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transsexualhamlet · 4 years ago

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asmr i psychoanalyze my favorite war criminal, aka calling out norman the essay

basically all of my thoughts on norman on one callout post because i care him (both manga and anime are discussed)

LINK TO RAY PSYCHOANALYSIS: https://chaoticgaymess.tumblr.com/post/646749875570196480/ray-81194-the-long-explanation

this is going to be ungodly long so here’s a keep reading, essay below the cut

((tw for suicidal ideation and self harm, brief discussion of eating disorders))

Disclaimer: no shipping is included here this is just about norman also they’re kids who call each other siblings

Thoughts: So you may be thinking, Rowan, why do you yell about the colorless war criminal so often? Well the answer lies in your honor the court hates to see a girlboss winning. Norman is a girlboss :) Yes norman is a tiny twink who can't lift a milk jug. And he is a girlboss :) Obviously I don't condone, um, eugenics and all, but that's not the point the point is that he satisfies my need for more characters like Levi motherfucking Calder from Unwind because I’m apparently an edgy 13 year old. Also all of his problems are violently things I can fix and I keep him around as a pet project because someone needs to give him a hug and slap him on the face

I diagnose him with things:

-pisces man :pensive:

-is he albino? Not literally. Is his skin so pale he would catch fire if he went outside at noon? Yes.

-autism: Yes I’m aware that calling him autistic makes him, problematic rep by perpetuating the autism unfeeling savant stereotype whatever but have you considered i’m autistic and I’m projecting also he’s L with standards? Anyway traits of AuTism he has: hyper fixation, canonically breaks and fixes things over and over because like ofc he does, doesn’t understand Emotion, hyperaware of body language at the same time as it all somehow flying over his head, low empathy, sensory experiences™, min maxed in certain areas, and I don’t think he’s got social interaction quite right? There’s something off about it

-gifted kid (derogatory) This is self explanatory but basically him being the smartest and the best in a competitive environment caused most of his issues, such as the perfectionism, the need to succeed, the lack of self esteem and ridiculously high expectations on himself, giving himself no breaks or time to relax, the “i must be productive with every second of my day or i will die” deal, the “peaked at 11” thing, the way in which he goes through life like there’s going to be a fucking test on it

-Eldest Daughter™ lmao. Norman’s always had to be mature, he’s always had to be the best, he’s always had to do the things Ray got out of bc he’s a snitch and Emma got out of because Isabella likes her. Norman gets respect from Isabella only if he excels, and her bar for him is astronomical. He doesn’t have the Mommy Issues that Ray has, but it’s because for him Isabella basically just reflected his expectations on himself, whereas with Ray it was more personal.

-low empathy (part of the autism thing): this one needs more explanation, but it’s not a bad thing in and of itself. Cognitive empathy is a thing and he can use it, but he does not instinctively understand other people’s emotions, or even recognize them properly, especially when the person is not like himself. This is obvious in Emma. Man has no fucking clue what’s going on in her head or why she does what she does, but he can predict what she will do in any given situation very well. He could understand the suicide attempt from ray he predicted more because Ray’s an easier equation to solve, and someone who’s more similar to him. I know he gets it because, well, motherfucker’s just as self desctructive as him, just in a more dignified manner.

-he’s got some sort of chronic illness. This is also me projecting and a headcanon but he’s got something going on, even before lambda pumped him full of growth hormones or whatever which they maybe should have Not Done but oh well. (I assume this just didn’t happen in the anime, since he’s still so fucking short) But he's So weak. He passed out when it was too hot. He passed out when it was too cold. He can’t open a pickle jar. His skin is too pale and he’s skinny af. He’s much more prone to sickness and probably has asthma too? But in the case that he did actually have something going on, I don’t think grace field would see the need to treat it, if it didn’t impact the quality of his meat? Isabella’s probably just “you have chronic pain and you get migraines? Great, take some tylenol and do some calculus.” Can’t say that probably helped anything.

personality type: ISTJ

Basically, he’s the most boring personality type to exist, and personally as an enfp i do not respect him. But basically this means he’s a fucking nerd that gets his projects done for school the day they’re assigned, is probably the president of the Anime Student Council™, and could probably get away with premeditated murder (ok actual istjs this is a joke don’t skin me)

The only trait that norman doesn’t have on the istj thing is telling the truth. Yeah, he values the truth, but like, that doesn’t apply to him, clearly. Bitch is a notorious liar.

The only other personality type he has any similarity with is intj, which is the same except it’s more rare and a purple theme instead of a blue theme. Sadly, that’s not him though, because although he can care more about some kinds of philosophy overall this isn’t the case and ray already occupies this personality type tbh.

strengths and weaknesses: This one’s kind of obvious, but he is aside from the crazy insane intelligence good at planning. Extremely good at planning. He can predict any outcome and figure out how to prevent it, using all his resources. For example he’s physically weak and someone could literally just walk up and stab him, but it doesn’t impede his progress on his goals because he’s surrounded himself with strong, mentally inferior people who would die for him in a heartbeat. He never gets stuck in some “everything is shit and i can’t do anything” deal like Emma and Ray do, he always works through it and has confidence in his abilities (in as much as he will solve the problem or die™. Weaknesses other than his twink body include his Low Wisdom score. It’s funny how he’s often associated with an owl, the mans is 14. He thinks he knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t. Plus obviously his fundamental misunderstanding of so much of everything going on around him, the fact that he lies not just to the world but himself, his refusal to take care of himself and his incredible cowardice. His achilles heel is being forced to, actually confront his actions.

what he likes about himself: He does pride himself on his mental abilities, and his judgement, which in his opinion is the only correct opinion and the only correct way. In the past, he likes being seen as a leader, he likes being responsible for other people. He likes his ability to manipulate and lie, because he sees it as an asset, and I honestly think he enjoys being william minerva more than he enjoys being Norman. He prides himself on his unhealthy expectations and the fact that he is able to meet them. Honestly, he does think he’s better than everyone else, mentally, though it’s humbled by his self hatred. Cursed thought: If Norman had self esteem he would be light yagami.

what he doesn’t like about himself/insecurities: Oh god, nearly everything. His appearance, his status, his superiority, his physical inability, his own mess of a mind, also have I mentioned his appearance. He’s obsessed with self control. He wants everything he sees wrong with himself gone. And I understand why having control of everything is necessary and appealing, everything for him has always been rigid and planned out from moment one, he was even more regulated in lambda, and though he desperately wants to Not Be Food, he has no idea what to do with the chains now that he’s broken out of them. So he just wraps them around himself. Regulates to an unhealthy degree when he sleeps, what he eats, when he actually takes even minimal care of his own problems, what he looks like, how much of himself he lets show, the expressions on his face, the literal thoughts inside his own head he will shut down if they are not Correct. It’s literal self harm. Norman, please stop it.

motivations/goals in life/general philosophy: To be honest, I’m not sure he knows what he wants. He sure thinks he does, he could sure give you a memorized answer, but it means nothing. He wants to excel. He wants Emma to be happy. He wants to be perfect and for that to make everything perfect. But he doesn’t realize everything he’s working towards will do pretty much the opposite of that. He’s a crippling perfectionist, and pretty much everything he does is motivated by his fear of failing. He picks the certain path, he doesn’t wait for anyone else, he doesn’t care if it’s not nice. Emma foils that a most of the time because he cares about her, but it can only go so far, especially after he’s had so much time without her to develop a Complex. His philosophy is very contradictory, basically the tokyo ghoul “everything bad that happens to you stems from a lack of ability”. All of his problems are his fault. All the world’s problems are his to fix. If he can’t fix them, it’s his fault, it’s because he wasn’t strong enough, and not being perfect condemns someone forever, including himself.

how he’s perceived by others vs how he actually is: In most people there wouldn’t truly be much of a difference, but with Norman things are different, because, well, most of his personality in grace field is a put on, as well as the tough guy dictator thing he radiates after lambda. How he appears to someone is determined by the context of their meeting- the kids at grace field see him as a nerdy, weakish, pretty boring kid who is really caring and kind. The researchers at lambda see an obedient, beaten down and perfectionistic boy. The lambda kids see him as an infallible leader, ruthless and genius, a good man who knows what’s right. But in truth none of that is him. It’s a fucking chess game to him, putting on different faces, lying and pretending and treating everyone differently. In truth? He’s a fucking coward. He’s scared out of his mind and he’s tired and he can’t take pain, he’s obsessed with reaching some goal he deems is necessary that in the end is going to be his death because he doesn’t want to face the consequences of his actions. He’s taken on the role of someone evil, though deep down he’s not, he feels it’s easier to live that way because it strips him of his conscience.

interpersonal relationships: In general, Norman sees all relationships in a pretty dim light. He sees everyone as black and white, for the most part, and other people make no sense to him intuitively, he has to figure them out like a puzzle. He’s manipulative and not particularly kind, but he follows all societal expectations to a T, overly focused on his appearance and placing the person he’s interacting with into a Category™. So he can be truly kind, to people he feels deserve it, to people who he values and doesn’t see flaws in. He gets incredibly attached to people he loves, protective, though he often doesn’t take their own feelings on the matter into consideration, and he’s ruthless with anyone who he deems a bad person. With people he understands and relates to, though, things can be different. If he sees someone as like himself, he will drop all the social interaction police bullshit and cut to the chase of whatever he wants or needs from them, and he’s not very forgiving in any manner, if he thinks what someone did is actually bad.

Emma: Norman obviously cares a lot about Emma, and honestly views her as better than anyone else. He realizes her moral integrity and all of the things she has and he doesn’t, and admires it. Because of his black and white view, Emma is like an angel to him. She couldn’t do anything wrong if she tried. But he comes to treat her as something to be protected instead of respected, and although he realizes she wouldn’t like what he’s doing, he fundamentally cannot empathize with her and doesn’t try to understand her. Their personalities are very literally opposite. Norman really needs to fucking listen to her. And Emma needs to understand that Norman doesn’t have a single ounce of empathy and you really do need to spell it out for him. Emma can only convince him when she has logical reasons for her actions, which she, doesn’t often have. And Emma gave Norman too much slack, because she didn’t see past the surface, and Ray never wanted to warn her, even though he knew the dude was showing a bunch of red flags, because you know. It was kind of an unspoken deal between them. (on ray’s part)

Ray: His relationship with Ray is a lot more complicated than with Emma. He understands Ray, where he doesn’t understand Emma, and he can see right through anything Ray does. And this makes things really tense between them, because Ray doesn’t, take kindly to being psychoanalyzed. If someone perceives him he will deck them and Norman is just there silently perceiving him at all times when Emma doesn’t see it. They are both constantly in competition with each other, but they care about each other a lot, though it’s kind of in a derogatory way. They both recognize each other as fundamentally fucked up, and silently agree never to bring it up with Emma. They’re nice to each other when she’s around, but all pretenses disappear when she’s gone. Ray is always frustrated with Norman, because Norman’s never been intimidated by him, and though he tries his best not to be vulnerable around him, Norman can always see through it, whereas Ray can’t crack Norman’s fake fucking smile no matter what he does. Norman will always take Emma’s side, and doesn’t see Ray as a good person at all, but he still understands and can excuse him, he takes measures to be… worse than Ray, which is better in his mind, because it’s rational, and ‘not selfish’.

Isabella: She has always had ridiculously high expectations for Norman, and treats him kind of harshly compared to the others. Bitch has heat stroke and Isabella’s first question is a calculus problem instead of like, “are you ok”. She knows he doesn’t complain about anything ever and she doesn’t stop him from being Terrible to himself, because it makes her job easier. They want smart kids, not mentally adjusted kids. She does really care for all of them, but she basically overrides it, she gives them what they want, not what they need, lets them be exactly what they’re making themselves. Isabella is distant with Ray but gives him anything he wants, she’s close and super nice with Emma, but Norman is… it’s weird. Isabella is proud of him because he meets her astronomically high bar. But at the same time, Norman never really cared for her that much and has never pretended to. Once they discover The Thing, though, he has a revelation, and it doesn’t take him long to switch his entire perspective about her. He’s pretty much like. Oh. She’s like me. That explains it, time to treat her like I treat myself: fucking brutally. Passive aggressive as hell. The kind of energy the :) emoticon at the end of an email gives. He does like just go “yeah we should kill her” at one point, which. You know, ok. When he got shipped out it was hhhh really interesting because Isabella knew full well he knew he was walking to his death and Norman was like “are you Truly Happy?” and just went :) and she was like h u h and tried to get him to talk while they were walking there because she feels Bad about it and he just. Did not. He didn’t say a single word just kind of smiled menacingly at her and I think it was half a sort of rebellion and half because he viewed her as similar to himself and therefore felt no need to put up any front with her, no words were necessary for him to impart exactly how he felt about it

Lambda kids: His relationship with the lambda kids is weird and bittersweet. I think he really truly does care about them, they were in a similar situation to his and he wants them to get what they want. However it is not a healthy or beneficial relationship, they see him as a god and don’t realize that he’s killing himself to give them what they want, he’s basically adopted them when out of anyone norman’s the one that should least be in charge of kids. I think he’s honestly younger than them but I’m not sure if they even know. He acts like their fucking mom, and that’s from what he thinks mothers are like… like isabella?? Giving them what they want, not what they need, lying to them, showing a front, caring deeply for them but at the same time using them for his own ends. And it’s not helpful for him. He thinks he knows what they need, but what he’s doing is what they want. What they need is therapy,(and so does norman), and he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with using them as weapons because they love him. It makes him feel good, to be seen as perfect, to have people who don’t know how weak he really is. But it’s only making him worse, and he’s enabling everything the lambda kids are doing wrong as well. They need like, Yuugo and Lucas. Some actual adults who are actually wise and have the ability and the knowledge to take care of them and understand their mental problems and maybe actually address them. And actually be nice to them. But um sadly.

what he’s doing wrong: It’s pretty obvious, but… Norman, you maybe *shouldn’t* commit genocide? You’re not helping emma, you’re not making anything better. You’re not helping the lambda kids, you’re enabling them. You’re not helping your friends from grace field, you’re ignoring what they want. You’re not helping the world, you’re eradicating an entire race from the face of the earth and murdering the poor for the crimes of the fucking 1%. You’re not being a martyr, you’re a selfish piece of shit liar you little coward, you just want an easy way out and you want to die on your bloody fucking hill instead of admitting you’re wrong. Grow up, cringe little man.

why he went wrong: I think most of the reason this happened was the way he was raised combined with the kind of person he is. Norman would have turned out fine, if there has been good adults in his life who actually cared about his well being. Instead he got people who just wanted to control him and make him what they needed, and family who largely didn’t realize there was anything wrong. Ray being an ass to him most of forever probably didn’t help but well, that’s just Ray. Even then, he would have managed alright if he escaped with the rest of the kids because he would never have been separated from the experiences that caused the rest of them to realize demons weren’t all evil. In lambda he didn’t have anyone supporting him or telling him when things went too far, so he fell into relying on himself alone, pushing himself further with absolutely no limits. All he saw was enemies and allies, and things got stratified. He never had a lucas or a yuugo or mujika when he would have needed it, instead he found children who wanted him to be in charge and a world that made it so he had to be. Everything was an echo chamber for his worst thoughts, so they just became more and more dominant.

what he needs: To put it simply, he needs Emma and Ray to cut to the chase and slap him across the face and make him take care of himself. He needs to be forced to see everything for what it really is- this edgy 14 year old committing atrocities to feel better about himself? He needs to be told that what he’s doing is irrational, because in reality, it is. There are better solutions that he’s ignoring, both to his own suffering and the demons, and the way he’s going now no one will truly be happy because of it, that there is no requirement that things be perfect and this bullshit doesn’t make him stronger. He needs someone responsible to take the fucking dagger out of his hands. He also needs someone to babysit him and make him go to bed at a reasonable time.

i describe his personality through songs on my spotify playlist for him:

-outrunning karma by alec benjamin: this one super applies because it calls him out for making shitty decisions, being manipulative and a liar, and having blood on his hands in a very calm and subdued manner, that he knows this is wrong and yet he chooses to keep running faster and faster towards destruction, that he means to escape it through death

-empty by boyinaband and jaiden: yes this is a song about anorexia yes it also applies to norman i’m not saying norman literally has an eating disorder (but honestly it wouldn’t be far out of character if he did) but metaphorically this applies to his method of ignoring his needs, both emotional and physical, in favor of seeming in control

-toxic thoughts by faith marie: this one speaks to his gifted kid trauma. Man’s got perfectionism running his entire soul. He’s terrified of failing, because he’s always been at the very top, he’ll beat himself up over any miniscule mistake and forces himself to keep at bad habits that keep him Productive, but he won’t ask for help no matter how much he’s suffering because that would be failing, he fights with his mind, this song basically tells him “yeah i feel you but you need to stop that”

-no time to die by billie eilish: ignore the romantic overtones but this is emma and norman, emma who trusted norman and was lied to, betrayed, for norman’s greater good, and norman who refuses to feel or hurt because of it, who refuses to apologize or see himself as wrong, pushes forward because he’s going to Pass Away

-achilles come down by gang of youths: hhhhh it's like. His vibe. Obviously you can disregard the lifestyle specific shit but it's. It's achilles come down you have to understand it’s like the same deal as friend, please just like french and longer

-friend, please by 21 pilots: i feel like i don't have to explain this one but it’s more to the manga (not the anime where he kind of figures out he done did wrong by himself instead of committing unforgivable sins and still going yeah this is valid before emma is like holy fuck). He is like sorry emma I cannot fix anything I’m going to die :) *coughs blood* and emma going like stop it stop it stop it fuck you see you fucked up and i forgive you just stop don’t walk away while he’s like “no<3”

why im a repressed little norman kinnie even tho he’s my exact opposite: I don’t generally kin ppl like norman, honestly he’s an infj I have no clue how it happened but I’m pretty sure it’s because of my intense desire to project onto a little man who cannot lift a milk jug and has chronic pain and decides you know what I AM tired of being nice i DO wanna go apeshit. Also he’s a twink. A little bastard. He’s a terrible person and I go mood every time he does anything. I said mood when he fell out of a tree. Don’t know what this says about me, I swear I wouldn’t commit no genocide. He’s like the inverse of Yoichi Saotome, and somehow i kin him too. Damn.

Miscellaneous headcanons:

-man’s SO attached to his william minerva cloak. He’s a wispy little bitch, you know he’s wearing that thing inside the house, he’s fucking cold. It also makes him Look Important he can retreat into it like an emo middle schooler with an oversized sweatshirt

-although you could probably get Mad street cred from having two whole brands you know he’s not gonna whip it out and show off his lambda thing he’s incredibly self conscious and his chest hasn’t seen the sun in years

-norman’s got MAD laundry skills to be able to wear like, all white all the time while constantly murdering people. I think he’s the only one who knows to do the laundry. And Ray is the only one who knows how to cook.

-but even then there’s gotta still be a few questionable stains on that thing, but if anyone asks he’s like “ketchup” “I’ve literally never seen you eat anything with that much color” “ketchup :)” *coughs blood*

-he’s probably thought “well i have not literally coughed blood yet today so I am not legally obligated to take care of myself”

-He probably adopted much of his current personality from taking on the persona of william minerva. I’m calling him out for being like me, he’s a blank motherfucker, he absorbs personality traits from characters he plays! He’s just not in theatre so it’s a bit more intense!

-the first time he sees barbara Eating Demon Meat he kinda stares and goes oh cool! not for me and violently exits the room. Like it's hilarious bc he thinks that's really gross on a moral level though he understands why she would do it

-Which is even funnier bc I’m not sure about the canon on this but there was That Chapter Cover that one time that kinda seemed to imply norman eating demon meat which i absolutely latched onto because I’m terrible. He was just politely eating it. With a knife and fork like why dude. As to a possible reason for him doing that I can come up with, of course barbara does it out of spite, but man we don’t know the properties, if it had some sort of painkilling aspect to it or it was like, caffeine, you know he would, but he would Definitely not talk about it

-I kinda disagree with what the anime did in episode eight? It was good I liked it and the imagery was fantastic but also have you considered Norman could not kill someone with his own hands if he tried, or even physically injure them? That’s what his minions are for shawty. That doesn’t make it any less bad, of course, but the manga captured it perfectly by the fact of he carries around a dagger and a scepter in the capitol battle, but he never even raises it out of more than intimidation. He walks through calmly like he’s not scared at all but he makes sure all the lambda kids do all the actual murder, he just stands there impartially, clearly The Mastermind, as the kids fucking murder the queen of the demons. And I think that’s more profound because he’s, a coward. And he doesn’t realize being the one who orders the strike makes you just as responsible as the one who sticks the knife in someone. The knife is just there to Compensate™ for the fact that he weighs like eighty pounds.

-he’s more of like lady macbeth (because he’s a girlboss) than macbeth himself. He has blood on his hands, but it’s the kind of blood that you can’t wash off. He never killed anyone himself, and he cannot admit he never would have been able to.

-the last thing is that there are definitely epic things about the anime, episode 8 was my favorite so far, goddamn that imagery and the bitch walking through the city while it burns down with the screaming asmr going on behind him my god. We stan. But like the downside of, letting Emma and Ray get to him before he commits first degree murder makes the whole thing lose a lot of his value. In the manga (oh my god look at me being a pretentious manga fan please) it fit more of his ideas- he never backed down, and he planned for Emma coming and trying to stop him. Of course he wanted Emma to stop him, he wanted it with all his fucking heart he was pleading for it to happen but the man wouldn’t give himself what he wanted if he was held at gunpoint. He knew she’d come and he made absolutely sure she wouldn’t be able to stop him. So when she came and he said “you’re too late”??? It kind of said it all, in the fact that he was disappointed that he got his way. He still thought he did the right thing, but deep down there where he shoved all his thoughts and feelings he desperately wanted to be saved from himself.

So yeah, those are my thoughts. Feel free to eviscerate me if these are not Correct he is just my favorite girlboss who I feel the need to yell at

#tpn #the promised neverland #yakusoku no neverland #tpn norman #norman tpn #essay post #god why do i do this to myself #dear god help me this is 5000 words #rowan's hyperfixation essays

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themoomoorn · 4 years ago

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Random Thot #46,853

I had a health exam for my upcoming new job and put my two weeks in for my current one, so I’m rewarding my neurodivergent ass-brain with this. Sit tight and enjoy.

46,853: I’m half-convinced that Edelgard is like the Soul Series’ Alexandra sisters and daughter when it comes to her combat ability - or rather, lack thereof. Unlike Claude, Dimitri, and Byleth, who all explicitly received combat training as children, Edelgard likely did not. The tools given to her are what likely allow for her to fight at all - heck, they may even do a bit of the fighting for her. How else can a noodle-armed womanlet like her wear all that armor and heft that axe?

(Also, how the eff does this dress make clanking armor sounds when she walks in the game despite this dress having like no armor whatsoever)

To begin with, we have in-game factoids of her stat caps being the second highest in the game (390 when combined, with Cyril only beating her by 5 points due to his Aptitude skill), and she even has a magic cap that’s not only on-par with other magically-inclined units (72), but it’s actually better than some of them (Dorothea and Linhardt, who are both dedicated mage types, have caps of 61 and 66, respectively, while Manuela, who tends to get placed in Faith Magic-aligned classes despite being a hybrid unit, has a piddling cap 48). She even has a quirky but feasible spell list for both magic types (Fire/Bolganone/Luna Lambda/Hades Omega for Reason, and Heal/Nosferatu/Recover/Seraphim for Faith, which is one of her banes, mind you). I imagine this is the work of the experiments that gave her her version of the Crest of Flames - after all, the 2020 DREAM interview noted that the Hresvelg children were given a more “refined” version of the experiments the Ordelias had. The refinement isn’t just reflected in-game with caps and magic too; Edelgard is also more robust in terms of health, whereas Lysithea is prone to bouts of weakness and illness. In-game, she has poor Luck and Strength, and the single lowest HP cap of all the playable units at 48. And while this one is admittedly conjecture, Edelgard doesn’t hint that her lifespan was drastically cut, as she gets to live a long life in all of her endings. Even in her Crest-heavy ending with Hanneman or her healthcare-related ending with Manuela don’t mention that she had one or both of her Crests taken out. Lysithea, on the other hand, is extensively motivated by the fact that she doesn’t have many years left, and it’s only in two endings (Lorenz, Balthus) where she’s able to live fairly long without removing her Crests; The rest either have her dying young or being able to live long only after her Crests are taken out.

Now what of her combat abilities? Let’s turn to the source of where this silly thot came from.

For the uninitiated, Sophitia Alexandra, a fighter who’s been in the Soul Franchise since its very first game, did not grow up as a dedicated combatant like the other fighters - she was an ordinary baker living in Athens during the late 16th Century when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire. When she was bathing in a lake one day, she received a message from Hephaestus himself in that she has a divine destiny to destroy the cursed blade Soul Edge, and he gifts her with a divinely crafted short sword and shield in order to fulfill her mission. While she does gain training in Athenian combat styles, a lot of her power and capabilities are tied to her weapon set, which are named the Omega Sword and Elk Shield. Her younger sister Cassandra would follow suit in SoulCalibur II, actually going out of her way to steal the same holy armaments Sophitia used in Soul Edge and SoulCalibur I before getting her own specially empowered set.

(Sophitia Alexandra)

And Pyrrha, Sophitia’s daughter in SoulCalibur V, takes it to new heights. Per a data book, the timid, mistreated Pyrrha has absolutely no combat experience, not even in self-defense. While Sophitia and Cassandra were able to train themselves into formidable soldiers outside of their divine weapons’ influences, this is not true for Pyrrha. If it were not for the sword and shield Pyrrha wielded (which is the same exact set Sophitia wielded before her passing), her clumsy attacks and timid guard stances would amount to ineffectual, useless flailing.

(Info about Pyrrha’s fighting style from the SCV data book)

Back to the Egg. Now it’s made abundantly clear that while Dimitri’s Jean Valjean-levels of raw strength heavily stem from his Crest, he’s also from the land where, in lieu of milk and honey, there’s extreme sports jock training in heavy armor in the dead of night with boulders for weights and weapon mastery. Dimitri loves to train, and it’s a big aspect of his character. The tritagonist of his route is also one of his combat trainers, and he’s done that job for three generations’ worth of Faerghus royalty, with his ending hinting that he keeps doing it for one more. I imagine that even without the Crest of Blaiddyd, Dimitri would still be extremely strong and formidable, he’d just have to actually exert himself a little when saving some poor soul from a runaway cart.

(Just in case the savior imagery wasn’t clear enough with Dimitri, he even did lift a cart the way eventual saint Jean Valjean did in the book/musical)

Claude is far more in favor of covert combat, and his own Crest is more defensive than offensive, but he’s no slouch either, having had a renowned war general serve as his combat instructor since childhood. He’s from a kingdom that, much like Faerghus, values the way of the warrior and prides itself on the strength of its people. His hidden talent, tying to wyvern mastery, is in friggin axes, and he’s also shown to be adept enough with a sword at various points. Plus there’s the fact that he was abused and mistreated by his Almyran family, complete with his father plopping him on a horse and making the horse ride off with him backwards with no safety net as a form of punishment - Claude tells Hilda that there was a “trick” in how he survived that. As any horse jockey can attest to, you need raw muscle in every part of your body in order to really ride one, and I imagine that’s doubly true for your local albino wyvern that’s decked out in Ottoman visual puns. Plus learning how to be crafty and protecting oneself more covertly undoubtedly contributed to his combat abilities too.

(I mean you’d have to be shredded if you can pull off the Parthian shot on a fucking flying dragon. 61 Strength cap my ass.)

Byleth, as we know, grew up as a mercenary to the point of detriment. There’s no need to go into extensive detail as to how Jeralt sacrificed almost everything else in exchange for contributing to Byleth’s combat abilities without being abusive and cruel, but even if you took away Byleth’s self-insert aspects, they’d likely bear a passing resemblance to Rei Ayanami in terms of behavior and attitude - An intended vessel/Avatar for a divine being from one end; Conditioned for little more than combat from another end. Kind of a gloomy picture before she starts to express herself better and actually bond with other people meaningfully.

(At least she’s cute as a button. Kinda like Rei.)

But where does that leave Edelgard? It’s a big question mark. There’s no mention of her growing up with any kind of combat training, unlike the other three. Heck, if tea time, Crimson Flower, and Heroes quotes are anything to go by, Edelgard grew up living a carefree lifestyle prior to the Insurrection. She got to stuff her face with sweets and play with teddy bears and both dote and be doted on by her siblings. Being child number 9 in her current generation, combat training and political studies likely weren’t major priorities for her, and since it’s speculated that Ionius favored her mother, she was likely lavished and spoiled by him. After all, he expresses grief for her specifically when she inherits the throne from him, not the rest of her siblings.

(Even the official merchandise notes how childish Edelgard is)

(This is all after she literally kickstarts her war, by the way).

While there’s varying degrees of elaborate flair that the Lords all wield their weapons with, Edelgard’s regular strikes with an axe feel far less rigid and more informal, and she’ll spin around her axe like it’s some kind of prop. Her default battle stance isn’t even remotely protective and quite impractical; Dimitri’s stance with a lance is both of these things, while Claude’s arrow-twirling is a real-life exercise that’s done to keep the wrist flexible. While she does refine her axe skills come Part II, she’ll still do things like throw her massive shield ten feet in the air for a critical hit.

(Seriously what even is this why is your hand out like that)

There’s even some proof of this: In her study request for axes and heavy armor, Edelgard will even acknowledge that the only reason she can likely keep up and wear heavy armor at all is because of her Crests. And unlike Dimitri and Claude, who can get lesson plans for their respective Hidden Talents once they’re mastered (Horse riding for Dimitri, axes for Claude), Edelgard doesn’t get a lesson plan for Reason Magic, which is her Hidden Talent, so she likely didn’t get any kind of formal education surrounding magic either.

(She has a similar quote in Heroes that’s even more explicit about this.)

The closest hint we get in Edelgard maybe having a hint of training as a child is in her Supports with Ferdinand, and even then, there’s no clear cut hint noting that his failures in beating her were combat-based. She’s able to one-hit KO him in their B Support, but it’s locked to Part II and at this point she’s been both riding on the power highs of her Crests along with actually taking combat seriously. She even says that their difference in skill level isn’t that great.

(Should’ve used Swift Strikes, Ferdie)

What’s more, in addition to all of those enhancements, she not only spends a lot of Part I in a custom set of armor that only archaic technology from the Agarthans can make, but they also made her a custom Relic that’s tailor-made to her specifications. The other Relics as well as the Sacred Weapons, being over a thousand years old, still require their wielders to train in order to wield them properly, and in the case of the Relics, their potential cannot be fully tapped into unless the wielder’s Crest matches the Relic they’re wielding. There’s also that particular safety issue, per what happens with Sylvain’s brother Miklan. But this is not the case with Aymr, which is brand new, has a mismatched Crest that doesn’t negatively affect Edelgard, and requires the Agarthan tech-compatible Agarthium to fix, not the Umbral Steel that’s used to fix both the Heroes’ Relics and other Crest Stone weapons like the Vajra-Mushti. The Aymr’s specific Combat Art even emulates the oft-broken Galeforce skill from Awakening and Fates. It feels like that Aymr in particular is the Edelgard what Hephaestus’ swords and shields are to the Alexandra family.

Now I don’t really think that an Edelgard who’d be stripped of her Crest of Flames, the Amyr, or her special Flame Emperor armor, would be as hapless as Pyrrha would be without her mother’s sword and shield. I imagine she likely started to do some kind of formal combat training once the experiments were done with, not just to kickstart her dreams of imperial conquest, but also to protect herself anyway after everything that happened; She’s also the only Hresvelg heiress of her generation left. There’s also her natural Minor Crest of Seiros to consider. But if you stripped all that away from her, then her ability to fight probably would come off as useless flailing to the other three more experienced combatants.

All those cakes and that lack of muscle would at least catch up to her, anyway.

#fe3h #fe3h meta #fire emblem three houses #edelgard von hresvelg #edelgard critical #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #claude von riegan #byleth eisner #headcanons #ramblings #soulcalibur #this literally popped into my head one day #seriously #edelgard isnt buff you cant change my mind

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trashbinbackyard · 4 years ago

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so many good questions aaaaaa but uhh 1-10, 15-24, 26, 33, 39, 49, 50 for ivana and hecca wadda hell, if you want you can toss in a zoe too for the milf trifecta

bad milf, goth milf and jock milf

How old are they?

Ivana is in her late 40′s, 47-49

Hecca is quite young, around 90

Zoe is nearing/is in her sixties. I’m bad with specific ages saddvggeqheth

What gender are they?

Trans woman

Cis woman

What is their romantic/sexual orientation?

Demiromantic lesbian

Pansexual

Lesbian

How tall are they?

She’s huge, 195cm

She’s even huge’er, 210cm

Not as tall but still pretty tall: 182

What do they look like?

Like she’s had seven facelifts, very narrow face with noticeable cheekbones, topping off the cinched face look is a tall skinny ponytail, she’s lean, no way skinny noodle but not heavily muscular either

She’s albino, white skin and feathers, quite broad shoulders, she’s had few surgeries, on her chest and hips/butt to get an hourglass shape

She’s got a rectangular body shape, she’s wide as shit and muscular, thighs that can crush a watermelon and biceps the size of rihura’s thigh

What are their defining features?

Tall and narrow

She thicc

Wide smile and cross scar on her forehead

Does their name have a meaning?

Nah

Came across Hecca on alien name generator and thought it sounded close to hecate and thats neat

nah

What family do they have?

Mom and pops somewhere, probably not in talking mood, she visits them like once a year

Mom and dad back in homeworld, cut off, she’s raising her girl on her own

Both parents dead, nothing traumatic, just old age

Do they have a good relationship with their family?

It’s not As Bad as you might first think, but its not great either, she’s a difficult person to be around and she got it from one of her parents, she drops by once in a blue moon just to check they’re all good, no warm family dinners there

She was cut out from the family for running off to outer rim and and then she got a baby, and she just doesn’t want to make contact again, she’s trying to make it on her own

She still talks with her ex Nina and their son. Her relationship with their son is getting better by the month now that she has time to work on it

If not, why not?

She just comes from a weird family

She wanted to do her own thing, didn’t wanna stay and study, nor did she want to marry, got some pressure from her parents and sibling so she just left it all

Ngl she wasn’t that great of a wife or parent for a while, she never had bad intentions but some people just dont have it in them at the moment to be the best

Who is their best friend?

Idk if she even has friends, Hecca once was but now the two barely speak

She’s got a small friend group she hangs around with when she got free time

Reno, for decades, been through thick and thin with him

Do they have any enemies?

Plenty, criminals prolly dont like someone competent leading a force made just for catching them

Not really, she likes minding her own business

The pigs

Who is the person they hate most in the world?

She has special place in her cold dead heart for Ipes

No one really, she doesn’t like Ivana but she doesn’t quite hate her

No special enemies here

Do they have any love/hate relationships?

Every relationship with her is a love/hate one, though the love part is hard to point out

Again, she doesn’t really hate anyone

Ivana, she respects her fellow high rankers but she just makes it so hard

Have they ever fallen in love?

Sure

Few times

Absolutely

Who is the person they love the most in the world?

She and Hecca had their difficulties but she would never wish harm on her or her baby

Her girl, Ineqira, or ini for short

Her son, Malcolm, Reno

Does that person love them back?

Not really

Absolutely

Her son not so much as she loves him but they’re trying, Reno absolutely

Have they ever hurt or lost anyone?

Yes and yes, most of the time by just being inconsiderate and brash, few times seen a comrade kick the bucket

Her family, she didn’t take joy in leaving

Yes, hurt her ex and son, lost comrades and it did hurt her too to see adele gone

Are they a good shoulder to cry on?

No, she would just advice bottling up any feelings and then just throwing them into the ocean, or go start a fight in bar, she dont give a shit

Yes, she puts up a brave face to seem tough but she’s pretty emotionally intelligent

Not really? Like she tries but all she can really offer is a listening ear, but sometimes that’s all you need

Are they well liked?

Respected? Yes. Liked? Not really.

She’s pleasant, though she can be bit brash and not for everyone’s tastes

Kinda? Again it takes a certain type of person to be able to handle her company, but she’s not mean or anything she’s just very loud and a hothead

Are they an affectionate person?

Yes

She tries, oh my god does she try

Do they like themselves?

She’s just fine with herself, doesn’t hate or love necessarily, doesn’t spend too much time dwelling on it or else she would have to face the fact that she’s not a good person

Yes, she likes what’s she’s got going on, loves being a mom, after few surgeries she also loves how she looks

Yup, though there’s room for improvement

How do they react to criticism?

Most of the time just brush it off, unless it’s big boss Orion telling her off, then she better listen

If she was open to it she’ll take it in, but otherwise just brush it off, but if it hurt really bad then try to brush it off with a tub of space ben and jerrys

Again, depending on who’s it coming from, but she always makes a point to remember all valid ones, if a cop tells her she’s doing something wrong she’s most likely to just go ask Reno or Very Big Boss Of Bounty Hunters Who I will make someday what they think about it

What is their job?

Bounty hunter commander of Outer rim, still does active duty

She runs a laundromat

Bounty hunter commander, though slightly less important than Reno in the office, she deals with third parties like cops, navy and individuals outside of the force

Do they enjoy their job?

Yup, she gets to boss people around And shoot

Yep, she likes the chill work it is to just watch over the register and help customers choose the right laundry sauce if needed. Her place is also a very much no-tell bc if she sees someone bring a basket of bloody clothes she just wants to stay out of it

Yes, she’s worked had to earn her title and loves working with Reno, also loves telling pigs off and disappointing anyone who wanted to meet just Reno

#fun fact #ivana and hecca met at the laundromat #back when ivana was more hand to hand with bounties and needed to wash some blood off her coat #me writing this: oh my god ivana is bad person #she's got her morals straight but she's just genuinely unpleasant to be around #meanwhile hecca is pretty nice #she's not wholesome bean either but compared to ivana it sure seems that way #space shitstorm #is-that-what-i-think-it-is

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surveys-at-your-service · 4 years ago

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Survey #297

“crushed, damned, and broken; lost, sick, and left unspoken.”

When was the last time you did clay work/pottery? Not since high school when I made an anatomically correct heart. Do you like art, hate it or just not mind it? I adore it. Is crime a big problem in your area? Oh yes. What's the scariest story/urban legend/creepypasta etc you heard? Maaaan, as a cryptic fanatic, that's hard. Maybe the Rake. What personality trait does nearly everyone in your family seem to have? We're some resilient motherfuckers. What is your favorite soda? Well, it's technically strawberry Sunkist, but I do NOT let myself have it because I will fucking chug it and binge on them if available to me. So, I just consider Mountain Dew Voltage my fave. When you're on the beach, do you throw beached sea creatures back? I've never even seen a beached animal. I would, though. Have you ever thrown food at someone? Yeah, small food fights as a kid or joking with a friend. Have you ever been to a bonfire? Yeah. Do you like orangutans? I love them; such fascinating, enchanting animals that act more human than people half the time. When you see a bug flipped on his back, what do you do? It depends on what it is, but I usually try to help it. Is cereal good? Yeah, I love cereal. Do you like spaghetti? Love it. It was my favorite food as a kid. Is there any kind of weapon in your bedroom? No. Do you like snow globes? I love 'em! Be honest, did Fifty Shades of Grey arouse you in any way? I didn't read it and never will. What does your sibling(s) call you? "Britt" or "(little/big) sister." Do you have any close friends that are the opposite sex that your significant other dislikes? N/A Do you honestly believe everything happens for a reason? Why or why not? Nope, because I want you to explain to me why a child dies of cancer. Why the 11-year-old was raped and forced to bear the child. Why a partner is beaten to death by their s/o, etc. etc. Things just... happen. Do you believe in reincarnation? Why or why not? No, mostly; I DO kinda wonder about it, I just find it unlikely. It would be kinda poetic, though: being given the chance to experience so many unique things. But, I kinda want a conclusion to my mortal life. The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner? I read the first HG and loved it; I started the latter novel while I was in the psych hospital for a while, but I never finished it or got that far in. It did sound pretty good, though. Has anyone you’ve known claimed to be psychic? Well, they believe(d) in tarot readings; does that count? Idk. Did/do you believe them? I wouldn't. Is anything annoying you right now? "Annoyed" is a fucking understatement when it comes to what transpired at the capitol a few days back. Have you ever been ice-skating? No. Does the sound of rain at night help you sleep? It can, depending on how heavy it is. Have you ever seen an albino person, in person? Albino, no, but I knew a guy and his sister in high school who had vitiligo. Have you ever worn a pair of scrubs? Yeah, at the ER and hospital. Have you ever walked into a massive cobweb? I don't believe so. What would you say is your strongest felt emotion right now? Rage. I'm not over "the event." I'm just tired of humanity. Are you talking to anyone at the moment? No. Do you have trust issues? Oh yes. Have you ever found an arrow head? No. Who is with you? My mom's home. What can you not stop thinking about? *points upwards* Then there's Jason because PTSD, that's very normal. Do you forgive easily? I forgive very easily, honestly. In what part of your life so far, have you learned the most about yourself? 2017, when recovery began. I think... or maybe 2018, idk. I've truly come to discover myself quite a lot the past few years. Have you ever been in a fist fight? No. Are your ears pierced? Yeah: my earlobes twice, and then my right tragus has a stud. I want to get my others back... I had to take them all out in the psych hospital, and a lot of my piercings closed up. The only one I don't wanna re-do is my anti-tragus, because mine was *always* inflammed and aggravated. What did you last say out loud? "Okay" to Mom. What are you waiting on? Right now, an opportunity to go to the parlor I'm getting my tat tidied up at to get a price range on it. They just need to be open while we're out of the house. Do you tell people when they get on your nerves? Not really. Are your feelings hurt easily? Yep. What's the most expensive piece of clothing you have? Did you buy it yourself? I dunno... I very rarely get new clothes, nevermind expensive ones. Who is your closest platonic friend of the opposite sex? His nickname is Girt. He's been my best male friend since high school; we even hang out sometimes, but it's been a long while. How do you think your first relationship shaped who you are as a partner now? As a partner, it taught me to not fall head over heels and love more realistically and in a healthy fashion. I don't put my faith solely into them, but myself, too. I also accept "forever" is not always true just because they promise it. Who is your favorite protagonist of the same sex? Oh god, this is hard. I suppose maybe Tyrande Whisperwind from WoW. I love her dedication to her people and that her story has become more interesting in her finally "breaking." I could list so, so many "faves," tbh. Were you popular in high school? What was your reputation like? No; I was just the average teen. Have you always known your sexual orientation or did something happen to make you realize it? Somethings happened. There were a lot of hints building up before I even began to consider the possibility, but a daydream solidified it as fact. What was the hardest part of your last break up? Realizing I still wasn't "ready" or "fit" for a successful relationship. What brought you out of the hardest period in your life? As strange as it sounds, my suicide attempt put it into action. I was obviously hospitalized for a while, and then I was brought into a month-long partial hospitalization program that has a fucking genius psychiatrist, and I also had daily therapy as long as school days during the week. It was the intense help I needed. What's your favorite kind of smiley face? (: Does anybody know your deepest darkest secret? My old therapist and maybe my mom; I can't remember if I told her. Did you ever watch Rugrats? (the babies) I LOVED that show! I even had two of the video games. What about Hey Arnold? Ugh, I hated it, but I think my little sister did, or we just watched it if we couldn't find anything else. Do you like pep rallies? NO. NO. NO. My teachers always understood that they really stoked my anxiety and allowed me to opt out of going. I'd just stay in the classroom and read or something. Have you ever had pneumonia? No. What do you feel about surgeries? Do they worry you? I fear anesthesia awareness, but not to a debilitating degree or anything that makes me panic beforehand or anything like that. Do you play Minecraft? if so, feelings about servers? Never have, and not interested. Do you read creepypastas? Nah. Do you think vlogging in public is scary? It seems awkward as FUCK to me. Even alone. Have you been to an escape room? Was it a success? No. What social class would you say you're in? I think we're actually near the poverty line (or were, idk anymore, Mom slipped it before), so definitely lower. Have you ever recorded a cover of a song? No. How do you feel about guns? They scare me. What's the most traumatizing event that ever happened to you? A very abrupt and poorly-executed breakup while being madly in love to the point of obsession with the person. Are you faint to the sight of blood? No. Do you like spicy food? Yes. Do you have good dreams or nightmares more? Well, considering I was woken up by myself shrieking my lungs out this morning, guess. It seemed for a little bit that my nightmares were chilling out, but I guess not. When was the last time someone insulted you? What was the insult? Does my mother telling me I'm saying too many "f-bombs" count? I dunno otherwise. What’s your second favorite color? Maroon. Do you ever wish you lived in a different country? Hey Canada, mind adopting me? Who’s the last person you “pounded” fists with? Ha, I think my nephew. Have you ever been involved in an affair? No. Wait, maybe? Does the Joel thing count? We never even physically met each other, we were just being idiot kids flirting over text messages. You be the judge, ig. How many times a week do you speak to your boss? I don’t have a job. What do you want for your birthday? Just donate to my tattoo fund lmao. Having to get my laptop fixed fucked up my plans yet again... Have you ever been to a masquerade? No. Is there anybody you think is hot over the age of 40? A handful, yeah. Who in your phone has a heart after their name? Just Sara does. Anything you’re avoiding? Always. After breaking up, what’s the worst? Letting go if you're the one who still has feelings. Does your sibling have a significant other? I don't know if my brother does, or the half-sister I've never met. Another sister is engaged, and two are married. Nicole is single, though. She's smart as hell about who she dates; she's probably pickier than me. Do you use Skype? Just to talk with Sara. Are you a fan of acrylic nails? I wouldn't wear them, but they look fine on some people. Except when they're square shaped. Name one happy song that describes you better than any other. "Get Up" by Mother Mother comes to me first. Name one sad/mellow song that describes you better than any other. Haha I connect with a lot of sad songs and would honestly rather not dig through 'em right now. What is your most used pick up line? None, they're all awful. Do you like the taste of alcohol? Noooooo no no. The only alcoholic drinks I like are very weak and sweet. What kinds of food make you sick? So this probably sounds so stupid, but "fancy" foods, like stuff with a lot of ingredients my body isn't used to, I guess. My stomach is very finicky with foods, so it's easy to make this list.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''creatures x: to the grave'' by motionless in white

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feuilly-cakes · 4 years ago

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Twilight - review

I'm now revealing myself to be twilight trash, but let's talk about it! In this review you'll find the good, the bad, and the ugly (in list form even!) I know this story like the back of my hand, and this is a reread, so although I've only read this particular book once before, I can't be unbiased here. I am a more critical reader now than I was at 14 though, so hopefully this review counts for something. There will be a warning before the section with the spoilers if you haven't yet given in to the curiosity.

I loved it. I gave it 4*. I also found certain parts offensive. Some parts were very funny, and others just as dramatic as you'd expect from a book published for teens in 2005. The love story was, dare I say it, good. It's an enemies to friends to lovers, with a very quick progression on those last two. Both Bella and Edward acted just like regular teens around each other, and if there wasn't a vampire aspect involved it wouldn't have been criticised too heavily on the relationship front. I pretty much sped through the book, even with life getting in the way and pausing every 5 minutes to stick annotation tabs in. We are given a good amount of information about vampires, the history of the characters, and also the kinds of people these characters are. Aside from the offensive/insensitive parts, the entirety of which I will be listing below as I picked up on them, there are only a few moments of genuine real life creepiness not related to the Port Angeles scene right up until the epilogue, which made me very uncomfortable for reasons I shall be explaining. As a random note, I noticed 9 obvious instances of foreshadowing. She must have known where she was going with this series, or else that was a strange coincidence. The rest of this review will contain spoilers Let's begin with how this differs from the movie, since pretty much everyone has seen the movie. First and foremost, there are the characters - Bella and Edward specifically. Bella in this book is a typical teenager with a strong personality. As a child she had tantrums over going to Forks, saying she 'hadn't made a secret of [her] distaste for Forks.' She has a fierce temper, but she is also kind, frowning upon Jessica Stanley's judgement of Esme for adopting kids because she can't have any biologically. She's not vain but she cares about her looks, fussing over her skin being paler once she got to Forks - 'My skin could be pretty' 'I had no color here.' Sarcasm is her thing, and she despairs that none of her new classmates seem to get her sense of humour. She's friendly though an introvert, smiling and waving at everyone who greets her after a week of school while not knowing all of their names. She loves girls nights, and finds being around other girls 'invigorating'. She's independent and won't let Edward question that: "No, she did not send me here. I sent myself." However, she notices she has a very strong crush on Edward that is almost obsessive and finds it 'pitiful' and 'pathetic'. At least she's self aware.

Bella is very funny at times, especially when referencing her clumsiness (I won't spoil this because humour should never be spoiled). Bella is very smart and resourceful, but not in the obvious way. Schoolwork is a breeze for her because she's done most of it at her old school, but she's smart in other ways. It's Bella who figures out about Edward's mind reading abilities and questions him about it, and who flirts with Jacob Black to get information about the Cullens and why they aren't allowed on the reservation. It's Bella who tells Edward that men and women should be equal or as close to equal as they can, each saving each other the same amount of times. It's also Bella who feels that Mike Newton understands her, because they both were new in Forks at one point, and both lived in sunny places and probably both experienced the chain link fences and metal detectors that Bella was shocked were not at Forks High School. (Personally that threw me for a loop too, that schools could have metal detectors.) Edward is closer to the movie characterisation, but acts more like a typical teenage boy. He's moody but charming, awkward at times but also mischievous. At one point he cuts Bella off in the school car park and then deliberately stops his car to wait for his siblings, causing a queue behind them and giving Tyler Crowley the opportunity to ask her to the dance. He does all this to anger Bella, and it was absolutely hilarious. He flip flops between cheerful and broody, and finds Bella utterly fascinating. He is constantly relearning boundaries and ways to make Bella and himself feel more comfortable. An interesting aspect of his character that was definitely unintentional and handled poorly was the way he was coded as demi-sexual. He states that he has never wanted anyone before Bella, and his adoptive mother Esme thought there was something missing in him. As this is offensive I'll be bringing it up again later. Back to some positives, he likes to sing under his breath in a very fast speed that looks like his lips are trembling, and finds the heat of Bella's hands very pleasant. I thought this was cute, and I had to tab it for future reference. A not so cute thing is how he can 'dazzle' Bella by being close to her face and breathing on her. She describes this as her mind going blank, after which we see her agree to whatever he says while she is in this state. It's a bit creepy but he doesn't take advantage of it at first after being made aware of it, he only does so towards the end, which we shall get into later. He also hears the minds of others as a background hum that he can then focus in on, which I found interesting. Now, onto actual plot things that differed, we have Bella never buying that book on Quileute legends, instead simply flirting with a 15 year old Jacob to get his information and then combining that with a google search, and coming to her conclusions that way. Next, we have the Volturi being mentioned but not by name, firstly on vampires a-z in the section: 'Stregoni benefici: An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all evil vampires.' and then in a scene that wasn't a part of the film at all, wherein Edward and Bella are in Carlisle's office, talking about his history, and they are brought up simply as Carlisle's artistic friends from Italy. They are named but the word Volturi is nowhere in this book. In a similar vein, several backstories are revealed in this book that we didn't really get to see until later in the series. Bella gets some meaningful interactions with Jasper, who actually sits next to her and touches her to calm her down in the hotel. It's also implied somewhere in those chapters that Alice possibly knew about Bella planning to sneak off and let her go anyway. Finally, Bella is awake after the venom gets sucked out. This is important because she tells them that the venom is gone and thanks Edward before passing out. She was awake and aware the whole time, though in incredible pain. Another difference happens but I'll be discussing that with the other creepy things. Next, I would like to discuss a few things we learn about Vampires. Did you know that despite their physical perfection, a hungry vampire looks like they are recovering from a nose job? The bruises are very prominent, and likely not pretty to look at. Did you also know that they a venomous in the true sense of the word? Alice tells Bella that the venom is to incapacitate victims with the pain, and becoming a vampire is just a side effect, not the true function of the venom. The pain is there for a reason, and that reason is to torture victims with the burning sensation so they can't get away. These vampires may sparkle, but they aren't cute. I will never get the image of snake fangs out of my mind in conjunction to twilight vampires. Am I the only one who didn't realise the inherent creepiness of that because there's no mention of it in the films? Alright, now onto the offensive/ creepy stuff. I'll be bullet pointing these with elaboration where needed. -Bella refers to herself as an albino simply because she is pale. This one just didn't sit right with me, for reasons I can't explain. Stick with me here, it gets worse. -A casual comment about suicide: 'I guess he considered me old enough now not to shoot myself by accident, and not depressed enough to shoot myself on purpose.' This one is tricky, because everyone has made jokes like that, but it made me personally uncomfortable and didn't need to be in there considering the tone of the rest of the book. -Upon Edward talking to her again after the car park incident, Bella says this: "Do you have multiple personality disorder?" This needs no elaboration. Buckle up, it gets worse. -Jacob. He tells Bella his people's legends after she flirts with him, all the while telling her he didn't believe them himself. Then he asks her: "So do you believe we're a bunch of superstitious natives or what?" As someone who is not native american, I can't give a personal perspective here, but I don't believe this is something she should have had a native character say. Stephenie Meyer is a white woman and had no place essentially calling the people she culturally appropriated a bunch of superstitious natives. It was jarring to read that line knowing that it's not her culture and she has no right to say that, only someone from the culture has the right to say that. As I said, I'm not native american and I haven't looked deeply into what exactly she stole and changed, but I know she did it, so that can of course be a pretty major offence to many people. -She compares her clumsiness to being 'almost disabled'. Gross. -The watching her while she sleeps thing. Let's talk about it. She guesses he's been spying on her when he knows where the key is after the meadow date, and he says he's been watching her sleep. It's undoubtedly creepy, but Bella isn't concerned about that. Oh no, she's concerned about what he heard while she was sleep talking. She actually seems unbothered by the stalking aspect, which is why I think these actions flew under the radar for so many people. If Bella thinks it's fine then it must be fine, right? This should have been handled differently. -The Aphobia. Edward tells Bella that Esme was 'afraid that there was something missing from [his] essential makeup'. This is really harmful, but it wasn't intentional. I have no doubt that Stephenie Meyer had no clue and perhaps still has no clue that asexuality is a thing and that she accidentally made Edward demisexual, by simple fact of him being interested in no one before Bella. Nonetheless, it needs to be warned for. -There are heavy implications of p*dophilia here, by choice of language. Regarding Bella's class, full of people her age. Edward calls them a 'class full of children' then on the next page calls Bella 'an insignificant little girl' and then a few chapters down he calls jacob a 'child' to which Bella responds that he is not much younger than she is and Edward cheerfully replies that he knows. It's beyond creepy and I wish it wasn't there, because if it had gone the opposite way of Edward making old man jokes it could have been funny and not horrifying to think about. -Lastly though not leastly, the epilogue. All throughout the book Bella has under no circumstances wanted to go to prom. She is tricked into going to prom. Alice sees the future, Edward reads minds, they knew she wouldn't want to go but bamboozled her into going anyway, and when she starts shouting and crying, Edwards tells her "Don't be difficult". This is creepy and horrifying, that they are taking away her agency and treating her like a child when she tries to refuse. Although she goes and has a goodish time, it still wasn't right to force her into that position. Thus concludes this review, and I leave you with the knowledge that if you read this you get to see the part where Charlie Swan tells Bella that Carlisle Cullen is very attractive. Good day.

#twilight #stephenie meyer #book review #book blogger #twilight trash #book rec #books and literature #vampires

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fairymadnessyeah · 5 years ago

Text

Birthday Boys

Chapter 3: Sibbling

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Shouto Todoroki liked to think he took good decisions. At first, it might not seem like it, but he swears that they were. Telling Midoriya about his home situation was a good decision. Becoming Bakugou’s friend was a good decision. Ish. They all sounded like terrible ideas that could end horribly wrong. But they didn’t. So he was pretty much sure that going to his brother’s work place after being rejected by said brother was one of those ideas of him. It sounded stupid and dangerous but he knew it was a good one.

He stepped out of the bus and walked for fifteen minutes to Inferno. When he entered an electric guitar echoed instead of a bell and he heard someone telling him to wait for a moment from another room.

The place was dark, with giant murals in each wall, lighted by ulta-violet light above them that made some parts of them shine. At the front of the store, with their backs to the window, was a couch and a couple of chairs with a coffee table that had different portfolios on it. At the back, there was a gateway with a courtain on the right corner, a door on the left and in between them a counter with a cash register on it that displayed a thousand different piercings. A constant buzzing mixed in the background with some rock music he couldn't place, bringing the whole place together.

As soon as Shouto sat down on the worn out couch, Touya stepped through the courtain and locked eyes on him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked angry.

“I want a tattoo” Shouto told him as he grabbed a portfolio filled with tattoo designs.

“You are only sixteen, you need your tutors consent, which you don’t have” He explained to the younger guy “Leave.”

“Then I want a piercing” Shouto told him, leaving the portfolio and getting a closer look on the display, ignoring his brother’s stare.

As he was looking, a woman with purple and black hair came out of the room with her forearm wrapped in film paper. She had an intricate design of vines and flowers that wrapped around a skull with red seeds in its mouth. The lady paid and left.

Shouto kept on looking at the piercings display feeling his brother’s glare on his back. Touya would have to deal with it, because Shouto had a plan and if he had to take his damn time looking at piercings, he will.

Yesterday, on Sunday, after seeing his sister so broken over Touya and what happened at the grill, Shouto decided that he was not going to let his brother walk out of their life again.

Not without doing something about it. Not this time.

The guitar door riff sounded again and both brothers turned to look at the newcomer. It was a red haired guy with a white uniform. “Hey Dabi, got your hair dye right here” She said and waved a box that she left in the counter.

“Who’s this little fella?” She asked as she pulled the sunglasses she was wearing to look at him better.

“I’m Shouto” He told her.

“Well, I’m Magne, I work at the salon next door.” She took out a flyer and have it to him. She looked towards Dabi to say something to him but came to the receiving end of the ’icy glare’ “Au revoir” She waved and blew them a kiss as she left the store.

“She seems nice” Shouto told his brother as he folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

“Are you done yet? Or are you going to keep wasting my time?” Touya asked him glaring at him.

Shouto pointed to two pendants, one with a flame and other with a snowflake. Dabi rolled his eyes with a sight and took them out of the display. He placed them on the counter and crossed his arms.

“Which ones you want?” Dabi asked him as he let him take a closer look at the pendants.

“A two and a six”

“Same ear?” Dabi asked as he walked to the doorway with the curtain.

“No. The snowflake on the right and the flame on the left” He followed his brother behind the curtain with the two pendants.

The room was like the rest of the place with murals decorating every wall, though this ones were more muted and less dark. There was a seat, like one would find in a dentist office but black and leathery. And next to it a machine Shouto had never seen. He guessed it was the tattoo gun.

Dabi rolled the machine to a wall next to a full length mirror and exchanged it for a rolling table with a piercing gun. He took out a bottle of alcohol as Shouto sat on the chair. He gave his eldest brother the two pendants as he started to disinfect his ear.

He took the gun and pierced one ear and then put the pendant in. He repeated the action on the other ear and when he was done, Shouto went to the mirror to look at it. It looked great. Would Midoriya like It? Would Yaoyorozu like it? He though as he stared at them. The two brothers heard the guitar/bell go off and Dabi left without a word. Shouto took a picture with his phone and as he was sending it to his friends, he heard his brother speak.

“Look Mist-man, I get it that you want to take care of the guy, but I need you to stay out of our problems.” Shouto stepped through the doorway and saw that his brother was talking to a guy in a suit with purple blackish hair, that stood up as if it was floating. “Whatever happens between Mophead and I, is our business and our business only.” The other man sighted.

“You’re still mad at Shigaraki?” Shouto asked and both men turned to look at him. He stared at the new guy and streched his hand for him to shake. “I’m Dabi’s younger brother, Todoroki Shouto”

“Kurogiri” The man said surprised as he shook his hand “It’s a plasure to meet you”

“Dabi and Shigaraki are fighting because of me and my other siblings. Shiagaraki contacted us and tried to surprise him but Dabi didn’t take it very well and left.” Shouto explained to him and recieved a flick to his recently pierced ear. “OW”

“Shut up, Shouto” His brother hissed at him.

“I see” Kurogiri said as Shouto held his ear, feeling as if it was going to come out. “Very well, Dabi, I will stay out of it, but I do believe you should talk with Tenko. Young Todoroki” He bowed his head to Shouto as then left the shop.

“Pay for the piercings and leave” Dabi told him.

Just as Shouto was taking out his wallet, the guitar riff went off and a blonde guy came throught. He said he had an appointment and Shouto told his brother to go ahead and that he could wait. He sat on the couch and started looking at the portfolios. Dabi sighted and asked the guy for his ID before leading him to the back room.

Three hours later, the guy left with a pegasus on the back of his left shoulder. Shouto spent the last hour answering his phone since his friends had seen the picture he sent of his new piercings. The coments varied from surprise to joy.

During those hours, he could only hear the buzzing sound of the machine and some punk song that he didn’t recognise. He liked it here, it was soothing.

When the guy left the shop, he paid Dabi and left with a ‘See you tomorrow’. He walked to the bus and after an hour, made it to the dorms on curfew.

The next day, after school, he went back to the tattoo place. He took his books and schoolbag with him this time. When he entered, Dabi was talking to a girl with messy buns that was sitting on the counter. When she saw him, she jumped out the display and went to his side asking him a million questions at a time. Aperently Kurogiri had told all of Dabi's friends about Shouto.

“Hi, I’m Toga, Are you Dabi’s brother? How many does he have? Ooohhh was he prick when he was younger? And when did his emo phase start? Was he a good brother? I love your hair, where do you dye it?” The girl spoke fast and only breathed again when she finished asking.

“Umm…” Shouto blinked confused, not accustumed to the girls mannerisms. “Yes. Two more, a brother and sister. He was. When he was 10. He was. I don’t dye my hair” Shouto answered all her questions in order.

“You don’t?” She asked cofused and started to mess with his hair.

“I have vertiligo in the right side of my body and it mutated with my mother’s albino genes that she passed me. So… Half white, half red” He explained to her.

“Cool” She complimented him. “Can I take a closer look?”

“Sure” He shruged and Toga pulled him to the couch were she started to take a closer inspection at his hair.

Meanwhile, Dabi was confused and pissed off. This was not starting to be a good year for him. First, his boyfriend, the guy he thought would understand his decision to leave his family out of his life, went against his back and brought them himself to him. Second, all of their friends, who he thought would tell Tomura how wrong his accions were, took his side and told Dabi he was being ‘paranoid’ and ‘stupid’. And third, his stupid baby brother, who was only 16 at the time, was staying at his shop for the second time, and something deep inside him told him it would not be the last.

Both brothers, without noticing, took out their notebooks at the same time. One started sketching while the other writing. Toga chuckled at it and watched as the two got lost in the pages.

“What are you writing?” She asked the younger brother.

“I have homework. I need to write an essay for my English class.” He told her and showed her the paper he started. “It’s about the moon landing”

Toga snorted at that. “You are so much like Dabi. Everytime he gets drunk he starts telling us all his theories of how the goverment fakes everything and how they are going to implant devices in our heads to control us.” She told him, giggling. “One time he got so drunk, he left to prove that he was right and came back with twelve books about politics.”

Shouto laughed at the memory with Toga until Dabi closed his notebook loudly, making them stop. Toga kept on chuckling and stood up to puch Dabi in his arm. She left telling Shouto to come visit her at Killer Queen for a makeover and waving like crazy. Shouto waved back confused at the strange yet nice girl.

The two brothers spent the rest of the day in silence. A couple of costumers made an appearance, but nothing too time-consuming. Just some piercings and a wrist tattoo of the word ‘Ohana’. As the hours went by, he could see his brothers patience running out.

Dabi sighted and massaged his temples. “Kid what are you doing?” He asked him. “I know Tomura told you about One for all and the gang. Do I have to explain to you in how much danger you could be for just being here?”

“No” Shouto told him. “But you are being stupid. Isn't the guy in jail?" Touya didn't respond to that and the two spent the rest of the evening in silence. When Shouto's alarm went off,he packedhis things and left, telling his brother he would come by tomorrow too.

Days passed, and by the second week, Dabi and Shouto had unintentionaly created a rutine of their own. Every evening, except on weekend or if he had too much homework, Shouto would stop by Inferno and spend the entire evening with his brother and, sometimes, his gang. He would stay behind the register helping his brother with costumers or making small talk with Dabi's friends. His brother for the most part ignored him or asked him to leave, but Shouto stayed. He liked the Tattoo parlour.

He also liked Dabi's friends. After Toga meet him, everybody else wanted to too. And they all gave him insight of who his brother was now and who he hanged out with.

There was Magne, that got kicked out of her home when she came out; Toga, that also run away from her home; Spinner; that worked with Dabi one day of the week; Twice, that had a personality disorder; Kurogiri, that was hired as Shigaraki's caretaker. He knew there was some things they weren't telling him, but he understood why. The past hurt.

Besides, they kept each other safe, and he was kinda glad that his brother was able to find a place where he could belong.

Maybe he should've felt more jealouse about it. Hell, this people were more like Dabi's family than his blood family had ever been. But he knew feeling like that wouldn't help at all. He can share his brother. It was only a matter of time before he broke him and Dabi accepted his love.

It worked on Bakugou, so it should work on him. Spend as much time as he could with him to create a bond and before he realises it...BAM, family.

He missed going out with his friends a little, but he was nothing if not determined. He was not going to let him run away this time. He wanted his brother back, he needed him. The whole family needed him.

After what happened at the grill, things changed. Natsuo and Fuyumi had fell back into their coping mechanism, yet agreed to leave Mom blissfully unaware of the situation with Touya. Fuyumi was represing every bad emotion, faking her smile till it became real. While Natsuo became angry. But now that their father was gone, he got no one to redirect that anger to. And he didn't want to redirected to his sibblings, so he was stopping by less.

But Shouto was going to fix it. Everything. They were never going to be the perfect little family, he wasn't that unrealistic. But they were going to be a family. He didn't know how, but the least he could do is try.

The only thing that he didn't know what he was going to do about was Dabi's and Shigaraki's relationship. The two had not made amends since Touya's birthday, even after all the presure his friends put on Dabi. The last time Shouto had asked, Dabi threatened him to kick him out of the shop. He hasn't brought it up ever since. He hopes that after the problem with his sibblings end, both men will get back together naturally.

When Shouto first started visiting Dabi's Tattoo parlour, he figured if he ignored him, he would leave on his own. When he didn't, he simply gave him a job to do, so that he wouldn't want to be here. Now he had been coming and spending time with him for three weeks, so it was time to take extreme measures. Was he going to hurt Shouto? That was the idea. He didn't want to do it, but it was better than the alternative.

When Shouto came into the shop, at the same time he had everyday for the past weeks, with his school things, Dabi fired.

"Why do you care so much about someone who doesn't give a shit about you?"

Shouto paused at that. He was in the middle of sitting on a old stool Kurogiri had given him when he started working at Inferno. He blinked three times at Dabi before answering. "That's not true. You do care. You just like to pretend you don't to push me away."

Dabi stared at him with a stupefied look, he was not expecting his brother to read him so well. "If you didn't care about me you would have kicked me out of the shop a long time ago. Or listen every time I talk about Fuyumi and Natsou. Or mom" The young man continue.

"Shouto, I ran away without any of you for a reason..." Dabi tried to reason with his baby brother.

"Maybe, but you still thought about us." The dual haired boy told him.

"And what makes you say that?" Dabi asked, trying to hide the fact that he was somewhat right.

"Because when I tried, I thought about them too" At that, Dabi shut up. He was really not expecting that. "It was before UA. One day, after a bad section with dad, I just started packing and thinking how everybody's life would be better without me. Fuyumi could move out, Natsuo wouldn't have to stop by anymore and mom... didn't have see me anymore. Everybody would be okay..." Shouto explained, his voice breaking at the thought of his mom.

"What happened?..." Dabi asked scarred of the responce.

"I was too scarred. I almost never went out of the house, Dad had me home schooled when you left. I didn't know how the world worked, so... well..." Shouto didn't continue, the memory still fresh in his mind.

Dabi opened and closed his mouth, looking for the right responce. But what do you say to that.

The guitar-bell went off and a girl came in throught the door. Dabi welcomed her into the store and asked her what she wanted. Shouto, while Dabi talked to the girl, took out his phone and started chatting with his friends. The girl got a phrase from a book and an infinity tattoo. Dabi drew on her on automatic, they weren't so difficult. He was in the tattoing room for half an hour.

When he came back out, the girl was already paying Shouto. The guitar-bell sounded of again, this time with the costumers departure. A tencion filled with anxious energy covered the whole place. It felt like if he did a wrong move, everything would implode. The two brothers didn't like it. Dabi knew he had to say something, but he didn't know what he wanted anymore. If he said something encouraging, Shouto would stay and probably bing Fuyumi and Natsuo with him next (Which was bad all on it's own). But if he said something bad, Shouto would probably never return (but did he wanted that anymore? Three weeks and he was already looking forward to Shouto coming to the store and telling him how his day went). So, instead, Dabi decided to explain things to his baby brother.

"You're right,..." Shouto looked up at him when he started untangle his thought to him "I do care about you and Fuyumi and Natsuo and.... But... I don't ... I changed, okay? The Touya you remember,... I'm not him anymore. I'm not the same kid that run away years ago. I'm Dabi now. And I don't... I don't think it's someone you would like..."

"But I do" Shouto declared. "I spent all this time getting to know the real you, and I..."

"And Fuyumi would like Dabi? And Natsuo? Or... Mom?" He interrupted. "Can you really look them in the eyes and tell them that ...this....is allthat remains of Touya? And that they would be alright with them?" He voice cracked at the end and his eyes were rapidly filling with tears, that he stopped with sheer willpower.

"I...I do't know..." The teen said as he looked down. "But you're not gonna find out like this..." The two brothers shared a longing look, realising they had finally come to an understanding. They stopped when another costumer came in, the guitar distracting them when it went off.

Dabi took care of the guy, while Shouto half listened and half played with his phone. This guy was a booked appointment, one from his friday parties at the Black Mist Bar. He checked ID and lead him to the Tattooing room. Soon, the only sound was the soothing buxxing of the tattoo gun and the background punk-rock playlist that Dabi had put on today.

Three hours later, the guy left with his collar tangled in vines and wires that looked as if they were holding his torso to his head and neck. The rest of the day went by in confortable silence, neither brother felt the need to talk. They had already said what needed to be said between the two. An hour before Shouto's dorm curfew, his phone's alarm went off, signaling the start of his return. The teenager picked up his things and wentfor the door.

As the guitar riff went off, he noticed Dabi was following him. He didn't comment on it and let his brother walk him to the bus stop. They only had to wait for the bus for a couple of minutes. Before it did, Dabi told his brother that he would think about what they talked before and parted with a pat on the back. Shouto went in to the bus smiling. Today he had made progress. Today he was one step closer to getting back his brother.

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Dabi, once he left Shouto and returned to the shop, decided to close early. He didn't have any other booked appointments for the day and his head was not in it after today. After locking up, he went directly into Kurogiri's bar. Once inside, he plop down by the bar on a stool and banged his head against it. Compress, that was the only one inside, made him his usual drink (Fireball Whiskey on the Rocks), and he grunted as a thanks.

This was too complicated for him to process. He didn't realize how easy everything was when his family was only a background thought in his head. And now he had to what? Decide if his psyche could handle his family rejecting him? Because that was going to happen. Shouto may be okay with him now, but the guy was a stupid, hormornal teenager. All teens thought piercings, tattoos and anarchy was cool at this age. But when he grew up? When he became an adult? All that fascination he had with him now was going to fly off a widow.

And Natsuo and Fuyumi? They were already adults. Fuyumi was a kindergarden teacher. What was she going to do? Bring him at 'show and tell'. "Look kids, this is a erfect example of a disappointment" . What a sick joke. Fuyumi was the one that remembered Touya the most. Was he really believed she was going to be okay with him now? And Natsuo... His brother, first partner in crime, playmate. Was he going to be okay with Dabi? He was going to be a doctor... And Mom... He was going to make her go crazy again.

How was he supposed to mix into their lives now? Go to Shouto's graduation?(Bet the school would call the cops when they see him), Be there when Natsuo received his P.H.D.? (Sure, bet all the resently degreed shrinks would love to make a book about all his issues) Attend Fuyumi's wedding? (Right, he was never going to get invited to it anyway) Visit mom in the hospital? (Of course. He could even see it now. Appearing through the door to see how his mother cowering in fear at the meer sight of him as she pleaded for mercy and tried to stay as far away as she could). Dabi let out another groan in frustation. He needed to smoke.

As he placed the cigarette in his mouth and took his lighter from his pocket, Compress took the glorified death stick from his lips. "You know the rules Dabi" The masked bartender started telling him as he twirled his smoke addiction in between his fingers and made it disappear. "If you want to smoke do it outside" The older man pointed with his fake arm at the door. Dabi grunted again as he let his head fall to the bar again. "I'll refill"

Dabi barely heard him, too busy arguing with himself in his head. He knew reuniting again with his family was going to hurt him. Last time he was the one that walk out of it. He knew if he didn't, then they would walk out on him. And if he learned anything from his shitty life was that good things didn't last. Washe really going to put himself out there for his family, just so that he had to deal with the truth that he had always avoided? They were better without him.

He had kept tabs on them, so he knew they didn't need him.

Yet, he couldn't stop thinking about these last weeks. With Shouto's constant pokerface and how he acted like a little child without noticing. How he would pout everytime he lost at his phone's game, how his eyes got a tiny bit bigger as they filled with amazement after listening about something he did, how his eyebrows would knit in confusion everytime he was too naive to understand something. It was endearingly adorable. And it made him feel this stupid warmth, he hadn't have felt in years.

He wanted more of that feeling. He wanted to see if Fuyumi scolded the same way, and if Natsuo still woke up at the middle of the night to grab all the left overs from the fridge, and if mom still gave the same hugs. He wanted all of that and more.

He was about to ask for another refill when the door of the bar opened to reveal a skinny, malnurished-looking creep that Dabi had been avoiding since his birthday. Tomura and him locked eyes for a moment, stopping his inner mental fight and Tomura from his scratch-fest. The two hadn't seen each other, which was a life achievement when you lived together and shared the same group of less than ten people as friends. Tomura sighted before walking to where he was and sitting in the stool next to his.

Dabi did't look away from Tomura. And when sat next to him, he saw how rought his boyfrieds neck looked and how big his eyebags were. Tomura's anxiety had not taken their fight well and had made his boyfriends life very painfull. Dabi raised his hand slowly and carefully reached to the graynettes neck, grazing his fingers against the scratched up skin soothingly. Tomura hissed in annoyance but leaned into his touch anyway. The two locked sight again.

"I'm sorry..." Dabi mummbled as he petted the others neck more confidently.

"And?" Tomura asked to continue.

"I'm a jerk..."

"And?"

"...and an idiot"

"And?"

"I love you"

"...and?"

"We both know I'm not going to say that" Dabi told him with a blanck face.

"Forget about me sucking your dick anytime soon, then" Tomura huffed as he leaned his back into his chest, bringing their stool right next to each other.

"Please," Dabi chuckled as he placed his hand on Tomura's hip, "You love kissing my prince adam and climbing my jacob ladder with your tongue" Tomura grunted and took a sip out of Dabi's glass.

Both adults stayed like that for a while, with only the music of the bar surrounding them. Their minds had finally shut up and the couple could be at peace in each other arms. But that peace didn't last long. Ten minutes later, their friends came into the bar making a ruckus as usual and when they saw them together, Toga yelled 'THEY MADE UP', causing a bigger uproar, that included clapping, wooing, and chanting 'Make-up sex'.

The couple didn't stay for long, at some point, Dabi pulled Tomura out of the bar, that abruptly started the 'make-up sex' cheer again. The two walked hand in hand to their shared appartment, going in through the back. Only when they reached their shared bedroom, that Tomura had been banned from, did Dabi stop. Tomura looked up at him puzzled.

“Why did you look for them, mophead?” Dabi asked out of the blue.

Tomura looked bewildered, as he raised his hands to start assaulting his neck once more. "I... I thought we were alright...?"

Dabi, catching on what he was about to do, grabbed his hands and lowered them as he reassured him. "We are, we are..." He sat both of them on the bed and stroke his thumb on the other's palm. "I need your help figuring out something"

Tomura took a deep breath. “I knew it would make you happy and you are very bad at hidding how much you miss them.” He said as he looked at Dabi dead in the eyes. “I know you check on their school pages. That is how I found them” The two remained silent after that, Dabi trapped in his own head and Tomura trying to guess what was going on in his head. “You told me that if I testified against him, I would finally be free to do what I wanted, to choose for myself how my life should be… You changed my life and... I wanted to make you as happy as you make me... ” Tomura finished, as he got flustered.

Dabi let out a low chuckle and laid his head in Tomura’s shoulder. "You already do" He mummbled into his shoulder. The two started to slowly lay down on the bed, Dabi on top of Tomura, while the greynette massaged the raven’s scalp. They stayed like that for a while until Tomura cut the silence to ask: “We are gonna have sex tonight, right?”

Touya laughted a little and moved to kiss him. “Of course” The two shared a tender kissed as they started to get lost on each other.

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The next day as Shouto went in Inferno again, he didn’t see his brother behind the register, but Spinner with his tattoos that looked like his skin had been ripped off and he had a scales under it. His hair was liliac and styled upwards and he was playing on a switch. When he heard the door bell go off, he looked up from his video game and with a smirked greeted Shouto into the store.

"Hey Spinner" Shouto said as he went to his stool "Where's Dabi?"

"Upstairs" The lizard man told him as he went back to his switch. "Don't count on him going down, tho. Yesterday, him and Tomura made up and they plan on having a day in..."

"Ew" Shouto commented as he texted his brother that he was at the Tattoo parlour. "Have they eatten anything at all today?"

"Yeah, they got burgers delivered to the store and bought me one so I would get it up to the appartment" Spinner told him

The two heard steps coming down the stairs from the door, and Dabi came out with of it holding two helmets, one black with blue flames and the other silver with cat ears and whiskers near the visor. He looked at Shouto before thowing him the cat helmet. Shouto caught it with ease and looked dazed at his brother. Dabi just walked past him, took some cash of the register and gave it to him.

"You've worked here for two weeks, that's your payment." Dabi explained to him walked to the door. "Now, c'mon, I'm spending the day with Tomura. I gotta leave you at your school"

"Wait, you're letting him ride on High End. Unfair." Spinner complained. Dabi merely shrugged and looked expectantly at his brother.

Shouto followed him, starring at the helmet, out of the store and into the alley next to it. Dabi oppened a wire door fence and took a motorcycle out. The bike was a cruiser type, black with a leather seat and blue flames at the sides. The words High End in the back. It was the same bike that he took to the grill on his birthday. Shouto glanced between the helmet and the bike in badly-conceiled excitment as Dabi shut the fence door and moved the bike out of the alley and into the street.

"Hey, Shou" Dabi called him to get his attention. Shouto looked so excited, like a kid about to open a giant christmas present, he was almost bouncing on his heels. "About yesterday,... I'll call Fuyumi and Natsuo and... well... I don't know, we'll figure it out." Dabi patted his head, messing with his hair. Suddenly, the older sibbling almost got tackled into the ground by his younger sibbling. Shouto was hugging him. Dabi returned the hug, for a couple of seconds before he separed them. " Alright, that's enough. Remember, I got a reputation to maintain"

Both brothers put on their helmets and got in the bike

#bnha fanfiction #bnha #mha #dabi bnha #dabi is a todoroki #shigadabi #todoroki shouto #shigaraki tomura #todoroki touya #Birthday Boys #chapter 3

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purplesurveys · 4 years ago

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1076

Be honest, did Fifty Shades of Grey arouse you in any way? I honestly never felt the need to see a single page, hear of the plot, or watch any part from any of the movies tbh. I just heard from everyone it was full of smut and it was enough to turn me away from it. Then it got banned in my school which definitely helped in not having to hear anything about it again.

What does your sibling(s) call you? In third-person they refer to me as Ate, which is the honorific for older sister. But my sister usually addresses me simply by looking my way and starting her sentence/question from there.

Do you have any close friends that are the opposite sex that your significant other dislikes? I don’t have a significant other anymore but my ex used to be unnecessarily mean about some of my close guy friends. I didn’t like some of her friends too, but I always had some valid reason behind it, e.g. they were creepy around her, they were aloof towards me, etc. But she didn’t like some of my guy friends by the sole fact that they were guys and she didn’t trust them around me, and like it was just something I couldn’t do anything about tbh. It also hurt me, because I love my guy friends and it didn’t feel right that she hated and criticized them without even wanting to make the effort to get to know them.

Do you honestly believe everything happens for a reason? Why or why not? My life is the grand sum of what I make of things. Idk if that’s able to address the question, but that is how I see the world in general.

Do you believe in reincarnation? Why or why not? No. Doesn’t really sit well with me, simply put. I believe that when I die, that is it for me; same with all other living beings.

The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner? I guess The Hunger Games. I saw the first movie and fairly enjoyed it, but that’s it as far as my interest in the franchise goes. I have never had any idea what The Maze Runner is about, and I honestly keep confusing it for the Divergent series for some reason lol.

Has anyone you’ve known claimed to be psychic? I don’t think so. If I did, I probably have already made the conscious decision not to hang out with them a lot haha.

Did/do you believe them? If I did know someone, I would not believe them.

Is anything annoying you right now? It’s fucking Sunday evening and I am not in the mood to go back to work tomorrow. I’m also staying up late (it’s already past 11 PM) and I know I’m already going to regret this, which is annoying me even more.

Have you ever been ice-skating? Yes! So many times as a kid. We don’t get actual snow though, so some malls have artificial ice skating rinks for those who want to do so. From ages 8-10 my mom would drop me off at the rink for me to practice/play in for a few hours because she knew I didn’t like tagging along in errands.

Does the sound of rain at night help you sleep? I wouldn’t say it helps me sleep since I generally have no issues dozing off, but the sound does make me feel calm and relaxed.

Have you ever seen an albino person, in person? Yes, I had a classmate with albinism at one point.

Have you ever worn a pair of scrubs? I don’t think I ever have. I never had to.

Have you ever walked into a massive cobweb? Probably. Or, at least, shot my hand out in an area where I ended up feeling a big cobweb.

What would you say is your strongest felt emotion right now? Despair. Hahahaha. Give me a longer fucking weekend, universe.

Are you talking to anyone at the moment? No, just this survey.

Do you have trust issues? Well now I do.

Have you ever found an arrow head? I don’t know; I don’t think so.

Who is with you? It’s just me in my room now. Kimi didn’t enter with me, and I think he wants to hang out in the corridor for a bit tonight. He’ll knock once he wants to be in here.

What can you not stop thinking about? How much longer I should continue doing this survey because I need to get sleep if I don’t want to wake up cranky.

Do you forgive easily? No. I tend to hold grudges, and I’d rather be honest and straightforward about my grudges than lie to someone’s face that I’ve forgiven them when I know within myself that I still resent them. I feel like that would be unfair to them anyway so it’s grudges all the way for me.

In what part of your life so far, have you learned the most about yourself? Not sure there’s a most. I possess self-awareness so I continue to learn as I get older. < Yeah I gotta go with this one. In every start of a new chapter in my life, I always seem to pick up new details or lessons about myself.

Have you ever been in a fist fight? I’ve been in physical fights but no fists were ever thrown.

Are your ears pierced? Yes, they are indeed.

What did you last say out loud? Something along the lines of “Not yet? Alright” to Kimi when he decided he didn’t want to enter my room with me.

What are you waiting on? I’m waiting on Friday already -____-

Do you tell people when they get on your nerves? Not usually. I like expressing it indirectly, like having shorter patience with them or ignoring them completely.

Are your feelings hurt easily? This working girl has to sleep, lmao. Catch y’all soon. Okay, where were we... Yeah, I would say being sensitive is one of my main traits. It’s fairly easy for me to get my feelings hurt, and I tend to overthink/overanalyze the simplest of jokes or comments towards me.

What's the most expensive piece of clothing you have? Did you buy it yourself? I haven’t started shelling out when it comes to clothes; like I’ve mentioned before, most of my money goes to food and the rest goes to gas, lmao. My most expensive clothes are probably just my WWE shirts. The merch I own are of the biggest wrestlers during the time I got them, so it was their shirts that cost the highest.

Who is your closest platonic friend of the opposite sex? Probably Hans. The two of us don’t talk much at all, but we always bond super well when we’re together and I can count on him to give me honest, hard-pill-to-swallow advice. Angela has to be with us though, or else I’ll feel awkward and shy.

How do you think your first relationship shaped who you are as a partner now? Yes, but there are good and bad sides to it. I will always be thankful to Gabie for tirelessly encouraging me to try out new things, expand my horizons, and to be unafraid to discover what I am capable of. She was undoubtedly my biggest supporter, especially when it came to going out of my comfort zone. I grew a lot from my relationship with her, so much so that it has definitely helped shape me to be the much braver, risk-taker person I am today. I like who I am now, and I won’t deny that it was she who helped in bringing that person out of her shell.

Bad side...she made me say sorry a lot. For her, she could do no wrong; and even if she did, she was always able to flip a situation around to make it sound like it was actually my fault. And so I said sorry, a lot. For four years. And on my end, I don’t think I received a lot of the apologies I think I deserved. So these days, I get jumpy with people and always feel the need to panic and apologize for the smallest shortcomings. She also always wanted to win arguments. Getting her point across and me agreeing with it mattered more than actually resolving arguments and moving our relationship forward. Bad as it was, it taught me a personal lesson: I learned how to negotiate and communicate better in my other relationships because I wanted to avoid the toxic dynamic I had in my own relationship.

As sad as I am that I lost the relationship and as much as I continue to think of the things that could have been, these days I get sadder instead when I think of how much I allowed myself to be treated that way. Of course, I’m very aware that I had my own set of problematic traits too. I’m not saying I was the model significant other (I was far from it), but the main difference between us is that I was always striving to be better in the relationship. I wanted to address the issues she had with me and to try to be a better, kinder person from it, for her sake and for my own personal growth. Unfortunately, all my attempts at healthy communication with her was always met with, “I can’t change who I am because this is already me.” Anyway, I’m rambling and I’m starting to feel sad again. Next question! Hahahaha.

Who is your favorite protagonist of the same sex? Claire Foy’s Elizabeth from The Crown.

Were you popular in high school? What was your reputation like? I was invisible in freshman and sophomore years, High school was the start of a new chapter, and my track record with new life chapters was never impressive because I take longer than normal to adjust to new environments. By third year I reconnected with Angela, and she hung out with the popular kids, so soon enough I got pulled into that crowd. I’d say by the end of high school I was a solid point on the radar - it was also thanks to my open secret of a same-sex relationship in a Catholic school, if we’re being honest lol - but I never liked having the spotlight on me. I liked that I had popular friends, but I myself never wanted to stir up shit on my own. I was just glad to be constantly invited to soirées and underground parties, lmao.

Have you always known your sexual orientation or did something happen to make you realize it? I’ve always been icky about the concepts of dating and sex. I could never imagine being intimate with anyone, and sex isn’t the biggest priority for me in relationships. The only time it makes the most sense to me is if I did it with someone I’ve built a solid, strong connection with; a close friend that I could trust. Realizing those made it easier to accept within me that I’m demi, or at least dancing around somewhere under the asexual umbrella.

What was the hardest part of your last break up? Coming to terms with how shittily I was treated, during and after. By the end of our relationship, she made it seem as though talking to me and maintaining the relationship was a chore. Every mistake I made sent her into a rage, which always ended in me rapidly apologizing in tears. Then after the breakup, she simply wanted to cut ties with me. She was never willing to allow me to healthily process the situation, and whenever I had questions in mind she would answer them curtly, and not give me reflective answers or perspectives. I begged for a long time to have my questions answered and to allow myself the teeniest bit of closure.

I had such a shiny, sparkly, perfect, can-do-no-wrong idea of my girlfriend for our entire friendship; so to take my rose-colored glasses off was the hardest part of it all. But taking that hard step was also the first step to healing, so it brought some good too I guess. I just wish getting to the good and easy part didn’t have to be so painful.

What brought you out of the hardest period in your life? The awareness that I had friends who unconditionally care about me. Also if I’m being honest, the Christmas break. I realized I was having such a hard time with my breakup because I was also already dealing with work burnout and the pressure of being in a new position and trying to make as few as mistakes as possible – so by the time the Christmas break rolled around and I had two weeks of no work, it was enough for me to recharge, realign my priorities, and determine the things and people that matter and that I want to keep.

What's your favorite kind of smiley face? Idk, I guess just :)? I like keeping my emoticons simple.

Does anybody know your deepest darkest secret? I dunno if I have one.

Did you ever watch Rugrats? (the babies) I did, but I never liked it. I remember Rugrats very specifically because this was the show that would be on Nickelodeon whenever me and my sister would be woken up at 5 AM to prepare for school. It came before Legends of the Hidden Temple, which was a lot more fun to watch.

What about Hey Arnold? I caught it often because this was also an early morning show (it came after Legends of the Hidden Temple), but I was never into it either. I also never got to watch the episodes in full because the school bus would pick me up by the time this was on the air.

Do you like pep rallies? Idk what that is.

Have you ever had pneumonia? No.

What do you feel about surgeries? Do they worry you? The possibility of accidentally waking up in the middle of a surgery and being unable to speak out because I was anaesthetized scares me more than anything else. But since I’ve never had to have a surgery before, I imagine feeling completely terrified if the time ever comes for me to have one.

Do you play Minecraft? if so, feelings about servers? I don’t play it. I think I tried it before, but it just never stuck with me. The most I’ve gone with it is to watch several playthroughs by Pewdiepie. I have no clue what you mean by servers.

Do you read creepypastas? No. I’m familiar with some, but I never read any.

Do you think vlogging in public is scary? I feel like this survey contains snippets from many different surveys because I’ve definitely answered this question before...but anyway, I wouldn’t say it’s scary per se but I AM shy when it comes to these things, and I don’t think I have it in me to carry a camera around in public and directly speak to it.

Have you been to an escape room? Was it a success? Mmm no, doesn’t sound like my idea of fun either. I don’t like solving puzzles hahaha.

What social class would you say you're in? Middle class. We live a relatively comfortable life in this country.

Have you ever recorded a cover of a song? Nope. I have never recorded myself singing because it has never been necessary lol.

How do you feel about guns? Not a fan. If I needed weapons for self-defense, I’d get anything other than a gun.

What's the most traumatizing event that ever happened to you? The drunken rages I had to helplessly watch from my childhood years.

Are you faint to the sight of blood? Yeah absolutely. Like I’ve always felt bad about it but I was such a shit helper whenever my ex had her semi-regular nosebleeds. I did help, I just panicked and nearly hyperventilated every time I did so because of the blood HAHA

Do you like spicy food? Love them, but the food has to be meaningfully spicy for me to enjoy it - like curry or laksa. Spicy food shouldn’t just be dishes with sprinkled spicy powder as a finishing touch, because for the most part that just irritates my throat and it doesn’t allow me to appreciate the spiciness.

Do you have good dreams or nightmares more? I think I am back to having simply strange dreams. But in the last few months, my nights had. been regularly plagued with nightmares.

When was the last time someone insulted you? What was the insult? Idk it was probably something my mom said that I had discarded from my memory. I’ve gotten so much better at that now.

What’s your second favorite color? Baby pink/pastel pink.

Do you ever wish you lived in a different country? I think about this everyday. Yes.

Who’s the last person you “pounded” fists with? One of my uncles.

Have you ever been involved in an affair? Nope.

How many times a week do you speak to your boss? I talk to them everyday since we have a Viber chat. I wouldn’t know what tasks to do or prioritize without them, so we need to be in touch all the time.

What do you want for your birthday? I don’t even want to think about my first birthday without her...but anyway, mine and Cooper’s birthday are super close to each other, so I actually want to throw a small party at home celebrating our birthdays haha :) Cooper can get his own doggie cake and cupcakes, heheh.

Have you ever been to a masquerade? I don’t think so.

Is there anybody you think is hot over the age of 40? I’m sure I can think of a couple of people I know.

Who in your phone has a heart after their name? Angela.

Anything you’re avoiding? I wanna avoid work for the next hour or so. Then once I’ve done some recharging, I can continue with a few tasks tonight so that my workload can be just a bit lighter tomorrow morning.

After breaking up, what’s the worst? Depends on the breakup. < Agreed.

Does your sibling have a significant other? I don’t think either of them has.

Do you use Skype? Not since a decade ago. At work, we mainly use Google Meet. Some clients will use Zoom; one client uses Teams.

Are you a fan of acrylic nails? Not yet, but I do want to try it out someday just to spoil myself haha.

Name one happy song that describes you better than any other. Idk if I can call myself happy just yet...hmm. Paramore does have a short song/interlude called I’m Not Angry Anymore, and it’s a happy-sounding song with a very passive-aggressive message hahaha. I’d say that’s me right now. Some of the lyrics go:

“I’m not bitter anymore, I’m syrupy sweet I’ll rot your teeth down to their core if I’m really happy

Depends on the day, if I wake up in a giddy haze Well, I’m not angry, I’m not totally angry, I’m not all that angry anymore” and everything about it is so meeeeee.

Name one sad/mellow song that describes you better than any other. Forgiveness, also by Paramore. Sorry I’m in a music slump y’all. Only Paramore has been able to make my days the slightest bit better.

What is your most used pick up line? I don’t use those, nor do I like hearing those.

Do you like the taste of alcohol? Sure. I like strong mixed drinks the best, though.

What kinds of food make you sick? I don’t have a weak stomach when it comes to food. The only food that has made me sick are expired foods.

#survey #surveys

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maplewind-au · 5 years ago

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Retrospective Author’s Notes

I just crossposted this note to the Wattpad and AO3 copies of Maplestar’s Light, but I’m going to post it here, too.

Hi there! My name is Razeru. First of all, thank you very much for reading my story!

I think, if you've read my story, you can surmise that I love Mapleshade. She's grown to be one of my favourite characters in Warrior Cats; her story, narratively, is written the best - in my opinion - out of most of the super editions and novellas.

Keep in mind, these words are coming from someone who grew up with these books, and also gets big mad about the things the Erins have pulled on other characters, like Squirrelflight (specifically Squilf, actually. They keep doing my girl dirty, and I'm so angry).

I took a read through my story again recently, and passed through the comments both on this Wattpad copy of the story, and the AO3 mirror. I really and truly appreciate all the love, but some people did seem to misunderstand the intention behind some things in my story, so I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation to you, my readers.

I offer this explanation because I've chosen to abandon the MapleWind AU entirely. There's too much in retrospect that I'm unhappy with, too many story ideas that don't connect narratively - it just makes a poor story. So, this is basically a big spoiler chapter for what would have happened, if I continued.

The remainder of this letter is just going to be me giving a word vomit about this story, so feel free to skip down to the bottom if you're only curious about closing remarks or projects surrounding other upcoming warriors works.

Alright. First and foremost, I want to address something specific. Mapleshade's story, as it was in canon, is a multidimensional story that a lot of people see as black-and-white. I, personally, see it as a fantastic narrative where not a single character is in the right, at least not in the context of the Clans - or morally, in some cases. This being said, a lot of the arguments about Mapleshade are usually "she's absolutely terrible and deserved what she got" / "she did absolutely nothing wrong and everyone else should be suffering" - both of which are... Very, very dangerous views to take on any person or character. When I wrote Maplestar's Light, my intention was to explore the idea where a few cats stepped out of the norm that seemed to affect this specific generation of the Clans and offered sanctuary.

WindClan has always felt like the most lax Clan out of the four, to me. With their history of welcoming in strangers and making kindly bargains with the other Clans in their times of need, it made sense to me that if a wandering cat passed out on their territory, they would reach out and help them. I chose Heatherstar specifically for this story because she was such a revolutionary, and wasn't afraid to shoot down any cat's words if she felt someone was going to get hurt.

Moreover, this AU explores the idea that instead of sleeping in Myler's barn and then going on her rampage, Mapleshade simply collapsed into grief - so Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk all survive. Temporarily.

While Mapleshade is taken into WindClan, Mapleshade's kits are restless, and it's their turn to be angry - assuming StarClan spirits know everything (and it's heavily implied, in the first series, that they do), they pull strings just like the canonical iteration of their mother would. Ravenwing, Frecklewish, Appledusk, and - moreover - Oakstar, all suffer painful deaths as a result of the angry StarClan kits. To add insult to injury, all four lose their lives to the river while patrolling it - or are tricked into falling in. The kits drag them down until they drown.

Ravenwing and Oakstar are the only two who are able to make it to StarClan themselves, if only because of the good acts they've done to balance out the karma. The kits, however, are able to swing judgement on Frecklewish, who attacked their mother, insulted them, and was fine to watch them die, and Appledusk, who was willing to have them to begin with, who failed to save them.

This is unhealthy point of view, but they died as kits. All they know is the anger and betrayal.

On to the future.

Maplestar and Palebird have the three kits; Finchkit, Larkkit, and Firekit. Some people didn't seem to get it, and I thought I wrote it to be obvious, but Firekit is supposed to be THE Firestar in the future. With Maplestar at the helm of WindClan, ShadowClan is unable to drive them out. ThunderClan, however, is much weaker after their constant battles with RiverClan and the loss of not only Redtail, but many other great warriors. ThunderClan is driven out instead; WindClan, in their graciousness, would allow them to share the territory until something can be done about ShadowClan's terrible leader, and three Clans would unite against the one to protect their way of life.

During their time in WindClan's camp, Firepaw would grow close to the ThunderClan apprentices Ravenpaw, Graypaw and Sandpaw. Following the battle against Brokenstar, not only do Firepaw and his siblings get their warrior names, but so do the ThunderClan apprentices who participated (Sandstorm and Dustpelt included). Fireheart realizes during the night of his vigil that he doesn't want to lose his ThunderClan friends, and while meeting his family on the battlefield would be painful, he would feel worse fighting Graystripe or Ravenflight - the latter tom being the only cat Fireheart has met that makes his heart flutter.

The following day, as ThunderClan returns home, Fireheart goes with them. Yellowfang, in turn, has joined ThunderClan, having been a crucial asset to getting them in and out of ShadowClan. In return for the WindClan warrior, Spottedleaf stays; Spottedleaf had been attacked by a ShadowClan warrior the day before the battle, but Hawkheart protected her with his life. Feeling indebted, she swore to finish training Barkwing and serve WindClan just as she did ThunderClan.

The rest of the story would have gone similarly to canon, with a few minor changes; for one, WindClan and ThunderClan would forever have a close bond, not only through the blood of their Clanmates, but also through Bluestar and Maplestar, who exchanged each other's stories and bonded over how similar they were. Cinderpelt would have still gotten disabled, but through saving the ShadowClan apprentice Littlepaw from a monster; while she picks up healing from Yellowfang, she remains a warrior in spite of her leg. Swiftpaw narrowly survives, and Brightpaw lives with her scarring still, taking inspiration from Cinderpelt. Fireheart and Ravenflight become mates and have kits - Squirrelflight and Gingerpool.

I had further plans for TNP and PO3, but they're sort of lost to time at this point. The general ideas surrounded Brambleclaw - renamed Brambleflower - taking after his mother instead of his father, and being close friends with Squilf, but not mates. Gingerpool and Crowfeather do have kits, and Squilf does take them, but claims they were loner kits that she chose to raise. Bramble was their nursery parent, having chosen to be a queen instead of a warrior, and took care of them while Squilf went about being a warrior, only tuning in to feed them and sleep with them. Jay would have become a warrior named Jayclaw and Holly, an albino in this AU, would go on to be Gingerpool's apprentice and become Hollysnow. Jay is blind, and Holly is a selective mute. Lion would still have his powers of strength, but use them unwisely, and he would be the one to wind up having a crisis and revealing the secrets of his origin before disappearing into the caves.

The general idea for the OOTS arc of this AU was to give Ivy powers and still have her train in the Dark Forest, under Lionblaze - who is very much still alive, but misaligned. Dovewing would be given the opportunity as well, and only take it when she learns Tigerheart is also training there. Their struggles would surround a constant sibling rivalry, one that would deepen once Jay and Holly figure out Ivy is the third cat. I also threw around the idea of a deaf Ivypool, either from birth or caused by something much later - just to complete the "See/Speak/Hear No Evil".

The underlying, long plot to the AU was that Petalkit, Larchkit, and Patchkit effectively replaced Canon Mapleshade. Maplestar recovered, then seemingly forgot about her previous kits and replaced them with Fire, Finch and Lark. Petal, Larch and Patch want stupid, special Firestar and his bloodline to suffer for being their replacements. Technically, they were still spirits of StarClan, but pulled the strings in the Dark Forest.

Oh, boy. Those sure were a lot of words, huh.

I hope I'm not disappointing anyone by discontinuing this story. Again, looking back on it, I'm very unhappy with the way I was handling certain subjects and aspects of the story - and I'd rather kill it before I get carried away again. I've always held the belief that taking time and writing a more consise and well-placed narrative is much better than writing it quickly and breaking characters and morals. Mapleshade is a character I do want to do justice by, and Warrior Cats is a great sandbox to play in!

All that being said, I am still writing Warriors works. On AO3, I've published a couple smaller one-off stories that explore the idea of Tigerclaw not getting twisted up by Thistleclaw, and getting Scourge to join ThunderClan instead. You're welcome to read them if you haven't yet!

And I'm not done with Mapleshade, either. I'm currently working on a new, seperate Warriors rewrite based on the same time (with better allegiances); the working title for it, right now, is Falling Petals. I don't want to give too much away, but if there's enough interest, I might post a teaser excerpt to this story! There's no telling when I'll be finished with it, but I would much rather publish a finished work in full than post it by chapter and run the risk of losing interest or being unhappy with what I've put out.

A final project I'm working on is a personal Warrior Cats story called Rising Storm - it'll surround some OC Clans and Characters instead of rewriting canon material, and I'm looking for a main platform to post it on when I crack into it! If you're interested, I could use some beta readers when I start working on it, so please get in touch if you want to help out! If you know any non-Wattpad or AO3 websites I could publish the story on, please do let me know. I'll likely crosspost here, but I don't actively post on here too often, so I'd rather it not be the primary host.

I think that's everything I wanted to say! Again, thank you so much for your continued interest in my work. If you'd like to see more of what I do, look for the user 'ghastimafrix' on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, deviantART, AO3, and toyhou.se! I do a lot more than just write Warriors, and I'm always happy to chat.

Stay frosty, y'all!!

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midnightmarev · 5 years ago

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Just To Pet My Dog?!

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Pre-Moxiety

Word count: 2285

AO3 link

Notes: Based off of an incorrect quote by @ssslimyboy

Summary: Whatever Virgil had imagined would happen today, it most certainly wasn’t this! This man nearly died, just to pet his dog! Like, what? Okay, let’s rewind the day a bit to see what actually happened, shall we?

Just To Pet My Dog?!

“Alright, Ann. It’s 4:30. We gotta head out now if we don’t wanna be late for the vet’s.” A whine was heard. Virgil chuckled. Anastacia really didn’t want to go the vet. Virgil couldn’t really blame her. He himself never liked going to the doctor’s office either.

“Wruff!”

“I know, Ann. But it’s just a check-up,” he said, finding the leash as well as some of Anastacia’s favourite treats. She starts wagging her tail when she catches their smell. She was a beautiful albino German Shepherd, and he’d had her since she was a pup.

After another minute of dosing her with love, they were out of the door. It took about 15 minutes to get to the clinic, and their appointment was at 5 pm, so they would have some time to spare once they got there.

They were walking peacefully down the street when Virgil was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts at the sounds of tires screeching. Virgil looked up and saw a bespectacled man with curly honey-brown coloured hair. And he was crossing the road at what one would call superspeed without a care for his life. All Virgil could do was stand there and stare. What the actual hell was going through that man’s head?! The road was heavily trafficked this time of the day with people just wanting to get home from work.

Virgil visibly winched when a bus nearly hit him. Luckily the bus driver stopped just in time to not hit him. What was this guy thinking?!

Oh no! A car! Virgil stands there in silent terror and anxiety, praying to any and all deity that the man stops before he’s run over. He doesn’t, but the car does, and he slides across the hood. And a second. And third. And suddenly he’s standing on the pavement in front of Virgil, out of breath. But he’s smiling like a goofball? He seems super excited. Why?

“Oh my gosh!! Can I please pet your dog??” he asked, looking like he had to physically restrain himself from attacking Anastacia with love and pets and cuddles.

The question catches Virgil entirely off guard. What?

Anastacia also seems baffled. Humans were weird, but she never thought they would want to risk dying just to pet her.

“Um… sure?” Virgil hesitantly answered. And the man began to pet Anastacia, who gladly, but very confused, accepted the soft strokes to her fur.

“Did you just- did you nearly get hit by a bus and slide across the hood of three cars just to pet my dog?” Virgil asked incredulously after he broke out of his stupor.

The man giggled while petting Anastacia and getting concerned face licks from her. “Obviously.”

Now, Virgil wasn’t really the type to fall for people just like that, but the only thought that crossed his mind after that response was ‘is this love?’ and Virgil was in a daze. Here was someone who risked his life to say hi to Anastacia, because he thought she was the most important being in the world. Just like Virgil did.

All Virgil did for the next two minutes was stare at the man. The man who nearly got himself killed to pet Anastacia. The man who almost died and was now cooing at Anastacia like nothing had happened. The man who now casually told Virgil his name. “I’m Patton, by the way.”

And instead of answering Patton politely with his own name all Virgil could say was “You could’ve died! Are you out of your mind?!” And Virgil, anxious, awkward Virgil, internally facepalmed at his own words.

“Hmm?” Patton looked up at Virgil, eyes widening. “Oh my, I’m terribly sorry for distressing you! I can be a bit impulsive at times,” Patton sheepishly admitted. “And I’ve never seen a white German Sheperd before, and I kinda let my impulsiveness take over.” He looked down to Anastacia again, emphasising it by scratching her behind the left ear. He looked very guilty. That would not do.

“Uhm, I get that. Not many have. Well, she’s not just white, she’s albino. And albino German Shepherds are rare, to say the least.” Virgil scratched his neck, not knowing what to say next. “Where were you headed?” he then asked, feeling extremely awkward.

“Nowhere in particular, really. Just needed to clear my head. Had a small argument with my brother.” Patton looked, and sounded, sad at that. Why did Virgil always screw things up? Patton had been in a good mood for getting to meet Ann, and now Virgil made him think about something bad that happened to him. Stupid Virgil.

“I- I’m sorry to hear that. But that happens sometimes, right? Between siblings?” Virgil asked, trying to help. He didn’t have any siblings, so he didn’t really know the feeling. And he never spoke to his parents. They had basically disowned him at this point. But that wasn’t the same as having an argument with someone you loved and who loved you back.

Patton nodded. “I suppose. It’s just not often it happens, but it’s too often for my taste. I hate fighting with him,” Patton said, just as sadly. “But enough about me!” His cheery smile was back. “Where are you two cuties headed? Maybe I can join you?”

“Uhm, we’re just going to the vet for a check-up. But uh, sure?” Virgil stammered out, still trying to process the innocent nickname.

“A check-up? Has she been sick?” Patton asked worriedly. They started walking together.

“No no, she hasn’t. It’s just standard procedure with albino dogs. They just need to make sure her immune system is alright, and no genetic errors have popped up, or something like that. Anastacia’s as healthy as can be.”

Anastacia whined at the mention of them going to the vet. Strangers groping on her body was not her pack of treats.

Patton chuckled. “Sounds like someone doesn’t want to go, though. And that’s such a beautiful name! Anastacia.”

“Yeah, she’s been complaining a lot today because of it,” he smiled down at her. She responded by looking up at him, innocently. Their interaction made Patton giggle, and oh if that wasn’t the most beautiful sound Virgil had ever heard.

“Well, I don’t blame her. Going to the vet isn’t the most fun thing to do with your afternoon. You know? If it’s the vet just down here, you might be lucky, Anastacia. My old friend, Logan, works there, and there is no one as gentle as him!” Patton happily exclaimed, bending down to her to scratch behind her ear.

“Really? Do you think you would be able to make him do the check-up? She’s not very comfortable with most people, and last time she bit the vet we ended up with…” Virgil trailed off, remembering the day. He was very picky with who got to examine Ann, and they went through several vets before ending with the one she bit.

“Really? Patton asked, looking down at Ann, who purposely avoided looking at him. “So she chooses who get to examine her, or what?” Patton enquired.

“… and I’m also really “picky” with who is allowed to examine her,” Virgil sheepishly admitted.

“As you should be. She deserves only the best and most caring hands to do the examination!”

Virgil was glad he wasn’t the only one who thought her a treasure to the world. She was his emotional support animal and had helped him get through some of his roughest times and a lot of panic attacks. He would only accept the best for her.

Before they knew it, they were at the clinic. Virgil sat with Ann next to him while Patton was talking to the receptionist about getting Logan to do the examination. They had arrived ten minutes before the check-up, so they had some time to themselves while waiting.

Patton and Virgil held a light conversation, talking about anything and everything. They really hit it off.

“Anastacia?” someone asked. Virgil looked up to see a man dressed in the usual vet attire. He had a tie around his neck, making him look even more professional than any of the other vets. He had glasses on, similar to Patton’s, and black hair slicked back.

“That’s us,” Virgil answered. He encouraged Ann to stand up and say hello. He really hoped this Logan was to her liking. It seemed so.

“Salutations. Please, follow me,” the vet, Logan, said, motioning them towards a room down the hall. “In here, if you will.”

Virgil nodded. He went inside the examination room with Ann following on his heel.

The human vet the nice, but crazy, human had introduced her to was not so bad. She still didn’t like it here though, and would much rather go home.

“Patton told me she bit the last veterinarian to examine her?” Logan inquired.

Virgil looked a bit sheepish. “Yeah, she’s not all that crazy about going to the vet, even if it’s only a check-up.”

“I see,” Logan mumbled. He then went to a basket to search for something. When he emerged, he had a plushie in hand. “Here, this should help her with what I assume is her anxiety.” He handed the plushie to Ann. “It has helped my own canine companion a great deal.”

Virgil watched as Anastacia cautiously sniffed the plushie before slowly taking it, accepting coordinated and gentle strokes to her fur by skilled hands. No other vet had ever been like this with her. He faintly smiled.

“Now, if you will guide her to lie here?”

The examination went well. She was calm all throughout and not once did she growl at Logan. When the examination was over, Logan declared that she was much healthier than most dogs her age.

During the examination, Virgil learned that Logan had a husky named Laylin, but whose pet name was Star. He learned that Patton and his brother, Dee, were really close and it hurt Patton a lot on the rare occasions they fought. He also learned that Patton was very much gay and very much single. And he was waiting for Virgil and Anastacia.

“Salutations, Patton,” Logan greeted when he recognised Patton, sitting and waiting for Virgil.

“Heya, Lo! How did it go?” he asked. He looked genuinely worried. It was sweet. He already had formed some sort of connection to both man and dog.

“Anastacia is as healthy as a dog her age should be. It’s not many dogs that have the optimal health, but it seems like you are excellent at keeping her at peak health,” Logan said, the last part directed towards Virgil.

“Ooh, that’s good to hear! OH! Maybe we could set up a playdate so that she and Star can meet each other! And Nini could join too! She’s Dee’s snake! She’s sooo cute!! They would love each other!” Patton exclaimed, making some of the other patients look at him with various expressions; pet and owner alike.

Virgil and Logan chuckled at Patton’s antics. “You know, it would be good for Anastacia to interacts with other dogs, and to have a healthy experience with animals that aren’t dogs,” Logan pondered to Virgil. He already knew Patton would win. Nobody could resist his puppy dog eyes, and once he’d made up his mind, there was nothing that could deter him.

“Why not. My friend, Roman, is always on my ass about me having to leave the house more,” Virgil shrugged. They seemed like kind people, and his anxiety wasn’t telling him not to.

“Language!” Patton scolded him. Virgil was so surprised he first stood with his mouth open like a goldfish before bursting out laughing. “What? There are innocent ears here!”

When Virgil’s laugh died down to a giggle and had gotten a hold of his breath again, he looked incredulously at Patton. “You just do that? Scold people for their language? At the vet’s?” Virgil giggled.

Logan leaned over. “You’ll get used to that. And no, not just here. Anywhere,” he stage-whispered.

They laughed with each other before exchanging numbers. Logan had to get back to work, and Virgil urged Patton to go back and clear things up with his brother. Virgil could see the strain in Patton’s smile and the pain in his eyes.

Patton insisted on following him and Anastacia home, though. “Just to make sure no one else tries to cross the busy road to pet her,” he joked, bumping his shoulder into Virgil’s.

They said their farewells at the door, Patton declining the invitation to come inside for a glass of water. He needed to get back to Dee and Nini. Patton gave Virgil a small hug instead, saying thank you for being allowed to befriend Anastacia as well as being a well-needed distraction from his thoughts.

After Patton had left, Virgil gave Anastacia some of the promised treats for being so docile with Logan, before letting her trot into the living room and jump onto the couch. She was proud of herself. She had singlepawedly made sure her human got new friends. And a love interest. Dogs above knew he needed love from another human. And if she got new animal friends out of it, who was she to complain?

Virgil sat next to her, scratched her behind the ear, and grabbed his phone from his pocket. He was so going to text Roman about his crazy day. He wrote a short message saying he so needed to talk face-to-face because his day had been beyond absurd. Before he pressed send, he looked at Anastacia, smiled, and thought about Patton’s smile and adorable giggle. Only one thought occupied his mind. Ann looked at him and voiced it:

“Yeah, this is love.”

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thisuserhasoriginalideas · 5 years ago

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(Still nameless project) Character and Species master post

Soo how some might have noticed I am working on an original Idea for a comic and this will be my Character master post which I will add to whenever I got a new addition for the cast.

The premise of the story basically some aliens going on an adventure to find earth and join a supposed interplanetary peaceful conglomeration because they caught a transmission of an old cheesy and corny scifi series (ala star trek or well early Perry Rhodan when you actually know that novel series you get a free smooch from me)

The Lophorel and the Narlaha

Those are the first Species to be introduced and well the ones where the original three crew members will start off .

For demonstration purposes I include a pic of the parents of the first three bc I still need to make a general species guide for them lol

(From left to right: Shejeren, Noroph'a, Uruphija'l, Charalah I will give some short specific info about them later lol)

Both species share one planet which is the second in their solar system and has three moons orbiting around it.

The Lophorel are native to surface of the planet and usually have a skin color ranging from very light blues to dark purples. They have gem like growths on their heads which is surrounded by a skin covered bone structure which either is build like an ark or a row of lill spikes. They have pointy ears and their bigger eyes have octagonal pupils which form a cross when constricted. Usually their Iris has the same color as their gem and their Sclera is black, in rare cases there can be mutations of color tho. With their eyes they can perceive a wide array of colors and even some elektro magnetic phenomena in their environment but they are pretty much blind in low light situations. They usually wear longer hair (short hair is seen as obscene in their culture) in different braided styles. While white hair is the most common hair color in their species there are also variants of reddish browns that can occur. They aren't very strong however but do to their legs agile and good at jumping. Height wise they can get from 1,60 m (5' 2'')up to 1,90 m (6' 2'') They are generally hermaphrodites and don't have naval due to laying eggs. They use the terms Eren (Seedgiver) and Ophat (shellcarrier) to adresse their parents and it occurs that siblings from the same parent pair use diffrent terms for addressing the same parent. They also number their children with the last sibille of their name so for example having 'rel' at the end of a name means that it is the first hatched child YEP I gonne write a language guid later someday lol . While being omnivore they have developed a distaste to eating meat and as a culture live mostly vegetarian.

The Narlaha are used to live mostly under the surface of the planet and are often called Nipht by the Lophorel which is similar to calling someone and earthworm. In turn the Narlaha call the Lophorel Kar'alarf which literally means stone-head. They are significantly smaller than their surface dwelling neighbors and only get around 1,50 m (4' 9''). They have four arms and are significantly physically stronger. Due to their carnivore nature and history of hunting they have sharp claws and teeth and usually a very dark grey skin completion mixed with red markings which makes them blend in with their stone surroundings. Their four eyes are one tones and most of the time their eye colors range from white grayish to red. They may only see the world in reddish and green tones but they have excellent vision in dark areas. The bone structure on their head helps them sensing vibrations from their surroundings. They are more like us humans when it comes to their genders and sexualities soo no big explanation here. But they don't really have their own names instead a family name is given from the chosen parent to the child with either a 'lah'(born female), 'ren'(born male), 'len' (born intersex) at the end depending on the biological sex they are born with. Also they tend to have brown to black hair only sometimes they mutate blond hair. Also there are albinos I'm the Species

In the history of their species they obviously didn't get along very well most of the time so after a view wars the Lophorel sadly established a trend of enslaving the Narlaha bc the Lophorel (having the advantage of not limited airspace) were technology more advanced than the Narlaha, who due to limited space couldn't build respected deferenses against the most of the time vibration based attacks of the Lophorel. While the violent ages of this planet are now gone both their cultures got so accustomed to the practice of slavery that there are barely any objectors on both sides of the coin. Still during the events of the story there some thing about to be changed lol.

And now off to a few words to the named characters above. They are as stated the Parents to the first three crew members of the story. Noroph'a is a rich space miner that makes his living with deploying mining ships to other planets of their solar system. They married the way less fortunate Uruphija'l due to practicality and the wish to produce taller offspring (They are a little insecure about their height). Both of them are rather strict and caught up in outdated social rules. After they conceived their first egg they bought Shejeren and Charalah bc they also were expecting a child and Noroph'a wanted their offspring to grow up with an always present play buddy bc he also grew up with a Narlaha play mate. After Charalah gave birth to a little baby daughter (Shejelah) She and her husband were kept as bodyguards for the two Lophorels while a third Narlaha took care of Shejelah and the now also hatched Ala'phrel.(Charalah and Shejeren already had a older child Chararen who at this point already worked in a diffrent household [Narlaha children get independent pretty quickly]). In general where the two Narlahas pretty happy to have landed in Noroph'a's household because their new daughter now had the privilege to get the basics of a good high tier education together with Noroph'a's offsprings which would mean that she could later find a home as a home preschool teacher which is considered a honorable position for a Narlaha. Noroph'a and Uruphija’l had one more child (Nirlaph) and even tho Shejeren and Charalah tried to also conceive again Shejelah stayed the only young Narlaha in the household.

On to the important peeps

(From left to right Nirlaph, Ala’phrel, Shejelah)

Growing up together the three established a strong bond and even tho it was planed to send Shejelah away as she got old enough to be sold off again Ala’phrel and Nirlaph both protested against their parents wishes and kept Shejelah around. This is partially because when they were younger and first got to have tech based toys the three of them build a simple signal receiver which accidentally lead them to catch an old transmission of a show called "Captain Jacks search through the stars" which depicted a utopian society without racism and slavery. They didn't understand a word of what was said in the show but the depiction of different races (even tho they were suspiciously similar in general looks) working together seemingly without race hierarchy fascinated the three kids to such an extend that they from there on strived to one-day be able to meet Captain Jack and his Crew and join their ranks. They over time established a translation of the alien language and made it their own. Learned all principles which Captain Jack resided as foundation of the peaceful planets conglomeration and started studying all skills need to actually fly a space ship.

Even tho the three kids treated each other as equals the older they got the more Shejelah had to oblige to the house rules, meaning she had to adapt to the servant clothing, had to learn formal speaking rules and wasn't allowed to speak without spoken to in general. While she did conform to those rules to some degree the suppressed aggression against them lead to her having a very strange relationship with human swear words. She really likes to sprinkling them in when she has the opportunity to speak freely. In general she seem to be a rather reserved individual (despite the swearword occasionally slipping out) but that's just as long as she doesn't trusts you. At times she seems to be just a tad sassy which is a way for her to handel her insecurities about her social status and her struggle to actually come forward with requests regarding herself, bringing her ideas forward or just simply saying ‘no’ to a request. It is very important to her to be able to choose her own clothing and she often will change her outfits as she sees fit just because being forced to wear a unified and dull outfit for most of her life evoked a desire of outward expression of herself in her. So even tho she dawns a version of the uniform they have seen the crew members of captain Jack wear she will take her own spin on them and proudly wears her own creations. She wears an open nose ring to honer her upbringing as slave and symbolize her now found freedom. Shejelah is often called just Jelah by her two friend after seeing the crew members of Jack using Nicknames for each other, while this is a shorter version of her name it also means ‘brain’ in an ancient language of the Lophorel. And indeed a brain she is, not just having the strength of her species Shejelah is quite smart and has a high interests in quantum physics and chemistry. She will often work together with Nirlaph, who has a interests into engineering to invent and upgrade all sorts of gadgets and knickknacks. Speaking of Nirlaph (Nick: Nor translatable with ‘fluffy chicken’) they are non a less brilliant but suffer a severe case of being skittish and uncertain. As the younger sibling they often had to live to the standards the older one leid down first and while they are in many aspects superior to their sibling the stress of being held up to already high standards got to them at a young age. So while they are capable of being brilliant and an absolute genius their anxiety and stage fright often hold them back. So more often then not they tend to overthink decisions and either screw something up in the execution do to the anxiety or just not doing it at all even tho deep down they know they should have. They still don’t hold a grudge against their older sibling to the contrary they heavily rely on the fare more outgoing and intuitive Ala’phrel to pull them for Support and to just pull them against through it. But other than Ala’phrel and Shejelah they prefer to keep to them selves often working in the dead of the night and in secret on their projects to avoid the awkwardness that brings working under the public eye. But also he refuses to give their and Shejelah’s brilliant invention to a society that wouldn’t even acknowledge Shejelah’s part in them which they think is way greater than their part in them. So even if both of their work could have revolutionized the space travel of their society they keep their inventions a secret which will later be to their advantage. But well without Ala’phrel the trio wouldn’t get to the point where they will find them selves. Ala’phrel is bold, charismatic and understands how to get their way. They are the driving force behind the whole story dragging the other two further into the right direction. While lacking the brilliant and deep understanding of the scientific backgrounds their bordering on delusional positive attitude and admiration of the concepts they have seen in the show keeps them all moving forward. Ala’phrel isn’t shy of justifying controversial actions ( like stealing a ship from their parents) with the greater intention behind them which sometimes leads to further trouble they need to deal with together with their friends which more often than not build the perfect contra weight to Ala’phrel ‘s at times insane schemes. They definitely are a bit too much obsessed with captain Jack and his crew and them being real so you could say they are a super fan. But in the end they have good intentions even tho they lack the experience they always try to do the best for their friend and for themselves.

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snowe-zolynn-rogers · 6 years ago

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Backstories for my Sanders Sides Pets AU

Warnings: Mentions of Death, Mentions of Abuse, Mentions of Neglect, Mentions of Abandonment, Mentions of Selective Dog Breeding, i think that’s all but let me know if i should add any others.

Roman

Roman was Thomas’ first pet. Thomas adopted him from a pet shelter his friend, Joan visited to get food for their ferret, Elliot.

Roman was the only surviving puppy of the litter and was going to be euthanized since all his siblings were stillborn and his mother died during her childbirth. His mother was a show dog that was force-breeded to make ‘perfect puppies’ (sadly, the litter Roman was in was her first and only litter).

Joan saved him and took him home and made sure he was well taken care of and very much loved and cared for.

Joan was planning on keeping him at first but then Roman became aquainted with Thomas and Roman just wouldn’t let Thomas not take him home (aka wouldn’t let go). Talyn claims Roman imprinted on him since Thomas was holding him when Ro finally opened his eyes.

Patton

Patton was, at first, just being fostered by Thomas for a friend (Terrence) who moved to a new apartment that didn’t allow pets (Terrence only learned this after moving in because the complex owner didn’t care enough to tell him there were no pets allowed until he saw Terrence about to take Patt into the apartment when moving in).

Thomas later adopted him from Terrence when Terrence moved to Arizona where they were both worried if Patton would adapt well or not, so Thomas kept him.

Logan

Logan was a stray young cat from a littler of maine coon cats that a feral mother had.

Logan lived behind Thomas’ apartment complex. He took a liking to Thomas so Thomas took him in and gave him shelter. He later adopted him and Logan is a half-indoor/half-outdoor cat now, since Lo still loves the outdoors.

Virgil

Virgil’s mom was owned by a bad human who let her leave and come back whenever she wanted. His mother got surprise pregnant and the owner couldn’t tell. When she had Virgil, the mom, nor the mom’s owner wanted him, so the owner abandoned him outside.

Once he was outside, Virgil survived on his own for about a week before Logan found him and adopted him as his not-as-furry kitten.

Logan adopted him because he’s all black and Lo determined that this small black half fuzzy thing is a badly groomed cat that can apparently fly now. The flying did kind of confuse him but Logan’s committed so he’s just like ‘yeah, my kid flies, so be it as long as he’s in my sight so he doesn’t get lost’.

Thomas adopted Virgil to stay indoors to keep him protected and let him live as long as possible away from possible predators, since he was already abandoned by his mother.

Deceit (named Ethan)

Ethan was abandoned outside by his mother’s owner (a breeder who simply wanted certain typed of snakes) because he was born the wrong color (the breeder wanted albinos but the momma snake had lil super black pastel Dee).

Logan adopted him as his very not-so-furry kitten and took care of him.

Again, was easier for Lo to mistake him for a kitten since Ethan is all black just like Logan himself. Plus, at that point, Logan had a flying ‘kitten’ and could care less over having a slithery ‘kitten’ or not.

Thomas adopted Ethan when Logan brought him (and Virgil) to Thomas when Eth got sick with an upper respiratory infection and Logan knew Thomas would care for his not-so-fluffy kittens.

Thomas adopted him very shortly after Eth was back to being healthy.

Pets In The Future

He definitely plans to adopt something else but he has yet to fully adopt them.

He’s talked to a chameleon breeder and is planning to adopt one from the new clutch once they’re old enough to be adopted.

He’s also planning to adopt the baby bunny of a a friends’s two rabbits, once it’s big enough that Ethan won’t think it’s food (not that he would, Ethan is still tiny and only likes pinkies, but Thomas doesn’t want to chance it).

He is fostering/caring for two pets for friends. He’s fostering a sugar glider named Emile for Valerie while she is too busy to do so.

He’s taking care of a green iguana named Remy for his friend, Talyn, who had a housefire and Remy was left without somewhere to stay while Talyn stays with Joan (who’s complex owner won’t allow more than one pet in the apartments). Remy did have a few burns when Thomas got him but all are healed over now.

Taglist (I’m just gonna tag a couple who seemed to be interested in the AU in the previous two posts about it): @sirpuppetuniverse @lovesupportandcookies @just-another-rainbowblog @please-nope @dabookwormcat @stormy-sides

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shadowbanki · 5 years ago

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I was in a server where we were listing our “Top 10 ____” in our writing so I went and listed my top 10 woobie characters and it got. LONG. And detailed.

———

Top 10 biggest woobies (so far, as my world is still growing) + reasons/descriptions

10. Bianca Luna (A lonely autistic girl who spent her childhood as a bullied outcast. She wished for a friend until one day, she gets whisked to the magical world of Whimsica where she goes on an odd magical adventure... and gets to be a hero. However, she does experience troubles long the way, but each one makes her grow and become a bit stronger.)

9. Setsuna Usui (The odd-one-out in a family of perfects. Her mom and dad are professional classical musicians, and her older siblings are prodigies. Setsuna herself is clumsy, messy, ill-tempered, and unsophisticated. Because of this, she is very depressed... until she steps through a wardrobe into the magical world of Whimsica and her life changes...)

8. Rhona Aequor (Her special interest is the ocean. As a child, she often had meltdowns and the only thing that would comfort her would be looking at a fish tank or the ocean. She was picked on, and had no real friends until she met Quartz, who was a whale shark she met in a lagoon. She found out she had a special gift that enabled her to talk to sea life. Later in life, she ends up losing her love interest, Nagisa. Unsure if Nagisa is still alive or not, Rhona falls into a very deep depression and develops what could be PTSD as well.)

7. Nagisa Onda (Nagisa was a very lonely child, until she met her best friend Amara. Amara loves the ocean, and got Nagisa interested in it as well. Nagisa and Amara was inseparable, until one day Amara died in a shipwreck. Nagisa was traumatized and began to hate and resent the ocean, which she once loved, for taking away her best friend. She fell into a deep depression, possibly PTSD, and even became suicidal. Eventually, Nagisa meets Rhona, and the two form a deep bond that helps Nagisa let things go and learn to love the ocean and treasure life again.)

6. Sei Yozora (Sei is an alien from a dystopian planet called Xiropolis where newborn babies are treated with magic that closes their hearts. The children grow up unable to feel a wide range of emotions. Sei had an interest in books, despite not being able to feel much emotion. She eventually got her hands on a book that came from the planet Whimsica. It had such a wonderful story in it, that it made her feel a sensation she had never felt before. It made her feel emotions. She thought that maybe if she went to Whimsica, she’d feel more of that sensation. So she built a spacecraft all by herself and abandoned Xiropolis, seeking a better life on Whimsica. However, everyone bullied her for her odd behavior, and it got worse once they found out she was an alien.)

5. Eunice (Eunice was a young girl who had a terminal illness. She had no magic powers, but wishes she did. She loved to decorate the hospital to make kids happy, because she hated how it looked so gloomy. Her dying wish was to go on an adventure and to be a hero. There is a point in the Whimsica Saga where Bianca is in the hospital and meets Eunice. She uses her magic to grant Eunice’s wish, and turns her hospital bed into a flying Bedmobile. They go on an adventure all across Whimsica and see all the wonderful sights. They eventually defeat an evil licorice wizard and save a kingdom of gingerbread people. Eunice passes away a few days later, but her dying wish was granted. But what Eunice didn’t realize, was that even if she didn’t have magic powers, she made people happy by decorating the hospital, and to many people, that was true magic.)

4. Flannery Flanagan (Flannery, nicknamed “Flan”, is a young girl who always wanted to be a competitive roller-skater like her father. One day however, her father was teaching her to roller skate, and they got in a bad car accident. Her father died in the accident, and Flan got paralyzed from the hip down. From then on, she had to be in a wheelchair and give up her dream. Instead, she took up racing in a race car. However, since her father died, her family was left poor, and she could never end up building a good enough race car. (She was originally a Wreck-It-Ralph Sugar Rush OC, you see...) In every race she would come in last, and her car would break down. A villain named Anise wanted to take advantage of Flan in order to recruit her to the Dark Side, but ended up helping Flan because she felt sympathy. Anise ended up realizing it felt good to help others, so she and her sidekick Zircon betrayed their evil queen and became Good. Anise helped Flan build a better car, but instead of winning the race, Flan lost because she ended up helping a lost unicorn on the way. Anise and Flan now have a sisterly relationship.)

3. Alvarina Ruska (Alvarina is an elf who lives in a forest where it is always autumn. Her father died when she was really young. He left the forest for a short time in search for food and never returned. Her mother died of a respiratory illness a few years before the story’s present. Alvarina is lonely because she cannot leave the forest. If elfin people leave the forest they are bound to, they will begin to die slowly. One day by chance, she meets Celestine, one of the royals of Whimsica. They form a friendship. However, it is forbidden for a royal to have a friend who is a commoner, or else the royal will be punished with a thousand years slumber. So Celestine eventually breaks off the friendship with Alvarina, even though it was was difficult thing to do. Alvarina is heartbroken and doesn’t understand why. She thinks perhaps Celestine could be in danger, so she leaves the forest in search for clues. Celestine eventually regrets her decision, and comes back to Alvarina’s forest to see a note on her front door that she ran away. Celestine is frantic and finally tells the Queen that she needs to look for Alvarina, because she is worried that she is in danger from leaving the forest, all because of her selfishness. This time she no longer cares about her thousand year punishment. By the time Alvarina is back home, Celestine is collapsed on the ground in front of her house in a coma, with the Queen of Whimsica also there. Celestine’s two sisters, Lunette and Stelle are there as well. Since Celestine and Alvarina’s friendship was so strong, the slumber may very well be beyond a thousand years. The one who put in the law that royals and common people cannot be friends was put in by an old, conservative Queen from years back. Queen Rainbow does not agree with the law, but doesn’t have enough power to reverse it. But combined with the powers of Alvarina’s love, she believes she can. But if it fails, Alvarina may fall into the same slumber. Alvarina agrees to help reverse the curse of the law, and the other sisters pitch in their magic. It’s successfully reversed, and Celestine wakes up. Alvarina is now able to leave the forest as well, because she was able to unlock her powers. She was a woobie, but it ended well.)

2. Reina Coda (Reina is a girl who originally is from Earth, who is very depressed and is a pessimist/nihilist and hates life. She is a smoker and has a lot of harmful habits. She once loved to play the piano and sing, but she slowly found herself losing her passion. Her view of life of hopeless, until she finds herself in the magical world of Whimsica, and meets Sumi, who changes her life. Sumi has so much hope in her heart, and a longing spirit despite her past. She sees the good in everything, unlike Reina who only sees the worst in things. Reina teaches Sumi many things, such as how to be confident, but Sumi teaches Reina many profound things as well.)

1. Sumi Suzumi (The Forest of Resonance is a tropical rainforest in the magical land of Whimsica where it is perpetually summer. The forest is inhabited by elves. It never is cold in the forest, nor does it ever snow. Nobody who inhabits the Forest of Resonance is able leave it, or else they will begin to die slowly as long as they are outside of the boundaries. Everyone in the forest has hair/eyes that are blue, green, or somewhere in between. Even when they age, the hair never turns white. But Sumi Shizumi, an albino, was born with white hair, and is ostracized because of it. (This is loosely based on “Daughter of White” which is part of “Evillous Chronicles.” Sumi’s single mother passed away shortly after birthing her, leaving Sumi an orphan. Sumi’s mother cared deeply about her child. Her final wish was for Sumi to live on and have a happy life, despite her looking different. However, others would soon mistreat Sumi. Sumi had been living with an adoptive mother since then, who frequently treated Sumi as inferior. Sumi’s adoptive mother then died when Sumi was 17, leaving her to live on her own. Sumi grows up as a very lonely and apologetic person, despite having an incredibly gentle and benevolent nature. Sumi is not only ostracized for her white hair, but also her strange powers. Everyone else’s powers are related to plants and summer elements. Sumi’s powers are related to ice and are rather wintry. They are also very hard to control, and more like a curse. Before Sumi’s discovered her powers, nobody had ever heard of snow. When they first saw the snow that happened because of Sumi, they panicked. They thought that Sumi had done something bad to the usual rain. One day when she is 22, Sumi is having a particularly horrible day. That night when she sees a shooting star from her treehouse, she wishes for someone, anyone, to be her friend. Sumi’s emotional feelings that night were so strong, it caused a blizzard to plummet the forest. The crops begin to die and everyone chases Sumi out because of what she did. The elder of the forest says that Sumi won’t die when she’s away from the forest, because the forest was never where she belonged in the first place. This hurts Sumi deeply, hearing she never belonged. But this is also the start of a wonderful new adventure for Sumi, where she meets Reina, and together they search for a place where they both belong...)

#whimsica #whimsica saga #my writing #life of pastell #brainstorm #fantasy #bianca luna #rhona aequor #nagisa onda #eunice #flannery flanagan #reina coda #sumi suzumi #Sei yozora #alvarina ruska #Setsuna usui

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redknight3996 · 5 years ago

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The Demon Lord’s Generals 5

Chapter 5 - The Albino Arachnid

Act 1: A Little White Spider

Bleakclaw Mountain had a reputation in the Dark Lands. Plenty of mountains did, because mountains were where dungeon cores absolutely loved to plant themselves, but Bleakclaw was well known for playing host to one of the deadliest dungeons on the entire continent, one that had spread throughout the entire mountain and acted with a shocking lethality towards any daring enough to venture in.

Even some of the strongest adventurers in the land were wary to enter the brutal dungeon, and for fear of wandering monsters, there were no settlements at all living on the mountain’s vast surface.

And for those living within Bleakclaw, it was no less dangerous.

After a particularly strong adventurer–powerful, daring, and far too stupid for her own good–had managed to outright cripple the core–splitting a chunk off of its surface, to the point it almost resembled a crescent moon–the monsters of the mountain had turned on each other. What were once conjured beasts and beings working in tandem, set in their own areas and operating with a single-minded intelligence to drive out and massacre those who would seek their creator’s treasure, devolved into a vicious bloodbath unlike any other.

Even the bloodiest of wars could scarcely compare to the pure insanity of over ten thousand monsters, once connected and even protective of one another, erupting into brutal violence without reason or pause. By the time the initial slaughter subsided, the mountain’s population had been quite literally decimated, and Bleakclaw became an ever more savage place, home to beasts seeking only to kill and survive.

However, the creatures still formed by the broken core weren't completely mindless, and they still saw the benefits of allying with those similar to them, once the slaughter settled. So, to ensure their survival, the various beasts banded together and Bleakclaw Mountain found itself host to several groups, all seeking to survive above all else.

And yet, even if the weak were to band together, they were still weak. And weakness was unacceptable when faced with the strong.

Such were the thoughts of one spider as they devoured their recent spoils: a simple crimson lizard that had been too slow to run. The spider, like many other beasts within the mountain, had been born at the same time as a number of others. Formed by the great core with its siblings–a cluster easily numbering fifty–who it was meant to fight alongside, because they were all weak.

Low-level, some would say; the type of monster that had little worth on their own, but could be dangerous when in large packs. And their brood certainly did well for themselves, in the short time they all lived, leaping and swarming over other beasts, then bringing them down with their potent venom. They were dangerous enough that they seemed fine, like they could survive the vile place they had the misfortune to be born in.

That is, until they were all killed by a large, feathered snake, with eyes that pierced their bodies and a ghastly beak that crushed them in seconds. All besides one.

The small, white spider didn't know why they survived, out of all their other siblings; whether it was luck or skill, they were able to escape the jaws of the snake while everyone else died horribly. And as they hid in the shadows, somehow just barely concealed from the massive beast’s cruel eyes, only one emotion filled the spider as they watched the larger creature feast on their siblings.

Hatred.

Not at the deaths of their siblings, but at their own weakness. They’d failed, completely and utterly, when they were so certain, from the very moment they'd climbed from their egg and seen all the other spiders had been blue in comparison to their white coloration, that they’d been a special being. Red-eyed and white, standing out from the yellow-eyed, blue crowd. Someone of importance, a leader to their brood.

And yet, there they were, cowering in terror until the snake finished its feast and left once again. Ever since then, the spider had been very conscious of where they really were in the order of their world. How so many other creatures stood above them in strength.

In that moment, the spider’s fangs plunged in deep to the half-eaten lizard, their natural corrosives further liquifying its melted insides. It had taken some time, but they’d learned to ambush beasts on their own, and at that moment, now that they’d felt at least some assurance, some further understanding of where they were in their world, they made a promise to themself.

They would never die. Not to anything.

Nothing would ever hold power over the spider again.

And she made sure nothing within Bleakclaw ever would.

So, she fought. Whether it be face to face, or attacking from the shadows, the spider continued to fight those that would see her dead to fill their bellies and grew stronger with every life she claimed. There were a great many beasts to slaughter, from the repulsive serpents–smaller than the abomination that murdered her kin–to large, razor-backed rats and ashen salamanders burning with dark flames.

However, as she butchered those irritating beasts, she began to notice that her meals were no longer satisfying. The beasts she found were getting smaller, even though they seemed to be the same as they ever were...did the core crack again? Was someone foolish enough to venture into its domain?

…

An odd hunger struck her at the moment.

At the time of her creation, the spider was filled with knowledge. Knowledge of what the core was and what to protect the core from. The source of life within her homeland needed to be protected from invaders, this she knew.

And then she realized something. Not once had she actually fought someone from outside the mountain. Not once had she eaten someone from outside the mountain. And she dearly wanted to.

And, with what she would later learn was a grin, the spider rushed to where she knew the core was, high up in the great heights of Bleakclaw, the innate location forever ingrained inside her mind. It was certainly a long and treacherous trek from her home down towards the peak of the mountain, but she was amazing so there really wasn’t a problem in the slightest. She could also climb up walls, so the steepness really wasn’t a problem, and she could easily avoid some of the more dangerous monsters in the passageways.

However, as she peeked in from one of the holes meant for her type of creature to sneak around–to ambush those seeking the core’s powers–disappointment filled her as she found nothing…huh, did the core get smaller?

Her many eyes blinked in unified confusion, before she immediately skittered back into the annoyingly cramped passage when the core’s guardian shifted below its pedestal. For the briefest moment, there was a sound of skittering claws and a flash of massive eyes in the darkness, before the smaller mound’s great shell settled once more, wrapped around the immense body the pedestal rested on top of.

The spider watched, still and careful, then moved back into the passageway. She had promised she would never die to anything within the mountain, and that included the most dangerous beast within its depths. So for now, she retreated. But one day…

Still, that new reminder of how weak she was rankled at her immensely, so she went out and killed some more snakes. She utterly despised the repulsive, wriggling things and they tasted delicious, so she’d often track down a nest to wipe out when she was feeling agitated. Such was life.

And that life continued as it did until her outer layer began to shed and she abruptly realized that of course the stupid beasts she’d eaten weren’t getting smaller, she was getting bigger! Ugh, she felt stupid the when she finally figured it out. And by that point, the usual snake nests were too small for her to even enjoy destroying. But then she noticed the very familiar feathers of a certain serpent in its den, and she had a sudden, devious, cruel urge.

Where once she leapt and pinned her prey, her newer, larger, stronger form came with the lovely ability to form a thread. A sticky thread, made for trapping, born from an innate magic she had evolved to gain! And with that new gift, she sealed up its den. Every single entrance it could hope to escape from was covered in layer after layer. It was a long work to complete, but oh so satisfying as she heard its panic. Its eyes couldn’t touch her now.

She busied herself with other hunts in the meantime–learning to trap and bind the even larger King Rats and Sledgeheads–before eventually returning to the now entirely dehydrated and starved basilisk. Its dying eyes may have stung, but they could no longer kill, and tasted divine.

It was almost a shame that she couldn't finish it all, but at least she had a new den, much larger than her last one, and as the strongest, she clearly deserved the biggest den, so this would be a nice stepping stone until then. Hm, would killing the guardian make her the new one? She didn't particularly care for the role, but it was meant for the strongest…

And so, with that in mind, she continued to kill and grow stronger, making her way through the mountain, and seeking stronger opponents, before returning to her den, always covering the entrances with web. As strong as she was, she wasn't foolish enough to think she could survive an ambush while asleep.

And this way she would usually find herself greeted by a morning snack, even if it was a small morsel of something weak and dumb. Thankfully, there never seemed to be an end to the idiotic creatures spawned by the core.

Yet one day, something happened; in what appeared to be yet another day of feasting, she felt something enter her territory. Something different. Something very different.

Rushing back to where her den was, she found the various traps that she had placed were destroyed. Odd. She’d grown accustomed to some of the smarter creatures managing to foil one or two of her traps, but never all of them. Feeling her hunger grow, she grinned–in a sense; her face at the time was not one that expressed joy easily, but a “grin” was the closest approximation as her fangs flared in anticipation–slowly stalking into her den where her trapped food awaited.

However, while her eyes feasted on them, her body paused. Not out of fear, but of confusion. These things weren't like any of the creatures she knew about, and they were so different, so alien, so lacking in connection that the core, the mountain, couldn't have made them.

Some were short, others were tall, there was something resembling fur on some, and others had scales similar to a salamander. And they were all speaking in something she didn't understand, and not all the same thing. When talking with one another, it seemed to be one thing, but if anyone said anything quietly, as if to themselves, it was completely different.

And this group of new creatures…intrigued her, enough for her to not attack and kill them immediately. So she followed them, studying their movements and actions as she did. Though she refrained from getting too close as it seemed whenever she tried to approach, one of the small ones would whip around and look, their eyes darting to and fro with suspicion, yet never alighting on her specifically.

They were observant, that much was true, these invaders. And they were invaders, the things she had the inherent knowledge she was meant to eliminate for the core’s sake, but it was a muted instinct by this point; she could ignore it easily as she carefully tracked them through the winding caves that served as her territory. There were other monsters about: the amalgamated rats connected by their tails with a crowned King at their head, the rockish-reptiles with plated heads, and the occasional larger, emerald snake or burning salamander, but the invaders made short work of them, often using strategy and displaying a keen insight into how each beast should be dealt with. Seeing them, and how they worked...it was almost alluring.

So the spider stalked her interests far further than she normally would go. Her den was one of the lowest points on the mountain, so it was interesting exploring upward with this strange group, particularly since they left a great deal of corpses in their wake. Corpses of beasts she hadn’t yet encountered, monsters of the upper levels. So, at points, typically when they had left the rooms they slayed the monsters in, the spider would drop from the ceiling, and have a snack. Or a meal. Some were more filling than others, and the spider was getting quite hungry in the group’s presence, so the situation worked quite well for her all around, up until it didn’t.

It wasn’t through any fault of her own, no; the rooms did get more hazardous than the spider had expected, that was true, but she navigated them well enough anyhow and it wasn’t as though slippery or acidic walls were too much of a bother. She was still stealthy enough to avoid getting noticed by the invaders, even if she had to hide under some corpses once or twice.

No, the excursion ended when the group ran into an enemy they could not beat on the Ogre Floor. To elaborate, the floor where ogres��bipedal monsters loosely resembling the taller invaders, yet in a far more brutish, warped, primitive way; gray-toned, possessing small, lumpish horns and mouths full of crooked fangs and tusks, and wearing core-made loincloths and wielding core-made clubs, hatchets, and cleavers–were the most prominent monster species.

Those were not what ultimately ended the invaders’ trek though. No, that was The Peeler.

The Peeler was the “boss” of the floor. Nowhere near as mighty and vast as the core’s guardian, but far more brutish and fearsome than the ogres the group had already found difficulty with. The spider didn't know it at the time, but The Peeler was more akin to the trolls found even higher up the mountain, if more like a unique variant. Almost like her, in that sense. Though instead of possessing a beautiful, luxurious alabaster carapace, the large, lean biped was an ugly, mottled red, its face distended into a long snout filled with crooked fangs.

It was rather gangly as well, with long arms and narrow, triple-jointed legs, ending in paws that clicked against the stone floors as it walked. The spider would later learn that The Peeler was more canine in appearance than the typical simian troll–and would further learn that trolls could vary remarkably in appearance depending on their environment, with some even appearing porcine or cervine–though its long, stringy, matted hair threw that comparison into doubt. It did lack the horns other trolls possessed, yet made up for that lack in the sheer bevy of carving knives it had strapped across its body. The belts it wore were its only clothing; it was an unsightly beast, though the spider could not deny its skill with the two sickles it carried as its primary weapons.

It was too much for the invaders to handle, though they did have the handicap of multiple fights wearing them down, as well as the disadvantage in an unfamiliar territory. They also seemed immensely disturbed by the flayed ogre carcasses The Peeler had hung up as decoration and occasional snack food. Such was Bleakclaw, and the invaders were not ready.

With sickles in hand, The Peeler attacked the group as soon as they entered its den, leaping across the room and rapidly slashing at them before they could even begin to fight back. It was incredible that none died–at least not in the mountain anyhow–with how many deep gashes The Peeler left on them. They did manage some struggle, yet soon enough, the leader seemed to come to a decision and barked out something to everyone, and a few moments later, all the invaders vanished, probably because of the crystals they’d suddenly pulled from their clothes.

That didn’t stop The Peeler though, who continued to wildly thrash even after they left. It took some time for it to finally realize its prey was gone, and even longer for it to fully calm down and stop wildly snapping at the air. Once it settled down, The Peeler walked over to a bag that had fallen on the floor–the straps had been cut mid-battle so it was left behind by the group. Tearing the bag open, it began to look through everything in it, most likely searching for food.

How foolish; after all, there was food right there. For the spider, at least.

She truly was the master of stealth, for the stupid brute didn’t notice her presence in the slightest before she leapt onto its back and drove her fangs deep into its neck. The Peeler managed a strangled, distorted yelp before her forelegs stabbed through its shoulders and snapped its arms back with two sharp cracks. She still made sure to bind the broken arms with her webs though, even as her prey sank to the floor, her venom coursing through its veins.

It was a lucky day for her all around; not only did she get a fantastic meal that sent the most wonderful surge of energy through her growing body, but she had a new den full of new prey! Oh, and some weird bag, which she carefully prodded with a foreleg in case of ambush. By what, she wasn’t sure, but it belonged to an invader which meant it was an invader. If a strange one.

Could items be invaders? Probably. Still, she’d eaten her fill and successfully started webbing her new den, so now she had this bag to focus on. And whatever weird things were inside it, including more bags and strange, fluttery things, with covers and bindings that she would later learn meant they were books.

She also learned much sooner that books didn't taste good. Really, nothing the invader’s bags had tasted good. The worst was the strange container she decided to try from one smaller bag. It had a liquid in it, and the exterior seemed crunchy like a lesser bug’s carapace, so she gave it a try. Later in life, she learned that it was glass.

At the time, she had glass in her mouth, and it hurt worse as she tried to spit it out, spilling a red liquid with it that she was concerned was her blood before her wounds suddenly healed. So the item wounded her, then healed her. A terrible invention, clearly, and she threw that bag against the wall in a fit of pique.

The bag then exploded. She stared at the scorch mark, then at the glass still on her floor. She very carefully claimed her remaining bags, moved away from the glass, and began sorting her newfound loot away from the dangerous material.

There wasn’t anything especially interesting in the remaining bags; just a few knives and weird fabrics. So the spider did the most logical thing with her new collection of books and made a proper bed for herself in her new den. Their hard surfaces felt quite nice on her carapace and she slept well.

And when she woke up, she could read.

Well, not quite. When she woke up, she’d somehow become smart enough to realize the strange symbols on the books were words and not just vague scribblings. How that happened, she had no idea, but it was obviously because she was amazing, so she didn’t question it.

Now she just needed to know how to decipher the things she now realized were letters, and so the spider had her first quest, which she solved in at a remarkable pace because, again, she was amazing, and very easily figured out that the best way to further develop her brain, which had obviously grown with the rest of her body after she ate The Peeler. Oh, right, she’d also molted again and was a great deal bigger. About the size of that basilisk she’d eaten so very long ago–in “outside terms”, she was about the size of a wild boar, instead of the “large dog”-size she was previously.

Point was! She was remarkably intelligent, and she knew how to raise that intelligence further by eating more and more powerful monsters!

So up she went, to the higher floors, and began putting her talents to very good use. Even with her increasing size, she remained exceptionally agile and her threads gave her a strong advantage over the more unobservant beasts. Ogres and trolls, idiots that they were, were remarkably easy to catch, and quite filling too. The issue came with the simple fact that they were remarkably stupid too, and didn’t really help in terms of gaining brainpower.

Realistically speaking, the spider should have had no chance of learning to read in her current situation. She had no capability to understand the local language, she didn’t know what the Dark Land alphabet was, and she barely had context for what most words would mean even if she did know how to read. If she had some type of tutor or even a dictionary, she might have a slight chance, but neither of those were readily available, so it was a lost cause from the start, and she really should have admitted that.

But that would mean quitting, and the spider was nothing if not the most stubborn creature Bleakclaw Mountain had ever birthed. She would learn how to read, and she would gain that power from the mountain by any means necessary! The mountain would provide, and she would feast from its bounty!

And the mountain did provide, eventually, at Bleakclaw’s penultimate floor. So about one floor above the troll floor, which was above the centipede floor, which was above the skull-ape floor, which was above the sickle-claw floor–which was technically more of a blade floor in general–that was right above her den, otherwise known as the ogre floor. So it took a bit of trekking, but that didn’t matter because stubbornness had won the day once again!

It was on that floor, filled with its oddly glowy insignias along the darker, bluish stones, silver lined carpets and tapestries, and strange tubes and beakers and vials that bubbled with potions of varying types that she found exactly what she was looking for! Brainfood!

Not literally, no, though the uzia did look a little brainlike? In the right lighting. She later learned they were more like flying jellyfish, what with their mushroom-like caps and drifting tentacles.

What made the air-jellies stand out from sea-jellies though was their more solid structure, made up of a single, floating cap and about eight semi-translucent tentacles dangling down from their center. Their caps could vary in color, but one thing consistent about them was that they had about four sensory organs attached to the sides of their caps. Fully formed, humanoid sensory organs, to be specific.

Specifically humanoid too. The spider found two variants of the uzia species up on the Arcane Floor, as she decided to call it: Eyezia and Earzia. Or Watchers and Listeners, if one wanted to be unoriginal. Technically the species in general were also called “Sentries” for their utility as dungeon security systems, but she didn’t know that at the time, nor did she really care either. Anyhow, the Eyezia, as she so aptly called them, were the red air-jellies, with four eyes lining the sides of their cap, while the Earzia were blue and had four ears instead. Round, human-like ears. It was weird. They were weird.

Tasty though, if tricky to properly pin down. The Eyezia were great at spotting approaching threats and then firing fiery eye-beams at them, while the Earzia would get all electrified if they detected someone approaching. But the spider was undeterred and a master of stealth, so she gradually managed to pin down one and drink its spicy brain juices. Intelligence juices? They didn’t exactly have brains…

Regardless, the spider had SUCCEEDED in her mission! It was a successful quest! She had gained intelligence! She knew, because she could suddenly tell the tapestries around her were actually warning signs, telling of darker horrors awaiting and that there was no return beyond this point! Which was silly, because she clearly could return and did so very easily so she could retrieve her books and finally figure out what the words inside meant. Though not without a little practice with all the writings scrawled on the walls about some secret artistry she didn’t have context for, so she really didn’t feel like bothering.

And the very first book she read was a riveting one too!

She didn't exactly know what exactly it was at the time, but it seemed to tell the tale about a pair of adventurers who were forced to work together, fighting alongside one another and growing closer all the while. While she was interested in what was going to happen, as well as wondering who had transcribed these events like this, one line in particular caught her attention.

"We're stronger together, right?"

...She didn't know why, but that line made her think. The reason she had strived to become this strong in the first place was because her brood had died, but would that have changed if one had survived?

Or maybe if she had teamed up with one of the other arachnids from her floor. Would someone like the Peeler be a good companion?

No matter. She was alone now; she gained her strength on her own, and nothing would stop her until she reached her goal. With that in mind, she prepared herself, knowing that one way or another, the battle to decide the strongest in Bleakclaw would happen the next day.

And that preparation involved reading some more! Partially because she really liked the relationship between the two protagonists, and partially because she wanted to figure out how they did things like making fire with their hands. Sure, the uzia had lasers, but this seemed to imply more creatures could learn things like that, and that made her very curious.

Unfortunately, her first book didn’t exactly get into mechanics, instead focusing on adventure and, as she read further, a deep romance that made her shiver in delight. Still, that wasn’t immediately useful, so she went onto the next book. And the next. And the one after that.

The next day, she blinked awake on her pile of books, her eyes pressed close to one involving the forbidden romance between a cambion–which were like humans, which were apparently a type of biped called “apefolk”, but with partial demon blood, and demons were apparently weird horned bipeds from a different “planet” or something? She didn’t quite get it, but the books said that’s how things were–and an angel, which were weird winged bipeds from another entirely different planet. She didn’t quite get why the romance was forbidden, but both ladies sounded incredibly cute and she couldn’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy reading about them, to the degree that she’d call the particular books in that series her favorites.

And, in honor of her favorite, the spider chose her name. She decided she needed one after reading about so many named beings, so she did something very simple and named herself after the angel with pure white feathers from the lovely novel: Ikariel. Though she decided to drop the “Ik” part. She didn’t want to be wholly unoriginal, and it was her name, she reserved the right to make it look however she wanted!

Thus it was Ariel, the white spider of Bleakclaw, who made her way to the core room, stepping proudly through the halls with the surety of her purpose. Though she did snag a few uzia on the way for a meal. One shouldn’t have a grand battle of destiny on an empty stomach.

So it was a satiated Ariel that strode through the grand round door leading into the core room, which slid into the wall with a rough rumble, waking the great beast inside before she could even set the slightest trap. But no matter, her strength would be more than enough to handle the monster of the mountain.

And what a great beast it was. Its massive body rested in the center of the circular room, directly under the great cage set in the ceiling that held the mountain’s broken core, whose dim light combined with green torches to illuminate the crags of the Colossus’s shell.

The Stone Branch Colossus consisted of two parts: 1, an utterly massive mound, similar to the shell of a tortoise, thick with stone scales lined with ancient carvings, and 2, eight “heads” extending off of long “necks”, all resembling massive, skittering centipedes. Each beast of blood-red stone rose at the interruption to their deep slumber, the chattering and clattering of their massive mandibles filling the air with disturbing echoes, booming through the room as they twisted up and around, their legs darting as they turned as one to glare down at Ariel with pitch-black eyes.

Then the Colossus paused in sudden confusion; one head, its antenna set above its mandibles and curling from its face in a pseudo-mustache, loomed forward and stared down at her, tilting as it examined the unexpected invader. The boss of the mountain didn’t have lesser monsters invade its dominion, so it clearly thought, because that went against all known natural orders. Unfortunately for it, Ariel was a defier of stupid expectations!

A thick stream of webbing shot from her mouth and stuck quick to the mustachioed “branch” as her forelegs dug deep into the floor, giving her the leverage she needed to pull it straight to the ground with a loud crash, echoed by its surprised shriek. Then she was moving, leaping free of the floor and flipping over its head, pulling webbing over its eyes as she retreated along its back, pulling the webbing tighter as its legs struggled to find purchase on the floor and the other heads finally recognized the threat in their midst, two lurching forward to crush her with their massive mandibles when she darted back further, letting them slam both into the main head’s spine, but also the trailing blanket of webbing she was leaving with both her mouth and forelegs.

There were more shocked shrieks as she leapt again, immediately fixing both heads to the main branch’s back as rapidly as she could, their flailing struggles only tangling them further as she rushed along the underbelly of the right head. By then, the other branches of the Colossus had begun extending across the room, recognizing the threat of her threads and moving out of their reach, though that was easily the stupidest thing they could’ve done. It left her free reign to web up the legs of the branch she was under, and she was completely blocked from any ranged attacks she might have to face from the heads. Of which, she wasn’t entirely sure they had, but there were potentials there.

The further point that made them stupid was the simple fact that they were all attached to one single point. So once she got to the mound at the center, she promptly started webbing up the “entrances” the branches she’d already captured were extending from, before moving to the next one, earning a panicked shriek from it as it twisted around and lunged right for her. Which was still a stupid move because she immediately leapt back and pinned it down with multiple webs, then leapt again when another head tried to capitalized on her “distraction” and wound up slamming straight into its fellow branch, earning yelps from both of them before she landed and promptly started webbing the two together, then leapt once again as one of the slightly smarter heads ripped one of the stalactites from the ceiling with its pincers and threw it straight at her.

Slightly smarter, since it managed to smash two of its fellow branches straight against their mound in a rough *CRACK* that echoed through the room. Ariel capitalized on its mistake though and promptly began skittering up its belly, pinning its legs down as they tried to stab at her and dodging as the remaining heads began tearing more crags from the ceiling and even the central mound to fling at her. They didn’t have the best aim, but one did manage to get a lucky shot right on target. Well, towards the target. While Ariel was right on its fellow branch’s head.

She leapt to the ceiling right as a massive rock crashed straight into the head in question, smashing its shell to pulp and sending it crashing to the floor in a pained squeal, where it was promptly stuck due to all the webs binding it already. Which left two branches to go, one of which let out a shriek of fury and immediately skittered up to the ceiling where she was, its black eyes glittering with hatred. Ariel couldn’t help but feel her fangs flare at the sight, a giddy feeling overcoming her at its clear fury, before it charged straight for her, extending far further than its fellows and attempting to crush her between its jaws.

However, Ariel was far smaller and more maneuverable than the colossal centipede, and each snap of its jaws was easy to dance around, her grip kept on the ceiling and its crags in complete defiance of gravity while it smashed through stone after stone, heedless of the rocks it was raining down on the rest of its body.

Eventually though, the dance had to come to an end, and Ariel ducked straight below the branch’s final lunges, its jaws clamping shut mere inches above her body, its “chin” just barely brushing the top of her carapace. And then she jumped.

She jumped as hard as she could, directly under the centipede’s head, and smashed straight into its jaw. Normally, such a move would not be particularly effective, but there were a few factors in play. Namely that the stupid bug had extended itself past the point it could actually control most of its movements–removing the leverage it would normally have to raise up like a snake–and the simple fact that they were both still on the ceiling. So when she smashed into its head, she had the full force of gravity on her side, and both of them fell fast.

Well, the centipede fell fast. Ariel had a convenient balloon of webbing for herself to drift down with. Quite easily formed, really. The branch had no such thing though, and its back smashed hard on the top of its own mound, a pained shriek sounded out with the shattering of its shell. Then Ariel landed straight on top of it again and promptly webbed up its head to silence said shrieking. Nice and neat, just the way she liked it.

Though that did leave one more head. And some careful investigation let her discover that it had taken the opposite route of its fellow branch, and actually retreated deep inside its mound, much like a cowering turtle. Though it had the audacity to let out a smug chirp when it saw her, confident in its complete inability to be harmed while in its solid den. So she just webbed up the entrance and left that one as it was, its smug chirping quickly morphing into enraged shrieking, much like most of its fellows.

And with that, Ariel had won. She’d conquered the greatest beast in the mountain and pinned it down in every conceivable way. She’d succeeded where no one else ever had! She, Ariel the spider, a minuscule creature most would consider barely worthy of notice, had conquered Bleakclaw Mountain!!

And it was a very satisfied spider indeed that walked to the front of the Stone Branch Colossus, its main branch still pinned to the floor with two more atop it. The brute shrieked as she approached, struggling even though it was as pinned as it could possibly be, and only stilled when she jabbed one foreleg directly against its eye. Not deep enough to pierce, but enough to command its attention.

Because Ariel had realized something. Yes, she could kill and eat this great beast. She easily could. She’d won, she’d beaten it, it was hers to do with as she wanted. But then it wouldn’t be around. This was the mightiest creature in the mountain–before her, of course–and there was a value in that. A value in not simply killing and eating it, but in dominating it.

And her foreleg slowly shifted, twisting into a clawed hand that gripped the beast as she stood taller and stronger than ever before, a wide grin spreading across her newly formed face as Ariel the Arachne spoke her very first word: “Mine.”

After all, they would be stronger together.

Act 2: A True Queen

Bleakclaw Mountain had a new ruler, and she was very set on making sure every part of the mountain knew precisely that fact. Starting with its core, which she plucked from its perch with ease.

The instant she did, she felt something akin to massive bells ringing in her mind as the cracked core panicked at the sudden contact, but she immediately forced that all down as she clamped it between her newly formed hands. “MINE.”

There was a stutter, then the dimly glowing core settled, still emanating fear as she carried it down from the ceiling, where the Stone Branch Colossus glared balefully at her, one of its heads even daring to shriek a warning to handle the core with care.

“Silence!” She glared straight back at the Colossus, which flinched then settled back, one head chittering mutinously before she turned her four newly formed eyes straight to it and it immediately retreated back to the mound, yiping an apology. “Your place, under me. All under me!

“Core.” She held her creator up to her eyes as her legs touched the floor, glaring deep into its pulsing amber depths, its cracks casting shades of black across its surface. “Is under me. I am Ariel. I am Queen! Core is mine! Mountain is MINE!”

The core shuddered, then she felt another sense in her mind. Acceptance. And then she smiled and petted her core, placing it closer to her chitinous chest. “Good. Monsters are mine. Make still, want food.”

More affirmative. “Also, no perch. Too far. Stay with…” She looked up at the Colossus, frowning at its lack of a proper name. Which felt interesting. Having lips was interesting. Still, things needed names, and “Stone Branch Colossus” wasn’t a proper one. Nor was “core”.

She wracked her brain for a few names, then nodded as two came to her from her books. “Peter.”

Peter flickered, their surface glowing with confusion as Ariel nodded to them, then glanced up at the Colossus. “Elliot.”

All Elliot’s heads blinked in unison, then began staring amongst each other before the mustachioed head leaned forward and chittered a question. “Yes, you are all Elliot. Why would you get many names? You are one creature.”

Another chitter. “Yes you are. Your heads are not separate.”

A nearby head shrieked in reproach and she glared straight at him. “Yes, you are. No, actually, now you are Bitch.”

There was a shriek of offense, Elliot chittered again and she scowled. “I decide names. That is Bitch. Rest are Elliot.” Then again, she might need to refer to the heads separately...Ariel stuffed Peter under her armpit and pointed at Elliot with her free hand. “Elliot, Bitch, Luca, Kymani, Jaren, Tyson, Noah, Zaeed.”

Now how to tell them apart? Elliot was easy, he had the mustache… “You need hats.”

She looked to Peter. “You need a hat too.”

Hats weren’t something she could easily find in the dungeon, but she did give it a try, after placing Peter atop Elliot’s mound and instructing him and the rest of him to protect her primary food source. She felt a brief tinge of offense from Peter at the designation, but she quelled that rebellion with another sharp glare. She was getting very good at those; likely due to her new eyes.

Now to find hats. Though, truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure what a hat was. All she knew was that the books said hats were something that goes on the head. A garment of some description. Pirates wore them? There wasn't anything like that in the bags she got from the invaders…maybe other things had been left behind by other invaders elsewhere? With that thought in mind, she walked out of the cavern and made her way down the mountain.

As was expected, no creatures attempted to get in her way, cowering at the sight of the rightful ruler of the mountain. At one point, she pondered just grabbing some of the smaller creatures and making them sit atop the heads of her vassals to be their hats. The uzia could be nice? Though the tendrils were likely too dangerous...Rats might make good hats, the words did rhyme.

However, before she could fully explore the merits of rat-based hattery, her search paid off for her as she found a number of creatures that she could most assuredly take from. Invaders.

“-this is the furthest anyone made it in years, right? No one gets past the red troll on the sixth floor, but here we are!” one of them, a male wearing black and reeking of death explained to his companions as he led the way through the halls, “So turning back now would be foolhardy! And I, Sir Ambrose–”

She didn’t bother to listen to the rest of his words. The language was interesting enough, but she had more important matters on the mind as she glanced over all of the invaders present. All bipeds, two small pointy-eared green ones, two large tusked gray ones, the pale leader and a yellow-green one at about the same height as him that was wearing robes and had a bag, like that one invader that had all those books, so that was the one Ariel wanted most.

However, she was smarter than just jumping right in the middle of a group of invaders, so she did the far more logical thing of following behind them, snatching the ones at the rear with webs and yanking them up to the ceiling and moving forward until she had six bound, struggling invaders pinned properly.

She took their bags and weapons first, obviously, looking through the former and generally tossing the latter around because she really didn’t care. Said bags had things in them, so she secured them over her shoulders and then began searching the invaders more thoroughly. When they started struggling too much, usually when she began divesting them of their garments, she just pinched their noses shut until they stopped moving, then went back to what she was doing, though “Ambrose” seemed oddly fine with the lack of air, so she slammed his head against the ceiling a few times. Soon enough, she had a decent amount of “loot” consisting of various stuff and things, at which point she stored her valuables in her newfound bags, carried the unconscious invaders back to the entrance on her back, snagged a snake along the way to snack on, and deposited the lot outside again.

On a different day, she might’ve marveled at the wonders of the outside world; the glimmering sun up in the cloudy sky, the birds hooting and cawing in the trees, the soft babble of a blackwater river forming a pseudo moat around the mountain, etc, but that day was not one of those days. She was more interested in her new stuff, so she just tossed the invaders to the ground, then prodded one of them with a foreleg until it woke up.

The small thing squealed in its gag and tried inching away from her, so she pressed firmly on its chest to keep it in place. “Bring more stuff.”

Its eyes went wide as she spoke, but Ariel had better things to focus on now that her message was received and strolled back into her mountain to figure out what, precisely, she’d managed to find. And what among those things counted as hats.

Luckily, she had Elliot to figure that part out. Less luckily, he didn’t know what a hat was either, though he was willing to give it a try as his various centipedes began exploring her gathered loot. Out of all the things she had on her, only a few were actually worn on someone’s head, so she had a decent guess that the odd, round black thing she’d found on Ambrose’s head counted as a hat. And it fit perfectly on Peter, so that’s where that one went.

Eventually all of them had a hat on, except for Bitch, because he didn't deserve one. Sure, none of the hats actually resembled the hat Peter had and were mostly made up of loot that was large enough to fit properly in between or over their antennae, but it was the thought that counted.

Regardless, with that settled, she began to ponder just what to do. Food would, of course, come first, but now that she was the queen, what would come next? Hm…

Glancing over at Elliot, a thought crossed her mind. Working together would make them stronger, and as the stronger of the two, it was up to her to get them up to her level, so that he in turn would make her stronger. With that in mind, she grabbed her favorite book, and walked up to the colossus.

“Down,” she commanded, gesturing to the floor.

Elliot blinked at her for a moment, then did so, causing the cloth draped over his head to shift slightly. Once he was properly lowered, Ariel climbed on top of him, then settled on the...shawl It was probably a shawl, now that she thought about it, which was fine, since that was also headwear. Regardless, she settled in and started to read aloud, drawing the attention of Elliot’s other heads, who started settling in around her to listen as she regaled them with the best story she’d ever read.

And thus, a routine was established.

She would read to the heads, Peter would provide them with food, and whenever any intruders came, she would take anything she wanted from them. It was simple and easy, really. Elliot appreciated the reading, she gained new books from those she robbed, and Peter was getting better at manifesting naturally fatter rats and snakes varieties, which were delightfully tasty. The core even started branching out into other scrumptious monstrosities, once she brought them a proper set of cookbooks she took from some invader with aspirations of chefhood.

Why said chef aspirant decided to come to the deadliest dungeon in the Dark Lands as unknown to Ariel, though she did have to admit, her home had dropped severely in lethality. Sure, there were still monsters, but the ones she kept around were more intended to be lures, ways of enticing the invaders in deeper so she could properly isolate and divest them. The invaders were apparently hearing rumors of the glorious queen of Bleakclaw, so she had to get more creative in how she dealt with them.

And she was being very smart about it too. She took great pains not to kill the silly oafs traipsing about her dominion, all so they’d tell tales of her dominion and bring in more seeking great treasures. One didn’t just kill the cattle that brought them milk, to use an analogy she knew of; it was why she kept Peter around, after all.

That, and a slight fondness for her creator. In a way, the core was like a parent. A genderless, semi-inanimate parent that initially had no care in the slightest about whether she lived or died, but a parent nonetheless, and a parent should be treasured, so long as they actually benefited their child. Or, more accurately, benefited Ariel.

And Elliot, to a lesser extent. She had a fondness for him too, though in the sense that a younger sister may be fond of an elder brother several centuries older than her that also tried to kill her when they first met. In fairness, she did attack first, but the point was, he’d become her closest friend and confidant within the mountain, and thus she rewarded him with better hats and more treasures, which the invaders continued to bring.

Sure, they tended to just bring weaponry and clothing, but those were still treasures, and she had a fondness for the other knicknacks they carried with them. She’d also made a practice of at least leaving the undergarments of those who brought books, as a sort of encouragement for those outside to bring more of those; if they brought something instructional, or just a book from a series she liked, she’d even let them keep the rest of their clothing. No weapons, those were hers, and she’d amassed quite a pile. She had the vague impulse to melt them all down and make a throne from the metals, but that seemed too impractical. She couldn’t really fit on a throne made for bipeds, so she’d need a lot more swords…

Ariel sighed, pouting at her reflection in her full-length mirror. A birthday gift she’d gained from Peter, who apparently knew what day she was actually born. It was a nice gesture, one she felt she had to reciprocate at some point, but then she didn’t know what day Peter was specifically “born” on. Neither did Elliot when she asked him, and the core seemed smug about her lack of knowledge, so she wasn’t asking them, the stupid orb…

She continued to pout, then started to feel her cheeks, huffing at the image mimicking her. Her upper body was so...soft. It felt weird. Sure, the rest of her body wasn’t exactly a hardened shell like Elliot’s, but there was a strong difference between chitin and skin. It moved differently too; when she was younger, her body moved through its internal fluids, moving to give her limbs movement. Moving to move, to be redundant. But now she had muscles? And an internal skeleton?? It was weird! Really weird!

Though she was beautiful, she had to admit that. She smiled then, and nearly shivered at the delightful feeling there. The way her lips peeled back and bared her sharp white teeth sent an odd rush through her. How was it that the act of smiling made her feel happy? It was weird. Quite weird.

And yet, every part of her body felt natural. The way her two arms–arms, not legs–bent and flexed, the fingers on her hands, the sharpened claws at their ends, the way her chest rose and fell with each breath, her hair–Ha! Her hair! No longer was her hair merely spread across her body, now it fell from her head! Long and white, the same ivory tone as the rest of her body, falling all the way down her back and reaching her thorax; it’d grown out, ever since she first gained her new body. She never cut it, that would be silly. A queen needed to look regal.

Besides, Kymani showed a surprising talent with hair brushing. His forelegs were quite dextrous; perhaps she should have him braid it? Maybe if she had the proper materials…

Ariel pursed her lips, then smiled again. It was decided. She’d go out and find a “hairdresser”. One should probably wander into Bleakclaw at some point. Or maybe she could find one? She didn’t go outside the mountain, except to toss out the invaders she robbed, so she didn’t quite know where to find someone like that...Though she did have options if she wanted to…

So it was decided! Again! And with that decision, she turned and promptly pulled one of her dresses from the makeshift rack she had made some time ago. She’d become quite the handy arachne–not just because she now had hands–due to some helpful books that described things like how to assemble furniture, how to sew, and how to skin various animals. As such, she now had a number of amenities in her own personal quarters, formed at her request by Peter, and a number of lovely gowns to go with them.

Without informing Elliot or Peter her plans, she immediately went off, going to the exit of the mountains in search of a hairdresser. Where one would be found, she wasn't sure, but she was sure that it would be easy enough for someone like her.

After all, she did let several invaders out without harming any of them, so clearly they owed her. Though she did have to say, the light from the sun was quite harsh today; good thing she also brought one of her many hats. It was one of her heavier hats, wide-brimmed and woven from her own silk, but that just meant that it would better protect her from the sun. Walking through the fields past Bleakclaw’s moat, she made her way towards a single direction, assured in her decision that she would find people soon enough.

And she did, eventually. More specifically, she found a town. She’d later learn the town was named Mountainshade, for its close proximity to her home, but at the moment, she was more interested in the people and less in the town itself. Sure, it was a nice town, composed of stone and woods and tiles and walls that criss-crossed through its streets due to its status as the former lair of a long dead lord, and it was also technically the first town she’d ever been in, but she had better things to focus on than history she didn’t know.

Like people! Though the first people she saw immediately ran away in obvious panic. So that was something. What made it more awkward was the fact that they seemed to be the town’s guardians, so...No matter, that merely meant her ability to traverse the town would go unhindered. And it was still quite the cute town, mostly composed of black stone that reminded her of home.

“You.” She pointed to one of the peasants nearby, who was pressed up against the wall, out of her path. Most of the peasants seemed to be out of her path, in fact. In a way, she almost felt like the queen in her royal procession back in–Ah, no, focusing. “Are you a hairdresser?”

“...N-No? Uh...s-s-sorry.”

Useless then. “Point me to one.”

“...A-Ah, uh, th-th-there’s a barber-”

“I did not ask for a barber.” She walked closer to the...human? Brown skin, black hair, rounded ears, bearded...either a human or a dwarf…She didn’t know heights, precisely, but he was smaller than her. “Point me to the hairdresser.”

“R-R-Right, s-s-sorry milady! A-Ah, u-u-uh-” He glanced around, looking to other townsfolk for some type of hint–

“You’re an arachne.”

Ariel paused, then turned to the source of the voice behind her. Then stared. And stared. And continued to stare. And stared some more.

The radiant beauty waited for her with a simple smile, her golden eyes meeting Ariel’s with ease despite the height difference between them. Her ears were pointed. So. Not a human? “Are you human?”

“Mostly,” the beauty replied, continuing to smile. There was such an ease to her stance, no rigidity, no tension, simply calm, collected interest. Interest in Ariel? That…

“I see.” She didn’t, not quite...well, people of different races could interbreed, so...Yes, of course, the beauty had to come from...from some other type of person. Something divine, certainly. She was too bright not to be.

Ariel could see it so easily. The color that pulsed just under her skin, the sheer well of power there, shimmering obviously through the crimson robe she wore...Plague and Blood and Thirst, intertwined and glowing so very bright...

And Ariel abruptly remembered that there were protocols and manners and things she should be doing when meeting someone of such obviously royal bearing and so she turned fully to face the beauty and smiled and curtsied, gripping the silks of her skirt as delicately as she could as she bowed her head. “I am Ariel, Queen of Bleakclaw.”

“Greetings to you, oh Queen of Bleakclaw,” the beauty replied as she bowed in return. A short, respectful bow, but not a deep one. That meant...something? Were they meant to be equals? “I am Countess Claire Valondrac of Blekhon, and it’s my sincere pleasure to meet you!”

A count? “You are a vampire?” Ariel paused, then looked up. The sun was up. That was the sun, right? Yes, it was, so…

“Nope! Again, mostly human. Human enough to be considered more human than not,” Valondrac explained as she straightened, still smiling. She had a very nice smile. "I just happen to hold the title of a count."

"Right…is there something you need?"

"You, actually."

Her heart thumped. "...H-Huh?"

"I came here to see the queen of Bleakclaw, and since that’s you, that means I came here to see you."

"O-Oh, I see. Well, if that is the case, then give me whatever offerings you have. Otherwise, show me to a hairdresser."

Valondrac shook her head, still smiling her pretty smile. "My apologies, I didn’t bring any offerings. I can, however, offer tea if you’re willing to talk with me."

"...Tea?" Hm. Yes, that was something from the book she had never been able to have. Peter was able to make tea leaves, but none of them knew how to make that into tea. And it was quite common for a queen to drink tea, right? So, obviously, she should drink some for the first time in her life.

"Very well, I shall have this tea," Ariel, keeping her voice calm to not appear too eager, acquiesced, then gestured for the countess to lead the way.

Smiling, the countess turned, leading Ariel away from the village, and as they walked, the arachne noticed that some flamboyant fool was going about the town, seemingly trying to calm the villagers. Oddly pale, that one, much whiter than most of the humans. Humans?

"Those were humans, correct?”

“Probably,” Valondrac agreed without hesitation, “I doubt any of them would have orcish blood this far out. You might see some people with that closer to the larger cities, where the caravans tend to travel, but out here in the boonies? Nope. I’d consider potential goblin heritage, but they also tend to stick to cities, and Bleakclaw acts as a decent deterrent to most people looking to settle somewhere nearby.”

“Hm. Fascinating.” It actually was. She was learning so much! Though what would be a good follow-up question? “So why is that village there?”

“You can attribute that to human stubbornness. Did you know there’s a saying on the subject? ‘Goblins can live anywhere because they adapt to their surroundings. Humans can live anywhere because they force their surroundings to adapt to them.’ I’m sure there’s a simpler version than that, but that’s how I heard it. Anyhow, people will live where it feels safe and there’s potential to thrive, and while Bleakclaw does deter some people, it also draws others looking for adventure.” Valondrac grinned back at her and Ariel felt her heart thump again. “Essentially, what you have here is a town perfect for fleecing suckers looking to strike it rich by conquering the unconquerable mountain.”

Ariel stood straighter and tilted her head back in an “imperious” manner, like the books said to do. “Unconquerable to lesser fools, perhaps, yet here I stand, the conqueror of the once unconquered mountain.”

“Yup yup, I can see you’re quite the majestic conqueror too.” Ariel’s face went hot right as Valondrac turned again, leading her towards some sort of house on wheels–Carriage! That was a carriage, she knew what a carriage was. It was a little ways outside the village too, out near the plains surrounding, waiting there with some sort of attendant. “Which brings me to my main point of coming to you today. The subject of conquering, rulership, and all those types of fiddly things that go into how nations work. Mainly because I’m aiming to conquer every nation.”

Ariel could believe it. Looking at Valondrac, she could see how it could be possible. Ariel had conquered her home mountain so how hard could it be to keep going with that? Just keep doing what she did until all the “nations” were hers, simple. That being said.

"And are you aiming to conquer Bleakclaw as well?"

"And what would you do if I said yes?" Grinning, Valondrac’s eyes seemed to sharpen as she looked up at Ariel. Crossing her arms, Ariel glared back.

"I would have to show you how I conquered Bleakclaw in the first place."

"Is that so-" As the tension grew, both paused as they heard a loud rumbling that made Bleakclaw itself seem to shake. And as they both looked over at the mountain, they saw its peak burst apart as a familiar sight let out a guttural screech and immediately raced down the mountain, aiming directly at the two.

Which was probably bad, because the village was in Elliot’s way.

“Is that a colossus?” Valondrac didn’t seem bothered though, more interested.

“A stone branch colossus, yes,” Ariel replied, smiling at her advantage in knowledge, “That would be my brother, Elliot. And the rest of my brother, Luca, Kymani, Jaren, Tyson, Noah, Zaeed, and Bitch.”

“And he wears top hats?”

Ariel beamed proudly. “I made them for him.” Aside from Jaren’s hat, since he preferred wearing a shield instead like a sort of cap.

“Fascinating. Is he going to stop?”

“Probably not. I didn’t realize he could even move. Well, I know his branches can move, but I didn’t think his mound could.” The massive legs jutting from Elliot’s central body were certainly new. They actually reminded Ariel a bit of her own, with how they were shaped, and she could faintly see Peter glowing on his pedestal in the middle of said mound. Also, there was a great deal of panicked screaming coming from the town.

“Great, good to know, can you get him to stop?”

“Probably. Why?”

“If he doesn’t stop, the town gets flattened. Though it might anyhow, considering that landslide…” Valondrac frowned, then...sprouted wings. Huh.

“...Are you an angel?”

“No, different thing. Do you want me to carry you, or can you make it over there yourself?”

Ariel blinked. “...Carry me?”

“Alright, but this’ll take some maneuvering.” Ariel blinked again, then most definitely did not squeak when Valondrac hopped on her back and wrapped her arms around her upper waist.

“Eep-W-What are-” Then they were both flying and Ariel felt her face burning again as she was outright carried over the village before she was set down, surprisingly gently, in front of the village gates again. Which still had no guards in front of it. Were they ever coming back? No, no, more important matters to address, like the fact that Valondrac’s chest had been right up against her back and that–

“Alright, this’ll be interesting,” Valondrac muttered as she hopped off and walked in front of Ariel, focused right on the approaching landslide and enraged colossus. She took a deep breath, planted one foot firmly on the ground, set her arms out, palms down, then rose them like she was lifting–

A massive set of earthen walls erupted from the ground in front of her, blocking every last chunk of stone in its tracks in an immense explosion of dust, Elliot’s surprised shrieking sounding out through all the noise. Then Ariel suddenly felt Valondrac’s hand in hers, setting her face alight again, when she was suddenly yanked then pushed forward, in front of Valondrac.

“Landslide handled, please tell your brother I’m not an issue.”

Ariel blinked once again, then looked back at Valondrac with wide eyes. The human(??) stared back, her gaze now distinctly unamused. “...H-Hm. Before I do-” Her eyes sharpened into a glare and Ariel reflexively gulped. Just...not exactly out of fear. It was a different emotion. “-...W-Why, precisely, were you looking for me in the first place?”

“Oh, that.” She relaxed. “Two reasons, really. One, I wanted to find out more about the ‘white arachne of Bleakclaw’. You’ve made a name for yourself, and if you turned out to be amicable to the idea, I was going to ask if you wanted to join my armies in conquering the world.”

“...As your subordinate?” Ariel felt a very weird sensation right then and there. For some reason...the idea appealed?

“Subordinate, partner, nominal ally who I can trust to watch my back, whichever. I like finding interesting people and bringing them to my side. I can’t exactly rule the world all on my own, can I? It’s a big place, and I need some people to help.”

“...We’re stronger together…” Ariel echoed, barely even noticing Elliot’s heads poking over the wall and chattering amongst himself as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Valondrac beamed. She had a lovely smile. “Exactly! Oh, and as for reason two, how would you like to be in charge of your own coterie, completely leaderless and ripe for the taking?”

“...What?”

Act 3: The Darling of the Woodcourt Coterie

“Okay, so quick refresher before we get there,” Claire began, clapping her hands together as she sat cross-legged on the cushion laid out for her, her lovely black hair blowing slightly in the breeze as they moved through the plains and marshes the outside world seemed to consist of.

“I understand the basics just fine,” Ariel retorted, sitting on a cushion of her own. Which consisted of extending her legs far enough to let her abdomen rest on the cushion, which had been brought by Claire’s oddly pale servant, who was named Jonathan. Claire left him behind to guard that town from any other curious monsters that may come from Bleakclaw, so Ariel was having a nice trip without any potential interruptions. “There are other spiders like me out in the world–” Though none quite as gorgeously alabaster, from what she had heard. “–and they have their own little societies, and this one needs a new queen.”

“Yeah yeah, you definitely do get the basics there, but that’s still just the basics, and the members of the coterie will have annoying things like ‘expectations’ and ‘protocols’ that we should at least play along with if you really do want to help me with this.”

“Of course I do, having a sudden increase in minions would be beneficial to me too–” And there was, admittedly, a part of her that was intrigued by the prospect of meeting others of her kind again. “–but are constant ‘refreshers’ really necessary?”

Elliot raised his head and glanced back at them, chittering a reprimand that got Ariel to scowl at the potential interruption she completely disregarded because she didn’t think he’d comment. “I’m not being obtuse! I just don’t see the point here! I’ll come in, beat the biggest one, and the rest will fall in line!”

“...Right, we do need to talk more. Because that’s just...super wrong.”

Ariel frowned, then huffed, just a tad annoyed. This trip was supposed to be more...well not romantic, but at least fun.

As for the trip itself, she and Claire were traveling in style to the “Wood Court”, the dominion of some sort of group called the Woodcourt Coterie. There’d been a few mentions of such things in Ariel’s book collection, but mostly in the context of merchant groups, so she really didn’t see why they were such a big deal. Oh, and the “in style” part referred to the fact that they were traveling on Elliot’s back.

He’d been more than happy to calm down and hear Claire out once it was explained that she hadn’t abducted Ariel from the mountain or attempted to kill her, as Peter assumed when they apparently detected Ariel’s...reactions. Which wasn’t her fault, really it was theirs for assuming, but she did give a slight apology for just up and leaving without telling them a thing. Then she had to back away immediately because Elliot tried to nuzzle her and there was no way she was showing that kind of weakness in front of her crush–In front of her potential partner in conquest.

“Fine. Then regale me with the history of my people.”

Claire snorted, an utterly adorable noise. “Fine fine, you got it. Now, you know better than anyone that dungeons have a tendency to spawn monsters, ranging from the minuscule to the gigantic.” She rapped her knuckles on Elliot’s shell for emphasis while Peter pinged with pride, a smug aura emanating from the core that Ariel frowned at. “Some cores tend to find specializations too, things they become especially good at creating in a sort of ‘theme’, which leads to things like ‘gold dungeons’ that lure in travelers with shiny treasure and rob them of everything they’re worth or ‘slime dungeons’, which are essentially just filled with the most basic, squishy, and adorable of monsters in existence. They develop their own biomes, find specific niches, all that.

“Here’s the thing though. If you have a type of...well, whether a core counts as an object or a being depends on who you ask, but things that create life have a tendency to wind up not knowing exactly what they’re doing, especially when they mix and match things in an attempt to create more effective protectors. It’s why you’ll see things like chimeras wandering out in the world.”

“And what, pray tell, does this have to do with arachnes?” Ariel demanded, getting impatient. Sure, Claire’s voice was nice, but she didn’t like being lectured.

“Right, my bad, I get wordy sometimes. To sum it up, the main theory for why your people exist as they do is ‘a dungeon did it’. Take a natural predator like a spider and boost its size while rearranging its internal systems to make a viable guardian and you get giant spiders. Now, as for your intelligence, that’s a harder one to figure out. Random mutation could be the cause, or it could be that cores figured out intelligent monsters were better guardians. We have evidence for either in the form of the myrmidons from Olafiba and the beol of Skiritaba, along with other ‘apocrit’ races, but aranae, the collective name for intelligent species of giant spiders, are weird. Amazing, but weird.”

Ariel tried not to preen at being called amazing. “And what makes us so amazing to you?”

Claire’s face twitched, almost like she stopped herself from laughing. “G-Good question. So, aranae have a few quirks that separate them from the other...I’m not sure if there’s even a collective term here...arthropodic races? I suppose? Anyhow, aranae are something of a mystery, because no one’s sure how long they’ve actually been around. We have records of giant spiders dating back thousands of years, but we don’t know how many were intelligent because there are so many conflicting accounts and legends there. What we know for sure is that aranae suddenly rose up around three thousand years ago, at the start of the current era and actually turned out to be a huge counter force to the vampiric nobility of Inrapaba, overwhelming longstanding power structures that were just starting to reform themselves after the fall of Parzeli.”

“Who?”

“Not important at the moment, I can explain that jackass later. Point is, it turns out giant spiders beat vampires in most direct conflicts, especially when it comes to a vampire going up against an arachne, the ‘natural queens’ of the aranae race. Like you.”

Like her. “Like me.”

“Exactly. Now, the ‘natural queen’ thing is another one of those amazing slash weird points, where specifically the females of the aranae race are capable of metamorphosing into shapes like yours when some specific requirements are met. I don’t know the exact details, books can only tell you so much and aranae lore is filled with nonsensical fear mongering from arachnophobes, but most give mention to arachne having a natural ‘soul of authority’ that makes them naturally trend towards leadership roles in hierarchical structures. As such, most large groups of aranae will have an arachne at their head, and some, such as the coteries, have multiple, usually with their own hierarchical structure among them.”

“Hm. So why doesn’t the ‘wood court’ have one?”

“Conflict, mostly. Coteries are different from traditional noble structures in that they’re more like large scale guilds, with an emphasis on the production and selling of goods and amenities to obtain economic powers. See, while aranae have been involved in multiple wars of conquest and whatnot, often joining up with or even becoming Demon Lords in their drives for wealth and power, but that’s not exactly sustainable for any sort of society, particularly when one actually wants to take advantage of other races’ unique talents and not just have their own ‘queendom of webs’ where they and their kin rule over basically empty wastelands due to overhunting and-”

“You’re rambling again.”

Claire blinked, blushed, and cleared her throat, not noticing how Ariel had to actively resist fawning over how adorable she was. “Right. Anyhow, the long and short of it is that they decided to focus on using things like their ability to produce silk and surprising talents at domesticating monsters to form ‘business societies’, with them at the top. So now Inrapaba has two types of aristocracy, one that asserts itself through divine privilege and another that uses economic influence.”

“Truly fascinating, Countess Valondrac. However, you still didn’t explain why the Woodcourt doesn’t have a leader.”

“...Mmph.” She looked quite cute when she pouted too. “From what I know, the old president of the coterie, Lady Abigail Leicester, died of an illness without any heirs. The lumber-focused coterie took some hits with a combination of Demon Lord Orast drawing in some of their members decades ago, and then the more recent Demon Lord Irascagan actively killed a few of their ranking members during his own ascension. Add in at least one other coterie poaching some talent, and they’ve been on a severe downswing that I, in my very magnanimous way, have offered to help them out of.”

“Which is why I am here.”

“Precisely! They want a new queen, you’re a new queen, you want minions, they’re natural minions, I want an ally, I help you out, everyone wins!”

Ariel nodded and stood from her cushion. “Understood. Let’s be off then.”

With that, she promptly hopped from Elliot’s back and strolled towards the sprawling lumberyard as Claire let out an impressed noise behind her. “Woah. I didn’t even notice we stopped.”

Ariel sniffed, affecting an air of noble composure as she walked through the cleared plain, drawing the eyes of a startlingly diverse mix of workers. Mostly a mix of aranae, who seemed to be of the brown and black speckled variety, and green and gray bipeds, the former of which were smaller–which probably made them goblins–while the latter stood taller than Claire and nearly at the same height as Ariel, which meant they had to be orcs. That, or goliaths, but goliaths supposedly had pale skin tones and lacked tusks, so she doubted that.

The lumberyard was surprisingly open too, though that may be owed to the large boars she saw they were using as draft animals, pulling carts of logs and whatnot. The rough, spine covered animals did exude an aura of menace she was used to seeing from some of Bleakclaw’s residents, though they noticeably shrunk back when she turned her gaze on them.

None of them mattered though. Not the workers pausing to stare, not the sawmills casting chips of wood in the air nor the windmills creaking ominously in the wind, and certainly not the beasts of burden hitched to carts full of uncut logs or finished planks. What mattered was the immense manor she saw towards the center of the yard, where webs spread through the large columns supporting its tilted roof, centered by a gazebo-esque dome cocooned in webbing.

In other words, the type of manor the nobles from her novels had, almost exactly as she pictured. Though this one had more aranae walking across it, which just made it better in her opinion.

And one was approaching her as she walked towards it, a small, black and brown speckled male wearing a deep green overcoat and matching bowler hat. His black eyes examined her for a moment, then he had the gall to turn his gaze towards Claire. “Countess Valondrac. I see you have returned.”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Claire smiled though, then pressed a hand to her chest while raising the other towards Ariel as she gave a shallow bow. “May I present to you the Queen of Bleakclaw Mountain, Ariel. Ariel, this is Edmond Rowlatt, one of the upper managers of the coterie.”

“Queen eh? Hm.” His pedipalps flared, radiating audacious displeasure as he turned his gaze back to her. “Quite the pale one, isn’t she?”

“I am a guest on your lands,” Ariel sniped back, scowling.

“Guest, eh? A guest, bringing monsters.” He glared over at Elliot, whose heads were looking around curiously at the workers watching him warily. “You realize this could very well count as an invasion of our territory, Countess Valondrac.”

Ariel stepped forward, scowling deeper. “You are not speaking to her, you are speaking to me! I am here because you seek a queen. I am a queen. Here is your solution, right in front of you.”

Edmond sniffed, dismissive. “You’re a dungeon-born beast, no true queen–”

He squealed as she drove a leg down on his head, pushing him into the dirt. “WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“GYAH! G-GET OFF! Y-YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE-”

“I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING! YOU DARE TRY TO DISMISS ME!? YOU SPEAK TO ME AS IF I AM A BEAST!?”

She caught the web shot at her and yanked the idiot aranae that spat it off his feet, gripping him by the face as he shrieked in panic. She snapped her gaze towards him and he quelled in her hand before she raised her hand, looking at the other workers around. There were some orcs and goblins holding crossbows and some aranae in wide-brimmed, high-crowned plains hats and blue coats were aiming at her with glowing balls of fiery darkness in between their pedipalps.

Claire was frowning. Elliot seemed tense. Neither moved as Ariel let her gaze drift over every last idiot in the yard.

“Let the boss go, freak,” one of the spiders snarled, only to immediately quail as Ariel glared straight at him.

“Freak? Freak. You think I’m a freak? Are you stupid? Are you a fucking moron? Can none of you recognize beauty when it’s right in front of you?! You think I’m some idiot beast wandering in here, throwing her weight around? No.” She promptly chucked the spider in her grip over her shoulder, letting him land with a squeak and obvious panic as he scurried away. “I want you to understand this. I am your new queen. You want one, don’t you? So let me ask, why are you so absolutely stupid to reject what gift arrives right in front of you?”

“...You’re some random white arachne that’s stepping on our boss.”

“AND IS HE REALLY WORTHY OF BEING YOUR BOSS IF I CAN DO THIS!?” She pressed harder for emphasis, earning a strange noise from Edmond that made his workers stare at him oddly for some reason.

“...I mean, he’s not our top boss.”

“And who would that be?”

“Me, young miss.”

Ariel paused, then looked back at the manor, and at the very, very large aranae now standing over her. He wasn’t exactly Elliot’s size, but he was large and felt old. Unlike the rest, the black spider in front of her was flecked with gray instead of brown, and he wore a number of monocles over some of his aged eyes. He also had a very lovely top hat, and an equally nice black coat.

She nodded to him, inclining her head enough to show respect but not even a hint of deference. “Greetings, elder one. I am Ariel, Queen of Bleakclaw. I request knowledge of your name.”

The elder’s fangs flared in surprise, before he nodded respectfully back. “I am Bartram Leicester-Rowlatt, husband to my late Abigail, may the Miser rest her soul, and acting President of the Woodcourt Coterie. If I may apologize, it seems my son has acted with haste in his attitudes towards you, your majesty.”

“He did.” Ariel didn’t smile yet, nor remove her tarsus from Edmond’s head. She liked the proper use of her title and clear respect here, but she was taking things seriously. “Why doesn’t he share your surname?”

“It is a tradition, your majesty, for the arachne of a coterie to take a spouse from amongst her noble followers. Of the children produced from their union, only those of our race who become arachne retain the royal name, while all others instead retake the noble name.”

“And you are satisfied with this arrangement?”

“Of course, your majesty. One must know where one stands in life. To be royal is different from being noble which is different from being servile. Similarly, one must be aware of their suitability for their positions. You wove that dress yourself, did you not?”

She frowned. He was going somewhere with this that she didn’t like. “I did.”

“It is lovely. The hats your companion wears are quite spiffy as well. You would do well as a garment maker, should you focus your talents that way. You clearly would do well as a fighter as well, judging by your command over such a grand monster.” He nodded to Elliot, who preened, some heads chittering modestly while others acted smug. “Yet you lack the knowledge of aranae culture. We, if you would pardon the cliché, weave a tangled web of etiquette and political intrigue as we maintain our power and authority in a land with very mixed opinions towards our kind. You stand out already with your alabaster radiance. Would you be satisfied with being branded an ignorant nouveau riche if you were to walk amongst our competitors?”

“Of course not! That’s why I’ll bring one of you with me to tell me what those idiots will be going on about! I can read up on the rest in the meantime. You do have books on the subject, don’t you?”

Bartram blinked. “Your majesty, that would be...Having one of us follow you–”

“Royals have attendants for social events and interpreters when dealing with foreign powers. I have no experience with this society, thus I am a foreign power. You will interpret, and you will do your job right so I don’t look like an idiot, got it?”

“I-Now-My word, you-Are you truly this arrogant?? Young lady, we are talking about–”

Ariel stepped on his head too. Simply lifted a leg and slammed it down on his head, driving him into the dirt too amid panicked cries of “BOSS!” from the peons around.

“We are talking about how I am your queen now, so you will be doing as I say and working for my advancement in this society. ‘We are stronger together’, and that means I am stronger when you help me properly! And in turn, I’ll fix this ramshackle stupidity you’ve apparently let your coterie fall into. Am I understood?”

“Gh-Y-Yes m-m-mistress!” came the immediate reply, Bartram’s legs twitching with the effort of keeping himself in place. By now, Edmond was just making some odd keening noise.

“Good. Now, we’ll also be moving operations closer to my home. Bleakclaw is much better situated than this weird field place. We can keep it as an outpost as I expand my territory. You’ll also be delivering information on the other coteries so we can work on getting them on our side and removing any forces that are active threats to us.”

“O-O-Of c-c-course, m-m-mistress!”

“Further, we will be allying with the Countess Valondrac posthaste, and I will be in discussions with her on how exactly that alliance shall be progressing, understood?”

“N-Nhhooh, h-h-harder…”

She frowned, ignoring the collective “what” she heard sound out around her, and stepped down harder on Bartram’s head. “Understood?”

“Y-Y-Yes! Y-Yes, y-y-yes, o-of c-course, m-mistress! A-Anything you desire!”

“Good.” And she finally let the two shaking spiders up, before turning her crimson gaze on the rest of the peons watching, all of them stiffening to attention as she glared. “Well? Do you want a prize? GET BACK TO WORK!”

They all immediately darted off, some outright dropping their weapons as they went. Which was stupid, those were valuable. Also, one crossbow went off and wound up smashing one of the manor’s windows.

“...” Ariel turned back to Bartram, then noted one of his own monocles was visibly broken. “I’ll replace that later.”

“A-A-Ah, o-of course. Thank you, m-my most generous mistress…” Still shaking, the larger aranae turned back to the manor with an oddly eager energy in his step. He must’ve really been happy to get a new queen.

And Edmond was also there, staring up at her. “What?”

“...a-ah, n-n-nothing, m-mistress. I’ll, uh...I’ll get back to it.” He scurried off too, which left her alone with Claire, who Ariel turned towards with a wide grin, clapping her hands together.

“Well that went fantastically! As I said, all I have to do is make them obey properly and know their place! A success all around!”

“...” Claire gave her a weird looking smile, nodded, and gave her a thumbs up. For some reason, Elliot sighed behind her, but Ariel didn’t care about that, because she had so many new things to get caught up on!

And catch up she did, as she improved, grew in power, and worked alongside her many new minions to gradually expand their businesses and operations. She discovered a rather impressive talent for management and sabotage, working amid a truly tangled web of politics and economics to build herself up higher and higher, though it would take a very long time to elaborate on every last maneuver and scheme she put together to ensure all the other arachne in power knew just who they were dealing with.

Thus the small white spider of Bleakclaw Mountain became Lady Ariel Leicester, Darling President of the Woodcourt Coterie, ruler of Bleakclaw Manor–built right on top of the ruined mountain–and the newest ally of the woman she loved.

#writing #fantasy #fiction #my writing #dlg #spiders #arachnes #centipedes #ogres #trolls #dungeons #monsters #aranae #long post #very long

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