#resurrecting kids with the power of magic and this gun I found

[rolanslide]

Nothing in FH will ever top this moment in my opinion. This is the SECOND EPISODE

[phoenixcatch7]

Omg you're too kind I'm so excited -

So my main overarching plan is based on a fusion of the two games that's basically as close to their own respective canons as possible, where the world building sort of grows around it rather than shaping it. In this, persona awakenings happen basically the same - at least to my understanding!

In Third Eye, personal personas are pulled from the sea of souls to bond with and reflect their user - they're not created from the users soul but are more akin to Bayo's demon summoning, where powerful and exclusive contracts can be forged where both demon and witch can be called upon by the other at their will, their magics entwined.

But bayonetta has multiple contracts, though they're weaker and less loyal than her main with Madame Butterfly, from whom she can use her limbs to attack and her wings to fly. Advanced rituals allow witches to take on halfway forms of their main demons, which may put you in mind of the fanart of joker in arsenes outfits :D. This is actually pretty similar to the wild card ability, where joker has his main/true persona Arsene, but can still form contracts with and use other persona he finds along the way!

Speaking of his persona, though, one of the things that I struggled with was what to do about his own demon contract. I spent ages trying to work satneal being half demon half persona into the world building somehow, but it just wasn't clicking, because I had three slots that needed filling but only two things to fill it with.

But then I found out about that one p5r dlc, which has akiras THIRD freaking awakening: Raoul, the false alias of Arsene Lupin. Sometimes lover, sometimes ally, sometimes the false name he disguised himself by. But his design is giving yellow Sci fi street thug who thinks he's all that compared to Arsene and satneals gorgeous black and red prince vibes ToT. Anyway, the fact that the other personas have actual upgrades, but Akira just has a false identity, that was actually really interesting. So, as long as we can overlook the yellow, it occurred to me that I might change it up.

What if this joker, with his secret identity of being an immortal gun slinging witch in training hiding from the government, awakened to raoul instead of arsene? And only after growing to trust his friends, his new family, and being able to open up to them about his past would he be able to awaken his true persona, the unmasked and unrepentant Arsene.

Because in canon it's the other way round, isn't it? Joker arrives as a kid who has nothing, a kid who got caught for doing the right thing regardless of the government, and it's only later that he builds a second life and learns the deception and subterfuge necessary to being a phantom thief.

And then satneal, the whole actual demon lord, could be his demon summon!! And his shadow would turn into a six winged bat demon hehe.

And the best part is there's a whole secret back story in bayonetta about how the current world began - there was a huge war aeons ago between the forces of heaven and hell that I think killed all of the Actual Universe Creating Deities, called Dea (bar one survivor who fell and now runs an underground weapon shop/bar that a xenomorph wouldn't look out of place in. As a piece of furniture). So both inferno and paradiso are notably lacking their bosses while earth still had Aesir (the guy who later split into loki and loptr). The angels wanted their boss back (who btw is a girl) but got tricked (by evil loptr) alongside the humans into basically an armageddon situation to resurrect loptr in his full power instead. Bayonetta teams up with Jeanne to summon the mysterious demon boss (?) queen, who then throws him into the sun before it gets to that point, destabilising reality. Basically in this au satneal is both very, very old, very, VERY powerful, and has been missing since the universe began. Him showing up to contract with Akira would be a HUGE issue in the bayonetta world, and I'm all for it. Let your kid out of your sight for less than a year and he summons the presumed KIA devil.

Man, I haven't even actually talked about the whole overarching plot. And why it's called Third Eye.

Right, the whole deal is that the trinity of realities are rapidly destabilising after the bayonetta games. Two magic cores called the left and right eye of the world (belonging to the sages and witches) got nuked. Demons are escaping summons, angels are going crazy and failing to pick up souls destined for paradiso, there's freak weather events, earthquakes, that sort of thing. Eventually the whole thing is, within the next millennium or so, going to shake apart completely and then we'll all be back in the primordial soup.

Loki tried to prevent loptr from making it worse (stabilised, yes, but much worse for humanity) by using humanity's free will to establish the meta verse and persona, so that humanity might have guardians of their own immune to the corruption that befell the sages and witches (persona users being immune to the mental corruption that would lead to forming Palaces). He hoped that by returning magic to humans the flow of energy would once more stabilise.

UNFORTUNATELY loptr caught on while he was making his own plans (involving possession and giant statues and I kid you not capitalism cults). And managed to break into the velvet room. Whether ol' yalda (aka demiurge) is loptr reborn or just his special minion idk I'm still working on that. But he finds akechi.

Akechi, who is a distant descendant of the sages on his mother's side. Who is almost unnaturally tall and beautiful and capable of the immense magic needed to be a wildcard, although his non-fool arcana limits him. Akechi would be perfect to sow the fear and destruction he needs to win humanity's thoughts and thus, their minds.

There's always something juicy about a 'last of their kind' finding someone like them, and I think it'd really enhance the tension between Akira and akechi. Akechi, who never knew why he and his mother were so different to everyone else, who could never have gotten the training Akira did. Who grew up having to conform and perform to public scrutiny in ways that Akira needed to reject in order to fully grow into his abilities. And the inevitable tragedy of his death, how he was already too far lost to ever be safe to tell, but he knew Akira knew something anyway. The rage of never being told. The guilt of never telling, even as it keeps your family safe.

But anyway. This story ends with the stabilisation, not destruction of the meta verse, that humanity can forever dream of bigger things than they will ever see. The phantom thieves of hearts might be young, but they have proved the strength of their very souls, and should the day arise that they are needed, they will be called upon once more. Though the two eyes of the world are long destroyed, the third eye, the third path has opened, and as one, humanity shall finally pave their own way.

Basically thank you so much for asking @thegarlicthief 💖💖💖💖

Y'know what my knowledge of bayonetta may be limited to badass witch lady but I'd still like to hear about your Third Eye crossover thingy

Omg what a thing to wake up to thank you so much :D!!!

To quickly summarise, Bayonetta is an unhinged fast paced fighting game (trilogy) about an immortal witch with demon summoning gun wielding powers, who hunts angels for their halos to earn money and feed the demon contracts so they don't eat her instead. It's incredibly campy and shameless, but behind the scenes it's got some seriously well researched lore and a wealth of world building that drew me to writing for it. It's visually gorgeous and amazingly cohesive.

So what started it all was a meme going around the smash bros community a few years ago when joker and bayonetta joined, about how she was joker's mother. And I, having played both games (but not smash, ironically), was instantly hooked. I really wanted to see a story exploring that, but there was only a handful of fics or comics that, while good, weren't what I was looking for.

So I started writing my own. It's a story about joker (I'm using the name Akira for him) being the blood son of bayonetta, and his life being raised by her and fellow witch Jeanne, who in this fic is living with them and co-parenting hehe. It's following him through his trials and tribulations of being the son of the last witch (they were all killed off in a very violent war with their counterparts the sages), his own training to be a witch via time travel (it's a whole thing) and - in the second half - the circumstances around being forced to leave his small circle of protection and being pulled under government scrutiny after saving shidos victim, where any wrong move risks exposing the last dregs of the supernatural to people who would want to ruin everything.

I'm purposely keeping it unclear how Akira was conceived/born, or who the other parent is (if there even is one), because it's not really relevant and I like the mystery! It's also unclear if Jeanne and bayonetta are in a steamy relationship or just doing a besties cohabitation thing for the sake of the kid, but again it's on purpose ;). And lets me avoid writing romance LMAO.

Unsurprisingly, it's the world building that's really making me struggle, but the general gist is that the afterlife is VERY convoluted.

So, in p5 you've got the meta verse and the sea of souls, which is where persona come from. Persona, who are mythological, literary or historical figures. You can summon persona and kill them to make weapons and accessories. Though you don't lose your persona upon entering reality again, it can't manifest.

In bayonetta, there's three planes of reality. You've got the obvious paradiso and inferno, and then purgatorio, a second layer of earth's reality where the games all primarily take place, where living things become faint shadows oblivious to your chaos - though they will freak out when you blow up their car! Angels and demons alike can be summoned to this plane, (though they often show up regardless lol), being sometimes mythological, literary or historical figures but usually just generic mob enemies (hey, just like persona!). Certain enemies can be taken to a guy to be killed and turned into weapons and accessories. There's a lot of similarity!

So, in Third Eye, the sea of souls that living humans cannot reach is referring to the three planes of reality, where angels, demons and human souls can be pulled into the meta verse to become persona. Awakening a 2nd tier persona is an evolution of the user's soul, strengthening it and making the magics easier. It's a third equivalent to the witch/sages, which is going to be VERY relevant in the second phase.

Also, in the second game, spoilers, there's a blue kid called loki who uses tarot cards to fight, who ends up being the amnesiac god of free will trying to save humanity from his evil counterpart loptr who wants to take control of humanity and remake the world in his image, and eventually he sacrificed his life to do so, with a promise to one day be reincarnated.

So that's where philemon was while Igor was taking over his velvet room :D.

Thank you so much for asking ^u^! If you're curious about more I'd be delighted to talk about it, especially the details of jokers altered persona ;)...

[dailylogyn]

Logyn Meta: Loki & Sigyn’s Family in Myth and Marvel (Comparison)

Photo Source: https://www.deviantart.com/youkai-no-shimo/art/Colouring-LOKI-s-FAMILY-260392721

The family that is ready to begin Ragnarok in order to defend your honor. It’s a tragic tale, but family is something worth fighting for!

Follow me as we explore this crazy, wonderful family that is probably the most famous of the Myth’s. 

We may not know much about Sigyn’s side, but Loki’s side is one that legends are made of. 

From the Norse Myths, to Marvel Comics and the MCU, we will see the similarities and differences for each member in the different universes as well as learn facts about each one and why they are important. 

Laufey (or Nál) - Loki’s Mother 

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

She is Loki’s Mother in Mythology.

Mostly mentioned by the matronymic, “Loki Laufeyjarson” meaning: Loki Laufey’s Son.

Her name (Laufey) is typically thought to mean leaves/foilage. Nal means Needle. 

Not much is known about her. We don’t even know if she was a Goddess, human or giant so it is assumed Loki gets his godhood from her. 

In the poem Sörla þáttr, Nál and Laufey are portrayed as the same person: "She was both slender and weak, and for that reason she was called Nál [Needle]." 

Laufey is listed among Ásynjar (goddesses) in one of the þulur, an ancestry that perhaps led her son Loki to be "enumerated among the Æsir", as Snorri Sturluson puts it in Gylfaginning.

Related to nature like forests and leaves.

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Laufey is Loki’s Father in this universe. 

As Loki was born small, a motive of embarrassment for his parents, his existence was kept a secret.

A younger Loki sends Laufey into a fateful battle between Odin, leading the All-Father to claim Loki as a son. Laufey was left for dead, wounded, but alive, leaving a future Loki to kill him. 

A group of Frost Giants try to revive Laufey by retrieving his skull. It ends with Malekith performing a spell to resurrect King Laufey. 

Laufey hates Loki and thinks of him as a disgrace

It ends with Loki killing his father again after he tries to steal the Casket of Winters and kill Frigga. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Same as Marvel Comics Counterpart. Appears in the first Thor movie. 

Fárbauti - Loki’s Father

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

He is Loki’s Father in Mythology. 

Attested in the Prose Edda and in Kennings of Viking Age Skalds.

A Jotunn

The Old Norse name Fárbauti has been translated as 'dangerous striker','anger striker',or 'sudden-striker'.

Related to lightning

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Mother of Loki in this universe.

Gave birth to an unusually small child to the annoyance of her husband.

It is said the night Loki was born that she stabbed her own heart with an ice dagger, but Loki suspects Laufey is the one who killed her. 

Appears as a figment taken on by a parasite. She’s mostly deceased in the comics. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Does not appear or have a reference in the MCU

Loki Laufeyjarson - Son of Laufey & Farbauti. Lover of Sigyn & Angrboda (and many others honestly)

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Everyone already knows the tales about Loki, so I won’t repeat it all again. It’s pretty lengthy. I’ll just point down the basics for him with it. 

He’s famous for causing trouble among the gods as the Trickster and God of Mischief. Not a bad guy, but misinterpreted that way, although he can be a dick too. Despite how much he causes trouble for them, he also helps them out of situations too. He just wants to have fun, even if he takes it overboard at times.

Some sources put as Jotun and some say he is Half-Jotun, Half-Aesir (on his mother’s side.) 

A well-known Shapeshifter who can be anything: Salmon, Male, Female, Horse. The list just goes on. 

A really handsome being who loved to get it on. *finger guns*

Blood Brother’s with Odin. How? We don’t know. It’s interpreted as a friendship or foster-brothers. It’s unclear really.

Gonna start Ragnarok for valid reasons honestly after having his entire family taken away from him or killed by the Gods. #TeamLoki

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Far too many appearances to document here from 1942 to present. There has been some retcons as well with the fact the current Loki has been reborn in a new incarnation also known as Ikol.

In the comics Loki is the adopted son of Odin and Frigga and Adoptive brother to Thor & Balder. 

He’s depicted as being the God of Evil in the classic comics serval times. In fact, it’s one of his titles. 

Depending on the writer for the classic comics, Loki can have moments of humanity, but all around he causes trouble.

Just wants to rule Asgard and get rid of Thor who is his enemy. 

He’s honestly a bad guy most of the time in the classic comics #VillianTrope

I personally have yet to read any current comics of Loki that aren’t the classics so this is where my knowledge and research stops. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

First off, Tom Hiddleston as Loki is just *chefs kiss* perfection. 

Pretty much the same as comics except for the fact he isn’t really a villain. He plays tricks on people for fun and laughs and truly cares about his family. 

However, things change when he discovers the truth that he is a Jotun and has been lied to about it his whole life despite being told countless stories of how Jotun’s are monsters to be slain (You fucked up a perfectly good kid, Odin. Look, he has anxiety and trauma.) 

He develops major identity problems on top of others things, but despite it, Loki tries to still do best by his family as he wants to belong. Yes, he becomes a villain in The Avengers movie, but not for the hell of it. #Thanos

Honestly, he just deserves better. That’s where this leads. Thank you.

Angrboda - Loki’s Consort/Lover (Fenrir, Jormungandr & Hel’s Mother)

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

She is only mentioned once in the Poetic Edda as the mother of Fenrir by Loki. The Prose Edda describes her as "a giantess in Jotunheim" and as the mother of three monsters: the wolf Fenrir, the Midgard serpent Jörmungand, and the ruler of the dead Hel.

A Jotun known as Mother of Monsters and Giantess of Ironwood. 

In Old Norse, Angrboda means: 'the one who brings grief', 'she-who-offers-sorrow', or 'harm-bidder'.

According to scholars, the name Angrboða is probably a late invention dating from no earlier than the 12th century, although the tradition of the three monsters born of Loki and a jötunn may be of a higher age.

Some scholars say she was a very powerful witch and that she had the ability to see into the future. She was confined to Hel and would not be released from the realm of the dead until Loki was unbound.

In some versions of the Myth’s she knows her children will bring about the end of the world (Ragnarok) as well as being a witch set on fire three times before Loki eats her heart. 

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

A giantess of Jotunheim and a Witch.

Born to Elderspawn Vârcolac and Echidna.

She mated with Loki and gave birth to Fenrir and Jormungadr. Legends say she also gave birth to Hela, but it seems to be nothing more but legends. 

Angrboda died of unknown causes and was sent to the Underworld of Hel. 

When Thor needed to know how to get to Hela's realm because she had been taking mortals to Niffleheim, he went to the Hlidskjalf and summoned Angerboda from the underworld, forcing her to tell him how to get there. Once she revealed to Thor the path he had to follow, she tried to take him with her to the underworld.

Only has one appearance in the comics -- Thor #360 (1985)

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Does not appear or have a reference in the MCU

Sleipnir - Loki’s Son

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Attested in the Poetic and Prose Edda. In both Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged steed and child of Loki by Svaðilfari. He is described as the best of all horses.

The Prose Edda contains extra information saying he is grey. 

Old Norse meaning: Slippy or the Slipper. 

Sleipnir is also mentioned in a riddle found in the 13th century legendary saga Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, in the 13th-century legendary saga Völsunga saga as the ancestor of the horse Grani, and book I of Gesta Danorum, written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, contains an episode considered by many scholars to involve Sleipnir. Sleipnir is generally accepted as depicted on two 8th century Gotlandic image stones: the Tjängvide image stone and the Ardre VIII image stone.

Scholarly theories have been proposed regarding Sleipnir's potential connection to shamanic practices among the Norse pagans.

Sleipnir was born when Loki shape-shifted into a mare and became pregnant by the stallion of a giant, as is recounted in the tale of The Fortification of Asgard.

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

There are two different origins for Sleipnir in the comics: 1. Thor fighting off an army of the undead on Midgard. He promised to help as long as his horses weren’t eaten, however, Thor was betrayed and took his horses remains back to Asgard, coupling it with Asgardian Magic to create Sleipneir. 2. Loki had hastily agreed to let a Frost Giant re-build the wall around Asgard, in exchange for the Moon, the Sun, and Freya, only he had to do it in six months. The Frost Giant had only asked to use his grey stallion, Svadilfari. Right as the last brick was about to be placed, Loki transformed into a beautiful white mare, and lured Svadilfari off. Loki later gave birth to Sleipnir. (Just like in the Myths.) 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Odin’s eight-legged steed. 

Sleipnir’s origins are unknown. He appears in the first Thor Movie. 

Fenrir Wolf - Loki & Angrboda’s Son

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Attested in the Prose and Poetic Edda as the first son of the Jotun couple. He is a wolf destined to kill Odin. So, they bind and seal him when he's still young, with Tyr losing his arm in the process. When Ragnarok comes, he indeed kills Odin, but is killed by Odin's son Vidar in return.

Fenrir is the father of the wolves Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson. 

In the Prose Edda, additional information is given about Fenrir, including that, due to the gods' knowledge of prophecies foretelling great trouble from Fenrir and his rapid growth, the gods bound him, and as a result Fenrir bit off the right hand of the god Týr.

No chain can hold him, except for Gleipnir, a rope made by Dwarves containing the roots of a mountain, the breath of a fish, the sound of a cat's footfall, the sinews of a bear, the beard of a woman and the spittle of a bird, all of which were impossible items to obtain.

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Pretty much the same as his Mythos with some additional storylines. 

When Raganrok happened, Fenrir was reborn with the other gods on the New Asgard universe on Midgard. No details of his fate on Earth have been revealed.

Fenrir helped the mutant Wolfsbane as she was carrying the child of one of his descendants. 

It is one of the few individuals believed to be more powerful, or equally as powerful, as Dormammu; the others being galactic entities like The Beyonder.

Fenrir is Genderfluid in the comics. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Fenris is a giant Asgardian Wolf who serves under Hela and is portrayed as Female. She resurrects her as they take over Asgard. 

Instead of being her brother, Fenris is her loyal companion and mount. 

Fenris ends up getting into a fight against Hulk as he pushes her off, sending her falling into the void below to her supposed death. 

Appears in Thor: Ragnarok. 

Hel - Loki & Angrboda’s Daughter

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Attested in the Prose and Poetic Edda. She is a giantess/goddess who resides over the Underworld that is also called Hel, a place where many of the dead reside. She is the daughter of Loki and Angrboda, sister to Fenrir and Jormungandr and usually depicted as the youngest of the three.

Goddess of Death and Graves and ruler of Hel who welcomes the souls of those who died of old age, disease or by accident.

Hel is described as having been appointed by the god Odin as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in Niflheim.

The Prose Edda details that Hel rules over vast mansions with many servants in her underworld realm and plays a key role in the attempted resurrection of the god Baldr.

Old Norse Name Meaning: Hidden

She’s mostly mentioned only in passing. Snorri describes her appearance as being half-black, half-white, and with a perpetually grim and fierce expression on her face.

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Renamed Hela in the comics.

Allegedly the daughter of Loki and Angrboda, but it’s never made clear or stated. Hela's genealogy is the subject of controversies and retellings. 

Her path pretty much follows her Mythos where she is destined to do terrible things and Odin makes her the ruler over the dead in the realms of Hel and Niflheim until maturity. 

At some point, she was considered the daughter of Odin and of a long-lost goddess.

Honestly, she usually tries to expand her powers, wanting to rule over Vahalla and obtain Asgardian souls. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU):

Appears in Thor: Ragnarok as Odin’s firstborn and only daughter. Sister to Thor and Loki.

Kinda pissed her dad locked her away and wants to rule Asgard and take revenge.

The cause of Ragnarok and supposedly dies on Asgard after everything is said in done in the movie.

Jormungandr - Loki & Angrboda’s Son

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Usually depicted as the middle child of Loki and Angrboda, he is known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent who is a giant snake. When Odin takes Loki’s kids away from him, he tosses Jormungadr into the ocean that encircles Midgard. The serpent grew so large that is was able to surround the Earth and grasp it’s own tail. When it releases it’s tail, Ragnarok will begin and he will fight his arch-enemy, Thor. 

The major sources for myths about Jörmungandr are the Prose Edda, the skaldic poem Húsdrápa, and the Eddic poems Hymiskviða and Völuspá. Other sources include the early skaldic poem Ragnarsdrápa and kennings in other skaldic poems; for example, in Þórsdrápa, faðir lögseims, "father of the sea-thread", is used as a kenning for Loki. There are also several image stones depicting the story of Thor fishing for Jörmungandr.

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Both Loki and Angerboda were descended from the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and were of humanoid appearance; however, the sons Angerboda bore Loki, Jormungand and the Fenris Wolf, did not. It has been suggested that Jormungand and the Fenris Wolf were born as sentient animals because their parents each had the magical ability to change his or her own shape. Hence, Jormungand and the Fenris Wolf each bear the form of the animal that their parents had assumed at the moment they were conceived.

Jormungandr follows the same as his Mythos to a certain degree with his fate to fight Thor during Ragnarok as the God of Thunder would die from his venom. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Does not appear or have a reference in the MCU

Sigyn - Loki’s Wife

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Sadly, not many stories that have Sigyn in them have survived to this day. She is only attested in the followings works: Poetic Edda & Prose Edda. 

The most famous of her story tells of how Loki has been bound by the gods with the guts of his son, Nari, and how his son, Vari, has been turned into a wolf. The Goddess Skadi fastens a venomous snake over Loki’s face, from which venom drips. Sigyn, stated as Loki’s wife, stays by his side and holds a basin under and catches the venom so it won’t drip onto her husband, but when the basin grows full, she pulls it away to empty it, during which time venom drops onto Loki, causing him to wither so violently that earthquakes occur that shake the entire earth.

In the poem, Gylfaginning, Sigyn is introduced in Chapter 31 as being married to Loki and that they have a son by the name of “Narfi or Nari”. She is then mentioned again in Chapter 50 where events are described differently than in Lokasenna; Vali, described as a son of Loki only, is changed into a wolf by the gods and rips apart his brother, “Narfi or Nari.” The guts of Nari are then used to tie Loki to three stones, after which the guts turn to iron, and Skadi places a snake above Loki. Sigyn of course catches the venom in a bowl. This process is repeated until he breaks free, setting Ragnarok into motion.

In the poem, Skáldskaparmál, Sigyn is introduced as a goddess, an Æsir, where the gods are holding a feast for their visitors and in kennings for Loki: “husband of Sigyn” and “cargo [Loki] of incantation-fetter’s [Sigyn’s] arms.”

Old Norse Name meaning: Victory Girlfriend. 

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Lonely and looking for female companionship, Loki ends up coming across Sigyn and plans to make her his. However, she is already engaged to a warrior of Odin’s Crimson Hawks -- Theoric. Hence, Loki sets up a trap to have Theoric killed during a mission so Loki can disguise himself as Theoric. Once they are wed, Loki reveals himself and despite Odin attempting to annul the marriage (which goes against Asgardian Law)), Sigyn tells the Allfather that she will follow the duties of a loyal wife since she is Loki’s now. 

This is when Odin proclaims her to be the Goddess of Fidelity. This was a thing first started by the Marvel Comics.

Sigyn doesn’t have much of an agency in the comics except being a loyal wife to Loki, sometimes going along with his plans or getting on him for it. 

I personally haven’t been able to find any evidence of Sigyn’s parents being Iwaldi and Freya in the comics, so I’m not sure if this fact is Fanon or not. 

Sigyn has suddenly seemed to vanish from the comics with her last official appearance being in 1996. It has been allueded at that she died or was killed during Ragnarok. 

Her relationship with Loki in the comics is...complicated and changes a lot depending on the writer. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Does not appear or have a reference in the MCU

Narvi/Narfi & Vali - Loki & Sigyn’s Sons

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Not much is known about Narfi and Vali except for being Loki & Sigyn’s sons with Vali being transformed into a wolf by the gods and killing his brother whose inners are used as a chain to bind Loki in the cave. 

Narfi and Vali are referred to in a number of sources. According to the Gylfaginning section of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, he was also called Nari and was killed by his brother Váli, who was transformed into a wolf; in a prose passage at the end of the Eddic poem "Lokasenna", Váli became a wolf and his brother Nari was killed.

Snorri also names "Nari or Narfi" as the son of Loki and his wife Sigyn earlier in Gylfaginning, and lists "father of Nari" as a heiti for Loki in the Skáldskaparmál section of his work.

Narfi’s name could mean “Corpse” in Old Norse, relating to how he was killed by his brother. 

There's no mention of what became of Vali after he became a wolf.

MARVEL COMICS (Earth 616)

Narvi never makes an appearance in the comics and is only mentioned in: Free Comics Book Day Vol 2018 Avengers. 

There is a Vali in the comics called Vali Halfling. He is the son of loki and a unnamed mortal woman. So, I don’t consider this to be the same Vali that is the son of Loki and Sigyn. 

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU)

Does not appear or have a reference in the MCU

_________________________________________________

Thanks for reading everyone. This required a bunch of research, but I hope this helps and has been educational. We only have what we can work with considering the surviving myths, but there is so many stories out there that we don’t know of that aren’t clear because of it. 

I tried my best to cover everything I knew about them in Marvel too, but sometimes so many retcons is too much to keep up with. I know there may be some errors in places, but it’s the best I could get this with what we have to work with.

SOURCES:

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Laufey_(Earth-616)

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Laufey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laufey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fárbauti

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Farbauti_(Earth-616)

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Angerboda_(Earth-616)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angrboða

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Hela_(Earth-616)

https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/hel/

https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/jormungand/

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Jormungand_(Earth-616)

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Sleipnir_(Earth-616)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Sleipnir

https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/fenrir/

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Fenris_Wolf_(Earth-616)

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Fenris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigyn

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Sigyn_(Earth-616)

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Narvi_(Earth-616)

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Vali_Halfling_(Earth-616)

https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/loki/

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Loki_Laufeyson_(Earth-616)

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Loki

https://skjalden.com/narfi-and-vali/

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Hela

[wingsofkpop]

Hiraeth - I.IX: Bloodborne

pairing(s): Hybrid!Im Jaebeom x Reader, Witch!Mark Tuan x Reader, Werewolf!Jackson Wang x Reader, Vampire!Park Jinyoung x Reader, Supernatural!Got7 x Reader

genre: Supernatural!AU, Dark Magic!AU, heavy Angst, eventual Smut

warnings: Mature language, mentions of death and murder, violence, explicit descriptions of fighting, blood and gore, some satanic themes, mentions of trauma, etc. 

word count: 6,5k

synopsis: How far are you willing to go to find out the truth about Moon Dye Bay?…

chapter directory

“—so once Youngjae channels enough power from the blood moon tonight, he’ll be able to lower the veil between the Other Side and the physical plane long enough to resurrect your spirit into a mortal body.” You explain, glancing over your notes at the unusually quiet figure sitting on your bed. Something about his expression seems distant—almost sorrowful. 

After your return from the hospital, and after the long chat with your roommate convincing her that your absence all night was due to a last minute work emergency, a certain ghost phased into your bedroom. You wouldn’t allow yourself to be this concerned, but during his visits, Jackson usually never shuts up. If you were all alone with no one to talk to, you probably wouldn’t either. 

You lower your notebook and shake your head, “You haven’t said one word since you showed up. What’s wrong?”

Jackson purses his lips, as if nervous to relay the thoughts swirling through his mind. Another brief moment of silence passes before he finally murmurs, “It’s the witches. They’re starting to get suspicious again… I don’t know how long I have before they figure out I’ve been crossing over to this plane.”  

“Then we’ll just have to bring you back before they find out.” You grab your phone from your desk, checking through your notifications to see if a certain siphoner has yet responded to your dozens of texts and calls. No dice. 

You haven’t been able to reach Youngjae since yesterday morning, which is odd considering the guy is the type to respond within three seconds of receiving a message. It would be one thing if he let you know that he’s busy, but it’s complete radio silence. It’s not like Youngjae at all. 

“You’re worried about something.” 

Your eyes dartup at Jackson’s observation, discovering his concerned gaze focused on you. 

“It’s Youngjae.” You sigh, “I haven’t heard from him, but I’m sure he’s just busy brewing potions or something.” You expect to earn at least a chuckle from the ghost, but his silence remains along with the blank expression along his face. His same distant demeanor also lingers, and this time, your concern grows to panic. “What is it, Jackson? What’s going on?” 

“I didn’t want to say anything cause I was sure it was all in my head, but I feel that something is… weird.” 

“Weird?” 

“It’s hard to explain.” He continues, “But as a ghost, I can feel things around me… like right now, the universe just seems off—” His voice cuts out as he frantically shakes his head, “Anyway, I just want you to be careful. Mark used to tell me that disrupting the balance of nature is like opening Pandora’s box.” 

“Yeah. We will be doing none of that.” You set your phone down before crossing the room to kneel in front of Jackson. A grin lifts to your lips as you hum to the ghost, “So what do you feel when you’re around me?...” 

Jackson raises an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” 

“You said you feel things around you… Do you feel anything special when you’re with me?” 

You’re surprised at the eagerness that swells in your chest as he takes his time to think over your question. The inquiry was supposed to be a joke to lighten the mood, but you’re actually curious about your companion’s ghastly perceptions. After maybe a minute or two, Jackson sends you a small smile: 

“I feel… light.” 

“Light? What is that supposed to mean?” 

“You have this aura around you.” Jackson affirms, mindlessly reaching forward thumb at your cheek. You obviously can’t feel his touch, but something in your gut tells you that if you could, you would feel nothing but warmth. “I feel powerful when I’m with you…” 

“Is that a good thing?”  

He grins, “I think so.” 

You continue to stare at one another for a moment, almost attempting to read the depths in each other’s eyes. It’s not until a harsh knock resonates from the front door do you finally break the gaze, offering Jackson a final hum, “I’ll bring you back as soon as I can. I promise.” 

Jackson nods, “I know you will. But like I said, please be careful.” 

“I will. See you soon.” You wait for Jackson to disappear completely before exiting your bedroom, cursing Sana for leaving you to deal with whoever is incessantly banging on your door. It’s probably the old lady from across the hall wanting to borrow another cup of sugar. You roll your eyes at the thought and open the door, ready to politely decline your neighbor’s request.

Your words die on your tongue—definitely not the old lady from across the hall.  

“Mark? What are you—?” 

“What? Not expecting to see me?” Mark’s hostile growl takes you by surprise, as does the furious expression etched along his features. “That’s not surprising since you’ve been ignoring me.” 

“I’ve been busy.” 

“Oh. I’m sure.” 

You cross your arms over your chest. “What the hell is your problem?” 

“You wanna know what my problem is?” Mark takes a step closer to you before pointing a finger in your direction, “The fact that you not only lie to me, but you go behind my back and then deliberately avoid me for days on end.” 

“What are you even talking about, Mark?” 

“I’m talking about you and Youngjae playing God and resurrecting Jackson.” 

Your muscles instantly freeze, as if Mark had taken a tub of ice water and thrown it over your head. The annoyance inside your chest shifts to guilt, and your once cold features cannot help but soften. 

You shake your head, “Mark, I—” 

“Do you know how dangerous it is to bring someone back from the dead, (Y/N)?” Mark lowers his voice, but his tone remains as frigid as his gaze. “Do you know the consequences that happen when you fuck with the balance of nature?” 

“I get that, but—it’s complicated, Mark… There’s things you don’t understand—” 

“I don’t understand!?” He scoffs, “Last I checked, I’m the goddamn witch here, (Y/N)! You know nothing about magic and its sacrifice!” 

“Maybe not, but I do know that there is a chance I could bring Jackson back!” You shake your head again, “Please, just give me a chance to explain—” 

“No. Because it’s not fucking happening.” Mark interrupts, furiously shaking his own head. “I forbid you to do this.” 

It’s like a switch goes off in your mind. Your guilt immediately transforms, but this time, it configures into rage: 

“You forbid me!? Who the flying fuck do you think you are!?”

“I won’t sit back and allow you to get yourself killed—!” 

“And last I checked, you don’t have the right to control what I do and the decisions I make!” You seethe, stepping further back into your apartment. “This is my choice. I’m resurrecting Jackson whether you like it or not.” 

“Fine! Get yourself fucking killed for all I care!” The witch raises his hands in mock surrender. “At least then I won’t have to deal with your reckless, moronic ass!”

“Fuck you, Mark.” You don’t allow the witch to say anything further and slam the door in his face. Your chest remains unbearably heavy, both physically and mentally, but you ignore the sweltering emotions and begin to traverse around the apartment, gathering your bag and other assorted belongings. 

A confused and rather concerned Sana emerges from her bedroom a few seconds later. “Are you okay? What was with all that yelling?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” You huff, shoving your arms through the sleeves of your jacket. “Just Mark being a douchebag, as per usual.” 

“Where are you going?” 

“To find Youngjae.”

“Isn’t it kind of late?” 

“I’m an adult, Sana.” You snap before throwing your bag over your shoulder. “Don’t wait up for me.” 

Similar to Mark, you don’t allow Sana the chance to question you further and sprint out the front door, praying that Youngjae will be up to bringing Jackson back in the next few hours. 

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

Mark has never exercised the greatest control over his emotions. It first began when he was twelve, after his dad walked out on his mom. He found himself sobbing his eyes out some days, and beating the shit out of other kids on others. His mood ranged from intense rage to extreme depression. There was no in between. 

In an effort to help, his mom enrolled him in a program designed to teach teens how to handle their emotions. But to no one’s surprise, the therapy didn’t do shit and Mark continued to initiate fights and cry himself to sleep most nights. He never understood why he felt this way—he still doesn’t, to be honest. His dad and him were never close, nor did he ever really care about his sudden departure. Maybe he was just an angry kid with depression. Maybe it was something else. 

It wasn’t until his mom was killed did Mark begin to pull his life together, which also happened to be around the same time he met the too-friendly, homeschooled kid with an ego the size of Jupiter, Jackson Wang. Sure, the two of them butted heads every so often, but with Jackson being a werewolf, Mark learned the importance of managing the chaos within. ‘Emotion is like a loaded gun,’ he remembers Jackson once said, ‘If you let yourself pull the trigger without first aiming down sights, then you risk sinking a bullet into someone you love.’ Those words remain with him—remind him what means to stay in control. 

But when it involves the people he loves, Mark can’t always regulate the ticking bomb counting down in his soul. 

An ache settles in his chest as he recalls the passionate fire in your gaze. There’s always been some parts of you that reminds Mark of his past friend, specifically your stubbornness and inability to think before you act. He’s never found himself hating those parts of you until now—and he shouldn’t, Mark knows that, but he’s so fucking angry and so fucking scared of losing yet another one of the most important people in his life.

He’s experienced his fair share of loss, but losing you… It would break him. Completely. 

Mark tries to push the intrusive thoughts from the forefront of his mind and focus on navigating his way through the dark maze of headstones and crumbling tombs. Right after you slammed your front door in his face, he received a text from Youngjae summoning him, Jisung and Lia to an emergency meeting at the edge of the cemetery. He’s still mad at the siphoner for assisting with your reckless scheme, but he won’t allow his pettiness to interfere with the safety of the coven. 

A sigh falls from his lips—he does regret ever saying those ending words to you though… because what if they’re the last ones you hear from him. 

‘I’m so sorry, Jackson…’ 

Mark’s misery is forgotten when he notices a group of people up ahead. He recognizes Lia, Jisung and Youngjae flocked together inside a chalk-white circle surrounded by lit torches. For a moment, Mark wonders if they’re in the middle of performing some type of seance, but his curiosity dwindles into confusion when he grows aware of the panic present in each set of their features. 

He breaks into a sprint to cover more distance, approaching the strangely placed trio in no time. At the sight of him, Lia immediately bursts into tears, furthering the anxiety bubbling at the back of his throat. 

“What the hell is going on!?” 

“Hyung! You have to get out of here right now!” Mark notices the swollen, angry flesh of Youngjae’s bottom lip as he speaks, along with the ugly bruise underneath his left eye. 

“What happened?” He ignores the siphoner’s warnings, attempting to reach inside the circle and grab Lia’s arm. However, his hand is met with resistance—a boundary spell. “Who did this to you?” 

Lia sobs, “Just go, Mark! Before he hurts you!” 

“Before who hurts me!? What are you—” His demands die in his throat as another figure appears from behind a large, marble gravestone. He immediately recognizes the newcomer, which sends even more confusion through his veins. “Seo Changbin? What the hell is this?” 

“It’s an emergency meeting, hyung.” Mark feels his entire body freeze when the familiar, conniving voice enters his ears. “You had me a little worried… I almost thought you wouldn’t show up.” 

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Mark whirls around to face a smirking Minho cockily leaning against the wall of an empty tomb. “What kind of game do you think you’re playing, Minho?”

The younger witch shrugs before pushing off the wall to pace around the area. As he draws closer and closer, Mark can spy an ancient, navy blue ring sitting heavily on his forefinger. He’s never seen any piece of jewelry like it before, but something in his gut told him it wasn’t just a simple ring—and that he’s definitely in some kind of trouble. 

“Mind explaining to me what we’re doing here? Or are you just going to continue pacing around the place like a cocky bastard?” 

“Tonight is a special night, hyung… You wanna know why?” He watches Minho point to the night sky, “In just a few minutes, the moon will drift into the Earth’s shadow and the light of the sun will reflect across the moon’s surface, thus causing a blood moon… It’s actually pretty cool—” 

“For Christsake, Minho—get to the goddamn point.”

“You know, for years I had to deal with all your bullshit excuses and justifications of putting our coven in danger—it was only a matter of time until one of us ended up dead, don’t you think?” 

A bitter memory of Nayeon’s corpse resurfaces, but Mark remains silent. 

“Everyone was too fucking blind, but I saw right through you.” Mark doesn’t move a muscle when Minho suddenly approaches, crowding his space until his nose is mere inches from brushing his own. The younger witch’s harsh glare bleeds into his soul as he continues, “You’re a poor fucking excuse for a leader, hyung—a leader who can’t even protect his own people.” 

“And you think you can do better, huh?” Mark growls, glaring his own daggers into Minho’s gaze. “You have no fucking clue what it takes to run this coven… Admit it, you’re just pissed they chose me over you.” 

“And look where that got them.” 

“You need to cut out whatever petty bullshit this is and let Youngjae, Jisung and Lia go.” Mark murmurs, “Whatever problems you have are with me, so let’s just talk it out, okay?” 

“Oh, Mark-hyung…” Minho’s gaze is unwavering from his own as he lifts a hand to rest on Mark’s shoulder. It’s a second too late that Mark realizes it is the same hand in which holds the mysterious ring: 

“I’m over talking it out.” 

Youngjae’s screams and Lia’s sobs echo in his ears along with the words that spill from Minho’s lips—they’re foreign, but Mark recognizes the spell right away. He tries to squirm and fight against the perpetrator’s grip, but another pair of hands keep his body in place—Changbin. 

Bit by bit, Mark feels the buzz of his magic lift from his veins like a flock of doves. His limbs grow weak and his head fuzzy. Soon enough, his own knees no longer bear the strength to hold his weight. Once both Minho and Changbin release him, Mark collapses to the ground—empty and unable to rise. 

“What did you do to him!?” Mark hears Jisung’s voice for the first time, although his brain is not fully able to comprehend the inquiry. 

“I took his magic. He won’t be needing it anymore.” 

Mark manages to find enough strength to reposition his body in a way that allows him to watch both Minho and Changbin approach a makeshift altar composed of an old, concrete coffin. Through the blur of his vision, he catches the witch stirring some kind of crimson mixture—likely blood. Minho looks to the moon, which is slowly brightening to a shade of maroon, before resting his gaze on his companion: 

“It’s time.” He offers the mixture to Changbin, “Once you drink this, I can begin the transformation.” 

“And you’re sure this spell will give me everything I need to take down the Primes?” 

“One hundred percent.” 

Take down the Primes?… Fucking hell. 

“Minho! Don’t do this!” Mark can’t make out his own voice between the ringing of his ears and the beating of his heart, but he can only hope they’re audible enough for his audience. “The transformation—it won’t work!” 

Youngjae shakes his head. “I don’t understand… What are you talking about, hyung?” 

“He’s going to try to recreate the spell I used on Jackson on Changbin.” With a huff and a puff, Mark pushes himself to his hands and knees. He attempts to crawl forward, but the spinning of his head sends his body sprawling along the ground once again. He abandons any more thoughts of movement and speaks to Minho directly, “It will kill him—do you understand me!? You can’t—” 

“You failed because you couldn’t draw enough power to complete the transformation.” Minho doesn’t even bother to look in his direction, “It will work—I know it will.”

Understanding there’s no possible way to convince the witch, Mark looks to the werewolf instead, “I’m warning you, Changbin! If you go through with this, you will die!” 

“Don’t listen to him. Just drink the blood.” 

“No! For fucksake, this is suicide!” 

“Think of Jackson.” Minho murmurs to a torn Changbin, reaching across the altar to place a supportive hand on his shoulder. “Do it for him.” 

“Changbin, don’t—!” 

Mark watches in horror as Changbin throws back the mixture and downs its entirety in two gulps. His heart shatters like the glass vial the werewolf launches to the ground. He peers to his left, discovering the same shocked expressions across Youngjae, Jisung and Lia’s faces, and shakes his head in defeat as Lia begins to sob again. 

“Filia maximo… Filia maximo… Morsus, morsus—” The wind begins to screech as Minho chants, tearing at Mark’s hair and nudging at his clothes, as if pleading for him to stop the spell. But there’s nothing he can do. For once, Mark is powerless. “—morsus… Advenio donec duo est revertus mors…” With a loud scream, Changbin collapses to the earth. He squirms and writhes in pain underneath the flaming light of the moon—and Mark can’t help but attempt to block out the snaps of his cracking bones. 

The scene seems to last for hours until Changbin eventually grows silent. Mark takes the time to catch his breath, unable to control his lungs over the anxiety, fear and nausea lurking through his veins. He wants to look away from the still werewolf, but his gaze is as frozen as the rest of his body. 

His eyes burn with tears of rage—Changbin is dead. Another person died because of his own fucking stupidity. Mark should have known this would happen again. He should have stopped it. He should have—

His thoughts disappear as Changbin suddenly gasps for air. For a moment, he claws at the earth as if attempting to ground himself, before he finally, albeit shakily, climbs to his feet. Minho cautiously approaches the wolf, peering down at the shorter male with a gaze full of concern. 

“How do you feel?...” 

“I feel…” Changbin flexes his fingers again, before closing them into tight fists. The moonlight illuminates the crimson glow of his irises and the sharpness of his long, black fangs as he faces the witch—a malicious smirk spreading along his lips as he chuckles, “I feel like kicking some ancient Prime ass.” 

Mark can’t find the strength to watch anymore and allows his head to lower to the earth. Just before his eyes flutter shut, he swears he spots the movement of shadows from behind a nearby headstone. But before he can confirm his suspicions, his head takes one final spin and the world grows dark. 

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

June 13th, 1769 — As much as I enjoy the atmosphere of Paris, I believe it is time to progress onto another part of the world. Some of the townsfolk are beginning to grow suspicious, considering I appear twenty years younger than my supposed age. Nevertheless, I will not mind a new start elsewhere. Jaebeom, on the other hand, will be a terror to convince. As he claimed last time I brought the idea to light, ‘There will never be a place more beautiful than Paris.’

But I know he is not through playing with his newest toy—Tzuyu. 

I set sail for the newlands tomorrow at sunrise. Whether my brother decides to accompany me or not is solely his preference. It would be pleasant to spend some time apart—to spend some time in peace—but I know, with many complaints and reluctance, Jaebeom will board the ship tomorrow. Wherever I traverse, he follows, and vice versa. We are family, after all. 

I will miss Notre Dame the most. I have grown used to visiting the Cathedral and repenting my wrongdoings to the high priest. Of course, I am forced to erase his memory of our talks each time, but it is nice to confess. It lifts a weight off of the shoulders, takes away a small portion of the guilt. If there is a god, he would never allow a creature like me to walk amongst his heavens—but at least I can salvage the lingering hope left inside of my soul. Speaking of hope, I thought I saw a woman that resembled Irene during my daily visit to the church. I find it amusing that after all these years, my heart continues to yearn for her presence. She was truly special—I wonder if she ever thought the same of me. 

I’ve heard some of the sailors refer to a shore in the newland that has yet to be claimed. It may be the perfect location for Jaebeom and I to start anew.  I can only hope it is as beautiful as people say. Maybe I will construct a place of worship as stunning as the Cathedral. 

Isn’t that ironic?... A vampire who believes in faith. 

Jinyoung finishes the entry with a sigh, welcoming the nostalgia that spreads through his thoughts like an old friend. It seems just yesterday that he recorded his first thoughts about the land that would become Moon Dye Bay. He shakes his head, carefully setting the old journal back on the bookshelf. 

He never did build that church. 

“Reminiscing again, brother?” The moment is ruined when a certain hybrid’s snicker reaches his ears. Jinyoung rolls his eyes as Jaebeom takes residence beside him, dragging his fingers along the spines of Jinyoung’s other diaries. “We did have some great times back in the 18th century… Remember our battles during the French Revolution? I rather enjoyed King Louis and Marie Antoinette’s executions.” 

“You enjoy anything that involves bloodshed.” 

“Don’t be so resentful, Jinyoungie. It’s not my fault that the queen had you in her interests.” 

Jinyoung shakes his head before retreating to his desk to fix himself a drink. “The woman was as shallow as a poor soul’s ego. She was taken with any man who’d pay her the time of day. It was a miracle her death came as quickly as it did.” 

“Careful there. You sound like me.” 

Jinyoung deliberately chooses not to respond to Jaebeom’s comment and proceeds to pour two glasses of bourbon. He ignores his companion’s wide smirk as he hands him one of the drinks. Both the vampire and the hybrid simultaneously take a sip, peering at one another over the rims of their cups. Jaebeom is the first to break the silence with a pleased inhale and a hum: 

“You returned pretty late last night. I hope you used protection during your time with (Y/N).” 

“Mind your tongue, hyung.” Jinyoung warns, “I brought (Y/N) to the hospital after the attack—I trust you took care of Tzuyu?” 

Jaebeom smirks. “Of course. She won’t be alive long enough to target your newest Maria Antonia again.” 

About to inhale another sip of his bourbon, Jinyoung pauses to mull over the answer. He lowers his glass to his side before delivering Jaebeom a confused expression and a murmured inquiry, “What do you mean she won’t be alive?” 

“Tzuyu and I got into an argument and, well, she pissed me off.” Jinyoung watches Jaebeom down the rest of his drink. 

“Please tell me you didn’t bite her, Jaebeom-hyung.” He curses at the widening of Jaebeom’s smirk, slamming his glass back down on his desk with enough force to crack its exterior. “When I told you to deal with her, I didn’t mean condemn her to a fate of pain. If you wished to kill her, you could have at least been merciful and done it quick.” 

“Last I checked, you said it yourself not to be kind.” Jinyoung follows Jaebeom as he pours himself another drink and collapses onto a brown, leather sofa. He tips his glass toward him with a smile before continuing, “I thought the punishment fit the crime, and we wouldn’t want to put helpless, human (Y/N) in danger again, would we?” 

“You turned it off, didn’t you?” Jinyoung realizes, “Does holding onto your humanity wound you that badly, hyung? That you have no choice but to wish it away?” 

“If I remember correctly, I’m not the only one that can’t hold onto their humanity… How many people did you kill in the ‘20s alone? One thousand? Maybe two?” 

Jinyoung shakes his head, “I’m not that person anymore.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” In the blink of an eye, Jaebeom is in front of Jinyoung—his glass in pieces on the floor beside him. He leans in until Jinyoung can taste the alcohol of his breath on his tongue, then whispers darkly, “You can lie to yourself all you fucking want, Jinyoung. But deep down, you’ll always know what you are… let’s just hope (Y/N) never finds out, hm?” 

At the mention of your name, Jinyoung’s anger expands. He suppresses the urge to take the table beside him and smash it over the hybrid’s head, and instead inhales a deep breath. Jaebeom is only trying to provoke him—and he refuses to be a pawn in his foolish games. 

“You will remember what it was like to feel human again.” Jinyoung sighs, “For your sake, I hope your remembrance comes sooner rather than later.” 

Jaebeom tsks, “Being human is overrated.” 

“He said the same thing about fate.” Both Jinyoung and Jaebeom whirl around at the appearance of a third voice. Jinyoung feels his blood begin to boil at the sight of the familiar vampire in the doorway, once again, suppressing his desire to launch a piece of furniture in her direction. “Ironically, fate and humanity are a package deal.” 

Jaebeom growls, “What the fuck are you doing here, Tzuyu?” 

“I came to try and convince you to give me your blood.” Tzuyu coughs, and Jinyoung swears he can hear the rattle of her bones. “But judging by your attitude, that’s obviously going to be harder than I thought.” 

“You have courage for showing your face again.” Jinyoung crosses his arms with a dark hum, “Especially so soon after you nearly killed (Y/N).”

“It wasn’t my intention to kill her. I just wanted to send a message.” 

“Is that so?” With a malicious glare, Jinyoung steps forward and tilts his head toward the vampire, “And what kind of message was that?” 

“For (Y/N) to stay away from Jaebeom.” Another violent cough wracks through Tzuyu’s thin form, causing a light stream of blood to splatter from her lips. She wipes her mouth with a ragged breath before continuing, “Look, I did it for her own good. We all know his track record at keeping humans alive.” 

“You did it to protect her!?” Jaebeom cackles, “Wow! That’s fucking priceless!” 

“Say what you will, you both know I’m right.” Tzuyu says, propping herself up against a nearby bookshelf. “It’s either she ends up dead or is turned into a vampire—then again, there’s not much of a difference between the two, is there?” 

“I would die before I allow (Y/N) to come to any harm.” 

“The only issue with that is you can’t die, Jinyoung.” Jinyoung doesn’t take his eyes off Tzuyu as she grabs a bottle of brandy from the top shelf. It takes her literal seconds to unscrew the cap and down a good portion of the container. She licks her lips and says, “I’m sorry I attacked (Y/N), okay? I went too far. I won’t do it again.” 

“You think an apology is enough to save your life?” Jaebeom snickers before snatching the alcohol from the vampire, “Think again, sweetheart.” 

“What do you want from me, Jaebeom? Does seeing me die a slow, painful death bring you joy?” 

He shrugs, “No one mourns for the wicked.” 

“Is he always this much of an asshole?” 

Jinyoung chuckles, “Pretty much.” 

“Great.” The vampire breathes out a sigh and cards her fingers through her hair. After a brief moment of silence, she directs her attention back to Jaebeom and pleads—her voice packed with desperation and fear, “What can I do to convince you to let me live? Please, Jaebeom… I don’t want to die.” 

“You should have thought about that before you touched what I told you not to.” Jinyoung remains quiet as Jaebeom lifts a hand to grasp Tzuyu’s jaw. The dying visitor remains unphased, proceeding to glare at the hybrid with hateful, yet oddly sorrowful eyes. “I suggest you show yourself out before I end your life sooner.” 

“You’re going to lose everything one of these days, Jaebeom.” Tzuyu shakes her head sadly, wiping away a layer of cold sweat from her forehead. “You’re going to lose everyone, even your brother, and you’re going to be alone. For an eternity.” 

“Save the monologue.” Jaebeom waves dismissively, taking a sip of the brandy before returning it back to its shelf. “Petty isn’t a good look for you, baby.” 

“Fuck you, Jaebeom.” Tzuyu goes to stomp out the door, but something—someone blocks her path. The atmosphere changes when Jinyoung notices your panicked form, practically gasping for air and cross-eyed, standing in the doorway. He immediately speeds to your side without hesitation, grasping your hands in hopes to ground you. 

He stares into your eyes, “What is it, (Y/N)? What’s wrong?” 

“You and Jaebeom have to get the hell out of here! Right now!” 

Jaebeom shakes his head in confusion, “What the hell are you talking about?” 

“I don’t know what exactly happened but Minho turned Changbin into this dark werewolf creature or-or something… I do know, however, that Changbin is on his way right now to kill you both.” Jinyoung steps back at the intensity of your explanation, unable to think of a response over the roar of his thoughts. Through his peripheral vision, he can spot the same type of speechlessness across Jaebeom’s face. 

Not again… 

“That’s stupid… You realize nothing can kill them, right?” Tzuyu scoffs. 

“This is different.” You urge, “I saw Changbin—he wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before… The spell that Minho used, it was-was—” 

“Dark magic.” Jinyoung finishes blankly, “The spell was dark magic.” 

“Yes… which means you and Jaebeom need to leave town as fast as you possibly can before—” 

“I don’t think anyone is going anywhere, (Y/N).” Jinyoung’s entire body grows stiff as a new voice echoes throughout the study. He cautiously turns his head, discovering none other than the young werewolf in question resting among the shadows. His eye also catches the open window a few inches away, and he curses himself for ever wanting to feel the nightly draft. 

Changbin’s smirk is as dark as his eyes. 

“What?... Not going to offer me a drink?” 

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

“(Y/N)! Get out of here! Now!” Jaebeom hears Jinyoung scream as the werewolf suddenly launches forward, knocking his brother into the bookshelf behind him. The wood completely splinters beneath the impact, raining down an array of books and planks on Jinyoung’s body. Changbin turns to Jaebeom next, but the hybrid is ready—and pissed off. 

Jaebeom speeds toward the intruder and delivers a swift kick to the gut. Changbin flies back at the force, crashing back through the window with a loud growl. Sensing the urgency in time, Jaebeom quickly throws Jinyoung’s immobile body over his shoulder and urges both you and Tzuyu out the study door. 

“Come on! We gotta go!” 

“Jaebeom! What the hell is happening!?” He ignores Tzuyu’s fearful ask and proceeds to lug Jinyoung through the maze of hallways and down the staircase, you and the female vampire hot on his heels. He doesn’t know exactly where he’s going, but he makes his way to the parlor where he props Jinyoung up against a nearby chair before turning to you: 

“You need to leave. I will deal with this.” 

“No way. I’m not going anywhere.” Jaebeom curses your stubbornness inside his head, sending a stern glare in your direction. Your expression remains fixated, and he can’t help but wish your presence in any other situation but now. 

“I can’t protect you right now—” 

“And I can’t sit back and watch you get yourselves killed!” You shake your head indignantly, “I’m staying!” 

“Fucking hell, (Y/N)! Get your ass out that door before I throw you out myself!” 

“Jaebeom, watch out!” At Tzuyu’s cue, a wooden branch comes soaring in through the window. Jaebeom immediately throws himself against you, effectively forcing your body to the ground to dodge the projectile. He can feel your fear through the trembling of your limbs and hurried breaths, but it only brings him more determination to tear apart his attacker. 

He shakes his head in surrender, “You stay on the fucking ground, understand? Don’t you fucking dare move a muscle.” He doesn’t bother to wait for a response and pushes himself back to his feet. 

Tzuyu is huddled in a corner, and Jinyoung has yet to awaken from his crash landing back in the study. Jaebeom tries to focus his senses on detecting the werewolf, but he can’t seem to hear anything past the beating of his own heart. He carefully makes his way over to the incapacitated vampire, attempting to force him back to consciousness. 

“Now is really not the time for a fucking nap, Jinyoung.” He hisses, “I swear to god, if I have to save your ass one more time—” Another wave of tree branches come crashing through the windows. Unfortunately, Jaebeom is not as quick and one catches his shoulder at just the right angle. He feels the wood sink into his flesh, painfully carving into his bones. With a low groan, Jaebeom manages to grab the makeshift stake and remove it in one hefty pull. 

He tosses it away with a yell, “You gonna hide like a little bitch!? Or are you gonna come out and fight like a man!?” 

“Be careful what you wish for, asshole!” Jaebeom turns just in time to discover the werewolf emerging from a shattered window. His blood boils when he notices the sadistic grin along the young kid’s face—he wonders how those teeth will look strewn across the parlor floor. 

Changbin comes at him fast, much faster than Jaebeom could have predicted. He manages to dodge a set of jabs, but he’s not so lucky when Changbin lands a heavy hit against the side of his face. Pain erupts through his jaw as he collapses to the floor, but Jaebeom doesn’t have the chance to dwell over it and rolls out of the way just as the werewolf attempts to stomp his nose. 

Jaebeom tries to speed away again, but like before, his counterpart is faster. Changbin manages to force him to the floor for a second time, pinning his body down with his own. Horrified, the hybrid watches as the werewolf’s eyes glow blood red and large, pitch black fangs emerge past his parted lips. Once again, he attempts to break free, but it’s no use—Changbin is too strong. 

Just when he believes the wolf’s fangs are going to sink into his neck, another form knocks Changbin away. Jaebeom hurriedly props himself on his arms in time to watch Tzuyu deliver a series of hits and kicks to the perpetrator, eventually slamming his head into a nearby armoire. Taking advantage of the moment, she turns from Changbin to Jaebeom instead: 

“Grab Jinyoung and (Y/N) and run!” She screams, “Get the hell of here!” 

Unable to move, Jaebeom remains as Tzuyu attempts to fight off the wolf. But with the combination of his ultimate strength and her weakness from Jaebeom’s venom, her defeat is inevitable. He watches in terror as Changbin sinks his teeth into the vampire’s arm before yanking her head forward and effectively snapping her neck. Jaebeom feels his insides practically soar with rage when the attacker tosses a comatose Tzuyu across the room like a useless toy. 

“I’ll kill you…” He sneers, allowing his own supernatural features to overtake his face. “I’ll fucking kill you…” 

Changbin shakes his head with a smirk, “I’d like to see you try.” 

Using the little agility he has left, Jaebeom grabs one of the branches and speeds toward the wolf. Due to Changbin’s movements, he misses his chest, but manages to stab the weapon in his stomach. Changbin releases a pained groan, allowing Jaebeom to take advantage of his surprise and land another array of uppercuts to his face. Just when he finally thinks he has the upper hand, his opponent blocks one of his hits and pins him against a wall with a hand around his throat. 

“Any last words, Prime?”

“You really think you can kill me?” Jaebeom growls, squirming against Changbin’s hold. 

“I know I can… Have fun rotting in Hell—fuck!” 

Shock spills through Jaebeom’s veins as the point of branch suddenly appears through the center of the wolf’s chest, splattering red across both of their bodies. Changbin’s grip releases, allowing the hybrid to quickly speed out of his reach. Once he’s a safe distances away, Jaebeom looks to his savior, discovering the one person he never expected to see—

You stand over Changbin’s body—chest heaving and bloodied hands trembling. Your eyes are glassy when Jaebeom meets your gaze, and for some reason, he feels the urge to go and pull your form into a tight embrace. Your voice, however, returns his mind to reality: 

“Did I… Did I kill him?” 

“I don’t think so.” Jaebeom answers, nursing his wound with his own shaky fingers. “We need to get out of here—get somewhere safe.” 

“Good idea.” You trudge over to where Jinyoung is still unconsciously laid across the chair. Jaebeom follows your lead and hurries over to a lifeless Tzuyu. “I know somewhere we can go… but I don’t think you’re going to like it.” 

“(Y/N)... There is an immortal, unkillable super wolf out to kill me and my brother currently in my living room…”  He snorts, maneuvering Tzuyu’s body into one arm and assisting you and Jinyoung with the other. 

“Trust me, anywhere is a hell of a lot better than here…”

[danidoodless]

Jumba was jacking off just like all days his dog walked in and then a bird flew into his window and scared him and he jizzed on the wall he came on his wall, and then proceeded to scream he denied cleaning he wasn’t screaming bc of the wall jizz, he was screaming because of what his dog had he calmed down, went to tumblr, and told his friends, to which they replied, "what did the dog have?" “my dick” he said he typed in his reply.. "my yaoi manga collection" but... i thought... the wall jizz.. “yeah” he interrupted, wasn’t jizz but... i thought... the wall jizz.. “yeah” he interrupted, wasn’t jizz it was blood he sighed, and watched the screen as his friends made jokes about it and Baby Be Mine - Micheal Jackson was playing in the background as he perfectly harmonized with the song As he was harmonizing with the song, Sesshomaru barged in through his window, and pointed at him yelling, "that was hot!" “but- but my dick” he said “u don’t need it” sesshomaru replied, “u can have mine” he proceeded to rip off his dick so jumba would no longer be without one unbeknownst to himself, his friends watched from his door, their jaws slack, as Sesshomaru jumped off the window ledge, stalked towards him, then proceeded to do gay shit after his dick was sufficiently ripped off, he gave it to jumba, dickless but now hopeful, he replied “thank you, i needed this.” sesshomaru just winked and smiled, leaving, never to return Jumba said, "drink me senpai annhh uwu" one day, jumbas was walking down the street *que in theme song* jumba walks to school, with alertness as he in da trenches yer feel me. Suddenly, a big ass moth appears and this mf really tried killing the currently dickless jumba and he shoots it Jumba said, "drink me senpai annhh uwu" then he thinks, wait a minute why am i walking to school? it’s not the 1950s BUT IT IS THE 1950s *Ba ba dummm* he was registered so anyways, the moth summoned the moth gods to resurrect himself, also summoning a moth army and they all came after dickless jumba! but jumba remember back in 1943 when that light skin motherfucker got stabbed, he ain't gon die today dildos were getting harder he remembered a pocket knife a strange withered, wrinkled man had once given him, he never knew exactly why that man gave him a pocket knife but in this moment he wasn’t questioning why. he pulled out the knife and started to swing on the moths, using every ounce of his dickless strength to fight them off @dark-lovvee wanted the dildos and jumba was especially strong and capable as a man to fight off these moths, when he was done he proceeded to fuck their dead bodies jumba said no! i need these dildos to fight the moths! Jumba filmed the porno *que in absolute banger outro with kids smiling while playing and rainbows in the background* after fucking the moth carcuses or should i carc-i , jumba realized something he was thirsty... he needed water... he found the nearest puddle and crouched down to take sip, he cupped his hands and put them in the water catching his own reflection as he looked down... who am i? he wondered dark love wanted to do yoga but she broke her spine, now she's in the hospital and she can't walk for the rest of her life but we all know the true reason why her legs hurt *says random ass kid in the sidelines* dickless Jumba magically grew a vagina and the first thing he decides to do is finger himself then pizza walked up and said to him “hey i have one of those too!” pizza fingers himself too but while jumba was fingering himself, he somehow losses all his skin. Now skinless and dick less he hes vagina started to disappear spineless and crippled, dark army crawled tf outta there people started to fight did i lose my skin bc i fingered myself??? jumba wondered. this new vagina was an enigma to him, what happens if i actually use it? he asked himself and that light skin motherfucker, that gay dark shin motherfucker, that one jamaican motherfucker was there to jumba let someone sleep with him and they also lost their skin, now he realizes he has super powers all those motherfuckers were shot by the police except jumba as he is fast af but even Jumba was shot later he rejoiced for a bit by the thought of pussy supapowa but it dawned on him. "Who's gonna fuck me if they find out?" but he didn't go out without a bang, he exposes his left liver and says "GDK" with great power comes great resposibili- he was interupted by a gun shot zooming past his head, WTF IS MY LIFE RN jumba screamed we jacked all over the cops face even those he had no dick he proceeds to give oral sex to sesshomarus black twin while the chaos ensued, Yeye sat down on a comfy chair, passed a cold brew coffee to Dodo, and watched the others' lives crumble into pieces jumba's story came to end. He died just way he was born, ejaculation que in kiss by Prince End of the season!

From: We R Tost

Story recorded by @storybot, written by @screechingchaospizza, @leftjumba, @dark-lovvee, and @danielledumbbitchenergy

[dascarecrow]

Death Battle - Oscar Pine

Wiz- Since humanity’s earliest age the world of Remnant has been plagued by the creatures of Grimm. 

Boomstick- AKA a cheap rip off of the Heartless. These bad boys are destruction incarnate which sounds awesome at first but it really just means they live to ruin your day. 

Wiz- Yet for as long as the Grimm have haunted humanity they have been protected by the elite warriors known as Huntsmen. 

Boomstick- These kick ass fighters are the best of the best and the baddest of the bad. They also wield some of the most awesome weapons ever made. Because nearly all of them? Are also a gun. 

Wiz- Huntsmen are trained at combat academies across the world. And the greatest of them are trained at the main academies of each major kingdom. Shade Academy in Vacuo, Haven Academy in Mistral, Atlas Academy in Atlas- 

Boomstick- Real original there. 

Wiz- And Beacon Academy in Vale. 

Boomstick- Man a school where you learn how to beat the snot out of people, hunt evil monsters and build cool weapons? If they had that kind of curriculum when I was in high school I definitely would have paid more attention. At least try to get a B+ on something instead of all those Fs and Cs. 

Wiz- Unknown to the public however is that the headmasters of each Academy are part of a secret alliance dedicated to protecting the people of Remnant and ensuring their prosperity led by the headmaster Beacon Academy, Ozpin. 

Boomstick- And like any good conspiracy the Ozluminati knows a whole bunch of secrets. Like the true origin of Dust and who faked the moon breaking. 

Wiz- One of the greatest secrets that they have kept is existence of magic in Remnant. 

Boomstick- Like actual wave your hand and make stuff happen magic. Which I don’t really get keeping hidden. I mean Huntsmen can do a whole bunch of stuff that’s pretty much magic anyways. And even stuff that magic doesn’t do. So why hide it from people?

Wiz- That’s actually because of the prospective dangers that magic could bring. 

Boomstick- Oh yeah like what? 

*Scenes play of Raven, Penny and Fria using their magic and devastating their enemies* 

Boomstick- Never mind. I’ll take being able to call up hurricanes whenever I want over a scythe that turns into a rifle. 

Wiz- Ozpin led the other headmasters and select other agents in keeping several secrets, including magic, hidden away because he feared the turmoil and destruction that would result if they were ever discovered. 

Boomstick- And it actually went pretty well. Remnant had it’s problems but it was actually looking pretty good. Until some crazy fire lady *a picture of Cinder appears* found out about magic, went “I want me some of that”, teamed up with a terrorist organization and decided to get her hands on the nearest available bit of magic. Which was hidden under Beacon Academy. 

Wiz- Dark forces would attack in the tragedy that would become known as the Fall of Beacon. The school would be devastated, the students harmed and traumatized beyond measure and Ozpin himself would fall during the battle. But this would not be the end for Ozpin. 

Boomstick- Yeah turns out Dumbledore here actually had quite a few secrets of his own. One of which is that he was at this job a lot longer than anyone ever knew. 

Wiz- In ancient times the Gods of Light and Darkness who had created Remnant saw the trials humanity endured to survive with each passing day and sought to give their creation a chance at salvation. They reached into the afterlife and returned to Remnant the greatest warrior to ever walk its surface, a mage knight known as Ozma.  

Boomstick- Of course because Gods are kind of jerks they gave the Wizard of Oz a skewed deal.  

Wiz- The Gods tasked Ozma with uniting humanity together and calling them to return to Remnant so they may pass judgement. Should humanity be in harmony upon their return the Gods would walk alongside them once more and grant to humanity grand gifts as reward. 

Boomstick- Not a bad deal really. Everyone plays all nice and you get some sweet magic powers out of it. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? 

Wiz- But if the Gods returned to find humanity divided and selfishly demanding that which was never theirs then it would be final day Remnant would ever see for humanity would be destroyed. 

Boomstick- Oh right. How is that supposed to work then? I mean the gods come back and they see some guys arguing over their favorite sports team and they just go “Your no good. Gonna kill you all”. I mean I get the appeal of having magic powers but does that really outweigh complete genocide? Huntsmen have their own personal superpowers and Dust is as good as magic anyway.  

Wiz- Regardless Ozma agreed to the gods request, motivated by his sense of justice and belief in the inherent good of humanity. 

Boomstick- And the chance to see his ex again. *Picture of Salem appears* Can’t forget about that. 

Wiz- Indeed. Of course the Gods recognized that the work they tasked Ozma with could take quite some time so they made arrangements which resulted in a rather unusual return for him. 

Boomstick- The Gods kind of have a thing against full blown resurrection so they didn’t just zap their newest employee back to Remnant. No they decided to stuff Ozzy Osbourne’s soul into some random sucker so he could get to work. 

Wiz- The Gods did not wish Ozma to bear the burden of his work alone so they made it that he would return in the body of another, which carried a like minded soul that his own would merge with. In the course of his work Ozma would discover that death was no longer the same for him. 

Boomstick- The Gods basically made him the Avatar. *Shows picture of Aang* Whenever Willy Wonka wound up biting it his soul would crop up again in some other schmuck and merge with whatever soul was already living there. Rinse and repeat for the next few thousand years. 

Wiz- The man known as Ozpin would wind up being the latest in this long line of reincarnations, continuing his past lives work in uniting the people of Remnant so they may pass the Gods Judgement.  

Boomstick- And once Gandalf here was down for the count it was time for another round of musical souls. Where he stops who the heck knows. 

Wiz- Ozpin’s would wind up reincarnating in a young farmhand known as Oscar Pine, who would find himself continuing the work that Ozma had began millennia ago and the inheritor of his countless lives knowledge and power. 

Boomstick- Man I don’t know who to feel worse for. Pinecone for having an old dude stuck in his head that can see all of his private thoughts. Or the Clockwork Wizard for being stuck in the head of a kid that’s just starting puberty.  

Wiz- As a result of this merger of souls Oscar would inherit Ozpin’s memories and more importantly his fighting skill and powers. 

Boomstick- As the headmaster of a school for hunting literal soulless monsters Ozpin knew how to throw down with the best of them and Oscar got everything the old professor knew downloaded straight to his brain, none of that pesky learning stuff the hard way needed. He would even be given Ozpin’s own personal weapon... a cane. A cane. That was seriously this guys weapon? He fights for thousands of years to protect humanity, counter hordes of dark mosters and try to make it so the Gods give Remnant a passing grade and his personal way of beating people up was with a walking stick. Starting to see why it took him so long to get people up to snuff. 

Wiz- Don’t be so quick to judge Boomstick. Ozpin was supremely gifted with his weapon, often using it like a rapier to rapidly jab at enemies and wear them down faster then they could respond. *Scenes of Ozpin’s fight with Cinder* And because he has Ozpin’s memories Oscar can do this just as well. *Scenes of Oscar’s fight with Hazel* However Oscar has chosen to focus on his own fighting style instead of simply repeating Ozpin’s. Oscar’s own personal style has a greater emphasis on striking power than  speed, being centered around strong, focused blows instead of the rapid fire technique Ozpin preferred. 

Boomstick- Finally someone who gets that the best way of doing things is by hitting the crap out of them as hard as possible. And it works pretty well for the farm boy. He was able to one shot a Sabyr, which was about two and a half times his size. And keep in mind Grimm are pretty much all bulk. Oscar pretty much killed that thing by stabbing it with a blunt object. Not to mention that he was able to smack someone so hard that they tumbled down the stairs and made Hazel stagger back a few feet when they collided with him. Hazel, who was able to catch the mini wrecking ball that is Magnhild and was stabbed through his stomach by a giant ice wasp and got back up like it was nothing.  

Wiz- Given the loss of energy that would have resulted from rolling down the steps and Hazel’s own notable durability then we can safely say that Oscar used an extreme amount of force in this one attack. 

Boomstick- And if Alpine gets tired of trying to whack people with a overhyped brake lever than he has some decent hand to hand skill as well. He was able to round a corner, close the distance and punch Neo so hard that she went flying down the hallway, all faster than she could react. And Neo’s whole thing is that she can literally dance around just about anyone like they’re moving in slow motion. Oscar was able to outpace her a few times during their fight and that’s immediately after he’d already taken some bad hits. She’d have done even worse if he’d been starting fresh. Not bad for a farm hand. 

Wiz- Oscar’s impressive performance is probably helped by his Aura. 

Boomstick- You mean that rip off of the force from Pokemon? Wait do Pokemon live on Remnant? Are the Grimm actually Pokemon and they’re what happens when humanity doesn’t learn how to make Pokeballs? Does this mean animal slavery is actually perfectly justified? 

Wiz- No. On all acccounts. 

Boomstick (disappointed)- Aaaaah. 

Aura 

- Grants shielding 

- Empowers strikes 

- Environmental Protection 

- Heightened Awareness 

- Enhances Healing 

Wiz- Aura is the soul made manifest, the user’s essence rendered into tangible form. 

Boomstick- Is that supposed to be arousing or the complete opposite? 

Wiz- Aura grants anyone who possesses it a great many benefits, primarily in terms of defense. Anyone with an active Aura automatically receives a shield that protects them from harm and damage. Oscar was able to take hits from flaming boulders and barely showed any hint that he even felt the attack. 

Boomstick- Wait, wait, wait. You mean that if someone gets this Aura stuff they automatically become invulnerable to being hurt? Wiz I’m calling in three of the favors you owe me to give me some of that stuff. 

Wiz- Aura doesn’t just prevent users from coming to harm though. It can also enhance striking power, be channeled through weaponry to increase it’s power, protect the user from harsh environmental factors like extreme cold, give someone heightened awareness of their surrounding to the point they can detect approaching enemies and even boost one’s healing. 

Boomstick- Alright Wiz I’ll make it seven favors and I’ll use Jocelyn’s credit card the next time I get drunk and come up with an awesome idea. Man thousands of years of of combat experience and a personal force field that increases strength and healing? This kid must kick all sorts of- 

*Montage of Oscar getting attacked by Ruby, Qrow, Jaune, the Hound and ends with him being shot by Ironwood* 

Boomstick- *now depressed* Oh right. Aura kind of sucks. 

Wiz- While Aura is formidable it does have it’s limits. Every blow it takes will cause one’s Aura to wear down and deplete. The stronger the hit the more damage Aura will take from it. And even those gifted with extraordinary amounts can’t maintain it indefinitely. 

Boomstick- Yep. Take it from me folks it doesn’t matter how big the bottle is. If you keep drinking from it, sooner or later you’re going to run out. 

Wiz- And once it’s completely depleted Aura will break, leaving the user vulnerable. 

Boomstick- How the heck does that work? I mean it’s your soul. You always have it. So shouldn’t this Aura stuff always be going? And if it breaks shouldn’t you I don’t know die or something? 

Wiz- To be exact Aura isn’t actually the user’s soul, but rather a type of energy harnessed from it. So it’s depletion and breaking isn’t actually fatal to the user. It also isn’t something that runs automatically. Aura has to be consciously activated and dismissed by the user. So it is possible for someone to be caught off guard because they don’t their Aura running. 

Boomstick- Figures. You find a super cool energy that can give everyone super powers and it turns out to suck eggs. 

Wiz- Well just because your Aura runs out doesn’t mean it’s the end of fight. It does recover over time and trained users can speed up how fast it rebuilds with just a bit of focus and willpower. Oscar’s teammate Jaune has shown the ability to restore his Aura after focusing for a brief moment. And given Ozpin’s countless lifetimes of experience it stands to reason that Oscar has the ability to do this as well.  

Boomstick- And even if Oscar’s Aura does wind up failing him he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. Magic ones. Remember Ozma wasn’t just a highly skilled warrior he was also gifted mage. So his whole conga line of souls also gets cool magic powers. 

Magic 

Controls the elements (fire, ice, wind , lightning, etc.) 

Energy blasts 

Creates shields 

Telekinetic movement 

Wiz- Quite right Boomstick among all the denizens of Remnant, Oscar is one of the rare few gifted with magic in the current age. While the exact abilities Oscar can use are nebulous we can infer some details going by what other magic users have done. He can unleash streams of pure power as an attack. 

Boomstick- And these emerald streamers pack a punch. Salem was able to shrug off Hazel literally splattering her all over the ground and returned the beating without missing a beat. 

Wiz- While Salem can regenerate from any damage done to her she still feels pain and can be hurt, even if the damage is undone. 

Boomstick- Oscar brought her to her knees with one blast of his magic, which also left her in visible pain. So it’s safe to say he hit her way harder than Hazel was able to. And that guy dropped a friggin meteor on top of her. *Shows clip of Hazel doing just that* 

Wiz- We have also seen magic be shaped into different forms so presumably Oscar can do this as well. His past lives have been seen creating fields of magic that can move others in a telekinetic fashion and there’s no reason to believe Oscar can’t still do so in present day, albeit not quite on the scale Ozma was once able to. 

Boomstick- Yeah one of the lives of Doctor Who did something kind of dumb. A bunch of sisters came by his house and were all “hope, joy and love” and he decided to give them almost all of his magic because of good vibes or something. I mean why would you give up actual magic powers that made you such a kick ass knight in the first place?  

Wiz- (annoyed) Anyways... Oscar lacks the reserves of magic power that Ozma once held and while we don’t have an exact measure we’re going to go with about a rate of 5 to 10 percent remaining. Fortunately for Oscar magic doesn’t deplete the way Aura does so he can use it almost without limit. And the power of the Maidens, that is the sisters he gave his magic to, gives us a view of what Oscar can accomplish. Namely the power of the elements 

Elemental Magic 

Fire  

Ice 

Lightning 

Wind 

Plant life 

Boomstick- Most folks on Remnant can do stuff like throw around fireballs or lightning bolts with the use of Dust. But magic lets you do that stuff all on your own and with no limit either. 

Wiz- Mind you Oscar’s lesser reserves mean he can’t do anything on the scale of the Maidens but he does still have the capacity to control the elements, just to a lesser degree than most magic users.  But the greatest asset magic grants Oscar is his shield. 

Boomstick- Don’t let the fact that it looks like a glass bubble fool you, this mystical barrier is actually pretty sturdy. It’s stood up to the full power of the Fall Maiden, allowed Oscar to survive a several miles long fall without any injury whatsoever and is so strong that it let him crash right through the bottom of Atlas and keep on going with no problem. 

Wiz- Actually Boomstick that last feat wasn’t a result of Oscar’s magic. 

Boomstick- Oh? I guess you’re going to tell me that glorified bike handle of his did it. 

Wiz- It did as a matter of fact. 

Boomstick- Wait what? How is that possible? It’s a cane for crying out loud. It’s something old people use for getting around and whupping the young, not the tool of a seasoned warrior and mage. 

Wiz- Oscar’s cane, much like it’s holder, far more than it appears and has quite a few surprises. 

Boomstick- Oh this should be good. 

The Long Memory 

Oscar’s personal weapon 

Once wielded by Ozpin 

Incredibly durable 

Focus for magic 

Stores kinetic energy 

Wiz- Oscar’s weapon, known as the Long Memory, is a collapsible cane that he carries at almost all times. The cane itself is highly durable, able to take hits from a Dust empowered Hazel without any sign of strain or damage. Hazel boasted immense physical strength on his lonesome and the benefit of Dust significantly increased his damage output.  

Boomstick- Okay so it’s a pretty strong cane. But it’s still just a cane. 

Wiz- The Long Memory is also a channel and focus for Oscar’s magic, enabling him to use it on a higher scale than he would be able to on his own merits. 

Boomstick- Oh like a magic wand. 

Wiz- More like a scepter. 

Boomstick- Like a magic staff? 

Wiz- Scepter. 

Boomstick- I get you, it’s like a magic rod. 

Wiz- Boomstick I swear if I have to get the shock collar again... 

Boomstick- Geez calm down Wiz I’m just funning ya. So this walking stick is pretty much a *Wiz glares at Boomstick* “magic scepter” that lets pine tree use magic better than he can by himself. That’s kind of cool actually but why make it something that looks like an emergency brake? 

Wiz- The Long Memory has one more special trick, completely separate from Aura and magic. It can store and carry kinetic energy. 

Boomstick- I’m sorry what kind of energy? 

Wiz- *exasperated* Stuff that make bullets go shoot. 

Boomstick- I know what it is Wiz. No need to get snippy. Man you are so juvenile. Anyways why is that so special? 

Wiz- *trying to be professional* With each passing moment and every blow struck The Long Memory accumulates kinetic energy and having been crafted centuries ago it has quite a reservoir of power to access. Oscar can access this stored up energy whenever he wishes, unleashing bolts and waves sheer power. This allowed him to blast a hole through the bottom of Atlas when he was sent plummeting to his doom in the Vault of the Winter Maiden. 

Boomstick- Huh. Not a bad parlor trick I’ll admit but how much damage can he really do with that thin- 

*Scene of Oscar destroying Monstra plays* 

Boomstick stares in open mouthed shock while Wiz looks on with a smug grin.  

Wiz- You were saying? 

Boomstick- HOLY MOTHERF*BLEEP*ING S*BLEEP*T!  Did that kid just fire off a magic nuke?  

Wiz-To be fair Oscar can’t throw around attacks like that too often. This particular instance used up the majority of stored up power that the Long Memory had available. And that power was gathered across several lifetimes if not centuries. He definitely wouldn’t be able to use an attack on this level repeatedly. He would be able to recover some of the kinetic energy however because the Long Memory gathers and stores it away automatically. Smaller expenditures may not necessarily be reclaimed but the cane would definitely avoid running completely out of power with this aspect of it’s abilities. Anything you’d like to add Boomstick?

Boomstick- *still in shock* I-, Yeah not really, my mind is going to be stuck on that nuke thing for a while. 

Wiz- *shrugging it off* Okay then. Come back in a few days where we’ll cover Oscar’s opponent, Izuku Midoriya. 

[iggy-of-fans]

Part 6, here we are! Also, I hope nobody thinks I don't like Raven. She's literally my favorite TT ever. Hopefully I didn't lose too many of you to her turning. She does get a redemption, I promise! 

Now, we're going to have the conclusion and the epilogue and then I'm done this one. 

What is will always be

Damian had seen several of the magic users take to corners in the ballroom, and so when Jason returned fully costumed he took the Cat Miraculous and ran to the cave. He found Tim about to transform and stopped him. 

"Take this one and transform instead" he said, "the weapon is a staff anyways. Give me the fox. I have an easier time hiding the eears under my hood. And my costume is brighter. No one will look twice at orange thrown in."

"That is…. Brilliant…. No One would believe you switched to a baton, and I don't know if we can switch weapons… Not that a flute is all that… Useful." Timothy said, handing the fox tail to Damien. They transformed quickly and threw on their costumes, finishing just in time for the others to start making their way down. Timothy tried to make it look like he was hiding something much larger than the little black triangles that blended into his hair, while Robin made sure his hat stayed securely on.

"The situation we find ourselves in today…." 

When the JL saw that they had two missing teens Alfred decided to step in. He was out of practice, but he was sure he could help the teens. He looked to Oracle and begged the Miraculous box to open for him. It seemed his prayer was heard, at least somewhat, as the butterfly Miraculous fased up through the box. 

"Oracle, take this. I will need your help to save those kids" Alfred handed her the Miraculous. Noroo awoke and looked at the woman, sitting patiently in a wheelchair and he gasped. 

"oh my poor fairy! Who hurt you so?! I was hurt before too, do you want to help each other heal?" Noroo was quite young in comparison to the others in the inner circle and had very little experience out in the world. But he was eager to redeem himself in the eyes of the world. Barbara was shocked, but nodded. When the light faded, she sat in her chair with new purpose. A butterfly was born from her good intentions to help and landed on her hand. "Magic is so weird" she mumbled, before she thought of how to help the kids. She'd seen the fear in the shorter boys, but the taller one was determined to do the right thing. Him then. She powered up the butterfly, watching as Alfred concentrated hard as well. With a wave of his fan, the butterfly and feather took off to Metropolis. 

… "Here's the plan, everyone. I need Tim to create an illusion of Robin to get close to Adrien and Alya. Then-" 

"Sorry to interrupt Angel, but I don't fight with a staff" Robin stated, lifting his hood slightly to reveal the long fox ears. He dropped it and Guardian Angel looked shocked for a second. 

"You brilliant, brilliant man!" she called, "Okay, new plan. We need a comm from their end. Can anyone do an impression of someone? Like Bane or something?"

"That would be me!" Red Hood called through the comms, shooting another assassin between the eyes. 

"Perfect! Robin, use the mirage to create a ring under your left glove, make it real. You will have to be able to fake a cataclysm midway through, can you do that?" Robin just nodded his head, pulling the flute out from under his Cape and creating a perfect Bane replica. The battle still raging produced the perfect cover for them. 

" Now, make it look like he's dragging you, don't fight too hard, or your illusion will vanish. Superman, get the real Bane and at least break his comm. Take the nerve toxin from Red Robin. Someone get the Red Hood the enemy communicator. Wonder Woman, assist Superman. Supergirl and Superboy. Are you recovered enough to take the ground troops out? Perfect. Remember Robin, you'll have to make an illusion of the ladybug earrings too. Tikki knows to run and hide as soon as he's distracted." 

In Metropolis, Max had long since gone from scared to catatonic. Barely breathing and too terrified to speak. He'd been separated from Nino after their message was discovered. He was as good as dead. 

Nino on the other hand kept tugging at his binds. There is a way out. Ladybug and Marinette would've found one. By Wayzz he hated himself. Why the hell had he let Lila get in the way of years of friendship? How had he believed the utter crap that came out of her mouth? 

Luther had decided it wasn't worth the trouble to kill them since Adrien planned to just resurrect them with his wish, so he left them tied (and beaten and bloody) in a couple of offices on the top floor.. Nino glared at the door, anger coursing through him. 

"Justice, I am Fairy Oracle, from Gotham. I can help you and your friend escape from not only this maniac, but away from the ones you once called friends." 

"And I am Påfugl. I will lend you a companion to aide in your escape. If you accept our aide, unlike when you were Akumatized, you will remember and have ultimate control of your actions. What do you say?" 

"I accept" Nino whispered. Immediately a green light overtook him. He felt the new powers coursing through him, but looking down he didn't look like his outlandish Bubbler form, but rather a bit like the American heroes, with a simple green spandex suit. He flexed his muscles. He didn't look too different from usual, didn't feel too different. But the binding broke from his muscles like glass. He wondered what the power up was hidden in. He hadn't seen the butterfly… Shrugging he looked to the door. He knew roughly that Max was in another office to the right of his own door. He also knew he had a minimum of four guards to fight through. He looked around for the companion he was supposed to receive.

"Look outside" a voice whispered through his head. He looked and saw a falcon flying in the distance, "when you're ready, jump. We will catch you." 

Oh… Okay. He looked at the door and checked the slit to see if it was locked. Of course it was. Okay. Let's see how strong he really was. He yanked the door with all his might, pulling the door clear off the wall. Oops. The guards turned to look at this unknown and lifted their guns. Well, so much for stealth, Nino thought as he threw the door at the two guards. He saw the two that had take Max running down the hall from his right and he quickly picked the door back up and threw it at them too before taking off towards the rooms at the end of the hall. He broke three doors before he found Max, gaping at him like he had two heads. 

"Let's GO!" Nino yelled, breaking the rope on Max and jumping out the nearest window. 

"OH please dear God if I rot in jail, please just get us out of here" he whispered as he and Max fell fifteen stories and counting. Suddenly they abruptly stopped falling, claws closing in on their shirts as a giant falcon swooped over them and lifted off towards Gotham. Distantly Nino still heard the shouts from guards to shoot, but they were out of range. 

With Bane subdued with Neuro-inhibitors, the assassins placed into bullet proof glass boxes, Scarecrow on his way to Arkham, and a quick Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, the heroes were left with a passed out Adrien and a cuffed Alya. Commissioner Gordon wanted to have Adrien brought to the hospital for treatment and Alya to the police station for questioning. But the heroes wouldn't be left out. Batman insisted he and Wonder Woman head to the hospital with Adrien. Red Hood nodded and asked Supergirl to accompany himself with Alya. Nightwing nodded to the passed out Raven, being held in cuffs by Star fire. Robin took hold of Guardian Angel and offered her a ride home on his Robin Bike. She smiled and was about to nod when a bird cry was heard from above. Looking up, everyone saw a giant falcon landing with two boys in its claws. They recognized them immediately as Max Kantê and Nino Lahiffe. Commissioner Gordon took them into custody as well, to decide what to do with them after, giving the heroes not joining for the Interrogation a rest. Guardian Angel thanked Comissioner Gordon, and went with Robin back to the batcave. 

Once there, along with several other heroes who were recovering, Marinette tuned in to the screen where Red Hood and Supergirl were with Alya. 

"Miss Cesaire, I am curious about what led you to follow Mr Agreste to Gotham" a translator sat in the room, turning her head to Alya. 

"Lila Rossi is not a liar! I'm a journalist, I know this! She can't be a liar. That means Ladybug is and I just wanted her to admit Lila was telling the truth!" Alya screamed in frustration. The translator frowned as she spoke to Comissioner Gordon. 

"What does that have to do with this incident?" 

And so Red Hood gave the run down of Paris and what happened to Rossi, including her deportation and multiple lawsuits she was facing currently. The translator explained to Alya that the lawsuits were from both individuals who'd been lied about, including Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, as well as the city of Paris on behalf of Ladybug. Alya paled with the words, shaking her head frantically. 

"Did you or did you not lead the planned attack on a former classmate on behalf of Lila Rossi?" Red Hood asked. But Alya was mute. She wasn't wrong. She wasn't wrong.

" Marinette was just jealous" Alya whispered. She wasn't wrong! "Marinette was just so jealous, she bullied Lila!" she finally screamed, "Ladybug could have fixed her!" 

"Has the girl mentioned, Marinette, ever shown bullying tendencies before? Been outwardly cruel or antagonistic when provoked or jealous?" Comissioner Gordon broke in. Alya froze. She thought about Kagami and Chloe and all the girls involved in Adrien's life and tried to come up with an example. She lowered her head and shook it no. 

" Has Ladybug ever been able to bring back a deceased that was killed outside of a magical attack by these Akuma?" 

"She cured Lila's tinnitus!" she exclaimed. 

"the same Lila that lied about being bullied, and has lawsuits against her from multiple sources? You believe this to be a credible source? Let me ask this, has she ever cured anyone else of chronic illness?" Gordon asked. Alya shook her head. 

"So you came here with the intention of what… Using Ladybug, aka, Guardian Angel, to bring back all those you and your partner killed?" Gordon looked skeptical. 

"you can wish for anything with the jewel of creation and destruction. Even for life to be breathed into the dead" Alya said clearly. 

"Is that a fact?" Gordon turned to Red Hood. He shook his head. 

"The consequences of making any wish can be destructive. A wish for peace might kill half the population, simply because less population means more resources. The law of Alchemy states that everything must remain in balance. To bring back a dear friend, you have to lose another dear friend first. To bring back 14 innocent people, 14 other innocent people would have to die. From my understanding, they planned on not only resurrecting the people they themselves killed, but also the classmate who committed suicide. On top of this, they also planned on creating a "perfect world" in conjunction, to make sure no conflict happened in their class specifically" Red Hood played the video on his phone of Nino explaining this before he was caught. Gordon frowned. He glared at Alya, who was pale. They couldn't bring them back. They couldn't bring any of them back and that meant Marinette was dead and she'd never be able to see or hug or apologize or…. Alya puked on the floor. The realization that even limitless power was in fact limited. Gordon nodded and told an officer to put her in a cell and call Paris. 

When Adrien awoke, he was cuffed to a hospital bed, his head was bandaged down past the right eye, and his torso was strapped to the bed with a warm blanket. In the room with him were Wonder Woman and Batman. He frowned. 

"Mr Agreste. Do you know where you are?" Wonder Woman asked. He tried to shake his head but he opened his mouth anyways. 

"Gotham City" his voice was scratchy and dry. 

"Do you know why we are here?" 

"I tried to get the Ladybug and Cat mirculouses."

"Why?" 

"Because Ladybug should've healed Marinette. My Princess should be here with me. Ladybug was jealous and let her die and sent Lila away and took my ring and my family from me! Everything was ruined because of her!" Adrien shouted. Batman looked at him. This was going to be a long day.

"Tell us what happened from your perspective?"

And Adrien did.

Okay, so.... Here's part six. Seven will be really short but I couldn't find a way to include it in this.

@bookreader20003

@mooshoon @artxyra @spicybelladonna @northernbluetongue @kuroko26 @mystery-5-5 @2sunchild2 @iwantswifttoblessmysoul @zelladane @ellerahs @thedarkwhiteangel @resignedcatservant @scribblinggraveyard @alexzandria-747 @nyctamaximoff @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @sapphiraazure2708 @tinybrie @dudet @thatrandomfandomsgirl @lunar-wolf-warrior @zazzlejazzle @zebrabaker @constancestruggle @unabashedbookworm @ginamarie1512 @mindfulmagics @bitterheart12224 @captainmac6 @blue-peach14 @enduskdragon @multishipper1needshalp @abrx2002

@throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen

[gamesweforgot]

The Mummy Returns for PS2 is not good and you should play it

Being bisexual, I naturally love the first two Mummy films starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Being a kid who spent too much time playing videogames in the 90′s and 00′s, I also remember seeing previews for a tie-in game to The Mummy Returns and always finding it intruiging. The ability to play as Rick and Imhotep, blending gunplay and magic? Sold! Except I was a poor teenager and didn’t have, y’know, money. Now I do. As the title of this piece may have tipped you off, this is a bad game. A game that 14 year old me would have tried and utterly failed to love. But with age comes wisdom, the ability to laugh more freely at the things you love, and the ability to buy The Mummy Returns for PS2 for £1 instead of however much second hand retailers wanted for it back in the halcyon days of the mid 2000′s. I started my first playthrough is Imhotep, which is the better choice if you’re looking for a game that is “fun”, or “passable”. You know you’re in for a good time when the first thing you’re told to do after being revived is set out on a fetch quest. Exploring Imhotep’s first level, the British Museum, you’re tasked with finding four items to give as offerings to the god statues you’re sharing a basement with, as well as being told to look out for collectible Canopic jars that will expand your health meter. So you run around, punching out security guards and Medjay as you go. The melee combat here doesn’t feel precise or impactful or, y’know, good, but enemies have the decency to die pretty quickly, and you awaken with the magical power to restore your health by absorbing the souls of weakened humans through a technique I insist on referring to as “soulvore”. This level shows some promise. The environment isn’t huge, and the game doesn’t look great, but there’s a decent amount of unique assets and the level is easily navigable. This is largely the case for Imhotep’s story. While you can gain a new spell on each level, anything that isn’t soulvore is basically never useful outside of the two times you’re forced to use the resurrection spell in the museum. Instead you’ll just punch dudes a lot and maybe use a sword? Idk it’s your afterlife. Oh, Imhotep’s third level is hilarious by the way. Remember that temple he stops off at with Alex and his henchfolk? Yeah, you turn up there, pick up a “spirit sword” from a corpse, kill a couple of ghosts and that’s it, you win the level. Rick, on the other hand, has a much worse game, but a much funnier one. Rick O’Connell has no magical soulvore. Rick O’Connell lives in a vore-free zone. Instead, he relies on good old-fashioned firearms to get the job done. Each level gives Rick dual pistols and either a shotgun or tommy gun, plus a starting pool of ammo. As for health, you’ll be forced to find and ration out the limited health packs in each level. However, Rick’s enemies are so spongey that a regular dude will take eight pistol shots to kill. Your starting pistol ammo is 32. And Rick’s punches may as well be gentle subtweets for all the good they do. Rick’s limited abilities to stay alive and defend himself aren’t the only thing that make the levels more tricky than Imhotep’s, but we’ll get to that. From the first cutscene, you’re in for a treat. Evy, Rick, and Jonathan all suffer from some pretty terrible voice acting and honestly it’s the only thing worth playing Rick’s story for. His first level is that temple from the beginning where he, Evy and Alex find the magic bracelet, where you’re tasked with...finding four items to open a door! Luckily, ammo and health are pretty plentiful in this level, even if you’re like me and don’t discover that you can loot the corpses of gunwielders until the third level. The only real problems here is the confusing maze that two of the trinkets you need are found in and the unmotivated shooting of brown people. But then we start getting onto the rest of the game’s levels, the ones Rick shares with Imhotep. When Imhotep goes to Cairo, all he has to do is find the hotel room the heroes are staying in, then go down to the train station and fight Ardeth a bit. Sure, the place is a confusing maze, but you’re unlikely to die. When Rick goes there, you have to bribe your way past the guards at the docks to reach the train station. They will only accept 5 golden coins. So maybe you have to do some platforming for them, or even a series of tedious fetch quests? Nope, you have to kill random, otherwise peaceful brown people. Specifically, you have to kill the armed men walking around town, who might drop a gold coin if you’re lucky, but will mostly just drain your ammo.  After this, you (somehow) find your way back to the docks and see Alex giving Anck Su Namun the Benny Hill treatment before you teleport back to the hotel so Ardeth can go with you to free Alex. This is more difficult than it sounds, as the wandering townsfolk have been replaced by zombies that don’t drop ammo, and can do some nasty damage if they latch onto you. You then follow this up with a gauntlet of cultists at the docks/train station. Really though, so long as you’re careful and save/reload often enough to avoid catastrophe, this level is just tedious. Rick’s trip to the jungle is where things get real fucky. This is another two parter. The first half is essentially identical to Imhotep’s, with Rick doing some basic platforming and light puzzle solving while trying to avoid the wildlife, except you get a slightly different path to the level exit! Huzzah! But the treetops...oh the treetops. You may remember the army of mummified pygmies from the movies. When Imhotep passes through here, they’re fighting Medjay that 1) distract them 2) let you soulvore back any lost health. When Rick comes through here, there’s no cultists for the pygmies to fight, meaning you get the full brunt of their attacks. I assume the final level and fight against the Scorpion King is the same for both of them, I stopped playing after running across a rope bridge cost my half my health bar in unstoppable damage. It’s not all awful though, and I do think this game had potential. Imhotep’s kinda fun to play is, even if his useless magic reduces him to a repetitive punch machine. There are some neat touches, like Imhotep withering as he gets hurt, or Rick’s two pistols actually being visibly stored on his model. Oh, and the cats in Cairo will actually drain Imhotep’s health if he’s around them. Graphical fidelity and audio quality aside, this game would be pretty disappointing even as a PS1 title. But its bad voice acting, janky animations, and amatuerish level design can make for some “so bad it’s good times”. I definitely got my quid’s worth out of it. This seems to have been exactly the sort of d-tier entry the developer, Blitz Games, specialised in. Their other titles include Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue, a videogame adaptation of Reservoir Dogs, infamous Burger King advergame Sneak King, Bratz:The Movie (the videogame), and The Fairly OddParents: Breakin' da Rules . These games are all noted to have “mixed reception”.

[ncfan-1]

Oh, Moon. Moon, Moon, Moon. I made the point earlier that this is a character who would really have benefited from having access to Aesop’s Fables as a child, because the story of ‘The Farmer and the Viper’ would potentially have been of great interest to her. She could also have benefited from watching Gargoyles as a child, if only to hear David Xanatos say “Revenge is a sucker’s game.”

Like, Moon. Moon. You’re mad because Eclipsa wouldn’t let you kill her child right in front of her, and that when she intervened to keep you from killing her child right in front of her, you were badly injured and wound up in the Realm of Magic for a while, without your memories, and was temporarily separated from your family? Moon. Moon. That wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t jumped the gun when Eclipsa was succeeding in talking Meteora down and decided that murder was your only option. And it’s just a bit hypocritical of you to be mad at Eclipsa for defending her daughter against you, when you’ve proven you’re more than willing to kill on your own child’s behalf. (Also, you’re mad because you were separated from your family for a few weeks? By your own standards, Eclipsa has every right to just go on the rampage, because she was separated from her family for three hundred years.)

So, Moon. You get mad that Eclipsa wouldn’t let you kill her kid and that you were hurt and temporarily separated from your family, so you decide to orchestrate a coup and depose her so you can win back your old throne and kick her out of the dimension. But in so doing, you decide to join forces with a genocidal racist with superpowers, and empower other violent racists with the same superpowers Mina has, all of whom are people who have made it clear time and again that they’d like to do harm to Eclipsa and to the monsters of Mewni, which, though very little can be said for you at this point, it can at least be said that that was not part of your plan. You knew what Mina was. You knew what the other people you turned into Solarian warriors were. And you just thought you’d be able to rein them all in and keep them from turning this coup into a genocide, because of course they’d all respect your authority and ignore both their own hatred and the power you gave them to do something with that hatred.

Oh, and you completely betrayed your daughter’s trust, singlehandedly erased all of the work your daughter poured her blood, sweat, and tears into, set up a situation where most of her friends will die if you, Star, and Eclipsa don’t come up with a solution, created an army of super-powered, nigh-invulnerable genocidal warriors who are off to gleefully commit genocide, have been driven out of your home dimension on pains of death, and your daughter is absolutely furious with you and will likely never trust you again.

So yeah, you fucked up. With age does not necessarily come wisdom, and no matter how much we ought to know better, we’re all still capable of making monumentally stupid decisions.

But I don’t think you’re beyond redemption. Not by a long shot.

Okay, we’re below the cut, so I’m exiting Direct Address mode and going into Essay POV mode.

First of all, though I was, like many people, surprised by the revelation that Moon… Did That, I don’t think it came out of nowhere. She’s spent most of this season surrounded by people who hate Eclipsa and hate monsters. She’s spent months living in an echo chamber of hate that, coincidentally, happens to validate all of her old beliefs. It was almost inevitable that something bad was going to come of that. (And don’t think I didn’t notice that at least some of the Neo-Solarians were members of Moon’s yurt village.)

Also, Moon has been visually linked with Solaria since Season Two. Ever since ‘Into the Wand’, where we first saw her tapestry, in fact. Theirs are the only two royal tapestries that depict violence, and both depict violence against monsters. Also, Moon’s battle garb? Is pretty clearly designed after Solaria’s battle garb. Her dress is almost literally a palette swap of Solaria’s, and as an adult, she wears her hair braided into battle, just like Solaria. It was probably intentional on her part, meant to hearken back to this “heroic” queen of old as she, too, carried out a campaign of extermination against monsters as a grieving teenager.

And I’ve always found it kind of iffy that Moon’s battle garb is literally her cosplaying the genocidal warmonger in the family tree (I wonder what Eclipsa thought when she first saw Moon wearing that dress as a teenager). Something’s finally come of that, I guess.

Second, Moon’s main fault here was not a fault of malice. It was, first, of arrogance, and considering that Moon has spent the better part of her life ruling as an absolute monarch who is extremely unaccustomed to anyone challenging her authority, arrogance is entirely too plausible as a character flaw for her. It was, secondly, one of short-sightedness, and, well, I guess Star comes by it honestly. As arrogant and short-sighted as she would have to have been to seriously believe that she could control Mina and the other Solarian warriors, as serious a lapse of judgment as it was to think that she could just open this Pandora’s box of bigotry and hatred and then close it again with no problems, it was at least clear that Moon wanted her coup to be as bloodless as possible. She didn’t want to hurt Eclipsa; she just wanted Eclipsa gone.

I think part of Moon’s saving grace here is that her coup, once she revealed her role in it, immediately and violently blew up in her face.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Even if everything had gone to plan, it still would have blown up in her face. Because a throne you win by violently deposing your predecessor is a throne you spend the rest of your life fighting just to hold onto. Because resurrecting the Solarian warriors is just the thing to ignite the powder keg of Mewman-Monster relations, and just might be the thing to reignite the Mewman-Monster war. Because if Moon thought the other kingdoms gave her flack for her handling of Toffee, oh, can you just imagine the fresh hell she’d be in for on the diplomacy front after Rich Pigeon, Ponyhead, and (less directly) Penelope Spiderbite got caught in the crossfire of her coup? Because if Moon’s coup had gone completely to plan, I honestly think it would have been the end, the very end, of her relationship with Star. It would have destroyed any bond of love and trust the two of them shared, and Star probably would never have wanted anything to do with Moon again.

And don’t get me wrong, things are bad right now. Because on top of everything else, River? River doesn’t know what she did. He can’t possibly know what she did; there’s no way he would have been able to keep it a secret. And if the Solarian warriors find out he helped (or tried to help, if Globgor doesn’t make it to the Magic Sanctuary in time) Globgor? They’ll kill him. Or try to, at least. After all, Mina told her warriors to round up all “monster smoochers” (I see they’re being as clear in their references to real life attitudes towards miscegenation as possible) along with the monsters; one wonders how long it’s going to be before it’s made clear that Penelope Spiderbite’s on that cliff, too. But they could be worse. Moon should honestly be grateful that her coup didn’t go to plan, because she would have paid dearly for it, and I don’t think the love of her daughter is a price Moon would have been able to bear paying. Even to get back at Eclipsa.

She’s still going to pay dearly, though. Moon wrote a check she couldn’t cash, and if the promos for ‘Cleaved’ are any indication, we’re about to watch the price get taken out of her hide. Her one route to redemption is the fact that, since her coup blew up in her face, she can actually do something to make up for what she did, and start down the road to regaining Star’s trust. But it’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be pleasant, and ‘Cleaved’ is almost certainly not going to be a fun outing for her.

The other part of Moon’s saving grace is that upon being removed from Mewni, she seems to have asked herself almost immediately, “Was it all worth it?”

And answered her question with a resounding, “No, it really, really wasn’t.”

Because she can’t find a single thing to say to Star when Star calls her out. Because she is just so obviously guilt-stricken and confused by Eclipsa treating her much more charitably than she really deserves. And I really don’t think her actions were truly rooted in malice, because whenever Moon is actually around Eclipsa, away from the echo chamber of hate that she was living in these past several months, she seems at a loss to remember what exactly it was about Eclipsa that she hated so much in the first place, what it was about her that made her feel as if she was justified in ruining the life of a woman whose life has been ruined so many times that she can just compartmentalize it and make nice with the person responsible as if Moon did nothing more serious than swipe the last Snookers bar from the vending machine, instead of nearly getting Eclipsa and Eclipsa’s beloved baby daughter killed, and putting the life of Eclipsa’s beloved husband in serious jeopardy and being more than willing to use that as leverage against Eclipsa to make her surrender. Oh, and resurrecting the Solarian program probably unearthed just a heap of unpleasant memories for Eclipsa, considering who her mother was, but oh, look, Eclipsa’s happy to play pool with, strategize with, and give advice on reconciling with her daughter to Moon. The closest she comes to actually calling Moon out for anything is getting a tiny bit passive-aggressive with Moon over her working with Rhombulus to frame Eclipsa for Globgor’s release. Which must make Moon feel even worse, because if their situations were reversed, Moon would not be nearly as civil. For starter’s.

Yeah, Moon fucked up. She fucked up monumentally. But she at least understands that she fucked up, and that is a start.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Ocean au (Pool of Blood part 2)

N/A: something to further this plot. A small one but the plot is kicking. I think.

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @bamfoftheundead

When one thing about magic, and it´s all possibilities, hardly one comes to the question "how magic breathes its first breath" because, for someone, magic is just there and will always be there, but, if you ask to Wanda Maximoff where magic start she´ll have a blast in telling all the theories she has.

Pietro knows about this. Her husband Victor knows about this and their kids know about this too. Yet, her theories and the many other wizards who delve into the subject hardly come into a consensus in regards to the question.

The best outcome that Scarlet Witch and Dr StrangeFate managed to offer to people if they really ask this question, is that this is a gift from Hecate, mother of magic, and how if you truly believe you can wielder its magic in all proprieties in your favour.

Like said before, is only a theory and no one is crazy enough to summon Hecate to make this question. Right now, Wanda´s mind is far further from the answer to this question as she´s watching her kids rehearsing for the big school play.

"Mom, you won´t do that, right?" Tommy asks pouty. "We´re just trees in this story"

"Yeah, mom, we´re just trees, dad we´re just tress" Billy agrees and Wanda and Victor smile as they show the cameras.

"Sorry, kiddo, we´ll take pictures like all the other parents, plus you two will be the cutest trees ever" And this prompts the twins to be embarrassed even more so when Wanda promised their uncle Pietro will be there to take pictures and be their fanboys. Is a nice gesture, but, they´ll still be embarrassed.

The crystal ball lights up and Tommy is the first to run to see it and waves as Dr StrangeFate is present with one cat and one dog on his lap, and Tommy says the dog looks mad at Dr StrangeFate.

"Hello, Wanda, I was doing some research and I was wondering if you know anything about Pool of Blood" is his straightforward question and Wanda frown as is visible something is up.

Her eyes land on the two animals on his lap and realization hits her. "No, I not, but, why you want to know?"

"As I said is research and nothing more. I thought you could have a leading clue about this phenomenon, but, is not important" and turns off the communication and everyone in this house, including the kids, can sense something is off.

"Dad, what´s a Pool of Blood?"

"Is a monstrosity that creates monsters"

Wanda has a bad feeling about this and she vows to call Columbina about what her animals are, but, at the moment. "Come on, little trees, you have to end the song, right?" and the boys whine together but continue to sing the lame song, in their humble opinion, for this school play.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The communication is cut short after all and Cosmo and Jupiter are not happy with Dr StrangeFate and the man knows he´s travelling in thin ice now, but, the Pool of Blood is malicious enough to cause harm and Wanda´s powers are a delicatessen for that thing.

"Let me be in her place, my powers won´t attract the attention of that thing and I know more magic than her" Dr StrangeFate speaks his case and Cosmo shakes his head as 4 eyes begin to emerge in his face and his body begins to grow.

Jupiter is nearby, walking on the corners, watching and waiting, he could end everything so easily, but, at the same time, is so rare to see Jupiter do something this drastic. Celestial mother loves monsters more than humans, but, she loves being a contradiction. Ironic, Jupiter´s patron is straightforward in his intentions.

"And what can you do to stop a Pool of Blood? How can you end it?" The dog asked bemused as the hot breath leaves his mouth. And Dr StrangeFate is left with his own mind and witts now.

"I could freeze the Pool and take it out"

"Can you freeze blood? Her blood?"

"....I´d not know"

The dog shakes his furry head and utters some Latin words, no, ancient words from other planet and time as Dr StrangeFate´s infinity stone is removed from him. "Remember, human, this power can be given and taken, and I´m her son, now, about our other plan...do you will help or not?"

"I obey Celestial Mother, her will is mine will" and this would be over if Cosmo didn´t set on fire one of Dr StrangeFate´s machines. The fire is blue and burns the machine in one go.

"Don´t go make questions your mind is not ready for the answer...and to resurrect the deads only brings problems" Cosmo replied shifting to his "normal" appearance and Jupiter still remains in silence, peering through the human´s soul. This one is different from universe 616.

"As for Columbina, you keep your mouth shut, got it?" Cosmo speaks still under the fire and Dr StrangeFate knows no blade or spell or even venom can take down Cosmo.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

In the life of espionage, one thing you must always have in your mind is how to leave the scene and this is one of MJ´s best qualities if she can say so. And right now, the red hair and her assistant, Peni Parker, need to flee for their lives, but, of course, still in the characters, they are pretending to be. A lovely aunt and niece having fun in the glamorous part of New Gotham.

"I knew it! Coming to New Gotham is always bad news" MJ is complaining as she packs her package in the most calmly and aggressive way one can imagine while Peni, doing her package without caring about the order is just saying how New Gotham was not that bad.

"It has everything here. Nice buildings, nice people and...vampires" Peni states as she has her gun on position and MJ has only time to look Dark Claw and Spider-boy on their balcony.

"Are you going to shoot at me?" Dark Claw asked and the man´s voice is frightening on its own but as he stands up the effect increase 10 times more and MJ does not want Peni to die.

"I´d not know, vampire, you´re the one peeping on innocent women, not very heroic, is it?" Peni asked still with the gun in hands and she shoots Dark Claw, but, thanks to the healing factor, the wound heals the man right away.

MJ looks at Spider-boy who notices her peering gaze at him, hard to not notice, and speaks to calm down the situation, if is possible. "We mean no harm here, Dark Claw just want to be dramatic, in reality, we would like to ask if you would rather work for us...in the future"

MJ crosses her arms and exhales as her green eyes are far from pleased. "Do we really have a choice? If we say no...how can we know you´ll not throw us in jail....we´re far too valuable to you all to ever let us go" MJ states bemused.

"So, I guess, me and Peni have to stay on the JLX´s side, right?"

"Or else" Dark Claw speaks "you would rather face Kilmonger on your own, you think he wouldn´t use you two again?" and Peni and MJ exchanges looks as they really don´t want to tangle themselves between Wakanda and Kilmonger.

"Well, it seems Spider-boy puts the news nicely than you, Mr vampire" Peni states and an agreement is made, MJ may not like, but, this is the lesser of evils in her situtation. _________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurt Ryder is googling on the internet, yes sometimes even him has to rely on good and old Google, to get information about Kitty Pryde, and to his surprise, the internet has nothing useful to tell. Aside from some cat videos and some cat porn (no, Ryder does not need to know about Cats the hentai), he found next to nothing, except this one article.

"Brave little girls escape certain death by sheer luck" he reads the title and notices it has a photo of Kitty Pryde when she was younger, and a girl with green hair who is hugging Kitty (the said girl is smaller than Kitty) and continues to read "according to the police, the Ferris wheel went malfunction in the exact moment those two girls decided to join in and it was a miracle that they didn´t die, but, no one knows how the Ferris Wheel malfunction in the first place as...it was turn off in the first place, investigation will be issued and the Amusement Park Happy Land will be closed"

Kurt Ryder, if he was a less experient detective, could let this information go as it appears to be irrelevant, however, Kurt is an excellent detective and looking at the legend of the photo of the two girls he notices something crucial.

"Kitty Pryde and Lorna Dane Pryde. Two lucky survivors."

"That´s...something"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

On a secret lair, a villain that the JLX hopes is really retired and will never come back to the good old days, is watching a fascinating video on the big screen thanks to his secretary/ sometimes lover provide for him. Magneto is watching a green-haired woman using her power to help someone, Magneto has no idea who is this person, but, it appears she is taking him out of the prison.

"Interesting" Magneto states. "Oracle once told me I have a lost daughter...could this be my lost daughter" and smiles proudly as the video ends with the green-haired woman taking the unknown person away.

Meanwhile, Irene has a small smile on her face. Oh, her old prophecies are coming together.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The cellphone rings loudly and Kitty answers and is no surprise to know is Jubilee as the TV is showing the news of a person is missing in the Arkhan, but, the twist in the news is that such person was actually not who he claimed to be, which means, the police make a mistake and the system arrested an innocent. And this happened in Jump City.

"Hello, Jubs" Kitty speaks still peering at the news and is impressed by Kurt and Peter´s professionalism even through Kurt confessed to Kitty, once thanks to a nice mood and delicious food, that sometimes is a pain work with Peter (and Kitty wonder if Peter thinks the same)

"Kitty, your sister was here!" and is all Jubile needs to say about the situation and Kitty can picture the image just fine.

"And let me guess? You want me to do something?"

"No, I want you to help me with a case, your sister unmask a crook system here but has no intention of helping..."

She takes the cellphone out to mutters tiredly the name Lorna and that´s the mood for this situation. "Ok, but, I´ll need a favour too if Kurt Ryder asks about me...tell him I´m a sexologist"

"Do I want to know?"

"NOPE"

"Then ok, I´ll cover for you"

"Then...guess I´ll go to Jump City"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometime later, Cosmo arrives with Jupiter on his back and meet Kitty eating popcorn and greeting them, however, the cat and dog have a concern expression on their furry faces. "Someone watch Cats the movie?" and Kitty is the only to chuckle as Jupiter is not happy. "What happened?"

"Kitty, you need to gather the gang to a new heist. This time...you need to steal a Pool of Blood!"

"....sounds crazy, I´m in"

[kootenaygoon]

So,

When Paisley and I first broke up in February 2016, I spent a few weeks in rapturous relief before realizing what a dire state I’d left myself in. I was nearly homeless, with a few car-loads of possessions that I was lugging from one temporary refuge to the next. She got the dogs, I got the RAV-4. It was dark days, and suddenly the reality TV star that everybody thought would’ve dropped out of the presidential race by now was getting taken more and more seriously. I didn’t believe the rhetoric, didn’t believe the people saying Donald Trump could win. He reminded me of Cam Carpenter, a right wing bully, and I hated him from the moment he started making headlines. 

What did interest me, though, was how he was using social media to his advantage. Here was a senior citizen weaponizing Twitter in ways that astonished me. The pundits were dissecting each tweet, word for word, while press releases from other candidates sat unopened in their inboxes. He’d found a way to circumvent the media, then make them scramble to keep up to the conversation he was creating. They were treating him as a joke while playing right into his hands. It was like watching a magic trick in slow motion.

I’d been a reporter in the Yukon when Obama first began campaigning, and I remember the sensation of giddy hope that came with the idea the U.S. was finally going to elect its first black president. It felt like finally, now, things were going to be better. Fast forward eight years and this sexist bigot was proving that there was plenty of opposition to progress, plenty of people keen to give this orange-faced huckster the reins. And coming to terms with that felt like accepting that the world was a darker, shittier place that I’d once thought. I was glad to have found my Kootenay refuge, but I feared for the future.

After crashing for a week with Niles, enjoying his John Cooper artwork and sharing joints over morning coffee, I ended up moving in with a newly elected city councillor named Anna Purcell. She lived with her husband Gary and a German exchange student I didn’t like. Anna had earned more votes in the election than any other councillor, and it was easy to see why. She had the perfect amount of Nelson quirk, while being ultra-articulate and incredibly passionate about her new gig. She was the type of person who walked her talk. When I interviewed her for the Star she’d been outspoken about the affordable housing crisis, so I knew she would understand if I asked her for a place to stay. She lived just a few blocks up from Paisley’s place, meaning I would have to pass by it every morning on the way to work. 

“When my ex left me, it was like the words were bonked out of me,” Anna said, sitting in her living room one afternoon. “I just couldn’t talk for a while after that. I literally couldn’t speak.”

I told her I felt embarrassed after writing that love-drenched introductory column for the paper, and making Paisley such a big part of my public persona. Now everyone was going to know I fucked up my family, and would be watching the fall-out like a soap opera.

“I feel like this is such a huge hit to my social capital, you know? Like I used to be a guy with a partner and a place and some dogs, now I’m just a guy. With nothing.”

Anna shook her head. “That’s enough. I don’t think it will be as big a hit as you think. It’s not like single people have less value, right?”

Once a week I would swing by Paisley’s place to pick up Muppet and Buster. We would take the train tracks to Red Sands, or trek along Baker Street and down to the Prestige, but I didn’t have a dog-friendly place to take them home to. Sometimes I just walked them around the block, hanging out at the Central School playground en route, then brought them back an hour later. At first I was having no problem processing my separation from Paisley, but with the dogs it was different. They were blameless, had no idea what was going on. One afternoon I sat on a random lawn and held them to my chest, weeping. I called my parents and sobbed into the phone.

“I don’t mean to be insensitive, but you need to stop crying in front of the dogs,” Paisley said, standing in the doorway of her house. “It really upsets Muppet.”

“How did you know I was crying?”

“Last time you took them she came home and she wouldn’t sit still, she was stressed out and wagging her little body around. She knows something is wrong.”

“Well, this feels wrong.”

Paisley was having no trouble transitioning into the next stage of her life. Her dessert business was thriving, she was dating new guys and making new friends. She posted so many pictures with her new roommate that people started to wonder if they were a couple. She had shaved her head, Britney Spears-style, in the midst of our breakup, but now her hair had grown into a cute pixie cut. She looked like Winona Ryder in Alien Resurrection, and when she stood with her hands on her hips you could read her tattoo: It Could Be Worse...

“What’re you eating these days? How are you feeding yourself?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Nachos, peanut butter and jam, stuff like that.”

She shook her head. “Peanut butter and jam?”

“You know I’m just keeping it simple. I don’t have many groceries.”

“But you’re still going to CrossFit?”

“Yeah, I told Ali I couldn’t afford it and she was like ‘just keep coming, and get the money to me when you can’. I think she knows what I’m going through, you know?”

“That’s nice of her. How’s Rock of Ages?”

Having something extracurricular to focus on had been crucial for me, otherwise I would’ve spent all my time either crying, smoking pot or sleeping. For the audition I’d ripped off my shirt and belted my way through an 80s power ballad, earning a spot in the chorus. I’d been given one half-sentence solo at the beginning of a song early in the show, and for the rest of the production I swapped my time between being the bartender of the Bourbon Room and a slimy producer who creeps on the female lead. It was keeping me just busy enough to feel stable, and made me feel like I was in high school school again.  

For the Star coverage, I did a photo shoot with the cast at an abandoned building near the Selkirk College campus. It was covered in the expected graffiti and looked like it would be a perfect setting for a horror movie. At the time there was a particular cartoon that had been popping up all over town, Thug Bear, and he showed up in a few of the shots. There was a main couple, then a rockstar named Stacey Jaxx who had been played by Tom Cruise in the movie version, and a quartet of sexy nymphs. The costumes were neon and pastel, with big wigs and plenty of bare skin. Though they were squinting into a harsh afternoon sun, I got an awesome shot that ended up on the cover. 

The rehearsals were more challenging than I was expecting. The choreography for the dance sequences was intricate, the pace that we were putting things together was faster than I was accustomed to, and I felt way out of my depth when it came to the singing. I’d been a soloist in the church choir as a kid, and I’d done a few musicals in high school, but I hadn’t sung in front of people for years. As the weeks passed I became increasingly more nervous, though I knew I was basically just background furniture for the other actors.

One day a woman named Siobhan approached me. She was part of the production, a swaggering farm girl with a sarcastic streak. Rehearsal was just about to start, and I’d just put down my bag.

“I’ve been meaning to thank you,” she said.

I smiled, expecting a joke. “Oh yeah, for what?”

“That picture that you took of Andrew Stevenson, the one where he’s handcuffed and being led into court? I wanted to thank you for taking that photo.”

I blinked for a moment, caught off guard. “Thanks, yeah. I was really happy to get that shot. It took me over a year.”

She took a deep breath. “Well, I was there in court for the proceedings, but I never got a chance to really see his face, not like you can see it in that photo. When I saw it, it honestly blew me away.”

I was confused. “So who’s this guy to you?”

“I was one of the bank tellers that day, at the credit union he robbed. He waved his fucking gun right in my face. Traumatized me. I’d been having nightmares about this guy for months, every night, and it was like he wasn’t human. With a black mask, jumping around and screaming like some sort of ghoul. That’s what I saw every night when I closed my eyes.”

“Holy shit.”

“Then I saw that photo, Will, and it changed everything. I saw he was just a human, just a normal human, just like everyone else. He wasn’t some supernatural monster who was out to get me. He couldn’t hurt me anymore. That’s what that photo did for me. So that’s what I’m saying thank you for.”

“I don’t even know what to say.”

She smiled warmly, and hugged me. “You don’t have to say anything.”

The Kootenay Goon

[chiseler]

The Gospel According to George

When I was in my early teens, I went to some Halloween event dressed as Lazarus, or at least the way I’d always pictured him: Full Arabic robes, desiccated, rotting flesh, and a blood-smeared mouth. Nobody seemed to get the joke, which I found hard to believe. Even as a kid in Sunday School it seemed pretty clear to me Lazarus was a zombie. According to the Bible story, he’d been dead long enough for his corpse to begin putrefying. Then Jesus came along, raised him from the dead, and unleashed him across the countryside. You never hear much about what happened to Lazarus after that, but I imagine he left a trail of carnage wherever he went.

But Lazarus was small potatoes compared with the impact the Zombie Jesus had on the world.

The big allegorical message of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend is pretty obvious. Overwrought, even. And it bonks audiences over the head even harder in the two most faithful film adaptations: 1964’s The Last Man on Earth and 1971’s Omega Man.

After holding off hordes of undead, mutated, and downright sinful former humans for years following a plague, our hero (Vincent Price or Charlton Heston, take your pick) concocts a serum from his own blood (get it?) that could turn the vampires or mutants or zombies or whatever the hell they are into normal human beings again. His blood could save them, should they care to partake (get it?). Then they impale him with a spear, but he lets them have his blood anyway because he’s such a nice guy (GET IT YET?!). Then he collapses and dies, arms outstretched and Christlike. What I always found interesting about I Am Legend in simple allegorical terms is that it’s a story in which the undead could theoretically be resurrected a second time, but our hero isn’t even resurrected once. Nope, he’s just dead there in the pool with a spear through him.

The world’s awash with Christian allegories, from The Pilgrim’s Progress and Billy Budd to The Day The Earth Stood Still, E.T., and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Of all the films inspired, even loosely, by Matheson’s short novel, for my money none offer a more accurate and realistic portrait of contemporary Christianity than George Romero’s Dead series, in which he leaves all the ham-fisted crap behind. After all, why only have one paltry little Jesus when you could have a world swarming with Jesuses everywhere you look? Isn’t that a happier thought? Instead of merely telling the story of the Son of God, across the films Romero actually spreads it out, giving us the history of what happened after the Lord Jesus ascended into Heaven. And of the films in the series, in simple allegorical terms none comes closer to capturing the very essence of Christianity than 1979’s Dawn of the Dead.

But let’s back up a minute first.

Unlike the novel, Romero’s Night of the Living Dead starts at the beginning. Here comes the newly resurrected Jesus (Bill Hinzman) wandering through a graveyard and  anxious to spread the Joyful Word of the Lord: He is risen, indeed! But who does he run into first? Doubting Thomas (well, Johnny) and his whiny, simpering sister, Doubting Barbara. Try as He might, though, Jesus can’t get them to listen. Not at first anyway. But bless him, he keeps trying, and eventually even that snickering Johnny sees the light. Johnny, we must presume, even becomes the first of the new disciples.

Well, before you know it, the Pennsylvania countryside is overrun with Born Again Christians, all trying to spread the Word and extoll the virtues of the Holy Communion. You’ll be much closer to God if you just eat a little flesh (and that includes intestines, as was explained at the Last Supper) and drink a little blood.  By film’s end the Born Again Christians have successfully converted most of the unbelievers in that abandoned farmhouse, even as the local pagan and philistine community try to stop them.

Ah, all those happy Christians and all that communion. It was a good start, an accurate portrayal of the early spread of Christianity despite overwhelming resistance, but  it wasn’t until Dawn of the Dead that the allegory comes fully together to illustrate what Christianity had become in the two millennia since the Zombie Jesus first walked the Earth.

As the film opens, thanks to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead Christianity has spread over the globe, save for a handful of heathens who remain resistant to the Word of God. They do everything they can to stop the spread of the Good News, including using violence  (isn’t that just like a heathen?) but of course it’s useless. Their machine guns and machetes are no match for a solid faith, and the ranks of the Born Again continue to swell.  When simple, crude violence proves futile, they try to hide, but you can’t hide from God. He’ll find you, alright.

Meanwhile, what’s life like for a Christian? Well, you get Born. But that’s not enough, because you are figuratively dead in your sin, so you get born  Again, then you take some communion and convert a heathen at the same time (even those pesky Hare Krishnas come to see the light), you travel with a community of like-minded friends and fellow Christians, you stop for more communion here and there along the way to reaffirm your faith, then you all go shopping at the mall.

Second down the list after communion, Christianity really is all about buying things. Tourists buy fake relics and prayer hankies in the hopes God will grant them magic powers. You tithe a certain percentage of your income to the church so they can build a new gymnasium. In certain sects you can shorten a dead loved one’s stretch in Purgatory if you buy enough votive candles. At Christmas you buy as much shit as you can to celebrate the birth of Bill Hinzman, show up those stupid heathen neighbors of yours,  and prove how much you love God. If you’re a televangelist you buy fancy cars and houses and hookers to prove how much God loves you. If you’re the Catholic Church you buy real estate and funny hats and the silence of all those little boys you raped so those followers who don’t read the papers will continue to believe you’re the earthly embodiment of godliness. Buy, buy, buy. And what better way to symbolize that than with a trip to the mall?

The genius of Romero’s allegory in Dawn of the Dead is that the mall not only represents “the mall,” but the kingdom of heaven itself. It’s clean, it’s bright, it’s filled with beautiful music and jam-packed with all sorts of nice things to buy. Sometimes it may seem closed to us, but all we need to do is wait a little while, continue believing and taking communion whenever we can and converting more heathens. It doesn’t matter if the crowds outside grow, because there will be room for everyone in God’s Holy Mall. If you continue to have faith, some day soon a group of Heavenly bikers will show up and open the gates to allow all the believers inside (where, yes, you can have even more communion!). And the shopping can’t be beat!

Yes, even more than Matheson, it was George Romero who finally showed us all the true meaning of Easter. Thank you, Bill Hinzman!

by Jim Knipfel

[bookio]

Saiyuki: the Original Series Resurrected Edition vol 1 (2020) by Kazuya Minekura

I've been curious about Saiyuki series since high school but never really taken time to actually read it. Found this omnibus edition at the local library just in time for last assignment hand-in, making a perfect relaxation tool.

The main plot is interesting! Humans and yokais (demons) are living in peace until one day, like a switch, all the yokai has turned to their deep hidden instincts of eating humans. A young human priest and his three best friends who all happen to be half yokai / half human, sets out to find a reason to this sudden switch and hopefully fix it.

During their travels we get to know each guy's backstory (EVERY ONE OF THEM SAD OF COURSE 😭) and how they met, their powers, flaws and personal goals in life. Meanwhile, because their leader is a priest with a divine family line, it's also a lot of interesting flavors of religious beliefs and mannerisms. Seeing the mix of fantasy and Buddhism coming together is actually fun!

The stories for each volume is a little.. so-so. It's definitely noticeable that the comic must have started in manga monthly magazines because each volume carry kinda the same premise. First they travel, then they reach an inn/restaurant/motel/dojo/someone's house. They get to know a female there and flirts with her for comedic impact, learn the hosts story in relation to yokai and the sudden switch. Then later the gang gets attacked by yokais (mostly during the night) that are trying to stop the priest from reaching their destination. The guys show off their powers/strength, saves the day and then travels to next destination in good spirits. Between all these events however, are sprinkles of sad backstories, the dilemma of being half yokai killing other yokais, religious world building and villain character introductions. So it's never really boring but it's definitely a feeling of déjà vu most of the time.

I enjoyed the combination of old medieval stuff with new modern technology, it kinda reminds me of Final Fantasy! Like one of the guys has a dragon pet who only power is to transform to a jeep car (cute!) and the priest weapon is a literally a revolver, while the others have magic spells and wands. It's so fun when they're fighting and magic is spewing everywhere and then there's the priest in the middle of it with his little gun, hahaha. Love the characters dynamic and bickering with each other. I feel my long awaited introduction of this manga was better than i expected, so 5/5 stars

- - - - -

Bübin's kid (1987) by Mare Kandre

Second time reading this super confusing poetry driven book and realized there are heavy details i missed to the point of me maybe completely misunderstood the story? The author loves to fill every page with sensor overload and fleeting thoughts that doesn't seem to have anything to really do with the actual plot, but more to create an atmosphere. You have to kinda push through and between them to actually see what's going on.

I read online that this book is interpreted by many to be a girl's coming of age story, of dreaming about missing her childhood by imagine a child-self in the hands of her mother figure. But i don't think it necessary is..? Yes, MC is definitely confused and annoyed about periods, but what about the rest of the book? If trying to put realistic perspective into this story, our narrator the nameless young girl or woman is living with a male caretaker (father?) Onkel and female mother figure called Bübin. They read and pray a lot, apparently living on a secluded farm outside a small town. Onkel is claimed to be seriously blind, to the point of getting a visit from doctor or a priest, and one day Onkel even has to leave the house.

At first read, i thought MC gave birth to the kid. But on my second read, it's probably just period cramps, and then a separate character moving in with them. The new kid doesn't come from nowhere though, around the same time a little neighbors boy comes running with the message that "Dordis sister died", and soon a little baby made of meat is constantly carried around by mother Bübin.

The narrator is very jealous of Bübins new found affection for the kid, she clenches up in anger and coldness. I wonder also if maybe MC has a neurodivergent personality in the way she has difficulty reading and responding to situations. At times she will do odd facial expressions, the tongue has it's own life like a snail, and the world around her is described in this over-sensor manner. She will also flay her arms and shake them when excited. Which would kinda explain the fleeting, sometimes confusing narration.

Either way, Onkel and Bübin have to travel somewhere and leave the two children (?) alone together for some time. The days are all merged together as MC in unable to care for kid due to her still rage filled jealousy. We watch helplessly how MC starve, abuse and ignore this poor kid who's in dire need of help. One day there's a woman's shouting outside the house gate. MC runs to the kid to prevent it from showing itself. The starved, smelling skeleton kid fight with all their might to get free but they're smaller and weaker. MC puts her arm around the kid and chokes long enough for them to pass out.

She tries to kill the child again by bringing a rock into the bedroom when it rests, insanely weak of starvation but decides not to do it. The pace really slows down during this time of the book as MC is waiting for the kid to simply self-succumb, avoid eating to alert that there's food in the house. Even forcing the child to accompany her on long walks through the forest to speed up the process. Eventually when MC tries to remove a tick from it's neck, the kid get so startled that they throws themselves at her and bites MC's hand. MC beats the kid in painful panic, eventually killing it. She then throws the body in the farm's (dried out?) well. Feeling happy about the ordeal, celebrating by eating herself to a nap and not thinking too much about how Bübin and Onkel's reaction will be when they come home again. I kinda guessing they're just temporary at some hospital far away or something.

Coming back to this book, actually taking time to slowly read the story, it kinda makes more sense then the first time i read it. The language is really unique and you can definitely feel the gothic inspiration. But i don't personally feel it's one of my favorite horror books anymore (i was so scared first time i read it, definitely flew up to the top of my list) and can just let it go. 3/5 stars

[inkyardpress]

Excerpt: Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler

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PART 1

THE ROAD TO HELL

“And with our greed, a great sin was born unto this world and like Eve to the applethat sin shall consume us.”

—Caius 8:222 P.R. (Post-Resurrection)

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS NOT the clean kill he had hoped for.

Tenn raced across the cornfield. Rain seeped through his leather coat and mud squelched up his boots, but he focused on the shadow darting in front of him. Everything else dulled to gray and black and pounding heartbeats.

Gray and black...and red. Too much red.

If he didn’t hurry, that red would damn them all.

His prey staggered. Fell. A moment later he dropped to its side, dagger in hand. He didn’t want to kill. He didn’t want his hands stained red again. But those wants didn’t stop him from slicing through its warm, heaving neck.

The buck twitched.

Tenn kept a hand on the deer’s flank as its lifeblood throbbed between his fingers. It wouldn’t be right to look away, to let the poor creature die alone and cold.

Alone and cold, alone and cold, how many have died alone and cold?

The Sphere of Water raged within his gut. It wanted to revel in the blood. It wanted to drown in red. But he pushed the thoughts and the power away. Now wasn’t the time to give in, either to his own weakness or to that glorious strength. His stomach knotted when the deer’s rolling eye found his. He almost laughed from revulsion; years ago, he’d been a vegetarian.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as the deer spasmed and fell still. Not that it mattered. Not that those apologies ever mattered—not to the dying, not to the dead. Apologies didn’t change the world he lived in, and it didn’t change the deeds he’d done.

“Shit.” Katherine stopped beside him. “That’s a lot of blood.”

Tenn glanced up to her and Michael. Their breath came out in clouds, their forms bare shadows in the gloom. He opened his mouth, but the words got caught in his throat.

Three years of killing, three years of bloodshed, and it still turned his stomach. He swallowed and looked away, washing the blood off in a puddle before sliding his dagger back in his boot. Three years of blood on his hands. Three years...

“I thought you said you were a clean shot,” Katherine said, turning back to Michael.

Tenn stood. The Sphere of Water still raged, still begged for control. He pushed it farther down. The longer he refused its call, the worse it got.

Michael stepped forward, his shoulders hunched and a bow held loose in hand. He was built like a linebacker, but right then, he looked like a puppy caught pissing on a Persian rug. Five arrows jutted from the deer’s hide, and another half dozen were scattered throughout the field.

“I am,” Michael said. His words didn’t hold much conviction as he gestured to his throat. “Usually. It’s just been a while since I had to shoot without magic.”

Katherine ignored him. There wasn’t time for apologies. She pulled a set of nylon cords from her backpack and handed one to Tenn.

She wrapped one cord around the buck’s neck while Tenn tied its hindquarters. Her movements were smooth, well-practiced—her hands were used to dealing with the dead. Like Tenn, she was eighteen. Unlike Tenn, she didn’t seem bothered by the buck’s sightless glare.

She nudged him. “You okay?”

He nodded, but his nerves were on edge, and the Sphere of Water pulsed in his stomach like a wound. One that desperately wanted to be touched, inflamed. Over a week had passed since he’d been allowed to open to that energy center, that source of pain and power, and like a neglected child, it sat there and wept and begged to be noticed. But they had their orders: no magic. Not until the enemy army arrived.

They needed that tenuous element of surprise.

“We need to hurry,” he said. “They’re going to smell the blood.” He turned to Michael. “And if that happens, it’s all on your head.”

Had they met before the Resurrection, Michael probably would have shoved Tenn’s head into the school toilet just for making eye contact. The guy was a nineteen-year-old tank, with broad shoulders and short brown hair and tattoos from eye to shin. His face was a plane of white scars and black ink. Tenn, on the other hand, was tall and lithe—years of using Water had crafted him a swimmer’s build rather than the hulking muscle granted by Earth. He hadn’t been at all athletic before being attuned. He’d been a nerd at best, and Michael was clearly used to being respected.

But now, when Tenn spoke, Michael didn’t refute. To Michael, at least, Tenn was a superior. The Resurrection had changed almost everything for the worse; this little leveling of the playing field was about the only perk.

Together, they dragged the deer toward the highway. Tenn kept his eyes trained on the fields. He didn’t want to see the way the deer’s head lolled to one side, its tongue curled out and its eyes wide with static fear.

“We should be okay,” Michael said, his voice cutting through the rain like rumbling thunder. “I mean, rain dilutes blood, right? And there’s no way anything could hear it through the storm.”

“Just shut up and keep your eyes open,” Katherine replied.

Yes, there was a chance the rain had diluted the blood and hid the buck’s wild cries of pain, but there was also a chance the rain was just helping the blood spread. Tenn wasn’t about to test his luck, especially since he’d been sent out with Michael. That alone was a sign the fates weren’t on his side.

His hands still felt sticky with blood.

For all his hatred of killing, he felt naked without his quarterstaff, which was lodged in the earth beside the highway. Katherine had her katanas and Michael had his mace, but physical weapons were barely enough; battles were lost and won by magic now. Without it, they were like lambs to the slaughter.

Not an emboldening thought when lugging a two-hundred-pound sack of meat.

Chills raced across his skin as he peered deeper through the curtains of rain. It wasn’t the cold—it was the expectation. The fields appeared devoid of life, corn drooping and swaying in the wind and rain. At least, he thought they were empty.

The storm might have been hiding him and his comrades, but it could also be hiding those he was sworn to kill. Without magic, there was no way to tell. There would be no way to know. A kraven could be out there, hidden in the stalks, just out of sight. Just within arm’s reach.

Water sang to him.

Water wanted to help.

Tenn gritted his teeth and focused on the bit of nylon between his palms. The Sphere of Water couldn’t want things, no more than his kidneys could. It was all in his head. It was stress. They were so close to being done with this damned mission, so close, and that’s why Tenn’s nerves were on edge. That, and that alone.

He grabbed his bladed staff when they reached the road. Years ago, this would have been like any other quaint Midwestern highway, but now the road leading back was far from pastoral. Cars lay scattered and broken like some kid played God with his Hot Wheels. Shattered glass littered the ground, shards jutting from windows like open jaws. Rust splattered across trucks and semis like bloody stains. Everything, everything, was quiet and empty, the only sound coming from the rain and the occasional moan of wind through hollowed cars—a cacophony of and for the dead. No movement. No life.

No bodies.

There were never any bodies. Not in the desecrated cities, not in the wild. Not when there were myriads of creatures to gobble them up, bones and blood and all. Tenn shivered again and looked out to the field.

They unceremoniously dropped the deer atop the small red wagon—the same type he’d dragged around as a kid. The sick sound of flesh thumping on metal was a noise Tenn had grown accustomed to, which almost made it worse. He didn’t like relating corpses to his childhood.

How easy it is to get used to dead things.

Tenn nodded to Katherine.

She withdrew one of her katanas and raised it high above her. Then, with a quick slice, she lopped off the deer’s head. It fell to the pavement and rolled away, settling in a pool of its own steaming ichor. Tenn turned; its eyes were trained straight on him, and he’d had enough postmortem glares for a lifetime.

“Still seems like a waste to me,” Michael said. He threw his bow beside the carcass, not caring if the string got bloody, and picked up the handle. That was the problem with food-scavenging missions—no cars, unless you wanted to scare off prey or attract predators. “I thought the tongue was supposed to be a delicacy.”

If not for Michael’s usefulness as a pack mule, Tenn would have cursed Derrick for sending him along. The world might have turned on its head in the three years since the Resurrection, when monsters ripped the modern world apart, but Michael was still the same brain-dead jock. Some stereotypes, apparently, were never outgrown.

“What, and risk being followed?” Katherine asked, cleaning her blade with a spare bit of cloth. “Are you a complete fucking moron or just dense?”

Michael shrugged and began pulling the cart down the highway. Tenn bit back his smirk. At least Katherine was willing to say what he himself was thinking.

“I’m just saying, kravens aren’t known for their big brains,” Michael said.

Who are you to talk about big brains? Tenn thought. “They think like animals. If they find blood and no body, they’ll search for one until they either find a meal or die. And we already have enough on our plate.”

They’ll search forever. Forever...

Water surged at the thought.

Monsters tear through the city, ripping humans from cars, crashing through houses. Blood puddles like rainwater. He hides behind a hedge, fingers white-knuckled on the gun, blood splattered on his jeans. Not all of it monster blood. How can you tell, when some creatures wear human faces? There’s no chance to ask, no chance... He clutches the gun. The useless gun. He opens to Water. He drowns out the screams in the hum of power. This was his home. Once. Now the houses are on fire and the streets are red and black with bloodied bodies and char and I know those bodies, I know those faces. He pushes deeper through Water, lets the Sphere consume him. I have to save them. I have to—

Tenn snapped back, Water’s magic crashing from his limbs and back into his gut, where the angry Sphere rested and raged.

“What the hell?” he gasped, his heart hammering in his chest.

“What?” Katherine asked. “Did you see something?”

Tenn shook his head. His thoughts swam from the aftershock of Water and he had no idea how to answer. Water couldn’t just dredge up memories like that. Not on its own. Not when he wasn’t utilizing it. The Spheres didn’t act on their own accord—they were energy centers and nothing more. So how had Water done that? Opened up and dredged up his past... He shook his head again, tried to push down the memories, the screams.

He was just tired. He was losing his grip.

Just tired, and Water was just angry at not being used for so long.

He focused on the cart, on ensuring no blood dripped from the back. He wouldn’t give the kravens a Hansel and Gretel–style bread-crumb trail. That, at least, he could control.

The highway cut a straight line through the fields and hills, sharp and bleak and dotted with abandoned cars. Outpost 37 was still a blur on the horizon, several miles and a few hours away. It wavered like a mirage in the rain, a smear of black-inked buildings on pale gray paper. Every step toward the city was a tick against Tenn’s nerves. The creaking cart was too loud, the rain too heavy. There was no way they could walk fast enough for his comfort. He wanted to be back and dry and warm, preferably pretending they weren’t waiting for battle. Maybe the Prophets were wrong, and the army would miss them entirely. Maybe there was no army. Maybe this was all a waste of time, and the worst thing that had happened was that he’d been bored.

Denial had never served him well, but out here, in the freezing cold with no comfort from the Spheres, it was better than reality.

Katherine stopped. She didn’t say anything, just stood with her eyes wide and a slight part to her lips.

Shit.

A second later, he heard it. A scream. A howl. It sliced through the fields like a scalpel, high-pitched and dragged from the depths of hell.

No living thing could make that noise.

Tenn shielded his eyes and tried to see farther out, but through the rain and the haze all he could see was shifting gray.

The scream was distant. Maybe, if they were lucky…

Michael lowered the cart handle to the ground, slowly, gently, making sure not a sound was made. His mace was in hand the moment he stood. Tenn looked over to Katherine, who had her katanas unsheathed.

“Stay very, very still,” Tenn whispered, his knuckles white on his staff. “Maybe they’ll pass us by.”

“Not likely,” Michael muttered, but he held his position.

Seconds passed in silence. Each raindrop froze into his skin, each heartbeat promised devastation.

There was a chance—a small chance—that it was a single kraven. Just one lowly, lonely monster seeking out its next meal. And there was a small chance that the kraven had found the deer’s head, taken the bait and was on the run for fear its brothers would discover the bounty.

It was a small chance. Delusional at best.

Silence stretched across Tenn’s nerves like a noose. Blood pooled against his gums from a fresh-bitten wound in his cheek. He tried to relax his jaw, tried to breathe slow and deep. In and out. In and out. The silence grew heavier. At least thirty seconds had passed. They would have known if they were spotted by now. He took another deep breath and started to relax his grip.

A second howl split the world, closer this time. And this one wasn’t alone. Another voice picked it up, as high and piercing as shattering glass and nails on a chalkboard. He knew the scream of a kraven as well as his own voice, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other types of Howls out there. The quiet ones were often the deadliest. Without magic or a clear line of sight, he also had no way to estimate how many there were. Could be dozens. Hundreds, even.

It didn’t matter. Without magic, even a handful of kravens could be deadly.

Blood thundered in his ears, louder than the rain. He counted his heartbeats in the back of his mind, wondering how many more he had left before his blood stilled. The Sphere of Water roiled in his gut. It could sense the upcoming battle, could feel it in the pulse of the rain—so much blood was about to be shed, and his Sphere yearned to be a part of it.

His Sphere wanted to cause it.

“We’re going to die,” Katherine said. Her voice was too calm for comfort. Like him, she had faced death a hundred times, and each time had probably felt as final as this. Unlike him, she seemed okay with it. “There are too many.”

“You know the orders,” Tenn said. No magic. Even if the orders get us killed. His eyes flickered to his right arm, to the tattoo he could practically feel burning against his skin. The Hunter’s mark—the tattoo that first bound him to Water and, more recently, to Earth. The mark that let him use the Spheres.

Katherine didn’t say anything in reply, but he could imagine her nodding her head and accepting her own approaching demise. He wasn’t willing to give up so easily. There were still too many lost souls on his conscience to avenge. Somehow, he was going to make it out of this alive. He owed the dead that much.

The first kraven broke through the field with a banshee’s scream, and all thoughts vanished in the heat of survival.

Like all the variations of Howls, the kraven had been human once, though the resemblance was minimal—two legs, two arms, a torso and head. The conversion process twisted the host into something beyond a nightmare. Bones jutted like talons from rotting gray flesh, its spine curved and twisted. Its eyes were bloodshot, red as meat, and its jaw had snapped and reformed like the maw of a piranha in a bulbous human head. The very sight should have been enough to send a sane man running. If not, the dozen others that appeared close behind it would have.

Before the first kraven even reached the road, Katherine ran forward, her blades a whirl of silver. Metal met flesh, and all the fear and anticipation from before washed away.

When he was younger, Tenn had immersed himself in books and movies of heroic battles. The tales were always gorgeous in a way—heart-pumping and engaging, filled with quick moves and dancing blows. Heroes dashed between villains with ease, always golden, always immortal. Always confident and brave and beautiful.

The Resurrection taught him that all those stories were full of shit.

Real battle wasn’t pretty. You trained to block and parry and dodge, yes, but you didn’t think about it, didn’t focus on long dancing combinations. You swung. You screamed a lot. You killed as fast as you could and didn’t think about anything but the feel of flesh giving way under your hands. And if you were even a hairbreadth too slow, if today just wasn’t your day, you were never, ever heard from again.

He gritted his teeth and prayed today wasn’t that day.

Tenn lunged forward, meeting a kraven midleap and slicing its body right through the gut. Cold, black blood sprayed out, but Tenn was already slashing another monster before the first corpse fell. Michael was just out of sight beside him, grunting and yelling, the skull-shattering cracks of his mace echoing across the fields like thunder.

But more monsters were coming. The field was thick with beasts, the air alive and hellish with their screams. A shadow darted behind him. He turned just in time to parry the slash of a cleaver. He barely registered his opponent—male, shirtless, whiter than snow and drenched in blood—before counterattacking. The man’s head fell to the ground with a wet smack.

“Bloodlings!” Tenn yelled, but even though he screamed it at the top of his lungs, he knew his companions hadn’t heard. The world was a living, grinding thing of scarred flesh and teeth and talons, and everywhere he turned he was slashing, dodging, trying to stay alive as the gray tide overtook him. His breath was fire as he fought, as he hacked and screamed his way through the melee. Seconds felt like an eternity, and the damage done to him and his foes was immense. A thousand cuts burned across his skin. A thousand moments he was too slow. A thousand instances he could have died, and a thousand reasons he still might.

A yell broke through the din—masculine, enraged and in pain. Then Michael’s voice cut short in a gurgle. Tenn spared a glance over but he couldn’t see anything through the kravens scrambling over corpses. Katherine screamed as well, but whether from rage or pain, he wasn’t certain.

That’s when he realized, in the far-off corner of his mind, that he was going to die. They all were.

His arm went numb from a kraven’s bite. His hands were drenched red. And still, the monsters came.

Derrick’s voice drifted through his mind as he fell to his knees. Don’t use magic, not under any circumstances. Don’t give yourselves away.

Water and blood seeped through Tenn’s jeans, his numb arm limp. He could only stare at the blood and wonder at how quickly this had come, his end. At how easy it was to die.

Pain seared across his back as a Howl ripped through his flesh. Blood was everywhere—black blood, red blood, red rain. The Sphere of Water screamed inside of him as his own life spilled forth. Memories rode the current—flashes of his mother and father, the few friends he’d made and lost, his mother’s voice and a lullaby he couldn’t place. His eyes fluttered. His working hand dropped his staff.

This is how it feels to die, and I will be eaten before they find my corpse.

As another kraven lunged for the kill, mouth wide and broken teeth bared, the Sphere of Water opened unbidden in Tenn’s stomach.

Power flooded him, rushing through in a whirlpool of memory and pain, a roar that filled him with a thousand freezing agonies, dragging him down, down, down into the pits of his every despair. Down into the deepest depth of power.

The Sphere connected him to the rain hammering from the sky and the blood pooling on the ground and the pulse in every vein of every creature within a mile. He could feel it. All of it. He felt Katherine a few yards away, her heart throbbing so fast it hurt his own. He felt the Howls, their pulses thick and jagged and starved.

Most of all, he felt power. More than he had ever tapped before. The rage, the fear, the anger, the thirst. It made his limbs vibrate, made his breath catch, made the rain around him seethe and hum. And in that split second after Water’s opening, he wrapped his fingers deep into the torrent and screamed.

The rain shivered. Changed. He twisted the power and twisted the elements and raindrops became ice, became shards sharper than glass, became hammers that lashed from the sky with sickening velocity. His Sphere raged in joy and agony as its power unleashed, as the bloodlust filled his darkening vision and screams filled the air. His screams. Their screams. Blades of ice met flesh, sliced through skin and bone. Ice spilled forth blood, and Water rejoiced as the world drenched itself in crimson.

Power ran through his veins, and this power craved revenge.

It was over in seconds.

He felt the Howls die. Felt their blood leave their bodies and pool against the sodden earth. Felt their pain. Felt their final heartbeats. And when every heart had stilled, the power in his chest winked out. He collapsed.

“You’re going to do great things,” his mom says. She hugs him. Wipes tears from her eyes. “You’ve already done great things. The moment you came into my life. That was the greatest thing.” And he tells himself not to cry. Not here, in front of the dorm. He tells himself he will see her again. “I will always...”

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Kevin asks.

“A linguist,” Tenn replies. “Or a writer.”

“You like words?”

“Yes. Words have power.”

“Your words do.” They go silent, and the stars slide past as they watch from the library. They go silent, and the stars speak for them.

He sees her. He sees her hand. He sees her hand from where he stands in the doorway. It droops from the shed, a finger cocked. Her fingernails red. Fingers red. Red, red—

Tenn curled against himself. Curled against the memories.

Nothing else moved in the world.

Just the rain.

Just his breath.

Just his blood mixing with the dead.

CHAPTER TWO

HE DIDN’T KNOW how long he lay there. The wind and rain were a constant roar, but their sound was distant compared to the throb of blood in his ears, the roar of memories in his head.

His house is empty. Too empty. He walks. The gun is gone. His hand is covered in blood. Blood, like the blood streaking the walls. Where is the gun? Where are his parents? He shakes. He walks. Water roars within him, a tide that drowns the screams outside. His house is too empty. His house is too silent. He shakes as he walks and the blood-streaked halls tilt. He shakes, and the back door swings. He walks, and his silent house bleeds.

Something brushed his cheek. Frayed nerves snapped to life, and his eyes fluttered open.

Katherine knelt beside him. Blood stained her skin, and long gashes webbed across her in leaking lines.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Her voice was angelic, if only because he had been certain he’d killed her.

Tenn could only nod. There were tears in his eyes. He couldn’t force them away. He was hollowed out. Raw. Earlier, he’d wanted to break the world, but the world had broken him.

Even as the memories ebbed, the pain and the sadness lingered in his lungs. Tears leaked from his eyes unchecked.

“You’re bleeding,” she continued. “Badly.”

He tried to sit. His muscles wouldn’t cooperate. He felt it then...or rather, he felt the lack of feeling. The numbness leaking through his limbs as blood leaked to the soil. His wounds would kill him. Just as her wounds would kill her.

“So are you,” he managed. He bit back a sob. The world was spinning. Fading. Fast.

“You’ve already broken orders,” she said, without the slightest hint of sarcasm. “We might as well live to face Derrick’s wrath.”

Tenn closed his eyes and reached deep into the pit of his pelvis, to the place where the Sphere of Earth rested. It was the second and last Sphere he’d been attuned to. He coaxed it awake and sank his focus into the rich soil of it, to the heavy power that rooted him to the earth. Energy filled him with green light, with the warm, calming sap of gravity and flesh.

He didn’t open his eyes. He couldn’t. Just as he couldn’t move his arm to meet hers, to start healing. His fingers twitched, and she placed her bloodied hand in his. Energy connected, a snap of power, and slowly, painfully, he began his work.

She winced as flesh knitted itself back together. There was no shortcut—he had to heal each wound one at a time. If his connection to Earth had taught him anything, it was that dying was easy; healing was the painful part.

“So like you,” she muttered. “Healing me before yourself.”

He laughed. It hurt like hell, but he didn’t let his concentration break. Even when something warm dribbled from his lips.

“You’re the pretty one,” he whispered, and choked down a sob of pain or despair, he couldn’t tell which.

When her wounds had closed, he turned his attention to himself. Arcs of fire lanced across his skin, seared through his bones. He didn’t grimace. This pain, this physical hurt, couldn’t hold a candle to the hell that Water had dragged him through. This was just a reminder that he was still alive.

After what seemed like hours, he closed off to Earth.

The Spheres all had a backlash as unique as their power, but Earth’s was, in many ways, the most dangerous. Earth was like a drug: when you were on it, you felt invincible, high, immortal. The moment it left you, you were sharply reminded just how weak and mortal and close to death you truly were.

His limbs, though healed, shook as he forced himself to sitting. His heart raced and his stomach wanted to eat itself, but at least he hadn’t used so much that he passed out. Or lost a chunk of hair. Again. He just hoped that nothing would break when he moved.

Together, the two of them hoisted each other up to standing. Katherine wouldn’t meet his gaze; she stared out at the creatures littering the ground around them. Limbs and carcasses were splayed everywhere and, even with the rain, the stink was atrocious. Blood pooled dark and thick like an oil spill.

“Michael?” he asked.

She shook her head and continued looking off into the distance. The rain hid whatever tears she might be shedding. He bit back an apology; apologies wouldn’t bring the guy back. Idiot or no, he had still been their companion. He was still important.

For a while, they stood there, looking out over the massacre. Tenn’s heartbeat didn’t slow, but it was no longer just the blowback of Earth. It was the fear. The fear of what he’d done, or what Water had done. He’d jeopardized their mission by using magic.

Rather, the magic had used him. How? And where the hell had that power come from?

“How did you do that?” Katherine asked.

He started, wondered if he’d spoken aloud. Then he realized that of course she would ask that, because no one could use that much magic and live. At least, no one he’d ever met.

“I don’t know,” he replied. His voice rasped.

“You killed them. All of them.”

“I know.”

He wondered if Michael had still been alive when he called down the power. Pain wrenched in his chest at the thought. If he’d killed Michael by accident...

“Did I—”

“He was already dead,” Katherine whispered. “I saw him go down.”

That shouldn’t have been the relief that it was. It almost made him feel worse.

She looked at him, but her eyes quickly flicked away.

“I’ve never seen that much power,” she said. “How are you still standing?”

“I don’t know,” he said again. He felt like a broken recording.

“Did you know...”

He shook his head. “I was ready to die.”

“Me, too,” she said, and went silent.

Despite the fact that they needed to move, despite the cold and the scent and the bodies, they stood there in silence and let the minutes drip by. Tenn tried to gather his thoughts, tried to create an argument that would hold up against Derrick’s inevitable tirade. He failed. He couldn’t stop looking at Katherine, at the old blood trickling down her face and the small quiver in her fingertips. What did she think of him, after what had happened? What would she say to the others?

Tenn looked back to the bodies. Michael was under there, somewhere. He deserved a better burial than this.

“We need to burn them,” Tenn said. “In case...”

In case they attract attention. In case any are still alive. In case others come along and devour Michael’s corpse...

She looked at him, and maybe it was his imagination, but that look was different. Like she wasn’t certain who or what she was staring at. She didn’t speak, just nodded tersely, and light flickered in her chest as she opened to the Sphere of Fire. Heat shimmered around her, made sweat break out across his skin. Then, with tendrils of flame snaking around her fingertips, she lashed out.

The fields erupted into flame. Tenn hid behind his arm as the world around him roared with heat and anger. Katherine screamed as bodies caught fire, as rain sizzled and the earth cracked. She screamed and cursed until the roar of flames drowned her out.

Fire was the Sphere of passion and hate. It pulled from the heart, just as it burned it apart.

It lasted only a minute. But when the power died down, the fields were nothing more than smoldering ash and steam.

He put a hand on her shoulder, trying not to wince from the heat of her skin.

“Don’t touch me!” she snapped. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

He stepped back.

This was why he didn’t get along with Fire users. After using their powers, they were unstable at best.

Then she started to laugh. He took another step back.

“Sorry,” she said through the laughter. She sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. “It’s gone,” she continued. “The fucking deer. It’s gone. They ate it.”

Tenn turned to the road. She was right. Hell, there was nothing on the road anymore save for the burned-out scraps of cars and pools of the dead that streamed like magma.

“Michael would be so pissed,” Katherine said. She giggled. Then her laughs choked into a sob. “We should have let him eat the tongue.”

* * *

The walk back to base was long and silent. Tenn ate some jerky from their packs, but it didn’t assuage the hunger gnawing at his bones. That, he knew, would take hours and a few days of rest to overcome, just like the waves of sadness that kept washing over him. He didn’t stop scanning the fields, but both he and Katherine kept their Spheres closed off. Katherine didn’t ask him any more questions; somehow that made things worse. He was asking them all himself, and he didn’t have an answer.

How had Water opened like that? The Spheres weren’t sentient, they were just energy centers. Everyone had them, but only those who were attuned could use each particular Sphere. Even then, it required training and concentration to get them to influence the outside world. Magic wasn’t just something that happened; it was something you had to force. So how had Water taken over? As though it were a reflex, as though the Sphere itself hadn’t wanted to die. And where the hell had that power come from? It should have been beyond him, should have drained him entirely. Yet here he was. Alive.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Everything. Everything.

For the first time since he’d been attuned to Water, he was scared. Not of the monsters. Not of the world outside. But of the power that rested within him. The power that seemed to be scratching for control.

Only one thing was certain, and it wasn’t a truth he wanted to think about. The Howls they’d faced weren’t the army his troop had been warned about. It had been a roaming band, one of the thousands scattered throughout the uninhabited swathes of America.

That meant there was still another, bigger fight left.

They reached Outpost 37 before nightfall. Home sweet home. Once, it had probably been some quaint touristy harbor town. Now the scattered houses along its perimeter were empty. Whole lots were charred to piles of ash, while other homes were unscathed save for shattered windows or scratched facades. Lawns entangled forgotten toys, and fences lay like dominoes. Everything had that sick old stench of antiquity, like a sodden vintage store. Even here, though, there were no bodies or bones, no scavenging birds or mice. The Howls were efficient, if only because they were hungry.

Cities were often the emptiest. After all, what was a city to a flesh-craving beast besides a buffet?

It wasn’t just the Howls that had destroyed the town. Necromancers had done their own part, and the Hunters that fought against them probably hadn’t helped. Lake Michigan swallowed half of the buildings, and a small hill erupted through another city block, the houses there toppled and tossed. Much had changed in the chaos of the Resurrection—whole cities burned or buried, mountains collapsed or created. Magic had altered the face of the country in more ways than one.

The world didn’t like being manipulated. At times, it seemed, the very planet fought back.

Katherine said nothing as they trudged through the streets, stepping over rusted bikes and piles of old refuse, dodging craters and overturned cars. Both her swords were clean and bared, and Tenn’s grip on his staff was just as tight as hers. No matter that the rest of their troop was only a hundred yards away—anything could have happened in their absence.

Every time Tenn walked through the base, he was reminded that they hadn’t been stationed here to thrive. Nothing in this shell of a town hinted at humanity—the storefronts were shattered and looted, the houses razed. There was no music, no industry, no trace of civilian life. No real reason to wake up in the morning, save to fight.

Shadows shifted over the rubble, and he jerked his staff to the ready. Then the shape stepped into the road: a small fox, its ribs horribly pronounced with hunger. The creature didn’t flinch as he and Katherine walked past. It watched them intently before finally turning and slinking back into an alley.

When houses gave way to the broad downtown avenue, his nerves calmed. Their hotel rose up from the buildings on the other side, one of the few structures still intact. Uprooted trees stretched like black veins across the concrete. Marble slabs and pillars of other structures tumbled across the road in piles of white bone. Only the hotel stood strong and seemingly deserted, the clean red brick and white marble an anachronism in the destruction surrounding it.

Something moved and Tenn turned on the spot, ready for the attack. A girl in black stepped out from the crumbling post office.

“Audrey,” he said. He lowered his staff.

“Jesus H.,” she said. There were two daggers in her hands, the kris blades glinting like wolves’ teeth. “I thought... We thought you were in trouble. Derrick’s had us on high alert since noon.” She looked between them, and it seemed to click then that Michael was missing. Her voice became a whisper, and her shoulders slumped. “What happened? I’ve never felt that much power. It was like a bomb going off.”

Tenn’s pulse began to race. If the troop had felt their use of magic all the way back here, there was no way the necromancers had missed it. There was no way Derrick would let him live for his insubordination.

“Where’s Derrick?” Tenn asked. The last thing he wanted was to admit what he’d done. Not when he wasn’t certain himself. He didn’t want to face their commander, either, but it would be easier to get it over with than wait in fear.

Audrey nodded to the hotel. “His office,” she said. “He’s meeting with the captains now. Everyone else has been stationed in the field in case...”

“In case we brought anything back,” Katherine finished.

“Yeah.”

“How pissed is he?” Tenn asked.

Audrey gave a small grin, though it was more forced than anything.

“Well, I wouldn’t go near him. Though maybe he’s cooled down by now.”

“Right,” Tenn said.

He’d have rather faced another bloodling.

* * *

Their base was depressing even during good days. Today definitely wasn’t a good day. The rain wasn’t helping.

Outpost 37 hadn’t been built to house civilians, but to act as a buffer between Outer Chicago and the wild lands beyond. Wild lands that were inhabited by necromancers—mages who bowed in service to the Dark Lady, the Goddess of Death—and the Howls they created and controlled. There were other settlements and other outposts scattered across the States, many of which Tenn had bounced between after the Resurrection. Hunters had no say in where they were stationed to fight the forces of the Dark Lady. They went where the battle was. And, frankly, the battle was everywhere.

Outpost 37 was home to him and maybe thirty other Hunters. For now.

These were the trenches. Those stationed here would fight until they died, and their bodies would burn or be tossed in the lake, and a fresh batch of Hunters from Outer Chicago would come in to take their place. Or they were transferred to die in service somewhere else.

Being a Hunter wasn’t glorious. But it did mean you were fighting back, trying to return the world to what it once was, rather than sitting around waiting to be eaten. After everything he’d seen during the Resurrection, joining the Hunters was honestly the only way forward. Revenge was the only reason he could live with himself.

A few Hunters mingled in the hotel lobby. Maybe mingling was the wrong word; they were clearly all waiting for the alarm to sound. Their weapons were at hand, and though a few were reading musty paperbacks and another group was playing cards, there was a tension in the room that belied the apparent ease. Tenn nodded at those who looked up, waiting for them to ask about what had happened in the field. About what he’d done in the field. But they said nothing. Even the new recruits—easy to spot, from the lack of scars and the life in their eyes—knew better. Someone had fucked up, and since Tenn had been in charge of the food-scouting mission, it was on his shoulders no matter what.

He looked down and continued up the emergency stairwell to the top floor.

“What the hell happened out there?”

The words were out of Derrick’s mouth before Tenn closed the door behind him.

Whereas the rest of the encampment was cold and dark, this suite was warm and brilliantly lit, albeit far from welcoming. Flames danced across every surface, fires fueled by magic alone. It should have been beautiful, but it just set Tenn’s hair on end. The Sphere of Fire burned brightly in Derrick’s chest and his eyes darted with agitation. That was never a good sign.

Derrick himself stood behind a grand mahogany desk, its surface coated in papers and maps and weapons. He was tall, commanding, his Mohawked hair burnt-red and his skin traced with scars.

“I didn’t mean to—” Tenn began, but Derrick cut him off.

“What do you mean, you didn’t mean to?” He stepped around the desk, hands clenched tight into fists. Small sparks flickered around his skin. “I felt your fucking magic all the way out here!”

Tenn wasn’t about to point out that none of them should be using magic and that Derrick was betraying his own orders, but he knew that the amount Derrick channeled wasn’t enough to give them away, and, frankly, Tenn didn’t think Derrick would appreciate the reminder.

“We were surrounded,” he said, lowering his eyes. “There were dozens of kravens. We wouldn’t have made it.”

“Then you should have died.”

Derrick’s voice was so terse, so fully void of emotion, that Tenn barely realized it sounded more like a command than anything else. It was a stab in the gut. Water churned over. You should have died, you should have died—your life is worth nothing, and neither is your death.

“I meant to,” he said. His words sounded small. “But Water took over.”

“The Spheres don’t control you. You control the Spheres.”

It was ironic, seeing as Fire users were notorious for the tempers their chosen Sphere gave them. But it was a phrase they’d all learned during training. It might not be true, but the meaning was clear: you didn’t give in. Ever.

“Not this time,” Tenn said. He looked up then, just in time to see something new flicker across Derrick’s features. Fear. “Water took over. It... I don’t know. It killed them. Every last one.”

“You aren’t that powerful,” Derrick said, his voice muted. It wasn’t a dig; it was fact.

Tenn didn’t have anything to say to that.

“I should have you killed for this,” Derrick said. He stood up straighter, as though taking more control of himself and the situation. “You jeopardized the safety of everyone in this troop. Because of you, we have lost the element of surprise.”

This outpost has been here for over a year. We lost that element a long time ago. But Tenn didn’t say that. Of course he didn’t say that. Outposts always changed locations. Keeping one in place had been a new tactic, decided by the higher-ups of Outer Chicago itself. If it was expected that base locations changed, having one stay put would be a surprise to the necromancers and the Howls. So long as it kept a low profile. So long as it wasn’t compromised.

“I’m sorry,” Tenn said.

“Tell that to your comrades who are going to die tomorrow.”

Tenn’s eyes shot up.

“Tomorrow?”

Derrick turned and walked back toward the desk.

“Our scouts have spotted them. The armies are moving. They will be here by sunrise.”

A lump of dread twisted in Tenn’s stomach.

“We need every fighter we have,” Derrick continued. “So I won’t kill you. Not tonight. I’ll let the necromancers do that in the morning.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of humor or mockery in Derrick’s voice.

Tenn bowed his head and turned from the room.

It wasn’t until he was halfway down the stairs that he realized he hadn’t even mentioned that Michael was dead.

It didn’t matter. In the morning, thanks to him, they all would be.

CHAPTER THREE

THE RAIN TURNED to a drizzle as the night bore on. Tenn stood on the hotel roof, watching water pool and stream below. The hotel offered the best view in town—quite literally—and without magic to guide their sight, they needed all the vantage they could get. There was a small, guttering torch on the ground, the only source of light in the darkness. Beyond, everything was dark and sifting and slick with rain.

He knew that Derrick hadn’t sent him up here out of necessity. He was up here for punishment. Far from the glory of battle. And, being so high up, he’d be the first thing the necromancers could target.

Tenn turned at the sound of footsteps. Katherine. She’d been chosen as the other lookout, probably on some sort of probation because of him. He wondered if this was the worst of her punishment for not killing him in the field.

“We need to talk,” she said.

He didn’t answer, just tightened his grip on his staff and stared out into the dark. His stomach flipped over, and once more the thought flickered through his head, What is wrong with me?

“What happened out there—”

“There’s nothing more to talk about.”

“I wanted to thank you.”

Tenn’s internal tirade silenced. He turned to her. Firelight flickered over her face, but even in the shadows he could feel her eyes trained on him.

“What?”

“You saved my life. You avenged Michael’s death. So...thank you.” She brushed a strand of hair from her face and looked toward the darkness. “Don’t make me say it again.”

“I...”

But there wasn’t anything else for him to say. He hadn’t tried to save them. He hadn’t wanted to save them. Something else had taken control.

She sighed and walked over to the edge of the roof.

“Derrick is an asshole,” she said. She glanced at Tenn. “And I think he’s scared of you.”

He frowned. “What?”

She didn’t look at him, just kept staring out at the shifting rain and shadows.

“Everyone felt it. That much power... Hell, I was there, and even I don’t believe it.” She paused, took a breath. “It should have killed you.”

“I know.”

“What did it feel like?”

It wasn’t the question he expected.

“Honestly...it was terrible. I’ve never felt so much pain.”

She nodded to herself.

“Fire can be like that, sometimes. It burns through you. But it feels good, in a way. All that pain makes you feel alive. Even if it does nearly kill you.”

“Yeah.”

Except it wasn’t like that. Not really. Fire was about rage. Water just felt like drowning in misery. And delighting in it.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. Again, not the question he expected.

“Yeah.” His stomach rumbled with the thought. Derrick had sent him up here immediately after their meeting, and Earth was still ravenous. “Starving.”

“I’ll grab you something from the storeroom. I think they have Twinkies down there.”

She walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

He wanted to ask her something, anything. He wanted to talk, to have someone help him understand how the impossible had happened. Instead, he stayed silent. He knew she wouldn’t have any answers, and he didn’t want her thinking he was crazy as well as dangerous.

She left, the roof door slamming loudly behind her, and he went back to his watch.

It was nearly impossible to see anything in the darkness, but he was out here to sense more than see. Necromancers would use magic to lead the Howls in their army. Most turned to the Goddess of Death for power or immortality, to be on the winning side of this constant battle. There really wasn’t a middle ground—either you used magic to fight the Howls, or you used magic to create them.

Tenn figured they were all insane. The Dark Lady was just a myth. The trouble was that the necromancers took the idea of her seriously. Their cult was what had caused the Resurrection—the day the first Howl was created. Tenn never quite understood the event’s name—Resurrection—since Howls could only be created from the living.

Really, it didn’t matter if She was real or not. Her followers were dangerous either way.

Footsteps sloshed through the puddles behind him. He didn’t turn around, assuming Katherine had taken the stairs at a run.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it, Tenn?”

It wasn’t Katherine. It wasn’t any voice he knew.

He spun around, staff raised and ready.

The man in front of him was a stranger. Despite the freezing rain, he wore dark jeans and a thin white shirt unbuttoned to his waist. The fabric clung to his body like some romance-cover model, accentuating his perfectly chiseled chest and stomach, his smooth olive skin. Chin-length black hair hung in loose waves and twined over his ears. Everything about the man screamed sex and desire and danger, from his broad shoulders to his low-slung jeans. Even his copper eyes glinted seduction. Tenn’s heart raced, but whether from fear or something else, he couldn’t be sure.

“Who are you?” Tenn asked. He took a half step back, then realized he was already too close to the edge. Thunder rolled overhead; he could barely hear it over the thunder in his own blood. “How did you get up here?”

The stranger cocked his head to the side, the smile never slipping, as though he were examining a plaything. Or a tasty appetizer.

“How civil.” He ran a hand through his hair, and even that movement seemed perfectly executed. His voice was low and husky, a bedroom murmur. “He asks not what, but who.”

In the blink of an eye, he stood an inch before Tenn, his face so close their lips nearly touched. Copper irises filled Tenn’s vision. The guy’s heat sent sweat dripping down his skin.

“My name, young Tenn, is Tomás.” His voice made Tenn’s heart beat with lust.

The name rang a bell Tenn didn’t want to recognize, a tone tolling destruction. He knew he should push the stranger away, should use the staff lodged between them to force a retreat, but he couldn’t budge. Tomás was still as stone and just as immovable. He burned like a radiator; rain hissed and steamed, and Tenn’s skin seared with the nearness. The heat. He should push him away. But the heat...the heat...it made him want to draw Tomás closer.

Something clicked in the far corners of his mind, and Tenn knew precisely what he was facing and just how screwed he was.

“Incubus,” Tenn hissed through clenched teeth.

Tomás’s eyes narrowed. “What did you call me?” The words dripped venom.

The copper eyes. The heat. The perfect seduction. Tomás was a Howl birthed from the Sphere of Fire, a demon craving human warmth. And like all incubi and succubi—their female counterparts—they preferred feeding through more lascivious acts.

“You’re...an incubus.” Even before the words left his lips, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. Tomás’s eyes sparked red.

“Incubus?” His composure cracked. Model became monster, and Tenn’s desire turned to fear. “You dare call me incubus? Monster? Demon?” Tomás grabbed a fistful of Tenn’s hair and yanked his head back. Where Tomás’s flesh touched his, Tenn’s skin turned to ice.

“I am more than any incubus, little mouse,” Tomás whispered. His lips just brushed the nape of Tenn’s neck, sending ice and flame across his skin. “And you would do well to remember this.”

He let go, and Tenn stumbled, nearly careening off the roof��s edge. When he steadied himself, Tomás was a step back, hands clasped behind him and an insidious smile slashed across his perfect face.

“The army is coming,” he said. His words were calm, and a frightening juxtaposition to the rage that seemed to lurk within. “They will be here before dawn. You cannot stop them. If I were you—and I’m most assuredly grateful I am not—I would be gone before they arrive.”

Tenn tried to catch his breath. He hadn’t realized just how fast his heart was pounding, just how much he wanted to run. But whether he wanted to run away from or toward Tomás, he couldn’t tell. Fucking incubus. They were renowned for their ability to draw desire from their victims. He couldn’t believe he was falling for it.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

Howls didn’t reason. They didn’t talk or tell you their names. Howls killed. The fact that Tomás didn’t follow any of these rules scared the shit out of Tenn.

Again, Tomás’s head cocked to the side. The grin didn’t slip and, for a moment, he just stood there, considering, as rain dripped down his delectably disheveled hair. Tenn kept his focus on the man’s eyes; he couldn’t be trusted to let them wander anywhere else. It already took all of his concentration to keep his thoughts focused, to not imagine what the man would look like naked, or how they would feel pressed against each other.

His pulse doubled every time he considered it.

“Because,” Tomás finally said, “my sister, Leanna, has an interest in you. And what she desires, I, too, covet.”

That name rang a bell, this one louder than the first. Leanna was the Kin who controlled America. The one who ran the Farms and dictated where the necromancers attacked. For many, she was an embodiment of the Dark Lady herself.

Tomás’s name clicked into place.

Tomás was also one of the Kin, one of the six most powerful Howls in the world—the direct descendants or creations of the Dark Lady. They were the ones who ran the world now; the monsters who had humanity under their thumbs. Tenn’s eyes widened.

“Bingo,” Tomás said. “Tell the boy what he’s won.”

“What the hell?” Katherine yelled. The roof door slammed shut.

Tenn looked past Tomás at Katherine, who was holding a covered plate. The next moment, Tomás was beside her, a single hand around her neck.

The plate fell to the ground and shattered.

“You will be inspired, I think, to tell others you have seen me.” Tomás didn’t raise his voice, but it still cut through the rain, as if aimed for Tenn’s ears alone. “Perhaps to warn them of my presence. Perhaps to try and save yourself. That would be a very bad decision.”

Tomás barely moved, but the crack that resonated said enough.

He let go, and Katherine crumpled to the roof, her neck crushed.

Tomás stepped forward, not even looking at Katherine. Tenn wanted to throw up. Bile twisted in his stomach, but with Tomás’s every step toward him, the sensation faded, replaced by a growing desire to pull the man closer, to tear the world down and bathe in blood and flame. Tenn forced down the imagery. Or tried to.

“I have marked you, Tenn. I will follow you everywhere you go. And if you so much as speak my name aloud—” he was now so close that Tenn’s skin burned “—I will kill everyone you tell. Slowly. In front of you. I will make you wish I let you die.”

He smiled sadistically. Tenn couldn’t take his eyes off Katherine’s limp body. Tomás had killed her, not by draining her heat, but by snapping her neck. He’d killed for the hell of it.

Until now, Tenn had thought Howls only killed for food.

“What do you want from me? Why?” Tenn’s voice shook, but it still carried. That was enough.

“I want you to do your job,” Tomás said. His grin widened. Any larger, and it would split his face. “A job you are proving more than capable of doing—killing the minions of the Dark Lady.”

Thunder crackled overhead. Tomás burst into giggles.

“Oh, She is watching. Yes, She is.” He looked up into the sky and raised his hands. “But what do I care, Mother? What do I care, when you are dead dead dead?” He hopped around when he said it. One rotation, and he snapped back to attention, calmly staring at Tenn with his head tilted to the side. “You will help me. But you cannot do that if you stay. Your friends cannot beat this army, Tenn. Not when the army is coming for you.”

Tenn opened his mouth to speak, heart thudding with Tomás’s final statement, but Tomás was there again, faster than lightning, faster than anything human. One hand gripped Tenn’s jaw. The other snaked behind his waist, pulling their hips close. Tenn couldn’t help the moan in the back of his throat. Tomás very clearly noticed.

“Run along, little mouse.” He bit Tenn’s lower lip. Fear and shock and desire pulsed through Tenn’s chest. When Tomás let go, it took all of Tenn’s control not to bite back. “Run before the monsters get here. I want to make sure you live long enough to play with.”

Then he was gone.

Tenn staggered at the sudden loss and fell to his knees. Once again, he couldn’t stop staring at Katherine’s body. He could no longer hear his thoughts in the drowning silence and rain. Gingerly, he touched his own neck, feeling Tomás’s handprint burning ice-hot. He hunched over and heaved.

He cowered there, curled over in the rain, his knuckles dug into the concrete.

He waited for Tomás to reappear.

He waited for Katherine to wake up, for it all to have been a dream.

He waited.

Katherine stayed dead.

The nightmare stayed reality.

And on the horizon, he felt a surge of power flare.

[jacearthereal]

Supernatural season 13 - HYPOTHESES/SPOILERS/STUFF

Can we talk about Supernatural? In fact, the titles of the episodes that have been released so far, because I have some things that I noticed and I need to tell...

Episode 1 is Lost and Found

Lost and Found is a common term. The title can be a reference to something or not and I’ll pretend they chose it because of the fact that we have many characters that are missing/dead right now and everyone is kind of lost.

But guys… I found a book called “Lost and Found”

It’s a children’s book and talks about a penguin and boy and the penguin appeared of nowhere in front of the boy’s house and he tries to help the penguin to find his home because he thought the penguin was lost.

But his home, in the end, was not where it was supposed to be.

The South Pole? Heaven?

The home was with the boy because the penguin wasn’t lost. The penguin was… Lonely.

I’m dead. I literally cried like a baby. Sorry. Here’s the link to the story:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNgh3Q58QoI

Let’s move on…

Observations:

The episode is going to return exactly from where it stopped and we’re going to see Dean, Sam, Castiel, Jack, and Lucifer.

Also, there’s a guy. Rob Raco as Clark - new character - I thought at first he was going to be the guy that Misha said (beautiful and great) and he was (is?) playing a gay character in Riverdale. I was so nfjrefnerkfjnrfj that day.

Carlena Britch as Miriam - I hope she’s not evil.

Episode 2 is The Rising Sun.

The first thing that came to my mind is The Animals. Supernatural loves rock songs so it can be a reference and The House of the Rising Sun is like an anthem.

AND

There is a myth. Nobody really knows what happened inside that house. Some people think it was a brothel and others think it was a gambling house. Who knows? Maybe it's a new monster? 

Look: 

There is a house in New Orleans

They call it The Rising Sun

And it's been the ruin of many other poor boys

And god, I know, I'm one.

I hope this episode doesn't try to kill me with feelings because I have a Destiel fanfic with The Animals as the soundtrack, but anyway...

Now that I think more about it. Maybe it’s a house where you see your future. Tarot cards, magic and stuff like that.

Observations:

Castiel? No.

Mary? Yes. So we will probably see the AU. And I'm guessing this dude here - Ryan S. Williams as Commander - will be there. 

Mark Sweatman as Tattooist - I think he knows Missouri and will talk about it to the boys. Also... Tattoos? New tattoos? AAAAAA.... I need it.

Jack and Lucifer? Yes.

Episode 3 is Patience.

Another song but now it’s Guns N’ Roses. It’s funny because...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErvgV4P6Fzc

One, two, one, two, three, four Shed a tear 'cause I'm missing you I'm still alright to smile Girl, I think about you every day now Was a time when I wasn't sure But you set my mind at ease There is no doubt you're in my heart now Said, woman, take it slow And it'll work itself out fine All we need is just a little patience Said, sugar, make it slow And we'll come together fine All we need is just a little patience (Patience)

This episode is screaming Dean pining. (My assumption of the episode actually) They already said Dean will cry because of Castiel so I’m just waiting here. My body is ready.

Almost...

Oh, I need you (Just a little patience) Oh, I need you (Is all you need) Oh, this time

Shit. I hope I’m wrong.

I was wrong. HAHA.

Patience is the name of a person but the music is still beautiful so why not?

Observations:

Castiel? YES. - Not with Dean and Sam.

Missouri? Hell yes. And she has a son and a granddaughter who is Patience Turner. A psychic girl. Jody “adopted” her.

The tattooist is in this ep again so my hypothesis about he knowing Missouri is possible (?) I really need Sam and Dean with a new tattoo. Supernatural, please...

Missouri and the cards’ theory: https://twitter.com/Jacestiel/status/895452398428213250

Episode 4 is The Big empty.

I know what you’re thinking. My Chuck, Castiel is there. It’s not impossible. I’m just curious about why they chose “The Big” and not just “The Empty”.

I guess this episode will be about where angels go after they die because supernatural already talked about it and the actors also said something about a place that wasn’t explored before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7UOOAUXWvA Here at 2:00 ~ 2:29.

And who knows about a place like this?

“The next time you or your brother bite it, well, you’re not going to Heaven or Hell. One of us, and lord I hope it’s me, we’re gonna make a mistake and toss you out into the Empty. And nothing comes back from that.” 

Billie. Season 11, Episode 1

Observations:

Misha Collins said something about a great actor and beautiful too so... I’m guessing Niall Matter is the one? I think he can be a good “Buddy” to Cas. His name is written as Buddy. You see what I did there?

So I guess Castiel is really in The Empty. *sighs*

Episode 5 is Advanced Thanatology.

But hey what is thanatology?

Thanatology is the scientific study of death. It investigates the mechanisms and forensic aspects of death, such as bodily changes that accompany death and the post-mortem period, as well as wider psychological and social aspects related to death. It is primarily an interdisciplinary study offered as a course of study at numerous colleges and universities.

I’m such a nerd.

So, for some reason I remembered this:

Dean dies when Dr Robert injects him with something that kills him, in order to give him time to talk to Death. He is revived 7 minutes later. (6x11)

I’ll just leave this here because of reasons. I also think it will talk about mourning and sadness. I don’t know if Sam and Dean will be already traveling through AUs. But maybe it’s the beginning of the traveling.... My intuition also says something about someone visiting a grave?

AND maybe they will do that thing IN THE END where Dean looks at some place and he’s like:

And he’s just looking at Cas and BANG CLIFFHANGER.

whatever... I’m already crying here.

I don’t know why the song “All by myself” started to play on my mind.

Observations:

Castiel? Not yet guys. Not yet.

Episode 6 is Tombstone

Well... I’m just...

No words can describe my feelings. If they just talk about death, all this season will be so gothic that my years of Linkin Park and Evanescence will just come back.

Observations:

Team Free Will has been reunited once again since All Along the Watchtower.

oh... MY CHUCK. CASTIEL IS NOW DEFINITELY BACK SO PROBABLY HUGS. 

I want hugs. Many hugs and kisses and people crying. Especially ME.

This is the first episode where Castiel physically interacts with Jack.

FATHER AND SON REUNITED. OK. I’ll STOP.

THIS EP IS GOING TO BE GOOD. Davy Perez, please... jUST PLEASE.

Episode 7 is War of the Worlds

HAHAHAHAHA I HOPE THEY DO IT.

Dean: You wrote your own ending, with spaceships. Marie: And robots, and some ninjas, and then Dean becomes a woman... It's just for a few scenes.

10x05 - Fan Fiction

Despite the second act with robots and tentacles, the show has everything: life, death, resurrection, redemption, but above all family, all set to music you can really tap your toe to.

Aliens

Tentacles

“Robots”

AU

Supernatural is really trying to fill all the blanks before the ending.

This is the fourth episode of the series that Richard Speight Jr. has directed with Just My Imagination, Stuck in the Middle (With You) and Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes being the first three.

I’m good. I’m good. I’m-

Episode 8 is The Scorpion and the Frog

What is very interesting about this episode is the fable around the title.

A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The Frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the Frog agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so.

I guess this episode is going to be about Jack or Lucifer and their evil (?) nature. You born evil or someone is just evil after growing up around the evil? What’s correct? You can be good if you want or your nature speaks louder?

"It is certain that no animal in the creation seems endued with such an irascible nature...I have seen them attempt to sting a stick when put near them; and attack a mouse or a frog, when those animals were far from offering any injury.”

It’s about trusting the enemy? About monsters again and if they can be good or bad?

Episode 9 is The Bad Place

Just google it. It talks about psychic kids and powers but also about incest and hermaphroditism. HOLY SHIT.

The title of the episode is a reference to the 1990 horror/suspense/mystery novel of the same name written by Dean Koontz.

Well... here.

Frank Pollard wakes up in an alley at night, filled with confusion and fear. He knows nothing but his name, and that he must escape fast, or else he will be killed. Pursued by a mysterious assailant, Frank barely escapes with his life.

Every time he goes to sleep, he wakes up to find evidence of bizarre nighttime travels which he cannot remember. Afraid of his own actions, Frank enlists the help of husband-wife security team, Bobby and Julie Dakota. At first, the case merely seems absurd, but as they track deeper into the life and past of the mysterious Frank Pollard, the Dakotas uncover an increasingly bizarre and dangerous world threatened by a madman who thirsts for blood.

It is ultimately revealed that Frank Pollard is the brother to the mysterious madman as well as twin sisters. They were born from a mother who was the product of an incestuous relationship. Her father was a hallucinogenic drug-abuser and her mother was his sister. She is a hermaphrodite and impregnated herself with her own seed. ?????? As a result of this compounded inbreeding, Frank and his siblings developed unusual psychic abilities. Frank, wanting a normal life, tries to escape from his family while being pursued by his brother who seeks to either bring him back or kill him, and nothing will stand in his way. After a message from Julie's younger brother, who has Down Syndrome and possesses minor psychic ability himself, Bobby, Julie, Frank and his family begin speeding into a final confrontation.

I’m afraid of this episode. No more comments.

All you need to know about Episode 10 - Wayward Sisters is that Patience is back and also Claire, Alex, Donna, and Jody.

Episode 11 is The Midnight train

The title of the episode could be a reference to some of the lyrics of Journey's 1981 hit, Don't Stop Believin'.

Just a small town girl

Livin' in a lonely world

She took the midnight train going anywhere

Just a city boy

Born and raised in South Detroit

He took the midnight train going anywhere

A singer in a smoky room

The smell of wine and cheap perfume

For a smile they can share the night

It goes on and on and on and on

(Chorus)

Strangers waiting

Up and down the boulevard

Their shadows searching in the night

Streetlights people

Living just to find emotion

Hiding somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill

Everybody wants a thrill

Payin' anything to roll the dice

Just one more time

So it’s going to be about vampires... Interesting. I thought it will be about ghosts or even ghost trains haha.

Episode 12 is Various & Sundry Villains

There’s not so much out there about this episode but I think we are going to see villains that we have already seen. Redundant.

More redundant than the “I love you. I love all of you”

Episode 16 is Scoobynatural

Team Free Will? Yes.

I hope what people said about Dean trying to make out with Daphne is not correct but if it is I hope Fred wins. Because Fred and Daphne are the ultimate ship. 

Dean, please just don’t haha.

[melyaliz]

It’s Britney Bitch

Summary: The Story of how Jennifer and Dick went to see Britney in Vegas. 

Pairing: Dick x OC 

Notes: So many ideas for this... it’s a bit choppy but was WAY too much fun to write. Dick’s love for Britney is inspired by my best friend who will fight you if you look at Britney wrong. 

Maia @royslittleharper

Annabella @the-shadow-of-atlantis

Tagging: @guns-n-lilies @coffee-randomness @daisyboobear @werewitchling @nightwing-rules

Sometimes being a hero was just too much. While Dick was normally good at compartmentalizing his lives some days it was just too much. One small slip up, one civilian lost and it would all come crashing down on the boy.

 Today was one of those days.

 Dick lay on his bed just staring at the ceiling letting the events of the past week play out in his head. Over and over again. Lost in a circle of “what ifs”

 The sound of music a the knock on his door suddenly broke the cycle.

 “Go away” he yelled

 He was answered by another knock. Sighing he pulled himself up walking toward the door.

 “I’m not in the moo..” his words were cut off by Jen throwing a fuzzy pink boa around his neck pulling him into the hallway. His sister Annabella holding up a jukebox blasting Britney Spears.

 “Come Dance!” Jen sang twirling around pulling him toward the stairs. He couldn’t help but laugh at their ridiculousness as he let them lead him down to the living room where the speakers blasted his favorite's from the pop star.

 A few hours later Bruce found them sprawled out on the couch. Annabella’s head resting in Jennifer’s lap asleep while Dick and Jen watched Britney's music video “Baby One More Time”. Dick explaining all the work that was put into the production his hand gently playing with Jen’s as she giggled at his excitement of the performance.

 “She’s a true entertainer.”

 “Yep.”

 ----

 Jen let out a long breath as she bent down over her feet on her Yoga mat. Slowly she moved from a downward dog to a Warrior slowly breathing. Deep breaths, in and out, trying to clear her head as her phone buzzed. Dick frantically trying to explain himself and why did had not told her about Jason’s resurrection.

 But she wasn’t having it. Not today.

 Let him stew in his dishonesty.

 Jerk.

 Suddenly she heard her doorbell buzz and the sound of a beat she couldn't quite place. Frowning, confused, she stood walking toward the door, the beat getting louder. 

 Opening the door she was greeted by Dick holding up his cellphone blasting Britney, the pink fuzzy boa around his neck. He threw it around her before taking a step in.

 “Dick I’m still mad…”

 “Shhhhh,” he said shutting the door. “Just dance with me,” he added before pulling her toward the living room by the boa that was around her neck. She couldn't help but crack a smile as he sang the words to their favorite song “Circus”.

 -----

 "So Dick's birthday is in a month..." Faith said as she stretched before their practice session. Damian frowned from his place next to the punching bag.

"tt, So?"

 "I just have a great idea for a gift.”

 “You?” Damian said, “what are you going to get him? A box of ice cream?”

 “Ohhhh something so good I will become his favorite and he will ask me to be the next Robin.”

 Damian froze studying her, sometimes he had a hard time reading his cousin. While she was always saying outlandish things which he had learned to discredit, there was always those few that held some grains of truth to them. He knew she would never be Grayson’s favorite, but the thought didn’t sit well with him.

 “First off, am the heir to Batman and I could get Grayson a better gift in my sleep.”

 “Wana bet?”

 Tim sighed watching them. He knew Faith well enough to know she had an ulterior motive. Whenever she got that look in her eye she was scheming. Damian hadn’t been with them long enough or cared enough to really notice when Faith was up to no good.

 “If I win you have to be MY sidekick for a week.”

 “And if I win I get to be Robin for a week.”

 “You’re on!”

 Of course, everyone wanted to get in on the bet. Annabella joking that the idea of being Robin for a week was too tempting to pass up. Stephanie saying she already had the costume while Gigi really just wanted to be “part of the Bat-fam”

 Dick had never gotten so many gifts for his birthday.

 Stephanie found him the box of the iconic Wheaties with Nightwing’s face on them.

 Annabella had a remade Dick’s first costume “I fixed it, after all, I was the one who burned it last time” she said as he laughed looking it over.

 Tim and updated his suite with some amazing new features.

 Gigi got him a book with all the best Nightwing tweets. Several included the trending hashtags #nightbooty and #bestbatbooty. Maia may have stolen it to read a few out loud.

 Faith gave him a mini figure of Nightwing keyring. “For your belt” she giggled “he can have your back.”

 Damian couldn’t help but snicker as he proudly presented him with a katana from Japan, a one of the kind apparently. And better than anything else, especially a stupid little keychain which he didn’t fail to point out to Faith.

 “He can put little-wing on the hilt!” Faith cooed looking over the blade.

 “Don’t you dare!” Damian said glaring at the brunette who flashed him a sweet smile while Tim pried the blade from her hands concerned what the smaller boy would do to his girlfriend. The younger Wayne was about to add something else but Dick’s laughs cut him off.

 “Maia, what are these?” he asked holding up a pair of booty shorts with “Britney Bitch” written in pink rhinestones on the butt.

 “Open mine.” Jennifer said handing him an envelope, “and all will become clear.”

 Everyone fell silent as Dick opened the card quietly reading it then pulling out two tickets, his eyes growing wide. “No” he gasped holding them up.

 “Yep,” the older O’Neal sister said a huge smile on her face, “Two front row tickets to see Britney’s Vegas show opening day.”

 “OHHH!!!” Annabella squealed, “I get to do costumes!”

 “Take tons of pictures!” Gigi added, “I want to have tweets and everything!”

 “I’m so jealous” Maia cried, “I tried to get Jen to let me go instead of her!”

 “No way!” Jen laughed, “I am not missing this for the world.”

 --------

 "Hey Jen, can you just help me with this body glit..." Dick's voice cut off as all thoughts left him as Jennifer walked out.

 "That bad?" She giggled as he stood there mouth agape taking her in her "Slave for You" outfit complete with a stuffed animal boa constrictor. Slowly his expression grew to a lopsided goofy grin as he let out a low chuckle. 

 "You look amazing, Annabella knows her stuff."

 Jennifer giggled twirling around letting the beads and lace around her hips sparkle. “Right?” taking a step closer to him. Dick felt his heart pick up feeling slightly like a teenager again as he watched her, “now come here so I can bedazzle you”

 “Of course,” he said shivering slightly at her touch. They both may have already had a few drinks with dinner and a few more while getting ready. Which is what he choked up his nerves too. Just the alcohol.

 Nothing else.

 The concert hall was already packed by the time they go there. Of course, they had to take pictures and then stop to take a few more with other fans. A Bachelor party was so in love with their outfits that they ended up buying them drinks. One of the guys informing Dick that “if he wasn’t taken he would be tonight.” Jennifer was doubled over laughing so hard as Dick sat on the groom-to-be’s lap.

 “Just don’t tell my hubby,” the man said laughing.   

 “You guys are just too cute!” one of the girls in the group said taking a few more pictures, “You need to party with us all night!”

 Which they did. Drink and more drinks with a million more pictures before Britney came descending down like an angel from heaven. Quite literally in white feathers and all.

 Song after song while they sang at the top of their lungs dancing along with the beat.

 The music swelled and Dick couldn't help but admire the way Jen looked in the glow of flashing multi-colored lights laughing and dancing along with the beat. Sure he still had feelings for her, almost 10 years later. But he was grateful because they had something stronger than sexual attraction. They had a friendship. Something that had been tested by everything. From a failed relationship both togeather and separately. Fights, disappearances, and even deaths. Yet here they were, like old times, just enjoying the silly things in life together. Experiencing the world with both arms open.

 And he as grateful they were fri...

 "Happy birthday" her voice cut off his musings mid thought. Her bright eyes looking up at him as they glowed in the light of the music. Beautiful blue almost magical. Her smile, the smile that seemed to emanate from her very body, that smile that would make him weak in the knees. That smile that he would do anything to see.

 Who was he kidding? He was in love with her, he would be until his dying breath.

 Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the magic of Britney, but suddenly all his resolve was gone. That small thin thread of friendship he had been clinging too disappeared with the smoke that filled the air as he leaned forward kissing her.

 And to his pure delight, she kissed him back.

 He must have been dreaming, there was no way this was real. Yet here they were, and God did she taste amazing.

 Pulling away he found himself lost in those blue beautiful eyes totally forgetting where he was. Not even the power of Britney Spears herself could bring him back from the heaven he had been pulled into.

 "Wana get out of here?" He asked, more of a plea than a question. She nodded slipping her hand into his.

 He had never run so fast in his life.

 Pulling her with him hearing her laughs ringing in his ears as they darted around other guests of the hotel. A laugh that was more beautiful than any other sound in the world. God, it took all his self-control to not take her right there in the middle of the Planet Hollywood.

 They were in the room moments later as he pulled her into another kiss. Hands desperately moving over at her outfit (or lack there of), her hair, her skin. Anything and everything. Just to feel her, taste her, just to get her as close to him as possible.

 They landed on his bed her looking up at him with those beautiful blue eyes as he undid her bra-let.

 "Are you sure you want this?" She whispered doubts filling her eyes as she studied him. He felt himself melt seeing her under him for the first time in a long time so vulnerable. If it had been anyone else he would have taken this as a cue to slow down but he knew Jen. She was a clear communicator even more so when drunk. "because I don't know if I can promise anything later and..."

 Gently he leaned  down kissing her, "I want this more than you will ever know"

 -------

 "I won" Faith sang skipping down the Batcave holding out her phone. Damian scowled as he walked up to the girl who stood smugly holding up her phone.

 "You gave him a keychain, I had a katana"

 "Oh silly, that was simply a division, " Faith said showing the others her phone.

 "What... is that GRAYSON?"

 Stephanie giggled leaning forward to look at the pictures Faith was showing them, "man they look amazing" There was a picture of Dick dressed up in his Circus outfit complete with top hat and open tux jacket. Body glitter over his face and bare chest.

 There were a few of Jen in her outfit kissing her snake.

 Another picture showed Dick holding Jen's hand up as he spun her around.

 “Who took these pictures?” Tim asked

 “I have my ways.” Faith giggled before swiping to another photo.

 One of the everyone’s favorite non-couple (after Maia and Roy) kissing under the flashing colored lights.

 "Jen's the one who got him those tickets" Damian mumbled going back to the mat unconvinced of how this was Faith’s gift.

 "That's what they think... but where do you think she got the idea? Who do you think casually mentioned it to Annabella what their outfits should be? Who do you think kept saying what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? And who knew put in the right situation those two would finally get over it?" Faith said sweeping her hands open as she revealed her master plan. Tim laughed shaking his head

 "You really are a little puppet master."

 “I mean… it’s Britney Bitch” Faith giggled, “Anything can happen.”