#shes built for speed and agility

[brain-rot-hour]

Listen

It's a thing, okay?

Or it will be

I'm really really really excited

@dawnrider

[laurasimonsdaughter]

“The first thing you need to know,” the stable master announced loudly to the gaggle of school children trailing behind her, “is that these are not unicorns.”

Eleven-year-olds tended to be loud. Their silent scepticism was deafening.

“You cannot keep unicorns in captivity,” she continued. “These are all crossbreeds, mostly with specific breeds of horses.”

There was a small murmur of curiosity and a gangly arm shot up into the air.

“Yes?”

“Only mostly horses?”

It was always fun when some of them paid close attention. “Only mostly horses. I only deal with European breeds, and they tend to cross well with horses. See this here is a cross between a grey Thoroughbred and an English Unicorn. They’re large, and reasonably docile.” They also had that champagne sheen most showy folk preferred. “For people who come here looking for a steed, this is their best bet. Although I've only ever seen it done by people who personally broke them as yearlings.”

By now she definitely had the whole class’s full attention.

“But this French Licorne cross is actually half fallow deer.” She gestured to the pasture beyond the fence. “Look at them. Slight build, slender legs, built for speed and agility. They need a lot of space but they are beautiful to look at, and they’re relatively easy to tame for the pure of heart.” There was still something distinctly deer-like about them and they were all so beautifully cream coloured that they almost took on a silver hue.

“What’s those hairy ones?” a voice piped up.

“That’s a Unicorno/Shetland mix, from central Italy. Traditionally they tend to be crossed with Monterufolino, but they are hard to come by and make their coats even darker.” Unicorni were naturally built more like ponies, some with considerably shorter horns, and their coats were often a much darker gold, or even brown. They were less flighty than the French breeds though, even if they showed blatant favouritism towards certain caretakers. They would even pull a carriage if properly motivated.

“Do you have any bigger ones?”

The stable master turned around. “What was that?”

One of the boys was standing behind her with a determined look on his face. “Do you have any like that but bigger. With the beards and the furry hooves.”

“Feathering,” she corrected automatically and the boy nodded eagerly. She frowned. “What exactly do you mean?”

“There’s really big unicorns,” he pressed. “With wild manes and tails and split hooves like the French ones but hair like those ones!”

“Buddy,” she laughed, “what you’re describing there is a Scottish unicorn and let me tell you, they cannot even be crossbred into domestication.”

The little face fell.

“Any offspring of an Aon-adharcach will be as wild as they are no one can capture them with their horn still intact, not on your life. You go near one of them with a halter and it will skewer you.”

She smiled at the boy, who still looked rather taken aback, despite this proof of his favourites superiority.

“Tell you what. If you want to see something unhinged and imposing, I’ll take you to see the Eenhoorn/Friesian cross we’ve just got in from the Netherlands.”

[zenlesszonezero]

As the conspiracy reaches its finale, the Void Hunter joins the fight.

Uncover the Conspiracy in Zenless Zone Zero's All-New Version "A Storm of Falling Stars", S-Rank Agent Hoshimi Miyabi is here! With S-Rank Agent Asaba Harumasa Limited-Time Giveaway! Pre-register to obtain additional rewards.

[lying-on-floors]

How I believe these Arcane characters would fight in my AU...

SILCO has an evasion heavy fighting style. He's always been lean and fast, so he uses that to his advantage. He used knives a lot when he was younger, as well as molotov cocktails for large groups. Now that he's older, he's built up better emotional control, and his fighting is less sporadic, but if you piss him off, he will stomp your face into the concrete.

VANDER has a hands-on approach when it comes to fights. He uses his fists a lot, and he will utilize his large stature and great strength to throw his opponents around. One of the downsides of his size, though, is that he's pretty slow, which leaves him vulnerable to quick attacks. But he's a strong guy and can definitely take a few hits.

SEVIKA fights similar to Vander, as she's also hands-on, but she's more agile. She's not the quickest but doesn't need to be. She's strong and is able to hold her opponents down. Her metal arm is also a dangerous weapon. It allows her to deliver heavy and repetitive punches without hurting herself, like Vanders gauntlets. One of her go-to moves is a couple of swift headbutts to disorient her opponents, making it easier for her to overpower them.

POWDER has a very similar fighting style to Silco. She's uses her legs most of the time and has an evasion heavy style. She learned a lot from Silco, as they have similar builds. She's small and not strong enough to land heavy punches, but she will bitch slap you because she finds it funny. Although, more often than not, she prefers to try to talk things through without violence. Unless Isha is in danger, then she's on them immediately.

MYLO also learned from Silco and has an evasion heavy fighting style, but he's also practiced with Vander and uses his fists a lot. He's also a biter and a stomper. He likes distractions and will often use them, whether it's things he says or things he does. He just needs to get an advantage over his opponents. He's never been the best fighter, though. He's smart, though, and uses strategy a lot like Silco.

CLAGGOR fights very similar to Vander. He will use his size to throw his opponent around and get the upper hand. He uses his fists a lot, but he is left vulnerable like Vander a lot of the time. Although, like Powder, he would prefer to talk things out without violence.

VI fights very similar to Sevika, but she's not as skilled at blocking. She just forgets that she's not invincible. She's very offensive in her style, trying to overwhelm he opponent. This can cause her to tire out faster, though. But she's quick and is able to deliver heavy uppercuts and swift jabs.

ISHA is a biter. She is scrappy. She is about that life. She does not play, especially when it comes to Powder. She is dangerous but tiny. She can do lethal damage. I am scared of her. She follows no one but herself and her swagger.

EKKO uses his hoverboard most of the time, giving him a speed advantage. He prefers to use a staff or some other heavy blunt weapon to knock his opponent down. He's not one to kill people, and it shows when he fights. Most of his methods are non-lethal. He's a capable and well-rounded fighter. But he likes to out strategize his opponents.

SCAR fights similar to Sevika. He headbutts his opponents to disorent them. He also uses his hoverboard, which gives him a speed advantage. He's more willing to kill than Ekko is. But he's very emotionally vulnerable. He appears stoic, but he's not. He's very protective and attached to his loved ones and tends to freak out if they're in danger, which leaves him vulnerable.

STEB is an observer. He's quiet and focuses heavily on defense. He kicks and punches when needed, but he will stab someone. He may not kill them, but he will injure them. He's extra dangerous because of his medical knowledge, so he knows where to hit to knock an opponent down. He's also very protective and will impulsively put himself in harms way to save people.

I might do more later, but these were the ones actively in my head. Headcanons based on canon and my own feelings.

Feel free to add on, as always!

[clare-875]

Until the End (Levi x Reader)- Prologue

_____ A/N: Posted on Wattpad (@CLARE_875) but also decided to post here :)

Summary: "You can push me away, but I will still fight by you, and I will still follow you… until the end."

The ever-so-stoic Levi Ackerman has only ever known the terrors that living in a cruel world could bring. This all changed one fateful day when he encountered [y/n]; a girl renowned for her looks and abnormal speed. As they escape the confines of the Underground together, they soon discover that freedom doesn't come easy in a world full of Titans. As they rise through the ranks, [y/n] becomes known as "Humanity's Angel", a beacon of hope to humanity as she melts the walls Levi had built around his heart. However, she has her secrets too, and a dark past that might just threaten to pull them apart.

The storyline and characters of Attack on Titan do NOT belong to me, but all to Hajime Isayama; however, I do own this story, and all that occurs disparate to that storyline.

[Series Masterlist] [-> Chapter One] _____

Warnings: Some descriptions of sexual harassment and abuse, blood, violence

Everything was cold. Everything hurt. But you could hear a heartbeat clouding over the deranged sound of the wind, giving you warmth. "I'm sorry [y/n], I'm so sorry." As you clung to the figure that had you wrapped in their arms, you felt the coolness of the air that latched onto your skin. The taste of salt and an uncontrollable rocking took over, destroying any sense of stability. You could hear shouts from nearby strangers, a hushing voice above you as they ran by. Constant apologies were muttered as you rocked back and forth, and stared into the [e/c] of the woman's eyes.

.....

You look up to the ceiling, hoping to catch a glimpse of the starry sky that you can only imagine lies above the unsettling and revolting place known only as the Underground. This is how it has been for as long as you can remember, yet memories would still flash between the darkness of the day and the night. The smell of salt and pungency, the cruel wind, and a warmth. You removed your gaze from the sight above you and looked to the stairs cascading down from the only way out of this place. But there was no use. To get out meant money, and getting out meant having to live, yet living up there in poverty seemed just as cruel as living down here in disparity. You felt the coolness of the breeze move mercilessly against your skin as you lay clad in stolen clothes on the roof of an abandoned dump of a home. It had been your refuge ever since you escaped an orphanage at the age of 5. If you could call it an orphanage. Constant abuse and shouting were all you remember of that place. You can only imagine what warmth feels like, what freedom feels like. The freedom to eat till your heart's content, sleep without worry and run without someone chasing behind you.

Hearing the all-too-familiar sound of your hunger raking through your stomach, you stand up and get ready to fight for another day. Your small, malnourished form may seem weak to others, but your time in the Underground has taught you to be tough. Your body may seem small, but you were agile and fast, so much so that you would often be able to take a loaf of bread with the only trace of your being there, the breath of the wind. Though the Underground was depressing and miserable - many people concerned with their own lives - you were not invisible in this place. Your beauty often caught people off guard, but the unusual way your visual traits stood out in this dark place caused problems in their own way. Men covered in filth and grime, old and battered with age and trial, often corner you, perverted intentions in their hope to overpower you. It was one of the many issues you had whilst in that orphanage. Your speed, however, made up for your lack of strength as the momentum helped you retch free from their filthy grasps again and again. Today was no different.

Succeeding in taking half a loaf of bread and a handful of apples with ease, you shove them into your makeshift bag and prepare to sprint. However, after barely three steps, you feel yourself get dragged into the darkness of an alleyway and away from the business of the open streets. As your vision consorts back to normal, you look up, only to see four men taunting you with the worst intentions brimming in their eyes, the only spark being lust over their lifeless, filthy forms.

"Well, well, well, lookie here, boys, it seems we caught the gem of the pack," a man unusually muscular and large in such a food-deprived place towered over you, seemingly the leader of this pathetic gang.

You tried to keep your cool. You had gotten away from worse before; it would be alright. Two more men rounded the corner, grinning as they emerged. You scoffed in realisation and disgust but felt an unfamiliar chill rip through your spine. This seemed worse. "Imagine the price we'd be paid to have you bought after we're done with you ourselves, of course." The man moved close to your face, hand tight on your wrist. The crowded stench of alcohol and grime suffocated you, but before you could wretch free from their grasp and sprint away, the grasp on your wrist loosened, and when you looked up, the man, taunting you just seconds before, had fallen.

He was dead.

Suddenly, the tension in the air changed as eyes filled with lust turned to confusion and then anger. Shouting ensued as the men sought the source of the stone now ingrained in the head of the man who led their disgusting activities, but as their grasp left you to pursue someone else, you found yourself unable to do anything. Despite living in this barren place where death was as usual as each breath you took, you had never had it done so swiftly and in front of you. But before you could dwell on the fragility of life much longer, you heard a slam and a groan beside you. There was a boy who seemed only a few years older than you, and he had 2 grown men on the floor, bleeding and beaten. He continued fighting ruthlessly, and despite the mounds of death that surrounded you, your gaze did not falter at the way he fought. The way he looked at them.

Two more men were on the ground before you could even blink, red smearing their chests as the boy's knife was now stained with blood. He didn't hesitate. He didn't even blink. Then, as he took on the final man, you noticed a glint of silver in the corner of your eye. One of the men, already on the floor, desperately grasped his wound with one hand, and in the other, a gun aimed at the boy, still distracted as the final man refused to fall.

A second passed. Then, two gunshots. Then a moment.

The boy stared at you, a brief look of shock in his dull eyes. The final man he had been fighting fell limp to the floor along with the man in front of you, his gun lying useless on the floor before him. The next moment felt long and thick as you realised you had actually killed two men. Two disgusting, filthy, corrupt men. But living men nonetheless.

"You killed," the boy spoke, breaking the silence.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, you scoffed, staring at the gun you had stolen from another dead man in the moment. The gun you had shot two men with. "So did you." you looked up and met his eyes. As they narrowed, he turned to walk away, but you decided you were not done with this situation. You had questions and you wanted them answered. "Wait," you spoke, voice wavering despite yourself. "Why... why did you come here? Why did you kill them?" You half expected him to ignore you and walk off, but to your surprise, he turned and looked straight at you.

Moments passed before he replied. "My mother," he hesitated, but looking into your eyes, he continued, "I just didn't want you to have the same fate she did down in this goddam place." With that, he continued on his way. "Wait," you stopped him, voice firmer now. "Tch," he turned, but his eyes went from annoyed to surprised in an instant as he caught an apple you had thrown him. This time, you hesitated. "Thank you," You muttered, giving him a smile. His eyes widened slightly; this was the first time anyone apart from his mother had shown him a shred of kindness in this place.

"Levi."

"What?" you asked, confused at the randomness of the word. "My name, it's Levi," he muttered. Your eyes widened. I must have really seemed shaken for him to sympathise with me, you wonder as you figured he seemed someone closed off and invulnerable. "My name is [Y/N]," you smiled, "Thank you, Levi." He said nothing and walked off, but at least he didn't refuse your tribute. You decided that this time, you would sprint straight away to avoid any more unwanted attention, never thinking you would see him again.

.....

As time passed, you were surprised by how often you saw his face, seemingly more so in the middle of fights on the streets or stealing food. It seemed he was just as noticed in this place as you were, hearing flickers of his name uttered in the streets, followed by curses and threats. He started to notice your name being spoken in the streets too, either filthy men upon your beauty or vendors' irritation on your speed.

As you both heard the other's name uttered more often, you also bumped into each other more often. When, at first, each meeting was only a brief look of recognition, it was followed by brief greetings, then conversations (more from your end) as you found yourself intrigued by the man who had saved you with his underlying strength. He also found you curious, though he would rather die than admit it, intrigued by your strengths and your story. Soon, you both found the walls you had built around yourselves after years of grief and turmoil gradually breaking as your unlikely acquaintance turned into companionship which turned to friendship.

As years passed, you both shared multitudes of conversations, he taught you how to clean properly, you brewed tea, and you both supported each other. You would find yourselves sharing the same spaces, sharing the snippets of your past you have never shared, him surprising you with brief stories of his own. Of his mother, who had died many years ago, and of his prior caretaker, Kenny, who had abandoned him a year before. Your friendship grew with your trust, and you found yourself surrounded by the feeling of warmth, something you lacked for most of your lifetime, all thanks to Levi. Even as people you came to meet left you, even when people joined the both of you. The reassuring gestures, the way he had your back, the way he spoke about how he was "gonna get out of this shitty place." Levi gave you hope that maybe you'd find freedom with him.

_____

[-> Chapter One]

[enehana]

Ares Cabin Headcanons

Ares is actually a really good dad who loves his daughters. He defended his daughter, Alcippe, after she was raped. He would do that for any one of his daughters.

Children of Ares will typically devote themselves to one person, who they would slaughter entire armies and die for.

They're the most passionate campers, besides the Aphrodite cabin.

The Ares cabin gets together with the other children of war gods (Athena, Nemesis, Aphrodite, etc.) to plan full out wars, or maybe just the inevitable zombie apocalypse, etc.

They have terrible nightmares where they essentially live through terrible wars, such as the Trojan war, and die terrible deaths alongside great heroes. A reminder that they were always born to die in battle.

They fight for their dad's attention a lot. While he doesn't particularly want to pay attention to any of them, he'll humor them every once in a while.

Even the smaller children of Ares that were built for agility and speed are incredibly strong powerhouses.

Their fatal flaw tends to be hubris. They're always searching and competing for glory. No matter how small and insignificant it may be, they always want to be the best.

They get along very very well with the Aphrodite cabin. And great with the Nemesis cabin, along with other children of war gods, but not so great with the Athena cabin.

They naturally talk very loudly. They also walk very quickly. Their footsteps are really loud, everyone can tell when a child of Ares is walking their way.

They have a very dark sense of humor. They laugh loudly and deeply, with their whole chest.

[casualaruanienjoyer]

What sports do you see the AoT characters playing? I like to envision Jean as a swimmer or lacrosse player but that's about it

Hello! This is such a fun question, thank you for sending me this!!

What sports would these Aot characters play?

Jean: swimming. His body's perfect for it. Tall, muscular, long arms. He's very fast! But do not, and I repeat, DO NOT make him go on a vertical drop water slide. He will cry.

Armin: he's never been one for sports that involve a lot of... um... physical performance. But oh BOY this man can play golf. He's way too good at calculating trajectories and likes nerding over wind speeds and velocities. Plus, he gets to wear a neat hat.

Annie: Kickboxing. Her agility makes it easy for her to dodge her opponents who often underestimate her size. Plus, she gets to punch people all day long. Sweet!

Mikasa: Gymnastics. There's something about her body that's incredibly graceful. Her movements seem effortless. But she often loses her balance when Eren is around.

Eren: Surfing. Makes him feel free like a bird. Loves disconnecting from his daily life this way. Though, he's been rescued by lifeguards many times. He's not very good.

Pieck: Horse riding. And not just because she's the cart titan! She built an incredible relationship with her horse. Always carries sugar cubes in her pockets.

Connie: Football! His speed and wild card moves makes him incredibly unpredictable for the enemy team. His feet move so fast, no one can keep up.

Sasha: Archery, or course, for obvious reasons. Though she'd also be a great at darts because of her insane precision. As long as Connie doesn't walk in front of the boa- OH SHOOT!

Reiner: Weightlifting. This man is PURE MUSCLE. He can lift you, your mom and your entire sofa in one hand.

Yelena: Fencing. Elegant, refined. Just like her. Though part of her wishes she could actually stab her opponents. You know, just for a bit of harmless fun!

Historia: Rhythmic Gymnastics. Often trains with Mikasa, but while she's more up in the air, Historia's strenght lies in the gentle movements of her ribbons above ground.

Ymir: Skiing. It's fun, relaxing and she enjoys pulling off tricks from time to time. Likes bragging about them to Historia.

Hange: Handball. She has a great leap and throw and her eye for strategy gave her the nickname "the four eyed Demon".

Levi: Sailing, if it can be considered a sport. It's relaxing. Makes him feel content. Means that he can get away from people for as long as he wants to. Who's gonna follow him all the way her- IS THAT FLOCH??

Onyankopon: Canoeing. Why not enjoy some beautiful scenery while we're at it, no?

Falco: Badminton. Has a good eye for the shuttle and seems to be able to always land his hits. Can get easily distracted if playing against Gabi

Gabi: Shooting. BANG! Her aim is fantastic. But she really needs to work on her attitude. Oh no Connie don't walk ther- BANG!!...CONNIE!?

[zenlesszonezero]

[thescarletnargacuga]

AVIATION ENTHUSIAST

A TIME CAPSULE AU SHOWTIME ONESHOT

Caine geeks over airplanes, Pomni finds it informative and adorable

AU credit @mangotangerinepastry @the-amazing-digital-time-capsule

WARNING: none

~~~

In the late evening hours, long after the guests had gone for the day, Caine sat at the grand piano backstage. The large wooden cover for the keys was down, as he wasn't planning on playing it tonight. Instead, multiple model WW1 era airplanes sat the length of the piano like it was a runway. Small jars of paint and tiny brushes sat on a messy rag draped over the closed top of the piano.

Caine dipped one of his fine bristled brushes into the red paint to work on the detail of the biplane he held delicately in his hand. Light splotches of paint stained his gloves. He hummed to himself as he worked.

"Keep the home fires burning...while your hearts are yearning..." He finished the fine detail on his freshly painted plane and carefully set it down to let it dry. "Though your lads are far away...they dream of home..." He cleaned off his brush and grabbed a plane that was barren of any paint. With a new, larger brush, he started applying the base coat. "There's a silver lining... through the dark cloud shining..." He was so focused on his work, he didn't see Pomni out of the corner of his eye. "Turn the dark could inside out, till the boys coooome hoooome."

Pomni quietly approached and sat on the piano bench next to Caine. Caine paused what he was doing for half a second, impressed he didn't hear her get close until she was sitting down. "What are you doing up so late?" He asked without looking up.

"I don't really know. Just one of those nights." Pomni sighed, overlooking the display of model aircraft. "You made these?"

"Yep. Built and painted every one of them. Please don't touch, they're delicate."

Pomni put her outstretched hand in her lap bashfully. "I wasn't gonna-"

Caine sent her a strong side eye.

"I wasn't." Pomni reaffirmed with a defiant pout.

Caine didn't fight the small smile her adorable reaction gave him, and went back to focusing on painting the model in his hand.

Pomni kept her hands firmly in her lap as she took close looks at the impressively detailed airplanes. "What's this one?" She pointed to a sleek, steel grey sesquiplane.

Caine only glanced briefly to see which one she was referring to. "The Nieuport 17. One of the most agile planes of its time. It could outmaneuver the German eindeckers with a climbing speed of over 113 mph."

"Wow, very impressive." Pomni smirked at his info dumping. "What about this one?" She pointed to a bright blue plane with three sets of wings stacked on top of each other.

Caine looked away from his work a bit longer this time. "Uh, that is a Sopwith Triplane. Also known as Tripes, only 160 were ever made and exclusively for the British Royal Navy. Don't let their weird design fool you, they were exceptionally maneuverable and packed serious heat with a Vickers .303 machine gun mounted behind the propeller."

"Cool. Oh! What about this one? I really like the paint job." Pomni excitedly pointed to a grey-green biplane with a black lightning-shaped arrow painted on the sides.

Caine set down his paintbrush to pick up the chosen plane. "One of my personal favorites, the Albatross D.VA. They were the first fighters powered by 160-hp Mercedes in-line engines which gave them the power to carry two 7.92mm synchronized machine guns. These proved superior to all other Western Front one-gun fighters. They were sent first to specialized squadrons of one-seat scout fighters that were established to achieve local battlefield air superiority. A real shame these marvels of engineering were mainly used by the Germans."

Pomni smiled at how relaxed and open Caine seemed to be while talking about the airplanes in his collection. She wasn't looking at the Ringmaster. She was looking at a man passionate about a hobby. He made these little models feel like real replicas of epic aerial combatants.

Caine noticed how Pomni was looking at him and stopped talking. "Uh- not that, uh, any of this is particularly relevant. Heh." He nervously looked away and set the Albatross down. "Never mind my rambling."

"I don't mind. This is fascinating stuff. I never knew you knew so much about early 1900s aerospace technology, and...I like hearing you talk." Pomni admitted, fiddling with her thumbs.

Caine could swear his heart skipped a beat. "You...do?"

Pomni blushed and quickly pointed to the unfinished plane in Caine's hand. "What'sthatone?" She said so quickly, she was nearly incomprehensible.

"Oh-" Caine cleared his throat, feeling a little warm under the collar. "This is a Fokker."

Pomni did a mental double take. "A what now?"

"I swear, that's its real name. There were quite a few different types of Fokkers, actually. The V38, the E.V. and D.V. series, the eindeckers, and the drideckers. Just to name a few." Caine held up the unfinished model. "This one is an original model Fokker."

"Sounds like the first world war was full of Fokkers." Pomni said with a crooked smile.

Caine saw the joke coming a mile away, but it was still funny. He chuckled, "That it was, my dear. That it was."

[natalievoncatte]

Here's a quick snippet of something I'm working on. This is from a discarded draft, but I'm still thinking of rewriting it and using it as the cold open for the story.

The bullet in her leg was going to be a problem.

Lena had been in scrapes before. This was, after all, the third version of her armor, each one built after the previous one had failed her in some way. It had taken her six long years to work out the balance between strength and agility, speed and power; to enhance her stealth abilities and find the right balance of preparation vs weight in her equipment. Prior to that she'd spent almost ten years preparing for her mission. Traveling, studying, learning, inventing.

At first her only concern had been blades and bullets. That had been easy to deal with. Her armored suit consisted of a base layer of electrically activated fibers that simulated fast twitch muscle fibers and could boost her overall strength output five fold, making her the physical equal or better of any enemy she might encounter in the field. A layer of kevlar-nomex triweave and proprietary composite armor plating over that made her quick and agile but well protected against guns and knives.

Tonight she'd learned that well protected wasn't totally protected.

It was almost funny, after everything that had happened in those five years, everything she'd overcome, that a gang of corrupt cops and mob thugs would be the ones to take her down.

Oh, and make no mistake, she had been taken down. She might have escaped the Axis Chemical factory, but she wasn't going to make it to the extraction point, and she knew it. She wasn't going to make it to Alfred this time.

They'd find her, eventually, pry her out of the armor, and reveal to the world that the Batman had been Lena Wayne all along. Of all the things she regretted as the plain flared in her thigh and she felt hot blood flowing beneath the inner layer of her suit, Lena was surprised to find that one of the things she'd regret most was not getting to see the looks on their faces when they found out.

She'd faced down plant toxins and freeze cannons and a shape-shifting monster. Aliens and metahumans and magicians. She'd taken them all on and come up ahead.

You know what? Lena decided, this isn't too bad. No, it wasn't a good death, but she was going out on her terms, knowing that she'd made some small difference. Maybe someone else could carry on her work. She'd left journals behind, set out instructions for what was to be done with her inventions and technology and the Wayne fortune. She would leave good in the world behind her. Martha and Thomas, the people who'd taken her in and raised her, would be proud. Bruce, her little brother who'd been the bravest man she ever knew, would be proud.

Maybe it would be a good death after all.

Lena stumbled through the open construction, threading between exposed I-beams. It wasn't in her to give up, to stop limping forward. She'd locked out her wounded leg, turning the suit rigid so she could hobble on it, and had already hit herself with an adrenaline auto-injector to keep her eyes open. She could make it to the extraction if she just kept moving.

Just keep moving.

As she limped forwards, Lena wondered how she'd get down. One problem at a time. She was in no shape to use a grapple line to get to street level. Keep moving. The pain in her leg was shocking, excruciating. She wondered if the bullet had fractured her femur. Maybe. She'd been hurt before, of course. Bullet to the back that slipped between armor plates and punched through, once, and all the ones that didn't hurt like hell anyway; it was like being pummeled with baseballs.

The display on the inside of her cracked helmet was lit up with warning lights and messages she didn't have time to parse. She knew what some of them were: Corrosive damage to the suit, drained power cells, her vitals plummeting, and the repeating all points bulletins declaring that the Batman was to be arrested on sight for the murder of Jack Napier.

Lena made it to the edge and leaned on a steel beam, looking down. Two blocks over to the extraction point. Alfred would be waiting for her. He'd get her out of the suit, patch her up, make it better. Alfred always made it better. She had to try. She had to try to get back.

Fumbling, she almost tumbled right off the edge until she slumped against the beam, her wounded leg starting to slide out from under her. She had to hug the steel to pull herself back up, prop herself up on the locked armor segments.

No, she wasn't going to make it, she realized. This was it. No heroic last stand, no final sacrifice, just bleeding out in a half-finished bougie apartment complex that had been stripped of all its copper five times. Lena wanted to laugh, but her lungs could only wheeze.

She almost didn't realize it when the half-skeletal building shook from a gust of wind.

No, not a wind. A blur of motion.

Her HUD lit up with proximity alarms, the onboard computers panicking when the sensor systems started failing from lack of power or severe damage. She really wanted to laugh. What now?

Turning, Lena put a hand on the beam to keep herself upright, and sighed.

No amount of preparation, no amount of refinement to her suit, would ever prepare her for this.

The Kryptonian strode across the plywood construction floor, cape majestically billowing behind her. Even in the dark she seemed alive with light, haloing her flawless golden curls and alive in her sky blue eyes, like she brought the sun with her. Her bright blue and red uniform stood in stark contrast against the muted grays, blues, and blacks of Gotham by night. Below them, sirens wailed. Hunters on the prowl for their wounded prey.

"What do you want?" Lena rasped. Her helmet altered her force into a deep growl.

"Batman," said Supergirl, "there's an all points bulletin out for your arrest."

"What else is new?"

Even now, she was the detective, stalling. The helmet's systems were scanning Supergirl's face, matching against her own facial recognition database using algorithms she'd written herself. The suit did all this automatically, so that she had complete files when she returned to the Cave.

"They're saying you killed a man tonight," said Kara. "I'm taking you in."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Lena coughed, the sound exploding in a garbled belch from her damaged helmet.

"You can barely stand," said Supergirl. "That wound in your leg needs medical attention. Just let me help you."

"Help me?" Lena spat, reaching for her belt. "Don't be absurd."

"You're coming with me either way," said Supergirl, edging closer. "Trying to fight me is pointless. You don't stand a chance."

"Want to test that theory?" said Lena.

Supergirl shook her head.

The suit came back with a facial recognition match.

DANVERS, KARA.

Her biographical data began to scroll across Lena's vision. She dismissed it with a laugh.

"It figures," she muttered.

"What?" said Supergirl. She moved closer. "I can hear your heart rate decreasing. I'll take you to a hospital. I promise, you'll get a fair hearing, you just-"

Lena laughed again. "A fair hearing. You must be joking."

Supergirl edged closer. "Wait. You're using a voice changer."

Lena's eyes shot open wide inside her helmet. "How... of course. Superhuman hearing, right?"

"Wait," said Kara, "wait, I know that voice. Lena?"

[wordy-little-witch]

Transfemme Buggy who never realized until a certain disease is transmitted and spread on an island she and her crew visits.

Blackboard and his ilk had been there before, and Buggy had just so happened to show up within a week of the other leaving. Damages were minimal overall but the marks of their presence was there, everywhere, in the pale faces, the new graves, the sickness and fear.

It was a typical stop, supplies and information gathered in equal measure. Tasks delegated, Buggy is among a group chatting up the locals, and that layer of ignorance self consciousness is there, as it always is, when eyes catch on the captain's visage, but way that Buggy is being watched changes between one minute and the next. Someone comes into the shop, a young woman at a glance, who sneezes. Buggy doesn't think much on it, a charming smile and offered handkerchief the only response. The gazes go from wary, warming up to them, to suddenly wild and fearful and there's a shout and-

Buggy chokes on air, feeling the moment something latches in his lungs. His Devil Fruit is useful in ways few can fathom, in ways he cannot explain, but the introduction of something Foreign and Unapproved is a feeling the jester knows well, one which is often a mere reflex to Chop off of his cells, but this one adheres, latches, and Buggy can feel it seep and spread and-

Between one moment and the next, Buggy blinks past the sudden vertigo, genome shuffled and reverted and inverted until the swimming in his vision pauses, Cabaji's wide, panicked face swirling into focus. The blue haired pirate squints, confused tilts a dizzy head, and then freezes at the ambient wave over sensitive Haki, terror and guilt and panic which chokes and screams and wails.

Buggy moves to stand and freezes.

He looks down.

That is... definitely new.

A gloved hand touches his chest, the breasts straining under the striped top. "Huh," the clown captain says after a moment. "I did not have 'Sudden Sex Change' on my 1565 bingo card."

There's laughter, and Buggy preens a little as the negative emotions begin bleeding off, replaced by cautious amusement. Once tempers have calmed enough, there's a moment of questioning, where clarity is sought and then relatively received.

It's a change, certainly, and one which is yet another echo of Teach's group having been on that island. Buggy isn't upset - it isn't their fault after all, the town is just as hit by this as he is - but he is.... contemplative about it.

The crew is overall relatively calm about it. Gender equality is something Buggy does enforces heavily on the crew, assigned sex at birth or otherwise. Barring a few others, some more well renowned than most, the Buggy Pirates are the most progressive and open minded of pirates.

So after a quick explanation, things are back to business as usual - and Buggy is happy about it, obviously, the respect is there and it's perfect, the normalcy is fine.

It's the way he feels that throws a wrench in it all.

It takes a while to realize, because it's There, but it's just beneath the surface.

It starts when Buggy puts on a little weight.

All in all, that's not a big deal - but to Buggy who has a long standing problem with food and eating, it's notable. It's not uncomfortable. It's not like there's an Issue with eating or bodily image issues, it's the lack of time, of desire, of enjoyment in it. Buggy had always been on the slimmer side, never packing on muscle the way of the men and women in his life early on. Buggy was built slim and willowy, no less strong but less visibly jacked. It suited him just fine, that method of muscle, suited to aerials, to agility and speed. It fit and Buggy was adaptable.

Only now, Buggy isn't as preoccupied. There's less of a desperate, cloying need to fill his every waking moment with tasks and duties and activities. It's subtle. It's the slightest of shifts. It starts when he gains a little weight.

Then it becomes casual comments from the crew. "You look so healthy," some say warmly. "You look happy." And Buggy is. Buggy IS happy. And Buggy feels healthy. And it's strange, so strange, and it's wonderful and confusing and amazing, and it all comes to a head as things do with Buggy by sheer happenstance.

They dock at an island. Buggy and Alvida are restocking on makeup. A clerk calls them "ladies". Buggy waves it off, both the butterflies and the referral, and then that same clerk responds to a question the captain asked with a warm "yes, ma'am, absolutely"

And Buggy is having a realization in a small cosmetic shop on a tiny no-name island in the New World.

As they leave, she catches Alvida's sleeve and he - she - asks a question. "Could I... be a woman?"

And Alvida, sweet Alvida, blunt and brutally honest Alvida, snorts. "Fuck if I know. If you want to, sure, but your body doesn't determine that. If you're a woman," she pokes her friend in the chest, above the clown's heart, "then this is all that needs to be a woman. Is it?"

And Buggy breathes shakily. "I... yes. Yes? Yeah. I. I think so."

"Then you're a woman. Now come on, sister, we still need to find a foundation for me."

Buggy comes out to the crew casually though not without nerves. They get back and she just drops it with all the finesse of a bull in a China shop. "Surprise, it's a girl! And by it, I mean me."

The only response for a moment is silence, then someone asks about pronouns. And Buggy is bathed in the cacophony of her crew screeching their happiness for her, thanking her for trusting them, singing her praises, and she's a puddle, truly, she is melting into a pirate puddle.

Accepting it makes things fall into place a little easier. She's comfortable in this body in a way she never was before. The center of gravity fell in a more natural way to her senses, lower and steadier. She isn't any less strong, and she's not at all interested in the stick-thin-sensational body type, though more power to people who rock it. She is herself, and she never expected to be all that different. She's still got the musculature of an aerialist, the corded muscle of a knife fighter, no amount of hormone changes will take away that. She distributes the weight differently like this, filling her clothes in a way that looks and feels better to her. It's like she was assembling a puzzle in her heart, blindfolded, and she never knew a piece was missing until it fell into her hand, knocking the rest into place like a domino effect. Unexpected but undeniable, she was happy.

She felt beautiful in a way that she never had before, she felt more confident, more at home, more at ease in this skin of hers now that it finally was molded into a better form.

And with that contentment came freedom that she hadn't had the time for in what felt like eternity.

Freedom to experiment, to train, to explore. She felt better, so she could be better, could do better, and so she became better.

And the Seas quaked as a result.

[tranquilskies2]

Lord Shen X Fenghuang Headcanons

*takes deep breath* These two were my 2nd most favorite kfp ship with Tipo ofc being my most favorite. I started shipping them bc of a few fanfics & became obsessed with them since! I can't really explain what got me to stil be fond of this ship for years, but it somehow clung to me. It's the second rare pair I ever made fanart for. It's a shame that I could only find one Shenhuang fanart tho. At least I have the skills to do it now!

How slow is this slow burn? World's largest burning candle slow. Seriously, you have two stubborn deranged tsunderes who are heavily deprived of love & affection. There is no love at first sight between them. It's more like love at first fight-

They didn't like each other at first. Due to their unhinged, similar but clashing personalities, they initially fought and bicker frequently. These two could be mistaken for sworn enemies who despise each other for over a century. At one point, they have to separated from each other because they almost engaged in an altercation together.

Most of the time, whenever Shen is paired with someone (OC or canon), that someone submits to him and hey, ofc Shen would always want to be the dominant one in the relationship. However, Fenghuang would NOT take being beneath someone. This woman is a fierce free spirit who canonically destroyed & broke free from the owl-shaped cage that was built SPECIFICALLY JUST FOR HER (btw, Oogway built that cage). She can see right through Shen like he's crystal clear water in a glass.

Fenghuang will not put up with Shen's spoiled princely demeanor (which is why she gave him the nickname:"Prince."). In fact, she'll have the guts to call him out on his bs & put him in his place. She doesn't sugarcoat things, she delivers the truth on a cold silver platter. For sure Shen's ego took a massive hit like a tsunami due to being humbled for the first time.

However, Fenghuang is not without her own faults or blindspots. In can on, she lived in a mountain in isolation (I'm surprised she didn't go cuckoo) for who knows how long because she picked a fight with her own master (Oogway) & is too cowardly to face him again. Despite being humbled by Fenghuang, Shen is highly perceptive. So much so, he can easily pick up on Fenghuang's own arrogance & can swiftly knock her off her own high horse with one kick at the right opportunity.

They never publicly announced that they're dating. In fact, it took quite a while for their loved ones & those acquainted with them to realize they're dating due to being used to witnessing the two being at each other's throats. Most of their interactions consists of them quarrel like an old married couple. Understandably, it's easy for outsiders to see this as a toxic relationship. Despite displaying zero PDA, they prefer to be intimate in private.

Again with Shen being observant, he can easily take note of what Fenghuang likes & dislikes. However, the first time he tried picking out a gift for Fenghuang, he's in complete shambles due to being worried about whether or not she'll like & accept the gift. Doesn't help the fact that Fenghuang wouldn't be easily swayed by flashy gifts & gestures and that she generally is difficult to impress.

Has to be an accessory since he doesn't know her measurements (yet). Aha! This silver peony hairpin! No, not her favorite flower. Perhaps this tree branch hairpin? *shakes head* Unimpressive. Maybe this sun hairpin instead? *groans as he chucks the 30th hairpin in the discard pile*

One of their favorite things to do together is training. As they got closer, the sexual tension between them rises like champagne in a bottle with the cap eventually popping off like a rocket. Both wouldn't outright say it out loud, but they do admire each other's skills & abilities in combat. Shen is mesmerized by Fenghuang's flash flight speed & precise agility with her feather knives. In return, Fenghuang is captivated by the deadly elegance of Shen's tail feathers & use of his guan dao. It's a gradual build up to accept each other's feedback for their own skill sets.

In due course, they come to love playing with knives together...

Their favorite date locations are almost anywhere with little to no people. Private restaurant reservations, vip theatre seat access and flights across the vast skies (Fenghuang usually carries Shen). It's almost a 50/50 on who plans the dates. It took a while for Shen to not get carried away with overly grand gestures since he's an all or nothing type of person. In comparison, Fenghuang is more casual.

Without a doubt, these two love taking hot baths together. The bath will be smelling like a perfume shop due to fragrances & bath products they'll use & borrow from each other. They'll be conversing with one another as they wash each other's backs & tail feathers. The first time Shen saw Fenghuang drenched in water, he let out a howl of laughter before being splashed with water by her.

Do they get intimate during this time? Of course do! How intimate? That...will be left to your own imagination ;).

Who's more clingy than the other? Shen for sure. He's more demanding for attention than Fenghuang is. If he wants affection, he wants it now. Whenever he finds Fenghuang alone & he's certain that no one else is around, he'll walk up to her & wrap his wings around her. He loves it whenever Fenghaung strokes his neck gently.

Sometimes, Fenghuang is in need of attention too. Whenever Fenghuang has hunger for affection, she'll silently cling onto one of Shen's wings & nuzzle her head on his shoudler. She's quite pleased when Shen strokes her head tenderly as a response.

Since they are both birds, they can't really kiss like how most other animals could. As an alternative, they'll gently nuzzle their beaks in target areas. Shen's favorite area is his neck while Fenghuang prefers the upper back.

Who opened up to the other first? Fenghuang since she isn't as stubborn as Shen. As I said before, they despised each other at he beginning. As time goes on, they'll slowly come to realize that they don't differ much in character & empathize with each other's struggles & flaws. They have each other question their own character & motives. They test each other in a way no one else ever could. They gradually came to understand each other in a way not perceivable by others.

They almost broke up at one point. Yet, strangely, their psyches synchronize together in a strange but alluring pattern. Once they both do their own self-reflection & come to a great understanding, their love will become unbreakable like the blades they wield. Even though they never say:"I love you." to each other, they

[therobotmonster]

What do you get when the 6 Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman decide to pull a Brady Bunch and a Johnny Quest at the same time?

You Get the Bionic Six.

Impossible to find streaming in high quality anyplace, but a bunch of eps in pretty decent quality hit archive.org.

Decent animation, an earworm themesong that I am so frightened of I muted it while taking its screenshots. The Bionic Six is a lost 80s gem. Not like, a diamond or a sapphire, but like, at the very least a citrine, or a really nice tiger eye that's all polished up in a riverbed? Anyhow...

I joke about the premise. It's not Steve Austin, it's Jack Bennett. It's not Jaime Sommers, it's Helen Bennett. It was a serial number filing but it absolutely is someone's 6MDM and Bionic Woman fanfic where they got married and both had and adopted a bunch of bionic kids.

The story, however, involves Jack (already bionic) and his family getting irradiated by an alien spaceship (the 80s was a hell of a drug) in the Himalayas, with the family going comatose except for Jack, thus requiring the family's upgrades.

This explains why a bunch of children would be turned into cyborgs, but it does not explain why those upgrades came with superpowers. That seems to be down to the grandpa-figure of the group, Professor Dr. Amadeus Sharp Ph.D, which, I gotta say, that's a chef's kiss cartoon character name right there.

Putting both Professor and Doctor in front of your name is exactly what I'd expect from a guy that's like "these children are comatose... I think I'll give that one the magnetic repulsors..."

As for the family proper, you've got Bionic-1/Jack Bennet, the literal team dad who suspiciously has all the bionic powers you'd expect from Steve Austin, with a touch of Reed Richards gray on the temples.

You have, ahem, Mother-1/Helen Bennett, who doesn't have the Bionic woman's powers because they'd be redundant. But she is a lady in an 80s team cartoon so she's got... say it with me folks... psychic abilities!

Also, if I had a nickel for every brunette be-bobcuted supermilf in a red jumpsuit named Helen I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it does lead to some obvious crossover concepts that the r34 community have thus far failed to provide. I'd commission something but, as established, I've only got the two nickels.

She also stands out by having a codename that is calculated to make villains deeply uncomfortable with using it, thus putting them on the back-foot. Just takes every deathtrap situation to a weird place.

Their (at least initially) biological children, Sport-1/Eric Bennett and Rock-1/Meg Bennett establish the pattern of there being a bionic kid for every interest. Sport-1 has magnetic attraction-repulsion powers, and uses lamposts like baseball bats all day, every day.

Rock-1 was literally designed to be cartoon Cyndi Lauper and has speakers built into her shoulders for sonic attacks. She is also super-speed runs the fastest.

IQ/J.D. Corey is adopted, and doesn't do the normal naming convention. He's an unusual character in 80s toon terms, as he's both the smartest member of the team (per the codename) but also has the most powerful super-strength. You don't get the smart AND strong combo that often, and you'd expect the Sport-1 to be physically strongest but it seems he's more the Mario of the team.

Karate-1/Bunjiro "Bunji" Tsukahara is a foster kid who got dragged into all of this, and has both the most greatly enhanced super-agility and also actually knows how to fight without powers.

They also have a robot ape named F.L.U.F.F.I. who wasn't in every episode.

The story structure is an 80s toyvertoon take on Johnny Quest, with the whole family having toyetic super-powers and vehicles, and instead of a cavalcade of one-off baddies, you get a recurrent cast lead by Dr. Scarab, who is Sharp's brother, and is after Sharp's superior bionic knowledge.

Mad science, not even once.

I have vague memories of Scarab's pursuit of 'trionic' technology, which assumed both that the 'bi' in bionic was for 'two' (reasonably understandable assumption) and that that if two was good, three was logically better, while never really establishing what third thing was being mixed in (baffling even to my childhood self).

On top of his drone robots, called "Cyphrons" (not Cylons, Battlestar Galactica Lawyers, cyphrons), Scarab had a host of modified goons, most of whom where combinations of dumb, strong, and ugly.

The main stand out being Madame-O, who is a cartoon femme fatale of the classic variety, who punctuates her sentences with 'Darling', uses a harp to shoot energy blasts, and can disguise herself as other people, because why be good at one thing when you can be confusing at several?

The animation is pretty good for the time period (It was a TMS animated show!) and it has that weird mix of self-aware and totally earnest that makes 80s cartoons fun.

It was, like most of them, an advertisement for action figures. In this case from LJN, the gimmick of which was they were G.I.Joes that were mostly made of die cast metal. A lot of the characters were pretty chunky, to the point that a FLUFFI could be bring down an assailant if you chucked it at 'em just right.

Oh, and the whole family could join hands to pull of Deus Ex Machina bullshit. It's a trip.

Go watch ya some cartoons.

[that-random-outsider]

Glassheart Arcane Au Pt.1

Red and Chloe have lived on opposite sides of their worlds for as long as she'd known. Red grew up in Wonderland oppressed and trampled over her entire life by those in Auradon. She could never know the whites and golds of the people on the other side of the Rabbit whole , but she knew that she hated them. They looked down on her people, her home, as if they were nothing. And Red could not bare it. Even so, Red knew how to survive there, she had her mother, she had Maddox, she had enough. At least that was Until it was all taken from her.

One day when Red, Maddox, and Chester managed to sneak into Auradon for a job everything went wrong. Chester had always been smaller than Red, slim and lanky, his body not built for the speed and agility Red and Maddox were used to, but he wanted to help. He wanted to be there for his friend, for his sister. So they manage to barely sneak into their targeted estate. The three raid the place stunned by just how much one person could have. Envy and resentment clutching at their hearts as they realize just how much the people of Auradon have, any remorse for their deeds they could've harbored fading from their thoughts.

That's when Chester finds the hex tech stones. He tries to grab a few of them but Chad starts banging on the door trying to get in to his estate. The three panic as realization grabs hold of them they try to sneak out without making a sound but Chester's clumsy and starts drops one of the stones as he tries to stuff it in his pocket. Red manages to pull him out of the apartment just as it explodes leaving both Chloe and Chad in shock and confusion. Red and her friends escape into their side of the Rabbit hole with their loot in tow as enforcers try to chase them down while Chad is trying to plead his case with Merlin and his father at what hex tech can do.

When Red makes it back to Wonderland it doesn't take long for people to recognize a score when they see one. A group of people manage to get the jump on them, trying to take the loot for themselves, but Red hands the bag the Chester and tells him to run. Red tries to fend off their attackers, allowing Chester time to escape, Maddox attempting to help any way he can but Chester's gangly limbs only take him so far. He ends up coming across a dead end, cornered with no feasible escape in sight so he does all that he can do and tosses the loot to the side wasting everything they worked for.

Red tries to stay calm ofcourse but after everything she’s just exhausted. She doesn't yell or get angry or argue she just ignores him for the rest of the day. She knew he wasn't ready, this was just as much her fault as his but still... Chester apologizes at least a thousand times but Red doesn't want to hear it. "You had one job" she argues heated at the lack of results despite everything they went through getting that bag of trinkets they were going be set for months! But still he was like a brother to hee she’d get over it. And Maddox knew it too.

When they returned home the lecture they received from Bridget was long. "We stay out of topside affairs" Red’s mother chided but Red was tired of it. "Come on, no one on Auradon is going hungry any time soon" Red argued but Bridget didn’t have time for her childish arguing. Red didn’t understand what she’d set into motion that day, that she’d be the inciting incident that would set Wonderland ablaze.

Before long the Auradon enforcers came searching for their pound of flesh lead faithfully by Charming. Exploding the entire block wasn't something that could so easily be ignored, all they needed was a name. Bridget of course refused to give up her only daughter, trying to find any way they could find a peaceful solution, but no. Auradon would scower Wonderland for as long as it took until they found Red and her friends and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Red wanted to fight back, to do more than just lay low while enforcers tore her home to pieces but Bridget shut her down every time. There ware no winners in war she’d tell her, but Red didn’t listen. It isn't until she realizes that it truly is a losing battle that she gives up hope completely. So Red decides the best thing she could do for her home is to turn herself in.

She sends the note to Charming telling him that she’d come willingly so long as they stayed out of Wonderland and waited patiently for the inevitables. Except it isn't Charming who opens the door but instead Bridget planning to take her place. She tells Red that she’d done good, but that it was time she face the music not her. Red was a good person she’d some day do great thing, and as her mom she was meant to protect her until then so she takes Red’s spot and goes willingly with the enforcers only to realize that it was a trap set by Adam.

Wonderland was becoming too Bold, too independent it was the only way he could think of to get them to stand down. So ofcourse Adam intercepts her prison transfer planning to cover up Bridget’s execution as an accident without a leader giving the people on Wonderland something to believe in they’d fall apart completely and fall back in line. Red of course finds out and goes after her with Maddox telling Chester to stay home but he swears he can help. But Red can't take that risk with her mother’s life on the line so she leaves him there and goes with Maddox to save her mom. Chester can't take the not knowing, the anxiety the fear, it tears him apart until he can't take it anymore. He comes up with a plan he remembers the explosion from earlier and thinks that maybe if he could create a distraction large enough they'd be saved.

He gets to the wearhouse and everything goes exactly as planned, Adam and his crew don't make it out, Bridget and Maddox manage to safely escape for the most part but Red is lost in the fire. Presumed dead by Bridget she decides to raise hell upon anyone and everyone who dared to align their self with topside, and Chester, guilt ridden and destroyed at the loss of the closest thing he had to a sister makes that very same vow.

[christian-oc-tournament]

I don't know how much we're meant to share as oc propaganda, so this might be too much? But I've rewritten a lot of Ahleri's character and worldbuilding since submitting 😅

Ahleri is a 19 year old who grew up on a farm in the mountains of Strahna, an Australian-inspired continent on a world called Lhoam. Her family raises jumbucks, (otherwise called woolly jumpers) which are large marsupials resembling quokkas with sheep-like coats. Ourem is one of their livestock guardians, who helps keep predators away and herd the woolsies.

Due to her upbringing she has loads of practical farm skills, along with a lot of general outdoorsy survival knowledge. She's also very skilled at the high quality textile work which her town is know for, like spinning, weaving and embroidery. She loves animals and the outdoors, but isn't fond of being cooped up inside unless she's busy with her textile work.

While out bushwalking she stumbles on the lost Hero's Bonds, two thick gold bracelet-like bands joined together. Without realising what they are, she jokingly puts her hands in them and they "bond" down onto her wrists and grow into her body. The Hero's Bonds give her various abilities, like heightened strength, speed and agility, along with being able to make a shield and "store" objects (like video game storage).

Unfortunately for her they come with weighty responsibilities and a very changeable in-built personality named Berianthari, Bertie for short. Bertie is mostly goofy and kinda stupid and unhelpful most of the time, but can occasionally switch to biting, sarcastic and irritable, with moments of incredible intelligence in between. If she makes a visible appearance it's usually as a gold light shaped like a fairy wren or willy wagtail.

Ahleri's generally very confident, friendly and laid back, chill in the fact of danger or problems and very good at thinking on the fly in rough situations. Loves to help others in practical ways and solve issues. Usually kind, she can be a bit amused and blasé when other people are scared or upset about something she thinks is nothing to worry about. Finds ignorance in others or lack of practical skills both amusing and a bit irritating. Prefers to laugh or shrug off inconveniences. Quite stubborn when convinced she's right, and not the most sensitive to other people's emotions. Hard to make really angry but once enraged is explosive and terrifying.

She loves to good naturedly tease and wind people up, and is especially fond of telling yarns, getting people to believe in harmless lies (think drop bears etc, except those ARE real in her world lol). Messing with or impressing the politicians and aristocracy she's forced to mingle with by playing up her "feral country jilleroo" persona is a favourite way of coping with the stress of her new position.

Generally accompanied by Nimble, a little scruffy golden brushtail possum-like creature she saved as a baby who is curious and naughty. She's told a lot of dignitaries wild stories about how she got that scar over her mouth, but the truth is that it was Nimble clawing at her when she saved him as a joey.

Conell is her assigned guard and one of her main fighting tutors, while Zhahara is her palace etiquette coach and general handler. Basically it's their job to teach her her duties as Hero.

Ahleri and Conell have a bit of a mutual pining situation going on 👀

.

[reagomyeggo]

a sheet i made for my new asoiaf dragon, freilyr !

also known as the frost giant, freilyr is large but lithe and elegant in appearance. platinum-white scales shimmer with a blue iridescence, her frills/fins holding a light lavender color and her back accented with a sable in the same shade. her wings are striped lightly with a purple pattern. her eyes are a stunning sapphire blue. her flames are shock white with fire-orange tips.

she-dragon of queen daemyra targaryen, she is often found flying over the city of kings landing with her rider. the two are often accompanied by the queen consort venya velaryon and her dragon, bruunaxes, who is freilyr’s bonded partner.

freilyr is built moreso for speed and agility than brute force, but has no issues fending for or hunting for herself.

(yes, the lesbian queens have lesbian dragons bc who am i if its not sapphic in every way possible. also, in this universe the houses are not related at all, no inc*st thx)

layout of the sheet inspired by siosin_ on instagram

[toweringclam]

Dandadan OC: The Hat Man

Note: This is written in the format of a mid-arc wiki article. I'll post the third entry in this series later, discussing the big twist of the arc.

Other Names: The Tall Man, The Slender Man, the Grinning Man, Men in Black, Ingrid Cold Race: Unknown Home Planet: Unknown Gender: Male? Status: Active Affiliation: US Government (Former) Combat Style: Stalking, Shapeshifting, Reality Alteration

The Hat Man is an entity of unknown origin stalking Jackie Kumamoto, a former apprentice of Seiko Ayase. It serves as the primary antagonist of the Hat Man arc.

Appearance

The Hat Man has a highly variable appearance. It can vary in height from around 7 feet tall to upwards of 12 feet tall. Most often it lacks a face, just blank skin in the vague approximation of facial features. However, sometimes its skin will split and peel back to reveal a wide, toothy grin or lidless eyes. It doesn't seem to need these features and may just display them to frighten others. It seems to be able to grow extra arms (its clothes adjusting accordingly), in addition to extending tendrils from its back. Regardless, It's always wearing a black suit and tie with its signature wide-brimmed fedora hat, and it carries a briefcase in one left arm that it never opens. It's also pasty white and impossibly thin, with long and spindly arms.

The exception to this fluidity of form is its disguise as "Agent Ingrid Cold," which resembles a normal, stockily built, middle-aged human male. It appears to have some trouble retaining this form though, as its face gradually became more distorted the longer it talked to Officer Bega.

Personality

From its actions, the Hat Man appears to have a sadistic personality that takes great pleasure in causing as much fear and pain as possible in its victims. According to Kinta while acting as a Proxy, its only wish is for "humanity to die screaming." However, given his dramatic nature, this might not be accurate.

While its default form is mute, it's able to speak in its disguise as "Agent Ingrid Cold," but it displays a flat and neutral affect very different from its normal behavior. It also does a very poor job of imitating a human beyond the superficial, displaying strange behaviors like eating a bar of soap when offered or pouring hot coffee into its hand.

It seems to be under some form of binding, and while the full rules are unknown, some of those rules appear to include restrictions on who is a valid target and where it can manifest. Sometimes, when it comes up against one of these restraints, shackles appear on its arms and legs, and it visibly strains against them.

Background

Little is known about its background. At some point, it worked for the US government by intimidating witnesses to the paranormal or even making them disappear. Ingrid Cold's ID expired in 1993, however, so this may no longer be the case. The pattern that appears on its shackles matches the Serpoans' true forms, so it's likely they might have been involved somehow.

At some point shortly prior to the current arc, Jackie Kumamoto attempted an exorcism in America that went badly. The victim was not, in fact, possessed, but rather being used as a proxy by the Hat Man. This brought her in contact with him and made her his new primary target. Believing that she was certainly going to die, she returned to the Ayase household to make arrangements, unwittingly bringing the Hat Man along with her.

Powers & Abilities

Natural Abilities

Physical Prowess

Godly Physical Attributes: In terms of strength, speed, agility, and stamina, the Hat Man is unmatched. It's able to move faster than Okarun and outmaneuver Aira in their yokai forms, and can easily overpower the Evil Eye. No attack so far has been shown to harm it in any meaningful way. There may be limitations, as it has retreated when faced with heavy enough opposition, but thus far those limitations are unknown.

Mental Prowess

Tactical Intellect: The Hat Man is intelligent and manipulative, stalking and intimidating its victims to isolate them and drive them insane before claiming them.

Skill Set

Stealth: Despite its alarming appearance, the Hat Man is extremely adept at stalking its prey and remaining just out of sight. Its victims rarely notice it, though it makes a point to be visible in photographs and videos.

Supernatural Abilities

Shapeshifting: The Hat Man has incredible control over its form, able to grow and shrink in size, alter the number and shape of its of limbs, add and remove facial features, etc. However, it has difficulty maintaining a disguise as a human (though it seemed to have less trouble in flashbacks).

Mind Control: It has the ability to control certain people's minds and create "sleeper agents" called Proxies. They victims retain their original personalities but are twisted to the Hat Man's ends. Proxies don't know they're Proxies until the Hat Man decides to activate them. It appears that this effect is induced by seeking out information about the Hat Man, and can be blocked by a thin sheet of metal over the head (IE, a tin foil hat)

Empty Space Mastery: The Hat Man shows a greater control over Empty Space than any other creature in the series. It can warp reality at will, often creating impossible looping environments or teleporting people from one location to another. However, doing so weakens its Empty Space, which allowed Okarun to break through the membrane and make reality reassert itself.

Image Manipulation: The Hat Man is able to manifest through any image of itself. It can also "infect" images, placing a version of itself in the image for later use.

Notes

As of right now it is unclear what exactly The Hat Man is. It has traits similar to a spirit (invisible to people without spiritual awareness), yet its ability to assert Empty Space marks it as extraterrestrial.

[striderl]

I now just noticed your reply on AO3 and I guess I can ask again here.

HOW in the actual fuck did Foley, a regular speaker unit, rip off the limbs of a large speakerman's body? The large units are built like The Incredible Hulk!

Unless Foley has the strength of Superman, there is NO WAY....

If you learn mechanics, you will know that not all parts of a piece of machinery are built to endure the same level of stress or impact. There’s always the factor of “consumable parts” at play. A consumable part is anything contained within the equipment designed to be replaceable rather than repairable when it fails. Take the brakes on a bike, they endure constant use, gradually degrading over time. In the case of a large speaker unit, the consumable parts are the joints in their limbs which bear the constant stress of their movement and massive weight.

Foley, as a regular speaker unit, might lack the sheer strength or durability of a large speaker unit, but he compensates with agility, speed, and a wealth of combat experience honed through years of survival. His cunning and adaptability allow him to turn most of the environment to his advantage. He has no qualms about fighting dirty — anything goes as long as he has the upper hand. Along with his insane endurance, Foley can fight until the very last of his energy reserve is spent. Have you ever sprained your ankle or hit your elbow simply because you moved too quickly or weren’t paying attention? Foley exploits exactly these vulnerabilities to his opponents. With his agility and strategic use of the terrain, he can trick a large unit into overexerting themselves — forcing them into damaging their own joints or getting trapped. Once they’re compromised, his machete ensures a swift conclusion.

This is precisely why I mentioned Foley is considered the most dangerous unit in the Filming Industry. While Gaffer is a formidable combatant in her own right — durable, flexible, and equipped with the advantage of short-distance teleportation — her style is more methodological and calculated. She is the product of professional training, refined and disciplined according to the needs of the TV faction. Foley, on the other hand, learns from the chaos of survival. Twenty years of brawling in that underground bar forged his fierce and unpredictable fighting style. 

In a sparring match, Foley and Gaffer almost stand on equal footing, their skills and strength balancing each other out.  But in a life-or-death scenario where there are no rules and no holding back, Foley’s knack for improvisation makes him the likely victor.

While brute force can often resolve immediate problems, intelligence and experience are the tools that see you through the toughest battles.