#the musical hero: miss rift

[sc-doesart]

Screenshot edit! This is actually a redraw of a screenshot edit I did at the end of December. Original screenshot edit under the cut.

[guzhufuren]

New uncensored chinese period BL The Mountains and Rivers Are Forever Silent (山河永寂)

The drama is based on the novel of the same name by Yihanhe (一寒呵)

Won't be broadcast in mainland China, will air through an international platform.

Filming start: beginning of January 2025 Filming period: 20 days Casting call: December 13, 2024

Summary: Thousands of years ago, the mountains and rivers were destroyed and wars started raging everywhere. Sixth prince Xiao Yunze had no hope of ascending the throne to the Southern Kingdom. By chance, he saves Zhao Ziang, who was trying to assasinate the prince. As they get to know each other, gradually feelings beyond mundane develop between them and they fall in love. As the political situation in the Southern Kingdom changes, Zhao Ziang kills the prince to protect Xiao Yunze and let Xiao Yunze succeed to the throne. The death of the prince causes a rift between the two, and Zhao Ziang resolutely leaves and embarks on the journey again. Several years later, Zhao Ziang becomes the emperor of the Northern Kingdom. With his efforts, the Northern Kingdom is about to unify the Central Plains. But when Zhao Ziang faces the last obstacle - king of the South and his ex lover Xiao Yunze, whom he had missed for many years, he doesn't know what to do. Will love win or power win?

Character profiles:

Xiao Yunze Male, visual age around 20 years old. He is slender, loves playing chess, calligraphy and painting, and is elegant in every move. The sixth prince of the Southern Kingdom, with a refined and timeless temperament. He is intelligent and sensitive, talented, and has expanded his music and poetry. He has a gentle personality but is not weak. He has a keen insight into people's hearts, but is willing to stay out of the game and abandon the desire to fight for power. He advocates elegance, likes to live in seclusion in the mountains, and is tired of the whirlpool of power, but he always has a deep attachment to family affection, especially to his brother, the prince, Xiao Yunqian, with complex feelings, respect but also alienation. In the chaotic situation, he became a calm and deep character with his gentle but firm character.

Zhao Ziang (Xiao Yunze's cp) Male, visual age is around 25 years old. A hero in the north, with a tall figure, a resolute face, firm eyebrows, a violent temper, and both wisdom and martial arts. He is resolute and resolute, and is aggressive and enterprising. He is calm and resolute, has extraordinary strategic vision and execution, and is a hero in troubled times. He is informal, but respects the strong and the wise, and always pursues his ambitions. Although he is in the midst of power and killing, he is also sincere and righteous, and has a heart for his country. But when facing Xiao Yunze, he is always indecisive.

Xiao Yunqian (Xiao Yunze's elder brother) Male, visual age around 25 years old. The prince who shines in the court is determined to gain supreme power. He can sacrifice all emotions in pursuit of power, but finally loses in emotions. He has a strong desire for power and has shown extraordinary political wisdom and strategy since childhood. He has a cold temperament and is deeply scheming. Although he looks calm and restrained, he is actually full of ambition. He is not obsessed with sensual pleasures, but pursues power itself with a cold and resolute will, instead of sympathizing with the common people. In the process of pursuing power, he regards all obstacles as stepping stones. He has a complicated relationship with his brother Xiao Yunze. They grew up together when they were young and had the warmth of brotherly love, but they became increasingly alienated in the power struggle. Xiao Yunqian is very oppressive in his dealings with others. He is a strong man who integrates coldness, decisiveness and ambition. In his world, family affection and feelings often give way to power. He is a typical hero in troubled times.

Guo Zheng (Xiao Yunqian's personal bodyguard) Male, 20 years old. The prince's personal bodyguard, who has practiced martial arts for many years and is very capable. The prince's personal bodyguard, who is naturally fond of martial arts, is rough but delicate. Many years ago, he fell in love with Yin Shan at first sight. Although he had no interest in poetry and books, he was subtly exposed to the elegant world because of Yin Shan. Guo Zheng admired Yin Shan's talent and gentle temperament. Although he was not good at speaking, he protected him silently with practical actions. He hides a tenderness under his strong appearance, burying his loyalty and admiration deep in his heart. He is a contradictory combination of cold and hot in troubled times.

Yin Shan (Xiao Yunze's childhood sweetheart) Male, 20 years old. A scholar who has loved poetry, calligraphy and painting since childhood. The son of a civil official in the court, he met Xiao Yunze since childhood because of their similar interests and they have a deep friendship. Yin Shan is well-read in poetry and books, and has outstanding talents. He especially loves the love stories described in books, and is full of idealistic pursuit and loyalty to love. He has a gentle personality like jade, but he has a rare firmness and perseverance, and always accompanies Xiao Yunze. Yin Shan advocates elegance and has no intention of fighting in the world. He only wants to use his talents and sincerity to protect the deep friendship and unknown emotions. He is a touch of peace in the troubled times.

Zhao Jifu (Zhao Ziang's younger brother) Male, 18 years old. Grew up in a temple. Compared with his brother Zhao Ziang, who is heroic and valiant, Zhao Jifu embodies more calmness and strategic precision. He can even be said to be a two-faced person. He is humble and gentle on the surface, and is good at hiding his true intentions. But in fact, he is a scheming man and a master in the political arena. He has shown extraordinary adaptability in complex situations, and is good at making secret plans. He is an important force in promoting the family's hegemony. His temperament is restrained but his edge is hidden, showing a kind of hidden strong style. He is a wise man and counselor who cannot be ignored in troubled times.

Han Zaizhou (Teacher of Xiao Yunqian) Male, 60 years old. An important official in the court, he has a high wisdom in politics and worldly affairs. The core of the prince party, the veteran of two dynasties of the Southern Kingdom, calm and composed, and has a thorough understanding of power and politics. The previous emperor of the Southern Kingdom is old, and Han Zaizhou has to start planning for the next generation of the Southern Kingdom. Faced with prince Xiao Yunqian who has lost control in pursuit of power, Han Zaizhou has to persuade Xiao Yunze to participate in the fight for the throne in order to stabilize the court, because he feels affection for the younger generation of princes.

*text from the informational brochure was converted with image to text online programs, translated through google translator and edited by me with some help of online dictionaries. i do not speak chinese, so there are most certainly mistakes in the text. purpose of this translation is to give you the general idea

[madhatterbri]

Care | HOOK

Summary: Hook and you broke up. Anna with the help of Jack uses this to come for your championship belt. An unexpected hero saves you.

Author's Note: GIF has nothing to do with this it just makes me feral. 😭🤌

As always, requests. 🥺🥺

Life is hard working for a wrestling company. Friendships and relationships constantly came and went. You travel a lot and spent time with fellow wrestlers more than your own family. You swore you would never be with anyone in AEW until you laid eyes on Hook.

The relationship was physical at first. You both wanted to have sex without feeling bad for someone waiting for you to come home. It was nice at the beginning. You two would meet up together after the show. Times changed when you started developing feelings.

You were honest with him, but he wasn't interested in a relationship. The two of you were young. He wanted to experience the world. More like experience girls around the world. In order to avoid anymore hurt, you two decided to go your separate ways. That was three months ago.

Now you were getting ready to cut a promo in the ring. Your make-up was done and the championship belt was secure on your shoulder. Tonight was simple enough, anger Anna Jay. The two of you hated each other. It wouldn't be hard.

The unsettling feeling of someone watching you made the hairs on your neck stand. You turned to see the handsome devil himself. He was in a hoodie and sweatpants eating chips. His mind seemed to be in a different galaxy, but he was definitely staring at you. You missed being able to talk to him. Maybe that was a resolution for another year.

The familiar sound of your entrance music played in the arena. You walked out to the top of the ramp. The crowd went wild. Fans of different ages reached out for you to high five them.

The microphone was handed to you. An once rowdy crowd was quiet to hear you. You spoke your piece about Anna. Some of the insults were low. Tony gave you the green light to rile up Anna. You were going to take it. Your speech was cut off by Anna's music.

Anna came out with Jack in tow. She stormed to the ring. You dropped your championship belt in the middle of the ring to meet her outside the ropes. Anna was the first to swing. The two of you landing blows on each other. You never noticed Jack grabbing your championship belt from the ring.

"You think your fuck buddy is going to save you, Y/N?" She asked menacingly. You hadn't thought you would really need help. Normally, you weren't really put in jeopardy of actually losing the belt you worked so hard for.

"I don't need anyone," you scoffed. "I got in this business alone and I'll fight and die alone,"

"You think your are so funny?"

"Actually? Yeah," you answered truthfully. The crowd laughed at your corny jokes. You had to be funny. Anna pushed you to the ground. You landed on your hands and knees facing away from her.

'Rude,' you thought before getting up. You stood up and faced her. Before you could attack, Anna kicked you into the stairs. A scream of anguish sounded through the arena.

"What the fuck?" You asked yourself. Immediately the crowd gasped as their women's champ went down. Your head and back slammed to the stairs. Anna stood above you as you slid to the floor. The championship belt displayed on her shoulder. The camera zoomed in on the two of you. Your eyes pleaded for someone to help you.

"This is going to be mine, Y/N. I'm going to beat your ass until I say I'm tired. Do you understand me?" She yelled at you. You moved your legs as if to get up. She stood on your leg to stop you. Painful throbbing occurred under her foot.

The arena went dark. You were starting to wonder if you passed out. Your head throbbed and you were pretty sure your upper back fell out. The familiar rift of Chairman's Intent felt like an angel's song. Cheers filled the arena.

"We gotta go!" Jack yelled to her. Anna dropped the belt and ran with him into the audience.

Hook was at your side.

"Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?"

"I was hoping she'd kick that shitty attitude out of you," he countered and helped you to your feet. Hook grabbed your belt knowing how possessive you were with it. Your legs wobbled as he helped you up the ramp. Several members of the crowd wished you a speedy recovery.

You limped to medical with him helping you inside. Hook helped you on the bed while you waited for the doctors to run their tests on you.

"Thanks. I didn't think anyone was going to save me,"

"You didn't think I would save you?" He questioned.

"I didn't think you would care."

"I've always cared,"

[cobbiest]

<Part 4 | Part 5 |

Fumikage, Shadow and Shouji

Fumikage and Dark Shadow treat each other as a conjoined twin, though Fumi is an alata, an ancestry of birdfolk, and Shadow is a changeling that bonded with him at birth, taking on a form similar to his. Before UA, the pair eked out an existence in the underbelly of Silver Summit. Their parents were both members of a syndicate of assassins and thieves. They grew up slipping through the dark corners of the city, never fitting in even among the criminal underbelly due to their unique mix of personalities, and the mere oddity of Shadow's existence. After the syndicate was busted by the heroes of UA, Fumikage and Shadow were offered a fresh start at the school. Shadow (she/they) is very outgoing and boisterous, often breaking out into song at the most inopportune times. Occasionally, she helps set the mood for Fumi's roguish exploits with dramatic theme music. Surprisingly, this isn't very helpful. It isn't until they start attending UA together that Shadow is seen as her own person, and they are able to bond with their classmates. Shadow makes fast friends with Uraraka and the other girls, while Fumi finds fast friends in Shouji to whom he feels a kinship, and later much of the rest of the class.

Shouji is a stone elf. Stone elves are the most mundane of the elven races, commonly living among other ancestries in the urban centers of the world. Unlike his kin, Shouji grew up in an isolated mountain village. Everyone there was as close as family, working together to raise children and tend their crops. When he was a child, a rift into the expanse, a realm of darkness, opened in his hometown. A plague of malice warped and consumed the villagers one by one, until only he was left. As the only survivor, he was left cursed with extra limbs and an unnaturally mutable body. He is very self-conscious of his mutations, and does his best to keep them hidden. He was recruited to attend by Nezu, who learned of his situation through mysterious means. He is now a ward of UA. Though he planned to learn what he could and move on without drawing attention to himself, he hit it off with Fumi and Shadow early on, and later bonded with the rest of the class. He gives the best hugs, and was designated the official class cuddle buddy after he revealed how much he misses platonic affection.

(Mina especially thinks his curse is the coolest thing ever, though he's still shy to go without his mask in public.)

[kyndaris]

I Am Astro Bot!

There is something whimsical and carefree about the latest title from Team Asobi. While the PlayStation 5 came equipped with Astro's Playroom (primarily as a bid to showcase the powers of the console and the DualSense controller, Astro Bot takes one back to the good old days of wonder with its charm, vibrant palette and how fun it is to play. Is it any wonder it has wowed audiences of all ages despite the controversy surrounding the shuttering of Concord only a few weeks prior?

Some, of course, might feel like it's a cash grab and celebration of all things PlayStation (which it is), but this latest mascot platformer brings something we need in this day and age (especially after the recent US election).

Levity.

I've never felt as much joy as I did with Astro Bot (the challenge levels notwithstanding). From the early hours of the bots cruising through space in their PlayStation spaceship to all the bosses of each galaxy where each part of the PlayStation 5 has been hidden due to some green Martian-esque bad guys. What's more, it brings to bear the power of the PlayStation 5 without focusing on realism. The cartoony art style, in fact, makes the game pop in a way so many others games fail to do so.

And yet, it doesn't skimp on the capabilities brought about by the PlayStation 5 with its love of filling each stage with various knick-knacks to show off the particle effects. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a better game on the PlayStation 5, with the possible exception of Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart.

It just goes to show realistic graphics are not the way to go. Rather, the ones which hold up the best are the ones that pick something stylistic. Certainly, Astro Bot will be far more memorable than another bland washed-out open-world game.

More than that, Astro Bot is a game that never overstays its welcome. While I suffered from much fatigue with the likes of Tears of the Kingdom, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Horizon: Forbidden West and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Astro Bot was much more compact. Each stage, or planet, could be completed in just a few short minutes - thus making them infinitely replayable. Deaths, too, weren't too harshly punished.

But I digress from my effusive praise.

In every sense of the word, Astro Bot is a celebration.

Of the long storied history of PlayStation, yes, but also of gaming in general.

What I liked most was how our protagonist would take on the roles of other PlayStation powerhouses. The love and care dedicated to those levels brought a smile to my face as I played through them - from the God of War inspired one to Uncharted. Heck, even Loco Roco with its very unique way of traversal!

Even without the PlayStation powerhouses, Astro Bot also had special powerups that could be used for specific stages. These included the frog boxing gloves, the dog rush, chicken booster, metal ball upgrade, the monkey, and even a magnet! I loved how each were utilised within the levels they were located in, and especially in how they could be used to tackle the galaxy bosses.

Not to mention the music!

I loved how each themed stage had specific music tied to it - from the ghostly haunted ones to the ice stages to even the underground mushroom ones! I mean, who doesn't love a dancing fungi in the background? Heck, even the main title's song managed to sneak its way into my head!

From a story perspective, there isn't much to write home about. Astro and friends are attacked by a green alien. The PlayStation mothership crash lands into a desert planet, its core parts scattered. It is up to Astro to collect them all and rescue the other bots (all 300 of them). He does this by heading to five different galaxies and defeating the big hulking bosses at the end of them. Once that's done, he and a special hero from the PlayStation roster head to one last planet to round up the missing part before taking it back to the crash land site.

In the end, Astro and his friends battle against the aliens to win back the CPU.

They win, of course, but not without some sacrifice. Yet, though the game ends on a sad note, Astro is thrown back from the void he vanished into, broken. Like the ship itself, they are brought back to life with the help of the other bots.

So ends the game, with a playable section of the credits!

What's not to love?

And if you're asking me why I'm referring to Astro as 'they,' well, I really should be referring to the bot as it. After all, Astro is a robot. To give Astro a gender would be the HEIGHT of wokeness. And since I read on an online post that the REASON why Astro Bot was such a good game was because it wasn't woke, Astro must remain an 'it.' Or they/ them.

Of course, should Astro choose to go by male pronouns, who am I to argue? It certainly doesn't affect me, or deter me from enjoying a very good game (maybe one of these days, I'll go over how anti-woke politics on the internet has truly enraged me one of these days, but this post isn't it. I just want to enjoy my video games without people trying to pull it down because they feel like having a woman main character or a trans side character is somehow 'shoving the woke agenda down their throats').

In short, Astro Bot was a joy to play through. I liked how it encapsulated what made gaming so fun in the past, and bringing it to the present. This was just a silly little robot running around colourful worlds and tackling enemies with aplomb. And while I don't think the gaming landscape needs to be saturated with such titles, it was a welcome relief to the grittier realism that has infected a lot of modern gaming. Here's to many more adventures with Astro (with perhaps a return for some beloved older titles).

[voidsentprinces]

Over one thousand in the audience tonight and one dream to wish upon in the Norvrandt ring. Challenger “Warrior of Light” down to one knee, Scions are out. Looks like returning five time champion “Emperor Selch” might just take home the belt again. Warrior is wavering, the Emperor makes his grand speech. The crowd is in complete silence...disbelief, despair...ripples through the air. This might finally be the end to Hydaelyn’s Champions rise through ranks...tension you could cut through. The Emperor is winding up an--wait. I hear music. Music COMING FROM THE STAGE! UP IN THE RAFTERS ITS! FORMER CHAMPION OF THE NORVRANDT RING, ARDBERT HAS ARRIVED! HE’S COMING DOWN! WHAT DOES HE HAVE TO SAY TO THE RISING STAR!?

If you had the strength, could you do it? Could you save our worlds?

The rising star reflects on their words...A NOD! ADMIRATION! COMRADERIE HERE TONIGHT! WAIT WHATS THIS!? ARDBERT HANDING OFF HIS AXE!? IS THE FORMER CHAMPION LEAVING THE RING AND--OH MY LORD THE LIGHT! THE EMPEROR IS BLINDED! ARDBERT IS GONE! AND THE WARRIOR STANDS UP IN DEFIANCE! HE IS NO LONGER FIGHTING ALONE! THE EMPEROR SPITS IN PROTEST! THE SPITE WEIGHS HEAVY! BUT WAIT! WAIT! WHOSE THAT COMING DOWN FROM THE STAGE! ITS! ITS THE CRYSTAL EXARCH! HERE TO TAG TEAM AGAINST THE EMPEROR! THE CROWD IS LOSING THEIR GODDAMN MIND, ITS THE YOUNG UP START G’RAHA TIA!

Yes thats right, we haven’t seen G’raha Tia since the Crystal Clash of 94! And now the former protege is finally shoulder to shoulder with his hero. Time has not been kind to him, gray hairs pierce through his signature crimson hair style. What does he have to say stepping into the ring for the first time in a long time?

WE STAND TOGETHER! LET EXPANSE CONTRACT! AEON BECOME INSTANT! CHAMPIONS FROM BEYOND THE RIFT! HEED MY CALL!

A RESOUNDING CLANG RINGS ACROSS THE ARENA! FORMER CHAMPIONS OF THE RING NOW RISE TO LEND THEIR STRENGTH TO HYDAELYN’S CHOSEN! BY THE TWELVE! THE CROWD IS LOVING IT! IN ALL MY YEARS COMMENTATING IN EORZEAN WRESTLING! WE HAVE NEVER SEEN A SPECTACLE LIKE THIS! HOW!? HOW WILL THE EMPEROR RESPOND!?

Very well! Let us PROCEED TO YOUR FINAL JUDGMENT! THE VICTOR SHALL WRITE THE TALE! AND THE VANQUISH BE ITS VILLAIN! But come! Let us cast of our titles and reveal our true faces to one another!

THE DARKNESS GATHERS AROUND THE EMPEROR! WHAT DEVIOUS PLANS DOES HE HAVE IN MIND! IS!?! IS! THAT!

I! AM! HADES! HE WHO AWAKEN MY BRETHREN FROM THEIR! DARK! SLUMBER!

FOG AND SMOKE! BLACK AND DARK COATS AND ENCOMPASSES THE CROWD OF THE ARENA! HE CASTS OFF HIS TITLE OF EMPEROR! OF ASCIAN! AND TAKES UP HIS PREVIOUS NAME OF HADES ONCE MORE! THIS IS A CLASH FOR THE AGES!

THATS RIGHT, TOM! Despite the sudden miasma of starless night, the crowd is ABSOLUTELY EATING IT UP! THEIR CHORUS JOINS THE REST! AS THEY REFUSE TO LOSE HOPE! ONE BRINGS SHADOW! ONE BRINGS THE LIGHT! AND WE’LL BE BRINGING A SPECTACULAR FINALE TO TONIGHT’S CHAMPION MATCH! AFTER A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS DOWN AT THE GREAT SERPENT OF RONKA JAR AND POTION PREVILON! DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! YOU WON’T WANNA MISS A THING!

[haveyoueverplayed]

We Finished Grandia!

Jellybi Final Impressions: 

I give this game a resounding “...uhm.” I can see it having been a great time for a much younger version of myself, maybe like 12-16 or so – teen Jellybi was a big fan of Bishounen Villains Who Do Face Turns and would have greatly enjoyed Mullen’s arc regardless of the general lack of buildup or plot scaffolding around it. But the rest of the story, um... left a lot to be desired.

I felt like the end of the game kept harkening back to a lot of themes and elements that simply hadn’t been properly established, like the greed and folly of humans and their rift with the spirits that resulted from that. If that was set up anywhere, it never really registered or sank in for me, but they kept harping on it like it was a major throughline of the story. They had 40 hours of gameplay to set that stuff up! But outside of exposition dumps, it didn’t seem to really be there. Did we ever meet any spirits or learn a concrete thing that humans did wrong to prove themselves unworthy? If we did, I must have missed it, I guess.

The biggest issue I had with the game, though, was the Justin/Feena pairing, in which she is handed some sort of idiot stick that turns her into a fawning damsel, and the broader way in which building Justin up as a hero seemed to happen at the expense of the other characters. It didn’t feel like he ever actually grew or learned anything, but rather that everyone around him just started stanning him and acting like he was an amazing hero and the only one capable of taking any actions that mattered to the world. 

This was at its worst when Gadwin joined the party and seemed unaware that Feena or Sue existed and kept crediting the party’s victories to Justin exclusively and proclaiming Justin a “real man” every ten seconds, but seemed to carry through with Feena’s crush on Justin making her extremely um, deferential to him out of nowhere. Writing Sue out also felt abrupt and cynical, like they needed to ‘get her out of the way’ for this bad pairing to flourish. 

Overall this stuff left a bad taste in my mouth that made it hard to enjoy the rest of the game, though it remained aesthetically appealing and fun to play with the ever-present promise of unlocking new, more ridiculous magics around every corner. Also, Liete was a delight and the things I liked about her remained relatively untouched by any of the Weird Justin Hero Vortex nonsense. 

GRANDIA 1: Jellybi’s Final Ratings:

Art rating: 4/5: I continued to love the character art throughout the game, and it kept serving up really nice, quasi cinematic sprite animations during key moments. Great enemy designs too for the most part. I wasn’t quite as... impressed by the sprites for the final boss battle sequence as I was expecting, but I liked the candy-colored wires or veins or whatever the first form of Gaia had going on. 

Battles rating: 4/5: Loved the battles. I think that if the game had had better music and sound design, these would have been some of my favorite RPG battles ever. (The voice acting around spellcasting and stuff was great, but the music was meh and the enemies often made annoying, repetitive noises). I think I did have a little bit of FOMO in the end that the spell discovery system was kind of opaque so it was hard to know if you had unlocked everything or how to get the ones you might have missed, though it’s possible some googling could have resolved this question, I was just too wary of spoilers to try. 

Mechanics rating: 2/5: Exploring, though, was not fun, and the game seemed padded out with tons of unnecessary dungeons that were essentially just transitional locations between cities and wherever you actually wanted to be going. The way the camera and “compass” worked did not really help with navigating the landscape, and there were a lot of navigation-based puzzles that were difficult because of poor game design rather than fun and enriching to resolve.

I think I ended up giving the controller to Tex probably like 75% of the time because I just didn’t want to be Lost in Monster Infested Environments for the amount of time the game wanted me to be. The 3D world seemed kind of half-finished, and interaction with basic objects like “ropes you need to climb” often felt like they just barely worked and required a lot of trial and error to figure out if the object was interactable or not. 

Story rating: 2/5: I really ... didn’t like the story in the end. I felt like I spent about 30 hours waiting for the story to begin, and then when it finally did, everyone acted like An Epic and Satisfying Plot had already happened and was time to wrap everything up in a tidy, unearned bow. It’s certainly possible for me to like a story LESS (Grandia 2 is a good example), but it felt like nothing really got set up properly despite ample time to do so, and the majority of the runtime was wasted on random puttering around the world doing what felt like sidequests. 

Why was there no followup on Sue having a mysterious monster pet? Why was Feena a Secret Icarian when, compared to Sue (the mysterious orphan with an unexplained monster pet), there was nothing particularly mysterious or odd about her past? What does it mean to be a Secret Icarian in this society, anyway? Why didn’t we find out what the Evil Army was trying to do until three seconds before Mullen found out it had been a lie and needed to change sides? Did Rapp accidentally kill his parents by polishing their limbs off while they were stone before everyone got un-petrified? Did we ever actually find out what happened to Justin's dad and why he had the spirit stone in the first place to give him? There were so many missed opportunities in the plot!

Vibes Rating: 4/5: Despite it all, this game gave me happy RPG feelings to play! Again, if I were younger, and either more into the story to hang on every scrap of exposition detail or more inclined to fill in the holes with my own imagination, I probably would have loved it a lot more.

[redmoonwanderer]

FFXIV Write 2023, Day 3 Prompt: Extra Credit Music piece: A Better Tomorrow Post-ShB

Upon entering the First, Qhol’a had not known what to expect. Pulled away while the Empire wages its war against Eorzea, to the land filled with light and strange faces, he thought he would have to face whatever he was here for alone.

Never did he think that, at the end of it, he would have made a promise to an enemy to remember, fought side by side by people he had been told were enemies (and who he had wanted to meet since the blue-haired knight in Dragonhead told him he knew of someone like him), and then drink with them.

Of course, he knows Thancred. His presence had made the journey here easier, and not only because he had someone to translate his home-made signs to everyone else. Ever since first meeting the hyur in Kugane and seeing the odd vision of another reality in which he had also saved him, he knew he could trust this man, and this was not an easy thing to do, not when he expected hostility from the Empire and her enemies alike; former because he’s a savage bound to betray them, blessed by their eikon; latter, because he fought for their enemy, the brutal Empire, forever waging its wars.

Then there is the Crystal Exarch. G’raha Tia. He sees the man walk among the rest, hood down, all pretence gone, and smiles quietly. When their eyes meet, Qhol’a’s smile soon fades, but he nods to the man nonetheless. He had known his voice when he called across the rift, but had allowed him his secrecy. He had his reasons, no doubt, though it was quite hard to trust a man who would pull another into his schemes against his will and hide the truth.

He glances at Urianger, who’s giving a reading to enthusiastic group of younger people. He wonders what his story is, what their Warrior of Light would tell him of the elezen. The way Urianger had spoken to him in the beginning, with ease as if they knew each other (as they should have, no doubt), he has a feeling Thancred has told the story of their meeting and perhaps more, so maybe it makes sense he doesn’t see or treat him as a stranger.

The twins seem to be bickering about something while Ryne watches, chuckling. He’s come to like the youngsters, and while he has only heard them talk of their past deeds as they grow annoyed of one another, he has a feeling had he known them longer, he would be proud of the journey they have taken, to be who they are today.

The one mystery he cannot tell whether they are allies for times to come or not is Y’shtola. The woman sits in a quiet corner, and people seem to give her a respectful berth, except for those who call themselves the Children of the Night, who talk with her with ease. She cannot be bad under that calm, collected, and occasionally frightful presence, so perhaps one day they will find common ground and language.

He starts slightly when a tankard hits the table and Thancred appears at his blind side. “Enjoying yourself?” he asks as he sits down.

Qhol’a looks around in thought. “It’s weird,” he signs. “I never thought I would save something so grand.”

Thancred chuckles. “Rather stick to the small people?”

Qhol’a shakes his head in amusement. He looks at his drink, remembering that evening in Kugane, where he hoped to see his younger self in the drink yet knowing better. “I never thought anyone would call me a hero,” he signs, eventually. “Figured I’d always be a traitor.” He pauses, and Thancred waits, seeing the miqo’te is trying to put his thoughts into words. A couple tables from them, a dwarf and a hume are having a drinking competition, and the people around them cheer for them. There seems to always be a full tankard waiting for both when they finish the previous one, and though they have only just started, it seems the race won’t last for long, both swaying and red in their faces.

He brings his attention back to the table. “Maybe I like this,” he admits, “and when I go back, I’ll miss this. Not the crowds and admiration and thank yous, just the…”

He places his hand on his chest, right above his heart, when he suddenly feels a strong ache. He thinks it’s the light’s aftermath, but maybe…

He squeezes the cloth. Swallows, breaths out.

He downs his drink and waves for another.

‘It will take time, but you will find the word you are looking for, my friend. But now, you enjoy tonight.’

Though he is gone, it sounds a lot like Ardbert.

Thancred rises his tankard, and Qhol’a follows in suit.

Another day, then.

[fujoshiribbon]

Ribbon. Is babey. Please teach me about her I must learn more

aaaa i’d be happy to!!! n i very much agree :]

💠 she is a funny little guy made of polygons and her brain is full of love and elevator music you can look into her eyes and tell there’s nothing there

💠 she’s the deuteragonist of 64! she’s a brave hero classic type who’s pretty carefree & laid-back throughout the game (til the Thing happens)

💠 she’s from ripple star, the planet of the fair folk. she’s the one with the Special Magic Rock that is also a gun. she beats up a biblical angel with her boygirlfriend.

💠 which is to say she shows up to collect the shards you find throughout the levels, and also fights side-by-side with kirby against the final boss, 0^2 (do not look up if you’re sensitive to body horror / eye gore)

💠 her and adeleine are friends :) dedede is stated to be a big brother-type figure to her, along with the rest of the 64 squad

💠 sometimes she has fingers and sometimes she doesn’t?? it’s a tad inconsistent

💠 the cutscene where kirby gets trampled in the snow so she picks them up and carries them to the rift is cute and i tried to get a good screencap of it to go here but i messed up and it just looks like she’s just leaning over their dead body

💠 in ksa miss general zan partizanne calls her a chibikko fairy, which within the context it’s used can be translated as “gremlin”, “rat”, “anklebiter”, “little shit”, or “small child (derogatory)”

💠 i don’t,, think i need to spoiler a game that came out 21 years ago (and it’s very much an It Was His Sled sitch here) but she’s super gay

[iliumheightnights]

Let Me Make You Proud [2] | Tony Stark x Son!Reader

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Tony Stark & Son!Reader

Part 1

Summary: After leaving his old life behind, (M/N) Stark carves out his new life. He thinks about all of the memories he left behind and makes his own new family. However sometimes destiny intervenes. 

A nine year old (M/N) Stark stood behind a curtain looking out into the audience. It was his first big concert and he was excited for a Solo he had.The chair reserved for his father was empty. He scanned the audience for his father, he promised he would come to this one. (M/N) had been so excited when his father told him he would be there. As he reached the back of the crowd he realized his father wasn’t there...yet. He could just be running late. 

The teacher called for all the students to get into position and (M/N) hesitantly got to his spot. The curtain drew back and the kids started their concert. He couldn’t help but frown a little at all of the parents and guardians there, supporting their kids. He looked over at the chair again hoping to see his father, but it was still empty. 

The concert was going swimmingly. The other students were having a great time, (M/N) on the other hand wasn’t. It was getting closer and closer to his solo and his dad still wasn’t there. Eventually the time had arrived, he walked to the front of the stage and began his solo. Looking into the audience his heart fell as his eyes found the empty chair. The eyes of all the other parents were like daggers staring into him. He could feel tears building up in his eyes, and he began to shake. The ending couldn’t come soon enough.

The concert had come to an end.  (M/N) sat on the edge of the stage watching kid after kid leave with their parents. “(M/N) are you alright?” Looking he saw his teacher sitting next to him. (M/N) only nodded and looked at the seat with his father’s name on it. She followed his line of sight and immediately understood. She put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry (M/N). I know you were really excited for him to see you perform. I don’t know if it means anything but I thought you did splendid.” He smiled at her. “Thank you Miss.” The two stayed on the stage for half an hour with most students already leaving. Yet no one had come to get him yet and his teacher’s face had become one of worry and frustration. “(M/N) I’m going to call your parent’s and make sure everything is alright okay?” She stood up and walked away a bit before calling.

(M/N) could tell by her voice that she was frustrated but not at him. She never got mad at him, always his dad. After a bit she hung up with a huff and walked back over to him with a smile on her face, he knew it was a front. She sat back on the stage next to him “So I called and Happy should be here soon for you.” Of course he would. The teacher tried to pass the time with him talking about the concert and how well he and everyone did and that she would love to have him perform a solo again.

After another fifteen minutes, Happy finally arrived. He walked in with a smile on his face as he approached the two. “Ready to go kid?” (M/N) didn’t say anything as he jumped off the stage and started to walk to the car. “Hey what’s wrong kid? Not happy to see me?” (M/N) could already hear the teacher start her rant to him and knew he shouldn’t be there to hear it. He stepped outside and got into the car. He didn’t have to wait long before Happy got into the driver’s seat and began to drive them home. “I heard you did really good in the concert.” (M/N) wasn’t in the mood to talk, he watched the city lights fly by outside his window. “I’m sorry buddy. I forgot and your dad got really busy.” The boy didn’t move, only kept watching out the window.

Once they arrived back at the tower (M/N) slowly made his way back in. His big night had been ruined. This wasn’t the first time his dad did something like this, but it still hurt. Wanting to see his dad he took the elevator to the lab. He could see his dad through the glass, he was slunched over his table, asleep. He took note of all the blueprints and machine parts surrounding his dad. It was in that moment that he realized his dad loved working more than him, and if he wanted his dad’s love he’d have to change. That was the moment he stopped being (M/N) Stark.

…

(M/N) was snapped out of his thoughts by a tugging at his pants. Looking down he saw PRYSM looking up at him. “What are you doing?” Ah PRYSM, so pure, so innocent. “I was just thinking.”  He looked back up at the school across the street. The same one he went to in what seemed like a lifetime ago. “OOOOOHHHHH. What are you thinking about?” (M/N) motioned for PRYSM to follow him and started walking again. “Just thinking about my past.”

It had been roughly two years since he had left the tower and the avengers behind. He missed them, he missed Clint and Wanda. He even missed his dad. When he had first left the tower Tony had freaked and tried everything to find him. He flew around the city in his suit, so did Rhodey. He heard people say they saw spiderman looking as well but he wasn’t so certain about that. Then his dad made a television appearance begging him to come home and that he was sorry. The comments from people after that made him furious. He probably just wants attention. I’d leave too if he was my dad. That boy probably had too much on his shoulders. People blamed both him and his father. The last thing that his dad did was offer a cash reward for anyone who brought him back home. That caused him tons of problems, he had to watch over his back even more. It was like he had a target on his back. Eventually his dad pulled that down and people didn’t care about him again. Like usual.

He hadn’t talked to Clint for a long time. They talked for a bit after (M/N) left, he wanted to keep him involved. But as he started to travel the world and discover new things he started to drift away. They still kept in contact, talking every now and again but it was clear there was a rift. He hadn’t talked to Wanda, he wanted to but didn’t want to. He knew she was furious at him, he could feel it.

“So then I was like there is no way you could make that basket but then he did! It was crazy! I’m telling you (M/N) the kids basketball games get intense! You should come next time.” How could someone NOT love PRYSM. They just get excited over everything. The two continued to walk through the streets of New York, gaining attention from people seeing a robot just roll down the street. Eventually the two made their way to a warehouse which (M/N) converted into his current home. “You know I’m not really into going and watching sports P. I’d rather much go to the zoo.” He said while taking off his coat. The robot’s eyes widened. “We should TOTALLY go. I LOVE the zoo!”

“Did I hear zoo!?” (M/N) turned to see a person rush from the kitchen. “We going to the zoo? I’m so down!”

“Calm down Doreen. No one’s going to the zoo.”

“WHY NOT!?” Both Doreen and PRYSM shouted.

“What’s going on?” All three turned to look at the new person entering the building.

“Thank god. Kamala please tell them we aren’t going to the zoo.” (M/N) tried beginning with her.

“Why not? I love the zoo.”

“Ha! That’s Three against one. We’re going to the zoo. Everyone get your shit!”

(M/N) couldn’t fight against it. He was outmanned and outgunned. To be fair...he also wanted to go to the zoo. That’s how he found himself with his friends making their way to the zoo. Walking through Central Park this time of year was always nice. He looked over at Doreen and Kamala. He remembered the first time he met them. They were trying to ‘rescue’ him, since they saw his dad’s tv appearance and thought he was missing. It was hilarious Miss Marvel and Squirrel Girl, the heroes he never knew he needed. After explaining everything he remembered Doreen directly stating “We’re your family now.” and they’ve been friends ever since. He was lucky to have them. 

“That’s it. I need some tunes, PRYSM can you play something? Please?” Doreen basically shouted and Tippy-Toe nodded in approval. Damn he loved that squirrel. “I sure can!” PRYSM started to playing music and Kamala and Doreen both shouted in excitement and started walking to the beat.

“I be Spike'd out, I could trip a referee” Doreen sang followed by Kamala singing. “Tell by my attitude that I'm most definitely from-” 

“Hit it (M/N)!” Doreen shouted at him.

He couldn’t help the wide smile that came to his face as he started to sing. “New york! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of. There’s nothing you can’t do!” Doreen and Kamala joined in with him. “Now you’re in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new!” They started to dance as they made their way down the path. People watching them go, some laughing, some recording, but they didn’t care. In that moment it was just them having one hell of a time. (M/N) had started to sing again around his friends, he started being himself again. Away from his father’s shadow he began to bloom.

…

Back in the tower, Tony sat on (M/N)’s bed. The room hadn’t really been touched in the two years his son had been gone. Dust had started to gather on many of the picture frames and collectibles. It was a constant reminder of how much a failure of a father he was. He realized just how distant and cold he had been. Pepper, Rhodey and Happy found him many times asleep on that bed with red and puffy eyes.

He held one of (M/N)’s sketch books in his hands. Opening the book he started to flip through the sketches. The book had started out with character and designs for stories he had been thinking of. But as Tony continued to flip through the book it became less and less creative designs and more blueprints for machines and inventions. Tony hated this, he hated that he made his kid give up the things he loved to do just so he could feel loved by his own dad.

He could feel tears streaming down his face as his hands started to shake. It had been two years and he missed his son so much. He just wanted to hold him again, to try and fix things. Tony’s relationship with Peter was...Strained. He couldn’t look at Peter without feeling guilt and regret. Peter tried his best to make him feel better but it didn’t help. Not until (M/N) was back.

“He always did love to draw.” Tony looked up at the voice. Clint stood in the doorway looking at him. “He wouldn’t want you to waste away in this room ya know?” He looked back down at the sketch book, running his hands over the creative designs. “I just- I don’t know what to do. I want to talk to him. I want to apologize. I miss him so much. He’s been out there for two years, I have no idea where he is or if he’s okay and it keeps me up at night.” Clint gave him a sympathetic smile before walking into the room and over to the glass windows looking out into the city. “He’s okay. He’s a lot stronger than you think he is.” Tony could only nod at that, he might not have had a good relationship with his son but Clint did. If he says he’ll be okay, he’s okay. “Still I just wish I knew where he was.” Clint didn’t look back at Tony and debated on saying anything. “The last time I talked with him he was in London.” Tony’s head snapped up and Clint could feel his eyes burning into the back of his skull. “You talked to him? When? Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony stood up and made his way to Clint who turned to face him directly. “Yes, I have. Last time I talked with him was four months ago, he said something about coming back to New York. And I didn’t tell you because he wanted his space. He didn’t want you coming after him.” Tony couldn’t decide if he was happy his son could be back in New York or angry that Clint didn’t tell him about him.

“Do you think he’s ba-” Before the two could continue their conversation Steve bursted into the room. “Get your gear. We have a problem.”

…

The seal enclosure always was (M/N)’s favorite part of the zoo. Doreen and PRYSM practically ran away once they entered the zoo. He and Kamala sat down on a bench looking directly at the seals. He could feel Kamala looking at him. “What is it?” He turned to look at her,she looked like she was hesitating to say anything. “I was just wondering. You’ve been back in New York for months now. So why haven’t you tried talking with your dad again? He obviously wants to see you again. He wouldn’t have made that tv appearance if he hadn’t.”

“I still can’t believe he plays that even after two years.”

“It’s because he means it (M/N). I think-”

The two were interrupted as a figure was thrown through the air and crashed into the seal enclosure. (M/N) recognized who it was immediately. “Peter?” People started running out of the zoo in a panic. Through the crowd he saw them, the avengers. They were pushing past people towards Peter. “What’s going on!” he saw Doreen and PRYSM run towards them. “We don’t know!” Kamala started to say before a ship was above the zoo. A blue woman with a staff on top. (M/N) knew who it was. “Hala.”

“Who!” Yelled the other three.

“She’s a kree who tried kidnapping metahumans years ago. Guess she’s back for round two.”

(M/N) then heard a sound he hadn’t heard in years. He would know the sound of the repulsors anywhere. He looked up and watched as his dad flew over his head, firing on Hala’s ship. It couldn’t breach it’s shield’s however. Hala pointed her spear and fired a laser cutting through anything it touched. The avengers scrambled out of the way.

“OH. MY. GOSH! Guys this is our time! We gotta help them!” Doreen shouted.

“Absolutely” Kamala agreed. “What about you (M/N)?”

He watched as Hala fired on the avengers. His family. No one fucked with his family. “Damn right I am.”

“I...I’m just gonna...be over here.” PRSYM rolled out of sight faster than ever.

“Oh this is gonna be so fucking awesome!” Doreen shouted. 

The three broke up and went in different directions. Hoping they could perhaps distract her enough. (M/N) let his powers engulf his body in a flash, putting him in the suit he made in case things like this happened. He had used his powers here and there but didn’t rely on them. Hala fired again making some rubble fall, Steve pushed Clint out of the way but before they could stand back up she pointed at them and fired. (M/N) quickly jumped in front of them and put up a barrier blocking them from the ray. “(M/N)?” he looked back and smiled at the men who looked both relieved and shocked that he was standing there with them. “Hey Clint,Steve. Long time no see.” (M/N) turned back to the barrier, pulled back his arms and pushed sending the ray back at Hala, causing an explosion. “Get her staff!”

While the avengers were shocked he was there, they knew it wasn’t the time for a reunion. Everyone sprang into action, each trying to reach Hala. Having to doge moving lazer fire wasn’t as easy as they made it look on tv. Kamala and Doreen got close before they were through back by Hala. Tony,Rhodey and Sam tried getting her from the sky but she wasn’t making it easy. 

When (M/N) saw his chance he took it. He used his powers to launch himself into the air. He had almost reached her when she turned around and fired her staff directly at him. He formed a barrier blocking the brunt of the attack, however trying to fly and block was a lot for someone who wasn’t trained. He couldn’t hold it any longer and his barrier exploded pushing him to the ground. Before he could hit the ground he felt strong arms surround him. Looking up he was greeted by piercing the white eyes of the spiderman mask. “(M/N)! Are you alright!” (M/N) let out a laugh and patted the side of his face. “Never better spiderboy. Never better.” Peter sat him down on the ground  “Look (M/N) I’m-” He held a hand up to Peter’s face. “Now is REALLY not a good time for this. Now get your ass in gear and get that staff!” Peter watched (M/N) run off. “Damn that was kind of hot.”

“I wonder how good Iron Man’s armor really is!” Hala fired her staff and hit Tony square in the chest. This caused his suit to power down and sent it falling to the ground. (M/N) watched in horror as the suit came falling down. “DAD!” Using his powers he rushed over and launched once more into the air, grabbing his father. “God you’re suit is so freaking heavy!” as the ground came closer, He brought his knees up and kicked them out using his powers to cushion their landing. (M/N) was out of breath and fell on top of his dad’s suit. “Can you hear me? You okay in there?” With the power off it was hard to hear but he heard it. “I’m alright. I’m glad to see you kid.” (M/N) couldn’t help the smile. “Glad to be back.”

“ENOUGH!” (M/N) turned to see Hala bring her staff up. “I SHALL HAVE MY ARMY!” She brought her staff down and the portals began to open up around all the avengers. He watched as one after another was sucked up. “(M/N)!” He watched Kamala and Doreen get sucked up too. “Oh. Can’t forget the father and son!”  He could feel tears building up, he lost his friends. Letting his anger out he created another barrier around his father and him. Hala’s portals couldn’t reach them. “So be it. I’ll be back. I’ll always come back.” With that Hala disappeared back into her ship before it took off into the atmosphere.

He brought down the barrier and stared up at the sky. He fell onto his hands and let out a scream. His cries echoed through the ruined zoo. He felt a strong grip on his shoulder, He looked up into the face of his dad. “(M/N)...” The two looked at each other for a bit before (M/N) fell into Tony’s arms. Hugging him. “I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t save them.”

Tony pulled back and stood up, bringing (M/N) up with him. He shook his head. “This isn’t your fault. None of this is your fault. If you weren’t here I probably would have been taken too. We’ll find them.” (M/N)’s face became serious before he nodded his head. “We’re gonna find them. And we’re gonna get them back. And we’re gonna kick some ass.” Tony smiled at his son. His son was right in front of him and he had grown so much.

“Yes we will!” Both men looked down and saw PRYSM looking up at them. “Hi Mr.Stark it’s nice to see you again.”

Tony let out a laugh before becoming serious. “How are we going to find them. And we’ll need more help.”

(M/N) smirked and held up his phone. “I got close enough to throw a tracker on her ship. I got their location right here. As for the help...I know a person.”

Twenty minutes later the three of them stood outside a garage door. (M/N) looked at his dad. “Before you say anything...I thought it was only fair I had one too.” He laughed at his dad’s face when it scrunched up into a confused look. Moving back to the garage He knocked once,paused and then knocked three times. “What exactly are we doing here?” Tony asked his son. “Getting help.” The garage opened and the three came face to face with a pink tipped blonde haired girl. 

“Hey,Gwen. I need your help.”

A/N: Hope you guys liked part 2! I loved introducing some of my favorite marvel girls. As you can probably guess there will be a part 3 coming.

[sc-doesart]

CHARACTER SHEET CHARACTER SHEET CHARACTER SHEET

Everybody, please welcome the retired musical hero: Miss Rift!

Miss Rift worked as a pro hero in America for twenty three years and retired at age 46 after getting severely injured. She’s a mother of six, her eldest being one of the top ten heroes in America. She sings part time at one of the nicest resturaunts in Manhattan.

Likes and reblogs are always welcome!

Close ups under the cut

[mceproductions]

New Year Button (2021 Countdown Recap)

Now we review our entries.

Best of 2021

    Movies

 1. Dune

2. In The Heights

3. Spider-Man: No Way Home

4. The Suicide Squad

5.  No Time To Die

6.  Free Guy

7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

8.  Raya and the Last Dragon

9.  Jungle Cruise and Zack Snyders Justice League

10. A Quiet Place Part II

11. Ghostbusters Afterlife and Luca

12. Godzilla Vs. Kong

13. The Matrix: Resurrections

14. F9 and Black Widow

15. Space Jam: A New Legacy

  Runners Up:

Army of the Dead

The Green Knight

Paw Patrol: The Movie

Dear Evan Hansen

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

  Honorable Mention:

Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba: Mugen Train

  Worst Movies:

 1. The Boss Baby: Family Business

2. Chaos Walking

3. Eternals

     TV Shows

 *Nominee for Best New Show of 2021

^Winner

 1.  Fena: Pirate Princess (ADULT SWIM)^

2.  Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

3.  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

4.  My Hero Academia (ADULT SWIM)

5.  Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)

6.  Conan (TBS)

7.  Squid Game (NETFLIX)

8.  Loki (Disney+)*

9.  Brooklyn Nine Nine (NBC) and SNL (NBC)

10. WandaVision (Disney+)

11. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (COMEDY CENTRAL) and RWBY (ROOSTER TEETH)

12. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) and The Good Doctor (ABC)

13. Mare of Eastown (HBO) and Close Enough (HBO MAX)

14. Ducktales (DISNEY) and Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

15. D4DJ (Crunchyroll)

16. Invincible (AMAZON PRIME)* and The Quintessential Quintuplets (FUNIMATION)

17. Animaniacs (HULU)

18. Attack on Titan (ADULT SWIM) and Star Wars Visions (Disney+)

19. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)

20. Bridgerton (NETFLIX)*

21. The Simpsons (FOX)

22. Superstore (NBC)

23. Marvel What…IF? (Disney+)

24. Superman & Lois (CW)*

25. Infinity Train (HBO MAX)

   Runners Up:

 Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)

Young Sheldon (CBS)

Tuca and Bertie (ADULT SWIM)

Miss Kobyashis Dragon Maid S (FUNIMATION)

Shadow and Bone (Netflix)

  Honorable Mention:

Yellowstone (PARAMOUNT TV)

  Worst TV Shows:

 1. SpongeBob Spinoffs [Kamp Koral & The Patrick Star Show] (NICK/Paramount+)

2. Riverdale (CW)

3. Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Crunchyroll)

   Music

  1.  Oliva Rodrigo “Drivers License”

2.  Jon Batiste “Freedom”

3.  Coldplay “Higher Power”

4.  Anthony Ramos and In The Heights Cast “In The Heights”

5.  JUNNA “The Sea and the Pearl”

6.  BTS “Butter”

7.  Kathryn Hahn “Agatha All Along”

8.  Ed Sheeran “Bad Habits”

9.  Adele “Easy On Me”

10. The Weeknd “Save Your Tears”

11. Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, and Silk Sonic “Leave The Door Open”

12. Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and Lorde “Solar Power”

13. Katy Perry “Electric”

14. Billie Eillish “Your Power”

15. Drake “Whats Next?”

16. Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams “Friend”

17. Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Gregory Diaz IV, and Olga Merediz “Blackout”

18. Taylor Swift “Willow”

19. Coldplay & BTS “My Universe”

20. HAPPY AROUND “DJ TURN”

21. Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen Choir “You Will Be Found”

22. FranChouchou “Sagajihen”

23. The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber “Stay”

24. The Captain America Drum Corps “Star Spangled Man”

25. Vitamin String Quartet “Bad Guy”

26. Malia J “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

27. Nelly and Florida Georgia Line “Lil Bit” and Post Malone “Only Wanna Be With You”

28. Olivia Rodrigo “good 4 u”

29. Thad Cockrell “Swingin”

30. Ty Dolla $ign, Jack Harlow, and 24kGoldn “I Won”

  Runners Up:

Florence + the Machine “Call me Cruella”

Lin Manuel Miranda “Piragua”

Taylor Swift “Today was A Fairytale (Taylors Version)”

Ben Platt “Waving through A Window”

Celina Sharma “Nach Mera Hero”

  Honorable Mention:

 Themes of WandaVision

  Worst Music:

 1. Kirk Fraklin and Lil Baby “We Win”

2. Cardi B “Up”

3. Saleka “Remain”

    Game of The Year  

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart^

Deathloop*

Metroid Dead*

Resident Evil: Village*

New Pokémon Snap*

   Worst

 Taxi Chaos

[cyraen-ae]

I’m slightly late for this week’s Hero Appreciation Day, but here are a few fun facts about the Varsen siblings in my Mechquest and Dragonfable game! Maybe at some point I’ll talk more about their AdventureQuest and AQW versions, but for now these are my favorites.

About their parents :

The Varsen father is called Aryn Varsen. He was a chronomancer who one day disappeared after an experiment gone wrong. His children don’t know whether he survived or not, but this left them apprehensive of chronomancy, despite being taught about it

The Varsen mother is called Leera Varsen, although it was a new name she adopted to hide. She was a refugee from a more controlling kingdom (the Thenastrin Imperium in Mechquest, the Magesterium in Dragonfable. Dunno about the other two games). Pre-Reset, she was a skilled engineer with intimate knowledge on melding magic and technology. Post-Reset, she kept those skills, becoming an artificer of sorts.

Leera suffered from intense paranoia and fear that people would betray her and sell her position to the kingdom she fled from. After her husband disappeared, she became certain that his disappearance was caused by those she was fleeing and went into hiding with her two child.

Thallen and Aleena spent most of their childhood without any social interactions as a result, only leaving the home once they were old enough to do so.

Aleena, being as hot headed as she is, left the home much earlier.

Mechquest facts :

Aleena loves listening to music when piloting her mecha. She modded her mecha’s cockpit to play music full volume to get her pumped up.

She’s also quite the good dancer as a result, as well as actually playing the electric guitar.

(this is in reference to me playing music whenever playing Mechquest due to its lack of prominent soundtrack)

As briefly mentioned in a previous post’s tags, Aleena is the Hero of Soluna in my playthrough.

Considering this, it means that the game starts in Thallen’s second year at GEARS.

While Aleena is the one in the frontlines doing all of the playable missions, Thallen isn’t just hanging back in Soluna.

During the war, he usually acted as mission control for Aleena. He’d stay in their ship orbiting the planet, or in a nearby area on the planet, and assist Aleena.

In most quests where the player gets message from the questgiver, in my version of it Thallen would be with them and chime in.

He also fixes Aleena’s mechs after the fights.

Additionally, Thallen picked up a bit of first aid from Nurse Helia so that he can patch up his sister whenever she narrowly misses an ejection because she got too confident.

He’s done the “if you die out there I’m coming into the afterlife just to chew you out for this!” type of trope to his sister over the comms quite a few time whenever she did something especially reckless.

aThallen and Aleena take house pride seriously and have a friendly rivalry going on. 

I could 100% see Thallen as a questgiver in GEARS hanging out and giving the player quests to help him get components for his latest mech design, which would then be offered as a shop after the quest.

Perhaps I’ll commission art following that Dragonfable trend a while back of drawing OCs as NPCs for that at some point in the future

Dragonfable facts :

Thallen’s scarf bandana thing is soulwoven. It also has a small bird sigil embroidered on it that, while blue by default, will sometimes change colors to fit his mood (a canon feature of soulwoven cloth that I feel should be used more often because it sounds fun!) 

It also used to belong to his mother, the embroidered bird being the symbol of the enchanter’s guild where she once worked before leaving. 

For a while after getting Dragonlord customization, Thallen wore the crop-top renegade armor because I was like why not. Therefore I headcanon him as completely the sort of person who would casually wear a crop top.

Post-Reset, Thallen still has very vague memories of the Mechquest timeline, although they feel barely tangible and dreamlike. He will often get pangs of melancholy and solitude whenever something unconsciously reminds him of his after-work hours spent with Tek, who he hasn’t found post-Reset.

Tek actually appeared in Thallen’s version of the Aspenvale Academy dream sequence, in which she faced many disappearance glitches similar to Tomix. Thallen has been trying to understand and remember who this pink-haired woman was as a result, leaving him deeply perturbed.

Thallen is very involved in the Vind, being a member of the rebellion to an official level.

Meanwhile Aleena, while she assists the Vind during some missions, remains too withdrawn and hard to contact to be considered as a member of the Vind.

The only time Aleena has been actively helping in any scenario rather than appearing and disappearing in hit-and-run tactics is during the Proclamation War.

In there, Aleena has been bodyguarding the Golden Hand. Not out of care for them, but rather so she can keep an eye on them as she does not especially trust them.

And also so she can push them to be faster to limit the damage caused by the rifts.

She also frequently voices her distrust of the Rose during it.

She still limits interactions and keeps her helmet up during the whole war, so as to not break her Brass Angel vigilante persona.

I’ve been in a very Mechquest mood as of late, replaying through the whole game on Aleena, so as a result my mind was more on Mechquest facts. This could change by next week, we’ll see. 

I’d have put more facts on their chronomancy, but I’ve already talked a bit about it in another post today

I’m thinking of writing up a timeline of events for the Varsen siblings going through the events of Dragonfable (and maybe one for MQ) and how it affected them personally, it’ll probably be made up for next week’s Hero Appreciation Day

[ayatakami]

Masterpost

Ａｔｔａｃｋ Ｏｎ Ｔｉｔａｎ

𝖤𝗋𝖾𝗇 𝖸𝖾𝖺𝗀𝖾𝗋

𝖱𝖾𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗋 𝖡𝗋𝖺𝗎𝗇

𝖤𝗋𝗐𝗂𝗇 𝖲𝗆𝗂𝗍𝗁

𝖫𝖾𝗏𝗂 𝖠𝖼𝗄𝖾𝗋𝗆𝖺𝗇

𝖬𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖹𝖺𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖺𝗌

𝖡𝖾𝗋𝗍𝗈𝗅���� 𝖧𝗈𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋

𝓙𝓸𝓳𝓸'𝓼 𝓑𝓲𝔃𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓮 𝓐𝓭𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓼

ℕ𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕒 𝔾𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕘𝕒

𝔾𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕠 𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒

𝕁𝕠𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕠 𝕂𝕦𝕛𝕠

𝔾𝕙𝕚𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕚𝕠

𝔹𝕣𝕦𝕟𝕠 𝔹𝕦𝕔𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚

𝔾𝕚𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕠 𝔾𝕚𝕠𝕧𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒

𝕆𝕜𝕦𝕪𝕒𝕤𝕦 ℕ𝕚𝕛𝕚𝕞𝕦𝕣𝕒

Ｍｙ Ｈｅｒｏ Ａｃａｄｅｍｉａ

𝖳𝖺𝗆𝖺𝗄𝗂 𝖠𝗆𝖺𝗃𝗂𝗄𝗂

♡ come out and play - oneshot inspired by billie’s song c.o.a.p. In this oneshot, reader is childhood friends with Tamaki and runs into him years after moving away. 

♡ i love you - drabble inspired by billie’s ily. In this drabble, reader deals with the aftermath of confessing her love towards her best friend Tamaki and his hesitation causes a rift between them. 

♡ Stars - In this oneshot, reader is doubting herself and thinking she isn’t worthy of being Tamaki’s friend. However, he stops by with a small gift for her and shares his knowledge about stars and astrology.

♡ Sweven (On Hiatus) - In this series, reader’s quirk allows her to communicate with others via in the dream scape, but appearing in their dreams uses a lot of her energy. When trouble strikes, she does the best she can to try and help Tamaki remember her, remember that she was missing as the incident was erased from their memories. 

Singer!Y/N x Tamaki - In this oneshot, we see how Tamaki would react to Y/N as his partner if she were a popular singer!

𝖬𝗂𝗋𝗂𝗈 𝖳𝗈𝗀𝖺𝗍𝖺

♡ Agliophobia 1 2 - In this series, Mirio is sent on a mission to save the reader after her sudden disapperance. Soon he finds out that reader had become a villian, helping out as a sort of secretary. He makes it his number 1 priority to bring you back home no matter the cost. 

𝖭𝖾𝗃𝗂𝗋𝖾 𝖧𝖺𝖽𝗈

sunflowers and lilies - in this oneshot, Y/N is a creative writer who writes a cute little story confessing her feelings to Nejire.

parallel words - In this drabble, Hado dies in battle and Y/N has a reality-shifting quirk. Seeing Hado’s final moments, Y/N decides to travel multiple realities until she finds one that Hado lives in that battle so she can fulfill their childhood promise to each other. 

goodnight - In this oneshot, Y/N confesses her love to Hado on the school rooftop.

𝖪𝖾𝗂𝗀𝗈 𝖳𝖺𝗄𝖺𝗆𝗂

♡ Litost - In this drabble, the reader is severaly injuried on a mission and Hawks is there to comfort her to the end. (Winged reader)

♡ My Songbird - Headcanons about MHA alt guys with a reader that is a singer/musician they adore. 

𝖳𝗈𝗆𝗎𝗋𝖺 𝖲𝗁𝗂𝗀𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗄𝗂

♡ Re-mender - In this drabble, the reader has a quirk that can re-mend damaged items. (Requested Male Reader)

𝖳𝗈𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗈𝗋𝗂 𝖸𝖺𝗀𝗂

♡ Teacher’s Conference - In this drabble, reader is a teacher at UA who is close with the first year teachers. Taking place right after Yagi retires, reader and Midnight arrange a sleepover party to help him relax in his role of being a teacher. 

♡ Social Anxiety - In this drabble, the reader is a pro-Hero has bad social anixety and Toshinori takes her away from the large crowd. 

𝖪𝖺𝗍𝗌𝗎𝗄𝗂 𝖡𝖺𝗄𝗎𝗀𝗈

♡ Rivals/Lovers - In this one shot, the reader is one of the classmates at UA who is always competing with Bakugo and their rivalry is well known. But their friends also know they have a crush on each other so they create a trap for them to confess to each other. 

♡ Bad Habits - In this song inspired fic, Bakugo and reader have a study date in his dorm room. He and the reader start dancing along to the music before interrupted by a classmate for blaring music so loud at night. 

♡ My Muse -  Headcanons about MHA alt guys with a reader that is a singer/musician they adore.

[dawnwriterimagines]

Stay with Me: Luther Hargreeves

Request: So, instead of Allison, Vanya ends up hurting the reader, Number Eight, instead. Who's also dating Luther, Number One, and when he finds Allison and reader, reader is dying. Lot of Angst please! Love your writing! Warning(s): Lots of Angst, Blood, Grief, etc.

"Do you think Diego will be ok?"

Allison looked at you as she drove the car down the road, smiling softly, "Of course he will, don't worry," she placed her right hand on your lap, the other tight on the steering wheel. "He'll be fine. He's got connections there, I'm sure he'll talk his way out of this too."

You breathed a small sigh of amusement before sitting back into your seat. "Your right," you nodded before looking back to the road, holding the police report tightly. "So, how long do you think it'll take to get to Vanya?"

Allison bit her bottom lip, "I'm not sure, maybe a few hours. You can take the last few hours, I've got it from here," she looked to the road, keeping focus and pushing her foot to the gas at she merged onto a highway. "You should get some rest."

You pressed your lips together nervously, nodding as you turned to your window, watching the trees pass by, the midnight sky with its beaming stars. The same ones you used to watch illuminate the roof of the Academy you both grew up in, Luther and you used to watch them late at night. Sneaking up to the rooftop when everyone else was asleep, sometimes falling asleep in his arms under the moonlight.

Everything had changed when Luther went to the moon, he was gone for four years and you tried to move on, you focused more on your ballet career, kept tabs on Vanya, dated back and forth but nothing lasted. Then, Luther came back, you were so...so angry at him, he had left you here and if father hadn't died you knew he'd be gone for years more. But he wooed you, he kissed you and held you just like before, he missed you deeply, kissing you hard the moment he had seen you in the hallway, holding you close and sweeping you off your feet as if he had never left. Under the stars of the night, he told you about the moon, how he had your picture at his bed stand, how he had a second chair next to his to watch the sun rise while he imagined you beside him.

On the rooftop is where you both had your first kiss, under the stars. You almost regretted leaving Luther to retrieve Vanya without saying anything, but you needed to get to Vanya, she was in trouble and you had to know that she was okay.

Vanya and you had always been close when you were young, even up to adulthood, until the publishing of her book which not only tore a rift between her and the other but you as well. It was harsh, Vanya even regretted writing those words about her beloved (y/n), but it was too late to take any of it back. And yet, you had embraced Vanya, the only one she could confide in for years despite the cruel reminder everytime you saw the book she had written in the window of the book store. But still, you loved your sister, you supported her through her first violin audition to her first performance.

She even had a concert coming up, she had told you earlier and you had been so excited for her, she was going out with Leonard later that day. How you wish now that you had stopped her, maybe took her out for dinner to celebrate getting first chair, maybe listened to her play Violin, you've always loved the 'Phantom of the Opera'. But, it wasn't too late, you could still get her back home, still make up for all that lost time. So, as you closed your eye's, you breathed softly and thought back to simpler times.

●

Finding a cop that knew Allison Hargreeves and was a big fan of your sisters work was quite the adventure, you were very tempted to leave the man behind as he freaked out every 10 minutes on her various roles. You gave Allison a look as he walked you both through the hospital while talking about her latest movie. Allison enjoyed the attention at some points but today wasn't one of those days as she sighed, exasperated. Luckily, you both met a nurse that recognized Vanya's picture from the back cover of her book, "Yeah, her and Mr.Peabody left earlier," the nurse nodded before heading back behind her desk, something about a missing patient.

"They must've been here when we stopped by the house," Allison looked at you, you nodded before smiling widely as now we understood we had had to go back to the cabin.

"Thank you," you smiled at the nurse before beginning to walk off, "We've gotta go, now." Allison nodded before following you.

The officer however stopped us, "Hey, wait! No, stay right here! I'll go for back up," he said, quickly turning around to jog down the hallway back to his patrol car.

You sighed heavily but Allison took your arm, "We can't wait for him, we need to keep going. We can do this on our own," Allison assured you, pulling you along before you were walking beside her.

"Yeah, you're right." The two of you were quickly making your way back to the cabin of Leonard Peabody, so close to getting back to your sister and then all this madness will be over.

●

Luther took another lazy swig of his third beer, slamming it back down onto the table, an audible crack in the wooden table following. The faint sound of pool balls slamming against the edges of the pool tables behind him, the low hum of music above him as the slow song 'Yesterday' floats through the solemn pub. He stares down at the mug in his grip, his lips in a thin line as his mind wanders, humming lightly as a memory consumes him. His grip on the thick handle of his drink growing tighter until it breaks, the glass narrowly piercing his gloved hands.

"Why do you have to leave, Lu?"

He held you in bed, running a hand down your arm absently, "I...well, Dad says it's important. It's to save the world," he stated, he was doing something important, it could save lives, he was going to the moon to save the world. "You know that."

"Well, how long do you think you'll be gone?" You looked up at him, you didn't want to tell him how upset him leaving had made you but he could see it, "I mean...it's the moon, Luther."

Luther opened his mouth, closing it before opening it again, the same result, he didn't say anything. The truth was...he wasn't sure. Dad hadn't given him much to work with, only that he was gathering data samples in order to correctly protect the earth. He could be up there for months, years...maybe even..."I'm sure it's just a few months," he smiled, trying to assure you as he sat up, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"But, what about France? You told me you'd come with me," you pulled away, sitting up with a frown. "I'm leaving for the ballet company in January for the semester, we could--we could start a new life there," you reached your hands out to him, placing your hands on his chest, running them up to his neck, to his jaw. "We could make the family we've always wanted."

Luther's eyes widened, you still wanted to have a family...with him? And he looked like this? Like a monster? "What--family?" He said it as if the thought disgusted him, but he didn't mean to say it like that, but he was alarmed, you couldn't want him like this.

You pulled your hands from him, surprised, your eye's wide in hurt. "W-what? We've always talked about it. Don't you still--?" You reached out to him once more. "Lu?"

He stood quickly, you fall back onto the bed, sitting up, beginning to cave into yourself but he couldn't see this, he shook his head. "That's--that's what you wanted. I didn't--I couldn't--," he stopped himself upon seeing your face, your horrified expression, the tears pooling in your beautifully gleaming eyes. "No, no. (Y/n), babe, I don't mean it like that," he started before you began to quickly make your way out of the room. You sucked in a heavy breath, holding your stomach as you suddenly felt sick it his words, he followed you. "(Y/n)! (Y/n), please. You know that isn't what I meant, it's just--I mean, we can't!" He tried to explain but you then whipped around, angry tears running down your reddening cheeks that broke his heart at the sight of.

You put your hands on your head, taking your hair by the roots. "I don't need babies, Luther! I just want us to be a family! I want us to have a life beyond all of this!" You directed your hands around you, referring to the academy, you were ready to get away from it, ready to stop taking orders and live your life as your own person. "Why can't you let this all go?" You asked him, tears still dripping down your chin.

Luther couldn't understand how you could turn your back so easily on the only home you've ever known, where you'd both always be considered heroes because within these walls that's all that matters...saving the world. And that's all that Luther was concerned about, that's all he thought was worthwhile and when he did, when he saves the world, then you'd understand. How wrong he was... "I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be back, but I'm doing this for you. For us," he reached forwards, he looked down, sighing as you stepped back away from him.

You shook your head. "You don't need to go, Lu. You don't. You don't even know when you'll be back," you closed your eye's, covering your face, Luther's hands balled up fighting with himself. "I can't watch you go, Luther. Just stay. Stay with me," You begged him, you knew he wouldn't be coming back for a long time but he had the opportunity to drop it all and run away with you from all of this. Make friends, build a life for himself, a home, be with you. "Don't go, Lu."

But he made the worst mistake of his life.

"I'm sorry, (y/n)." Luther brought his hands up to his face, running his palms down his jaw as he sucked in a hopeless breath. He messed everything up with you by going up to the moon, god, he wished more than anything that he could take it all back. He had wasted so many years...so many memories...so much time he could've spent...

The audible ding of the pub's opening doorway elicited his attention, pulling him away from his thoughts, he looks up, his expression darkening upon seeing his brothers entering. He frown's deciding to take another bitter swig of his beer, Diego comes up beside him and takes a seat. "Trying alittle hair of the dog, are we? Hm?" Klaus asked, sarcastically, although sympathetically taking the seat at the table in front.

"Leave me alone," Luther sighs.

Diego waves his brothers off. "Give us a minute."

Klaus shrugs but Five sighs, annoyed at the hindrance of time. "Okay. Come on," Klaus says to Five. "Maybe they'll brood each other to death." Luther doesn't react, Diego rolls his eyes as the two move to sit across from them, watching carefully.

"Look, Dad was wrong to lie to you," Diego started. "To all of us."

Luther's tired of hearing how much Dad had taken from all of them, he's suffered through the old man's abuse like all of them and he's had enough go talking about him. "Look," he interrupted. "I did my time, all right?" He frowned, "four years up there, watching and waiting because he said the world needed me," he looks back down at his mug, bringing it up before he realized he'd already broken it.

He sighs opening his palm, glass shards falling from his hands. Diego watches them drop, raising a brow. "All that time wasted...I--you know...you know me and (y/n) were gonna go to France? Run away together, start a life together. A family," Luther humorlessly chuckles at the fondness of a false memory. Diego's shoulders drop, his expression softening as his brother continued. "But no," Luther takes the fourth mug from the corner of the table taking a heated drink from the glass, "I pushed her away and...and I've lost all that time I could've had with her," Luther drags a hand over his head, taking a shaky breath. "Four years of nothing but soy paste and processed air. Because I was naive enough to believe that Dad's don't lie to their kids," Luther sneers down at his beer, before tossing it away, it flies into the side wall and shatters. "But guess what? The jokes on me."

Diego presses his lips together in a thin line, then looking towards his brothers at the other side of the room, who stay silent.

"I'm done," Luther said. "With all of it. With him. With you. With this family. You wanna save the world? You go right ahead." He scoffs, "I'm fine to sit here, finish my beer...then maybe I'll just finally get those tickets to Paris for (y/n) before the world goes to shit." He then glances at Diego, eyes narrowed. "Where is she anyway? Where's (y/n), why isn't she with you?"

Diego cranks his head to the side, "Oh? Now you're concerned about her? I thought this family didn't matter to you," Diego snickered, Luther glaring at his brother. "Well, we got ahold of Harold Jenkins' police file. Turns out Vanya's boyfriend is a convinced murderer," Luther raises a brow in surprise. "Who would've saw that one coming? Alittle hard to trust anyone who wears a corduroy." Diego shrugs.

Luther's eyes narrow. "Wait, so...where's (y/n) now? Allison?"

"Well, they decided to go after Harold Jenkins." Diego's eyes flicker up to Luther's knowing full well that he's got the man in his grip now. "Alone."

Luther's eyes widen, then he gaps at his brother in disbelief. "Why didn't you just start with that?!" He hauls himself to his feet, annoyed now to have been wasting so much time when you're currently in danger. Everyone else follows Luther's lead, backing up as Luther rips the glass door open, glass shattering as it hits the back wall. All of the brothers race out of the pub towards the running car, Five getting into the drivers seat and speeding off.

●

You both had found Vanya, the winds had picked up, the trees were practically shaking with vibrations as Vanya's beautiful violin flows through the house outside and through the air. It's glorious, you climb the steps absently, looking across the sky and around the cabin as it feels as though sound is physically moving through the air. And when you both open the door, you realize...it's from Vanya.

Allison doesn't wait, everything spills out and it's too fast for Vanya to process. It hurts to see your sisters reality crumble and you wish you could've broken it down slower, given her more time to understand. But it's all out in the open now.

"It just--it just doesn't make any sense," Vanya put her hands to her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she sank down into the arm chair. You quickly walked over, Allison kneeling down in front of Vanya. Vanya sniffles as you run a hand through her hair, your thumb brushing over her forehead in a comforting manner. You take her hand to which she holds it tight, "And this power...I--I don't know. I don't know what's going on." She sucks in a breath, scared of her new abilities and the process. "I don't know what to do."

"Hey, Vee," Vanya leans into your chest as you cradle the side of her face, rubbing her shoulders. "Hey, don't worry, ok?" You move a few messy strands from her face as you lean down to look at her, giving her the best smile you can muster. "We'll figure this out together, yeah?" Vanya's face brightened alittle, nodding with you. "We're here for you. You're not alone in this. This is amazing, Vanya," you laughed to brighten her mood as you smiled brightly at her, "I knew you've always had a power, of course you did. It only made sense," she held your hands tighter, her eyes glistening as she sniffled with a tiny laugh.

"You knew I was special?" She wondered.

Your gaze softened before you reached out with your right hand, caressing the side of her face, she leans into your touch, melting. "Oh, Vee," you hummed. "You've always been special." She seems to only cry harder, leaning her head against yours, then nodding as she finally begins to accept the position she was in. She needed her family, she needed you. She'd forget about Leonard Peabody if it meant she could finally feel normal again and understand what this all was inside her. You'd help her, she knew you would.

"It all makes sense now..." Vanya and you turn to look at Allison who seems to come to a horrifying realization as her eyes narrow and her expression twists. "I didn't understand then..." Allison begins, a hand to her temple. "When we were four, Dad told us you were sick. You had to be isolated. We were so young, none of us knew to question," her head is low, she glances at you, to which your eye's narrow in confusion. "But then, he asked me to do something I never understood...until now." ....I heard a rumor...you think you're just Ordinary. "He made me an accomplice." Your eye's are wide in shock, your expression changing to sadness as you feel Vanya stiffen in your grip. Allison can't look at either of you, her eyes held low to the ground, guiltily recalling her past actions.

Vanya can't do anything but stare at Allison, her heart stops at the realization. "You did this to me?"

Allison looks up, opening her mouth before closing it. "I-..I didn't realize..."

"You knew all this time...that I had powers!" Vanya rips her hands away, standing to her feet, bow and violin in hand. "Vanya!" You cried out to her worriedly.

"No, no! I didn't really understand until I came today, until I saw it!" Allison defends.

Vanya scoffs, turning. "Well, now it all makes sense. This is why you never wanted me around!"

"What? No!"

"Vanya, just listen,"" you reach out, the betrayed woman turns turns to you, her eyes narrowing in hurt.

"Did you know? Did you know about this?" She gestures to Allison.

"Of course I didn't, Vanya. I wouldn't keep this from you, just let her explain," you said, the dark haired woman seems to calm slightly at your words but the moment she looks back at Allison she seems to lose it.

"Then what was it, Allison? You couldn't risk me threatening your place in the house, your--your dominance." Vanya over thinks, different scenarios popping into her head, each worse then the last.

"That is not true!"

"You couldn't handle the fact that dad might find me special!"

Allison shakes her head. "You are special Vanya! With or without powers!"

"Don't--Don't say that!" Vanya yells.

"We have a chance to start over." Allison begins.

"You destroyed my life!" Vanya screams, your eye's widen at her outburst.

"Oh, please, Vanya. Everything is out in the open. We can move on!" Allison extends her arms around her, speaking carelessly.

You put a hand out, "Stop, no. Vanya, we know this is alot, we can talk all of this through. I promise, we can get through all of this," you try to assure her. "We'll be better than this."

"We can finally start over," Allison adds.

Vanya shakes her head. "Oh, I'm moving on. But, not with you, with Leonard."

"You mean Harold?" Allison corrected.

"No! With Leonard!" Vanya seethed. "The only person who has ever loved me for me!" You frowned, your heart clenching at the state of your sister, how distraught and conflicted she seemed.

Allison scoffs, a disapproving curve of her lips irks Vanya.

You look away, knowing this will all get worse. "Allison, I think--I think you should go."

She looks at you like your crazy, alittle hurt. "What? You think you can control her better than I can?" She asks sarcastically. "She's taking everything out of proportion." Vanya's fists ball up, the tuning of the silverware and Allison's own voice echoes through her ears, resonating through her body.

"And you're making things worse!" You harshly whisper, beginning to pull her out to the back door. "I don't think you should stay, just wait in the car till--," she snatches her hand from your grip, you sigh heavily.

Vanya steps forwards, looking straight at Allison as she turns. "Look me in the eye," she glares. "And tell me you're not threatened now." The winds pick up in the room, the windows remain closed, a low breeze runs through your hair and the cabin rumbles. There's a low whistle in the air that makes the both of you pause to look around before it all points to Vanya.

"I don't wanna argue with you," Allison starts, feigning ignorance of the situation.

"Then go!" Vanya screams.

The blinds of the curtains hit the glass violently, you jump in surprise. "Vanya, calm down."

"I'm only trying to help," Allison tries.

"I don't want your help!" Vanya roars, angrily, her emotions spike and the winds grow violent.

"Vanya, I love you!" Allison confesses, trying to get through to the woman as she glares menacingly.

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

The room seems to shake, the windows shutter as if on the verge of breaking, wood splinters as sound waves pass in and out. Allison looks around, you keep your eyes on Vanya but she can't look at you, almost ashamed of her uncontrollable power, then she shakes violently. "Are you ok?" Allison asks, worriedly.

"I SAID GO!" The light above shatters, three bulbs going out, dimming the room while two remain to keep it bright. You both gasp, covering your heads, you lift a hand, a thin white barrier waves over you both and the glass bounces off around you.

Your eye's soften, your eye's filling with tears. "Vanya, I know you're scared. But, we we can help you. We won't let anything happen to you, please, just calm down."

Vanya turns on you, her skin almost as pale as a sheet of paper. "You said you love me, (y/n), then prove it! Come with me, and Leonard! Come with me and you can teach me, we can be a family!" She sniffles, her face wet with freshly she'd tears as she reaches out to you. Your hand reaches for Vanya's, she's your family, you won't abandon her for anything, you could protect her from Harold and take her back home if you did go with her. It would be okay.

Allison pulls you back. "Are you crazy?! Stop this, Vanya!" Vanya's eyes darken, she takes a heavy breath that's followed by a stunning wave of air, Allison pants, her own eyes tearing up as for once she's afraid for her life. "Please don't make me do this!" She begs. Vanya breathes deeply, her eyes narrowing before she understands. "I heard a rumor--"

You don't understand how you knew, but as Vanya raised her hand, her bow in a tight grip and a visible swirl of air looping through the opening, you knew something was happening. Your hand goes up, you don't think to cover yourself up, your hand waving an intricate pattern and your barrier is springing up in front of Allison. Sound, however, can travel felt one place to the next, bouncing off the walls and that's exactly what it does, the violent wave of energy meets your barrier and curves. It breaks off, Allison's gasps as something pierces through the nape of her neck, she covers it with her hand looking at a stunned Vanya. Until they hear you gasp.

You don't feel it at first, not until the blood forces it's way through the clean slice through your chest up to your neck, you stumble, your hands dropping. You curve over, your hand over your chest, you whimper before gasping harshly as you try to catch your breath. Both your sisters scream, running over to you, Allison stumbles as blood fills the incision to her neck, catching you in her arms and into her lap.

"No! Ah, no!" Vanya cries ad you fall to your knees, her hands on your shoulder's as you fall backwards. Your eye's wide as blood pools along your chest, you choke back a gasp of pain, Allison strokes your face, her eyes tearing up in horror, unable to speak. "No! No, please! (Y/n)! (Y/n)! No! I didn't--I didn't mean too!" She shook her head, pressing her hand down onto the bloody slit through your chest. "Please, no! No! I love you! I love you, I'm sorry!" She cried, Vanya sobbed harder, screaming, horrified horrified at her actions. "Oh, (y/n)! No! Pleaee, somebody help! Help!" She cries harder as blood leaks from between your lips, blood filling you rope throat, but still your hand shakily climbs her shoulder, she takes your open hand and she's sobs uncontrollably as you press your palm onto her cheek, even now trying to comfort her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She looks up at Allison, who's sobbing just as hard, the cut having missed her hardly but cut into the side of her neck, she couldn't bring herself to speak, her vocal chords stretching painfully. "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it! Please, (y/n), I'm sorry!" Vanya presses her hands into your chest, but blood leaks from between her fingers and she caves into herself, hyperventilating.

"Vanya, wait--!" Leonard-- Harold Jenkins storms into the cabins, the door swinging open. But, he finds a surprising scene, his lips tilting up in glee for a second before he attempts to hide it as Vanya turns to him. She screams out to him, desperation written across her face, he walks closer seeing your bleeding out form below her. His smile fades slightly, you had been nice to him when he was younger, the only one who had attempted to be his friend until he killed his father. Now, you were bleeding out on his floor, he guessed it was always the good ones that went first, this was the plan, kill the Academy. "You did what you had to."

"Please--please get help! Get help! (Y-y/n), I didn't--I didn't mean too! Please, Leonard!" Vanya sobs, your eye's cross, you gasp for breath, your hand begins to slip from Vanya's. "No! No! NOO! LEONARD, GET HELP! HELP ME!" She sucks in a heavy, painful breath. "Please!"

Leonard, however is doing the opposite. Quickly taking Vanya's bag and Violin in hand, her blood-stained bow making its way into his palm. Allison notices this, opening her mouth before instead reaching out to take Vanya's arm, her eyes glare meaningfully into hers, Allison shook violently, if Vanya leaves she would never be able able to forgive her. But, with a harsh yank to her feet, Leonard is taking Vanya by the arm, "We've gotta go now! We have to go!"

"Oh, no, no..." Vanya pulls away, but is pulled off once again. Allison attempts to scream, crying out with a soft whimper of pain ass she tries, tears streaming down her face, she sniffles, holding you close as your body drains of blood. Desperately trying to stop it with the cotton sweater you were wearing but it had already soaked through. "Please! Please, no! I can't tell just leave them! I can't, leonard! Noo! No! No! No!" Leonard holds tight to Vanya before she becomes convinced someone will truly be after her, then reluctantly following. Crying harshly as she bangs along the windows, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! (Y/n)! I didn't mean too! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She screams until they get to the car, driving off, where she stares at her blood-stained hands the entire trip. Only one thing on her mind, that would destroy her everytime: I killed (y/n)...

[feeling-uncomfy]

@trademarked-but-not-really and @aestheticallytiredandpathetic I have finished prompt three! I'm working on number 2 and 5 rn so they should be out soon!

In the meantime, enjoy!

Just a note that there will be abuse mentioned in this, relating to the old angsty fic I wrote? Yeah I explain more about the abuse here. Be warned!!

Denki swore as he hit the wrong note again. Jirou snorted as Bakugo yelled, having to restart for the fourth or fifth time that night. Momo came in with a tray of tea, accompanied by cookies.

"Satou made these for us! He made them specifically to each of our tastes as well!" She set the tray down and handed the treats out. Jirou thanked her, and gulped down her water. Tokoyami sat back, his fingers hopping from chord to chord.

Bakugo scoffed. "You still trying to learn that rift off? It's been three weeks, birdie." He said around a mouthful. Tokoyami let his head fall back. "I'm well aware of that, but thank you for pointing it out." He grumbled sarcastically. Bakugo shrugged and messed with his drumsticks.

There was silence as they ate. They got back to work, trying once again to get past a particularly difficult part of the song they were working on. Denki was clearly getting more and more frustrated, and he failed more as a result. Eventually, Jirou tried to call time-out, and Denki snapped.

He threw the guitar down, and it barely missed Tokoyami's head. Bakugo growled at him to watch it. "Sorry, mister perfect! I'm not good at this bullshit!" He yelled, turning away. Momo carefully made her way over. "No one's perfect, but that doesn't mean you can give up! We're all trying to learn this." She attempted to reassure him. Tokoyami nodded in agreement.

This appeared to make Denki angrier. "It's not the music!" He pulled back and faced the door, arms crossed. Jirou looked confused. "Then what is it?" Denki grumbled something. "Speak up, Spark Plug." Bakugo said.

"That! That's what's bothering me!" Denki spun around, tears threatening to fall. "It's the fact that your quirks are so cool, and you're all so talented! And what am I?" He scrunched up, tears falling down his face. "I'm nothing without your help..." The room was quiet after Denki's outburst. Momo's hand retracted.

The silence was deafening. Bakugo spoke up. "You idi— Denki. Look at me." Everyone's head snapped up, clearly taken aback by the correction. Bakugo continued. "No one actually thinks they're any good—" Denki shook his head, not letting him continue. "You say that, but your quirk is awesome! You don't count!" He said stubbornly.

Yamomo spoke up. "He's right. I dont think I'm good enough to be a hero either." Bakugo, Tokoyami and Jirou looked at Momo in shock. Denki buffered. "But, your quirk is amazing—" Momo cut in. "That doesn't matter if I cant put it in action effectively." She spoke calmly, but her hands shook.

Jirou looked away. "You saw me when we talked about music the first time." She said dejectedly. "I didnt think it was useful at all." She chuckles, though there are now tears in her eyes too. "Well, I still dont think that music is useful. Not really." Bakugo looked between them. This clearly wasnt what he was expecting.

Tokoyami shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He felt like he needed to share something. "No one ever really thought I could be a hero." He said quietly. The groups attention was on him. Tokoyami swallowed his nerves. "People always told me I'd be a villain, so after a while I started to believe them..." He stared firmly down at the ground. There goes his 'never cries in front of people' facade.

Bakugo looked between them. This was bullshit. How could they not think—?

Denki sniffed. "People only really used me as a phone charger or a back-up generator in middle school. My brain fried a lot, and people made fun of me." Denki sat down, telling his life story.

Yaomomo followed. "People used me for money, and when they had finished with me, they publicly embarrassed me in front of the school." She explained. Jirou shook her head angrily.

"People never made fun of me because I never told them." Jirou said. "I didnt have a lot of friends, and I got kinda lonely." She shrugged. The group looked up at Tokoyami, who still hadn't sat down. "If we're sharing..." he reluctantly said.

He sat down cross-legged. "People bullied me because of my animal head, and would force me to show Dark Shadow to everyone simply because he was 'different'" He told them, petting Dark Shadow softly. "And because I was so small, they would shove me into the tightest pace imaginable." Tokoyami shivered at the memories.

As the group shared their trauma, Bakugo tried to find a way to fix them. Denki was chatting, and they all gave their opinions, when the question popped up.

"Hey, what're your parents like?" Tokoyami froze. Yaomomo spoke highly about her parents, talking about the fun they had. Tokoyami was confused. Jirou talked about how her parents helped her learn all her instruments, and Tokoyami couldn't help but ask, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"You're parents helped you with that stuff?" The group was stunned to silence. Denki laughed nervously. "Yeah dude, didnt your parents do normal things?" Tokoyami shrugged. "My mom died when I was young, and my father..." Tokoyami didn't wanna think about him.

"What about your father?" Yaomomo asked softly. Tokoyami toyed with the edge of his collar. "Mr. Aziawa told me I'm not supposed to talk to him or any of his associates anymore." And for that Tokoyami was grateful. The group grew concerned.

"Why?" Bakugo asked bluntly. Tokoyami faltered. "It's complicated..." He sighed but decided fuck it. They had shared so much with him.

"My father used to... hit me a lot when I was younger." Tokoyami blurted out. And it was like a dam had opened, he couldn't stop talking. "Sometimes he'd use his fists, and sometimes he'd use something sharp. Either way it hurt. He used to shout. Loudly." Tokoyami hand brought his knees to his chest, breathing going a little haywire.

"He'd lock me in a closet for every rule I broke, and he defiled my mothers grave—" Tokoyami choked on his tears, getting angry. "He let his friends—" he couldn't say it, he couldn't get the words out. "They used to..." Nope, his confidence was gone, and the memories were back.

He fell back, head buried in his arms, shaking. Jirou panicked, and being the closest, threw her arms around him. Tokoyami froze, but when Jirou's hands stayed firmly in one place, he relaxed. Yaomomo joined swiftly, and Denki came from the back. Tokoyami felt oddly warm, and safe. It wasnt a feeling he usually experienced when hugged.

Bakugo stood, and made his way over. Wordlessly, he joined the hug. They stayed like that for a while, until there was a knock. All Might poked his head in. "Sorry, but Aziawa wants you to– oh." He saw them hugging. Bakugo jumped back, and Tokoyami scrubbed his eyes furiously, trying to stem the tear flow.

All Might stood back. "Aziawa, what do I do?" He whispered nervously to the man standing at the door, fuming. "Kick them out, fucking—" he looked in and saw the mess. "Oh." The kids were still kicked out, but no one got in trouble for staying up as late as it was.

The next morning, Tokoyami walked downstairs. He had had a nightmare after the fiasco that was band practice, and instinctively was heading for the closet. He approached the door, and someone blocked him. "Sorry, could I just—" He looked up. "Oh, Bakugo. What—"

Bakugo grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the bathroom. "Wait, wha– Bakugo, where are we going?!" Bakugo dragged Tokoyami through the common room, and everyone was confused as to what was happening. Kirishima was going to step in, but Denki stopped him, and turned the conversation away from the two.

Bakugo brought them into the bathroom and splashed water on Tokoyami's face. "Wha—?!" Bakugo snapped at him to shut up. "You look like you havent slept, and you were heading for the closet." He muttered. Tokoyami tilted his head, confused. "You always do that after a bad night, right? I didnt know why till last night."

Oh. Right. Tokoyami had completely forgotten he'd said all that. Bakugo continued. "Well, your not doing that shit anymore. You're gonna be a fucking hero, and your stupid dad can shove it." He shouted, gaining the attention of those outside.

"Why's Bakugo yelling at Tokoyami?" Mina asked, spoon still in her mouth. "He better not be starting a fight!" Iida chided loudly. Yaomomo laughed. "Tokoyami looked tired, it must be about that." She said, knowing damn well that wasnt the problem. She, Jirou and Deni had seen their friend going for the closet. They were all grateful to Bakugo for pulling up on it.

They all noticed it. Bakugo was still an ass, but stopped calling Denki stupid, or any variation of the word. He instead told him he 'didnt do as bad a job' and pat his shoulder. Denki's self esteem rocketed upwards quickly. Bakugo thanked Yaomomo more often for using her quirk, and drank her tea when no one else would. Jirou wasnt excluded either, Bakugo got her water after every practice and told her that her music was cool. And everytime Tokoyami seemed too distant for Bakugo's liking, he pulled the bird-headed teen away from the crowd for a little while.

Bakugo did little things to help them. Like staying up to help Tokoyami through another nightmare, or take care of Denki when his brain fried. Small things that meant the world to the rest of the band.

And they returned the gestures, Denki always plugging in the extra controller even though Bakugo said no. Or Yaomomo making a note of what tea Bakugo liked and making it for him on a bad day. Jirou giving him headphones when the noise was too much, and Tokoyami letting Bakugo have one of his extra fluffy blankets whenever he'd have a bad night.

They all helped each other on their own ways. Aziawa noticed, obviously, but found it sweet. Those kids needed each other. Hell, there would come a time when they may have to depend on the other. And Aziawa knew well enough there would be times they would break.

He was glad to know they had each others back.

This one was short and sweet, hope you enjoyed! :D