#one of these people is my actual blood related father unfortunately

[merlinsbed]

living in this house is exhausting

my dad and his wife have been on vacation for the last month and a half, meaning I’ve had the house completely to myself. within an hour getting home yesterday they both already managed to remind me that they think of me as a dumb baby who isn’t capable of doing anything.

there’s a pile of old recycling I’ve been slowly working my way through that’s currently in a room that is literally used for storage only. like this room is literally just for storing boxes and other shit. less than an hour after getting home and seeing the pile of recycling, my dad was going, “can I help you sort that out tomorrow?” like no??? I’m gonna be 30 in 2 days why the fuck would I need your help?????

his wife was even more of a bitch. I literally spent yesterday morning cleaning the kitchen and like I know it wasn’t perfect, but I wiped down the counters, I ran the dishwasher and put the dishes away, I washed all the towels and washcloths. About an hour after they got home, I went upstairs to see all the towels and washcloths had disappeared from the kitchen. when I opened the cabinet to get a plate, the ones I’d literally just ran through the dishwasher were all gone. opened the silverware drawer for a butter knife and almost everything was gone.

this woman literally said to herself, “I don’t trust my step daughter to do anything so I’m going to deep clean the kitchen myself because I know she didn’t do it to my neat freak standards��� because she hates me. I’m not even joking I believe that woman hates me and thinks I’m just a stupid spoiled brat who spends my spare time coming up with ways to make her and my dad miserable. she does not speak to me unless she literally has no other choice.

and like, at this point, it’s not so much about my dad’s wife hating me or my dad being an asshole who makes only surface level attempts to understand me at all. it’s about the fact that they treat me like a stupid child. they treat me like I’m not capable of doing things for myself so either my dad has to help me or his wife has to just do it all again herself because to them I’ve proved myself too stupid to be treated like an adult. and it hit me especially hard yesterday because I had a month and half to actually do things in a way that works for me without constantly worrying about being nagged and looked down on and a part of me convinced myself that finally this might give them some fucking proof that I am a functioning adult but apparently not.

I literally talk to actual children more respectfully than my dad or his wife talk to me. that’s fucking sad. like it’s really pathetic of them. and it’s just super fucking frustrating for me.

[blaithnne]

I think my one complaint about Anders is that I wish we’d seen him leave of his own accord at least once. Unfortunately I doubt that would be possible due to time constraints but, I think if we’d gotten to see how Hilda was affected by him actually leaving and not being fairynapped it would have better shown what kind of person he is, and been a really good representation of what a lot of real kids go through. That moment where Hilda finally realised her Father abandoned her is so heartbreaking, raw, and real, and the fact that it’s later revealed he didn’t kind of undermines that.

I’m not against Anders changing for the better - it’s a kids show, and it makes sense they’d want to give him a character arch instead of just introducing him to be a dick lol. It also makes sense for his character to have nearly losing his entire family forever be a wake up call for him. But I wish we’d gotten more time with him, and really seen the effects of him leaving for real. Without that, we can generally assume that it had the same effect as him being kidnapped did in canon, but it’s just not the same.

I’m of the opinion that introducing Hilda’s dad as a concept was a good decision, and I don’t think it undermines the shows found family. It gives Hilda a relatable and realistic aspect to her that I think is important for kids in similar situations to see. I am, however, very biased in that regard.

My biological father was an asshole who fucked off before I was born, but I’ve had no absence of family or fatherly role models - I’m very close with my adoptive dad and my grandad. But that didn’t mean I never had questions, or insecurities.

It’s easy to look at fictional tropes and say that found family is clearly superior and biology doesn’t mean shit, and that’s true! But when you’re living in that reality, when you’re young and coming to terms with it for the first time, it’s hard. Especially when you’re surrounded by people who all have blood relations with their families, and when the person you’re related to is regarded as a dick. it really makes you feel isolated and like there’s something wrong with you, like you’re an outsider — you’re different.

Real life people are messy and have insecurities that defy reason, you might logically know that biology doesn’t matter, but when you’re thirteen and insecure and full of inner turmoil, you can’t help but feel bad.

Personally, as I got older, I met people in similar situations and realised I wasn’t alone, that it was okay to have those feelings but it didn’t make them true. But at that age, having grown up in a rural community, I really was alone.

Hilda’s insecurities in season 3 are a great representation of that, she feels like she’s never had a proper family, this thing with Frida, David, Tontu, Alfur and Johanna and Astrid is all new to her. You can tell her Father’s absence has hurt her, how she’s felt different and alone and like something was missing. Hilda defines her worth through her relationships with others, how she can help them make them happy, it destroyed her when she felt like she failed Frida, imagine how she feels about her father.

What I think season 3 was missing was for Hilda to realise that she doesn’t need Anders, and that her happiness isn’t reliant on him being there, I wish she’d had a tad more agency in the relationship, yk? She wants him to be in her life, and he’s going to make an effort now to do that, but she has a support system in place and will be perfectly fine without him. I wish the show had properly acknowledged that just because this is how things ended up, it wasn’t the only option — with or without Anders, Hilda would still have been happy with her family in the end, the fact that he’s a part of it is a nice bonus, but not an essential one.

In general, I think Anders is the best they could do with the time they were given. Having him be a realistic shitty dad who loves his daughter but is just so bad at it is relatable and realistic, though I wish they’d better emphasised that just because he loves hers that doesn’t make his actions okay (perhaps by slightly altering Johanna’s moment with Hilda at the end of The Job), because it’s clear, I think, as a diehard fan, but might not be for more casual viewers.

Having him be redeemable and stick around to do better is a good conclusion for his arch, it’s a happy ending all around and makes sense for the story - it could’ve been weird if they just had him show up and then immediately leave with zero resolution to his character, unless they made him an all out irredeemable abuser, which I think would’ve been worse than what we got. Portraying abusers as unforgivable and cartoonish villains only makes it harder for real life victims to recognise their situations, so if it couldn’t be portrayed properly (which thanks to time constraints and the overall narrative I don’t believe it could be) I’m glad they went with something else.

What we’ve got is, and I know I’ve said this many times lol, a realistic depiction of a crappy, absentee father, that young viewers can recognise and relate to. On that end, the biggest issues are Hilda’s lack of agency within their storyline, since she has no control in the resolution of their relationship, young people looking to this show for ways to cope with their own situations might be discouraged by the end resolution of “he decided to stick around”, since that resolution rests on his decision, not Hilda’s, if that makes sense.

TLDR; Overall, I think Anders’ was a good character and the best that could’ve been done with what the team was given, but,

A) I wish we’d gotten to see him leave of his own accord at least once, so that Hilda’s final realisation that he left her on purpose has more impact and doesn’t loose its meaning in retrospect, and,

B) That Hilda had more agency in the final resolution of their dynamic, that their happily ever after wasn’t entirely reliant on Anders swearing he won’t leave. An alternative solution, maybe presented earlier on in the season when he first left, that provided her with a coping mechanism/outlet in case he does, so that her happiness and mental health isn’t in his hands, would’ve been pretty neat.

[katerinaaqu]

Unfortunately my mind came up with two more questions

1. More historic than classic texts related

Since men didnt marry until their 30s usually, and im very sure they did not tend to be THAT chaste nor was birth control safe or common (im assuming lol), what happened to illegitimate children? I'm guessing theyd stay with their mothers (who more commonly probably wouldnt be free citizens from all i could guess) if they didnt get abandoned (which probably ended deadly or in slavery often enough ig unless they got extremly lucky?) ....idk just a random shower thought x)

2. Actually text related, again Odyssey/Iliad bc the fixation is still fixating:

How do we know when Iliad/Odyssey was supposed to have happened? We roughly when Homer was supposed to have lived

But from what i remember from the one or two lectures I had on ancient history and troy, there are a bunch of inconsistencies of descriptions in homers work (iirc the example being used was a helmet not worn anymore at the time of writing) but they also mentioned that during Homers time they mightve seen the ruins and archeological finds of that time which he/the oral tradition couldve used as inspiration or more like, coming up with a story for these finds?

So what is that assumption of when it'd happened based on?

The descriptions , archeological finds (tho i think with the whole "did they find troy" story, they wouldve based their assumption of having found the city on the already established time frame of how old the city wouldve had to be), other text evidence? Cultural evidence?

DID Homer mix (to him) historic/archeological/cultursl finds AND (to him) current descriptions/customs/etc?

So many thoughts so many questions fjdjksjsdj

Im curious if/what you know about that, thank you again for your time!! ^^

Oh my! Thank you so much! Your questions are fire! Let's get down to it then! ^_^

Well I cannot say that really they DIDN'T get married before their 30s, it is just that this was considered the ideal age for them to marry

That is because in ancient Athens men had plenty of dues to fulfill to the city before settling for a life such as finishing their education or serving the army etc. In one essence it was considered the perfect time for them to be married given how they have finished all their dues towards the city and society but that doesn't necessarily imply they never got married before that age. It was just considered the ideal. Just like nowadays they say the ideal age for someone to have children is till roughly the mid-30s but that doesn't mean people do not have children early or later etc.

Oh that is a very good question. Indeed by n large the illegitimate children didn't have rights on the family's fortune and by n large they stayed with their mothers unless of course one would adopt them and recognize them officially but of course the status of the children differed massively depending on their parentage. For example if the illegitimate child (or Νόθος, Nothos, "bastard") was a product of two Athenean citizens or from an Athenean and a non-citizen (mētroxenoi) then of course the status was expected to differ. And that of course might have played much greater role for the time when the Athenean pure blood propaganda was high enough. One would expect that being illegitimate was a reason for someone to be stigmatized. Mythologically for example Odysseus was often called "Son of Sisyphus" being insulted that not only he was not legitimate son to Laertes but also a product of a man that was sinful and shameful. So even in myth it was a sign used for offending him (see also my random inspiration on Philoctetes where I partially use it) Historically they say that Diogenes the Cynical Philosopher mocked a boy that was born out of a prostitute who threw stones at public by yelling "Hey watch out you might hit your father!"

So being illegitimate was generally seen as a sign of shame for the individual. Most of information we have are from classical Athens for example the law of Solon Whichever woman her father or brother born of the same father or paternal grandfather should betroth on a just basis to be a wife (damar), from this woman the children are to be legitimate (gnēsioi). And we do see a series of laws as to who is considered illegitimate and what responsibilities or rights they bare. Other writers such as Aristpphanes also mention stuff even in their theatrical plays such as A nothos may not have the participation-right-of-close-relatives (anchisteia) if there are legitimate (gnēsioi) children. But if there are no legitimate children, then the estate is to be shared by the nearest kin. So by n large the illegitimate children have no right to the estate apart from those who were officially adopted although there seems to be a generally smaller amount of money called "notheia" that a father can leave to their bastard children if he sees it fit. I believe initially the illegitimate children still could hold some hope for succession but later on that was less and less possible to happen. Need to research more on that though. For example Plutarch mentions how a child that was born from an etaira (aka official concubine) shouldn't be even looking for their father anymore. Demosthenes also agrees Neither male bastard (nothos) nor a female bastard (nothē) may have participationright-of-close relatives (anchisteia) in the sacred and holy rites (hiera kai hosia) from the archonship of Euclid So yeah by n large we see a separation of the illegitimate chilren from their father unless the father seems to wish to adopt them. A classic example in Homer is Teucer and Ajax. Ajax is legitimate but Teucer even if he is older he is illegitimate. Ajax is the leader of the fleet of his city, Teucer's job is to support him instead and we can expect after Ajax's death Teucer was left alone with no kin due to his illegitimate status. The father usually recognized a child upon the tenth day of its birth in an official ceremony (decate) but that didn't automatically give them economical rites of succession, rather than religious ones. With the latter the classical athenean constitution basically considered anyone not owning land or rites of their family not useful for the prosperity of the land and so the bastard children fell often in this category since as it was above they rarely ever inherit their father's estate.

Which I find quite interesting given how many children in mythology are technically illegitiate born by some god or other and succeed. Quite possibly blood indeed runs thicker than water for high class bastard children over common ones I would suppose. Okay that is a very blunt analysis. I would be happy to search further in the future.

2. Yay! Here we go!

Okay the short answer would be; thanks to Schlieman! The dude dug up the city that we now know as Troy in the 19th century. Ever since the city was thoroughly examined by modern day archeologists and based on not only the descriptions in Homer but also the evidence provided from the city itself we do believe that Troy fell probably around 1200 BC. One key point is that we do not see for example in Homer Doriean greek tribes such as Macedonians or northern kingdoms of Epirus etc which are mentioned later as part of the campaigns of the greek heroes to the north such as Neoptlemous establishing the kingdom of Epirus or Odysseus traveling to Thesprotia to repent himself to Poseidon. We know the Doriean Greeks arrived to the area around 1100 BC so the fact that Homer doesn't include them in his narrative was an indicative of the time the war took place. It is also linked to the fights and wars that we believe happened among the greek kingdoms before the fall of Bronze Age kingdoms and the beginning of the "Dark Ages" at the Iron Age which was the time Homer lived in. Th layers of the city that we now know as Troy are very well preserved despite the fact that Schliman did a great deal of damage by digging deep. Archeologists have timed the layers they discovered based on evidence or stylistic details. The city itself named Troy is not just a hypothesis of modern archeology but it seems to be a roman hypothesis too given that we have found tablets from Roman times speaking on the city of Ilium/Troy. Possibly it was already a tourist attraction for the romans at that time given how it was their legendary origin city through Aeneas. Can we say with 100% certainty this is Troy? Perhaps not but we still have very good evidence to support it. Obviously we cannot be sure of the timespan given by Homer to my knowledge but it is safe to assume a war happened at that time in Troy we just establish it was probably a war over the control of the area the coastline and the crops and the passage with the east.

Homer is actually surprisigly accurate in some things (for ecample Meriones giving a boar tusk helmet to Odysseus and the helmet is very well described and fits the mycenaean counterparts) but yes he uses anachronisms a lot for example the mention of iron weapons in his narrative even if Iron was't widedly used at that time or round shields mentioned were more common in Homer's time than mycenaean times. The same goes with other weapons. It is more a case of anachronism rather than a case of inconsistency. We also see burial customs that are more consistent with Homer's time and later times as well rather than Mycenaean times. Or some politica ideals and so on such as the gatherings for voting among the kings or soldiers or the ideal of straightforward battle or being remembered in eternity which were all ideals we know were establishing by Homer's time but we do not know how much of it is true about the mycenaean times. Which makes sense given how Homer was mentioning things he and his audience were familiar with. Another we can see from subjects of shame and modesty such as Penelope covering herself in a veil for modesty. That we do not know if it was a thing in mycenaean times although in Homer's time we can assume it was more common which was done again in classical times where women should by n large be covered in the presence of men.

Yeah probably it was a mix of oral mythical traditions and historical traditions that survived from mouth to mouth given how we unfortunately do not have much written evidence from that time and since myth and history were often tangled together in ancient greek tradition it makes sense how both travel the same way. Homer probably hears the stories and the traditions and indeed mixes in some of the customs or details more familiar in his time and creates his story. Unfortunately given how the mycenaean scripts are scarce and all of them are logistics and not literature or history, is really hard to be 100% certain on their society and history but it does seem to be a very good amalgamation between history, myth and anachronysm. Homer also provides us so much detail on warfare and wounds that it is estimated he was at war possibly at a high position or that he was trained as a doctor among others. Many of the anatomical details he mentions are simply on point which makes it even more interesting as a hypothesis.

Obviously one cannot use Homer as a historical source to learn about the war of Troy but rather they can use it as a reference as to how these wars of the late Bronze Age Greece passed on to the immediate next generations a few hundred years later.

[gwendeeagain]

What do you think of Siblings Karushuu AU ?

Short Answer:

It's fine, they're cute... I guess. I don't care much for it, not because I dislike the idea, but because I feel like them being siblings doesn't really add much to their existing dynamic.

Long Answer:

I attempted to write Siblings!Karushuu early on. I have 1 complete oneshot, and I think one WIP (I don't remember if I published it in my Scrapbooks collection).

Thing is, I'm not sure what exactly about them being siblings is a draw as opposed to them being unrelated or just interacting in any other premise.

The both of them already have quite a robost family setup that influences their personality - Karma with absent parents, Gakushuu with his too-present father (and ?absent mother).

Sibling AU fics that I've read tend to shoehorn in Gakuhou to be Karma's father, which is expected since he's an established character in canon, and his role can't be omitted without too much damage to the rest of the plot. (Furthermore, if you're the kind of person who is writing a Karushuu siblings AU, you're clearly interested in the Asano family dyanmic (that's actually all there is to Gakushuu) so you're just not going to omit Gakuhou.)

Unfortunately I've observed that this rarely influences anything about Karma. Karma either remains as he is in canon and it's explained that he's a black sheep in his family to have ended up in 3-E, or the plot puts him in 3-A and it's explained that he either has an impending transfer to 3-E/it's his last chance; or that his nepotism is what keeps him in 3-A. Karma's values and principles about academics and the inherent worth of human beings is rarely affected in these retellings (because that's what people like about Karma) but because that's Gakuhou's main shtick, it feels like the whole premise didn't matter at all.

There's even less to say about Gakushuu's mother because neither Karma nor Gakushuu's mothers are present in canon anyways and it's easy to just explain them away as unimportant, given how much space Gakuhou takes up in the mind. Usually I read that their mother takes off with Karma and leaves Gakushuu alone with Gakuhou, so... no changes there.

Another potential appeal is the sibling dynamic between Gakushuu and Karma - but then I'll just question what exactly about a sibling relationship differs from... any other relationship between two unrelated people. Karushuu in canon already has the sort of snarky-bantering-rivalry energy anyways, if that's the thing you're looking for. I've seen fics that write them as estranged by having their parents split them up as kids, but then that's essentially the same as a childhood friends AU. I guess we really can't replicate familial love and the obligation of being blood related unless it's this specific context. The idea that they're cut from the same cloth, only separated by time, but they will eventually reunite... oh hey, we can make them soulmates, put a curse on them, or make a demon pact.

There's also the resentment angle, as overcompeting siblings tend to have, "you look like the other parent" acidity if we throw in a divorce plot. But that doesn't affect their existing interaction, I feel - it gives them different things to say when they fight, but they're still rivals as they would in canon.

I don't know. My point is that I guess I can't think of a premise that would interest me in a sibling au above any other au if I had the option. Any differences that do arise feel miniscule and don't affect the broad strokes of whatever I'm looking for in a fic.

...Not even incest, which is a hot take. Yeah, I read/write and enjoy incest. But come on, whatever Gakushuu and Gakuhou have going on in canon already is far more interesting than anything I could ever manufacture for sibling Karushuu. The strange enmeshment and tension that the canon Asanos have in Mamasano's absence, ...could work similarly to sibling Karushuu's furtive us-against-the-world codependency under their Father's omniscent gaze... if you're into that sort of thing. I could be, but more often than not the Asano family dynamic pulls me away from looking elsewhere.

I mean, I'm just not into the siblings thing. You could be. Don't take this post as my condemnation of Karushuu siblings, I still enjoy reading them and the quality of the fic takes precedence. I've had my expectations pleasantly subverted before.

Hehe thanks for the ask! I love rambling

[copajay]

lightning bolt

⋆˚✿˖° 𐙚 ₊ ⊹ ♡

masterlist

ITS BEEN ALMOST 3 YEARS SINCE I LAST LEFT THIS SERIES OMG but here’s soobin! not even gonna lie I hate this one esp bc I'm rusty after my writing break </3

summary: choi soobin has been madly in love with his best friend since they were kids, but she's never seemed to notice. when she starts showing interest in another guy, soobin realizes he needs to make a move or move aside. (not proofread)

date: 12/28/23

series: txt demigod series (located in masterlist)

scenario themes: best friends to lovers!au, percy jackson! au

idol: soobin or choi soobin of txt

concept: fluff

warnings: swearing, soobin making bad decisions

word count: 2.1k

choi soobin's father is none other than the king of the Gods. the widely revered and respected zeus, who also happens to be quite the lady's man...if you consider turning into an animal to seduce a woman romantic.

soobin, on the other hand, isn't so lucky when it comes to romance. he could easily get with most of camp half-blood's residents with his impressive height, handsome features, and high status (being zeus's son and all). but soobin has only ever had eyes for one demigod: y/n l/n, the child of dionysus and half-sister of choi yeonjun, soobin's good friend.

like your brother and father, you're exceptionally outgoing and flirtatious. meanwhile, soobin is exceedingly reserved and has virtually no game. the two of you are polar opposites, which is why it comes as a shock to most people once they find out you're the closest of friends.

growing up in the same neighborhood with your respective human parents, soobin and you walked hand-in-hand through every stage of life--from sitting next to each other on the school bus in kindergarten to finding out that you're both full-blown demigods on a class trip to the empire state building.

once you guys made your way to camp half-blood upon the discovery of your mythological lineage, soobin felt a surge of confidence. he was related to the most powerful being on mount olympus, there's no way you'd curve him now... right?

unfortunately, right before he could even attempt to make a move, he met your newfound older half-brother and camp counselor, choi yeonjun, who scared the absolute shit out of him. luckily for soobin, he was able to form a close friendship with the older boy, but that doesn't mean he scared him any less.

it's always been difficult for soobin to express himself romantically, especially around you. terrified of rejection, he could never bring himself to tell you how he feels. you, however, have no problem making romantic advances towards others. notorious for being a camp heartbreaker, you often share tales of your many flings with soobin, unbeknownst to the fact that he absolutely despises hearing about them.

the only thing that keeps soobin from sobbing in his pillow every night is knowing that you're never serious about any of your prospects. sure you have a tendency to go on and on about them, but in a matter of days, you'll simply move on to the next.

although it frustrates him to no end, he'd rather have it this way than have to see you actually in love with someone else. soobin wouldn't know what to do with himself if you actually fell for someone that isn't him, which is why he was a complete and total mess when you finally did.

it started off just like any other short-lived crush of yours: giggling over the new addition to camp half-blood: lee jeno, son of aphrodite. he might be painfully good-looking, but soobin was sure you'd be over him within less than a week.

"you don't get it. his nose is, like, perfect." you raved as soobin felt the biggest eye roll of his life coming on. "uh-huh" the boy absentmindedly responded.

once you had officially been fangirling over this jeno character for two weeks, soobin started to get worried.

"why don't you approach him, then?" soobin asked, irritated. you've been talking about jeno nonstop for an hour and it was seriously starting to piss him off.

not only that, but you told yeonjun of all people. you've never told yeonjun about any of your small crushes before, so why are you starting now? soobin was beginning to panic, was he really about to lose the love of his life to some guy she just met?

"because... I guess I'm nervous. i don't know?" you responded awkwardly. "you? nervous?" he teased, "it's weird, I don't think I've every felt this way about someone."

uh oh.

that was all he needed to hear to confirm his worst fear. you were actually starting to like this guy, and soobin had yet to tell you how much he liked you first.

"i've gotta go." he said abruptly, leaving you mid-conversation. what the hell is his problem? you thought to yourself.

soobin didn't know what to do or how to feel. whenever he has a problem he usually goes to either you or yeonjun, and he definitely can't go to you for this one.

after pacing around camp for nearly 10 minutes, he wound up at the dionysius cabin door. with a shaking fist, he knocked gently on the wooden door. per usual, yeonjun opened the door with a wide smile on his face, and all soobin could think of is how that smile would disappear after the conversation he was about to initiate.

"could I talk to you in private maybe?" the younger boy proposed, hands still shaking. "of course. is everything alright?" yeonjun responded, ushering soobin inside.

"you know how to get girls right?" soobin asked awkwardly once the pair had made their way to yeonjun's desk. chuckling, yeonjun simply nodded his head.

"look, i need you to promise me you won't get mad." he pleaded. "of course I won't, soobin." yeonjun promised. "i'mkindainlovewithyoursisterandnowshelikesanotherguyandidontknowhowtowinherover." soobin stammered.

yeonjun's pursed lips quickly transitioned into a cheshire smile. "soobin. everyone knows you like y/n, why would I get mad?"

"EVERYONE?"

"well, I guess not y/n herself, but pretty much everyone else."

was it really that obvious? soobin thought he was pretty slick, but people definitely began to connect the dots after he rejected yet another admirer to follow you around all day.

"then what should I do?" soobin retorted. "have you tried telling her how you feel?" yeonjun shrugged, leaning against his bedframe.

soobin felt himself turning red, far too embarrassed to answer. "of course you haven't" the other demigod replied. "isn't there another way?" soobin pleaded, ignoring yeonjun's facepalm.

"this guy belongs to the aphrodite cabin, right?" yeonjun began, causing soobin to nod his head vigorously. "well good luck with that, it's impossible not to fall in love with one of aphrodite's kids. they're walking love potions."

"love potions? those are real?" soobin prompted. yeonjun's face immediately stiffened, "are you seriously about to use a love potion on my half-sister."

"nope. I'm going to use it on jeno and make him fall in love with someone else." soobin declared excitedly. "that doesn't sound like a good idea bro-"

"don't worry about it! I won't!" soobin hurriedly shouted before his friend could protest. "shit, what did I just do?" yeonjun mumbled to himself as soobin made his way out the door.

perhaps soobin was acting irrationally out of desperation, but he couldn't care less. in moments like these, he really resembled his father: going on a fiery rampage over something seemingly insignificant. he was in way too deep to turn back now, and as he marched to find a way to access a love potion, he found his golden ticket: choi beomgyu.

beomgyu is a mutual friend between soobin and yeonjun, but more importantly, another son of aphrodite. if anyone could get him a love potion, it was the youngest choi of the trio.

"beomgyu! what's up buddy," soobin mused. turning around, the slightly shorter boy cheerfully responded, "long time no see, soobin. what's up?"

"you wouldn't know how to get a love potion, would you?" soobin feigned a nonchalant attitude, getting straight to the point. "a love potion is pretty easy to make, but what would you use it for?" beomgyu questioned. "umm I'm just curious! I think I read about it in a book somewhere." soobin lied. although he felt guilty, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

as soon as beomgyu listed the ingredients, soobin ran off in the opposite direction, shouting a quick "thanks!" before heading out

that night, soobin ran all around the camp and forest to find everything he needed to create his very own love potion. finally finishing around 2 a.m., he crashed in hopes of succeeding in his plans.

the next morning, as he confidently made his way to the mess hall, he saw jeno and you sitting side by side eating breakfast. the sight made his stomach turn and him even more eager to hatch his plan so he could finally win you over.

all he had to do was create a distraction so he could slip the love potion into jeno's orange juice, so he shot a lightning bolt directly at the window to shatter it. maybe that wasn't the smartest idea, but soobin was running out of patience. as the campers ran to investigate the window, he rapidly poured his homemade love potion into jeno's drink before taking the seat opposite him.

as you and jeno made your way back you noticed soobin was sitting at the same table that you were previously at. "soobin!" you waved. the boy turned and shot you a smile before dapping up jeno beside you.

"what are you doing here?" you asked, ignorant to the situation. "oh, I got a bit hungry and saw that this table was empty. what a coincidence!" he shared awkwardly.

jeno simply laughed and reached for his juice to take a sip before soobin realized just how stupid this whole plan was. he didn't even know how a love potion works... who's he going to fall in love with? how fast would the results appear? is it even ethical to use a love potion? IS IT EVEN LEGAL?

before jeno's lips could touch the cup, soobin reached over and slapped the drink out of his hand. the silence that followed was deafening. you and jeno looked up at him in shock, along with the rest of the campers at the mess hall.

humiliated, soobin ran out. he wasn't sure where he was going or how he was going to face you. he just knew he couldn't handle all the attention he was getting back there.

"soobin, what the hell was that?" you yelled running behind him. turning around, he struggled to find the words as you looked at him equally disappointed and angry.

"woah woah what's going on?" yeonjun butted in after hearing you yell across the patio, with beomgyu trailing behind him. "what was that for?" jeno confronted angrily, emerging from behind y/n.

the next thing soobin knows, he's cornered by four people he lied to and he can't think of another lie to get himself out of this situation.

"I was planning on using a love potion to get jeno to fall in love with someone else and not y/n." he admitted with his head down.

yeonjun simply sighed while beomgyu gasped. you were still processing why your best friend would sabotage your first potential relationship until jeno opened his mouth.

"fall in love? I was just looking for a hookup. she isn't really all that anyway," jeno quipped.

you immediately whipped your head in his direction, dumbstruck. "excuse me?" yeonjun quickly retorted, fists balling up. meanwhile all beomgyu could do is gasp again.

for once in soobin's life, he didn't feel nervous or hesitant. he felt angry, furious even. without thinking, he pushed jeno to the ground, hovering over him.

"soobin, calm down." yeonjun interjected. confused, you decided to take matters into your own hands.

"first of all, you're an asshole jeno," you began, "and you." pointing at soobin, "are an even bigger one."

you stormed off but you could hear soobin trailing behind you. "leave me alone." you sputtered. "please just hear me out, y/n," he begged.

"how could you possibly justify that? how could you defend anything you did?" your voice broke towards the end of the sentence, breaking soobin's heart. it felt like he was being hit by a million lightning bolts.

"I can't. I acted immaturely and carelessly. the truth is I've liked—loved you for a long time now, but I didn't know how to tell you, and i felt threatened by how much you liked jeno so I made an idiotic decision. i know it’s not enough but im sorry.”

as mad as you were, you couldn’t help but feel bad. were you really that oblivious?

“you’re right about it being an idiotic decision…” soobin’s gaze was stuck to the ground in shame at this point. “but i’d be lying if i said I didn’t have feelings for you. I guess that’s why i never really settled for one guy, because none of them were you. and jeno… was clearly a mistake.”

soobin finally looked up hopefully, “does this mean…” he started, “not until you make it up to me.” you shut him down.

“oh.” he replied awkwardly, scratching his neck. “…by taking me out tomorrow.” you added, grinning.

“of course.” he agreed, mimicking your smile.

[creepercraftguy]

My Thoughts on OMNI-MAN VS BARDOCK

Death Battle made its triumphant return today, and I've decided I'm gonna start posting short reviews of each new episode that comes out.

This isn't gonna be a long-winded review, just me sharing my basic thoughts.

And I'll be putting all of my stuff under the cut so that I don't spoil it for anybody. Please, make sure, if you're interested, that you watch the episode first, and don't read on so that you don't get spoiled.

To start off with, the matchup itself did really interest me. I remember around the time that Omni-Man vs Homelander came out that people were trying to come up with ideas for who would be a better opponent for Nolan, because frankly, Homelander was an absolute piece of piss for him.

And everyone, including the companies that own both Invincible and The Boys, knew that going in. So it wasn't really a hyped episode for who would win or not, but more so what was actually going to happen during the fight itself. Creating a spectacle was more important than creating a fight.

Not that Omni-Man Vs Homelander was bad. It is actually one of my favourite DB's from its execution, but the fact was it was not a difficult fight for Omni-Man AT ALL.

So when people started to think of who would be a much fairer fight for him, and one that had a lot of connections, Bardock was a big one, and it wasn't hard to see why:

Both are powerful alien warriors who are known for...kind of being dicks. Nolan is a Viltrumite, a race of highly advanced, powerful beings who conquer and dominate other planets. His mission on Earth is initially hidden but later revealed to be part of this expansionist agenda. Bardock is a Saiyan warrior, a race known for their battle prowess and ability to get stronger after every fight. The Saiyans, under Frieza's rule, conquer planets, wiping out their inhabitants for Frieza’s empire.

Both are the blood-related fathers of their series protagonists, Mark, AKA Invincible, and Kakarot, AKA Son Goku, respectively.

Both characters suffered conflict with their own people. Omni-Man's conflict comes from the fact that he is torn between his Viltrumite duties and the love he develops for his family and Earth, and eventually, he decides to defy the Viltrumite empire to some extent after being confronted by Mark’s humanity. Bardock becomes disillusioned with Frieza and attempts to fight back after learning about Frieza's plan to annihilate the Saiyan race. While his resistance is ultimately futile, he still stands against his ruler in an effort to protect his people.

Both characters are initially presented as being ruthless, unforgiving, and bloodthirsty, but this changes over time (across multiple iterations in Bardock's case) Initially, Omni-Man is ruthless in his mission, killing thousands to assert Viltrumite dominance, showing little regard for human life. However, as he develops a bond with his family, especially Mark, he begins to reconsider his values.And while Bardock begins as a battle-hardened warrior who cares little for the planets he conquers, he undergoes a transformation when he learns of Frieza’s betrayal and seeks to protect his home and his son.

And a few more on top of that, but I'm not sure I need to go through all the connections myself.

So, I start this off with the analysis portions of the episode, and I immediately noticed something when I went through Nolan's analysis.

I know this probably has to do with Death Battle trying to preserve their budget and keep their independence up, but unfortunately, it seems that we no longer have any cutaway scenes showing Wiz and Boomstick. They host the show as always, but we don't actually physically see them at all, not even during the post-analysis.

This is kind of a shame because, while yeah, the cutaways are normally hit or miss, the jokes they try to make land a lot better with them.

But on the other hand, it does make retaining the information a lot better. And to the credit, the analysis really made it clear where each characters strengths lay.

Going into this, I was under the impression that Bardock held an advantage, because I know the Dragon Ball scaling goes way above the scaling of Invincible. However, when I actually saw some of the feats Nolan achieves in the comics, compared to Bardock's...honestly kind of messy timeline, I started to change my tune.

I still held out for hope for Bardock, but when the fight ended and Omni-Man took the win...I understood why.

So yeah, the analysis and post-analysis were good because it really made me understand how the fight went the way it did.

With that being said, this was, to no one's surprise, a much harder fight for Nolan than Homelander was. Saiyan's just ARE stupid powerful aliens, and Omni-Man would actually have to put in the work for a win as opposed to completely stunting on the guy.

Okay, so now for the fight. If I had to rank it on a scale of 1 to 10, I think I'd give it a solid 7.

That's no fault of DevilArtimis, or Death Battle themselves though. Unfortunately, with the respective abilities these guys are known for, there's a severe limit to what you can have them do in the span of a 5 or so minute fight.

Besides Bardock's ki blasts, neither really have any powers of their own that don't just involve beating the shit out of people, tearing them apart, and just sheer brutality, so ultimately, what you are left with is a battle that just shows these two evil daddies pounding each other.

And no, I'm not taking back my phrasing there.

However, while that does limit my enjoyment of the fight, it doesn't do so severely. There's still a lot to love about the clash.

I always like to talk about my thoughts on the voice acting, and in this case, Omni-Man was reprised by Tom Schalk (also previously voicing Kool-Aid Man, Dio, Spongebob, and Megatron) and Bardock was voiced by Kamran Nikhad (previously having voiced Sephiroth, Mario, Boba Fett, Black Adam, and Martian Manhunter)

Schalk is one of the best voice actors that Death Battle have in their cast. He killed it as a sinister, condescending, and stern Omni-Man in Omni-Man Vs Homelander, and though he doesn't speak nearly as much in this one, he does equally well as a despaired, enraged, protective Omni-Man too. He killed it once again. As for Nikhad, he was fine, but definitely not the same sort of inflections that Sonny Strait gives Bardock that make his voice so iconic. Just a minor complaint.

Another minor complaint I have is Bardock's model looks a little weird, at least the mouth movements do, especially when shown from the side, and Nolan's model is kind of uncanny because it's weird seeing Omni-Man in 3D. Sure, he's 3D in Mortal Kombat, but that's also a realistic art style that would have clashed with Bardock, so I'm glad they didn't go that route. Still cool though.

And props to DevilArtemis for doing what he could to keep you engaged with this fight, and capturing both characters behavior, transformations, attacks, and inflections really well with the movements.

Considering, as I already mentioned, this fight would not go as easily as the fight with Homelander did, Omni-Man's attacks feel a lot more damaging, and ferocious than they did in his previous episode. My favourite part of the fight is when he grabs Bardock's tail, brutally tears it off, and then just whip slaps him with it. Definitely in line with the Viltrumites knack for tearing people to bloody chunks.

And for Bardock, considering he's an early Dragon Ball guy, it's really good to see some more recent recontextualization and coverage for classic feats. Also, for some reason, this is the first time we're ever seeing an Oozaru in Death Battle.

If I have any complaints for the fight, Bardock's Death was...kind of flat. It was brutal, but I didn't expect it, nor want it, to be so graceful. But that's all I really have to say about it. The sequence itself was really solid.

And in case I didn't make it clear, while I DO like Bardock more than Nolan as a character, the result did not dissatisfy me because, like I said, it was explained very thoroughly, and very well, in a way that made me understand.

Also, two little side notes, I want to address my take on a few arguments that I kept on seeing in the build up to this episode, and when the episode dropped. The first being whether or not Bardock should have been allowed Super Saiyan, and how it was kind of unfair for Bardock to be given a composite version of his character. To that, I say this.

First of all, if Bardock wasn't given all of his abilities across his iterations, this fight wouldn't have been nearly as cool. If you have the choice between seeing Bardock go Super Saiyan, or not seeing Bardock power up and go gold, why would you ever choose the latter? Death Battle tried to justify their decision, but for me at least, they didn't really need to.

What I wanted to know, in regards to Super Saiyan's conclusion, is this: Would Bardock having Super Saiyan be the edge he needs to win the fight? And would he lose if he didn't have it?

If the answer is yes, then I take issue. Because I don't like it when characters in this series win all because of one minor feat they have, especially if that feat is only semi-canon, like Super Saiyan Bardock is. However, in this case, the answer is no.

Super Saiyan definitely gave Bardock a boost that put Nolan on the ropes, but it wasn't enough to net him a win. So there's no real issue because having Super Saiyan ultimately didn't affect the results, so I'm fine with it.

The second argument I keep seeing is that Omni-Man wouldn't have been able to take down that giant planet without the 2 other characters that were with him. In the comics, he needed the assistance of those two, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do it.

However, I want to note that the point that DB were trying to make was that Nolan, even if he was a third of the power required to take down that planet, is still VERY CAPABLE of wiping out entire planets on his own, and far more efficiently than Bardock would be. Bardock's own planet-busting feats weren't even his; he was scaled off of King Vegeta, so that's honestly more of a loose connection than Nolan smashing the planet.

And it's not as if that feat alone is what gave Nolan the edge in the fight. He still had all the other stuff like smart atoms on his side.

I will quickly remind everyone that this was not a stomp for Omni-Man. Death Battles usually aren't stomps, and they show off what both characters are capable of by pushing them to the brink. The aforementioned Omni-Man Vs Homelander is only one of few examples of unfair stomp fights.

And the last thing I want to talk about is the music track, though I don't have much to say on it. I know that Brandon kind of struggled with this track, but he did a great job, as he always does. With that being said, I still like Diabolical Invincible Me more than Solid State Invincible, not because SSI is a bad track, but because DIM is just...SOOO good, by a large margin. In fact, SSI even takes lyrics and beats from DIM.

So that's about it...A REALLY solid comeback for Death Battle. Not one of my top fights, but definitely a super strong opener.

...

...Although I feel like I'm forgetting something...There was one other thing that I really liked but I can't quite remember-

...

...

...

...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

[thelegolashairappreciationclub]

My two favourite FAVOURITE Gil Galad theories are Gil Galad son of No-one Really and Gil Galad son of Everyone Kind Of?

Like I adore the idea that someone who by blood is no-one, parents were random noldo or sinda soldiers, doesn't even know who his parents are, that this strange elf becomes one of the best Kings of the Noldor and the only one to rule mostly in peace since finwe. That this person who was not Finwe's heir is the one to inherit his mantle in its truest form.

But also... what if he's everyone's son?

I have seen this done both as weird magic stuff and also as the worlds most complicated polycule and the kid that resulted. But i prefer the Hot Potato Origin: That in his life Gil Galad has been passed through so many of the Noldorin and Sindarin Lords and been adopted so many times that no one is sure at this point who actually contributed genetically.

Post rebirth there's a tally system of whose traits he shows the most of out of the finweans (concerningly, Argon is currently in the lead) and no one wants to ask him directly because if They are one of the parents it would be horrendously embarrassing to not Know That. This also means that most of them have adopted a sort of parental attitude towards him even if they're fairly certain that they aren't related.

Some of them have become full conspiracy theorists about it (Fingon: what if I DID have a wife and i just FORGOT because of head trauma?? Galadriel: subtly interrogating all her siblings to build a full timeline of their entire lives in Beleriand) others are throwing fuel on the fire for their own amusement (Nerdanel: actually he's our Secret 8th Son, we sent him on later, that's why he has freckles. Elrond: he's actually Elros, we were lying for fun, ignore that we dont look at all alike.) Some of them have just kind of shrugged and acknowledged that they are a possible candidate and moved on (Caranthir: if Haleth had a child she Absolutely would not have told me and she's clever enough to have organised this, the timeline works out. Aredhel: unfortunately large chunks of my time in nan elmoth are fuzzy and i would not put it past Eol to rid himself of any "unsuitable" children.) Finrod and Maedhros have remained So silent on the issue that others are Sure they Know something (the pestering results in Both of them suddenly claiming to be his parents: Finrod is his father, Maedhros his mother Actually. The charade of being star crossed lovers is convincing enough that people start doubting their real marriages.)

Gil Galad is honestly completely uninvested in this and is just glad that they're bickering between themselves instead of questioning him constantly. Besides he has lunch with his birth parents every Wednesday; if they wanted to stop the rumours they would.

[lucistarsfire]

ignore these ghost ramblings I feel like sharing

they are random and not at all connected to each other.. just the thoughts that bounced out of my brain

• The Band Ghost: A semi-fictional metal band formed by Tobias Forge. I'm sure you all know the lore! It begins with Nihil, somewhat. The father of our original beloved Papas. Primo, Secondo, Terzo- and most recently found, Copia. Consider the falling romance for Nihil's last love- Sister Imperator. The two were vilely in love with a terrifyingly complicated romance. Isn't it beautiful? An unloyal dickbag and his beautiful horrible woman. I personally dislike them both as people but enjoy their characters deeply! In fact, the animated music videos and the story of their love does bring tears to my eyes.

• Primo Emeritus stands as he is the first known Papa, revealed to be the son of Nihil Emeritus. Though little was known about him, that doesn't stop the headcanons. I headcanon that he had long blonde hair, and bouncy bangs brought to thr front. I feel as though his hair was straight, but curved in at the ends to form a naturally rounded shape. I feel that he loved gardening and still would, be that he was here today. I see a sweet man all throughout life, at worst being a frustrated snap followed by a sincere apology.

• Secondo, whore of the clergy. The love of my life. This is the man who should probably kiss me on the mouth. Kidding. Mostly. I enjoy his character and the lengths of which I can take it in fiction. He's funny, he's kind, but he's also described as cold and bitter. I think I can see that. Different people see different sides of one. On that note, I'm very in love with my son-of-Secondo OC. In my character's canon, he doesn't find out about their blood relation until adulthood. But recently, I have played around with the idea of him actually being raised by Secondo. How would that have gone?

• Terzo Emeritus, my beloved muse. I could go on for years, I'm certain. A man of pure confidence and respect, up until his sudden and unfortunate death. I see him as traumatized upon return. Scarred, patched back together, but to have to be fixed means you were once destroyed. Perhaps deliberately, and in this case it was so. Torn apart after death and for what? I know in full heart that he was beyond broken. That doesn't mean anyone is meant to know it.

• Copia! My third favorite muse and the one I allow more of me into! His likes remind me of my own. Never did I feel so freed before him, how was I meant to know that he was going to be so relatable? The childish interests as well as being thrown into sudden positions of responsibility, his character is one you should be gentle with should you write. You wouldn't want to slip up such a delicate and worked upon story.

•I must continue. Nihil. I only spoke briefly before, but with the tiny sliver of younger-him that we have, it's my job to elaborate on him. My very purpose. One who's life was filled with shattered romances and one night who-gives-a-fucks, but never did he think he'd find himself playing around with one of his own ghouls. Hence my own ghoul, Air. Era 0 keyboards. A heart grasped deliberately, but unintentionally shattered. But Air was a proper worker, and despite his devastation when he couldn't keep what he had with Papa, it's only right to pretend it's okay, to pretend you're okay with him circling forever around her. Because he respects her too. I think with better communication, monogamy was never going to be good for Nihil. Nor Air. I don't know enough about Sister nor do I understand her enough to try to interpret her relationship with, well, relationships.

[flickynightdarkness]

I thought of something of the Brave and The Bold episode "Trials of the Demon" and I imagine on that episode could be related for my DC OCs; Iris Miranda and the twins Oliver and Misty Miranda.

(CW: Mentions of death, drowning and murder)

So first with Iris, she was executed for multiple murders during around the Victorian era across London. Iris was then executed by being left to drown in a lake.

The twins(also her nephew and niece) Oliver and Misty saw this and became upset, the only thing they have of her is her scarf. They both lash out at a group of people who were responsible for the death of their aunt.

However, the next thing happened was that Iris' scarf has gone missing. The twins search in their home and they go outside of London to find it. Then they found it but it held by a man with a tall hat and a monocle inside a carriage.

The two follow the man into his hideout. He caughts them getting their aunt's scarf. The man now known as James Craddock or Gentleman Jim(before he became the villain Gentleman Ghost). Craddock said that he knew Iris before her demise.

Craddock offered the two a deal, where that the twins will help him gain the last few souls for himself. If they retrieve the last souls for him, he will give the scarf back to them.

He gave them outfits to fit his style of the 1800s.

Oliver and Misty have many skills to be able to get the souls, such as disguise and using their friendliness to lure them into the same carriage Craddock got in.

However when Sherlock Holmes finds the two and that they found a dead body wrapped in a black body bag. But this will all a trap, Oliver and Misty then attempt to capture him and hold him in place for Jim to retrieve the tenth soul.

But that was stopped by Batman(he traveled to this world as summoned by the occultist Jason Blood). The twins see Jim head out and that since they helped him with his deal, he now gives them their aunt's scarf back.

They haven't noticed of when he is given immortality by the First Demon of Hierarchy; Asteroth.

After Jim's death and swearing for his revenge at Batman when he rises from his grave as his villain self: Gentleman Ghost. Oliver and Misty feel sad about his death, they considered him like a fatherly figure much like their actual father Norman(who unfortunately doesn't exist in TBATB universe).

When Ghost sees his adopted son Ash Craddock become a ghost too. He required him to look after the twins. Ash becomes sort of a brother figure like with Ghost's fatherly behaviour to the two.

Oliver and Misty were then killed as they were burned to death. The people who came to Ghost's execution were stood by his hideout and one of them threw a torch, which sets it on fire. The twins try to escape themselves out but the door was locked. Their body start to burn, they cry from the pain and in need to be out. They immediately burst out of the door in flames, which results in their deaths.

The twins each miss one of their eyes, Oliver misses his left and Misty misses her right. Because of the people who were shocked that they killed two twin children that are locked into a criminal's hideout.

However, they are brought by a sorcerer named Ginger Nail, they gave them the way to where Iris is at right now.

Iris is now cursed forever. According to that with her sclera is red and her irises are white with slit pupils. Her body became pale by the cold weather she suffered through.

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Eon 1 Chapter 2

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Master Post - Patreon

“Hey, Blood!” Aureolus called out as he walked over with what appeared to be an angel. Aureolus Schindewolf was originally nothingness that was forced into existence by Milosh. Blood-Wraith discovered him in his basement and the two quickly became friends. Notably Aureolus looked like a boy made out of the void of space. “The ceremony is going to start soon. What took you so long?”

“I slept in,” he replied as Dragoslava, Desislav, and Tusk went to sit down. “What can I say other than I was comfy?”

Ultimatum laughed. “While I can relate, Blood, you have to be punctual going forward. I doubt our adversaries will let us sleep in.” Ultimatum was a seventh dimensional angel who Blood-Wraith had met during the quest to find his mother and Thora Willfort in The Magician’s Labyrinth. Ultimatum had been pivotal in bringing everything together for the guild. When Blood-Wraith initially met him, he resembled his true form, but now Ultimatum took the form of a handsome man with rich, reddish-brown hair.

“Good point, Schwarzes. Here’s hoping I don’t have to deal with any ice dams or history reports…”

“Was the report on Deimos’ people really that hard?”

Blood-Wraith sighed as unpleasant memories returned to him. “No, just tedious… not helped by that godforsaken ice dam…”

“Yeah, that would certainly be a hassle and a half. My father can certainly attest…”

“Schwarzes, when am I finally going to meet you parents?” Blood-Wraith interrupted, catching Aureolus’ attention with him nodding.

“Possibly sooner than you think…”

“Ah ah, Schwarzes, no spoilers,” a brown haired man in white and gold robes said.

“Oh, hey Zal-Rint,” said Blood-Wraith. “Come to see the inauguration?”

“That, and the Time Watchers want me to keep an eye on things. This is a momentous occasion after all.” Zal-Rint was another seventh dimensional entity, albeit what was known as a Time Watcher. They watched over the flow of time to make sure no one compromised it. He also happened to be one of Ultimatum's best friends.

“Alright then… should we be concerned about this?”

Zal-Rint laughed. “Not at all, Blood. My father attended the first guild’s inauguration and things went amazingly.”

Ultimatum glanced around, then returned to his attention to Blood-Wraith. “Indeed, Zal. Now come, Blood. Let’s head up to the stage.”

As the two stepped past the tables to the auditorium stage of the grand hall, a man called out to Blood-Wraith. “Hey, Blood! Finally out of bed, sleepy head?” Weaver Craddock was a blacksmith from Shadowland with light, indigo skin and blue hair that was like calm fire. He was essential in freeing Shadowland from Milosh Proch.

“Well hey, I still made it here, didn’t I?”

Weaver chuckled. “Barna would have never let me hear the end of it if I was late to open my shop back when he was mentoring me.”

Blood-Wraith thought about some of the things Aureolus, Corentin, and Gummi had told him about Barna and nodded. “Good point, Weaver.”

The beautiful, brown haired woman in a red frock coat sitting next to Weaver spoke next. “Blood, good to see you again!” said Gabriella. She was an angel from Universe-23 and Weaver’s girlfriend who had helped him greatly in the final battle for Shadowland.

“Glad you could make it, Gabriella,” Blood-Wraith replied. “Hey, where’s Val?”

“Unfortunately mom couldn’t make it as The Vermilion King called her away for official general business in The Vermilion Kingdom, but she promised she’ll watch it the minute the broadcast starts. And Blood, I’m actually considering pursuing ULTRAMagic when I get the chance.”

“Well it’s a shame Val can’t be here, but that’s one of the reasons we’re broadcasting this. Also hey, that’s awesome, Gabriella. We’d love to have you as a part of the guild…”

Ultimatum cleared his throat. “Blood, the stage. My apologies, Weaver, Gabriella.”

“Oh, right. Pardon me, guys.”

Upon climbing to the steps to the stage, Blood-Wraith was stopped by a dark skinned woman with brown hair who began tidying up whatever she could. “Jeez, Blood, don’t let Captain General Bloodworth catch you being this tardy…” This was Brenna Thompson, a member of the Iron City’s Royal Guard and Blood-Wraith’s superior officer.

“Yeah, I’ll never hear the end of it if he does…”

Walking over to where the podium was, three mages were talking to each other and were occasionally laughing. The first with long black hair, blue eyes, and wearing blue and gold robes was Deimos, formerly Eustorgio Pryce, The Mage of Old. The unwitting source of The Lich of Old, Deimos went through a lot to fix his mistakes, which led to the creation of Blood-Wraith. Next was Vexation, formerly Ermenrich Denzell, The Hexer of Old. He had green eyes, blonde hair, and wore red and gold robes. Having been stabbed in the back by the Lich and planned to stab him in the back, Blood-Wraith befriended him and even learned his powerful curse magic.

Last was Tiberius Skull, the driving force behind the founding of the guild. He was older with white hair, had red eyes, a strong jawline, and wore black and gold robes. “Ah, Blood-Wraith, you’re late. I figured school would have solidified a degree of punctuality…”

“My apologies, Tiberius. I slept in a bit.”

Deimos picked up Blood-Wraith and gave him a big hug. “There’s my favorite nephew! The elements aren’t getting you too hung up now, are they?”

Blood-Wraith chuckled. “I’m still checking my ceiling, but I’m getting over it… Hold on, Vex? Is that you?”

“Indeed it is, Blood. New guild, new me!”

“Ermenrich, none of this is new to the three of us,” Tiberius pointed out.

“Haha, I know. Either way, I felt the urge to be my old self again. No more bodysuits and lurking in the shadows, just books and mage’s robes…”

“Oh come on, Rich!” A woman with long, dark purple hair and metallic purple skin objected. “You look so good in the black and white suit!”

“I can still wear it casually, Drusa,” he replied as she walked up. “It’s just for guild stuff I want to look professional for.”

She then kissed him on the cheek. “Oh okay then, Mr. Professional.”

“Drusa, I must say it is an honor to have a Spiritus Magni with us on this glorious day,” Tiberius stated.

“You’re welcome, Tiberius… but also that will never not be surreal to me given that I used to be a farm girl who tagged along with you guys during the Epoch.”

Tiberius chuckled, being hit with a wave of nostalgia. “It is amazing how the smallest things can change into something great.” He then clapped his hands, signaling that they were nearly ready. “Now that everyone is accounted for, let’s begin the final preparations. Alexia, Drusa? Can you make sure Blood is good and ready?”

Blood-Wraith nodded, then it hit him. “What? Hey!” This warranted another chuckle from Tiberius.

A blonde haired woman in armor walked over and began seeing if there was anything else to tidy up. “You look very spiffy and dashing today, Sir Blood-Wraith.” Alexia Lavoie was Tiberius’ wife and formerly The Vanguard of Old. “Just got to straighten out your frock coat and… done!”

“Thanks, Alexia. Guess I missed that when I was heading out the door.”

“Relax, Blood,” Drusa said while patting him on the back. She could sense his nervousness. “We’re all late at some point in our lives. Why, I was 30 minutes late to the first meeting with my followers.”

Blood-Wraith laughed, as that was quite absurd. “Jeez, Aunt Drusa. Aren’t you supposed to be fifth dimensional?”

Once everything was ready and all were seated, Tiberius took to the podium. He looked quite proud seeing the guild before him. Once the cameras were rolling, he cleared his throat and prepared to speak. Truthfully he was a bit nervous as this was his first time doing something like this. The founding of the first ULTRAMagic guild was a modest affair. Still, he took a breath and steeled his nerves as he began his speech.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inauguration of the second phase of the ULTRAMagic Guild! For those just listening in, what is ULTRAMagic? ULTRAMagic is the culmination of the bonds we all share, allowing us to learn well beyond our wildest dreams. It allows anyone to truly understand the nature of the soul itself. Now this isn’t the first time the guild has formed as there was one during the Epoch of the Cosmos. Alexia and I were members, back when I was The Scholar of Old. Alexia, would you like to speak on this matter?”

Alexia got up from her chair and happily approached the podium. “Why thank you, Tiberius. The original ULTRAMagic Guild was an amazing feat in and of itself, given the uncertain nature of the early Cosmos. The threats we dealt with were more eclectic, requiring a wide range of skill sets. We were a varied bunch, and I hope to recreate that magic here, no pun intended. I am proud to lead and watch over all of you once again as ULTRAMagic Vanguard. Tiberius?” Alexia received a round of applause.

“Thank you, Alexia,” Tiberius said once he returned to the podium. “The rise of The Eternal Order in Shadowland is what brought us all together. The vile Milosh Proch proved that the Cosmos needs the guild now more than ever. Milosh may be dead, but his cult lives on like a hydra, no matter how small. They will be our focus for the foreseeable future. Not only that, we shall stop evil wherever it grows and focus on recruiting more ULTRAMagic mages. With our strength and intellect, no villain shall ever defeat us…”

Tiberius continued on with some anecdotes from the guild of the Epoch. Handing the podium off to Deimos, he apologized profusely for The Lich of Old. Deimos was making progress with fixing his mistakes, but he still had a long way to go. Vexation started his turn at the podium with some jokes at his friend’s expense, which got some laughs out of the audience. He then talked about his experiences with The Lich and Blood-Wraith. If the guild had been around at his lowest, things may have turned out differently.

Finally Blood-Wraith got his turn to speak. While he was a little unorganized and nervous, it was clear that he was happy and relieved to finally have the guild finished. So much of his anxiety was gone as he now had so many new friends at his side in case the going got tough. The guild members felt good hearing this, as they knew he had gone through a lot in the half of a year he existed. And while he did sound a little too proud in certain instances, everyone applauded regardless. It was one of the biggest moments of his life and he deserved it. Leif would have been so proud if he could have seen him then and there.

Since it was lunchtime by the time the speeches were done, Tiberius ended the inauguration with some words of wisdom and bid farewell to the televised audience. With the ceremony finished, everyone went to get some food over at a series of long tables. Desislav, Rose, and a group of chefs from The Iron City had worked hard preparing that day’s lunch. After saying hi to Razor and Mizuki, a wolfman from The Unending Forest and an oni samurai from Universe-17 Tusk had recruited on a trip to The Realm of Chaos, a mage named Barry pulled Blood-Wraith aside for a moment.

“Hey, Blood! We got some new members for you to meet!” Barry said as he brushed his brown hair aside, his cybernetic body suit electrically humming with his excitement.

“Sure, Barry. Lead the way.”

Over at the table was a handsome man with blonde hair wearing black robes, accompanied by some other people. “Blood, you’ve been so busy that you haven’t had the chance to meet Serjiel.”

“Well you know how it is, Cronus, between knight duties and going to school.”

He chuckled. “I can certainly imagine.”

A demon with skin the color of cinnabar and yellow eyes leaned forward. “Sir Blood-Wraith, it is a pleasure and an honor to finally meet you,” he said as he held out his hand. “I’m Serjiel.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Blood-Wraith said as he shook hands. “Barry has said a lot about you.”

“Now one of the mages I recruited is also very eager to meet you…”

A man with black hair and red eyes stood up and went over to Blood-Wraith. He appeared to be wearing flexible, loose fitting clothes that indicated he was ready for hand to hand combat. “Hi, Blood-Wraith!” he said as he shook his hand. “I’m Yoshihiro Togashi. You may not remember it, but I saw you and Dragoslava at The Stone Lake outskirts so many years ago.”

“Wait, really?” Blood-Wraith quickly recalled that adventure and realized who it was. “No way! You’re that person who called out to me!” The two of them hugged. “I wanted to go back and meet you so badly, but Drago advised against it.”

Yoshihiro sighed with sympathy in his voice. “Yeah, that was probably a good call, as we were dealing with the Chaos Wasp Incursion back then and Drago told me you were very young at the time. While I’m annoyed it took me until adulthood to finally meet you, I’m glad we’re here now. And I’ve heard a great deal about what you've been up to. It is an honor to join your guild, Blood-Wraith.”

“And I’m glad you were able to make it.”

Serjiel then indicated for someone else at the table to lean in. “And lastly this is Jonathan Hawkins, Blood.”

“Oh? Well hello there…”

Jonathan had green eyes like emeralds, dirty blonde hair, and was dressed like a sailor (albeit more of a pirate). “Ahoy, matey. Produce some coin and I’ll take you wherever you need to go. Dealing with that blithering cult is free, however.”

A light green devil then shook Blood-Wraith’s hand. “Hi, Blood. I’m Brandr, John’s wind devil. Don’t let his salty exterior fool you, he’s a cool guy.”

Blood-Wraith chuckled. “Well it’s great to have both of you aboard, me…er, mateys…” This made the two laugh. John was liking the cut of Blood-Wraith’s jib already.

“Hey, Blood?” Aureolus called out. “Mail call!” This was a bit unexpected, so everyone watched as he went over to him. “Ignus just brought in a letter.”

“Oh? Who’s it from?”

“Well I don’t know who this Eloise is… but, um, her last name is Ter Avest…”

Everyone went silent as Blood-Wraith was handed the frilly, pink envelope. “Say-say what?”

Jonathan could see Blood-Wraith's hesitation as plain as day. “Matey, you best open that. It’s rude to keep a lady waiting…”

Next: Chapter 3

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[deeptrashwitch]

@stuffireadandenjoy @snootlestheangel @alypink @catterdraws @justasmolbard it's done!

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I came across with a post about how to properly draw an asian character, and it was really interesting to see everything, also is a good lesson. So I thought about how colombians are pictured around the world, and is sure to say that certain people has marked the perception of us. I love how many people recognize people like Shakira or Gabriel García Márquez (I love this man books 💕), but unfortunately Escobar is also recognizable.

I don't know. Maybe no one will use this or maybe someone will, but here are some tips to write a colombian character. Remember this is my experience, and it still limited to what I've known all my life. I might have something wrong.

-First things first. The accent! I know that probably you have heard the accent used for some series or maybe you heard Shakira's accent. But those aren't the only ones in Colombia, actually those are really specific.

We have regions, and the accents change from one to another and from a city to another! The most known is from Medellín (we call them paisas) and it is stronger than others from the same department. For example I have a friend that travels a lot to that part of the country, and she says that outside Medellín the accent is somehow softer.

And from the Caribbean region, the accent is (from what I've heard) quicker and they speak louder, as far as I know is because of the heat and a physics matter. I only have traveled to Cartagena once, but is a big difference between their accent and mine, I can assure you that. Also, unfortunately I haven't visited many places, so I can't say for sure about other regions, for example I have no idea how the accents change on the Pacific region or the Orinoquia.

But I can speak a bit more about the Andean region. I'm from Bogotá and I sound weird sometimes, but if someone tells you that in Bogotá we don't have accent, that's bullshit. We do have an accent and it varies from a part of the city to another, I don't know how to describe it.

When you are in the north, it sounds like they are eating something while they speak (my mom compared it with a hot potato). And in some parts of the south, some people speak with many words impossible to traduce to english and it sounds like they are going to start a fight.

-Next, the skin color. It's usual to think, even among colombians, that a skin tone is unique for a region, but in reality there isn't a specific tone. There are afro-descendants, indigineous people, half-blood, and white people. Many skin colors can be present in a same family, again the example case is my own family.

I'm white as well as cousin but my uncle is black, and my grandma, she has brown skin. All of us are related by blood, but our skin is really different. As far I have investigated and seen, the most common tone is brown, and is really usual to see black/brown hair and brown eyes (red or blonde is rare, also are blue and green eyes).

And our height is a big comparison too! While my dad is 6', his mom is 5'3, his brother is 6'2 and his father was 5'4 (I'm 5'6 btw).

Something I really hate to admit, but that gives more information about my own country, is that even after all this time and the change of decades, many people continue being racist unconsciously. Across the country is usual that the mother tell the daughter to marry a white guy, but I'll be usual to discourage a marrriage or a relationship with a black person. (My experience, when I introduced one of my best friends that born in Chocó Pacific region, my family thought he was my boyfriend and wanted me to broke up with him.)

-About people, we are religious in many levels and most of the kids are raised catholic, not necessarily nuns schools, but religion is really important in most schools. It's normal to see many grandmas doing the rosary while making the lunch and many grandpas going to mass during sundays. And so, it's usual to use expressions such as "Ave María Purísima!" when you are surprised or "calle la boca que Cristo escucha" when someone says something weird and "Dios me lo bendiga, mijo" if you are grateful for something.

Also across downtown Bogotá there are many churches, a cathedral on the main square, churches near many neighborhoods and a church on top of the Eastern hills (Monserrate to be specific). Personally I'm not very religious, but during part of my childhood I was dragged to mass, because of homework and now I just memorized part of the service.

Some universities are also religious, or at least managed by an archidiocese. The one I attend is laic, but one of my professors also teaches on one that is religiously managed and he told us that they asked him to keep some...topics outside the pensum.

-There are some expressions apart of the ones above that are only colombian, even some are from only one region or city. I'll write and try to explain some of them.

"No dé papaya, hermano...": This one is used mostly when you have a valuable item (cellphone, jewelery or your wallet) outside without a care in the world. Unfortunately is awfully common to get robbed, so if you "das papaya" is like let yourself get robbed basically.

"Este chino es juicioso, tranquilo": In Colombia, "juicioso" means be responsible, respectful and kind. More or less. To be honest, is difficult to explain, so I'll write as I interprete it.

"Uy no, ya paila": This one is used when someone is beyond reparation or fixing. For example when you made a big mistake and there's no way to solve it, also when something is broken and you can't repair it.

"El man es un bacán": When someone is really cool and fun to be around.

"El que busca encuentra": Is the equivalent of "fuck around and find out".

"Se le corrió el shampoo": We use it when some is acting weird, or acting differently from how they usually act. My mom uses it often with my dad, he is a bit childish and well, there it goes.

"Mande al chino": It's to send the child to do something. Here we call "chino" to a kid.

"No me abra los ojos que no le voy a echar gotas": The moms use this one, mostly when a kid is getting scolded and they open their eyes in surprise or disgust. But also it's used to warn a kid that the are misbeheaving.

"Son como uña y mugre": It's when someone is so close with other person (family or not) that they do almost everything together, and know eachother perfectly. They can know eachother from a long time, at least that's my case.

"Ay sí, no jodas...": You use this one when you don't believe something that someone tells you.

"Ese man es más abeja": This is when a person is cunning or sly, and it can be said in a good or a bad way.

"Este es como los burros cuando les echan flores": When someone got praised, but a moments after they do something stupid.

"Va pal' cielo y va llorando": This one is about someone that has everything, or that thir life is going right, and keeps complaining about little things.

-Our geography is variated and some of us are used to some aspects of it. For example people that live near the coast are way more used to the heat, but people from the center mostly can't stand heat (my case). And on the other hand, the people of the center are used to the altitude and the steepness of the road (fucking downtown streets), and I've seen that, during the first year of a classmate from Guaviare, it was difficult to get used to the altitude.

The weather are really different from place to place, humid, dry and more. In Cartagena is a dry heat (I think) and in Bogotá is usually cold and foggy, but it can change in a minute. During january to june are the hottest months and during august to december are the coldest ones.

In Bogotá can be raining hard (an aguacero as we call them) and five minutes later can be doing a hellish heat. Personally I prefer the rain and the cold that the heat, but the sun is appreciated from day to day.

Also, the road trips can be from two hours (Bogotá-Ubaté) to almost two days aprox. (Leticia-Riohacha)

-Music! I love the music and many people also does! And if I can think of something that always make me laugh are the songs tipical from december!

Here are many songs that we hear for the holidays (the radio stations usually start to put them since september because...tradition), some of them we know them so good that we identify them just with the rythm. I can think of many but the names just don't appear, but the ones I'll never forget are:

Adonay by Rodolfo Aicardi (*muttering* Adonay, ¿por qué te casaste, Adonay?)

Cariñito by Rodolfo Aicardi (dancing this one with my grandpa. Do I know how to dance? No, but I don't give a fuck, it still a beautiful memory :"3)

Daniela by Rodolfo Aicardi (now that I think about it...the rythm is great but the story is fucked up xd)

El hijo ausente by Pastor López (this one hits worst when you're far from home even if you only are outside your city)

Cinco pa' las doce by Néstor Zavarce (like it's title says, it's always on the speakers when is 11:55 pm)

And some that are obligatory in my house during christmas and New Years!

En Barranquilla me quedo by Joe Arroyo

Rebelión by Joe Arroyo

Oiga, Mire, Vea by Orquesta Guayacán

Niégame Tres Veces by Silvestre Dangond (For some reason, a cousin is always going through a break up during holidays and always sings this one drinking aguardiente and also he puts El Venao'. I wonder why... /s)

Ella es mi fiesta by Carlos Vives (THAT is when I start singing without shame and my cousin /my favorite\ joins me)

For now is everything, but if something else comes to mind, I'll edit this! And if another person thinks I left something outside, feel free to add it! I want to see other perspectives about the country!

And please, people that has seen Narcos, for God's sake, stop thinking that all the colombians sound like we came from Antioquia. If I hear another person ask me to say "'mor", I'm going to fight that person, I swear.

[cursedvaultss]

HPHL OC Profile: Cordelia Duncan

“Autumn is an interesting season, even in the metaphor of life, is a time of decline, of loss, but also intense and haunting beauty. Some places, like some people, never are or have been, as beautiful in their fall."

Name: Cordelia Annalise Duncan

Nicknames: Cordy

Birthdate: April 22nd, 1875 (or depending on the timeline)

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Blood Status: Unknown, possibly Muggleborn

Nationality: British

Sexuality: Bisexual

I haven't actually played Hogwarts Legacy and I'm not exactly planning to, but I'm not above stealing the cool aspects of the story and using them for my own purposes, so that's what Cordelia is here for!

Physical Appearance

Hair: Dark brown/black

Eyes: Brown

Height: 175.3 cm (5ft 9)

Weight: 55kg 

Faceclaim: Sofia Wylie

Background

Home: An orphanage in London and Hogwarts

Family

Cordelia is an orphan and she doesn't know who her parents are. As she grows up, she wants to find out the identities of her mother and father and whether or not they're alive or if she has any other relatives left alive.

Hogwarts

House: Slytherin

Career

11-17: Hogwarts Student 

17->: tbd

Personality & Attitude

Cordelia can be a little complicated. On one hand, she wants to be a good friend and kind, but on the other, she often puts her own goals ahead of those around her. She knows many people around the school and can be sociable and fun, but she doesn't let people really close to her easily. She has developed a hard exterior during her life living in the orphanage and having to fend for herself. She probably gets along best with people who can understand or even relate to her circumstances. Priorities: Making her goals a reality, success, helping her friends

Strengths: Ambitious, cunning, sociable, adaptable, wants to do good and be good

Weaknesses: Single-minded, self-centered, guards her true emotions closely

Stressed: When she feels stuck, either with her goals or physically

Calm/Comforted: While studying, while with her friends

Favorites

Colours: gold, green

Weather: Clear skies, sun

Hobbies:

Fashion: Cordelia doesn't have a lot of money so she starts out wearing whatever she has been given at the orphanage but during her time at Hogwarts she acquires a few more extravagant pieces which she values and takes good care of.

Relationships

Significant Other/Love Interest: OPEN

Friends:

Sebastian Sallow

Anne Sallow

Ominis Gaunt

Cecilia Balinor by @endlessly-cursed

Zelda Cairncross, Lillian Brokenshire, Sidonie Lewis, Benji Gerhardt, and Galen Stagg by @cursebreakerfarrier

Lettie Heyes, Milo Foy, and Ambrose Penvellyn by @cursedlegacies

Atticus Doherty, Fred Graham, Anastasia and Florence Osada by @hphmmatthewluther

Danny Gibson by @catohphm

Logan Rosseto, Haldir Eilphyra, Johnny Tazar Jr., Ayas Perphyra, Elyon Vamaer, and Elisen Chaeyra by @nicos-oc-hell

Brianna O’Rourke by @unfortunate-arrow

OPEN FOR INTERACTION!

Rivals:

Sebastian Sallow

Trivia

Cordelia enjoys fashion, although she hardly had money to spend on clothes. She knows how to make her own clothes either by hand and later with the help of magic.

When she grows up, she wants to do something to help other children who come to the Wizrding world with no money and no clue what's going on.

She cares about people deeply, although she doesn't often show it.

[barbatusart]

❄️❄️❄️❄️💨💨💨💨

DIAGNOSE THOSE FREAAAAAKS!!!!! ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🌬🌬🌬☃️☃️☃️💎💎💎💎

❄️❄️❄️❄️☃️☃️☃️☃️💦💦💦💦

i didnt know what you meant for a split second LOL but word ok I GOTCHA. i did write everybody with cognitive "touchstones" in mind but used it more as one of multiple building blocks in shaping everybody's personalities & tried not to have anybody be a stereotype of their neural makeup. SPOILERS ABOUND BELOW THE CUT HEADS UP!

jake i wrote pretty explicitly as autistic. im not autistic myself but i have multiple close family members who are; ive been around it since i was little to present day & wanted to try my hand at writing an autistic character. i think i had it that his father is also autistic so his parents caught on pretty quickly & got him all the tools he needed growing up to live happily. unfortunately hes also extremely gullible & a firm believer in geek social fallacy

sal is a case of C-PTSD (compounded with the multiple head injuries sustained at the end of sad sack by the time sortie rolls around if thats illuminating at all) which is something he combats by making himself as physically large & intimidating as possible while using that as a social shield if that makes sense. he has this concept of himself as something he needs to mask (often literally) in order to behave as his "true" self, which also is a concept of himself that is "Not Me" that he shucks off anything he may have ever done wrong onto so he never has to take responsibility for anything. i deliberately did not write DID here but he is highly dissociative with poor emotional regulation & deeply low EQ (again: see sortie)

mal is a very nebulous anxiety disorder in an extremely extraverted person. his treatment of it involves trying to "shout" over his anxiety even louder to try & drown it out which goes about as well as youd expect; he actually nearly breaches into a full-on panic attack in book 3 where hes trying to light his cigarette. self medication is also 2 packs a day & his BP is like 220/120 at rest, but he doesnt go to the doctor much or declines blood pressure on the regular cus if he doesnt see it then nothing's wrong. nothing's wrong! he's also got some shit going on with not being able to perceive himself in any positive light unless he's positioning himself to be praised as a hero or directly comparing himself with somebody he considers "lower" than him, which when you put that up against the context of book 3 is like get the fuck away from me dude. more on that later, i got comic-related plans for mal lol

stone is a deep depression mixed in with barely functional alcoholism (starting to not so subtly breach over into alcoholic psychosis) which all roots back into an unmanaged grief thats turned into him looking for you-know-who in the people around him (ie romantic partners, this dudes a mess) he kinda laid his shit bare in 4 so the less said about that the better, his whole situation honestly skeeves me out bigtime

garv ive gone into his nonsense on here plenty but he is an unintelligent sociopath (no childhood woes he just got born that way) with the added issue of being raised on /b/ LOL

[invisiblegarters]

Only Friends Character Rankings - Ep 5

Probably I should wait to do this but lbr I'm not watching that episode again lol. I am far too invested in Sand to watch it. Yep, I have become that person and while I actually enjoy all these characters I would see them all burn (metaphorically please no people roasts in this show) if it meant that Sand would get out mostly unscathed.

Alas, this is not shaping up to be that show. I said I will defend Sand's wrongs and that includes sticking around a dude who is not going to give him what he wants but damn, I do wish he loved himself more.

But let's get to it.

(Quick disclaimer: these are just my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect an accurate interpretation of these characters or the show itself. In case that wasn't glaringly obvious)

Characters (From Most to Least Fave atm)

Sand. Oh my darling dumbass. I feel like he thought that Ray could be a bright shining thing in his life and now he's been smacked with cold hard reality courtesy of Boston. He thinks he's building his walls up but unfortunately I've seen the trailer so I know he's not, he's just papering them over and telling himself that's good enough (you need stronger materials hon). He compared Ray to a dog this ep but honestly he is starting to remind me of one, and not in the good way. That said, he is my ride or die for better or worse and so while I hate this for him eventually kicked dogs do stop coming back so I will wait for that day (well, they either stop coming back or they turn on the person kicking them).

I get now what First meant when he said that Sand has to deal with his feelings on his own. I mean I already got it but we're seeing it put in to practice here. Because Ray doesn't owe Sand anything, he's never made promises, Sand got ahead of himself and now he's gotta deal with reality on his own. Them's the breaks. And I think we all know the best thing for him would be to take a couple steps back until he can move past this thing (and I don't even think it would take that long tbh - Sand's got too much on his plate to be indulging in pesky feelings like this and if he was out of Ray's orbit I don't actually think it would be difficult for him to remember that. He just gets swept up because Ray is kind of a whirlwind and he makes it easy to forget that real life exists. But it does, and Sand's real life is a lot different from Ray's and involves a lot more pragmatism and compartmentalization).

Aside from that, I was so happy to get a Sand episode my goodness. I cheered aloud when I heard him start to narrate lol. And I do think that both the debt collectors and his dad are gonna come up again - I can't help but assume one of our main cast shares that father. My gut feeling is Top but I've seen around that it could be Boston because politician daddy and if so I would be here for it. I would also be highkey amused if it's Ray but I do not think the show will go there. Mew is another good possibility but as I am still hoping that the show will let them make out at some point and I doubt that will happen if they are blood related I am choosing to believe that's not the case.

I do like that the show is doing the work with him. Am I frustrated that I already know he's gonna keep letting this thing with Ray go on until it destroys him? Yes. But I also see where it's coming from. If Sand starts to really see what's going on with Ray re: alcohol, I think he'll slip into caretaker mode and feel he *can't* walk away, and he feels that way because he's already taking care of his mom, paying off her debts and working nonstop so that he can do that while also going to school. His life has set him up to be weak to someone like Ray, it's not entirely on him being stupid, and at least I have that as a consolation for when he inevitably makes me want to shake some sense into his beautiful dumb head.

Lastly, the way he yelled at Boston and Nick to go to Nick's room (and the fact that they *did*! And Boston's "oh shit" face. Even the sullen little eyeroll while he did as told was funny - Sand effectively reduced him to a kid again and he knew it) cracked me up. Reminded me of Mew telling Ray to lie in bed and think of what he did last episode. My SandMew feelings are intensifying I need those two to meet and maybe hook up okay show thank you (I know they won't hook up but I can dream).

Boston. Yes, Boston. My guy really out here doing the most to cause drama again and I still love him for it. This time there is no real goal except destruction and Boston being all caught up in his feelings about Top and Mew and I'm that Lady Gaga meme. You keep on doing the most darling because you are really the only reason any shit is getting done, even if the shit that is getting done is breaking everything in sight.

And also, it has to be said, he wasn't wrong about anything he said. I mean, he was awful about how he revealed things and the way he escalated the situation was absolutely bananas but he wasn't wrong.

I still see him and Ray as very similar. In this ep they both decided to love the one they're with (figure of speech don't get excited I see no love there my guys) since they can't be with the ones they want, with varying degrees of success. Until Boston decided to piss in the sandbox, that is.

Ray. I feel like this might come as a shock since I clearly don't like him much and because I love Sand to the point that I just want him out of the way of all these dumbasses, but. I also can't stress enough that Ray hasn't done anything wrong. I don't love how he keeps pushing his way past every boundary that Sand tries to put down but Sand is also very much showing him every place to push to make him give in. And yes Ray is definitely intentionally using Sand to try to move on from Mew but well, as far as he knows this is all just fun anyway. no pressure and no commitment. And right up until the end of this episode Sand was deliberately letting him think that (yes I love him but I don't think I've quite reached the point where I'm not seeing how he's contributing to his own misery. He's doing it both by not walking away and by letting Ray think he doesn't give a shit. You can't be surprised when the guy you've told to his face doesn't mean much to you assumes that that's the case).

Plus he's been up front about how he sees Sand. I want to be mad at him for it because I hate seeing Sand cry, but Ray has been very clear at every given opportunity that he does not see Sand as a possible romantic partner. He will fuck him, he will follow him around and beg for his attention, but he will not date him. Yeah, his nervous denials in front of Boston stung because Sand let himself think that wasn't the case (and because in hindsight he has to realize that Ray was so adamant because he was afraid Boston would relay this back to Mew - that was an instinctive, kneejerk no don't tell my lover I'm cheating response and Sand has to have realized that with some time to think. And what's worse, it's not the first time he's reacted that way), but he's never said otherwise. If Sand can't handle it it's on him to take the steps necessary to make it not a problem.

And now that I've said all that I reserve the right to be furious when Ray continues to use Sand knowing that he is in deeper than Ray himself is. Because while his feelings are not Ray's responsibility, deliberately toying with someone you KNOW wants more from you is shitty.

Since he was all tangled up in Sand's stuff this ep there's not much else to say about him really.

Well, yes. There is one thing. I am surer than ever he is going to get behind the wheel drunk and he's going to hurt some- no. He's going to hurt Sand. Because you don't have these two together bringing up dangerous driving this much and have it not come back to hurt everyone later. Mark my words, the First Kanaphan character in a hospital bed universe is getting a new member (if the morgue doesn't collect him first I wish I were joking I hate myself). Also the way his face flickered lightning fast from gut punched before he wiped it off when Sand said he didn't trust Ray with his life was excellent, kudos to Khaotung for that one.

Top. Look at this man getting exactly what he wants this ep. He was more fun on the whole last episode reading everyone to filth but he's still reaping the benefits of it and I can't really say I hate that for him. Also I can't really get enough of his unimpressed reaction to Boston doing literally anything. Boston could be out here doing the best of works and Top would just be like "loser" and I respect that.

Things are gonna go to shit for him very fast so I hope he enjoys his moment of winning.

Mew. MEW what are you DOING. I can't tell if his whole "oh wow we just saw a bunch of guys who want Top but Top was focused only on me" thing was in his own head or if Top deliberately took him 'round to all his hookups so that Mew can see how much he's changed, but either way, no my dude. Stop.

I keep thinking to what he told Top in the first episode. If I sleep with you, I'm going to be so obsessed. And I think we're gonna see that happening next ep.

But frankly he's mostly here because of that preview. You're really going to get Lasik surgery for this dude? MEW I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU WHERE'S MY TYRA GIF.

Nick. Pretty much the same as above. Nick, do not start trying to tone up and wearing Dad Chic to try to get Boston to love you. Top barely pulls the golf dad look off, you are much better as you are. The hell my dude. I was literally so annoyed by this the entire episode that I had a hard time paying attention to his scenes. So I guess I will have to watch those again. You also made your roommate send your fuck buddy to your room like a naughty child like Nick if you can't actually handle it when Boston does this shit you are not on the level I thought you were. Seriously disappointed in you (but not that disappointed because as I said, Sand sending them both to Nick's room was peak hilarity for me).

Relationships (Fave to Least Fave atm)

Sand and Nick. They are lovely, and I still have hope that they make out a little once things go really pear shaped. I just like every interaction they have, honestly and I'd be happy to see more.

Boston and Mew. These two fucking fascinate me. There is so much animosity there, and only Boston's is mostly up front. They both have so much disdain for the way the other chooses to live their life. and it just feels so deeply personal that I figure that there has to be a fuckton of projection going down on both sides.

And now I'm gonna step outside the characters and say that it makes perfect sense to me that this war is breaking open over a dude that now they've both slept with, especially when you think about their differing attitudes towards sex and how derisive they both are of the opposite view. Of course this thing with Top is now a competition for both of them - whoever Top chooses to be with in the end will be the one who was right, after all.

And this is why I suspect that even after he finds out about Top and Boston, Mew won't leave. Because he's gotta win at all costs, even if he doesn't even really like the person he's with (although I still think he'll sleep with Ray for real at some point, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll let go of Top).

TopMew. I dunno, I actually thought they were sweet this ep. It's all gonna go to hell in a handbasket because Toto can't stop biting (yes this a Wizard of Oz reference and yes Boston is Toto) but I do genuinely enjoy them onscreen. *shrugs* I don't know maybe I'm just weird. Also I'm really looking forward to this implosion and the sweeter they are now the worse it'll be later. Mess, mess, mess!

And someone else pointed this out but it is interesting that all of Mew and Top's dates have elements of hiding/obfuscating (someone let me know who so I can link it, it was good). In the first one they are literally hunting each other, the second they can't hear (but I do think it's relevant that they choose to listen to the same song. Or well. Mew does), and in the third they can't see each other. And my own thought to add to that is that in every last one Mew is the one who gives himself away or changes or shifts.

But remember that in laser tag Mew was the one who shot. He might be blinded now but he's getting Lasik next ep (still hate that for him and if I don't joke about it this will just turn into a rant about not changing anything about yourself for a dude so).

I am wondering though if Top is going to tell Mew about what happened with Boston after the confrontation on Mew's birthday. Because he has to know that Mew is edging closer to the truth here, and Ray isn't just gonna give up because Mew hits him once (oh it'll set him back and as I said, probably send him haring after Sand to play the blame game, but Ray ain't giving up, both I think from genuine concern and because he will (maybe rightly) assume this will leave Mew vulnerable enough he'll consider Ray an option (to be clear, I don't think that this bit will be something he is consciously aware of or plans it just feels right to me)).

I still think that Mew has clocked enough weird interactions that he suspects something is up with Boston, and that is why he called him this ep. And I further think that he laid his nerves on so thick deliberately. I just don't think that him calling Boston to toy with him negates having actual feelings for Top. I think both can be true.

BostonNick. They had me in a chokehold last ep but as I said I'm not a fan of NIck Single White Femaling Top to be more appealing to Boston. Number one, Top's fashion sucks. Number two, Top's fashion sucks.

I wanted Nick to be more unhinged than this. I am disappointed that he's not.

That said, on a scale of "I can see it" to "dear god get it away from me", I still ship it more than

SandRay. Well they weren't kidding when they said that this is gonna be the angsty, dramatic one. I do still have hope that their angst isn't all about Ray being in love with Mew though. What can I say, I'm like Sand in a lot of ways, including my stupid, unsinkable hope that the clear writing on the wall will change if I just give it enough time.

I just feel like there are more interesting, far more relationship breaking ways to go with them. Like sure, Ray's in love with Mew, he's gonna wreck shit for that specific reason. But he's also kind of a dick about Sand's entire existence? Like he just can't stop being a spoiled rotten little rich boy for two seconds, can he? Don't think I missed all of his little digs about literally every step of the "let's spend a day living how Sand lives" experience. Because I did not.

I was also genuinely surprised that Ray asked about Sand's dreams, mostly because he's shown less than zero interest in Sand as a person unless it'll get him into his bed (or his hand down his pants). I mean I was happy he did because I wanted to know, but it seemed out of left field for me.

Ray's problems with alcohol would be an interesting direction to take things. Because that's another huge issue, and one I think Sand has only just cottoned on to (oh not that Ray drinks too much - he clocked that way back - but just how very very bad it actually is). Is he gonna stick his nose in? I feel like he might.

What does give me hope that at least some of this is planned is that we are getting the Mew Problem so early. That it will continue to be one I have no doubt - I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ray will let go of that crush only if someone pries him away from it finger by finger - but surely that can't be it, not when we're getting so many other ways that these two don't work?

I also think that Sand's tendency to turtle is going to cause problems, although I understand him far more than Ray (in case it wasn't obvious). Personally the reason he frustrates me so much is I wouldn't just turtle away from any of it, I'd reel back so hard and so far that you'd never find me again, haha. So Sand's continued return to the same things that hurt him frustrates me beyond belief.

I think he should have just asked his questions. I get why he didn't, why he retreated into "you don't owe me anything and I have no right to ask" rather than hear it directly from Ray that all Boston said was true. Of course he doesn't need to hear it, Ray's reaction was enough, but also it might have done them both good to have Ray say it. I said it already, but in some ways Sand is doing this to himself, and not just by sticking around when everyone knows he should not.

I also wonder how much his ex trauma is playing into his withdrawal here. Because when Nick was saying that he feels like nothing compared to Top, Sand's response was "I know how that feels" (probably not an exact quote, but you get it). He's already played this game before and lost. I can see why he might try to just take himself out of it the second time around.

That said, the way I need that ex to show up real time and not just in flashbacks is insane. I need them to show up and I need for all those feelings Sand's clearly just shoved down to come bubbling back up and make everything worse. Please let the ex show up at the worst possible time. Please please please I'm begging. 🙏🙏🙏

I wonder how long this attempt to keep boundaries with Ray is going to last. Not long, is my guess.

In Conclusion

All these bitches are messy, some in a more fun way for me personally than others.

Yo is the best character in this entire show and I will hear no arguments.

And where are the lesbians?

[fabianvalencia561]

I thought I'd give this another go! SO HERE WE GOO-

1. Gordon I've noticed you've gotten, somewhat overwhelmed on all this. So to calm your nerves, maybe take a trip to a cliffside where you can see the sunrise! It's an amazing sight to see. Though the sounds of animals roaming freely would be nice to hear around that area, just take care of yourself. I don't want you driving yourself to your limits.

(To note, I've heard of someone who could help you out too! A japanese engine named Hiro, though idk where he is inside this world-)

2. To the creator, mind if we got a clear family tree on everyone? It's been confusing lately just revisiting all the chapters and connecting everyone up into one big family is just a goose chase!

(Also Im curious on what we aka the askers look like to the cast besides being a voice inside their head)

Unfortunately Gordon can't just leave there....

He was ordered to get everyone off of Sodor and in my au Sodor is a lot bigger than you actually think there's even a second Sodor island in my au and that one is a bit smaller. If Gordon doesn't help everyone with or with no injuries many people are going to die from the corrupted.

And yes Hiro is in my au...though he is a little busy at the moment.... Most likely looking around to find anyone else who needs to leave the island...

2. The family tree thing

Well not many of them are related they just call each other family but I'll give you a simple list

Gordon and Thomas: Father and son ( not just because Gordon decided to adopt Thomas it's also because when Gordon brings back Thomas he uses his blood and puts it in Thomas's core. Yes one of the main things you need in a core is your own blood.... It helps the core what and how that humanoid would act and look)

Gordon and Henry: they call themselves brothers at times

Toby is like that one humanoid that calls him grandpa like Thomas and Percy... Though Mavis calls Toby dad at times

Sir Topham is either a father figure to most of the humanoids he took care of

Thomas and Percy: like brothers

Harold and Percy: father and son vibes

D10 and Diesel: Father and son

Jackie and D10: were like brothers once...

That's really the most I can do :]

Oh and we the viewer are seen to them like this ^^

Yes we are also seen as a pixie because I forgot to mention that pixies can work like a messenger at times if trained properly of course

[songbird-and-her-fos]

Some Backstory for my MTaS builder:

Alyssa us actually more or less a survivor of the Age of Corruption. Her father was a scientist working for the government who was tasked with developing cryo-pods for the rich elite to sleep in until the war they caused was over. Well by the time the bombs dropped, only two of the pods were done and her father said "screw it", shoved Alyssa (14 years old at the time) into one pod and laid down in the other and put the two of them to sleep.

Unfortunately, when the building collapsed, his pod was crushed, but hers miraculously remained undamaged and active, until centuries later, Logan's father, Howlett, found her and brought her to Sandrock, where they at first assumed that she was dead. Howlett and Logan wanted to help bury her, out of respect, but Sandrock's head scientist at the time was like "that's a lovely sentiment, but ultimately unnecessary, because she kind of… woke up just now." And the first time she stepped outside, she had to shield her eyes because she hadn't seen natural light in such a long time. So Logan took off his hat and out it on her head, to help her get her eyes used to the brightness. Later, during the events of the game, that becomes their "thing". Whenever he notices her get upset, he gives her his hat, as a reminder that while her blood relations are all long gone, she still has people who care about her.

After a few weeks or so she was shipped off to Highwind to be studied and questioned, and was taken in by her adoptive parents. Only to move back to Sandrock to help with rebuilding (and reconnect with the sweet boy who lent her his hat) ten years later.

So say Hi to Alyssa. She is 24 years old (if you ignore the time she was in cryo-sleep)

Her pets are Coco the owl and Pipsqueak the meerkat

She was briefly dating Pen (but that was all a ruse to maybe get some information from him for Grace and Logan, which sadly didn't work)

She has a huge crush on Logan, ever since her teens

And her best friends are Unsuur and Burgess