, the trio walked outside where things had calmed down considerably since they left.

Morgana and Morgaine were handcuffed unconscious on the ground. FG had returned with the dungeon carriage and Gil was now leading a handcuffed Victoria into the cart as Gil picked up the handcuffed sorceress. Jane placed Kyro, trapped inside a lantern, blowing flames futility against the glass.

Alexandria’s eyes widened at the sight of her defeated companions but Uma whispered reassuringly in her ear, “You’re not going to the dungeon. I’ll vouch for you.” Alexandria gave a wary nod, squaring her shoulders as she walked on her own accord, dignified as she could, into the dungeon carriage.

Ben and the others came up to them, sweating but victorious smiles were plastered on their faces.

“I see we have you to thank, Uma,” Ben slightly bowed to the sea witch. He held up her hand, “To Uma, the hero and savior of Auradon! And my new coordinator for VK relocation!”

Harry, Gil and the other Vks whooped and cheered which Jordan couldn’t help but join in.

It was over, it was actually over. The month and a half of grime and anxiety and fear for the inevitable was finally over. She could kiss the ground. But she didn’t, she still had a rep.

The less enthusiastic people of the group were Mal, and her friends who reluctantly clapped, surprised that their old rival was now a hero but that did little to dampen the mood as Harry and Gil lifted Uma up on their shoulders.

“Thank you.” Uma beamed, “Your Auradonian “heroes” were helpful too. Especially your former leader. I couldn’t have saved the day without her help.” Jordan covered her mouth to muffle the shocked squeak that came out of it as everyone turned to stare and clap for her.

She almost couldn’t believe her eyes but it was happening. At least a dozen faces were staring at her with pride and happiness, and absolutely no twinkles in their eye, signifying interior motives or greed emerging. They were clapping for her because she was a hero.

A warm feeling of pride, pride in herself bloomed in her chest and she felt her eyes sting from how overwhelmed she was of it all, but she did her best to hold it back because Allah knew Aziz would tease her about it forever. She just managed a whispered “Thank you,” coughing to clear the choked up emotion.

Once Harry and Gil set Uma down, and everyone got to crowding around and talking about their own experiences, Jordan crept up to Uma. She paused for a minute, watching as Uma took a quiet moment to herself, breathing it, still smiling broadly at everything that she had accomplished.

When Uma turned to face Harry, Jordan tapped her on the shoulder.

“Um, uhI-I just wanted to thank you for what you just said. It’s so sweet of you to thank me and call me a hero. You don’t know how much it-”

Uma backed away from Jordan a bit as she reached her arms out for a hug, “No, no. It wasn’t anything special. I was giving credit where credit was due. I really wouldn’t have been able to do it if you hadn’t made the right decision and made me your leader or if you hadn’t given me the three wishes today.”

Jordan put her hands back down to her side, trying to keep herself from hugging out of appreciation for something that was no big deal to Uma, “Still.. Thanks! Thanks so much.”

Uma nodded, “You’re welcome,” and she was swept up into her own hug with Gil and an enthusiastic kiss from her first mate.

Jordan, herself, was nearly bowled over from a hug from the behind, “Laqad faealnaha!” (We did it!)

Jordan laughed at Aziz’s loving attack, “Bialtaakid nahn faealna! Kanat mudahasha!” (Of course we did! We’re amazing!)

“So I guess we celebrate now,” Mal said once some of the buzzing excitement died down.

“No, it’s not time for celebration. We have work to do. As we agreed upon Ben.” Uma smirked as she nodded to Ben who sheepishly shrugged his shoulders.

“We made a deal.”

“Someone should go back to the Isle and alert people what's happening,” Evie said.

“Don’t worry, I planned for that too,” Uma said.

“She’s a goddess,” Harry breathed, his eyes following Uma as she, Ben, Mal and Evie headed to the castle.

Circe, Jay, Carlos, FG and the others began to clean up the debris and guide the defeated villains to the guard’s dungeon carriage that had strolled up.

And the sun began to rise.

“Huh no party,” Calix looked around at the cleaning up committee.

“I like it,” Jordan said, smiling at the newly formed camraderie as Jay introduced his cousin to Carlos, Lonnie and Jane. Cosette and Gil were hugging and talking things out. And Circe, Aziz and Lala continued cleaning up with murmered comments between them.

“After all, every fairytale ends with a party and music and celebration. This- We’re all about subverting the tropes.” Jordan said, more than happy that this was all over and that she got to comment on her favorite thing, story tropes.

“You got that right,” Calix fist-bumped her.

[thelordstears]

Hohohoho- did this mother fucker do some writing? Why of course.

"I want you to live and die in the same breath, and so with a revolver glistening silver underneath your childhood home I will make the bullet the breath you breathe."  - Caldvain Lucelo

"My name tastes like a hungry tiger on my fucking tongue." - Vokard Killjaw

"The only thing money buys you is enemies." - Myles Catsenberg

"People in power like to step into the shoes of the weak just to see how best to break them. And I swear as I stared into the eyes of that living, breathing embodiment of everything that's wrong with humanity, I could feel miles that weren't my own being walked in boots I recognize." - Gerard Bronko

"The shadows, they dance, my friend. In the dark they sway, in the light they wither, it's a serenade melody of shadow and decay." - Ruvickza Havinsaw

"I dance with death as if she were a pretty woman, but soon as she steps cold heel on my toes, I'll succumb to the cold waters of this darkness I'm drowning in." - Jared Ashes

"I don't think the forbidden fruit was ever, an apple sitting in the tree. It was always a metaphor. We all have our own forbidden fruit. For some it's lust, desire, greed. For others it's murder. But it was always a bit more specific with me. My forbidden fruit sits like a rotting orchard in my chest, whispering to me all the secrets that killed me." - Exton Varkno

"I traded my life for violence the day I stepped into a battlefield, bullets between my teeth and gunpowder in my lungs." - Dust Tilvain

"There's something dark, brewing inside of me and it stems from the cruelty that hunts me with knives of shadow and sin. I can't tell whether or not I'll come out the other side of this battle me, cause soon as that blade swings through the air and crimson smiles haunt my mind, I know that I won't be Jolt Netz. My tombstone would be etched with infamous names and killer's identities." - Jolt Netz

"He sits like a bullet on my tongue, tearing into the essence of life with fangs of gold and horror. And as he smiles, you know that it is not of kind nature, but a warning that Hell hath no fury like a scorned devil." - Ruva Buckrein

"They call us damned, they call us cruel and unjust. But darkness lives in the hearts of man, and my friend, all we are doing is returning you to humanity." - Virgillio Kreuten

"There's something cruel about how Heaven dances before the angels who fell. As if it mocks their pain with a pearly white smile filled with angel toothed fangs." - Kristen

"I was a bullet fading memory sitting on the edge of another man's revolver. I'd do anything to get my next fucking hit, my next fucking high. And so I stand here with broken bullets sitting at my boot, wondering if this is the price I payed to become nothing more then a silhouette of who I shoulda been." - Bovako Stillsworth

"I was a pawn, once. But I moved through the white and black checkered board, shifting through identities at rapid speeds. I've been the brook. The knight. The bishop. But as I reached the end of the board, my friend. I said checkmate and became something far more powerful then a King, or a Queen. I became he who controls the board, rolling die as if they were the seers golden strings." - David Faim

"Safety is an illusion, created by society to keep us quiet." - Quentin Satchel

"He's a pale white ghost that sits like a dream in the shadows, and before you know it, my friend, he'll snatch you in his nightmare hungry maw, and all you know will become dark." - Arthur Wellburn

"I stared into eyes mad and unwell, sinking in oceans that were never my own. And as I tripped over my boots, I came to realize these boot-prints were never mine either. I'm just a stranger walking in Cage's skin nowadays, wondering when the fuck I'll be myself." - Cage Azvinka

"Death doesn't taste cold. It doesn't taste of dark things and chaos. Death tastes like the lips of someone you've lost, it tastes of rose petals and lust, of nights spent in each other's arms and worst of all, for some people. Death tastes of love." - Norman O'Driscoll

"You know how it is, we all think we're good people. We all live as if we're the hero in our own fucking comic book, but then you gotta make choices. And none of 'em are favorable. All of 'em end with some form of death, and you get to thinking if this is the new normal, and blood runs red on the mellow streets of innocence. What the fuck does that make a hero but a villain hiding behind his regretful eyes?" - Kyro Bellford

"I stood for nobility, for peace. For something the world could be proud of in the end. But my world fell apart as sinister smiles surrounded me and darkness swooped in on every god don side. What a cruel thing it must be, to fall into the dark when light is right around the corner." - Jenvick Hester

"I am a revolver of secrets and lies. Each chamber holds a bullet, my friend. Dare you step into the firing range of these gunpowder identities that'll cling to you like shivering shadows?" - Caveston Gustello

"This world is fucked up. No wonder I wanted to escape it, right? No wonder I wanted to drift away from reality on wings of cocaine and hallucinations that left me bleeding from the heart. I just don't know why, out of all the things I can't run from, it's the fucking ghost that sits in my memory like a cruel, barking and biting dog. It'll always be there. It'll always remain, there. Because to be rid of the addiction ghost would be to be rid of who I am, too." - Rain Morvosina

"I sit very quiet in my mind, as if I fear even a whisper would shatter the glass of me. I thought, as I held my child in my arms that I had found life blossoming inside of me, for once, finally. I had found it, I had lived. But it was not life I had given to the world, but decadent and starving death. With his reddened teeth and decaying angels, he rips my mind apart with his existence alone. I have committed an awful, dreadful sin. One that can never be forgiven. For I am the mother of evil, and that, is nothing that God can love." - Francine Flowrick

"Reality always crashes down on the weary. It comes for the broken with claws, sharp, rotting things they are, tearing at the fabric of beating hearts and minds that think and remember, that hurt and scar so easily. I've always been the thing that hunts the bad things. The quiet bumps in the dark that haunt childhood minds and whispered madness that haunts the well and lovely of society. I was never really a man, was I? I was always something to be feared by the dark. So does that make me an invisible shadow?" - Mosrvey Vitinbow

"You know how it is. When you see someone that's broken you think you can fix them, you think you can save them from the darkness you'd seen yourself. But she was never broken. She was never something anyone could fix. She was cruel. She was delusional and wicked. And I'd never seen that in someone before. But a young heart had become a decaying one before I even had a chance to watch daisies and roses bloom in her chest. Love never stood a chance with something cruel and animalistic as her." - Moana Steenfield

"They called me something sinister, as if who I am could be defined by words pulled from the darkest poets man kind has ever known. But I was never poetry, I was never something that could be explained. Death came for me with rotting fingers and a smile, and up in flames went the pain. Up in flames went all the horror in my heart. If I wasn't this rotting, dying thing of cruelty and bloodstained lip, who would I be? Perhaps I wouldn't be Bethy, if I wasn't wicked, if I wasn't something mad and quiet. And to be myself, perhaps, is my loveliest sin of all." - Bethy Angelice

"Monsters don't follow a code of any sort. With their fangs of humanity and grins of dark, they sit still like starving vultures, waiting to drag another dead man's soul into the quiet emptiness of their madness. I've met monsters. I've met cruelty. And often I wonder, is it such a cruel sin, to send a beast into the dark from whence he came?" - Ozbey Crocker

"She was broken before the Devil of delusions had ever gotten to her. As if her mind was a paint peeled mansion, creeping at the edge of an abandoned ghost town. I had never met such cruelty in someone so young until she sat at the edge of a boy's bed, hatred and something sinister dancing in eyes pale and lifeless." - Paul Daykos

"He came for me with ashen bone fingers, his eyes dancing with unheavenly delusions. Dark and quiet was the punishment for my madness, for my devilry wrapped in child like horror. He told me that they call us a murder of crows. And what a heavenly thing it must be, to hold black feathers divine beneath your nails, ripping into the threadbare and gentle animalistic nature of the beaked beasts that caw little whispers of death in the sky. What a cruel, decadent beast he was. Sitting at the edge of insanity with his eight ball and shaky ashen bone fingers." - Bethy Angelice

"I ripped my blade from out a dying man's chest, and it was with, some sense of dread and a cruel form of poetry I realized it was my heart on the tip of that blade." - Richarlosse Caldwane

"Ya know, I think we're all just hearts, tryna find our way through the darkness in our ribcage. All it takes is a spark or two of some, curious emotion to light the way." - Markino Ravine

"My tears roll down my cheek like a brand seared into my memory. As if my sorrow is forever with me." - Jimmy Rummers

"I would swallow my grief, but I fear if I were to do so I would consume his memory." - Marvel Felinmote

"The world has no care for girls like me, but since when did that mean I don't get to have any care for someone like me? I battled with my demons until they became my friends, the angels with horns on my shoulder. Isn't it beautiful, to turn your nightmares into dreams with a forgiving smile?" - Emnia Ruzit

"I'm nothing but broken bottle amens spoken too fucking late." - Ash Caesar

"I marched into the battlefield me, but as the shrapnel and gunfire started surroundin' my heart on every side, it felt almost as if, history had begun etching my name away into the oh so infamous name of war." - Carickstan Spellman

"I wade in these depths unfamiliar, quiet madness creeping up the edges of my weed infested skull. This quaint little garden of insanity and unwell morality is mine, I tend to it with dagger like rain, letting the sun set it ablaze as Winter's ice cuts into it as if it were, a fresh cattle on the hook. This mind of mine is a shattered, broken, dying thing. But perhaps more so then ever I fear, that this garden has rotted, like seaweed left too long from out the ocean's waves. I am seafoam madness and coral reef sorrow, sinking into this ocean of who I am, drowning in things I never knew, nor perhaps, ever wanted to see." - Azekiel Gynsello

"I sit on the edge of violence like dark poetry unspoken. I am the ebony crow, soaring through dreams, weaving them into nightmares and shadow." - Everett Beaumont

"I once stood strong, like a soldier on the battlefield, knowing his country would win the war. But as my rifle fell from decaying fingers, clattering to the dirt, I found that hope, is a dead end dream, cause damn brother, the future turns against your promises." - Ramo Bonewitz

"My mother was an empty powder keg, but slowly, ever so slowly she filled herself with gunpowder rage, sinking into the depths of her anger. And as she looked at me, with perhaps, eyes that yearned for something more then the beast she'd become, I stared her back, with eyes she just couldn't love." - Rain Morvosina

"I tap my fingers against a type writer, tip tapping away as my memories are on display, like ink on a page that documents the misery of a man who doesn't know any other life. And as these poems and prose bleed into my fingers through the black letters I touch, I come to wonder if it was wrong of me, to escape reality with a writer's eyes." - Bovako Stillsworth

"My daddy always used to say that hate isn't the majority, they just scream louder then those who fear the stripping of their voice for speaking out against injustice. And he's right, cause as I shiver and shake in the face of someone's anger, I fear the consequences of speaking against violence." - Harmoni Thievesmire

"Regret is a chamber in which I sleep." - Romiro Smilowitz

"There's secrets in your heart. I would suggest casting them from your ribcage so they don't start tumbling from your lip, because if you so much as whisper of the darkness in me rest assured, you'll lose yourself in the span of  a revolver chamber's glistening silver." - Markston Valentine

"You went walking into Hell thinking it was the sun, didn't you? Don't you know beasts look like you? You've been a man of the law, for how long? And you didn't think twice what laid behind my smile?" - Markston Valentine

"To some I'm a death omen, others call me a bad man. Some people look at me as if I were some extant revival of Judas, sticking my knife in the back of justice, but to you, I'm a savior wrapped in the blood of the monster under your fucking bed." - Galio Brute

"I got an army inside this little chamber, and all of my bullet soldiers want you dead." - Galio Brute

"I'd ask forgiveness for killing the man who hurt Marigold, but I don't think Karma much cares for men who sit on the edge of violence with a grin." - Jakoby Fallhurst

"With my heart beat quick and rapid, the pullin' of my trigger came and went in the blink of that soon to be dead man's eyes." - Jakoby Fallhurst

"I used to sit at the edge of a revolver, right on the barrel. And as the gunsmoke wisped around my head, it felt like I had died while I was a livin', but all it took was a single leap of faith ta find myself outside that chamber 'a dead ends and sorrow glimpsed eyes of mirrored fates." - Jakoby Fallhurst

"Who you are is, patches of dead skin clinging to the tips of your fingers, it'll start with the blood drip, dripping from off the feeble hangnails of your identity, dripping away like wax from a candle ever roaring. Your identity will cling to you, but it will decay. Eventually, it'll start falling off in clumps of hair, dripping away from you forevermore, but it shall be ripped from you, like the first layer of your skin." - Mekivalla Brimsburn

"You call me human, but your panic beating heart unravels me as something eldritch in nature." - Mekivalla Brimsburn

"Do I, sit on your tongue like a sorrow danced question? Do I lay in your heart like an edged razor blade, carving little pieces off of who you are with memories of my smile and actions?" - Mekivalla Brimsburn

"I'm a, threadwork illusion, I slink into shadows unseen and appear like a ghost on the wind, sitting idle on cold cases and graves. Wherever I wander death is sure to follow, and as I look to this, field of open graves, I wonder which one is for me." - Morsvey Vitinbow

"He stared at me with a knife like smile, carving my identity from off my back like angel's wings burning in the midnight sky of Heaven. And as he ripped into the threadwork maze of my mind, he told me that he was just the point edge of a razor, carving pieces of me into pieces of him." - Bosko Hallramo

"His mind was a whisper of humanity, but if he had the courage he could've found a victorious shout of it echoing in a healed scar." - Malachi Razor

"Mystery called to me from the shadows of a forest, and as I discovered what the sinister tune's song meant, I felt as if, something started to die deep inside my bones. Like roses blooming from an open grave." - Abram Gothenburg

"My name sits like a dying raven on my tongue." - Hackton Acokliney

"You're stronger then you know, Gynso, it doesn't take shoving bullets in a chamber to find strength. All it takes is to accept your heart as it is, rainbow, decaying or golden. All hearts are equal, but some wither. Don't dig your heart a grave in an attempt to find yourself." - Keller McVito

"Don't you know, I was just like you once? Fighting for the people, bleeding, for the people. But, when push comes to shove sorrow and rage aren't enough to fill an empty chamber of revolution, so you have to put little pieces of you in those bullets, and eventually, you die, Keller." - Godfree Fallows

"In life, we are presented with two choices. Either you shove who you are so far down your throat that not even you, could reach him, or sit down and think, "Who am I?" and as the answer swirls in your mind, accept that, and become a gentle answer, rather then a forever burning question." - Keller McVito

"Her lips tasted like death ripping cold through my throat, her fingers daggers and knives digging into the notches of my spine. But worst of all, her heart tasted like an unholy omen of my death, sitting idle on her bare back." - Father Vorkaine Thorrel

"We aren't stars blinking out of the light, we're human. And with that, comes the capability to fight back, tooth, and bloody knuckle." - Father Vorkaine Thorrel

"It's once you call yourself holy that you realize you never were." - Father Goriah Thorell

"I place a weathered and scarred hand on my broken and damned heart, praying that I die a man I am." - Nathaniel Wessonlock

"Somedays, when I sit and wonder if I was ever really, a good man I feel a tinge of sorrow beat like a fragile rain drop in my heart. And as my mind tells me the blood staining the forest ground is on my hands, I come to wonder if the act of not noticing, the act of inaction and the act of cowardice, is perhaps more damning then pulling the trigger." - Bart Vanstick

"I don't believe in Karma, justice or anything like that. Those things have never worked in the favor of man, but what I do believe in is my pistol and the will to kill." - Nial Mooranan

"You've poisoned the river's in me, you stripped me screaming from who I am. And I have no fucking problem doing the same to you." - Nial Mooranan

"I'd watch your back, from here on out. There's serpents and vipers in the grass, and your heart is starting to look like a feast." - Sirius Mortales

"I'm a very powerful man, I'm practically a ghost, Ramo. I can be anywhere at any given time in many different vessels, I have eyes in the shadows of Evergreen's Bay. And you, my friend, have been ensnared in death's cold, hungry and starving maw." - Quentin Satchel

"You'd best know I hold a deadly grudge." - Quentin Satchel

"Underneath the shadows of foreign ravens and darkness blotting the cloud's of my heart, I fell, like a decaying angel in the night sky. And humanity called me a beautiful shooting star, and as they wished upon my burning hubris and wax, it was death and a curse they'd receive for wishing on shadows and dying angels." - Mallonzi Heckzen

"There were castles in his bones, pillars that held up his marble floor strength." - Abram Gothenburg

"You, are a dying question, you have no answer ricocheting in those mad bones of yours. And as you choke on your blood, it is insanity and a lack of humanity you'll taste on your teeth." - Ashvallio Bradburry

"That's what I want, don't you see! I don't want, to be human, it caused me such, aching pain, to be man. So with a howl and death in my throat I became something less then that. Something greater, then that." - Burns Mataugh

"I'm king 'a this hill, my throne is secured by my hammer and wit alone, and this hill is littered with the bones of those who tried ta push me. Dare you become bones?" - Shawn Werdesltein

"It was always humanity, that turned men to phantoms. Or the lack thereof." - Crow Sandelfreicks

"I've died, really. You can etch a stone with my forgotten name and seek whispers in the soils of my heart, but deep down, you'll see the bones of decay and raven beaks, wondering why such a merciful man's ribcage is stained with gunmetal and blood." - Crow Sandelfreicks

"You have come to the place saint's go to arise from their feeble skin, and out crawls the sinner hidden deep within the ribcage of hollow bone." - Farquad Debellio

"You've made a merciful man's heart beat with murder." - Crow Sandelfreicks

"In my brother's eyes, I saw shadows he didn't want, in his heart, though, I saw scars bleeding from a broken man's chest. And with some, sad sense of joy, I felt as if I needed to be his hero, for all my life, he's been mine." - Monica Hallmoore

"They called me a shadow, and as I first slipped into the dark, it became a truth sliding from their snake tongues." - Morello Hallmoore

"You will die, decaying like a gentle rose in my garden of withering willow trees, and by the end your petals will be black, your thorns will be covered in crimson pieces of yourself. Dare I say, you'll die a reflection of me?" - Allinza Harzvi

"I met death underneath decaying streetlight, and what a regretful thing it must be, to hold a scythe for something other than harvesting crop." - Greendale Moonwalk

"I, am a killer. A thief of life, and if you want to stop me from grasping at revenge with decaying and moss covered fingers, you will have to kill me." - Porter Blackburn

"To kill a monster you must become one! You can't hide in shadows as if you were a torch, no. You have to be an empty nebula." - Porter Blackburn

"I sit here, decaying in a broken chest, wondering if perhaps it is the sanity that rotted from my corpse." - Ebenezer Vanderholts

"My heart lays on the gallows, blackened and decaying. And the only thing I can ever do is watch the ghosts of my past let it swing." - Mirnivia

"I sing a tune on this three stringed lute, and all the damned beasts of Hell come running, thinking my song of salvation." - Serven Grimes

"Oh I didn't stand a chance in the hallways of sanity and peace, brother. But in this place of decaying laughter, I'm home." - Farquad Debellio

"I lost my mind in the echoes of the sinner's steeple, and as I stumbled blind towards salvation, echoing like a grin in the night, I knew that perhaps, to have no mind was a fate not much unlike death." - Farquad Debellio

"A heart unwell can't be revived, I fear. It can be risen from the dead, but in a sense it will always lurk with a sinister scent of death beating like sick blood in veins dying." - Draven Scotchfuel

"Thing is, I can't remember everyone I've killed. You're just a cold case to me brother." - Ewan Hanstammer

"When you become skin and bone, heart falling from your decaying chest, what do you do? Sometimes I wonder if I should shut off the lights of my flickering mercy, but other days I wonder if all in all, I'm the wick of a dying candle, doomed to fade away with the gust of hurricane rage brewing inside my cracked ribcage." - Harvano Axtortley

"Emotions are liars and bastards Clive, listen to them at your own risk." - Sandro Colorfeid

"In the foreign call of the ravens and crows I find not death omens, but squawks and signals that I am alive. I am breathing, and as the wolf howls to the moon, I know it is not my blood on his muzzle, but the blood of cruelty in the flecks of grey and brown." - Harmania Ackwallow

"I sat in a Church, feeling far off from God, miles away from salvation. And as that silver cross dangled like, faltering faith in the night sky, I knew that perhaps, the worst sin of all is to watch an angel fall." - Genesis Contritum

"You won't find salvation in that town, brother, you'll find four sin clad devils, and brother, I'm only the first mile on the highway to Hell." - Allinza Harzvi

"Sometimes, who we are isn't determined by our choices. Rather it's found in the echoes of someone else's cruel, wicked pieces of fate." - Tabbi Mariwitch

"You can't be the good guy in this place, it reeks of the death of minds and sanity alike. So you have to blend in, study the behavior of the unwell. Become, the unwell. In this place, being yourself is a suicidal act." - Ashvallio Bradburry

"You really think you know this place? There's madness creeping up every corner, girl, and if you wish to survive in this land of shadows, I'd suggest becoming one." - Ashvallio Bradburry

"You should fear the man with no identity, for he will change in the blink of an eye just to watch you fall." - Arthur Wellburn

"You can't just, look me in the eye and find your reflection. You'll find madness, you'll find flicks of love and pieces of grace left behind in your murderous stride." - Arthur Wellburn

"If this life I've lived is Hell, then his hand on my cheek or lips against mine must be what Heaven tastes like." - Annamarie Ghostwallow

"It feels as though, I have died while living. I wander white walls etched in the scars of the unwell, scratching at the confines of a skull that has a hard time containing a mind such as mine, and as I find myself shackled to a past that feels like a ghost following me, I know that perhaps, this is not life, but God's personalized Hell for a girl like me." - Annamarie Ghostwallow

"I once met a man in the shadows of pine trees and lights that flickered in his presence, and as he kneeled to my level and whispered that I was doomed, it was like a promise had seared like a brand in my mind." - Kurt Esterly

"He stood over me, with claws in the shape of human fingers and told me death yearned for the gentle souls rocking back and forth in the decadent night. And as he swooped down like a vulture decaying, I knew that he'd given me a grave without once digging talons into my flesh." - Melessia Maeson

"It was a gentle decay, the funeral of me." - Iresa Ramstead

"Beg for mercy child, get on your knees and wail to the Heavens divine that you may be spared of my wicked blade, but God was never listening to you, was he?" - The Begotten Wolf King

"Ya can't lose, life. You can't exactly win it neither, life can only ever be lived, really, but some people stare at ya with champion's eyes and hunger for something grand, and those are the kinda people who become wolves. Whom become something a little less than human." - Dixie Spindrift

"It is almost as if, when I look in the mirror I can see every single life flashing in my pupils like a threadwork book of memories and pieces of me I'll never truly hold. But perhaps the greatest tragedy of all, is watching as mercy crumbles in the heart of a kingdom of rust." - Delvina Sunset

"You can't just live life in the slums of your sorrow, you gotta let people reach down and give you a helping hand when all seems lost. Don't let the cruelty get to ya, more often then not, it's a shadow, and the sun will watch it wither." - Morgerra Kent

"They told me it would be wonderful, to rise with strength and gunmetal in my bones. But as I pulled a trigger against a criminal's skull, the concrete pooling red with pieces of my mercy, I knew, that they'd lied. Because this isn't strength in me, it's a cruel sense of power that doesn't leave a single soul the same as he was." - Nolan Walkenstein

"I feel as if, I faded away from myself. It wasn't a single violent action, I was not ripped away from this person I am, but rather, soft gusts of wind came on by and with it, left little pieces of me. And eventually, as the hurricane rolled on by, there was nothing left." - Vaughn Bonevarrow

"We were both, black roses, decayin' in some, odd way. But I feel as if, when our petals danced across each other's stems, that perhaps, tinges of red started takin' over the garden of our hearts." - Sandro Colorfeid

"I imagine we too, 'ave become monsters. Even if it weren't our intention." - Jasper Pollymore

"My mind is nothing but cobwebs and dust, barren of any spider to tell me how the silk was spun." - Pam Maywood

"I will stand before you, blade washed in your dreams." - The Begotten Wolf King

"As my father told me of the family name's curse, to bare burns of a torch they'd never hold and he said to me, "Daughter, you run from this home, it's a decaying matter of flesh and flickering torches." And as I told him he's my hero, and regret flickered in his hazel brown eyes, I ran from a heritage that never should've been my own, praying that my father escaped cruelties shadow." - Gwenda Malrosa

"Like bombs fading in the night sky, the boy I raised became nothing but sizzling cinders of explosive horror." - Aphrodite Bonstellos

"In the essence of life and death they whisper, "You are free, sinner's child, fly free like the dove holding parsley in his beak and bring forth a new era of peace." But peace was an illusion, built by the powerful and cruel, and so as I stare into the ever flickering eyes of chaos and sacrifice, I shall hold not parsley and peace in my beak, but threadbare and dying secrets in my bloodied maw." - Unknown McDonaghue

"No matter how many devils climb upon my shoulder, I will make sure they wither with the howling snarl of my rifle." - Espifanio Vanderhoof

"I look at history with the eyes of a warrior, and I know it can't have been easy, to die for causes not much unlike the one I find myself in now. But as I let my past flow through me like strength in my veins, I know I won't die a nobody." - Callenmire Bloodfire

"You can't just stand above peace like this, chaos ain't supposed ta be fair, love ain't sposed ta be this fantasy we can't ever god damn reach. But you sit here, with a grin of steel and bullets and tell me that peace is a fuckin' shadow." - Carleton Kazelstoh

"It always has been, it fades when the night comes down on us weary bastards of the dead world. So why the ever living fuck, would I call peace a friend when she leaves me every time the sun sinks?" - Estus Hunters

"My brother's mercy died in a bed of roses and slick cards, and if he were to stand above me with a razor edged blade, would he revive his mercy, or let it fade in the crimson flash of my death?" - Farstead Newton

"My heart beats sick with the dying cries of wicked bastards who threaten a dynasty pure and mighty. But I shalt not let this heart of mine fall threat to the decaying sense of shadow in the darkness' grin." - Brovalla Bladestone

"When the world threatens to tear who you are away from your bones stand strong and tall, for you will build a new identity from the strength it took to crumble." - Missouri Jolana

"The Devil whispered in my ear, "Succumb, broken child of the graveyard town filled with hollow secrets." But an angel in me told me that no man should find his grave etched with a name that is his own before he lays beneath it." - Scythas Hoffs

"As death drifts like smoke on the wind, spilling from the cigarette between my lips and I breathe in the essence of the huntsman's woods with a wicked grin creeping up my lip like a crease in paper folded by untethered hands, I know that this origami dove has become a wolf of paper and crimson claws." - Morias Doorvensteil

"I stick a match stick between my teeth and call it fangs of explosive nature. But alas, all I do is burn my tongue on bitter beliefs." - Varzol Rothschild

"A sense of belief is only useful when faced with wonder, I have found. For when faced with grotesque horror, belief will find you dead at the bottom of a dead man's loaded gun." - Byron Javellanos

"My heart were never a place I could call home, for as it clambered at me with angry claws and a maw of dagger like fangs I came to realize in the midst of all my hurt and pain, oh I wasn't me, but a threadwork beast made up of patches of sorrow and little pockets of memories. I ain't me, but maybe, I really fuckin' shouldn't be." - Gaston Mckinlay

"You know, dad, I don't think the gunfire makes you who you are. I think the gunfire and smoke builds broken pieces of who you are, but the regret, the love and the joy beating inside your chest is what makes you a soldier." - Liam Holwane

"It lays fresh in my mind, like fish reeled in too early, and I can't help but think I'm a bad man. Perhaps the war cheats in whispers, but if you call me your hero, son, I will accept a cape 'round my shoulders." - Brett Holwane

"My father once told me that the gunfire smoke blinds the vision of morality in soldier's eyes. And I get to wondering if with all this cigarette smoke and shadow blinding me, if it'd be wrong to deem myself a moral man." - Liam Holwane

"No one was there for me until I heard quiet whispers in the flowers others would've chosen to crush for speaking of truths in quiet." - Benjamin Diggory

"They called me a rose pin grenade, and with regret I showed them my shrapnel." - Hallana Ragecue

"My heart wilted away as a ghost I know all too well lingers over my shadow, frail and gentle like the flower of hearts and roses he was." - Harlene Ballendger

"I can taste war dyin' bitter on my tongue, and as I place a weathered hand over my old sailor's cap, breathing in fresh ocean air and dying poems of people long gone, I get to wondering if the war is over, why do I still tremble in the presence of the past? Perhaps all war ever was is a ghost, sitting lonely on soldier's shoulders." - Stickzen Myadro

"In this world I have learned two things. You have to kill who you are to survive, and living and breathing are not the same thing, so as I pulled the trigger of my identity and died a woman I am not, I started living, breathing in the essence of death on a sunny day." - Minzina Strumvell

"She's dying lights in my head, dancing in the monotony of my grey splashed canvas." - Helzano Borvenkayer

"Humanity is just one big fuck up on God's part.” - Darlo Vanishpoi

“ This world is just, a crushing coffin that lays heavy on my chest, with an annoyed sigh I rise in the morning knowing that today is just another cigarette hazed Monday, a booze infested morning. “ - Darlo Vanishpoi

“ Is that all God is? A beast of many colors breaking his creations out of rage and disappointment?” - Darlo Vanishpoi

“ Truthfully, I'm trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel. But it looks oddly familiar, you know? And as I squint to see better in the darkness I'm surrounded by on the daily, I come to realize the light is just the spark of another cigarette, and like a moth, I trot towards the buzzing lights as if they wouldn't god damn kill me. Guess that's all broken men are, moths, drawn to the hazed and dancing lights of another forlorn day." - Darlo Vanishpoi

“ Sweet dreams, my friend, are nothing more then an illusion spun by the mind, and as you drift to the land between dreaming and reality, remember, that nightmares have always been a twisted version of reality, and so they hold some, sinister sense of truth behind their monsters and hallways full of mirrored images of who you're not. “ - Ghost Shiv

“ Don't you find it peculiar, how we call humanity beasts and animals because they spill the blood of their own kind? But tell me one predator that hunts its own kind. Tell me one species in this universe, besides human, that will rip its own kind to shreds because they felt like it. You'll find that humanity is the darkest kind of animal to roam the planet, and with my empty smile, I seek to prove it. “ - Ghost Shiv

“ Someone I know once told me that the broken have to stick together, and, that's such a peculiar thought. Because as soon as a mirror drops to the concrete, the glass pieces scatter away from one another." - Ghost Shiv

“ I was born in a world of shadow, sitting at a long table of bones and roses, and as I scarfed down every meal of death I could find life gave me a scythe in which I could reap with. “ - Clementine Ashburnum

“ Violence for violence is the rule of beasts, they say. But I say violence for violence has always been the rule of humanity, for we were never much good at hiding our fangs, where we?” - Clementine Ashburnum

“ I was born to rule this land of shadow and bone, and so I sit atop my throne of violence and thank the beasts for swallowing me whole. “ - Clementine Ashburnum

“The world doth not spin kindly. It thrashes like a violent wave and fills the ship of humanity with cold, black water, firing cannons into the mast and oak wood of our boat. And so the storm destroys what is left of humanity, and thus we become beasts.” - Clementine Ashburnum

“ I've been kicked down and broken my whole life, choking on things that shouldn't exist, my pops always told me that we'll make it through another day. We just gotta go day by day, we just gotta get our minds through another damn week. And I say sorry to the clouds that he didn't damn well make it, cause as I lay roses at his grave tears roll like anger from my cheek and I clench my damn fist. Cause life just ain't fair, is it?” - Arnoldo Hungaris

“ Some people are born in Hell, and there's no way out of the flame. “ - Arnoldo Hungaris

“ All my life I've just wanted to be a somebody, but the day I was born the world looked down on me with a cruel grin and said that I just weren't born to be someone. So I picked up pieces of identity off the gravel road I'd been travelin' and played myself a game of identity roulette, never knowing who the fuck I'd be with the next pullin' of my dead man's trigger. “ - Arnoldo Hungaris

“ You ever feel as though your sense of self is dyin', witherin' away inta something that just don't god damn exist any longer? Cause this person I am has been fadin' from me for a long forty five years, and I'm just tryna catch the little pieces 'a identity as they flitter away like cinders in the damn breeze. “ - Dante Dunbar

“ My son looks ta me with sorrowed eyes and my daughter looks at me with wonder and joy, tellin' me I'm a good man. I'm the best go don' father she ever could'a had. But there's secrets sitting idle on my breath, but they don't ever leap from off my tongue, cuz I'm scared 'a what'll happen when all my darkness tumbles out from this box of pain I've shoved it in. It beats against the cage of pinewood and chain, roaring a melody of violence swearin' up and down that when it gets out I'm fucked and there ain't nuthin' I can do 'bout it. And I start ta believe the dark and toxic thoughts.” - Dante Dunbar

“ I grew up fast brother, and I didn't quite grow up so kind. So as I tell you I'm a bad man with regrets, don't you praise me without knowin' what them deadly sins is. “ - Dante Dunbar

“ Sometimes life will damn you to a fate so cruel and demented that you don't really come to figure kindness exists. Every eye seems like a stalker's gaze, every word feels like a lie off a tongue of silver, but some people are good, I've come to learn. “ - Clover Delecroix

“ I'm just a man trying his hardest to survive in this fucked up world, but my life was stripped from me so fast by four Devils who claimed themselves unwell and cruel. And as they came for me with insanity riddled grins and monster filled eyes, I came to realize that monsters will always wear the skin of man, because it's the easiest way to blend in, man. “ - Clifton Arslania

“ Ya know, my mom used to say that the kindest angels make the cruelest demons, and as I look to my scarred and weathered hands I get to wondering if I was an angel, once upon a time. But my halo's starting to grow horns and my wings are falling off my back feather by feather, and in the end, I'm just gonna be another man who let his demons take over the house in his head. “ - Clifton Arslania

“ I was just a kid when my whole world fell apart, and now I'm six feet from the edge of my fate, and I'm starting to wonder if it would be such a long fall. “ - Clifton Arslania

“ I can still remember her laugh, the way she'd fight back a smile when I told her how proud I was. She was a rebellious kid with trouble in her heart but hope in her smile, and without her.. I fear all I am is trouble and cigarette smoke, holding onto memories I swear I'll never forget. But these memories start to slowly fade, as if an eraser strikes at them, little pieces of them drifting away. I begin to forget what her laugh sounded like. I begin to forget the way her smile danced, or how she'd show me these, stupid, fucking internet things I never understood. Or how she told me all about the boy she liked, how she even thought that, she might have a future with him. But the future was ripped from her like a shadow, and I fear, with her future I too, was lost. “ - Darlita Romilez

“ My name tastes like a bitter drug on my tongue.” - Darlita Romilez

"I met a man full of ghosts in the haunted streets of my hometown, and as he rose specters from the grave of secrets and lies, I came to realize why people fear the dark. It isn't because of the shadows, but what owns said shadows, what lurks alongside, said shadows. You see, there's always going to be monsters hiding in the dark crevices of humanity, and they'll always say that the light is their domain and us kind hearted saints have taken it forcefully from their clawed hands. But monsters lie, my friend. It is only monster nature for them to smile with blood in their teeth, for as soon as a man spills blood for his own self gain, he becomes something very much less than human. “ - Fred Douglass

“ My heart is an old one, it has been since I turned thirteen and spilled my secrets from a chipped tea cup, my parents using the single shard of glass to try and cut the truth from out my rainbow heart. But they never could. Because the truth, it doth not die. “ - Fred Douglass

“ I heard once that the truth is like a lion, let it go, it will defend itself. And this, is very well true. But lies are like cowering, frightened little crows, and soon as you throw a stone their way they squawk and caw, fleeing like a deer from a wildfire.” - Fred Douglass

“ I'll raise my revolver to the misery and pull the trigger, because a man who has something to fight for is always gonna be stronger than the man who has nothing left to die for. “ - Sav Gothenburg

“ Life, in all of its sorrow, is a story, we gotta read every chapter of our life. No skimming. No skipping pages because the pain is too much to bare. We gotta let our story be complete. Sometimes the ink will warp and twist into blood and bone, but we gotta pick up the quill and write a story that ain't all that bad. “ - Sav Gothenburg

“ I've always been an odd girl, chasing shadows because they intrigued me or finding warmth in the cold pale glow of the moon. “ - Claire Orwell

“ I'm just a tragedy away from fading away into the night from whence I came.” - Claire Orwell

“ I'm afraid of the dark because it's where I've resided all my life.” - Claire Orwell

“I was not loved as a child. I can still hear booming shouts that forced me to hide away from reality, I can still feel the broken bottles against my cheek, or the way my covers felt like a safe haven away from all the rage inside my childhood home. But I hath no covers to hide under to escape my mind.” - Claire Orwell

“ I'm just a girl of trouble wondering where the hell the light at the end of her tunnel has gone, cause I keep tripping on barbed wire and regret, wondering if any cars will catch me on my way to salvation. “ - Christie Shadow

“ I met a man at the edge of the streetlights, he sparked up a cigarette, tattoos flickering in the orange glow like scars of battle, and he told me that he could give me an opportunity to be someone. To actually matter. And with a foolish smile, I followed him, like the deer who didn't mind the bloodstains on the wolf's maw. “ - Christie Shadow

“ You know, I always just wanted to be somebody. I wanted to live a life I could be proud'a, but when you're born on the streets with a mother who doesn't care and a father who left a long time ago, you don't much get that chance. She was just a drugged up ghost, sitting on the edge of her deathbed with red eyes and a smile. So I followed a path that I thought would be my one way ticket out of Hell. But the cruel men always hid paradise behind their smiles, huh?” - Christie Shadow

“ I tried to pick up a dagger and toss it at my misery, but it always sinks into my peace like fangs of cruelty, chipping pieces of me away with the edge of a scalpel. “ - Christie Shadow

“ People are always trying to say that humanity is inherently wicked, but that was never true. I've seen the kindness in men's hearts, but I've also seen the wickedness that flows like death in the veins of a man who called himself a wicked and lean vulture sitting atop the Church to consume the flesh of the saintly and good hearted.” - Chester Bronkzeim

“ My identity is like wallpaper from an old mansion, sometimes it peels away, it cracks and starts to show the true colors of who I am. And there's a secret or two in my walls.” - Chester Bronkzeim

“He grins, the blood of my identity on his fucking teeth.” - Chester Bronkzeim

"Don't you understand, the beasts have always been hiding in the public eye? They look like your every day people. They smile. They laugh. But don't you dare trust the bad man's grin, it's filled with broken promises and hearts he's stopped on a fucking whim. “ - Leo Griggs

“ They've always praised the wolves with blood on their fucking teeth, so I just learned to blend in with the crowd and flash a crimson stained smile to the crowd. Woops and cheers from society sound like a melody of violence to the powerful.” - Leo Griggs

“ My ribcage has always looked like the open doors of a slaughterhouse.” - Leo Griggs

“I stand like a death omen, sitting atop the old graveyard of saints, laughing at the way they've been buried underneath my fucking power.” - Charlie Griggs

“ Why would I be kind, when I could be powerful? “ - Charlie Griggs

“ True power does not come from kindness, my friend. Take a look at the fucking history books won'tcha? Nothing was ever done without a little multitude of violence and sin. Wanna free the slaves? You're gonna have to take up arms and spill some blood for the cause. Violence is the foundation on which humanity stands, has been ever since Cain struck down Abel, and in my eyes, it always will, be the foundation on which we stand.” - Charlie Griggs

“ Humanity is a tapestry of the Devil's dreams, and damn, if I ain't a testament to all the lord tried to condemn. “ - Charlie Griggs

“ When I first stood with blood on my hands and murder in my black heart, I knew that who I am had died a heart wrenching death. He choked on the same bullet as the man who laid dead at my fucking feet.” - Charlie Griggs

“ This world's not kind to those who live by the code of honor and kindness, but you can't let this beat you down. You can't let this kill ya. Or else the world will become a graveyard of dreamers who gave up. “ - Gavin Rustington

“ Most of those who fall subscribe to the ideology that others deserve the fall with 'em, so they reach claws from out the depths of their misery and pull others down with them. This creates a perpetual cycle of violence and death. Don't dare swallow the idea that your pain is a violent raging melody that everyone deserves to hear sung so darkly into the night.” - Gavin Rustington

“ Not all villains were angels, but not all Devils are cruel, and not all angels are kind. The world's just not so black and white." - Gavin Rustington

“ My heart beats a melody of rage and cruelty sinkin' inta the miserable depths of my revenge, and as the flames flicker in my eyes, I feel like a reflection of the tragedies that broke me down ta a vengeance driven beast, sippin' on blood red streams as if they were clear. “ - Vokard Killjaw

“ Brother, there's blood on my cold teeth and some sense of decay lurkin' in my jaw, so as I smile and my fangs start a rottin', you best know that life took this whole boy and turned him inta an arson lullaby, bitin' down on bullets etched with a name all too familiar. “ - Vokard Killjaw

“ I met death in the flickerin' flames of Hell and with a silver drenched smile he told me tragedy lurked in the veins of all whom seek a higher purpose. And as I cut open my wrists, tragedy mixed in with my blood, my vision blurrin' with delusions of peace, I found that rage tastes like my name on my tongue, and death tastes like mercy on the teeth of the vengeful. “ - Vokard Killjaw

“ I struck out at the young age 'a thirteen, choking on my halo of dust and decadent stars, prayin' ta the lord that he'd save me from the Devil that wore my father's eyes. But he never did. God don't listen ta the broken, he watches 'em fall, he watches 'em stumble through thorns and blackberry bushes, but he don't ever give a helpin' hand, do he? Cuz I sit here in my corner of nowhere and drink myself a quiet hummed lullaby of whiskey regrets and cigarette stained memories, wondering how the Hell I became my father. “ - Denzel Thievesmire

“ I'd say sorry for what I done, but it won't change a damn thing, it won't bring together the hearts I broke, it won't heal the scars I etched, so I let fate take me on down ta the river in which I may drown in my sins.” - Denzel Thievesmire

“ My sister once told me that life is a colored blade, and depending on how true our heart is, the blood will be a different color. So I gotsa wonder why black blood drips from the blade of life as it etches me with scars of my human nature.” - Denzel Thievesmire

“ I didn't want trouble, but brother, trouble wanted me.” - Denzel Thievesmire

“ The man who raised me was a shadow in the daylight, standing above who I could be with a scythe, willing to reap my identity from me as soon as I found out who I am. And I always accepted that, because I had never known any other life. But as Olly danced his fingers across my cheek and told me that freedom is not a house of four walls and staying shackled to a single place, I knew that, maybe I could finally be somebody. Maybe I could finally be me.” - Stenlana Borswell

“ I'd read of romance in so many novels, envying the girls and boys who found a happily ever after at the end of their story. I was jealous of fiction because I had never really lived in reality. But as soon as his lips pressed against mine, my heart started to beat with colors it had never seen, as if our love was a tapestry of what could be, and what would be. I found love in front of me, and I couldn't just let it escape. So with courage in my heart I ripped myself free from cruelties shadow, soaring on pale white wings of bravery and identity I'd never known. “ - Stenlana Borswell

“ Hate, my friend, is as old as time. But so is love. “ - Celdvel Creitz

“I strap this old hat to my head and strike a match, creating a spark of revolution in the air of cruelty and division.” - Celdvel Creitz

“ I reserve my hate for those who stand above peace like shadow lickin' flames, sittin' at the edge of a cruel man's revolver swearing up and down, this is the only damn way. There's wolves hidin' in the shadows of the revolution, and brother, they blend in with the sheep, they always will. Cause monsters always shared human qualities.” - Celdvel Creitz

“ My life hasn't been a kind one, I'm shotgun shells and violence on the cold shore of peace, and as I stumble blindly on a path that was never truly my own, I come to realize that a man who's seen violence will never be the same. Any man with blood on his hands will never be an angel, after all, we're human, we're fragile and kind, decaying as we walk towards another day with hearts of violent tendencies.” - Cavinsta Tilvain

“ It is as if my mind works in agony, slaving away at a factory, spewing out toxic thoughts and packaging them to deliver to my fragile heart, as if my mind is an overworked employee, enraged by the conditions in which he is worked.” - Cavinsta Tilvain

“ Since our minds were starving, they devoured themselves in search of a meal.” - Cavinsta Tilvain

“ I'm not a fighter, I'm a killer. There's such a fine difference in that. A fighter raises a fist or two for what he loves, a killer raises a revolver in search of another day, praying that he'll survive this murder of self. But he never does, hm? “ - Cavinsta Tilvain

“ I just wanted to see my sons grow up and be strong, capable young men. But the past follows us close, and no matter how many miles we run, its always that much faster, gripping our scars with razor sharp claws, carrying us away with fangs we recognize. Cause we've been bitten by them before. “ - Cathleen Colt

“A shadow is only as dark as he who walks alongside it.” - Cathleen Colt

“ I'm scratched up and fucked in the head looking for a way out of this maze of memories and shadows, but I'm always finding dead ends, man. And I fear I always will. Because sorrow doesn't let the kind girl go, it holds her down and rips the tears from her cheeks with blood dripping fangs, holding her still, holding her down forevermore. Licking pieces off of you with a razor sharp tongue, and as you weep, she always collects your tears. “ - Carvoxi Crickenmow

“ I stand still, frozen by the fear and sorrow, and every single time I take a step, the beast in me stirs, as if awoken by the sound of my foot shuffling against concrete. “ - Carvoxi Crinckenmow

“ What a sorrowful thing it is, to hold onto the memories that killed me because they're all I have left. “ - Carvoxi Crickenmow

“ Chance, I have learned, is everything. “ - David Faim

“ Think of life like a game of Russian roulette. We all have different chambers. We all have a different amount of bullets. It's up to us when we pull the trigger. So I sat in my quiet office, picking at the fabrics of my heart, and with a sigh I put the revolver under my chin. And with one action colors burst from my skull, pieces of me splattered against the white walls in red and grey, and as I slumped against an old chair, who I am died. And who I am would stay that way. I had always been lost, ever since that fateful Christmas Eve, clutching to the pieces of me I wished I could keep, uttering the same word over and over again, as if I were some distorted echo. "Why?" I cried. "Why?" I screamed. "Why?" I whispered. But answers never came for the weary ghost of David Faim. “ - David Faim

“ Chance doesn't care about who you are. It comes for you with greedy fingers that look like golden bullets, and as it digs into your mind it searches for misery, and if it can't find any. Well rest assured it will make some with gunpowder and regret. “ - David Faim

“ There was a locked door where life was supposed to be, my friend, and death was the key that'd always been hidden in plain sight. “ - Ioza Ragmathora

“ You can not find me in the Heavens nor below in the fiery depths of Hell, for I am a being so dark and twisted that the world doth not give me damnation or salvation. For I would corrupt both. “ - Ioza Ragmathora

“ I chose violence over peace because it gave me a chance to live. “ - Ioza Ragmathora

“ I sit like a whisper in my mind, decaying like a rose in the Winter, stem and thorn falling apart as the breeze drifts past me. I've never been a girl of peace, always did darkness know my name. And the shadows knew that. It's how they tricked me into following the colored lights. Because to a girl who's known darkness her whole life, light of any kind feels like salvation, like grace. Like Heaven. But I found that it was the flames of Hell I had followed, like a doe trotting just behind her mother, finding that it was blood trails she'd been following all along. “ - Kemlia O’Sullrain

“ I have bled so much from my wrists. Humanity. Peace. Joy. Everything that makes me Kemlia O'Sullrain has bled from my veins like a river splashing against the shores of Heaven. “ - Kemlia O’Sullrain

“ There is no peace for the beasts of this circus. We howl, we laugh, we cry. But we do not die. We never do. Which is perhaps the most sorrowful thing, to live in a world that never loved you. That never cared. “ - Kemlia O’Sullrain

“ You know, when you're just an orphan that no one wants, you get to wondering what the fuck your purpose is in this world. And then you get adopted, and you think life will look up. But perfect doesn't last. Not in a world of violence. Not in a world of hate. “ - Wendy Pazcko

“ Justice has never looked so cold in his eyes.” - Wendy Pazcko

“ I prowl underneath the shade like a shada' of violence, sinkin' unholy fangs inta the deer and sheep who think cougars will spare the peaceful. But there's never been a rule 'a violence that didn't kill the good hearted. So I sling a rifle over my shoulder and become the violent. “ - Carter Burningham

“ Ya know, a young girl once told me that I was damned for what I'd done ta her heart, and so I flashed her a yella grin and told her I know, that's why I fuckin' did it. Because I've lived a life chock full 'a sin, so what's one more? What's ten more? Hell, what's another lifetime 'a damnation ta the sinnin' man but paradise? “ - Carter Burningham

“ It is not often, that a soldier can hear the sound of silence.” - Carrick Miles

“ I would never call myself a hero. Because every war has its sides, every soldier has his story, so in turn every man I ever killed had a past, a family. People who loved him or her dearly. And with one bullet, I damned them to a sound of silence and regret, sinking into their skull like gunpowder misery. I'm not a good man, I'm not a hero. So please don't call me one. “ - Carrick Miles

“ I'm a soldier, yes. But a hero? I never could've been. For destiny told me to pull a trigger against my heart, and with a lonesome little sigh and a voice soaked in the tears of angels and saints alike, I pulled back the hammer and said, "Yes sir." - Carrick Miles

“ "When da world kicks ya right in ya bloody snout, you oughta stand tall and mig'y like the oak tree in a garden 'a withering willows. I mean, If ye sit 'round like a lazy bum and say I did all I could, ya're just the butt of a cigarette, sittin' lonely in da fuckin' ash tray. “ - Caldayo Blousey

“ I's learned that love is a war, and often, it's hate that'll shoot ya down like a bird soarin' through the sky, crashin' inta the trees without wings ta guide ya.” - Caldayo Blousey

“ If ya wanna fuck with da Blousey's I suggest turnin' da other way, cause mate, we ain't sheep, we ain't angels, neither. We're dogs, loyal as can be.” - Caldayo Blousey

“ I was just a kid of the streets, running towards destiny with tattered sneakers and a grin so big you'd think it was cut into my cheeks, but that kid died, man. And he's not coming back. “ - Cage Azvinka

“ I'm just a broken nobody in a world that demands I be someone.” - Cage Azvinka

“ It honest to God feels like I'm cursed. By what, I can never god damn tell, maybe it's me, maybe it's something old as time that creeps up my sinner's bones, but whatever this is, people call it reality. They call it destiny, fate, or anything else that excuses them from their actions. “ - Cage Azvinka

"If you wanna find a heart, stop looking in my ribcage. “ - Bone Hungarson

“ I used to feel, it was such a wonderful, beautiful thing. But as I slide razors across my wrist it must be the empathy I'm bleeding from me, all the things that make me human running from out my veins in crimson splotches. “ - Bone Hungarson

“ I wish to control my thoughts, but demons nag at my skull, tearing little pieces of my mind off with a hungry maw and bleeding teeth. So I accept this monster I've become and become friends with the demons that seek to kill me. “ - Bone Hungarson

“ I never wanted to be a gunmetal soldier, but here I am, with a spine of smoke and wildfire, sitting at the edge of war with a pistol and an aim that was earned through the death of others. “ - Gordon Jackson

“ I've fought in countries I can't fucking name, killed men I can hardly remember, and I know they say only the mad man remembers everyone he ever killed. But maybe it's the only way to stay sane. “ - Gordon Jackson

“ That's the regretful thing about life, it tears people away from you that you thought you'd have for a long time.” - Gordon Jackson

“ I sit on the edge of revolution, wondering if I'll have to raise my fists, or a steady revolver.” - Lily Van Velk

“ He's a shadow that's been cast over our town, and so we gotta be the darkness that vanquishes him, we gotta be the dark so that we can find the light. “ - Lily Van Velk

“ My ma didn't raise no fool, she raised a woman who fights her battles with wit and a trusty ol' revolver etched with the family name. I see pieces 'a my ma in my reflection and as I load this chamber with pieces 'a myself, I pray ta every God listenin' that by the end of the war 'gainst peace I'm still me. “ - Harmalene Stagner

“ I am a whisper on the horizon.” - Raimunduss Wolffes

“Having power, and being powerful, are two very different things.” - Raimunduss Wolffes

“ They call me a phantom, a bastard drunk off of power and sin, but in truth, I am drunk off the idea of immortality. The Gods can not create something eternal. For everything withers. Everything dies. But there's little pockets of their Godhood hidden in cracks and corners, and perhaps as I travel the world with my ever steely gaze and strong sense of belief in my goal, that I can change the perception of immortality. “ - Raimunduss Wolffes

“ We're all just trying to find ourselves in a maze of who we're not, shuffling through different identities, wondering when we'll find ourselves in our own damn skin. And as I brushed my fingers against my own cheek, looking at this woman I'd become, I knew that I had finally found the end of the maze. All those dead ends and, I'd finally found home in arms that were my own. “ - Blossomwitz Dakota

“ My identity slips from between my fingers like the river's water, and as I sink into this ocean of black blood, I know that perhaps, I was never an angel, just a devil who didn't know what sin tasted like. “ - Betty Shalfien

“My tears don't change a thing but the hue of the soil.” - Betty Shalfien

“ Life doesn't ever treat people fairly, bad things happen to good people simply because, the world doesn't really operate on what's right or wrong, it doesn't operate on karma or social status. The world just spins while we move with it, and people are always blaming the bad things that happen on the world. But usually the fault is always behind the person who pulled the trigger, or the person who used the knife to cut scars into your fragile heart.” - Barb Riverbrook

“True weakness comes from the black heart.” - Aura Honeybadger

“ It is not often the kind man survives the chilling and calculated wrath of the powerful, cruel one, for as he sticks by his morals and says he'd never stoop to my level, this old and decaying tombstone of mercy swoops down like the guillotine's shadow, cutting his head from off his neck. Who do you think won? The kind man who wouldn't kill? Or the cruel and unmerciful shadow of a man standing above the kind man's grave with ghosts of roses to lay at his forgotten and unmarked grave? “ - Clayton W. Scarrberry

“ I believe that, on that cold Autumn evening I met death dancing under the pale and flickering streetlights, for no one else could truly rip at the seams of mercy like her. No one else could've torn heroism from my heart but her. Death won't always come for you with a scythe, my friend. Sometimes death looks at you with loving, human eyes and steals you away with a cold kiss that feels much like the opposite of life. “ - Clayton W. Scarrberry

“ I'm a hollow secret sitting at the edge of peace, waiting for fools and saints to clamber on by to ask me for advice, and as they hear my words tumble from a lip bruised and silver, they're satisfied, for awhile. But as soon as my words twist and turn into curses, they regret talking to the old raven who knows a thing or two. “ - Royal Hondros

“ I see my daughter look at me with sorrowed eyes, telling me that I'm a bastard, a cheat, a horrible father. And she can bark, bark and bark all she likes, but deep down she must know, she'll never bite. She is no wolf, neither am I. But she likes to think herself one, so I'll sit in quiet anticipation and watch as she riles herself up, until eventually she tires herself out and finds that, to die, does not mean to be buried.” - Royal Hondros

“ Man, I've met a lot of the darkness in this world, most of it in the eyes of a man full of specters and dead railroad ghosts, selling his nightmares to all who wanted to find peace of mind. He's the reason, I've got blood on my fucking hands, and that, man, I just can't forgive. But if I ever could, I'd spill blood again just to watch him fall down his sinner's tracks, caught between the two trains he's ruled by. “ - Mark Bellwitz

“ I've led a life of trouble and cigarette smoke, chasing daydreams and girls when I was just a young gun with his smile wide and bright. But sometimes, life, it pulls the dreamers down to reality and tells them to walk on without their dreams, because life is harsh, it's cruel, and a dreamer can't survive without a little bit of nightmares. So I walk through a valley of nightmares praying that I'm enough to survive, and as Ciri takes my hand I know, maybe I'm not enough to survive on my own, but with her? I've got one helluva fighting chance. “ - Mark Bellwitz

“ I'm just a howl drunk beast, rippin' through the skin 'a Laramie Diamond.” - Laramie Diamond

“ There's two wolves in me, mate. One howls and bites, gnawing at the confines of me skull, crackin' little pieces of me mind on 'is way outta me, but da other is a loyal bugga', sittin' at da edge of wisdom with a song in 'is fur draped heart. And dey say the wolf who'll win is da one ya feed. And so, with a soldier's broken sigh, I pull another trigger and feed da beast in me. “ - Laramie Diamond

“ I'll be honest, somedays I feel lost, somedays I'm wondering in a quaint little maze, walking towards the edge of my sorrow, wondering what it would feel like, to leap into the waters below. But I have people all around me who help me when I'm down, and I think that's a beautiful thing, ya know? Sure, I miss my dad.. a lot, but he'd want me to keep on pushing forward, he'd want me to manage to, move on, not forget, but move on. “ - Aurora Hop

“ I know that perhaps, my father lives in these quaint little mazes of me. I've got a lot left to live for, ya know? Like uncle Ickden and Orin, they've always been heroes, shoving me out the way of danger and brandishing quills and pens like revolvers of truth. And I hope they both know, how much they've helped me. Because when my father vanished in the wind, they built me a new pair of wings and told me to soar, even if the new wings were built from torn off pieces of theirs.” - Aurora Hop

“ I don't wanna be just, some guy, I wanna be Ashton Worthington, the boy who became something. “ - Ashton Worthington

“ Usually what you ponder on will become you, so if you start thinking deeply about yourself, eventually you'll become him, right? Conjure who you are into reality with simple thoughts and deep love for who you are. “ - Ashton Worthington

“ You can't be who you're not, because in the end, that person will rip through you, whether it's a violent matter or not is entirely up to you. “ - Ashton Worthington

“ My sister told me her truths, letting them spill from the gentle river's of her heart, and as I told her I still look up to her, and I always will, I remember her crying a little bit and giving me a big ol' hug. Because she's always been my hero, ya know? She doesn't wear a cape, but she wears fancy gowns and hoods I don't know the name of, and as she smiles wide with that amazing wife of hers, I know that she's a happy, hero. “ - Andrina Prinscella

“ I once stood like a reaper in a field of forgotten graves, sitting as rage dying in an empty chest, pulling the trigger of my revolver because I had something in my fucking chamber, but then, life came along and built me a new pair of wings in the eyes of a man who's troubled but beyond all reason and doubt, loved. His lips taste like redemption, his eyes swim with my peace, and when I hold his hand I know that perhaps, he and I heal each other with little pieces of ourselves. “ - Mary Adler

“ I think it's beautiful, that a hurting soul can become a loved one within the span of a few weeks, a cruel woman like me can find life in the eyes of all she loves within months. “ - Mary Adler

“ I am a question rattling in my throat and dying on my tongue.” - Geras Creek

“ She once, asked me who I am, and, it's such a simple question, but a difficult one to answer.” - Geras Creek

“ Blood that is not my own forms like bruises on my lips.” - Geras Creek

“ I'm road kill sitting on the side of a dead end highway, a deer with it's ribcage ripping through its flesh, and as I rise from this grave of concrete and gravel, I become less and less familiar with my humanity. And one day, my humanity shall flicker and fade away like a candle's flame in a gust of hurricane winds, dripping down the wick like a forgotten secret in the wax. “ - Geras Creek

“ I often wonder what it would be like, to succumb to fantasy, where I could hold my son again, or love the world as it is, but this world isn't beautiful, it's cold and ugly, reminding us humans that we're just a plague infecting the notches of its gentle spine, sitting on its heart like a flower that never should've bloomed. “ - Moonshine

“ I remember the man who killed me, he sits like a poltergeist in my fragile mind, screaming and shouting in empty sins and cruel man's shadow eyes. He once told me that I was nothing but a doll sitting quiet on the shelf, dust and mildew creeping up the edges of my dress as I decayed and rotted with all of God's other forgotten toys. And with a tear glossed cheek, I realize the cruel bastard was right, because I weep myself a lullaby of ponies dancing in a field wishing I could join them. “ - Moonshine

“ My children look at me with mourning eyes, tear glossed and sorrowed, like, glass reflections of my heart. “ - Leonard Bakers

“ I can still remember everything about Kristin, for she sits here in my mind like a ghost I don't wanna expel from this world, you know, I can still see my fingers coiled with her bright orange hair, or how she'd scrunch up her nose to keep her glasses from falling off her cute, pretty and beautiful face. Or how, her eyes told a story, something beautiful and intensely poetic, and as she danced her fingers across my cheek, or pressed her lips against my skin and my bruises, I thought that I had found life in her whispers. But a man tore my love from me, and as she screamed and cried for mercy, God turned his back on the world and left it a quiet whisper. “ - Leonard Bakers

“ Time doesn't heal all wounds, my friend, it just teaches us how to live with scars on our fragile and decaying hearts of gold." - Leonard Bakers

“ I quite often feel as though I am far from myself, sitting like a pale white raven, pecking at the seams of graves he's dug, some are me, some are other people, but either way, these white feathers pale don't reflect my heart. “ - Alejandro Lepo

“ I am like a dying, withering daisy and as the gardener comes to tend to her crop, she would cut me from this bed of soil and mourn for this poor little decaying thing she couldn't save. “ - Alejandro Lepo

“ There's blood on my hands where the empathy used to be.” - Quentin Satchel

“ On a whim I could have, anything I wanted in my hands. I'll admit, I've sinned deviously. Hunted man in the forests of my mansion, gunning young girls down as if they were lions in the deserts of Africa and spilt blood all because, well, I felt like it, really. “ - Quentin Satchel

“ Anyone, could've become me. “ - Quentin Satchel

“ I met death at the young age of ten, watching as blood splattered the halls of my home, a dying cry of mercy ripping through everything I ever knew's throat, and as I sat there in silence, I think something might've broken in me, perhaps it was my purity seeping like crimson omens from my veins. “ - Cavos Von Glorenstein

“ My friend, this world is not so kind, I am a fair example of that.” - Cavos Von Glorenstein

"What do you do when home is a person you've lost? “ - Addison Von Sparrow

“ I remember when I first met him, his bones filled with sorrow scraped scars, his heart rotting like a dying star in his chest, and I felt as if, when I traced my fingers across his bare chest, little pieces of him began to heal, as if he was finally becoming himself. And so I kissed his scars and his bruises, running my hands through his thick hair as I loved him without regret, without a drip of doubt. And as he held me in his arms and kissed my cheek with lips fraught with troubled sins and shadows, I knew that love was always beautiful, and it always will be. “ - Addison Von Sparrow

“ My childhood home reeked of death and gunmetal smoke, old whiskey stain sins hiding in the breath of my father, and as my heart was torn from me kickin' and screaming, I came ta learn that it's a lot better, to die while breathing then to live your whole life powerless. “ - Sarvel Humington

“ I was just a weak lil boy in the streets of war, but I met a woman on the edge of mercy's spine, wicked and tall she stood, monsters fangs hidin' 'neath her gums, and she told me I could be a King of the streets, patrollin' the Devil's country with a backbone of gunmetal bones and black blood veins. So, with a crooked lil grin and eyes alit with the death of my innocence, I tipped my hat and said, "Yes ma'm." - Sarvel Humington

“ In this here place, we're all reapers of oneself, strippin' who we are from our veins so we can survive the town Heaven never knew. “ - Sarvel Humington

“ I think people like to shove the kind down because they know that they stand a chance when faced with cruelty.” - Estina Piscator

“ I'm not gonna be ashamed of who I am, I'm not gonna let people say this isn't who I am, because I tried to tell myself that for a long time, but eventually I had to accept myself. I don't need no man in my life, because in truth, I've always wanted a Queen of a princess to come on by with a flowy gown and a cute smile. I'm not afraid to say it, I'm a god damn lesbian, and anyone who has a problem with that can go back into their little hole of ignorance and die shallow and stupid. “ - Estina Piscator

“ My name tastes like revolution smoke and death on my tongue.” - Teresa Vanderboom

“ Somedays I fear God looks at me with scornful and hateful eyes, telling me I should be one with her angels, but I sit here, like a gentle and decaying rose, wondering why my petals stick to me when all I ever was is thorns and a broken stem. “ - Teresa Vanderboom

“ I don't know what the world wants of me, but as I dance with my lover underneath the moon's golden glow, I know that perhaps, to be alive is beautiful for most. But when you live past your death, it becomes something ugly, to breathe. “ - Teresa Vanderboom

“ I look in the mirror only ta see somebody that's not me, the heart of Rupert Vanderboom is still there, but there's a stranger's eyes starin' back at me, and sometimes I wish I was just a coffin, with who I am rotting in the marble material above me. “ - Rupert Vanderboom

“ She once told me that though we look different, there's still something she loves about me dancing fragile in my heart. But sometimes I wonder if my lips feel like a stranger against her skin, or if my fingers curling into hers feels unfamiliar. “ - Rupert Vanderboom

“ They always tell ya you get kicked down, that's life, it's a journey from one tragedy to the next, lookin' for the intervals of peace in-between the chaos and sorrow. But I'm just a tragedy who never found the peace, because throughout this life I've lived I've met many people, all whom are different, but I always stay stagnant, regretful, sorrowed by the years that pass me by. “ - Rupert Vanderboom

"When the world is fallin', mate, we gotta rise.” - Matilda Blight

“ I was just a woman 'a the streets, looking after her two boys, wonderin' why life didn't love me enough ta give me shelter under her wings, and as I clutched at the stars with human fingers and a will ta live breathin' in me heart, I knew that perhaps, life didn't need to love me, for me to love her. “ - Matilda Blight

“ Janette is a beautiful and war torn soul, and I hope that as I hold 'er hand she feels a little less cold, a little more human then she did all those years ago, livin' under the shadow of mercy. I love 'er, ya know, when she first pressed her lips against mine, or our skin collided in tangled sheets and a bed of roses, I knew wot love was, and I knew I'd always wan' it. “ - Matilda Blight

“ I sit in a lake of ice, the crowd gasping at the man who froze, and as I sink into the depths of my rage, I know that perhaps, this beast is all that I can ever be. “ - Maxadon Destodel

“ I'm swinging from this noose of my rage, wondering why it won't snaps and let me breathe for a single second, and as I lose myself to the anger that seethes like death in my veins, I know that all who come to know me must see a beast swimming in my eyes. All except for her. I met her in a pinewood forest, wondering if it was perhaps, Heaven I had found after all my years spent living in a Hell I call earth. She dabbed at my wounds gently, telling me that all would be okay, just listen to the gentle hums of nature, and a strange sense of peace I'd never known washed over me. But as I was ripped from her by ghosts wearing white lab coats and needle prodded gums, I knew that I would never hold peace in my gentle fingers again.” - Maxadon Destodel

“ I'm a guilty man with ghost blood flowin' through his veins.” - The Sheriff

“I'm the reaper of my own heart, sittin' in the essence of death like a question no one should ask, and as I pull back the hammer of this old revolver, I know that death shall come for me one of these days, and I shall stand here, ready to face her as I have so many damn times. Ya see, death comes to you like a mistress, she sits there in a dress of feeble lies, but they look like shimmering truths. She stands like a lovely question you wanna answer, and as she places a finger on your cheek and kisses your scars, infecting them with the decay of vultures and crows, you know that you've died, and you can't do nuthin' to stop it at that point, for you're tangled in death's sheets, wondering why you can't escape the spider's web.” - The Sheriff

“ I pull back my hammer and put a bullet of fatal identities in my skull, death lulling me to sleep with gentle, boney fingers that force who I am to decay. “ - The Sheriff

“ My sister asked me who I am, once, and sadly, I'm just a ghost of who her brother was." - The Sheriff

[skyking91-archive]

meet me in the afterglow || skam

Discord thread featuring: Sky & @samuelburton

When: 9/29/2020

Where: Sam’s apartment

Mentions: @samuelburton

Description: Sky comforts Sam on the anniversary of his parents’ death

Trigger Warnings: death mentions, maybe some self hate 

Sam

today had been rough for sam. the anniversary of his parents death was never easy for him, but this year was especially hard considering everything that going on in his life at the moment. he decided that the best way to get through the day was to spend time with his aunt mary who had always been there for him, even after he'd moved out of her house once he'd graduated. she was always so kind to him and his sister and had raised him from age 11 on. he owed a lot to her and he loved her dearly and he knew he could trust her to keep him from getting too lost in his grief. someone else who sam knew he could count on was his girlfriend and he'd missed her all day. he was looking forward to returning home to her after a long, emotionally taxing day. sky had this ability to make the stress melt away. he felt safe with her and he needed that more than anything. once he opened the door he was greeted by both bowie and kyro who were both excited for him to return home. "hey there," he grinned, dropping to his knees and petting them. they nearly knocked him over with their enthusiasm, licking his face affectionately. he stood when he saw sky, smile widening as his heart fluttered in his chest. "hey you," he said, already feeling better than he had all day.

Sky

Sky had spent the day at Beau’s, which she was now a permanent employee of. The gig with Mat paid well, but it didn’t require all of her time so she had a lot of extra time to devote to something else. Dance, of course, was one of her biggest passions — even before singing and acting — so she loved spending her time there and teaching. She knew things would get a bit more hectic once rehearsals for Rent began, but right now she had a lot of free time which meant giving more of her energy to her boyfriend. Her real boyfriend. Mat wasnt even really a friend. She was just someone she was forced to work with, and while she was thankful for the paycheck, park of her wished that she could give it all up to brag about Sam. And Sam...she knew he was having a bad day. She knew what this day was to him and she wanted to be there for him. She tried to give him as much space as possible but wanted to check in with him at the same time? She wasn’t quite sure how to properly go about it. He seemed happy though when she offered to meet him at his place. When she heard the dogs bark, she was already naked under her robe. She greeted him with a glass of wine and an affectionate kiss in this lips. “Hi baby.” She cooed, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him in. “How are you doing? Be honest.” She asked, gazing up at him with concern. She knew feelings was a hard topic for him, but she still wanted to offer him an a chance to talk if that was walk he needed. “I poured wine.” She told him, tugging him over towards the living room where two glasses on wine were waiting for them on the coffee table.

Sam

sam sighed happily when sky wrapped her arms around his neck. his hands settled on the small of her back as he kissed her. he’d only half expected her to actually be naked when he arrived at home and seeing her standing there in her robe had him biting his lower lip as he looked down at her, pulling her body in closer against his. he leaned foreword, pressing his forehead against hers as they held each other. “it was hard. but a lot better now that i’m here with you,” he told her, leaning in to give her another quick kiss before she pulled away to lead him to the couch. he sat down heavily, leaning his head against the back of the couch as he reached out for his girlfriend to pull her into his lap. he’d had a long day and he wanted nothing more than to be close to her.

Sky

This embrace felt so intense and it made her heart swell. How had she ever lived without him before? She could stay in his arms all day, but she wanted to snuggle up next to him on the couch first. And she wanted to check in with him, and hear about his day. or just hear whatever he wanted to get off of his chest. Sky didn't know what it was like to miss two parents. She still didn't know much about her birth parents and she had been with some less than stellar foster parents while she was in the system. Sam, Tommy, Jess and some of her other friends in Kingsboro were the closest thing she had ever had to a stable family. "okay. Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked, hopefully. She just wanted him to know that he had the option if he wanted to. She squealed a little when he pulled her in. She straddled his lap and sat down on him to face him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the temple.

Sam

sam reached up to touch her face, his thumb brushing over her cheek bone. “i guess i thought it would get easier with time, you know? that maybe i won’t miss them as much or maybe it won’t be as painful.” sam dropped his hand. seeing his aunt had been good but it was hard to think of anything but the accident the whole time he was with her. he needed a distraction. he reached for sky again, pulling her down to kiss him, his mouth urgent on hers. eventually he was going to have to face his problems instead of desperately seeking relief in others. but with everything going on, it was so much easier to block everything out and just try to exist from one moment to the next.

Sky09/30/2020

Sky closed her eyes briefly just to feel his touch on her face, humming softly. She opened her eyes as he spoke, stroking his hair in an attempt to comfort him. "Yeah..." She mumbled, encouraging him to continue. There had been a lot of things in Sky's life that had gotten better with time and there were a lot of things that didn't. She feared that this would be something that didn't get better with time for Sam. Sky's heart fluttered as he reached over for her to pull her into a deep kiss. "Mmm...Sam." She mumbled between kisses. "Babe.." She began, pulling away from him slight even though she didn't want to. She just felt like there was more he needed to talk about. At least - she wanted him to open up to her. "Are you okay? You can talk to me." She assured him, stroking his arm.

Sam

when sky pulled away sam needed a moment to catch his breath. he knew she wanted him to be open with her, honest. she wanted to be there for him. sam had been running from this for so long he wasn’t sure he even knew how to talk about it. he pulled sky close to him again, though this time he ducked his head against her shoulder and just held her for a moment. after a brief silence he spoke. “it’s been nearly 15 years... i don’t know why it effects me like this...” sam generally tended to shut down every year around this time or act very recklessly. this year had been no different. he thought back to the night he’d called eevee to come get him when he’d gotten so drunk he’d gotten lost. sky hadn’t been around for an anniversary yet and while sam was grateful she was here, he didn’t want to scare her. he knew that was foolish, but he hated having to lean on people so much. “do you think something’s wrong with me?” he asked, his voice small.

Sky

Sky just held her boyfriend in her shoulder. Her grasp was strong. Part of her thought that the harder she held onto him the more he would lean on her — be comforted by her. That was probably ridiculous and totally not true, but she would try anyway.“Baby, everyone heals differently. And healing isn’t linear. Sometimes it feels like you’re doing okay, then suddenly you take two steps back. But that’s okay. It’s a process.” She told him, echoing the words of her own therapist. She wasn’t his therapist, but  she just wanted to give him some type of comfort. His next words made her heart sink to her stomach. “Sam.” Her hands moved to cup either side of his face, and she moved his head to look into his blue eyes. “There is nothing wrong with you.” She assured him. The fact that Sam with feeling this way genuinely made her heart physically hurt.

Sam

sky’s words were comforting. he knew she was right but it was easy to get down on himself when he didn’t have someone to talk to. and he so rarely talked about it. he left out a calming breath, looking up at her with sad eyes. he was so glad she was there. he could tell that it broke her heart to see him like this and he hated making her feel that way. but he was so glad he had someone in his life that he could open up to like this again without fear of them running in the other direction. he knew that sky had a difficult childhood and while she’s told him parts, he knew he didn’t know the whole truth. he hoped that in time they could know everything about the other. sam knew that he would be there to support sky and she him. he reached up to touch her face, smiling at her lovingly. “i’m so lucky to have you in my life,” he said, stroking his girlfriend’s cheek. “i don’t know what i’d do without you.” he looked away from her then as a darker truth settled over him. “i don’t know that i’d still be here without you.” sky really had saved him the night she found him in the alleyway in more ways than one. she’d truly seen him at his lowest point and had picked him up and quite literally helped him walk again. his eyes returned to hers again. “i love you so much.”

Sky

Bedsides her therapist, Sam was probably the only other person who knew the most about her traumatic childhood. She’d probably never share the whole truth with him, fearing that he’d look at her differently after knowing all of the shit she went through. She’d spare him. He didn’t need to know all of the gory details anyway. However, she knew deep down that if one day she really wanted to tell him what happened to her, she could. If they were going to be partners, he deserved to know the truth. She’d save that for another time though. Some time way down the line. She wasn’t ready for that herself yet. “Mmm.” She hummed contently at his touch. Her smile faded at his next words. She didn’t like that sound of that. And she didn’t like the idea either. Sam had so much to live for. So many people loved and cared for him, and would be upset if something were to happen to him. “That’s not true.” She shook her head and forced a smile, letting a few moments of silence slip past them. “You, Sammy Burton, are incredibly resilient. And strong. You’d be here. I know you would.” She told him confidently after he had turned to face her again. “I love you too.” Her smile was now genuine. She traced his cheekbones with the fat of her thumb and sighed. “I could get naked for you now like I promised.” She smirked, raising her brow. She had really been in the mood since laying her eyes on him, but just wanted to make sure he was okay before jumping his bones. Fuck. He was so sexy even when he was sad.

Sam

there was a brief period of time where sam had feared things may have gone too far considering how reckless he'd been acting. while he may have been able to make it through on his own, without sky he'd be a lot worse for wear. he wanted to believe what she was saying and he thought that maybe he could, but after the day he had he was still a little fragile and a little unsure. again, he was glad that sky was here to get him through. "thank you," he murmured. her touch was comforting and sam felt himself closing his eyes as he leaned into it. he smiled at her next comment, chuckling softly. he tugged lightly at the rope bely securing her robe loosening it around her waist. he smirked, eyes still closed, feigning innocence as he continued to loosen the cincture to expose the skin hidden by her robe.

Sky

Now it was time for the good stuff. Sky wanted to jump his fucking bones from the minute he walked through the door, but she didn’t want to see like a sex-crazed fiend. even though she totally was but only when it came to Sam.  “Don’t be shy, baby.” She teased him, giggling. Sky smirked down at him before helping him take off the silk robe completely. Tossing the robe carelessly to the floor, she let her boyfriend look at her for a few brief second before starting in on his neck gently, humming on his skin contently.

Sam

sky was the most beautiful woman sam had ever laid eyes on. that was regardless of whether she was clothed or not, but in this moment, he couldn’t help but marvel at just how beautiful she was naked in his lap. today had been rough, and even though he should probably be taking his time to process everything that had happened and talk things out, it was such a comfort to just let go of everything and let sky comfort him — however she saw fit. and he’d talked some things out, let sky in, and honestly he was feeling better than he had all day. and sam was just so tired of being weighed down by everything. and so he indulged, like he often did when things got hard, choosing to brush some less than savory thoughts under the rug in favor of an evening of bliss. and sky’s lips felt so good on his neck and her body felt so good pressed against his and he really just wanted to focus on this and nothing else. his hands settled on her waist, before one snaked up her bare back and tangling itself in sky’s hair, tugging lightly as his head rolled back on his shoulders to give her better access as she continued to kiss him there. he sighed contently, letting the weight slip away from his shoulders, even if only for a moment. sam was at peace.