#need to write more murder ghouls actually

[delusionalbitchinthehouse]

Murder ghoul Dew ! Plus Dewther fluff, kinda ? 

Cw : blood, like, a lot of blood, description of a kinda gruesome dead body (not in heavy details but still there), murder.

Dew doesn’t know who the person is. Was.  Anyway. He really doesn’t, and that is where lies the whole problem.

If quintessence ghouls are known to be protective, fire ghouls are said to be territorial beings. And, look. Dew doesn’t like stereotypes, but this one…well. This one rings like truth. 

The mangled body at his feet certainly looks like a proof.

There’s blood everywhere ; pooling around what’s left of the corpse, soaking through Dewdrop’s clothes, painting the skin of his arms up to his elbows a dark shade of red, dripping from the fire ghoul’s mouth. He’s sure his hair wasn’t left untainted either, light strands probably turned a rusty color. 

The coppery taste on his tongue, though, brings a smile to Dewdrop’s lips. He picked the person’s scent up from the well on the east side of Primo’s rose garden. He had been aimlessly wandering, lost in thought and peaceful, when this foreign smell had hit his nostrils. 

Now, Dew’s nose might not be as keen as Mountain’s, but he knows an unknown scent when he smells one. It immediately raised his hackles, alarms ringing in his head as only two instincts took over : defend and protect. This place, and the people in it, are his.

His to keep hidden from those who aren’t supposed to find them. His to keep cloaked in protective mystery. His responsablility. Of course, deep down, Dew knows that he isn’t carrying the Church’s safety on his shoulders all by himself. There are plenty of people, ghouls and humans alike, who ensure each day that danger is kept away.

But in that moment, Dewdrop was running on instinct alone. The only thing he knew was that whoever this person was, they had no business being here, on the Ministry’s ground at this hour - early evening, the sun beginning to start its slow descent toward the horizon.

He knew this person wasn’t supposed to be there. Dew, as well as most ghouls, always make a point of discreetly scenting every new member of the Church, to know every smell that belongs to it. It doesn’t take that much brainpower : scents are stored in that primitive, instinctive part of their brain, and anyway, after a week of so, everyone belonging to the Church ends up smelling faintly of encens and old wood.

But this person did not smell like anything Dewdrop knew. Sure, there sometimes are visitors, but their presence is strictly scheduled and monitored. Because the Clergy knows better than to let strangers roam the place unaccompanied at any hour of the day ; they aim, that way, to avoid precisely what situation Dew just manslaughtered his way in.

For now, though, blood-drunk, knowing the Church is safe, Dew cannot bring himself to care about the consequences of his actions. 

That is until he catches another scent, this one terribly familiar.

« Dew, where were you- »

Aether abruptly cuts himself off the second he catches sight of the scene : Dew, drenched in blood and euphoric, while at his feet, what’s left of a person who really shouldn’t have been there lays broken and torn open like a gory piñata.

«…what happened ? »

Dew blinks, slow and lazy, something primal in him sated, for now.

« …stranger danger ? » he offers, small smile curling his lips.

Aether raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

« You’re ten times the danger this poor bastard ever dreamt to be. »

This statement doesn’t stop the quint from cupping Dew’s cheek with one big, calloused hand, uncaring of the blood. It is such a Aether thing to do, holding Dew with all the delicacy one would reserve to a particularly expensive piece of art, even as the fire ghoul stands smiling above the evidence of the murder he just committed.

It makes Dew’s stomach flip pleasantly everytime, and encourages him to nuzzle Aether’s palm with a purr, shooting him a coy look from under pale eyelashes.

« I have no idea what you’re talking about, » he hums with a smirk. Aether swipes his thumb along Dew’s cheekbone, huffing fondly.

« I’m sure you don’t. Seriously, though. You’re okay, right ? »

Dewdrop shrugs, letting Aether tug him closer until he can wrap his arms around the fire ghoul’s frame.

« Sure am. That’s not my blood. »

Aether’s scent - familiar, soothing, safe - surrounds Dew until it’s the only thing he can smell.

« I’ll take care of my mess, just give me a minute, yeah ? » the fire ghoul mumbles against Aether’s chest.

« Nah. You’re going to sneak back to your room and take a shower. No one can see you that way. I’ll deal with the body- send Mount my way, yeah ? He’s been saying he needed some fertilizer, looks like today’s his lucky day. »

Dew’s about to protest : after all, as he just pointed out, that’s his mess they’re talking about, but Aether doesn’t give him the opportunity. His hand finds the back of the fire ghoul’s neck, guiding him into a kiss that turns heated surprisingly quick.

Okay, so what if Dew is a bit easy for Aether ? So what if he let himself get distracted, mouth opening up to welcome Aether’s tongue, hands finding the quint’s love handles and anchoring themselves there, fingers digging into the flesh with what Dew hopes is bruising strength ? He hopes it’ll leave pretty marks. Anyone would cave with the way Aether pours his everything in each of his kisses.

When they pull away, disheveled and out of breath, Dew notes with satisfaction that some of the blood transferred on Aether as well, just another tangible proof of Dew’s claim on the quint. 

The fire ghoul is ready to dive back into another kiss, maybe even let Aether fuck him right here right now in the blood-soaked dirt, but the quint grabs him firmly by the jaw, stopping him dead in his tracks.

« Later, » Aether chuckles, « just wait for me in my room once you’ve showered, if you’re still so eager by the time you’re done. »

Dew flashes him a grin that could rival Swiss’, wide and feral as can be.

« Oh you bet I’ll be. »

Aether laughs again, joyful sound so at odds with the rest of the scenery, spins Dew around to make him face the Church’s looming buildings, and sends the fire ghoul on his merry way with a slap on his ass. 

Dew’s never showered as quickly as he does tonight.

[harrowscore]

🥳🎉 it's complete!!! 🥳🎉 36k~ words. not bad!!

not me writing 8k words of a watchmen fanfic in a single day hahahaha

[hello-there]

Communities are a new way to connect with the people on Tumblr who care about the things you care about! Browse Communities to find the perfect one for your interests or create a new one and invite your friends and mutuals!

[betterbemeta]

@this-should-do said:

#i also wish there were like... ways to help raiders like if we stop writing them as evil people and look at#the material conditions that lead them to being like that#and this could have branching paths too#some people are always gonna view them as evil and some will want to help others#and i think talking about how to help people who've resorted to this and created a culture around violence [...]

I saw, read, and appreciated your fallout 4 tag feelings!

I have agreed for a long time. while I wouldn't say 'rehabilitate' as we should question the society anyone would be 're-entering' but I understand what you mean-- 'they can realize they can take other actions than to be a very murder-able enemy in a video game.'

There are definitely some raider groups that I think wouldn't want to join up with the minutemen. But on average these groups seem to also be a problem for other raiders: the forged, rabies man at DB tech, as examples. Maybe it's just Bethesda's need to give you reasons to believe SOME guys are extra evil. But one of the first minuteman quests is 'go take care of the raiders at corvega.' It turns out that they're led by some guy luring in people with free chems because he's trying to re-create Mama Murphy's Sight. They're occupying lexington which is horrible and ghoul infested and losing people as fast as they can recruit. yeah sure we can kill them all... but it would also solve the problem if the gang learned that their leader was getting them killed over stupid shit when they didn't become a drug psychic instead of paying them. You the player actually have the knowledge to make the connection.

I have thought a lot about the conflict you learn about between the raiders at the federal stockpile (led by Red Tourette) and the beantown brewery (led by Tower Tom) and how Tom kidnapped Red's sister to extort her for food... and his gang kills her by mistake. rather than losing the advantage, Tom forges the letters to Red from 'Lily.' Red is even suspicious of it too-- but you can't resolve Confidence Man by telling Travis there could be another way to rescue Vadim, go to Red, explain, and make a deal to infiltrate Tom's gang and find out if her sister's alive. and if not, signal her to help us extract Vadim and get some justice.

Hell, after that's over, Red Tourette and her gang could even keep their job. The settlements pledging support to the minutemen are not just doing it because they want gang protection, they want to organize to do stuff like protect their harvest from being ravaged at random or to be sure that if something happens, people with supplies will come help them. you deadass need a place to store those supplies and The Castle is not a great option if you live on the opposite side of the map. Wouldn't you want these bad ass mfs with power armor, turrets, fortification, an escape tunnel to protect your stuff and also YOU if you have to flee your home? and on the other side of things, for a 'raider' is this not the best and cushiest job where people HAND YOU STUFF, you waste no ammo on bullshit, everybody gets a cut of fresh not-moldy shit, and all you have to do is not steal it so it keeps coming in forever? and people say 'thank you for what you do?'

There are a lot of raiders stationed at choke points and advantageous positions throughout the commonwealth and it's not clear who the hell they could be robbing but each other because the bunker hill traders already pay off raider gangs to let them pass. So every single one of those positions has the potential to negotiate. and we aren't allowed to because raiders i guess are too Depraved to be real human beings.

Its kind of creepy if you think about it, you encounter way more raiders in the commonwealth than any other kind of NPC. So if you care about 'uniting the people' and 'consent of the governed' the minutemen do not represent a majority of people in fallout 4 even if you link together every settlement. because the majority of people exist to be killed by you, the player.

[mycrofts-umbrella]

Hiii! 28 fem here, I'm **not** replacing anyone, just looking for anyone who would be interested in more stories with me. I have more time to write so if you are 21+ please don't hesitate to send me a dm! Most random stuff but willing to do original characters as well! I love talking ooc, it helps keep me engaged and I love plotting and collaborating! Can do some days of rapid fire responses, other times it might take a few days. I know real life comes first and I will always be patient so no worries. Would love to hear from you!

Here are some of the fandoms with pairings/tropes I like:

**Spock/Kirk** - Wholesome sci-fi adventures, potential for shorter procedural missions, would ideally want to expand and write other members of the enterprise as needed (such as Bones, Sulu, Nyota, Chekov, Scotty, Nurse Chapel, etc.), would play/write either characters

**Charles/Erik** - Friends to Lovers to Enemies, would do either post xmen first class cherik or would do older versions of them, darker themes, I would prefer to write Erik in this because I don't think I can do the optimistic Charles justice, we need to plot further with this one cause I would be down for lots of ideas

**Deadpool/Spider-Man** - slooooooow burn to even get to friends then maybe 🌈, would mainly start as Deadpool and Spider-Man running into each other doing work/patrols in the city and mexican food, prefer to write as Deadpool but would be willing to write Peter

**Deadpool/Wolverine** - post movie, Logan has nightmares, differences in their timelines, Logan visits this universe's version of the X-Men. Would be open to writing either.

**Harry/Hermione** - my preference would be to start sometime during deathly hallows after Ron left and Harry and Hermione are still dealing with the Horcrux, and writing either is good with me

**Hannibal/Will** - MURDER HUSBANDS 4EVER, post fall, (or I also have very many ideas for this ship, oh man), I would loooove to play Will for once in my friggin life but I would also understand that your sweet soul could not handle Hannibal and I have experience writing hanni

**Lestat/Louis** - set season 2 finale, during the hurricane, sweet *sweet* depressing vampire cuddles while mourning our daughter crying blood, but I get that's a LOT to start so also start of s3 rockstat era, Louis doing Lestat's makeup, would write either, genuinely love these two, tho more experience writing Lestat

**Daniel/Armand** - devil's minion era, or post season 2 TV show devil's minion, Armand IS ALICE au(?), open to writing either (would also do a one shot for Daniel/Louis)

**Crowley/Aziraphale** - I prefer writing Crowley but that's cause I have a very specific view of him and his feelings for Aziraphale, however I do like writing Aziraphale too, post season 2, or lots of different ideas for this one too

**Joker/Akechi** - set p5r term 3, OR Akechi has a palace that they do after Sae’s palace and before Shido’s cause I think Akechi should get to do a patricide, or whenever joker sleeps and goes to the Velvet Room, Akechi is there or they know they are the two tricksters from the start and Joker starts in the metaverse with Akechi and Joker knows about Akechi’s murders but Akechi is his only family until he finally meets the phantom thieves and starts to pull away from Akechi and wants to turn him in

**Lucy/The Ghoul/Cooper Howard** - heterosexuals strike again, post season finale as they track down Kyle McLaughlin and figure out what is happening, would probably prefer to play The Ghoul but I would also like Lucy too so IDK not a hard preference actually

**Hughie/OC** - AU he leaves the boys and lives a normal life and is cherished for ONCE in his ridiculous existence, would be fine with either male or female OC just not starlight sorry Annie January you have a cool name but your powers kinda suck and ur personality is idk I just think him and Kimiko would have been cute 🥰

**Homelander/OC** - again I'm fine with male or female and would prefer to write the OC but am open to it. OC could be someone new joining The Seven or someone he somehow met during his childhood (maybe even Sage or Hughie)

**Tyrion Lannister/Daenerys Targaryen** - rewind a few seasons, take things slower then follow the journey to King's Landing and the Red Keep, maybe when they first met, would write either but have more experience as Daenerys. (Sidenote: I also ship Jorah/Dany and Tyrion/Varys so same thing)

**AU / Tropes** I like and would do with ANY of the ships and characters above or even OCs:

Soulmate AU

Hanahaki disease

Teammates/Roommates

Childhood best friends

Enemies-to-lovers

Coffeeshop (always - one exists in every fandom and ship)

Stockholm syndrome 🕊️

Powers OR (No Powers for fandoms that have supes, mutants, magic, etc. )

Amnesia where person A wakes up and doesn't remember person B but wrongly (rightly) assumes person B is their spouse/significant other or just memory loss of critical moments

If you're interested at all, my dms are open! Thank you! 🖤🫶🏼🩵

[iamthecomet]

hi

do you have any ideas on predatory usage of quintessence

like murder ghoul aether cuz im still thinking about "pump them full of so much quintessence they dont know their name"

-🧪

I have so. SO many thoughts on predatory use of quintessence. And on murder ghoul Aether specifically. Someday, I would like to write full fics for each of my murder ghouls and their preferred methods (Swiss in particular is also quite fucked up). But for now, enjoy some thoughts about murderous, creepy, Aether.

Aether likes them calm. Dopey. Happy. Finds the blood tastes better when they're content. But, if he's honest, he doesn't really care about the meal. It's his least favorite part. Nourishing in a way that feels necessary but not pleasurable. Sometimes he'll even invite Dew in to actually finish them off once he's had his fill of their psychic torment. It's the lead-up he likes the best. The chase, the capture, the play. He likes smiling softly at an unsuspecting sibling. Likes furrowing his brow and asking for help with something. He finds that's the easiest way to get them. Asking for help. Humans are driven by the need to be helpful, the need to be useful. They toddle after him excitedly every time. He tries to pick humans that are over-eager. Excitable. The ones that babble at him as he leads them away from safety. He likes the way they talk. The waver in their voices. Nerves. Excitement at being noticed by a band ghoul. Sometimes he digs in right then, lets his powers drift into their mind and watches the fantasy unfold. Devours all of their hopes, their wants. The way they play out their future from this chance moment forward. They think about Aether noticing them, knowing them, loving them. Platonically or otherwise. They craft new worlds for themselves in the short walk to the basement door. And then, like clockwork, they stop. Hesitant. Aether tastes the bite of their fear as they look at the heavy oak door that they've been told never to breach. Those fantasies of a life blessed by a Ghoul's favor crumble. Apprehension eats them away like flame does to paper. They worry about Sister. About incurring wrath. About being kicked out. Thrown out into the woods to find their way home. About being pulled from the church--the only place they've ever found meaning. Aether looks at them, pulls his probing magic back. He reaches for them, claps one big hand over their boney shoulder and feeds them their first taste of his magic. They stumble a little. Dazed. Always thrown off. Hit with a wave of vertigo that Aether doesn't bother to explain. He looks at them like he's worried for them, asks them if they're alright. "Yeah," they say, "was just dizzy for a second. Must be nerves...I'm--we're not supposed to go down there." Aether shrugs, presses his quintessence in further, wraps it around their brain stem. Calms their racing heart. Feeds them back their thoughts of usefulness, of friendship, of a future with Aether by their side. "You're helping me, so I'm sure it's fine." And then, he leads them into the dark. No one who follows Aether into the basement ever comes back. He keeps them for a while, hours, days, sometimes weeks depending on what he can get from them. He feeds off of their emotions, of playing with them. Finds the psychic nourishment far more valuable than the blood and viscera. He digs into their memories. Watches their trauma play out like a movie. He keeps them drugged up on his magic, sedated. He used to restrain them early on, until he realized he didn't have to. Keeping them high on his magic was enough, drifting, delirious. Implanted memories making them think they're living the life they wanted. Their fantasies played out in brutal detail while Aether digs his fangs into their neck and tastes their pain, their pleasure, bursting bright on his tongue. When they've served their use, when their memories, and their trauma, and their desires start to taste....stale. He finishes them off, or has Dew do it. He cleans up. He starts again.

[grimmeghoulz]

Can i request male reader x Rain or Phantom (or both) where the reader is a very old ghoul, worked for the ministry since the beginning but always stayed in the shadows. Now that the ministry has a greater following the reader has to show themselves because they have to work more. The ghouls obviously would like to make the reader a part of their group, but since the reader is an older ghoul he hates being in groups, or with anyone in general (like a grumpy old cat).

But a few ghouls stay persistent and kinda adopt stay with the reader and worm their way to his heart.and soon enough the reader can be seen around this ghoul all the time, eating, sleeping and just spending time with him (again like a cat)

Angst to fluff where the ghoul(s) adopt this grumpy old cat (reader) and manage to melt his cold heart

I hope this makes sense and you can work with it! :D

Please don't stress yourself out

Thank you, dear anon! I absolutely adore this concept and I honestly think you should pursue writing if you don't already! I make sure to take the time I need to deliver quality fics for you guys <33 Absolutely loved writing this!!

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DISCLAIMER: While drafting this I changed the POV from reader to third person as it was more effective for narrative purposes. I hope it's not too much of a problem.

TW: Mentions of violence & disturbing imagery, vomit and cursing. Nothing NSFW.

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Dear Reader, I assume you know about Ghost, the metal band that skyrocketed in popularity these past few years. I'm guessing you've seen or even attended some of their Rituals, but I have one question to ask you; Do you know who really plans them behind the scenes?

The Ministry is home to a particular ghoul, one you've never seen before and one who'd rather kill you than let you lay your eyes upon him. A ghoul as old as the foundations of the Ministry itself, who has seen it built and rebuilt through hundreds of centuries, the forefather of the ghouls you know today. A ghoul whose mere presence causes priests to question their faith as he was the ghoul who drove the church to murder and traffic millions of innocents after it tortured and enslaved him, after it killed his Papa in cold blood. If you're ever wandering around the Ministry, you may hear the metallic sounds of chains swinging and a thurible hitting the ground in the distance, the smell of a strange incense filling your body. And if you're not a human from the ministry...run if you value your life. Even recent Papas are careful to stay on his good side.

The younger ghouls are but tiny kits beside him, yet they flocked around him curiously. Even Mountain looks like a scrawny teen near him. While he did growl and occasionally snap at them for coming too close, cursing at them in an ancient form of the Hellish language, they still tried to include him in their lives the best they could, even calling him "Grandpa Rose". Despite all this, they were, admittedly, still terrified of him. The Ministry sometimes broadcasted the band's performances, resulting in televisions destroyed on the floor with large gash marks on the screens. The ghouls, with their eyes all around the ministry, noticed that this hulking hellbeast didn't wreck the screens because of them, he actually seemed to have a fear of humans.

Rain and Phantom, the youngest amongst the ghouls took it upon themselves to search the Ministry's library and database to find out more about him. Why was his body covered in large gashes and scars, where's his left arm? Why was the right side of his face torn and scarred and was he missing that eye too? But most importantly, the question aching at their minds, if he's apparently a ghoul from the middle ages why hasn't he returned to Hell yet? Where's his Papa? The duo sneaked around the Ministry trying to find their hidden vault of knowledge without getting caught, eventually finding a large safe behind a hidden door in the wall. After failing repeatedly to open the lock, they reluctantly turned to mist and snuck inside the door, regaining their forms inside the huge vault.

"Satan's asshole", panted Rain. "I'm not doing that again."

Phantom almost vomited next to him. "I second that."

The two began quietly rummaging through stacks upon stacks of scrolls, books, notes and diaries in the hopes of finding more about Rose. After seemingly hours upon endless hours of reading and rummaging, Phantom in a drowsy state accidentally knocks one of the glass shelves over. Rain caught it before it could shatter and awaken everyone in the Ministry, especially Imperator. She was scary as hell. He was about to scold Phantom until they noticed a hidden, moldy chest was behind this shelf. Gently lowering the shelf so as not to absolutely obliterate it, they hoisted the chest (with a whole lot of strain, that shit was heavy) and as quietly as possible lowered it on the ground. Rain easily slashed the chain of the lock and opened the box, revealing a plethora of never before seen notes and even a painting of Rose done in someone's blood, how fancy. As they were taking piles of stinking brown notes and books, Phantom pulled out an old illustrated poster done in the middle ages. Rain turned around to look at his partner, seeing an absolutely horrified face that, with hands shaking madly, gave him the poster.

A portrait of a man's severed bleeding head, crying dark tears, silently screaming in agony was drawn in grand detail with unintelligible wording and a vague date written underneath. The man had markings similar to Terzo...

"That was the day they murdered my Papa."

The two nearly shat themselves and squeaked in fear.

Rose was towering behind them, most of his face shadowed due to the yellowed light directly above them. The duo scrambled away, Rain protecting his partner.

Rain's voice was tough, merely a facade to hide his terror. "I'm sorry Rose, we just wanted-"

Rose waved a scarred hand at them. He wasn't mad at all, rather he had a melancholic expression on his face. "Do not worry. I understand. Young ghouls are naturally curious, I was too." He sat down cross-legged in front of them.

Phantom popped out from behind Rain, indirectly reassuring him that Rose means no harm despite his tail clearly being between his legs. "What do you mean?"

Rose began fidgeting with his goat-like ear. "I had snuck into a human church as a kit. I was curious, wanted to know about them. I was discovered, and they splashed holy water at my face. I ran away before they melted me alive."

Rain flinched, holy water was to ghouls like acid is to humans. Phantom hugged his partner. Rose reached a hand out but the duo hesitated, so he continued.

"As I was Papa's Quintessence Ghoul, they could easily trace him." The corners of his mouth sunk. "They captured both of us and beheaded him in a huge ceremony, throwing a feast at his decapitated head."

The ghoul solemnly stared at Rain and Phantom. "I'm sorry for being so harsh on all of you, like that'll fix anything" His gaze sharpened. "But you cannot trust humans. I cannot lose you too."

"Humans have changed since then, Rose.", Rain's voice was solid. "They won't burn us or kill our Papa."

Rose stood up. "How can you be so sure-"

Phantom, a great deal shorter, stood up to him. "People love us, man! They love our Papa, they actually made him a flower crown!"

Rose's gaze softened...he couldn't believe it.

Rain stood up as well. "They love our music, Rose. People travel from around the world to hear us. They're happy when we come, saddened when we leave."

Rose's shoulders slumped over. "Music, hm." He turned his face away with shame. "I destroyed my lute...vowed to never play again."

'Bullshit, let's make you one!" Phantom's voice was extremely determined, surprising Rose. "In fact, Aether's old guitar is perfect for you!" He hesitated a bit yelling at the old man. "Maybe we could fix his humbuckers-OOF"

Rose hugged the two, tears running down his face like rivers as he squished them. His one arm was enough to surround them. "I'm sorry, so very sorry, please forgive me."

Rain sighed and smirked. "It's alright, Grandpa."

Rose looked at them. "Grandpa?"

"Wait, do you not-"

The old ghoul broke down in a shower of tears, crying 'I'm a grandpa!' as he squeezed the ghouls in the tightest bear hug in history, lifting them off the ground.

Phantom patted his back. "Hey, big guy? I know that it's a bad time but, can we get out of here before Imperator finds us?"

Rose sniffled as he growled, his tail waving like a mas cat's. "What would she do?",

Rain waved his hands to calm him down. "She'll just take away our guitars for the day, it's alright."

Rose huffed, steam puffing out his nose. "We can't have that, now can we?"

With his one arm he gently hoisted the shelf and with one snap of his finger placed all the notes back in their place as if they've never been touched. He lifted the chest with a bounce and carried it under his arm, turning to look at the ghouls. "Ready for mist time, boys?"

The two groaned but there wasn't much else they could do. Disintegrating again, the trio floated back up to the Ministry, just in time to see the waking ghouls. Rose used his calming energy to soothe the lethargic ghouls as the others emerged from their rooms half asleep. The group jumped, seeing the giant no longer skulking but now fully upright, smiling at them with tears in his eyes. He lightly lowered his chest as to not startle them. "I know this is all very sudden to you, but I'm so-"

The entire group launched themselves at him, yelling "GRANDPA!" as they covered the big guy with hugs, his eyes welling up with tears. He was speechless with joy hugging his little ghouls as if they were his own grandkits.

Sister Imperator shouted from the other side of the Ministry. "GET READY, EVERYONE. WE'RE MOVING TO SPAIN IN SIX HOURS!"

Rain smiled. "You ready, big guy?"

Rose wiped a tear from his eye. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"How're you gonna play with one arm?" asked Cirrus, curiosity spewing from her words.

The big guy smiled as he closed is eyes. Mist began forming around his shoulder blade, forming into his missing arm as the ghouls stared in awe.

"How in Satan's name did ya even lose it anyway?" jumped Ifrit, always so sentimental.

Rose beamed brightly at his honesty. "I was born without it, little Ifrit!" He flexed his mist arm. "I'll teach you these tricks someday, don't worry."

"BUS ARRIVES IN 15 MINUTES!" yelled Sister, still on the other side.

Rose turned to Rain and Phantom. "You ready, boys?"

The duo fist bumped. "Let's get rocking."

[shiguangism]

Presentation

Hi, I'm anchestral and I'm mainly a fan writer who landed here on tumblr after years of being active on twitter!

Some info about me:

Pronouns: she/her

Age: 22

Languages: Italian, English and Spanish

Fandoms I'm active in: Link Click, Chainsaw man

Favourite shows: Link Click, Chainsaw man, Jojo's bizarre adventure, Tokyo Ghoul, Haikyuu, Berserk, and many others I won't list here. Just fyi, name me a show and probably I've watched it.

I've moved here because twitter was not a comfortable place for me anymore, and I've seen that tumblr is much more chill wrt those lands. Please, be aware that I will NOT engage in any kind of arguing online, so don't even bother to pick a fight with me, I've had very BAD experiences I don't want to repeat.

I'm here just to chill, talk to people about my favourite show, share insights and maybe make some friends. I'm very friendly, if you want to hit me up in the dm to talk about something, I'll answer very gladly whenever I cant! :)

If you're shy you can send me anon, I'll be very happy to answer.

Fanfictions:

In this year I've been writing a lot, I've always liked writing and I started when I was only 14. However, I'm a bit slow because I like to write first in my native language and then translate in English. Below, there is a list of my fanfic profiles and the works I like the most and I'm writing. This are my profiles for AO3 and EFP (Italian platform for fics):

AO3: Anchestral

EFP: Anchestral

Link Click Fanfictions:

Immersion: In which Cheng Xiaoshi goes back into the past to save Lu Guang

Summary: ‘Three are the rules we need to respect: first, we have twelve hours; second, listen to my instructions and don't change anything; third, leave to the past what's in the past and don't ask about the future.' Cheng Xiaoshi knew them well, Lu Guang told him those rules everytime before working. By then, he learned not to question them, they didn't know what could happen playing with the past and modifying it. But did the rules still make any sense if Lu Guang was dead?

Prevision: In which Lu Guang goes back into the past to save Cheng Xiaoshi

Summary: Lu Guang did not make mistakes, he always evaluated all the possibilities in front of him rationally, it was what he had to do to allow the survival of both of them, to allow their time travels to go as smooth as possible, but letting himself be dragged into Cheng Xiaoshi's do-gooder madness had been the first big mistake of a long chain. September 12th 2020 was the day when that realization hit him like a sucker punch straight in the center of his chest, leaving him on the floor gasping for air, in pain.

These two fics are actually related!

火锅 - Hotpot (E-Rated): Just a collection of nsfw one-shots, but it is getting serious. For now, there is only one chapter out, but I'm working on the second and it is becoming huge.

There are many ways to spice up a relationship: may it be a hot bowl of noodles, a dark room with way too red lights, or a bet on who's going to wash the dishes for the rest of the month... The possibilities are endless when starved eyes are looking at you as if they're going to devour you any time soon, leaving you feeling naked and in trembles. ----- 5 times Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang have steamy, hot sex + 1 time they can't. (the formula may be subjected to changes)

Chainsaw Man Fanfictions:

Dancin' in the devil's hand (E-rated):

Summary: The metropolis of Tokyo is torn apart by a series of unexplained, brutal murders, but all of them seem to be connected by a single thread. In this climate of terror, Aki Hayakawa has been given the onerous task of bringing light and a point to this story. --- An unexplainable mystery to solve that will lead Aki and Angel to work together, closer than ever, and maybe will give them the chance to understand something more about themselves and each other...

There are also many other one-shots, most of them are in Italian, thought, and I'm not particularly fond of the other translated because I was still trying to adjust my writing again!

I think I've said everything. I'm sorry if I make some mistakes, I'm very new to this site and I'm still trying to understand how the netiquette works, especially the one tied to the reblogs and the tags.

See you around! :3

[ask-the-clergy-bc]

I've read a few stories about murder ghouls and wanted to know if you could do murder ghouls with a cannibal sibling or is it too much to ask?

I’m actually an avid horror fan, so this is perfectly fine! :) As long as it meets my rule guidelines I’m always happy to have horror and darker clergy themes! It gives me a chance to go Opus in my writing!

Just always check out my trigger tags! I try to do very detailed ones in the tags and on the piece!

I wasn’t exactly sure what you meant by murder ghouls, so I think this is finally time to debut Miasma in my writing! (Aka the Clergy Syringe Ghoul from the chapters!)

Inspired by ‘Ritual’ in our Beloved First Psalm

GN Reader

Cannibal Reader

Unbeta’d and Proud

Trigger warnings: mentions of blood/gore, cannibalism, ritual sacrifice, demon/ghoul feeding, mentions of assassinations, murder, blood drinking

The Assassin and The Child Of Beelzebub

Gore under Cut!! Mature Readers Only!

While the clergy does not consider itself evil in the way the world might know it, it is self aware enough to know taboo practices are frowned upon. There are truly very few pleasures and curiosities that aren’t indulged within the walls of the ministry. Consent and the protection of children being the two pillars of morality. But much darker hungers are always indulged.

The Morningstar Bloodline, or the revered Emeritus, would be hypocritical if they didn’t embrace the shunned practices of the world of men. Even if it’s kept guarded, every Papa is of demon blood. Luxury food is filling but no substitute to Mortal flesh and blood. And ghouls are no men, but Hell beasts who have their own hungers.

It’s common practice to feed traitors, angels, and sacrificed outsiders to hungry ghouls. And the Emeritus have fine dinners out of those who betrayed them deeply. So of course they would protect you when you couldn’t help yourself anymore.

Luckily the discovery of your dark need came during your chance to impress Papa I. You were one of the few siblings who willingly and passionately begged for a chance at ritual sacrifice- one of the most honored and sacred practices to the dark one. After some consideration you were granted the privilege. It was a messy yet enlightening affair. You were so frenzied by the energy of the Dark One flowing through you you bit the throat out of a screaming traitor. Papa I had been particularly pleased watching you consume the blasphemous wretch until you were sick.

Actually, after that display, you became quite the useful asset to the higher ministry. At first as an avid ritual practitioner, and then as a high sibling in your own right. Papa I called you a shining example of “Beelzian Devotion”. You took your patron of the lord of flies and hunger seriously.

Granted, you DID have rules. You couldn’t go around just slaughtering whoever you felt like! Especially your fellow siblings! No. Your lead worship of Beelzebub came with strict guidelines under Papa I. You were happy with that. It wasn’t often but those who were stupid enough to betrayed the bloodline found themselves on your alter. Your belly was always full in that regard.

This is how you eventually met Miasma. Head assassin and a quintessence ghoul of mysterious origins. Originally the ghoul had been a healer during the great plagues. But eventually medicine became poison. And poison could be much more useful when you were instead ailed with enemies.

The ghoul had been responsible for the dispatching of many pests. But sometimes he was instructed to send some to you. Beelzebub was always as hungry as you were, and it was in everyone’s best interest to keep his favor. So he would deliver, informing you of which traitors weren’t laced with something deadly.

Soon it was an unlikely friendship. You saw him more than most people… and most didn’t even know he existed. And he found you quite delightful when you weren’t writhing in religious fervor.

You watched amused as he laid a limp figure on the marble of your alter.

“I can’t use dead ones.” You teased, watching the shallow breathing.

“Mild sedative. You won’t feel it once it’s cycled out of his system.”

“Oh, how kind!”

“I live to serve.”

You nodded as you gathered your chalice and athame- eager to use them sooner.

“Miasma, you hungry?”

The ghoul laughed and eyed the plump flesh of your future sacrifice.

“I could eat.”

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

PLEASE CLICK A BUTTON

No knowledge of either media is needed. Please. Click a button. Click what sounds cool! You not caring HELPS!

If you WANT knowledge about what you voted for, I've written out a description of each faction down below.

If you know both stories, pick what sounds most interesting to you. Your vote shapes a story!! I'd appreciate a reblog for more votes!

(The top 5 groups will be featured somehow in the fic)

Why am I doing this? Well, I am signing up for the Izzy Hands Bingo! Only issue, I want to use my bingo card to create an AU based around the world of Fallout. I have 1 issue.

I don't want to decide this one choice, as to me, planning any aspect of a fic before a writing challenge defeats a bit of the purpose of the challange. You know? So I'm letting y'all choose Izzy&Ed's background. Their background influences how I write almost everything else. The moral, the main beats of the sotry, the romances, etc. All on THIS choice.

So I am relying on the people who don't know shit about the fallout universe to act as a random dice throw. BUT PLEASE VOTE IF YOU KNOW WHO THESE FACTIONS ARE! This fic is going to be written for those who know nothing about this world, but if you want to see Ed and Izzy with a certain background, VOTE WITH BIAS!

QUICK EXPLANATION OF EACH FACTIONS FROM ME, WITHOUT GOOGLE:

New California Republic: After the world has been destroyed, this group believes on forming another democracy. Taking over small societies, and taxing them in return for protection. Full of modern white collar corruption, this faction is prone to murdering their citizens, or giving them HIGH standards they will fail. This group believes that THEY are the superior organization and wants everyone else to be dead.

Brotherhood of Steel: God, isn't it cool that the US has such advanced weaponry? Isn't US culture so COOL? What if the US was destroyed, and now there's a faction built around gathering technology of the Pre-bombed world, dead set on taking over the US? Willing to die for a pre world toaster. OH- AND they are a psudeo-Christan/Catholic faction built around following some pre war religious ideas. Including chastity, and following a ridged social ladder. This group believes that THEY are the superior organization and wants everyone else to be dead.

Raiders (Unfriendly): Why build a new society when you can just kill people and take their shit? Not a faction, but SOME build small settlements. They are the vultures of the wasteland. Murderous vultures. Very close to historical pirates, tbh.

Raiders (Friendly): Groups that usually don't trust any of these fucks as shit goes wrong WAY too often. A few friends that take over a building/farm and chill. They will raid, but often choose abandoned buildings and can rely on trade.

Caravan Merchants: Traders that walk the wasteland trading their items for money. SOMETIMES affiliated with one of these factions, but not always. They just explore, find shit, and sell shit. Actual vultures. Chill bros.

Child of Atom: AKA the radiation monks. THESE GUYS FUCK. Not to bias this vote, but out of all of these, these guys are usually my favorite in game. Imagine if after the nukes that end the world drop, you decide to worship the bomb. The live/stay in water that is toxic and live their lives surrounded by mutated monsters. Children of Atom LOVE radiation of all forms. In the games, half your quests with this cult is spent secretly deactivating their radioactice items without their knowing so these fucks can live another day. This cult is my wild card, I have no idea how I'd write this lol. (Image below just fucks too hard for me not to include it)

Minuteman: Basically Raiders(friendly) + NCR. A bunch of settlements that vow protect each other, but without the taxes of the NCR. Often small factions that promise to step in if their land/property gets attacked.

The Railroad: Robots are better than people, we are willing to die to save synths(robots) Yes, it is based on the underground railroad. They save robots, kidnap them from the institute(described down below), wipe all of their memories and personalities, and abandon them without resources somewhere far from them. You know...when you say it like that, comparing this organization to the REAL underground railroad is a bit fucked up.

The Institute: It goes like this, kidnap someone, copy their memories, and put these memories into a robot body. Many Synths don't know that they are human. This group believes that THEY are the superior organization and wants everyone else to be dead.

Pre War Ghouls: Congratulations, you survived the nuclear apocalypse! You're reward? Well, you have a chance of being immortal, and a change to turn into a mindless zombie. You live 200+ years and get to watch society rebuild. Only issue, you look like death. Most factions HATE you. You know how Elves are treated in fantasy? That's how ghouls are treated. This path gives Ed/Izzy a SHIT ton of angst as two people that are some of the only people left who remember a life before survival.

Synths: Robot copies of a person. If this is chosen, I am 50/50 on if they themselves know they are synths. If this wins, I will post a second poll on who knows they are/aren't a copy of a living person. Or if they even look human. as some synths, like the guy on the left, don't look human AT ALL.

[To not step in bad water, I have excluded the following 'factions':

*Slavers. In this world, being pulled into slavery is one of the many things that threatens the player chatacer. If a city is taken over by a faction, sometimes people of any race are sold into slavery. I'm not touching this. I'm not making Ed and Izzy into Slavers, or victims of Slavers.

This plot is important to the world and shows how society has fallen back into chattle slavery, I'm not touching it for this fic. In fact, most fallout fans who write fic don't include Slavers or Slavery. These stories that feature slaves predominantly happened in the games fallout 3/new vegas, and often featured women being used as sex slaves. These plots were not picked up in later titles. As this fic is predominantly a survival romance/mystery story, I don't need to add this topic as a narrative tool to build temporary tension. Some narrative tools deserve more respect than others. Especially that of *slavery* (cough cough to the anon who sent me hate about this part, no shit slavery is a thing today....like? This entire post has been summarizing these games. Why would i add a psa about how slavery is still a thing mid post? I swear. Anon on tumblr can be a burden and a curse)

*The Enclave: they believe in social Darwinism, and are generally racist to those outside their faction, and mutated people. (But why did I include the brotherhood? Because power armor. They're assholes, but Izzy and Ed are going to spend this story learning their world view is wrong. Making them Brotherhood members is easy mode plot wise, as they learn to live their lives. Compare this to the Enclave? I can't personally justify fixing an enclave member.)

*Any new Vegas specific groups. I don't want to limit my location to Las Vegas/Nevada. I'm literally going to spin a wheel for a location, and having 'the Kings' be in Missouri doesn't work for me. (If NCR is the most popular I'm fine with it as historical lyrics they spread through a LOT of the wasteland. It excludes like, 20 US States). For the institute/railroad, I'm going to rename the faction but keep the belief of the factions. ]

If you are reading this- THANK YOU FOR INDULGING MY HYPERFIXATIONS lol. I have some lovely ideas for how to combine OFMD and Fallout's humor, and can't wait to dive in!

I would love to hear what you voted for!!

[captain-astors]

C, E, J and Z for the ask game? :>

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will: Good question, I'm usually pretty flexible and I can't think of anything that isn't sort of a given from Tokyo Ghoul, but when it comes to JJK I just don't really like Nobara and Itadori. As friends? Absolutely. As a QPR? I could be convinced with a short explanation. Explicitly dating in an allo way? Eh. Given, I haven't caught up with the manga so there's always a chance!

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?: I don't know about hilarious, but certainly cracky. This Post which resulted in Shuu does top surgery which is even less plausible than the initially proposed Kanou, but wildly amusing. Then there's the old men chronicles which I would've had more fun with at the time if I wasn't fully aware that I'd lose a mutual over it. In retrospect it's nice though! Also, I think almost everything I've shipped here is very cracky.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over: Tumblr has recently become very convinced I need to see everything related to Moomin Valley so, that I suppose.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.) Sometimes I get really scared to talk about all the reasons I like characters because I don't want to unintentionally reduce their personality to stereotypes. Thus, counterproductively I end up describing everyone with short, vague sentences out of fear of overusing reductive phrases. So today I rant free!

Hairu is absolutely fascinating to me as a character, I feel like she's a wonderful example of Ishida's special tactic of writing a character with a couple vague core ideals and points of history that hint to something far more complex in such a way that leaves you wondering if he's actually a brilliant writer or if he just left you so much space that you can fill it in with headcanons to your heart's content. Anyways, I just love how she's consumed by an unobtainable goal, (being recognized by Arima again) and her method of slaughtering as many ghouls as she can to achieve it just takes her further and further away, while also distancing her from the actual achievable reality of a closeness with Koori. It's so sad and I ADORE HER SUBTLE COMPLEXITY, it always disappoints me a little to see people to describe her as nothing but a dreamy airhead or just another murderous cog in the machine of the CCG. I do actually really like her and Koori as a pairing because they'll take so terribly long to communicate, I just also really like making Koori suffer hell. Anyways, nearly 80% of what swayed me was a fic where Koori and Hairu swapped uniforms on the first day of being partners because Hairu hated the new female one, and Koori discovered the skirt was actually very comfy. It was sweet, kind of a crackfic, and very enjoyable to read.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

I've written a ton this year btw. I just haven't been posting because I'm trying to finish multiple very long stories before I start posting them just so they will for sure get finished. My goal is to be a lot more active on this blog this summer.

ANYWAY, going back to the good old days of posting "goals" I wish to achieve, here are some things I'm hoping to finish/start this year.

THINGS TO FINISH:

Sunset, Moonrise. Top of my priority list right now because the Spooky Month brainrot has sunk in so severely again after the new episode released.

The next two installments of my Epithet Erased series, which I have decided to start calling The Convergence AU. I've actually been working on these on and off for a year now. The first is a one shot that I just keep revising and revising and should probably just post, and it's called "It'll Be Okay," and its the AUs version of Giovanni "kidnapping" Molly at the end of PoP. The other is called Waking Nightmare, and it's Lorelai-focused, but naturally there's a lot of Sylvie in it too because I can't help but pop him into situations.

Heroes (And How Not to Assign Them). Just finish all of it.

I've been working on a Villainous series about Dark Phantom and Ghoul for about a year now. It's called Name of My Own and currently I have 5/8 fics in the series finished, and have begun to write the 6th one.

I've also been working on a small series about Caine from the Amazing Digital Circus, so I'm hoping to have some of that stuff out by the end of the year.

It's Dangerous Not to Feel Loved, my Adventure Time fic, will be finished sometime this year as well. I have four more chapters proper to write, and then all that's left will be posting a revisions. I'll probably post another chapter here very soon.

I started by never finished a character study for Khan from Murder Drones, so I'm hoping to finish that too, since I've been tinkering around with some ideas recently, given the new episode.

I'm like 2 chapters away from finishing the first installment to a silly little Rayman fic series. It's just kind of a remix of the original stories taking the aspects of the different lores I like and mashing them all up together. Also: OCs.

A Captain Laserhawk fic about Ramon, Bullfrog, and the clone Rayman. Because Bullfrog is so so so beloved to me. So far there's 3ish chapters finished and I don't know how long it'll be. Maybe 5 or six chapters long? Not too much more to go though; it's about halfway done.

THINGS TO START

I've been working on a crossover between The Amazing Digital Circus and The Pink City (another show by Gooseworx) and I'm hoping to get the first installment out sometime this year, but I will at least be starting it. It's going to be called The Pink Digital City (creative, I know /sarcasm).

I want to write more Spooky Month. Maybe something about Roy and the Cult because I love those "Roy in the Cult" AUs.

Might do something about a Spooky Month OC I've got, too.

Super early in the planning phases still, but I'd like to start the next installment of The Convergence AU after I finished Waking Nightmare. It'll focus on Crusher.

The next chapter of Operation: E.P.I.T.H.E.T.

More Pokemon crossover things, particularly more for the South Park crossover and actually getting something for the Ed, Edd, n Eddy AU I keep talking about finished and out there.

More oneshots. I need to write more oneshots. I never have oneshot ideas anymore because I really have been enjoying long form stories these days, but I need to keep practicing short form stories too or I'll get rusty lol. Feel free to send me oneshot requests for any of the fandoms listed here.

Okay, if you actually ready this gigantic thing, thanks lol. I appreciate it tons.

[emeritus-fuckers]

For the match up event rerun! I decided to not be shy and anonymous

1. My name is Hunter or also nicknamed RockNRoll. I'm a trans male who uses He/They pronouns mostly. I mostly allow it/Its with friends only. I honestly don't even know what my romantic/sexual orientation is at this point.

2. Ghouls ,, Repugnant,, Papas

3. My body is something I struggle with and honestly hate to describe. I'm more on the somewhat chubby side. I most of the time have chewed up nails (anxiety and stress-) Anywho my hair is mostly shaved around the sides and trimmed up on the front. It usually blends down on the sides and back. My clothing style I wouldn't say ranges its mostly neutral colors with some color. I usually wear jeans, sweatpants or some fuzzy pants (pajama pants) for when I'm feeling lazy and cozy.

4. My personality is definitely and interesting one that's for sure. I don't have any patience whatsoever. It's very rare and my patience will run thin extremely fast, it honestly depends on the situation and stuff. I definitely have a short temper. My humor is.. dark to say the least. I'm not really a humorous kind of person. In general I can be a little asshole but once you get through my somewhat tough exterior and earn my trust, you find somebody who's broken, sweet, and 100% is so touchstarved it's not even funny.

5. Hobbies that I indulge myself with are definitely writing and reading. That's one of the biggest things that I do. My music taste? That's a funny one because my music taste ranges so much. Old-school music is something I was very big on, mostly anything Rock/Metal. Some of my favorite old school bands are AC/DC, Metallica, Slipknot, and Katationia. Those are just a few there's to many bands I love to list.

6. Little things that I didn't add and want to add here. I have braces and absolutely despise them. They are the absolute worst and I hate them. I'm also so big on physical touch (may be because I'm touch starved..) Its also my love language! I'm so big on cuddles too. I'm also an introvert and hate to socialize with many people at once. The last thing I'm adding, I also do age regress. It's to help deal with the trauma.

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your match is... E. Forcas

Jez to check before publishing

It's G. who spoke to you first, he'd seen you looking at E. but never going over. G. is used to interesting personalities, so he just kinda spoke to you anyway and he's so nice it's impossible to not to start to open up to him. E. just sits there not really saying anything but watching. Eventually G. leaves you two be as he knows you don't like hanging out with more than one person.

E's resting expression is murderous, he to comes accross differently to how he actually is. You end up talking to him and start to realise he's actually really sweet to those he likes.

He also starts to see the real you as you begin to trust him and open up. E. has gone through some hard things, so he knows what it's like to feel broken, you two just click. You get each other.

E. isn't normally one to initiate cuddles (unless it's during aftercare). But he is always happy to recieve your cuddles. He knows you are touch starved so makes an effort to try and hug you more because he just wants you to be happy. Also you can curl up in his arms whenever you want, he won't ever say no.

E. is always happy to lend you his comfy grey hoodie, all you have to do is shiver and he's taking it off and putting it on you. It is the comfortable hoodie, ever.

E. has a little amused smile at your dark humour. He gets it.

He'll somehow know what you need, even if you don't say it outloud, he'll just hand you a drink or a snack when you need it. He also carries a book around for you to read, incase you get bored.

When you are having a bad day, E. gets the band to play some Slipknot and Metallica for you during practice. He does this by starting off with the drum beat and the others just naturally join in.

While you write you often sit snuggled together on the sofa, E doing one of his Rubik's cubes.

~

Written by Nyx

[prosopagn0sis-a]

raging daddy issues and where do they come from

let me preface by saying: erik hahn aka wulf stalker is not a character that belongs to me, but i do write him ocassionally as a part of fate's threads, and he is deeply connected both to fate's and prometheus' backstory in their original lore. he was created and developed by my friend and became an adoptive father of the silly little blorbo you see me writing today. erik was based on a clone lore from eve online and his first ever appearance was in a ttrpg based on fallout (we later switched to neuroshima and then adapted our characters to other systems). i have the permission for writing him and developing his story.

erik had a hive mind with all other eriks up to the point of the cloning machine breaking. they shared views, opinions and memories — their most important one being meeting the fate and taking care of her since she was seven years old. the original and very first wulf stalker was collecting teddy bears alongside heads of his enemies... and had a ghoul-ish body due to fallout-inspired radiation, but later on another wulf killed him and took care of fate. essentially, they were the same person, but they knew they couldn't coexist in the same universe. wulfs hunted other wulfs, basically, and the whole character started as a psychopath.

so now you see: erik hahn is not a good father by default.

through the years of taking care of his daughter he tried the best to his abilities to be a decent parent, but failed on so many levels that at the age of fifteen fate sees their relationship as a transaction more than anything even remotely familial, progressively losing the sense of being a family but still believing they're allies. it's easy, he provides for her, and she takes care of everything else. but she wasn't taught to do everything else by erik, no; she had to learn every skill all by herself (except for strictly military-related abilities like combat or marksmanship).

so we have a seven year old freshly rescued from abusive household and an adult who cannot make himself an espresso without burning the whole kitchen. the seven year old is a genius and picks up on the adult's inability to function and starts taking care of every chore possible — cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, budgeting, planning, everything. it started simple, then became more and more advanced. erik starting off as mercenary was traveling a lot, so fate lacked any socializing with people her age, but also claimed she doesn't need it and wulf believed her and let her chose to be a loner as much as she wanted to. he gave her free hand on most subjects and topics, only deepening the psychopathy of her as a whole.

wulf stalker did fund face blindness research and provided money and housing during his travels, but that was it. literally. everything else was in fate's hands and she gladly took care of it.

i don't know if you understand, so let me summarize. a grown ass man is unable of taking care of himself, so a seven yeard old girl starts doing this for him and continues that for at least ten more years.

but fate's also a genius, so erik utilizes her intelligence during his missions and operations, desensitizing her to themes of violence, gore and murder while continously training her to eventually do what he does best. a child, and then a teenager, raised around mercenaries and military because wulf stalker didn't know better. but that is not an excuse.

erik never provided much emotional support nor physical contact. never taught fate actually useful life skills that aren't connected to killing, like driving a car for example. erik brought a child to military bases so the only socialization fate has ever gotten were grown men ready to take a bullet and feed lead whoever was on the opposite side of the battlefield. these were her only companions. this is why her relationship with men is so complicated and based on sexualizing herself.

after fate's kidnapping episode, wulf literally caged her inside safehouses and military bases and never left her unsupervised, but he's almost never present, so she's left without the only person she truly trusts with her safety in armed strangers' hands. in all verses except for the resident evil one, her abduction was random and not tied to erik's line of work.

to  sum  it  all  up:  erik  had  no  idea  how  to  raise  a  child,  never  put  effort  into  educating  himself  on  that  matter  and  oftentimes  avoided  his  responsibilities  by  leaving  fate  under  stragers'  supervision  in  secluded  and  well  guarded  areas  while  also  continously  training  her  in  his  line  of  work  to  have  a  cunning  and  intelligent  helper  filling  in  the  gaps  in  his  skillset,  at  the  same  time  being  completely  dependent  on  the  girl's  general  life  abilities  and  expecting  for  her  to  take  care  of  everything  besides  making  money.

[theaudiofiend]

Truth 1

Killian does indeed have a bit of a phobia of horses. This is actually due to the trauma that Killian experienced at a young age. When Killian was a boy, he would often shirk his studies, preferring instead to explore his family’s estate. One day, he met one of his family’s workhorses named Calyx. Killian created a deep bond with Calyx. And even if it was just a simple horse, it was the most affection had received up to that point in his life. His mother was long since dead and he didn’t even know her face, his father was a vile and cruel man who treated him and his twin brother Cassian quite coldly, as well as forcing them to compete with each other constantly to see which one of them would become the heir.

He did love his brother, but Killian was not allowed to casually talk to him. Odd that they shared the same face and the same house but could not share a word or two.  

Killian never really cared about becoming the next Lord of Sanguine, it had never been his plan, but when found out what was required of them he threw himself into training so that Cassian would not have to experience it.

He still visited Calyx and told the horse about his troubles and worries, the animal was his confidante. The only creature in existence who would listen to him, the only one Killian could let down his mask around.

Then came the day Killian would be officially named Heir of the Sanguine, and his initiation was to directly drink the life out of a human being.

Killian refused and pleaded with his father that it didn’t need to be human, that he could hunt down an animal instead, his father told him that humans were animals but agreed that he would drink the life out of an animal and the human would be spared.

His father led him outside to Calyx’s stable and told him that if he failed again, then Cassian would be the heir. Of course, his father had known all along about Killian’s motivation for being the heir and his frequent visits to the horse, it was fine to him, it just made his son easier to manipulate. 

Killian had to make a terrible choice that day.

He had to either murder his only friend, or let his brother get dragged into the hellish world his father wanted to create. 

He was the older one even if only by a few minutes, and as the older brother he felt it was his duty to protect Cassian, and if he had to walk a path stained with blood to do that then he would.  

Killian closed his eyes and bit down, and he didn’t open them until the struggling stopped.

Truth 2

Killian did for a time, write poetry.

During the Hidden Fang War, Killian met the one he would call his love, his Rose. Although they once stood opposed, they fought side by side afterwards, only separating when it was necessary. But whether they were separated or not, Killian wrote his love poetry every night and left it for them to read in the morning, as he could not be there with them when the sun rose.

To Killian, writing was a very enjoyable and different experience, after living a life that was intrinsically bound by death and blood. 

He found the act of creating instead of destroying rather novel and even better, he could better express his love in ways that it seemed the words from his mouth could not.

And he did that from the day they met in 1422, to the day that his love died in 1461.

He wrote and wrote. Infinite poems for his Rose, that they would never get to read. That fateful day he wrote until he ran out of ink and then wrote a thousand more poems using his own blood.

He never wrote another after that.

The Lie

If you had guessed that Killian had never turned someone into a vampire or ghoul was the lie, then you were correct.

Killian as a Pureblooded Vampire has the ability to turn a human into a vampire or ghoul, using the secondary set of blood within his body.

Killian has been very careful to never spawn a ghoul, as he detests the thought of taking away a person's individuality and autonomy.

The process of turning a human into a Vampire is torturous at best, and not something that should be done without careful consideration from all parties.

As such, Killian has only ever turned a select few humans into Vampires and only due to dire situations.

Two Truths and a Lie

Thanks to @ceph-the-ghost-writer for tagging me. I guessed Dorian being afraid of bugs was the lie. Just cause I think it’s funny.

Tagging @noircosmicawrites @uraniumwriting @kaiusvnoir to do this for one of their characters. And whoever else wants to.

For this one, I decided to talk about Killian, an old pureblooded vampire from my series Written in Blood.

1 - Despite being a powerful pureblooded vampire and having fought thousands of horrific creatures of every shape and size, Killian has a phobia of horses. 

2 - Killian loved writing poetry and has written hundreds of flowery sonnets for his love, but has not done so for a long time after they passed away.

3 - Killian has never turned someone into a vampire or a ghoul. 

[pale-silver-comb]

So I know absolutely nothing about Leverage except what I've been seeing you post lately and I have to admit you're making it look tempting to watch! Can I ask what are some of your favorite things about the show/reasons you would suggest people watch it? And is there really a poly relationship that is canon?

Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I am going to do my best not to just “asdfghkjl” at you and answer coherently.

In a nutshell, Leverage is about 5 people. 4 are criminals (Parker, Hardison, Eliot and Sophie) with different and unique skill-sets and 1 is an ex-insurance investigator (Nate) who, at one point or another in his career, has tracked down (or at least attempted to) the other 4. The whole show is essentially: man reluctantly reforms 4 criminals to use their criminal powers for good and 4 criminals move into man’s life and stubbornly refuse to leave because, goddammit, now they have morals. 

I’ve got a lot of favourite things about the show but the main ones are as follows:

1. Found family. And I’m not talking about loners who come together to fight crime and happen to co-exist to the point where they realise they happen to have found themselves a family. I mean, Nate and Sophie are the Drunk Uncle and Wine Aunt who somehow become Mom and Dad to 3 beautiful criminal children. Mom and Dad love their criminal babies and the kids love them (as well as each other, but we’ll come to that in a moment). You get amazing family moments such as: Mom and Dad packing the kids lunch before sending them out to kick corporate greed’s ass; Mom and Dad giving the kids ridiculously expensive and personal Christmas presents causing their most Grumpy Kid to go very very quiet and soft as he runs off to gleefully play with his new murder toy; the kids interrupting Mom and Dad’s big Movie Style Kiss to ask if they can please keep their new underground layer and huffing and puffing when Dad tells them no.

2. Found family: the OT3 edition. To answer your question, the OT3 is indeed canon, confirmed by the creator. Now, usually, “confirmed by the creator” infuriates me because most of the time it’s a way for a creator to be seen as “progressive” without doing anything to actually be progressive. That isn’t the case here. The OT3 are built up carefully and while it is obvious the creators didn’t originally intend for all 3 of them to become a relationship in the romantic sense, by mid-season 5 we are given a very clear picture of where Parker, Hardison and Eliot are heading in their relationship. There aren’t any kisses at the end to signal this but there are solid marriage vows in not only one but two episodes. (And by marriage vows I mean literal equivalents of marriage vows: “for better or worse” and “’til death do us part”. I’m not even exaggerating). The OT3 also doesn’t need explicit romantic narratives to convey how much they love each other. Their love is laced through the whole show, from the way they teach each other things to the way they respond to each other and work as a unit. The way they fiercely protect and admire each other. Like someone once said, if you need characters to kiss or say I love you to let the audience know they love each other, you are writing them wrong. 

Aside from that, each of the parings in the OT3 are just. Gah. They are so well done, with friendship being the solid basis for them all. The creators never expect the audience to assume anything about them or fill in the gaps. They give us their relationships on screen and reference many things off-screen to show us how these relationships continue to build in between episodes.

Hardison and Parker are a canon couple and date in the show: it’s approached slowly and they are so goddamned sweet. They are basically every fluffy slow-burn trope with a healthy dash of mutual pining in the mix. They are basically that quote “love is patient, love is kind”. (I would like to add their romance never becomes the focus of the show or overrides the importance of any other relationship they have with the other characters, especially Eliot.)

Hardison and Eliot are the Old Married Couple and from day one are already bickering and looking at each other/making comments that are found in every UST fic ever (not to mention Hardison has a very good knack for making Eliot grin like a little kid, when usually he’s basically an Angry Little Chef Man). They argue, they play, and love each other plain as day. 

Parker and Eliot are more subtle but every bit as wonderful. They have an unspoken connection and understand each other on a level no-one else can. Parker and Eliot are not good with giving themselves over to affection for different reasons (and Hardison plays a central role in helping them realise it’s okay to want it and have it- that boy has endless patience) but there is something so beautiful in the way the two of them come together on their own and develop their own special bond that works for them. Parker and Eliot are that trope where the characters don’t need to speak to understand each other perfectly. They just do. Their love language is a lot of the time non-verbal but speaks volumes. (Parker also likes to annoy the hell out of Eliot and Eliot....just.....lets...her. Because he’s soft. The softest, grumpiest boy.) 

I could go into so much depth for each pairing and their dynamics as a 3 but that's for another post.

3. Subverting stereotypes. There is the occasional hiccup in the show regarding stereotypes but ultimately, Leverage gets an A+ when it comes to writing characters and making them 3 dimensional people who are not defined by certain characteristics or events. Nate could so easily fall into the White Man Pain trope where he uses the trauma of losing his kid as a reason as to why he is entitled to act like a dick. Nate is a dick but he doesn’t use his pain to excuse it and I appreciate that. Hardison is a black man who is soft and nurturing. Easily the most empathetic and patient of the group. He’s nerdy, an actual genius, and has the biggest heart of all the characters. Nate is maybe the glue but Hardison is definitely the heart. Media’s usual aggressive, amongst other, racist stereotypes can fuck right off. Parker is canonically autistic (I am sure this was confirmed by one of the creators) and she is not defined by it. It’s not written as some kind of singular personality trait. It’s part of what makes up Parker but it’s only one facet of who she is and not once is her actions, thoughts or feelings treated like a joke. Sometimes people don’t understand why she does and says the things she does but it’s met with patience and fondness over the course of the show. Equally, it’s not met with over-caution. Parker is just Parker. No-one tries to change her. The other nice thing is Hardison, who always makes sure Parker knows she’s amazing because of who she is and not in spite of it. Finally, Sophie is in her 40s. She’s not treated like she’s past her prime. Ever. She’s sexy, smart and never is she pitted against or compared to Parker (who is younger) for anything. Sophie is amazing and there’s never even a conversation of “I may be older but I am still *insert adjective typically associated with younger women here*”. Sophie is possibly the first female character I’ve ever seen who isn’t just unapologetic about her age but has never had to apologise for her age. It’s a non-issue and that’s that. The women on the show are written so well, right down to secondary characters and it’s beyond refreshing.  

4.) It’s just fun. The show has a “monster of the week” type format. Except instead of a ghoul or a ghost, the monster is some corrupt wealthy and powerful individual or organisation. The show draws on real-life individuals to do this and therefore closely parallels real-life people and events. It addresses important political, economical, social and environmental issues while at the same time remaining fun and light-hearted. The characters constantly get the chance to play dress up and by GOD do they have fun with it. You get to watch Eliot beat up bad guys in the most delightful of ways, usually after a witty non-sequitur and with a weapon you’d never think could be a weapon. The dialogue and back and forth between the characters is everything. And finally - my favourite thing- the team can never resist striking a dramatic pose after they’ve taken down the bad guy, making sure the bad guy sees them. I mean, they COULD just walk away, satisfied they’ve taken the person down, but nope. They gotta be dramatic bitches 24/7 and pose like they are models for every single month of this year’s Criminal Calendar.  

5.) Competence Porn. So. Much. Competence Porn.  

Honestly, I could list a thousand reasons for why Leverage is amazing but to list them would to be spoiling so many amazing moments you’d get to discover for the first time on your own if you do choose to watch it. It’s the kind of show you can watch with an eagle-eye and sink your teeth into. But it’s also the kind of show if, you would prefer, put on in the background for something entertaining while you do something else. Each episode is about the job at hand but it’s made up of so many moments between the characters that show how much the creators and writers care about them. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll do whatever it is you do when something Soft and Wonderful happens that makes your heart melt. I am so beyond grateful for Leverage. It’s everything I always wanted in a show. Nearly every show I’ve watched in the past 10 years has disappointed me in some way, usually either because the writers run out of steam or characters who I love are treated poorly or given some kind of unnecessary “shock value” arc. Leverage doesn’t do that. Leverage is what it says on the bottle. Fandom isn’t something I joined because I needed canon fix-its. Fandom only enhances and celebrates an already excellent canon. 

[nightingaelic]

ok so. reacting to a two-faced courier? for instance like, they meet a cheerful and innocent courier, travel with them and they turn out to be more twisted and cruel than they could have ever imagined

TW: Gore, violence, animal death, murder, involuntary drug use

Honestly this one's a lot, and it's about as far as I go in terms of outright cruelty in my writing. It's no fun to write, after a certain point.

The courier had a sweet face. They were an undeniable ray of sunshine if seen from a distance, smiling at everyone they encountered, drawing you in with that look they flashed when they were in need, the kind of look you couldn't ignore. Those who had met them once or twice bubbled over with how polite they were, how considerate, how helpful they had been in the settlement's darkest hour. They'd saved the town, what did the details matter?

Those details lingered though, in the minds of those who knew the courier more than just as a passing acquaintance. And if you shared the road with them, well, you were in for a rude awakening. It was only a matter of time.

Arcade Gannon: The moment of realization came rather early for Arcade. The courier had taken a job for the NCR, data file retrieval in some overgrown vault, and of course the thing was full of murderous insects, ravenous spore-carrying victims, and plants that spit acid with remarkable accuracy. At the bottom of this godforsaken place, a ghoul researcher named Keely had managed to survive the onslaught of fungal-infected creatures, and she pleaded with the courier to delete the files rather than bring the information to the NCR.

"Don't you realize what those files represent?" she asked, clearly flustered at the prospect of the government she worked for acquiring such dangerous data. "If they get into the wrong hands, this could happen all over again. Only this time, the madness won't just be confined to a musty vault. Do you really want that on your conscience? I sure as hell don't."

"Don't worry about my conscience," the courier reassured her. "We already burnt this place to a crisp to kill the spores. Now I have to complete the job I was actually hired for."

Before Arcade could jump in to give his two caps, Keely reached for one of the frag grenades on her belt in clear desperation. "Last chance. Hand over your Pip-Boy."

In a flash, the courier had disarmed her of the grenade and pulled the pin themselves. They thrust the live explosive down the botanist's tucked-in shirt and kicked her into the computer she was standing in front of. "Sweet dreams, Keely."

The ghoul exploded in a shower of computer parts and chunks of flesh. Arcade stared at where she had been, frozen, and the courier turned to him with that innocent look. "What? She was between me and my caps. Come on, let's get these files to Hildern."

Arcade swallowed his opinion until the courier was counting their 1,800 caps at Camp McCarren. He peeked in on Angela Williams in the office next door and beckoned her, voice low. "Hey. The courier. They killed your friend."

Angela's eyes widened. "Keely... why?"

"No good reason," Arcade related grimly. "Don't believe a word they say. They'll be busy for a bit in there with Hildern, but I'd make yourself scarce. It's what I'm going to do."

Angela nodded, pale as a ghost, and left to disappear into the terminal. Arcade hurried away in the opposite direction, and every hair on the back of his neck stood on end for the entire trip to Novac, He was a disheveled mess by the time Daisy opened her door to his knocking.

"What's wrong, dear?" the old vertibird pilot asked, gathering him into a hug. Arcade didn't know how to answer her.

Craig Boone: When the courier came through Novac, Boone took a chance and enlisted them in his search for the scum who'd sold Carla into slavery. Sure enough, the courier appeared the next night when he was on watch, wearing his red beret and leading No-Bark Noonan by the hand. The conspiracy theorist went down easily, one shot to the chest, and the courier made their way up to the dinosaur's mouth to return the beret to Boone.

"Thanks," they said, upon handing it back.

Boone paused. "What for?"

"He was annoying," the courier replied, waving a hand toward where No-Bark's body lay, out in the desert. "I just wanted you to kill him. You did the town a favor, in my opinion."

"He was innocent," Boone realized, anger rising in his chest.

"Probably not, given the way he talked. But regarding your wife, no clue."

"You sick bastard." Boone raised his rifle and pointed it directly at the courier's heart. "You'd better be ready to join him."

The courier grinned and pointed to the bullet wound on their forehead. "You can try to put me down, sniper. Just don't miss."

Lily Bowen: The grandmotherly nightkin that resided in Jacobstown had a tendency to adopt just about anyone who was nice to her, but there were some things that you just could not do around Lily. The courier was on track to become her newest grandchild as soon as they arrived in the super mutant settlement, until they paid her a visit in the bighorner paddock to ask about Stealth Boys.

"Doctor Henry wants to know if you'll continue to wear the Mark II prototype," the courier inquired with their innocent smile.

"Of course I will, dearie, if it's helpful," Lily replied, adjusting her sunhat. "Don't you worry what will happen to little old me. I'm tougher than I look!"

"I don't doubt it." The courier eyed a few bighorner calves, which were chasing each other through the little pasture and coming a little close to the pair. "Is this all you do in Jacobstown?"

Lily nodded with pride. "I watch over the Bighorners. They're sweet, gentle creatures, but sometimes they get ornery. Just like my grandkids!"

"Sweet and gentle?" The courier scoffed. "Sure, they're good eating if you can bring one down before it catches you with its horns, but I've never known one that didn't want to knock you backwards and crush your skull in."

One of the calves tottered within reach of the pair, exuberant in its attempt to evade its friends. Before Lily could do anything, the courier turned on it with their gun and shot it, straight through the head.

"There," they said matter-of-factly as the calf's body crumpled to the ground. "Lamb for dinner."

They turned back to Lily just in time to witness her fist coming straight for their face.

Raul Alfonso Tejada: That sweet little face was Raul's downfall. It blinded the old ghoul to almost all of the courier's flaws, and he'd spilled his sad life to them before he knew it, mulled the details over while they comforted him. Not long after, they pulled him in on a job they'd been chasing, helping some prostitutes escape Gomorrah and the Omertas. He accompanied them on the night they chose, followed their shadows into the dark corners of Freeside and fought off the Omerta thugs that came to try and stop the escape attempt. When Joana, the leader of the escapees, took hold of her lover Carlitos once again with a tenderness fit for heaven itself, Raul's own heart ached and his gun hand fell to his side.

Suddenly, a shot rang out. Joana screamed as Carlitos slumped forward in her arms, dead. Raul spun around, searching for the Omerta they'd missed, and found the courier's gun up and smoking. "Six!" he shouted. "Qué demonios estás haciendo?"

The courier was breathing heavily with excitement. "It's your dream," they answered. "What you could never do. Rescuing the women from the brothel. Taking them under your wing. Don't worry about Carlitos, he's out of the way now."

"This- this is not what I wanted!" Raul protested, turning his own gun on them. "Were you listening to me at all, when I told you the story? Look what you've done! You just took Joana's dream away from her!"

"Y qué?" the courier answered. "Close enough. We'll take these girls back to the Lucky 38, clean them up. You can call one of them Claudia, one of them Rafaela, and we'll have a spare just in case. We'll get along just fine."

Joana wailed into the night, and the other two prostitutes burst into tears. Raul shook his head emphatically. "Quién te crees? You're crazy, courier. Ladies, get behind me. I'll take you wherever you want to go, away from this mamahuevo."

The prostitutes scrambled to put him between them and the courier. The courier simply stared down his gun and lowered their own. "It could've been yours, Raul," they said with only a twinge of regret in their voice. "You can't run from your past forever. Or me, for that matter."

"No me busques porque me encuentras," Raul warned them, keeping his gun up as he backed out of the Freeside alley with the three sobbing women.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: For Cass, it was on a night like any other in the Mojave Outpost bar. The courier had a competitive streak in them, and more often than not, a visit to a proper watering hole meant they challenged her to a drinking contest. Cass had never been one to turn those down, so the two were absolutely pickled by the time the sun went down.

"I... flll fnnnne," the courier insisted in a heavy slur, hanging for dear life to the bar. They settled back onto their stool decisively. "When... mmmmmet you... I thought you were thbgggest bitch."

"That so?" Cass chuckled. "Well, you weren't exactly wrong, especially in this establishment."

"Could... looooosen up?" the courier suggested.

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Cass replied with a raised eyebrow.

The courier waved a finger around in the air as if an idea had just struck them, and they reached into their pack. They withdrew a small bottle of pills, the label too faded to read, but Cass recognized the stylized flowers that bloomed on the worn paper.

"No chems," she said flatly, waving the offered bottle off. "Got a bad heart. Might do me in."

"Pleeeeeease," the courier moaned, shaking the pills in her face. "D-day- hic- trip. Day trip."

"No."

The courier rolled their eyes and put the pills away. "Finnnnne."

And Cass thought that was the end of it, until the next round of drinks came along and the courier raised theirs in a toast to her. Cass drank deeply because it tasted off, certain it was a bad batch and she'd get past it if she just got it into her system, but the colors in the room began to shift and the courier was sitting there with that grin on their face like they were expecting something. In that moment where it dawned on her what they'd done, Cass' heart began to race.

When she slid off her stool to the floor, the rest of the bar jumped to her aid, but it was the courier's face who was closest, their face that lingered as she lost consciousness. Their open delight was by far the most frightening thing Cass had ever seen.

When Cass woke up in the corner of the bar a few minutes later, she could've cried. When the courier left to use the facilities, she staggered out into the night, plunked herself down by Ghost on the roof, and refused to move until the Day Tripper was out of her system. And when the courier came calling to ask her to join them on the road again, she refused, with a few choice words that she only saved for the worst in the Mojave.

Veronica Santangelo: Veronica already had an odd feeling about the courier when she first encountered them at the 188 Trading Post. She joined them when they invited her along with them, despite her misgivings, and she kept them at arm's length for as long as she could. Still, nothing they did seemed out of the ordinary, and eventually Veronica trusted them enough to engage them in meaningful conversation. They surprised her. They were a good listener, charming, even funny at times, and slowly Veronica's barriers lowered and she came to trust them.

Finally, it was time. Veronica implored the courier to help her find something, anything, that might change the Brotherhood's path. When they agreed, she started by taking them back to the Hidden Valley bunker and showing them her origins as a Scribe. The courier was quiet during the grand tour, only asking the occasional question and smiling at anyone they passed. They were even amiable toward Elder McNamara, though he was clearly not pleased Veronica had brought home a stray for show-and-tell.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you again how the High Elders feel about outsiders, Veronica," he said with more than a little exasperation in his voice.

"Don't mind me," the courier assured him. "I'm just a tourist."

"That's precisely the point," McNamara replied. "Veronica, if this is about your idea again, I hope-"

"I brought you present." Veronica slammed the pulse gun on the Elder's desk. "We found a gun that disables power armor. One of these could defeat the whole Brotherhood. We have to stop limiting our focus to military technology. It won't save us."

McNamara eyed the gun skeptically. "That could be the only one of its kind."

"That's not the point!" Veronica shot back. "Technology won't win our wars. We need numbers. New recruits."

"What does the Codex say?"

Veronica shook her head. "A bunch of close-minded bullshit."

"'We do not help them, or let them in,'" McNamara recited. "'We keep knowledge they must never'- where's your friend?"

Veronica looked around in surprise. "They were just..."

As they stood there, confused, sirens in the bunker began to blare. A woman's voice came over the speakers. "Self-destruct sequence initiated. All remaining staff, please exit the facility. Self-destruct will commence in five minutes."

As the bunker erupted into chaos, Veronica thought back to that feeling she'd had when she first met the courier. She wished she'd listened to it then.

I'm choosing not to write ED-E or Rex for this one because, given that neither cares much when the courier does something completely unforgivable, any cruelty they could experience would most likely be inflicted on them. No thanks.