#so it only makes sense that his finalized god form is a giant dragon!

[faefrosting]

Hai Hai!!! *Turns Comet into a giant sea dragon*

Bye bye!! X3

[lrdvyke]

Vyke, his Maiden, and Shabriri / a relationship study. ❛ Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion? ❜

Shabriri came to the Maiden first, but not by design. Vyke caught his eyeless gaze with the win of the first Great Rune, putting him above the other Tarnished that came and went through the Lands Between. Vyke held a certain promise well on his way to earn him a place upon the throne itself, but one that Shabriri desired to break and mold into a vessel to carry the flame of the Lord of Chaos. One that will finally put them all onto the right path, given to them by the Three Fingers. Yet, there was a problem: getting to Vyke proved difficult with the Ancient Dragons supporting his growth. There was no viable way to push the Tarnished Champion down enough to start chipping away at the cracks wrought by simply being in the Lands Between.

No way, that is, until the second Great Rune was won. No way until Vyke and his Maiden entered onto the capital streets, saw the thorns covering the door and the passage barred. Unprepared, unknowing, despite doing all that was meant to be done, the path into the Erdtree has become impassable. No flame hot enough that could burn the roots from the passage. No incantation worthy enough that could break the seal holding it all together. Hope, once a vibrant thing, now shriveling fast before them. Long were their discussions about what it is they needed to do, long did they search for an answer that brought them to the same question that they started with: with two Great Runes in hand, what more needed to be done?

The answer came eventually, in a dawning horror of realization that fast brings about the necessity of sacrifice. There is little to say how it came to be known; be it through the information given and guessed upon as they looked out towards the Mountaintops, to the Forge of the Giants where the Flame of Ruin is contained, or by a whispering agitator that knew more than they led on. But one thing was certain: the Maiden's mind began to shift, to reflect upon her own station and find something amiss. Vyke was blind to this subtle change growing right beside him.

In the Maiden's budding grief and sense of dread for what the future may hold for her, she became a beacon for the caller of the Frenzy: Shabriri. In the guise of another, he was the shoulder for her to lean upon, to speak of her fears that he fed greedily enough with calmer words. He knew of the flame that which could burn the tree and the world surrounding, it is the very one that which the god of Chaos yearned for in the centuries since it was called down into the Lands Between, wanting nothing more than to incinerate all until there is nothing left. To start anew, to begin again.

Shabriri would show her the way, of survival, to convince her Tarnished that it is not right for such a terrible sacrifice to stain his ascension and she accepted readily enough. In the form of a slow knife to the heart, the cover of her mouth as he stared into her eyes, the dulling of her gaze of gold, and the promise of a life evermore, the Finger Maiden of the Tarnished Champion fled from the Lands Between. The first lie told, fire would soon lick her bones as it nestled inside of her. Shabriri took her body for his own and finally found his way to Vyke's ear.

❛ ( You are about to sacrifice something precious. ) Am I not precious to you? ( The life of a fair maiden, ) The life of the Maiden who has done nothing but serve you. ( that you would toss into the fiery forge. Only so that you may be Lord. ) You would toss me into the fiery forge so that you may be Lord, is that it? ( What a horrible thing to ponder. ) What a horrid thing to even conceive. ( Your ascendancy requires her sacrifice, whether she wishes it or not. ) Your ascendancy requires more sacrifice from me than from your own self. ( But how would the Lord, crowned so, be looked upon? ) How would you be looked upon, crowned so in my blood? Is it something you would be proud of? ❜

No, Vyke would say. No, Vyke would repeat. A deep-seeded grief began to seep through the cracks that formed within his time in the Lands Between. Long would he stare at the forge within the misted distance, the voice of his Maiden whispering in his ear that she does not deserve this fate. That to make the sacrifice, to take what he wants righteously, he needed to be the one to throw himself in. He needed to take that which would protect him, deep below the Erdtree, and make a pact with the Three Fingers and inherit the Flame of Frenzy itself. Become a better Lord. Become that which would never falter. Incinerate all that which divides and distinguishes ... is that not what he wanted after all? Yes, Vyke would say. Yes, Vyke would repeat. This would be the true path. None other.

Thus Vyke descended, goaded by the voice of his Maiden down further and further into the depths. Past the church, past the emaciated bodies littering the floor, past even the pile of those just like him who made his landing from the high beams unsteady—he pushed opened the door, and saw the Three Fingers rake across the stone ground trailing with sickly yellow flame. Second thoughts made him turn, to the closing of the door as the fingers took hold of him and melted steel and flesh both until he saw nothing, heard nothing, and felt nothing but that curling fire.

Once he was able to pick himself back up, to drag himself from the depths and out of the capital, his mind scrambled for purchase on a singular thought of getting back to his Maiden. To tell her she is safe, that they may go on to the Mountaintops together. But he returned with her blood upon his shaking hands and her lifeless form sitting so plainly upon a chair. The flames engulfed him for a second time, as his cries were echoed within the village.

Shabriri came back to him eventually, as a whisper inside his head. To begin pushing him away from the village, back towards the forge so that none could be sacrificed in vain. But word already spread of Vyke's crimes. He was hunted, he was brought low, and before he could get to the giant's flame, he was thrown into the Evergaol never to be seen again.

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

Crown Princes and Butterfly Wings (7/?)

Chapter 6 : Dragon's Tower

—-

The fight with the dragon barely goes how Roman expected at all, and the rescuing of the Prince in the tower even less so.

<- Previous | First | Next ->

@cutebisexualmess :)

—-

I love this chapter very much. I don't want to say much in this note because of spoilers! But I'm excited to get it out there!!!!

Also, just so we're clear, our new Prince goes by he/they pronouns :D

Happy reading!

Roman stood before the dragon. Summoned sword at his side, ready to be used if he so needed it but not quite an immediate threat. The dragon watched him, and she was huge. 

Of course, just as everyone had, Roman had heard stories of dragons. He had heard of their majesty and power and greed. He had heard of them destroying armies with one breath of fire or ice. Dragons could be larger than castles, stronger than volcanoes, more powerful than the strongest wind. Dragons were beautiful creatures, with scales that glittered and shone in the sun, but with teeth and claws sharper than the sharpest sword and fire hotter that a dwarven forge. To underestimate a dragon would be a fool's mistake.

Roman was no fool.

He would not attack first, because provoking a dragon’s wraith was a surefire path to heaven’s gates. Instead he watched, sword in his hand but pointed to the floor, and she watched him in return.

The stories hadn't been exaggerated when they spoke of a dragon’s size. Roman thought he was barely as big as even her eye. His head matched the size of one of her smallest scales, she was taller by far than the tower she guarded and he was certain that if she outstretched her wings they would be seen for miles over the treetops. 

She watched him with rapt attention, her golden eyes locked onto him without so much as a twitch. Roman couldn’t shake the sense that he was being judged.

“I- I am here in hopes to rescue the prince entrapped in this tower,” Roman said, projecting his voice the same way he would if he were making a speech, he wasn’t sure if the dragon would understand him, and he didn’t know if mentioning the prince he was here for would be a good idea. But he had to do something, they seemed to be at an impasse. She blinked, slowly and Roman tensed up, wondering what that meant.

You are hiding something from me .

Roman jolted, the words were spoken as if straight into his brain. Reverberating off of the inside of his skull with their power and strength, though the voice was smooth and almost kind, it was almost god-like. His eyes went wide, staring at her. Well, Roman didn't know what that meant, and frankly it was terrifying that she knew he was hiding anything at all. 

Show me what of yourself you hide.

This time he understood, he couldn’t quite latch onto his ability to speak so he only nodded, dropping down to one knee and leaning forward, willing for his giant butterfly wings to return to their rightful place on his back. He felt them materialise in a bout of tingles until they were fully formed and he stood once again, finally looking back up at the dragon. 

He shuddered as the feeling of judgement washed away, replaced almost immediately with a sense of pride. He got the feeling that if she were human she would be smiling. 

You have come, like many before, many who have failed.

Roman listened as she spoke to him, her voice was almost overwhelming. He took a small step back, was she saying-

But you, Prince, you have more love in you than will fit in your heart alone.

“What… do you mean?” Roman asked, confused, he didn’t know exactly what he should expect when he came in here, but it certainly wasn’t this. 

You have your friends, Prince, I can smell them here with you, you share with them your heart, but it is not enough for you, is it, Prince?

Roman watched as the dragon lowered herself down until her head rested on the ground before him, her snout was within touching distance. If she wanted to kill him now, she could, easily, but some instinct in him had decided already that he wasn't in danger from her. 

You yearn for more, for connection, for love, for all you have never been able to have.

Roman felt the compulsion like a string tied to his arm, lifting his hand and moving him forward to place his palm of his hand against the middle of her nose. She huffed and smoke billowed from her nostrils, but Roman could feel her contentment and through her emotion, Roman found he no longer felt an ounce of fear.

You are worthy of him.

She drew herself back up to her full height, looking back at the tower for a moment before leaning forward and laying out her claw before him. An offer. Somehow, though Roman wasn’t sure how, he knew exactly what she wanted. He willed the sword to disappear and used his wings to help him hop up onto her outstretched claw- goodness it felt good to use them again after so long.

In one swift move, she lifted him up and allowed him to hop off onto the tower’s balcony. He turned back once he’d gathered his footing and watched her lay down, body curled around the base of the tower once again though he could still feel her watching. He had… passed? And he hadn’t even had to fight? Well- he wasn’t going to complain about it. Instead he turned around to face the large doors. 

Part of him thought it would be silly to knock. In the stories the prince always rushed in and swept the princess off of her feet, carried her from the tower in a show of glory and give her a true loves kiss. Surely the same principle would apply here, even if the person in the tower was a prince, not a princess. 

But then again, the other, larger part of him thought that barging in unannounced would be incredibly rude. What if the prince was changing? Or doing something he was insecure about that he’d rather Roman not see? It would only be polite to knock.

So he knocked. 

When there was no answer, Roman huffed. Maybe this was one of those scenarios where the Prince was trapped in eternal sleep and Roman would have to wake him with a kiss! Although that idea really felt weird to him, kissing someone he didn’t know whilst they were sleeping felt… wrong. As much as it would be the perfect fairytale, he hoped he wouldn’t have to do that. 

Roman took a deep breath and put his hand on the door handle, twisting it downwards and pushing the door open. It swung open with a creak and then everything was silent for a moment. Seconds later, though, Roman heard something fly past his ear and ducked away instinctively, only just avoiding- what even was that?

He looked back over his shoulder with wide eyes, he noticed a glint of silver among the dead grass below- did he just get a knife thrown at him? He turned around to look back into the room he hadn’t even been able to take in before. 

It was a large round room, with everything a person might need. A large, incredibly comfortable-looking blanket nest of a bed, a small area for cooking that didn’t seem to have been used recently and a table with a singular chair that looked like it had been used less for sitting at than piling things upon things on top of, there was a rug in the centre and marks and scratches everywhere- on the floor and the walls. 

His eyes were drawn to a large bookshelf, packed full with books and then some more stacked on top and in front of the books on the shelves, what really drew his attention, though, was the person crouching on top of it. 

They were pale- from what Roman could see considering Roman could barely see any of his skin. He dressed almost entirely in purple that matched the hair that flopped down over their eyes- completely covering the top half of their face. They also had large wings and antennae just like Roman, though his were splayed out behind him in a way that felt vaguely threatening, and the wings were different to his, in not only the shape but the way they moved too- and they were coloured with greys and browns and a little bit of yellow, nothing like Roman’s bright red and white. He was a moth.

Oh, and they had another knife in their hand. 

“Uhm,” Roman started, not quite knowing what to say. This isn’t how he’d expected this to go at all, “Hello-,”

“What do you want?” The moth prince said from the bookshelf, his low voice making Roman shiver. He glanced back at the forest, wondering momentarily if the dragon would let him run away. This is absolutely nothing like he expected, this prince was threatening, weird, all dark and gloomy and- well, maybe some other things. But, alas, he had committed now. He would have to go through with this!

“I just-” Roman started, gesturing to the door before clearing his throat, “I was told there was a prince in need of rescuing?”

“Well you’ve got the wrong prince,” He said, flicking his knife, “Get out.”

“Wait- but- the dragon-” Roman stumbled over words, what on earth was wrong with him?

“Her name is Tanwen.” Said the prince sharply.

“Tanwen,” Roman corrected slowly, “Sorry, it’s just that she told me I was worthy-? Though I’m not entirely sure what that means, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything-”

“Stupid prophecy,” The prince mumbled, “I don’t want to leave.”

“You- don’t?” Roman asked, “Whyever not? There’s so much out there to see!”

“Exactly,” The prince said and Roman could feel him glaring despite not being able to see his eyes, “The outside world is full of so much dangerous stuff and things and people out to get me, I’d like to stay here where it’s safe.”

“You’re- scared?” Roman asked slowly. The glare intensified.

“No! I’m not scared - that’s- that would be stupid,” he said, trailing off, the crouched position becoming more like a ball every second. 

“How are you any safer here?” Roman asked, tilting his head.

“Tanwen protects me,” the prince told him, “It’s safe in here, with my books and my knives, so, I’m staying here.”

“But- don’t you ever want adventure? Or to- I don’t know- go back to your kingdom?” Roman asked, confused, “Surely your parents would-”

“ No. ” The prince hissed at him, voice distorting a little and startling Roman, “I’m never going back.”

“Alright, then you don’t have to,” Roman shrugged, the prince startled again, this guy seemed incredibly jumpy. 

“But- wait- if you’re ‘rescuing’ me- aren’t- don’t you want the reward?” They asked, suddenly confused.

“Reward?” Roman asked, brow furrowing, “We heard about you from a shady stranger in an inn who wanted you for- some reason- and just to be clear we’re not going to give you to them either way, but- I personally don’t care about any reward.”

“You- really?” The prince asked, tone suspicious, “Then… why?”

“I suppose I just couldn’t stand the idea of a fellow prince trapped in a tower, alone,” Roman shrugged, “But now it’s obvious that you prefer it here.”

“So,” They said, slowly unfurling a little, their wings relaxed just a tiny bit, “Right, so you’re not going to force to go back to my parents nor are you going to hand me off to some creepy stranger, so if, hypothetically, I did decide to go with you-”

“Wait really?” Roman gasped, grinning.

“ Hypothetically ,” He repeated, “If I were to come, then where would we go?”

“Well currently me and my companions are on a quest to locate my twin brother,” Roman explained, “So you could join us, see the world a little before you had to make a decision? I’m sure you could stay in my kingdom if you wanted, or go back to yours if you change your mind-”

“Let me get this straight,” The prince cut him off, now simply sitting on top of the bookshelf instead of crouching, Roman felt himself relaxing at the same time, “You- and your nameless companions I don’t know- are on a wild goose chase around the country and you want me to join you? Like that’s not the exact kind of danger I’m worried about?”

“It’s not actually that dangerous,” Roman shrugged, “I can introduce you to my friends if you come down from the tower, but one is a wizard and he’s very good at spells, I am highly trained in combat and the other has been travelling for years, we’d be able to protect you- that is if you weren’t able to protect yourself, that knife throw earlier nearly got me.”

The prince was looking more and more considerate of the idea every moment and Roman couldn’t help the hope that leaked onto his face. Now that the prince wasn’t attempting to exude such a threatening aura, Roman realised he was really kind of… cute? Like a street cat that you just want to cuddle but would probably slice you to bits if you tried. Well, alright then. Roman tabled that thought for now. 

“Ok, ok, I can’t believe that I’m even considering doing this,” The prince groaned, “I want to meet your- companions- first, before I agree to anything, I’m not coming if they’re as insufferable as you.”

“Hey!” Roman yelped, “Rude!”

“You’re the rude one,” They said, “Barging into my tower, and you haven’t even introduced yourself!”

“I’m Roman- Kylynne- Roman Kylynne,” Roman stammered out, “And- sorry for startling you. I did knock.”

“Yes well considering all my other visitors got burned to a crisp before they could get up here, I was still a little bit spooked at hearing a knock on my door,” The prince rolled his eyes, before jumping down from the bookshelf with a flutter of wings to steady himself, “I would say it’s good to meet you, but I don’t really know how I feel about that yet.”

Roman huffed, “Got it, are you going to introduce yourself to me now? Because that’s usually how this goes…”

“Virgil, I'm Virgil,” The prince huffed, grabbing a bag and walking around the small room tucking a few of what must be personal possessions into it. Roman looked away, knowing what the prince felt was personal enough to bring with him felt… a little too intimate in a weird way. When it seemed that Virgil wasn't planning on giving a last name, Roman decided to speak again.

“Well Virgil, it’s nice to meet you too!” Roman smiled, “Aside from almost being pinned to the doorframe by a wing, perhaps.”

“You probably deserved it.”

"What! No I did not!" Roman cried, the prince just smirked and walked past him onto the balcony where the light from the sun was still fading, before turning back to Roman.

“How exactly do you plan on getting us down, hm?” Virgil asked, putting a hand on the railing.

Roman was perplexed for a moment, narrowing his eyes- was this some kind of trick? “We uh- both have wings? We can just… fly? Down?”

“Guess who’s been stuck in a tower for fifteen years and thus never learned how to fly?” Virgil said, spreading his arms as if inviting Roman to guess, Roman huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Right, sorry,” Roman said, “I could carry you down?”

“Oh yes of course because I totally trust you not to drop me midair.”

“I wouldn’t!” Roman yelled, “Seriously! I swear on my kingdom that I would not drop you.”

“Yes of course,” Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Really! I promise,” Roman said, “And hey, I can teach you how to fly too? While we’re on the road? I mean- if you’d want that, of course-”

Virgil sighed, turning to him with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips, “Sure, that is if we get down in one piece.”

Roman rolled his eyes, before opening his arms, “Come here, you dramatic prince, I’ll get us down.”

“I cannot believe I’m agreeing to this,” Virgil muttered as he slung the bag over his shoulder and stepped forwards to allow Roman to scoop them up into his arms.

Roman kept an eye on the prince in his arms as he stepped up onto the railing.

“For the record,” Virgil said, gripping Roman’s robes in a tight-fisted death grip as he hopped from the balcony and began to fly down to the floor, “I absolutely hate everything about this.”

<- Previous | First | Next ->

[quinntamsin]

She'd only seen the Gates perhaps once in her life before this. They reached far into the sky and were blanketed in clouds. She rested aboard her captain's ship, a feeling of languor threatening to overtake her. Eying the tall woman who claimed command of the Spiteful Harlot she sat up. A den den mushi in her hands was spouting some nonsense she could barely make out. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHITEBEARD IS DEAD?!" and at those words Qwynn froze. Edward Newgate, the strongest human in the entire damn world was dead. How? The zoan user instantly shifted into her leopard form and leaped from her place sleeping on the prow of the boat. --- SPOILER WARNING! CONTENT WARNING: Mass character death, brutality and abuse. *The droning voice of Sengoku in the background.* We finally reach the penultimate Arc of the Summit War Saga. This arc was hands down one of the most painful to watch. Not because it was dragging at times, and oh did it drag. But because we all learned that this big rescue mission was nothing but tragedy. I knew what was going to happen, I spoiled One Piece all the time for myself. Hate me if you want, but I like staying updated on the Manga as my mental illness. That being said I watch the show in spurts between work and commitments to my patreon work. So, wow, lets do this, I'm not breaking this one down to bits of the arc. This is going to be a pure bad good and ugly. I want to do it this way because this was the hardest hitting Arc I've seen since Enies Lobby. The Ugly One thing about Shounen ANime is they really like to drag out fights with a lot of twists and what not. I say this as someone who grew up on shows like Yu-Gi-Oh and OG Dragonball Z. This story was great, it added a lot of nice twists and bits but there were a few low points for me. It doesn't dragon on a Naruto Level. I can't put my finger on it, but a lot of ways I really didn't think it should have taken Luffy more than five episodes to get out of the exit ring. This part of the battle is perhaps the most where I got frustrated watching. It really started as the push for the harbor was about midway through. The story where we finally get Squard's stab into Newgate. Watching him do so, learning more about the backstory of Ace and much more was heartening. But there are a few episodes that break down to pretty much "Keep going get going" and then only a little bit of progress is made. This entire Arc is about a losing war, and yet, damn it ground hard into me. And this is the only critique in this regard I can think of! So I was going to do a bad, but fuck it, I already did that. The Good I simp for this show. It calls me like the Jezabelle she is! Now lets talk about what this Arc did so damn well, it made me fucking cry. We already know Oda is kind of against killing people off. He let Crocodile live for FFS. There are even points where it was obvious that people like Moria should have been dead, but nope they are still alive. Hell, its also been revealed that perhaps a certain giant is still alive! Spoilers aside, this entire thing is pretty fucking filled with despair. An entire story about the despair created by the fucking World Government. Yeah, lets not ignore that the world of One Piece is rand by a genocidal government okay with wiping out entire nations and islands for convenience. So watching them murder not only a bunch of pirates, but lying to get them to betray each other makes sense. Sure, we can easily view the Marines as good guys if we already didn't know better. What we see really is a group of people trying to save on eo fhteir own. Attempting to use overwhelming odds but all they ace is three fucking tyrannical gods, and their pragmatic Commander. The Whitebeard Pirate Alliance fall in droves as they are cut down by the Warlords and the Admirals. The Vice Admirals join the fray and as Little Oars dies to save his friends they use his fucking body to climb over. This is some seriously dark shit. All the while we watch as Ace is reminded of how his entire life all he's good at is getting other killed. DAMN ODA! Squard's betrayal in of itself was another great ploy by Sakazu aka Akainu, a truly tyrannical figure. This shows that the Marines as the sword arm of the World Nobles is not above fomenting mutiny. Yeah, it's a good strategy, and honestly it just reminds us that these are not good people. They have NO scruples. Whitebeards death was just so damn disquieting. He just stood there as he finally lost his strength. Then to have his devil fruit powers stolen by that bastard Teach made it even worse. Teach truly is a fucking near Xanatos level villain. This guy has played Newgate SINCE he joined and sacrificed former friends to get what he wanted. All of this culminates into the final death of Ace, and damn, I knew it was coming. I knew it was going to make me cry, yet by the Nine it tore into me. ACE and Luffy are members of ASL, and three kids who grew up in a world that despised them. It it weren't for Crocodile (yes I follow the Croco-mom theory) hadn't saved his boy Luffy would be dead. Gay Canon I will say that this entire episode is laden with fucking masc characters so I can't spin a a lesbian scene here. Honestly, I would headcanon Luffy as a trans masc and Ace as his adopted brother still. Spin up Hancock as his love interest and there we go. TBH with how tall Hancock is I'm reminded of T4T couple memes I see now and then. Now, let's talk about adopted dads. Newgate actually TREATS his suborinates as his kids and grandkids. He treats them well and defends them with all his might. This can easily be seen with cultish as we're talking about a macho-man figure who gets everyone to call him pops. But easily there is nothing in that manner. Honestly in this story I see Marco's desperation here to save Ace as a man trying to save his husband. Marco and Ace FIT as a couple and I really do like that as an angle. For sapphic ships we are still kind of at a loss. The only Warlord Present who can remotely being seen as mingender or "as a womxn" is Hancock. Everyone other major character minus perhaps two vice admirals are androgender spectrum. Now, a rare fic story featuring Hancock and Hina maybe? I mean, there's not a lot of optinos from this storyline! Though, I think a story with Vivi and Hina would also be another good option for an aftermath rare pair set up. Conclusion Wow, yeah, this was a post long time coming and to be honest I've been in a fairly deep funk overwhelmed by real life. Heh, anyways, lets sit back and discuss some final thoughts. The Marineford Arc is a solid conclusion to the Summit War Arc. I really dislike the dub translation of "War of the Best" but whatever. I watch the dub because I get distracted and write and I can't always be reading subtitles. (I use to be a purist, but fucking ADHD and other issues messed it up). Back to the story, this epic battle specifically brought us what we wanted. The despair felt by pirates and the rebels against the might of the Marines. Without the Gura Gura no Mi, the battle would have been harder for everyone. YES, the Division Commanders are powerful. But we are talking about the fucking Warlords of the Sea. One of which is a total meglomaniac who is powerful enough to spider sling across clouds for fun. Aokiji bikes across water because he's so precise with his power. This was a last hurrah for the legends of Whitebeardss Era. Sure Kaido and Big Mom were his mates, but the old man truly was one of the Greats. What we see here is a foolish attempt by the WG to quash the Supernovas. To kick them while they are down and prevent the rise of another Pirate King. Someone capable of challenging the false gods of the Celestial Dragons and put Im on the backfoot. This wasn't going to happen, but what I witnessed was the not just a last ditch effort to save on of their own. I watched a generation's hope of freedom get crushed as villains like Teach, Kaido and Big Mom existed off in the distance. I mean Teach stole a fucking fruit and now has shit that is just plot plate armor level crazy. But yeah, as we go into the New World I'm itching for watching a few Admirals getting a beat down. Hottakes:

Holy fucking shit Marineford is a ridiculous space. I keep forgetting how big Marine ships are as well. Those things Dwarf most of the ships from any of the early arcs.

Are paddle wheel boats a standard? I'v seen three so far, the Kuja Pirate's ship, the one Momonga had and Whitebeard's ace in the hole.

Whitebeard is an interesting figure, I think he should have jumped in. Oars death felt so needless, it just shows that people loved Ace. And this was a means to "punish" him for just existing.

I really just hate Akainu, he's such an asshole.

Aokiji is beyond OP, he's a devil fruit user but he can free sea water. That's a ridiculous cold point to achieve plus averting a common devil fruit weakness.

Well fuck Blackeard for being able to steal fuck powers.

[trippygalaxy]

🐉))

Legend wants to died or never wake up since he somehow turn to his pink rabbit form and his moon peal is in his bag but his nephew dragon halfling child have legend in his arms and the child is licking legend bunny ears. Legend glad that they're alone so he won't feel any embarrassed-

Sky: legend?! Kiddo?! Were?-

Sky appears and see pink rabbit legend pin in the dragon halfling child arms and legend star to sky and seeing sky grin to see a very very cute moment and legend out of embarrassment make a loud rabbit noise as the child stop licking legend bunny ears and boop bunny legend nose as sky did undo legend form but keep this information as blackmail on legend and the child confused on why his uncle legend face is red and ears too.

Another imagine

Dragon halfling child go to met his family horses Eponas and loftwing crimson and the child would gently petting them and those animals look after the child like their own even so far as block the chain from getting the child since he's sleeping on time's Epona back.

Time: let us through-

Twilight Epona huff clearly a no child is sleeping.

Another imagine

The chain are fighting against a giant bird from wind timeline and they slowly getting hurt and the dragon halfling child try spit fireballs at it but this bird dodge them even to flip the fireball back to the group til the child see the mask and pick it up sense powerful force in it and look back to see his family are panting hard as the bird goes for a final blow but the child wear the mask that turn out to be the Fierce deity mask and magical turn to what look to be a dragon man deity looking to grab the bird face*mask??* to stop it from it attack and slam it down so hard that the ground shake but he held the bird head to breath out white fire to burn off the bird head and once the bird puffed that the dragon man deity let put a mighty roar that it echo around slient any other noise even the waves. The chain star and felt bit terrified that the not only the child wear the mask and this is what it look like but the roar glue them all to their spot but time felt panicking. His son...his son wear the mask...and time walk to him and try even beg this deity to let his son go but suddenly a light flash and blind the chain til it clear away amd show that the Fierce deity in the flesh and in his arm is the child.

Time: is he?!-

Fierce: he's fine. He's use up everything he could to save you all.

Time ran over to take his son from the Fierce and check his son for injuries but find his face and some parts of his body have the markings and time bite his lip but held his son glad he's alive but how the deity is here in the flesh is confusing but the Fierce swear to time he's looking after the chain and his grandson.

Time: who says your my son grandfather?

Fierce point to the child and add the fact he's older than time and he adopted time that time tsk but the boys eyes are like this plus with the news that the war God adopted time?!!!!😨😱

Twilight: wait....so your-

Fierce: your also great grandson too.

Twilight just zones out he needs a drink.

EPONA HUFFING AND PROTECTING DA BABY??

LEGEND BEING HELD AND SKY JUST WAITING AND COOING AT THE SCENE??

FRIECE ADOPTED TIME???

Great update anon!! got me smiling like a fool at how cute this is :D

[lukerycyja]

 Parental instincts

Words: 0,8k

Warnings: slight cringe writing, zhonglis backstory that I made up, mostly fluff with a lil bit of angst, kind of crack fic i guess?

@zhongrin i tried, I really did, I swear

You had no idea what to think.

You have finally returned from long journey to Snezhnaya, chill still present in your bones, longing for the warm embrace of your husband and his signature cup of tea spreading its heat across your hands. And yet, you weren’t as lucky as you thought.

House was a mess. It looked like every blanket, pillow or cloth was stripped away. Living room and kitchen were is disarray, tea leaves scattered across the floor, drawers opened and their components more or less out of place. It looked like someone broke in and tried to find something. And it had to be some specific object, since valuables and antiques were still there.

House was quiet, or at least it looked like it, but you heard some kind of rumbling coming from deep within. Has some wild beast broke inside to catch your husband off-guard? He still was an Archon of Liyue, only planning his retirement so far, so could it be some contestant for this position?

But that still didn’t make sense, unless the culprit knew that Zhongli is a god, which was unlikely. Yes, his mortal form did resembled statues and his godly form, but clothing and his own muting of his godly aura did the job pretty well. Still, you were married to a god nontheless, so this was in the “possible” category. Wouldn’t even be in the top three weirdest things that happened to you since your relationship with a deity.

Arming yourself with a sword your lover made for you, and carefully stepping down the corridor, the rumbling sound became louder. You felt as if everything was slightly vibrating, which was technically possible. Checking the bathroom and office room, there was nothing out of ordinary, except of moderate mess and lack of blankets. Did the burglar wanted to take only those?

Slowly opening the door to the bedroom, you were met with almost comical sight.

In the middle of ginarmous blanket pile laid your lover in all his draconic glory, barely fitting in the room. He was purring rather loudly, explaining the rumbling and vibrations. Wall of warmth hit your face and you had to do double take at the object that was in the center of this “nest”, guarded by your husband.

There, slightly covered, lied brown egg with golden and red markings on its surface. Some of them looking similar to geo and pyro symbols mixed together, slightly pulsing. It was size of an infant, with Zhongli’s snout carefully checking the surface temperature of it. It was so ridiculous, that you bursted out laughing and dropped the weapon.

His big head snapped in your direction, golden eyes observing you silently. There was slight confusion and embarrasment swimming along the molten gold.

“What… what is this, Zhongli?” you asked once you were able to speak again.

He huffed and lowered his head.

“I am sorry for the mess, dear. I just- I couldn’t-” his voice, now even deeper in this form, sounded so weak.

He sighed and tried to bury his head in the blankets below him, leaving you with comical sight of great Lord of Geo with only his snout covered while his ears, horns and furry neck remained visible.

“I just… what is this about? And why there is this giant egg?” you questioned, still slightly giggling. “Wait” realization suddenly hit you “did you lay an egg?!”

Dragon only groaned and tried to further to bury himself.

“No…”

“Then what is that? Did you steal it? Is it a prop of some sort for you to train whatever ritual is that?” you were more and more confused “...or is this a sign for me that you want to start a family…?”

After a moment of silence his head resurfaced once more and this time you were sure that if he was in his human form, it would be as red as tomato.

“I couldn’t leave it… I found it abandoned, in an empty nest. Parents and siblings had left long ago, but the little one was still alive. I was left as well, I just couldn’t leave it, I just-” his sad and quiet voice broke your heart.

You knew that his parents abandoned him as an egg and that he barely lived when he was a hatchling. He was bullied by other powerful creatures, who looked at him as a funny, squeaky toy. He also thought that he was last of his kind in Teyvat. Quilin-dragon hybrids weren’t rare before the Archon War, but after that only a few remained, and even less survived to the cataclysm. After that, he was only one left. Or so he suspected.

Deciding to leave laughing about this whole situation for later days, you looked at him lovingly and petted his scales.

“Can I join you two?”

Zhongli nodded and made some space for you to join on the pile. Carefully navigating through the blankets, you sat near his head, putting your hands in his fur.

“This is nice” you said, as he started purring again, warmth swallowing you whole in its embarce.

[bringerofdeathandtheapocolypse]

I am 100% going to just go on rants here because I don't know anyone who has/will watch this show and I've been obsessed with it for years.

But the Acnologia battle. I kinda just find it funny.

Alveraz is probably one of my least fav arcs. Sort of a mix of too many fake out deaths (I can forgive Gajeel's since demon portal and Juvia's is stretching but Makarov's was absolutely just for sad points. Like he was dead for chapters and then he's just back) which absolutely destroyed some of the tension for me and how certain characters just didn't get as much spotlight as I would have liked (*cough* Sabertooth, Oracion seiz and Thunder legion *cough*) also the anime totally skimped on the blood in Larcad and Sting's fight which had me booing at the TV when I watched it.

But the final fight. I think it's good, showing that they can barely even land a scratch on this guy who is way out of their depth is shown perfectly.

I'm not even mad about the power of friendship ending, I just stand by that I would have loved that they all pitch in like a roar or a secret art (perfect opportunity to have Rogue and Cobra use one for the first time)

I have always been confused why they never tried stronger spells though. Like I get conserve power and such but like. You aren't going to use secret arts? Gajeel never used his scales which baffles me because surely that would be a smart decision since it's wildly known that his scales, although affected by other dragon slayers, can at least lower the damage he takes. And why did Sting and Rogue never activate dragon force or use their unison raid. Like this is the guy who wants to kill you and you don't at least try these things once?

I also like the theory that Acno just at that moment destabilised due to the dragon slayers not giving him the power to remain stable but like, why did his body desigrate as well?

Like his soul makes sense but his body? Was that just a weird way of getting around having a giant dragon corpse? Or do all dragons just disintegrate upon death. Or no sorry, that doesn't make sense either because dragon eaters and dragon bones both exist and Laxus and Cobra literally have dragon hearts inside them. Plus Irene didn't disintegrate. The only other dragons that did were the training 5 and that makes sense because they were nothing but souls ripped from their bodies at that point.

I even have a work around for this if you don't want a giant dragon body laying around. Just make it canon that dragon slayers who became dragons revert to their human form upon death. Irene died looking like a human but it's also canon they use magic to transform so you'd think she'd change back but nah, she stays human.

Funny how my biggest problem here is the technique that the slayers used and how Acno just self destructs in the real world. Nothing with the ending or anything.

I don't know if there is anything I've missed since I am doing my best to catch up on 100 year quest. I dropped off around the middle of the whole Alderon part because I just kinda got bored of Team Natsu. I don't hate them but just... I like other characters more. Sorry to Natsu but he's at the bottom of my list of the seven. But then I saw Laxus and Gajeel get brought in and we get Laxus lacrima stuff so I've been trying to catch up to see that. Also God Serena Vs Gajeel sounds awesome like I wanna see that. But if I got anything from that wrong then that's why.

[hekateanwitchcraft]

An Introduction to Worshipping Medeia

As a Hellenic witch, the worship of Medeia is an important part of my practice. She was a witch and priestess of Hekate, possessing nearly unparalleled knowledge of magic and poisons. I wanted to write this post to give some background on who Medeia is, her role as a witch and a priestess, and how I have come to honor her in my practice.

Who is Medeia?

Parentage

Medeia (Μήδεια) is given mainly two parentages, either Aeetes, son of Helios, and Eidyia, daughter of Oceanus, or Hekate and Aeetes. Hesiod offers us a description of the first, writing:

“To the tireless Sun the renowned Oceanid Perseïs bore Circe and King Aeetes. Aeetes, son of the Sun who makes light for mortals, married by the gods’ design another daughter of Oceanus the unending river, fair-cheeked Idyia; and she bore him the trim-ankled Medea, surrendering in intimacy through golden Aphrodite” (Hesiod 31)

Alternatively, Diodorus names Hekate and Aeetes as her parents, explaining:

“Perses had a daughter, Hecate, and she excelled her father in her brazen lawlessness...She was a keen contriver of mixtures of deadly drugs [pharmaka], and she discovered the so-called aconite. She tested the powers of each drug by mixing it into the food given to strangers...After this she married Aeetes and gave birth to two daughters, Circe and Medea, and also a son Aigialeus” (qtd. in Ogden 78)

Either of these parentages could make sense, but I personally observe the first.

(Art: Medea by Frederick Sandys)

Medeia as the Witch Priestess of Hekate

One of Medeia’s most important roles in literature and myth is that she is a priestess of Hekate and a witch, being called “Medea of the many spells” (Apollonius of Rhodes 109). In most literature there is no way to separate these roles. 

She was extremely devoted to Hekate, Apollonius of Rhodes stating that “as a rule she did not spend her time at home, but was busy all day in the temple of Hecate, of whom she was priestess” (116). Euripides also writes that Medea says “I swear it by her, my mistress, whom most I honor and have chosen as partner, Hecate, who dwells in the recesses of my hearth” (Euripides 13). Clearly, the relationship between her and Hekate was very close, and it was said on occasion that she even learned magic from Hekate, Herself. Apollonius of Rhodes writes that “[t]here is a girl living in Aeetes’ palace whom the goddess Hecate has taught to handle with extraordinary skill all the magic herbs that grow on dry land or in running water” (123). Diodorus also claims this, but adds an interesting addendum that attributes to the character of Medeia:

“They report that Medea learned all the powers of drugs from her mother [Hekate] and her sister [Kirke], but her own inclination was the opposite. For she continually saved the strangers that put in from dangers” (qtd. in Ogden 79)

(Art: Medea the Sorceress by Valentine Cameron Prinsep)

Regardless of the origins of her powers, they were no doubt incredible. Apollonius of Rhodes explains that “she can put out a raging fire, she can stop rivers as they roar in spate, arrest a star, and check the movement of the sacred moon” (123). In one instance Apollonius states that “the beautiful Medea spell through the palace, and for her the very doors responding to her hasty incantations swung open of their own accord...From there she meant to reach the temple. She knew the road well enough, having often roamed in that direction searching for corpses and noxious roots, as witches do” (148). This is clearly an indicator that her powers are incredible, but what is even more awe-inspiring is what Apollonius says happens next:

“Rising from the distant east, the Lady Moon [Selene], Titanian goddess, saw the girl wandering distraught, and in wicked glee said to herself: ’So I am not the only one to go astray for love, I that burn for beautiful Endymion and seek him in the Latmian cave. How many times, when I was bent on love, have you disorbed me with your incantations, making the night moonless so that you may practice your beloved witchcraft undisturbed!” (148).

Medeia is said to be able to actually banish the moon Herself from the sky, an unimaginable feat. This is indicative of the degree of power she possesses, having sway over nature itself.

She is most known to have used her knowledge and powers repeatedly to help Jason, her husband, on his quest for the Golden Fleece. The first instance of this was that she made Jason an ointment which would make him invincible. Apollonius describes this in length, writing that:

“She had twelve maids, young as herself and all unmarried...She called them now and told them to yoke the mules to her carriage at once, as she wished them to drive to the spending Temple of Hecate; and while they were getting the carriage ready she took a magic ointment form her box. This salve was named after Prometheus. A man had only to smear it on his body, after procreating the only-begotten Maiden [Hekate] with a midnight offering, to become invulnerable by sword or fire” (131-2)

He continues, detailing the ritual of how she obtained the plant she used to make this ointment:

“Medea, clothed in black, in the gloom of night, had drawn off this juice in a Caspian shell after bathing in seven perennial streams and calling seven times on Brimo, nurse of youth, Brimo, night-wanderer of the underworld, Queen of the dead. The dark earth shook and rumbled underneath the Titan root when it was cute, and Prometheus himself groaned in the anguish of his soul” (132). 

Here we see a process that is depicted often, the bathing of Medeia and her ritualistic harvesting of herbs. We also see her here call on Brimo (Βριμω), an epithet of Hekate, in Her role as nurse of the young (Kourotrophos/Κουροτρόφος), night-wanderer (Νυκτιπολος/Nyktipolos), of the Underworld (Χθονιη/Kthonia), and Queen of the Dead (Ανασσα ενεροι/Anassa Eneroi), indicating the importance of Hekate to her witchcraft. 

(Art: Jason and Medea by John William Waterhouse)

A similar harvesting of herbs and roots is seen in fragments of Sophocles’ play The Root-Cutters. What we have of the play states that “She [Medea] covers her eyes with her hand and collects up the white-clouded juice that drips from the cut in bronze jars...the covered chests conceal the roots, which this woman reaped, naked, with bronze sickles, while crying out and howling” (qtd. in Ogden 83). Hekate is then said to be “crowned with oak branches and snakes” (qtd. in Ogden 83). Then the women chant “Lord of the sun and holy fire [Helios], sword of Hecate of the roads, which she carries over Olympus as she attends and as she traverses the sacred crossroads of the land, crowned with oak and the woven coils of snakes, falling on her shoulders” (qtd. in Ogden 83). In this short but incredible fragment we see that Medeia calls on both Hekate and Helios, her grandfather, to bless their ritual. We also see a repeat of incantations to harvest magical herbs, and an introduction of her association with bronze. 

Another one of Medea’s feats was charming the snake that guarded the Golden Fleece into a slumber. In the Argonautica, Apollonius of Rhodes writes:

“The monster in his sheath of horny scares rolled forward his interminable coils, like the eddies of black smoke that spring from smoldering logs...But as he writhed he saw the maiden take her stand, and heard her in sweet voices invoking Sleep [Hypnos], the conqueror of the gods, to charm him. She also called on the night-wandering queen of the world below [Hekate] to countenance her efforts...the giant snake, enchanted by her song, was soon relaxing the whole length of his serrated spine and smoothing out his multitudinous undulations...Yet his grim head still hovered over them and the cruel jaws threatened to snap them up. But Medea, chanting a spell, dipped a fresh sprig of juniper in her brew and sprinkled his eyes with her most potent drugs and as the all-pervading magic scent spread around his head, sleep fell on him.” (150-1). 

(Medea and the Dragon by Maxwell Ashby Armfield)

She was also said to have killed the giant Talos, a gift given to Zeus from Hephaistos, with her witchcraft, specifically the Evil Eye. In this more horrifying passage, it is said that:

“[W]ith incantations, she invoked the Sprits of Death [Keres], the swift hounds of Hades who feed on souls and haunt the lower air to pounce on living men. She sank to her knees and called upon them three times in song, three times with spoken prayers. She steeled herself with their malignity and bewitched the eyes of Talos with the evil in her own. She flung at him the full force of her malevolence, and in an ecstasy of rage she plied him with images of death” (Apollonius of Rhodes 192). 

In this passage, she calls on the Keres, and with them is able to use the evil eye to bring immediate death to a direct creation of the gods. This is a horrifying feat, not only for the power it must require, but for her ability to kill in an instant. 

Finally, she also is said to have rejuvenated Jason’s father Aeson. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Jason pleads with Medea to take years of his own life to give more to his father, but she rejects him saying that Hekate will not allow such a thing to take place. Instead, she offers that through her witchcraft, instead, if Hekate is willing to help her, she may rejuvenate him. Under the full moon, Medeia performs the ritual. She calls on Hekate, Night, the Moon, and Helios to aid her in her task (126-7). A chariot drawn by dragons appears to her and she takes it to gather herbs harvested with her bronze scythe. After nine days and nights, she returns to Jason to perform the ritual. The ritual is extensive and is essentially repeated in full. She builds two altars, one to Hecate and one to Hebe. She also digs two ditches on sacrifices a black sheep into the ditches, also pouring wine and milk into them. She also calls on the “deities of the earth” which may mean deities of the land or chthonic deities, and Hades. Once she appeases these gods and goddesses, she spells Aeson to sleep on a bed of herbs and tells Jason to leave her to perform her magic. She then dips sticks into pools of blood and lights them with the flames on the altars, then purifying the man once with fire, three times with water, and three times with sulfur. 

She then adds many herbs, roots, and flowers to her bronze cauldron as well as “hoar frost gathered under the full moon, the wings of the uncanny screech owl with the flesh as well, and the entrails of a werewolf which has the power of changing its wild-beast features into a man’s. There also in the pot is the scaly skin of a slender Cinyphian water-snake, the liver of a long-lived stag, to which she also adds eggs and the head of a crow nine generations old” (Ovid 129). Then, she slits the throat of Aeson and replaced his blood with her potion, finally rejuvenating him. 

There is more descriptions of Medeia’s magical feats throughout literature, but these are simply some of the most detailed and famous. She is clearly a very powerful witch and a significant figure within the history of Hekate worship. With her bronze cauldron and chariot of dragons, she is quite awe-inspiring.

(Art: The Sorceress by R. Willis Maddox)

Medeia’s Character

One of the issues we run into with Medeia’s mythos is her defamation and portrayal as a child-murdering and vengeful woman. She is indeed vengeful against Jason, and rightfully so, for he bade her to leave her homeland, murder her brother, and constantly had her aid him with her witchcraft, only to abandon her for another. However, Euripides’ tale of her brutally murdering her children has some criticisms from scholars who note that there are other versions of the tale. 

One such tale is that from Apollodorus who writes that “Another tradition is that on her flight she left behind her children, who were still infants, setting them as suppliants on the altar of Hera of the Height; but the Corinthians removed them and wounded them to death” (1.9.28). In the modern era, a scholar named Sarah Illes Johnston, author of Restless Dead and Hekate Soteira, also writes that Medea prays to Hera Akraia to make her children immortal, and Hera either declines or breaks her promise to fulfill this task, leaving the children to die (62-3). Johnston denies the implication of Medea in her children’s death, instead attributing it to circumstances outside her control or by the hand of another.

These different tellings of Medeia’s story fits with the Colchian princess who aids Jason in a much more believable way than the suddenly spiteful women who murders her children. This variation is less popular, the other being popularized perhaps to demonize magic and women of power.

(Art: Medea by Eve De Morgan)

Worshipping Medeia

Now that Medeia’s character and mythological status has been discussed, I think it’s important to talk about how I actually go about worshipping Medeia. I worship Medeia in both divine and ancestral ways, which I suppose could be attributed to methods of hero worship in Ancient Greece. Worshipping Medeia can be done alongside Hekate and/or Helios, as well as alongside Kirke. If you observe the Mighty Dead or Witch Ancestors, she could also be worshipped alongside them.

Offerings

Offerings for Medeia can include wine, frankincense, milk, honey, food, poisons, sacred plants, bronze artifacts, candles, snake parts or figurines and dragon figurines, artifacts of witchcraft, and even Hekate iconography. One could also offer her blood, but that is up to your personal discretion. 

Names and Epithets

Names/epithets I call Medeia include ‘Of the Many Spells,’ ‘Vengeful Maiden,’ ‘Witch Priestess of Hekate,’ ‘Medea of Poisons,’ ’She Who Knows All Herbs,’ ‘Giant-Slayer,’ one that could also be said of Hekate, ‘Princess of Colchis,’ ‘Granddaughter of Helios,’ ’Daughter of Sun and Moon,’ one I use to indicate her relationship to Helios and her devotion to Hekate, and Medea Pharmakeia, or Medeia of Witchcraft/Magic. 

Sacred Objects

Sacred plants of Medeia could include any poisons, juniper, olive, and aconite specifically. Sacred animals include dragons and snakes. Bronze is also sacred to Medea, as are cauldrons of any kind. 

Specializations

Medeia can be called upon for justice and vengeance, especially for spells of justice and vengeance, witchcraft of any kind, to bless herbs, for gardening, for aid in Hekate worship, for the downfall of your enemies, for protection from harm, for protection from snakes, and for guidance in magic.

Prayers to Medeia

Prayer for Medea’s Aid in Witchcraft

Prayer to Medea for Vengeance

Conclusion

In conclusion, while Medeia may not be a part of the usual canon of hero worship, or worship in general, if you are a devotee of Hekate or Helios, worshipping Medeia might be right for you. Likewise, any witch who observes the Hellenic pantheon should give serious thought to venerating Medeia in their practice. 

Works Cited:

Medea by Euripides

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds by Daniel Ogden

The Voyage of Argo by Apollonius of Rhodes

Theogony by Hesiod

The Library by Apollodorus

The Metamorphoses by Ovid

“Corinthian Medea and the Cult of Hera Akraia” by Sarah Illes Johnston

(Art: Medea Casting Spells by Henry Ferguson)

[aphroditewritings]

Pregant Omega x Dragon King

Her love for Katsuki was what she could only describe as magical. Having known each other since childhood and having dated for their teenage years being the biggest couple of the village all the time since Katsuki was next in line for the throne. It was only natural to accept when the council arranged a wedding between the two lovers, deeming her a worthy women of being queen one day and a ruler of their lands along side her boyfriend, well her husband now she could finally say.

The blonde had unsurprisingly made it one of the best nights of her life, the very best night of her life though would be when the kingdom’s doctor told her she was with child and that the future heir to the throne was healthy and growing inside of her tummy. She in not only shock but excitement went to his mother Mitsuki unsure of how exactly to tell Katsuki they were finally having dragon babies after 2 years of marriage. The women had nearly fainted when she put her hand on her stomach and used her hightened senses to listen to the babies heart beat.

“This is beautiful” Mitsuki said caressing her stomach at the thought of a grandchild running around her feet finally. Mitsuki had made it an entire day’s worth ordeal, refusing to let Katsuki see or even look at her until nightfall came for fear his extra heightened senses would pick up on the extra heart beat immediately especially with him so in tune with her sent he would know something was up the second he would see her. It was also what made Katsuki scrunch his nose when she finally did enter into their bedroom that night draped in the long light pink silk robe from the bath and spa treatment the women had given her earlier, Mitsuki being extra doting knowing she was now pregnant.

She could tell he wasn’t sniffing the air in disgust but rather...intrest. “What’s wrong?” he asked almost immediately jumping up from the bed and wrapping his arms around her unaware of his mother snickering outside of the tent. “Nothing...well something but nothing bad. At least I hope not” she mumbled the last part looking at the ground and only looking up when she felt her husband finger softly direct her jaw upwards. “You know you can tell me. Never hold back with me.”

Taking a deep breath of courage in she grabbed onto his shoulders and whispered the words “I’m pregnant” in the air. He had froze for a few seconds, frantically looking her up and down to make sure he had heard her right before she felt herself getting lifted off the ground and into his arms in a giant bear hug. Needless to say, Katsuki Bakugo had been very happy that day and all the days after that.

Even when he had to rub her feet and massage her entire body, or go across half the village to get a food she was craving, he happily either went himself or sent his mother in. Ever since finding out she was pregnant especially once she started to show, her belly having started poking out from her dresses no one but himself or his mother were allowed close near her. His trust of everyone around her even poor Kiri who couldn’t even stop by to check how she was doing without getting snarls and growls from Bakugo.

It seemed never letting anybody near her would also be Katsuki’s downfall.

It had been during winter, a strong snow storm hitting the area and more conveniently shen she had been very very pregnant. She was due any day now, her belly swelled to its giant size, sometimes even making her feel self conscious but always remembering that Katsuki reminded her she was the most beautiful thing in the world to him everyday, big belly or not. He had gone out to the other side of the village to collect more fire wood go keep them warm but promised to be back shortly to her and the baby. With being pregnant with dragon kin babies, already came trouble from the outside as well.

Dragon babies sold for high dollar on the black market, high enough to probably set somebody up for life if they ever got their hands on one to sell. As sick as it was, Katsuki’s kind were sometimes sold off like pets, their owners always cruel and monsters themselves training them to be more like guard dogs instead of the beautiful humans they could be and were. It was part of the reason why everyone was so protective over her now, knowing how many criminals and other kingdoms out there would love the chance the snatch up her and her baby.

A giant explosion and screams had made her eyes snap open mid nap in the big fluffy bed of furs and pillows Katsuki had put together for her. Wobbling out of bed she slipped on her slipper boots and a robe before peaking her head out a scared yelp leaving her mouth when she did. A tent near hers, only a few down and belonging to one of the towns people in their kingdom was on fire a giant swarm of soldiers appearing out of the snow clouds with giant swords and axes on them. It finally dawned on her that this was actually happening, they were under attack.

She knew they would probably be dealt with soon, no one usually having the balls or the missing brain cells to attack a village full of dragon shifters, but all thoughts of substance left her mind when she felt big hands yank her arm. “Found the bitch” a man, apart of the group trying to raid them sneered down at her, a gasp leaving her mouth. “Her and that damn baby are gonna sell big” his friend that lurked behind him snickered making panic flash across her eyes.

So that’s what they were here for. They were here for her and her child.

“Help!” she screamed as loud as she could trying to trash out of his hold but getting a hand wrapped around her throat and stopping her screaming. “Just cut it out of her she’s about full term anyways. Sure as hell looks fat enough to be” the mans friend said to him looking at her with an evil glint in her eyes. Tears welling up in her own from her emotional sensitivity she took their moment of distraction from her to kick the man choking her while her face was turning blue where the sun didn’t shine for him, a cry of pain leaving his mouth as he collapsed on the ground holding his groin.

Running away as fast as the snow would let her she began her journey to the edge of the village aware of the men still running and following behind her shoutinh curses at her and her unborn child. It probably wasn’t the best idea to run into the open wild, 9 months pregnant and with no means of defense against the traffickers, but with everyone else busy trying to dispose of the rest of the mens little army it had left her vulnerable and with nowhere to run but to where she could loose them.

Not able to see in front of her any longer she fell to her knees in the snow, vaguely recalling loosing the men in the snow storm a while back leaving her to huddle into a pile in the white ground praying to the gods that Katsuki or at least someone from their kingdom would find her and rescue her, otherwise she knew her and her child wouldn’t last long in the weather they were in.

Sniffling with tears pooling down her cheeks she desperately hugged the fur robe closer to her body and clutched her stomach with two hands hoping to keep it warmer. “Please Katsuki” she whispered hoping he could somehow hear her wherever he was.

Back at the village, Katsuki had finally finished driving his sword through the chest of the last invader releaseing a battle cry of victory at once again winning a battle against petty criminals. He had been in a great mood on his way home shortly after, wonderful even ready to see his beautiful mate and talk to her and their pup. Ask them about their day. She didn’t do much nowadays but between all the pampering she was getting it gave her plenty to talk about. His world seemed to come crashing down upon entering his secluded tent though , one larger than life with a bed as big to match, completely and utterly empty.

An uneasy pit formed in his stomach as he called for his mate but got no response. Fear spiked in his blood more and more, him turning over blankets and table hoping and praying she was just playing some prank on him. They hadn’t gotten her...had they? A growl left his lips at the thought concluding something did happen to her while he was away but knowing she was at least alive kept him at bay, barley but there. Dragons could feel each others heart beats, once the mating ritual was completed mates were connected at the heart and soul for life.

“Katsuki please help me” a voice sobbed in his head. Her voice. Images and flashes of her laying out on the dirty ground in the snow, frostbite covering her toes, her heart beat getting weaker by the minute came across his mind Katsuki silently thanking the gods for allowing him to be able to track her. “I’m coming baby” he said gathering his things and calling for elite squadron and most trusted soldiers and advisors to get ready, giving them the blunt and only words they needed of “she’s missing, we leave now” to know they needed to spring into action. Bakugo shifted into his dragon, with him being the king it was the biggest and strongest of them there, pointy scales running up and down his back his body a crimson red color.

Roaring into the air he didn’t even wait for the rest of his support team before flying away and into the snow storm only one thing on the dragons mind as he felt his mates heart beat fade out more and more.

Releasing a quiet sob she was finally starting to come to terms with things. This was where she and her baby would die. Alone shivering out in the cold body huddled in a ball in the snow. A harsh breeze flew by a few ice shards spitting across her face and making her cry out in pain. Balling her fist together and rubbing her stomach one last time she could barley register the feeling of warmth spreading throughout her body.

The faint sounds of roaring and shouting were heard making her slowly blink her eyes open shocked to see herself surrounded by fire. Katsuki’s fire. Mates didn’t get burned by their dragon mates fire, another plus to marrying the man. It felt like her body slowly ignited and unfroze a gasp leaving her lips when she felt her body being lifted. She could recognize Mitsuki’s voice as the one holding her and carefully laying her now naked body from Katsuki’s fire on her in a pile of furs and wrapping her up. To scared and still to cold to move she allowed herself to be carried through the snow and placed onto the back of Katsuki who’s dragon released a happy pur at feeling her laying on his back.

Wasting no time he flew off into the air and back to the village all of the towns people crowding around as they watched their king transform into his human form again and carrying an unconscious queen in his arms. “Is she dead?” a woman whispered as Katsuki passed her but immediately quieted down when he snarled at her. “Sorry your majesty” she apologized looking anywhere but him for fear of catching his gaze.

Ripping open the flap to their tent he could faintly hear the sounds of his mother and Kiri along with medical staff ushering into the tent and lighting the fire place. He growled when the doctor tried to approach the bed he was holding her in, tears slowly but surly forming in his ruby red eyes as he rocked her unconscious body back and forth in his arms. His mother grabbed his shoulder a serious look in her eyes as she squeezed down on him.

“Let them check on her and the baby Katsuki, now” she said lowly uncovering the top half of her and her big baby bump luckily keeping everything for her bottom half decent. The doctor, who he found the least bit of comfort was a woman lifted up the bottom of the blanket and sucked in a breath. “She has frost bite on her toes, she’ll have the stay as warm as possible until they heal” she tutted and ignoring Katsuki’s gasp as she came around to her stomach. “I’m going to touch her belly, just the make sure the pup is ok” she warned waiting until Katsuki gave a hesitant nod and reached out.

Placing a hand on her stomach she felt around until she could hear the faint sounds of blood rushing to a second heart beat inside the queens body. Looking her up and down after doing a few more bodyily checks she concluded the queen was alright, just would be unconscious and exhausted for a while on top of her pregnancy. She was out for nearly a full day and night before she groaned out, her body sore and in pain and tried to sit up in the bed. Strong big arms wrapped around her hugged her tighter. “Don’t you dare” Katsuki said nuzzling his face into her neck. “I’m hungry Katsuki” she whined getting a grunt from him.

“You almost died and your first request is food?” he asked gruffly caressing her tummy and trying not to smile as he did so. “Do you not realize what could’ve happened to you out there?” he asked rubbing the top of her head to let her know he wasn’t angry at her by any means just was frustrated. “If we hadn’t of found you when we did...” he continued stopping when she placed her hand on his that was rubbing her stomach. “I know. I thought it was going to happen too, but they were going to sell him on the black market Katsuki I didn’t know where to go everyone was busy dealing with the rest.”

“Don’t ever think I’m to busy for you, you hear me” Katsuki said softly grabbing her jaw. “Anything like this happens ever again you come to me first and only”

Nodding her head at him softly she snuggled further into his chest smiling softly at hearing Katsuki call in his and her handmaidens and telling them to have the village chef immediately prepare her a feast “fit for a queen” literally and figuratively Katsuki and her both glad to have a fully healthy and safe family on the way now.

A/N

This is shit but I’m high as a kite rn so njoy ig beautiful people

[rmg91]

Zoe Week; Day 5-ROTT

So I know we got given a free day considered ROTT was...what it was but I decided to still go with the prompt and it turned into more of a small rewrite than just a ‘Let’s slip Zoe into this scene’. Zoe is everyone’s braincell and we know it.

Also I tried writing a fight scene....I donno how well it turned out lol

AO3

~*~*~*~*~*~

“He WHAT?!”

Zoe stared at the assembled guardians, the kids, that had gone up against the demigods bent on restarting the world with that crazy plan to strip them of their powers, only for it to fail. Yes, they were alive. Yes, they had Nari, in spirit, but the Arcane Order had her body, had Douxie, and that was not okay for her! That stupid, self-sacrificing idiot! Of course he'd do something like that! But all it would do would buy them time and just what was going to happen when those power hungry beings found out?! It wasn't going to be good, that was for sure and now Zoe had to hatch a plan to try and save her idiot before something bad happened.

Ignoring the overlapping explanations and assurances they'd come up with a plan, Zoe marched her way out of the ex-throne room and down to what was becoming her studio. Shuffling around the various tomes and grimoires, she searched for the one she was certain had the spell she needed to find him, growling to herself when she couldn't. This is what she got for not sorting through all these yet. Finally, just when she'd been about to say 'fuck it' and do it without the book, she dug up the dusty purple codex of scrying and grinned in victory. Oh, she was finding that idiot of hers and then she was going to give him a piece of her mind once he was safe.

Coming back upstairs, the pinked haired witch flipped through the book, looking for the magic circle that would allow her to find Douxie. Ignoring everyone's voices, she quickly read through the directions, reminding herself how it worked and set to etching runes in the air with her wand. The symbols of power fell to the floor in sparking pink power, forming the necessary element for her spell. “Nari.” She called, “I'm gonna need Archie for a moment.”

The little nature spirit, inhabiting her partners body, let his familiar go from her hold as she finished the magic circle, sending the tomb to rest on the floor outside it. Sitting in the center, Archie crawled into her lap in dragon form, already having a feeling on what she was going to try to do. Normally she could sense Douxie's power, they'd known each other for so after all it was easy, but between distance and most likely being blocked, she couldn't without help. It would be easier if their magic was bonded, tied together for the rest of eternity and the ultimate sign of trust and love between magic users but...they weren't. Not for lack of wanting to but their lives had been pretty hectic and dangerous and bonding their magic came with lots of consequences as well as benefits. If one of them died...it would be the worse kind of hell on the other. And as much as they loved each other they hadn't wanted to have the other suffer so. But maybe, after all this, they'd change that.

“Uh..what are you gonna do?” Toby asked, standing near as he watched the pulsing pink runes.

“I'm going to track Douxie using the bond between him and Archie.” She explained, holding the dragon-cat gently, one hand scratching between his ears, “It should, in theory, help me find where the Order is holding him.” Then they would retrieve him and she was going to kick his ass for putting himself in danger, again.

Everyone took that as the queue to be quiet, to let her work, and Zoe breathed in deeply, letting her magic seep out and take shape. The circle glowed as she let herself fall into a trance, focusing on Archie, who was relaxed in her lap, his own magic open to letting hers in. She found the bond, a shining string of magic that was warm, comforting, powerful, reaching out beyond their little space in search of their missing wizard. She followed it as it swirled, twisting and turning through the space between, searching, searching, searching until-There! It sung brightly, tightening like a perfectly tuned guitar string and humming with life and she knew in that moment just where to find him.

Opening her eyes, a pink glow encompassing them, she grinned sharply. The Order didn't know what was coming to them.

~*~*~*~

The group entered the abandoned train tunnel, sans one Trollhunter, looking for any sign of the Order or Douxie. Zoe knew she had been harsh when she told Jim he needed to stay behind but she was not going to take back what she said. He was injured and therefore a liability and she wasn't going to let him kill himself or any of his friends if things were to go pear shaped. But hopefully they wouldn't and they'd be able to rescue Douxie with minimal trouble.

Her blue eyes roamed over the various crates and scaffolding, sensing him near but unable to see him. But she just knew he was here. Even as the group spread out and looked around old, crumbling crates and rusty metal drums, confused as to why they couldn't find anyone, Zoe was reaching out with her magic, searching for her wayward husband. Frowning down at the tracks, something just wasn't sitting right with her, she tried her best to see and think like Douxie would. There had to be something here she was missing...

She blinked, a thought coming suddenly and could it really be that easy?

Trotting up a staircase to get higher ground, she looked down at the tracks, shaking her head lightly because for some eon's old beings, Skrael and Bellroc really couldn't be original? “Their hiding in plain sight!” She shouted to assembled guardians, flicking her wand out and rearranging the train tracks, “They've made a giant sigil with the tracks!” The tracks moved, soon lighting up and dispelling the room around them, revealing a much darker room and three beings in the center.

She wasn't sure if they were aware they weren't alone anymore but it looked as if the demigods of ice and fire were taunting who they thought were Nari. She, or rather Douxie, was hovering in the air, held aloft by his hands in glowing magic and maybe, possibly keeping quiet as to continuing fooling the gods. But then, as they were staring confusedly as the Genius Seals, wondering why they weren't opening, he opened his big fat mouth.

“Abracadabra, Buttsnacks.”

Zoe groaned, because why had he said that?! But before the Order could do more than threaten him, she raised her wand high and cried, “Hey! Hands off!” She then sent a bolt of pink lighting down, just barely hitting Skreal, and then it was on!

Everyone jumped into action, firing and fighting the two remaining members of the Order. Zoe jumped down, joining the fray, firing spells and shields as she made way to Nari's body. She was put to a stop though as the icy wizard floated in front of her, brandishing his staff. Oh, if he wanted a fight, he was getting a fight. Ignoring Douxie's strained call of her name, the hedge-witch ducked a swing of the staff, dodging to the right and not giving in to Skreal's taunting. Hedge-witch or not, didn't mean she wasn't powerful and she wasn't about to let these bastards win.

Zoe fired spell after spell, wildly missing the floating god as he chuckled darkly at her. But that was okay, all part of the plan because when he least expect it she smirked and performed a round-house kick, planting her foot below his belt with a cry of “Rule Number Three!!”

As Skrael crumpled, she turned back to Douxie in Nari's body, running closer and hoping she could break the spell keeping him in the air. Fire had started to burn everywhere, the old wood catching easily to the spells Bellroc fired off but she ignored all that as she examined the magic around Douxie's wrists. She shushed him as he tried to talk to her, needing to concentrate on what she was doing, hopefully she wouldn't need Claire's help. Then a dark chuckle came from behind her.

“You won't break him free.” She turned to glare at Bellroc, their ever fluctuating voice grating on her nerves, “That magic is too powerful for even a full fledged wizard, let alone a little hedge-witch.” She growled as they laughed at her. And maybe she wouldn't be able to break it herself but if she could break this beings concentration... A wicked grin came to her face, feral as she remembered the chaos she'd wrecked at Killahead, and she began drawing runes behind her back.

“You're right...Guess I'll just have to make you break it.”

And with a flash of pink, twenty more Zoe's surrounded the demigod.

Crying out, Bellroc began to blast away her clones, easily poofing them from existence, which was fine as it was only meant as a distraction. The real Zoe dodged behind him, thankful for the rest of the crew keeping Skrael busy as she charged her magic. She'd only have one shot at this and she hoped it worked. It had been a while since she last did this. Bringing her now brightly flashing hands together, she drew them apart, a glowing, sparking, pink arrow held between them.

“Foolish girl! This won't defeat me!!” Bellroc cried with rage, dispelling the last of her clones.

“It's not meant to!” She yelled back before firing the arrow, sending a million volts through the wizard and causing them to spasm. And it was enough, for the spell holding Douxie up sputtered and died, dropping him to the floor. Zoe dived for his staggering form as Bellroc cried out again, pushing him out of the way of a blast of fire. Of course now she needed a plan to get them out of there...

Just as the fire god was approaching, already up from her attack and ready to end her life, a black portal formed beneath her and Douxie and they dropped away.

~*~*~*~

Zoe groaned as she was dropped onto the floor of Camelot, rolling onto her back. That had been...something. She really needed to practice that attack again, it took far too much out of her but at least now Douxie was safe. And Nari. She heard the rest of the guardians tumble in, shouts from their assembled allies rising and still she laid there, catching her breath.

“Zoe! Zoe, are you alright?!” She looked up at Douxie's voice, finding Nari's face above her looking at her with concern and they were needed to change back because this was just getting too weird. She watched him sag with relief, most likely due to her opening her eyes and he sighed, “You were nuclear, Love.”

“You better switch back before you kiss me, Casperan.” Was her only response.

Chuckling breathlessly, he nodded and she watched him hold out his hand for Nari to take, the goddess now crouching on her other side. A flash of magic and she was then being pulled into Douxie's lap, the wizard now back in his body. She let him nuzzle his face into her neck, still recovering from the adrenaline and almost overuse of her magic as they sat there, friends and allies all around.

“Thank you, Zoe.” Nari said softly, sitting primly in front of her, “You risked so much.”

“It's fine, Nari,” Zoe said, smiling at the forest child, “There was no way I was letting them keep your body and Douxie's mind.” Let alone risk the possibility of them forcing the two back into their proper bodies. Then they really would have been in trouble.

“So what do you do now?” She heard Claire ask because now they were back at square one. Keep Nari out of the grasp.

“I donno,” Zoe sighed, “But the important thing is the Order doesn't have Nari anymore.”

“That's not all they don't have..” The nature goddess smirked shyly before holding up the Genius Seals.

Zoe's eyes widen as cries went up around her, Douxie laughing in surprise, before she grinned wide and shark like. Oh, things were about to get interesting.

~*~*~*~*~*~

How the rest of the movie would play out from here I have no idea but there’s some choice Zouxie protecting each other/Nari/Archie so...there’s that. I hope you all enjoyed!

[reversemoon255]

(This is the final of a three-part series chronicling the development and ideas behind “Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites,” a Pokémon DnD campaign. This last entry will be about the final string of encounters, some of the later ideas for story elements, and a deep dive into the overarching themes of the campaign’s Starters. Speaking of, the fantastic art of them, along with many of the other original Pokémon seen here, was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter, and I highly suggest you check them out.)

Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites - Phase 3: Fauxchemine

Like the Queen Durant, the Steelix/Glacix fight would have been a transitory battle between phases of the campaign, taking place right before the Starters were about to evolve for the final time. Glacix was an idea I came up with early in development. As Rock, Steel, and Ice have a relationship throughout Pokémon, having Onix evolve into a specially tanky Ice-Type rather than the physically tanky Steelix made sense. This was also a design I put a lot of work into the actual proportions, like stretching its face vertically as Onix is circular, and Steelix is horizontally stretched. Also, as Steelix has two long spikes on every other segment, Glacix has four smaller spikes in the same pattern.

Glacix was also the first of the four penultimate boss encounters before the close of the campaign, each representing one of the four sacred beasts of Chinese mythology. I thought it would be a pattern that players could recognize and possibly plan ahead for. Glacix was always planned as the Phase 2-to-3 transitory boss, but I actually had roughly prototyped the other three before I realized Glacix fit into role of the Azure Dragon (which I was missing).

The second of the bosses, representing both the Black Tortoise and Rare Variants, was a Dire Torterra. The idea was this Torterra was symbiotic, housing a Sudowoodo instead of a tree, and hiding its identity was a shiny Altaria capable of Mega Evolving thanks to the Key Stone that had replaced one of Torterra’s stone spikes. This was a rough concept, and I’m sure it would have changed drastically by the time the players would actually encounter it.

Third, representing both the White Tiger and Ultra Beasts, was Shora (from Shodo and Tora, the Japanese words for calligraphy and tiger). A pure white tiger that paints floating, metal stripes above its body with its brush-like tail. This was an idea I was very happy with, though I lacked the artistic abilities to render it effectively. If I remember correctly, the markings above its shoulder were based on the Kanji for Tiger. I also hadn’t settled on an ability for it, which was key for depicting Ultra Beasts in this campaign.

And the last of the penultimate bosses was Phanic, being a second Ultra Beast and representing the Vermilion Phoenix. Sadly, I had little planned for this guy apart from some concept designs, like the rest of them. I was working on these as the campaign was starting, and didn’t pursue finishing them after its premature conclusion.

Phanic (from Phoenix and Panic) is actually an Ostrich. If you picture a phoenix, you typically imagine great plumes of feathers around the head, wings, and tail, which are all things Ostriches specifically lack, and I wanted to subvert that typical depiction. I liked the idea that when it was startled, it would scatter its feathers resulting in an exclamation point forming using the spot on its face. It was supposed to seem unassuming compared to the many larger and more imposing bosses, though just as dangerous. Also, it was Electric-Type because it is frequently “shocked” *Ba-dum-tish.*

=====

Let’s talk about our players. One of the backstory elements our Grass Trainer, Ethan, had was that his parents’ restaurant was struck by lightning and destroyed some time before he went to school, and saw a Pokémon at that time. This left him with a fear of lightning (ironically picking an Electric-Type Starter). With this knowledge, and as I was using Ultra Beasts, I altered his backstory slightly so that it was caused by a Xurkitree, and would eventually encounter one during the campaign with his victory over it (probably with a lot of Wisdom Saves) curing his phobia.

Johnny, our Fire Trainer, had a goal of becoming an entertainer, but was vague about what kind. I had an idea for a “Streamer” Trainer Class he could run into. Someone who uses their Rotom Phone to live stream battles and get reactions and advice from their chat. (Let’s face it, if Pokémon were real, this would totally be a thing.) There was also DJ Tomomitsu, who runs Stelopy City’s Trainer Radio, and was a Gym Leader. The idea was to present a bunch of different Pokémon-based entertainment ideas and professions and have him decide which ideas he liked and wanted to pursue.

While our other players were aiming for careers, Orion, our Water Trainer, was more interested in exploring his relationship with his family. His father in particular; both he and his wife being high-ranking executives for Silph Co., and raising their children to also be successful. However, Orion had always wanted to be a Trainer, and it was his parents that prevented him from adventuring. I had it that his father was so against the idea was because he, too, was a Trainer in his youth. But not a successful one, failing many more times than he succeeded, and didn’t want his son to suffer the same disappointments as he did. His partner was Rhyperior, btw.

Lastly was our Fairy Trainer, Arthur. He wanted to be a Gym Leader, and cited specific interest in the Galar League. He also mentioned in his back story that his father was belligerent and against the idea. While the Leaders of the Galar League are entertainers by profession, if you look at the list of Gym Leaders and Kahunas in US equivalent regions, almost all of them have a profession and run Gyms on the side:

(Restaurant Owner, Museum Curator, Artist, Model, Business Tycoon, Pilot, Actor, Teacher, Rock Star, Mayor, Shop Owner, Police Officer; 12/15)

It felt like a hobby, rather than a career, and I ran with this idea as it seemed like Arthur and his obsession with the Galar League hadn’t noticed this fact (nor had his player), but his father had and was pushing him into a sports-based career (one that is usually lucrative and has off-seasons) so he could have a well-paying job and time on the side for his interests, similar to Orion’s father.

Though, no DM can control their players, and even by the end of our fist session I could tell I would have to change some things. It’s just good to have some idea of where to lead everyone, and adjust as you go.

=====

There’s one more Pokémon I want to talk about before we get to the Starters.

This is Necrotiti (Combining Necro with the Egyptian God Nefertiti), an evolution of Cofagrigus, evolving if it’s holding an item called the “Ceremonial Jar” (literally a jar filled with Yamask’s human intestines). It was meant to evolve from the Yamask they could catch during their museum field trip. The reason it exists is... silly. It’s another instances where I wanted to surprise my players, and giving the “Gardevoir Treatment” to what I consider the creepiest Pokémon was funny (which I feel is a reason I cite a lot). And I was really happy with this design, which is why it got commissioned.

A lot of the original ideas I had for this campaign were meant to either surprise or creep out my players. Everyone I was playing with knew Pokémon very well, so I had this fear that if I presented them with a standard adventure they would either become bored or be able to easily predict where things were going. Having a Pokémon adventure within a single city, having it be more a mystery than a collect-a-thon, and using new Pokémon were all ways I came up with to keep interest high and have them guessing as to what would happen next.

Back to Necrotiti, despite having a sarcophagus Pokémon, we didn’t get a mummy. I wanted to make the body effeminate without being overly so, which is why her body is very geometrical in specific areas. For the mask, I went with a typical Egyptian Nubian motif mixed with some of the overall design elements and basic lines from Yamask, and the colors and patterns from Cofagrigus. But despite how much I like it, I don’t know if I would have used it. It didn’t match the Mutant Evolution concept, with its only similarity being that it’s a rare occurrence.

Onto the Starters: Epipesis has evolved into Drachenura (from Dragon, Lichen, and Meganeura). Grass Starters are typically based on extinct animals, and Flymph’s line is based on a Meganeura (an ancient species of giant dragonfly). Apart from some bulking out and additional colors, the lichen sacks in its tail are now yellow, as the plant matter has evolved with it. It supplies it with so much energy that it has to constantly move while the sun’s up to burn it off. Its tail tip is also based on the X-15, the fastest aircraft to date, as it was designed to be the fastest Grass-Type.

Steared has evolved into Auradiat (from Aura, Auroch, and Radiate). Now a Fire/Ice-Type, it’s based on an extinct species of cattle found around the time of the Ice Age. Its ability to absorb energy with its horns has become so powerful that they have frozen over. When I was originally designing it, I was actually trying to base it on the phrase “Irish Bull” (meaning a paradoxical statement), but as I kept working on it, it became more and more Minotaur-like, so I kept the Fire/Ice-Typing and dropped the more abstract elements. As I did, I actually made it more bull and less Minotaur since all Fire Starters are bipedal, and I wanted to try and avoid that.

Knaval has evolved into Chivalazuli (from Chivalier, the French word for knight, and Lapis Lazuli). This was probably my favorite example of features naturally changing as it evolves, with the antenna growing longer and the shield and lance growing harder (going from carapace, to stone, to crystal). Some of the things you might not have noticed at first glace were his forelegs becoming sub-arms on his chest, him gaining the lobster nose and it becoming a face guard, and how his eyes recess into his head. Also, almost every Starter is symmetrical (apart from patterns), with the only exception being Torterra, so I designed it to be asymmetrical throughout.

And Uteteo has evolved into Makutah (from the Aztec naming scheme used for their Gods of wealth and abundance and Utahraptor). He’s Fairy/Flying, with the gold adornments that first appeared on Uteteo now on his head and arms, giving him a more bird-like appearance. The idea was to have him naturally evolve from a Dinosaur into a bird, with the leg bands making them look more like talons, and the face mask giving him a beak. Also, he starts out with the singular sickle toe raptors are known for, and gets a new one every evolution, ending with a full set.

The thing that sets these Starters apart from ones you’d find in the games is that these are designed to be a team. As such, there are a few themes they all share to help reinforce that. (This ignores Utaw, but) All the Starters, throughout their evolutions, have a distinct yellow detail on their heads (eyes, nose ring, and antenna). Furthermore, once they reach their final stages, they share colors between them, with Drachenura having red on its extremities, Auradiat having blue neck fur, and Chivalazuli having flecks of green in its gemstone. And on top of that, they also all have two overarching themes. First is they all represent different time periods, with Drachenura being pre-humans (Precambrian), Auradiat being prehistoric humans (Ice Age), and Chivalazuli being more modern (Medieval Period). Secondly they all represent DnD, with a Dragon(fly), Auradiat filling the role of a minotaur and its connection to a labyrinth/dungeon, and the adventurous knight who traverses them.

There’s also reasoning behind their types, as all three’s secondary Types are also strong against their usual counterpart (Grass and Electric are both strong against Water, Fire and Ice against Grass, and Water and Rock against Fire). Furthermore, Electric, Ice, and Rock are all strong against Flying, which is the reason behind Makutah’s Type (a joke against the player who joined late).

Makutah does fit into these themes, but more loosely as it was created later. Utaw and Uteteo lack the yellow facial details (though they do have yellow eyes), only really achieving this during their final evolution. He also doesn’t share any colors, as Fairy is outside the usual threesome. It does somewhat fit into the themes of the others, but not as cleanly. Utaw, being a Dinosaur, is still pre-humans, but closer to them than Flymph is, and having Aztec themes puts him past Medieval and closer to the Renaissance in terms of human history, but is very close compared to the other time gaps. Also, the gold was partly to fit him into the DnD theme, representing treasure.

=====

One of the first things the players were told at the beginning of the campaign, and was reinforced throughout, was that Pokémon from outside the Wellou Region were mysteriously popping up all over the place, with the Ultra Beasts being the most extreme example. As to the cause, there were a number of red herrings. Silph Co. employees could occasionally be seen in areas where UBs were with strange equipment, Tomomitsu could occasionally be found before something would show up, and there were a few other strange characters like the Regional Champion or Silph Co.’s president. The only definite thing they would know was that there was a strange, creepy, grey Charizard that would occasionally appear when they took something down.

However, it would eventually be revealed that the above were only trying to understand what was going on, and prevent the appearances of such dangerous Pokémon, like our heroes. And as a massive Ultra Wormhole appears above the city, they come face-to-face with the true mastermind. Not an evil team, or a lone conqueror. Merely a single, twisted Pokémon. And our heroes have interfered with its fun long enough.

“You stare up at the now familiar form of the grey Charizard, which stares back with unblinking, dead eyes... Its mouth stretches wide, wide enough to swallow you whole, and a hand appears. And another. And another. Four skeletal hands pry its maw open from the inside, stretching it until its skin falls down to settle on its hips. What looks down on you now, with a single, glowing eye, is a monstrous form made of bone and rotting flesh. And witnessing the four of you before it, it lets out a high-pitched, chilling laugh...

“‘Fofofofofo...’“

Fauxchemine. A sadistic Ultra Beast capable of warping time and space to its will. All the disturbances throughout the town, all the strange creatures that have appeared, all the monsters sent to terrorize our heroes; all the result of its twisted sense of fun, and the consequences of getting in the way of it.

So there’s a running joke among my friends that we all “hate” Charizard. Not actually, but it’s always pushed in marketing with new forms and such, even though its popularity has been dropping steadily over the years. As such, I thought it would be somewhat cathartic to have the big bad they have to beat up at the end be related to Charizard. ‘Chemine’s skeletal nature comes from trying to cinematicly picture the encounter in my mind, with the eerie image of the mouth stretching open from the dialogue earlier. With bone white and rotten greens, the skin wasn’t meant to reflect Charizard as a shiny, but rather with all its color drained from it, as it’s more a puppeted skin than an actual part of the Pokémon. And as many Pokémon draw inspiration from Kaiju, ‘Chemine does, too, specifically calling back to an Ultra-Kaiju named Greeza with space warping abilities.

It’s Steel/Dragon with Thick Fat. When planning encounters, especially this late into the game, Auradiat made things tough since its offensive Typing is insane, and that combination made it resistant to all of the Starter Types except Fairy. This was supposed to be the toughest fight in the campaign, so I wanted to build a Pokémon that would be difficult to deal damage to. A swift Pokémon able to warp around the field, summoning Ultra Beasts or other versions of Charizard as adds or for specific attacks, I wanted this to be memorably difficult.

Oh, and the name? It’s meant to rhythmically sound like “Pokémon,” with the ‘faux’ symbolizing its disguise, and the ‘mine’ representing its personality. Everything in this world is its to play with.

But that giant Ultra Wormhole wasn’t just for show. Part-way through Phase 2 our players were sucked through a Wormhole themselves, both they and Fauxchemine bearing witness to a titanic creature as they did, and upon its defeat, it is let loose upon the city:

Standing over 100ft tall is Wreknarogg (from wreck, to destroy, Níðhöggr, a massive world-ending creature from Norse mythology, and Ragnarok, the end of the world). A massive symbiotic group of four Pokémon from a dead world, the whale-squid Bayleige, the parasitic Serrasite, and the barnacle Rhizocano. This was actually the first symbiotic Pokémon I designed, and its creation sparked the others like Shiinotic and Torterra so this wouldn’t be the first time our players encountered one.

Whales are the largest creatures on Earth, so using one as the base for a kaiju-sized Pokémon fit. It also helped that the prototype designs for the Cloverfield monster were based on a whale, so I had something to go on. Secondly, I really like a lot of the eldritch design philosophy, and a lot of those are based on sea creatures, which is where the combined squid elements came from. Also, when I was prototyping the design and trying to make it creepier, a friend suggested having a parasite coming out of its blowhole, which is what sparked the creation of Serrasite and Rhizocano (as whale’s are known to have such parasites in real life).

This was a design very inspired by the world it was supposed to inhabit. Coming from a desert world where they are the only living things remaining, they symbiotically support each other to stave off their own inevitable death, with Bayleige able to create rain with its ability and Rhizocano able to make artificial sunlight to feed Serrasite. Serrasite then gives energy to Bayleige to allow it to keep moving, and Rhizocano takes energy from Bayleige. It’s an incomplete system where energy is slowly lost over time.

Stage 2 of the final boss wasn’t supposed to be as intense as the last one. A gimmick for this fight was, at the start of every round, I was going to roll a D100, and an event would happen. They would be things like their friends showing up with healing items, trainers they knew joining the battle, wild Pokémon they’d befriended getting in pot shots, etc. It was meant to be a fun, celebratory, “you’re at the end of the campaign” fight rather than an intense one off the back of another. I was even considering having everyone use their full parties.

But after it’s defeated, a thick, dark haze enshrouds everyone. With their allies gone, and left with just their Starters, our players are alone in a dark void. I did say there were four Pokémon earlier...

And the final encounter is Wreknarogg (Core). The Pokémon who brought the three titans together, and controls them while siphoning off some of their energy to survive. Similar to Phanic, this was another unassuming Pokémon. Designed to resemble a virus while calling back to aspects from mythical Pokémon like Jirachi or Manaphy. I understand it might not feel as climactic as there wasn’t any set-up compared to ‘Chemine, who was shown throughout, or the previous Wreknarogg, who was foreshadowed, but I wanted a 3-stage boss fight, and this felt like a good way of concluding it.

While stage 1 was supposed to be difficult, and stage 2 was meant to be fun and call back to the long journey, stage 3 was an un-losable, cinematic fight with a somewhat somber tone to it. It was the final fight, the end of it all, and there’s a certain level of sadness that comes with that in accordance with the jubilation of completion. It was also meant to see how much everyone had grown; how would they handle this encounter? Fight it? Catch it? Persuade it? Maybe I haven’t listened to enough DnD finalés, but in how many can you beat the final boss by being nice to it and calming it down?

=====

And that’s the end. There would be some sort of epilogue, picking up with our characters some months or years later, but that’s not something I could write without witnessing the actions of the players. I was debating having everything that came from an Ultra Wormhole be sucked back in after Fauxchemine’s defeat, including the Starters (pull a Digimon Tamers), but as Wreknarogg came from a dead world I thought that a little cruel.

And to end things how I usually do; Overall, despite not getting off the ground, I was very happy with this project. I’m the type to pick up and drop projects frequently, and the fact that I stuck with and continued to work on it for months was something I was really proud of. It was also a great learning experience on many levels. And who knows; maybe I might do something like this again in the future...?

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

I’ve lost to temptation so here it is

My interpretation of magolor lets fucking go

So first section: How this bitch works

So Magolor is from Halcandria, a planet who’s core is essentially magic. There’s so much magic on this single planet that it leaked into the life and even some objects that could contain it. Magolor is no exception. Magic energy is essentially stored in a second heart (tho it’s more of a container than a heart), and runs through the body very similar to blood. It’s created and flows through his body, and allows for things like his eye glow, floating, and obviously powers. When he’s asleep, it regenerates. If there’s already enough magic energy while he’s asleep, it disposes of the old magic mostly by floating in sleep or by more severe means like insomnia aka magical overdose (which I’ve gone over before).

Next, is the glowing eyes!! Why he have that, I’ll tell ya. It makes it easier to detect other halcandrians as well as make it easier to detect light such as fire. Which is very useful when you need to look through ashy clouds and make sure a giant rock isn’t about to slam into you from above. It’s also a way to show the health of a halcandrian. Though the eyes glow yellow, they have a brown color very similar to their fur. If they’re sick or very unhealthy, they lose their glow and it slowly reverts to the brown color.

As a side effect of the master crown though, Magolor’s magic energy got boosted by the crown so he didn’t just die instantly by overwhelming power. It sounds like a good thing on paper, having so much energy to the point where he can fight non stop without getting tired magically, but magic overdose due to him not being able to deplete enough of it fast enough is a bitch. He gets sick a lot easier, bad insomnia, as well as occasionally using magic without realizing. So this clears out how he works and shit!! Now onto...

Before RTDL

So before RTDL Magolor had little social skills or experience with interacting with other people that wasnt lying to them to get them to do stuff. It was just how Halcandria worked. People kept to themselves and if you needed help you’d have to twist the truth in order to convince them. Relationships of any kind are very rare in Halcandria as well.

So when he met Marx, it was weird. He originally planned to let him stay until he got better and told him about why he was found in a Nova’s wreckage, so he could hopefully get Marx to lead him to something else he could use to defeat Landia. It didn’t go as planned. Marx was an unpredictable dude who immeadiatly fell for Magolor (but mags didn’t notice cause he’s never experienced someone else crushing or a crush) and due to that Marx spent a lot of time with Magolor during recovery and grew on him. He also ended up showing Magolor what friendship was, and honestly: magolor liked it. He liked having someone around. It was a nice change, and it was nice to have someone around to help (and rarely give him affection). So, Magolor wanted Marx to rule the universe with him once he killed Landia. He didn’t want Marx to leave. Though things started going downhill when an accident happened one time while exploring and Magolor was distracted, leaving to Marx having to use Nova’s power to make sure Magolor was safe.

And Magolor was fascinated, and god he was excited. He pried Marx for questions about his wings, constantly stared at them when they were out, and started talking about if he and Marx used their combined powers they could finally kill Landia and get what they want. But Marx didn’t want to. His want for power by then left, and he knew the consequences. He was happy just hanging out with Mags, and didn’t want to risk his life fighting a dragon with a crown of infinite power. But Magolor, despite liking the change of company, was used to being a loner and believed he could do it again since he’s halcandrian. He said Marx could leave if he didn’t want to, and that was when Marx started to see just how desperate Magolor was for the Master Crown. It was all too similar to his own desperation with Nova, and all words were useless and failed to change Magolor’s mind. So Marx left, and Magolor continued. He felt a little bad (and lonely) but pushed it down and decided no turning back and opted to modifying the Starcutter more like a weapon and attacking Landia that way, but failing.

Though he had a backup plan, thanks to Marx. Which brings me to..

The Betrayal

So this is RTDL time, before the betrayal. His back up plan was going to the pink hero Marx ranted about and using them to get the crown. After all, if they could defeat someone with the gift of Nova’s power, they could defeat a wyvern with a crown. They landed, and Magolor met everyone, but he couldn’t stop thinking about a certain someone. Chilly, who volunteered to stay with him while the others collected the spheres and parts (tho it was because he was suspicious). Mags didn’t know this, and assumed he was being nice. So the second person who (he thought) was being friendly with him enough to stay with him, and fill that hole Marx accdientally left by leaving him. He couldn’t not get attatched. He became REALLY REALLY clingy, and did as much as he could to keep himself focused as well as make sure they were friends. It backfired, making Chilly agitated most of the time, but it also semi worked later on. Most of his time between the betrayal and his crash landing was spent monitoring everyone’s progress, and trying to get Chilly to like him so he could do what he had to do during the betrayal.

Now during the betrayal! The closer he got to achieving the crown again, the more desperate and ooc he got. By the time he was at Halcandria, there’d be no way to talk him out of it, since he was THIS close. But there was still one thing wrong that he assumed the crown would fix: he couldn’t go back to being alone. He assumed he would adjust, since that’s how it’s been for his whole life. But now, that he’s actually had two people really close to him (and one leave) that showed him affection and didn’t only use him like in Halcandria, he didn’t want to go back to being alone. He couldn’t. But he came too far to turn back, and continued anyway (not like he ever changed his mind, but he did have moments of doubt). He told Chilly to stay in the Starcutter, wanting to keep him safe, which obviously didn’t go well for him when Chilly responded with freezing the ship from the inside to stop Magolor from using it in its attacks.

And of course, when Magolor sees this, he has a moment of “oh shit I can’t let him do this. I can’t lose someone else.” And tries to convince Chilly to join him. He talks about the two of them ruling and even giving Chilly Popstar to rule. He means it. He wants someone with him, somebody that he genuinely loves and treats him like a friend. He assumed that if he didn’t force Chilly into working with him like Marx, he would join in the end. And like any person with common sense, Chilly denies, loyal to Kirby and Popstar. THIS was the moment Magolor became truly desperate, he tries to convince Chilly to join him but he can barely get any words other than “but you were only friend” out while crying (in the middle of battle lol). Kirby and everyone take this chance to attack, while Magolor is just kind of broken. He fucked up again.

And he’ll be alone.

He has one thing left now, and that’s the power to rule the universe.

And he’s desperate to have this one thing go right for him, and he uses the remaining power of the Master Crown... which brings me to the next topic!

The Master Crown

Full section for the master crown let’s go. It gets its dark power from a leader/creator of dark matter (think 0), and is sentient. It only knows to shroud the world in darkness, and will do whatever it takes to get it. It’s powers are held at bay by Landia, who is Halcandria’s guardian and can resist its powers due to being a magic guardian. Magolor however, isn’t a magic guardian, and can’t resist. To him, it’s a shiny piece of jewelry that’ll make him strong so things can finally go his way.

The way it works is by drawing people in, like a venus fly trap. It just amplify people’s interest in it, as well as bring out the more negative traits about them that makes them easier to control. The most common traits is desperation, impulsiveness, frustration, and determination. And once the crown is on their head, it locks on and is irremovable and works like a parasite, basically completely erasing whoever put it on and molding them to the perfect puppet. Magolor essentially just sped up the process completely by using the last of its power in a desperate attempt to get what he wanted.

After the Betrayal

Magolor, after the betrayal, is left just floating around Another Dimension. He’s exhausted, in a lot of pain, and completely magically drained. He couldn’t even float if he tried, and that uses the bare minimum of magic. He’s stuck here for a long time, and at first, he’s extremely frustrated and upset. He spends a lot of time replaying the events in his head (not magolor soul, he has no memories of that aside from snippets that come into his dreams that are partially due to the master crown’s lasting effect) and just getting more and more angry at everything. He was so close to having control over EVERYTHING, and he lost it over himself the second he used the rest of the power. He was infuriated that he manged to let that stupid puffball beat him, along with their friends.

He cries, screams, shouts, but it doesn’t matter. Rage can only last so long, and it’s not much before he’s just exhausted and tired. He’s given up on escaping, knowing he can’t. He cant form a dimensional portal strong enough to pull him out of a dimension. He only has the skill to use it for teleportation. After a few days, he’s accepted what happened, that this is his fate. He hates being alone, floating in space with no silly jester to crack a joke or scratch his head, and no snowman who’s bell jingled with an adorable tune whenever he laughed and even gave him hugs. He ends up getting habits of scratching his head (despite the pain because of master crown injuries) and hugging himself as a way to fill that hole the two left when leaving. He misses them, and starts to regret going after the crown in the first place. He comes up with scenarios in his head to pass the time as he basically waits for himself to rot. He imagines apologizing and having his friends back. He imagines Marx somehow finding him similar to how Magolor found him. He imagines not being alone, and being happy. Not plagued by agonizing exhaustion and self fury. He even comes to miss Kirby and their friend one he actually realizes the kindness they showed him, since he was too focused before to realize.

He spends a few days in the hell dimension before he finds something. He ends up finding an energy sphere that floats past that was lost during the battle. He grabs and clings to it, now having only one thing from before. It doesn’t make the loneliness any better, but it does make things a little less bareable. But of course, energy spheres are a sphere doomer’s favorite snack, and it doesn’t take long before one comes along really wanting it.

Magolor at first, pushes it away desperate to keep this one thing he had before, and the sphere doomer keeps coming back desperately wanting its food. Eventually, Magolor and the sphere doomer form a slight bond since this was when Magolor started slowly regaining magic again and tries attacking it with his revolution orbs, but it’s just a treat for the sphere doomer. The sphere doomer keeps coming back for more treats and another attempt at a snack, and Magolor feels a little less lonely. Over time, he actually gains enough of its trust to pet it and even talks to it. He names her Lor II.

Lor II is the reason he gets out of Another Dimension and back to Halcandria, via opening a rift. Lor II basically gives Magolor a second chance to make things right, and he immeadiatly takes it. Of course, he has to steal the Starcutter to do it, but he makes his way to Popstar to apologize, because he REALLY regrets his major fuck up and at the very least, he can make things better (and maybe get a chance at being less lonely).

So that’s all I got lmao hope you enjoyed

[jobean12-blog]

Top Shelf: Chapter 1- Enchantment

Pairing: Bucky x reader (Book shop AU with a surprise twist ;)

Word Count: 1,311

Summary: A rainy day takes you on an unexpected adventure

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! So this is the first chapter of my first series. I hope you all enjoy it! I’m going to do my best to update at least once a week. Thank you all for showing interest in this and I really hope you enjoy! LOVE to all❤❤❤

Warnings: warm and fuzzy fluff, the delight of books, shy and sweet Bucky :)

The rain was coming down in a steady rhythm, the pitter patter melodic against your umbrella. With your polka dot rainboots splashing through the puddles you made your way down the block, looking for a warm spot to hide and wait out the storm.

All the coffee shops were packed, groups of friends huddling together clutching their steaming cups, gently sipping and clearly soothed by the hot liquid. As you rounded the corner your eyes caught the warm glow of a small shop, the word “Books” simply stated above the door.

You jogged across the street with renewed hope, the charm of the shop hard to hide even under the veil of heavy rain. Upon opening the door, you were met with a sense of elegant chaos. Tall stacks of books sat precariously against each other while the small aisles housed shelves tall enough to reach the ceiling.

The first inhale of air was divine, the faint smell of vanilla mixed with something woodsy that could only be defined as the aromatic scent of ‘old books.’  It left you smiling and warm inside. Looking around you didn’t see another living soul, just the possibility of the thousands of adventures that would be found under the dusty book covers.

Resting your umbrella against the doorframe you slowly walked down the first aisle, your movements cautious as to not upset the balance of books around you. Looking up you examine the bindings, searching for one to catch your eye. It doesn’t take long, the familiar symbol of the Auryn making your heart soar as you quickly look for a way to reach it.

Finally, you find a small stool and roll it over, stepping up with both feet and stretching your arm up. Just as you lean in to grasp the book you feel the stool start to roll backward, your piercing scream ringing out through the small shop as you being to feel the effects of gravity.

But before your body hits the hard-wooden floor you’re caught by strong arms, gently holding your waist as you slide down the very broad chest of the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen. “Woah,” you breathe out, “thank you.”

“Seems luck is on your side today,” he says with a wink. “Maybe not in the form of a giant white luck dragon, but…” he continues and trails off, almost seeming embarrassed. “You’re a fan of the book too, I take it?” you ask with a bright smile, hoping to ease his worry of awkwardness. “Oh, thank god, I was nervous I just totally blew my chance there! And yes, one of my childhood favorites and still is today.”

It isn’t until you catch a hint of vanilla mixed with something slightly spicy that you realize you’re still wrapped in his arms, the warmth of his body radiating through you, “oh, I’m so sorry,” you whisper and move back. Rubbing the back of his neck he says, “it’s ok, I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.”

The light pink blush that coats his cheeks has you swooning all over again. With a deep breath you reach out your hand, “I’m y/n.” His face lights up in a smile that crinkles the corners of his eyes as his warm hand envelopes yours, “Bucky, Bucky Barnes, I’m the shop owner.”

You stand there for a moment, your hand in his as the feeling of comfort washes over you, ‘well, Bucky, the shop owner, would you mind helping me get that book down, please?” He quickly releases your hand, stumbling over his words as he hops up onto the stool and easily grabs the book, “oh yea, right, here you go, I almost forgot.”

Handing you the book he watches as your hand smooths over the worn cover in admiration, “I can tell you’re a book lover.” Looking back up, the softness in his eyes catches you off guard and you find yourself just as enchanted by Bucky as you are by the book. “I am. I was so happy to stumble across your shop. Once the rain started coming down the coffee shops got packed and I’d much rather be here anyway.”

“That makes two of us,” he replies, placing his hands in his jean pockets and shuffling on his feet. “Um, well, if you still want something warm to drink, I can make us some tea. If you’re not looking to head out yet.” Your head swings toward the front of the store, staring as the drops of rain hit the window, “no, I’m definitely not ready to head out yet and tea sounds perfect.”

Bucky grabs your hand and heads toward the back of the store, leading you toward a small nook nestled by the side window and softly light by lanterns on the wall. “You have a reading nook!” you practically squeal out in happiness, running toward it and plopping yourself down on the plush cushion.

Bucky’s laugh echoes through the quiet space, “I do and I’m so glad you’re happy about it, most people don’t appreciate it as much.” You lift your legs and bring your knees up, curling against the back cushion and smiling at him like a kid on Christmas, “Bucky, this is magical, I’ve always wanted one of these! Come sit.” You pat the spot next to your feet, the space just big enough for you both.

“Let me just grab our tea first! What kind do you like? I have the usual.” Hugging the book to your chest you think for a moment, “hmmm any kind of green tea would be great, thank you.” Giving you a sweet smile, he turns and jogs away, the sound of clinking glass drifting down the aisle shortly after.

Placing your hand on the Auryn you whisper the title, “The Neverending Story,” before carefully opening to the first page. The sound of Bucky clearing his throat is the only thing that pulls you from your trance, his blue eyes focused on your face as you look up at him in surprise.

“Hey,” you whisper almost timidly, unsure how long he had been watching you. “Tea is ready,” he says, placing down a tray with two cups of steaming liquid, some honey, sugar and two cookies. Bucky notices your eyes brighten at the sight of the cookies, “they are really good, one of my regulars makes them all the time and always brings me some. She’s a real nice old lady who always feeds me,” he laughs, sitting down across from you.

“I hope I’m not keeping you from your work,” you say, frowning for the first time since walking in the shop. Bucky sits up, his hand landing on your knee, “no, no, not at all. There won’t be much foot traffic today with the rain and all and anyway, most people who come in here are regular customers and know me by name. They’ll yell if they need anything.”

When he removes his hand you feel the loss, thoughts of crawling into his lap racing through your mind. Reaching over he gently takes the book from your hands, his voice low as he asks, “do you mind, I like to read aloud?” Grabbing your cup of tea and a cookie you snuggle in, giving him an enthusiastic nod, “I’d love that, Bucky.”

Just as the first word falls from his lips you find it hard to concentrate, his mouth drawing you in much quicker than the story. It’s a first. You’ve always fallen in love with books so easily. You fall in love with every book you touch. You have secret favorites but when asked you could never choose. Today, just as this book caught your eye you knew, but even now as you try to look away, it’s too late. Bucky has your full attention, more so than any book ever has.

@aesthetical-bucky​ @book-dragon-13​ @throwmyheartawayagain​ @amandatar-06​ @nd1998sc​ @captainchrisstan​ @vherriepie​ @fire-flv​ @flyawaybay @eurynome827​ @hiddles-rose​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @itsunclebucky​ @ikaris-whore​ @jhangelface0523​ @jewelofwinter​ @jewels2876​ @jamesbarnesappreciationclub​ @loricameback​ @littledarlinwrites​ @littledarlinhavefaithinme​ @godofplumsandthunder​ @marvelgirl7​ @mushyjellybeans​ @marvelandotherfandomimagines​ @nano--raptor​ @randomfandompenguin​ @softpeachbarnes​ @sallycanwait68​ @when-the-hell-is-bucky​

[savior-of-humanity]

OKAY here are my Thoughts(tm) about The Ancient Gods part II

ALSO: MASSIVE FUCKING SPOILER WARNING FOR THE ANCIENT GODS PART 1 + 2. BE WARNED THIS IS LONG AS FUCK. TL;DR AT BOTTOM.

In terms of the gameplay: I really liked how it played! The combat encounters weren’t downright vicious like in the first DLC, but they still go out of their way to mix things up (i.e a hallway filled with explosive barrels + blood punch pick-ups + Pinkies, or the double-Marauder encounter that you could ACCIDENTALLY FUCKING BUFF JESUS CHRIST) so it was still fun all around.

The new enemies added - the Cyber-Baron/Armored Baron, Riot Zombie/Chaingunner, Screecher Zombie, Stone Imp, and Cursed Prowler - are...okay. I like the idea of new enemy variants based off pre-existing ones but they felt either really fucking frustrating to fight (particularly the Cursed Prowler and Chaingunner) or were very “simple”, I guess. The Stone Imps, in particular, are a variant of Imp that are very resistant to damage unless you use the full-auto mod for the shotgun, in which they drop even more shotgun ammo if they’re killed by that. Other than that they do a Sonic-style spin-dash and slam into you, which can actually knock you off a ledge. Screecher Zombies are basically just mobile hazards that if you accidentally hit, will act like temporary Buff Totems. Cursed Prowler is fucking awful: basically, if it hits you with a projectile, you’ll be cursed with a debuff that keeps you from double-jumping and dashing that also drains your health over time, and you HAVE to kill it with a blood punch in order to remove the curse. Chaingunners are basically just the Shield Zombie Soldiers, but they shoot faster and have an indestructable shield. And finally, the Cyber-Baron: It’s basically a Baron of Hell, but with indestructable armor that can only be destroyed by shooting it’s mace when it flashes green, or by shooting it with plasma. After the armor is gone you have to kill it as fast as you can before the armor is regenerated, repeat until it dies.

Summoner Ghosts and Blood Maykrs also make a return, which is cool.

The Hammer is cool to say the least. I was hoping to see some glory kills with it but considering that it’s primary use is to either clear out groups of small enemies or to stun larger ones like Barons, it makes sense that they’d omit glory kills from it. On top of that, Marauders now have a mechanic (for the entire game, not just the DLC) where when you shoot them as they flash green, they’ll become stunned (though the sound effects are rather corny and cartoonish, even for the game). Using the Hammer on a stunned Marauder will GREATLY extend that stun, which allows you to just fucking shit on them.

I also really liked the grapple-Hookshot points that you had to use to progress in a level. I’m still not really used to how you’re supposed to move in the opposite direction of the point to swing yourself, but the idea is intuitive, fun, and makes me wish it was in the base game and the previous DLC.

My biggest grievances with this DLC, however, is how it handled some of it’s characters, the story, and the new lore that was implemented in the codexes.

So first off: I want to say that while I still appreciate the DLC, that’s honestly only with the gameplay. The story, much less the lore, is fucking stupid to say the least.

To TL;DR the story: It is, quite honestly, bare-bones as fuck. We continue from where we directly left off from the Ancient Gods Part 1: Davoth/The Dark Lord is being summoned into existence and into his physical form, which for some reason looks exactly like Doomguy except with sick tats, glowing red eyes, and a weird implant in his chest. Doomguy, naturally, tries to spawncamp him and shoots him with his super-shotgun, but nothing happens as “no blood can be spilled in this holy place”. Davoth leaves, telling Doomguy that he’ll be waiting for him in the city of Immora, the capitol city at the very center of Hell.

Doomguy goes to Argent D’Nur. He murder-death-kills shit, as per usual. He goes into this big castle where a hologram of Valen is waiting for him. He tells him that he atones for his sins and gives him the Hammer since Doomguy lifted the curse from his son’s soul. He goes to the Torch of Kings and lights it, marking his journey to the giant crystalline spear that impales Argent D’Nur known as the World Spear. Cue cutscene of a bunch of different Argenta people/Night Sentinel seeing the light of the Torch of Kings from all over Argent D’Nur. Internguy tells him that it’s a day’s walk still from the World Spear, and conveniently a very fucking awesome looking Argenta dragon shows up and gives him a ride to the World Spear.

Doomguy gets to a lake that separates him from the World Spear. The Father says “He is worthy” and then a bridge rises out of the water. Doomguy crosses past some big ass Sentinel ghosts/guardians and into the World Spear. Turns out the inside of the World Spear is like some giant, fucked up ship made out of crystal, with weird figures lining the wall and all that: Internguy even says “This isn’t a crystal at all, this is a ship!” This does not get expanded upon whatsoever in neither dialogue or codexes. Doomguy grabs Convenient Power Crystal and leaves.

Doomguy arrives on Earth through a portal, which is looking substantially better than since its invasion. Internguy tells him that a Convenient Ancient Portal close by is the only way to Immora. Doomguy kills shit, arrives at portal, activates it with Convenient Power Crystal, and leaves.

Doomguy arrives in front of a giant wall surrounding Immora. Davoth walks out, wearing a big ass power suit that looks like something straight out of Warhammer 40k. He’s surrounded by guards in cool red armor with cool spears that look very humanoid. He says some shit and a bunch of Hell-ships and demons and titans start showing up. But then surprise! A bunch of portals open up on Doomguy’s side like it’s fucking Infinity War/Endgame all over again and a fuckload of Sentinels start coming out, with mechs and dragons and spaceships. Valen is there. Doomguy and Valen stare at each other for like 5 seconds before Valen says “Let Hell tremble before our might!” or some shit like that. Doomguy fights, gets past the wall, fights some more inside the city. Again, the usual.

I also want to briefly point out that Immora is basically just a Maykr city but red, and that it’s apparently “Hell’s own technology.” Also, the red dudes in armor are actual enemies but the guns they have (the hell-razor from 2016) do piss-poor damage and they die if you so much as breathe on them.

Doomguy finally catches up to Davoth. Davoth monologues about how he’s going to get his revenge and that it’s inevitable, bla bla bla. Fight begins. It’s basically Marauder 2.0 but if he hits you and/or you shoot him at the wrong time he heals a fuckload of health. And also 5 different health bars. After you knock down 2 or 3 of his bars he stops the fight to monologue for some fucking reason? And then shits out a plot twist that surprise, he’s actually the real God, and that the Father betrayed/usurped his power, and that he will “unmake everything by his hand.” Fight resumes. Doomguy eventually beats him. Davoth asks him if he has anything to say before he strikes down his creator. Doomguy takes off his helmet, stabs Davoth in the heart, and says no in his stupid sexy voice. Davoth dies, his life-sphere emerges and then explodes. Doomguy suddenly becomes weak and falls over. The Father says “He created everything in his image, even you.” Doomguy passes out and wakes up to see 3 Seraphim seal him in a sarcophagus like the one from 2016. Fade to black, with the quote “May the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.” End game, roll credits.

If you hadn’t read any of the codexes while playing the DLC, the story probably makes little to no sense to you whatsoever. But honestly the codexes don’t expand upon things much and, if anything, just fucking make some aspects of the story even more stupid.

The World Spear is implied in the codex that it contains live Wraiths (“A live Wraith has not been seen in centuries, but rumors persist that some yet remain inside the World Spear itself.”), and while the figures in the World Spear could be Wraiths, absolutely nothing is said about them out of three Codexes related to the level, which honestly just makes me wonder the point of adding this stuff if you don’t even give a single sentence of why the interior of the World Spear is Like That.

The codex entries related to Earth are basically uninteresting as they’re pretty much just “humanity is rebuilding and views doomguy as a hero”. There is one about the Convenient Ancient Portal (Gate of Divum) but all it really says is that it was built and used by the Father to access Immora. Nothing about why it’s on Earth, or anything interesting like that.

However, the real bullshit comes in when we start to look at the codex entries related to Immora and Davoth.

So, Immora is the central - and oldest - city in Hell. It’s described as such: “Once a paradise at the dawn of creation, Immora now survives as a stronghold where the Dark Lord resides. Sustained now by the essence of Hell's victims, the people of Immora experience life eternal. Regular infusions of Hell energy have prevented them from transforming into the demons found outside the boundaries of the city. Ancient technology defends Immora from invaders, the high walls impenetrable to those who would bring harm to the last people of the first world.“

Yeah. So not only did Hell have high-tech technology all this time, but also the red guys in armor? Those are Immorans. Which is weird to me, because if Hell had this super advanced technology that’s also ancient, and thus around for a long time, why the hell are we only seeing it now?

Also, surprise! Turns out the Book of Seraphs is a complete fucking lie according to the very first codex entry related to Davoth! (”Our research shows that Maykr history and lore holds truths that are not consistent with passages found in the Hell Priest texts, revealing the true origins of Hell and all surrounding dimensions. This revelation would explain why Hell is the single dimension that connects to all others, and why it is the oldest in existence - the first world.”)

The real truth is that Davoth is the real Creator/God, and that Jekkad was the very first realm, not Urdak. He still sought immortality for his people, so he created the Maykrs to figure it out for him. They did, but decided it would be too dangerous to give Davoth that information, so they basically said “fuck you” and sealed Jekkad/Davoth while re-writing their own records to hide the truth. Obviously, this pissed off Davoth. So much so that he basically became super angry and emo and became the Dark Lord from all the vengeance and hatred (which also turned Jekkad into Hell.)

Another surprise! Turns out that Davoth had a hand in the creation of the fucking Doom Slayer! Because he wanted to get revenge against the Maykrs, he started to manipulate a bunch of people while he was trapped as a life sphere I guess. He started with the Khan Maykr, convincing her that there was a “chosen one” who would threaten her rule and thus making her paranoid as fuck. He then guided her into creating the Divinity Machine using a fragment of himself that had been sealed in Urdak. Then he manipulated Samur, by convincing him that “the Khan Maykr will lead us all to ruin.” He was then controlled and compelled to release a stranger from his prison (Doomguy) and empower him using the Divinity Machine.

As you can probably guess, he got his revenge since Doomguy would go on to utterly fuck Urdak/the Khan Maykr (as well as Samur), and ever since he knew that his “Beast” would come for him.

Listen. I don’t really mind the idea of Doomguy being used or even manipulated by different godly powers. Or even Davoth being the real God or whatever. But this new lore and story just feels... really sloppy and poorly executed, especially since it directly conflicts with the fucking base game. If he manipulated the Khan Maykr and wanted revenge against her, then why did he scream “NOOOOOO!” when Doomguy killed her?

And, if anything: Why the fuck does Davoth even look like Doomguy in the first place? Is it some form of mockery? Or did id just decide to fucking retcon the Doom Slayer being the same person as the Doomguy from Doom 1/2 with the Father’s line of “He created everything in his image -- even you.”

And, on top of that, the DLC just left more open questions than answers: what the fuck happened to Samur, since he isn’t even so much as mentioned beyond the codexes? Who is the Wretch, the being who had supposedly forged Doomguy’s armor back in 2016? What is the fate of Earth/Hell/Urdak/Argent D’Nur after the Slayer’s victory? What the fuck happened to the Demonic Crucible, the one from 2016? What about the ARC Carrier and the Fortress of Doom?

Finally, Valen, Internguy and the Father should’ve been far more involved in the story beyond just being either convenient voices telling you convenient stuff or (in the case of Valen) being a convenient guy to give you convenient weapon that also conveniently shows up with a giant army that doesn’t actually do anything but look cool in the skybox.

TL;DR The new lore and story of the DLC is basically garbage, and since I highly doubt id will change it I’m going to completely disregard it, write my own, and also take up Davoth as a muse because it seriously pissed me off that much.

[spaceokase]

Lion

Zephrine was completely in her element.

Even in the Ascendency, this alien land, with its alien culture, strange gods and stranger priorities, she felt at home. She belonged.

The half-elven Zephyra persona was fake, a performance, but Zephrine wore it like a second skin, practiced and professional. The party she was currently attending with her friends was both incredibly similar and different from the first formal gathering she had attended. It seemed that a fancy party was a fancy party, no matter where it took place. It contained all the same pleasantries and small talk, dances and scandals, silks and finger foods.

The key difference was less the party itself, and more Zephrine’s place within it. The first party she’d attended, the Sky’s Anchor Ball, was meant to be fun, but even before the assassins struck, it was tense, uncomfortable. Zephrine was a simple girl from the country, a small village in a small duchy that few people had even heard of, and yet she was surrounded by people with influence. She maintained a persistent knowledge that she was at the mercy of these people with power, the merchants and nobles and knights who could ruin her life with the snap of their fingers if they so desired. She simply tried to make it through the evening with her reputation relatively unscathed, her ambitions held low.

This time was different. She knew now, long after that first ball, that she was powerful. She knew she was capable, and if someone wished to ruin her life, they would swiftly come to regret their choices. No longer was Zephrine powerless and scared, the helpless lamb in a den of lions. Now, she was just as much a lion as the people surrounding her, and she took both comfort and a subtle pleasure in that.

It was far easier to enjoy the pleasantries of this party with this new realization, despite the imminent danger. She talked, she danced, she obtained important information, and she made a new friend all the while. Each word, each movement was a careful step in a veteran performance, seamless, flawless.

And then someone asked her for a dance.

It seemed rather innocuous at first, and Zephrine met him with a smile, but questions rapidly ran through her mind. Why did he want to dance with her? Did he want something? Or had she simply caught his eye?

She offered her arm, keeping most of her questions to herself, “Of course I will dance with you. To whom do I owe the pleasure?”

He was a half-elven man, with brown hair, green eyes and a charming smile. There was nothing particularly notable about him, physically. He would hardly have been of note at all, had he not introduced himself.

“Raymond Sinnad. A pleasure to meet you, Lady Zephyra.”

Zephrine’s winning smile stretched thin. This was the man that Vahzi had warned her about. The only time Vahzi had expressed fear in the decades that she had known her. The only person Vahzi had ever felt it was necessary to warn her about.

Zephrine tread carefully, and let him take her to the dance floor. He was the first to break the initial silence.

“It’s been quite an interesting party so far. Or at least, the guests have been interesting. Not everyone here is as they seem.”

He looked at her intently, still smiling warmly, and Zephrine tilted her head back at him.

"Oh? That’s curious! Who isn't as they seem?"

“Well,” He looked over at the other guests, casually, nonchalant, “There's the doppelganger, masquerading as the Cardinal, which is curious. There's the magister over there… or the magister's son, I should say.” He smirked, amused, “And then, of course there's you.” He looked her in the eye, and a chill went down her spine. “It’s not often you see a dragonborn disguised as a half-elf at a fancy party."

The steps in her dance faltered, and with it came a sense of dread. For the first time during this party, she was vulnerable, exposed to both the elements and the unrelenting gaze of the dangerous stranger before her. Her head drooped slightly, and looked away at something, anything to avoid his intense stare. In all her years of being able to change her form, never had a stranger been able to discern it for what it was.

“I… I would prefer that you not tell anyone,” She finally said, pleading, quiet, “The Ascendency isn’t kind to those who look less human.”

“Oh, I’ve no interest in ruining whatever plans you may have, My Lady. I was simply curious. These parties are usually a bit dull for my taste, but I always enjoy seeing a new face.”

He smiled at her. She smiled back as her skin crawled. “Ah, well, I appreciate you not spreading that knowledge regardless.”

“Of course. You have important things to do, clearly. I won’t keep you from that.”

The conversation’s tone grew more casual after that, but Vahzi’s warning echoed in Zephrine’s mind.

“If you see him, run away, as fast as you can. Do not try and fight him. Promise me.”

As the warning echoed, Sinnad spoke of many things, all about himself, both thankfully and not. He spoke of his time traveling the world. He spoke about his talent as a mage, and his adventures. Grand feats of bravery and destruction, seemingly exaggerated had she not witnessed one of his capabilities herself. From an outside perspective, it was completely normal. To her, it was incredibly unnerving.

Sinnad eventually told Zephrine about his home, a tower amongst the clouds, reclaimed from cloud giants, and invited her to his abode. She politely replied that she would keep it in mind, even though she definitely wouldn’t.

Then, as abruptly as he came, he left, setting her free to her own devices.

Zephrine gave her polite goodbyes, but refused to glance back at his retreating form. She refused to give him more material to work with lest he decide she was to be his next conquest, like the cloud giants or dragons before her. She had questions for Vahzi, for later, but currently she had more urgent matters to attend to. Her focus shifted quickly to the task at hand, the defeat of the New Dawn, but one thought rippled through her mind, to be put away but not forgotten.

If she was a lion, he was a trophy hunter.

[mycomfortblanket]

Written in Ink

Chapter 2

“You’re Aang,” there was no question in her voice.

“You’re Toph.”

“And we’re leaving, come on Zuko,” Katara says, pulling Zuko away from the other two.

The air between the two of them gets immensely awkward. Aang can't take his eyes off of her, his thoughts are running a million miles an hour, and the only thought that would come to the forefront of his mind was of all the soulmates out there, he certainly could have gotten worse.

“Listen, I really don’t want to come off as this arrogant bitch who is always unsatisfied, but the whole soulmate thing doesn’t sit well with me. It’s nothing against-” Toph started but Aang lets out a big sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank god. I was trying to figure out how to break it to you that I didn’t want to do the soulmate thing either.”

“Seriously?” Toph asks, her eyebrows raised, “Well, alright then. Uh, I’m going to head home. Long day and all,” she says, standing up and begins to walk towards the front door.

Aang immediately jumps up and reaches for her elbow, “Wait, you’re walking all the way home?”

Toph turns towards him, “Yeah. I do it all the time, Katara and Zuko are dating, and I don’t exactly like to be third wheel.”

“Let me walk you home.”

“Ha. Aang, no offense, but I’m not some damsel in distress. I can get home fine on my own.”

“I’m not saying you’re a damsel in distress, but it’s not polite for me to just watch you walk out the door at this time of night and let you walk home,” he says, his voice taking on a frustrated tone.

“Whatever. But, you’re wasting your time.”

“How long have you worked at Iroh’s place?” she asks, her cane clicking against the concrete every now and then.

“About a year now, I think. I’m not entirely sure.”

Toph looks over in his direction, “You mean to tell me you’ve worked there for a year and I’m just now meeting you? Katara and I go there all the time.”

“Well, Zuko and I didn’t get along too well at the beginning so Iroh had us working different shifts, so that’s probably why we never met. Or I wasn’t assigned to your table, although, all things considering, I think I would have remembered seeing you,” he says, muttering the last part.

A blush spreads across Toph’s cheeks and she dips her head hoping that he doesn’t notice. She really wasn’t liking this. The small butterflies that she had been feeling all night while talking to him had erupted to giant ass pterodactyls seconds after she learned his name.

She was trying her damn hardest not to walk closer to him or lean into his space to smell him. She kept repeating in her mind her beliefs about the Names and how horribly suffocating they were. She should be free to choose who she wants and when she wants, not when some stupid inscription shows up on her skin.

Toph was trying to keep the distance between them and not ask any personal questions but somehow, they seemed to be pulled together by an invisible wire until their hands brushed. She would pull herself away and she could feel him pull away as well, the blush rising higher on her cheeks.

They finally come to her apartment building and she begins walking up the steps but stops and turned back towards him, “Thanks for walking me home. Sorry about the Names.”

“It’s fine. Was bound to happen, right? Anyways, I’ll see you later,” he steps off the bottom step and watches her walk into the building and punch the button for the elevator.

--------------------

“I just don’t see how a guy working with Zuko that he didn’t get along with never came up!” Toph says harshly into the phone. She’s pacing back in forth in her living room trying not to lose her cool too much.

“I’m sorry! I thought the name was familiar but it was so long ago that it didn’t even register who it was.

“Whatever. Did you tell Zuko anything?” Toph asks slightly more calmly.

“No, you told me not to. When he asked, I just... distracted him.”

“I don’t want to think about how you distracted him. It’s fine. I probably won’t see him again. I mean, he worked at Iroh’s place for a year and we never bumped into each other, so it’s fine!”

It was not fine. Now that they have met, they couldn’t seem to stop running into each other. Literally. The first time was a complete accident. Aang had opened the door to the Jasmine Dragon, Iroh’s restaurant, rather quickly and Toph’s cane became stuck underneath the door. The two of them spent at least ten minutes trying to get it unstuck and arguing about whose fault it was.

The next time is in her own home. She had walks out into the living room after a shower in nothing but a towel and her headphones in and makes her way over to the kitchen. Apparently, Katara, Zuko, and Aang were hanging around the kitchen table doing various forms of homework.

She's digging around in the fridge looking for her Naked smoothies (ironic right) when a gentle hand came to her shoulder and takes out an earbud, “Toph, people are here.”

“WHAT?!” Toph whips around and rips out the other earbud. She clutches the towel close to her body, “Who is here?!”

“Uh, it’s me, Zuko, and uhhh… Aang,” her voice going low when she says his name.

Toph’s face immediately went blood red, “Why didn’t you tell me we had people over?!” she hisses.

“Well, you were in the shower and I wasn’t paying attention when you got out, I’m sorry.”

“Whatever, it’s fine. Fuck. Just warn a girl next time,” and with that, she opens the fridge back up and continued looking for her drink.

--------------------

He's focused on the algebraic equation but glances up with he heard a soft voice singing along to Black by Pearl Jam, his favorite song. Toph’s walking through the living room, skirting the furniture and reaching out to lightly set her fingers on corners as she passes.

She’s in nothing but a short towel, her hair piled on top of her head and her earbuds placed firmly in her ear. She walks over to the fridge and begins rummaging around, her fingers dancing from item to item. When she leans over, more of her legs become visible, and Aang can’t help but stare. She’s fucking gorgeous and the more skin that exposed to him, the more he wants to see.

As soon as Toph bends over, Katara is out of her seat and moving over to Toph to let her know of the audience in the kitchen. Even though Katara spoke low when she said his name, he instantly knew when it registers with Toph that he is seeing her in little to nothing.

Her eyes scan the kitchen listening for a sound that would direct her to him. Somehow, her eyes land right on him and they make unintentional eye contact which steals his breath away.

He immediately drops his head onto the table unable to keep looking at her. Toph’s bare shoulders were free of any freckles or acne and looked as smooth as silk. He so badly wanted to run his fingers across her shoulders to see if his assumption is correct.

Once Toph’s freak out is over, she bends back down and continues looking for something before she snatches it out of the fridge and walks back to her room.

Katara sits down, her cheeks having a slight blush to them. She glances up at Aang who still has his head down on the table.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. It's just a lot harder to stay away from her than I thought.”

“I still don't understand why you two won't just talk to each other and get together. You guys had such a great time at the party,” Katara says in a low voice so Toph doesn't hear from her room.

“I just… I can't get emotionally attached to someone right now. It's… complicated,” Aang says, hoping that's the end of the discussion.

“Explain it to me then,” Katara says smartly, leaning back in her chair with her arms over her chest. She raises an eyebrow at him and waits for him to start talking.

“I just… I don't know. My guardian, Monk Gyatso, he past away a year or two ago from some form of rare lung cancer. And just, ever since, I- I don't know. I just haven't wanted to be close to anyone I guess? It sounds stupid when I say it out loud but, in my head it makes sense to me…” Aang says, his voice trailing off at the end of his sentence.

Katara makes a humming noise in the back of her throat in acknowledgment and cuts her eyes away from Aang and over to Zuko.

“Has Zuko ever told you about his family?”

Zuko's eyes go wide when she brings the topic up. Why on earth would she want to talk about that?

“Long story short, when I met him, he was this super angry person, could barely get a word in without his temper flaring up,” she says, waving her hand in the air.

“That's not true,” Zuko grumbles.l

“It totally is true. When his Name first appeared on his skin, we had actually just made eye contact. He immediately came up to me and started giving me shit for walking into his life, saying that he had enough to deal with and I didn't need to add to it.”

“Oh whatever, I did not say that!”

“You most certainly did. And being the stubborn person I am, I poked a finger in his chest and made him back down. It was slow and hard work, some serious fights broke out between us that I won't go into. But, in the end, it was completely worth it,” she says, her eyes softening when she looks back at Zuko.

Aang takes a deep breath and sits back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the table in front of him, “Yeah, that's great and all, but it's not always like that. Plus, she doesn't want it either.”

“Oh, I know her reasoning and it's because she's stubborn about having things decided for her, that's it. Her parents growing up were incredibly over protective cause she’s blind,” she gestured towards Toph’s room, “She would act out any chance she could, which honestly, just made the whole situation that much worse.”

Aang looks over to the hallway that Toph had disappeared down. Glancing back at Katara, he just shrugs his shoulder before picking up his pen and continuing his homework.

--------------------

Later that night, Toph heard Katara yell for her from the kitchen. She walks in there in a large tshirt and sweatpants, her hair down and falling over her shoulders. She had put on her baggiest clothes to hide herself after the incident that had happened earlier

“Sokka and his girlfriend are coming over to watch some movie that Zuko has been raving about. Do you want to watch with us?”

Toph just nods her head as she walks into the kitchen and hops up on the counter as Katara rummaged around the kitchen, preparing something to eat.

“Is Aang going to be there?” She asks, fiddling with the wooden spoon Katara had just taken out.

“Uh, I'm actually still here,” he says from the kitchen table.

“Oh. My bad. So, princess, what's for dinner?” Toph asks, trying to ignore Aang and the butterflies that erupt in her tummy.

“Zuko ordered some pizza, I'm making brownies, Sokka is bringing snacks and yes, before you ask, he did get you your blue sour straws,” Katara says, cutting off any outburst Toph may have had.

An hour later, everyone had arrived and Aang had been introduced to Sokka as Zuko’s coworker and nothing more, and Sokka’s date had been introduced at Suki, and nothing more. Katara had set up the tv to the opening scene of the movie and wis waiting for everyone to grab their slice of pizza, snacks, and drinks and pick their spots for the movie.

Toph was the last one into the living room as usual, “Okay all you seeing-eyed creatures, let’s just make this easier for everyone, where am I sitting?

“Mmm,” Katara says, swallowing her bite of pizza, “Other end of the main couch, next to Aang.”

“Shocker,” Toph mumbles, too low for anyone to hear. She makes her way over to her spot and sits down between Aang and the arm of the couch. She leans her elbow on the arm of the couch and attempts to move herself a little further away from him nonchalantly.

Aang leans into her a little more and she can feel his breath move the hairs around her neck just before he says, “You’re being totally obvious you know.” His light laugh causes the corners of her lips to turn up involuntarily.

“My bad,” she says, sitting back normally on the couch.

“If my cooties really bother you that much, I can sit on the floor.”

Toph snorts which draws the attention of Katara and Suki but they say nothing, “No, sorry. I’ll behave. I’ll be normal.” She pulls her legs up on the couch with her, sitting criss cross applesauce, her knee resting against Aang’s thigh and the other resting on the arm of the couch. She puts her elbow on the arm as well and leans her cheek against her fist and listens to the movie.

The heat from Toph’s knee seeps into his pants and it’s all he can think about as the movie continues. She opens her bag of sour straws and points them over his way, offering him one. It takes him a full three seconds to take his mind off her knee touching his thigh to acknowledge the fact that she is offering him some of her snack. Grabbing on quickly, he shoves it in his mouth and looks over at her.

She is still looking straight ahead, although a lot more bored. “You bored?” he whispers to her.

She jumps slightly, but turns her head to whisper back, “Yeah. Action movies are kind of hard to follow along with since, you know, I can’t see the ‘action scenes’,” she says, using quotation marks around ‘action scenes'.

About half way through the movie, she shifts so that both of her feet are curled up on the couch with her, resting against the arm of the couch and just barely touching him. She lays her head down fully onto the arm of the couch as well and closes her eyes.

He honestly doesn’t blame her for being bored. He’s bored.

He’s always hated action movies so he can’t imagine how bored she must be trying to decipher people with British accents talk during loud car chasing scenes. Eventually, he leans his head back against the couch and closes his eyes as well.

--------------------

The screen finally fades to black and it seems that only Katara and Zuko are still awake. She looks around the room and notes that Aang is leaning against Toph, his head resting against her shoulder as she rests against the arm of the couch.

Sokka is spread out longways across the other couch with his back tucked into the corner and Suki in between his legs, using his chest as a makeshift pillow.

“No offense, but that movie sucked,” Katara whispers standing up from the couch and stretching, popping her back in multiple places.

“Hey, 007 movies are amazing, you just don’t appreciate them correctly…” the two of them head towards her bed room as he continues ranting about the cinematic wonder world of Agent Bond.