#the whole raid and summoning ALL his current shadows at the time just to one shot the boss

[burstbub]

Sung Jin woo was so wrong for this cause he knew damn well he didn't have to do all that😭

[bakuvantea]

HEY BESTIE I HOPE YOUR HAVING AN AMAZING DAY

CAN I GET SOME GENERAL HEADCANONS WITH SUNG JIN-WOO WITH A FEMALE S/O

FEEL FREE TO IGNORE BUT REMEMBER TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

>:)

general relationship headcanons of sung jin-woo with his beloved s/o

- warnings: none! just a tad bit of nsfw implications

- audience: I made this gender neutral, i do hope that’s okay!!

- a/n: hello >:) anonnn (may i call u that? lmao-) here’s your request love!! thank you for your kind words <33 stay heathy, stay hydrated, and always rest up okay? hope you have an amazing day ahead too!!

also idk who jacob is-

-•-

: pre-awakened jin-woo (before entering the carthenon temple)

> he was always cautious, he didn't want [you] to hear the whispers going around about how you could've chosen someone better, about how you could've loved someone that was not him. thus, he was very shy and timid, always on edge when he feels the piercing stares from his batchmates -most especially when you try to initiate physical contact with him in your school or in public, you'd see him uncomfortable and so you'd immediately stop (because you respect him, ily). behind closed doors though he would always go above and beyond in pleasing you and making you feel loved, although he always doubts himself so you always make sure to give him praises and assure him that he is the one you love (not that jerk jacob from the class next door).

> he always wears spare hair ties or hair pins around his wrists in case you forget or lose yours. in fact when its weekends -and when he's not out infiltrating dungeons and positively offering his life on a silver platter- he always tries to study new hairdos and hairstyles so he can have more variations and choices when he ties or pins your hair for you. he'd always kiss the top of your head after and you'd feel his smile as he nuzzles your hair, smelling your shampoo. since his hair is also long, you'd also return the favor and tie his hair for him. his favorite would have to be the classic apple look with a pointy lock of hair erect in the middle -he really looks like a shih tzu, adorable-

> he.blushes.so.easily !!! he is very weak to praises and your lil kisses that pepper his face. you can see him glow and you even see his smile evidently becoming wider despite him shying away from you, looking downwards to avoid your loving gaze.

> he may be sht but he is also very playful towards you, teasing you and throwing pillows at you when you’re in his room, what a baby.

> often during dates he'd always need to leave early because he really needs to earn money and g to the dungeons. although you try to offer him some of your savings or your help during the dungeon raids, he'd always reject your offer, thinking of how it may burden you or the dungeon raids may possibly hurt you. you don't listen to him though, you give some of your savings to his sister when you cross paths in your school, and you'd always register after him in raids or call up someone you know to have you join in.

"(name) why are you here?!"

"angel face, i can handle myself just fine. it's my choice to help you and whether you like it or not, i've also been called for this raid. come love, we're going in."

> you'd always take his blue hoodie and wear it. he gets so shy when you smell it.

he gets frantic when you take his hoodie and start sniffing it, exclaiming; "stop! i smell weird."

you raise an eyebrow at him, "woo, you smell fine. i like it."

he tries to stutter a remark but was silenced by your smile.

> you always try to visit his mother with him and his sister, jinah. you always talk to their mother out loud and you'd see jinah smile gently at you and jin-woo trying to stop sniffles from escaping his lips by biting them and covering his face with his hoodie.

jinah: u simp

jin-woo: shut it

> he loved cuddles! but he really likes kissing your cheeks. he loves how soft they are and he loves feeling your cheeks move when you smile or laugh at his cute antics.

> he loves you so so dear

: post-awakened jin-woo (after the events of the carthenon temple)

> oh, dear it's the monarch-

> you weren't with him when he raided the "d-rank" dungeon that then turned out to be,, well pretty much a bloodbath, so you were very worried when you heard word of the news. you and jinah basically ran to the hospital and when you caught sight of him you almost fell down from relief and pure shock in seeing the state he's in. well, not long after though suddenly he's all buff and you were really trying to make sense of what's happening.

you: hello there good sir, what in the name of fck are you doing in my boyfriend’s room all sweaty and half-naked😀

jin-woo: (name) it’s me

you: haha yes, sir ‘it’s me’ that’s a pretty weird name but i don't judge, anyways my baby boy is not here uhm haha please get out of my boyfriend’s room

jin-woo: (name) it’s really me!

you: no sir, my woo radiates baby energy, you on the other hand radiates big dilf energy, haha i do not like what i am sensing so please for the life of me leave-

(jinah had to convince you that it is indeed jin-woo, you had her stop you from trying to hold his tiddies)

> you were very happy in seeing how confident he’s become, and you were even more proud with how he still says so humble despite his new accomplishments and title.

> it was obvious that he has become distant with others and have set a boundary between him and other hunters, you accept that part of him though since you know just how much he has gone through. he may act aloof towards others but he’s still very playful and comfortable with you.

> you have also noticed another thing though, he has become a bit possessive or much protective over you and jinah. he’d always have you bring a shadow with you to guard you when he can’t be with you. also, when someone stares at you for far too long, he’d step in and go, “hey there pal” and oh gosh was that enough to get the guy running (pretty damn hot)

> you still visit his mom with him, he doesn’t cry now though.

> when he trains, you’d insist on lying down below him when he does push-ups. you’d kiss him every time he swoops down and you’d hear him laugh which then makes you giggle as you hold his cheeks between your hands

> jinah is sick of the two you, always screaming about how on earth did her brother get an s/o before her, the audacity!

> his shadows adore you, of they’d always try to impress you or get head pats when you tell jin-woo to summon them for you. you live them to bits and always thanks them for a job well done in helping jin-woo with his raids. on the first time you accompanied him for a raid -you had to bribe him with more cuddles- and you were shocked with how his sweet adorable shadows turned a full 180, becoming ruthless towards the enemies. quite a show you’d say. after though, they’re back to flocking over you, even dismissing jin-woo lmao

jin-woo, watching you give each shadows head pats: i hate it here

you: get in line then

> it may be due to his newly acquired talents and his current mental and physical prowess but he has become more perceptive towards you. he can always read you and know just what your mood is and he always tries to make you feel better by giving his whole attention to you.

> of but of course, since dear jin-woo has become quite the looker, you also notice how girls flock over to him. and especially miss hae-in (she’s very sweet yes, but hey that’s your man so like—). the moment you discovered that she left her guild to join jin-woo’s, and then confessed (well basically she did) to your man, well you were upset but really who could blame her? instead of taking your frustrations out on her and your boyfriend, you decided to just talk it out with jin-woo and ask him about how it went. the two of you cleared it out and you got kisses and maybe even more after that ;))

> you and jin-ho are menaces to society when you are together, he hates how endearing and annoying you two can be. i mean, does he really hate it? nope, he absolutely loves seeing you two interact, although his head always throbs when you two start screaming to britney, gaga, and doja.

> a tease, he has become the master of being a tease, you hate it and love it at the same time. he’d trail kisses down your neck to your thighs and leave some marks then he’d suddenly walk away while asking you what take-out you want. rude, that’s what he is. ofc he always finished what he starts tho oop-

> he always randomly bites you now, you don’t know why but it’s really cute when he starts nibbling so you let him be.

> so extra when he tells you that he loves you. he professes it in such weird but adorable ways. one time he had printed out ‘i love you so much’ on a big-ass tarpaulin and had his shadows hold it for him while he’s kneeling down smoldering at you. you hate him so much (you don’t-). or that one time he bought a bouquet basket and had a ring tied to one of the flowers, you had to take the bouquet apart since the damn ring fell to the very bottom.

> sometimes when he gets back to the agency after his dungeon raids you and jin-ho would see him all grumpy and you immediately know that either he wasn’t able to make the enemy his soldier or his coat got ruined.

jin-woo: *sad noises*

jin-ho: that’s okay, you can kill and slaughter the others and take their souls next time

you: jin-ho couldn’t you have worded that better-

over-all, he’s the bestest boyfriend, such a sweet and handsome pretty boy much strong and reliable we love him<333

-•-

- a/n: i can add more to this if you’d like!! just hit me up again lmao it’s too long now so-

[shadow-sovereign]

New idea: The ants on Jeju island where too much of a risk to leave them alone. So Japan makes their move earlier (bevor Beru is born) and their plan is successful. The korean Hunters perish and the Draw Sword Guild has expanded their influence all over Korea. The possible reawakening of an E rank Hunter is just a minor incident. Jin-Woo is having a hard time trying to level up, not getting noticed by the Draw Sword Guild and helping the remaining korean Hunter Association. (dark!Jin-Woo maybe)

1/2 Ruby here and yes, the other fic idea was from me too. Sorry for not putting my name in it. To be honest, I had already forgotten about it until you mentioned it. XD In the novel Japan would have demanded an exorbitant price every time Korea needed the jap. Hunters. Like "You need our Hunters? Ok but in exchange we get island x." I think that was their plan (chapter 104). 

2/2 They would keep a close eye on any highranked or possible reawakened Hunters. If one of them becomes too strong, then the japanese would arrange an 'accident' inside of a dungeon. So Jin-Woo would have to be very careful until he is strong enough.  Maybe Jin-Ho would become the guildmaster of Yoojin Guild with Jin-Woo as vice-guildmaster, so they would have more political power. I am not sure, if a relationship between Ryuji an Jin-Woo would be possible (maybe one-sided?). 

I’m going to group the follow-up messages with the original message to make things easier.

This idea would definitely make for a dark au. In one fell swoop, all of South Korea’s S-rank Hunters would be killed, except for Go Gun-Hee who was too old to fight on Jeju island. Even just one S-rank can kill a lot of monsters inside the dungeon and prevent many of their raid teammates from being killed.

Without an S-rank going inside the high-ranking A gates, a lot of Hunters will start losing their lives. I imagine the Japanese government would wait until a lot of the Korean A-rank Hunters had died and South Korea was desperate before making their move.

They probably wouldn’t outright admit to sabotaging the Jeju island mission, but it would be pretty obvious after they ask for Jeju island in return for their help. With how much help South Korea would need, the Japanese Hunters would have to create a base of operations in their country, slowly expanding their control. They’d essentially be creating their own guilds in South Korea and perhaps taking over some of the guilds that are already there.

The S-ranks in the Draw Sword Guild would probably take turns going to South Korea to deal with the higher rank gates, as I doubt any of them want to permanently move over there. With most of the dangerous raids being supervised by one of the Japanese Hunters, they can make sure the number of Korean A-rank Hunters doesn’t get too high, by making sure some of them have ‘accidents’ inside the dungeons.

Timeline wise, let’s say that Jin-Woo was an E-rank Hunter for about three years before Japan started doing their evil shenanigans and have their claws in deep by the time Jin-Woo starts leveling up. He’s been watching all this unfold for a year, seeing more and more reports of Hunters losing their lives inside the gates. Even when the Japanese Hunters aren’t actively trying to kill Korean Hunters, they don’t particularly care about whether they get out safely either. So, some are dying to negligence rather than outright malice.

Jin-Woo finds an ironic humor in that hated nickname of ‘World’s Weakest Hunter’ becomes his greatest asset once he starts leveling up. He’s not even on the radar of the Japanese Hunters, and even if someone suspected him of reawakening, they wouldn’t expect him to go up more than a couple levels.

To keep up appearances, Jin-Woo would have to keep going into the low level gates the Korean Association sends him to. But he’d keep his mana suppressed and be on guard near higher ranking Hunters who might be able to sense him. To actually level up, the system would need to create more fake dungeons for him to fight in.

The architect can obviously see what’s going on around Jin-Woo, so it would naturally start creating more dungeons for him. And perhaps putting the entrance to them in less obvious places. The whole goal is for him to get stronger and not die, after all. It would defeat the purpose if he got caught before he could fight back.

[If I wrote this, it would be interesting to create new dungeons. A chance to be creative, especially since the system can create a wide variety of items.]

One major downside of Jin-Woo not being able to get retested and go into higher dungeons means a lack of funds. He’s still getting paid for E-rank dungeons. And while he could at least start killing more monsters in there, to get slightly more money, it would definitely chafe at him. Knowing he could be making a lot more.

But I like your suggestion of him joining the Yoojin guild. I think they could probably even meet the same way. I doubt the Japanese Hunters care if Hwang Dong-Suk and his gang of low level Hunters goes around killing other low level Hunters, as long as none of their targets are Japanese.

In canon, I believe Chairman Yoo was originally going to have an S-rank Hunter as the guild master with his oldest son as the vice-chairman. (Maybe the oldest son isn’t awakened? Considering he was eventually convinced to let Jin-Ho be the guild master, that’s the only reason I can think of to not have the oldest son be the guild master.)

Yoo Myung-Han isn’t willing to have one of the Japanese Hunters as the leader of his guild, so that leaves him looking for a Hunter he can trust. Perhaps Jin-Ho overhears a conversation or his father lets slip that the reason he isn’t making him the guild master is that he doesn’t think he has enough experience. So, Jin-Ho goes looking for raid experience, first by joining a raid, then planning to lead some of his own to prove he can do it.

Jin-Woo goes on the raid with Hwang Dong-Suk, despite it being C-rank, because he needs the money for rent and the ad for a temporary teammate says they’re just looking for someone to fill the slot. He figures he won’t have to do much fighting and he’ll try to be discrete if he does. Getting a few ‘lucky’ hits on monsters, then leaving the supposedly higher rank Hunters to finish them off.

Things go the same in canon, Jin-Woo has to kill the boss monster and Hwang Dong-Suk’s gang. The only difference is, this time there’s a really obvious reason for Jin-Woo to be keeping his power secret. Jin-Ho asks if the secrecy is so he doesn’t get targeted by the Japanese Hunters. Jin-Woo confirms it is. Then Jin-Ho reveals his plans to try and become the guild master of his father’s guild.

Jin-Woo needs the money and there’s no way he can start his own guild under current circumstances. He takes a risk by agreeing to go with Jin-Ho to talk to his father. (Though, maybe have the confrontation with Hwang Dong-Suk happen later than in canon, so that Jin-Woo is already close to being an S-rank.)

They speak with Myung-Han, who appreciates the fact that Jin-Woo saved his son’s life. He agrees to let Jin-Woo join the guild, but he’s not yet convinced of Jin-Ho being the guild master and Jin-Woo the vice master. He wants to make sure they have the experience necessary to lead first.

Myung-Han has been finding trustworthy hunters all this time, finding ones who don’t agree with what the Japanese Hunters have been doing. They’re in on the plan to make a guild that the Japanese Hunters can’t interfere with, one that could eventually start rivaling them. Which means finding strong Hunters before the Japanese Hunters can make them have ‘accidents’ in the dungeons.

He sends Jin-Ho and Jin-Woo on dungeon raids with them, to test his son’s leadership skills and Jin-Woo’s strength. On paper, Jin-Woo is there to fill in the numbers and help carry stuff. They let people assume he’s there as a charity case, someone who befriended Jin-Ho on a dangerous raid and was given a position in their guild.

When Jin-Woo unlocks his shadow powers, it feels like a game changer for them. Now, they have a chance to create an army. The more dungeons Jin-Woo goes into, the greater their army will become.

Perhaps, at some point, they’d end up contacting the Korean Hunter’s Association, letting Go Gun-Hee in on their plans. With the Association on their side, it’ll be easier to hide what they’re doing. Especially since they would eventually need to sneak Jin-Woo into some higher level gates for stronger summons. (Maybe the system could interfere and turn one of the gates into a red gate? There would be more monsters inside then.)

But eventually, it would be time to fight back. Once Jin-Woo is strong enough and has enough summons that he could take on the gates himself, no longer needing the Japanese Hunters assistance, then it would be time to kick them out of the country. Of course, they’re not going to want to leave without a fight, but once Go Gun-Hee realizes that he’s stronger than the Draw Sword Guild, he’d give him the go ahead to kick them out through any means necessary, even if it means killing them.

Taking all factors into consideration, I think he would kill them. Jin-Woo may value human life, but he’s not a saint. These people have been going around, killing the Hunters in his country. He may be even-tempered, but this would be enough to make him furious.

There would also be the draw of turning them into his Shadow Soldiers. He’d find a certain irony in it, taking the people who attacked his country and making them protect it as his summons.

In this au, the only way Jin-Woo could have a positive relationship with any of the Japanese Hunters would be after he’s made them into his summons. He would probably be quite pleased to have Ryuji kneeling in front of him, proclaiming his eternal loyalty. That might eventually lead to more after he’s had a few years to calm down and get his country back to rights.

I wonder if they’d end up in a war with Japan?

Jin-Woo would have just killed off their strongest Hunters, then went on to reclaim Jeju Island. Not sure if there’d be anybody living there yet, though. They would have needed time to clean up the place after the ants wrecked havoc and then start building. Either way, Jin-Woo would kick them out, then have some of his summons guard the place while the South Koreans start building and moving in.

Manpower wise, I don’t think Japan could afford to go to war with them after that, but they might try to turn the other countries against South Korea. However, Go Gun-Hee and the Korean Association would doubtless have been collecting evidence of Japan’s wrongdoing and share that with the world.

There would then be negative sentiments against the Japanese government, like in canon, but otherwise the other countries wouldn’t care enough to get involved. I suppose, after that, the major canon events would happen. Fighting the architect, then the other Monarchs.

Not sure about the canon ending. Obviously wouldn’t have the canon pairing since he never got a chance to know her before she died.

Spoilers for canon ending: It would make sense that Jin-Woo would want to do the time traveling thing in this au. Even before the Monarch war, so many of his people died due the Japanese Hunters. The only reason I didn’t like the time traveling in the novel is because he went back before there was magic. What’s the point of writing a fantasy novel if you’re going to make it go back to normal at the end? Yeah, Jin-Woo still had magic, but how out of place must he have felt being the only one?

The only way I could see him not doing the time traveling thing in this au is if he manages to save his dad. Jin-Woo is rather family-focused and going back in time has its risks (of the monarchs finding a way to win). If Jin-Woo’s family is safe, I don’t think he’d take the risk to time travel.

And that’s all I can think of for this au. If anyone feels inspired by it, feel free to use the ideas here. ^_^

[secretadventuresociety]

Episode 27 Recap

What’s up SASholes?! I’m Bren; resident SAStorian and note-taker extraordinaire. Welcome to Episode 27: Under New Management.

The Xarus Problem

We last left off with Kess staring down her jilted ‘lover’ (I mean, if you can call an arranged husband a lover), Xarus, who had just revealed he now owns her childhood home. Well, I say home. I guess childhood MANSION is technically more correct. Anyway, as this red-headed scum delights in Kess’ confusion, a flock of guards file in behind him all dressed in black; anticipating an attack. True to form, Pearce leans over to Kess and asks if he should shoot him, and she waves him away, blowing the whole thing off as a joke. Turns out that ole Xarus lost his humor in a tragic Born-Without-A-Soul accident, so he stares back flatly and invites the group to dinner; suggesting the trio clean up beforehand.

Kess loudly announces that her mother (Norse), Zev, Kü, and Pearce are going to… help… brush her hair? And Xarus just accepts it?? So the definitely-not-suspect group file up to Kess’ bedroom, led by Norse. The party takes in their spotless lavish surroundings in a mixture of disgust and disbelief-- and then they find their destination. The room might as well be adorned with a neon sign reading ‘Messy Kessy’. The colors inside are dark and earthy, with flora and drawings of fauna littering the walls, lit by a majestic bay window. In an awkward silence, Kü compares the living space to the shit-covered walls of his cavern home, then switches gears to ask if all fathers come with so much tension.

Norse gently explains that Xarus isn’t Kess’ father, but was her husband-to-be, who recently took over the house and the super-secret ‘family business’. Surprise-- Kess’ family is a band of merry Robin Hoods who keep Mardosta eating with silver spoons. Despite being there the whole time— Norse doesn’t quite understand how the boring, ginger-haired square of a man grew the balls to overthrow their reign of thievery; but she momentarily morphs into fantasy Vin Diesel (not actually, I know it’s a little weird ‘cause technically she’s a changeling and very much COULD do that) and tells Kess they can handle it As A Family.

An Iris by Any Other Name

After assuring The Nobodies aren’t going to kill Xarus in his sleep, Mama Shadowmore pulls Kess aside and leads her to the family greenhouse. It smells overwhelmingly like smoke, and as they enter, Kess sees hundreds of her black and white flowers. You know the ones. Norse then tells her how they tried to cover Kess’ absence, the way she would go into the greenhouse to just sit somewhere that smelled like her daughter (OUCH, dude), and all about the first night she saw one of the Irises appear. From that night on, Norse and Kess’ father Arthur would sit and wait for a flower to bloom; knowing somehow it was connected to their daughter’s safety. Now, if you thought your teeth were rotting out from the sweetness already-- that’s when Kess hugs her mom for the first time in years, and sometime during the embrace, Norse drops her high elf facade and embraces her daughter in all her changeling glory before Kess grows a flower just for her. Touching stuff. You crying yet? No? Just me?

Dry those eyes, though, because now we’re on to some shenanigans. As Kess and her mom are off repairing their relationship, Pearce and Kü attempt to make themselves at home. After grabbing a drink with Zev, the pair stake out a guest bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. Pearce ushers Kü inside and offers to guard the door as he showers, which the kobold has CERTAINLY done before. Tons of times. In his underground home. Despite this setback, Kü figures out the tub quickly, but the challenge becomes when he needs to drain the water. He finds a bucket, remembers that the toilet gets rid of its own fluid, and scoops up the grimy bathwater like a scaly Mickey Mouse. But that’s not all. Getting to the bottom of the tub, he notices a chain floating in the dregs and hauls out a crowbar to liberate it.

Pearce, hearing a sudden thump and fearing a sneak attack, manhandles his way into the bathroom and finds a wet Kü who laments about the ‘necklace’ at the bottom of the tub. The gunslinger quickly realizes it’s a chain for the drain (heh, a rhyme) and shoves Kü out. He then takes a pile of Zev’s clothes he found and dresses, appalled at the deep-v tunic and skin tight leather pants he is now sporting. Being his only choice, he chastely covers his bare chest and spikes his hair, coming out of the bathroom to help Kü shine his helmet. Yes, that helmet. Pearce is making Mother’s skull GLEAM. Kess, after realizing she could just change her form in lieu of ACTUALLY bathing, brings Kü a long silk tunic to replace his dress and steals a white button-up from her dad for Pearce. Now they’re Awkward Dinner Party ready!

Evil Exes, Amirite?

In case you’ve forgotten, Kess has a Brady-Bunch-worthy family. She runs into her dad, and later all three of her brothers: Zev, his twin Voss, and Rook. However, these aren’t all of the introductions the party is subjected to. As they enter the dining room in what I can only imagine is Oh My God They’re So Hot Slow Motion (with Kess donning her owl, Tibbins, for intimidation), they lay eyes on an unfamiliar and unimpressed elven woman who Xarus introduces as Sienna-- his current fiance. Well, he sure did move on fast. Between Sienna’s eye rolls, Kü’s harried feasting, and EVERYONE’S overwhelming discomfort, Xarus describes how he grew suspicious when Kess disappeared. After a little digging, he found out about the family’s arrangement with the city’s mayor, Vendreth; how he caught her criminal parents and promised them protection if they used their forces to help his failing city thrive.

Kess doesn’t see any issue, but Xarus laments that the townspeople have no idea who is running the show. It’s a clear threat, as Kess realizes the denizens would run them out of Mardosta if they knew the truth. Happy with himself and his mind games, Xarus invites his elven mistress to retire to their chambers with him…. if you know what I mean. She emotionlessly agrees, and the two leave the family alone. The Nobodies excitedly chatter about their exploits; no adventure going untold. Kü even introduces his mother, Marrow, and spends a moment praising Norse for being a good mother too. Pearce changes the subject to their treasure map, showing it briefly to Voss. He has no idea what the X’s could mean, but implores them to keep him updated. Norse then asks how long the party is staying-- enticing them with an upcoming festival that is SURE to have stickmeat. Kess proposes they stay for a while, saying they could make use of the family library and also figure out what the X closest to Mardosta hides.

Pearce not-so-subtly asks about the family’s trading habits, mostly trying to gauge if they have any dealings with his absent father. Turns out this ain’t an arms race, it’s a goddamn scene, and with routes halted in Larsham and Evercrest, the business has slowed down to a trickle. Kess breaks the business talk with a proposal for her companions and her siblings to go out on the town, and so they all prepare for a night in Mardosta. Pearce grabs his gun, Kess raids Rook’s training room for daggers (noticing a hefty potion collection), and everyone bundles up for the biting weather as they walk to the docks.

The Return of Nice Ghost

Kü spots a stationary boat in the water, with a rumpled dragonborn climbing out of it. Sus. As they get closer, they notice that it’s not a boat at all, but a disguised opening to a meeting spot called ‘The Underfrost’. Kess leads them down the cavernous tunnel lined with torches until they reach the bottom. Once there, they feast their eyes on merchants, a bar, and an imposing fighting pit-- all teeming with figures of all races. Kü jumps on the chance to, as he so eloquently describes it, ‘fuck shit up’; racing off with Voss and Zev in tow to sign up to battle. Kess instructs Pearce to place bets for the both of them as she grabs drinks… which turns out to be a monumentally bad idea. Pearce throws down 500 gold on Kü for himself but-- without express instructions from the druid-- dumps out her bag and wagers all of her 1,275 pieces of gold.

It turns out Kü is the next challenger to face… get this… Dickius Muscular. Is it his fantasy God-given name or a stage moniker? The world may never know. In any case, fervent hands push him toward the pit-- one attempting to remove his helmet. In retribution, Kü bites the tip of the offending person’s pinkie off, keeping his adornment as he summons a flood of shadows from it to cover him in armor. Thus the fight begins, and the massive goliath Dick...ius attacks our boy K��cifer with a mace in a blinding rage. Kü retaliates with his Bonemerang-- and when that does less damage that he expected, he summons Nice Ghost to keep him company. The spectral being chases after the goliath relentlessly; booping him any time he can come close. Dickius flees from the spectre, pursuing Kü-- who wreaths himself in shadow and disappears. Out of the darkness comes two fireballs, liberated from the kobold’s dwindling necklace.

Amazingly, this blast does not take his opponent out-- so Kü chugs a health potion as his vision suddenly goes green. He smells smoke and hears Mother in his head, asking to take a turn. He can do nothing but stare at Dickius as the shadows leave Kü to snake around the goliath and squeeze. Though deeply in pain, Dickius breaks free and heaves one last attack at Kü-- rendering him unconscious and sending Nice Ghost back into oblivion. With that, Kess rushes in to heal her friend, momentarily pissed at Pearce for losing all her money. Back on his feet, Kü shakily requests to be taken to bed, and the gunslinger scoops him up like a child and carries him; only to be repaid with a flow of vomit down his back as the kobold recovers slowly from his trauma. Still, Pearce keeps his composure and reassures Kü that he fought well, but begs him to try to sleep.

The Scream Heard ‘Round the Mansion

The group groggily returns to the family home and branches off to their respective rooms. Pearce gently lays Kü down and tucks him into bed before searching for a piece of paper and a writing utensil to pen a short note. He slips 200 gold into it and scrawls ‘I’m sorry’ onto the page. He slips out of the guest room to try and find Kess’ door-- and the one he picks, unbeknownst to him, is her parents’. However, our boy tried his best, so he returns to Kü; watching him as he sleeps. This dad-like worry Pearce has got going on makes me SOFT, y’all. I need MORE.

Kess, however, forgoes sleep for a time and instead grabs a bottle of wine from the kitchen. She takes it to the greenhouse and attempts to grow her second flower of the day-- which she has never done before. It takes a little more effort, but it does sprout, and she pleadingly asks to speak with the friend she grows them for. She waits, but no answer comes. Kess finishes the wine and stumbles up to her room, leaving the window open for good measure. She and Kü are sleeping soundly while Pearce fitfully wakes up from his perch on the sleeper sofa every so often to watch Kü’s chest rise and fall (PASS ME THE TISSUES). During one of his half-awake moments, Pearce watches the candle in the room extinguish and simultaneously hears a scream coming from downstairs.

Leaving the passed out kobold, Pearce takes off, only to be intercepted by Kess, who we all know has the passive perception of a dog waiting for you to drop that pepperoni on your pizza, Karen. She pulls him into the stairwell and they end up at the opening of Xarus’ chambers-- Sienna standing speechless in the doorway. When she ends up being less than helpful, the duo slip into the room, immediately laying eyes on the lifeless body of Kess’ failed groom. I wish I could say I was at all upset about this revelation, but I would be lying to you, dear readers. However, we now have a murder mystery on our hands! WHODUNNIT?!

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

TL;DR

Our heroes attended a dinner party more uncomfortable than all of my family reunions put together. Talk about second-hand anxiety!

Kü is the Underfrost Fighting Pit Champion in my heart and I hope he gets a rematch against… *checks notes* the Goliath’s dick.

RIP, Xarus— ex-fiancé and stick in the mud. See you in hell.

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Kess’ed Be and catch the next session over at twitch.tv/lochness on July 21st at 7:30CST/8:30EST! AND if you’d like to watch THIS episode, you can find it at the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyi5JkW-SNY

[fanfictrashdump]

Queening a Pawn, 19

If you're new: this is my procrastination fic. It is what I drabble around with when I'm being my worst self, and ignoring all my other WIPs and responsibilities! Enjoy!

X

Summary: During the Time Heist, Loki stole the Tesseract and escaped. He did not expect, however, to be pulled through a Time Loop that delivered him to a Midgard more than a decade older, wiser, and bitterer. Having just lived through his unsuccessful attack in New York, Loki must learn to live in Midgard after the defeat of Thanos (post-Endgame). The question is, who is Loki without a quest for a throne or total domination?

Pairings: Loki x OC

=

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Delilah inhaled deeply, stirring suddenly out of slumber. Her eyes barely opened and focused on a shadow in front of her before the scream ripped out of her throat. Loki sat up beside her, daggers brandished and in search of blood, eyes wild and unfocused.

"For fuck's sake, Bucky! What the hell!?" Delilah shrieked, throwing pillows at the shadowed figure. For what it was worth, he looked apologetic for having nearly given her a heart attack. She did not, however, appreciate the fact that the only thing between Bucky and her naked form was 800 threads of black Egyptian cotton she was holding up with her left hand. Or the fact that he had found them asleep in Loki's quarters. Or that he found them naked in Loki's quarters. They had made it a point to be careful, and yet here they were.

"Sorry, Li. You didn't answer your phone."

"What's up?" She asked, once her heartbeat had gone back down. Loki groaned, falling back onto the pillows to slumber.

"There's a situation, we're going off on a mission. We were hoping we could borrow him," he replied, jutting his jaw out at Loki, who turned his eyes to stare curiously at the Winter Soldier. "It's that group Dwyer was part of–"

"And you want to take Loki? On a mission?" Delilah glanced to her right, cutting across the calculating green gaze piercing the dark. "He's clear for it on my end, but you might want to, you know, ask him."

"You in? Two days, tops. We're just raiding a warehouse." Bucky stared expectantly. "Strange could use some magic back-up."

Loki narrowed his eyes at Bucky before he sat back up, turning his gaze at Delilah. A hand rested on her bare back, sending a shiver down her spine. "I don't want to leave you alone."

"I have Einherjar and this," she replied, tugging at the silver chain around her neck. "And about a million different daggers. It would only be two days." She shrugged, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes with the heel of her right hand. "Do you want to go?"

"I'd like to assist, yes."

"Good. Wheels up in one hour." He left before the other two could respond.

Loki took care dressing. It had been a while since he had pulled on any clothes that weren't Midgardian in fashion or design. Even for training, he had gone for Earthly training garb, weighing himself down with discs to mimic his armor. He had not felt the need to parade around in his royal dress, and at current moment he debated whether he wanted to break the streak.

The simpler battle leathers hung in his wardrobe fit comfortably. There were no flashy embellishments or trinkets–just leather and magic in black and green, layered and spelled to keep the better part of injuries at bay. Delilah had insisted on helping, despite the fact he could spell his armor on faster than he could explain how each piece fit. Still, there was something soothing about her, still naked from the night before, lacing up his vambraces after a little direction. They had ended up having to refasten his cuisse after a lone brush of her fingers down his chest had caused him to all but rip his trousers off and sink into her warmth.

"Are you nervous?" She asked, sitting cross-legged in bed after summoning the energy to dress. The jeans and T-shirt she wore were no less appealing than her bare skin, so he tore his eyes away before another re-doing of his armor was needed.

"Only about leaving you unattended. Norns know what could happen when I'm gone." The notch that formed between his brows confirmed his concern, but Delilah was quick to brush it aside. Not to mention, she could feel his anxiety as easily as her own.

"I'll be fine. Just hurry up back to me, OK?" Loki nodded, dropping to his knees before her and making a point of kissing her so thoroughly he could sculpt her lips from memory. "Let's go. It's almost time."

"I love you," he said, knowing it would be impossible to say once they got to the helipad.

"I love you, too."

Sam let out a cross between a groan and a yell when they arrived at the helipad ten minutes later. "Frickin' finally! How long did it take you to tear this fool away from a damn book?" Both Loki and Delilah were confused but tried not to show it in their expressions. "Also, why are you in the library at 3 am? Do you have nothing better to do?"

Loki rolled his eyes, looking nonplussed. "Some of us knowhow to read, Falcon," he sassed before cutting his eyes at Delilah. Delilah, however, was mouthing a quiet thank you to Bucky, who shrugged.

Stephen poked his head out of the Quinjet, watching Loki cast one last longing stare at Delilah before marching past him onto the ship. Strange rolled his eyes, frowning at the woman. "Oh, come on! I thought you were better than that!"

"Lower your expectations, Strange. We're all trash," she joked, rolling her eyes just as petulantly. "I want you all back in one piece, OK? Be safe!" She watched Sam, Strange, and Bucky pack into the jet. Loki lingered by the doors as they closed and offered a half-wave that she returned before they had slipped through a portal Strange had evidently created.

--

"Delilah." There was no answer as Pepper waved a hand in front of the other woman's face. "Lilah. Lilah! Lilah! LILAH!"

Seemingly snapping out of it, Delilah turned her eyes at the redhead with a frown. "Did you say something, Pep?"

"Like twenty minutes worth of something, yeah," she joked, closing the files on Delilah's desk with a sigh and pushing them aside. "How long has it been, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that face. I invented that face." Pepper leaned forward, propping her elbows on the desk. "How long since he left on mission, Li?"

Color rushed to her cheeks, and she slumped in her chair despite the desire to deny the accusation. It was no use. She was distracted and jumpy ever since the mission had gone on radio silence. Ever since she felt Loki's last emotion tugging at her through space. "It'll be twenty-nine hours… now," Delilah replied, glancing at the minute hand of the clock on the opposite wall.

"I would say that the waiting is the worst part, but… that's not true," Pepper admitted, eyes softening.

Delilah sighed, not knowing whether to feel better or worse. She had never considered the possibility of anything going wrong. It sounded ridiculous. "I'm not worried. Quick warehouse raid. Two days."

"Oh, you sweet innocent child." Lilah shuddered at the implication behind her expression. "Always add two days to whatever estimate they give you. Always expect them to come home with significantly fewer limbs. Don't watch the news."

Delilah had heeded Pepper's warning. For the most part. She had added extra time to their time away since the team had not shown any signs of returning after 48 hrs. Missing limbs weren't really a concern to Loki, who somehow cheated death an extraordinary number of times. After nine days of no information, however, she had succumbed to the temptation to turn on the news.

"We're coming to you now, live, from the scene of the battle. Early yesterday afternoon the underground movement known as PURITY took arms against the superhero group formerly known as the Avengers. Local infrastructure has been severely damaged and the city evacuated, though local authorities have no estimate for when the area would be safe to return."

Delilah stared the screen, teetering on the edge of her seat as she watched mortar and brick explode in dusty clouds.

"Local witnesses report the sighting of one Loki of Asgard working alongside the superheroes. Loki is better known as the figure responsible for the 2012 attacks in Germany and New York City that ended in the invasion of the Chitauri aliens."

Out of the corner of the screen she could see a pair of golden horns stretching towards the sky in a gentle swoop. He was running, pumping his arms before throwing a dagger in his right hand, dispensing with a group of attackers in a single shot. The image shook and Loki whirled around on a dime. A building in the background was trembling on itself and out the bare front threshold, Sam ran out with a bundle in his arms, one metal wing bent and smoking. Loki glanced up, momentarily frozen, before he made off like a shot. With a twist of his hands Sam flew off to the side, leaving Loki with his arms up, trying to manipulate the building to keep it standing.

Bucky and Strange came out a few moments later, their arms equally laden with bundles that Delilah realized were children. She gasped, a hand covering her mouth–if to keep herself from screaming or crying, she didn't know. On the video, Loki's teeth were grit in effort and concentration, and as time trickled past, his whole body trembled, all in the name of allowing Sam another run inside.

Another building imploded nearby just as Sam skirted by. There was a shouted exchange that Delilah could not read as the air thickened with dust and destruction. She didn't notice that she had kneeled in front of the television set, mere inches away from the picture. With bated breath she watched him slowly turn, trying to get distance between himself and the collapsing structure. Out of the far left corner a group of attackers was closing in. They opened fire upon the god. He threw his mouth open in a roar and in a flash of lights, there was nothing left but rubble.

"Loki!" Delilah squeaked, tears running down her face. As the haze cleared, she could make out Bucky sorting through the stones while Sam and Strange tried to pull him away. Another group was closing in and they had to move. The signal flickered before it went dark.

Lilah wasn't sure how long she had stared at the blank screen for. "FRIDAY, where's the Quinjet?" She demanded as she pleaded for the transmission to restart.

The AI prickled overhead. "The Quinjet is in stealth mode and cannot be tracked."

"Don't give me that shit, FRIDAY. I know Tony patched that bug!"

"I don't have any information, Del. I'm sorry."

She growled, getting to her feet and pacing around the room. Her hands itched to toss things around, a reaction that was very much atypical for her, but there was a desperation in her soul that she could not logically explain away. Sure, Loki had survived far worse, but at what point did the lottery stop pulling up his lucky numbers.

The predatory stalking persisted into the early hours of the morning. She had not stopped to eat or drink, only to bark annoyedly at FRIDAY who continually told her that she had no information. The news channels had lost their feed. She was in the dark both metaphorically and literally. Her pacing had outgrown the expanse of both hers and Loki's apartments, and so she had taken to the hallways. Her stomping footsteps made it abundantly clear that she was not in the mood to talk to anyone. Even Tony's hologram promptly backed away when he naively asked what the matter was.

Around twenty minutes past four in the morning, on the eleventh day, Delilah happened to be walking past the cargo bays on her usual circuit. The complex doors opening caught her attention from several hallways away and she wasted no time in running towards the disturbance.

"You could be bleeding internally, you idiot! Go see Banner!" Delilah could make out Sam's voice yelling over the strained sound of a scuffle.

"Listen here, you pathetic worm. She thinks me dead–"

"And you will be if you don't get checked out!" Sam interrupted. As Delilah turned the corner, she could see Sam holding Loki in a chokehold, and doing his best to hold his own and try to wrestle the Asgardian onto the floor.

"Loki." The name dropped from her lips in a whisper before she had even noticed it. It had been exceedingly quiet, but she felt like, at that moment, he could have heard it across the Nine without issue. A wave of relief washed over her like a riptide that left her momentarily dizzy. They needed to work on controlling emotions through this connection, but that was a topic for another day.

The Asgardian sunk to the floor without any more hesitation and Sam panted. "Will you just tell her you're in love with her so I don't have to deal with your erratic ass every time we go on mission? I can't have you going from chill to feral at the drop of a hat!"

"Dude." It was Bucky who spoke, leaning against the jet doors with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He wiggled the fingers on his left hand and Sam focused on the silver band glinting in the nightlights.

The Falcon turned to Loki with a scowl. "Then, what the hell was that all about?"

"She thought me dead," he repeated, much gentler this time, having eyes only for Delilah. Leaving Sam to mutter angrily under his breath about having to deal with him being crazy for days while turning to unpack the Quinjet with Bucky.

Loki hissed, struggling to get his feet under him. Delilah found she had suddenly frozen to her spot, unsure as to whether or not this was real or if she had become so desperate to see her lover again that she had hallucinated. His right eye was swollen shut and his nose was most likely broken. Though his armor covered most injuries, he was holding his left arm at an odd angle and limping on the same side. Every time he stepped, he left behind a trail of blood droplets from an unknown source.

He still made it to her, close enough for her to close her fists around the loose leather chest piece to keep him from collapsing. Their lips connected in a short but intense kiss that tasted bitter and metallic to her tongue. When she focused, she noticed his mouth was full of blood and she hoped to any deity that would listen that it was his own.

"I need a medic quite urgently."

"FRIDAY, get Bruce to the Medbay."

"On it, boss!"

When Loki came to several hours later, the sun was streaming through the windows of the hospital and threatening to trigger a headache. Beside his cot, Delilah sat, slumped in her chair, asleep, looking about as tired as he felt. They really needed to control their shared emotions. A world away, he had felt the utter terror of when that damn building fell, pinning him down in the process. He felt the despair of thinking him dead, and he was sure she felt his desperate attempts to get back and prove that rumor incorrect. It wouldn't do for them to always have to deal with that. Still, he felt like he had earned the right to her feelings and didn't want to deprive himself of them, ever.

"Hey, you're awake!" Bruce exclaimed, and Loki drew a finger to his lips, gesturing towards Delilah. "Sorry," he continued, much quieter. "You're lucky you're not human or else you'd be pretty much a goner. You maxed out your nanobots treatment in an hour. You'll be out of commission for a while." He tapped at his tablet to page through his medical chart. "Barnes said you saved an orphanage."

"Yes, we did."

"No. He said you saved an orphanage," he corrected, glancing over his glasses.

Loki eased himself up with a hiss. "Yes, well. I am not overly fond of watching children die in a war they didn't ask for." He reached over for Delilah, brushing a curl out of her face with a smile. "Is she going to be alright?"

"She'll be fine. You're the one bleeding internally."

"I'm made of steel. She's cotton wool. I'm a lot more worried about her."

Bruce grinned knowingly. "A little sleep deprivation. She'll be good in a few hours." He replaced the tablet in the slot at the end of the bed. "Should I expect an invitation in the mail or…?"

Loki chuckled. "I'm more likely to shout it off the rooftops now that people know, if I'm honest." He shrugged, exerting as much seidr as he had left to float Delilah into his cot beside him. "I didn't think everyone would be this interested."

"We've learned to appreciate the little things." The giant man shrugged, smiling affectionately at how Loki tucked the girl into his side and wrapped her tight in blankets. "Get some sleep and recover so she can do the same." Loki nodded, snuggling down into the medical bed with a groan. "You did good, Loki."

"Thank you, Banner." Loki frowned at how heartfelt the sentiment became. He felt like, at some level, he was erasing some of the errors of his other self.

[mystech-master]

Some other BBTAG scenarios that’d be cool

(I will now try and limit myself to the o.g. 4, b/c I barely know jack about Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura, Akatsuki Blitzkampf)

I might’ve mentioned some of these before, but I’m including them here for completionists sake

1. Ragna hanging out with Gordeau. I like his interactions with Ragna in BBTAG’s story okay, he treated Ragna with respect. Maybe Ragna meets Gordeau in Kanzakai and he goes to Gordeau’s bar and they chat. Ragna learns about how the Hollow Night works, they could chat about how annoyed that are by their usual aquaintances (Goedeau about Hilda and Chaos, and Ragna about.....well almost everyone in his life). Maybe Gordeau and Ragna get on the topic of revenge, since Ragna wants revenge on Terumi and Gordeau has a vendetta against Wagner. Ragna talks about how he had Terumi at his mercy once (CS’ climax) and Gordeau asks if it was worth it. Ragna notes that it was unsatisfying due to Terumi laughing during it when Ragna wanted him to suffer, AND recalls how Lambda died for him, and says it wasn’t worth it. (I see this as between CS and before CP).

If you want to go even further, maybe Gordeau introduces him to the rest of Amnesia (or Hilda and Chaos show up at the bar as Ragna and Gordeau are talking), and they offer Ragna to join Amnesia, sensing the power he has and saying that they share similar goals of taking down their world’s organizations of Order (Amnesia vs Licht Kreis and Ragna vs the N.O.L.). Of course Ragna tells them to fuck off b/c “When I did it it was for revenge, you’re doing it for shits and giggles” (TFS reference). I mean Hilda says that Amnesia’s purpose is just a bunch of people who want to be powerful and have fun. But they don’t kill, that rule was made clear by Chaos in Ekidu’s Chronicle Mode (following the death of Roger and Ogre in Gordeau’s Chronicle Mode).

2. Ragna in Remnant, like his first visit there. Of course Ruby might want to talk to him more, Yang gives him the benefit of the doubt for saving Ruby, Blake is in the middle considering I think she’d understand the situation they were in but also be wary of his Soul Eater ability (I think Blake would notice that), while Weiss would be against him due to her seeing his wanted poster for 90,000,000,000 PD. Ozpin could have Qrow tail Ragna since he is Oz’ informant and Ragna does seem to be a more active/immediate threat to those who don’t know him (if you want comedy maybe Qrow’s Misfortune semblance causes more grief for Ragna. Assuming that RWBY still have their System Crystal from RWBY’s ending, they could tell Ozpin about this and Oz will be up to speed.

So when Ragna shows up at Beacon he gets called to the Headmaster’s Office where the Ozluminati is waiting for him to just get the run down on things. Ragna’s bad attitude would attract Grimm, and also his Soul Eater makes him quite dangerous in a world where the powers are based on the Soul. Oz doesn’t want to start shit and Qrow probably has enough info to see he isn’t AS bad as people say, and that the situation is far more complicated. But Ragna is still a criminal with a dangerous power. The only reason he’s only being given a warning is due to Ruby’s good word, and if he tries anything, no matter the cost he WILL doe everything in his power to stop him from harming his students or the world he has sworn to protect as a Huntsman. Plus the fact that they can’t exactly enforce the las of a whole other Dimension.

Glynda is a bit wary of Ragna but respects Ozpin’s decissions, but Ironwood is in the camp of “This guy is a danger to us, so we should either contain him or kill him”.

If you want to go a bit more into the adult interactions, maybe after Qrow hears of Ragna’s shit lif ehe tries to take Ragna out to drink, but I think Ragna isn’t one to drink b/c he’d see it as a bitch’s way of dealing with probelms. But if Qrow annoy him to a point they have a drink off, butRagna out drinks him b/c his Azure Grimoire has a healing factor against toxins too (as shown how he shook off poison in one of the mangas) so he can’t get drunk.

Or you could have Taiyang seeing Ragna fight (Grimm, sparring with Qrow, who knows) and he picks up on how Ragna’s fighting is like Yang’s: prefering to go trhough everything and rely on your power when you get in a jam. But it can’t always save you. Maybe even have Tai give Ragna a thanks for saving his daughters, or this could be the only way you imagine Burnie Burns as Tai channel his inner Church and have him sass Ragna.

3. Referencing back to the post about the scene in CS where Ragna is with the Kaka Clan, you know the one I constantly reference. I'd imagine that after a week or so of everyone just chilling with each other Ragna is WAY more chill with everyone. So what I thought was maybe Yang and Akihiko, along with a few others maybe, are at a boxing gym and then Ragna shows up being......oddly more friendly/chill than usual, and just have them all have a friendly spar and just have Ragna be chill and friendl with people who don’t insult him or treat him like ass. I wish there was another cool brawler in UNI that Ragna could get along with to even it out.

4. Something smaller, just put anyone in the Kaka Village and watch cuteness overload. You guys saw how Weiss was with Zwei and Adrien, and Kanji wanted to pet Jubei so imagine how he’d react to the Kaka kittens.

5. Just something simple and cool for fighting shit: The I.T. go through the Emerald Forest in the style of Beacon’s Initiation Exam. With the 4 o.g. members of the I.T./current 3rd years (Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko) for one team, with the later members/2nd years form the other team (Naoto, Kanji, Teddie and Rise).

6. Adam Taurus and some other W.F. members are raiding a Sector Seven outpost/storage facility only to be intercepted by Makoto and Blake. After some fighting maybe Kokonoe talks over intercom or through a video screen so we can have some philosophical discussion between her and Adam,. Adam saying she’s kissed up to humans, while Kokonoe calls Adam and the WF bitches for letting the humans’ insults get to them this far. Makoto and Blake are a but uncomfortable, b/c while Adam is too heated about the animal people racism resulting in him going to murder people, Kokonoe has become a cold hearted bitch who, while not evil, has some issues.

7. How does Raven react to all this Cross-Dimensional bullshit? One idea I had was Yu talking with her to try and get her to see the Power of Friendship! He notes how her power also works through bonds, being able to make portals to those she has an emotional connection to (her former husband, brother, and daughter). Maybe then he unleashes his Wild Card aura to show how powerful Friendship can be (you know, the same aura that makes Elizabeth, the one who oneshots Erebus every other month, step back). Raven could still call Yu a naive idiot for thinking he can stop the horrors of Salem, although even she finds it hard to beleive that when Yu most likely just showed off Izanagi-no-Okami aura which was said by Izanami to possibly be near godlike power.

8. Sho Minazuki and Carmine Prime meeting. Both are vulgar fight happy assholes who have a blood moon motif going on. Sho goes to Kanzakai b/c the Hollow Night is full of assholes he can fight for fun. He and Carmine can fight and mayeb vibe off each other a bit, but Sho at leats has a tragic past while Carmine is just a loser who doesn’t care if he dies in a gutter. Mabe Labrys could say something like “I’m glad that Sho-kun finally has a friend he can relate to.....but.....I don’t think he’s a good influence.” As Sho and Carmine are laughing manicaly as they fight.

9. Ozpin learning about the Insulator and just....needing to sit down. Because as we all know from Vol 6, he had No plan to defeat Salem and was playing the long game defense. But now thanks to this cross-dimensional bullshit, here is the perfect weapon to FINALLY end it! Oz tries to talk to Linne about convincing Hyde to let him use it. But Linne has told Hyde to guard the Insulator with his life, and Linne doesn’t trust anyone else with it. Eventually Ozpin’s desperation leaks through and Linne connects the dots about Salem’s Immortality and Ozpin hiding her immortality. She then holds it over Oz’s head that if he tries to force the Insulator from Hyde she’ll spill his secret.

DRAMA

10. The main heroes (Ragna, Yu, Hyde, and Ruby) all talking with System just wondering what it would’ve been like if they all lived in a merged world. How would their lives be different, imagine them all going to school together? The possibilities are endless.

11. Doctor Oobleck beign fascinated by these other worlds and wanting to learn about their histories. Espeically the Persona and Under Night worlds (as thye are “Earth” worlds where things are very normal, no Grimm to limit humanity to 4 kingdoms and some small villages that get razed to the ground on a weekly to monthly basis. That sounds like it would be FASCINATING for a historian like Oobleck. Unfortunately since Earth doesn’t have dark monsters to unite against, we have a shit load of wars against each other. Which could lead to a lot of philosophical discussions about how people can only band together if they have a mutual enemy.

Just imagine Oobleck talking with Jubei or Bang about the Ikaruga Civil War, just Oobleck and Bang talking would be fun.

12. The robot girls: Noel, Aigis, Labrys, Vatista, and Penny all hanging out. Vatista is the most Robotic, Aigis has the most “life” expereince, Noel is the most “human”, Labrys and Penny are both very human like but naive and lack life experience. So they could all talk about shit.

13. Weiss wanting to spend time with Mitsuru, b/c Mitsuru is basically everything Weiss wants to be: she is an exceptional leader (commanding both SEES in her school years and current leader of the Shadow Operatives), a skilled fighter (Mitsuru flawlessly summons her Persona and Weiss struggles with summons at Beacon, AND her 1 v 1 Win-Loss record is kind of iffy), and she is on her way to redeeming her family name and company (after Mitsuru’s grandad caused the Dark Hour Incident 10 years before P3, and Weiss wants to redeem the SDC from her father) although IDK if it is still going on because A. people are still against Kirijo for the explosion accident 10 years before P3, or B. people are just against a woman being in power. Like Mitsuru is liek a perfect role model for Weiss.

I might add more later, lemme know what you guys think and if you guys want to take these to use them for fics.

[miragepersona]

The first time Lavenza met Rumi....

She didn’t know what to make of the woman... She felt friendly... A bit too friendly in her opinion however she supposes it was better than the treatment she got from the rest of the school.

There was also the fact she could use the appointments to learn some skill which she can apply to her phantom thieve life especially when she was raiding palaces with her friends. However, the more time she spends with the woman; the more she grew fond of the interaction that the girl grew to trust her... One of the few adults that she trusted in the world.

The cheery nature of the woman but yet... Hidden the rose-tinted glasses... There was something hidden that Lavenza couldn’t put her finger on it even when one of her friends came and spoke to them.

Then the woman had to leave before Lavenza could figure out the answer which hurt... However, she didn’t blame the woman even if she did find out that she was a phantom thief that was plaguing the country.  

She knew that Rumi had something important to do and Lavenza wasn’t going to stop the woman from the task especially how she spoke of it... She knew that the task was important to her.

Then second time Lavenza met Rumi...

It was within the fairy-tale like palace as she was companion with the twin sisters, Caroline and Justine, that tried to murder her a couple of months prior with one them ending up trapped with the ship that belonged to an abusive and corrupted father that wanted to rule the country with an iron first and the other being heartbroken that she may never see her sister again.

Lavenza could hear the raw scream that left Caroline when Justine separated herself from the group to deal with the twisted images of herself and her sister in their father’s head along with the shadows came along with them...

She could still remember the promise they made and the chains of the bond they forge intertwine them all.... And the aching pain that she thought she failed to save Justine...

Until she appeared on Christmas day and took the fall with Caroline; promising they always look out for each other.

She was also companion by a friend that didn’t judge her for the profile that the world painted her as.. A gymnast, Sumire, who believed that everyone should help each other and not rely on one source as it could collapse on them then what can they do?

Then the world changed and she was the only few people that noticed the abnormality... Which resulted the small team up of her, Justine and Caroline... And how they ended up exploring the palace together... The palace that Sumire awoken her persona within.

Although Sumire was growing more agitated the further they went into the palace and the headaches she was suffering from only grew worse until they reach a fountain area, which reminded the girl of the fairy fountains that she seen in a video game, where they found Rumi near it.

A warm smile plastered on the woman’s face and she spoke softly; how with her help... She was finally able to grant people’s wishes and bring them to reality... How she could see into their heart and see what their heart yearns for.

Lavenza could the hostile coming from Caroline’s voice; growling at the mere fact that what Rumi was doing... Was wrong and she was merely satisfying herself.

The sadness soon reflected on the woman’s face; pointing out that Caroline might be right however she only granted to give everyone a happy ending... A story where they didn’t have to suffer at the world’s cruel hands.

Then she snapped her finger and the water in the fountain started to project a image... A image that formed a lump in her throat when it was revealed that the girl standing before her, Caroline and Justine...

Wasn’t Sumire but instead Kasumi... The older twin sister of Sumire...

The girl who failed to save her younger sister who died a few months prior in a car accident... All because she hesitated at the last minute and didn’t see her sister’s despair until it was far too late.

Then Lavenza along with the twin sisters were forced to abandoned Kasumi when Rumi took her but not promising that she wouldn’t hurt the girl... That she merely wanted to ease the pain and despair that had consumed her.

She also begged that they should look around them to see that she created a better world which is what she exactly did as there was nothing left to do in the palace.

Lavenza spent the next few days; talking to her friends; questioning them about the dream... She saw how happy they were... Whilst the other two went and research into Rumi and what was happening with the current reality they were stuck in together.

That was the first time she felt heart faltered...

Was it truly wrong to take the dream away when it wasn’t causing them any pain? They were happy and oblivious to the change around them and Lavenza wanted her friends to be happy.

Would it be wrong for her to rip those dreams away?

...It was wrong...

To allow them to remain oblivious to the world especially with everything they been through... The despair, the heartache and the darkness that threaten to swallow them whole as those pain allowed them to grow stronger and bond together.

When she arrived back in the palace with the twins; they were led to where Rumi and Kasumi were.... Where Lavenza turn down Rumi’s reality; a smile forming on Justine’s face whilst Caroline grin widely.

Kasumi only looked on despair and scream loudly at her; telling her not to do this... To not destroy the dream and fall under its spell... Lavenza could only give a weak smile and a sorry expression as they fought against each other.

Hope and Despair bleeding against each other. With Hope winning out.

But it was as short win when Rumi ripped Kasumi’s persona and berserk it... Even with assistance from Justine and Caroline; the raging persona was too powerful for them especially when it was stealing strength from the fairies that Rumi kept summoning.

Lavenza’s heart ached.

Although before the despair could reach them and claim all three of them; her friends finally came... Shocking Rumi.... No doubt in Lavenza’s mind that the woman wasn’t expecting the outcome.

Soon there was a deadline and the situation was explained to the others... Her attendant also gave the same deadline when the two worlds would become one after they all arrived in the Councilor room.

....The room brought back memories where she talked to Rumi...

The third time Lavenza met Rumi

It was onto of the tower where one could see the world and the bell hung higher above them all that simply didn’t chime...  Her grey eyes simply looking at the woman who could only smile at her; wishing that it didn’t turn out this way.

Lavenza had a promise and a deal...

A promise that she made with a man who truly didn’t belong in this world... A lost soul who wanted his wife to be saved from the pit of despair that had swallowed her whole.... A lost prince wandering within a kingdom whom wanted to save his princess.

Even if it meant he couldn’t do it alone and be with her when she was finally saved from the despair that clutched tightly around her heart.

A deal with two girls who knew that one would be lost forever on a ship whilst the other continue on her path; forced to abandoned the other and live a life without her.

The world was truly cruel but Lavenza knew that she had to end the dream.

The fight against Rumi was harsh and started when the light blue cloth melted into something black and a mask of a dragon formed around her face... The cape on her that once represent wings... Were now ragged and filled with countless stars.

A dragon that wanted to protect her treasure.

They fought with everything they had.... They threw everything at each other; determined to make the other fall.. Even when they were pushing their body to the limits... They did everything in their power to end the dream.

Even when Lavenza grabbed the treasure and they ran out of the tower as it fell apart around them.... Rumi refuse to give up on the dream and wishes she granted for everyone as she used the treasure to fuse her persona...

Turns out she wasn’t the only one who could a persona the size of a skyscraper.

The situation only grew worse when the woman fused with the persona; making the persona nearly invincible... Showing just how far she was willing to go to grant everyone’s wishes and dream.

However... It wasn’t enough and like the previous god that fell beforehand; Lavenza knocked her out from the heaven by firing a single bullet at the weak point with her friends and comrades... Finally letting the dream end...

The bell chiming in the background.

But despite it being over.... There was last fight...

Lavenza fell from the sky and landed on the glassy panel where the woman, in her blue dress, stood who only smiled; requesting to remove the last of the distortion within her heart before letting a scream as the mask that they wore faded from their face... Showing their true form.

A human who been broken ever since the love of her life left her and never healed from the pain. A girl who only wanted to help everyone in their life and save people from the pit of despairs.

Even the blows given to each other didn’t reflect the hardship that they went through as they were both exhausted from everything but yet the girl stood as the woman fell to her knees letting out all the pain out.

Then the prince arrived to see the fairy... His princess one last time... Thanking the thief from stealing her from the despair whilst the black tears fell from Takuto’s face before falling and Rumi grab him and held him with clear tears falling from her face.

Lavenza watched as they exchanged the words.

The world and snow falling around them before the floor cracked and fell apart below the two pairs; causing Lavenza to run and grab both of them even when she knew that one of them would die regardless of her action... Even when Rumi didn’t understand the girl’s action.

It didn’t matter. She had always been a fool. A fool with a bleeding heart.

Soon a light of hope shone on them and soon shortly the world vanished around them... The dream ending as Lavenza woke up.

The fourth time Lavenza met Rumi

It was when she was leaving Tokyo as she was finally free from the chains that weighed her down and her innocence proven; allowing her to return home... Even if it meant leaving her friends behind... And being followed by a black car that shouted nothing but trouble for the black hair girl.

Her friends gave her a smile before driving off to distract them after a taxi drove by Rumi showed up.

The woman gave a smile.. A smile that was filled hope.

“Thank you, Lavenza... You kept your promise with Takuto... and... If you ever find yourself struggling in life then you can always start over, like me or rely on someone like your friends... So please remember that and keep your head high as you are a remarkable woman.”

“Good Luck.”

[eldricktobin]

“Man was gifted the spark of fire!”

Big long story made out of a dream below.

/So quench that fire not in any old beer./

*scene of a triumphant college team carrying their hero who looks at an empty spot in the onlookers before being carried to the lockerroom*

"Bitterlife(TM)? Not for us champions!" *the team pours the lesser brew into the toilet... knowing the other teams are doing the same, drinking it, or crying into their toilets.*

"Only Goodlife(TM) for winners!"

/Goodlife. The taste of victory!/

'So'

'No your son couldn't muster the right expression so we cut him from filming today. Want another go with him tomorrow?'

'No. One day or one week isn't going to reach him. He's a screw up,' says the man who was just playing victorious champion... a role he'd played for real not 4 weeks prior.

March Madness. So many dragons burnt to ash. Better them than us.

But why shouldn't man turn it into a celebratory spectacle? Hadn't we won the right? Just knowing how to kill the great beasts wasn't enough we still HAD TO DO IT OURSELVES.

Couldn't that boy understand?

And there's no reason he couldn't. There was no pet drake the family kept to keep the boy from feeling the spark without help. Hi mageblade, a symbol of his desire to not be killed ooffhand without a fight was as long and as shiny as his mother or fathers. Infact it sparkled in way their's did not.

He cheered himself hoarse just fine too. And he recounted the whole shebang to his mother with exuberance and precision as she couldn't attend due to guard duty as usual.

Of course as sacred a task as it was, the boy couldn't travel that road either. Your inner fire had to be ready to melt your bones, to do the same in an instant to any who would rob the sacred dragon parts stronghold... for those pieces too tenacious to just die. The spirits of the beasts obviously powering them long after their hearts had stopped beating. Every piece a threat to all human life should they not be ritually scorched daily to keep their sizes manageable.

No one wants to stare eye to eye ... and be little more than a tick on an eyelash... with a full grown continent devastator. A class that should never be met again. ertainly provided the schools kept vigilantly training and the youth gleeful or dutiful enough to lead their campuses towards the madness.

"Something wrong with the shoot?"

The gruff recent victor turned to the voice... then up to the face. Two of the heads regarded him with concern, the third pity. He knew why "Cerebus"'s third head always pitied man... currently himself... but man in general. It was just disconcerting. Pity from a dragon. Even a 'runt drake' as their classification ran. Butstill pity. Pity because man will be tortured for eons should the dragons. the true dragons rise back up. Big C here would just be consumed as a traitor and completely cease to be. Spirit extinguished to never blossom forth ever again.

And yet... pity for man. Or at least him. Maybe pity the boy was still a disappointment?

'Just...'

"Your son then?"

'They said he couldn't do something right again for the shoot. It's done now. Commercial is a go. No more reshoots. HUZZAH!'

"And yet you're not happy."

'Nope. I anted to look at him and see his smiling face. Proud of his dad. Not just that mask of horror that I could have died. And yes. Don't start. I could have. I can incinerate a head with my own spark. not enough to stop the 10 headed monstrosity we were up against...'

"But enough to stop it cold in it's proverbial tracks. Oh I know. I was forced to keep the toes chilly for types like that one."

'Really. All that scaly bulk?'

And the two wandered off talking about Big C's years and years under the harsh dictates of his betters.

Why wouldn't the runts have risen up when mankind asked if they would rather the tables turned. If they would rather be the gods of their kind instead. A dragon -out of body- is tormented by all their faults as are all the greats beasts who haven't a scrap of their flesh moldering in a stronghold. Summary consumption for a traitor is more than half of the surviving drakes could dream of. That requires their former betters to give half a flap about them. Runts were appliances. Furniture. If there had been cannons at the time... cannon fodder.

Sure they still make some humans cower... they are still dragons. But in a way they are so very proud of what man has done with the time given them by asking the runts for aid.

Cities. Not just round hut villages. Arts. Not just cave paintings. Science... magecraft...

And sports to keep their bodies ready for the next challenges... be they from the sea or an uprising. The runts would not like an another uprising. Advocates and colaborators -and of course traitors- are first on the chopping block. Or chomping rather. The analogy loses something.

NEWS FLASH! A stronghold getting ashed! Guards slain... a visiting son here on a lunch break not even able to summon his knife in the face of such tragic loss... *tv shuts off*

NEWS FLASH! Would be vigilante Afrent Stone killed with the purpetrators of the recent stronghold raid that necessitated... *tv shuts off*

"See this tree?" Big C bites through it in two chomps. "That could be you! One of those heads there," he waves his snout vaguely at his self removed 2 other heads,"could leap for you at a moments flicker even as you think it is dying. It is not. Neither are. They are regenerating. AND soon there will be 2 more three headed dragons on this spot. They might not be as merciful as I am. So incinerate those heads!"

And once again the team summons all the spark it can, the team captain rounding up all the sparks -but one- and trying to kindle a greater fire... and can't.

Big C shakes his head and motions to the fire team nearby. They ash his discarded heads. One a side note Big C kinda like helping this way. So much clarity of thought, and since central is the poet... poetry for days. Until the other heads come back. Then it's sports and... oh.

That one didn't help again.

Cerebus could smell real fear from him and all the other boys and girls of the team. But no relief. Rage... and likely self directed... both parents lost... but then. The boy's tone changes immediately.

She has come. fighting long years of 'high school is for high school, and college is for college' the lad's high school and current girlfriend has come over to see him. Third head likes to stalk and lurk such matters, but central has poetry to right... after the report of fire session 2 of the 130 or so planned before March Madness.

More of course would get tacked on if they were really getting a good roasting in their souls.

The team captain just hollered something about requisitioning wingparts, but Big C is off to his quill and pays no mind to it.

"So. How'd it go? Could you roast marshmellows with Grot leading the charge? Or would you be tasting ash?"

He sullenly smirks,"Well we could still smash them into paste. Grot would like that. But as for flames... No nothing. You'd think we'd have a better showing even with me in there. I man Grot just ashed everything in high school."

"When handed the reigns of an inferno even I could scorch something. Yes even a witch could blaze IF handed a ragin inferno. Otherwise..."

"We bring the thunder!" he said into an imaginary microphone.

She play pushed him then,"It's not a boxing match."

'Do you think humans are getting soft?' he asked kind of out of the blue. Something he worried about all the time. He'd never asked her, but finally it seemed the right time.

"You? Nightmares about tentacles?"

'Not that. Just. In history we covered how boxing came from duels. And how step by step it went from blades to cushioned gloves. Some boxers would get cut to ribbons in a knife fight... that sort of thing.'

"Well we still have March Madness to put the fear into anything out there. And failing FIRE EVERYWHERE, we have witches and warlocks and our lightning. We show krakens what for regularly. And we haven't seen a flying tentacle cloud in years. Might have snuffed them all out."

"Hmm..."

"And so if we're a bit softer," she kissed him,"Maybe we've earned it?"

"I'm just worried about the horizon."

"Fire, humanity," she ticks off with her hands," lighting, and force... also humanity," she grins," Ice, the drakes. Most sea beasts are mindless enough to tear into anything thrown at them... or thrown at... so water. I think we're covered for elements."

"Fire humanity."

"You have no trouble with assistance. Maybe you just need more practice."

"I don't know if my heart can take all that. All the fear... the worry... So many dragons imagined coming for my face."

"To crunch you down,"she paused for emphasis,"to make flames,"she made as if to climb a pulpit -or mountaintop,"to sear the world," she got all spooky hand wavey before bursting out laughing.

"Yeah," he shared the laugh at the old school texts.

On point, but also so over the top melodramatic. After a few of those old texts you had no problem thinking every shadow was after you and poof. Mageblade. Some classes brought in a witch or warlock to make the shadows 'actually come at you' for the holdouts. But by 5 years old. Poof. Mageblade. Then when you were older, history told you why they pushed it so young. And combat training told you just how capable a blade manifest from your desire to not die to put up a fight to your last breath can do.

Like pierce and carve dragonscale. SHED dragonscale. For living scales cannot be made art. Shed ones are dead and will not wither further.

/And wear a face mask when carving... and/ his mind was everywhere. But here. With the love of his life.

"So," he started coming out of his reverie about past lessons.

"Oh?" she looked at his face. She noted the determination and faint whiff of fear,"Ah! Practice makes perfect?"

"Yeah. Sorry. But I think I'm in the zone. I felt the spark in others. So maybe."

"No! Go go gogo go I know how dear this is to you. Team sheam. You have to do this for you. I'll catch up with you later." Her smile. It was his world.

And so... on half remembered trumpeting from the captain he went to get a tube of dragonwing. Rolled up it did not do much more than try to grow itself flat, but it didn't have the growth force to burst the fire forged 'volcanic' glass.

In a way it was also... content? That's all he could think. It was warm with the trace embers of the fire magic in the glass walls. When his mother was first out of college and swept up by the Guard Elite she made things like this in her internship. Sometimes she'd wake up, she had said, with tubes and tubes and plates and glasses made all about her from a near all-nighter crafting. Due to her power her internship had been short.

Once again he was on the wrong parts of his history. He needed to concentrate on say... his mother's power. Not that he was himself unfit for the Guard Elite.

Also if he was to think of his father's meteoric sports career -before the tragedy- he needed to focus not on how he was a raging void of disapppointment, but again on his father's power. Howhe could feel -and the whole stadium as well- the fire his father commanded when he took up the captains mantle when the team captain caught a rogue winggust into a plinth and died. First death in a decade.

No fire. Power. Fear and flame.

The wing flexed and pulsed. It could sense him. But then as it was regenerating it was not dead flesh. The dragon's spirit was there. Waiting to pounce and consume. Maybe teach him and the rest of humanity how to live in a little tube as a scrap of flesh. Or dozens of tubes. He had no idea.

You requested, and if all was right with your transcript and your request. Poof. A bit of wing. from wing it would take months for a full dragon to regenerate. In fact it would be a lethal meat brain dumb beast at first. Then it would get its first kill... and in no time at all that stupid brain would grow crafty, capable of speech. Capable of relentless mountains of hate.

In a way hate powered their regeneration. A ice way of keeping the fear and worry right at the tip of your brain.

"This tiny little thing wants me dead," he said in the quiet of the lockerroom. Just as fireproof as a classroom and less likely to set a class back a week if there was an inferno. The showers would be better but no surface to set the wing on but the floor and that's ill advised.

No this place would do. An alarm klaxon was just steps away, and medical care only a minute away from that. He could end up lighting his face on fire after all. Maybe not through the bone or anything... but...

He was stalling. He popped the metal stopper, and slid it out on the bench.

In seconds it unfolded as if waiting for the right moment. Patient as a glacier. It could wait that month out with the patience of winter's chill.

/Melt that chill./ he thought. /Become the inferno./

He reached into himself for the spark that he could slightly feel answering the embers contained in the tube. Those embers wanted to be an inferno, so too did his spark.

and he projected that onto the wingbit when he could hold it no longer...and...

A few damage streaks was all he had garnered. Sears or tears that it regenerated away. Not even enough to stick. He imagined even Grot doing this could slowly char it by himself. Grot could gather and magnify, but he couldn't light a candle.

"I can melt wax what is wrong with me!" the tube went flying. He didn't remember throwing it... but he could feel the warm in his hand. He'd just been holding it in a death grip.

'Typical failure.'

"Who's a failure now?" she had returned. Probably looking for him. He'd been gathering spark for... yikes... a full hour? Another two and the janitors would have some words.

"I lost track of time. I was spark gathering."

"And?" she was so much more excited than he felt.

"And... healed the sears away. More like tears really. Like I was trying to cut it to pieces."

She held her hand up and concentrated,"There is only fire here. No changing major for you."

"Can you sense where the tube went?"

She paused before answering,"Yes. But later. You have a live... specimen there to dispose of. We can triumphantly muddle about in the dark later."

"Even if it is just more of the same?"

"Shred it then," she said smiling.

He concentrated, gathering his own sparks, and poof just more regenerated shredding. She produce a notebook sheet, and they wrapped the wing in it... but now it didn't seem threatening.

It burst its cage. Threat renewed. With a gusto.

He tried again she bid him to wait and hold it... maybe rub them on each other?

"That's electrical. These aren't firesticks or matches," he said while concentrating. He could concentrate all year, and amidst all sorts of distractions. Passed the 'pan trials' with ease.

"Point. But hang onto it anyway... try to squeeze more sparks out." She herself was catching the mood. Lie many witches her was electrical to start... she didn't have to make the switch like a warlock... like a warlock while some THING in a tank was menacingly sliding closer and all the fire in the world won't seem to save you. Well unless you can catalyze a bonfire.

A catalyst! She felt for the tube, but it was in the shower... it's last embers snuffed, in that watery domain. /The little bullied bastard of glass./ she fumed to herself. The water was very active in there. Too bad they didn't need any.

A catalyst... she calmed herself and thought about it. Searing, burning, cutting. "Cutting!"

"What's that then?" he was still working on his spark gathering.

'You need a catalyst.'

"I'm not a..."

"Well aware but you need a catalyst. Something to grab a hold of. Just like if you were passing fire around as a team. But I can't give you the right spark and while my spark makes a flame it is a mundane flame. The reaction of electricity and... say paper. All the mundane fire in the world won't help. So concentrate on the cutting aspect. Hold your blade. the symbol of not wanting to die... and " she waved her hands about. "Cut it up."

Sure she was fishing for more bridging the gap terms, but when she was discovered to be a witch she got advanced placement and never had anymore fire courses. It was considered a waste. Both of them wished that were different. And while the chemistry refresher was useless, he could always try to ignite the bench.

But it was worth a shot. His knife was sharper than most... maybe she was on to something. Maybe that was the sparkle. A little bit more of himself in the blade. A little bit more panic, fire and fear. Yes. Some strongholds use lenses and light to burn dragon-parts. Maybe just maybe all his parents raw power was in him focused.

A fine straw indeed worthy of pride.

His knife came readily and without flare as always. Some pifted in some blazed their lives into existence. His was just there in an instant. "Since this is concentration it'll probably start spinning."

"Still? You're not 10 anymore," she chuckled standing further away. He motioned towards the alarm. She nodded. Spinning knives? What could go wrong. Many things. You often hurt yourself the most...

He started concentrating again... almost picking up where he'd left off. Most of his gathered sparks were still within. There were so many differences they were rarely cataloged.

Some had a roaring fire within and it allowed a kindling spark to be taken from it... like pulling a log from a campfire to make a torch, or in reverse to set several torches down to create a campfire.

Still others like reaching into a sotty oven for a warm coal. They often make good captains as all the spark light that... brickette... into a true brandishable blaze.

Speaking of differences if she had her blade out and spun it on her finger she'd be using her hand to maintain the spin. Later on she'd use her power as a witch to even spin the blade in the air. She could shear a wing off with that. Size immaterial until there's just too thick a size... and then the size helps tear it off.

But still all the differences can't explain why he's been messing up. So he concentrates. Blade spinning round his finger. Faster and faster it goes.

She'd tell him to slow it down but she can feel his fire gathering. She was starting to catch that primordial excitement humans get around fire. There was something a tad off in what she was picking up. Maybe more worry than fear for his life?

The wing bit was now the size of a dinner plate. This was kinda the last attempt before fire-team work. She needed to reassure him and help his focus.

"Do you feel the fire?"

"Yes... I think I do!"

"Then imagine that dragon there... dead!" she instructed like one of her teachers... minus the pointing knife.

It was over very quickly. There was a blinding flash. But no smell of burning dragon flesh. His knife had stopped spinning. Something seemed off to her but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"It'll be okay..." he said out of the blue.

she looked at his face. he looked strained... in... pain? she cast her glance back. pommel in hand... curved blade like all others... the ring the closest thing to a hilt. All ten inches... accounted... for? Her eyes went wide.

"It... flashed out... to the wing... I heard cutting and searing... spinning all the while..."

The knife was plunged in his side. It had come back, but in the light dazzle he hadn't caught it right... and stabbed himself? She pulled the alarm.

In anger she looked around for the wing-bit to zap it. Cook it with lightning till it twitched no more. Til it withered and died.

"I think... it came back with it..." and he slumped to the floor. the blade fell away clattering only once.

No blood to be seen. The wing had mended... no covered the hole... and likely was trying to... He convulsed mightily. Yes it was trying to consume him.

The next hour was tense. He drifted in and out of consciousness. White robes here and there ordering red and white robes around by the cartload.

"I've told you five times sir."

"Again then! I'll not tolerate cheaters in my school."

"He was just practicing."

A new voice chimed in. "If this were the Cooper lad you'd be onto something. And again if it were the Cooper lad he'd not do it until Finals. This is the Stone boy. Power and failure follow him everywhere."

The boy heard the stern voice pan and shift... even shift gears,"Well then this is a powerful failure. If he lives he may not wish to continue to do so."

"He's been a pariah, sir."

"Oh Miss Everdale. This is far beyond pariah. A Pariah is shunned, ostracized and kicked out. Exiled. This. If he lives is... yes a social outcast... under permanent house arrest. e'll not even be allowed to take his own life if... his new nature will let him."

He was fading out of consciousness again as she asked,"Will let him?"

"Dragon blood broaches no longing for death. It wants to live live live!"

And young Stone dreamed... or saw the future.

Looking in the mirror at the tender tiny scales covering his face, he brushed what signs and evidence he could from them of the previous night. The soft glow remained. This time he was sure it was his eyes... glowing. Perhaps he had blushed his last.

"Don't forget your class."

He /was/ trying to lose himself in the moment. Trying to enjoy his gilded cage existence. Every enjoyable scrap. But with that announcement the Guard would be coming to escort him to the same.

He dreaded the classes most. Because every student that respected him was someone who would be yelled at later. Everyone who smiled while sickened would be reminded later. Reminded by their pals that Stoneman could incinerate you to ash with a snap of his fingers or a secretive glance.

Which reminded him of the same. Of course remembering things was all too easy now.

"Glowing eyes. I like it."

"Most won't."

"Well /I/ like it," she grinned her melting grin,"Rest of you isn't so bad either."

She brushed his chin. His scales never snubbed or caught on her skin. To her he was as smooth as a fish... but he had trouble using towels. He had only the barest hint of twin horns on his head, and a beard that he had to use his mage-blade to trim, as little else would do, so all in all he was far better off then the odd idiot who ate dragon for fame, glory, power or all three.

But they already were at their worst. He till didn't know if he was done. Well not physically. Mentally was always his worry. He was still the older version of the orphaned Stone child... mostly called Stoneman now due to his rough teaching style.

At least he had a teaching style. At least he had a job. He could still help humanity. Unlike some with dragon blood who have to be chained down and experimented on to try to undo... just too much damage.

Even if you reverted the physical like one lady... the mental. Oh that was another mess. And of course much like himself... she actually does have scales. Hers are just even smaller still. She had to be cut down as she faked her mental recovery. Some can't make up her mind if she should be called cannibal or not.

To Stone? She was a monster. Monsters have no species.

He kinda wished he wasn't now a walking catalog of human folly with dragon-flesh. But he'd heard it all now.

She pulled his hood all the way down.

"What in the..."

"You're worried about the eyes. Right?"

"And a /horde/ of other things," he said trying to be punny. Whether he'll get horde tendencies always a worry.

"Then hood down. Show off that resplendent mane."

Lithe and with good hair is how the process left him for now. Granted it was not hair per se. But it acted and looked like hair. Was it micro-fine horns? He'd like to not think about waking up with a pillow attached to his head.

She felt their arrival a second before he did. "Show all the mercy you can."

"They need all the encouragement I can muster. I know."

"Then you'll be great as usual. Off you go."

And as usual right before they knocked on his door he opened it, tried to smile, waved inside once and closed it again. Then they walked together the six of them out of the labyrinth that was built around his current home/dwelling/cell/micro-vault. It was not a stronghold. None had tried yet to go in very far.

And they'd still have to contend with his wife. A title she'd never expected to have. Quite the scene forging that title for herself when she was told she could never see him again, and she was thrown out bodily to find two mage-blades hovering at the throat of the man who ordered her removed. Her own and /her/ Stone.

In fact that was when he actually fully regained consciousness. "Please don't hurt her. This is a show of force."

"... Yes a show of force." the air crackled around her even as the Guard closed in from elsewhere on the floor.

Backing away from the blades, expertly moving forward following his every move and darted escape attempt, not cutting him even as he gulped and spoke,"You aren't perhaps..."

"For all you care I'm pregnant! I am going to see him! Whenever I want!" maybe she sounded a little petulant and childish, but she got the point across.

At this point there was only one blade. And a very embarrassed boy getting over a fatal case of dragon-poisoning.

But that was then and a memory. A time capsule permanently preserved in his mind

This, however, is a bland walk under guard through courtyards, under more scrutiny than a known traitor. Mainly because there are those just watching for the second he goes rogue.

Somehow he always beats his class to the learning trees. A copse grown back daily if needed. Trees that so long ago Cerebus held primary sway over. Now he was afforded the luxury of other classes to better help explore the minds of dragon-kind. Considering-the-new-development.

But still it is the best place to shed and rub on good bark so Stoneman and Cerebus exchange a nod. Central, and First head glowed forth with a solid smile happy to see him continue to be well. Third head now gave a baffled expression, as was the usual lately. But with neither allowed enough time in even semi-privacy to talk, letters were the only way. Big C just had to find the right turn of phrase to grasp all it's nuances... with two heads interrupting. In any event a new letter was nailed to a tree, and then the Three-headed Drake was off to teach his favorite new class: Poetry. The other two heads just had to suffer, and heckle. The heckling was also on the test.

Not a second after the guards spread out, and the students arrived the class began,"Do you feel the fire. You should a dragon was just here. Depending on who you know you might think a dragon stands before you. So. Do you feel the fire?"

Several affirmatives. He immolated his own hands and passed the sensation of immolation around to all of them kindling their inner fire. At that very moment they'd have all made it into the Guard Elite. They were kind of getting used to this. "I said do you feel the flame!"

"Yes Sir!"

With a point of his finger he put the smallest fire in front of the nail damaged tree. "That is now a dragon. Imagine its hatred. It knows your fear. It delights in it. You feel the fire instead! The fire to survive!"

"We feel it sir."

"Then immolate the dragon."

The captain gathered the fire from them all directing it at the tree and the tree was bare cinders... the burnt shed scales a reminder of the smell of burning dragon. Stone rather felt Big C would like this method. Maybe missing the clarity of tearing his own heads off, and then poetry corner but... they didn't struggle for months. And all schools that sent students to train with him felt the flame. And in no time at all they were the flame.

"Wow sir I must say. Always impressive."

He grunted and quirked an eyebrow.

"It's just so impressive to not have to learn from a dragon and... sir... sir?"

But he'd already grown distracted by the need to prepare for the next class and wandered to the refreshments table. And there was always one that gushed and dismissed learning from a dragon. Not knowing even the kindest of them might show you the greatest kindness and use you as an example to show the other students how to have the edge to victory.

He'd been tempted once or twice. Never know when you have to defend yourself or something you love... and you might have to

At a moments notice.

And the dream faded he was on a table, instruments all about him. Roes of every sort arrayed at the monitors. He heard a crash it was familiar. H heard a girl's voice. Saying something so...

familiar, and out his blade came and danced and followed.

He knew what to say from the dream... within a dream? Any way he looked at it it seemed as real as yesterday... or tomorrow? The words came... demanded... anything else might break the tension... poorly.

"Please don't hurt her. This is a show of force."

"... Yes a show of force."

~fin~

This was from a dream... I've been going through a mess of fate grand order, and at some point Monty Python crept in. young Stone there's name might as well be Tim... it ISN'T but might as well be. For he can throw fire like Tim the Enchanter.

This has been the most coherent my dreams have been... and of course there's bit more on the page than what was DIRECTLY dreamt. I always have back and forward fill so... yeah.

Some crystal ball Q&A:

>dragons as icy things? In this setting they are natively cold blooded. "True" dragons have undergone a metamorphosis to produce some heat internally... by eating people.

>man was gifted the spark of fire? like Prometheus without Prometheus. it's not quite the same fire as lighting a match. because that's a chemical fire and doesn't itself generate 'ember' in the magical sense.

>so everyone has this ember? unless they're a witch -born with a lodestone- or learn to convert it, a warlock. The terms are gender neutral in this setting. You would say Bob is a witch if he was born with it or Sara is a Warlock if she had some menace aimed at her or a family member of the watery and covered-in-tentacles persuasion.

>does any fire generate fire? any at all? none before man came with their interpretation of 'fire'. blizzards make lightning strikes and that made fire but nothing in the world /produces/ 'fire'.

>what made man? damned good question. I'll have to think on it.

>what made the dragons? The Shapers of The Void. they reignited the star, and set the planets in motion. it was the perfect dead system. they used most everything extra-system as fuel for the new paradigm.

>so some remnant of this extra-solar whatzit made man? maybe `-` sounds like a legit good idea to go with.

>it's not Earth. Nope.

>And yet... Some things just happen the same when you have humans. Some end up the same but got there differently. here and there a term is draconic in origin. example. if the dragons had a dragon to blame for humanity they'd call that one Pandora. They gave the story of Icarus and Daedalus... drakes of a wingless type using eating humans to fly. Daedalus would have rather plummeted than exploded, and exhaled a brilliant green and indigo trail. Icarus would not. Icarus savored too long. Boom. They were consumed for daring to rise above their station. Now where the dragons got them. who knows `-`

>Consumed Else they'd have been reborn and who knows what else they'd get up to.

>So wait. That stronghold was put to ash. Yes.

>So if any parts that got ashed... were /all/ of a given dragon... then that dragon would be reborn? Yes.

>Dragons come in categories? From runts and drakes which run the gamut, to true which can consume humans safely and produce fire... up to continent threateners. Think Shooting Star from Lodoss. Some smaller beasts are big threats too depending on lung and stomach capacity. and inhale exhale rate. Drakes even have to check their eggs for trues being reborn in them. Or almost true dragons. they have poorer capacities... until they get bigger @.@

>Is there more? dunno `-`v

>seriously? Often once I start I can muddle at an idea almost forever. Then in time I get that next big inspiration and fire it into 7th gear. Then back to idling. Mostly I wanted this out of my head. `-`v

[swipestream]

New Release Roundup, 7 April 2018: Fantasy and Adventure

A strange typewriter ribbon speaks to an occult investigator, a Texan soldier must delay Santa Anna’s march to the Alamo, Imperial Rome discovers the New World, and more in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure.

Blessings and Trials – Thomas Davidsmeier

A Sojourner settlement is attacked by Exile fallen angels and their monstrous minions. Three young friends are separated from their families. Now the soldier’s son Litharus, loving and kind Ingrid,and precocious Gwendolyn must set out together to find their parents. Even though the whole world seems to be aligned against them, they have a secret advantage. Each of these young Sojourners has a special magical Blessing. Are these magical talents enough to escape the Exiles hunting them and help them finally find safety in their parents’ arms?

The intertwined tales in Blessings and Trials span generations and cross seas and continents. They are woven into a world full of dragons, demons, and angels that has been shaped by the currents of magical powers throughout its history. But like the works of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis that inspired it, this novel is an authentic story of Faith, Hope, and Love battling the forces of Evil.

Chicago Typewriter – Brandon Fiadino

During a brutal territory dispute with the Chicago Outfit, Emilio Enzo and his associates discovered just how deeply involved the criminal underworld is in the occult and supernatural. Using hidden pathways to our world, forces of pure evil have worked in secret to maintain their dark stronghold on the city. Now those forces are back to take their revenge on the one man willing to challenge their reign by stealing the soul of his girlfriend Kat.

While visiting an old shop full of oddities, Emilio comes across an antique ribbon for a typewriter with an unusual history. And after bringing the strange red ribbon home and spooling it into his machine, he is startled when it begins to communicate with him at night….

The Horn’s Fate (Ten Tears Chronicles #4) – Alaric Longsword 

Goddess Nött ended Shannon’s reign over the realm of Scardark, and thus, also thwarted the plans of the mad goddess of the dead, Hel. Nött, the wicked goddess of the night and a lover of desperate wagers, set Dana, the least likely of the Ten Tears to be trusted, on a hidden path for Midgard with the mighty Horn of Heimdall, Gjallarhorn, the key to the closed gates.

Dana, having previously failed to guard her sister, and having foully betrayed her companions, must now find a way to unite what remains of the Ten Tears. On this almost hopeless mission to Midgard, the land of the men, Dana leads a volatile dragon, bitter Anja, and a dubious assassin Gutty to find the whereabouts of a long-lost First-Born. Should she succeed, she must also convince such a being to agree to restore Odin to his worlds.

At least Hel, and Shannon seem defeated, and Euryale and Stheno are both dead, victims of Shannon’s ancient dagger Famine.

And yet, the Goddess Hel, despite her madness and greed for vengeance, is a meticulous, cruel planner who does not rely on one plan. Something odd is afoot in Midgard. Also, Dana’s hidden burden is finally revealed. She must fight to keep her sanity and focus, as a powerful being inside her head is slowly corrupting her, aiding her when it suits it, and perhaps, by giving Dana even more power and greater skills, finally guiding her for a new destiny.

Journey of Fate (The Godling Chronicles #7) – Brian D. Anderson

It has been 18 years since the fall of the Reborn King, and Jayden Stedding, son of Gewey, dreams of adventure. Life as a farmer in Sharpstone offers very little excitement. But like his father before him, fate will descend like a storm and soon he will learn that with adventure comes peril. And when you are the son of a god, that peril can shatter worlds.

Heaven is once again in turmoil and Gewey Stedding is missing. And it falls to Jayden to find him. But his journey will take him places even the gods fear to tread. Carried to the edge of madness, he must restore hope and prevent time itself from being upended

“A brilliant continuation to The Godling Chronicles. I can’t wait for the ultimate book. The sole thing I didn’t like was…I have to wait on the final book!”–Amazon Reader Review

The Last Judge (Cloak Games #10) – Jonathan Moeller

My master made a deal with the devil, but I’m the one who has to pay.

Two items I’ve stolen for the Rebels, and I only need to steal one more thing for them.

Trouble is, it’s in Last Judge Mountain, a secret military base left over from before the High Queen of the Elves conquered Earth.

There are things in Last Judge Mountain that should never again see the light of day.

And if I go into the mountain, I might never come out again…

The Last Full Measure – Jack Campbell

America, 1863: the dream of the Founding Fathers has become a nightmare. The ideals of freedom and individualism have fallen to tyranny, corruption and greed. Wealthy industrialists of the North and slave-holding plantation owners of the South now hold power through the might of the military and puppet politicians—and all who defy them are declared traitors to the United States of America.

Condemned for daring to speak against the government, Prof. Joshua Chamberlain is on his way to a penal plantation when his prison train is captured by the Army of the New Republic—a growing force of courageous soldiers who wish to restore the United States to its original righteous path. Joining a company of heroes with names such as Hancock, Longstreet and Armistead, Chamberlain finds himself joining the fight for freedom. But to win that freedom—and keep it—the rebellion needs a leader who is not a soldier, but a living symbol of the cause with the wisdom and fortitude to lead America back into the light.

Chamberlain knows exactly where to find such a leader. A man who is currently being held in the most secure and dangerous prison in the country, where his treasonous ideals cannot be heard. A man whose refusal to bow to those who proudly claim slavery as a way of life has already made him a legend. A man they must rescue at all costs…

A man called Lincoln.

The Lightning Fall (Relic Cycle #2) – Steve Rzasa

An ancient darkness reawakens. An empire casts its shadow over the East.

And together they seek: the Lightningfall.

Bowen Cord has embraced his gift. He uses his ice-summoning in service of others, while relishing the quiet comfort of raising his family. There is no denying the call to a quest, however, when a mysterious woman arrives at the Aevorn village bearing a stone with the rumored ability to reach the dead.

Bowen will have to assemble a disparate crew aboard his new cloudship, traverse the isle-filled skies for hostile lands, and determine who this woman really is—and what she wants.

If not, he’ll be unable to stop an empire from burying the world under a reign of ice.

A March of Woe (Overthrown #3) – Aaron Bunce

Ban Turin, the heavily fortified and cosmopolitan capital of Denoril, has gone dark, its massive gates closed for the first time in an age. Only two people know why: a denil monk and his unlikely savior, a freed prostitute named Aida. They make a desperate March south, fighting the harsh winter to deliver a message of Woe – a message that lord Thatcher, the Earl of the lakes, will likely struggle to believe. The Nymradic, an ancient and powerful race, has returned, aided by none other than Djaron Algast, Denoril’s overthrown king.

Roman and Dennah flee north in search of sanctuary, but to where? The lord Constable poisoned Roman and tried to silence Dennah to bury the secret of his lineage. Meanwhile, an unknown menace prowls Bardstown. Roman must embrace his true potential, or he and Dennah will freeze to death in the wild.

Julian has finally broken free and runs towards Craymore, desperate to save Tanea. And yet, the truth of their divine connection exposes a deeper, far more complicated conflict then ever believed possible. Safe havens are disappearing, contracting, and driving our heroes towards the heartland and the lakes of Karnell, where they may find more than just sanctuary.

The Pandora Codex (Oliver Webber #1) – Hank Garner

A closely guarded secret, a stolen artifact, and a madman trying to open a portal to Hell. Can Oliver Webber become the hero he’s meant to be?

Oliver Webber has a secret. In fact, his family have guarded this secret for generations. What he doesn’t know is that the ancient evil that his family has guarded against is on the verge of being unleashed, and Oliver is the only person on Earth that can stop it. People everywhere are disappearing, an evil madman is dead-set on ripping apart the very fabric of our existence, and a demon possessed Civil War general seeking revenge set the Mississippi Delta on the edge of annihilation. Oliver, along with his girlfriend, his dog, and a crazy conspiracy nut, fight against time and a secret death cult to locate a stolen artifact that could unleash the power of Hell itself.

The Pandora Codex mixes elements of supernatural thriller, magical realism, time travel, alternate history, and urban fantasy with a coming of age tale everyone can connect with.

Righteous Strike (Black Ops: Heroes of Afghanistan #9) – Eric Meyer

A new insurgency is brewing on the Afghan-Pakistan border. General Ishaq Khan, known as the ‘Hammer of God,’ is the architect of this new terror. During a bloody battle, Khan kidnaps a group of journalists following Congresswoman Barbara Adams. Her work was to highlight injustices against women, yet now Adams and her party have become the victims.

The Bin Laden raid on Abbottabad has left diplomatic ties shattered, making an official rescue mission impossible. The Congresswoman’s husband turns to former Navy SEAL for help. Rafe Stoner is a drunk loner with little to live for. His refusal is brief and to the point. Until he discovers General Ishaq Khan, beloved leader of the Haqqani insurgency, has made the biggest mistake of his life. He has given Stoner a reason to live. A reason to fight.

He agrees to take on the mission with his best friend Grigory Blum. They are about to enter the gates of hell as they pit their skills and weapons against the might of the Haqqani. What began as a rescue becomes a desperate fight for survival. At the end, one question remains. Who will live, and who will die?

Roman America – Anthony Johnson

What if Ancient Rome had discovered the New World? How would a historian have praised their glory? It’s 39 AD during the reign of Emperor Caligula, and there’s no limit to this political propaganda!

“I, Pompillus Maximus, write this triumphant story.” Narrated by an ‘ancient historian,’ Roman America is a satirical, historical fiction novel chronicling the legacy of Commander Ocius Ditarian, Discoverer of the New World. Ditarian would bring Roman power and influence to America’s shores, and with this encounter, expanded hopes and dreams for the Empire. It is his desire to unite all people under the Roman Essence. But not everyone wants to create a perfect Roman world. Travian, the Christian slave, has a different vision for mankind, as do the Atlantians (those that fled from Atlantis to America), who would like nothing more to have their own kingdom in peace and quiet.

“Roman America” is political propaganda in all its glory! Humorous and thought-provoking from beginning to end, this ‘historical account’ answers every question. What does it mean to be truly Roman? Can Christians create a world without persecution? How does an empire expand without destroying itself and other cultures? Witness the perilous crossing of the Forbidden Sea. Behold Rome’s splendor in all its glory. Perceive the powerful effect of Roman Persuasion; for in this history we watch the world change and evolve as the Empire, under the influence of one man, strives to push the boundaries of greatness.

To the Victors the Remains (The Lone Star Reloaded #3) – Drew McGunn

Six years after being stranded in the past, Will has survived the Alamo, brokered peace with the Comanche, and found love. Now he faces his greatest challenge yet.

Determined to enforce a treaty’s boundary, the president orders Will and the army of the Republic of Texas to annex everything north of the Rio Grande, including Santa Fe. But the dictator, Santa Anna has returned to power in Mexico and he wants his country back – all of it.

Will faces an unwinnable situation; he is stranded hundreds of miles away from the Alamo when he uncovers plans for a Mexican Invasion. Santa Anna’s army is already on the march and only a few regulars, a handful of militia and Will’s family stand in his way. It will take a miracle to save his family and the Republic of Texas from Santa Anna’s revenge.

New Release Roundup, 7 April 2018: Fantasy and Adventure published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames