#shield also has a side shave!!

[aureus2010]

so i found @tissmys PHIGHTOCtober. and uh i might be abandoning phightober for the oc version because Why Not!

day one - introduce your ocs!

apparently ive never drawn them in their blocky forms so i decided hey why not its easier

more oc info in tags btw

prompt list under cut:

cannot guarantee ill be here every day but ill do my best i guess lmao

[tw1l1te]

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓷𝓼- 𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙 2

Part 2!! This will include Hyrule, Four, and Legend ₍ᐢᐢ₎

Warnings: mention of scars and negative mental health

Please read with the warnings in mind, this one is heavier in terms of mental health topics.

⋆｡°✩

𝕳𝖞𝖗𝖚𝖑𝖊

About 18/19, a couple years after his journey is done

Average height, his build is still toned but more on the leaner side because of height and anatomy

light freckles across his cheeks/nose and skin is tanner than the rest of the boys

Has 2 small cartilidge piercings, small silver hoops

Part fae, I know a few others headcanon him as fae too I just think it suits his character

Speaks and writes Hylian well, takes a bit longer to read though (he's trying his best)

Closer to Legend, they're the downfall duo :3, but also close to Sky

I wanna say he's like one of the last few boys to feel attraction towards Y/n. Fae bonding to humans is weird and Hyrule doesn't wanna freak you out and needs to really process it.

When he realizes he fell for you? Oh boy. Definitely more clingy and obsessive and frets over your safety, more than Sky even.

Major sweet tooth, favorite food has go to be spoonfuls of honey

Keeps a journal, lots of sketches and notes on herbs and flora and some thoughts on Y/n

Has a.... difficult relationship with Hylia/Zelda/the Goddess

Knows about some of Legend's past, not as much as Y/n though

Has a large scar on his lower stomach from Dark Link, and faded white scratches on his back from a past incident that I may or may not bring up later down the line

Do not let him near a cooking pot. Don't do it.

𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗

Our favorite smithy is about 18-19

He may be short, but don't let his height fool you. Mr. swordmaker here is built. You think all the hours hammering away at metal don't build muscle? You'd be wrong

Anywayss, I headcanon Four as having heterochromia, one eye green and the other a dark blue.

Has the lightest stubble, hardly noticeable because he shaves it everyday

Recently has also started tying up his hair in a pony tail, so he honestly looks like a younger Time from far away

Has lots of ear piercings and stacks rings on his fingers, most of which he made himself from spare parts. He made a few rings for Legend and Y/n

Develops feelings for Y/n slowly, though it hits him like a brick after the Yiga clan incident after realizing how close he was to losing you

Has a few scars on his hands and arms, a few burn marks from reckless accdients both in and out of the blacksmith shop

Has a tattoo of the Four Sword on his forearm

Ironically enough, close to Wild and Wind. He's keeping a tally of how many swords Wild has broken So far it's 46

Similar to Wild, he kinda has shaggier hair, though its only really visible when his hair is fully down without the headband

REALLY GOOD AT SHIELD SURFING FOR SOME REASON-

𝖑𝖊𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖉

19, slightly older than Four and Hyrule

Average height, leaner build, and I wanna say he's on the paler side. He gets sunburned crazy fast like no amount of suscreen can save him

Pink hair, duh, but its more faded than it was when he first shifted into his rabbit form. It's more like leftover on his bangs and on part of his head.

Pinky is decked out in rings, every single finger is stacked with rings for functionality, protection, etc., but some he just thinks are neat.

Double pierced lobes, a few cartilidge piercings, maybe even a Hylian-equivalent of an industrial and has a dick piercing shh

Does not like wearing pants. no sir. Only if absolutely necessary.

Can speak/write Hylian and Lorulean pretty well, though pretty rusty on the latter because he hasn't used or read it much since his adventures

Like the 4th person to develop feelings for our protagonist, he's a little lost to be completely honest. Part of him wants to succumb to his feelings, the other is terrified of losing someone again

Close to Hyrule, Wild, and Wars ironically enough (mostly because of the bickering :D)

Keeps a scrap of Ravio's scarf in his bag, holds it sometimes.

Has a deep long scar along his forearm from a fight, some burn marks from the fire rod. He also has other scars that he doesn't show or discuss, those are difficult to talk about. He wasn't in a good place after.... everything.

Snarky and grumpy, but he softens up around people he trusts. He just needs time and love ₍ᐢᐢ₎

[steviewashere]

Soothed

Rating: General CW: Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Minor Discussion of Bullying Tags: Pre-Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Hurt Eddie Munson, Injured Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington Takes Care of Eddie Munson, Protective Steve Harrington, Worried Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Hurt/Comfort, Steve Harrington Loves Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Needs a Hug, And Gets One

For the @steddielovemonth prompt: "Love is a warm hug."

💕—————💕

There was a knock at Steve’s front door.

Which is unusual to him. If somebody from the group—teenagers, adults, and preteens alike—then they’d use the spare key in the potted flower on the porch. Just barge right in, announce themself in the foyer, and let Steve find them first. They were told to be respectful, so that’s the least thing they can do.

But a knock? Unheard of. Steve pauses the movie he’s watching in the living room, stands from the couch, pops his back, and shuffles over to the front door. He turns the lock, twists the knob, and pulls the door from its jamb. On his porch: sopping wet, shivering, and down right miserable…is Eddie.

It’s late May, which means spring is in full swing. Which also means that there’s been forecasted rain. And, for some odd reason, Eddie hasn’t taken note of that. At least, that’s what Steve can gather.

Eddie’s hunched into himself. Hands gripping to his elbows. Dressed in a plain grey t-shirt and dark blue Levis, the same Reeboks he always wears. His hair, which was shaved back in March for surgery, is flat to his skull, frizzy from the rain. But, what scares Steve the most, is the dark purple bruise cupping a terribly swollen left eye. The eyeball itself is glazed over and bloodshot. His bottom lip is slightly puffy, sluggishly bleeding down his chin. And his nose, well Steve doesn’t think it’s broken, but it definitely is bloody, too. If the oddball patch below his right nostril has anything to say about it.

Steve moves to drag Eddie inside, but drops his hands when Eddie flinches away, nearly stumbling down to the concrete. He lets go of his elbows, which are now decorated with fine small crescents, and shields himself. There’s a couple smaller, red bruises decorating his wrists. As if somebody grabbed him. Steve fumes at the sight.

“Eddie,” Steve breathes, “why don’t you come inside?” He steps away from the door, letting it sit open and waiting. On shuffled, hesitant feet, Eddie comes in. His eyes dart around the room before they land back on Steve. Immediately, some of the tension and fear in his big brown eyes falls away. Instead, a layer of relief and gratitude seems to fill him. Enough that his eyes brim with tears. “Oh, Eds,” Steve can only coo.

Sniffling, mumbling, “They hurt me so bad,” Eddie says. He’s shivering. Whether that be from the cold or anxiety that’s surely swimming in Eddie’s stomach, Steve can’t tell. He inhales a wet gasp. Almost choking with it. “I just—I was trying to help this girl—And then they screamed at me and they—They hurt me,” he sobs. One of his hands flies up to his face, roughly wiping away the tears that try to travel down his cheeks. He presses too hard on his bruise and hisses.

“Okay, Eddie,” Steve mutters, “you’re safe here. It’s okay. They can’t get you here.” He doesn’t know who They is. But whoever they are, Steve knows he can rely on old reliable to do a good job. (Old reliable sits at the back of his closet, still crusted with blood, more nails than wood at this point). He hesitantly steps closer, palm out, ushering for Eddie to follow him to the downstairs master bathroom. There’s a part of him that hates treating Eddie like he’s a spooked little animal, defenseless and wrecked on the side of the road, one that’s been hit by a car, one that’s too afraid to realize they’ll live. But, what else is he supposed to do? Getting too close in his space seems to make Eddie freak, which is the last thing Steve wants.

Without any other words, just some wet sobs and aching cries that crumble Steve’s heart, Eddie follows on his heels. Head down to the floor, arms loose at his sides, his fingers flexing as if to press into the soft flesh of his palm. He settles over the closed toilet seat while Steve rummages through the cabinets, coming out successful with a red first aid bag in his hands. It’s heavy between his palms, overstocked and readily loaded for any and all emergencies. This feels like something detrimental, Steve hates how he’s shaking, too.

He grabs necessary first aid. Just a little bit of rubbing alcohol to get the dried blood off of Eddie’s skin, a half used tube of Neosporin, and a wad of toilet paper to hold to the wound. His nose seems to have stopped bleeding many minutes ago, so Steve’s not worried about that needing to be plugged up. But he still stands in front of Eddie—Well, actually, he crouches down onto the tiled flooring. Hard on his knees, but that puts him at eye level with the poor guy. He sets out his supplies on the lip of the bathtub, just to his right. And sets his palms softly on Eddie’s knees. He’s shaking there, too.

“Alright, Eds, tell me where it hurts. I gotta make sure you don’t have anything broken or anything that requires stitches, that’s all,” he coaxes.

Instead of speaking, Eddie displays his wrists. Turning them slowly so that Steve can see every dark splotching of bruises. He points to his eye, which was all too obvious to Steve. At his lip. The bridge of his nose. And then, he splays his left hand over his heart. Bunching the fabric of his t-shirt there. His eyes are mournful, still at the floor, not exactly looking at Steve. More like he’s looking through the floor. There are tears cascading down his face. His skin a blotchy, red and white mess, puffy from injuries and emotion.

Steve sets his own right hand over Eddie’s left. “Your heart hurts?” He asks, thumb swiping over his soft cotton shirt. “What did they do to your chest, Eds?”

Eddie shrugs and shakes his head. “They didn’t—Nothing physical.”

“Oh.” Oh. “Eddie,” Steve breathes. His own eyes are burning.

Eddie’s shoulders shake with the onslaught of new sobs and tears. But he reigns himself in quickly. His eyes finding Steve’s in a dizzyingly fast twitch. “Please help me, Steve,” he quietly pleads. “I’ll tell you, but I—I can’t—“

Steve hushes him. He grabs for the wad of toilet paper and guides it gently to Eddie’s lip. The bleeding has started anew, faster and steadier. With the press, Steve whispers, “I’ve got you. Never have to beg for my help, Eddie. Never, ever.” He holds it there for a few silent minutes. And when he takes it away, the bleeding has soothed. “I’m gonna put some Neosporin on your lip, okay? It might sting.”

“It’s okay,” Eddie lowly whispers. Still though, he winces with the small swipe of cream to his lip. Hissing minutely behind his teeth. Steve runs his other palm down Eddie’s right arm.

Once his lip is taken care of, the other areas follow easy. Wiping carefully at the tacky areas of drying blood on his skin. Underneath his lower lip, dipping a little into his right nostril, the underside of his chin. And when the first aid is done, Steve settles back on the bathroom floor, hands pressed warmly to Eddie’s knees. “Let’s get you a change of warm clothes,” he starts, “and some ice for that bruise. Do you need any ice for the ones on your wrist?” Eddie just shakes his head. “Okay,” Steve mutters, nodding. “The good news is that nothing’s broken. Just some gnarly coloring and swelling that needs remedied. How about you follow me upstairs and we can hang out in my room?”

They don’t speak as they ascend the stairs. Or as Steve hands over a small stack of clothes: green sweatpants, white long sleeve undershirt, thick grey socks. Neither of them speak as Eddie changes in the ensuite bathroom or when he slithers back into the bedroom, still hunched, still small. As they clamber into Steve’s bed, sitting up at the headboard, legs stretched in front of them, hands to themselves.

The silence is almost suffocating. Hates the small sniffles coming from his left. Hates how one of his closest friends has been reduced to the skeleton of a boy, surely somebody that Wayne met many years ago. Hates it all. Hates it.

“Do you want to know what happened?” Eddie finally croaks.

“Only if you want me to know,” Steve easily replies. Because, sure, he loves his gossip. Loves the drama that swirls around Hawkins. But Eddie’s business is his own, and if he’s embarrassed by what happened, Steve won’t force. Fuck, he knows what it’s like to get your ass beat and then want to remain silent in the aftermath.

Eddie nods slow, eyes at his folded hands, searching for the words. His tongue rolls over his top teeth. And he sighs through his nose. His voice is raspy and small when he speaks. Steve instinctually leans closer. They’re both warm, or at least, Eddie’s nearing that. “I was eating lunch in the cafeteria today,” he begins. “I ate alone because I didn’t—It’s not worth dragging attention to the rest of Hellfire. Not anymore. Didn’t even want to do one of my stupid speeches, y’know?” Steve hums.

He continues, “This girl—probably a sophomore, I don’t know—had walked behind my table. But she tripped over something and fell straight to the ground, her lunch was spilled all over the place, down the front of her shirt. She was crying. And I—“ He huffs, closes his eyes, and roams his teeth again. His head falls back, hitting the headboard with a soft Thud. Opening his eyes up at the ceiling, it’s all too obvious that they’re filling with tears again. “All I did was stand up from my seat and offer my hand to her. That’s all I did. But…Fuck,” he softly swears. His hand coming up and swiping at his eyes. “Jason’s stupid buddies saw me. Shoved me down to the ground. Scared off that girl. That poor girl. And they just beat me,” he rushes out, unwavering, though congested. “Beat me in front of all my fucking peers. So I just ran, Steve. Ran away like I always do. Back to my car and then I—I didn’t really know where I was going. Ended up here, I guess.”

Steve rests the side of his head on the board of his bed. Just looking over at Eddie. “I’m sorry, Eds,” he states sincerely. “For what they did.” He wishes there was more he could say. Could do. Eddie definitely won’t allow him to go on a rampage in his honor. But, Steve weighs the consequences in his head.

“It’s not your fault,” Eddie whispers after a moment. Sighing with the sentiment.

“I can still be sorry on your behalf,” Steve shoots right back. “I’m glad you came here, though. I’d probably worry otherwise.” He rests his left hand over Eddie’s right. Squeezes. “Is there anything else that I can do for you right now?”

For a moment, Eddie hesitates. Seemingly mulling over whatever it is he wants. Until, his head drops down and his eyes are set on Steve. Big and wet. They dart between Steve’s, searching. With whatever he found, he softly requests, “Can you hug me?”

Without another thought, Steve scoots as close as he possibly can. Their thighs hot on each other. And he scoops Eddie up between his arms. One over his shoulder blades, the other resting on his lower back. His hands splay over Eddie’s warm body. Head tucked to the side of Eddie’s. 

And Eddie, he wraps back enthusiastically. A hand going to Steve’s head, the other to his right side. Fingers simply toying with the ends of Steve’s hair. He goes boneless in the embrace, sighing into it. Shoving his forehead into Steve’s shoulder. 

“Thank you,” he whispers.

Steve shakes his head. “No need.” And it’s true. Because, gosh, Steve would do anything for Eddie. If it means ridding him of all the hurt he’ll ever experience, taking it on as his own, he’d do it. In a heartbeat. “Does your chest still hurt?”

“No,” Eddie whispers, his own head knocking into Steve’s neck. “Think you fixed me. Think this fixed me.” He squeezes Steve’s torso. And then he goes quiet again. His breaths heavy, relaxed, deep into Steve’s soul. The frizzy bits to his hair tickle against Steve’s jaw with every small shuffle, like he’s trying to burrow deep between them. Steve almost wants to open up his ribcage and let him in. Then, Eddie sighs completely sated. He whispers, “Reminds me of my mom.”

“That a good thing?”

“It’s the best, Stevie,” Eddie swears. “Her hugs were like sunshine. Like just one touch and suddenly my day would just—“ And he makes a soft “Poof” noise near Steve’s ear. It warms his chest, the way Eddie animates things. “—No clouds.”

Steve nuzzles closer. “You can always come to me,” he promises. “I’ll hug you even if you don’t have the words to ask.”

I’d find you in the dark, anywhere, anytime, he almost wants to say. I’d find you by touch alone.

Eddie’s content sigh is enough of a response. It’s enough for Steve to remain pressed to him. It’s enough to make his heart beat molasses slow and comfortable.

It’s enough to make him say, “I’ve got you.” What he truly means: “I love you."

💕—————💕 Okay, I am so sorry for how long it took to get to the hug. But I literally couldn't think of a hugging interaction without a lot of information leading into it. Hope this is good, though!

[angronsjewelbeetle]

Okay see before you had my interest but now you have my attention /half-joking (this means I turned notifications on for you)

How about the Primarchs when you cuddle with them? I'm so sorry I've sent so many asks but you write so well 😭😭😭🥺👉👈

~⭐️

NO APOLOGIES NEEDED PLEASE SEND MORE!! You are a fucking delight and my first "named" anon I'm so exciteddd!!

..also FUCK YES CUDDLES!! This is also combined with sharing a bed and sleeping together btw.

Primarchs and cuddling ~♡

Includes: everyone.

Lion: plonks himself by you, face down on the pillows. Will grunt at you if you cuddle into him. But don't let him fool you; the moment you fall asleep he curls around you like a big ol cat. You will wake up being spooned.

Fulgrim: lays on his back with you on top of him. He wraps both arms around your waist and kisses your forehead, he likes it if you kiss his collarbone. He plays with your hair and if your head is shaved, he likes to run his hand over it. Sometimes you wake up under him with his head on your chest, head bowed and peacefully asleep.

Perturabo: not the most cuddly man, but his beloved cracks that shit like porcelain. He lays on his side and curls around you, he says nothing, only holds you, arms around your waist, chin pressed to your shoulder.

Khan: he fully encourages you to use his tit pillows. He cups one hand around the back of your head and kisses your forehead, his other hand rests on your waist. Soft furs cover what his body doesn't and his heartbeats are steady against your ear.

Leman: another tit pillow man. He's fat and he's soft and comfortable and you need no blankets while you are with him. You'll cook. He lays on his side and tucks you in as tightly as he can against him.

Rogal: at first it's like trying to cuddle a statue. But if you wriggle in and tuck your head against his neck, he absolutely melts. His legs curl up and he wraps around you, a big wall of warmth. If you hear his breath stutter in your ear, let him be.

Sanguinius: two words. Wing cocoon. He curls up in a ball of feathers and arms and legs and with you at the centre, he becomes a shield to the outside world. Peppers kisses across your shoulder and face.

Ferrus: his arms are cold, but the rest of him burns like a furnace, press your ear to his chest and deal with the icy brush of his hands upon your back, and he will murmurs praises of you accomplishments into the crown of your head.

Angron: holds himself as still as he can on his side, his bicep twitches occasionally. He doesn't sleep, and if he does, it's brief and his eyes are open for it. The Nails are uncomfortable against his scalp, and he doesn't sleep well on the bed - he doesn't think he deserves to be on it, let alone with you. He's warm to the touch, and his eyes beg you, so please, throw a leg over his hip if it's comfortable for you, use his arm as a pillow, tuck your head against his neck. Or simply spoon him, it's a moment he'll treasure for as long as he lasts.

Guilliman: big spoons you, kisses your cheek, makes a downright ridiculous pun in your ear and sends you both into uncontrollable laugher, it's nice to hear and his chest is warm where his heartbeats and laughter thumps against your back.

Mortarion: lays on his back, you pressed to his side, an arm around your back, mumbles stories of his until you fall asleep to the rumble of his voice in his chest, and only then does he tilt his head and falls asleep with his nose in your hair.

Magnus: you may fall asleep with him at his usual size, but when you wake up, he'll be definitively smaller, more human sized, and he's almost laying on top of you, lightly snoring where his nose is smushed into the pillows.

Konrad: his arms are tight around your waist, mouth pressed to your shoulder, he sometimes talks, stilted half-sentences and on one memorable occasion he has sat up, jolting you awake, yelled something about...actually, you're not really sure what, and then proceeded to curl up around you protectively and squeeze your breath out.

Horus: hands on your hips, peppers kisses across your face and tickles you a little to make you squirm, tells you about his day, might make up an insane story just to have you sit up and demand to know if he's kidding. He just smirks and tells you if you kiss him he'll tell you.

Lorgar: lays on his side and stares at you, he won't touch unless you give him permission, but once you do, he squirms down the bed to cup your cheek and press kisses to any distinctive marks of yours - freckles, moles, scars, anything - he's reverent and devoted and you fall asleep with your noses touching.

Vulkan: a living furnace. Seriously, like Leman, you will not need a blanket while you are with him, barely even a sheet, he sleeps bare chested, and he tells you how much he loves you every time you do this, makes a joke with his hand resting toastily against your back, kisses your nose and falls asleep smiling.

Corvus: starfished across the bed on his back, blankets only half covering him, more wrapped around you - he's a cold sleeper. He looks peaceful, mouth wide open, completely gone to the world, but every time you move, he wakes up, looking at you, he mumbles occasionally, sometimes he'll give a giddy little giggle and slur an "I love you".

Alpharius: absolute bed and YOU hog. You're going to have to fight him to get away, because he isn't gonna let you out of his arms until he's ready to get up. Which, by the way, is never. He's laying partially on top of you, heartbeats pressed against your back or chest. He drools, by the way. Omegon doesn't.

[missadmyre]

Secret Trio + Detentionaire Physique HCs

Randy Cunningham

-he gains scars/wounds due to the suit not always being able to sense an attack quickly, thus not being able to register enough magic shield(?) to protect him (it ain't a robot y'all)

- because of his scars, he mostly skips getting dressed at the boy's locker room during Gym class

- he dresses at the bathroom stalls, though there are times when either Bucky or Julian had caught him shirtless in the bathrooms, they quickly learn to shut their mouths once they realize that "oh shit, this guy has lots of scars, might beat us up if we say anything"

- most of his scars are caused either because of incisions, scratch marks (Tengu!Howard's claws) or those black and blue bruises/blunt trauma because he keeps getting flung onto the walls

- there are burn marks scattered on his torso due to the  incident; one time, Jake lost control of himself and turned into a feral dragon because of some drug he inhaled, wasn't a very good time for both parties.

- there's two large scratch marks on both side of his hips because of Danny, who wasn't able to control obsessive urges as a ghost, thanks a lot Vlad, you traumatized them both

- he doesn't have the broadest shoulders but he has pretty damn good legs

- is very flexible

- he does gymnastics and acrobatics on a daily basis

- broke the school record of having the highest jump - his legs are far more muscular due to him always kicking at his opponents

- man has thighs for days

- he has excellent grip strength

- he managed to crush a watermelon using his thighs, go figure

- on a side note, the reason why his chest (specifically, where his heart is) is bare of any scars is because that is his sensitive spot

- the skin on his chest is very thin, so he tries his best to dodge an attack or at least lead the scar somewhere not near his heart

- there are times where his scarf is used against him (ie. choking, to swing him around) so he has faint marks of strangulation around his neck

- very docile than the others

- which is why has longer legs

- he excels more at meelee combat, his weakest is ranged combat

- the Nomicon taught him martial arts; karate, judo etc., which very much amplified his leg power

- you see those heightened senses he has? Yeah let's abuse that.

- he's not that sensitive (he can still enjoy loud parties and crap) but there's a limit to it.

Danny Fenton

- he can only gain wounds/scars when he is on his human form, though there are times when villains had been able to slip through that slit of a moment and managed to damage him while transforming in/out as the Phantom

- his scars mostly consist of large burn marks, chemical burns (from handling ectoplasm as a human), incisions and blunt trauma

- is the only one that have chemical burns

- the large gash on the right side of his torso is from the time when a yokai was able to slash him when he was transforming into the Phantom

- it was also the first wound that Randy was able to heal using the Art of Healing (feelings ensue~)

- he earned some scratch marks from Tengu!Howard, who clearly doesn't like him (he still doesn't know why that roasted chicken hates him, but damn well he does he enjoy teasing the guy)

- has the broadest shoulders

- bro doesn't pull his punches, LITERALLY!

- he has way bigger hands than Randy and Jake

- he punches more than he kicks, thus earning him a pretty heavy fists

- I feel bad for the human that would be unfortunately in the way of Danny's punch

- his biggest achievement is being able to knock down Biffy with his punches in just 10 seconds

- Biffy still hasn't forgiven him for that

- is trying to not get scars on his face due to the fact that his parents had once suspected him of being a gangster when they saw the little scar on the left side of his chin

- thankfully Jazz is able to cover up for him (I mean, getting that scar from shaving? Please)

- his weak spot are definitely his face and legs

- his legs are not the most steady due to him getting way too used to flying, kick him hard on the ankles and he'll fall immediately

- most chemical burns are seen on his hands, he got them from when ectoplasm would sometimes leak out of some Fenton weaponry (most notably, the Ecto Foamer) and he wasn't able to notice it as a human

- the strangling scar on his right wrist came from the long hours of getting cuffed in Ghost Prison, it was so bad the scar stayed even on his human form (he managed to escape but it still hurt y'know)

- his skin color is somewhat pale-ish tan

- since he's half dead, his wounds either don't heal or just heal very slowly, that's why he's careful not to get hit

- on the occasion that he did get a wound but his body wasn't able to heal it, he'll ask Randy for his Art of Healing

- he excels on both hand-to-hand and ranged combat, he has far more experience with guns/laser guns but he still takes lessons of gun handling from Lee

Jake Long

- most of his scars are found on his chest

- his scars include burn marks, scratch marks (Howard! Really?!), strangulation marks on both wrists and neck, a cauterized wound and incisions

- has the most burn marks than anyone on the trio

- the scratch marks from his arms came from his habit of scratching himself when trying to hold his anger

- my man still keeps getting picked on because of his height

- because of his recent molting, there are still dead skin flaking off of him, especially on his back

- the cauterized scar he has is something he both has good and bad memories to; when Jake lost control of himself as a dragon, he literally had to be put down in order to have Lee just treat his wounds, sadly the bandages weren't enough so they had to cauterize the wound using his OWN flame, at least Randy was comforting him through all that

- y'know kung fu, yeah he mastered that

- is very flexible in using both his hands and feet to fight AS a human

- in Dragon form (s1 design bc wtf is that shit from s2), he's a bit more feral as animalistic urges kick in

- it's because of that kind of behavior that he sometimes run straight into danger, earning him all kinds of wounds

- he has stitches all over his back because he got whipped one too many times at the auction incident (he still gets the chills everytime he thinks about it)

- it's also because of that incident that he gained strangulation marks on his neck and wrists because they treated him like an animal, cuffing him and all that

- to get those muscles, he went through a training arc

- you think Howard hating Danny is bad, well check out these two

- Howard and Jake are like, two pets that are fighting for their owner's love (or attention, Howard isn't going to touch that garbage fire called the Ectoham x Longham relationship)

- the moment Randy turns around, they are fighting all over the place, thus having the most scratch marks

- his weakness is his height, surprise surprise!

- when he's on his human form, it's hard to land a hit on an enemy who's clearly way taller than you

- when he's on his dragon form, his big height often causes him to trample or not be aware of unnoticeable traps

- he also can't balance himself when in dragon form, especially when he flies since his wings aren't the type to be able to easily dodge obstacles (it's just hard to make an adjustment when it's a sudden decision and you're up in the air)

- because he breathes literal fire, he always has a hot temperature, those who knew him just let's it be  it but when other people touch him, they would question if he has a fever

- his appetite is very big because... energy, the problem is that he has very high metabolism, so while he looks malnourished, he's actually taken what, like 2 boxes of pizza a minute ago (and about to take another one right now, dammit Spud, you're wasting too much money)

- have the sharpest nails there is, mostly likely because of his dragon form has it that it also integrated to his human form

- despite not being able to balance himself AS a dragon, he actually does quite well AS a human, being able to stand on poles/tightropes and shit

- those meditation lessons from his Gramps really did help huh

- he excels at hand-to-hand combat

Lee Ping

- he doesn't get that many scars since he doesn't fight opponents as much as the Secret Trio

- but when he does get a wound, it's mostly just blisters, on some cases, he would have burn marks or incisions

- since he always crawls through vents or tight spaces, he always has blisters skidded all around his arms and legs

- the burn marks came from when he would accidentally get hit from those robot's laser guns on Detentionaire (do they even have a name? But seriously, they hurt like hell, believe him)

- the large stitch across his torso is a very painful memory to look back on (he got captured by Cassandra and was about to get experimented on since he has the power to nullify any and all mind control, he was cut open and was about to be dissected when Biffy, Cam and Holger had caught up to him and set him free from there operating table, the other surgeons got killed while Cassandra got away)

- there are faint scratch marks on his shoulders BUT that is due to the tazelwurm sometimes sheathing it's claws on him accidentally (thank you Howard! Wtf did this guy do to you?)

- by far the most slimmest out of everyone in the group

- which is good because he's got to fit into those tight spaces to do "Lee Ping Spywork"

- can do basic gymnastics

- he's learned some basic and advanced self defense from the Serpent/Li, since he thought it would be useful if his younger brother can beat the shit out people when necessary

- the tallest (not including Biffy) out of the group

- has a scar caused by a stab wound somewhere in his right leg caused by Kimmy when she got transformed into some vicious tazelwurm hybrid, she got killed by Holger but he didn't know it was her (those who knew aren't planning on telling him that he just killed a person or he'll freak the fuck out)

- Biffy doesn't know she got killed, Lee isn't telling that information unless he wants a Biffy going nuts all over the place

- only him and Brandy know about Kimmy's death

- he can fence, he picked it up again when he saw the Secret Trio trying to train with long bladed weaponry so he tried to get some experience in being able to wield a weapon

- handles guns way better than the Secret Trio

- has the weakest punch, they all make fun of him for that

- he is the group's healer, he knew first aid very well and he isn't afraid stitch and treat a wound that is way too tender for the Secret Trio to heal

- he only knew how to stitch wounds because he experiments on his body (would it close if I do this kind of stitch? How about here, is it thin enough?)

- because of his experiments, he isn't able to register pain anymore, his poking and prodding at his skin nullified any jolt of pain

- wears gloves on his left hand because there is a lichtenberg scar on it that is colored toxic turquoise green, he ain't letting Barrage see that and be reminded of the pyramid incident

- which glows when the pyramid subconsciously gives him a power boost or something (heightened strength and senses)

- at first he tried to cover it with bandage but since it glows, it didn't work so they settled on the black glove

- excels in ranged combat

HEIGHT COMPARISON [FULL PICTURE]

[skyward-floored]

Impa has had plenty of battle experience in her life.

Countless days spent training in both tactics and fighting itself, long hours plugged into doing nothing but honing the skills of her tribe and other abilities she’s been gifted with. Learning the most effective ways to use them all together, and win any fight.

But there’s really no way to prepare yourself for a battle in which both your past lover (who can’t exactly be called her husband since Impa hasn’t even spoken to him in almost two decades, and has also for some reason aligned himself with an army of monsters) and son (who is unaware of the identity of either of his parents, and shouldn’t be on the battlefield anyway since he’s not even of age) are both running around in on opposite sides, making it impossible to keep track of either of them.

Impa huffs as she dodges a spear, worry and exasperation clashing together within her.

She’s lost sight of Link for the third time already this battle, and only has a vague idea of where Volga ended up. Link has demonstrated he can handle himself, but he’s still only a trainee, and Impa’s seen (even from a distance) what sort of trouble he can get into.

And Volga...

The questions that have been swirling around in her head ever since the battle start to come to life again, but Impa ignores them, focusing not on the hurt and confusion and instead on her current goal.

“Where did the boy go, Link?” she asks the captain stationed at the keep she’s helping defend, slashing past a bokoblin and narrowly saving a soldier’s head.

The captain frowns, holding his shield up to block a stray arrow. “I lost sight of him, all I know is he took out a whole squad of bokos and ran off,” he says, forehead creased.

“I saw him heading to the abandoned fort ma’am,” a soldier calls towards her. “Someone said that dragon-man is back there, I think he went to go fight him off.”

A cold feeling steals into Impa’s chest.

“Idiot boy is going to get himself killed,” the captain at her side mutters, slicing viciously at a monster. “Trainees shouldn’t be out here at all, no less fighting dragons. Boy barely looks old enough to shave.”

Impa more than agrees, but doesn’t waste her time with words, leaving the keep in the captain’s capable hands, and taking off to go find Link.

...and Volga.

She follows the soldier’s words, heading to the fort he’d pointed out. Sure enough, as she gets closer, she sees streams of fire burst into the air, hears the clash of weapons and familiar shouts.

Her heart skips a beat, and she runs past bokoblins and moblins alike, pausing only momentarily to fight her way past a few.

None of the monsters that get in her way are terribly tough, but they take time to fight, and Impa is getting anxious, casting continued glances at the smoke and fire nearby. She’s seen firsthand today how good of a fighter Link is, but she’s also well aware of Volga’s strength.

And Link... will need help.

The last bokoblin falls and Impa runs for the fort, arriving just in time to see Volga slam a clawed fist into Link. He cries out as he’s thrown across the cobblestones, landing in a motionless heap, and Impa bolts, blood roaring in her ears.

She slides to a stop in front of Link when Volga tries to advance, putting herself between them and blocking his path. The dragon knight stares at her, shadowed eyes narrowed, and Impa glares back, unmoving in her defense of Link.

She sees no sign of the man she fell in love with in his eyes.

“How noble,” Volga sneers, embers falling from his mouth. “Enjoy your shared grave.”

The fire around him begins to intensify, and Impa’s eyes widen, knowing immediately what it means.

“Oh no...” she breathes, and turns back to Link in a panic, getting to a knee and touching his shoulder. He shifts at her touch, but just a little, his eyes flickering when she shakes him. Volga growls, and Impa whirls back towards him, knowing she doesn’t have enough time to pull Link out of here.

The air around Volga wavers with heat as flames lick up his form, and then he moves forward, blasting a huge plume of fire directly at them both, hotter than death mountain itself.

And right before the flames hit, Link stumbles in front of Impa, a hand outstretched like he hopes to hold back the flames with nothing but his arm.

Impa barely has enough time to be horrified (he’s only a boy, he shouldn’t be protecting her, she can’t watch her son die—) before the flames engulf them both.

...

But instead of burning alive in her former-lover’s flames, Impa instead feels a gentle warmth.

It’s equally soothing and powerful, and she opens her eyes, not even realizing she’d closed them. The sight that meets her makes her startle, and she stares up at Link in utter shock.

Golden light is pouring around Link— around her son, in a wide, protective glow, encircling and keeping them both safe. All of him holds a shine, but his left hand is glowing especially bright, triangles outlined on the back in a beautiful luminescent gold. A sign of which Impa would know anywhere and had already begun to suspect, but almost doesn’t want to believe, to face what it truly means for them all.

Link is the Hero.

Volga’s flames finally peter off, and the light fades, but Link still holds his hand up, fingers shaking a little. Volga studies him, giving Link a calculating look as his eyes dart across his face, and Impa finds herself holding her breath.

Will he notice the similarities, will he pick up on the features he and Link share, will he put the pieces together—

But Volga appears not to recognize anything amiss about Link, or even herself, and he barely spares her a glance as he growls something about not being beaten, and departs the battlefield.

Link shakily falls to a knee almost the moment he’s gone, and Impa resists the urge to grab him by the shoulders and make sure he’s okay, instead joining his side not too quickly.

“H-how...” he croaks, staring at his hand in equal awe and terror. “What was...”

“The triforce of courage,” Impa supplies, and he looks at her, his face covered in grime and sweat, and layered with a healthy amount of shock.

She takes a deep breath as what the meaning of this truly signifies begins to sink into her chest, fear and pride and several other emotions all vying for her attention. But she ignores them all, especially the sharp ache at the realization her son has a long fight ahead of him.

A monster howls somewhere nearby, accompanied by a soldier’s yell, and Impa closes her eyes, then reopens them, packing the emotions away with practiced ease.

“...I’m afraid we don’t have time for me to explain everything to you right now,” she apologizes, offering Link a hand up. “But I promise I will. At the moment, we have a battle to win.”

Link swallows, looking like he wants to say more. But then he straightens his shoulders and nods, letting her pull him to his feet. Impa can feel his hand still faintly shaking, and she can’t resist giving it the lightest of squeezes before she lets go, quickly returning her attention to the battle still raging outside the fort.

They can figure all of this out later. She can figure all of this out later.

Right now, they have a battle to win.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Eddie Diaz - Season 8A

This post is all about my favorite character Eddie Diaz and HE IS THE MAIN AND ONLY FOCUS OF IT. Therefore, if someone doesn't want to read about how I'm pissed off at the lack of character growth for him, keep scrolling. It's just that simple.

I'm NOT HAPPY about the LACK of development in his storylines and I'm tired of him being put on THE WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE.

I've been quiet long enough about this and I'm tired of the way Eddie Diaz is treated on this show. He's always sidelined and his arcs are pushed back in favor of Buck's which is interesting especially since they're both main characters. Don't get this twisted because I like Buck too but Eddie's my favorite and I would like it if he got the ATTENTION HE DESERVES FOR A CHANGE. Also, guest stars have received more character development than him and that's asinine as hell (Brad and Taylor come to mind).

Before I get started, I'll admit it's unlikely that I'll do a review of 8x8 because like 8x7, there was a lot going on but nothing major happened in it for the mains but they sure did a number on Eddie and regressed him. Therefore, this post is about my favorite character Eddie Diaz since the show and a lot of the fandom treat him like he's a side character. He's a main and I'm f~cking sick of the way his story continues to be sidelined so he can orbit around Buck.

BE CLEAR, I FULLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS OF LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR BUDDIE! I ALREADY KNOW BUCK AND EDDIE WILL BE TOGETHER BUT MY ISSUE IS THE LACK OF DEVELOPMENT FOR EDDIE.

No shade to anyone but I'm not looking for clues that point to Buddie anymore because they've ALWAYS been there and doing that doesn't excite me. I WANT TO SEE REAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and I've been wanting that for all the mains for 7 damn seasons. But the issue is every time Eddie's about to experience some growth, he's regressed back to a point of no return. He takes one step forward and 80,000 steps backward and this is exhausting.

Last night's ending was not for Eddie's benefit, it was done for shock value and for Buck's growth even though Eddie's been haunting Buck's love triangle f~ckery since 7x4. Eddie was ALL ALONE and NO ONE was there for him when he needed to talk. Therefore, Eddie choosing to move back to Texas DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN and IMO, it was lazy writing. Do the writers from LS have any idea who Eddie is at all? It sure as hell doesn't seem like it. What happened to the Eddie who said, "I'll always fight to come home to my family?" Or the one who said, "After Shannon died, they wanted me to give Christopher to them but that's not what I wanted then and it's not what I want now." He's practically nonexistent anymore and that's just sad.

Since RG's not leaving the show, what was the point of any of this? Oh, that's right to further Buck's arc while Eddie remains stagnate. Furthermore, TM (showrunner) said Eddie was wearing a mustache and when he shaved it off, he would find out who he is outside of being a father but...

NEWSFLASH!

THOSE TWO THINGS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.

The fact is Eddie is a father! He has been since he found out Shannon was pregnant, he always will be and it doesn't matter if he wears a mustache or not and/or whether he lives in L.A., El Paso or Antarctica. Therefore, TM saying that was an oxymoronic statement because since Eddie is a father whatever decision he makes will and should be for the benefit of him and his son. That's been one of the main issues for him since he's used Chris as a shield for his own heart while ignoring what he wants. Him deciding to return to Texas IS NOT doing what's best for either of them.

Additionally, for the entirety of 8A, all he was shown doing was being a dad. He spent all that time in 8x4 trying to help Mike reconnect with Weston but NOT ONCE did we see Eddie going above and beyond to visit Chris. It's like the showrunner put more effort into that than Eddie's on storyline and it's ridiculous. So, it doesn't matter if Eddie's married to Shannon (I know she's deceased but I'm making a point) or if he dates Ana, Marisol or Buck, HE WILL ALWAYS BE CHRIS' FATHER! THAT'S NEVER GOING TO CHANGE and whatever decisions he makes, until Chris becomes an adult, it always will be true.

Be clear, Eddie choosing to move back to Texas is NOT HIM CHOOSING JOY, it's him regressing and doing the same things he did in previous seasons. In season 5, instead of talking to Chris about how he was feeling, he up and quit the 118 but HE WAS MISERABLE because he didn't want to leave. Granted he needed the break and he also needed to go to therapy but since that time, it's been nothing but crickets on the therapy front for him. When he finally did talk to his son, Chris SAID HE DIDN'T TELL EDDIE TO QUIT. So, why wasn't he allowed to talk to Chris this time and ask him what he wanted? Or better yet why aren't they doing family therapy or something? Chris is talking to him now but we didn't get to see how they got there from 8x1. It all happened off-screen and the last time Eddie said something about Helena was 8x5 so he's been out of the loop on his own child for weeks.

Chris is a child which means Eddie has the final say. His parents don't have any legal rights to Chris but NOT ONCE has Eddie been allowed to tell them about the legal guardianship. After he told Buck about it, it's never been mentioned again and I don't want Eddie to have an NDE for Chris to come back and I don't want Buck to have that conversation with Helena and Ramon. It's good for fanfic writing (I've written several with the narrative) but in real life it gets messy and it's possible Chris doesn't even know Buck's his guardian.

This situation is a cluster f~ck of epic proportions and it needs to be resolved like NOW. It's been more than 5 years since Eddie changed his will and they haven't talked about it.

Another issue is Eddie IS ALWAYS TOLD WHAT TO DO and the one or two times he's made a decision on his own, he was happy about it but it was short lived since the showrunner always regresses him back into the Terror Dome. His dad told him to be the man of the house at 10 years old, they and those busybodies at church told him to marry Shannon because she was pregnant, he went to the Army and all they did was tell him what to do (it's the military so that's what they do) and when he was honorably discharged Shannon tried to tell him to move to California. Then his parents tried to coerce him into leaving Chris with them when he applied to work at the LAFD and Helena told him to move back to El Paso after Shannon died. His parents and Bobby told him it was time to move on from his dead wife in season 4 so he dated Ana. Buck told him to break up with her in season 5 and he did. Pepa told him he needed to put himself back out there in season 6 and she pressured him into going on a blind date with Vanessa. In season 7, Bobby asked him about the time he was married and his commitment issues, Father Brian had to tell him to find joy and Brad had to tell him not to let the gap widen in his relationship with his son. Also, instead of talking to his raggedy parents, he's making another decision that he won't be happy with. He'll be miserable because it's not what he wants. He established a whole life for him and Chris in L.A. and instead of fighting for it and telling his parents to get the hell on, he's surrendering.

That's not the Eddie Diaz from previous seasons. Seasons 2, 3 and 4 Eddie didn't want his parents raising his son. What happened to him? Where is he? He's missing and he has been for a while. I need him to come back and stand up to his parents. I'm sure there won't be a good resolution to this storyline and it's unlikely that Eddie will tell his parents off especially since the show is handing out undeserved and unearned parent redemption arcs like they're lollipops or some shit.

Eddie has A MOUNTAIN of things he needs to work through like his grief over Shannon dying, that whack ass doppelgänger Kim, his inability to tell his parents where to go, addressing the issues that are in front of him and all the pain and grief he's been carrying around for years regarding his failed marriage. He needs to have an open and honest conversation with Chris about Shannon and instead of asking Buck to talk to him in 7x1, he should have done it.

What I want to see is Eddie choose Eddie for a change instead of this hamster wheel of doom he's constantly being put on. Seeing him dance around in his underwear was cute and nice but that's not growth. He did something that brought him joy but the only reason he did it was because the priest told him to. When is he going to do something for himself? When will Eddie Diaz decide that's enough of this shit and tell himself he deserves better? He deserves to be happy just like everyone else and it's time for Eddie's FULL STORY TO BE TOLD.

I'm tired of waiting and I'm sure there will be some who'll read this post and say, "The second half of the season is supposed to be Eddie's." LOL 🤪. Haven't we been here before? Like five times actually and three of them were due to the F*X network's interference. Eddie's arc keeps getting delayed and it's possible there will be something else that causes TM to delay it again.

The fact is there is something else that could hinder Eddie's growth and the path to Buddie CANON but since I don't talk politics on my blog, I'll just say IYKYK and January is only 9 weeks away. This should have happened in season 7 but TM delayed it yet again so he can write it the way he wants to and if he keeps on, he might not get the chance.

Eddie and Buck both need to show growth because there are two people in the Buddie ship. It's unfair for Eddie to be sidelined while Buck gets to date and do whatever the f~ck he wants while Eddie sits at home and blows up his life yet again. I don't want Eddie to have another mental breakdown, an NDE or anything else that will cause him to be in the hospital or have him struggling. I want to see him go back to therapy so he can finally unpack all the shit from his childhood and his young adult life. Change takes work and him dancing around in his "tighty whites" like Tom Cruise is not the same thing.

Where is the consistency and the continuity?

Hopefully, 8B will happen without any hiccups so Eddie can finally be happy.

[hanayori89]

The Hand That Heals

You were one of the contaminated ones.

The Hylians didn't use words like 'infected' or 'diseased.' Not that those words were much better. No matter what the title was for your malady, they all hurt just the same.

But something about the word 'contaminated' made you feel stark and hopeless.

Incurable.

Infections and diseases often have cures. Something that is tarnished, something that is ruined, is not salvaged; it is just disposed of.

And that's exactly what you felt like.

Soiled.

Tainted.

Disposable.

Trash.

Which is why you disposed of yourself within the pockets of decaying earth that lay beneath

Hyrule's bedrock known as the depths.

It was your way of throwing yourself away before mobs of frightened citizens attempted to.

The depths were no place for the robust and bright-eyed. Or the 'uncontaminated.'

It wasn't all bad being exiled deep below in the cold and musty undergrounds. Especially since most of Hyrule had been thrown into peril by recent devastating events.

First there was the rise of the highly contagious 'gloom'. Followed by the princess and her loyal knight, who had both mysteriously vanished.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, was the coup being held by the restless Demon King known as Ganondorf.

Yes, you decided the healthy could have their surface; you were quite content existing in isolation, where the only threat was that of you and your gloom germs.

Living in the depths proved challenging for a mere mortal. Your circadian rhythm has been destroyed thanks to the lack of sunlight. Supplies were scarce, causing you to forage  whatever you could find. Mostly mushrooms and glowing cave fish, but hey, fish have omega-3's, right?

The biggest challenge was the constant darkness- a darkness unparalleled to anything you've ever encountered before. Not even the glum of a thick and clouded wilderness or a quiet, uninhabited basement could compare.

You'd never known what it meant to be in the dark before your time in the depths.

They held a darkness that consumed you, making you question if you truly were even alive. Making you question if you ever even were. Part of you grew to appreciate what little the depths revealed, such as the unforgiving side effects of the gloom and how it mutilated you.

The depths did more than just shield you and your contamination from the healthy residents of Hyrule; they protected you from the trauma of what you had become.

But every now and then, when you threw a bright bloom seed or lit a fire, there was a remorseless glow that revealed the way the gloom was devouring you. It only took a single glance at your wiry fingers and the bedizen of ashen knuckles that led to the fungal tint of your nail beds, to be reminded.

You couldn't even begin to imagine the abomination that was now your face.

Before the gloom, you were considered to be beautiful, at least to some. You had thick h/c locks that, if shaved, could easily coat the heads of 50 dolls. Your e/c eyes were striking against your s/c complexion, garnering you an abundance of compliments throughout your life. You had a thicker body, a well-fed one. Your hips were wide thanks to the cheesecake slices you graciously never skipped when offered. But now, thanks to the slim pickings of the depths, your body has taken on a lanky, frail appearance.

You trekked back toward your camp, tossing bright bloom seeds along the way to illuminate your path. You held your breath, listening carefully to your surroundings. The past horrors of trying to navigate the dark and coming face-to-face with a contaminated Lynel left you with a bit of ptsd.

Besides the depths being difficult to traverse thanks to a severe lack of light, they were also a domicile of frightening creatures that had been metamorphosed by the transformative powers of the gloom.

Sometimes you couldn't help but wonder how long it would take before you became one of them.

The bright bloom seeds were a tool that provided enough light to hunt, but not much else. The irony of the depths was that despite the blockade of layers of soil and organic matter preventing the entrance of light, there was a multitude of bright bloom seeds that flourished down here.

Yes, the depths truly were a whole new world. Starting with this darkness, which could easily cause one to mistake hell for heaven. You weren't aware of all the secrets buried within these shadows, and you also knew you weren't too eager to find out.

You breathed a little easier when the comforting flames of your camp came into view. As you lifted your arm, aiming to launch another bright bloom seed, you saw a figure at your camp. The closer you got, the more you recognized the familiar outline of a short, spiny ponytail jutting above the familiar white sheen of a face mask.

"Of all the founding fathers of Hyrule, what is a Yiga buffoon doing down here?" You growled.

Anger propelled you forward; rebellion coursed through your veins and burned like lidocaine on an open wound. You had so very little left, and the desire to protect what little you possessed was fierce. Fish carcasses and mushrooms were strewn around the ground as the Yiga's grubby hands rummaged through your knapsack. In it were pictures of your family and what little rupees you had to your name, should you ever be magically cured of your gloom diagnosis and could return home.

You tackled the Yiga to the ground. "How dare you!" The Yiga screamed. As you gripped his arm, the gloom in your hands incinerated the fabric of his sleeves, branding his flesh with your handprints.

"You bitch!" He stumbled out of your grasp, dropping all of your rupees in the process. One of the photos of your father and mother fell from the knapsack and fluttered downward into the open blaze of your campfire.

You screamed.

You stuck your hand into the fire, wincing as you retrieved the charred photo. The melted faces of your mother and father stared back at you. The photo began to shrivel beneath a small flame that continued to eat it.

You puckered your lips, releasing hefty currents of your breath. You had to blow this fire out.

You just had to.

This photo was one of the few you had that was a memory of when your life was normal. The smiles of your parents were the last visible evidence you had that they loved you before you contracted the gloom.

With a sickle in hand, the Yiga sprinted toward you, hollering a bunch of muffled expletives you couldn't hear well thanks to his ridiculous mask.

As you braced for impact, the Yiga fell face first in the dirt before your feet. An arrow protruded from his back.

He had been shot.

You fell to your knees, holding the destroyed photo, where your parents' faces had been, that now held your fallen tears.

A quiet voice called out to you; so soft was this voice that you thought it was your imagination.

"Are you alright?"

A figure came into focus; you couldn't make out his face, just the scraggly tresses that were whipped around his shoulders and the outline of his beefed-up biceps.

"Stay back!" You warned. "I'm contaminated..." You stifled another sob. The heroic intruder held his hands up, demonstrating that he was not a threat.

Which was all the more reason you had to warn him that you were.

He took a cautious step forward. "I've only come to ask a question." He retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from a satchel on his side. He retained his anonymity beneath the shadows, allowing you to only make out the faint outline of his fine lips as he spoke. "Have you seen her?"

You stood, taking a step toward him but keeping yourself hidden as well. It was almost as if you both wanted to remain concealed from one another. Despite the smeared ink that bled slightly down the paper and the creases that obscured the image, you could recognize the viridescent glare of Hyrule's missing princess on the sheet.

"Princess Zelda? They're searching the depths now?"

"No acre of land below or above should go without searching until we find her."

"Well, as you can see, these depths here hold no one but me and my greedy thief friend you have so kindly slain."

He tucked the sheet of paper back into his satchel but remained in your vision, or what the hollowed dark allowed of your vision. "Say, did they find her knight? Lonk? Ling?"

You could see the stranger open his lips, only to clutch them back together. "Link. His name is Link. And no, no, they haven't."

You turned your back to the stranger, assessing the mess the Yiga soldier had made of your supplies. You bent back down and picked up your parents' photo, choking on another wave of tears.

The man's voice sounded from behind you, only slightly closer now. "I can fix that for you."

You peered at him from over your shoulder. He was close enough to the fire that you could see part of the bare skin of his chest and his sculpted chin, which led to his chapped lips.

You still couldn't quite see his eyes.

He held his hand out, and you noticed his fingernails were long and jagged, not having seen nail clippers in some time. An alluring glow seemed to trickle down his arm in an intricate maze of glowing jade lines. You placed the photo in his hand, careful not to touch him with your fingers. You kept your face hidden in your shoulder, afraid that the first shred of kindness you had been given would be taken if he should see you beneath the truth of the fire's flames.

He held the photo, his silence encompassing you both. He was so still, that for a moment, you thought he had stopped breathing. Until you noticed his clavicles and chest slightly puff out and contract with breath.

The soft, verdant glow became more visceral. You continued to keep your back turned and your face hidden, your eyes never leaving the radiance of his arm.

After a moment, he handed the photo back to you. You quickly turned to snatch it back, burrowing your face in your shirt. As you observed it, you saw the bright, shining smiles of your parents peering back at you unscathed. For a moment, you forgot the enticing and enigmatic stranger that stood before you, letting your shirt fall from your face as you studied the photo above the fire's not too generous lighting. You could make out a thin line of some type of green jelly adhesive that repaired some of the rips in the photos. Without the light, the glue that he had created with his hand was mostly undetectable.

You stared at him in awe. "This is... this is amazing. I couldn't begin to repay your kindness. This is all I have left to remind me of my life before the gloom. Of the way people loved me before I became a monster." As you lifted your finger to wipe a tear away, you remembered your face was on display before him.

Your face and all the crusty and haggard abrasions of gloom that now coat it.

"No!" You cried. You began to back away, burying your face in your palms. "Don't look at me!"

But the boy grabbed your wrist with his enchanted hand, pulling it from your face. "You're beautiful." He whispered with a tone that was almost believable.

"Yeah right. Look at what this gloom is doing to us; if it isn't destroying us, it's dividing us! My own family banished me from my home!"

The man let your wrist go and held his arm in your vision. He spoke matter-of-factly, remaining out of the fire's path, so he was still shielded from you. "I'm missing my arm."

He held his arm out; the urge to touch it made the tips of your fingers tingle.

"May I?"

"Only if I can touch your face."

"You'll become contaminated."

You heard a slightly unhinged chuckle. "I'm not afraid... besides, there is a cure for the gloom."

"What!" You gasped. You felt your feet become unsteady. You stepped forward, attempting to grab the man's shirt, only to realize it was a one-shoulder tunic that looked rather outdated.

"Please, I'll do anything; please, I want to be cured! I want to be myself again, to be able to look at people and not be plagued by the cruel judgment in their eyes when they see what I've become."

The man's arm began to emanate light once again.

"If that's what you desire, what your heart truly wants, then I can heal you."

Swirls of sage traveled down his arm, glimmering brighter and more blatant.

Your lips parted at the man who stood before you.

Your savior.

Your healer.

You whispered. "Who are you?"

Edited:12/22/23

[brainrotcharacters]

COD boys x Falcon!Reader

I was rewatching mcu stuff so guess what.

tags: situationship because I like my men emotionally inept, Redwing, gender neutral reader, Ghost x reader, Alejandro x reader, Soap x reader, Gaz x reader,

Ghost

the respect he has for your skills are unsaid, and more powerful for it

if the current mission requires aerial forces, he'll have less worry on his mind knowing you're up there too

although he does acknowledge the concerns of his men, he always says “Falcon is up there” as if that’s an answer (it is to him)

one time, you were making hardware changes on Redwing

Ghost arrived and sat down nearby, handing you tools and bits that you needed

you give him a critical, teasing glance, "How do you know which ones I need?"

"I learn." was all he said

"There's not exactly a lecture room at base to discuss my tech."

"I learn from watching you."

you stare at him for a second longer, toes curling inside your boots, and then accept the piece he handed you "Does that mean you are interested?"

at that, Ghost moved to leave "I came here for some peace and quiet, but if you insist..."

"Hey, come on Ghost. I'm just messing with you. Sit down."

he chuckled as he returned to his seat

you ignored the way your gut dropped thinking of your poor chances at something with him

you cleared your throat "Soap being annoying again?"

"What's new?" he sighed, exhausted and fond at the same time

Alejandro

he is responsible for your other title "Anghel de la Guardia"

at first, he wanted to have a turn at the wings

mainly to find new ways to put his life at risk smh Alejandro, meaning you tease him by constantly refusing

one time, your equipment was compromised and as Colonel, he had to make snap decisions to help you land as safely as possible

as soon as your harnesses from the flickering, sparking technology were removed, Alejandro practically ripped it away across the floor to check your safety

the nearly-childish awe he felt for it was reduced to nothing if it meant he would lose you

Rudy had the equipment moved, then urged everyone else to take inventory and leave the colonel to you

Alejandro joined you on the floor, one hand on the side of your neck, and another hand to your hip, demanding "are you okay?"

"I'm okay," you forced yourself to ignore how warm his touch felt through your suit. "Relax, Colonel. I survived."

"Barely!" he snarled through his teeth. He was trembling. "I thought we agreed not to be stupid without each other, ah?"

Alejandro didn't have you grounded, but also kept a closer eye when you returned to the air

"Careful. You're beginning to act like an overprotective lover." 

"You need someone like that." 

"Are you offering?" 

"Are you going to say yes?" 

any traction made on the unnamed thing between you and Alejandro was interrupted by the next mission, and it went to the back of your minds once again

Soap

everyone else, from Gaz to the medics to the other lads at base have mentioned how Soap doesn't shut up about the Falcon and their barrel rolls and close shaves and smooth banking...

he is in awe of your flight training and damn it he'll make everyone appreciate it

with you, he manages to keep things more or less professional, and never asks about your specialty unless it directly influenced the current objective of the team

he's always your first responder on comms and the last person to check on you after a successful mission

Johnny is so endearing to the point that you offered a test run with him, but he politely declines, teasing "you look prettier up there than I ever could"

during one mission, Soap talked his way into the bad end of several guns outdoors

he recognized you hovering behind their heads and began to boast "Your time is up. 141 is here."

naturally, his hostage takers looked left and right, deciding Soap was a delusional liar

"Look up."

You've gotten close enough to throw two good kicks, grabbing Soap by the arm as your wings reformed into a shield against the gunfire

"My hero." Soap grinned

"You're good at this damsel thing." you quip back. "Injuries? Guns?"

"No injuries. One handgun." the bullets began to grow less and less

"You'll survive." when they began to reload, your shield returned to its default form, and Soap rushed around you to start a counterattack

Gaz

considering Gaz's rather complicated relationship with helicopter crashes, things changed a bit when you were added to the team

You easily developed a habit of swooping in to save him that it reached a point where you coded a program specifically for Gaz's accidents he jokes that it's because he's your favorite

Gaz would say that he's become more careful with himself, but the rest of the team vehemently argue that he's gone more reckless than usual

The madman tossed himself over the tumbling, screeching body of the chopper and into the air before allowing you time to lock in on his location

tiny, reliable drones immobilized the propellers of the helicopter as you tackled Gaz

"You're an absolute jerk!" you laugh over the comms, your thrusters increasing in power to reach him faster. "Redwing, propellers!"

The usual, relieved "Falcon's got him" is heard over the comms

Gaz seems like the type to be genuinely interested in the details of a technology such as this, and has gone on for hours bouncing ideas back and forth with you

It was this interest and curiosity that positively influenced Gaz's perspective and affections for you

plus, he's the type to ask nicely to help in a test flight... and make those wings look good

[gospelofme]

A Rambling Essay about Crosshair

I feel like there are lots of characters like Crosshair in Star Wars. Characters that portray themselves to be unfriendly assholes, but are using that to protect a vulnerable, traumatized inner self.

When we meet Crosshair in season 7 of The Clone Wars episode The Bad Batch, he’s an asshole. He and Wrecker start a fight when Cody is injured (Cody is the only “reg” Crosshair has respect for, but I’ll get into this another time). In the episode, A Distant Echo, he brings up the fact that Echo could be dead, or a traitor. He goes so far as to suggest just leaving Echo for dead since he is “just a reg”. This upsets Rex, which was his intention in my opinion, and Crosshair ends up getting punched in the face for it. While this was an important aspect to remember, Crosshair could’ve been more gentle about it. Instead he was arrogant and dismissive, he meant to be cruel with his remarks. This is asshole behavior.

Skipping ahead to The Bad Batch series. When Order 66 comes through, he actively tries to kill Caleb (Kanan). We know the others didn’t have their chips activate, due to their defectiveness (later we do have Wrecker’s activate, but only after a head injury). But Crosshair’s did, partially at least if not fully. He still tried to be part of the squad (not initially reporting Hunter for disobeying Order 66) until his chip’s influence was strengthened. Once that happened, he became loyal to the Empire and thus began the era of Crosshair being their enemy. What he did during this time wasn’t his fault, as he was being controlled by the implanted chip.

However, I wish to draw attention to the episode Reunion in Season 1 of The Bad Batch. Crosshair is injured by the engines of a Star Destroyer activating and burning his face. We were left with three options here.

One: the chip was destroyed by the injury, since it was on the right side of his head. This would result in its removal.

Two: the chip is intact, but has been damaged and may not be fully functioning.

Three: the chip is intact and still functioning as normal, since the injury seems to be just scarring and largely focused on the surface of his skull.

Reason one would bring us to the realization that any action Crosshair was doing post-injury was of his own free will. This is further solidified when Hunter and Crosshair are arguing in the season 1 finale, Crosshair revealing that he had had his inhibitor chip removed a long time ago. He does refuse to tell Hunter when he did this. His hair could’ve hid the removal scar easily, but the procedure would’ve left him with a bandage and a shaved portion of his hair. The others would have noticed. That makes it logical to think the chip was removed when Crosshair was receiving treatment for his injury. But this is also unlikely since I don’t see the Empire removing their source of control from Crosshair.

This brings me to the only option of the chip still being in place and Crosshair just lying to Hunter to make him feel like a failure. I feel like he did this to Hunter for the same reason he told Rex that he would’ve left Echo for dead because he’s “just another reg”. He’s trying to get the other to believe he is just an asshole. Irredeemable.

Later in Kamino Lost, Crosshair is still unwilling to renounce his loyalty to the Empire, but he’s also not actively trying to kill his former team. He even saves Omega at the end, knowing he was the only one who could’ve made that shot.

The latter half of Season 2 is where we start to see the real Crosshair come out. His interactions with Cody and Mayday are turning points for him. Mayday’s murder is the trigger he needs to sever his loyalty to the Empire. Crosshair goes through some serious torture and is traumatized as a result. This shatters the protective shield he had built around himself (likely since childhood). Before, the only ones he had willingly allowed in was Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker. Later Echo was included. He is still refusing to let Omega in, but this will likely change at the end of the series. He is still suffering through this experience, even though he’s rejoined his team. He’s refusing to admit his fears, the shaking of his hand is enough for Hunter and Wrecker though. They don’t seem to press this as much, but I don’t think any clone trooper knows how to deal with mental health and trauma (as they were supposed to be “immune” to the effects of battle fatigue/stress/PTSD).

He’s not the same Crosshair he was when we met him, but he’s trying to act as if he is. He has gone through being a loyal member of Clone Force 99, to feeling betrayed and abandoned by them. He becomes loyal to the Empire, until he is abandoned (on Kamino) and betrayed (by Mayday’s murder) by them.

I found it interesting that he still tried to be loyal to the Empire after they abandoned him on Kamino. He still tried to be a good soldier. He still tried to please them. It made me wonder if this is what he was like as a child. Trying to get others to like him or be pleased with him. But due to the obvious animosity between Clone Force 99 and regular clone troopers, this was likely something he’d never achieve and he had to accept that. Thus he walled up the hurt he felt and actively tried to keep others at bay with an asshole attitude.

[solar-tl-27]

HEY

Whoah I’m posting

All by myself ??

Woah woah woah woah! I am here to show SOME art!

A while ago the announcement of the next pokemon game came out! And with my favorite region returning there was only one thing I could possibly do!

Hyperfixate on my own oc lore in the Pokémon universe so much that once again i’ll only be disappointed by the game in the end lol. So…. Let’s talk about them!

This will be a collection of some of my older art to finally end up on the most recent art i just finished so if u don’t care about Pokémon plz scroll down and appreciate my art ( ToT )

Ok so! I always make original characters to be my protagonist is Pokémon games so when x& y came out i created a character named colette

A woman in her mid 20’s that I totally 100% didn’t oc x canon ship with the villain (i did)

A looong time skip later pokemon sword shield came out which led to the continuation of the colette storyline!

With her daughter Pandora and her friends! Causing the creation of joshua & sapphire (the original image is definitely created with bases so credit to pokemon for the original art & selenaede for the bases)

(Draft didn’t save here so aha sob)

They have been through several versions since then, all slightly different over time

You had pandora: a smart and elegant young girl and the protagonist

Joshua: the nerdy one but also the one that helps everyone no matter what

Saphie: the one who likes cute things and fashion

They were pretty basic characters and evolved but this is theee base line of their characters up until their last design

Just 3 teens on an adventure

BUT NOW

Timeee skip babyyy the return of Colette’s home means i wanna drag her daughter there!

The teens are now young adults! Trying to figure out what they wanna do in life and i can FINALLY MAKE BIG CHANGES TO SOME OF THEM

Let’s goo!

Their outfits are loosely based on the pokemon xyz legendary Pokémon but i also wanted them to be able to stand on their own!

They are now young adults trying to figure out what they want to do with their life and having a change of scenery so

Let’s get into it!

Saphie

Saphie’s finally got his cute accessories back!! He’s finally got a cutesy outfit which suits his style and iiii finally got rid of the side shave going for a complete adorable vibe for him instead. With bows, beads and a new cute hairstyle he’s finally ascended to adorable! He’s easily home sick and going with his friends on this journey sure is a big change. Someone who’s unsure of his future but knows he always has his friends to rely on!

Joshua

Joshua is definitely still the nerdy one, he’s got the clearest vision of what he wants his life to be, not always understanding his friends but always trying to be supportive. His style is definitely the one that changed over time, leaving the nerdy studious look behind to try something new!

His friends definitely chose this outfit for him and it’s actually the closest he’s been to his oc predecessor as he was actually recycled. Sadly that art has been lost to type but, before he was joshua from this group he was joshua a character who was definitely a lot more edgy and artistic. I wanted to bring that back with this design and I personally think i did his original design justice.

Pandora

Pandora always changes the least, her design has always been clear to me in ways but i did want to try new things. Finally deciding i cant choose between the 2 eye colors she’s had I decided i don’t have to choose SO I JUST GAVE HER BOTH. Putting her into something that’s just her style but also trying different colors she’s now more confident and determined, she’s on this journey to learn more about her family and try to choose what direction to take her life in.

Proud to see her friends figure out who they are but also sometimes feels like depending on what choices she makes could have them drift apart. Having to remind herself to have fun on the trip as well she’s probably the one who’s choices will make the biggest difference in what her life will end up being. A true protagonist with issues to deal with and secrets to uncover!

Thank u forrr looking at my little art post!

Now! I have a secret for all my winx people

Guess who’s back in the building again teehee

Ok bye bye!

[lacefuneral]

you know disco elysium is a good game because i'm willing to play through the exact same plot and side quests and puzzles over and over and over again. not to solve a murder mystery but because i'm fascinated with trying out alternate universe versions of harry du bois

what if he was a centrist honor cop that is also an outspoken feminist that chainsmokes. what if he was a sloppy sloppy party boy drunk doing every drug he sees, and he thinks the world is going to end. what if he was a horribly bigoted fascist - how does he exist in this world with a gay partner of color, how does he reconcile his white supremacist beliefs with that of measurehead's black supremacist beliefs (which he ends up adopting)? what if he was an outspoken communist bisexual that actively hates being a police officer at every single step and is going to resign the second the game ends, and he's been sober the entire time? what if he has 1 in every skill and spends his entire time crying, throwing up, apologizing, and passing out.

and also... do any of these men know their own name? what do they prioritize, in terms of memory recall? how do they choose to dress and present themselves to the world? does he shave? why or why not?

if they all pick the same dialogue option, are they saying it and meaning it in the same way? our protagonist is not voiced. he could be sincere, sarcastic, bitter, manic, bureaucratic, empathetic.

it's such a good study in people and ideology. regardless of beliefs, all of my characters have taken bribes. they've helped the union leader. they cozy up to the ultraliberal. even the cop trying to be the most Ethical. the most Fuck The Police. ends up abusing his own power. ends up killing people. ends up stealing. invades privacy. because its what is dictated by the job. by the narrative.

when you try to be apolitical, you still do all of those things. and, in fact, if you're apolitical enough you can abandon martinaise entirely and you get assassinated by the moralintern for Knowing Too Much about the pale.

if you play a communist you still have dros at the end telling you that you're not a real communist because you haven't fought for revolution. you're a wannabe

if you play a fascist dros even tells you that you're not a real fascist because you haven't enacted enough fascist violence. you're a wannabe

if you're a liberal you're shielding the fascists

you cannot be "a good guy" in disco elysium and you cannot "win." a "good" ending is getting recruited back to the force, and you can still manage to do that if you don't drink and kim is by your side. you can be brutal and awful and violent to everyone and everything. and they let you back.

even "good cops" cannot choose to resign. you must be kicked out of the force. which you do by hurting yourself and letting others get hurt

you can only resign if you take enough Morale Damage that you abandon not just the force but the entire community. and you get a game over screen

man. this fucking game....

[beyondthegame]

CYPRESS DE VERA

THE IDOL

Nickname/also known as: Cy

Physical description: Their light brown skin tone and brown, monolid eyes complement each other perfectly. They have straight dark hair: female Cypress's hair length is past their shoulders, whilst male and non-binary has their hair short but with length on the top. A defined jawline and slight muscular build. Every day, at all times, Cypress wears a necklace with a shield pendant.

Height: 5'10

Sexuality: Asexual

Distinctive features: The tiny heart-shaped birthmark on their jaw.

Race: Asian

Ethnicity: Filipino

(Former) position: Box-to-box midfielder

(Former) shirt number: 3

MBTI Type: ISFJ-A

Random fact: Cypress has three younger siblings that they have legal custody for.

ESTELLE/EVREN/EVEREST ACEVEDO

THE HEIR

Nickname/also known as: Es (for Estelle), Ev for (Evren and Everest), 'The Wild Ace' (by the media)

Physical description: Brown, freckled skin, an infectious smile, dark green/hazel eyes and dark curly hair. Female E's hair is cut into a bob. Male E's hair is short and shaved at the sides. Non-binary E's curly hair sits just above their ears. Their career as a model always ensures they're wearing the latest designer clothing. Additionally, they have several ear piercings.

Height: 5'10

Sexuality: Pansexual

Distinctive features: The tiny butterfly tattoo behind their ear and the dimple in their left cheek.

Race: Mixed

Ethnicity: Colombian and Canadian

Favourite sport: Tennis

MBTI Type: ESFP-A

Random fact: E carries a little notebook around with them everywhere in case they get book ideas that need to be jotted down.

LÉA/LANDO/LAKELYN SANTOS

THE TEAMMATE

Physical description: Brown skin, plump lips and dark upturned eyes. L has tight, coily hair — something they've found extremely difficult to love. L usually sleeks their hair back in a bun. They have a slender build and regularly have their nails painted.

Height: 5'8

Distinctive features: The slit in their left eyebrow.

Race: Black

Ethnicity: Brazilian and British

Position: Attacking left-winger

Shirt number: 7

MBTI Type: ENTJ-T

Random fact: L's pre-match ritual is leaning down and tapping the side of their left boot twice.

MILAN ST. CLAIR

THE BEST FRIEND

Physical description: Dark skin and dark brown almond-shaped eyes. Usually, they have black Afro hair, but Milan wants their appearance to match their style of tennis — to stand out. So, now they've dyed a streak in their hair honey blonde. Female Milan wears their hair in long cornrows, non-binary Milan wears their hair in twists, and male Milan has a buzzcut fade. They also wear a gold nose ring.

Height: 5'9

Distinctive features: The two beauty spots below their left eye and the platinum blonde streak in their hair.

Race: Black

Ethnicity: British-Jamaican

Tennis idol(s): Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer & Nick Kyrgios (<- what can Milan say? They like Nick's drama)

MBTI Type: ENFP-T

Random fact: Milan keeps a picture of the two of you in their wallet. It's a picture you took together when you were teenagers, it reminds Milan of where you both started and where you're both heading.

NIKITA/NAVARRO/NEVADA TALLON

THE RIVAL

Physical description: Dark grey eyes and brown skin. Female N has their dark brown wavy hair down to their torso, non-binary N's hair is nape-length, and male N has short hair swept to the side. N has a bracelet that they always wear, they'll swear it's for comfort, but they know it's their anchor — it brings them a dosage of luck.

Height: 6'0

Sexuality: Demisexual

Race: Mixed

Ethnicity: French and Lebanese

Position: Striker

Shirt number: 11

MBTI Type: ENTP-A (N's an ambivert really)

Random fact: N truly admired you. You turned them into a better player. But when their football dreams were briefly crushed, that admiration disappeared.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for the @steddiemas challenge.

The Sound of Silence

Prompt Day 3: Needing To Be Quiet | Word Count: 952 | Rating: T | CW: Post-Apocalyptic | Tags: Canon Divergence Post-S4, End of the World, Just the Two of Us, The World is Bleak, But We're Together

Set in the same little universe as my Miles to Go drabble but can totally stand alone.

They're walking down another abandoned road, in another abandoned state, and Eddie has lost all sense of where they are these days. It's been a while since they've seen a major city, and Eddie's inner compass has never been great, but it's worse now with no landmarks, and just empty road after empty road. Steve always seems to know where they're going, or if he doesn't, at least he acts like it. 

Eddie's about to ask where they are, when Steve stops in front of him and holds up his fist. 

Eddie immediately pauses behind him. Tries not to breathe, tries not to make any noise at all. Because he knows the system by now. At first all these hand gestures were foreign to him. Was he supposed to steal home or start doing the YMCA? Either seemed possible. 

He knew the hand signal for devil horns. And that's about it. Somehow, Steve hasn't worked those into their shorthand, yet.

But with time, he's learned to read Steve's body language like a goddamn book. He's Samwise, following his very own Frodo. 

And right now, Steve's telling him to stop. And if Steve's telling him to stop, he's also telling him to be quiet. That's been the hardest thing to learn, here, in the after. He can't just talk all the time. But he still wants to, all day long. He wants to tell Steve what he's thinking. He wants to narrate their journey, as they walk to god knows where. 

But he can't. Because it's not safe to make that much noise, not here in this horrible remainder of their world.

He doesn't know where they're going, anyway. 

Steve will think there are others, still out there somewhere else, for whatever reason, and they'll walk. 

And walk.

And walk.

But there never is. It's always just abandoned buildings, and the constant quiet. 

Do you know how quiet the world is when there is nobody else living in it? 

No cars. No stores. No nothing.

Hardly any birds, either. Eddie misses the sounds of the birds, the insects. But the wildlife has started to dwindle, if not outright disappear. Eddie doesn't know if the demodogs and demobats are thinning the herd, or if disease has just taken hold. It's hard to tell, honestly. In this world Vecna left for them. 

When Steve's hand falls slack, lowering to his side, Eddie knows that whatever Steve thought he heard is either gone, or never existed at all. So, Eddie hitches his backpack further up onto his back, and keeps walking. 

Keeps looking at the back of Steve Harrington's head, just like he did in more than one class he'd failed in high school. Steve's a natural leader. Eddie understands why he had followers back then. Why he was King Steve. This is a different situation, to be sure, but Steve took charge in this hellish world. 

And Eddie needed someone to take charge of this, because he wouldn't have made it this far on his own. No way in hell.

Looking at the back of Steve's head today, Eddie thinks Steve needs Eddie to give him a haircut again. But Eddie is hesitant to mention it. Because the last time he did, Steve just wanted him to shave it all off, but Eddie doesn't want that to happen. For some reason, Eddie feels like the day that Steve Harrington gives up on his hair, all hope is lost.

So, Eddie won't say a word. He'll be quiet. He needs that last bit of hope. That last thing, from a world destroyed.

Eddie is still walking, looking at his feet, when the clatter of wood on the road makes his heart race with fear. He looks up and Steve is picking his dropped nailbat up off the asphalt. Eddie reaches for the spear and trash can lid shield strapped across his back, but there's no need. Steve has control of his preferred weapon again, swinging it with precision. He smacks the demobat, sending it flying, then skittering across the abandoned highway. 

Steve's stock still.

Waiting. 

"Steve," Eddie whispers.

"Sshh," Steve whispers back, and Eddie stays quiet. Stays still. 

Waiting to see if it's still alive. Waiting to see if it brought friends.

It hasn't, it seems, and Steve digs in his backpack. Puts on his heavy leather gloves, and carefully walks towards the crumpled, gray mass. 

And just like he did on that dry lake bed, Steve steps on it, this time with his boot. 

Then he pulls it in half.

It's dead now, for sure. And Steve tosses the pieces into the ditch, takes his gloves back off, and walks towards Eddie. 

"I hit a home run with that one," Steve says with a grin, putting his gloves back away, and Eddie smiles at him. 

Steve looks tired, he always looks tired, but at least he's smiling. Eddie never takes that for granted, not these days. 

"You want to find somewhere to hole up for the night?" Steve asks, and Eddie nods. He's always ready to hide out for a few hours. Resting. Sleeping in shifts. Or if they find somewhere that feels safe enough, which isn't all that often, sleeping at the same time. Curled against each other.

Instead of speaking, Eddie makes some random movements with his hands. Including pressing his palms together, laying his cheek on them, and closing his eyes. The universal sign for sleep.

Steve is shaking his head, amused, but he falls in step with Eddie. Beside him this time, not forging ahead. Strolling now, instead of leading the pack. 

Eddie reaches down and takes Steve's hand into his own, lacing their fingers together.

And Steve holds on tight.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @steddiemas and follow along!

If you want to see more of my entries from this challenge, they are in my tag right here!

[quasieli]

[Image description: Four images, each featuring my OC Devo (they/he), set against a two tone blue floral patterned background. The first three images show Devo in their different layers of clothing, while the last image compiles the three shots together, along with displaying their shield and sword. Devo is a young, buff, tan complexion Elf with medium length curly dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail and shaved on the side. They are covered in light brown freckles, have a series of gashes and scars across their body, including a thick scar on the stump of their left bicep, where a gold prosthetic arm meets the stump, and top surgery scars. They are stood in three quarters profile, facing right, with one hand on their hip and the other holding their sword, which is resting on their shoulder.

In the first image, Devo is only wearing light blue boxers. In the second image, he is wearing a sleeveless light blue crop top, black pants with gold accenting, blue and green boots, and a brown fingerless glove on his right hand. In the third image, he is in his full armor. The set is different shades of gold and consists of a chest plate, pauldrons, a chain skirt, and greaves. He also has a brown leather belt with a small pouch on his hip.

The last image shows the full design of their sword, with a two tone pale gold hilt, silver blade, and two blue gemstone, as well as their shield, with a swirling, fire-like design on its front. End description.]

Been a little bit since I gave my pally some love! After treating him so badly in Heart, I thought giving the D&D version of him a bit of a makeover/redesign would be nice lol

[talenlee]

3e: The PHB At The Pride Parade

In the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Player’s Handbook which is a title that still blows me out, version control on tabletop games and all, but anyway, in that book, it opens pretty shortly after the game introduces the game rules and the heritages available to play, but then it goes to talk about Character Classes. Character classes each represent ways of doing things, but to give those archetypes personality, the book creates an example character of each class, so they can reference them later in other text.

This then leads to the extremely important question: How do these characters show up to a Pride parade?

I mean they all do, right? Like, they’re a party, they go together, and also it’s a Pride Parade. There’s no reason to not show up and have fun by default. And of course, all the characters have their own energies that they project into the space.

Krusk, the Half-Orc Barbarian is there to hoot and holler and party, arms up, arms wide, wearing a sleeveless crop top that says FREE HUGS. Krusk is more than any of the rest of this team someone who is down to clown for almost anything. Krusk wears basically every flag someone gives him at the event until he’s basically wandering around with a cape of them. He has no idea what most of them mean.

Gimble is a gnome bard, which is to say he’s someone who has a whole cultural prediliction towards public displays and expressions of creative ideas, and a class that cares about being at least the second most important thing in everyone’s attention. Of course this means he has been overthinking the whole experience since roughly ten minutes after last Pride Parade. Sure, last time he did the rainbow display and the arced lights as he made a fireworks display fly out of his vhiolin, but now he’s got a bigger plan. He’s going to make a Pennsylvania Pride flag that spells out COEXIST. This is because Gimble sucks.

Jozan is a human cleric, which is to say a man who looked at the most boring basic option in the world that was Regdar, and went ‘oo, that’s boring, I’ll do something interesting‘ and still managed to produce a character with all the personality of taupe flavoured donuts. Jozan is a staunch ally, obviously, since he doesn’t think of himself as queer, and the fact that he is a man who Absolutely Does Not Fuck doesn’t seem to land in his mind as related at all to all the Ace Pride supporting he does.

Vadania, the half-elf druid and the rest of her polycule – oh sorry, ‘druid circle’ – show up at Pride early because this is a place where people can both respect how they relate to one another and they can enjoy the event while happily distributing ‘Good Berries.’

Tordek the Dwarven Fighter was slightly confused about Bear Pride when he learned about it because the idea of ‘liking broad or fat Hairy Men’ to his particular type of Dwarven perspective was the same thing as describing yourself as ‘entirely vanilla.’ On the other hand, it’s a good crowd for him to hang with that regard him as a Short King.

Regdar is there but nobody notices. Nobody kills him. It’s the best day of his life.

Ember is a woman of supreme focus, being as she’s a human Monk, and that focus is great for when she gets involved in an argument about ‘Whether or not some gates need to be kept.’

Alhandra the half-Elf Paladin, is a former church gal who didn’t realise her ‘tomboy style’ of a side shave, six-plus height and sword-and-shield style, when she came out was going to make her basically catnip for a particular type of gender-blurring queer, and she apologises a lot to Ember about what she said in that argument. Also, she has a horse, so that’s obviously part of the Parade.

Sovellis, the half-elf Ranger, very understated, very calm, spends his time handing out water bottles. There’s no sign that Sovellis is particularly engaged with The Culture around him but that doesn’t matter because to him the important thing is seeing how many dogs he gets to meet.

Then there’s Lidda. Lidda is the character from the whole set of these characters that artists seem to have the most consistent opinion for (aside from Regdar), which is to say, lots of people seemed to draw her as if she was hot, and then notice afterwards that she’s half-sized, resulting in a lot of art of the character that can be described as ‘short queen.’ Lidda is that gal who has a powerful online presence, loved by her community and when they meet her in person she spends the entire day soaking up compliments but also, the oh so common, “Oh, you’re shorter than I imagined.” Then again she also shows up in full leathers and with a collection of knives, and yes, that means she is the coolest woman there.

Then there’s Hennet, who is a human sorcerer and is personally responsible for more playeres taking the Sorcerer class than they ever should. Basically, he looks cool to exactly the kind of person who has freshly discovered they’re queer and realise they get to express all sorts of cool things based on the way they’re different, and it shows in that Hennet has the energy of a babyqueer who came out four weeks ago and has spent the intervening time trying to do everything he can to get As Gay As Possible. He doesn’t even need a Pride outfit, he just shows up like it’s Tuesday. He does not pick up.

Mialee, the elven wizard, is kinda famous for being a character built out of parental approval, so delicate that she shatters at a faint breath. She also is depicted regularly flaunting magical power. At the Pride Parade, she is the one who wonders where she gets to sit and which of the floats is hers.

But don’t worry about that finale, there’s also the Expansion Pack of an extra character to show off Wizard specialisation, the gnome Illusionist Nebin! Nebin is exactly 1% less extra than Gimble, which means that from where he stands, he looks at how Gimble behaves and grits his teeth, but if anyone ever implies it’s because he thinks Nebin makes him look bad he’ll throw tiny, tiny hands.

Now you might wonder: Talen, what are you doing here. Is this just a listicle about the vibes of characters to make an article that fits with the Pride Month theme in the general narrative of DND 3e articles you put on your blog and therefore technically applicable?

And to that, I say,,

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