#this project has become a monster but it's fun but how on earth did this happen

[nobodysdaydreams]

Whichever you want to answer! I hope you're having a really great day, because you are a great human <3

3. What would "S.O.S." be like in the Wolf 359 Universe?

5. Favorite tropes to write?

7. Favorite platonic relationships to write for Eiffel?

Thank you Sophie! These are fantastic questions.

3. SOS in the Wolf359 universe would be absolutely hilarious.

I have a TMBS x Wolf359 crossover that I already spoke to you about in discord, but that's a bit different, though I might post that one later too, if people are interested. But I like the SOS one too. For those that are unfamiliar with SOS or Wolf359 or both, I'll try and probably fail at keeping it simple to walk you through it, but lets see if you can follow this.

This would be the story of four friends who notice strange signals in deep space (the dear listeners) and want to explore. Fun right? Wrong. Think again. One friend would be the rich friend who is funding the whole project (basically Curtain/Cutter for character reference) who is lowkey thinking about how to use the tech for world domination while also not telling his friends because although he cares about them, he also knows they wouldn't go for it. However, in this case, this character also has a twin brother on Earth who he hates/misses terribly because of something said brother did when he was 12 that separated them both when they were orphans. The brother is a very nice person, but still this Cutter/Curtain character is up in space, looking down at him on Earth from his super strong telescope, brooding like "Look at him. That smug selfish idiot. He's a monster." (camera zoom in on the nicest man alive). I hope you were able to follow that, because the second friend in the group would have an entirely DIFFERENT secret evil plan due to her trauma and is also one who invented all the technology (think Garrison or Pryce). Still another friend (think Milligan or...gosh I don't even know what the equivalent would be maybe Doug, yeah I guess Doug) would be a secret agent sent by the government to investigate the aliens, who thinks he's keeping the government investigation secret from his totally non-supervillain friends who really just want to explore space. This secret agent character also has a young daughter back on Earth, that's an important detail for later. Finally, the fourth friend, (Pedalian, or for character reference, Sam Lambert, but any very sweet person who dies will do) has his own secret he's hiding from everyone that I can't reveal because I didn't reveal that in my own writing of SOS yet either, so basically these four friends (who do care about each other, but still have their own agendas) are all tip-toeing around each other with their big terrible secrets.

However, something big goes wrong in space (surprise). This results in the Pedalian/Lambert sweet character dying (bummer), but not before he creates an AI child (SQ/one of the AI I guess) that has a voice and personality based on his own that the Cutter/Curtain character sort of adopts and cares for as his own child because he misses his friend and cares for the AI, but he also uses the AI for his own evil ends, so that becomes very complicated and toxic very quickly because the AI loves his dad, but doesn't want to hurt anyone. Additionally, all three of the remaining friends blame themselves for their other friend's death and the two with separate evil plans become even more unhinged, causing the one who is secretly a government spy to find out what the Cutter/Curtain friend is doing, which leads to Cutter/Curtain erasing all his memories and the newly memory-wiped character escaping from their facilities, only to find the brother Cutter/Curtain hates who is on to his brother's evil schemes and making a plan to stop him. Flash forward several years, and now Cutter/Curtain is working with Garrison/Pryce to complete his evil plan, totally unaware that she has and has always had her own separate evil plan and agenda and plans to betray him eventually. Meanwhile, Cutter/Curtain's brother has now teamed up with his ex-friend whose memories he stole to send in a group of young astronauts (who, coincidently, include the daughter he forgot about who believes her father abandoned her) to take down his organization from the inside. However, Cutter/Curtain has his own people working for him and then they battle it out eventually leading to the brothers confronting each other.

So yeah. My other TMBS x Wolf359 AU is a little more coherent, but this is what I got. I hope you could follow that.

5. Favorite Trope: Villain Redemption Arcs

I can't stand seeing villains get a free pass for their crimes, nor can I stand "he doesn't deserve redemption". No! He can choose not to take it, but he is a fool if he refuses it, and it is a tragedy when he doesn't. I also am a big believer that justice and mercy are not opposing forces, but rather that they go together. Justice without mercy or the chance to be better is just revenge, and mercy without justice is a free pass. Besides, a character that truly sees the error of their ways would want justice for what they've done, they'd want to make up for what they've done, even if it means they have to suffer or lose everything. It may sound harsh, but I think that's beautiful. That's why I loved writing about Daniel Jacobi and Nathaniel Benedict's redemption arcs so much. They learn their lessons, and you can tell they learned their lessons, and it's so fun to watch them become themselves again, without all the evil, without all the anger, without all the bitterness. Let people grow. Let them be better. Let them be happy.

This is also why my most controversial and universally hated Star Wars opinion is that I think Benny Solo should have lived so he could freely choose to go to jail for the rest of his life. The ones who think he should have died and the ones who think he should have lived a happy life with Rey might hate me for this opinion, but I have a vision for this. Obviously he's force sensitive, it would be hard for a jail to hold him, but if he's really sorry, he would want to serve a sentence just like anyone else and make up for his crimes. This also works great from a practical stand point because if they wanted to make future star wars sequel content, being in jail doesn't limit this particular character because he has force bonds with Rey, so he can still talk to the main characters. He can also interact with the other criminals, so maybe he helps talk a young force sensitive kid into choosing a better path, or tells Rey about a criminal or guard he doesn't trust, or discovers a plot forming within the prison. I'm just saying, putting him in jail doesn't mean his character has nothing to do. It does however give the writers a convenient excuse if Adam Driver is unavailable for an episode due to his acting schedule. Why isn't Benny in this episode? Oh well obviously because he's in jail. But he could still do some pretty cool cameos. I'm just saying. We never got to see Rey and Ben in a fight scene on different planets where they only have one lightsaber between them that they're forced to toss back and forth across the different environments. Even if one of those was limited to a prison riot, that would still be pretty cool, would it not?

7. Favorite Platonic relationships to write for Eiffel

All of them, if we're being real. Seriously, Eiffel and any character is a fantastic dynamic. My favorite would probably be Hera, because they have such a close relationship and they compliment each other very well. I also love Eiffel and Minkowski though, and Eiffel reuniting with Anne, and...ugh. Sorry it's all of them, I can't pick. Though Eiffel and Hera or Minkowski would probably be my top choice. I have another one in mind, but that's for later. I'll keep that to myself.

[parsleysagerosemarytimemachine]

Fun TTRPG campaign idea that I'm not going to use any time soon: (but that intrigues me enough to want to write it down anyway)

Setting is SF, a galaxy colonized by near-light-speed seeder ships from Earth X000 years ago; thousands of human-inhabited planets, mostly isolated by the vast gulf of space and time. Instantaneous teleportation has just been invented and some planet has decided to spread the technology around, and see who all is interested in becoming part of a more connected galactic polity. This is where the players come in - a group of diplomats and scientists, sociologists and politicians, sent out to visit new planets, discover what their situation is, and see if the locals are interested in signing on to this grand project. (The players' group has a special, expensive one-way teleportation drive on their spaceship; what they're offering is relatively cheap teleportation booth/portal technology that requires construction on both ends - these connects back to another planet that can help build/design/import more, until the new planet is as connected as it wants to be.)

The structure of the game, then, is:

Arrive at new planet.

Scope out the situation - who do we talk to, what's dangerous or a problem, do we want to bring these people in?, do these people want to be brought in?, etc etc

Adventure of the week! - this is the fun bit that determines the genre of the game; do you have to do some diplomacy? Is there a murder mystery that the players are wrapped up in? Are you just exploring an strange society and figuring out what's cool and new? How has a (probably human) society changed while it's been out of contact? Can everyone get along? How can we make sure everyone will get along in the future? Is this a combat scenario? (giant monsters or a planet at war or civil conflict) Can the players make things worse by introducing new and upsetting technology and ideas? Yes! Maybe it's better for everyone if they sneak away and pretend they didn't come in the first place. :)

Afterwards - I think it's mechanically important that there's some sort of game-playable 'break' between planets, because it offers an important choice and tension. If they players did connect the planet to the teleport network, they can have a downtime where they go back home and see friends and family, and enjoy all the comforts of whichever civilization they're working for -- and if they didn't, they have to relax and regroup using whatever resources might be available locally, which are probably perfectly fine, but it's not going to be like home. Is there a mechanical incentive for players to connect the network anyway, if they've only just got some minor misgivings? Yes! That's the point! :) You should probably revisit past planets occasionally, just to make sure it's not an easy one-and-done process, and show what new problems have come up. (Could they just point their expensive spaceship back home instead? Yeah, but they'll get pointedly talked-too because fuel is expensive, and they're supposed to be using it to build a bigger polity, not make sure the roommate is feeding the cats the right sort of treats.)

Anyway, that's the idea - there's a lot of ways you could play with it, from Star Trek utopianism to grim colonialist critique, depending on what sort of game systems you used and who your players are. My personal wish would be to find something fairly light in tone (possibly comic) by keeping the costs of non-intervention low, and problems mostly mitigatible by making the central powers benevolent, if not always competent; there's plenty of room for a critique where everyone can see a very bad outcome being avoided, so it doesn't have to come up 'in play' as it were. (Also helped by making sure the people I play with have similar views of civilizational intervention to begin with. :) But also it's just cool to imagine a game that gives a range of cool space societies to meet.

[brothersapart]

I read so much of the brother multiverse and I wonder want are all of the borrower knacks that been revealed like there so much Smol. Also i really appreciate you continuing to upload for these awesome series for so many year!!

Oh, knacks are one of my favorite parts! And they've certainly grown from how they were initially, becoming so important in the stories.

You can find a full list of knacks on this post, along with an explanation I worked out when I finally decided to fully define them.

That list might be missing a few, I think we did officially announce what Sherlock's knack would be while I'm pretty sure John Watson only has some guesses under the #borrower knacks tag I use to keep this sorted out.

(Smaug is trying to preen me while I answer this so I keep getting pecks to the face when I move against his wishes)

Some additional fun facts:

The strongest knack in existence was the ability to smite demons and monsters, just like an angel, and the person who received it was plenty strong enough to put it to use if they ever saw a demon.

Stan Baker has actually already used his knack in his borrower adventure, found in Brothers Chosen, but we won't see it discovered by the characters for a bit.

As useful as knacks are, there are limits to what they can be.

Borrowers cannot change their size.

Borrowers cannot shapeshift.

Borrowers cannot fly or teleport.

If you want to create your own knacks for characters, we'd love to hear the ideas! A great resource for them that I use is the Superpower wiki, and then adjust the power levels to what the borrowers can handle. They're not at the full superhero levels, of course.

Honestly, answering this has jazzed me up again for the stories, I've been trying to break out of a touch of depression the last few months so it's great to feel that energy again! Thanks so much for the ask!

Under the cut, I'll list out the knacks I can find, it might be a project for another day where I see if there's any others we might have announced separately:

Sam Winchester–

Enhanced Awareness: This can either enhance an already understood sense to supernatural levels, or give the borrower a ‘sixth sense,’ much like how Sam can feel if he’s being watched. His ability does not work on other borrowers, the angelic Grace around their souls keeping the perception from working on them. 

Dean Winchester–

Enhanced Tracking: Trackers, like Dean, are able to use their ability to track down their target with undeniable accuracy. There are limits, as Dean can only track down objects he needs. He is unable to apply this to people, and if he can’t conjure up that sense of need, nothing will happen. This is not limited by distance, though if he’s far from an object, he only gets a sense of what direction it’s in. 

John Winchester–

Perception Filter: The ability to be unnoticed and/or ignored in presence and actions. John’s ability is unique, so far as he’s discovered. He is unable to apply this ability to himself, but has found that if he concentrates, he is able to hide his family from notice, even if a human opens up the walls and looks right at them. This allows him to leave without worrying that they will be found, though of course, stuff doesn’t always go to plan.

Mary Winchester–

Terrakinesis: The ability to control the earth. While John’s ability tends towards more protective with his family, Mary is ready to go on the attack. She can’t affect entire buildings like the angels, but she can rock the ground just enough to knock a human off balance, buying time for her to escape. This works when there’s concrete, rock, stone, ect underneath the ground. She is unable to affect wood paneling at all and is cautious if she needs to go over a wood floor. With this ability, she was able to slowly carve out a safe home for her family underneath the ground. Adding in John’s ability to keep the family undetected, it seemed a good place to raise their two boys. Mary keeps several pebbles on her that she can flick at an attacker in case she needs a quick escape. Dean certainly got his accuracy from his mother.

Sherlock Holmes–

Time Distortion: The ability to slow down or stop time. A very strong knack that requires training to sustain for longer than a few seconds. In Sherlock’s case, he is able to slow down time around him, enabling him to escape with a speed that can’t be matched, and make observations that no one else would ever notice. When he stretches his ability, he can include others in this. He can’t stop time like an angel; it will always move forward

Bobby Singer–

Psychometry: Bobby’s knack allows him to learn from books and artifacts at a glance or a touch. He’s unable to read people, but if he gets an item of theirs, he can know what it was used for, how it will be put to use in the close future. This includes seeing that a knife will be used for a murder, before the murder happens.

Jacob Andris–

Supernatural Strength: Some, like Jacob, grow stronger than even other borrowers. This comes from their innate ability to turn their knack on their own bodies by instinct. While Sam and Dean receive the standard borrower strength boost while cursed, allowing them to lift around 12x their body weight, Jacob is able to lift, at only 18, a colossal 42x his natural body weight. If he was human-sized, he could bench a car without breaking a sweat.

Oscar–

Pyrokinesis: The ability to manipulate fire in limited forms. Oscar would not easily discover this knack, as a fire in the motel room walls might cause the entire place to go up in a blaze.

Walt Watch–

Telekinesis: The ability to manipulate objects outside of their direct reach. This can often cause a borrower to be mistaken for a ghost, moving objects in a house without touching them for a distraction. Walt Watch has taken the ability further, freezing two humans in place and later directing his power at himself to force his razor blade through Celeste’s neck despite her angelic invulnerability. This came close to burning out his knack.

Chase Lisong–

Emotional manipulation: The ability to influence the emotions around him, with no need for physical contact. A way for Chase to keep the peace among whichever group he’s in, or, if he can manage to get close enough, make a human tired or inattentive enough to escape notice.

Bobby Loran–

Power borrowing: Bobby is able to borrower the knack of other borrowers for a limited amount of time. One at a time, and since he’s not used to them he wouldn’t have as much finesse with them. He’d be quicker to burn them out than the actual “owner” of the knack.

Minnie Lisong–

Life detection: Very useful for finding out if a human is in a room, or seeing if there is a possibly dangerous rat or spider hiding in the walls.

Mark Bend–

Supernatural Strength: Unlike Jacob, Mark’s ability only applies to his legs. His legs are supernaturally enhanced, able to leap high into the air compared to a regular borrower.

Sean–

Invisibility: Though the borrower does not make themselves actually invisible in most cases, the invisibility knack allows them to camouflage and blend in to their surroundings. In Sean’s case, he can cause a cloud of distortion that hides himself and any of his friends that stand close enough. 

There are knacks picked out for the following characters, but they have not been announced yet (as far as I remember, feel free to send in a message if I'm just forgetting them!):

John Watson

Stan Baker

Stan Baker's brothers (Seamus, Dylan, Simon and Levi)

Moira Wainscot

Kara Bolt

Harmony

Adriana of the Woods

Oh! And of course, if you think you know what one of the knacks might be, send in your guess and if you're right, we'll officially reveal it!

[animebookworm16]

So here’s a funny (read: stupid, trust me I came up with it) idea for a Miraculous Ladybug AU.

Mostly it just changes the way the Butterfly and Peafowl Miraculous work. They can still have their symbolism of Transformation and whateverthefuck that’s not the important part.

In this AU, Nooroo is like a djinn, he grants wishes but here’s the catch, the wishes have to be phrased in such a way that they are changing something about the person wishing, think less “I wish for world peace!” and more “I wish I could bring the world to peace”. Along with the whole ‘there has to be a strong emotion tied to it’ stuff.

And that’s why Hawky has to be so convincing, he litterally cannot take control of them until they make a wish. And the really fun part? Since MLB is set in a fictional universe, the writers could have it so that butterflies are known for granting wishes or something like that, like shooting stars or dandelions (which would also fix the issue of why it’s mostly kids who get targeted kids are more likely to make a wish than an adult) with the added caution of djinn (be careful what you wish for). So of course people would tell their wishes to passing butterflies never knowing that good ole’ Gabe might be listening in.

‘How does this become an AU’ I hear you cry? Because it could change the whole premise of the show. It isn’t just angry teens that were angry at the wrong moment, it’s an embarrased Ivan muttering in the hallway, “I wish I was strong enough to shut Kim up.” (an eight foot tall rock monster filled with rage would certainly do the trick), a slighted Alya staring blankly up at the sky and saying, “I wish I was fast enough to catch Chloe as Ladybug.” (teleporting through phones and litterally being able to pause someone certainly sounds promising), a heartbroken Alix staring at her family heirloom, “I wish I could go back in time and fix this.” (well that’s a little tricky but I’m sure your friends won’t mind helping!)

All that to say, the wish shapes the power. The stronger the wish, the stronger the abilities. Nooroo and the Butterfly are ‘meant’ (heavy quotation marks) to be used to lift people up when everything looks awful.

‘Didn’t you mention something about the Peafowl Miraculous?’ Why yes I did, I’m glad you remembered!

As for Duusuu. Duusuu’s powers aren’t wish based at all, in fact, a person doesn’t even have to realize that his powers have been at work, until it’s happening. In this AU Duusuu’s feathers (from the fan not his tail) attach to a person and act as a kind of ‘emotional spounge’ (again explaining why kids and teens are more likely to be targeted than adults) any excess emotions (like you finally beat a really hard level of a video game, or you just found out that your longterm partner has been cheating on you for most of it) get stored up, and when enough energy has been stored... you get to see a personification of the strongest emotion reflected as yourself. Let’s take Marinette as an example on say the day she got expelled because of Lila. Depending on how you personally (as the person potentially writing in this AU) take it, she was most likely either feeling furious or heartbroken. She would then be confronted with either a version of herself that just wanted to destroy everything in her path and go full scortched earth (furious) or a version that curled up on the stairs she supposedly pushed Lila down and cried her heart out. 

In other words Duusuu and the Peafowl are ‘meant’ (those same heavy quotation marks) to be used to either force a person to confront the worst parts of themselves (you have anger issues, you probably have clinical deppression, you are a smug self-righteous jerk who needs to step off their soapbox) or show them the best parts of themselves (you brighten other peoples days whenever you compliment them, you put everything you had into this project and deserve to feel proud of it, you love your family and friends and show it in your own way). So in other words, Duusuu is like a free dose of therapy. And when I say excess emotion, I don’t mean you had one good or bad day and that tipped it over, I mean you’ve had a consistent good or bad month before it tips over at that last straw.

Ironically, Nooroo and Duusuu aren’t meant to be active in the same place at the same time. Add in the misuse of the miraculous and boom, you’ve got the miraculous sentimonsters from the show.

‘What is so messed up in your brain that this is what you spend your free time thinking about?’

First of all we’re both on tumblr so rude. Second of all I couldn’t get the thought of, “What if the reason Plagg was so annoyed at Adrien calling him a jinni was because Nooroo was litterally the origin of that story and he didn’t want to be called a copycat.” and it just kind of spiraled from there.

[weavercobra]

Varangian Files SH: Prologue: Puppet, Priest and Parasit

For those who read my overview of the settings I run, you may have noticed that between the original posting and now, the description of Varangian changed. That's because in that time, the scope of the setting changed. We added not only a lot a lot of classical mythology, but also incorporated a lot of modern fiction into the setting. So it's become a sort of massive crossover setting.

And that brings us to this project. You see, with all these stories sharing space, changes were inevitable, both because a somewhat consistent cosmology had to be created, but also because characters from those stories could interact with each other and the original characters of the setting. The question of 'How did this story go down in the Varangian setting' lead to this weird project, somewhere in between a original tale and fanfiction. It's been fun and I wanted to share them with you all. They are written so that no prior knowledge of the setting or the media is required.

This story also features as one of the major characters the OC Dahlia Damutamu, whom the amazing @thecreaturecodex did a great conversion into tabletop of here.

Go check out her other stuff too, it's great and creative. And for those interested, the prologue for this story will be right below.

Prologue: Puppet, Priestess and Parasite

Varangian File: 5GPS1SM Codename “Shadow Man”

In the year 1999, a serious imbalance between the Material Plane(Aka, Earth) and the Necrotic Plane(For more information, see file AD7: Deadside) occurred, with potential fallout that has been estimated to be in the range of either a Class 5 or 6 scenario. As most of the events that transpired happened in the Necrotic Plane, documentation is sparse. Most of the reliable documentation relates to the notorious group of serial killers known as The Five, who were deeply involved in this case. Based on discrete inquiries and a select few channellings of departed spirits, the following is our best attempt at summarising the events that transpired during this case. Further investigation has not commenced as of the date of this report's writing.

...

The sun was slowly setting on the horizon, bathing the skies in amber hues. Music echoed down the streets, carried on the warm air. And the cobblestone streets clacked with the sounds of footsteps, as a woman made her way through the town, passing by the other citizens.

Most people would probably notice her ebony skin and her fine clothes first, a fuzzy blue cloak over a dress in all the warm colours of summer. Other, ruder folk might notice, perhaps even call attention to her prominent nose. The gutter-minded might find themselves gazing longingly at her voluptuous and generously sized features. And the most observant might notice the look in her eyes, sharp, observant and with an equal mix of purpose and thirst.

The latter might very well guess she was not a person to be crossed.

She turned a corner and paused, looking up. Neon lights flash, illuminating the words 'The Wild at Heart'. She smirked, heading towards the door, a few patrons exiting and passing her by.

Inside was what she'd expect, plenty of seats, a pool table and a television above the counter. The smell of alcohol filled the air and faint clouds of smoke were kept visible by the light streaming in through the large windows.

Behind the counter stood the bartender, cleaning a glass. He was dark-skinned, his hair shaved and his toned body dressed in simple clothes. He looked up, his eyes hidden behind a pair of black lenses. “Sorry, we're about to close, Mam.” “Not many bars in New Orleans would close right before nightime,” she commented, stepping closer to the man.

“I know. Special circumstances today.” She reached into her pocket and pulled a card from it. “Honey,” she said, sliding it across the wooden surface. “I am the special circumstances.” She paused, taking in a deep breath. The smell made her cock her head slightly. It was a stale smell. A dead smell. Laced with a touch of the otherworldly. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as the bartender took the card. After giving it a quick once-over, he remarked: “She's waiting upstairs,” before returning to cleaning the glass. “Second room on the right. Try not to burn the bar down.”

“I wasn't planning on starting any fires today,” she replied, heading for the door behind the counter. She paused at the threshold for a moment, before adding: “Well, not here anyway.”

Behind it was a set of old, wooden stairs, each step creaking under her weight. Following the instructions she had been given, she found herself in front of a plain wooden door, the white paint flecking slightly off. She raised a hand, only for a woman's voice behind it to calmly state: “Come in.” “Well, well, someone's prepared,” she noted with bemusement, entering the room. Simple green wallpaper covered the walls, with a single ceiling lamp illuminating it. To one side stood a large bed. To the other a table, two chairs flanking it. And in one chair sat the woman who had called her in.

She was dressed in a black skirt and top, allowing much of her dark skin to show. A few pieces of golden jewellery and strong make-up gave contrast to her features.

The newcomer sat down, and for a moment the two women sized each other up, like a pair of predators glaring at each other across the edges of their territories, scanning each other for potential weaknesses. Each saw strength in the other's eyes, even if it was strengths of two very different natures. If someone were to pass, they'd scarcely be able to guess that both women were centuries old, yet the two both recognised the look of an old soul.

“So,” the guest began. “You must be Mama Nettie, then?”

“I am. And you're Dahlia.” Her tone was warm, sensual and commanding.

“I do not believe any of my followers volunteered my name.” She smirked. “I'm curious. Did your boys dig this up or did the spirits reveal it?” “I'd prefer not to name my sources. You have done enough digging of your own, as it is.” She crossed her arms. “So let us get down to business. What is it you want?”

“I'm looking for a guy. Belal Harrison was his name.” She pulled a photograph out of her dress, twirling it gently between her fingers. “He hid some... Important stuff. And I'm looking into acquiring it.” “Sounds like what you need is a private detective,” Nettie replied, eyebrow raised. “No, you wouldn't dare bother me for something that trivial.”

“Correct. He happens to be dead. Found his tombstone and everything.” She sighed. “Which means I now need to get a hold of his spirit.”

“And that spirit is no longer among us, is it?” Nettie smirked. “I've learnt enough about you to recognise you as a fellow priestess. Binding the spirit of one man to pass on his secrets would be no challenge to you. So, he has passed on to the other side and there he stays in silence.” “You guessed it. Guy couldn't even hang around as ghost long enough for me to interview him,” she confirmed. “I've tried some mediums and channellers, but he is stubborn.”

“Which means, you've been digging around for a way to the realm beyond. You've heard the rumours and now want what I have.”

“Yes. The Shadow Man. Walker between worlds.” She paused. “Rare gift, as far as I know. The dead tend to keep their own.”

“So, what's in it for me?” She steepled her fingers. “I am not in the business of charity. Especially not with gifts of this nature.” “I suspected as much. So I'm gonna offer you a rare and precious thing.” She smirked. “A favour.” “A favour?” “Any favour you want. My unconditional help and aid with anything you might need. And you should know that could be a great boon.”

Nettie paused, considering the offer. She turned to watch as the sun dipped below the horizon, lights turning on in the streets. “You know I'll live long enough to collect,” she responded, gauging the other woman's reactions. “Even if I have to wait a long time for the right opportunity. What did this Belal hide that has you so willing to offer yourself to me?”

“What if I didn't feel like saying?” “Then I'd be a fool to accept. And I'd instead use my people to find out for myself. After all, I can always send him to find this Belal on his own, without you.” The two paused in silence, a thick tension mounting in the air.

Dahlia inhaled, her gaze locked with the other woman's, before she said: “Fine. I have come to understand that Belal managed to dig up a genuine Nephilim artefact. Every source I've interrogated has confirmed it to be real. Yet no one but him knows where he buried the damn thing. I suspect the Mojave, but even I can't very well comb through every square inch of that place. Assuming it's even there and not hidden away in, I don't know, Canada maybe.”

“The Nephilim,” Nettie echoed. “I see. How curious.” “And since I know you're going to ask, I've heard a great deal about the power of their artefacts. I've seen too often what happens when ignorant dumbasses get their hands on that kind of power. We both know these things come bubbling back up to the surface sooner or later. So my best bet is to be the first one there to catch it. Belal Harrison is my chance to do that.” “Hmm, intriguing.” Nettie was quiet for a moment. “Very well, I will accept you offer. A favour for a favour.”

“So, how long do I have to wait? Not to be impatient, of course, but I'd like...” “He'll be here in a moment,” Nettie cut her off. “He'll take you to my church. And from there, to Deadside.”

The floorboards outside creaked and the door opened, as the bartender entered. Yet something was immediately different, a cold glow emanating from behind his shades and through the white fabric of his shirt. “You called?”

“Dahlia, allow me to introduce you to Michael LeRoi,” Nettie said with a flick of her hand. “The one you also know as the Shadow Man. Michael, Dahlia and me have made a little agreement. She wants to take a trip to Deadside, to look for someone.”

He turned to look at her. “I hope you understand, this isn't going to be a walk in the park. Deadside is where everyone goes, even the worst. That place is crawling with all kinds of thugs, brutes and worse.”

“Honey, I can handle myself just fine,” she said, standing up. “I don't doubt that. But if this friend of yours has ended up in one of the real wretched places, we'll be up to our neck in the most psychotic monsters that have ever lived. And I doubt Nettie has explained just what kind of Stygian hellhole it...” He paused. A brief wind billowed through the room.

Dahlia's fist hung in front of his face, the woman herself frozen mid-swing, eyeing him with a satisfied smirk. He had not even seen her move.

“Well, I'll be,” he remarked. “Perhaps I should start out by warning everyone over there about you.” “See,” she said, unclenching her fist and patting him on the shoulder. “A human like you shouldn't worry.” She stepped past him. “I'll be right outside. Could use some fresh air.”

Michael paused, listening as she headed downstairs, before turning to Nettie. “So, can we trust her?”

“Digging up information on her was difficult,” Nettie admitted. “But she was telling the truth. That much I could tell. She'll pay me back what she owes. Beyond that, well, it remains to be seen. But I trust you'll be able to handle her. And while you're at it, see what more you can find out about her. She'd make a great ally, but also a formidable foe and I need to know more about where she stands.”

“I'll do my best,” he said and turned around, following Dahlia out into the streets of New Orleans.

...

The motorboat cut through the dark waters of the swamps, Michael steering it with a hand and Dahlia sitting at the other end, watching patiently. A simple lamp cast a cone of illumination across the waters, guiding them onwards.

Michael allowed himself a moment to glance at the woman he was sharing the boat with. He was by now well aware of the dangers of curiosity, of what happened when one stuck one's nose in other people's business. Yet his position often called upon him to dive head first into the most dreadful secrets that men took with them to the grave. He was no stranger to danger, and his every instinct told him that Dahlia was as dangerous as they came. It was in the air around her, the predatory glances of her eyes and the weight in her words.

The fact that she could apparently somewhat casually move so fast that the human eye couldn't follow was just icing on the cake.

And it was now his job to take her on a VIP tour of the afterlife while trying to ferret out as much information as he could before she found what she was looking for.

Michael could find many things to complain about his current circumstances, were he so inclined, but it being dull wasn't one of them.

“So, Dahlia was it?” he began. Receiving an affirmative nod, he continued with: “Agnetta didn't really give me the full picture. Why exactly do you want to go to Deadside anyway?”

“We're looking for a guy named Belal Harrison,” she replied. “He hid an important artefact that I intend to dig up. I just need him to tell me where it is.” “Right. Think I can fill in the blanks from there,” he noted, casually swerving the boat around an alligator. “You want to go over there and put the squeeze on him until he coughs up where he hid this artefact.” “Correct.”

“Then I'll have to warn you, they can be very hard to intimidate,” he noted. “They're already dead. You can kill him as many time as you want and Deadside will just reconstitute his essence and regurgitate him out again in a new body.”

She looked contemplative. “Michael...” “Just call me Mike.” “Mike, do they still feel pain? The dead I mean.” He paused. “They do.” She smirked unpleasantly. “Then I think I can get him to talk.”

Michael briefly felt nostalgic for his college days, when he still interacted with normal people.

The boat pulled up to a pier and came to a stop. The two got up, the creaky planks quickly transitioning to soft dirt snaking between the trees, ascending into hilly terrain.

“So, what's the deal with this artefact?” Michael asked, leading the way.

“You're a curious one, aren't you,” she replied casually.

“I gather from Nettie that you invested a great deal of effort into finding out about me. And she's not the sort of person you casually bother. Not unless you want to get to Deadside the very fast way. So I figured, it must be important if you're willing to go this far for it.”

“It's nothing personal, mind you;” she replied, after a moment of contemplation. “But everything leads me to believe the Nephilim created some very powerful magical items. Items that could cause a lot of problems in the wrong hands. So, I'll get it first.” “Nephilim,” he echoed. “Said by some to be the children of fallen angels and mortals. And that they ruled mankind before the Flood.”

“Yes. But who knows how much of that is truth?” She shrugged. “Whoever they were, they were good at what they did.”

“So, you're a collector then?” The two of them ascended the rocky road, passing into a tunnel.

“In a sense.”

The answer was evasive, but said in a very decisive way. He decided not to pursue the subject. It was rather obvious that she was keeping her cards close. Pushing harder now was only going to make it more difficult to get anything out of her, especially if she took a disliking to him.

Exiting the tunnel, the two found themselves before the church. Made of white-painted planks, a crucifix above the door and a bell-tower in the back. Surrounding it was rows of gravestones and tombs.

A growl caught the attention of the two, as several dogs peered from among the graves, intently watching them.

“Don't worry about them,” Michael remarked, as he walked towards the church. “They're Nettie's. They won't do a thing as long as you're with me.”

Dahlia paused, then took a deep breath, before following. “That stale smell again,” she noted. “They're dead, aren't they?” “Very.” He stuck a key in the door and opened it, allowing the two to enter. On both sides there were rows of pews, leading up to an altar.

“Speaking of dead,” Dahlia continued. “I can't help but notice you're smelling pretty deceased yourself.”

Michael paused by the altar, before taking his sunglasses off. He turned to Dahlia, his eyes glowing with a ghostly, teal light. “You have a fine sense of smell then,” he noted. “Just like the bloodsuckers who like slinking in when the sun goes away. But yes, I am quite dead. Comes with the job.”

“The job?”

He unbuttoned his shirt. “Of being the Shadow Man. Only one who straddles the line between life and death themselves can walk between worlds.” As he took his shirt off, the source of the glow beneath became visible, a gently glowing teal mask that seemed fused into his chest. “Now then, we're ready to cross,” he commented. “I need only the teddy bear.”

Dahlia paused. “The what now?”

Instead of answering, he headed into a side room, only to return with a small, slightly dishevelled plush bear.

“And for a moment, I thought I had actually misheard,” she replied. “Alright, I'll bite. Why do we need a teddy bear?” He eyed it. “It serves as a focus. A physical link to the world of the dead. It is steeped in lost life, yet remains a presence in the realm of the living. So much like me, it has one leg in the grave.” “Huh.” She frowned. “Seems rather grim for something that cute. What a shame.” Michael paused, eyeing the bear. “A god-damn tragedy is what it is,” he sighed. “It helps connect and transport me between here and there. And by extension, it will do the same for you as long as you're with me. Now, if we want to find this man, we'll need info. And for that, we'll have to head for the Marrow Gates.”

“Well, you're the expert here,” she said. “So, shall we?”

He nodded and took her hand. Then he focused on the bear. He heard faint voices, as a primordial coldness washed over his skin. At once, he felt what little warmth that remained in his body snuff out as all his thoughts shattered like glass. And then vertigo seized him, as he and his companion felt backwards into nothing.

The now empty church fell once more into silence and darkness.

...

Michael paused, taking in the sight in front of him. Rolling hills and grey skies, occasionally interrupted by clusters of trees.

Dahlia still held his hands. She blinked slowly, her legs quivering slightly. Her grip was like a vice and it took a moment before she managed to let go. Taking a deep breath, she leaned against a nearby tree. “What... Was that?”

“Dying,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“Dying?” “That's how you get to the world of the dead.”

“Yes, Michael, I'm well aware of how that works,” she replied, rubbing her temple. “I just figured taking a ride with you would allow me to, you know, get here without dying.”

“No such thing exists as far as I know,” he replied earnestly. “But it skips out on a lot of the messier parts. And we can always go back, unlike most of the people here.”

She took another deep breath, then ceased leaning. “So, it's like that every time?”

“Every.” “That sucks.” “Quite so.”

“Well, at least this place looks nice. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought we were still back on Earth.” “He likes keeping things nice around his gate.” “He who?” “Jaunty. An associate of mine. And a well informed one. He's our best bet to get started.” He took a step forward, letting his gently glowing eyes survey the landscape. He took a deep breath. “And thus we behold the otherworld's welcome. A facsimile of the life we forever leave behind. Yet it is a mask, a facade. Poke its skin and the unique grotesqueness of Deadside cannot help but leap forth, eager to baptise the unwary in revelation. This is the land of the dead and whatever shape it takes, it can never be anything but that.”

Dahlia allowed a pregnant pause to fill the air. “Michael?” “Yes.” “What the fuck was that?” He coughed. “Sorry. I... The place speaks to me. I often find a sort of poetic inspiration on my journeys here.” He waited for a moment, before adding. “I was an English major.”

“Ah, that does explain that,” she conceded. “Anyway, the gate?” “Right this way.”

The two walked towards the cliffs in the distance, quickly finding a dirt road to follow.

“So, you said this Jaunty fellow liked keeping things nice around here,” she remarked.

“He's a gatekeeper. The gates being where the newly dead first arrive here,” he explained. “Each gatekeeper keeps their little slice of Deadside how they prefer it. Well, almost how they prefer it. There's a few things about this place even they don't have a say in. But Jaunty, well, he prefers to give people a soft landing. Settling in can be hard and for most folks, it's nice to see a place that looks like home before they go through the gates.”

“And beyond the gates?” “The rest of Deadside. Some go to become servants of various deities. Some go to become ancestral spirits looking over their families in Liveside. Most just do whatever they please.”

“Well, nice to know there's options,” she remarked. “Better than with some other... Other...” She paused, inhaling the air. A smell heavy in iron flooded her nostrils.

Michael paused. “You okay?” “Oh, it's just. I... Hang on a second.” She walked off the road, following the scent. Round a big tree, she quickly found its source. There was a crack in a hillside, like a jagged wound. And like a wound, blood poured from it, forming a little lake.

Dahlia stared at it intensely. She could feel her heart pumping rapidly with excitement, as saliva began flooding her mouth. The sudden sound of crunching grass, as her companion caught up with her, somewhat broke her out of her rapt fascination. “What... Is that?” she managed.

“All the blood spilt in Liveside ends up here,” Michael explained. “It's from these pools that the dead take their bodies, bursting forth like newborns. And if they die here again, well, then another pool just gives them form once more. As I said, once you're here, death ceases to mean much. You'll always come back.”

“I, uhm, I take it this is what you meant by things the, eh, the gatekeepers don't have a say in?”

“I think if Jaunty had his way, people would spring forth from pools of beer.” He turned. “Speaking of, we should keep going.” Dahlia paused for a while, before tearing her gaze from the pool with a: “Yes. Sure.”

...

The road lead to a canyon in the mountains, at the end of which the two came face to face with the Marrow Gates. These rib-like gates were big enough that a giraffe would find plenty of space and three elephants could walk in side by side without squeezing. Dahlia even suspected that they were made from bone, although whether it was the actual ribcage of some humongous giant or the result of tons of skeletons being fused together she couldn't discern.

In fact, the cage was such a notable sight that it took her a moment to notice the creature in front of it, an emerald-scaled snake with a human skull, a pair of red eyes and a top-hat completing their bizarre image.

“Hello there, Mikey,” they greeted her companion. “Been a while since you've visited these parts. Suppose Nettie's kept you close to keep topped up on that voodoo juice, eh?” He turned slightly to look at Dahlia, then returned his attention to the undead man. “Now, I know that ya rarely take my advice, but I have ta say, I like this place, but it ain't the best place for a date.”

“She ain't my date, Jaunty,” Michael corrected him. “Her and Agnetta made a deal. We're helping her find a dead guy.” “Well, ya come to the right place. Lots of those 'round these parts.”

“A specific dead guy.”

“Right, right, don't get ya knickers in a twist. I assumed as much. What's the bloke's name then?”

“Belal Harrison,” Dahlia responded.

Jaunty curled up slightly, allowing him to rub his jaw with the tip of his tail. “Belal Harrison you say. I think I remember that name. Can't say for sure it's yer guy, but could be worth checking out.”

“It's worth a shot. Now where is he?” “Can't rightly remember. But I'll find out in a jiffy. Mikey, mind helping me out with me papers? Got it written down over here somewhere.”

Michael followed the serpent over to a pile of seemingly assorted stuff, including crates of various materials and several caskets of whiskey. “Since when did you have papers?” he quietly inquired.

“I haven't kept paperwork since me school days,” he replied, making an effort to visibly shuffle through the stuff. “Just needed a wee chat with you alone Mikey. So, that lady, what's her deal?” “That's what I'm trying to find out.” “Ah. Nettie's trying to get the scoop on her.” He paused. “She ain't human, that's for sure.” “She hinted at as much.” He paused. “How did you figure that out?” “It's her eyes. I get ta look a lot of people in the peepers ya know, keeping me gate and all. And let me tell ya, if she's human I'm the Queen of England. But I couldn't tell ya what she is.” “No. And neither could Agnette. But so far she's friendly enough. But she is planning to make Belal talk, one way or the other. That's for sure.”

“Poor guy. So, she single?” “I haven't asked her.” “Figures. Well, I suppose with Nettie, you've already got enough to handle without her walking all over you too. Might have a chance then.”

“She's going to skin you, you know that right?” “I've dated women like that before. Besides, I'm already dead, right? Ah, but that can wait. Let me just get this and...” He turned around and, with some effort, unfolded a blank scroll. “Right, here it was. Belal Harrison moved up to the Stormstruck Cliffs. Real original name. It's on account of all the great weather they have.”

“Not the first neighbourhood I'd consider,” Michael noted.

“Yeah, well, its got a bunch of wisemen and mystics. Apparently, it's good reception for visions. Living in a lil' commune.” He stuffed the scroll back into the pile. “But the way I hear it, that 'lil community of theirs might not last much longer.” “Oh?” Dahlia asked.

“A warband of shiverers, walkers and other neer-do-wells have set their sights on it for some bloody reason. So they plan to throw them out.” He paused. “Well, kill all of them, actually, but 'round these parts that's pretty much the same thing.” “And if that happens, we're going to lose our trail,” Michael commented.

“Won't he just pop out somewhere?” Dahlia inquired. “As you said, no one dies here permanently.” “The operative word being 'somewhere', lass,” Jaunty informed her. “Deadside house a lot of dead people. Like, a whole lot. It's vast, dangerous and I've never seen a complete map of the place I could trust. That's the dangerous part about dying here. Ya might well come back in a den full o' duppies who think skinning people is hilarious afternoon fun, and before ya know it, yer hanging from a wall with hooks through yer hands watching someone use yer stomach lining to make bongo drums.”

Dahlia paused. “Alright, I see the problem. How do we get there?” “Ah, glad ya ask. Ya got options.” He pointed with his tail, back out of the canyon. “Ya can pick a direction and when ya get to the edges of me realm, you can wander into the mad unknown of Deadside and see if the loa take enough pity on you to put you were ya need to go.” Michael sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Or, I can open these here gates and let ya go straight there,” he finished, gesturing to the gates.

Dahlia looked to the Shadow Man. “Is he...” “Always like this? Yes, unfortunately,” he replied. “Jaunty, just open the gates. We've apparently got a time limit.” “Right, right. No need to bite me skull off, just a lil' joke is all.” He turned to the gate. “Alakazam!”

With a creaking, the gates opened, allowing access to the dark tunnel behind it. “Won't even bother asking if the two of ya want ta share a drink before you head out.” “Well, maybe I could drop by for a sip later,” Dahlia noted with a smirk.

“Oh, I'd be right pleased ta have ya as me guest.”

Michael rolled his eyes and walked towards the opening, gesturing Dahlia to follow him while commenting: “Let's go before Belal gets strung up and we have to comb through the pits to find him again.”

As the two entered the dim light of the tunnel, Dahlia commented: “Festive friend you've got there. Who made someone like him the gatekeeper?” “Nettie did.” “Really?” she replied, surprised. “That's something she can do?” “Yep.”

“Huh. Hmm, I might actually have underestimated her, if she has that kind of influence.” “A lot of people do.” Michael paused. “A lot of those people get to chat with Jaunty real suddenly.”

...

It had been about six minutes of walking in silence, when the two spotted a light in the distance. It was a further four before they reached it. And the moment they set foot beyond the darkness of the tunnel, they were immediately buffeted by wild winds.

Before them towered a great, jagged mountain. On various plateaus were buildings, connected by a network of ladders, ropes and bridges. Above twirled dark clouds, occasionally releasing a payload in the form of a blinding bolt of lightning, which struck one of several metal rods jutting out of the structures.

“That's quite some weather,” Dahlia commented, her hair whipped back and forth by the currents.

“Stormstruck Cliffs,” Michael echoed. “I suppose we can hardly blame the people for such an appropriate name.” He rubbed his chin. “And behold the stormy cliffs, where nature's rage brings with it furious enlightenment. As the skies above churn with a furious storm, unabating, unceasing, relentless, the wise contemplate in the shadows of stone. Wisdom delivered at the tip of the lightning, a flash of inspiration made manifest. Calm and chaos, united beyond life and death, as primal disorder begets knowledge.”

“Have you ever actually been here before?” Dahlia inquired.

“No.”

“Could have fooled me with that verse.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.” “You should. Now, let's go find this guy before we get blown away.”

The cliff-side they had emerged on connected to the main mountain by way of a rope bridge. A bridge which swayed back and forth as the winds shifted. The two began moving across the creaking structure carefully, hands on the ropes at all times.

Dahlia chanced a glance over her shoulder, noticing that the tunnel they had arrived through was gone. “Hey, Michael,” she called over the wind. “How do we get back without the tunnel?” “The bear,” he replied. “With it, I can go anywhere I've ever been with it.”

“Sounds useful.” “Yes. Though... There are some limitations.” He paused, as a particularly vicious gust almost turned the bridge sideways. “But I'll tell you later.” Carefully and slowly, they managed to get across, the creaking ropes and planks providing an ominous symphony. Fortunately, the craftsmanship was sound enough that the duo could arrive on the other side unharmed. The wind, while still fierce, abated somewhat as the mountain blocked most of its fury.

Dahlia took the opportunity to get her now quite messy mane of hair in order, while looking over the buildings and the citizens who were starting to pay attention to the newcomers. “Michael,” she began. “What's up with them?”

The undead man looked to the people in question. Their skins were waxy and unhealthily pale, their eyes sunken and lifeless. Some wore various garbs, though plenty also just walked about naked. “They're dead,” he responded. “That's what's up with them.”

“So this is what people look like over here?” “Some. Others... Change. Let's go introduce ourselves, lest they start thinking we're here to cause trouble.” He approached the throng, speaking aloud: “I am the Shadow Man, Lord of Deadside, Walker between Worlds. I have come here to speak with one of you, the one called Belal Harrison. Where may I find him?”

There was a nervous mumble among the crowd, as they quickly conferred with one another. Finally, one stepped forward. “Sage Belal lives at the mountain's peak, my Lord. I do not believe he is presently busy.” Michael looked upwards, noting the hut far above at the very tip of the mountain. “Of course he does,” he sighed.

...

It was a long, arduous climb. The two had to climb ladders, ascend staircases and cross more rickety bridges. All while slowly losing cover from the wind, each step becoming more challenging than the previous.

As they began going up the final set of stairs, a spiralling affair carved directly the mountain, Michael turned to his companion: “I wanted to go over how we're going to approach this.”

“Yeah?” “I figure, before you get to work flensing the poor man, that we'd offer to help. What with the incoming vandals.” He paused. “Besides, keeping some semblance of peace over here is part of my job.”

Dahlia shrugged. “Sure.”

“And here I almost expected you to protest.” “Nah, Honey. Less risk he gives me some bullshit lie your way,” she explained. “A lie I'll only see through once I've combed through who knows how many square miles of terrain looking for an artefact that won't be there. So sure, sugar over vinegar and all that.” He nodded. “Alright. Good to know we're on the same page.”

Finally reaching the top, they beheld the hut. It was small, surrounded by several rods that dispelled the frequent lightning into the earth.

Michael approached the door and knocked.

“Come in,” a voice croaked.

Exchanging one last glance, the two travellers headed inside.

The interior was minimal, consisting only of a bookshelf filled with tomes, a small table with a chair and a soft mat, upon which sat the house's owner. Like the other residents, he was a pale being, with a long white beard. He opened his eyes, two dark pools with only the barest hint of a pupil, and said in a withered voice: “So, you've finally come.” “You already know who I am then,” Michael surmised.

“I know who the both of you are.”

“Really now?” Dahlia replied, eyebrow raised. “And how, pray tell, have you gotten to know us?”

“I studied prophesy, even when I still walked among the living. I sought out sages on matters of fate and destiny, learnt of the patterns that bind us all.” He slowly stood up. “And how those patterns might be undone. I'm ready to tell you where you'll find your prize.” The two exchanged slightly confused glances.

“That's it? After how much of a nuisance you've made of yourself, hiding away here, negating every single attempt to channel you or call upon you, you're just gonna tell me?” she asked with annoyance.

“Of course. You have done exactly what I wanted of you.” “I what?” “You have met with the Shadow Man. Just as I foresaw. That is all I needed of you. I have no reason to withhold the information you seek.” She inhaled sharply. “Michael, could you take over for a moment before I throw him off the fucking mountain?” The undead man coughed. “So, why was it so important that Dahlia and I met?”

“Dark days loom ahead of us. Fate is dragging us all towards tragedy. For the two of you to overcome destiny itself, you'll need each other,” he replied.

“Could you be more specific than that?” The Deadsider shook his head.

“Typical. Well, then I guess you're getting what you came for,” he said to his companion.

“And yet I'm still annoyed,” she replied. “Fine. Where did you hide that damn artefact?”

“Missouri, near the Mississippi. I'll show you on a map, if you have one.”

“I do,” she tersely remarked, pulling a piece of paper from under her shawl. “Figured it might come in handy.”

“Alright. It should be... Around here.” “Noted. Have fun. Let's bounce, Michael.”

“Not yet,” he said. “First, I have been informed of the threat that your community here is facing.” Dahlia rolled her eyes. “Oh come on now, Honey. We got what we came for, didn't we?”

“We did,” he agreed. Then he refocused on Belal. “I am willing to lend you my power in defending this place. What can you tell me about these raiders?”

Dahlia threw her hands in the air with an exasperated expression.

“They are led by a man named Yort. He's made a name of himself as a minor warlord, trying to carve out a personal fiefdom,” Belal explained. “Now, he's decided that his fiefdom will be built on the ruins of our home. When we heard they were coming, we destroyed several of the outmost bridges. But it has only slowed them down.”

“I see.” Michael turned to his companion. “This should give me enough time to transport you back to Liveside.” She looked contemplative for a moment. “Nah, Honey. I'll be honest, you might need the help. So I'll stay. Besides, could be fun to get to flex in front of you.”

“You have my gratitude,” Belal noted with a nod.

“Can it, Mr. Vague. I'm not doing it for you,” she remarked with annoyance. “I'm already owing Mama Nettie a favour, but you're the one doing the heavy lifting, Michael. Seems only fair I give you something too. So I'll help you keep this little podunk village safe.” She smirked, a hungry gleam in her eyes. “But if there's something else I could do to reward you, I'm certainly up for taking suggestions.”

“I'll stick with you giving me a hand here.” “Suit yourself, Honey.”

“Now then, I must admit, your people didn't exactly strike me as a fighting force,” Michael remarked, returning his attention to the bearded Deadsider.

“We can hold our own against the odd horror, but against a band like the one that follows Yort...” He shrugged. “We're researchers and scholars foremost. We've relied upon the very nature of the mountain to deter others. But now, Yort seems to find that those very same features makes for an excellent fortress.” “So we'll be mostly on our own. I can work with that.” He rubbed his chin. “Where will they be coming in from?”

“The only feasible way after we cut the bridges will be the path up the mountain. It's broad enough that we can drag a cart up it.” “But it'll still bottleneck them. Alright. I'll get down there. In the meantime, try to move everyone up into the higher buildings. If me and Dahlia have to fall back, then we'll still be able to raise Hell without risking you lot getting caught in the crossfire.”

“I'll spread the message. Thank you once again, Shadow Man.”

As the two left the hut, Michael turned to Dahlia. “So, I'll be blunt. What can you do, besides move fast?”

“A lot of things, Honey,” she coyly replied. “What about you? You're the Shadow Man. You must have something impressive up your sleeve.”

He opened his hand and in a flash of bluish flame, an object manifested. It had the rudimentary shape of a handgun, but made from bone, its muzzle a small opened-mouthed skull. “I have a gun.”

Dahlia managed almost two seconds of composure, before a chortle escaped her, quickly transitioning into becoming full blown laughter.

Michael weathered it with stoicism.

“Sorry,” she said, still giggling. “I'm just... Anything else?”

“Nope.”

“Really? That's it? You can summon a really edgy pistol?” “The Mask of Shadows does allow me to channel voodoo magic. With the right enchanted items. Of which I currently have this.” He lifted his weapon. “But don't underestimate it. The Shadow Gun channels the power of the mask, the power of death itself, into every shot. It reaps the life from my foes, allowing me to feast upon it.”

Dahlia rested a finger against her face. “Does it now? Fascinating.” “Now, I think I've been very gracious in regards to you evading the question,” Michael continued. “Whatever you may look like, you're not human. So I want to know what you're bringing to the table.”

“I suppose there's little reason in keeping up this charade,” she admitted. “Not like I need to keep a low profile here. Alright, you wanna see the real me, Michael? Then I'll show you.” She smiled again, but this time, it began growing wider, much wider than a human should be capable of. Her nose began enlarging with the creaking sound of shifting flesh and cartilage. Her eyes grew bigger, taking up more and more of her skull. And then the surface of her eyeballs seemed to fracture, as the colour deepened into a dark red. Her hair receded, while her skin turned black and bumpy, slowly hardening into exoskeleton. With the exception of her fuzzy cloak, her clothes began slowly shifting around her, fading into nothing. Her entire body enlarged, quickly growing in size to be a couple of heads taller than her companion. Gossamer wings unfolded from her back, flickering as muscles grew to anchor them. The nails extended into claws, the flesh of her fingers becoming covered in segmented plates. The flesh of her torso rippled, as with a gruesome sound of tissue tearing, a second pair of arms unfolded. Her rear bloated, the skin turning translucent as red fluid filled the swiftly ballooning abdomen.

Michael found himself taking a step back. “Jesus Christ.” “So,” Dahlia began as she stepped closer, having now shifted into a form that could best be describes as an anthropomorphic mosquito with the dentures of a great white shark. “What do you think?”

“I think I have a lot of questions,” he replied. “If you don't mind me asking, what are you?” “We're just us. Although, if you prefer something you could report to Nettie, the Ewe did call us adze,” she replied. “I did always like that name.”

“Duly noted. Well, I'm starting to like our odds,” he commented. “Alright, here's my plan. I'll confront them, see if I can intimidate them into backing off. If they're smart, they'll take that out.” “And if they don't?”

“Then we fight. I'll keep the frontlines busy. Meanwhile, since you can fly, you can hit them from other angles.” He paused as lightning ripped through the air with a deafening boom. “Unless of course this is no fly weather.” “Honey, I've flown through hurricanes,” she replied, cracking her knuckles. “A little bit of wind ain't gonna stop me from having some fun.”

...

A broad path snaked around the lower levels of the mountain. And up this path marched a throng of various Deadsiders. Some were like the villagers, pale-skinned and dark-eyed but still close to their once mortal forms, clad in tattered armour and wielding rough weapons. Others were more feral looking, with spindly limbs, sharp claws and sharper teeth, savagely growling at the prospect of battle. And at the front walked, or rather crawled, Yort. Easily standing almost three meters tall, his legs had merged and melted into a fleshy, grub-like mass that tapered into a long tail.

However, he paused as something appeared on the path ahead.

Michael looked down on the group, arms crossed. Attempting a quick headcount, he guessed there was probably between thirty and forty of them. The usual kind of lowlife that made Deadside such a rough neighbourhood, and certainly more than the village could handle, but it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. Well, except for the guy in front. He couldn't remember seeing anyone with that particular malformation before. “I am the Shadow Man,” he announced to them. “Lord of Deadside. Immortal Voodoo Warrior. I have sworn to safeguard these villagers. You lot are not welcome here. Turn back now, or I will send your souls scattering across the entirety of the afterlife.”

A murmur rippled through the throng.

Michael allowed himself a smirk. The goons had come expecting to easily kick the people out. Now that there was suddenly someone like him there, not all of them were as eager.

Yort snorted derisively. “I've heard of you. Lord of Deadside my ass.” He pointed a clawed finger. “You're nothing but an errand boy. A messenger.” “You're right. I am a messenger,” Michael agreed. “And the message I bring is simple enough even you should be able to get it through your thick skull.” He lowered his head slightly, glaring at the warlord. “Begone.”

Yort looked at some of his followers, then signalled with a wave of his arm. “Get him!”

A couple of goons on each side broke into a charge.

Michael raised his gun, teal energy gathering in the skull's mouth with an uncomfortable whistling noise, before firing its projectile.

It struck one of the attacker's in the face. Their body began convulsing as the energy surged through them, dissolving them into red mist, until with a clank their armaments fell to the ground.

Michael held up his hand, absorbing the small cloud of essence, feeling the surge of rejuvenation. “I warned you,” he remarked, aiming the gun once more.

Yort scowled, then yelled: “ATTACK HIM ALREADY!”

Michael fired another shot, striking one of the goons in the stomach. His next shot hit a raider in the legs. They fell to the ground, clawing at their limbs as the energy ate through them.

A third had managed to close in, swinging a club at the undead man. Michael raised his arm, blocking the blow. He could feel something crack in his arm, but he was used to the pain. The important part to him was preventing any attack that might instantly take him out. He jabbed his gun into the club-wielders guts and fired, leeching their lifeforce as their body was consumed. This was accompanied by the immediate feeling of his bones resetting into their proper place.

He began stepping backwards as more of the invaders tried to close in. One got struck in the shoulder, but her demise allowed another to move into melee range, one of the more feral Deadsiders. They swung their hand, aiming to eviscerate the Shadow Man.

Michael pulled back, instinctually curving his spine and sucking his gut in. He felt the claws scrape against his skin, enough to draw blood. It smarted, but he didn't let it distract him, instead seizing the opportunity to fire his gun now that his assailant was too close to evade.

The back-rows of Yort's bandits started shuffling nervously, realising that the front-lines had so far only forced the Shadow Man to cede a couple of meters of road, all while getting decimated by the guardian. Some began readying bows, weapons that had initially been deemed useless due to the weather, but at this point it seemed safer than approaching the Voodoo Warrior.

A buzzing whine, steadily increasing in volume, suddenly got their attention. Some looked up, realising with horror that they were seconds from being struck from the one angle they hadn't imagined.

Dahlia descended with great speed, slamming into the column. Two unlucky deadsiders were immediately crushed under her weight. A couple of more were pushed over the side of the mountain, as their comrades backed away from the giant mosquito.

Her teeth bared in a feral grin, Dahlia lashed out with her limbs. One raider was decapitated, while another fell to the ground, clutching their entrails. One of the feral Deadsiders leapt at the adze, more out of desperation than bravery. She snatched them out of the air before closing her teeth around their neck. She felt blood explode into her mouth and greedily drank it. It tasted stale compared to her usual fare, but still delighted her on an instinctual level. She then hurled the body over the side and turned, her dentures still marinated in crimson.

This was too much for the raiders, who broke rank to either run back down the path or attempted to climb down the mountain sides, most without success.

Realising that his band was falling apart, Yort snarled angrily and slithered forward towards Michael, pushing some of his own minions out of the way as he did.

Seeing the warlord charging, Michael aimed and fired. Yort, however, proved more nimble than his fellows, dodging the two first shots. As he was about to bear down upon the Shadow Man, the undead gunslinger fired a third time, catching him in the chest.

Yort recoiled, arms wrapped around his chest as a cold pain burnt him. He snarled and rebounded, faster than Michael had anticipated, lashed out with his clawed hands in wild and unpredictable swings.

The Shadow Man raised his gun again, aiming for the cavity of burnt flesh his first hit had created, only for a strike to knock his arm aside, carving a vicious gash in the process.

Yort swung his body, catching his unbalanced opponent's legs with his tail, sending Michael to the ground. He rose above him, getting ready to tear into his flesh.

Dahlia saw what was happening and dropped the Deadsider she had just sucked dry of blood. She dug her claws into the ground, her wings vibrating intensely with energy. It was like the world around her slowed, as she focused her entire being. And then she shot forward.

She slammed proboscis first into Yort's back, running him through. The Deadsider managed a gurgled roar of pain as his spine shattered, one of his lungs collapsed and his ribcage splintered outwards.

Michael wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. Using the protruding proboscis as leverage, he jumped up and shoved his gun in the warlord's open mouth.

Yort's eyes widened in futile realisation.

The back of the Deadsider's skull exploded into fragments, gore and teal flames. He went limp as his body became rapidly consumed by the energy of the Shadow Gun, dissolving into a red mist that seeped into Michael, restoring his arm in the process.

“There,” he said, un-summoning his weapon. “I doubt they'll be back.” He nodded respectfully to his companion. “Thanks for the help.” “Like you needed it, Honey,” she replied. “I saw you fight. You know, if you can do that with just a gun, I'd love to see what kind of carnage you could unleash with a full arsenal.”

“Hardly need that for dealing with these kinds of assholes,” he replied, gesturing to the few survivors still running full speed down the road. “And I kinda hope I won't need more.”

“But then there's what our friend, His Holy Vagueness, said to us,” Dahlia responded.

“Yeah. I need to report that to Agnetta, see was she makes of this. But speaking of Belal, we should inform him that his village is safe for now. And then we can go home.”

...

The church was quiet, illuminated only by the moonlight.

And then, the next instant, Michael and Dahlia stood there. The adze wobbled for a second, before leaning against a wall. “Why... Why does the return trip feel just as bad?”

“Because you're getting resuscitated,” Michael explained, as he walked off with the bear. “Passing through the veil, whatever way you go, is going to be uncomfortable.”

“So I gather. Spirits, my head is spinning like a merry-go-round,” she replied. “Anyway, before I go doll myself up again, I had a proposition.” “And what would that be about?” he inquired as he returned to the room.

“I'd like a sparring match with you.”

“Is that so? Why?” “Because I'm curious. I know those dumbasses back in Deadside weren't even close to pushing you. And as for what's in it for you, I know Nettie's asked you to get as much info on me as possible.” She smirked, showing off a bit of her jagged teeth. “Trust me. You can learn a lot about a person by squaring off. And besides...” The smirk became a grin. “I don't need to worry about accidentally killing you. So I can let a bit loose.”

“Right. I can see the appeal. For you.” He folded his arms, contemplating the offer. Dahlia wasn't wrong that he had been told to gather information. Trying to figure out how powerful she was fell under that. He had seen her fight, true, but what she had said about him held true for her too. The raiders had not even been close to a challenge. “Alright then,” he finally said. “Out back.”

Behind the church, which it took a moment for the adze to squeeze herself out of, lay more graves and beyond them lay a glade.

“Now that's a nice little place you got here,” Dahlia noted. “Perfect for a little skirmish.”

“Yep. Didn't want to knock over any graves. Afterlife's rough enough without us desecrating their final resting places,” Michael noted, as he turned around to face her. “So, any rules?” “Unless you became mortal within the last five minutes, I really don't think we need rules,” she remarked. “After all, I can't kill you.” The smile returned, like that of a cat cornering a mouse. “And you can't kill me.”

The Shadow Gun reappeared in Michael's hand. “And you're sure of that?” “Very.” “Alright then. Let's dance.”

Dahlia leapt into battle, her wings buzzing and claws outstretched.

The Shadow Man jumped to the side, barely avoiding being pinned under her bulk. Quickly lifting his weapon, he squeezed the trigger and fired.

The teal bolt struck her arm. She hissed, as a jolt of pain went through her body. Eyeing the spot that had been hit, she noted how her exoskeleton had warped and even melted, like plastic exposed to fire. She snarled and closed in, swinging her claws.

Michael ducked under one limb, only to be caught off guard by a strike from her second set of arms. It struck him from the side, sending him bouncing across the grass with a bleeding gash on his side. He managed to halt his momentum with his limb, skidding to a halt, quickly raising his weapon and fired a couple more shots, now confident that he could injure her.

Dahlia's wings buzzed as she quickly slipped from side to side, evading the barrage. She darted in, grimacing as a fourth shot clipped her side. She began attacking again, relentlessly alternating strikes from her limbs to keep her opponent off balance. Another shot struck her chest. She growled, stepping forward, using her sheer bulk to force Michael to quickly step back. Seeing a moment of unsteadiness, she swung her hand outwards, smacking him in the head and sending him crashing to the ground.

The voodoo warrior's head spun and he was pretty sure he just got a concussion. He was still trying to remember which direction the sky was supposed to be, when he felt himself being picked up by Dahlia, who made sure to keep his gunarm pointed away from her.

“Well, that was fun,” she remarked. “And now the part I was really curious about.” Her eyes practically glowed with hunger. “How does a Shadow Man's blood taste?” She opened her mouth wide and pulled him in.

Michael could think of only one way to prevent her from closing her oversized beartrap of a mouth around him. Quickly, he unsummoned his gun and recalled it to his other hand.

The sudden explosion of pain caused Dahlia to instinctively hurl her prey away from her. She reflexively reached into her mouth, tasting blood. Her own, this time. And part of her tongue was definitely missing.

“Sorry,” Michael commented, as he got back on his feet. “Just figured, what with you being so curious, maybe you wanted to know what death tasted like.” He raised his gun to fire again.

She snarled and focused, feeling energy crackle through her body. To her perception, reality slowed down, her opponent's finger almost frozen as he tried to pull the trigger. Her wings buzzed as she took off, shooting towards the undead human at full speed. She pulled her fist back and slammed it into his stomach, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as his flesh rippled from the impact.

And then reality returned to its normal speed.

With a slam that echoed like a gunshot, Michael was sent flying back across the glade, crashing into a tree hard enough to splinter it.

She took a deep breath, focused on composing herself, then sauntered towards the pile of splintered wood. “I must admit, that was clever.” She towered over the mess that had buried her opponent. “But unless one of your powers as the vaunted Lord of Deadside is an immunity to trees, I believe victory goes to me. And I'll take as my prize a nice, long sip of your blood.” She heard a click and felt something poke her abdomen.

“Now I'm the curious one,” Michael noted. “What happens if I fire a fully powered shot into this thing? You seem to keep a lot of blood in there.”

She looked over her shoulder. “Okay, how?” He smirked and raised his other hand, holding the bear in it. “You just killed me, you know. So I decided to come back here, right behind you.” “Didn't you leave that in the church?” “Did I?”

She paused, realising she had never seen him actually put it away. “Well, fuck,” she muttered. “Sneaky lil' bastard, aren't you.” She shrugged. “Alright, we'll call this one a tie. Mind you, puncturing my abdomen wouldn't kill me, but I admit it would hurt like nothing else.” She turned, observing him. ”That gun is actually quite potent. Consider me impressed. And trust me, I'm not easily impressed.” “Then we're done here I take it?” he noted. Receiving a confirming nod, he turned while adding: “Alright, let's get to the boat. Just need to drop this off at the church first.”

...

By the time they were back in town, the sun was rising once more.

Dahlia, back in her human guise, eyed her companion. As the skies were overtaken by the soft glow of dawn, the light in his eyes faded and the subtle glow under his shirt vanished. “You stopped glowing I noticed.” “Yep.” “Why?”

“Daylight.”

“I did wonder if that was just a coincidence.” They stopped outside the Wild At Heart. “So, guess I'll be heading off. I have an artefact to find.” “Best of luck with that,” Michael replied.

“I'll probably be back sooner or later. Still owe Nettie that favour and I might require your service again.” She smirked. “Or maybe other services. You seem very talented.”

“I'll keep that in mind. You have a good day now, Dahlia.” With that he headed inside. He took a moment, breathing in the familiar scent of booze and tobacco, before heading upstairs to Nettie's room.

The moment he stepped through the door, she asked: “How did it go?” “We found the guy. Surprisingly forthcoming with info,” he replied. “Chose to help them out with some duppies causing havoc.” He sat down across from her. “And then once we got back, she wanted to duel me.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, my reaction too. I think she wanted to get a better read on my skills. And an excuse to drink my blood.” He paused as the priestess handed him a glass of cool beer. “Thanks. So, Dahlia, she's something called an adze. Or at least, that's what she told me. Turned into a Michael Jordan sized mosquito once she dropped the human act.”

“An adze,” Nettie echoed. “I will have to do some research. What else did you learn from her?” “She was very guarded with information. But she's powerful, brutal and very willing to get her hands dirty. I managed to get her a couple of times with the Shadow Gun while we were fighting. And it stung her, make no mistake. But I was nowhere close to doing lasting harm until I managed to surprise her. And even then...” He shrugged. “And with how close she held her cards to her chest, I suspect there's a lot I've not seen yet.” “I see. At first I suspected she might have been another bokor like Papa Morte, out to encroach on my territory. Or perhaps a new wannabe vampire lord, seeking to stake a claim in New Orleans.” She folded her hands. “But with what you and I have learnt, I'm realising that I've probably underestimated her.”

“Maybe. But for now, it seems she'd rather be an ally than an enemy.” “Good. Anything else?” “Yeah. It's about Belal. Turns out, the reason he was giving Dahlia the runaround is some sort of prophesy.” He took another sip. “Said that he needed Dahlia and me to meet to avoid some future tragedy. Know anything about that?”

“I might know what he's referring to,” she noted. “Your predecessor and I tracked down a most dire prophecy back in the day. It foretold of the coming of the end of days.”

“Yeah, had a feeling it would be something like that,” Michael remarked. He finished his drink. “Well, if the end of days are coming, at least we'll be able to call in our new bloodsucking friend for backup.”

[obscure-sentimentalist]

Because some interest was expressed...

Part 1: AO3 Tag At Large

Backstory in brief

I didn’t intend for this to get so detailed and comprehensive--honestly, it just started because I had a particular question and some free time to go digging for the answer. And I did get my answer, but in the process uncovered a wealth of other ways to expand my study. It’s been a ride (complete with a few anxieties thanks to some researcher part of my brain), but overall a fun one, and hopefully the resulting data-cronch will be intriguing.

As noted, this is the first part of a planned three-part data series. This installment will cover statistics for the contents of the Flommy AO3 tag as a whole, while the second part will zoom in a bit and break it down into smaller categories. The third will be a bonus post where the dataset will be narrowed to examine how it compares to the tag at large, which is how I began and previewed bits of my work before broadening the scope.

Below the cut, you’ll find a breakdown of the data collection and some information on the measures I examined, before we get into some stats. There are a number of charts included, as well as written overviews and additional facts. I’ll admit that it’s... a bit, even after being selective with the charts and data to highlight, but if you have questions (or are curious about any stats not included here), let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Methodology

The overarching goal of my study was to examine and catalogue the contents specifically within the “Tommy Merlyn/Felicity Smoak” relationship tag on Archive of Our Own. All works featured in these results are tagged as (or otherwise wrangled under) this relationship tag; though it’s doubtful that this is the case, any works featuring this relationship that are not tagged in this way (and thus do not appear) will not be counted.

As of data collection on August 5th, 2020, there are 441 works (inclusive of hidden works viewable and accessible only with an AO3 login) within the Flommy tag. Aside from the individual work name and author, each entry was catalogued with the following additional variables:

Publish Year

Year in which work was initially published

Update Year

Year in which work was most recently updated

Rating

Author-assigned content rating (G, T, M, E, or Not Rated)

Work Length

Categorized as Oneshot (single chapter with an expected chapter count of 1) or Multichap (expected chapter count does not equal 1)

i.e. Works that only have a single published chapter but more are anticipated (so the chapter count reads as 1/?, 1/3, etc.) are categorized as Multichap

Completion Status

Works marked as Complete in the AO3 system are counted as such; all others are counted as Ongoing

Additional Relationships

Works may have Flommy as the only romantically-tagged (/) relationship, or additional ships; works in the latter category also had the other ships logged

Since this study was more quantitative and centered on AO3 tagging, more audience-based measures such as kudos, comment, and hit counts were omitted from the dataset. Also would like to remind that this is something I started because I was bored and curious, and I am just one person handling this data, so please keep this in mind in terms of data validity and human error.

Publish Year and Update Year

Breaking the data down by year was, oddly enough, an afterthought for me, but one I’m glad I did eventually think to add. This provided a glimpse at various trends in Flommy works over the years. 

The first two sets of charts will feature both Publish Year and Update Year, as there were a few interesting datapoints I found when comparing the two of them. Moving forward, though, yearly data will be shown in terms of Publish Year, unless noted otherwise. 

I pulled together this first graph to see if there were any major differences in either curve as the years went by, and overall, they share a similar shape--to be expected, given that a number of works published in one year may also have been last updated in that same year. Either way, both show a gradual increase in Flommy-tagged works until 2017, before plummeting in 2018 and continuing with a coasting decrease as of August 2020.

However, there’s an interesting shift over time between the two yearly measures: while there are (understandably) more works first published than last updated within the same year from 2013-2015, this becomes about equal between 2016 and 2017, before reversing in 2018-onwards. This goes to show that, while fewer Flommy works are being published these days, there are still some older works that are getting updated even now. People are sticking with Flommy, in some way or another.

Below is another way to compare these two measures, in terms of share of works:

The chart on the left (Publish Year) shows that the majority of Flommy-tagged works were published between 2013 and 2016--about 55%. However, the Update Year chart gives us an exact 50/50 split between the first four years of the tag and the last four, proving that the tag activity is still going strong!

Some other Publish and Update Year Fun Facts:

Because I’m too used to examining change year-over-year (YOY) for other purposes, I pulled some of those stats to accompany the line chart, focusing on Publish Year

The smallest change YOY was from 2016 to 2017, experiencing a 7% increase in published works; the largest was the 176% increase in 2014 over 2013

The decline in published works that began in 2018 has indeed slowed in 2020. 2018 had a -55% decrease YOY from 2017, and 2019 followed suit at -52%; 2020 is only down -21% from 2019, and that number can only improve as the year goes on!

12% more Flommy-tagged works have already been posted in 2020 than were posted in 2013, the first year of the tag. As the two years with the fewest works, that’s at least something!

Rating

There are more than a few ways I could break this one down, but I think this one covers the gist of this particular measure:

As might be expected, T is the most common rating, accounting for almost half of all works. The remaining ratings (aside from Not Rated) are all within a very close range of each other, but those in the E-rated category do have the edge to take second place, which, I’ll admit, also isn’t much of a surprise.

Some other Rating Fun Facts:

Took a look at some YOY changes in Rating:

E is the only rating that experiences two consecutive massive increases: 300% in 2014 over 2013, and then another 500% in 2015 over 2014

Actually, 66% of all E-rated Flommy-tagged fics were published between 2014 and 2016

...For a rating into which I rarely-if-ever personally venture, it certainly has a wealth of stats.

Work Length and Completion Status

Combining these two under one header, as they’re pretty tied-together and didn’t yield too many significant results. About 71% of all Flommy-tagged works are Oneshots, which assures that completed works will hold at least the same share within the Completion Status measure before factoring in Multichaps (which brings it up to about 81% complete). I instead put these measures against the others in the hopes of finding some interesting call-outs; after making up a few charts, there was really only one that I felt had a story to tell. 

Let’s take a look at the Work Length trend over the years:

While single-chapter works hold the significant majority share, their reign over multichapter works doesn’t fully begin until 2016. In 2013, the Oneshot count was less than half the Multichap count, and the following two years showed a less than 10 work-difference between the majority category and the other. And while the year is not yet complete, 2020 is currently tracking towards following a similar pattern to the early years of the tag.

Additional Relationships

This one is going to serve as our jumping-off point for Part 2, and get us into the motivating factor for my research. Here’s one chart to say it all:

...Yup, that’s less than a quarter of Flommy-tagged works that a) have Flommy as the sole romantically-tagged relationship, or b) have other romantic relationships tagged that are not Oliver/Felicity. 

That’s an answer in-and-of-itself, but my research question was two-fold: how else does this break down? How many works tagged for both pairings are compilations, such as oneshot prompt collections where the pairing varies by chapter; how many are OT3s; how many fall into a different category, whether a platonic pairing is improperly tagged or one pairing is the endgame or any other reason that doesn’t fit in any of the other categories?

We’ll get this breakdown--and a zoomed-in look at the measures covered in this installment--in Part 2, coming soon.

[oviids]

pls share some of your spn fic recs 🥺🥺

ok, a few things first:

followers and mutuals who do not have supernatural brainworms, kindly avert your eyes

i don’t normally rec or even read much fanfic any more but this is a CRISIS ok (cont.)

there is so. much. content for deancas out there and i have incredibly high standards, several ancient ao3 bookmarks, can speedread, and want to spare you guys the experience of wading through it all.

i also have a section for spn femslash since I was pretty into that back in the day (sadly a lot less fan content for this :/)

I don’t really like au’s or pure smut (I honestly usually just skim or skip those scenes) so if you’re mainly looking for that kind of thing this probably won’t be very helpful to you. jsyk.

i’m not great at describing stuff but i’ll do my best, i’ll also try and add tw’s when neccesary.

i wil try and keep updating this with any other decent fics i find, feel free to rec stuff too since i’m like 7 years behind.(edit 1/25/21) this is getting looooong so i’m going to start making another list on my spn blog rather than update this one

(edit 1/3/21) since this has gotten pretty long i’ve added rating/approximate word counts and marked my particular favorites with an asterisk.

Dean/Cas fic:

So Says The Sword*** - explicit/85k. FUCK its good...au/time travel where dean is not pulled out of hell by cas and says yes to becoming the michael sword. honestly could serve as an alternative to actually watching the show, if you want to get into dean/cas without actually doing that to yourself.

Fata morgana.*  - teen/6k, pst s9 finale. very bela centric and i love it, she finds cas looking for dean in hell.

Redemption Road -misc/600+k. an incredibly long fic from a collaborative writing group back in the day. canon divergent from the end of s6 on, has a cool take on godstiel and the leviathans, as well as the lovecratian mythos connection. ngl when i reread it i only made it about 28% in but imo the casual reader can actually stop around there, the rest concerns a lovecraftian apocalypse that is still good (i think i don’t remember it very well) but not required to enjoy the first half. if you prefer i have an ebook version i can send you on gdrive.

Someone Who's Feeling For Me* - mature/45k, s12. they run into lisa braeden and dean thinks cas is into her while cas thinks dean still likes her. treats lisa way better than the show ever did and the miscommunication is pretty funny rather than annoying.

a turn of the earth - mature/95k. time travel fic where cas from s10 keeps showing up in deans life from a few years before s1 to right before the hellhounds take his soul.  slow burn, good character study, and at one point cas punches the dad in the face and it rules.

On the Wings of War - teen/85k, canon divergent s5. dean accidentally becomes the Horseman of War. plays fun, fast and loose with biblical lore, michael has some rights.

Named - mature/95k, alternate s5. EXTREMELY blasphemous in a fun sexy way. manages to predict metatron almost to a T. there’s one major character death and its literally jesus christ, everyone is very sad about it and it sets the rest of the story rolling. an alternate interpretation of cas’ mission to raise dean from hell which had me on the floor. ngl its kind of misogynistic at points, but its from 2010 and tracks with late oughts-2010 spn (sorry anna the author did you dirty here:/).

The Girlfriend Experience - explicit/15k. uhhh i don’t normally rec or even read smutty stuff unless someone i know is specifically asking for it but this has stuff like sam trying to be a good ally and dean thinking holding hands with cas is ‘kinda gay :/’ minutes after having gay sex with him.

i crippled your heart a hundred times - explicit/19k, s8. cas confesses his feelings and dean spends a long time getting his head out of his ass about it. truly hits different after the actual confession, despite being written six years early it feels like its actually what could have gone down more or less if the writers weren’t talentless demons who hate us.

My Roots Take Flight** - mature/125k. reverse au where cas is a hunter and dean’s an angel...OR IS IT???? an alternate retelling of s4. tw for briefly being set in a psychiatric hospital/the hospital being mentioned somewhat frequently throughout the fic, plus more references to torture in hell and heaven than usual.

The One Thing You Can't Lose* - teen/4k.you know those posts about how cas is a super-strong super-tough ancient warrior but he just lets dean tug him around because he likes it? thats it thats the fic.

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built - teen/14k, post s8′s ‘goodbye stranger.’ cas is on the run with the angel tablet but keeps in touch with sam and dean by text, he and dean still manage to be terrible at Actual communication.

Autrement, Danger - or, The Account of an Exceedingly Long Day - mature/30k, post s11. a monster that takes the appearance of your soulmate leads to some wild miscommunications and dealing with years of repression, also dean gets to see cas’ true form which is always cool. tw for non-graphic mentions of underage sexual assault/sex work.

Down to Agincourt - mature/explicit/900++++k, endverse continuation. endverse!cas survives his encounter with lucifer and discovers another time-displaced dean from s7. i’ve only read the two of four parts but its really good, veeeeery slow burn, has a lot of fun oc’s and takes a rather surprising but (imo) entertaining and intriguing turn into Hellenic history and mythology. usual tw’s for endverse/endverse!cas but nothing graphic, it’s actually pretty light-hearted (relatively speaking of course).

Nothing Equals the Splendor** - explicit/8k, THEE finale fix it fic you’ve been waiting for! posits that the entire final episode was just a (very bad and lame) djinn’s vision.

like moses and batman and james dean - explicit/31k, post s8. explores dean’s trauma and internalized homophoba from his technically canon experience with sex work and its impact on his relationship with cas. the sex work itself isn’t really shown in any detail but it’s still a relatively heavy fic.

Crazy Diamonds - explicit/25k, s4/alternate s14. fresh-out-of-hell dean and dean from 10 years in the future are displaced from time and sent to each other’s present.

where the weeds take root - explicit/30k. au where the men of letters kick them out of the bunker and they accidentally move out into the country, get over their codependence and semi retire. featuring chicken coop building, sam volunteering at a dog shelter, gardening, and blissfully mundane domesticity.

No Resting Place - teen/6k. djinn dream fic, switches back and forth between cas’ dream of being married to dean and retired from hunting to the aftermath when he wakes up. tw for brief mention of suicide since, y’know, djinn dream.

any port in a storm - mature/52k. post s8 finale. cas and dean have to pose as a couple going through a rough patch for a case and actually deal with their emotional baggage, cas struggles with being human and metatron is up to stuff.

all this and heaven too* - explicit/7k. in the author’s own words ‘...a love letter to every trans person who ever projected onto Dean Winchester.’ absolutely unzipped me emotionally and theologically, its just. so good. tw for very brief mentions of internalized transphobia/dysphoria.

Because it is* - mature/6k, finale fix it. killing chuck does not bring back anyone back and the winchesters spend a very long time dealing with what they’ve lost, cas and dean SOMEHOW still manage to have signifigant communication issues even after the confession. tw for suicidal thoughts/brief attempt.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit* - teen/4k, s6. when cas fell for dean it automatically soulbonded/angel married them, shenanigans ensue when dean finds out during the angel’s civil war. funny and actually written back when s6 was airing so cas is still (or at least pretending to be) kind of an OP asshole which is fun.

Rinse, Repeat - teen/3k, s8. angsty character study of cas as he’s reprogrammed and trained to kill dean. not really dean/cas since its just cas’ pov of canon events but its beautifully written and ends with him snapping out of it through the power of love (also now a canon event!).

Emergence - explicit/59k, canon divergent after s11. dean meets a hunter he only recognizes as their friend claire novak’s missing father, but soon realizes he might be the answer behind the mysterious void in his memories and feelings (aka everyone’s memories of cas are completely wiped away for three years).

Cuckoo And Nest - explicit/10k, early established relationship/character study, cas tries to figure out how he fits into dean’s life and space in the bunker.

Build a Home* - teen/20k, canon divergent s12. sam and eileen are cute and turn the bunker into men of letters/hunters hq and everyone but cas moves in, mutual miscommunication issues and pining ensues.

Down in the River - teen/5k, early s8, cas prays to dean in purgatory while sam and dean try to figure out a way to get him out.

Teaching Poetry to Fish* - mature/52k, ?? BC through the entire series/canon divergent s14 and 15. retelling of crucial scenes throughout the shows timeline from cas’ pov, feat. actual fish and poetry.

the minor fall, the major lift - gen/4k, post confession/finale fixit. dean goes into the empty to save cas and runs into several old friends (and enemies).

With the Kisses of His Mouth* - teen/3k, gen later seasons. dean and cas keep kissing by accident.

Remaining Grace - explicit/109k, alternate s6. au where cas asks dean for help with raphael and dean, of course, does. tw for temporary major character death/semi-graphic depictions of alcohol withdrawal.

The face of heaven.* - teen/10k, au, dean is a regular guy and cas is a fallen star (think ‘stardust’, kinda).

Stories Are Made of Mistakes*  - teen/5k. newly human cas has trouble getting used to a human body and humanity in general, but still figures out that he and dean are A Thing before dean does.

Hurry Up And Wait - mature/21k, canon divergent s12. a fairyland and quite possibly LOTR related case comes up and dean goes full fanboy, mary is introduced to the wonders of the peter jackson adaptions, many references and comparisons (including between cas and dean’s ‘friendship’ and arwen/aragon). also charle is still alive and has just been doing fairy stuff this whole time.

There Are Many Things - explicit/28k, s9. cas is extremely lonely/touch-starved and trying to figure out this whole human thing, as well as where he and dean stand after being kicked out of the bunker.

It's A Long Life to Always Be Longing - teen/40k, post s11 finale. amara helps dean by putting him in a magical coma so he can finally get some much needed rest and show him possible futures for him, sam and cas. meanwhile sam and cas go on a roadtrip (or several) to find componets for a spell to wake dean up. really good sam and cas friendship, they actually talk about their shared lucifer trauma and stuff.

Non-Photo Blue - gen/2k, s4/5/alternate s5. fifty moments from cas’ memories of dean.

Tall Grass - explicit/57k, canon divergent post series. cas becomes the ultimate plant dad. feat the wayward sisters gang, cathartic character growth, fun oc’s, domesticity, and lots of actual botanical info-dumping.

on vessels - no rating/gen/2k. established dean/cas, cas tells dean about how he used to imagine what it would be like to have him as his vessel.

search for tomorrow on every shore* - teen/11k, post-finale (extremely derogatory). some angels in jack’s new heaven act out and dean gets temporarily resurrected in 2003 and runs into his younger self.

Architecture of the Minotaur’s Heart - explicit/45k, very canon divergent post s1. dean’s new house seems to have a life and mind of its own, while in his dreams he sees glimpses of a world and apocalypse that never came to be and an angel that looks strangely like his mysterious neighbor, cas. loosely inspired by the book house of leaves (which i highly recommend for fans of weird horror).

The Distance Of The Setting Sun - explicit/17k, post s5. established dean/cas relationship, team free will finally takes advantage of cas’ abilities to go on vacation around the world.

diamond star halo - teen/5k, s11. dean lets cas use him as a temporary vessel while he recovers from rowena’s spell, sam is a long-suffering third-wheel.

Make Known** - teen/16k, s6/7. dean struggles to understand how cas could have become his enemy and whether he ever truly knew him in the first place.

blunt little instrument* - mature/1.4k, post finale. dean finally confronts his father in heaven, very cathartic.

my heart a compass*** - teen/10k, post confession. the empty forces cas to re-experience his most regretted moments while dean tries to snap him out of it and bring him home.

A Crash Course in Someone Else's History - teen/11k, s6. cas from the very start of s4 is brought forward in time by s6!cas to distract the brothers from his and crowley’s plans.

The Cuckoo Father - mature/8k, s7 au. the woman who found cas in the river post-leviathans does not marry him bc he was sent to her by god or whatever, but actually identifies him as jimmy novak and sends him back to claire and amelia.

The Dead Dean Clause* - teen/5k, post alt s5 ending. team free will celebrates surviving taking down lucifer by getting blitzed, cas lies to a cop and gets an impromptu driving lesson. title/description sound dark i know but it’s actually very funny and light.

Suck It, Judy Garland - mature/20k, s12 (after the ‘i love you...i love all of you’ episode). cas and sam have to pretend to be a couple for a case and dean is NOT happy about it.

By Daylight and In Dream - teen/16k, s5. pre-dean/cas, dean invites cas to use his dreams to hide from the other angels. tw for very brief mention of a memory/dream of alastair sexually assaulting dean.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - mature/22k, post-canon. an actually happy (if sometimes bittersweet) heaven endgame written several years ago, though some details are rather eerily similar to the show’s ending.

heaven is a place on earth* - teen/2k. dean’s pov of some of the times cas left him behind throughout the show, and one alternate ending where he finally gets to stay.

I Cleanse The Mirror - teen/20k, alternate s6. dean’s body is stolen by an ancient elemental and his soul has to hitch a ride in cas’ vessel.

an exploration of gender; angelic*** - mature/4k. *oscar isaac voice* lets get into angel gender politics!! aka cas is trans.

Zenith - explicit/33k, s9. after 9x06 an angry witch curses cas with the ability to see supernatural beings and human souls.

La cucina. - gen/3k, alt s9. dean goes wild helping a newly-human cas find out what kinds of food he likes, or the early s9 domesticity we deserved!

Dean Winchester, Cocksucker at Rest***** - teen/7k, post-finale. john and mary finally come over for dinner and john reacts to dean/cas in a rather predictable fashion. SOOOOOOOOO good omg, its so funny and a little sad and very very cathartic. part of a series that has a few other really good short fics.

The Way You Didn't Go - teen/5k, s15. coda to 15.09, dean has nightmares about the moc!cas timeline.

On Drowning - teen/28k. dean saves cas after he nearly drowns, they both try and deal with the physical/mental fallout (aka the fic where thee iconic “you only touch me when you think I’m dead or dying” originates). tw for realistic depictions of drowning/triage/misc medical information.

The Thirty-Six Questions That Lead to Love* - mature/13k. claire has dean and cas pretend to be her gay dads for a case and they play the titular 36 question game, get mistaken for swingers, and birdwatch, among other things.

Assorted F/F stuff:

Deep Breaths* - mary/ellen, au where mary said no to azazel’s deal and let john stay dead, still becomes a milf.

Like Rebel Diamonds - krissy/claire, they become hunter gf’s on the hunt for cas to kick his ass for taking jimmy. not-so-stealth dean/cas as well.

To Ash and Bone - anna/ruby, same author as the previous fic (p much all of her stuff is good from what i recall). au where ruby is a witch and helps anna when she’s cursed.

Holy Clockwork Angels - jo/ruby, STEAMPUNK au with very cool worldbuiilding.

At Day's End - jo/anna (my fucking KINGDOM for more jo/anna content, the dean/cas parallels are allllll there), au where they are both at the camp in the endverse and gfs.

these posts - ok so not actually a fic but i’m now obsessed with this hannah/meg dynamic.

Tagelied - mary/ellen, the true story of how ellen got into hunting before angels interfered.

Hell's Bells** - meg/abaddon, alternate s8/9 where meg survives crowley’s attack with sam’s help and teams up with abaddon (who she has a sk year old crush on) to take back hell.

The Ecstasy of the Rose - anna/ruby, anna travels back in time to escape heaven and becomes a signifigant part of ruby’s old human life.

Angel Underground - anna/jo, kind of an urban fantasy au with a very intriguing premise (sadly its very short, i’d love to see more if this ‘verse).

Clover, Flame - billie/mary, billie was always the reaper that showed up to take mary after her death(s) over the years.

Drag Me To Heaven - anna/ruby, a variant on the ‘last night on earth’ thing with dean.

Come Home* - jo/anna, canon-divergent au where anna is the new waitress at the roadhouse and helps jo set up a (probably not really) haunted house for halloween.

[kaypeace21]

What's in a name? (Analysing all the names in stranger things)

*I'll be repeating some names more than once as I break down categories .

Show , book, and tv easterggs

Alot of character names may have deeper meaning but some are also refs to stories they liked. The stranger writers twitter posted a list of movies said to inspire s4 (which I’ll be referencing).

Dart- dustin names him this after d'artagenean (a 3 musketeers book character) and one of Dustin's fav candies (3 muskateers). Similarly his pet turtle yurtle is implied to be named after the dr Seuss’ story 'yertle the turtle'.

Brenner- main character from 'the birds', which was on the st s4 list.

Byers- john byers from x files. The duffers mentioned x files was an inspo for the show. Although John byers (from x files) resembles Murray as an unhinged conspiracy theorist. The documentary paradise lost was also cited as inspo for st- john byers and his son, terry, Michael, and Steve were names in said film

Jim Hopper- in Predator (another st inspo) he was a soldier who was flayed to death in the woods. Another character in the film with a similar fate was “Hawkins”.

Detective Wheeler and elle Holloway- from silent Hill franchise. Another ref mentioned by the Duffers. Holloway was the surname of st's Heather. Elle (is el) and Wheeler is Mike's surname. Wheeler was also on the ep of twiglight zone (another cited ref by the duffers) . In the ep 'mute' sheriff wheeler takes in a mute psychic girl as his foster daughter. So some hints at hopper too . Hopper even mentions el-anor (gilipse) in s1. The surname of a main character in the silent hill series.Lt. Colonel Sullivan (s4) could be a eastergg of silent hill 4 which had a Sullivan character.

Henderson- st twitter mentioned how all the bond films were on the s4 inspiration list . So Dustin's surname being the same as one of the bond characters is a nod. Duffers also mentioned ‘freaks & geeks’ as inspo- and 1 character’s surname was also Henderson (another nod).

Mrs Driscoll (from s3) - a nod to invasion of the body snatchers which was mentioned as inspo by the Duffers. And clear inspo for s3.

Powell (cop and partner of hopper ) - diehard films also on s4 list. He's named after the cop powell.

Callahan (cop and partner of Hopper) - father Callahan ref. He shows up in many of Stephen King novels. The Duffers have cited over 10 novels and books from him as inspo for st

Nancy- she's called ‘Nancy drew’ (from the novels). And the duffers have mentioned they are fans of elmstreet - who's main character was Nancy. Nancy also references 'Oliver twist" ,and that book has a character named Nancy in it. Nancy was also a first Lady in the 80s similar to her friend Barbara- who was also a first Lady in the 80s.Nancy's name might also be inspired by "Nancy Wheeler", a secondary character in the 1970 book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret written by Judy Blume.

Fred (s4)- apparently a high-school journalist who may be friend or foe. This one is a stretch but given nancy maybe being an elmstreet ref- and her enemy being fred-die kreuger. Fred may have animosity to Nancy and that's why his name is Fred. I mean ... they even cast a new s4 character with Freddie kreuger's original actor.so...

Jason (s4) - is in the 1986 Nancy drew novel (when s4 takes place). He is similar to the duffers description. In the novel he's a rich, popular, arrogant jock and blackmailing students at the high-school . S3 even named one of its episodes after a nancy drew novel- so wouldn't surprise me.

Christie carpenter (s4/reffed in s1 by hopper)- christie is the main character in the hellraiser series (which is on the s4 st list). Carpenter is the surname of the director of 'the thing' name dropped in s3. (The flesh monster in s3 also resembles the thing) , and in s1 mr clarke watches it ,and mike has the thing movie poster in his basement.

Argyle (s4) - die hard 1-2 were on the s4 st list. And is a name of a diehard character.

Max- her name is 'mad max' like the 80s film. But since the Duffers like videogames. Her name may be a ref to max caufield from the ‘life is strange’ game as well. She has a 'never Maxine rule' similar to max in st. But the game character is similar to jonathan as she is a teen photographer and says similar words to jonathan in s1 saying she would rather watch people through a camera than interact with them.

Eddie munson (s4)- not going to lie. I have no proof of this but I immediately thought of the TV character Eddie Munster (the friendly monster ).

Possible comic book easteggs

The duffers are no stranger to comic book references. The duffers have already directly reffed xmen, wonderwoman, and green lantern. Kali's place also has a comic book ref to 'the invisibles' on the wall. While the s4 movie list mentions thor ragnock , age of ultron, and 2 batman films. Some of these refs will go over your head if you haven't read my DID theory. But a lot of this analysis will still be enjoyable. :)

Jane st ives (jane ives aka el). marvel. (jane st ives sees her dad k*ll her mom and vows revenge against him.Sort of similar to what brenner did to terry).

Stephanie harrington (Steve harrington)- 80s marvel comic. DP.7. Will DID ref. Antibody, is a medical resident who can project from his body a dark figure of himself (also called an "antibody", a word play on the medical term) that flies, can become intangible, and transfer its memories to another person by physical contact (mindflayer).  He later merges with the antibody. like how susie refs ‘wizard of earthsea’ -the novel where the young wizard Ged releases a shadow monster (said to be an ancient evil) but it turns out to be the dark aspects of his personality and the only way for the chaos to stop is to accept his darkness and merge as 1.

Barry bauman (Murray bauman) . marvel comics - Will did easteregg.Bauman lived in never ending darkness. He felt, that there was a realm outside the darkness and started to explore the entire content of his brain thus using now more than the usual 10 % .Also had telekinesis.He turned his attention to the stars in order to exact revenge on the human race which spends billions of dollars to kill each other, but wouldn't spend the mere million or so it would have cost to cure him. For his vengeance he transported the suns near our galaxy into his omnipotent brain. As the people of Earth would learn of the disappearing of the suns they would panic and feel Bauman's loneliness before he would destroy Earth.Despite the death of his physical body, Bauman's consciousness somehow survived and began hopping from body to body throughout the galaxy, his powers growing until the Star Thief was recognized as a major threat to galactic society.

Sinclair- last name of xmen rhaine.  Will Did ref. storyline Rahne Sinclair is mentally bonded to Havok against her will(Will/mf).She is subsequently manipulated by the Shadow King. Her bond with Havok causes her to act irrationally, sometimes threatening teammates, sometimes by flirting with them.  She undergoes more than one attempt to undo the bonding, with varying results. Her instability also manifests in many odd dreams, in which her identity is merged into pop culture figures. What’s funny is charlie heaton (jonathan byers) was just in an xmen movie with this Rhaine character.

Victor creel (s4)-sounds like mutant victor creed of the xmen comic. x men Mutant with ab*sive dad and poor socioeconomic background. He had a "birthday tradition" of ab*sing his young relatives on their birthdays. Which reminds me of Lonnie making jonathan cry for a week (because he forced him to k*ll a rabbit on his b-day). Not to mention Lonnie is prob coming back for Will’s b day in s4... so... the name is prob a ref to that ‘birthday tradition’. Could also be a stephen king reference -since Duffers love him. The Creel family was in sk’s book “pet cemetary’-which fun fact (the actress who plays El’s aunt is in the recent remake)!

Yuri (s4)-Yuri Topolov (Russian: Юрий Тополов) was a Soviet scientist and the first foe of the Hulk. 

Dimitri (s4)-Dmitri Bukharin was born in Kuibyshev, Russia (some sources say Moscow).  First appeared in Iron man.

Peter ballard ( s4 character) may just be a hellfire ref . since I guy with last name ballard was a double agent for the hellfire club (name of st s4 ep 1). And ballard means bald which the actor is certainly not lol. I don't think he's literally associated with hellfire but its just a ref. And because its implied in his st character summary despite working for the mental hospital-where brenner is most likely at- he's horrified by the treatment of the psych patients. So that may be where the double agent aspect would come into play.

Ian Hargrove (billy hargrove)- batman comics. had a history of mental health problems dating back to childhood, which his parents were unable to afford treatment for. His brother John hargrove tried to keep him out of trouble but Ian developed an uncanny talent for explosives (will the wise fire powers). He ends up at Archam asylum. Cough billy is Will's alter. Why he has the name billy (a nickname for William) . Jonathan in s2 mentions how he likes the writer vonnegut- who wrote slaughter house 5- the main character was Billy. Already mentioned how it connects to my did theory .

Jason carver (s4)- carver is the last name of the comic hero thunderbolt (in the flash)-the first name of thunderbolt is Will and his brother is named Lonnie. There was also a John carver in the comic.

Holland (barb's last name) last name of Swamp thing. I think its plot has quite a few s4/5 spoilers but Im not diving into it right now.

Names associated with religions or mythology 

(if you’ve read my DID theory- some themes will appear relevant in relation  WIll’s alters or to WIll’s past/tr*uma).

-‘Kali prasad".Kali  is the name of a Hindu goddess . Kali’s iconography and mythology commonly associate her with death,  violence, s*xuality, but also paradoxically -motherly love. In myths ‘she only k*lls demons’ and is described as  ‘overflowing with incomprehensible love for her children’ - (aka ST’s Kali k*lling people from hawkins lab for hurting kids). Her third eye stands for wisdom (like Will the wise).Kali is called at times ‘ the bright fire of truth’ (will the wise/fire powers).The devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner cremation fire in the heart is the gyanagni (fire of knowledge), which kali bestows (cough Will the wise-fire powers). The goddess also could create a darkcloud of lightning (similar to the mf). The phrase “brilliant as a dark cloud” is a snippet of one such prayer dedicated to Kali.The name Kali is derived from the Hindu word that means “time”. Kali receives her name because she devours ‘kala’ (Time)- like clocks ticking when El sees demogorgan/clock being wonky when Will see mf/clocks in s4 promos.’ After devouring time she resumes her own dark formlessness. “This transformative effect can be metaphorically illustrated in the West as a black hole in space” (cough mf cough hopper blackhole/time refs). Kali’s s2 butterfly-“Kali is the Hindu goddess associated with eternal energy. ... The cocoon, butterfly and the karmic golden wheel reflect Her deep connection with life.”And Prasād (her last name) is a material substance that is a religious offering to gods in  Hinduism .

-While, EL is the name of a Cannanite (male) god associated with “salt water “ (pool filled with salt in s1) who “dwelled in a tent” (in s1 Mike’s blanket fort) .And his gray-beard was described as " "full of wisdom.” él’  in Spanish means ‘he’- which could be a nod at her ( androgynous) presentation in s1. El can also be translated to "God" or 'god'. The el character has various mythologies depending on which culture/ religion is using the term 'el'. In the post-biblical period, "el" became a regular element in the names of angels such as "Gabri·el," "Micha·el," and "Azri·el," to denote their status as divine beings.And Jane translates to " Yahweh (god) is gracious/merciful". The cannanite god El was also dubbed “Compassionate God of Mercy.”  Earlier, a ninth century B.C.E. inscription  identifies Ēl- the name of the Babylonian water god Ea, lord of the watery subterranean abyss (cough watery  dark void in st). Terry (el’s mom-aka Teressa) was originally used in the Middle Ages for a “child baptized in holy water” (El in the sensory water tank/Terry used it too,according to Becky in s1). Eleanor (called this in s1)- can mean "sun ray" (possible the opposite of the ‘shadow monster’ or Kali who can represent a “black hole”). 

-Will-the s4 st movie lists (‘red dragon’, gods of monsters, & ‘blade runner’ ) mention the artist and writer William Blake  (specifically his painting of the angel michael fighting a dragon in revelations - reffed in st s1). He was one of many painters part of the exhibition of “ The World Turned Upside Down: Apocalyptic Imagery.”The World Turned Upside Down explores the myriad ways that artists in England visualized the apocalypse in a period fraught with political, religious, economic, and cultural change. 

During this period Blake was commissioned to create over a hundred paintings intended to illustrate books of the Bible along with revelations .  He also drew illustrations for the novel Dante’s inferno. Blake’s brutally satirizes oppressive authority in church and state.He said those who proclaim restrictive moral rules and oppressive laws as “goodness” are in themselves evil. Hence to counteract this repression, Blake announces that he is of the “Devil’s Party” (cough hellfire club ref-and dissing the satanic panic of the hellfire club and other marginilised groups) . He also says “men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.” So Instead of looking for God on remote altars, Blake warns, man should look within.He produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre, which embraced the “imagination as “the body of God.” He wrote his own stories based on biblical writings- one includes the fire wielding character of Los (will the wise) who represented jesus. Los (like jesus does in revelations) causes the destruction of the world and the second judgment unfolds. The poem ends with Los’s unfallen state rising up and shepherding in science and removing the dark religions. I also talked about  how this story ‘book of los’ hints at the DID theory-but this is getting long-so you can just read the explanation here if interested. Also, hellooo Both names are William B(yers/lake). Billy (a alter of Will-sharing the name William) in s3 he even wore “lady of pillar” medallion- i.e about jesus/mary.

JOHN (supposedly Jesus’ blood relative- who wrote ‘revelations’.) In scripture John was called “the disciple whom Jesus loved as a brother” .Fire is the most typical element associated with the Saint John's Eve celebration (Jonathan did light the demogorgan on fire). Many scholars consider John & Jesus ("apocalyptic prophets"). Jonathan itself translates to " yahweh (god ) has given" in Hebrew.

Michael- Similar to kali, he’s a religious figure known for killing demons. He’s the arch-angel from the book of revelations (Apocalypse). A evil Beast (with seven heads usually translated to ‘satan’ or ‘dragon’) appears .“it was a 7″ causes Will to be attacked by the demogorgan ( which in d&d is a demon with multiple heads). The Archangel MICHAEL fought and defeated this 7 headed beast/satan. Corresponding with Mike at the end of s1 writing a fictional d&d story for Will (based off defeating the demogorgan) which was about helping kill a 7 HEADED MONSTER! Michael is also the archangel who oversees on Earth the natural element of fire (Mike telling Will the wise to use ‘fireball’ to defeat this same 7 headed monster in the game, at the end of s1)! Ironically though Jesus /Christian god is also associated with 7s a lot (he has 7 angels and during the apocalypse causes 7 plagues , he has 7 candles etc .)cause the number seven, represented ‘perfection’ according to ancient numerology . Will’s b day is March 22- (3) +2+2 =7 (“it was a 7”). Will’s bday even falls in what christians call “the holy week”( the week immediately preceding Easter.)  At the end of s1 they even defeat this 7 headed monster because Will rolls a 14 (which can be broken down into two 7s). Michael & William also have 7 letters in each of their names respectively- equating to this 14. This dragon biblical story (of Michael) is also William blake’s most popular painting. Also, random fact in revelations god has a rainbow throne (with thunder /lightning -will the wise powers- coming from the throne, and seven lit torches next to it ) . He also wears a rainbow halo. Lol. Michael also roughly translates to  ( 'Who like el?' The answer being roughly translated to ' no one like el' ... which i mean literally is saying there is no one similar to her. But I still think its a linguistic pun/ burn that Mike is not actually into El romantically).

Jim (James) hopper- According to the s3 script Hopper’s real name is James. JAMES (JIM) was an apostle to jesus- brother of john. And in the bible was called a ’son of thunder ’. Will’s powers/ hopper being an alter of Will's so technically brother of jonathan and thunder powers. Not to mention David on Instagram saying hopper has " he has risen. like bread" is a Jesus ref to 'he has risen"... even the bread ref could be a catholic ref to the last supper.

  Martin Brenner/marsha holland-  have their first name reference the roman god Mars who was originally a ‘thunder or storm deity’ (will the wise/mf powers). EL (in cannanite mythology) also allowed Baal the storm god to rule the entire earth.

ROBIN- was the God of Thunder’s- Thor’s- favorite bird. And Dustin also means ‘Thor’s stone.’The red belly robin is also an important bird in Christianity. Legend has it that the robin got its red belly from a fire in which it was trying to protect Jesus. Robin also name drops the greek god prometheus- the god of fire (will the wise) who brought human beings life and knowledge. And Steve looks at Robin and says "let there be light" a biblical passage. The robin represents selflessness for a higher truth. 

Barb- Saint BARBara- dad kept her locked away from the outside world (like el/brenner) . He tried to k*ll her when he learned she didn’t believe in his religion- so the dad was punished by “god” who electrocuted him with lightning/lit him on fire. (Will the wise powers).

Nancy- is derived from a medieval diminutive of Annis, an English form of Agnes.  There’s the christian saint Agnes- who was beautiful and from a wealthy family. She was the Christian saint of girls and v*rginity . And the duffers subverted this along with the problematic horror movie trope of the ' v*rgin female heroine surviving while her more se*ually liberated female friends are punished by the villain' ( by having her survive specifically because she decided to have s*x).Agnes was also led out and bound to a stake, but (allegedly) the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her (will the wise fire powers). Also people claimed that any man who tried to r*pe her was struck blind.

Hopper's wife’s name -Dianne- is also the roman goddess of ,nature, hunting and wild animals( and greek equivalent to Artemis) .Becky  means ‘snare’ -for hunting animals .Teressa (Terry) means ' huntress'.  The name was originally used in the Middle Ages for a child baptized in holy water . Name of 2 saints-Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux. Lonnie’s gf (Cynthia) was originally an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis, as well.

Power couple Angela & jake (s4) - Angela means 'messenger of God". And Jake (also means ”supplanter”) is derived from jacob. Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebecca in genesis. El’s aunt,Becky (Rebecca) is wife of isaac.Other theories claim that Jacob is in fact derived from a hypothetical name like יַעֲקֹבְאֵל (Ya'aqov'el) meaning "may God protect".The name jacob is also where the names James/jim is derived from.

couple Steve spies on in s3- Anna Jacobi & Mark Lewinsky. Anna ( name of the mother of the Virgin Mary) Jacobi ("he who supplants"-aka same meaning as jim since both names are derived from jacob). Mark (”the god mars”-same meaning as martin brenner) .Lewinsky (lion-same name meaning as Lonnie). Also derived from the Hebrew root לוי‎ (leví, “priest”)

Joyce means "lord". Could also be a ref to the ('unofficial') saint Joyce who gave up wealth to live in poverty.

Ted-is the short form of the names Theodore and Edward. Theodore is a Greek name meaning "gift of God", Edward has an English origin and means "wealthy guard." Eddie (from s4) also means ‘wealthy guard”

Holly (nancy and Mike's sis)- Holly meanings are 'One who is pious' or 'sacred'

Karen- can be short for Katherine-one of the first christian saints.”Saint Katherine of the Wheel “(er). A 4th century martyr who suffered t*rture on a spiked wheel.  Wheeler does mean ‘occupational name for a maker of wheels’ after all. 

Gospel of LUKE (lucas?) , or simply Luke, tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Sinclair- Catholic saint of computers and TV screens (i mean... he is in the av club).

MAXimilian was deemed a saint in the 1980s- saint of journalists and radios. (Both aspects of s3)

Saint stephen/steven ( STEVE)-an early disciple and deacon . Considered one of the first m*rtyrs of the church.Stephen is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as one of seven deacons appointed by the Apostles to distribute food (lol icecream) .According to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called “archdeacon”.

Sara- Her name is a feminine form of sar (Hebrew: שַׂר‎), meaning “chieftain” or “prince."  She was the wife and sister of Abraham (ew -given her being an alter of Will though, such a name doesn’t surprise me). Similar to st Barabara’s dad - Abraham tried to k*ll his son isaac in the name of god. Becky (El's aunt) - is derived from Rebecca - wife of Isaac.

Claudia (Dustin's mom)- Christian woman of Rome greeted by Paul in his second letter to Timothy (in the bible).

Sam mayfield (max's dad) -  Short for Samuel or Samantha, from the Biblical name Shemu'el, which means "God has heard", from the Hebrew shama, meaning "heard" and el, meaning "God". Samuel is rumored to be argyle first name.

Marsha Kelly (s4)- Kelly means "frequents churches" or " bright headed". Given she's a counselor the bright headed pun makes sense. But maybe she's not to be trusted if she frequents churches during a satanic panic arc which was fueled by Christian religious extremism . Or she's someone who contrasts the rest of the religious people in town since she's not originally from hawkins...who knows. x files’ main character was catholic but in one ep she criticized a small town for the satanic panic occurring-and says how accusing these kids who listen to rock as satanic or being k*llers is ludicrous.

Peter ballard (s4) - Peter was also the name of an apostle. 

Tina (side character s2)- like christy (s4) it’s short for Christina which translates to "follower of christ" or 'stream'. Tina was the gal who hosted the t halloween party and also the name of one of Erica’s friends in s3.

Samantha (goth girl jonathan talks to in s2 party) translates to "told by god".

Tommy (s1-2) "God's gift" or "twin".Thomas is the Greek variation of the Aramaic name Ta’oma’. It came about because there were too many apostles named Judas; Jesus renamed one Thomas—meaning "twin"—to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and the Judas also known as Thaddeus.

carol (tommy’s gf)- Carol is the short form of Caroline and the meaning is derived from the English vocabulary word for “song” or “hymn". A hymn being a religious song or poem.

Benny ( who helped El at his dinner) - originally derived from latin bennedictus which means "blessed"

Stacey (s2-3 ) rejected dustin at dance. Stacey- "resurrection "

Grigori (the guy following and tracking hopper, Joyce, and alexi)- The name was adopted by early Christians heedful of the Biblical passage located in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful."grigory now means 'watchful and vigalent'

Alexi- prob based on the russian folklore story of alexy. A clever priest's son who tricks a dragon.

Harrington- similar to Robin's religious animal iconography. Harrington means 'he goat'.The most popular image of the Satanic goat dates back to the ever-mysterious Knights of Templar, who were accused of worshipping an idol known as Baphomet (a 1/2 human 1/2 goat man). Roman Catholic society decried it as a demon that demanded human sacrifice — but it would take a few more centuries before the goat became a truly occult symbol.Anton Lavey adopted Baphomet as the sigil of the Church of Satan in 1966, and it has appeared on countless metal album covers. But, Baphomet isn't the lone source of inspiration for our goat-like depictions of Satan.it's also believed that early Christians, seeking to demonize preexisting Pagan traditions, drew comparisons between the Devil and the Greek god Pan (god of nature), who happened to resemble a goat.Some cited how in revelations- during the apocalypse- Jesus separates the 'lambs from the goats'. ( supposedly Good vs bad)

Given the fact s3 alluded to the satanic panic. A Christian movement in the 80s that demonized and said d&d ,rock music, homosexuality, other religions, stephen King,horror films, wearing black,and non conservative ideology were 'satanic.' I wouldn't be surprised by this possible ref. Heck even William Blake criticized similar religious movements in his own time period. Several movies from the s4 list allude to this. The most obvious being the documentary paradise lost (named after the fictional retelling of satan/adam and eve story) - the documentary directly focuses on a witch hunt of rock loving teens (wrongfully accused of m*rders) in a small town during the satanic panic. Not to mention ironically s4 is hinted to be around easter. So Using such symbolism to address religious fundamentalism and the bigotry/hysteria it can cause isn't surprising. No i’m not lumping all religious people into this negative category- obviously.

Other Names with similar definitions

*Hunting /forests woods, nature, animals

Hunters and people in forrests

name meaning : becky - snare (a trap for catching birds or animals). Teressa-huntress. Dianne/Cynthia (Hopper’s ex wife/Lonnie’s gf) - is a roman/greek goddess of hunting and wild animals.  Rhadaghast- Will's password for cb is a lothr wizard who protects forests/wildlife.martin/marsha- previously god of agriculture/plants.As an agricultural guardian, he was believed to directed his energies toward creating conditions that allow crops to grow, which may include warding off hostile forces of nature (pumpkins rotting in s2). El in phoenician culture was called Elus and its Greek equivalent Cronus (god of agriculture) steve- he goat- associated with pan- god of fields, groves, wooded glens . brenner- ‘someone who cleared forests by burning’. the blond women, Brenner worked with,  Fraizer-  “of the forrest men”

* FUN FACT: Kali’s name originally was going to be ‘Roman’ (which is derived from Romulus-the son of Mars... aka Martin Brenner) .

Trees

Ives and owens- ives means 'yew wood' while Owen means 'yew tree. ' bauman- nickname for someone who lived near a tree.comes from the German word "baum," or "boum" in Middle High and Old German, meaning "tree’. Jennifer hayes- Jennifer  derived from Old English words "jenefer", "genefer" and "jinifer", all of which were variants of Juniper used to describe the juniper tree.Lonnie means "oak tree; or lion". Lion plushie in cb and the lion el has along with the tree establishes a connection between all 3 maybe? Oak groves were especially sacred to  the goddess dianna too. Buckley (it has many different translations) - Old English "boch ley" (with boch meaning beech tree and ley meaning wood, glade or clearing).

Nature

buckley if translated from "bok lee," means meadow, or field. mayfield- open country (field) where madder (mæddre) grows. Holland- wood land, Bruce (who was also possessed) - means WILLow lands . Keith (s2-3) : woods or forrest.Hargrove- meadow filled with rabbits (Jonathan’s hunting story).Holloway is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, or type of tree. Tina means 'river' . Burness (guy who claimed he jumped into quarry)-stream. Neil- cloud. Lowe (Bruce's last name)-This surname is derived from a geographical locality 'at the low,' i.e. the hill. Hayes means "hedged area'.

Flowers

Flo (hopper's secretary)- means flower. Suzie-  lily flower. Susan (Max’s mom)- means lily, lotus flower or rose. Karen (in Japanese can mean)- flower, lotus, or water lily. Heather is also a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas.  Erica is a type of "heather" plant. martin/marsha: in the legend of Mars,his mother become pregnant with him using a magic flower- which was given to her by the goddess flora.

Bright (aka intelligent)

Bob- nickname of Robert . Both Bob and Robert mean 'bright, shinning or fame'. Aka smart -he's called ' Bob the brain ' for a reason.

Robin- is also diminutive of Robert . And we all know robin is smart too. Being multilingual/ cracking the code.Robin (like Robert) also means 'bright, shining , or fame.'

Lucas- means "bright" or "shinning" aka he's also a smart cookie. His firework plan saving the day.

Lonnie and Larry (the mayor) can both be nicknames for Lawrence which also means ' bright one' or 'shinning one'. Well... both are cunning I'll give them that. Lonnie is unfortunately ...smart. I think this detail had other foreshadowing. Joyce to Will about Will the wise ' if he's so wise why does he need the fireballs? can't he just outsmart the bad guys? " Will: " yeah. Usually. BUT sometimes the bad guys are smart too." I never understood why on earth Joyce would be with someone as awful as Lonnie in the first place- than be with his literal opposite Bob- but maybe she just found intelligence attractive?

Names associated with thunder/lightning/fire (Like Will/mf/Will the wise)

Byers-reprsents Greek Zeus (god of thunder/lightning). Martin - references the roman god Mars who was originally a ‘thunder or storm deity’ .ROBIN- was the German God of Thunder’s- Thor’s- favorite bird. And Dustin also means ‘Thor’s stone.’Jim- “son of thunder”. Christian god- has throne (surrounded by thunder /lightning). Kali- could summon thunder storms.Nancy/Barb-both saints associated with fire. Kali-is called at times ‘ the bright fire of truth’ /and bestows the fire of knowledge. Robin also name drops the greek god prometheus- the god of fire. Mars -the keeper of Rome's perpetual flame . The Robin bird in a Christian story myth protects Jesus from hell's fire. William Blake- wrote about a fire wielding character of Los who represented jesus. Jesus during end times wields fire. Michael is the archangel who oversees on Earth the natural element of fire. Fire is the most typical element associated with the Saint John's Eve celebration (Saint John- called Jesus’s brother).

Animals (and their symbolism)

Byers- means ‘ cattle shed’.The Greeks considered the bull animal totem to be a symbol of Zeus (god of thunder and lighting - will the wise powers). He is the head of the gods and the almighty ruler of Olympus.  I”n hinduism, Shiva is known as Gorakhnath, means the lord of the cows.  And is also known as, Pasupathinath, the lord of all animals (similar to Rhadaghast). According to some scholars, Shiva’s association with cows and bulls might date back to the Indus Valley period. Cows have a special significance in Hinduism, as aspects of Mother Goddess and as symbols of selfless service. Mahatma Gandhi declared the protection of cows a central feature of Hinduism.Hindus worship cows as the Mother Goddess and symbol of motherhood, kindness and forbearance.”

Tigers: (Sarah’s plushie/ Hawkin’s macott/ Will & Mike have tiger posters in their rooms): The goddess Kali & God Shiva wore a tiger skin (this fact was actually mentioned by Kali in the prequel novel ‘suspicious minds’ ).”In many tribal traditions of India, the tiger (or lion) is worshipped as a god. In some Hindu hymns the domestic fires are compared to the tigers that guard the house.Tigers also figure prominently in many Indian folk-tales, Jataka-stories, and the Panchatantra.”

Lions:(Lonnie means ‘lion’ and el and Will have matching lion plushies)- In the Bible, the lion has two opposite meanings: it is compared to the Devil (1 Pet 5:8) and to Christ (Rev 5:5). Aka: Lonnie is the devil. The kids are the opposite. Nancy also compares the demogorgan to a lion. “In many tribal traditions of India, the lion is worshipped as a god.One of the ten incarnations of Vishnu is Narasimha, who has the head and shoulders of a lion, but the torso of a human.Goddess Durga, a fierce form of Parvathi or Shakti, has a golden lion as her vehicle, while Rahu, a planetary guard, rides upon a black lion as his vehicle.Lions form an important part of Hindu religious art. The face of the lion (simha-mukha) is used in images and sculpture in many Hindu temples to decorate the doors, walls, arches, and windows.The memorial pillar at Saranath  contains four beautifully carved standing lions at the top on a round abacus representing the imperial power. They now constitute the official emblem of the government of India.”

El almost k*lling a cat- “Some superstitious beliefs are also associated with cats in Hinduism. For example, killing a cat is considered a grave sin, for which one may have to offer prayers and give in charity at least seven golden images of the killed cat. “

Harrington- he goat. Buckley- has various translations. Anglo-Saxon: ‘bucc and leah’ meaning goat and wood respectively. And obviously there’s the robin-bird. And I've already discussed their symbolism. Goat= baphomet/pan. 

Robin- thor's fav bird/ helped Jesus from hell's fire.

Buckley- can also translate to " field filled with deer" (like the deer attacked by the demogrogan or the bambi film jon reffed in relation to the hunting story about lonnie).And Karen ( when from it’s Hebrew origins) can mean- antler or horn. Also the caananite God el was usually depicted with animal horns on his head.Diana in Roman art usually is accompanied by a hound (demo dog) or deer.  Because of the story of her turning an attempted r*pist-hunter into a deer/ and then causing dogs to attack him.  Deer is also one of the symbolic animals accepted since early Christianity as an allegory of Jesus Christ and the Christian Disciple. And when associated with Shiva (kali's husband) in Hindu iconography, the deer omen denotes sovereignty over nature and symbolizes the lord of all animals, humans, and the King of the Forest. In many visual and written illustrations, human beings and deer appear as close companions and in some cases, humans adopt the face or antlers of a deer, in images more common in stories of human strife. Deer also have a supernatural significance and appear as apparitions of divinity and in legends of spiritual awakening.

Hargrove- meadow filled with rabbits (like the rabbit lonnie made jonathan k*ll.) Hopper sounds like thumper the rabbit- which jonathan mentions in relation to bunnies . And ... idk... Hopper did make that pun in s3 about bunnies to Larry (lawerence) ? We also have rabbit refs elsewhere like with- el in Benny's. They play the song 'white rabbit' a song referencing Alice in wonderland and in el's room at Terry's house is the white rabbit from that story. Also paralleling to jonathan- el was almost made to k*ll a cat by her father (Cheshire cat aka Alice in wonderland ref + cats are associated with magic powers/witch craft).In Celtic folklore, the rabbit is seen as a supernatural being from the Otherworld.The rabbit symbolism in Christianity has found its way through the Germanic deity Eostre from which the name Easter came to be (s4 will most likely have the Easter holliday).One tale describes the rabbit as the pet of Jesus Christ. And rabbits were often inserted into art of jesus' mother .

Creel- basket or container of fish.fish is taken as symbolizing Christ’s faith, charity, and abundance. A biblical story goes how Christ fed his disciples with 2 fishes and called them “fishers of men.”  The Christians made an acrostic from the Greek word for fish, “ichthys” as early as the first century and it is, “Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter”, meaning Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

Names hinting at character traits (which are very literal)

Mr clarke (science teacher)- clarke means 'scholar'

Dottie (in kali's gang)- she was in an insane asylum . And ‘Dotty’ is a very old British slang term  for 'crazy'

War (usually relates to ‘villains’)

Troy- means ' foot soldier'. Martin brenner: Martin means 'war like'. Lonnie is diminutive of Alonzo or Lawrence. Alonzo means 'ready for battle'.

In contrast to Lonnie, Will can mean "desiring peace. " Axel  who is part of Kali’s crew (who i think Will created along with others ) even means "father is peace."

Twin

Tom (Heather's dad) and Tommy mean ‘twin’. Robin's crush Tammy ('twin') Thompson ( 'son of tom’).

* Besides similar/identical name meanings.There’s also a lot of other repeated names that go into this whole twin/mirror imagery which i find strange... makes me wonder about @strangertheory ‘s version of the did theory. If not...maybe it’s just a allusion to the whole Will vs Will the wise arc (possibly) coming up?

Jennifer hayes (popular girl) & Jen (Mr clarke’s gf). Tina (highschool gal) & Tina- erica’s friend- Tina & christy are also nicknames of christina (s4 character). Susie (dustin’s gf) & susan (max’s mom). Sam (max’s dad) and Samantha (girl at party)/ samuel (possibly argyle). Billy Hargrove, Bill (dianne’s new huband),  and Will-all being nicknames for William. Robin & Bob-nicknames for Robert. Lonnie & Larry-nicknames for Lawerence. Ted  & Eddie being nicknames for Edward.James (Will’s bully), Jim Hopper (real name James), jacobi, and jason- all 4 are derived from jacob . Marsha Holland (barb’s mom) and marsha kelly (therapist s4)/martin relate to mars. Tom (reporter), tommy (highschooler), thompson (other highschooler).

it’s definitely peculiar to repeat names like this in a story. Unless it means ...something... I talked about how David was mentioning alot of doppelganger/twin imagery recently-here. So the name mirroring could just be an allusion to the Will/WW arc coming up ...possibly?

[sporksaber]

Ok, I love the role swap concept with zuko and azula, but I feel like they switch their abilities and personalities a bit too and I think itd be more fun without that. Where Azula is an antisocial and unstable genius who wants to gain power and zuko still struggles with being the less powerful and extremely empathetic sibling. So here's how I'd do it.

(Note, this is just for fun. I'm not saying anyone else's version is bad. But I've though about this so much and need it out of my head before I go off cuz make a whole comic and I do not have the time, i need to work.)

First off, Azula wouldn't call out in concern for the men like how zuko did. In my version she's allowed into the meeting because of the aptitude for strategy shes shown. She speaks up because it's an inefficient plan that uses up too many resources when there are other options. This enrages her father and leads to the agni kai. Azula is terrified and feels betrayed but has no idea how to handle any of it. She fights back during the agni kai, but in her panic she sets off a bolt of lightning. Ozai finishes the match and severely burns on her lower back. Azula is banished for her use of lightning on the fire lord (bc ozai fears she will no longer be easy to manipulate and might plot his death) and is forced to leave the next morning.

Some things to note: azula is eleven at this point. I changed the placement of the scar bc I think zuko's is very symbolic in a way that doesnt suit azula. Zuko's scar being over his eye and close to the light chakra shows the way his view of the fire nation and honour obscures his vision and how he is unaware of the truth of the world under fire nation rule. I set azula's over her spine because that chakra is based on survival and blocked by fear. It also represents trust which will fit into her arc with the gaang. Finally, she doesnt have Iroh to guide her. One of the things that bothered me was Iroh writing her off as evil despite her being a mentally unstable child. She did have to be defeated, but the way he talked about it was too dismissive. (Personally I think he was projecting his views of his brother and his perceived failures with him onto her.) Azula isnt sent to capture the avatar so she isnt given soldiers. She's completely alone without an advisor to look to or keep her calm.

Azula is given a manned ship with a disgraced soldier and an attendant when she leaves. The way I see it the soldiers zuko had were probably more irohs than his. The soldier is relieved to not be executed but hates being demoted to playing babysitter to a child at sea. The attendant views it as a punishment and hates Azula for it. Eventually the attendant will betray her and be killed for it. Azula never trusted the soldier and he eventually leaves to start a family in an earth kingdom colony. Azula doesnt miss him, he was no longer useful. The loneliness does get to her though.

Azula is obsessed with getting the underhand, so she had been successfully building connections and planting spies where needed.

(Zuko has been acting as a respectable crowned prince. He holds a zealous loyalty to his nation and father. He still faulters as Iroh tries to steer him from tyranny, but his sights are set on his father's approval and that alone. Afterall, if his prodigy could be discarded who's to say what would happen to him if he failed?)

This brings us to the start of the series. Like Zuko Azula witnesses the trap on the old fire nation battle ship go off. She investigates and finds that an air bending avatar is living at the south pole village. She decides she wants to speak with him.

Azula didn't believe the avatar existed before this point. Hiding didnt add up to her knowledge of the morality of airbenders, so she assumed the air nation avatar from the start of the war would be dead. She would know if one had appeared in the water tribe, as the south had all its benders killed and the north was compacted so close together it would be impossible to hide. Earth would be harder, but they were most likely to fight back and out act. And if in ba sing se they'd be used as a weapon or gotten rid of to preserve the peace of the city. Once the culcle progressed to the fire nation it would either be used to take over the other nations or enf the cycle for good. After all, there hasn't been an air bender for a hundred years even if the rumors of some acolytes surviving were truthful.

Azula kidnaps aang with far more ease than she should of been able to. Once he stops struggling she calmly offers him tea and promises to release him once their discussion is finished. He takes the tea and drinks it without question and besides a wary glare shows no more hostility. She thought him a fool, the tea could have easily been poisoned and promised are nothing but words. His naivete makes her job easier though.

She finds out that he was suspended frozen in the avatar state the last 100 years. And so, Azula informs him of the war and the fire nations crimes, advising him to master the elements if he wants to prevent all his new friends and the avatar cycle from certain destruction. Aang is conflicted, he never asked for any of this. Azula just gives a bitter smile. "The hands of fate were never designed to take requests, they move without regard to any life dependent on it. Dont waste your breath when there is nothing you can do."

Azula wants to see Ozai fail. If helping the avatar is what it takes then so be it. When his friends appear to save him she let's them leave without a fight. Theyll be useful in the future.

As the gaang's travels kick off she sets out to find out if the rumours about the acolytes are true. In this she finds a traveling circus. The youngest daughter and an old friend of hers was eager to escape and found Azula's life exciting. She didn't hesitate after being invited along, insisting that traveling would be easy for her and that she'd pull her own weight.

She encounters the gaang a few times as time goes by. The relationship is reluctant on the water tribe siblings part, they dont trust her and hold a decent amount of fear towards her. Her cold and calculating demeanor was unsettling, but the unhinged way she fought was terrifying. Her form was perfect and her attacks were precise, but the bigger the fight the more lost she became as she laughed and shrieked and occasionally snapped at someone who didnt seem to be there. The only worse reaction was when she zeroed in on one opponent, picking them apart both mentally and physically as she drove them to the ground. )

Things that'll happen as I move through an episode list:

Azula doesn't have her ship attacked do she diesnt run into zhao while doing repairs, instead going straight to ty lee.

Azula learns that the gaang is on kyoshi island and heads ther after them. She has been keeping track of the avatar as they move. Ty lee gets along well with the kyoshi warriors while azula buts heads with them. They dont want her there and azula hates it when people get in the way. Zhao appears to try to capture aang and Azula dips at the same time as the gaang. She tells ty lee she can stay but she insists on sticking with azula. This puts her on edge.

Ty lee gets captured by earth benders, when she escapes on her own she cements her usefulness to Azula.

They run into zhao trying to capture the avatar and azula tells him she'll capture him first. They both attack aang during the solstice, though azula's attacks are all purposefully set to miss and trip up zhao as much as possible. Aang is the best way to prove her father wrong and she's not going to lose that.

They rob the pirates that try to capture the avatar. Azula needs the resources and it gives her leverage over the gaang.

After almost killing ty lee for scaring her by popping up behind her Azula tells her why she was banished. (In more of a "my own mother thought I was a monster" way than an opening up about trauma way.)

Azula learns that zhao has captured aang and frees him. She then sets to reworking her information network as not all of them are scared enough of her to not fail her. She remedies it quickly.

Azula learns that zhao is plotting her assassination and decides it's the perfect moment to fake her death.

Azula enters the north pole to defeat zhao and gain any information she can. Ty lee rades a library during the confrontation. Zhao is surprised and infuriated to see her alive, Azula smiles as she sends him to his death knowing that she is not only helping the avatar but also that he gave her a perfect way to hide from the fire nation. (When news of his sisters death reaches hum, Zuko doesnt know what to think. She was always cruel to him, but she was still his little sister.)

The crown prince of the fire nation is sent to capture the avatar. Azula follows him as he begins his search. (Zuko begins to think he's going insane as he keeps catching glimpses of his recently deceased sister out of the corner of his eye.)

Ty lee keeps running into a girl she slowly befriends. She's gloomy and sarcastic and ty lee thinks Azula would like her. (Zuko's fiance Mai tells him that she thinks his sister is still alive.)

As Azula notices ty lee become more and more distracted as she absorbed herself into the cultures that surround them she decides it's best for them to split up. Ty lee diesnt agree, but Azula leaves anyway. She has work to do.

While traveling alone Azula cant escape the thoughts of her mother. Of her fathers betrayal. Of the life she lost because the idiot elders had no grip on proper strategy that even a child could create. She meets a boy that reminds her far too much of zuko with a mother far to similar to theirs. When she sends the bandits controlling the town running she knows it's more than just controlling a territory that compelled her. But at the same time she doubts not following through on the whim would have bothered her.

Ty lee meets toph and chat for a bit. Ty lee tells her about azula and how she left. When toph tells her she should forget her she insists that azula didnt really ditch her and that they're still friends. They talk about their friends and childhood.

Ty lee finds Azula and immidiently jumps at her, which she does not enjoy. Ty lee insists that she still wants to travel with her and Axula sighs as she let's her tag along to the next location, ba sing se.

Azula slips through guards and protocols as she tries to gain any information she can to help her once they reach the city. Ty lee befriends a guy named jet and his group, the freedom fighters. When he tries to get more than friendship she turns him down and it becomes much more awkward.

Ty lee becomes a street performer and chames everyone she meets as Azula researches the dai lee and how they keep control. After lashing out in frustration ty lee drags her out to enjoy the city's night life.

Azula learns of the presence of the avatar and location of appa. She frees him and sets to work taking control of the dai lee. She let's herself be briefly captured but her plan shifts when katara is thrown in with her. Katara is pissed just being around her and azula plays up a cool kind of annoyance. Katara briefly catches sight of the burns on Azula's back and offers to heal her, only for Azula to freak out and yell at her to stay away, backing against a far wall in a fighting stance. They are saved by the rest if the gaang and ty lee shortly after.

Azula goes back to try and salvage her plan only to be caught off guard by the appearance of her brother and his offer to return to the fire nation. Not willing to lose all possible advantages, she agrees. They battle the gaang, and when they are almost captured azula sends a bolt of lightning at aang, causing them to retreat. Katara can heal him more easily than she can maneuver them out of an execution.

Azula returns to the fire nation with her brother, mai and ty lee, starting the beginning of a large power play between her and her father. They are sent to lo and li beach house. The relationship between the siblings is tense, zuko has always been the child born with nothing who gained everything when his blessed at birth sister lost it all. Azula has always been cruel, but he cant help but let his heart catch on the moments when she's not. ("My own mother thought I was a monster, My father thought i was too difficult to keep around" "Don't let their words blind you, you need to be more careful, zuzu." "I learned the hard way to never turn your back to anyone, and the scars will always be there as a reminder if I need it." )

Azula runs into iroh, who is very disapproving of her presence. He warns her to stay away from zuko and to watch herself while at the palace. Later, zuko comes to her asking about their great grandfather. Upon being pressed he admits that he was sent a mysterious letter. He thought she was going to burn it when he handed it to her but instead the heat from the fire revealed a hidden ink. "Honestly brother, did you ever pay attention at all during lessons?" They find a autobiographical scroll of their great grandfathers life and the secret that their other great grandfather was roku. Azula scoffed at the idea of bloodlines deciding fate and quickly left. But Zuko remained conflicted.

During the day of the black sun Azula confronts Ozai. As iroh and Zuko fight the avatar. She learns that her mother left for zuko's sake and that she was never going to be fire lord. Azula tells him she'll be somthing even better and leaves the palace.

Azula and ty lee follow the gaang to the western air temple. Katara immidprntly attacks but is quickly rendered unable to bend by ty lee. Azula tells them that the only way for them to of gotten out was for Aang to be incapacitated, and she knew katara could heal him. Aang decides they can stay but have to stay distanced from everyone else.

Azula tries to teach aang fire bending but is slowly growing sick while aang is barely able to produce a puff of smoke. Unable to sleep and constantly on edge, it soon affects her bending, sending her spiraling as she loses control on the only consistent power she's ever had. Her and aang journey to find the true source of fire bending to try to help their conditions.

Still sick, Azula is itching to do anything away from the temple. Finding sokka trying to reach the boiling rock to find his father, she decides to go with him as she knows the prison well. Sokka declines but she goes anyway. They dont find his father, but they do find suki. Azula formulates a plan but they postpone when sokka's father arrives.

Azula comes up with a new plan, now reluctant to include sokka. He tells her to trust him but she insists she has no reason to. Her sickness has been getting worse and he tells her she needs to trust him, making her angry. Only when he catches her while they're escaping dies she finally begin to accept trusting him, if only slightly.

(While they're away ty lee tries to convince

Azula goes with Katara to find the man who killed her mother. Azula has no concept of why katara is so upset, which causes her to get angry. But azula tracks the man anyway.

Ember island players- azulas character has the scar across her chest. She's absolutely insane and "not entirely inaccurate, but I'd never come up with such a dumb plan." Shes also heavily implied to be more than close to ty lee, which azula has no reaction to even as the others freak out.

I havent decided the ending, zuko will probably turn to the gaang's side. I'll add more later and maybe write or illustrate a bit.

[davidmann95]

now that it's over, thoughts on Bendis' Superman as a whole?

pretenderoftheeast said: So, thoughts on Bendis' Superman and Action Comics' tenure altogether and separately now that it's over?

Anonymous said: Best and Worst things about Bendis' Superman run

Anonymous said: Now that it is over, what are your thoughts on Bendis' runs on Superman and Action Comics as a whole?

Anonymous said: Retrospective thoughts on Bendis' Superman as a whole now that it's, I guess, done?

Anonymous said: Hey so since Bendis’ Superman stuff seems to be done, what did you think of the run as a whole?

I decided to hold off a bit on writing on this one, if only so that I could reread the Action Comics side of it since Superman stood out in my memory a lot more. But now I have, and as we’re heading into a bold new era of Superman (and it’s coming in fast - just since I made my Superman in 2021 predictions we’ve gotten Ed Pinsent finally reprinting his legendary bootleg Silver Age Superman, Steve Orlando announcing his Superman analogue book Project Patron, an official shonen Superman redesign for RWBY/Justice League, PKJ’s Super-debut turning out far better than I ever expected, Superman & Lois’s first proper trailer largely taking people pleasantly by surprise, and my learning that there’s a Sylvester Stallone Old Man Superman analogue movie titled Samaritan coming out this summer) we’re ready to take a look back with at least a touch of perspective. I’ll lead with complaints, so everybody who’s been waiting for me to say that Bendis on Superman was Bad, Actually, savor this because it’s as close as you’ll get.

The Bad

* I hate to say it, but rereading that side of the run there’s no two ways about it: the structure of Action Comics as a whole is a mess. It baffled me from day one that it was the more acclaimed of the two books for so long - I guess people are hardwired at this point to think of ‘street’ stuff as where Bendis is supposed to be - because it was immediately clear that Superman had a well-defined story he wanted to tell, while Action was the usual Bendis off-the-cuff improvisation. It’s barely even a story in the same way, and it’s certainly not the ‘Metropolis crime book’ people took it as: it’s 28 issues of Superman and his supporting cast stuffed a pinball machine with the Red Cloud pinging off of each other as we wait to see who falls in the hole at the bottom, and partway through Leviathan and the Legion of Doom and 90s Superboy are tossed into the mix to keep it going a little longer. On an issue-to-issue basis it’s frequently really good, but the core plot of the book is *maybe* six issues stretched out over two and a half years.

* I’ve gone into this some before, but structure-wise Unity Saga also has problems: Phantom Planet rules but either it needed to be cut or the back half needed to be a year all its own in order to accommodate the scale of what it’s attempting. It’s got an interstellar civil war leading into the formation of the United Planets, family drama, Rogol Zaar’s whole deal, and Jon’s coming of age, and I’d say only that last one is really properly served. Even Jon forming the United Planets, while contextually somewhat justified in terms of 1. The situation being so far gone he’s the only one who’d even think in those terms, 2. Things being bad enough that these assorted galactic powers would be willing to try it, and 3. Him having the S on his chest to sell it, isn’t at all built up to within the run itself.

* Rogol Zaar sucks. He’s made up of nothing but interesting ideas - he’s an ersatz warrior ‘superman’ of a bygone age of empires up against the new model, he’s the sins of Krypton as a conservative superpower come home to roost, he’s while not outright said to be definitely Superman’s tragic half-brother and the culmination of everything this run does with Jor-El - but none of them manifest on the page, he’s just a big punchy dude with a dumb design who screams about how you should take him seriously because he’s totally the one who blew up Krypton. Even a killer redesign by Ryan Sook for Legion of Superheroes can’t fix that. There are lots of bad villains with good ideas who are redeemed with time and further effort, but I can’t imagine Zaar getting that TLC to become a fraction of whatever Bendis envisioned him as.

* The second year of Action Comics, after establishing itself in its first as one of the most consistently gorgeous books on the stands, leads with Szymon Kudranski’s weak output and then concludes with John Romita Jr. turning in some career-worst work. The latter is particularly egregious because for that first year Bendis writes a really collected, gentle Superman so him getting pushed into being more aggressive should have an impact, but Romita draws such a craggy rough-looking Superman in the first place that it mutes any sort of shock value.

 * WE NEVER LEARN WHAT’S UP WITH LEONE’S CAR, WHAT THE HELL. You don’t just DROP THAT IN THERE and then NEVER FOLLOW UP.

The Good

* Superman got his real clothes back after 7 truly ridiculous years.

* Bendis fundamentally gets Clark’s voice in a way unlike almost any other writer - even all-around better writers of the character almost never approach how spot-on he is with having Superman speak and act exactly how Superman should.

* Supporting cast front and center! He writes a dynamite Lois, Perry, and Jimmy (even if many of Lois’s more out-there decisions in the run don’t end up retroactively justified the way you’d hope), Ma and Pa are more fun than they’ve been in decades in their brief appearances, he manages to turn having Jor-El in the mix into a positive, and the Daily Planet as a whole has an incredibly distinctive vibe to it like never before that I hope is taken as a baseline going forward.

* The non-Rogol Zaar baddies? All ruled. Invisible Mafia and Red Cloud are both brilliant ideas executed solidly if overextended. Zod as Kryptonian Vegeta, Mongul as a generational perpetual bastard engine primed to be incapable of self-reflection, and Ultraman as “what if Irredeemable but he’d never been a good guy and also he was a Jersey mobster” are the best versions of those characters by numberless light-eons. Lex is on-point in his sparse appearances. Xanadoth as a mystical cosmic monster older than time who still talks like a Bendis character is however unintentionally a hoot. The alt-universe Parasite is a more intimidating Doomsday than Doomsday ever was. And Synmar as an alien culture’s attempt at creating their own Superman and messing up the formula when they make him a soldier can and should be a legitimate major ongoing villain coming out of this run.

* Pretty much all the art other than what I mentioned already. Fabok does a good job bookending The Man of Steel and Ivan Reis does the work of his career anchoring Superman (special props to Reis as well for drawing the first ever non-Steve Rude interesting-looking take on Metropolis), and meanwhile you’ve got Jim Lee, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Doc Shaner, Steve Rude, Kevin Maguire, Adam Hughes, Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, Ryan Sook, Brandon Peterson, and David Lafuente doing their own parts.

* Closely related to the art, all the little flourishes with the powers. Super-speed having a consistent visual with the background coloring changing, Clark internally putting numbers to the degrees of force behind his punches and what situations which numbers are appropriate for, ‘skidding to a halt’ mid-flight before crashing through a window, the shonen-ass major throwdowns as portrayed by Reis, how his super-hearing is handled as a prevalent element. Lots of clever bits that added flavor to what he does.

* While Unity Saga has problems, the whole of what Bendis does in Superman as a means of forward momentum for Clark and his world is excellent. The sort of three-act structure of: 

** Clark is led to question his place in things over the course of a few adventures

** Involvement in the larger cosmos and the impact it has had through and on his family makes him realize the answer to his questions is that he needs to step up in a bigger way because there’s no benevolent larger universe to welcome Earth with open arms, nor a cosmic precedent for everything turning out for the best without some help

** As a consequence of the lessons learned by this change in the status quo Clark is inspired to make his own personal change in revealing his identity (with Mythological basically being an epilogue showcasing a ‘standard’ standalone Superman adventure while simultaneously highlighting his new status quo and how it fits in as a summing-up of Bendis’s take)

…does a great job of shepherding through ideas that lend a lot of forward momentum to Superman of the kind he hasn’t seen in a long time. Not perfect, but far lesser stories with far lesser ambitions have made huge impacts, so I’d certainly hope at least some of this sticks around even if, say, regardless of any retcons to the main line there are always going to be stories with Clark as a disguise and Jon as a kid. Oh, speaking of whom,

* KISS MY ASS, EVERYTHING WITH JON KENT RULED

Ahem. Probably a less confrontational way of putting that.

Do I think there was more gas in the tank for Jon as a kid? Totally, making him likeable and viable was the one really good thing the Rebirth era accomplished for Superman and I expect we’ll continue seeing more of it in the future one way or another. But whether or not him being aged up was Bendis’s decision, or working with marching orders to set up the eventually-(kinda-)discarded 5G, the coming of age narrative here is fire. He keeps the essential Clark Kent kindness and bit of Lois Lane cheekiness that reminds you he’s still their kid, which is a combination Bendis is basically precision-crafted to write, but his trials by fire give him a background entirely unlike the by-the-numbers “and here’s how Superman’s great kid grew up to be a great superhero too” narrative you’d expect while still arriving at that endpoint. If superheroes live and die by metaphors then Jon in here is what it means to grow up written as large as possible: leaving home for the first time (and seeming to shoot up overnight!), getting into the muck of how the real world works, being beaten down by authority wearing faces you’ve been taught to trust, scrambling to get through with the whole world against you, and in the end getting through by learning to rely on your own strength while keeping your soul intact and your head held high, and even managing to speak some truth to power. It gives him a well-defined life story with room to go back to and explore the intricacies of each leg of for decades to come in a way Superman hasn’t had since the original Crisis - someone someday is going to write a The Life & Times Of The Son Of Superman miniseries and it’s going to be one of the greats - and negates any question that he’s earned his stature as the heir apparent.

* Coming out of this, Superman’s world is fascinating. He’s out but rather than giving up his day-to-day life he’s openly spending part of his life as CLARK KENT: SUPER-REPORTER and part of his job on the cape-and-tights side of things is now KAL-EL: SUPER-SPACE-DIPLOMAT, Lois Lane coruns a foundation helping people whose personal continuities have been fucked over by Crisis shenanigans, Jimmy Olsen owns the Daily Planet but is still doing Jimmy Olsen stuff because that’s how he gets his kicks, and Jon Kent is going to college in the future. I’m not anywhere near naïve enough to think that’s how things are going to be forever, or shortsighted enough to think there’s no value left in the traditional setups, but god I hope these developments stick around for a long, long time to come and potentially become the new ‘normal’ as far as the ongoing shared universe stuff goes, because it all feels like the right and promising next steps to take for the lives of these characters. However it got here, for all the pluses and minuses along the way even if I maintain the former very much outweighed the latter as a reading experience, Bendis has a lot to be proud of if that’s the legacy he leaves on these titles.

* The recap pages at the desks!

[actuallybarb]

The Aftermath ~ Part 4

Summary: y/n gets a card from happy hogan and vomits on the side of the road after telling off brad in the middle of an airport

Pairing: peter parker x reader

Warnings: swearing, angst, fluff, mysterio is the worst, trauma, it’s marvel what did you expect

Word Count: 1741

A/N: i know it’s reader insert but i’m emotionally attached to y/n... so, me

                                                         //////////

Let me tell you, getting lava to come out of the bottom of the Thames was pretty much the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life. And I thought Italy was bad.

Beck had a drone on standby, waiting to shoot me should I suddenly decide I’d rather die than destroy London.

I started destroying London.

It wasn’t easy. Beck told me I had to use all four elements to make it convincing, and it took all of my concentration. Listen, I’m damn good. I can make buildings crumble, I can make airplanes stop shaking in mid air, I know what the hell I’m doing. But all four elements at once? Let’s just say I’ll have a migraine for days.

I positioned myself at the very top of the monster so I could see what I was doing. I tried to do as much damage with as few casualties as possible, but I had to perform—Beck was watching.

I was waiting for Mysterio to come out and save the day, as planned, but then a red and blue blur dropped from the sky.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” I smiled, a full-blown smile. Beck had announced at the top of his lungs that he had killed Spider-Man. I didn’t take it well. I mean, what do you expect? I’d known Peter for a full year of school, and I was actually starting to call him a friend (to myself, of course, I’d let him admit that first) and then Beck just had to go ahead and drop that bomb on me.

Peter dove into the water and —

Oh shit he thinks this is a projection.

I hollowed out the middle of my monster and pulled him all the way up to my makeshift platform. Then his jaw dropped when he saw me.

“Y/N!”

I punched him in the shoulder. “I thought you were dead!”

“You’re working with Mysterio?”

“No, fuck him, he’s forcing me to do this.” I knocked some people off of the sidewalk and into the Thames. “He said he’d kill my family if I didn’t do what he said.”

Peter was gaping at me. “You’re the Avatar!”

I groaned. “Peter! You’re missing the point! I’m being forced to destroy London until you can kick Mysterio’s ass.”

He sobered up quickly. In complete honesty, he looked like shit. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheek was scrapped, and he was standing heavily to one side. Shit, just like I said. “Where is he?”

I thrust my chin toward Tower Bridge as I let my sludgy fist come down on a coffee shop. So much wasted espresso.

I had been at it for an hour, maybe two, when Peter shot some webs into the air without swinging from them. I took that as my cue to cool it, and I let the lava sink back to the Earth’s core. The Thames happily returned to normal, and I deposited myself on the uneven cobblestones by the Tower of London. The moment I touched down MJ ran past me with a weapon in hand, straight for the bridge. Odd.

“Was - was that monster thing... you?” Flash’s camera was pointed at me. I wanted to take his phone and chuck it straight into the filthy water, but all I did was look at him tiredly.

“We’re all just full of secrets, aren’t we Eugene?”

“You okay, kid?” A man with a goatee was with Ned and Betty and he looked vaguely familiar.

“Dead on my feet,” I admitted.

He nodded. “Let’s get back to your class.”

I would’ve fallen flat on my face if Flash hadn’t stepped forward and wrapped an arm around me. “Thanks,” I mumbled as I wrapped my own arm around his shoulders. “Where did everyone think I went?”

“Uh,” he cleared his throat, “Harrington said he got an email from your mom saying you weren’t feeling well, so you were gonna stay behind in Prague with some family then fly home. Everyone else was really skeptical, especially ‘cause Peter used the same excuse, but it’s not like we could do anything.” We slowly made our way back to the rest of the class. “Good luck explaining to Harrington how you’re back.”

“Think he’ll believe the truth?”

Flash’s eyebrows scrunched together. “What’s the truth?”

“I was kidnapped by Mysterio and he made me turn into an Elemental so he could become the new Tony Stark.”

I wish I could’ve told him I was making it up. I wish I could’ve made myself believe I was making it up. But I wasn’t. Reality really is shit.

Flash just chuckled half heartedly. “No. But that doesn’t mean he won’t let you go back with us anyway.”

We rejoined the class eventually, Peter still missing, but MJ quickly joined my other side and whispered in my ear, “I just kissed Peter.”

My eyes widened and I whispered back, “Holy shit that’s awesome,” but my heart wasn’t in it.

They’re really cute, and obviously happy. But I was starting to get attached to him. And now he couldn’t be mine. Not that he was to begin with, but a small part of me was hopeful.

“Y/N! You’re back!” Harrington’s exclamation could be heard over all of the class, so they all turned their heads to look at me. Joy.

“Yeah, turns out my connecting flight was the same as yours. Crazy how that works out, right?”

“Well, we’re glad to have you here. Okay, let’s all get back to the airport, we still have a flight to catch.”

The rest of them started migrating, but I stuck back. I don’t have a ticket. I can’t get on a plane without a ticket.

“Hey, kid, you okay?” It was the same familiar guy from before.

“I- I don’t have a ticket. M- Mysterio was the one who got me here, and I never thought so far as a way home, and-“ I was on the verge of tears, and before I could object, his arms were wrapped around me and he was patting my back softly.

“Hey, you’ll be okay. I-“

But he was interrupted by none other than Spider-Man himself.

“Happy, hey- Y/N?”

Before I could really stop myself I launched myself into Peter’s arms and hugged him tightly. “God, he told me you were dead.”

His arms eventually reciprocated the level of tightness I was giving out. “It wasn’t a fun time for me, either.”

I let go eventually, mostly because I was starting to lose the feeling in my arms. I couldn’t even really say anything without tears getting in the way so I just stood there, awkwardly, sniffling.

“Let’s go home, yeah?” It was the guy, Happy, that suggested it. “Tickets, then showers, then clothes, then sleep. Both of you.”

“I could sleep for a lifetime,” I mumbled.

I don’t remember much else. I ended up between Flash and Brad, which wasn’t too bad considering Flash has comfy shoulders and the more I slept the longer I could ignore Brad. I kind of figured it was inevitable, Brad stopping me to finally have a talk, but I was hoping to avoid it.

“Why do you hate me, Y/N? I’ve tried to be nice to you, and all you’ve ever done in return is throw it back in my face.”

“Can we not do this right now, Brad? Or ever, for that matter?”

“No.” He grabbed my arm as I tried walking away. “I deserve an answer.”

I was exhausted. I was pissed. My mind was not in a good state. And I may have felt how real Brad was, but that didn’t stop my skin from crawling when his hand grabbed me.

I wrenched my arm out of his grasp. “I don’t owe you shit. Just because you deserve an explanation doesn’t mean I have to give you one.”

“You’re a first rate bitch, you know that?”

“And he finally drops the nice guy facade.” I probably shouldn’t have gotten so close to him, but I was not in the best state, mentally. Despite that little voice in the back of my head, I took a step closer and nearly bumped chests with him. “You’ve been trying to keep up this act so they can accept you, but you’re doing a real shit job at hiding the fact that you believe you’re just a scared twelve year old to these people. You’ve been letting their opinions about you control your life and it’s exhausting.”

“Like you’re any better.”

I took a step back and a deep breath. “If I let their opinions of me control my life I would’ve been dead a long time ago.” I shrugged. “I know what I am to them, and there’s nothing to change it. But that doesn’t mean I have to seek their approval. They’ve already made their decision about who I am - I have my whole life to make mine.” I shoved past him and finally made it out of the airport, just in time to see Peter give MJ a small peck before going to his aunt. Another punch to the gut. Reality: 1, Y/N: 0.

“Y/N! Sweetheart! We were so worried.” My parents, bless their souls, ran up to me and wrapped me in their arms. I would’ve burst into tears right there if Happy didn’t make eye contact with me and hand me a business card behind their backs. He lifted his hand to his ear and mouthed, ‘call me,’ to which I nodded simply for lack of a better response. “Let’s get you home,” they insisted. I was ushered into the car and driven straight home, but I didn’t hear a word they said.

My own parents don’t know what I can do. I could’ve died and they would never know I had abilities.

Holy shit.

I could have died.

“Stop the car.”

Dad looked back in concern. “Y/N, are you okay?” Of course I wasn’t okay, I was asking you to stop the car in the middle of the freeway.

“Dad, stop the car, I’m gonna be sick.”

He pulled over and I jumped out and emptied the trashy airplane food from my system. How could it be legal to serve that to people?

“Y/N?” Mom put a hand on my back and I almost lost it again. “Let’s get home and we’ll talk. Okay?”

Wow, did we have a lot to talk about.

tags: @eridanuswave​ @vampirestrawberries​

[vergilthelibrarian]

Puppy.

Yandere!Jaemin x Male!Reader

In this story, popular It Boy Jaemin has a god complex but doesn’t know it

Enjoy ^^

Being the most popular guy at Uni came with it’s perks.

Everyone automatically trusted and respected you. Everyone loved and looked up to you.

But what happens when someone doesn’t even give you the time of day?

When someone isn’t as starstruck about you as everyone else?

Let’s find out shall we? ~~

A smile grew on Jaemin lips as he came up to you.

“You wanna be partners?” he asked and you looked up from the book you were reading.

You shrugged.

“Sure.” you said, your attention going back to the book.

Jaemin’s smile faltered a bit.

Why weren’t you flustered from him just talking to you? Everyone became flustered whenever he talked to them, he was the University’s resident ‘It Boy’ after all.

Taking a seat next to you, his eyes studied you as you read.

“What are you reading?” he asked, smiling slightly.

“A book.” was your answer.

“What’s the book about?”

“Things.”

Jaemin frowned slightly.

The reason why he asked to be your partner was because he felt bad that no one was talking to you. You were a loner to begin with, only having 3 friends max but Jaemin wanted to change that for some reason. Why did he want to do that? Because he was a kind man.

You put a bus card in your book, using it as a book marker, and closed the book.

You yawned a bit, turning your attention onto Jaemin who was lost in his own thoughts.

“So… what do you want to do partner?” you asked him.

You were in a theater class together as a minor, you taking it because it seemed interesting and Jaemin taking it because his friends were there.

Your professor had gave the class an easy assignment to start the semester.

Perform a scene from any play or musical of your choice.

“How about something romantic? Oh! Like Romeo and Juliet!” he said excitedly and you shook your head.

“Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. Not a romance.” you told him. “But if that’s what you want to do then I  guess we can do it.”

“Okay… What scene should we do?”

“Let’s do the scene where they die.” you suggested and Jaemin shrugged.

“Okay.”

He got up and told the professor what scene you 2 were going to reenact and the professor approved.

~~

As you sat, eating your lunch, you looked up to see Jaemin and another guy sit opposite of you.

“Hey Y/n!” he said smiling at you and you only nodded at him.

“This is my friend, Jeno.” he said motioning towards the young man.

“Hi.” you said, feeling you cheeks warm slightly when Jeno smiled at you.

He was very handsome, you thought to yourself, looking away from him shyly.

“We didn’t discuss where we’re going to practice at in class so I was wondering where you wanted to practice at?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I always hangout at the garden so maybe we can practice there?” you suggested, turning your attention onto Jaemin who smiled.

“Alright, that sounds like a plan. Do you want to practice after school today?”

“Sure.”

“Is it alright if Jeno tags along?” he asked and you nodded.

“I don’t see why he can’t.”

Jaemin smiled brightly at you before saying goodbye and walking off, Jeno following behind him.

~~

“How oft when men are at the point of death

Have they been merry, which their keepers call

A lightning before death! O how may I

Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife,

Death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath” Jaemin said as you laid on the grass, your eyes closed. This is the 3rd time you were practicing this scene and Jaemin wanted to get it right. He messed up a bit but was determined to perfect the scene even though you told him that you had a whole week to get the scene right.

Jeno watched as his friend read from the phone screen.

“Hath had no power yet upon they beauty:

Thou art not conquer’d, beauty’s ensign yet

Is crimson in they lips and in they cheeks,

And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.” as he read from the screen, trying to become use to the words, he walked around, pretending like as if he was talking to someone.

Then he dropped to his knees as he said,

“Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,

Why art thou yet so fair?” the back of his hand caressed your cheek.

“Shall I believe

That unsubstantial Death is amorous,

And that the lean abhorred monster keeps

Thee here in dark to be his paramour?”

He sighs.

“For fear of that, I still will stay with thee,

And never from this palace of dim night

Depart again. Here, here will I remain

With worms that are thy chambermaids; O,

here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh, Eyes, look your

last!” his brown eyes glanced at your body.

“Arms, take your last embrace!” he picked up your limp body, hugging you, leaning back as he said:

“And lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death!” he leaned close for a kiss and you immediately opened your eyes, pushing him away, falling back to the ground as a result.

Jaemin looked at you confused and you looked away

“I uh… I never had my first kiss before okay?” you told him which caused him to laugh.

“Really? Why didn’t you tell me that?” he laughed at you and you slightly pouted.

“I don’t know? Mostly because I’m embarrassed that at my big age, I still haven’t had my first kiss...” you said, folding your arms.

Jaemin came up to you, a smirk on his lips as he said:

“Maybe I can change that?” and your cheeks warmed up as your eyes widen at him then quickly turning your head away.

Jaemin felt a rush at your flustered attitude.

This was what he wanted when he asked you to be his partner.

Getting up, Jaemin lend out a hand and helped you up from the ground.

“You look cute all shy like that.” he commented causing you to frown slightly.

“Well if we’re done, I’ll be going home.” you said, getting your bag and walking away.

“See you tomorrow!” Jaemin yelled and you didn’t respond back.

He looked at Jeno.

“He’s a cutie right?” and Jeno just laughed.

~~

As the days went by and you 2 practiced, Jaemin grew more and more interested in you and wanted to get to know you better, so he tried talking to you whenever he saw and though you would talk to him, your talks were usually short.

He would compliment you on your looks but you’d wouldn’t become as flustered as you did when he almost kissed you.

Though you were cold to him, he took this as a challenge and ended up asking your friends about you and they excitedly told him everything and anything about you.

He found out you were down to earth and rather sensitive at heart, a contrast from the coldness you showed him.

He sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror.

Why couldn’t he stop thinking about you?

What did he want from you exactly?

The way how your friends described you was honestly want he wanted in a partner but the way how you acted towards him was just… he just hated how cold you were towards him.

Maybe he was just being irrational with being upset at how you treated him.

He was so use to everyone throwing themselves at him that you not doing it threw him in for a loop.

It made him utterly confused.

Jaemin knew for sure though that he liked you.

I mean, he felt hurt whenever you didn’t reciprocate his advances towards you which was all the time.

You were driving him crazy these past few days and honestly, he didn’t want the project to end.

He jumped slightly when he heard knocking on the bathroom door.

“Yo… you okay?” asked Jeno and Jaemin replied: “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay...” Jeno walked away

Jaemin looked back into the mirror.

Honestly, for you to be his biggest fan was all he wanted most.

For you to follow him like a puppy was what he wanted.

He sighed once more, unlocking the bathroom door and leaving.

~~

It was the night before the assignment and Jaemin thought that maybe inviting you out to a party would  open you up a bit.

As you stood awkwardly with a cup in your hand, leaning against the wall you sighed to yourself.

This was such a bad idea.

You saw Jaemin who’s eyes caught yours and he came up to you.

“Y/n! I was looking for you! Are you having fun?” he asked, a smile on his lips.

“No, I’m not actually.” you told him over the music. “I kinda want to go home.”

“Aww, don’t leave! Come on, come with me.” he said holding out his hand and you grabbed it, walking behind him as he led you upstairs. He opened a door to a room and you walked in.

He went and sat on the bed, patting the side next to him.

“Take a seat.” he smiled and you walked over, sitting down next to him.

His eyes watched you and you glanced at him, looking away quickly as you soon realized he was drunk.

“You know, we’ve been doing this project for a week and I still haven’t seen you’ve smile or laugh.” he said. “I bet your smile is beautiful...”

You scratched your head, becoming uncomfortable.

You glanced back at him.

“What do you want?” you asked and one of his hands gently grabbed your face, turning it to look him.

“I just want to see you smile is all.” he said and you moved his hand from your face.

“You know what? I’m gonna go.” you said getting up only to be pulled back down onto the bed.

Your eyes widen as Jaemin looked at you with a look in his eyes that you couldn’t decipher, a blank expression on his face.

“Why don’t you like me Y/n? I like you. In fact, I may even be in love with you yet you treat me so coldly.” you bit your lip

“Jaemin, that’s just the way I am. It takes time for me to open up to people.”

“I’m special than most people though. You should be worshiping me.”

You looked at him confused.

“What?”

It was quiet for a moment and then Jaemin chuckled, letting you go and you got up, rubbing your wrist as you left the room, blaming the interaction on his drunkness.

He leaned back in the bed, a wicked smile on his face.

He knew now.

He knew why he talked to you on that fateful day, why he asked your friends about you, why he would even follow you around sometimes without you knowing.

He wanted you to praise him.

To hear your genuine words of praise… god, it would make him so happy.

Jaemin closed his eyes.

He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

~~

The class clapped, some cheering, as the 2 people bowed before sitting back down.

“Okay class quiet down.” the professor said.

“And next we have, Y/n and Jaemin performing a scene from Romeo and Juliet.” everyone clapped as you 2 got up from your chairs and went to the front of the class.

As you laid down on the floor and Jaemin recited his lines, your mind went to what happened last night.

What did he mean by ‘You should be worshiping me’?

You didn’t know and honestly, you didn’t want to find out.

“Here, here will I remain

With worms that are they chambermaids; O,

here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From the world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your

last!

Arms, take your last embrace!” he picked you up, hugging you tightly.

“And, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death!”

He placed his lips onto yours. Pulling away, he gently placed you back on the ground.

“Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide!” he takes a small bottle out of his pocket.

“Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!” he said, looking at the bottle, eyes conveying the pain of Romeo rather convincingly.

“Here’s to my love!” and he took off the top and drunk from the bottle.

“O true apothecary!

Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

He kisses you one more time before pretending to die, falling a bit of ways from you.

You rise up.

Since it was only a 2 partner project, there was no one to play Friar Lawrence but still you looked around then looked up, pretending to talk to someone saying:

“O comfortable friar! Where is my lord?

I do remember well where I should be,

And there I am. Where is my Romeo?”

You got up, and went to Jaemin’s body.

“Go get thee hence, for I will not away.

What’s here? A bottle clos’d in my true love’s

hand?

Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.

O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop

To help me after? I will kiss thy lips,

Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,

To make me die with a restorative.” you kissed his lips.

“They lips are warm.” you looked behind you.

“Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief.” you looked back in front of you and went through one of Jaemin’s pockets taking out a plastic knife.

“O happy dagger,

This is they sheath;” you stab yourself.

“there rust and let me die.” you fall onto Jaemin’s body.

The class clapped, some cheered and you got up from Jaemin, smiling a small smile, you bowed along with him.

You 2 went back to your seats and watched the rest of the class perform their projects.

~~

As you placed your books into your bag, you yawned, feeling tired from the day.

You got a A on your project with Jaemin and was happy that you passed.

You were also happy that maybe he’d leave you alone now but that wasn’t the case as he came into your classroom.

“Y/n. I wanted to talk to you.” he said, closing the door behind him.

You 2 were the only ones in the class.

You looked up at him as he came close to you.

“Okay. What do you want to talk to me about?” you asked once he stopped in front of you.

He smiled at you as he pushed you against the wall that your desk was conveniently next to, his smile dropping and that blank expression and unexplainable look from the party coming back to his eyes.

His arms caged you in and you looked up at him, honestly feeling scared.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes…” he said, his hand caressing your cheek.

“Where’s that cute smile you had from earlier, huh? Why can’t you smile for me?” he asked and you shook your head.

“Hmph… Don’t worry. After I’m done breaking you, I’ll build you into the perfect little pet.” he smiled at you, soon placing a kiss on your lips.

[janehaster]

Sans: The Ongoing Mystery

Isn't anyone weirded out by the fact that Sans has the same knowledge about timelines and secret powers that involve somehow "breaking" or hacking the game that Flowey/Asriel - and, to some extent - the Player does?

We do know Flowey is aware that his world is just a GAME because he was injected with Determination (Asriel's dust spread across the garden and Alphys injected the first golden flower that blossomed with DT, thus resulting in Flowey's awakening to the true nature of his world). The Player is obviously aware because we're PLAYING that game. But what about the other monsters? How would they even know there are other timelines or what Determination is (much less how to extract it?)? Sans is just an ordinary monster. There's nothing extraordinary about him. Even his attacks are bone-based and use blue magic, like his brother. He doesn't have a special SOUL. He wasn't injected with DT. And yet, for some reason, he's aware of things maybe not even Alphys knows, such as multiple timelines, teleporting and "shortcuts".

One of Sans' abilities is revealed in a Genocide route. He can literally teleport out of a frame or REMOVE himself from the game - something not even the Player can do. Remember the scene right before Papyrus' fight, when the screen clips, then everything goes dark and Sans just disappears? The other ability, shortcut, is shown in neutral and pacifist routes. Going back to Genocide, Sans indirectly reveals he's a scientist of sorts, leading to the speculation that he possibly knew Gaster and/or worked with him. What he does reveal directly is that he's tracking an anomaly which seems to be consuming timelines. The "sudden end" he refers to might be when Flowey absorbs all the SOULs in the Underground and the world ceases to exist; there's only you and Asriel in a great void, battling for the fate of humans and monsters.

But the question remains: how is Sans able to "hack" the game? When and how did he become aware of timelines? Isn't he supposed to be just a common monster, actually the easiest enemy in the game (with only 1 HP and the first to die, if UT were a common RPG)? Then how is he even aware of the Amalgamates in the True Lab or even of the existence of Determination?

Now let's take a quick look at Delta Rune. Toby Fox insists UT and DR are not correlated, but he places thousands of references to DR in UT - plus almost all the characters in DR also come from UT (except the Darkners), so there is some correlation there.

In DR, Sans is just a shop owner. Or so he seems. He's not aware he's in a game, doesn't know who the player is and isn't following you around, trying to watch "the anomaly". He could be an NPC, for all we care. Which is strange, since the characters in DR hold some semblance to their UT counterparts. They mirror each other. Toriel is a teacher, Asgore cultivates flowers, Alphys is anxious, likes cats and there's the drawing of an Amalgamate behind her in an alley, Burgerpants is still in a suffocating job, etc. Some characters are switched, such as MTT and the two gossiping friends, but still, even when the switch happens, it refers to who they were originally. Sans seems to be the exception: he's an ordinary guy (or monster, if you prefer) who leads a simple life and has a brother to take care of. Just as his UT counterpart. Except he knows nothing of timelines, amalgamates, anomalies, SOULs and Determination.

Something happened in Undertale to change who Sans originally was into the character we know and turn him into a third wheel in your relationship with Asriel/Flowey. Or maybe, if an event happens that connects DR and UT, something MIGHT happen in DR that will cause the events in Undertale to happen (such as monsters becoming trapped underground) and that could involve Sans somehow. We do know DR will solve the mystery of the appearance of a second dark fountain and the identity of the mysterious Knight, who seems to be the source of all trouble. How Sans will be involved in it makes no sense; he isn't even one of the main characters.

Another weird factor that must be taken into account is the presence of Asriel in DR. Yes, he is present in DR. For some reason, he's absent from Kris' life at the moment, but when Kris and Susie fall into the darkness, Asriel's character - or at least a projection of Asriel possibly made by his brother Kris - is there in the shape of Ralsei. And he is the same kind-hearted kid from UT, only this time without the horrible traumatizing experience he underwent in the original game. Together with Kris and Susie, they form "The Fun Gang", the main trio who then end up in the picture that Sans keeps in his secret room, with the words "Don't Forget" written on it.

But why did the pic end up in possession of Sans in the first place??? What is his connection to Kris, Susie and Ralsei? Isn't he merely a store owner? What part will he play that could lead him to own things that belonged to the world of Delta Rune and which were later stored in his secret room in UT? And how did they end up in the UT universe anyway? How does that even work? And where on earth is Susie? Isn't she a major character in DR? How did she just disappear in UT???

For those reasons, there must be a connection between the two games. And that connection might be what explains how Sans might become involved with the main plot and develop his mysterious awareness of timelines, resets, Determination and teleporting abilities no ordinary character from Undertale should have. At some point, DR will have to provide us with answers.

In the chronology, as a game, UT came first. However, there are several references to DR in it. Therefore, DR could not come after UT. It must come before (which leads to more questions, since some characters from UT already seem to be dead in DR, like Gerson and Snowdrake's mother). If anything, logic dictates the Sans from DR will become the Sans from UT. Let us hope Toby provides us with some answers at some point.

[imagine-loki]

Lionheart

TITLE: Lionheart

CHAPTER NO./ONE-SHOT: ONE-SHOT

AUTHOR: fanfictrashdump

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: After the Chitauri attack on New York, imagine Loki being sentenced to public service on Earth, specifically in aiding people who got hurt during the attack. His magic has been limited to only be enough to aid keeping Odin’s spell in place so he wouldn’t turn blue. His task is to help people with special needs, to do house chores, help them get around, do their grocery and keep them company while they recover. He is assigned to a girl who ended up blind after one of the Chitauri shot at her. + Imagine Loki wandering into the room you’re working in, hearing you singing to yourself. The phrase “you’re a King and I’m a Lionheart” piques his interest and he decides to sit nearby. A little later, he nearly gives you a heart attack when you notice he’s just been quietly sitting there, and he tells you he’s been listening to you sing for the better part of an hour.

RATING: T-M

NOTES/WARNINGS: This story ended very differently than what I had in mind when I first thought of it. I kinda dig it. Like… do I… do I want to make a superhero out of her? How would this work? I have too many ideas and no time to write them!

Language, suggestive themes, blatant disregard for Tony’s rules. Loki discovers he has two kinks (and one of them is stronger than the other… and it’s not the one everyone thinks). Mostly just fluff. 

*Song is “King and Lionheart” by Of Monsters and Men

=

Loki rolled his eyes, scoffing for what seemed to be the millionth time that morning. “I need my magic, Stark. I don’t think you’re quite understanding my dilemma.”

Tony put a hand on the other man’s shoulder, fixing him with a meaningful stare. New York had been going through a rash of bad crime, people who found alien tech and decided to modify it in order to obtain their evils means. Loki had become increasingly worried about keeping Charlie safe. Magic would guarantee that not a single wild, unruly hair on her sweet, adorable head would be ruffled by a would-be villain.

Asgard had different ideas.

“Look, I know you’re frustrated, but your dad made it abundantly clear that he’s not giving you back your hocus pocus and that you’re not allowed any real weapons.”

“Odin is not my father. And if he knew anything about anything, he would give me my magic back. How am I meant to defend a realm with no resources?” Loki argued back, pushing Stark’s hand away, his cheeks turning a flushed pink in his anger.

Tony was smirking. “A realm or just Charlie’s apartment?”

“Don’t act like you’re not just as concerned for Charlie as I am, Anthony! She’s in a vulnerable position, she has ties to both of us. She’d be such an easy–how am I meant to keep her safe?”

The sudden shadow that crossed Loki’s face made Tony pity the poor fool. He knew what he was feeling–fuck, Tony felt like that about Pepper every single moment of every single day. He would be tearing down the city to make sure no harm would come to her. And he loved Charlie. She was smart as a whip, stubbornly determined, took no shit from anyone. She had even started to pick up coding again, working on a few side projects for Tony, using an operating system he specifically designed for the vision impaired.

But Asgard had been very clear on what they thought Loki was and was not allowed to do. They had already raised concerns over the fact that Loki spent a considerable amount of time with that one helpless mortal. Loki had nearly torn off Odin’s head at the comment and Tony had had his own share of nasty commentary as a response as to worry about keeping Loki on a short leash. Still, here they were, idle and useless.

“I can’t stop you from getting weapons elsewhere, but I can’t give you your daggers or turn off your magic dampener.”

Loki looked like he was close to screaming, the muscles in his jaw jumping dangerously with the effort to reign himself in. It wasn’t Stark’s fault, he knew, but he was so tired of feeling powerless. He could fight off any threat, but what if something happened when he wasn’t there? What if she was in danger and there wasn’t a cocoon made of his seidr keeping her safe and sound? What if he was ever too late?

Tony sighed, furrowing his brow like he was fighting with himself. “Look, if you tell anyone I gave you this, I will kill you. Do you understand?” He asked barely above a whisper, leveling his gaze with Loki’s. The Prince nodded a little skeptically. Tony fished something out of his pocket and shoved it into Loki’s hands. “Take these and put them on her. If anything starts going to hell in a handbasket, she’ll be safe.”

Loki felt like he could breathe again when he closed his hands around a set of dainty metal bracelets he assumed were built of Stark’s nanite technology. This wasn’t mere coincidence–no one just casually walks around with this kind of technology on the off-chance of someone needing them. The message was clear as a bell: I care about Charlie, too.

He offered a meaningful nod before turning neatly on his heel and heading off.

After a jaunt through a farmer’s market, Loki crossed the street towards Charlie’s building, arms laden with bags of fresh fruit. He unlocked the front gate (which he had insisted, to the supervisor, needed to be locked) before taking the stairs up to Charlie’s apartment by twos. Though there was an undeniable tension clenching at his spine from the morning’s meetings, his worry melted away the second he saw her door. He tentatively tried the doorknob, smiling to himself when he found it fully locked–for once. He promptly used his key to gain access.

Charlie was sitting at the kitchen table, a laptop open in front of her. Her fingers flew over the keyboard with an ease that was still awe-inspiring to him, despite the fact he watched her do it every single day. Her hair was still in the overly complicated plait he had twined it into that morning, having spent the night (a detail Tony had asked about nearly a million times during their meeting) entirely by accident (he swore up and down that he had just passed out on the couch). Charlie had changed out of her nightshirt and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Loki couldn’t help but smile–the t-shirt was inside out, after all–but she was just the portrait of perfection in his eyes.

He put the fruit down on the kitchen counter, figuring he would have time to worry about it later. At the sound, Charlie tilted her head and jutted her face out towards the space beside her, allowing Loki press a kiss to her expectant lips, as she barely broke her working stride.

“Hello, darling.”

“Hey, yourself. How was your meeting?” Loki groaned immediately, and Charlie could only chuckle. “I imagine that was a ’no’ on ’can we give the alien prince who tried to invade us his magic back’?”

“No would have been a kind answer,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and hiding his face into the crook of her neck. “Odin doesn’t do kind. He relishes in me being reduced to secondhand protection,” he finished, taking the objects out of his pocket and tossing them onto the table with a sigh.

Charlie smiled, reaching back to pat him soothingly before her fingers sought out the objects on the table. “You worry too much.”

Loki chuckled, rolling his eyes. “One of us has to.” He pressed another kiss, this time to her temple and enjoyed the contented noise she made at the back of her throat. “Besides, Stark was more interested in hearing why my GPS signal and your GPS signal–”

“Were on top of each other?” Charlie questioned, smirking like an imp.

“His phrasing was much cruder, believe me.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth.” He rested his chin on her crown. “That you tied me up and demanded my servitude in the form of my flesh.”

Charlie giggled, shaking her head at the notion. “Oh, please. Like I need to tie you up for your servitude,” she joked, rolling her hazel eyes. Her hands covered whatever she had heard tinkle onto the table a moment prior. “What are these?”

“Some peace of mind courtesy of Stark. Hence, secondhand protection,” he replied, taking care to slip them onto her wrists and letting the nanites adjust to her size. “So, please keep them on.”

“Are you sure it’s not an alarm system to keep you from not-so-accidentally, accidentally sleeping over?”

“I fell asleep!” He defended, sounding like it was the fiftieth time that he had to say so that day.

She barely caught the peal of laughter, rushing to catch her lower lip between her teeth. Her face had turned perfectly towards him and he couldn’t help the small sigh that escaped his lips. “Who are you trying to convince, you or me? Because I don’t care. I’ve been asking you to stay for forever, you know that.”

“Make your fun, but whenever I do manage to take myself back to Stark’s for the night, I need be sure you will be wearing those. Please, Charlotte.”

“Whatever you say, babe”, she offered, winking at him before turning back to her monitor and resuming her typing position. Loki was only too happy to listen to the click-clacking of the keys while he puttered around the flat.

After a while, he had finished straightening up when an unfamiliar sound grasped his attention. He tilted his head curiously, shaggy hair flitting into his eyes and eyebrows drawing in tightly in concentration. It was a tune, sweet and smooth, though it filled his heart with a certain type of dull ache that was almost wistful. Following the source, he stepped outside of the bedroom, unfolded laundry forgotten on her bed.

“Howling ghosts they reappear in mountains that are stacked with fear. You’re a King and I’m a Lionheart.*”

Loki stopped, mid-step.

This was certainly a first.

He had never heard Charlie sing before, other than the quiet humming she did under her breath while she showered or tidied up. He now felt nostalgic for the sound. More importantly, something about her song–it stirred a ridiculous, long-dormant feelings within him. Even now, seeing her with her headphones in, clearly concentrating on her task, he couldn’t help but feel that the song was meant solely for him.

So he ventured a little closer.

If there was one true benefit of him spending so much time in her flat, other than Charlie’s stellar company, it was the fact he could now sneak around. For the longest time, his scent gave him away even though he was deathly silent. Apparently, now everything smelled faintly of him–which awoke a whole other host of emotions he did not need to go into–and so it was harder for her to tell when he was trying to surprise her. However, if he lingered a little too long, the weight of his stare surely had Charlie turning his direction with a pleased smile. The key was to stay a meter or two away, preferably sitting on the floor, to avoid detection.

And so he did.

Loki sank onto the floor, legs bent and his arms resting on his knees, a reflexive smile pulling at the sides of his mouth as he watched her.

He noticed tiny traits that he had not in the past. Like the way she would chew on the inside of her left cheek when she was thinking or how she crinkled her nose when she hit high notes. Loki committed the way her voice oozed like caramel with soulful, jazzy songs to memory and delighted in the slight sway of her hips during what he assumed were musical interludes.

The watch on her wrist buzzed against the table. With little hesitation, Charlie stood from her seat, stretched her arms over her head and let her spine pop noisily with a sigh of contentment. Her legs turned from her little workstation and went to step away, in what Loki quickly realized was straight in his direction. She still had her earbuds in, and so did not hear the small, panicked sound escaping his lips while he decided where to go.

Unhelpfully, he decided the best course of action was to wrap his hand around her ankle before she managed to tread on him.

Charlie let out a shriek, jumping a meter back before her whole body was enveloped in metallic armor. A mechanical whirr and a whining hiss filled the air, as the two gauntlets pointed outwards, blasters charged.

“Charlie, what’s going on? Do you need backup?”

Charlie stilled at Tony’s voice inside the suit, still locked into its defensive position. There were several thoughts rushing through her mind, at once. “Um… er, I–I don’t think so." It was a little too hard to grasp at any particular one, though the most pressing was probably the fact that Loki was sprawled on the floor, hands up in a passive stance though his eyes shone with something she couldn’t quite put her finger on… No, the most pressing thought was the fact that she could–See? Perceive?–she knew that was how he was sat.

"Is this the new neural link you were working on?”

“Yeah. It’s the prototype. Are. You. OK?”

Charlie chuckled to herself, her arms lowering and the repulsors on her palms dimming to a mere candle’s worth. She watched, if that was even the correct term, Loki’s breath hitch anxiously and his body attempt to curl into itself to hide away. “I’m fine, Tony. Just a loud pigeon startled me, is all,” she lied.

“OK. Just remember that thing’s not a toy, CeeCee. So, you–”

“Bye, Tony,” she called, disconnecting the call with a quick swipe of her eyes. Tony was many things, an overbearing idiot being chief among them, but he was a genius.

Loki had pulled himself tightly, arms around his legs, keeping perfectly still, and his eyes downcast; worried. He briefly glanced up at her through his eyelashes, green eyes peeking through thick veils of black, but he didn’t linger on her for too long.

He looked so vivid, so comforting, so real. Not a voice she invented in the back of her mind to keep herself company. Real and there and very nervous at this turn of events, but so lovely, all the same. It was nice to take him in, if just for a moment. 

“Loki?”

His expression became pained as it focused on the tile beneath him. “Yes?” He shifted before she could offer a follow-up question. “I’m sorry. I just… I… I’ll go and…,” he trailed off once again getting to his feet. A second later, he had the breath knocked out of him all at once. Nanites faded and armor gone, she barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a vise. “What are you–”

The rest of the question was swallowed up by her lips on his. He had barely managed to secure her frame to his when she pulled back.

“I can’t believe I forgot how pretty you were,” she whispered, pressing her forehead to his with a smile.

Loki knew she couldn’t register his expression of surprise plastered on his face, but it slipped onto his face, regardless. Her hazel eyes still trailed him, as if still cataloguing whatever it was she saw when inside the suit. Though he dreaded the idea that she might have seen something–someone–she didn’t like, her gentle stare didn’t hold disappointment, but rather, delight. His skin burned at the compliment and he was sure she could feel it.

“It was nice to have a refresher, though.” Loki shuffled her body, securing his hands under her thighs, where they had wrapped around his waist. “And at least I now know I could probably fight crime,” Charlie joked, laying her head on his shoulder. “Or become a super villain. I haven’t quite decided which, yet.”

“Don’t get any ideas or I will have to, regretfully, return the bracelets to Stark,” Loki chided, though he pressed a kiss to her crown. He had not quite gotten over the shock that for a moment, the briefest of minutes, Charlie had been able to see and that all she had concerned herself with was him.

She shrugged. “That’s OK. I can’t say I see myself using them very often.”

Loki stilled in the gentle swaying he had started, perplexed. He would’ve thought that Charlie would jump at whatever technology would allow her to see. Of course, once she had gotten her sight back, there would be little reason for him to stay. Not that she had much use for him now, frightfully independent as she was. But this would have set her life back to normal, and the voices in his head had loudly declared that the end of his time in this flat, loving this mess of a woman was nearing its end.

“Why?”

“Colors are too bright. They’d give me a headache.” She smiled against his neck and kissed his pulse. “And it terrified you.”

Loki’s heart clenched in guilt. “You can’t give up this opportunity just because I feel inadequate.”

Charlie chuckled. “I’m not.” With great reluctance, she asked Loki to set her down and the Prince felt the sense of loss of her body echoed particularly strong in his frayed emotions. She sighed, taking his hands in hers and lacing their fingers together. “The neural link is new and buggy and would takes ages to master. I’m happy with how my life is going. Whenever Stark refines the technology, I’ll think about it again. And until then, well, I’ll spend my energy reminding you that I chose you–”

“I know, but–”

“And that nothing is changing that. I don’t know why you think I would just exclude you from my life, Loki. Plus, if you were hot as hell when you attacked New York, you’re even finer now. I mean, what the hell?”

Loki guffawed at her declaration, another surge of heat tinting him pink from his chest to the tips of his ears. “Says the woman who didn’t hesitate jumping into a fighting pose after someone touched her ankle,” he purred, raising their linked hand and brushing his lips over her knuckles.

It suddenly dawned on Charlie that the mystery emotion she couldn’t place earlier was simply him swooning over her defensive stance. 

“I didn’t know you were there, you dork!” She tilted her head. “Why were you there?”

“You never told me you sang, Lionheart.” It was Charlie’s turn to blush, a lovely red that turned her bronzed complexion copper. “Hmmm, that would lend itself to a secret identity, don’t you suppose?”

“You just want me to call you King, don’t you?” The sage tilt of her lips thrilled him and so he kissed them to share in her amusement.

“Perhaps a little,” he admitted, though it felt pulled against his will.

Charlie beamed and Loki could practically see the ideas sparking into her brain. “I see. How about you and I let our GPS signals mingle for a while, my King?” She had let go of his hands and was deftly walking backwards towards the bedroom. “I’ll show you another fighting pose.”

“Oh, fuck.” The words seemed to tumble out of his mouth on their own accord in barely above a whisper. The suggestion had let a full-length shiver loose in his spine. “Yes, please.” His voice cracked faintly, as he shook the shock out of his system in favor for heart-pattering excitement.

With a chuckle, he closed the distance between them in a single bound, bending low to throw Charlie’s smaller frame over his shoulder. He only hoped her shrieking giggles didn’t activate Stark’s suit again.

[writing-things-by-me]

Dean and Sam's adventures

Dean and his little brother, in age only, Sam had been talking about closing the Gates of Hell and then trying to figure out if there is anything on the angel tablet to close the doors to heaven as well. The angels just caused too much trouble when they came down and caused too much harm. The boys were leaning back against their, well when I say their, I mean Dean’s beloved 1967 Black Chevy Impala. She has been through everything with them. She was their home when they didn’t have one. She is the only companion they have had all their lives when everyone else leaves them. Whether anyone means to leave or not, She has been through their heartbreak and sorrow. She has been through the pain of losing each other and the ecstasy of finding each other again.She has seen them in the soft joy of falling in love with others without meaning to and finding the other to hope they can always meet here again after a hard time hunting or fighting the other angels. She was a part of the family whether she is inanimate or not. She has been rebuilt from almost scratch with the loving care of the eldest brother she carries with her.

This hunt they were taking on was a particular easy one that Dean didn’t like one bit. He of course thought it was too easy to just sit here watching the doors for activity and hope no one sees them. As if they were the boogeyman to all the monsters they have to fight to save people. They did have some easy cases in the past but this was suspiciously too easy. Sam didn’t think so. He just wanted to get it over with and keep going with the newest project he was working on. One of the vampire case’s that was easy was that one time with Benny and when Dean had the Mark of Cain but that was a whole other story. What usually happens in these scenarios is they get caught and ruffed up before they inevitably escape and kill the nest but no one has come or gone from the building yet.

Just when Dean was gonna give up and go bursting in he heard some shouting and the sounds of a fight breaking out inside the building. Just then a couple burst through the barn door of the abandoned building and into the night around them. Dean was quietly watching and slowly opening the car door so as to not cause attention to turn to them as the two were starting to get rougher with each other. It seemed like one was starting to get fed up when her fangs could be vaguely seen gleaming in the moonlight from being bared at the other. The boys quickly got out with their weapons and made to run over to help when Dean felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. As he whirled around to attack, he got a fist full of brass knuckles to the face. He heard Sam cry out through the ringing in his head and as he turned to look over he saw Sam say his name. As he was fighting to keep his eyes open, he saw the couple weren’t fighting anymore and saw them looking over with smug smiles through his blurry vision.

“Damn, this was a setup.” was Dean’s last thought as he finally lost the battle with the darkness encroaching on his vision. When Dean was finally coming to he could feel himself sitting down with some rough ropes tying him to a pole. He could feel his arms starting to cramp from being tied in this position for so long. He tried to wiggle around to see what weapons he still had on him when he could see Sam sitting to the right of him with his head still falling against his chest. “Sam!” Dean exclaimed to see if he would answer.

He didn’t and the only thing Dean got was the attention of the Vampire’s who were on guard duty apparently. The man who was fighting earlier turned to see what he heard and noticed that Dean was awake again. “Hey! He’s up. We can’t have that. It’s not time yet.” He slowly, arrogantly, walked over with a swing in his hips. He crouched and smiled cockily and whispered “Nighty night Winchester.” He used to butt of the machete that Dean had brought to hit his temple and knock him out again. When he woke again he could feel the headache and possible concussion he had. He could hear some mumbling in the background as he was trying to gain his bearings again. When he could finally lift his head without feeling the room spinning nauseatingly he looked over to see Sam looking at him full of concern and with some fury mixed in.

He looked around the room to see if he could find his weapons stashed anywhere. He could see they were all piled in the hammock a few paces from him. He felt the slow simmering anger from all his things being carelessly tossed away. He felt around to see if the hidden pocket knife he had made from a melted angel blade was still in his sleeve's hidden pocket. He sent a small smug smile to Sam that his idea worked out and was actually useful. Sam exasperatedly rolled his eyes and started to work it out of his sleeve as well. “Ha! Beat that Sam.” Dean thought as he started to cut his ropes as quietly as he could as to not draw attention like he did last time. When Dean was almost finished he signaled Sam knowing he would understand the unspoken cues they have between them. Sam started to yell and make a nuisance of himself so Dean could finish and they could finally leave. Sam knowing how this would end started to brace himself for the punches and Dean tried and failed to concentrate on his part to get them out.

“I am gonna kill that vampire and make it hurt.” Dean quietly vowed to himself as he slunk over to the hammock with their weapons. He grabbed the machete he always kept in his car stash and started his swinging and beheading his way to his brother. With the other vampire’s were occupied with his brother, he could see the others starting to cheer and turn their attention to the empty pole he was supposed to be tied to. The brief surprise and panicked horror he saw in their eyes didn’t make up for what happened but it satisfied that dark part in the back of his heart. It wanted him to keep going to make them realize just exactly how they were messing with. That there was a reason that the Winchesters were considered terrifying to the monster realm and why if you heard they were near you could only run or get caught. Some called them psychopaths and they were right but only for the monsters of the night that hurt humans.

They finally turned to try and find him and that is the last that some of them saw but for others they saw a very pissed off overprotective brother coming straight for them. No one was allowed to mess with Sam but him. Before he could stop him, one of the vampires that was in the back of the pack took out a gun and shot Sam in the leg. Sam let out a wail of anguish and the vampire started cackling thinking he would make it out with Dean being distracted by Sam. Either he was having too much fun or he just wasn’t that great of a vampire to miss his nest mates heads hitting the ground with a dull ‘thud’ behind him. Dean saw him start to turn around and before he decided to do the whole evil villain monologue he swiftly chopped his head from his shoulders.

“SAM! Hey, you’re gonna be okay. Got it?” Dean worriedly exclaimed as he tried to finish what Sam started earlier before he got injured by the vampire. “Yea. Peachy keen Dean. Just you know, the pain is a lot at the moment.” Sam hissed through clenched teeth and a pinched face trying to jostle the wound too much. His eyelids were starting to battle him trying to close and sleep to preserve energy for healing but he stubbornly tried to keep them so as to not worry Dean too much. He knew Dean would become a mother hen over him more than he already was. “Hey! Come one Sam, don't close your eyes. You know how rude that is?” Dean worriedly scolded him. “You fall asleep on me and I'm gonna mess your computer! Put porn all over it and change your background to some blue waffles if you don’t stay awake.” He taunted using Sam’s precious computer as a threat against him. He started to get desperate with Sam not answering him.

He quickly and carefully as he could picked Sam up and kicked open the barn door from earlier to get back to the car. He knew he wouldn’t be able to open the door with Sam in his arms so he could only lay him out on the hood and hope that didn’t hurt too much. He ran around the side and collected the limited first aid kit he kept in his car. As much as he wanted to whine that they kept his car doors open for a couple hours he guiltily thanked them because it allowed him to get the supplies he needed. He wrapped Sam’s leg with what bandages he had before he went to open the car doors to put Sam in the backseat. Once he successfully got Sam in he stumbled into the front and peeled out as if he had hellhounds on his ass.

Thankfully or not, depending on the perspective, the nest they were hunting wasn’t that far from their bunker. Without taking his eyes off the round, Dean squirmed around to get his phone out of his pocket and called up Cas, who was busy sorting some books in the library. Dean sighed waiting for the ringing to stop when he heard “Hello? Dean? What is it?” cooking over the phone. “Cas. Sam’s hurt. Be ready for us. We’re almost there.” Dean hung up as soon as he was done talking, meanwhile Cas was in a bit of a stupor before he jolted and turned back and forth unable to decide what to get first or where to go.

While Dean was counting on Cas being his Calm warrior of heaven, he was in actuality running around like a headless chicken both dreading and apprehensive of Dean's arrival. Cas was no longer an angel but he hasn't had a chance to tell Dean yet. He won’t be able to heal Sam like he knew Dean would demand of him like he has so many times in the past. The battle between the Angels of heaven and the Hunters of earth was where the deed happened. He gave up being an angel. He didn’t want to be just this destructive force of God. He didn’t just want to be a Warrior when he felt he could be more than that. He knew the Brothers kept him around for his friendship and because they considered him family. That was enough for him. He knew it would have to be enough because he didn’t know what he would do if it wasn’t. He didn’t want to lose Dean but this might finally be the weight that breaks the camel's back and have everything come crumbling down around him.

While the battle had raged on he quickly grew tired. These were his brothers and sisters he was having to kill. They didn’t have the same relationship with him like Dean had with Sam but he still couldn’t help but feel distressed. He didn’t want to die an angel and not be able to see the brothers again. He wanted, yearned, to be human and live out his life with them. With Dean. If he would have him, but he knew it couldn’t be so he settled for what they have now. He wanted to grow old, cranky and gruff like how Bobby had been. He wanted to inform other hunters who called on potential nearby hunts or help with the distribution of information. He wanted to research monsters, to let others know how and with what they need to kill said monsters. That’s all he wants. He is so tired of killing family no matter how distant they are because they don’t understand his need to live amongst the humans. The blood that has collected on Castiel’s hands is too much for him anymore.

‘BANG BANG’ Cas heard from the warded door of the entrance to the bunker. He shook his head to dispel his thoughts. He didn’t have time for that now he chastised himself. He rushed up the metal staircase to get to the door and open it for Dean. “Cas gonna need your help here. Sam is too much for me. I can’t hold him for much longer.” Dean forced out under the strain of holding Sam. Cas quickly takes Sam as to relieve Dean of the weight and takes him carefully back to lay him down on the war room table. He rushes back to the kitchen and grabs the first aid kit all the while hoping Dean doesn’t ask him to heal Sam. As he comes back through the door he could tell that his fears were correct since Dean was looking calmer than he should with Sam injured as he is. Dean goes around the table to take the kit form Cas and gives voice to the very thing Cas was hoping he wouldn’t say. “Alright Cas! Why did you get this? Just go work your mojo on Sammy.” Dean started confusedly before clapping his hands in a manner that suggests he has to hurry up.

Cas could feel the distress and guilt that is showing on his face because Dean’s face is starting to show a dawning sense of comprehension that only he could understand about Cas. “I’m sorry Dean. I am, truly. But I no longer can anymore. I'm no longer an angel. I’m sorry I didn't tell you before but I..” Cas trailed off as he could feel the shame burning on his face as he tried to continue. “Cas.” Dean chokes out through gritted teeth and a scowling face. “Why didn't you tell me this before? Do you just not trust me anymore? Were you ever going to say anything? You know what never mind. We don’t have time for this. I have to help Sam.” Dean brusquely replied, moving around Cas to get to Sam. Cas tilted his head down at the dismissal and quietly helped Dean with what he needed when there was a ringing noise and white light coming from the end of the table almost under the stairs.

They could both see a figures silhouette in the light becoming clearer with every step they take. A hand comes through followed by a foot with leg coming through after. They can clearly see a person coming through, though not who, it becomes increasingly obvious as the light and noise begins to dim again and disappear. Chuck strides through the last of the dying portal light and strolls up to Sam to lay a hand on him when Dean, the ever overprotective brother that he is, whips out his gun and aims it at the intruder with a steady hand. “Put a hand on him and you can say goodbye to your meat suit.” Grits out and looks over to Cas to see why he hasn’t moved to defend Sam. Only to see Castiel look like he was about to cry and was just barely holding back from falling to his knees. “Father?” Cas croaked out from where he was standing.

Chuck slowly raised his hands when Dean turned his gun on him but he slowly turned to look at Cas with the small smile he has on his face as he faces his favorite son. “Castiel, My Son.” Chuck warmly counters to Cas’s words. “What- God?” Dean shrewdly mumbles at the exchange that just happened in front of him. Chuck looks to Dean and then pointedly at the gun still pointed at him though it has lowered slightly in Dean's surprise. Chuck slowly lowers his hands again and brings them to rest delicately on the slowly growing bloodstain on his pant leg. He closed his eyes but that did nothing to hide the light that visibly shines from beneath them. His palms glows with restrained power that illuminates Sam’s injury and shows it slowly closing, by what it seems like, itself. Sam groans as his face is quickly gaining the color it had lost since the injury was first inflicted upon him. “Don’t mess with my computer Dean.” Sam coughs out as he slowly sits up from the table.

Castiel slowly, unsteadily, walks over to the man he claims is his Father and cautiously puts his hand out to push lightly at the shoulder. Chuck watches with a warmth to his eyes in the face of his son’s caution. “Castiel. I need to speak with you.” He says slowly watching the emotions flit across the face of his son. Feeling the imminent emotional overload from his son he casually stops time with a wave of his hand, not unlike how Gabriel and his signature snaps, and watches as Castiel falls to his knees. “Father.” Castiel chokes out to caught up in the emotions caught in his throat to speak properly. “I’m sorry for the destruction I have wreaked across heaven. For the blood I spilt on earth trying to be a God when I wasn't one. I was just an Angel to hopped up on soul power to see how I was hurting others.” Castiel managed to choke out before the hitch in his breathing was too much and he could feel the hitching in his breath coming out fast.

“My Son. It is okay. You feel the regret and you know what you did wasn’t okay. I healed Sam and I came with a question for you. I plan to close the gates of heaven so you boys won’t have to. I am bringing the angels who want to come back and letting anyone else stay if that is what they choose. But I am giving them the choice despite them not quite understanding that yet.” He said slowly, shaking his head looking exasperated with the other angels. Chuck takes Castiel's arms in his and they slowly rise as Castiel gets his breathing back under control again. When he sees that Castiel is more or less okay, he waved his hand and restarted time again to allow the brothers to hear this part of the conversation.

Castiel slowly looks back at the brothers who are looking at the father son duo with twin looks of concern on their face. Castiel looks back at Chuck with a look of deep concentration on his face before they could all see the determination push through the other emotions and he opens his mouth to respond “No father. I don’t want to go back to heaven unless it's after the death of my human life. I want to live here with Dean, and Sam. I want to be a Winchester and hunt with the Winchesters. They have helped me understand humanity better than I ever could just by watching from afar in heaven. I can make choices for myself whether it be good or bad. I can choose to love or I could choose to dislike things and not be punished for it. I don’t have to be a warrior unless I choose to. I could be a healer or informant. I can be whatever I want and to be with who I want if they would have me.” Castiel was exclaiming and excited gesturing with his whole body even though he didn’t move very much.

“Alright My Son. If that is what you want.” Chuck said with a small fond smile playing at the edge of his lips. He hoped Dean would hurry up and get a move on and claim his son already. He vanished in a blink of light and reappeared in heaven where he recalled all his wayward children. He closed the doors of heaven to all but the souls allowed in the gates and sat back on his throne to wait for his human son to live here with him again with his new family. He smiled when he felt them join his domain and made sure they could share a heaven with the rest of their family that has beaten them here to his warm embrace.

[taste-in-music]

taste-in-music’s Year End Wrap-Up

Hello everybody! We’ve finally reached the end of 2020. While I’m glad to leave this miserable year behind, one of things that undeniably got me through it was the vast amount of awesome music we got. In past years I’ve made favorite album and EP lists, but this time around I’m going to tackle them all in one go, giving reviews on the projects that had some significances to me over the course of the year. I’m going to make a post for my favorite songs too, so keep an eye out for that in coming days. Now, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

folklore by Taylor Swift: This was an incredible year of growth for Taylor Swift. As much as I’ve enjoyed her past music, the way she constantly felt the need to address what people thought of her always irked me, (though after watching her documentary, I do understand why she did it.) It wasn’t Taylor Swift the public persona that was most interesting, I thought. It was Taylor Swift the artist, the songwriter, the storyteller. What I wanted was an album focused on that. This year, I got one, (well... more on that later,) and it’s my favorite project she’s ever done. The tales Swift spins on folklore span across love triangles, heiresses, and battlefields, and she nails each and every one. While the chilly indie-folk influence from the likes of Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon is prominent, Swift’s warmth and charisma always cuts through the fog like a beam of sunlight. So yeah, this is my undeniable album of the year.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple: I only started listening to Fiona Apple last year and had thoroughly enjoyed her music, but this album cemented her as one of my favorite songwriters and performers of all time. Everything about Fetch The Bolt Cutters is so idiosyncratic yet fits together in just the right way, like watching an entire house being dropped from the sky and falling perfectly into place. It is a testament to the creative process, emotional honesty, and breaking free from all the cages you may find yourself in, whether they be societal, personal, or those of your own making. And in a year that was so isolating, it felt like Apple was whispering everything I needed to hear right into my ear, just when I needed it. In short, my boltcutters have been motherfucking fetched. 

Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers: When Punisher was announced, I had no clue how Phoebe Bridgers would match the quality of Stranger In The Alps. Upon first listen, I wasn’t sure she had. By the fifteenth time I was listening to this album and every lyric was hitting like Cupid’s arrow to the jugular, I knew she’d surpassed it. Punisher presents a sonic scope that both comforts and crushes all at once, like with the upbeat yet mournful horns on “Kyoto” or the cathartic swell on standout “I Know The End.” In my opinion, Bridgers is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation in the making, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for her. She may know the end, but she’s far from it. 

SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama: This is the album I see becoming a new shorthand for the true potential of pop excellence, a cult hit that never got its time to shine but is beloved by pop music geeks to the ends of the earth, like EMOTION by Carly Rae Jepsen. SAWAYAMA so effortlessly blends diverse genres and influences like disco, nu metal, and arena rock, and it yet it remains cohesive due to Rina Sawayama’s sheer strength as a performer. She deserves a spot on the pop girlie hierarchy, and one near the top. 

Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa: I really enjoyed Dua Lipa’s debut album, but even I didn’t expect her to come through with such a fully realized, consistent, downright fantastic follow up. Future Nostalgia is a pop album that feels studied, like Lipa did her research of pop’s past as she made it. The result is an album that synthesizes several different sounds under her vision, one that is always trained ahead, and it simply slaps. In a perfect world, nearly every song on this album got spun off into a hit single. 

evermore by Taylor Swift: 2020 was already my year of listening to Taylor Swift, (I went through her whole discography, cultivated a favorites playlist, and at the end of the year I was in the top 2% of her yearly Spotify listeners.) evermore was a lovely cherry to top it all off. While folklore enchanted me with its stories, evermore captivated me with its melodies. I haven’t been able to get snippets of this album out. of. my. head. for weeks now. It’s a bit less consistent than it’s older sister, (and likely to live in its shadow,) but there is still so much to love. 

I’m Allergic to Dogs! by Remi Wolf: This EP is so much goddamn fun. It’s a blend of many different sounds, indie pop, electronic, maybe hip hop, I think reggae at points? It’s such a colorful, textured, quirky listen bristling with energy and undeniable hooks. “Woo!” conquered my Summer, and months later the bridge of “Photo ID” conquered TikTok. Keep your eye out for Remi Wolf in the coming year, she’s going to make a big splash. 

Good At Being Young by Charli Adams: Good At Being Young was the first EP this year that I could not get enough of. It drifts through dreamy indie-pop sounds, with melancholic guitars and cloudy synths, and Adams has a deep vocal timbre that delivers tales of adolescent tribulations with just the right amount of wistfulness. Overall, it builds the perfect soundscape for a late-night drive.

Cape God by Allie X: Allie X has been keeping us FED with content. It seems like only yesterday that Super Sunset came out, and yet her output remains impressively consistent. This album has impressive highs, some lower moments, but the danceability, duets, and enticing darkness under its shiny pop veneer make it a record you won’t want to skip. 

La vita nuova by Christine and The Queens: Perhaps the biggest flex of 2020 was Christine and The Queens dropping a fantastic EP and accompanying short film right out of the gate. The grooves on this are infectious, wiry, and air-tight, (the Caroline Polachek feature was another added bonus,) but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of emotional weight too. 

Lighter by Donna Missal: This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and it’s hard to determine whether it disappointed or not. I think the only thing holding Lighter back is that This Time was such a formative album for me, (my favorite of 2018, to the uninitiated.) In fact, this album flows way better than This Time, more cohesive with its storytelling and more consistent in folk-rock sound. And, of course, Donna Missal’s vocals stun on both the bangers and the ballads. 

SURF by BLACKSTARKIDS: There was no record this year that was more instantly likeable than this one. The blend of low-fi indie pop and hip hop makes for a whirlwind of sunny fun and youthful malaise that would make the perfect soundtrack for a road trip to the beach. Standouts include the opening track “SOUNDS LIKE FUN,” the chill “WIGS,” and blissful title track “MUSIC TO SURF TO.”

The Baby by Samia: I’ve had my eye on Samia since “Milk” dropped years ago. Seeing her live sparked my belief that she was an indie darling in the making, and The Baby confirmed that she definitely was. The lyrics on this album mix quiet contemplation with just enough sardonic wit and raw emotion throughout a varied selection of sunny rock bops and gut wrenching ballads. If you enjoyed Punisher, then I can’t recommend this enough.

Season 2 by Nasty Cherry: Nasty Cherry is a group that I will not stop rooting for. Their EP from last year showed their potential for nailing monster hooks, but this sophomore effort shows just how versatile they can be. This EP covers everything from Dylan Brady produced hyperpop to early-2000s reminiscent pop rock to emotional balladry, and they pull it all off flawlessly. 

A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling by Magdalena Bay: This album became a fast favorite way late in the year, there is such a sweetness to Magdalena Bay’s music that makes it stick in your brain like a piece of blue raspberry bubblegum. This EP is spacey, catchy, and filled with electronic synthpop mastery, with countless catchy hooks that’ll make you feel like drifting and dancing all at once.

Miss Anthropocene by Grimes: The bubblegum bombast of Art Angels fully redefined my taste in pop years ago, so I was fascinated to see how Grimes would follow it up. On Miss Anthropocene, she leans into darker, more industrial textures, but also anchors it back to Earth with acoustic touches and some of her most introspective lyrics to date. Grimes painted a version of a world on the brink of disaster on this album, a picture that was hypnotically beautiful. And in a year where the word was a certified disaster, that was strangely comforting.

Plastic Hearts by Miley Cyrus: I’ve been wanting Miley to go rock for so goddamn long, Plastic Hearts was bound to make this list by pure validation alone. But what can I say? This breed of glossy 80s rock suits Cyrus’s rougher voice so well! I hope she stays in this lane a bit longer, but as we know, she’s one of pop’s most chameleonic figures. Only time will tell. 

Where Does The Devil Hide by Zella Day: I have been patiently awaiting new Zella Day music ever since getting hooked on Kicker back in 2017, so this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. This EP sounds nothing like Kicker, and I couldn’t be happier. It shows Day leaning even more into her influences from the past, (the 60s/70s vibes are intense with this one,) but also breathing a refreshing new life into them. 

SOUL LADY by Yukika: When I imagine the ideal of pop music, what it would sound like in a perfect world, this is what it sounds like. SOUL LADY is full of pristine, glossy production and catchy hooks that feel like they’ve come down from the clouds. I’ll admit that I can have trouble forming a connection with music when I don’t understand the lyrics, (it’s something I’m working on,) but this album cleared that hurdle with ease. If you’re curious about city pop or K-pop this is a great place to start. 

Heaven Is Without You by Love You Later: Give me lush pop production and heartbroken lyrics finished off with a heaping helping of nostalgia and I’ll eat it up with a spoon. Love You Later has been feeding my addiction to this genre for years, and this latest helping is particularly sweet. 

IN A DREAM by Troye Sivan: Troye Sivan has always supplied the bops, but it was about time that he started experimenting with his sound a little bit more. This EP offers some harder-hitting electronic textures, but also the addictive hooks that’ll keep you coming back for more.

Ungodly Hour by Chloe X Halle: These women are so TALENTED! If there is any word I’d use to describe this album it would be “effortless,” the harmonies, grooves, and chemistry between Chloe and Halle feels so natural and free-flowing. Charisma just rolls off of them in droves, I see full-blown stardom and several Grammys in their future.

Watching You by Robinson: This EP was one of the first on this list to arrive this year, and it still hits months later. Robinson’s confessional lyrics work wonders over the buoyant pop grooves, and “Don’t Say” remains one of the best pop songs of recent years. 

Manic by Halsey: I respect Halsey for dipping her toes into a myriad of different genres, (synth pop, rock, hip hop, and acoustic balladry,) but it does make for a jumbled listening experience. Still, I appreciate that this album features some of Halsey’s strongest tracks and writing to date, offering greater experimentation and emotional imtimacy than album’s past. 

We Don’t Stop by Aly & AJ: Should this count? It’s more a compilation of their past EP and singles... I don’t care, I’m counting it because there’s some new stuff too. This is an excellent display of Aly & AJ’s pop prowess in recent years, the hooks, vocal chemistry, and shimmery production are undeniable. 

Under My Influence by The Aces: The Aces returned in 2020 with a more laid-back, groovier record than their debut, exploring a wider variety of sounds. They’re as magnetic and likeable a group as ever, each member giving it their all, but I think I’ll return to the debut more often. 

Strangers/Lovers by Dagny: I’ve been anticipating a longer Dagny project, as she’s been drip-feeding us singles for a while now. This was a lot of fun, with Dagny pairing her upbeat earnestness with stories of romantic tribulation. While the hooks aren’t as memorable as her past offerings, there is still so much to enjoy. Lead single “Come Over” and “Let Me Cry” are my favorites.

DUALITY by Tatiana Hazel: I came across this via recommendation on Tik Tok and it’s a solid pop record! The music is swooning, synthy, and tinged with disco and Latin influence. The record doesn’t waste a second of its runtime, clocking in at less than half an hour and grooving the whole time.

After Hours by The Weeknd: The sonic palette of After Hours is so engaging, a neon-drenched blend of synthwave, electropop, and R&B. I’ve always felt lukewarm on The Weeknd’s musical persona of brooding, villainous party monster, so the strongest moments on this album tend to be when he subverts that in some way. Still, in full, this album is an undeniable force of smash hits, stadium-shaking ballads, and cinematic flair. I can’t wait for his Super Bowl performance. 

Petrol Bloom by LAUREL: It’s no secret that this year was chock-full of 80s revival albums (there’s what, five others on this list?) LAUREL wasn’t an artist I was expecting to go in that direction after the brooding folk pop of her debut album, but her deeper timbre works great alongside the synthy soundscapes. 

positions by Ariana Grande: I’ve just come to expect that nearly all of Ariana Grande’s albums are going to be growers to me. My first listen to positions was underwhelming, but the songs have grown on me more and more. This album feels like being let in on a giggly, fun slumber party with Grande and her friends. I wouldn’t call this her strongest album by far, and while I tend to prefer when she favors the more powerful parts of her range, (and her enunciations could still use some work,) there is a lot of good material here. 

THE ALBUM by BLACKPINK: We may just have to stan. I checked this out after watching their Netflix documentary, and while this breed of cacophonous, in-your-face electropop isn’t something I can listen to all the time, the hooks and charisma are undeniable. It certainly makes me feel like a bad bitch whenever I’m working out. 

Kid Krow by Conan Gray: Conan Gray burst onto my radar offering dreamy tracks rich with teen malaise and suburban restlessness, and a good amount of that initial appeal carries over onto this album. Kid Krow has both a larger instrumental scope and more stripped-back moments. In the end, it still feels like Gray is finding his voice as an artist, but he's giving up great bops to jam out to as he does.

Petals For Armor by Hayley Williams: Hayley Williams is one of my favorite vocalists, so seeing her venture out for a solo project was exciting. This album offers a mixed bag of danceable jams, emotive moments that showcase Williams’s powerful voice, and a few skips. But overall it showcases Williams’s strength as a performer as she tackles her past with vulnerability and versatility.

Apart by LÉON: Oh, man. This one was kind of disappointing. For context, LÉON’s self-titled debut was my favorite album of last year. This follow-up is by no means bad, but every song on her first album was instantly memorable. This one, not so much. LÉON’s vocals are beautiful, and there are some stand-out tracks, but I don’t see myself returning to this nearly as much. 

Blush by Maya Hawke: Maya Hawke’s Blush was to my 2020 what Tōth’s Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary was to my 2019, (and that makes sense, as they’ve collaborated in the past.) This album is so blissful and nonchalant, and Maya Hawke has a gentle, soothing voice that feels wise beyond her years. While the writing isn’t as hard-hitting as, say, the Phoebe Bridgers album, sometimes I just want to listen to something that could rock me off into a dream world. If you like folksy, down-to-earth ballads, you’ve got a solid collection of them right here. 

Dedicated Side B by Carly Rae Jepsen: Of course Queen Carly would pull through with B-sides for Dedicated, did we expect anything less? Jepsen’s brand of controlled yet carefree shimmery poptimism drenched in 80s nostalgia that never fails to put me in a good mood. This album has some lusher, more tropical instrumentation than Dedicated proper, but works great alongside it.

Missing Person by Kelsy Karter: To the Plastic Hearts fans out there, your homework now is to give this record a listen. This rock album presents pop hooks, but a lot of reckless rock fun too. Kelsy Karter has so much irresistible swagger and carefree spirit as a performer, speeding through the emotional highs and lows like she’s burning rubber in a cherry red Cadillac. 

how i’m feeling now by Charli XCX: I’ll admit, this album was a bit abrasive to me on first listen. But tracks like “anthems” and “forever” made me return, and it’s a huge grower. If you listen closely, you’ll find the sugary-sweet hooks and relatable sentiments nestled deep in the crunchy hyperpop textures, begging to be discovered and eventually loved. 

Jaguar by Victoria Monét: If you enjoyed positions, then check out the debut from one of that album’s most prominent co-writers. Jaguar’s concise collection of silky R&B slow-burners show that Victoria Monet’s is a superstar in her own right. 

Some great albums I listened to that didn’t come out this year: Blue by Joni Mitchell, BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA by BLACKPINK, I Need to Start a Garden by Haley Heynderickx, Plastic Beach by Gorillaz, Out in the Storm by Waxahatchee, 7 by Beach House, Dummy by Portishead, Lovers Fevers by Babygirl, and Red by Taylor Swift. 

Whether you liked, reblogged, or commented on a post, sent me an ask, or interacted with this blog in any way, thank you so much for all the support throughout the year! I can’t express how much I appreciate it. 

What were your favorite albums from this year? Did I miss anything? Send me an ask and let me know. I’ll tell you my thoughts, or put it on my to-listen-to list if I haven’t heard it. 

Here’s to 2021! May it clear the extremely low bar set by this year.