#raven in her flop era

[ravensmadreads]

BESTIES!

[eleonkraken]

Ignore this post I'm just going insane about Chibnall era Doctor Who again.

These characters are so empty of heart and they go nowhere and essentially everything they do or say they only do in the capacity of being plot devices. It's like once the writers had the plot figured out they had to shoehorn the characters into it. Every single episode.

In Rose's first episode she's the one who takes out the nestene consciousness when the Doctor is incapacitated. In Donna's first episode, despite being a bit of a plot device herself, she's the one who sees that the Doctor shouldn't travel alone and alerts him to that. In Martha's first episode, she's the one who actively chooses to sacrifice her last breaths to save the Doctor so he can save everybody in the hospital. In Amy's first episode, she gets to be angry and hold the Doctor accountable for making promises he couldn't keep. In Bill's first episode, her curiosity and stubbornness is what essentially pulls the Doctor out of hibernation.

They all have thoughts and feelings and drives and motivations that shape the stories they're in and the decisions they make. They grow over the course of their tenure. They're not perfect characters, but they have a distinct core personality which drives them to do things that make a difference to the story they're in.

You'll notice I didn't mention Clara's first episode, and that's because series 7 is badly written compared to s1-6 and s8-10. That Clara is a plot device, and her character flip flops between different character traits largely without reason as it befits the plot of each episode. But in s8, they mostly fix that issue by settling on an arrogant, ambitious, fearless version of her. And when they take away someone she loves in the series finale, we get to see what that specific kind of character is capable of under those circumstances. Who she is, who she has been that whole season, is what makes that story happen.

That's compelling. That's engaging. That makes you care.

Are there equivalent moments for Chib's companions? How do their feelings and motivations make a difference to the story? How do those things progress from where they start to when they leave the Doctor?

Martha realizes she needs to leave because staying with someone she loves who doesn't quite love her back is harmful. Amy has to leave because she loves Rory so much that even the risk of not ending up in the same place or time is preferable to staying with the Doctor and not even trying. Clara's own hubris is why she ultimately has to leave the Doctor (yes, it should have killed her, but either way it's a punishment because she has to leave him forever).

Why does Yaz leave?

What is Yaz's Face the Raven moment? What's her Parting of the Ways moment? What's her Fires of Pompeii moment? What's her Forest of the Dead moment? What's her Pyramid at the End of the World moment? Please let me know if it exists and I've missed it.

[thefiresofpompeii]

finally watching sleep no more because i can’t allow myself to have skipped a single twelveclara episode. you lot weren’t lying, the handheld camera found footage recording format they’re going for is a total flop and achieves nothing but making me nauseous. the side characters with their repetitive catchphrases (it’s giving WHERE’S MY BENNI!!) are bloody weird. why is clara wearing high heels to go save a base under siege?? sure her outfits are never the most practical (albeit, usually cute as fuck) but that’s a bit excessive…

the ‘i’m not just a pretty face because i know that morpheus was the god of dreams” line also made me wince, like, who doesn’t know that? bit funny in light of jenna’s later role as johanna constantine in the sandman. this woman is always talking about some type of morpheus

the “clara hold my hand” “…i’m okay” “i’m not!” moment was cute though. ah the tedium i put myself through for these two

verdict so far: definitely 13-era episode vibes (derogatory). what the hell is this doing in between the zygon inversion and *face the raven*? thematic cohesion out the window, just vibes. tsuranga ass episode

[whiskeyswifty]

ok yeah re: your tags this is what i figured and i wonder if people keep phrasing it like that On Purpose to pretend midnights isn't a flop or just cause swifties think very strictly in terms of Album Eras (ha). but at the same time i kind of wasn't sure cause i still can't seem to grasp exactly How hard tickets were to get and How expensive they are cause like my brain kind of finds it hard to believe that THAT many people payed THAT much when they weren't fans ? but a good concert is a good concert haha i guess i just don't have the Concert Goer mindset

lmaoooooo i can't imagine midnights has that many diehard fans that they would bother with that kind of retconning. i'd venture to say that that person just didn't really understand how we got here. i just made a little sub-post with this article that details a lot of it really well if you want to be certain that i'm not just talking out my ass lol.

i know it sounds crazy when you look at before and afters like that, but I think you're forgetting that in the lead up to the tour, she had been feeding the content beast for YEARS while subsequently withholding a tour. for good reasons i mean we had a pandemic, but she kept the content faucet going. not just any old content though, content that did several crucial things.

1. folklore/evermore DRASTICALLY broadened her fanbase. everyone on here i'm sure can tell you how they had friends or family who had never cared much for taylor before, but folklore/evermore was a HUGE success, ESPECIALLY among the 30+ crowd at the time. it was incredibly mature, both in it's subject matter but also in it's soundscape and genre, and so she collected that new group of new fans whom she had never been able to reach before. (there are also many twitter threads of these new fans exploring her back catalog for the first time and so i mean there's a spike right there to her old work)

2. the re-releases of both fearless and red reignited the fervor for those albums in fans that might not have been into her more recent stuff. maybe they aged out or they just didn't care for the newer pop-oriented fare, who knows. either way, it turned her into something extremely powerful which is a NOSTALGIA artist, at least in the eyes of these fans turned casual listeners. nostalgia is a powerful drug, so she collected these reanimated fans as well, and then created an ENTIRE tour around that nostalgia.

3. in general, i'm sure you've seen articles and news stories about how concerts are difficult to get tickets to in general post-pandemic, which is not exclusive to her. she has several outside factors but that general fact is true across all the tours we've seen post 2021. people were cooped up in their houses, separated from all the communal aspects of life, even if they didn't like those aspects. going to big public events have become commodities in and of themselves because of the hunger we had for it that we had to bottle for so long, fizzing and building until finally it pops when we enter a stadium again. it's seeing your favorite artist in person, sure, that's part of it, but what's become MORE important post-pandemic is the pilgrimage aspect of assembling with your fellow acolytes and experiencing the euphoria of that communal release. you can take the friendship bracelet phenomenon which is a complete fan invention, born out of this hunger for human connection and interaction among like minded people in a shared space. swifties couldn't WAIT to see other swifties and feel that human community in person for the first time in years. so we can add this factor as well, how by penning us all until we grew ravenous with hunger for human interaction, the pandemic made concert going one of the most gourmet michelin star meals currently available to the human population.

Add this all together, and throw in a new album yes which is in comparison to the other factors a mere bundle of twigs on the now soaring flame. but it counts! it all counts. it's this collective intersection of priming an audience both unintentionally/unwillingly and also verrrry intentionally that caused her ticket demands to be as gargantuan as they were, and still are. it was a genius marketing move, making this tour appealing to every single person who ever liked taylor ever, in combination with her on the upswing in public favor (which we know will have a down swing but we're on the up right now). and it's also subsequently CRAZY to point to midnights as the all encompassing reason for this ladkjakldfjlksdfj. i know the mold is usually to chapterize her life in albums, that's true, but this breaks the mould. even calling this the midnights era is ludicrous. It's the Eras Tour Era if anything, and we will be in it for another YEAR at least. insane to think about.

and as far as having a concert goers mindset, i don't know if i have that either, it takes a lot for me to go to a concert. but on top of ALL of this lead up, she delivers one hell of a show. worth going again if you can, imo.

[danny-chase]

Could you elaborate on the Brother Blood arc please?

Re: my i can fix it disease

Basically it's a flop era, i know it's a flop era, the comics are bad and i dislike most of them, especially how Dick acts in the lead up to the Brother Blood arc which is supposed to be out of line because brainwashing, but is also just like. frustratingly mean to Kory (and part of that is also the fact the comic was written by a white man in the 80s) and she doesn't just dump him (partially because of the fact that this was a comic written by a white man in the 80s) and nothing is really resolved because they're just like "yeah it's brainwashing so it's fine" - but the thing is they never really go super in depth of the type of brainwashing it was, other than throwing out a few lines in a separate comic about it having similar symptoms to being bipolar and schizophrenic. On the other side of the story you have Donna being portrayed as an incompetent leader and worrying over Terry's essay instead of actually getting shit done. So like. it's objectively a bad arc

However - i'm a sucker for the brainwashing trope, i like the implications that Dick's struggling with mental health issues (hence why he didn't see the brainwashing stuff as out of the normal), I love @disco-troy's analysis of Donna's characterization in the arc showing how manipulative Terry is of her. But I really love the idea of Dick and Raven watching the walls move in a cult together and having the time of their lives as everything around them is actively burning down. i think the aesthetics are fantastic. i love the ideas of them tripping balls in a shitty run down prison cell together. later after the arc, Raven reflects a little bit on their time there together where she recalls Dick almost as her knight in shining armor who took care of her while they were together and that is a flat out lie, he went in without any sort of plan, tried fighting, got caught, started getting brainwashed (again) passed out from pain (which Raven had to take some of so he didn't DIE) and laid there like a dead man with his head in Raven's lap. like KLDSFSKD okay to be fair after that they like. went to parades together and were commercials or smth (which is also SO FUNNY) so there were other opportunities but i love the idea that both of their memories of that time are super unreliable and their grasp on reality in the moment were trippy as fuck but that they were both having the time of their lives during their collective hallucination

Anyways i wrote this (slightly morbid) fic about it

[esonetwork]

Timestamp: Series Nine Summary

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/timestamp-series-nine-summary/

Timestamp: Series Nine Summary

Doctor Who Series Nine Summary

Peter Capaldi’s sophomore set was a big step up.

After Series Eight‘s uneven performance, the Twelfth Doctor really started to shine with stories better aligned with science fiction’s mission to analyze the human condition. Series Nine tackled vengeance and regret, life and death, and war and peace before capping the run with a love story.

Along the way, we did get a straight time travel tale in Under the Lake & Before the Flood and a swing-and-a-miss regarding choice and consequences in the three stories orbiting Clara’s death, as well as an experiment that flopped with Sleep No More. Those last two were the big drawbacks in the series, but I’m more than pleased with the deep dive into the human condition that was amplified by Peter Capaldi getting more comfortable in the Twelfth Doctor’s skin.

Clara’s negative growth from the last series didn’t play out well in this series. She was a lot more stable in this set, but her arc didn’t pay off thanks to Steven Moffat’s inability to say goodbye. She faced the consequences of her actions but then had the choice reversed, thus reinforcing my position that Last Christmas should have been her last journey.

Overall, Series Nine comes in with a solid 4.1 score, putting it alongside the Fifth and Eighteenth classic seasons and the Second and Seventh revival era series. That collection is a tie for tenth among the thirty-seven seasons (so far) in the scope of the Timestamps Project. That’s a good place to be.

The Magician’s Apprentice & The Witch’s Familiar – 4 Under the Lake & Before the Flood – 5 The Girl Who Died & The Woman Who Lived – 4 The Zygon Invasion & The Zygon Inversion – 5 Sleep No More – 2 Face the Raven – 4 Heaven Sent & Hell Bent – 4 The Husbands of River Song – 5

Series Nine Average Rating: 4.1/5

Next up, the Timestamps Project takes a look at Class, which is the last big set of episodes that your humble reviewer hasn’t watched before. That will take about eight weeks and lead back to Doctor Who, which will take us through Series Ten and the final adventures of the Twelfth Doctor before embarking on the Thirteenth Doctor’s journey.

UP NEXT – Class: For Tonight We Might Die

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

[guiltygearofficial]

Mr. Daisuke Ishiwatari, who in Guilty Gear is most likely to have a "flop era" ?

For the Gearsters that are not familiar with the term, a “Flop Era” refers to a part of someone’s live in which they were less succesful/”Kinda Cringe” as one of you may put it. 

Sol’s flop era was his time in the Holy Order, also known as his catholic phase. Luckily, he realized he was being kinda fail and got better

Ky Kiske has been in his flop era since the very beginning, being a slab of catholic whitebread, however, with my help he has been getting better every game (symbolized with his tits getting more prominent)

May has not had a fail saga because she’s a really cool pirate

Millia went through a flop era commonly referred to as “Dating Zato”

Zato’s entire life was a flop era, but he got better (he died). 

Potemkin had that time he got way too invested in the Joker movie for a month and refused to stop quoting the clown

Chipp is the victim of many a cringe compilations that get shared between the other G20 members. He could stop his flop era at any given time, but he refuses to stop being the way he is, which is something to be admired in it’s own right. Chipp may be cringe, but he is happy

Faust’s flop era has a name and it is “Dr.Baldhead”

Axl has no such thing as a flop “era”, he is british, which is a flop existence

Kliff doesn’t know what a flop era is because he’s too old to know twitter slang, but he also uses surfer lingo so he’s definetly a little floppy atleast

Testament does not have a flop era because he’s consistently top tier. This will be rectified in Guilty Gear Strive when I take away all his traps. 

The crusade are widely considered the Flop Era for gears in general, but especially Justice

Baiken’s flop Era was the time she started kinning  Jeff the Killer in one of her Guilty Gear XX Slash Accent Core +R routes

Anji hasn’t had a flop era but his butterfly flops down and is now an overhead if that counts

Venom went through a flop era commonly referred to as “Being Gay For Zato”

Johnny is Johnny

Jam’s flop era was that time her restaurant burned down

Dizzy has had a big flop era where she ended up trying to wipe out humanity but that got retconned so don’t worry about it :)

Bridget is 12 and hasn’t had a flop era (yet)

A.B.A’s flop era was that time she had a crush on Mori from accounting

Slayer had a flop era back during the early 2000′s, where he tried to adapt  to a more modern definiton of “Dandy” and wore a fedora for two weeks. He’s still having nightmares about that time to this day.

Zappa’s flop era is flopping around on the ground violently as the twenty  ghosts stored in his left tit fight over who gets to ruin this man’s life today

I-no is too much of a girlboss to have a flop era

Every single Robo-Ky is programmed with their own flop programm which forces them to be as cringe as possible (as to properly emulate Flesh Ky)

Order Sol is a flop era

Sin is three years old and hasn’t had time to flop yet

Raven had that time he was blue for some reason

Bedman’s flop era is more commonly known as “Guilty Gear Xrd”

Ramlethal exploded that one time, losing out on screentime for half of Revelator

Elphelt’s flop era was getting banned from Tinder for being 0 years old

Leo Whitefang considers any time he spends being worse at anything than Ky a “Flop Era”. It’s somehow one of the less questionable entries in his dictionary

Answer’s flop era is sticking around because of Chipp’s huge tits

Nagoriyuki is way too cool to ever have a flop era have you seen him? He’s a really really cool guy who is very badass and not a floppy disk. Do not be mean to him.

Izuna’s flop era was that time he got confused for a furry at an anime convention.

[hopskipaway]

throwing this question back to you - what are your favorite raven and murphy looks?

MURPHY.

[dropship: his long hair! his utility belt! his sleeves with thumb holes! becca’s lab: it’s better shown in video but i think his hair during this era, it flops down in his face often. shallow valley: i think this is my favourite season for short hair murphy— in the later seasons it just feels too flat at times. it must be his single glow; he was pretty. pre-crust deadzone: who did those little twists in his hair? who knows. is it like that because he’s dirty? probably. no matter, i like it. plus— again the thumb hole shirt.]

RAVEN.

[snow bunny: i loved the framing pieces of her ponytail in that season, and she just looked so pretty. dropship: the fingerless gloves (or, sleeves?)!! her cute little tank top!! cute baby raven!! arkadia: love the henley shirt, red is so her colour. she often is wearing jackets so it’s so cute to see her without one. salon??: it was super out of place that they were so done up in season six, but she looked so beautiful i’m willing to overlook that lol.]

BONUS: matching red shoulder patch soulmates.

[if i could draw, i’d draw them both in their jackets together or (and this one is the one i’d want more) an au where they are a couple in season one with her wearing his spiky patch jacket.]

DOUBLE BONUS: leave favourite looks for them…

[murphy. post bunker: just no… plus, the implication that jaha did it- ick. season seven: the entire season minus that scene before the reactor stuff and the very end. he looked so frumpy and weird. #notmymurphy. raven. post nikki: people get shot and stabbed and they look fresh the very next episode, yet she had to rock her beat up face all season? octavia’s bunker: that jacket she wore in the last few episodes was so unlike her. she normally stayed away from “grounder-like” clothing so it just felt really weird and off putting for her to choose that outfit...]

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Evanescence's Amy Lee on the Band's New Album, 'The Bitter Truth'

The singer is ready for the band's next era and to be seen as more than just a "cute frontwoman."

In the early aughts—when Juicy Couture sweatsuits dominated and The O.C.’s Seth Cohen was TV’s no.1 man—it was nearly impossible to not hear Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life” piercing the airwaves. The throaty vocals and crushing guitar riffs help raise the single to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and secure its certified platinum status. So it’s almost hard to believe that nearly two decades ago that level of success seemed unattainable for the band.

“From every angle starting out, we were the indie long shot,” bandleader Amy Lee recalls to Marie Claire from her home in Nashville. “Too many things about us didn’t quite fit the mainstream for it to be safe to spin [on the radio].”

She continues: “The biggest thing about us that was different, was that I’m female. The label insisted we had a male vocalist on the chorus of the song, to make it more familiar. I said ‘no,’ so they cut our funding, and I moved back in with my parents. I thought we were dropped. Instead, they called us a few weeks later with a compromise: We only had to do it on one song, and if we did it, they had a placement for us in a film that tied in the male/female theme and made the song have a bit of creative purpose.”

The film was the critically-panned Daredevil. But regardless of the film's flop, placement on the movie’s soundtrack bolstered the band’s pedigree. In a few short months in 2003, Evanescence went from playing clubs to an international stadium tour for their debut album, Fallen. The band catapulted to fame for their melodramatic, baroque-laced harmonies. And Lee, who was just 21 at the time, became revered for her “goth” rock princess aesthetic, flaunting heavy black eyeliner and sleek, raven hair.

Life quickly changed for Lee, who “wasn’t emotionally prepared to be so exposed.”

“I struggled with the differences between myself and my image, feeling like I was always coming up short of someone’s expectations, and frustrated about the lack of support I was getting from the people around me,” she says of the band’s early success. “I had to toughen up and fight for my place, my beliefs, my music, my band.” Lee’s internal battle ultimately prompted a shift in tone on Evanescence’s second album 2006’s The Open Door. “I stopped asking somebody to ‘save me,’” Lee says, quoting her “Bring Me to Life” lyrics, “and started making changes for the better.”

But it’s been nine years since Evanescence has put out any new material. “I needed to just remember who I was,” she says. “We had been going hard. I was just ready for a new chapter of my life.” So she started one. During the band’s sabbatical, Lee ended up writing music for a handful of films—including 2014 drama War Story and the romantic flick Blind (2017)—and recorded a children’s album featuring covers, as well as original songs. “I was really inspired to do something that didn’t sound like Evanescence,” Lee, now 38, recalls. “I needed an outlet to show some other sides of my personality for a while. That felt really good.”

At the same time, Lee was going through changes on a personal level: She relocated to Tennessee after living in New York for 13 years, had a son, now 6 years old, and suffered the loss of her brother. “It just sort of makes you zoom way out on yourself where you're looking kind of more existentially at life,” she says.

That perspective eventually evolved into something tangible: This year, the singer rallied the band back together. By February, Evanescence had a handful of songs ready to go. “We thought we were about to go on a big tour,” she recalls. The pandemic, of course, had other plans for the group.

But Lee was determined to put out music. Quarantine only made her need to create more salient. “I just wasn’t going to stop,” she says. “We were going to find a way, within the limitations, to do this now because I was not waiting anymore.” As it became harder to go into the studio, Lee worked with their producer, Nick Raskulinecz, alone. She met Raskulinecz in a parking lot, and he laid out the preamp, the compressor, and gear needed for recording while they sat 10 feet apart. The process was “unusual” but it worked.

The result is Evanescence’s forthcoming album, The Bitter Truth. “There are songs that are a part of this album that have been in the works for a decade, and songs that just started up this year,” she says. The material reflects how inspired the songwriter has become over time. “I get inspired being in nature, walking through the woods, looking up close at weird bugs,” she muses. But her biggest inspirations are the emotional experiences she’s had in her life, something that makes Evanescence’s music “as dramatic as it is.” “Things like losing someone you love, being a part of creating a new life.” Lee says. “[They] rock me on a deep level to a point where I feel like I have to make music.”

To usher in their new era, Evanescence released their slow-burning single “Wasted on You” in April. “I started writing [the song] on New Year’s Eve, and we got together and we finished it as a band,” she recalls. Evanescence didn’t intend for this particular track to be the The Bitter Truth’s lead single, but its meaning resonated more as lockdowns began, prompting a change in plans. “‘Wasted On You’ wasn’t supposed to be about this moment that we were all in—feeling frozen in time and stuck in place and wanting to break up with a moment and all those things—it just already existed and suddenly applied in a way that had more gravity than it did before,” says Lee.

Because of the overwhelming presence of COVID-19, April wasn’t the right time to release what they had intended to be their first single: the fierce political anthem “Use My Voice.” It instead debuted last week. “Our world is really messed up right now, and if we want it to change, then we can’t just sit around, complaining about it,” Lee says of the track. “We need to get up, speak out and use our voices, and make the change.”

For Lee, “Use My Voice” was a track that had been “bubbling” and “building” the past few years because of the state of the world and American politics. But she was struggling to find the right chorus to accompany the verses. To help her finish the track, Lee enlisted VERIDIA singer and friend Deena Jakoub. It’s something she couldn’t have imagined doing 15 years ago, when she felt like she needed to have complete ownership over her music to be taken seriously. “It was so hard to break through, and I had to fight so much for my rights beyond being a ‘cute frontwoman,’” says Lee. “Like, I’m a writer. I’m a piano player. I’m all these other things first, so hold on a minute before you count me out of the technicalities here. I never would have been open to that kind of collaboration [before].”

As one of the most powerful women in rock—a (largely) male-dominated category—Lee has had to simultaneously prove herself and get comfortable speaking up for her needs. Truthfully, she didn’t have much of a choice.

“I definitely have been the only girl in the room a lot in my life,” she says. While she has felt “empowered” by the number of women moving into diversified roles—producers, engineers, lighting technicians—she can’t help but acknowledge the challenges she faced: “You have to make your own space. You have to be the first one, make a great impression, be the most professional, the most on time and the most patient because you’re there and that’s not normal. You better prove that a woman does belong in the room.”

Amy Lee always has.

[ravensmadreads]

raven hiiii!!! 💞💞💓💞💞💓 i haven’t seen you in a while so i wanted to check in on you 🥺 i hope you’re doing well!! 💞💞💞💞

Fay my beloved angel!!! ♥️ hiiiiii 💕💕 you're such a sweetheart ilyyyy ❤️❤️ not gonna lie to you im basically doing shit. Career, brain, health it's all 20ft underground rn. But ??? I'm working on it??? ✨️ And it's gonna be okay!🥰❤️❤️ or atleast that's what I tell myself so i don't collapse into tears 👀😅

[guesswho-mp3]

~•Ride•~

AU: outlaw!ateez | Pairing: character x reader | Warning: ahhhhhhhh we all going to hell, smut, bondage, dom/sub tones, dirty talk, language, unprotected sex (wrap that willy before you get silly), a sprinkle of knife play, slight choking, degradation if you squint, mind-rotting fluff shawty give me whip-whiplash | Rating: 18++++ | Word Count: 1.2k of pure filth

I imagined wonderland era mullet!san and like I surprised myself with this one I had to stop multiple times to take breaks because it was just too much and I even made myself blush ahhhh

Also the oc!reader for San’s storyline is a gunslinger named Armistice Adams, I’m still working on her introduction but I just wanted to release this already.

also uhhh please don’t read this in my voice ok enjoy :)

The gunslinger peered down at her crimson lover, hair mussed and already fucked out from their heavy petting, lips shining with gloss and begging to be bitten. She could hear him, serpentine tongue slithering into her ear and soft whispers of eat me, you know you want to invaded the recesses of her mind. His black jacket was already unbuttoned, chest heaving and abs tensing with every scrape of her nails against his skin.

“I liked seeing you tied up earlier.” He traced one of his prized knives up the threads that held her shirt together, teasingly weaving it among the strings and pulling it loose, cotton shroud coming undone. “When you were completely at my mercy and just begging to be fucked with those wide eyes of yours.”

“Oh you mean when I had to play damsel to lure out our prey? I dare say Mr. Chisholm I quite enjoyed it too, but right now it seems like you're cutting me loose,” she giggled, squeezing her things together that were wrapped around his slim waist. He just gave her a wolfish grin as he slipped the covering off her shoulders, fingertips ghosting down her shoulder.

“We made off with the score because the bastard couldn’t help himself but be drawn to our helpless little temptress. Don’t worry pretty, you’ll be bound again soon enough,” he simpered, sprinkling tiny pecks along the valley of her breasts, bodies leisurely undulating against each other like the tides.

The blade, not yet done, traveled south and cut through the fabric of her lacy bloomers like butter as she gasped. San used the tip of the knife to pull back the trim and he let out a groan at the sight of her glistening cunt; slick with want and waiting to be satiated. “Oh, look at you,” he pushed the cheek of the knife directly to her sex, “already so wet, you’re practically dripping.” He collected her honey before pulling away, hips lifting up to desperately chase after the little sting of rapture. Her apparent desperation made him chuckle as his tongue darted out to lap at the heady essence, moaning when he tasted heaven. Brown sugar whiskey and peaches.

“Taste yourself.” He brought the knife up to her mouth but she swiped it out of his hand, sending it to embed itself in the wall as she surged forward, shoving her wet muscle into his mouth. San’s dulcet murmurs were swallowed as she sucked up her nectar from his tongue, grinding her core against the rough material of his pants. He fumbled with his belt, shucking it off before binding the gunslinger’s hands behind her back; the scratchy leather nipping into her wrists with the most painful pleasure.

He teased the tip of his member against her engorged clit, drawing throaty moans as the woman nibbled on the freckles that adorned San’s neck; biting down hard when he slipped in. “So tight,” he hissed, voice trailing off in a breathy whine as he shallowly thrusted up inside her. “And you’re so big,” she purred back, nipping his jaw.

He planted a kiss before he pushed her up. “Ride me.” The order was hushed but firm, and the change of position nudged his cock even deeper inside her, sweet little mewls leaving her parted petal lips. Even as he started moving, impatience setting in and fingers digging into the flesh of her hips as he increased his pace, she remained still. Using all of her weight and pushing on his knees she pinned his lower half to the bed, interrupting his building melody to slowly rock back and forth, languid sensual bass in her movements.

“Come on, you can do better than that,” he goaded, the anguished way in which he bucked his hips betraying his haughty front.

The hidden plea fell on deaf ears as she smiled coyly, “I am the one on top, sir. And by the way you’re keening under me like a bitch in heat makes me wonder if I’m the one that should be called Snake Charmer.”

He grabbed her chin, command prickling off of him with the jest that pierced his ego. “I wanted to see what would happen if I let you take the reins. But it seems to me like you’re asking for a punishment. Is that what you want?” He taunted, taking the bait that trickled so delectable set on the trap.

“I want you to fuck me, claim me, tell everyone here in this godforsaken desert I’m yours,” she sneered through pouted lips, not hesitating to make know her ravenous desires.

She was suddenly flipped onto her stomach, a hand wrapped around her neck, the other around her chained wrists she was plastered to San’s chest. “Such a filthy slut asking to be used when she’s tied up. Show them you’re mine sweetness, say my name,” he growled in her ear, setting a bruising tempo as he pounded into her. Her mouth was open in a silent cry, too focused on the way his thick pulsing cock was hitting every sweet spot inside of her. “Say.my.name,” he gritted, punctuating each word with a brutal thrust that knocked the wind out of her lungs and tightened the coil around her tingling core.

The hand around her wrists snaked to her front messy circles being rubbed on her stinging bundle of nerves as white hot pleasure shot up her veins, wanton cries of San San San reverberating off the walls of the hotel. Feeling her velvety walls contracting on his length sent tremors throughout San’s body both of them murmuring love confessions and filthy praises as he quickly pulled out. He rutted against her in short staccato until he released on her back, pearly streaks of adour painting her backside.

Her trembling form was gently laid down on the sheets, the belt disappearing as a tender touch stroked her wrists. “You did so well,” he cooed, the saccharine utterances causing her heart to thrum pleasantly against the gilded cage of her chest. San got up from the bed to completely disrobe, changing into a fresh pair of cotton pants; and his lover watched, blearily eyed on the bed as he soaked a towel in the porcelain basin in the corner of the room and wrung it out.

“Mmh, it’s sensitive,” she slurred, jerking away from the icy chill of the cloth that ran along her core.

“Shh sh, I know,” he sultrily soothed, caressing her belly with his warm palm when he turned her over. ”I have to clean you up though, we made quite a mess.” Giggles bubbled from his throat, drunk in admiration and peach kisses. He dragged a clean pair of bloomers up her legs, pecking her soft and aching thighs as he ascended.

Flopping next to her on the bed, San hooked a leg over her hip and smooshed his lips to her cheek delivering little smacks without ever daring to part. The gunslinger hummed and caressed her fingers down his spine, the both of them clinging to each other, exchanging syrupy I love you’s until they both transcended the cusp of consciousness.

:’)

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of February 26th, 2020

Best of this Week: Avengers #31 (Legacy #731) - Jason Aaron, Various Artists, Rachelle Rosenberg and Joe Caramagna 

Tony Stark is Iron Man.

What makes him Iron Man isn't just the suits, but the brilliant mind capable of forging them. Tony’s been flung a million years into the past and, lacking the proper equipment to either build a new suit or time machine, has to fend for himself until he finds a way back home or dies. Along the way, he staves off both his past and futures as madness and hopelessness begin to seep into his mind, but being the resilient bastard that he is, we all know that he can do it.

The issue begins with a flashback sequence to Tony using one of his first inventions, some X-Ray contacts, to spy on a seedy meeting that his adoptive father, Howard Stark, holds with some horrifying implications. Howard’s “goodness” in the Marvel Universe has flip flopped many a time throughout the years with the most recent being a swing towards good through Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D., but this flashback peels back some layers on what Howard’s always been about. Through Geraldo Borges, we get a scene similar to Eyes Wide Shut and Rachelle Rosenberg contrasts the light that Tony thought his father was, with his immense darkness.

We then cut to the future...or the past rather, with Tony sitting in the same cave that he and T’Challa found the calcified remains of Tony’s armor a millennia later and he’s grown a sick beard and wears the pelts of various things he’s killed while trying to preserve his vibranium energy. Gerardo Zaffino takes over the art for this section and, per his amazing issues of Conan, continues to do an amazing job in portraying the wilderness as dark, cold and ravenous. There’s a black madness behind Tony’s eyes after being stuck for so long.

Soon after Aaron Zaffino, and Rosenberg show us just how Tony wound up in the predicament that he’s in with only half functioning armor. Zaffino shows The Ghost Rider, Starbrand, Odin and Phoenix of the era fighting the metal man from the future. It’s intense as he staves off the intense, orange fire from the Rider’s mammoth, takes a brutal shot on the chin from the Hulk-Brand, stops the buzzing blue lightning from Odin wielding Mjolnir and tries to reason with the Phoenix before she shoots him back to the ground. Her colors are striking with intense particle effects as she tells him to “Remember the face of the Devil.”

Throughout the issue, we get Tony’s narration of the whole situation and he’s so very hopeful in the beginning up until the offerings start coming in. It starts off with just one woman bringing him some cave grog and then more and more start pouring in. Aaron starts spreading the seeds of temptation as Tony bemoans the nights getting “lonelier and thirstier” and Zaffino shows these busty cave babes kneeling with their grog skins towards Tony. As time goes on, the men of the cave come with clubs and grogs in an attempt to force Tony to drink and Tony is forced to drive them away again and again.

He’s starting to lose things and get angry before a silver tongued snake appears in his helmet with Joe Caramagna giving him a voice through familiar red lettering and bubbles. The snake mentions Howard’s name, saying that his adoptive father paid some sort of price and Tony lifts his helmet, thinking to slam it down on the snake before realizing it’s just another temptation. It’s almost horrific and really sells just how much this time period and everything is getting to him.

At the same time, the Devil doesn’t like being denied, so it sends a monster after Tony, the Gorilla wielding the Power Stone from Avengers #13! It’s a short and one sided fight as Szymon Kudranski steps in and shows the Gorilla savagely beating Tony. Rosenberg’s purple background and debris signals us to the Power (wink wink) of the stone and the intensity of the splash page itself is immense as the Gorilla whips Tony around, smashing rocks and Tony's bones while he’s powerless to do anything except yell and think. It’s not long before it leaves Iron Man for dead and allows him time to form a plan.

Tony does his best when he’s trying to not die, in his words, so the wheels of his mind begin turning as he sets traps outside of his cave as various snakes begin to appear outside and are skewered by his spikes. Oscar Bazaldua does an AMAZING job as he introduces us to his “Ice Age Man” design with Tony wearing a suit made out of hardened ice and powered by the last of his Vibranium energy. It’s very reminiscent of his Mk. I Armor and even has blades similar to Baraka from Mortal Kombat coming out of its forearms.

I love this design because it’s gaudy, retro and bulky all at once and made even better by the stark white, the fur on Tony’s neck and the stippling shading that I do love so much. Bazaldua even gives Tony the classic pose as he confronts the Devil at his door. It turns out that the figure is… *gasp* Howard Stark in the red cloak from Tony’s initial flashback. Tony knew that the man behind the Devil Mask was his father in that cult meeting because of the X-Ray contacts and had been scared since.

Aaron portrays him as an evil bastard that wants to have Tony cast away his future and rule the world as Father and son, only for Tony to send a spike through his head, “killing him.” Unfortunately for him, the body rises and reveals himself to be MEPHISTO and he absolutely launches himself at Tony and uppercuts the hell out of him. Robert Gill takes over the art here and shows parts of Tony’s being smashed off before Mephisto hammer fists Iron Man in the chest. It’s fast and intense to a point where the speed lines are almost nauseating.

The Avengers One Million look on at the fight and ponder if Tony’s strong enough to hold out against Mephisto alone. It’s a tough fight because Tony’s running out of energy, his suit is melting and the Devil has far more power than he can handle, so he makes one final hail mary upon seeing that Mephisto has the Time Stone. As he denies the offers Mephisto makes, one last time, and blasts the stone full of his last reserves of energy.

It’s a beautiful set of shots with Gill giving Tony a dynamic pose as the armor cracks off of him, shattering into pieces as he expels a beautiful beam of blue and white light thanks to Rachelle Rosenberg. Tony’s unkempt hair flies out and looks amazing as it flows out of the cracked half of the helmet and the wires dangle back. Mephisto lets the energy hit the stone and looks on with his evil grin and blasts Tony back with Time energy.

Throughout the book, Joe Caramagna has been providing excellent lettering and placement, filling the empty space and hinting at the villain throughout. He does this to great effect when Tony is flung back to his normal future, but has to witness other possible futures. Caramagna spaces each of the thought bubbles, grouping them based on the image in the background and spacing them out as to draw attention to Tony words and the corresponding panel of horror.

The question is, what was this experience meant to teach? 

In many ways, it could be seen as a way to strengthen him against the coming threats that Mephisto has coming and that’s doubly true since Arno Stark has resurrected his father in the pages of Iron Man 2020 and he could be used against Tony again. On the other hand, as Mephisto says in the final pages by Mattia de Iulis, he’s sown fear and doubt in the heart of Tony. Tony does some pretty dumb things when he’s afraid and wh’s to say that this won’t create a new ripple among the Avengers becaue of it?

Overall, I enjoyed this issue! While not all of the artists were to my liking, the story made up for the pages that I wasn’t enamored with. I really enjoyed seeing how Tony would find a way out of the mess and I do enjoy when Mephisto is being used well. Jason Aaron is doing his best to pace out the story and weave pieces into place for the Mephisto Event that we’ve been waiting for since it was revealed that he was the Avenger’s true threat.

The various artists did well, of course there were a few that I didn’t enjoy as much as others, but everyone has their tastes. Rachelle Rosenberg stunned with her amazing colors on every page and Joe Caramagna made it all possible through his lettering. This book was cohesive and a lot of fun throughout, but the price and the fact that this was more of an annual kinda story drags it down just a bit. 

For the most part, however, it’s a high recommend.

Also, support me on Patreon: patreon.com/TyTalksComics

[somewhereinbetween-together]

somewhere in between (together) ; chapter two teaser

hey, she’s back. lets just call that the pilot to series-order gap shall we. i’m gonna be posting chapter two over on ao3 later tonight. for now here’s a preview of what’s to come.

--

“Knock, knock!” Jasper sing-songs, strolling into the apartment. Monty trails behind, holding a suspicious-looking tray with a white cloth draped over it in his hands.

“Jasper, there is literally a door right there. You’re the one with the free hands, you could have just actually fucking knocked,” Monty says, kicking the door shut behind them. Jasper rolls his eyes, oblivious.

“Ah, Jasper! That reminds me, bonus rule!” Clarke announces, picking up the notepad again.

“Brilliant. Because the first six were just bundles of fun!” Bellamy huffs. Clarke flips him off.

“Wait, what the fuck is this?” Jasper asks, leading Monty over to dump the tray on the coffee table with an unceremonious thud.

“Clarke seems to think I’m some lawless brute from the fucking viking era that’s gonna come in here and fuck up her sickeningly pristine puritan household, so she’s making a list of house rules to teach me proper roommate etiquette,” Bellamy explains.

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, back to the bonus rule,” Clarke continues, “Rule number seven. No. Sleeping. In my bathtub.”

“Wha- Since when was that a thing?” Jasper grumbles, flopping down onto the rug. 

“Jasper, most people don’t need it in writing to know that it’s inappropriate to pass out in their best friends-slash-neighbors’ tub every other night. They just don’t do it,” Raven teases and Monty chuckles, consoling him with a gentle pat on the back.

“Anyways… What’s up with the tray?” Bellamy asks.

“Judging by the smell, I’m surprised you even have to ask,” Clarke says, flapping her hand in front of her face.

Monty’s smile widens. “We made brownies!” he grins, whipping the cloth off the tray. “With a twist,” Jasper adds, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You guys seriously need to stop calling them that. They’re just fucking pot brownies. Everybody knows what the twist is. They’re fucking brownies, it’s obvious. If you showed me some cupcakes ‘with a twist’, maybe I’d hazard a guess but there’s no imagination needed for brownies with a twist. Come on guys,” Raven snarks.

“Well excuse me for trying to mix it up a bit. Jesus, I’m getting attacked from all sides today. I’m like fucking Germany at the beginning of World War One,” Jasper huffs, crossing his arms and going back to sulking. “Fine, whatever. Bellamy, here’s your boring housewarming basic pot brownies. Dig in.”

Monty turns to Raven, “So I guess your little outburst means you won’t be wanting any then.”

“Well, I mean I didn’t say that…” 

[danny-chase]

When was Ravens comphet era??

After the Brother Blood arc (the third one) she falls in love with Dick while she's super new at the whole experiencing emotions thing, and Dick has been nice and worried for her in the past (and he was the one to try and save her from brother blood during the titans flop era, though it's also because he was brainwashed and acting erratically). She accidentally makes Dick fall in love with her due to her powers as well, and influences him to kiss her and dream about her - at which point Kory figures out what's going on and has a gay lil lesbian moment skinny dipping with Raven and explains the different types of love, and that sorts everything out. it's not explicitly called out as comphet, but ehhh that's what i call it

[tinylilemrys]

So I read your fic ‘in my cardboard walls’ and it was AMAZING so do you have a rec of the other ones you’ve written? Or a rec of your fav Merthur or Wolfstar fanfics? I’d really appreciate it!(I think a lot of your followers would too)

Hey, Anon! Thanks so much for reading, In My Cardboard Walls and for this lovely comment! ♥

That’s my only multi-chapter Merthur/Wolfstar fic, but I’ve written a few one-shots.

Merthur:

Note to Idiot

Arthur and Merlin are members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad who work different shifts and share the same office. Arthur, who works the day shift, can’t stand the rain. Merlin, who works the night shift, can’t concentrate without it.

When they both get tired of changing the weather in the magical window in their underground office, is there a more British way to settle their differences than with a few passive-aggressive memos?

First Year (prequel to Note to Idiot)

The summer Arthur turns eleven, with the memory of his father’s reaction when his sister got her Hogwarts letter still fresh in his mind, he spends almost the entire holiday in dread that he’ll get one too. However, when the inevitable happens, he gets far more than just a spot at a magic school – he gets a family. Well, that and an inconvenient acquaintanceship with a strange dark-haired kid, who Arthur definitely does NOT like. Not at all.

Dandelion

The routine has been the same for centuries: Arthur begins a new life in wherever they are in time, he and Merlin meet, Merlin’s memory spell lifts, Arthur’s memories eventually flood back, the idiot has a chuckle at his expense, hugs him senseless and then cries for a bit when it hits him that Arthur’s really with him again. After that they pick up from where they left off until Arthur’s life in that time ends and it all starts again in his next life.

Except this time, when Merlin’s memory spell proves too strong to be lifted simply by their meeting, Arthur is forced to win Merlin over the hard way: with small-talk and dandelions.

You Should See The Other Guy

Arthur doesn’t think it’s unreasonable to be worried when his boyfriend keeps turning up beat-up and bruised (even if Merlin is still perfectly happy and doesn’t seem that concerned about it). But when it gets the worst it’s ever been, Merlin is forced to admit something to Arthur that changes everything.

[This isn’t angsty at all, and there’s a good reason Merlin keeps showing up injured.]

Designated Driver

Arthur has Nystagmus, is legally blind and can’t drive. Gwaine is supposed to be the designated driver but after accepting drink after drink from the hot bartender who has a crush on him, he’s far too drunk to walk let alone operate a car. To make matters worse, Arthur’s left his wallet at home so he can’t even call a cab. Thankfully, his luck changes when he gets approached by a hot stranger.

The First Batch Always Flops

Merlin is used to occasionally walking into the kitchen to meet the sad and embarrassed eyes of the last person to go through Gwaine’s bed. What he’s not used to is finding them irresistibly good-looking and suddenly having the strange urge to make them pancakes to make up for Gwaine’s carelessness. Arthur seems to be a special case.

Mona Lisa’s Smile

“Merlin is the only reason he hasn’t snapped yet. Arthur’s tired and exhausted and just so so sick of art but seeing how Merlin’s face lights up when he sees one of his favourite pieces or how the tips of his adorable ears flush read as he excitedly babbles on about the brushwork and use of colour (even though he knows Arthur can’t tell if it’s good or bad one way or another) fills him with so much affection that he knows he’d happily spend the hundred or so days that he now knows it would take to see each and every piece. Arthur would do anything to keep that childlike mirth alive in his features.

The small velvet box in his pocket suddenly feels a lot more heavy and insistent.”

Nos Galan Gaeaf

Merlin knows from the heart-stopping moment that the fallen branch impales and rips his tent almost in half, that he hates, nay loathes camping and to his horror, it’s the annoyingly posh rich bloke with the top-of-the-range camping gear who comes to his rescue.

However, it soon becomes clear that there’s a reason that the two of them ended up at the camping ground next to what is rumoured to be one of the most haunted and powerful forests in Britain on the last day of October, and it’s far bigger than either of them could have ever imagined.

Wolfstar:

The Daily Grind

Sirius, a new barista, finds himself fascinated with one of the customers. When James tells him that his name is Remus Lupin and that he suffers from severe social anxiety, Sirius finds a creative way to get to know him.

James’ Next-Door Neighbour

Based on the prompt “okay buddy you’ve been serenading the wrong window for about five minutes now, time to let you know my neighbor is out of town.”

Remus is a light sleeper and any little noise at night wakes him up, which is why he’s so annoyed when someone stops their bike right outside his house one night and, to his horror, begins serenading his window. It gets worse when Remus realises that it was actually intended for his next-door-neighbour James, and worse still when Remus and the biker discover that James might have orchestrated the whole thing.

Twenty Minute Shift

Sirius knows he’s picked a bad day to visit his friend at work when, as soon as he walks in, James all but throws his work uniform at him. Things look up when the only client unfortunate enough to come in looking for a bath bomb while Sirius is on duty turns out to be pretty cute. 

I can’t think of many Wolfstar fic recs, but here are a few Merthur ones I’m obsessed with:

Merthur Fic Recs:

There Are No Gays In Football by Malu_3 (Grianne)

When a deeply-closeted Arthur Pendragon finally earns a spot in Camelot’s first XI, he’s dead set on breaking records, not one of sport’s last taboos. But life, like football, is a funny old game, and sometimes the only way up is out. Especially once he realises he’s arse over tit for the new physio.

A queer Arthurian tale of courage, love, and football.

Comments: This is my absolute favourite fic of all time from any fandom. I’ve just finished rereading it and was reminded of how absolutely amazing it is. It’s equal parts hilarious, angsty, eye-opening and hot. You’ll never be able to look at photosets of Bradley in football gear the same way again.

M-RYS by mornmeril

The year is 2355 and Arthur Pendragon is the darling of Albion’s capitol, Camelot. He’s rich, handsome and the heir to Pendragon Enterprises, the world market leader of technology.

Of course behind the facade, Arthur’s life is far from perfect. His father is a demanding man and the betrayal of his ex-girlfriend has left him with even more issues than before, while through it all he’s doing his best to take care of his mentally ill sister.

But things really start to escalate when Arthur is put in charge of launching a new series of android models, the M-RYS line, and he discovers a malfunctioning model that seems more like a human than a computer.

Things only go downhill from there.

Between struggling with his ever growing feelings for Merlin and discovering one strange thing after the other, Arthur’s world is completely upended as he and Merlin embark on a mission to discover his father’s secrets.

Comments: Oh man I will never not love a sci-fi AU based on a high fantasy series. It’s such an interesting take on the Arthur/Merlin dynamic and is full of so many twists and turns that, if you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to stop reading until it’s done.

The Raven by boywholivednotdied

Will’s antics had always been ridiculous, but when one of his dumb capers causes Merlin to inadvertently fall in love with a boy on the internet, things start getting a little complicated. Modern Day AU. Based on the movie ‘You’ve Got Mail’

Comments: It’s a modern-era royalty AU based on You’ve Got Mail - what more could you ask? It’s beautifully written with amazing characterisation, is hilarious and sweet, and low-key (read: high-key) makes me want to meet the love of my life online.

Hope this is helpful, anon! ♥

[razieltwelve]

Mercy (Final Rose AU Snippet)

Saviour gazed down at them and shook her head. “You should stop. You have to realise that you cannot win.” 

She blurred forward, too fast for them to see, and Raven could only gasp in sudden shock and agony as Saviour’s fist crashed into her stomach. The impact folded her up like a paper bag and hurled her back into one of the walls of the auditorium. Her Aura flickered and then winked out as the impact sent her through one wall after another before she finally came to a rest in a crater in the the very outer wall of the building.

“You may think that I am being cruel,” Saviour continued. “But this is the only kindness I can give you. If I wanted, I could torture you all, leaving you impaled, still living, on spires of crystal for the whole world to see, a warning to all of them to stand aside. But you deserve better than that.” She spread her arms out to either side. “If you will not live under my reign, then I will grant you the glory of dying as heroes to mark its beginning.”

“You’re insane,” Summer growled as Raven slowly, painfully tugged herself out of the wall and staggered back toward them. “We should have seen it earlier, but we’ll stop you.”

“You can’t. None of you can. And insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Saviour gestured to the flags of the kingdoms hanging from the rafters of the auditorium. “How long have the kingdoms ruled Remnant, and what do they have to show for it? These eyes of mine can see the road we must walk if we are to triumph over the Grimm. I will not allow the foolishness of unworthy kings and cowardly bureaucrats to doom us all. If I must build the new world upon a foundation of blood and tragedy, so be it, but those foundations will be unshakable. Those deaths will not be in vain, for they will usher in a new era.”

“Don’t waste your breath,” Qrow said. “Those eyes… those aren’t Lightning’s eyes. Those haven’t been Lightning’s eyes in a long time. Saviour is the only thing that’s left, and she is most definitely not our friend.”

Taiyang’s fists clenched. “Don’t hold back, Summer. Don’t hold back a single iota of your strength. If any of us do, we’re all dead.”

“You’re already dead,” Saviour replied. “All that matters now is the details.” She walked forward and then stopped at the centre of the auditorium. “Go on then. Do what you must, and know that I shall do the same.”

Summer’s Aura flared, and her eyes blazed a radiant silver. The blood of heroes flowed through her veins, a legacy that stretched back to the very dawn of Remnant’s history. Power that could stop the Grimm in their tracks and uplift the souls of all who witnessed its splendour roared to life - and guttered out an instant later.

Saviour caught Summer as she slumped, a blade of shadow made solid driven cleanly through her chest. The expression on Summer’s face was one of determination. She hadn’t even had the time to realise that she was dying before she was already dead. Lightning tugged her sword out and let Summer fall, flicking her wrist just once to sever the other woman’s head. It wouldn’t do to give them even the most remote possibility of healing her.

“You!” Raven screamed. “I’ll -”

Anger was not something Saviour felt. She couldn’t. But others could, and it made them careless. Even as Qrow screamed a warning for her to calm down, Raven surged forward. A dozen portals opened up, and the dark-haired woman flickered between them, a ghost with a blade capable of cutting a building in half.

Or maybe not.

Time and space were not things that bothered Saviour. She saw everything, including the higher-dimensional space that Raven used to link her portals. A sweeping gesture was all it took to unleash a wave of spikes that pierced through the veil between dimensions. For a moment there was nothing, and then Raven appeared in mid-air, hanging from one of the spikes. Blood poured from the wound, and Lightning gestured again.

The spike exploded, and Raven flopped back, a hole where her chest had been, every bit as dead as Summer.

Taiyang took one step forward, and the world exploded. His fist struck with enough power to turn the entire auditorium to dust. It was a perfect strike augmented by his Semblance to an unbelievable level. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that Saviour was powerful. His only chance for victory was to pour all of his Aura, all of his power, into a single decisive strike.

Saviour caught the blow with one hand. 

It was almost sad. Her eyes had observed the strike closely. It was the most powerful strike that Taiyang had ever thrown, a testament to his skill and power as a huntsman. But it was still an attack that obeyed the laws of physics. It was bounded in a way that Saviour wasn’t. All of that force, all of that power, was shunted off into another dimension, dispersed harmlessly across the endless oceans of higher-dimensional space.

And then Qrow’s scythe hit the back of her neck - or he would have if she hadn’t parried the blow with her sword. As Qrow spun, the momentum of his own ultimate attack spinning him through the air, Saviour tossed her sword with enough speed to make a rail gun seem slow. The projectile pierced through his Aura and ripped a hole right through his chest. He was still alive as he tumbled back, but a spike of crystalline material finished him before he could even think of following up his attack.

And it had been a very impressive attack. The force of his parried attack had created a mile-long gash in the ground that cut cleanly through concrete, dirt, stone, and metal like they weren’t there.

As Taiyang finally realised that his attack had been stopped, Saviour yanked him forward and summoned another sword. The blade went right through him, and he tried to speak only to find his mouth full of blood. She wrenched the weapon out and let him fall, drawing the blade back for another strike to ensure that, much like Summer, there was no chance of him trying to fake his death or be healed.

Alone in the auditorium, Saviour looked at the four corpses. Her hands shook ever so slightly. It shouldn’t even have taken half as long as that. There must have been some lingering emotional attachment trying to stay her hand. It was a pity. She’d offered them a brand new world, but they’d chosen to die for the old one instead.

She could only hope that her conversation with Hope and his colleagues would go more favourably.