oracleoftheend-a

[sing-me-under]

I have unintentionally developed this whole post-Vol 2/pre-flashpoint timeline for Booster Gold and his little time travel family. There are three major components:

Rip Hunter is not around anymore. He’s not dead, obviously, but it’s reached a point in their personal timelines where they’re meant to separate. Rip can’t mentor the younger version of his dad forever nor should he. Booster has learned everything he needs to know from Rip, and now it’s time to part ways and make their own choices without the future influencing them. While Booster does occasionally come across younger and less experienced versions of Rip Hunter, all future Rips have effectively disappeared. Now separated, Booster sets up his own base elsewhere.

Booster and Michelle raise Rani in Neo-Gotham. Specifically the early 22nd century. This is Neo-Gotham at the end of Terry’s Batman career. It is more or less implied that sometime in the 22nd century, a nuclear war breaks out and gives way to the next dark ages. You can’t leave traces/ripples if they’re wiped from existence. Booster is still active in the 21st century by virtue of being an established hero there, but once keeping up appearances is over, he returns to the 22nd. Michelle stays in the 22nd century and just lives her life there.

Booster’s mystery future wife is Trixie Collins. After reuniting at some nebulous future date and going through a whole crisis together, Trixie can’t go back to her (unfulfilling) life, so Booster moves her to the 22nd century. At some point, she and Booster decide to act on the chemistry from their early years, and Rip is unintentionally conceived. Booster decides to retire from the 21st century hero scene, and they get married. But pretty early on, they realize that they’re not really romantically interested in each other. It’s partly acknowledgement of comphet society and that they’re both decidedly on the far side of the Kinsey Scale and also Booster is more or less too traumatized to truly emotionally connect to another person anymore. Booster and Trixie are still on good terms, so they stay married (and eventually come to consider each other best friends). And by virtue of being married, Trixie ends up getting more involved in Booster’s time cop thing and starts handling his logistics. They make a great team.

So from here, my brain came up with the following scenario:

Rani wants to become a superhero.

Rani-centric story idea under the cut. This one really got away from me.

The 22nd century is absolutely not a good time to get into heroics, and Rani knows that. That’s exactly why Booster chose it.

Rani has her own super power set, but it's not combat oriented. But there is this desire baked into her soul, so she takes a page (a whole chapter, really) from Booster Gold’s book. She steals a power suit and a time sphere and… doesn’t quite succeed as planned.

Instead of 1990s Metropolis, Rani finds herself in mid-21st century Gotham, the height of the legacy generation of heroes. Much to Rani's annoyance, Booster asked Nightwing and a not-quite-yet-retired Batman to keep an eye on her. It's mostly to prevent anyone else from solidly putting together that "Gold Star" is the infamous Booster Gold's daughter. Having the Bats' backing also means Rani isn't just plopped into the world with no legal records or emergency contacts.

Rani's story is mostly hijinks and heroics.

She's a D-list hero who frequently finds herself teaming up with other heroes, but she struggles to connect with any teams.

She keeps running into Legionnaires investigating some sort of intricate time travel plot and finds herself fighting alongside them to save the world. Unlike the 21st century heroes, Rani does connect with the 31st century heroes.

Sometimes, Rani also gets caught up in the Carter family business and gets swept away on a few time traveling adventurers with characters like Gold Beetle, a younger Rip Hunter (and Jack Soo), and even her baby brother, Junior.

In her downtime, Rani works part-time and does a few odd jobs here and there. Her saving grace is that she doesn't have to pay rent since she "inherited" Booster's townhouse.

Specific plot points include:

Booster's old JLI teammates immediately recognizing that Rani is Booster's daughter. They are equal parts glad that he's out there somewhere just living well instead of dead in a ditch, forgotten, and also hurt that Booster never introduced his family to them and that they had to find out from his teenage daughter.

In Time Masters: Vanishing Point #5, Booster warps their home to the end of time in order to lose the time assassins that had been chasing them. Time pirates also got to Rani in order to get the location of Vanishing Point from her, but she doesn't know it since Booster (with Trixie and Junior) abandoned the 22nd century shortly after Rani left. While the Carters frequently visit Rani, Rani doesn't have the means to visit them.

Rani overcomes her avoidance of the 31st century in order to save the world. While there, she becomes an official reserve member of the Legion. She returns to the 21st century anyway, not yet ready to give up on it.

Give me the Booster Gold: Convergence plot line, and Rani has to deal with the aftermath.. or maybe just ignore the whole Convergence thing and straight up rip off the time cancer subplot. Booster is bouncing through time uncontrollably, and Rani , Michelle, and an older Rip are chasing him down until they end up in the 90s (Rani finally gets a glimpse of the 90s and is disappointed) and find Booster in Ted's lab. Rani takes the place of N52 Booster in this. Everyone goes to Vanishing Point, and Booster transforms into Waverider. That has some wildly angsty potential.

The time cancer plot ends with Waverider returning everyone to their intended times. There's no universe-shattering crisis this time, so it's more like Waverider just isn't fully in-tune with his powers yet and fixed the anomalies by instinct rather than intent. It does mean that Rani finds herself in the 31st century and needs to be rescued from a dead planet and her own panic attack by the Legion.

Rani, fully attached to the Legion of Superheroes, officially-officially joins their group and decides to permanently stay in the 31st century as a hero.

Other notes:

There are also some implications that Booster may be nudging events in certain directions to keep the flow of time steady. Unbeknowst to Rani, Booster pre-programmed a different year and location for her to land in and disguised it as a glitch. He may or may have also arranged for some run-ins between her and some Legionnaires.

There’s a little hint at an abandoned Rani-centric plot thread towards the end of Vol 2. My guess is that there was supposed to be a 31st century arc for Booster Gold where he'd earn the trust and friendship of Braniac 5. I'm also guessing that Rani, who is shown to be a literal super genius, is more important than initially believed. She was probably supposed to be returned to the 31st century to fullfil some sort of essential role and subsequently not be adopted by the Carters because DC is allergic to happy parent-child relationships. I will be ignoring this guess.

Rani still has PTSD from Daxam's destruction and suffers from anxiety in her day-to-day. While she should have been returned to her intended place in the 31st century, she was too distressed by 1) being unadopted by Booster and 2) being in the time Daxam was destroyed and Emerald Empress is lose. Altogether, it was decided that Rani would stay with Booster and Michelle (and Rip as well, at the time). Either way, Rani refused to step foot in the 31st century, so Booster only ever brought his son of the two to visit Brainiac. Rani's knowledge of the Legion is restricted to what Booster and Junior have told her.

[fountainpenguin]

Could you tell us more about the Reedfilter AU? What makes it different? Any favorite parts or ideas in mind?

Reedfilter Rules AU is basically as opposite as I can be from my Riddleverse Classic headcanons without contradicting the actual FOP canon (and without overlapping my other AUs, such as my “King Me” AU).

I like to think of it as “the AU that might have been my canon if I hadn’t found Wolbachia pipientis.” Delving deeply into Wolbachia was the thing that forced me to make ALL my FOP worldbuilding deep to balance it. Reedfilter Rules AU is somewhat deep, but sticks very close to show canon. It’s more detailed than the show, but not chaotically deep.

In Riddleverse Classic, there’s a pretty even balance between animal DNA and human-like DNA. In the “Little Imperfections” universe, animal DNA is played up and human-like DNA is played down. In Reedfilter Rules, human-like DNA is played up and animal DNA is barely acknowledged (the Fae in RR are pretty much just small humans with wings). These Pixies don’t have Wolbachia, so H.P. is not the Pixie holotype. He and Sanderson are just friends.

The RR AU is named after the Head Pixie who preceded our H.P. (Rani Reedfilter) since most of the pieces I’ve written for it are told from her point of view. Pixies are a long-established species in this universe, and are considered the oldest and most advanced of the Fae races instead of the youngest.

Certain aspects of my worldbuilding (such as gyne and drone biology, the Refracts, and the honey-lock) don’t exist in the R-Rules verse. The Anti-Fairies don’t have their zodiac culture. Again, the Rules-verse sticks close to show canon and isn’t too complex; you get evil Antis and busy Pixies while Fairy World is just as fluffy and air-headed as ever, haha.

[More under the cut]

The inner workings of Pixie World are the most fleshed out part of RR AU. The Head Pixie position is even more powerful here than it is in my Classic works due to the sheer number of Pixies in existence (we’re talking a hundred companies united under a single boss- Head Pixie XXXVI, Rani Reedfilter).

It’s a blatant dictatorship where the Head Pixie’s rules always go, no questions asked. Marriages are arranged, jobs are assigned, and you can only reproduce with permission. Laughter is practically outlawed because the image of a crisp, intelligent pixie is so important to their brand. Extremely cold, strict place. This is the world Fergus grew up in before he took over from Reedfilter.

Classic!Fergus is blatant with his manipulation. He’s loud, proud, stubborn, and would NEVER stoop to the sucking up that RR!Fergus does. In RR, Fergus Whimsifinado - or Head Pixie XXXVII - rises through the ranks of Pixies Inc. by flirting with Rani Reedfilter in a universe where all pixie marriages are arranged and the Head is forbidden to have a spouse. R-Rules Fergus ain’t as averse to kisses as his Classic counterpart.... If seduction gets him what he wants, he won’t hesitate. And he didn’t.

Obviously, my ‘fic Origin of the Pixies isn’t canon in the R-Rules universe. Fergus was born and raised in Pixie society as one of many instead of being raised in Fairy World as an oddball with a wing mutation. Ambrosine was never matched with another woman after he had Fergus, so he never had Emery. Instead, I allowed this version of Fergus to follow through on his childhood dream of naming his daughter Emery.

And a daughter he indeed had, following his fling(s) with Reedfilter. Little Emery has Rani’s green eyes, so it’s pretty dang obvious that Rani is (was) her mother, but who’s going to protest? There ain’t no Pixie Council to balance power. Gossip all you want, but the Head Pixie’s word is law.

(Looks a lot like his father in this ‘verse, doesn’t he?)

Classic!Sanderson is H.P.’s sassy, egotistical, easily-made-jealous firstborn. However, in the Reedfilter AU, they aren’t related at all. RR!Sanderson - AKA Ennet - is extremely high-strung. He has low self-esteem, constantly thinks himself a failure, and on top of that he’s a HUGE gossip.

Classic!Sanderson is arguably smarter than the other pixies, but R!Rules Sandy is VERY trusting and naive. He’ll fall for anything twice over and believes everything H.P. says (H.P. messes with him because it’s funny). Sandy didn’t come into the picture until after Fergus became Head Pixie, but as their friendship deepens he becomes H.P.’s ears in the hallways.

Rani was nice enough to pair Sandy with a wife despite his half-pixie / half-wisp blood, as she believed him loyal to the company and wanted to show her trust in him. Sandy respects her immensely because of that, and even respected her enough to attempt pregnancy with his match when instructed to (something he bailed out of doing when Fergus matched him up with a different lady). He was horrified by Rani’s death..... and extremely suspicious of his new boss.

Despite his concerns about his new boss, Sanderson envisions himself as H.P.’s loyal sidekick, oblivious to the fact that H.P. would stab him in the back without remorse if the situation required him to. But H.P. genuinely likes RR!Sanderson, probably due to the fact that he and Sandy are the only pixie/wisp crossbreeds in the whole company. He still teases him, but I like to think this version of H.P. is better at asking Sanderson’s advice for problems and his consent to being teased. He’s more likely to stop messing around if he sees Sanderson upset than Classic H.P. is. Not as big a jerk as you could have been.

It’s honestly a beloved AU of mine because... it’s really interesting to play H.P. and Sanderson as literal friends instead of the distant parent/clingy child relationship they have in Riddleverse Classic. Reedfilter Rules has female pixies, arranged marriages, and boring businessmen unapologetically plotting evil... What more could you ask for?

Anti-Fairy World is also different in this AU. Anti-Schnozmo was raised to take over Anti-Fairy World from birth until Anti-Cosmo, ah... “took care of him.” AC is even brattier in this AU than he is in my Classic universe (a lot like Foop). Additionally, the High Countess position doesn’t mean anything... No political power for Anti-Wanda in this universe :(

I thought it would be interesting if Anti-Cosmo’s Deadly Sin was still Lust, but the only reason he’s married to Anti-Wanda in RR!AU is because his mother arranged them. He tolerates Anti-Wanda, he even likes her, but he doesn’t truly love her and doesn’t care if she knows it. He has illegitimate children in this verse (this is where Eury and Talon fit in) because the honey-lock isn’t a thing. Foop is his only legitimate child and therefore the legal heir to the throne (High Count is balanced by the Anti-Fairy Council and he can’t declare an illegitimate child his heir).

RR!Anti-Cosmo and H.P. are rival rulers who barely know each other. After taking over from Reedfilter, H.P. starts flirting with AC too in an attempt to snag Anti-Fairy World from under him, blind to the fact that Anti-Cosmo is toying with him and intends to betray him right back. Or, Anti-Cosmo flirts with him in an attempt to swipe Pixie World. Who knows. I’m not sure how far that relationship goes, just that I can see the two flirting in RR universe to mirror the fact they fight all the time in Classic.

(....... Maybe they still fight)

I created Reedfilter Rules AU back in 2016, and I still write drabbles for it because I find the concept endearing despite its cliches. I love writing in this ‘verse because I love pixies, but I haven’t posted the main ‘fic due to the, uhhhhh... //Gestures at story that revolves around a creepy guy sleeping his way up the corporate ladder, probably seducing his rival on the side idk, is this really what you want to read??

Anyway, I adore Reedfilter Rules AU and think about it a lot, so if you guys want to see more, let me know. “Only an Idea” (#83 of the 130 Prompts) takes place in the R-Rules universe and tells how H.P. and Sanderson first met.

[fangirlinglikeabus]

i read some non vna dw books a while ago but because i am a Clown i’ve only just finished typing up notes on them...i think my next dw book i’ll make notes as i go rather than just marking the pages and Hoping I Remember. anyway! here’s my thoughts on thirteen doctors 13 stories. i have more opinions on some than others. 

A BIG HAND FOR THE DOCTOR

"...Susan, who was possibly the only person in the universe who could make the Doctor smile at the mere thought of her."

awwwwww

didn't really like this one that much - i wasn't too impressed with eoin colfer's characterisation of the first doctor (esp since pre-ian and barbara i don’t think he’d willingly attempt to stop some villains until susan was in danger)

THE NAMELESS CITY

Polly...once described him as looking like an unmade bed.

lmao

...he didn't know exactly what he was, though when he was growing up, he had heard tales of the legendary fairy creatures of the Unseelie Court who haunted Scotland's deepest valleys. He suspected the Doctor might be one of the dark Sith.

HEAVILY vibe with this concept the world is saved by bagpipes.......peak dw THE SPEAR OF DESTINY

"You know what I love about London?" he said, turning to her briefly. She sighed. "I'm sure I can't guess." "It's the only city in the universe where you can drive around in a car that's seventy years old and get away with it." "Who says you're getting away with it?" Jo muttered. 

nkdfsjksn

"Fire away!"

"Oh, Doctor, please. Not after that business at the museum."

no doctor is immune to the temptation of a good pun. no matter how inappropriate. actually i really like how jo and three are written in this generally. there's so many good scenes. also, when the doctor asks her why she doesn't know anything about the vikings: "Doctor, we did the Romans. Every year." rip jo

From a distance the Doctor watched as a group of about twenty men loaded the TARDIS on to the back of a large low wagon pulled by four sturdy oxen.

jo: the doctor told me about the perception filter on the tardis so it'll be fine! they won't even spot it. literally the next scene, immediately:

She longed to stand and give this old goat a piece of her mind, but she knew she'd most likely fall over if she tried, which wasn't the effect she was after.

aw jo :(

"Do you know they wash once a week?" "Could have fooled me," muttered Jo.

*desperately resists the urge to write down every jo line in this story*

"I have the ship. And I have the spear. What need have I of you any more?"

the master is betrayed. to the surprise of no-one but himself.

The Doctor held her by the shoulders. "My dear girl," he said. "That is very noble of you. You were right. Your aspirations /are/ the very noblest. But you're wrong about something. Nothing is more important than you."

me, sobbing:

ROOTS OF EVIL

realised as i was reading this that i don't own any books featuring leela.....a crime

"Surprise!" the Doctor said. "You know you were complaining that you missed trees?"

this is actually the cutest thing no-one look at me

She could never understand why the Doctor was so careless of danger. It was a good thing he had her to look after him, she thought, as he opened the TARDIS door and they stepped out together into dim, green light and the earthy, warm-compost smell inside the great tree.

phillip reeve gets the four+leela dynamic. like. he Gets it. 

"It will not hurt you," she promised. "It is called a 'scarf'. It is like a cloak, only pointless."

ousdofnsoksfd

"Did it look a bit like a gravel pit? You'd be amazed how many alien worlds look just like gravel pits..."

what is doctor who. without quarry jokes.

"I mean, he's wearing a bow tie!" the Doctor explained patiently. "Ridiculous objects! I wouldn't be seen dead in a bow tie!"

1) says the guy who wears an obnoxiously long scarf everywhere 2) honey, you've got a big storm coming

TIP OF THE TONGUE

there's a scene in this where nyssa and the doctor chill at a diner and they drink chocolate milkshakes together. this is all i care about.

Good Lord, was that celery he was wearing on his lapel?

Yeah We Know

"Are you British?" Nettie said, as if this was the most surprising part of the whole thing.

i mean, fair

He paused. "I don't suppose either of you would be interested in travelling?"

the fifth doctor: hey one of my friends died recently and i abandoned the other one but i really miss having a large crew so i was wondering if you two literal children would like to risk your life travelling with me :)

SOMETHING BORROWED

you'd think given this one is from peri's pov she'd be slightly more central to the plot. ah well.

"That's two storeys up!" I exclaimed. "And I'm in heels." "Well then, you should have worn more sensible shoes, shouldn't you?"

maybe she lives in hope that she won't have to do any running/scale buildings every time she steps out of the tardis. i get that. 

"Well, you are the expert when it comes to gaudy," I said, giving a meaningful look to his red-and-yellow plaid coat and green tie.

every six story is legally obligated to drag his coat

The Doctor shook the man's hand vigorously. "Yes, yes. A little different round the edges since our last meeting on Kiri 4, but all the charm and intellect are still here."

i love this bastard.......

"Love? That contrived, chemically driven state of idiocy?"

mood

A clatter of metal was the sole warning I had before a hole in the ceiling suddenly opened, and the Doctor came tumbling down to the floor, landing in an ungraceful heap of rainbow plaid. Nonetheless, he rose to his feet with all the dignity of an Olympic gymnast who'd just landed a perfect somersault.

not to sound like a broken record but i would Die for this idiot

withholding myself from using more quotes to illustrate my unbridled love for the sixth doctor whom..........

"You might regret not helping me with this one day," she  [the Rani] called over to us. "Your next regeneration may be sooner than you think."

Huh. I Wonder What That's Referring To

RIPPLE EFFECT

From the look on his face, Ace reckoned that a visit to the Time Lords was something similar to her having to visit the dentist back on Earth.

i mean to be fair.....the time lords are a whole lot worse although in this case the doctor's reasons for not wanting to visit are: (i) they're 'old, boring and judgemental' (ii) they have stupid clothes and a stupid non-intervention policy (iii) they treat him 'like a naughty schoolboy' (can't have that in front of your companion!)

i apparently didn't have many comments to make on this one. um...it was good. i liked the idea of an alternate universe with nice daleks. MOVING ON

SPORE

"They're all dead....everyone's dead, flesh turned to liquid. It moves...There are things! Moving things! They're alive..." Major Platt looked up at the Doctor. "The caller became incoherent after that and disconnected shortly after." The Doctor drummed his fingers thoughtfully against the top of the aluminium folding-table between them. "Hmm...That really doesn't sound very good."

YEAH YA THINK?

"I was at the opera," the Doctor explained, "when my phone went off."

this is his excuse for That outfit. really just copying everything from grace here huh

THE BEAST OF BABYLON

She also didn't yet know that he wasn't a man at all.

yeah cos he's non-binary duh

"So now we're landing on Earth," he shouted, "two thousand years before the birth of Christ..." "Who?" "He was a bit like Sherlock Holmes. Knew the answers to everything. Very good at solving mysteries. Some humans use him to measure time."

obsessed with the implications of this dialogue...

THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED COTTAGE

absolutely love the concept of this one...a world created from martha's memories of reading a famous five expy as a child

"What?" Martha said defensively, keeping her voice down. "That's how he was described in the books. Don't blame me. This was 1951. Everything back then was blinkered, sexist, and ever-so-slightly racist. It was a backward time." "Ah, yes," said the Doctor, "because 2007 has none of those things."

vibe with this convo

"Am I lonely?" Martha asked. "You're a particle of dust," the Doctor said. "Of course you're not lonely." "I sound lonely." "Well you're not; you're having a great time."

this conversation where the doctor tells martha to imagine herself as a particle of dust has exactly the same kind of energy as discussions you have at 3am at a sleepover

NOTHING O'CLOCK

Amy looked irritated. She wasn't irritated, but she liked to give him the impression she was, just to show him who was boss.

yeah...

ok the villains in this one are actually really fucked up like. it's been a While since i read it now because i procrastinated on making these notes but they were Good creepy. thank you mr gaiman. 

LIGHTS OUT

now THIS is one where the pov heavily contributes to the story...

He turns to look at me with piercing, hollow-set grey eyes, then furrows his impressive silvery brows. "I'm buying a coffee," he says. "For a girl."

so THAT'S why twelve took so long to find coffee for clara......he wasn't buying it on earth. good vibes

TIME LAPSE

i absolutely LOVE the concept for this one, which is that the year 2004 completely disappears from records

A typed envelope reading The Doctor, The TARDIS, Ex-Gallifrey followed by a long string of numbers, letters, and things that probably were letters but looked like they came from about eight different languages.

obsessed with the fact that (i) you can apparently send letters to the tardis, like it has an actual address (mel throwing a message in a bottle into space doesn't seem so unreasonable now huh...) (ii) part of this address is 'ex-gallifrey'

this dude gets rejected. and is so badly embarrassed that he erases 2004 from existence. i promise i'm not making this up.

[thesportssoundoff]

“I know undercards don’t matter. You don’t need to drive the point home so hard.” UFC 234 From Australia Preview

WHEW boy! Let's talk about this right quick. Let's begin with the positives of this card which are readily apparent. The two big middleweight fights at the top of the bill are pretty damn good. Even IF we assume that Israel Adesanya vs Anderson Silva is nothing more than a high level MMA human sacrifice, the mere presence of Anderson Silva makes this must see appointment television. Silva vs Adesanya will at least be memorable and the middleweight title fight is probably the best fight to showcase the transition from old and clunky to young and vibrant. Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum both represent some truly positive things ranging from the benefits of cutting less weight to the rise of young and athletic in a division run by a bunch of Muks.  The bad news is that the rest of this card ranges from "It's intriguing but not quite worth the spot it has" to "How could anybody care about this?" Some of these fights in all fairness are solid well put together contests pitting two solid fighters with similar records/places in the division----but most of these fights would have a hard time being considered appropriate main card ESPN+ fights. They want you to pay for the privilege of seeing Montana De La Rosa and Nadia Kassem. Remember that folks. Let's chit chat about it.

Fights: 12

Debuts: Marcos Rosa, Callan Potter and Raulian Pavia

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 2 (Ryan SPANN OUT, Sam Alvey IN vs Jim Crute/Alex Gorgees OUT, Callan Potter IN vs Jalin Turner)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 5 (Israel Adesanya, Anderson Silva, Kelvin Gastelum, Robert Whittaker and Lando Vannata)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 2 (Wulliji Buren, Teruto Ishihara)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, Kelvin Gastelum, Ricky Simon, Dong Hyun Ma, Rani Yahya)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 23-5

Kelvin Gastelum- 2-1 (1) Robert Whittaker- 3-0 Anderson Silva- 1-0 Israel Adesanya- 4-0 Ricky Simon- 2-0 Rani Yahya- 3-1 Montana De La Rosa- 2-0 Nadia Kassem- 1-0 Jim Crute- 1-0 Sam Alvey- 4-3

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Lightweight- 3 (7) Bantamweight- 3 (4) Middlewieght- 2 (3) Flyweight- 1 (4) Women’s Flyweight- 1 (4) Light Heavyweight- 1 (3) Featherweight- 1 (3)

Welterweight- (4) Heavyweight- (2) Women’s Strawweight- (1)

2019’s Records We Keepin Track Of:

Debuting Fighters (2-7): Callan Potter, Raulian Pavia, Marcos Rosa

Short Notice Fighters (1-2):  Callan Potter, Sam Alvey

Second Fight (5-1):  Nadia Kassem, Jim Crute, Devonte Smith, Kai Kara France, Jonathan Martinez, Jalin Turner

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (3-0):

Undefeated Fighters (1-6): Nadia Kassem, Israel Adesanya, Jim Crute

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization: Dong Hyun Ma

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (3-3): Nadia Kassem, Jalin Turner

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- "What is this PPV gonna draw?" is going to be a pretty complicated discussion when you factor in all of the usual elements at play. For starters, the top two fights could not be anymore appealing. Four well known proven middleweights who have headlined enough events (be it on free TV, PPV etc) to at least have some cache with fans. Gastelum, Whittaker, Silva and Adesanya all have highlight reel worthy performances to make for a hell of a sizzle reel. Both fights have compelling enough stories to get people excited. We know fans don't necessarily care about undercards as much as you'd think so the complete ass-ness of the undercard is not entirely worthy of discussing.The counterpoint is that this card as a whole is very weak, it's an international PPV (which fans seem to not necessarily associate with quality) and historically speaking Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum have been anti-draws on PPV, Silva is the big star who hasn't been relied upon to move PPVs for a long time AND Israel Adesanya has struggled to draw free viewers to TVs let alone paying ones. There's also the fact that if there's a purchasing decision to be made, I imagine fans would rather splurge on UFC 235 than this card. The very loaded UFC 225 card with CM Punk, Holm, Andrei Arlovski, Tai Tuiavasa, Whittaker/Romero and Covington/RDA did around 250K buys which is pretty blegh. So what's this one do? I feel like 200K is the bottom line and anything over what 225 did should be a success.

2- Of the ten fighters on this main card, only four of them have ever appeared on a PPV main card before. Remove the co-main and main event and half of the fighters on the main card last appeared on the Fight Pass prelims or FS1(2) prelims to the main card. Only Jim Crute and Sam Alvey appeared on main cards last. This is a very thin main card.

3- The key challenge in figuring out the co-main event is whether Whittaker's body can hold up over what figures to once again be another grueling 25 minute fight. Gastelum has only been rocked once (a big counter hook vs Rick Story after mentally checking out for a bit) and so he figures to be there for as long as the fight lasts. Gastelum hits hard for a dude going up to 185 lbs and  when he gets going, he drowns people under a consistent offensive workrate. Like against Romero, Whittaker is going to be the fighter who has the technical advantages and he's the sort of fighter who can remain elusive while also being offensive and consistently pressuring. The problem is that Whittaker has broken hands, torn ACLs and been rocked consistently in his last two fights, both violent as all get out wars with Yoel Romero. That's nearly an hrs worth of fighting with Yoel Romero which physically and systematically destroys most normal people. At some point Whittaker is going to break down and I'm left wondering if Gastelum is going to be the lucky beneficiary to Romero's hard work.

4- So how likely it is that Adesanya vs Anderson Silva turns into one of those overly respectful deals where it's fifteen minutes of staring with an occasional flurry? Would Adesanya carry Silva out of respect?

5- Nadia Kassem is rather interesting and while her vs Montana De La Rosa is not in any way shape or form a main card PPV fight, it IS an interesting one. De La Rosa is a TUF contender turned solid flyweight who seems to have bouts of mental blockage at inopportune times BUT also packs good skills on the feet and in the grappling department. Kassem is really powerful, a big 125er (let's not forget she weighed 120 lbs in her strawweight debut) and comes from a market that the UFC visits 3-4 times a year with one PPV a year. She could be 2-3 wins away from us talking about her vs Valentina Shevchenko.

6- How many fights off of this show will you remember ONCE you remove the main and co-main event?

7- Kelvin Gastelum has managed to make things work pretty well with a basic 1-2 combination punctuated by a leg kick or two when he has to. He's a crisp boxer but people forget he's also a pretty damn good wrestler as well. I wonder if he tries to bring that back into the fold against Robert Whittaker just to shake things up over the course of the fight.

8- I wonder if Kai Kara France vs Raulian Pavia is exempt from Fight Of The Night honors on principle alone given that they're going to be gutting the division.

9- It's tough to remember it now but we started 2017 believing Lando Vannata could become one of the bigger future stars of the sport. At the very least, fresh off a highlight reel KO over Makdessi and with a FOTN vs Tony Ferguson in his backpocket, we figured he'd be a key factor in the division. Since that point? Lando is 0-2-2 with two draws that could theoretically have been losses. Vannata is a really fun fighter to watch but one who seems to fold under pressure and one who seems neither strong enough to wrestle successfully or complete enough to do the middle of the road stuff to make his high end flashy offense work. He flirted with free agency but the UFC brought him back. He gets a guy who rumor has it was signed primarily based off of his friendship with Anderson Silva. This is a gimme.

10- It's probably not going to be UFC quality but Shane Young vs Austin Arnett should be at the very least somewhat fun. I hope?

11- Rani Yahya finally gets his PPV debut after being in the UFC since the original WEC merger. Bless him.

12- Jim Crute, who is a very hittable guy, taking on Sam Alvey, who hits very hard, is a very risky way to give your Australian LHW prospect wunderkind some PPV exposure.

[askullinajar]

A Little Help From Your Friends (Part 4)

T/W: Suicide Mention. Also mentions of near sexual assault. Nothing graphic, just some sleazy guys getting handsy, but I thought I’d warn just in case.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Fic Info: Takes place around 2 years before the events of A Merry Little Christmas. Rating: Mature. Pairings: Lucy/Lockwood, Holly/Rani, others if you squint. Ao3 link: here

Stuck in a jar, longing to get out, longing to live again, the skull never thought there’d be a future where he wished he had just stayed dead.

But maybe all he needed was a helping hand from the people who somehow, against their better judgement, cared. A helping hand from each of them. In turn.

Part 4: The Stranger

The nighttime breeze was cool against Skully’s face as he strolled leisurely through the park. He wasn’t supposed to be alone, he knew, but he couldn’t take much longer of being cooped up in his flat, so he’d snuck out while Holly – his babysitter for the day – had been busy making a bunch of dinners to freeze so he didn’t have to bother cooking. She was too nice sometimes, it was sickening.

He sucked in a deep breath of air. There was something about going for a walk after dark that seemed to make the world just melt away. The air smelled different, fresher. Stars twinkled in the sky. There was barely anyone around so no pressure to keep acting human. You could just let everything go for a moment.

He walked this way during lunch break at work, on occasion. He could see the hospital from here, the lights still shining through the windows. He still wasn’t allowed back at work for a while, but, god, he missed it. Not necessarily the people so much – he didn’t get along so well with them – but the routine. The feeling of actually being useful.

He watched shadows move past the lit windows. There was supposed to be a new employee joining the forensics department some time, he remembered. He hoped they weren’t as mind-numbingly boring as his other colleagues. You’d think a field in studying crime scenes would attract some interesting people sometimes, but no! At least Rani and A.J. popped in from time to time, or he’d literally go insane.

How long had he been out now? He had sort of zoned out for a while there. He didn’t want Holly panicking and calling the others. He should probably head back.

Then he heard a scream.

A female scream. Skully knew these streets; full of back alleys and pubs and nightclubs. It was just about the time of night that drunken men would be let loose.

The screaming continued. He bolted towards the sound.

A young girl, no older than eighteen, stood cornered in an alleyway, surrounded by men who were getting a little too handsy.

“P-please. No. Just let me go. Please.”

“Come on,” a man was saying as his comrades laughed, “a little dress like that, you can’t expect not to get some attention now…”

Skully didn’t really think before he barrelled straight into him, shoving him away from the girl.

“Run,” he told her. “Straight to the police station.”

She didn’t need telling twice.

The lead man picked himself off the ground and glared at Skully. “Think you can get in the way of me getting some?”

Skully gave him a loose smile. “I think I just did.”

Skully had met people like this before. Victorian London had been swarming with them. Once upon a time, he’d have made short work of them; a quick slice to all the major arteries before having Bickerstaff’s burlier men drag the bodies to the basement. They usually wound up in the Thames after that. But now, London’s officers were a little more competent, and Skully couldn’t be bothered with the fuss at that moment. Anyway, he didn’t have his knives… And Lucy would probably get mad at him.

Of course, he had ghostly talents at his disposal, but that was to remain a secret. He didn’t want these men blurting out about a man with supernatural powers.

So, when the first man gave a roar and charged towards him, he side-stepped and let him run straight into the wall, where he crumpled on the ground, out cold.

While the other men stood dazed at how fast their friend had fallen, Skully took the opportunity to weigh them up.

Once, a good few years ago, Lucy has asked him if he still saw people the way he did as a ghost – their spirits rather than their bodies. He had told her no, but that wasn’t strictly true. He saw their physical form as anyone else would, yes. But also, just beyond that, their souls. Clearer after dark, like with death-glows. How bright they were. And how rotten. That was another thing; he was sick of seeing all the rot.

These men, they were all rotten. Their souls black and festering, distorting their features. They were hideous to look at.

Skully couldn’t see his own soul in the mirror, but he often wondered, what with all he’d done and his questionable moral compass, whether his soul looked like that. And if it did, whether it could be reversed.

The men came to their senses. The big, burly one took a swing at Skully. He dodged and jabbed his elbow into the back of the man’s neck. The man gave a shout as he stumbled, and his wiry friend aimed a kick towards Skully, who dodged and knocked his other leg out from under him, making him collapse to the ground.

Too preoccupied with the two men, Skully failed to dodge as the final man swung at him. He was an average looking guy, but damn, he could pack a punch, and Skully sprawled to the ground, his right cheek throbbing.

As he was trying to push himself up, the burly man kicked at his ribs, and Skully fell back down, gasping, winded.

Oh, how tempting it was to unleash his powers. But he couldn’t; the truth coming out could lead to the public getting ideas, which could lead to another Problem, the lives of children be damned. People were horrible that way.

Another kick forced Skully to roll over. That one had definitely cracked a rib.

The alleyway was dark, the souls of the men darker. Maybe he’d just let them beat him. At least the girl had gotten away.

Then: light. Almost blinding in its brightness. A person, Skully realised, with a soul brighter than he’d ever seen, who had run over and now stood between him and the three men.

The wiry man laughed. Such a disgusting, nasally sound. “Look at this! A little girl’s come to your rescue. And we thought you’d chased away our only plaything.”

“I’m not little,” said the person, “and I’m not a girl.” And they punched the wiry man straight in the face.

He swayed on the spot for a moment, then fell flat on his face, joining his former leader.

Skully pushed himself into a sitting position, too shocked and in awe to do anything else.

The remaining two men blinked in surprise, then they seemed to come to their senses.

“Kind of small for a boy,” the burly one growled, swinging a punch at the person.

“I’m not a boy either,” they said, spinning out of the way, their long bronze hair flying out behind them, and jabbing the man in his torso three times in quick succession.

The man’s arm seemed to just… collapse.

“What the…?” he started, staggering. That was when the bronze-haired person round-house kicked him in the head, and he fell to ground too.

But now they were facing away from that damn final man, who pulled his arm back ready to punch. Skully didn’t even think before he thrust his hands forwards and sent a blast of psychic wind that threw the man into the wall so hard the brick cracked.

The person turned their head and looked down at the unconscious man, then to the other three bodies, then finally to Skully.

“How did you…?” they both said in unison, then the sound of sirens came into earshot.

The person’s sky-blue eyes grew wide.

“The police are coming? I can’t… I won’t be able to talk to them. I–” They began flapping their arms frantically at their sides.

“Hey,” said Skully, pushing himself to his feet. He made to reach towards them and steady their arms, but they jerked out of the way, so he kept his hands raised, close but not touching. “It’s okay, just run. I’ll handle this.”

They turned their wide-eyed gaze on him. “But… what about you?”

“Listen,” he said. “I’ve already been arrested three times this year and its only March. And, yet, I’ve never been charged with anything.”

They frowned.  “How…?”

The sirens grew closer.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “But trust me, I can handle this. Just go. And thanks for stepping in, by the way.”

They managed to give him a small smile before they ran off and disappeared down the alley, just in time for a police car to arrive and two officers to step out.

“Jim Walker,” said the senior officer. “Why am I not surprised? What’s the story this time?”

Skully grinned at him. “Oh, you know me, Dave. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, is all.”

Dave eyed the unconscious forms over his shoulder, then looked Skully up and down. “And how did you get that cut on your cheek?”

“I tripped,” said Skully. “I’m such a clutz!”

Dave hummed. “You must be, the number of times you’ve just ‘tripped’.”

He put his radio to his mouth. “Need an ambulance and backup, ASAP.”

Skully smiled. The number of times Dave had arrested him, at least he knew by now that these men were no nice guys and backup would be needed.

Dave glanced over his shoulder at the other cop and huffed. “What’re you waiting for, McGuire? Cuff the boy!”

“Oh!” McGuire blurted, fumbling with the handcuffs at his belt. “Yes, sir!”

Skully eyed the other cop. He was younger, perhaps fresh out of the academy, and Skully hadn’t seen him around before. He smiled. Fresh meat.

“Don’t have any padded ones, do you?” said Skully, holding up his bandaged arms. “Only my wrists are a little sore.” He tilted his head to one side and gave the young cop a lazy smile. “Or do you prefer them rough?”

McGuire’s face turned bright red and he began spluttering, dropping the handcuffs in his embarrassment. Skully’s smile grew wider.

Dave let out a sigh. “Walker, I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again: Stop trying to seduce my officers.”

Skully adopted a looking of mock innocence. “Trying to?”

Dave just gave him a dead-pan stare, a look he was famous for. “Forget the cuffs, just get in the car.”

Skully happily obliged, and watched through the window as ambulances and more police cars showed up, officers hand-cuffing the men to their stretchers.

He wondered where the bronze-haired person was now, and if he’d ever see a soul so bright again.

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[kaleraniel]

100 questions for dæmons