#there are so many variations of her name rip

[edenemy-art]

Komiiiii

[p2ii]

love how every single mechs fic ever has to allude to nastya and aurora fucking in the background at least once

[leofrith]

31 + leivor for the sensory prompts 🥰🥰

as usual, i am incapable of brevity. so this one shot got away from me real fast. 🤡

31. The cold, sharp smell of the first frost.

For many weeks now, every sunrise has greeted Leofrith the same way.

Each night, long after the rest of the village has settled down to sleep, Eivor steals away into the little house of his that is tucked away in the northwest corner of the settlement. She rarely says a word as she strips herself of her outer layers, folding them haphazardly in a pile next to the hearth. She crawls under his furs and turns her back, hauling him closer by their entangled fingers until his arm lays over her waist, his palm resting over her heartbeat. She falls asleep almost the instant her head hits the pillow. 

Sometimes he joins her. Sometimes he lays there, for moments or for hours with his nose nestled into her hair, and listens to her breath growing slow and deep. 

[read more]

[slutforfictionalwomen]

Neighbourhood mother

Kinktober day 14

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Main kinks: Corruption kink, lactation kink, mommy kink

Word count: 1,7K

Summary: You're young and new to the neighbourhood, Wanda quickly claims you as her own.

Warnings: smut, corruption kink, lactation kink, mommy kink, pet names, breast milk, innocent reader, mention of trauma, fingering.

(Please tell me if I forgot anything.)

You're eightteen, and you have just moved to Westview. As soon as you got into a nice university, you decided to move and get out of your toxic mother's home.

The place is beautiful, but it's definitely way too big for you alone. It's a good reason to plan on getting animals. There's not a lot you want to change about the house. There is nothing outside you want to paint, but you're planning on painting a few walls on the inside.

You're carrying boxes inside when a woman comes walking over. She has red hair and a friendly smile on her face. Her style is a bit old-fashioned, which makes her even more gorgeous.

"Hey, sweetheart. I'm Wanda Maximoff, I live across the street from you." The woman extends a hand for you to shake. You put down the box you were holding and politely shake hands, her kindness makes you blush.

"Hi, my name is (y/n). I'm eightteen, I just moved here to go to a uni nearby," you introduce yourself to your new neighbour. You notice how your voice is coming out quite soft, normally you're not that shy.

Wanda looks around her at the many boxes in the bright sun. She frowns and looks back at you. "Oh, you are a young thing! Let me help you with these boxes, it's hot out and you must already be sweaty."

You don't know whether it's the kind gesture or her calling you a young thing that makes something inside tingle, but you very much know the feeling is there. "That's sweet, thank you. But don't go out of your way to help me, I'm fine on my own." You pick up the box again.

"Nonsense, a young girl like you needs someone in the neighbourhood to help her out sometimes. That's what I am for." You can't quite make out why her facial expression looks strange, so you shake it off.

~

You have been living in Westview for over a month. Autumn feels so much better here than in your old house, your old town. And you've got Wanda, who is coming over today to decorate your house for the fall together.

Ever since that first day, Wanda has been by your side. She is always there to help you, but she also often comes over for nothing at all. Sometimes, she even cooks for you, which can variate from inviting you over for dinner at her house to coming to yours with ingredients and just cooking dinner. She has been taking on an almost mothering role. For the first time in your life, you feel cared for.

A knock on the door rips you out of your thoughts. You run to the door to open it. "Mo- Wanda!" You hope she didn't hear that awful slip up when she walks in and hugs you.

"Hello sweetheart, how are you today?" When Wanda pulls away from the hug, she gently holds your face. Looking into her green eyes makes you a bit dizzy, but you love them.

"I'm okay." There is no better answer because you always feel okay when you're with her. It's as if you forget all your problems when she walks through the doorway.

"I'm glad, but you know you can come to me with anything, right?" Wanda walks into the living room and puts down a bag with crafty stuff.

You know you can tell her anything. She has often helped you do your homework, she has come over to help you sleep when you were scared all alone in the house, she will basically help you with anything. So you nod a yes.

~

"Can you put these webs up there?" Wanda hands you some of the fake cobwebs you made together. The past few hours have been fun. You first made decorations together, all autumn and Halloween themed. Now you are putting decorations up around the house.

You take the cobwebs from her and put a chair to reach the place she pointed at. "Sure!" You get on the chair and put the cobwebs in place, but then you place your foot weirdly, which takes the chair out of balance. You're too late to yelp out when you fall hard on the floor.

Wanda rushes over to you, so you quickly wipe away your tears. "Oh baby, are you okay? I'm so sorry, that must hurt so bad."

Tears come out again at her words, and you quickly wipe them away. You see a bruise forming on your knee and quickly hide it. Your instincts say she will get mad at you for being in pain, but something in you knows that she wouldn't. Deep down you know that is just trauma speaking. You speak in a broken voice, "I'm fine."

She gently takes your hands off your knee. "No, sweetheart, you're not. You are clearly in pain. Why are you hiding it?" She kisses your knee. It sents warm sparks through your body. "Come sit with me on the couch. We can finish this later."

~

"I can't imagine how you must've felt. But I promise you, I will always care for you in the way your parents didn't." Wanda is cuddled up with you on the couch. You are in tears, you've just told your whole story to her.

"Thank you, Wands." You put your head in her lap, looking up at her face framed by her curly hair. She is so beautiful. Her comfort only makes you cry more, for some reason.

"Baby, are you still in pain?" The older woman gives you a worried look. She genuinely thinks you're still crying because of the fall.

"Just emotional." You bury your face in her legs. This way, you can't see how Wanda smiles. You are finally her baby, her girl to take care of. She strokes your hair, gently combing it through with her fingers.

Wanda carefully pulls your chin up a bit so you can see her when she speaks. "I know something that'll make you feel better." She takes off her jumper, which makes your jaw drop.

"Wan-" you start but she cuts you off.

"Shhh, just do as I say. I will take care of you." She unclasps her bra, exposing her breasts. You close your eyes and look away out of manners, but she tuts you and grabs your chin.

"No baby, open your eyes." Wanda guides your mouth to her nipple by your chin. You wrap your lips around her nipple. "Good girl, so good for me," she says in a raspy voice. You look up at her and start sucking and softly nibbling.

Her fingers go down underneath your shirt. You then let out a shocked, whimpering noise. Not only because of her hands touching your sensitive waist, but also because a fluid has come into your mouth from her nipple, something you really didn't expect.

"It's okay, baby. You can drink it, but please switch to the other one in some time." The redhead's voice brings you back to ease. You drink the sweet milk like she told you to. Meanwhile, her hand slips into your loose joggers, softly rubbing you over your panties.

You whimper softly and switch nipples, looking up at her for reassurance. She hushes you, telling you it's okay and that she's just making you feel good. You kind of start to feel icky down there, so you're a bit confused, but you have faith in her.

When you tend to nibble on her nipple a bit too hard, Wanda quickly pinches your thigh to make you gasp. "Sweety, if you want to nibble, I would prefer if you did it on mommy's neck. That's less sensitive." She guides your milk leaking mouth to her neck so you can carelessly nibble there.

Your whimpers get louder when she slips her fingers in your undies, touching your private parts. It feels intense but good, even though it makes you feel all shy.

"Pretty little thing. You're doing amazing. Just let me do this." Wanda's finger slips in the hole where all the wetness comes from. It feels really weird but adds to the intensity.

She first slips her finger in and out, the sticky wetness your body created there makes that really easy. She then keeps her finger inside and curls it into the walls of your pussy, which makes you audibly gasp.

When after a bit of playing, she adds another finger, you completely let go of the nibbling and sucking. "Mommy, that hurts!" You cry out at the stretch, but as soon as the pain has come, it is gone, leaving a full and intense feeling.

At first, you were trying really hard to keep in all the noises she worked out of you, but then you started to let go. When Wanda didn't get mad for the noise, you knew it was okay and let it all out, including sobs. Wanda rewarded you heavily for this.

Wanda is so proud of you, continuing to work your body in the way she knows to. With all previous girls she has fucked, it would take her time to figure out how they liked it. That's how she knows you are meant for her, she knows exactly what to do.

She keeps switching between thrusting and curling up her fingers. She also adds in a bit of extra clit stimulation, knoding you are almost there. And indeed, a wave of pleasure crashes over you, reaching a high. "That's a good girl."

You sob from the intense feeling, she keeps rubbing your clit through it, until you quite literally shake her off. You cuddle back into her, Wanda's lips find yours. She softly kisses you in a caregiving way. A tired feeling suddenly hits you, making you yawn. "Go to sleep, sweetheart. I'll be here when you wake up." That's how you softly fall asleep in Wanda's arms.

~

A/N - I'm so sorry for fucking this up again, I hope you still enjoyed reading it even though it is again too short and written whilst I was half asleep. I'll be better next time.

[stubz]

"Maverick is here."

"Hi Maverick! Want some coffee?" the human groaned.

"Only if it's Irish..."

"Heh, if only."

The two humans tried but couldn't help the shift of tone when talking about the youngling. Couldn't help the sighs or forced enthusiasm when it came to Maverick.

Maverick, age 6, species Ewelsjay, and the unknowing arch nemesis of Kim and Max.

.

"Maverick get down from there!" the man shouted up to the child dangling from the fire sprinklers.

"But it's fun!" giggled the child.

"They're not for climbing! Get down now!"

"No I'm no-!" the sprinkler snapped.

"I told him," he growled running towards the crying youngling. "a million times I told him don't climb the sprinklers! They're not for climbing! But did he listen? Nooooo."

..

"Maverick! What happened!?"

"Mr. Aurum, Maverick climbed the fire sprinklers and fell when they broke. Luckily it wasn't that high and he landed on the mats, he only has a bruise and scrapped knee."

"And you let him??"

"..No. I did not. We have told Maverick multiple times not to climb them because of this very reason."

"Oh Mavy. You need to listen your teachers. I'll have a talk with him."

"See you tomorrow then."

...

"And he looked at me as if I let his kid climb the sprinklers!!" he took a swig of his Irish coffee.

"Tell me about it...the guy acts as if it's always our fault. One time he told me it was my job that his kid puts his bag in his locker. His 6 year old kid...he's 6 years old! I tell him and sometimes he does it but most of the time he looks me in the eyes and says you do it."

"Exactly! We're not servants!"

"Gah please let them move or switch schools!"

....

"All right kids, foods ready so line up."

"But before you grab a plate let us tell you what's just for the humans today. The kitchen made an accident today and put in too much of a spice that can be dangerous for other species, it's the blue pot. Okay? Only humans can eat that."

"Human kids, only have a little to start with because its spicy. If you like it then you can have more later."

The kids nodded and started to serve themselves, only the humans taking food from the blue pot.

When they ate the adults chuckled and smiled watching their fellow humans eat the spicy curry. Some kids loved it for the spice or flavor while others chugged their milk. They're non-human friends laughed or gasped.

"Human Kim, can I try some?"

"Sorry Maverick but not today. It's not safe for some of you kids. We'll have this again on Friday though and we'll make sure it's safe for the rest of you kids."

"Aw. Okay." the human cracked a small smile and ruffled his golden hair.

"How about you try some of this? It from the same place on earth."

"It's green!"

.....

"Excuse me, Max and Kim? Maverick told me something very concerning yesterday."

"Oh, what was it?"

He told me that yesterday there was a dish just for the humans. That no one but humans were allowed to eat it." the Ewelsjay glared at them.

'Here we go' they both thought.

"Mr. Aurum the kitchen made a mistake when making one of the dishes yesterday and put in too much of a spice that is dangerous to most species. So to not waste the food and keep the others safe we only allowed the human children to eat it.

This was a simple mistake and Kim has talked to the kitchen already and made arrangements to make the dish again on Friday."

"Really? 'Too much spice' is what stopped my child from eating? Unbelievable."

"...listen-"

"Sir, this type of spice is one that can be rather harmful to younglings, even adults, and since we couldn't quite call everyone's parents asking for permission we decided to play it safe." the human placed a hand on her co-workers back. Trying her best to calm her friend. Even though she too wanted to rip Aurum a new one.

"I'll be the judge of that. Tell me, what's the name of the dish and how exactly the kitchen made it."

"Mr. Aurum I don't think-"

"Goat curry and it has many different variations but this recipe had 1 seeded scotch bonnet pepper."

And with that the Ewelsjay left with his son.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?"

"No but I don't care. Besides as much as an a-hole he is there's no way he'll let Maverick eat it before he tries it first."

"Ooo the perfect crime."

*the next day*

"Teachers teachers teachers!"

"Yes Maverick?"

"My Dad tried the goat carry and his face turned bright orange! He took one bite and then screamed for water but it didn't help."

"Yeah water doesn't do much. Rookie mistake."

"Yeah but then I remembered what teacher Kim said about milk and gave him that and it helped!"

"So how's your Dad now?"

"He's stuck in the bathroom still drinking milk." he said so matter of factly making the humans snort.

"A-and now do you see why we didn't want you eating it?" asked Max trying his best not to laugh.

"Yeah...I guess I should be listening to you two. You are my teachers."

"Glad to hear that. Now go to put your stuff away and play."

"Okay!" once he was out of earshot the two finally allowed themselves to laugh till they cried.

Maverick was a handful most times but moments like these reminded the two that he was a kid. And kids learn from those around them. Hopeful Mr. Aurum would learn what his son did today, listen to the teachers.

[chuuyrr]

Is it possible to have another Grown! Yakuza! Reader and baby scarlet witch reader but this time in bungo stray dog universe. Just imagine the ADA’s reactions especially dazai, atsushi, and dazai. They know their baby scarlet witch reader as adorable and soft and just to see a possibility of what she can become right there next to her as an intimidating and cunning woman. Especially if later on they somehow find out baby scarlet witch knows a lot about wielding weapons that a normal child obviously wouldn’t know about.😂

my baby's got a gun ! — bungou stray dogs boys meets grown! yakuza! scarlet witch! reader together with baby fushiguro

jujutsu kaisen x reader x bungou stray dogs

masterlist of the series

╰➤ CW(s): possible spoilers for bungou stray dogs (subtle reference to BEAST), mentions use of weapons and violence

╰➤ PAIRING(s): platonic! bungou stray dogs x child! reader (ADA, port mafia, but it's mostly dazai, atsushi)

before you read: hi, in case you're new, you're megumi's younger half-sibling, and while you don't have cursed energy, you do have scarlet witch's powers and abilities! aside from that, as a special scarlet witch variant, you also have the ability to travel across the multiverse. how chaotic! furthermore, like your half-brother megumi, you are being cared for by gojo satoru, who also serves as your adoptive father. for more info, please see the masterlist.

the concept of the multiverse was something. to think that there are so many different universes out there—it's both fascinating and terrifying how there are variations of each and every one, including you and everyone else in your dazai-nii's universe.

you've already told dazai about a universe where odasaku was alive because of dazai's variant, but as heartbreaking as it is, it was the only universe where oda lived. however, in another universe where you are wanda maximoff instead of fushiguro [name], there is a saying that goes, "a soul for a soul," if you want to change something, you must pay a price.

changing the subject, neither dazai nor any of the armed detective agency had ever met a variant, whether yours or theirs, so they were in for a surprise of a lifetime when a red portal ripped through the seams of their reality.

dazai dashed towards the red portal, expecting you, his precious little belladonna, and ready to greet you with a hug when he sensed dread emanating from it.

the entire armed detective agency inside the office became concerned. dazai took a step back, his eyes widening along with the others who were already arming themselves and raising their guards, as two silhouettes stepped into their reality.

"... [name]-chan?" atsushi muttered quietly, his eyes softening for a moment as he was relieved to see you, but his gaze was drawn immediately to the taller and older woman standing next to you, holding your hand in hers.

dazai blinked, realizing that this dread they were all sensing was coming from the woman next to you, and my god, the ominous aura that she possessed even without doing anything, reminded him of mori ougai, and to hell, it actually felt far more atrocious than that man.

"[name]-chan, who is this?" dazai asked softly, his guard still up.

you simply smiled as you squeezed her hand, oblivious to the armed detective agency's reaction to the woman beside you, "she's me!"

there was a pindrop silence in the air at that moment. 'wait, what did you just say?!' were all of their exact reactions to your statement.

atsushi and the others stared at her from head to toe in utter disbelief, he kept looking at you and the woman next to you. even fukuzawa was taken aback by the revelation.

how is it even possible that this woman is you?

you were all so cute and sweet, while she had this cunning and almost blank expression on her face. everything about her—from her appearance to the way she carries herself, screams danger.

but the more they looked at her, the more they noticed how much she resembled you. the woman had your [color] hair and [color] eyes, but her hair was significantly longer, her eyes and cheekbones were sharper, and her lips and lids were painted a dark smokey black and maroon color.

this woman appeared cunningly evil, yet somewhat captivating with the way her poise and manner oozed with bloody confidence as she stood beside you, dressed in a black leather mini dress, leather arm-length gloves, heeled thigh-high leather boots, a dark red coat hanging over her shoulders, and expensive looking jewelries on her.

kunikida's adam's apple bobbled up and down as he visibly shifted uncomfortably on his hand, still clutching his handgun, "but, h-how?"

"how?" the woman inquired, her voice seductive and enticing. she sounded like a siren.

"i'm not going to lie, lady, but you're nothing like [name] o-over there," ranpo managed to say nervously, his emerald eyes fixed on her.

"of course i am. i really am nothing like this sweetie right here, even if we do share the same name," the woman chuckled, her shoulders shaking up and down as she peered down at you with an amused look.

"why are you here?" fukuzawa furrowed his brows at her.

your other self shrugged as she let go of your hand, instead folding her arms across her chest, "just curious as to where little me had been disappearing off to lately," she explained.

"so, you're friends with her?" tanizaki asked.

"of course, we're friends. we hang out! yakuza me is just the coolest!" you exclaimed, wrapping your tiny arms around her legs and rubbing your cheek against them affectionately like a cat.

everyone choked on their own spits at that, gasping and widening their eyes all over again from shock. did they hear that correctly?

"[name]-chan, your variant.. is a member of a yakuza?" dazai pointed at the woman.

"tch, a member?" she shook her head, closing her eyes before opening them again, her lips curving into a smirk as her eyes glowed a faint red color, "please, kind sir, i'm the head of my own organization."

"EXCUSE ME, BUT WHAT?!" atsushi found himself screaming at the woman from shock.

"you're the head?" dazai muttered, blinking slowly as he processed what she had just said.

it was no surprise your older and yakuza variant had the same vibe as the port mafia boss, but she was more cunning and atrocious, most likely because she was the scarlet witch just like you. thinking about it at the same time, if this woman's aura was already ominous enough and given that your abilities were already far superior to those of any other ability users in dazai's world, wouldn't it make sense for her, your variant, to be far stronger than you?

a yakuza's activities were no different than those of the port mafia. the yakuza was a crime syndicate. the port mafia was an underground organization. in any case, both were involved in the world of bloodshed and violence.

"yes, you heard me," your yakuza variant confirmed, tilting her head to the side, "i'm the leader of my group."

"isn't a yakuza, er, usually led by a man?" atsushi asked, nervously gulping.

"well, sweetie, the thing is, time has changed, and so has everything back at my world," your variant's sharp [color] eyes glowed red as she smiled cunningly, "tell me, do any of you have a problem with that?"

"n-no, not at all," dazai managed to smile back at her, god did he despise the vibe she was giving off. why did she had to have the same ominous aura as mori? "i"m just wondering why you're with someone like [name]-chan."

"we're good friends," your yakuza variant sighed, putting a hand on her hip, "and we hang out with each other like any good friends."

"she's right! we do a lot of things together, dazai-nii," you nodded, explaining, "we eat at expensive restaurants, we go to salons, and we also go to accessory and clothes stores."

"yeah? well, that sounds nice, little belladonna," dazai gave you a closed-eye smile.

"she also teaches me how to use a playful cloud and how to use a gun and aim with one!"

with that, dazai's remark of "that sounds nice" is thrown out the window right off the bat.

"what?" dazai's expression changed drastically.

"a playful cloud is a three-sectioned staff, kind of like a nunchuck," your yakuza variant explained, tapping her chin in thought.

"you TAUGHT her how to use one?!" atsushi took the words out of dazai's mouth in a yell, "and a LITERAL gun! what's wrong with you?!"

"of course i did. what's the problem with that?" your yakuza variant questioned, raising a brow.

"SHE'S A CHILD?!" kunikida exclaimed, echoing atsushi, "YOU SHOULDN'T BE TEACHING ANY OF THAT TO A LITERAL CHILD MA'AM."

"relax, it's for self-defense," your yakuza variant immediately countered, "it's not that bad."

"not that bad? then, aren't [name]-chan's abilities, err, chaos magic, already responsible for protecting her?" atsushi inquired.

"chaos magic isn't something we should just rely on. there will come a time when we won't be able to use it in a situation. it's only right for little me to be equipped with enough knowledge how to protect herself," your yakuza variant reasoned, motioning over you.

"yeah, that sounds real nice," dazai remarked sarcastically, already taking your hand and pulling away from your yakuza variant before picking you up and firmly holding you in his arms.

when your yakuza variant saw dazai and the rest of the armed detective agency who were still wary of her, a small frown deepened on his variant face. "i think i'll just take my leave, sweetie," she sighed before placing a hand on her hip, chuckling softly with a small smirk.

"are you sure?" you asked with a small pout.

"yes, i'm sure, sweetie," she trotted towards you, slightly narrowing her eyes at dazai when he tried to pull you away from her but still smiling at you, "and besides, in all honesty, their reactions are very similar to that ginger head and his friends whom we met earlier. i thought for sure they would warm up to me given how similar our organizations are, but oh well."

everyone's sweat dropped.

she intimidated even the port mafia?

"you met the port mafia?" fukuzawa inquired, recognising the ginger head she mentioned as the gravity manipulator.

"yes, the port mafia. their boss sure is something, as are his subordinates, and then there was this red haired woman back then too—she was really ravishing," your yakuza variant chuckled softly, everyone's eyes widening in shock when she mentioned the golden demon ability user, "but anyway, i have something to do. i've got an important meeting with my own subordinates."

"oh, okay.." you nodded in understanding.

"goodbye, sweetheart, and everyone. it was great meeting you all," she said as she raised her hand and twisted it, opening up a red portal very similar to yours, ruffled your hair and kissed the top of your head, "i'll see you soon. i promise I'll buy you more clothes, okay?"

"bye-bye!" you giggled, waving at her before letting your yakuza variant go to her red portal.

everyone who caught a glimpse of what was on the other side of the portal, your variant's world, watched breathlessly. they could see several people, or rather women dressed very similarly to her your variant, but the red portal had closed before any of them could question it. everyone had calmed down as soon as she had completely left.

"oh, thank god," dazai sighed in relief.

"seriously, how could that be you, [name]-chan? you're nothing like her!" atsushi exclaimed.

"i agree with atsushi-kun, you're cute and soft, whereas she's all intimidating and cunning," tanizaki added to atsushi's statement.

"but, is it true, can you use a three-sectioned staff and a gun?" yosano inquired, blinking profusely.

"Yeah, but my daddy banned me from using playful cloud or a gun because i snuck into the place where they keep all their weapons back at home," you explained, a small pout on your face.

"my goodness. well, at least your father's responsible..." kunikida sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in relief.

"i actually want to be like yakuza me someday," you exclaimed, making the rest of the armed detective agency start sweating again.

"[name]-chan, you listen to me good. promise me you'll never take after that woman," dazai embraced you tightly, almost dramatically, "okay?! i can't afford to have my sweet little belladonna turning into a mafioso!"

"that's really funny, dazai-nii! that's what my daddy told me too!" you couldn't help but giggle fondly, oblivious to dazai's reaction, as you remembered the exact words gojo had told you when he and the others met her, "but okay!"

"yes, that's great! that's very good of you. that's my [name]-chan!" dazai faked a sob, acting as if you were on the verge of dying or something.

as dramatic and comedic as dazai sounded and acted, he really didn't want you to end up like your ever intimidating and cunning mafioso-like variant. knowing that a version of you existed as the head of a yakuza shows the possibility of you becoming like her, and this comes from a young man who used to be an executive of the port mafia. being in an underground organization, surrounded by bloodshed and violence, was not as appealing.

for another, it would most certainly kill dazai if you turned into someone he no longer recognizes. it would break his heart.

"please keep being you, [name]-chan."

[ author's notes ! just a little trivia, a yakuza, according to my research, is quite patriarchal, and usually the women in a yakuza is simply the wife and doesn't really get involved much in the mafia-like organization business, which is why the armed detective agency, especially atsushi, are surprised that your variant is the head or boss, there are very few women in a yakuza, and for one to be a boss, they usually just take over when their husbands die—but your variant is a fushiguro after all, as well as the scarlet witch like you :) ]

[shizukateal]

Grimm Variations - Episode Two Review: Little Red Riding Hood

A blonde, blue-eyed woman in a red dress gets picked up by a man while they are in some form of virtually-enhanced reality saloon. She's nervous at first, not just because of the date but because she's clearly not used to the fine establishments. But she starts to have fun with her new sexy partner for a moment... until, of course, the man brutally murders her when she drops her guard. Obviously he was going to be the the Big Bad Wolf in this story. He rips everything away from her, her dress, her tongue, and the technology hiding the fact that she's actually old. Granny gets eaten with no repercussions for the Wolf or "Mr. Gray" -first name not confirmed to be Christian- as he's called here. After all, he is truly rich and young and handsome, not just holographically pretending to be; and more importantly he is part of a club of other wolves like him who get each others' backs to make sure they don't get the heat for their actions.

We learn that in this futuristic setting, society is stepping further away from reality each day. Transhumanism has succeeded in uploading human consciousness into servers although, again, there's a way to interact in virtually enhanced reality through some special eyedrops. However people keep abandoning their bodies and uploading themselves into computers, probably because resources are so scarce there's hardly any real food at all.

It makes a certain sense, then, that our Patrick Bateman-like protagonist has developed an actual bloodlust. The man practically starves himself with a vegetarian diet because he does not want to eat the fake meat they serve him. Surprisingly for how gory the episode is they never explicitly show him eating the meat of his victims, though? Although he does explicitly like the smell of blood. In any case, Mr. Gray has an all-around comfortable arrangement with his fellow Wolves of Wall Street where he gets a safe space to butcher as many women as he can get his hands into 👍

But it's not enough. At some point the arrangement stops feeling like a proper hunt and more like shooting fish in a barrel. So Mr. Gray starts acting out the safety of his kennel. Before he can get far, however, he is stopped by his pack-pal, Mr. Brown, who gives him an address for a place to arrange another, more outdoorsy and risqué hunt. Mr. Gray goes to a slum still in his clean, tailored suit, where he meets Charlotte (once again, the little red haired girl from the promotional poster) acting as an old madam pimp. And so, she orchestrates a meeting between him and our Little Red Riding Hood: Scarlet.

(Boy can you tell the CLAMPs preferred designing her over the other characters in the story. They love themselves some short, straight-haired ladies)

This time, Mr. Gray goes to a rave in the slums wearing a leather jacket that also does fuckall to conceal the fact that he's some rich dipshit nepobaby. It's like watching Marty Mcfly in his ridiculous cowboy costume from the third Back to the Future. He follows Scarlet and helps her knock out some rape-y looser that was bothering her and the two go to her house. Mr. Gray acts just as demure and shy as the first woman we see him kill, as he has a hard time swallowing the fluorescent booze Scarlet offers him. She teases him about this. That's real alcohol after all, just like everything else in the room is real, outside the purview of the curated cyber-enhanced-world. Mr. Brown had offered him an authentic bottle of wine earlier, and he drank that easily, but in a sense the clearly artificial alcohol is the real deal because that's the everyday beverage of the people who actually live there.

He downs the rest of the glass and the atmosphere is almost sweetly romantic if you ignore the fact that this grown man paid to stalk a girl so he could kill her with no repercussions from the law...

And then Mr. Gray wakes up and finds himself tied to a dissection table. Turns out Red Riding Hood is already a much more vicious and experienced hunter than she was at the end of the Grimm's version of the story (for context, Perrault's version, which came earlier, simply ended with her death) and the hunt between them was always a battle between eating and being eaten. The Big Bad Wolf of Wall Street learns the hard way that, on an uncultivated forest away from his pack, he's prey to even a little rabbit. For all his pretensions of the reality of pain and suffering in blood and gore, at the end of the day he still lives a perfectly manicured life in his white silicon valley palace, so how was he to win against someone who is actually willing to get hurt and die for the sake of the hunt? What's the use of him having a perfect body with 8-pack abs, perfect eyes, and manicured nails if he's not willing to withstand the pain he causes others?

Scarlet faces no repercussions, of course. After all, if the Wolf decided to stray from the territory of his pack, then no one can go avenge him, as Charlotte informs Mr. Brown. Hearing this, Mr. Brown decides to upload himself to a computer. Might as well, replies Charlotte. The real world -even in this dystopic setting- has too many temptations.

All in all, I'd say this episode is better than the last one, in part because it's not a subversion, but it still has a bit of the same pitfalls that prevents it from reaching greatness. "Cinderella" suffered because it turned its protagonist into the antagonist in a way that ultimately proved to be shallow, and it undercut the genuinely interesting commentary the story was otherwise doing. Scarlet doesn't do that here since, again, the Grimms themselves turned Red Riding Hood into a hunter; however I also think that there's a lack in depth of flavor to the episode for not getting us into Scarlet's mind as intimately as we get to know Gray. The probably felt like it would take away some of the punch from the twist if they showed her "hunting" before, but I think that could have simply been avoided by simply getting to know the setting a bit more through her eyes and allowing that to also be an opportunity for characterization. You know, add to the reveal a little by making it seem like a more personal tragedy about sending a lamb to slaughter and then pull the rug from under our feet.

There's also this similar problem between the two episodes in that the post-climax reveals are kind of confusing because they are not all that well set-up. What I mean is that since Mr. Brown was the one who suggested Gray to go to this place after he acted out of line, he might have been deliberately trying to set him up to die, but the ending reveals that this is not the case and it implies that he's genuinely so upset about his friend dying that he decides to escape reality so that he doesn't end like him. Mind you, I'm not complaining that that's the truth of the matter, since it still fits the story thematically. It's just that it left me wondering why would Mr. Brown suggest this risk at all if killing him wasn't his intention. A nitpick, perhaps, but still a discordant note in an otherwise solid script.

Other than that, I'd like to talk about what the series as a whole might be building up to. These two episodes so far have shared caged bird imagery. First Makiko and Sawako in a gilded cage with two birds that are set free when they escape de Otawara house, and now Charlotte freeing another bird from its cage to let it fend for itself in the wilderness.

The next episode is going to be Hansel and Gretel, so that's one big juicy opportunity for that as well, and it makes me wonder if the prevalence of the symbol ties into whatever is going on with Charlotte and the Grimm Brother's in the background. We don't get much about that in this episode either, but I am interested in one of their dialogue exchanges. Charlotte says that the aspect of the story that worries her the most about the story is not the Wolf on its own, but that there may be more of them out there. William, however (the one with the glasses) laughs it off and says that there's only one wolf eating little girls and grannies, which is... patently untrue in the story? The original and this one? However given the tone of the series at large, and that a similar statement was made in the previous episode, its easy to take it as a deliberate contrast. I mean this episode does make a point that the wolves are an organized club, but the theme about the upper class joining forces to prey on the vulnerable with no consequence feels just a tad too secondary to everything else; and given the thematic fumbling in the previous episode I am afraid that the writers might not have any plans for all this commentary they're making and instead the focus will ultimately fall on making the good guys bad for the shock factor.

But we can still be cautiously optimistic since at least this episode has raised the quality a bit. See you next week!

[piratefishmama]

I got tagged in a questions thingy.

by: @w1ll0wtr33  thanks sweets!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Nope, my name was in fact a mistake made by a nurse! It was supposed to be a hyphenated combination of my first and middle name, but the person doing the birth certificate made an error.

2. when was the last time you cried?

Like… fully? Uhm. August? The day before my dad got out of the hospital I had a full blown panic attack cause I knew I’d be alone in taking care of his asshole self and wasn’t prepared to do that. There was crying involved in that.

3. do you have kids?

I would sooner rip my own uterus and womb out, Netflix Witcher style than have children.

Storytime: My mum once bought me a £75 stroller and doll, an this was years ago, like, single digits age range so that was EXPENSIVE for the time (fuck man, it’s expensive now lmao), I… left it out as far away from the house as I, at my age, could... in the rain. An it was all silk and satin material so it was well and truly fucked.

They stopped expecting eventual grandchildren from me very early on in my life.

4. What sports do you/have you play/played?

Does archery count? I feel like archery should count lmao I do archery, and I used to do ju-jitsu, I have medals somewhere for ju-jitsu, god knows where though my medals were never worth keeping track of apparently. My brother's are in his old room.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Fluently.

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

That they’ve invaded my carefully curated alone time and thus have become my enemy.

7. what’s your eye colour?

Hazel, with more green than brown.

They're also my favourite eye colour too! there’s so many variations of it, do you have more green or brown in it? is there a ring of darker colour around your iris or not? Hazel has so many variations it’s such a pretty eye colour to have and it changes. Hazel eyes are magic.

8. scary movies or happy endings?

Thanks to my truly stellar vivid imagination and Childhood Trauma™️, I cannot watch scary movies. At least not ones that have plausibility. Like they could happen. Because for some reason, everytime I watch one of those, my brain ever so lovingly decides to recreate the movie in the form of a nightmare where all the starring cast are people I actually care about an I’m just. watching them all die.

It's never fun. And I can never escape it. Even waking up, if I go to sleep, I will go right back into that nightmare, there’s no escape.

9. any talents?

Many! i have ADHD and autism, I have so many random skills. The only one I can reliably do on command though is writing. I can draw, paint, sew, sing, dance, and many others… sometimes, but the only one I can reliably do without fail, is write.

10. where were you born?

Britain. You don’t get closer than that I ain’t about to dox myself.

11. what are your hobbies?

Writing, reading, video games, creating shit.

12. do you have any pets?

Hope and Shadow are my two dogs, you all know them by now I’m sure. I have a shitton of tropical fish in tanks both upstairs and down, I did have a very smol bird but I had to put him up for adoption as unfortunately he and Hope simply did not get along, she made him very anxious and he made her hungry for bird.

13. how tall are you?

I’m tiny, 4’11.

14. favourite subject in school?

English. I had a great teacher. It would have been art but unfortunately I hated my teacher, and my teacher hated me and that made the lessons very uncomfortable.

15. dream job?

I would love to work with animals. Animals are easier than people.

And no, i'm not tagging people.

[justmelookingbackatme]

Deadname

A name is how you declare yourself to the world. It's hard to know what your name should be when you don't know what kind of person you want to introduce yourself as; it's harder still when you know who you are, and your name paints a completely different picture.

I wasn't really aware of the gendering of names until I was about six or seven. We had an assignment in Hebrew school, to learn what our names meant. I asked my parents, and they told me, and it left a gaping wound in me that took years to heal.

My name was so feminine. I hadn't realized that having this name forced onto me declared me as a girl to the rest of the world, but that's what it did. Ever since, having people learn my deadname's meaning felt like having my clothes ripped off. The hidden, gendered parts of myself, the ones I wished to change- exposed for all to see.

I never quite made the connection between my name and myself. It always felt like that name referred to someone else, someone I was simply pretending to be.

When I started exploring my gender, I began looking into different names. Neutral, at first, then sometimes masculine.

I found a lot of names. I tried a lot of names. Over a dozen, I think. There were names I hated a week later. There were names I thought were cool, but weren't right for me, the way I feel about makeup. There were names that almost fit, maybe, sort of. They didn't feel bad. They just didn't quite feel like me. Those names were a role I played, and it wasn't a difficult role, but it still wasn't me.

It took years to find a name that felt like me.

I tried talking about name changes with my mother, once. In sort of an abstract sense. I never got around to telling her I wanted to change mine. I was planning to, but then the conversation shifted to her telling me how hurtful it must be for parents to see their trans children throw away the names their mother and father gifted them.

When my best friend changed his name, my mother told me she felt bad for his parents, because his old name was better.

I felt like I'd been stabbed again. The wound that opened in me when I learned the meaning of my deadname bled again, and I decided to hide it, and I never told her anything about changing my name.

I found a name this summer, with friends who told me that I mattered more than what my mother thought of me. They gave me many suggestions, and one of them fit. I use that name now. Not with many people, but with the ones close to me. The name feels like home in a way I'd never really thought possible. There's a spark of recognition, when I hear it said aloud. It's me.

My first name was chosen for my late grandfather, a feminized version of his. I tried different variations, and I tried just using his name. It never felt right. I tried so hard to be a good grandson, to be a good child to my mother who missed her father. I failed.

And I knew it would hurt her if she knew I'd thrown away the name she gifted me, if she knew I was distancing myself from the father she wanted to remember. I know it would hurt her. And I know it would hurt me, the inevitable rejection, the disapproval of the name that means so much to me.

So I haven't told her. I don't know when I will. If ever. I don't want to hurt her, and I don't want her to hurt me, but my deadname is a knife and I don't know how much longer I can let its blade sink into my skin.

A little longer. I'll pretend to be her daughter, her daughter with a name like a knife, for just a little longer. Keep going until I can't.

I want to change my name. I want to declare myself to the world as I am, with a name that feels like a reunion with something I've been missing my whole life. But if I introduce myself as me, that might be what kills the girl I pretended to be. I might not be forgiven for killing her.

[theenpcbracket]

Seeding Round: Poll 5

Image IDs included! Click the images to see the full character please!

More about each NPC below the cut!

Character Descriptions are in the order of their appearance in the poll!

Character 1

Name: Kevin Party: GATEGATE Relationship to party: Familiar, general menace

What makes them the best NPC: We used speak with animals on him one time and it was so funny we just decided he could talk the whole time. Canonically he's a familiar because he got arrested in the Feywild and this is his community service. He's not only useless but actively antagonistic to the party. He eats exclusively raw meat hand-rolled in birdseed and hates everyone. His sheer glee at seeing the rest of us miserable was powerful enough to protect us from the effects of the Shadowfell. His two attacks are (a) shitting on people and (b) necklace of fireballs. He is my horrible son and I love him very much. He gets consulted on every decision and his response is always some variation of (horrible screechy voice) "you're all stupid and I hope you die I'm going back to sleep".

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Character 2

Name: Mercurial Party: The Fosters Relationship to party: Friend, ally, strategist, arcane scientist

What makes them the best NPC: Mercurial is a drow divination wizard who loves his girlfriend and studying magic very much. He’s so incredibly anxious and semi-unintentionally goofy at all times, but he ultimately has a steel will and the determination to back it. His girlfriend and he helped lead a drow rebellion against the high elven monarchists, and they’re both currently elbows-deep in helping to set up a more equitable but still stable government to replace the emperor. He’s a skilled diviner and she’s an incredible tactician, so they’re incredible strategists.

He is both so incredibly cool and just some guy. He'll do just about anything you ask. Once, a PC told him to go get "as many lemons as [he could]" and he brought back hundreds. Every time we drop in on him, he ends up nervously making like, French toast or bruschetta or something. He’s also an incredibly competent wizard who is going for his arcane PhD. He got into biochemistry when one of our PCs (an old friend of his and his girlfriend’s) asked him to do some blood analyses. When he realized one of the party NPCs's blood would confirm a hypothesis he had but she wouldn’t give it to him, he (for the first time) used his unassuming and nervous demeanor to trick her into letting her guard down enough that he could stab, grab, and run like hell away with the blood. He talks like Eeyore. I love him so much.

Quote: "Wait, don't tell her, I don't want her to be more mad at me than she already is..." -Mercurial, after tricking the party NPC.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Character 3

Name: Selûne Party: THE FACE SMASHERZ! Relationship to party: Goddess of the moon, patron of paladin Sorbet Lemonbalm (Sorbet is her champion)

What makes them the best NPC: Do YOU want a base-game goddess taken to the next level? Are YOU a fan of big buff war veteran elves with moon-shaped tit windows? Do YOU want a polyamorous queen canonically married to her champion who also has a girlfriend ????

SELUNE SELUNE SELUNE !!!!

Selune in our game is more than just a base-game goddess. She's one of our prominent party gods, given that our campaign centers around godslaying and the power imbalances that follow. Top three Selune moments in our campaign are:

3. When she got summoned to help aid our party in a massive fight and ripped off her sleeves and hiked up her dress to beat the shit out of interlopers in one of her last temples. 2. That time she faked out her champion into thinking she was killing her in order to save a little baby Kobold from the Corruption with the last of her essence. And lastly... [drumroll] 1. THE TIME MID-FIGHT WITH THE FEY QUEEN WHEN SORBET, HER CHAMPION, GOT MADE INTO THE NEW SUMMER FEY KING AND THE FIRST THING SHE DID WAS PROPOSE TO SELUNE AND SHE SAID YES + BLESSED IT, THUS MAKING THE SUMMER COURT SELUNE'S BY POLITICAL MARRIAGE BECAUSE OUR GIRL SORBET HAD NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH THIS NEW POWER (Also this broke our DM) (in a good way)

Vote Selune: Our Lady Silver, Fey-King Consort, and our Lover of Ladies ;)

Quote: "...She cherishes every star, on the ground and in the sky, no matter how great or small. I used to hear hearth stories growing up about Selune and her herd of celestial rams, always making sure she had every starry lamb accounted for each night..." - Sorbet, telling young kobolds about Selune

[duusheen]

I swear Duu, you are the best.💝💝💝 I tried the tutorial and everything went smoothly! Thank you so much! But I have some questions too.🙈 How do you add another rig to blender? Can you tell me how you made the custom rig with Jay? I'm sorry, but that's the last questions I have.😵‍💫

Yay, I'm glad I could help you! 💖🤭 and don't worry, I got you, anon 👇🏽

According to the creator's document, there are several methods, but the one I use and basically the easiest is this: When you go to the 'vyxated - RigPlus' folder, you have several files. The one we're interested in right now is the one that says 'vyxated - RigPlus_0_Combined'.

You'll see this. We'll focus in the 'scene collection' in the column on the right.

Ok, if you need two sims of the same age (let's say, two adults), we'll simply duplicate the collection that has the rig we need. Don't worry, it might seem difficult, but it's quite easy. Let's look some pictures 👇🏽

Right-click on the collection you want to duplicate > 'Duplicate Collection,' and ta-dah! There you have it 🥳.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Rename your collections. This isn't mandatory, but trust me, when you have 5 sims to pose, it will make your life easier if you know which collection belongs to each one. Especially if you're like me and want to use your own sim as a base.

The new collection will always be in Object Mode. Remember to switch both 'RigPlus_(adult/infant/child/toddler)' and 'Rig_(adult/infant/child/toddler)' to Pose Mode before working on your pose.

You can repeat this process as many times as you want and delete the collections you don't need. Just remember NOT to save over the original file to keep all the collections for the next time you want to make another pose.

Now, the custom rig. For that, Becca has some tutorials (I use her method to rip my sim, and she also has some very useful tips for making poses, check it out!). The process to extract your sim from the game is the same, except for a small part that I suppose is more related to the new Blender (she uses 2.79b and we use 3.6).

ok, you have your sim in Blender, in the T-pose, ready for you to create the pose with? Alright, let's begin. this time i'll use the n° 1 best daddy in the world: Leif (jk ily)

first. like I said before: NAME EVERYTHING. now honestly, I have no idea how to put armatures to be able to append your sim in a more fancy way to the new rig lmao. so my method is like a shortcut 🤣

Here it's a matter of dragging things. Open one of the 'Body' variations that come with the rig (Body_AdultMale or Female, it doesn't matter. you can do this with the child, toddler, and infant rig too) and then open where it says 'Modifiers'. See the little blue stick figure icon in front of 'armature'? Well, we're going to drag that stick figure to the name of OUR RIG (ATTENTION: if you exported your sim using Becca's method, then you'll have two files (yoursim'sname and yoursim'sname_glass, in my case, I have LeifPollock and LeifPollock_glass), you're going to drag the stick figure to the file that has your sim's name, not the one that says name_glass) of course, I have pictures.

When you drag the little blue stick figure, it will show 'Copy to Object' as you move it over your custom rig. Just drop it over your sim's name, and you're done. Now we can append our rig with the EA RipPlus. To do this, go to the modifier with the wrench icon (we're still in the right column, but this is at the bottom), and where it says 'Object', select 'Rig_Adult'

In case you're wondering, you won't be able to see the wrench icon unless you copy the armature into the custom rig

Now all that's left is to move our custom rig to the collection so we can delete what we don't need. To do that, drag your custom rig to the collection and drop it while holding down SHIFT. If you're doing it correctly, holding down SHIFT should display a text that says 'Drop to Clear Parent'. Once you drop it, you'll notice nothing happens. So we do it again, but WITHOUT HOLDING SHIFT this time. Again, if you're doing it right, you should see a message that says 'Move Inside Collection'. now you can delete the folder with the _glass mesh (is that a mesh? a rig? idek how it's called in spanish lol)

delete it, and now you can create your pose with your custom rig 😎

He's not impressed with my tutorial, but I hope you can understand it, anon!! 😁💖

[revelisms]

Excerpt: What Were Any of Us?

Jinx and Singed chat about new developments across the river.

From 'fate is a sundress, ripped at the thigh,' a oneshot exploring Jinx's relationship to Sevika and Singed in the aftermath of S1. Full story on AO3

"Your eye for chemistry is quite remarkable," he says. "I'd not have seen the patterns you caught. A consequence of living too closely to the colonies, perhaps."

Jinx snuffs a breath through her fringe. It's the first day in too many that she's brushed her hair the whole way through: drawn it back into a clean tail at her nape, tied it off with a tattered old ribbon, a shock of neon green in the mess.

"Wasn't hard," she rasps, shrugging. "Just gotta look for the magicy bits, and stuff."

The doctor's good eye crinkles at the edges. The other stays flat and white. 

It should be black and red and fire and warm and unblinking. Should be. But it's familiar, that unbalance. Comforting, in an odd way.

"This is because of the stone," he presumes. She fiddles at her cup, nails clinking off the handle. "I knew another, once, with a similar inclination. Smart boy. We keep in touch, from time to time."

For a moment, she only feels his eyes studying her, silently. Only hears the waves, feels the wind, the pressure of her cup biting back at her.

"I wonder...if this might be of interest to you." He reaches inside his coat; sets a small leather-bound journal, thick as a thumb, upon the iron. "Notes of his, on a new development with the Arcana."

A shock frissons through her skin.

She sees blue and fire and magic and whirling and gone gone rocketing—

We'll show them—

"It won't bite, child."

Still, she just stares at it, blinking. Her nail slips against the porcelain.

One wrinkled side of his face lifts at her, at that: a crooking remnant of an eyebrow singed off. "Aren't you curious?" he prods, quietly. Because she should be. She should be. "A world waiting to be discovered at our fingertips. Science—and magic."

"World of heebie-jeebies, you mean?" Jinx swipes up the notes, leveling a suspicious leer over their edges. "Bor-ing."

"You are not intrigued by the combination." The skin around his beady eye creases, again. "Neither was he. But the technology; the potential." She glances through her fringe. Watches as he crooks his head at her, and hums. "It is what interests me, too." 

Maybe that's true. Maybe she doesn't give a hoot. Maybe she wishes she could turn back time, wishes she could build welding robotics and mechanical contraptions and micro-tech that responded to touch, had minds of their own; augmentations with precipice and wonder and deadly promise, that could fly high enough to touch the stars.

That little cup of coffee tips to his gums again, hissed through his teeth. "Mages have tried and failed, for centuries, to write magic into being," he continues. "But it is a living thing. It evolves. What better way to house it, than in a body that can adapt?"

She thumbs through a page of spindly illustrations. "Metal's still metal."

"Hextech has its limitations," he agrees. "Namely, the lack of life. The Arcana feeds off it, like a virus—but the result it produces..."

Her fingers still over countless calculations—variations upon variations of organic material reverted into something else, something infinite.

"It is...volatile, yes," continues a voice across from her, faraway. "But—you see? Even in it's infancy—"

"It could heal," Jinx breathes.

The doctor blinks at her. His thin fingers steeple together, and taper still. "Create," he corrects. Then, with a quietness to the rough edges of his words: "Many things could have healed him, child. In time." Her thumb presses hard into the page. Leaves a crease. "But so are the limitations of science. You cannot force progress beyond the tools you are given."

Jinx snaps the book shut. She squeezes it, stiffly. "What—what do you...want me to do with this?"

The air whistles with a gust of cool ocean air. It carries a speckling of salt, the smoky traces of a storm just along the way, and beneath them both, a sharp, chemical sort of sweetness: the kind that's sewed itself through her skin, from a lifetime working with gears and gunmetals and explosives; that kind that sits on the doctor's clothes, too. 

He doesn't wear oils or fragrances. Never has. He smells like mildew and mothballs and that strange, floral taint of the black lilies, of the shimmer itself: a prism of too many things battling for attention, like the clutter of an apothecary's back shelves—but above it all, a spiced sort of musk, like dragon's blood.

It would stain her fingers after his injections. Change the air around him, for a minute or two, after that needle would prick the rot, drive a synthesized strand of blood into his veins and shatter him with the pain of it, shredding his genetic makeup alive and reforging a new one in its place.

As a girl, she'd wondered, morbidly, if enough doses would turn his skin pink, or his hair white, or if he'd never walk free from that feverish state the doctor demanded he'd stay in to survive.

But the shimmer never broke him, not completely. He'd always find the pieces of himself and put them back together.

It was in her veins now, too. But it'd eaten some part of her, in the process; bludgeoned through her like she'd smashed that damned vase. She couldn't find the pieces, now.

"I don't want you to do anything with it." The doctor's knobby fingers unfold, lace back together. "But if it interests you...well. I am continuing to pursue the developments."

She ticks her nail over the journal's binding. 

She wishes he took up more space that he does, with his simple clothes and his flatcap on his spotty bald head. That he didn't just stink of the lab. 

The salt stings her eyes. 

Her lungs strain, stupidly strain to make that ocean air something else; to pretend those bony hands had scratches and scars, instead of burn pocks; that the shadow of his hat turned his blind eye black; that the scent on his wools was bergamot and sandalwood and clove and cedar and tobacco and—

"Does the ogre know that?" she bites out.

The doctor tips a glance over his shoulder, out towards the sea. "That is what you call her?" he drawls, bemused. His mismatched eyes flit back to her. "She is the helm of the knights, child—not the beast for them to slay. You should have seen her, the day they took the bridge. Should have seen all of them."

She shoves the notebook back to the table. "You weren't with them."

"Those that tend the wounded can't take the front lines, themselves. So goes war." 

He folds his hands in his lap, leans back in his seat. She frowns at him, for a long moment. Rips her eyes away.

"He never—" Her nails squeeze into her palms. "Never said how you—you met him. Never told me."

A fluttering of fingertips dances in her periphery. "Does it make a difference? Fate has her ways. You, of all of us, should know that."

The words sit strangely on her. "I was just wondering."

For an eternity, the sea holds his attention. And she's used to that. She can handle that. Silence and thinking and always strategizing moves from four steps ahead, words weighed and strung together like precious stones—

"I didn't meet him, per-say. He was a subject." He lays a sallowed fingertip against the edge of his cup: tips it on its axis, from one side to another. "It took two weeks to stabilize the infection. Not a moment of it, I think, was he coherent." The cup stills. "What crawled off my table was not the same man."

Jinx presses her thumb into the heel of her palm, and keeps it there, like a dead weight. Quietly, she asks, "What was he...like, before?"

The doctor leaves the notes on the table between them. His stare skews curious, unwavering. Like she's nothing more than a test subject writhing his table, too.

"What were any of us?" he hushes.

[catcake24]

Okay, I made a post awhile ago about making a Foamstars Splatoon AU, so I’m gonna share some ideas I have about that!

Also disclaimer - I like splatoon and I am using this as an opportunity to basically make some OCs and play around in the Splatoon Universe using Foamstars as inspiration at best. I like the designs and some of the kooky ideas in Foamstars, but I am not a fan nor have I played it. I don’t have any intention to play it, I honestly think it doesn’t look very good.

Okay? Okay!

Setting - Wash Vegas

First off, the setting isn’t Bath Vegas (the canon name) but Wash Vegas. It’s a city somewhat far away from the events of the main Splatoon games, but still located in Inkadia. This city is full of rich people, and is a mashed combo of Silicon Valley and Las Vegas. It’s where the rich and elite live, investing in technologies to make a business from and partying it up at night.

After Turf Wars became a massive thing among the youth, a new kind of performative sport also started cropping up in this city- Foam Battles. Instead of a team sport, it’s more like a death match pro-wrestling. Instead of gaining points from inking turf, it’s by how many splats you get in a limited time (with different battles having different gimmicks), with the battles switching between team based objectives and all out battle royale.

The participants in these Foam Battles are the Foamstars, who craft a persona around themselves and unique weapon to each. These weapons can convert the natural ink from Inklings and Octolings into foam-like substance which can still splat their opponents but also change the environment they’re playing on by making walls and ramps, and destroying it again with their specials.

Now… this sport, despite its differences, is seen as a rich person rip off of turf wars so the Foamstars aren’t there for fun or challenge but to gain clout and make connections among the elite. So they’re basically influencers but they fight eachother, and even if the games aren’t technically meant to be rigged they often are so the favourites win more.

Characters

I’m going to give a short description of each AU character along with an image of the actual Foamstar character webpage from Square Enix for an idea of who I’m talking about since I doubt anyone here knows who each character is (ignore the bubble beastie stuff that’s gonna be a whole thing and a WIP). Also there’s surprisingly very little info on their personalities on the website, so I’m pretty much flying solo here and I have no idea what they’re actually like in-game lol.

Soa

(Just one letter away from “Soap”, real creative.) So this is Soa, her stage name being Bubbles Blobba. She is an amateur inkling idol, among many trying to make it in Wash Vegas, but has been given a new chance in this gig of being a Foamstar.

Soa is very naive though, the classic “wide eyed newbie trying to make it in the cut-throat entertainment world”. She is bubbly and energetic, and is willing to make friends with almost anyone. But that Optimism is often taken advantage of, she didn’t even know what a Foam Battle was when she signed up and just went along with it. Her genuine spirit and great singing voice has made her quite a few fans already though, so she’s got a real shot at fame.

Her weapon is a modified dualies, shooting bubbles of foam, with her special being a variation on Baller. She is light on her feet and nimble, and is an expert at dodge rolling, but often gets in over her head during battles.

Frenzy

Next is Frenzy Hohojiro, known as Agito online, and his basic backstory is similar to his Foamstar one - He’s a pro-gamer trying to prove himself outside of gaming. He is an octoling hailing from the Splatlands, and was even apart of the well-known Hohojiro clan - making him Shiver’s older brother (their sibling dynamic is very much spiting one another out of love).

The Hohojiro Clan is a long line of Shark riders and warriors, however Frenzy didn’t really care for all that and was much more enamoured with gaming and eventually left his family to peruse it - gaining massive success much to his family’s chagrin. He is very competitive and doesn’t back down to a challenge, wanting to dominate the Foam Battle leagues to prove himself, so his shark has become somewhat neglected.

His main weapon is a modified rapid blaster, with his special being a version of Reef Slider. He isn’t great at dodging but is very skilled in on-the-fly tactics.

Tonix

Tonix here is an inkling born and raised in the Wash Vegas science division, being home schooled by her father who is a brilliant scientist (Tonix is her nickname). She lives and breathes science of almost all kinds, gaining a very… odd personality as a result. She is very energetic, seeming almost manic at times, and has severely neglected social skills from her life among socially awkward scientists.

She also has a bad habit of doing experiments on her friends without asking, or on herself, seeing herself as a genius and not really caring about consequences. This attitude is why she has a state of the art prosthetic leg, as after an experiment gone wrong she jumped at the chance to make her own leg. She’s also Bioluminescent - seemingly no one knows why, not even Tonix herself.

Her weapon is a modified Brella, with her special being a powered-up auto bomb which seeks out other players and explodes. She made them herself, of course.

Jet Justice

Jet Octopada, known widely by some as Jet Justice, is a former Octarian soldier from Octo Canyon - one of many defectors after the infamous Calamari Inkantation was played. He is now a civilian hero in Wash Vegas, using his military experience, and wanted to be a force for change which brought him to Foam Battles.

He is kindhearted and genuine guy, but not naive like Soa or even Frenzy is. He sees the system is corrupt and wishes to use his position to advocate for better conditions for the lower class workers in the city, and maybe even steer it towards something better. (This leads him to take Soa and Frenzy under his wing, as he sees they’re good kids deep down.)

His weapon is a modified blaster, and his modified special is splashdown. He is a force to be reckoned with in foam battles, able to counteract even the worst cheating or bias using his own skill. However, because he is so caring of others he will sometimes help his opponents as well by accident,

Navie South

(Okay I basically had to change Pen Gwyn to be a different character because global warming isn’t really a thing in the Splatoon world anymore, since they use Zapfish and power eggs for energy rather than fossil fuels.) (also her name in Foamstars has been changed to Penny Gwyn, these are old screenshots lol)

Navie South is an Octarian, like Jet, but didn’t defect from the army. She lost her honour and status after she failed to stop the agent who ended up taking the Great Zapfish back, so she’s on a quest to correct her mistake outside of Octavio’s knowledge. She’s participating in Foam Battles to gain connections among the elite, her fans think her military outfit and personality is an act.

She is disgusted by basically everyone, seeing the inklings as enemies and the octarians as traitors. She is ruthless in Foam Battles, having been one of the top decorated soldiers in the Octarian army, and will do anything to win.

Her weapon is a modified shooter, specifically an splattershot with a rapid fire rate, and her special is a modified curling bomb which slides forwards and explodes.

Rave

One of the younger Foamstars, he is a giant squid inkling whose family came from the Deep Sea Metro. Rave Breaker isn’t his real name, but he insists everyone call him Rave Breaker since it’s cooler.

Basically, he’s a teen who heard about “sanitization” during his time in the deep, but never actually learnt what it meant… which is why he made his whole persona around ‘cleaning the filth from this city’ and ‘ending all the parties’ as an edgy anti-hero/villain. His fans love it though.

He’s really a sweet guy, a cinnamon roll if you will, who studies and works hard and doesn’t want to let his family down after they funded his career into being a Foamstar - unaware that his family’s business has made them super rich, and his parents are gaslighting him into thinking they’re only scraping by to drain his own money. He needs a better support system.

He’s also a very skilled mechanic and fighter. Due to his skill and being very tall, people often assume he’s older than he is.

His weapon is a modified heavy splatling, and his special is a modified Inkstrike. He made both of them himself, and actually does repairs for other Foamstars if they ask since he’s more trustworthy than Tonix most of the time.

(I’ll admit, I have a strange fondness for this guy. He’s my edgy son.)

Vulgan Glacia

He’s old money from Inkopolis, an Octoling whose family fled Octo Valley generations ago. He’s snooty and arrogant, but polite and dignified. He his participating in Foam Battles for fun, and to promote his grandkid’s coffee house business since they don’t like him just dumping money on them.

He absolutely loves his kids and grandkids though, and will let you know even if you don’t ask. He has all their pictures in his wallet, and makes sure to know what they’re all doing. He used to have a wife who is now deceased, so he raised his kids all on his own and is a fantastic dad. (He’s also worried for Rave, his dad senses are tingling when Rave talks about his family, but isn’t particularly close to the boy.)

His weapon is a modified splatling, and his special is inkstorm which dissolves foam as it passes over.

Sweet Beak

The most mysterious Foamstar, the Inkling Sweet Beak acts as both the mascot, poster girl, and secret CRO for ‘Sweet Dreams’ - a candy and sweets brand whose products are massively popular in Wash Vegas. Sweet Beak herself acts as the promoter and mascot, while behind the scenes she’s a cut-throat CEO who will do anything to dominate her competition.

She doesn’t care for ethics or standards, only winning and power. She lives a double life, pretending to be an innocent and cute young girl in Foam Battles but dropping the act in private. She will cheat, lie, backstab, and punch her way to the top - never caring for who she hurts along the way. This persona also allows her to forge connections with higher ups of other companies, and to keep herself clean from any accusations that might be thrown the company’s way.

Her fans love her for her sweet and girly personality shown online, and for her sweets themed gear and weapons. Her main weapon is a Blaster, and her special is a foam themed big bubbler which will disperse foam when going through or popped.

Note: These characters were first made before Foamstars released, and since the website has barely any info on them, this isn’t reflective of their characters in-game. I might check that out on YouTube, but idk right now.

Plot/Story

Right now this is the most unfinished part, but here’s the basics.

Originally, Foam Battles were just done for fun, but recently it’s been found the foam weapons are very effective at fighting monsters called ‘Bubble Beasties’. These monsters started appearing with no warning from an old waste dump outside the city, and now it’s overrun with these creatures and they have been attacking parts of Wash Vegas for unknown reasons.

Our main characters get caught up in one of these attacks during a game of battle royale between these 8 (there are more Foamstars than just these guys in the world) and they managed to stop the attack. So the head of local the Wash Vegas Defence Force recruited/drafted them to fight these attacks when they pop up, and now they’re all having to learn to get along.

TLDR: The plot is basically celebrity and entertainment drama, mixed in with some superhero action.

((I’m not 100% on this, and this is based on the in-game story mode stuff which I skimmed, so this is the most subject to change part of this AU))

[sklira]

hiiii sklira ily. um i just named my troll shadow priest in wow after u. wat does sklira mean tell me evryting is there something i should kno for her lore loll. sry that i ripped u off i just was like ye that sounds kewl. <3 so now ill bemember ur url 4ever

loool hi playstation <3 please don't troll too hard with the name at least since I use it on almost everything (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

I am honored though, thank you! I just love the sound of the word sclera + eyes so I took the latin form 'sklerə' and changed it to have a unique username that isn't taken on too many platforms already. I use different variations of it too. I don't think I'll ever play WoW though so happy trolling~

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters...

Corvus vs The Warden!

Conditions:

No restrictions.

Scenario:

Corvus travels down into the Deep Dark, suspecting its mutations to be a new variation of the Vile Blood plague, and gets attacked by the Warden.

Analysis: Corvus

The beautiful, prosperous kingdom of Hermes was the largest and most powerful in all the land. So advanced was its knowledge of science and medicine that it was among the last of the lands to fall to the supernatural plague that had swept the world. Yet fall it still did. Humanity seemed to be on the verge of extinction, with this shining bastion of power simply representing its last candle.

Until the brilliant scientist Emerald, inventor of the art of alchemy, brought forth her greatest discovery. Vile Blood, as the blood of the infected was named, could be used to sythesize a cure, dubbed Pure Blood. The world had seemingly been saved and alchemy advanced as a science at a completely unprecedented rate in order to completely contain and eliminate the Vile Blood disease. But that proved to be the Great Mistake that would doom mankind forever.

When mixed with Pure Blood, Vile Blood would begin to adapt and mutate. Even completely incinerating corpses would no longer kill the pathogen within, and it would soon demonstrate the ability to completely overtake the mind. The soldiers of Hermes, still sentient even in their mutated state, would turn against the crown, butchering and infecting all they could find. Even infected blood, on its own, could come to life and pull itself back together into a humanoid form to keep spreading the plague. Put up against a newfound regenerative ability on that scale, Hermes quickly fell dowm to its last legs again.

Before she would completely give in to despair and abandon mankind, Emerald would make one final breakthrough. She noticed that no matter how much the Vile Blood mutated, it could not infect certain animals. Crows in particular seemed completely immune. In one last attempt to save mankind, Emerald would attempt to combine humans and animals together to create a subspecies that would be completely immune to the Vile Blood pandemic. She had exactly one success, a half-crow, half-human. The last hope of Hermes: Corvus.

As the strongest warrior in the land of Hermes, Corvus was tasked by the last survivors of the royal family to wipe out the Vile Blood plague. In his quest to discover a cure and defend the last vestiges of civilization, Corvus would end up slaughtering a good chunk of the kingdom he was made to save. A remarkable feat when considering that the infected still retain all the skills and sentience they had in life, to the point that many can be heard sobbing over their hellish situation. He's defeated the Fool's God, a giant stone statue filled to the brim with thousands of Vile Blood infested corpses, and even killed it in one hit, fought his way through entire cities of infected soldiers, and even bested the greatest warriors Hermes has to offer. When Varg, the greatest warrior Thymesia had ever seen, and Urg, the royal family's personal assassin and one of the last standing members of the royal family itself, attempted a coup, Corvus was able to fight and defeat them both. He even bested the Sound of the Abyss, a colossal infected worm whose burrowing underground shook the entirety of the Royal Library. As the Library is absolutely massive, easily the size of an entire city block by itself, that burrowing would be creating at least a Magnitude 4.5 earthquake to shake it. To generate that much distructive energy, you'd need up to 84 tons of TNT.

Source:

Corvus is fast enough to dodge arrows, is a master swordsman, can rip through people with his talon claws, and, with easily his most dangerous ability, can drain your life force with Plague Weapons. Designed to bypass the remarkable regenerative ability of the infected, Plague Weapons are glowing green mystical weapons that Corvus creates by copying his opponents weaponry. He can create hammers, swords, bows, javelins, and even shields. He can even copy parts of his foe's biology, imitating the writhing tendrils coming out of Mutated Odur's back and fighting with his own. This does, however, require that he get his hands on you with his claws to copy your weaponry.

Even so, you'll be hard pressed to put Corvus down before he can. He can survive getting stabbed straight through the chest and simply just get right back up. His regenerative ability is absurd and he's completely immune to the Vile Blood plague on top of that, to the point of wading through thigh high oceans of Vile Blood without getting infected. When an infected Vard stabbed him through the chest and completely shattered his spine, the worst Corvus got was amnesia out of it.

Ultimately, Corvus would prove to be Emerald's greatest creation, outright surpassing his creator in the realm of alchemy, creating a concoction that would destroy Vile Blood forever. Through the shattered land of Hermes would immediately descend into chaos and war as the survivors fought amongst themselves to rebuil civilization, Corvus has ensured the species will live to see another day. The people of Hermes felt something they hadn't in generations that day. Hope.

Analysis: The Warden

The vast, endless world of Minecraft has always felt... empty. Despite being randomly generated, it has always given the vibe of having been lived in. Abandoned. Forgotten. What ancient civilizations uses to live here before the villagers arrived? Who were the zombies before they turned? And who are we, the Player, really? Minecraft doesn't answer, it simply provides more questions. Perhaps the most alarming and nightmarish of which centers around the Deepest and Darkest part of Minecraft's world.

What are the Ancient Cities buried beneath the world? And what is the Warden that guards them?

This monsterous mob that stalks the Deep Dark is the most powerful monster that Steve, Dream, and all your other favorite Minecraft adventurers could ever hope to encounter. Described by the Devs themselves as "not a boss, but a natural disaster", the Player was not even intended to fight the Warden, let alone defeat it, with the souls of countless other adventurers wriggling inside of it immortalizing those who tried. It is strong enough to dig through netherite blocks effortlessly and can break straight through the Player's shield in a single blow.

This is despite the fact that the Player's shield is strong enough to tank attacks from the Wither, such as the massive explosion it creates upon birth, which is powerful enough to vaporize several basalt blocks at once. To generate a blast that powerful, you'd need at least 38 tons of TNT, enough to destroy an entire city block!

Source:

And if being able to rip straight through Steve's armor and shields wasn't deadly enough, the Warden can ignore them entirely of it so chooses. It's screaming is loud enough to generate sonic booms, the vibrations of which go through Steve's armor completely and its fast enough to simply run Steve down no matter how fast he flees. This is the same Steve who can keep up with Endermen in combat, who are fast emough to react to and dodge arrows at point blank range. Arrows which on average can move up to 100 meters per second. And Steve can't outrun this thing even with a swiftness potion.

The Player's best option is to simply never get caught by the beast in the first place. Which is easier said than done. While the Warden may be blind, so long as it's around, so are you, as it's Darkness status effect blinds everyone around it in a ten meter radius. And unlike the Warden, you don't have the superhuman hearing to sense the slightest vibrations, nor the smell to pick up on its prey.

A Player's only saving grace is that the Warden is a literally blind animal. As soon as it detects its prey, it charges them down in a rage to rip them to pieces, only strategizing by screaming from a distance or using its honed senses to hunt. It's not a fighter. It's barely even an animal. It's a raging natural disaster.

We may never know what happened to the ancient cities it guards. Perhaps the Warden is their equivalent to a golem, the last remnant of its ancient race. Or perhaps, the Warden is the thing that wiped them out.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

The Warden is a very different beast to the kind that Corvus usually hunts.

While Corvus's extensive skill would be a handful for virtually any beast, the blindness effect of the Warden's presence would mitigate that. When combined with the Warden's loud, disorienting shrieks and definitive spped advantage and Corvus is going to get the tar kicked out of him. After all, Corvus might be able to dodge arrows, but the Warden can outrun people who can do the same.

However, Corvus's strength advantage would allow him to weather the hits. The Warden may be immensely stronger than the Wither, who can generate 38 tons of TNT, but Corvus regularly slays beasts in the 84 tons range, giving him a notable strength advantage that no one else in Minecraft has had over the Warden. This combines with Corvus's own impressive regeneration to allow him to wheather the storm of the Warden's relentless onslaughts and give him a chance to adapt before getting crushed.

There are plenty of outcomes where the Warden catches Corvus off guard enough to pummel him to death before he can recuperate. But seeing the brutal beatdowns Corvus has bounced back from in his own series, I see him recovering enough to land a hit with his trump card. Plague Weapons.

There are no weapons that can simply suck the life force from someone in Minecraft the way Corvus's plague weapons do. As such, The Warden would have no resistance against them and its beastial intellect would have no answer for the variety of forms these weapons can manifest as. If the Warden was capable of strategizing, it might be able to turn the tables back around. But that's not how it fights.

In a fight, The Warden keeps relentlessly attacking until you're dead or it is. It has never run away, never relented. And against a stronger, more skilled opponent that can harm it in a way no one else can, this relentlessness is it's downfall. The Warden would catch Corvus off guard at first, but uf it doesn't end the fight quickly, it wouldn't managed anything more than that.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Corvus!

[the-silent-windchime]

This is a fragment of a fic I'm working on right now. It's a stranger things pirate au, and I'm intending to have steddie be the main ship. BUT unlike any of the other pirate aus I've found on ao3, this one will also be a historical au, set in the Mediterranean in the 1500s (which is a time period I honestly think is just as exciting or more so than the so-called golden age of piracy!) and instead of it being some variation of "pirate Eddie and nobility Steve", both of them are pirates. I'm using the following fragment as kind of a proof-of-concept, so if this sounds like your type of thing maybe drop a comment or something (I am also tentatively looking for a co-writer, so message me for more information on that)

-

The Hellfire was a vessel of many virtues; she was small, she was light, she was the fastest damn ship on this side of the Atlantic, and she flew the jolly roger like she had never known another flag. But above all else and in every imaginable way, she lived up to her name. 

“Douse sails and turn to starboard fifteen degrees!” Eddie shouted, grappling with the rigging on the headsail. The thick rope burned his hands as the wind fought to rip it away from him, and only his years of experience and the sticky, rum-coated deck kept him from flying overboard as the ship’s bow cleaved through a towering wall of sea foam. 

“Aye, Captain!” came the scattered cry of response, barely rising above the hiss of sleet on wood. Somewhere behind him, Gareth barked an order to lash down the cannons, but Eddie knew that if he spared even a glance to check on his crew, he could very well end up dead. His world narrowed to the sail in front of him, which snapped and beat the air like the wing of a captured bird. Only once it was securely reefed did Eddie stumble away to cling to the forward mast. 

The ocean roared, thunder cracked overhead, and the Hellfire turned somersaults across the waves as she did her level best to kill them all. 

Another clap of thunder, this time accompanied by a strobe of lightning, and the entire ship was alight with cold white light. Through the curls flying wildly around his face, Eddie caught sight of Wheeler at the helm. The lad had his feet braced wide, every muscle in his skinny frame straining against the rudder, but Eddie could already tell that it wasn’t going to be enough.

“Someone get up there and help him!” he called desperately - just a moment too late. 

There was a splintering crunch, and Eddie’s blood froze in his veins. The rudder twisted free and Wheeler was thrown into the ship’s railing. Eddie had a split second to be terrified that the boy was about to tumble over the railing before he slumped down onto the deck, clutching at the carven wood as swells of salt water bombarded the hull. Then the ship groaned, and suddenly Wheeler’s condition was the least of Eddie’s concerns.

“We’ve lost the rudder,” he yelled, voice carrying over the storm, “Everybody take cover!”

The ship bucked and kicked like a wild animal. His crew hit the deck, grabbing at the rigging and the lashed down cannons and each other and holding on for dear life. The wind plucked their shouted prayers from their throats, whisking them away to who knows where, and as the masts trembled overhead and a wall of inky blackness reared up in front of the bow, Eddie clung to the damp wood and thought bleakly that at least in hell, it wouldn’t be this damn cold.