#this was supposed to be vampire raiden but

[shiresome]

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT PYRO!

Always ALWAYS take time out to bother my team's poor Sniper!!! Sniper mains have only ever been sweet to me but oh my goddd he looks SOO miserable. I LOVE IT. Thank you Sniper mains for playing Sniper voicelines for me it boosts my morale

[brienneoftarth1989]

Theories

Larissa Weems x fem reader

Summary: - As the newest outcast teacher at Nevermore you made it your mission to find who was which outcast. However you were stumped about Larissa until one night you finally got it right

Warnings: graphic violence

Requests open

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You have been working at Nevermore for the past six months and since you have been here you have been trying your best to figure out what kind of outcasts your colleagues were. I mean you could’ve asked your colleagues but that was no fun. You liked to make a game out of it.

You have always had a curious soul about things and considering you were the history teacher at Nevermore Academy you’ve always liked to know about the past and you especially like knowing everyone else's history.

However you do have your limits. You didn’t want to pry too much to the point where you made people uncomfortable. Like you said you just had a curious personality. The first colleague you were able to guess right was coach Vlad.

He was a vampire. You knew that Vlad was a very common name among the vampire world so it came to no surprise to find out he was one. You and the fencing coach became quite close immediately when you started. You had a lot in common in terms of your personality so the two of you always seemed to have a laugh together.

You were officially told by coach Vlad that he was a vampire after you both sat in the staff canteen. It was 9:00 and he had a glass of what looked to be red wine. You out of pure curiosity asked why he was drinking at this time of the morning with humour behind your question.

That was when he informed you that it was not wine he was drinking but in fact blood. He told you that he was a vampire and every so often he needed to replenish his body with fresh blood. It was nice that he trusted you enough to tell the truth.

Over time you managed to get closer and closer with your colleagues and eventually found out what outcasts they were. Mr Fitts, who taught English, was a werewolf. Miss Hilda Boom, who taught supernatural studies, was a psychic, no surprise there. Mr Raiden Cooper who taught outcast anatomy was a siren. Mr Henry Darwin who taught astronomy was a gorgon.

You also learnt that Marilyn Thornhill who taught botanical sciences was in fact not an outcast and was therefore a normie. It makes sense that Larissa hired a teacher that wasn’t an outcast considering she is trying desperately for outcasts and normies to have a stronger relationship.

Speaking of Larissa she was the one person you couldn’t seem to figure out. You’ve tried to get close to the headmistress but she isn’t one for making friends. Even if you never figured out what type of outcast Larissa was, you still wanted to be her friend but she wouldn’t let anyone get too close to her. She differently has trust issues due to something in her past.

You had a hunch as to what type of outcast she was but you had no hard core evidence that it was true. You believed that she was a shapeshifter due to her height. Shapeshifters are known to be very tall and beautiful but that was the only evidence you had and it could’ve been a coincidence.

That was until the night of the funfair. The night had a relatively normal start to it. You were chaperoning the kids at the local funfair which would show up in town a few times of the year. Providing the children had permission on a selected night they would get to go down and enjoy the night.

You were also allowed to enjoy the night but you also had to be around to keep an eye on the students. You knew what the normie kids could be like around the students so it was important to keep an eye on everyone to make sure nothing broke out. The night was going smoothly until you saw Wednesday start chasing Rowan into the woods.

You were highly concerned considering the students were not supposed to leave the fairground let alone go into the woods without permission. You chased after them hoping you would catch up with them quickly as you didn’t want either of them to get hurt as you didn’t know what was going on.

“Wednesday! Rowan!” you shouted searching the woods for the two students. However you were shocked when you came to an opening to see that Wednesday was pinned to a tree with Rowan using his telekinesis powers to keep her there. Just as you were about to intervene you watched this huge monster run out from deep in the woods.

You stood in shock as you watched this beast tear Rowan’s body apart. You let out this deafening scream which seemed to scare the monster causing it to run back to where it came from. You immediately ran over to Wednesday.

“Are you alright?” you asked, picking up her weak body trying to shield her eyes from the massacre in front of her. However it was already too late. You heard Wednesday scream into your chest at the sight of her friend. She was tough but this would be enough to traumatise anyone.

You carried Wednesday to your car and let her rest there before going to find Principal Weems. “Larissa, there has been a massive incident. I just watched this huge beast tear Rowan’s body apart in the woods. Wednesday witnessed everything as well but I’ve taken her to my car at the moment” you said as quickly as you could so Larissa could deal with the matter at hand quickly.

“Thanks for letting me know. I will see if I can sort this out. I don’t want the sheriff finding out just yet as they will immediately blame us for this tragic event. Inform the other staff members here to get the remaining students back to Nevermore effective immediately” she said before storming off in the direction of the forest.

The next half an hour you spent finding your colleagues and helping them find the rest of the students. After about an hour you had finally managed to round up all the students and get back to Nevermore. You also spoke to Enid and told her to keep an eye on Wednesday and if there are any issues to come find you immediately.

Over the next few days everyone around Nevermore was on edge including yourself. You had tried to speak to Larissa about what happened but she wouldn’t tell you anything that was going on. You found it quite bizarre with how secretive she was being about this. You thought she might’ve given you some insight to everything that happened considering you informed her about what happened.

You let it go. You decided you needed to move on with everything because it was clear that Larissa wasn’t going to give you anymore information. However you were shook to your core when you watched Rowan walk past you and walk into Larissa’s office. Were you dreaming? That was definitely Rowan.

But that was impossible. You watched Rowan die. You saw the state of his body and there is no possible way he could’ve come back from that and you knew that no outcast would be able to use their power to bring him back to life.

You were suspicious. There was no way that was Rowan so who the hell was it. You followed Rowan however you stopped at the giant oak doors resting your ear against the wood trying to get a listen as to what was being said. You managed to find out that ‘Rowan’ was going back home so would be leaving this afternoon to go to the train station.

This was the perfect opportunity. You rushed to your room to get changed into a different outfit as well as grabbing a hat and a pair of sunglasses. You then immediately went to the train station to start your investigation. You sat for about an hour when you saw Rowan walk onto the platform.

You watched as Rowan walked into the restrooms but were shocked to see someone else walk out a couple minutes late. A tall blonde man. That was strange because you never saw him enter the restroom. You had been very observant over the last hour so you would’ve seen him walk into that bathroom.

You decided to follow him. You had a feeling that this person would help give you answers. You followed them into a darker area of the station making sure you kept a decent distance between the two of you so they didn’t become suspicious.

However when you watched the man walk into the dark shadows, so you were surprised to see Larissa emerge. You were right. She was a shapeshifter and now you had the proof with your own eyes. “Larissa?” you questioned as you walked closer to the tall woman.

Larissa quickly snapped her neck to look at you realising she had been caught shifting. “Of course it would be you that would find out the truth about me. I heard that you were going around trying to find out who was what kind of outcast” she moaned at you. “So spit it out, now you know I’m a shifter who do you want me to turn into?” she asked.

You just stood there in shock. “I don’t want you to turn into anyone” you said shyly looking down at your feet. “So why have you been so desperate to find out about everyone’s abilities then?” she questioned you. “I’m a history teacher Larissa. I just enjoy learning about everything but I know my limits. All I ever wanted was to be your friend Larissa. I’ve been able to make friends with everyone but you” you sighed, still looking at your feet before eventually making eye contact with her.

“I’m sorry y/n, I’ve always been secretive about my abilities. People have never trusted me because they didn’t know if I was shifting into other people and the people who did trust me always wanted me to shift into someone else” she sighed. You could see she was hurt by her past.

“Let's go back to Nevermore Larissa. Just know that I didn’t mean for you to feel uncomfortable. I really just wanted to know you better. Why don’t we open a nice bottle of red that I have in my room? We can just chill out and get to know each other a bit better” you smiled as you walked past Larissa to start heading back to Nevermore.

“That would be nice y/n” Larissa said as she followed behind you.

[mrstsung]

DEADASS old man shang tsung should be loved more

Like mk legends shang tsung specifically is absolutely delicious.

(Minus some things like not really showing his treachery to shao kahn. Like it's playing a bit too safe in the cunning department. And honestly makes it look like he's a sinp for shao kahn when he fucking wasn't and hated his guts and would happily stab shao in the back 1000 times over if you ask him and given him the opportunity to. And not to mention it's so convenient around plot. And i hate that. Because honestly holy shit this shang had potential. He had the presence,the aura,but never really shown to fight. And it sucks. Because shang is supposed to be a beast in kombat. He was a fucking boss after all. Like gdi nrs. Why you gotta fumble this guy so hard?! Like the writing is right there!)

Anyways. Old man shang. Let's get back to that.

The reason why i feel old man shang or at least how shang tsung IS SUPPOSED TO BE.

This mofo is cursed. To age. Less he takes the lifeforce/souls of others Because he decided to say "fuck you elder gods! Imma take your ritual healing dark magics and apply it to kombat. Imma take this shit and make it my own!" DEADASS a Dracula energy/soul vampire. Like this man despite everything,still could whoop your ass because he is fucking 500yrs old! From old dynasty china. In earthrealm. Yeah.

This man used to be a warrior from earthrealm,got into beef with raiden,and said fuck you im switching sides as soon as he caught whiff of an opportunity to(at least in his mind at the time) be treated "better" (which he really wasn't as better off,maybe even worse,but he had some power and some better standing tho at a cost)

Like you could take shang tsung in many ways. But all in all he doesn't need to be twirly mustache to be evil. Nor does he need to be good or "SOME GODS PLAYTHING!" to be righteous or do honorable things.

Legitimately mofo shang tsung as an old man should be written as a person who comes off as uncannily and eerily calm,a air of danger but you can't really run away nor want to. You're too damn curious even tho you're screaming inside to run. He needs that true fucking snake vibe.

Very few people have written and portrayed this successfully. And tagawa pioneered that well vibe for villains imho. (Tho the man was unfortunately typecasted by Hollywood this man by god set the bar high. He did it so damn well. He put his whole heart into this. And honestly out of all his roles,this was the most notorious of his roles. Tho i hope this man gets more leisure roles and happier roles in the future. And eventually has a safe,and peaceful retirement. He deserves it. Fr. Thank you Mr. Tagawa seriously. <3 )

Artt butler did a fantastic job with shang tsung,tho given a better script it would be better.

Same with alan lee. I feel his would have made me like it more if fans and story weren't shit.

But all in all shang tsung being rejuvenated and young is nice. And should be shown especially since he is cursed. But his default,unpopular opinion here but. His old man form should be his default look. If not old man old man,then a but of salt n pepper at bare minimum.

Honestly,shang i prefer at his old man look because thats what i well grew up on. And that's kinda how i see him. 🤷‍♀️ *shrug*

Like guy is a flashier more fancy pai mei from Tarantino's kill bill to me. Maybe slightly bit more nicer and considerate but not by much. Lol.

I could go on and on about old man shang tsung specifically. But I'll leave this at.

Honestly we just need to bring him back. We need to bring back shang tsung with that vibe. We need to not make him conveniently made for plot. No give me the shang tsung that i fucking knew.

That bastard needs to make a comeback. And mk11 can't be the only game that he does it in.

And mk legends can't be the only media outside the games that does it either.

Anyways,old man shang. I love this foxy grandpa.

[myaoiboy]

Rating All The Metal Gears By Hotness

No, not the characters. Yes, literally the Metal Gears. If I forgot any, let me know.

Metal Gear TX-55 - 4/10

This is just a lil guy. A friend, even. Reminiscent of a gonk droid from Star Wars. Sucks that he was made to do murdering. I can see where someone would find appeal, but not really for me.

Metal Gear D - 6/10

This one I can see. He got some depth to him. Kinda shiny. More smooth, less boxy. Kind of insectoid. In most franchises this would be like an 8, but it gets knocked down because of what comes later being so much sexier.

Also can I say that MG2's spriting? Mwah. Chef's kiss. So pretty. Didn't even read the intro the first time I started it up bc I was marveling at the pretty spritework. I fucking love good spritework, just find it so much more satisfying than equivalent-quality 3D art.

Metal Gear G - 2/10

Never actually completed or seen in game. Was supposed to be a smaller, mass produced version of D. Kinda sexy, loses points for being so fictional that it's only theoretical even in the games.

Metal Gear REX - 7/10

OOOO YEAH, NOW WE'RE TALKIN'!! SHINKAWA ERA BAYBEY!!! Man's got impeccable taste. He could make a literal slab of titanium look inviting.

Rex is not the sexiest Metal Gear to me, partly bc Otacon treats it like a son or a pet dog and I find a 25-yo's son-analogue to be offputting. BUT. I must concede. REX is the blueprint for all the sexy traits to come. He's got the hips. He's got the saunter. He's just a lil too brutalist for me.

Metal Gear RAY - 11/10

I know I have psychological problems because this thing's childbearing hips and murderous mandibles distract me during the boss fight.

Why is it so sexy?? What the fuck?? It's like mecha furrybait but specifically for people who are into garrus mass effect. Please tell me I'm not the only one, I'm pretty sure my boyfriend thinks I'm insane.

Arsenal Gear - 4/10

Basically just an aircraft carrier. I would say not fuckable but it DOES, canonically, have a digestive tract and asshole so like. Technically fuckable I think. But at what cost?

Honorable mention for making me deal with Raiden's daddy issues and fight the sexy mech in this thing's enormous rectum (damn near killed 'em).

Shagohod - 4/10

Not technically a metal gear. I can see the appeal, but it doesn't *quite* nail the drider-esque niche for me. It does get a bonus point for the way it moves being kinda sensual tho. Additional bonus point for being piloted by an evil fa-

Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear - 0/10

literally could not even find an image of this that wasn't completely dwarfed by the Saturn V rocket attached to it. Not really much to look at. If you've always wanted to fuck a Saturn V, I guess this would be a good way to get introduced.

Metal Gear RAXA - 2/10

Somehow managed to capture "first day of kindergarten" energy in a death machine. I could be convinced based on its behavior tho. Damn, Portable Ops kind of an L design-wise, huh?

Gekkos - 9.5/10

WHY DOES IT HAVE SQUISHABLE THIGHS?? SIR???

And the feet. Like, we gotta talk about the feet. Why? Why the toes? Why does it stomp on me with its weirdly well-defined toes??? Did they make this mech specifically to appeal to dinosaur foot fetishists? Why does it bleed? Why does it MOO???

Extremely fuckable to the point that it loses half a point purely because it *feels* like horny bait.

Dwarf Gekkos - 7.5/10

This is an object that feels like it was designed by and for lesbians. I have no notes. Slightly offputting only due to the odd number of hands but it IS the perfect number for some activities, so honestly that may be a plus.

Metal Gear Mk II/III - 1/10

Adorable. Not fuckable. This is a gopro with a personality. Not to be confused with the vampiric gopro with a personality from Ultrakill, V1. Literally just a baby.

Outer Haven - 5.5/10

Only technically a Metal Gear by virtue of technically being a stolen Arsenal Gear which is technically a Metal Gear. Gains .25 each for being the site of the infamous russian tuant

and whatever fucked up display of devoted homosexuality this is:

also additional bonus point for being piloted by an evil fa-

Pupa - 3/10

This is just the Shagohod but with an AI pod. -1 for being touched by Huey, but balanced out by the +1 from being made by Strangelove. Even if it IS creepy that she made her dead crush/girlfriend's psyche pilot it around.

Crysalis - 6/10

Not super sexy but it does fly and has a rail gun where one could feasibly conceptualize a dick. Kinda MILF-like (has mini-drones). Has a grappling hook, so could do bondage. Probably would, ngl.

Cocoon - 1/10

Pupa, but less sexy. I barely even remember this boss fight because the game became such a rush right around here, pushing you to the postgame/first ending.

Peace Walker - 7/10

Weird dog, functioning by sheer lesbian willpower. She is beauty, she is grace, she would probably rate a lot higher if my emulator didn't suck ass and make me angry every time I see her now, fuck that bitch.

Rage aside, who doesn't love killing their momgirlfriend and then reliving that multiple times throughout the course of a single game, culminating in her just straight up pulling a Virginia Woolf.

Metal Gear Zeke - 6/10

Really just nothing that special. Okay, wait, +2 for being piloted by an evil little girl in her panties for some fucking reason.

Also +1 for the sick ass boss fight.

Walker Gear(s) - 8/10

HERE we go!!! Hell Yeah Babey!!! Basically human sized! Has lil Fuckin' Roller Skates!!! Carries My Ammo! My Best Friend! (Okay, third best friend, after Quiet and DD)

Yeah Huey developed it but it gets WAY more bonus points for letting me manhandle him.

Sahelanthropus - 7/10

I can't deny the raw sex appeal of Sahelanthropus. Also, it's literally piloted by pubescent rage which is something I deeply resonate with ngl.

HOWEVER it DOES get docked points for uhhh

-getting strangelove killed

-making baby otacon a child soldier

-huey :/

Battle Gear - 0/10

Is there even a single frame of this entire thing? Especially without Huey??

negative 1 billion points for blue balling me in the late game, i want to ride this motherfucker right into the kgb outposts and let 'em have it for what they did to babygirl

[arttrampbelle]

Liu kang thinks killing shang will solve his problems yet he lets shao kahn live in his new world?

Makes raiden a chump bitch boy. Makes everything a mockery.

And yet we are supposed to like him?! How can you?

How can you say this is the same liu kang that we all know?

Truth is. He sucks. And anyone who doesn't see how fucked up this is. Is an absolute fucking fool.

Shang tsung only does what he does because he has no real fucking choice. He was coerced into evil by shao kahn. Manipulated. And decided "fuck it if im gonna be bad. Im gonna take all you with me" but he was never always evil. Thats a fucking lie. Like shang tsung is sure done fucked up shit but shao kahns worse. That was the whole fucking point.

And yet!

Shao lives but shang cant? Hmmmmmm.

The very guy who wanted to conquer earthrealm. The very man who legitimately committed genocide in edania and outworld.

Hmmmmmmm.

Oh but shang tsung can't be redeemed because he teh evial. Oooo boogie man evil chinese sorcerer guy. Ooooo. So bad. Wtaf?!

I thought we were past that. Like we cant forgive a guy who is legit an energy vampire trying to survive a brutal world but forgive a genocidal maniac who's done waaaaaaaaay worse? (Like dont get me wrong i love them as villains but it makes no sense for liu kang even on fucked up god steroids and crack to be acting like he does and be making these decisions when he has the power to actually do shit. But he doesn't. And when he does. Theres no actual consequences. Only a slap on the wrist per usual.)

Nrs your racism is showing and it reeks!!!!!

Fans dont help. Like how can you not see how fucked up that is?! Bias af too.

Sure that makes sooooo much sense liu. That makes sooooo much sense nrs

Honestly i hope liu dies in this game and stays dead.

Because that is ridiculous.

Nrs i hope you burn. Fr.

[cienie-isengardu]

Thank you, glad you like my take on Bi-Han 🙂

I think most people aren’t paying attention to details and nuances provided by source material in general. Bi-Han is just the best example, as fandom likes to generalize characterization based on one, small scene while ignoring the rest. What can be seen with the whole nonsense like Sub-Zero must hate Smoke and all orphans because he once snapped at adoptive brother. When from perspective of the whole game, he was the first person to address Tomas by name on screen (as Liu Kang ignored Smoke in his introduction to Lin Kuei) and generally, he and Tomas were the most involved in discussing their mission while Kuai Liang either talked about father or did not contribute at all. But sure, let’s ignore half of the game in favor of one scene. But like I said, fandom likes to ignore context to get their weird generalization and castrating characters from any complexity. Which is sad, because despite all the complaints I have, Mortal Kombat 1 provided a lot of interesting details that can easily change our perception of characters… if one bothers to think about them in the wider context of worldbuilding. 

if all the supposed lives that Bi-Han's actions in the hope of elevating the clan cost were taken at the behest of Liu Kang, the same people who judge him would be applauding

Yeah, that is basically it. This is less if Bi-Han is evil or not, and more how his action doesn’t benefit certain characters anymore. Also, the logic of characters like Sindel accusing Sub-Zero of betraying Outworld is pretty much silly.  Even as Liu Kang’s allies, Lin Kuei had no obligation to Sindel’s realm.  The whole idea of creating this clan was to keep Outworld and similar rebellious and/or dangerous factions in check; Lin Kuei was the Special Forces to deal with Outworld, vampires, etc etc in case of conflict. Just because Sindel and her husband had some more personal and positive relationship with Bi-Han’s parents, it is not a basis to assume Lin Kuei owes her anything at all. 

As for original/alternative timeline Bi-Han, I don’t think this is a matter of being more or less noble than the current version of Sub-Zero and more about the cruelty of Lin Kuei that shaped him yet did not break. What I mean is that Bi-Han as Grandmaster is de facto in a position of power and his choice affects all clan members. He does what he thinks is best for his people, but he does not need to ask them for permission or listen to their advice.  In contrast, the original Sub-Zero was always put between a rock and a hard place. Either he kills to fulfill a mission or will be killed for failure. Either risks the Grandmaster’s wrath to save Earthrealm, or ignore Raiden’s warning and put in danger the whole realm. Everyone wants something from him, demands to do their bidding and he always must risk his life, yet even under such pressure he still kept his humanity somehow intact. Shirai Ryu was the mortal enemy, yet he was angry at Quan Chi for forcing him to unnecessarily kill Scorpion, as it was the sorcerer's fault for pitting them against each other. He has no reason to listen to Raiden, as the god was not a friend of Lin Kuei, but he was concerned about Earthrealm and his own soul. When everyone expected Johnny to kill his opponent at the beginning of Tournament (MK9), Bi-Han was the only one character visible shaking his head in “no” gesture which directly parallel Raiden’s silent support for Cyrax to not kill Johnny.  And I can’t stress it enough, Scorpion vs Sub-Zero in MK9 makes sense only if Bi-Han switched sides for the sake of Earthrealm. 

He may not care much that Lin Kuei is an evil organization, and he would do Grandmaster’s bidding to “earn his living” but he is literally the first Lin Kuei we met who - if given a chance, would leave the assassin life for good, as was said in his original ending. When MK9 presented us whole bunch of Lin Kuei, Bi-Han has no clan emblems on his uniform (so either events of Mythologies truly affected him, or he has never been fully brainwashed by Lin Kuei indoctrination) and I think in that sense, he is the neutral part. He does not blindly support Lin Kuei and seems quite disillusioned about honor (in contrast to Kuai Liang) while also he does not follow Raiden’s orders unless it is necessary and/or he has no other choice. All he is doing is to survive in a world where almost everyone is there to exploit him - and once he becomes Noob Saibot he is biding his time to fulfill his own goals. So yes, there is not much Bi-Han in MK9 but he had a whole game (and tie-in materials) that allowed us to explore both his character and the environment in which he was forced to live. We may not have a full picture but there is enough stuff to pick up the clues about Sub-Zero’s depth and tragedy of his life. 

Of course, there are plenty of nuances for MK1 Bi-Han as well and both incarnations share a lot of traits. But the thing with current Sub-Zero is that once his “role” ends, he is sidelined from the storyline. He is pushed into the role of villain to provide an excuse for the Lin Kuei vs Shirai Ryu conflict yet his role has no meaningful impact on the story itself. And so, we are forced to await for a new game to see if the Netherrealm Studio will even bother to follow up their own little hints in regard to Sub-Zero, or will his character be rewritten (again) to fit the new storyline. Which I guess sentiment for Mythologies/MK9 Bi-Han comes down to the fact that original/timeline Bi-Han is around long enough for us to appreciate his role and character, while current Bi-Han is still the work-in-progress. 

(Also, personal & cultural experiences definitely affect our interpretation of characters and for those cultural matters alone I will always side with Bi-Han in regard to Lin Kuei’s independence.)

Your name's become synonymous with betrayal.

To those too obtuse to understand me. ~ Bi-Han [Sub-Zero] to Syzoth [Reptile] MK1.

I think most people aren't paying enough attention to Bi-Han's nuances because of their own frustrations with specific traits/situations that make up his character (especially because of the way Bi-Han treats Tomas and how most characters despise Bi-Han's actions), but I admire how you, @evilbihan and @inflamedrosenkranz, and @cienie-isengardu, and all those who make the slightest effort to understand the character. You are in the minority that highlights these nuances and I think this is so necessary, because I really don't understand how so many people see Sub-Zero Bi-Han from MK9 and Mythologies who barely had lines or interaction with other characters as deeper than Bi-Han Sub-Zero from the Liu Kang Era that got multiple interactions, diverse relationships and much longer story mode time.

Also, I think it's funny to see people saying to this day that Bi-Han Sub-Zero from previous timelines was neutral and now he's like a cartoon villain, as if the old one was somehow more noble than Bi-Han from the Liu Kang era, when all the og Bi-Han did in the past was spare Sareena because she was the only one who BEGGED him not to kill her (after he had already killed 2 demons, his rival Scorpion and more a couple of people to complete the mission), defeated Fujin and tried to reverse the actions that the success of his mission would entail after Raiden confirmed that his soul was indeed tainted with evil (like, he had a kind of predisposition to end up in Netherrealm for doing bad things and somehow enjoying it).

However, at no point does Liu Kang, the god and creator of Bi-Han in MK1, says that Bi-Han has a "evil heart" or that his soul is tainted with evil as Raiden told him in previous timelines. Other characters who barely know him and know nothing about his and the clan's life before he abandoned the duty imposed by Liu Kang, judge him and judge the things he does as evil without even knowing the reason behind it (and let's be honest, if all the supposed lives that Bi-Han's actions in the hope of elevating the clan cost were taken at the behest of Liu Kang, the same people who judge him would be applauding. As if some lives were worth more than others…).

And unlike Tomas, that mission at the Ying Fortress was not Bi-Han's first and the battle he lost to free Shao from prison in OutWorld would not have been his first battle either.

"After our years of idleness, it pleases me to again face kombat".

Those deep frustrations that Kuai Liang said he knew Bi-Han had, but that he never imagined that Bi-Han would accept the first offer that came along to escape them…

Tomas [Smoke]: Letting Father die… Forsaking Earthrealm? He's abandoned all reason! Kuai Liang [Scorpion]: I knew Bi-Han's frustrations ran deep. But I never thought they could inspire such madness. We can't let his corruption spread.

Did he really never imagine this could happen? Or did he just ignore what Bi-Han felt? What he used to say? And how his brother wasn't the only one who felt that way…

Tomas [Smoke]: What are you doing? Once he's exposed, won't you be made Grandmaster? Kuai Liang [Scorpion]: You forget Cyrax and Sektor. Their loyalty to Bi-Han is absolute. They'll sooner abet his corruption than follow me.

Liu Kang says he abandoned his family and some people say he betrayed his brothers, while in fact Bi-Han offered more than once the opportunity for Kuai Liang and Tomas to join him, but they declined his offers of peace because they did not agree with his vision (and they were bitter because Bi-Han had let their father die, I know I know).

All Bi-Han wants for the clan is a better future and he did what he thought was necessary to achieve it. He would like to share a prosperous future with Kuai Liang (and Tomas, even though he probably prefers Tomas to keep his mouth shut and his enthusiasm for tradition and his "father" to himself), but he was rejected. They are the ones who abandoned him first.

Bi-Han [Sub-Zero]: End this, brother! Embrace the future. Kuai-Liang [Scorpion]: I want no part of it!

Sub-Zero: Heed your Grandmaster! Scorpion: I will not betray our principles.

Sub-Zero: Your rebellion stings. Scorpion: You expect less from Scorpion? Sub-Zero: You could have ruled at my side. Scorpion: Just the thought of it sickens me.

Sub-Zero: I've gained the Lin Kuei's freedom. Smoke: You've only earned them infamy.

Sub-Zero: Resist me, and there will be consequences. Smoke: And to think I once idolized you.

Smoke: I rejected the Lin Kuei to fight for justice. Omni-Man: Justice? How stupidly self-righteous of you.

Bi-Han will not stop pursuing a better future for the Lin Kuei to please Kuai and Liu Kang, because the Lin Kuei is what matters most to him. And I'm really glad that leaks clearly show that Bi-Han was and still is an anti-hero (aka not conventional hero). And I'm not talking about og Bi-Han and his victory over Fujin and Quan Chi, I'm talking about Bi-Han from MK1 who more than once has already put his own life on the line to defend Earthrealm and will continue to defeat anyone, including gods, to defend the people he loves.

He has his own agenda, but even Liu Kang recognizes that it's not an evil one, but as we all know, Bi-Han has been walking crooked to achieve this. I'm not going to delve into how his mother may have influenced his life and the decisions he made or how the supposed not-so-great relationship he had with his father motivated him to do what he did, but there is no shortage of hints that his parents were an important part in the formation of his character (as parents are in the life of anyone who has/had them...),

Sindel: Both your parents were excellent fighters. Kuai Liang [Scorpion]: I can only hope to live up to their example.

Bi-Han [Sub-Zero]: My father was a fool to follow you. Liu Kang: He wisely honored Earthrealm with his service.

Tomas [Smoke]: If Mother were alive… Bi-Han [Sub-Zero]: She would applaud my actions.

I just want to say thanks to anyone who is interested in the nuances of Bi-Han and as much as I don't like certain attitudes of Kuai Liang and Bi-Han, I hope that one day Kuai accepts Bi-Han for who he is, not who he would like him to be, and that Bi-Han gets what he wants in the least destructive way possible. I know, a fighting game needs conflicts, but Bi-Han's connection with Kuai was and will always be eternal. Blood connection is an understatement.

Raiden: I never thought *you* would betray Earthrealm. Sub-Zero: My only loyalty is to the Lin Kuei.

[floatingcatacombs]

A Year of Metal Gear: REVENGEANCE

12 Days of Aniblogging 2022, Day 10

By no means should Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance actually be good. It’s a hack-and-slash character action game that emerged without any involvement from directorial mainstay Hideo Kojima after years of development hell getting passed between studios. Taking place at the end of the Metal Gear chronology, this game discards the vast majority of series lore, retaining one major character: Raiden.

(my writeup ended up being a few thousand words so it's going behind a read-more. it's worth it, though.)

A recap is in order. Raiden is introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2 as an inferior replacement for Solid Snake, a snively bishounen who is routinely mocked and belittled within the game. Only in the last act is he able to forge an identity unique from Snake’s, displayed narratively as well as mechanically when he starts wielding a sword. Taking Snake’s advice at the very end, Raiden sets out to find his own meaning and pass down the ideas that he values the most.

Raiden returns in MGS4, and after five years of soul-searching, he’s become convinced that the only meaning in his life comes from the battlefield. Also, he got kidnapped by the government and taken to Area 51 and made into a cyborg ninja between installments, you can’t make this shit up. He spends the whole game having homoerotic duels with a vampire and suggestively bleeding out white fluid.

Clearly something went wrong during his quest for meaning! After all, Raiden was a child soldier, so choosing to return to the battlefield parses as regression, not personal growth. But wait, he’s finally figured out a self-justification! In Metal Gear Rising he fights to “protect the weak”. It is this justification that kicks this game off, which kind of exists to poke at the flaws and contradictions in Raiden’s philosophy.

What the hell does it mean to be a cyborg ninja, anyway? In my previous Metal Gear writeups I viewed this character archetype as a conduit for masochism. For Raiden, it is also getting to have his effeminate nature and general incompetence in MGS2 ripped out and replaced with uncaring metal and the decisiveness to kill. It’s a forced-masculinization fantasy, which demands both a loss and a gain in agency in ways that feminization does not (it’s still gotta be gay tho). But there’s definitely more to it, especially in Revengeance. Here, it’s more about being a mass killer and having to come up with a way to justify yourself, to yourself.

So the antagonists in this game can all be read as foils to Raiden. They’ve come up with their own rationales for personally grinding the gears of war, and demand that Raiden explain how his killing is above all of that. It’s an attack on his values alongside his body. This game is…how do I say it…blunt. Most of what I’m saying is actively textual at times. It’s just that most people don’t take the politics seriously because there’s also the most over-the-top bullshit imaginable happening at the same time.  

Despite everything, Metal Gear Rising is amazing. Its exterior is willfully stupid and it comes off looking all the smarter for it. In a series famous for predicting the future, Revengeance instead demonstrates a deep understanding of the eternal present that emerges from the supposed end of history. It’s not the best video game, but it is the video game.

The prologue level introduces our villains and stakes, but more importantly establishes everyone’s power levels. In Metal Gear Solid games, the titular Metal Gear of every game is the culmination of that time period’s weapons and anxieties. By Rising, we’ve moved past the paradigm of Metal Gears and are now in an era where battles are determined by individuals fighting one-on-one with their weapons and beliefs. This transition is exemplified by Raiden suplexing a Metal Gear RAY while an electro-metal singer screams RULES OF NATURE in the background. Once again, we’re not playing with subtlety here. It is the era of the cyborg.

At the end of the chapter, rival Jetstream Sam calls bullshit on Raiden’s protecting-the-weak ideals. “You deny your weapon its purpose! It yearns to bathe in the blood of your enemies, but you hold it back.” Raiden doesn’t have an answer to this and gets dismembered.

We then jump ahead a week, after Raiden’s has been refitted with an even more militarized yet flamboyant cyborg body. It’s masculinity by way of carbon-fiber and camp. He even has little hand and toe claws! Anyways, his current mission is to put down a coup attempt in an undisclosed Eastern European country. This goes about as unexamined as Raiden’s job in the prologue, which is to act as security detail for the potentially iron-fisted prime minster of an undisclosed African country. The international political interventions that Raiden’s private military company is doing go largely undiscussed within the game, which means that either they’re just a plot vehicle to get Raiden in different locales, or it’s commentary on the amorality of warmongers. Anyways, after tearing through dozens of cyborgs and draining them of their fluids, Raiden faces off against Blade Wolf, a literal dog of war. Its programming is not that different from Raiden when he was a child soldier, a tool for killing with no free will of its own. It can’t be an accident that Raiden’s first major foe represents his past.

Nor is it a mistake that the end-stage boss is an analogue for Raiden’s present-day disillusionment. Mistral goes for an empathetic appeal, arguing to Raiden that the two of them are ultimately the same. They’re child soldiers, trained only to kill, incapable of thriving outside of the battlefield but lacking a sense of purpose as mercenaries.

Mistral’s aimlessness and many aspects of her backstory are directly lifted from The Stranger by Albert Camus, which the game just straight-up tells you. What sets her apart from Raiden at that she’s finally found some sort of ideology to believe in, and is taunting him with that fact, as Raiden is clearly struggling with the veracity of his “I protect the weak” shtick. She’s also sexually taunting Raiden the whole time by being the hornily-designed cyborg lady to his hornily-designed cyborg dude. It’s a whole thing.

In short, Mistral is a mirror held up to Raiden. While she fails to impart any ideology directly onto him, since she’s just choosing to follow someone else’s, she makes it clear to him that his status quo is untenable and he will need to come up with a coherent ideology, or else he’s just going to get sliced to pieces by her new boss.

(Want a cheat sheet for Metal Gear Rising? Just look up the lyric sheet for the song that plays during any given boss fight. It almost always outlines that character’s whole deal. Most of my analysis comes from the dialogue itself, but it’s all right there in the music as well. Also, what a fucking soundtrack)

After a drawn-out fight with Mistral that destroys a whole oil refinery, Raiden gets a lead that the PMC he’s been tracking down has a secret laboratory in the sewers of Guadalajara, Mexico. We learn in this chapter that Raiden is really bad with both race and talking to kids, by means of some truly secondhand-embarrassing cutscenes. But the main plot revelation is that the PMC Desperado has been picking orphans off of the street, harvesting their organs, and hooking their brains up to militaristic VR training with the eventual goal of making them into cyborg child soldiers. The thing that strikes me playing Metal Gear Rising in 2022 is that this is just QAnon. Or pizzagate, or antifa super soldiers. It’s every surveillance and human trafficking conspiracy theory rolled into one, and while this kind of drivel obviously existed in 2013 when Revengeance came out, the writers were insightful to make it a central plot point. But Raiden doesn’t take the news quite like a Q conspiracy theorist. He undergoes what I call a Leftist Meltdown.

It's that moment you start connecting the dots on all the interconnected systems that make up modern capitalism and think way too hard about how much evil and suffering has to go into every single product in your life. Or when you realize that electoral politics will never truly act in your interest and that the whole system is designed to perpetuate the status quo and disempower and disenfranchise the very people who need the most support. Or when you start seriously considering buying a gun and mulling over if revolution is a worthwhile pursuit and how that would even manifest in the present day and if it’s actually possible or if it would make everything worse and whether or not assassination is a viable form of praxis, and ultimately, how far you personally would be willing to go for the cause.

It's this kind of cascade of despair that drives Raiden to (re)vengeance. More specifically, he learns that a standing U.S. senator is bankrolling this child brain-harvesting operation. Even if he leaked this story to the media, no outlet would dare cover it, because said senator has ties to one of the largest military contractors in the world. It would be financial and political suicide. Raiden can’t let this injustice slide, and he knows that even if he shuts down this lab in New Mexico, they’ll just set up another one somewhere else. Raiden advocates for a coordinated assault on their headquarters in Denver, Colorado. He’s chastised by his codec support, who remind him that “America has these things called laws.” He snaps back that Denver privatized their police force and gave out the contract to the very PMC that’s running this operation. It’s this understanding that justice cannot and will not be served that ultimately breaks Raiden. I have seen leftist twitter disputes play out exactly like this. He opts for direct action, travelling to Colorado to slice up the World Marshall Headquarters.

After ripping the guts out of a small army of cops (thank god for video games), what awaits Raiden is a good and proper lecture. Jetstream Sam appears via hologram and further pokes at Raiden’s justifications for all this killing. Can he really call it justified? Did all these soldiers have a real choice in showing up to oppose him, or are they the result a society that coerces its most vulnerable people into being cannon fodder? Raiden turns off his combat emotional suppressors and learns that surprise! – nobody he’s facing wants to die, and that in many cases they’re the very downtrodden people he claims to want to protect.

This revelation hits Raiden like a truck and leaves him highly unstable, which means it’s the perfect time for another insane cyborg to enter the fray and try to impart ideology onto him. This time it’s the meme-addled Monsoon, whose most iconic line I’m just going to have to paste in verbatim.

Monsoon’s goal is to force Raiden to admit that he’s getting off on violence. To accomplish this, he decisively dismisses the whole “protecting the weak” thing as an illusion that Raiden invented to protect himself. Raiden, without his usual defenses, accepts the notion that killing feels good, that he was meant to kill, and that masochism is hot. In a way, he’s kind of reverting to the roots of the Metal Gear cyborg ninja archetype, as these are Gray Fox’s ideals. Raiden turns off his cringepain inhibitors and rips Monsoon to shreds, who dies contented, as he succeeded in bringing out the beast in Raiden and shifting him further away from his original beliefs.

(It's worth noting that if Raiden makes it through the fight without taking any damage, Monsoon will beg for him to stop to instead of saying "Do as you please". I guess a perfect S-Rank Raiden would be less susceptible to memes, freaking Monsoon out a lot more)

One level later, Sundowner is our next cyborg, with batshit politics to match his shit-eating grin – the dude loves war! More specifically, he thinks that cruelty and fighting are just plain human nature, as evidenced by his one-liner that kids are cruel and he’s very in touch with his inner child. He’s a Hobbesian with zero cognitive dissonance, which makes him a very serious threat in this world. He’s that kid who makes up an invincible super shield when you’re playing pretend, except he’s an adult and actually made it real. The meme he ultimately passes on to Raiden is that you don’t even need a personalized excuse for killing if you say that violence is just human nature.

Anyways Raiden rescues the brains and cuts a goddamn plane in half. Sundowner reveals in his dying words that U.S. Senator Armstrong, the one who is orchestrating all of this, is attempting to reboot the War on Terror by assassinating the president and blaming it on Pakistan. It’s interesting to see the characters openly compare this to 9/11 and discuss the disastrous effects of the Afghanistan War. Metal Gear Solid games are very much inspired by real-world events such as this and the Gulf War and nuclear close calls, but they largely shy away from referencing the actual events. In comparison, Revengeance is incredibly candid about the present-day state of affairs, with the codec support team gleefully going on about the effects of the War on Terror and how military intervention further displaces people and creates future terrorists, Western Europe’s problems with immigration, the geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe, the legacy of colonialism, and the iron triangle’s connection to the military-industrial complex.

I don’t see a lot of discussion of these radio calls online, which is surprising because they’re informative and funny and even more on-the-nose than the average MGS codec.  I can only imagine that most people just skipped them because this is a such an action-oriented game, but I highly recommend calling everyone up next time you replay Metal Gear Rising. Kevin has quickly become one of my favorite codec buddies in the whole series.

But I digress. Raiden gets the hell out of Dodge so he can borrow a space shuttle to get to Pakistan on time. But before that, one more obstacle stands in his way, and that’s Jetstream Sam. Sam is this game’s Vamp, the flamboyant rival who does Raiden’s whole deal better than he himself can. He’s Raiden’s parallel in ideology, unlike Mistral who is his parallel in background.

Sam similarly chased after the concept of justice through combat, but this meme gradually became warped until he just started siding with whoever he believed to be the strongest. We see this corruption in his weapon as well, a katana named Murasama. This a deliberate misspelling of the legendary Muramasa swords, to show his drift. Despite everything, Sam still holds himself to bushido principles, which is something Raiden only ever did in passing. He doesn’t truly believe in Senator Armstrong’s ideology and kind of wants to be proven wrong. To this end, he blocks Raiden’s path and demands a duel as a test of strength. He fights openly, just for the sake of fighting. Like Mistral, he also sexually taunts Raiden by calling him a pretty boy, but I’ll leave the analysis on that one to you.

Even as he’s being fought, Jetstream Sam has certain moral clarity to him that the other villains don’t. No dirty tricks, just two cyborgs battling each other sword to sword on the side of a desert road. This purity extends into his death, where we learn that he barely had any cyborg modifications at all, and was mostly just a really impressive guy (In the Japanese release of the game, all of the enemies bleed white blood, a callback to Metal Gear Solid 4. Sam is the one character who spouts red.). He also doesn’t have a visor pop over his eyes before the fight, which everyone else, including Raiden, does up until now. Obviously, these visors are meant to be blinders, and Sam is the one character who doesn’t need them. If I keep writing this paragraph any longer I will just start scream-singing his song so we’re done.

At last, we reach Senator Armstrong, the final boss of politics. The big meme man himself, who said “Make America Great Again” in one of his cutscenes long before Trump ever did. First things first, throw the Trump comparison out of the window, because Armstrong is a fundamentally different type of guy. The other thing I want to assert early on is that Armstrong makes two completely separate ideological arguments. The first, delivered from within his giant Metal Gear death machine, is that manufacturing a terrorist attack and dragging the United States into a new war will jumpstart the economy. He peppers this argument with more right-wing nationalist jingo than you can swing a sword at. But even he knows that he’s bullshitting, and it’s not about taxes. You have to remember that this game was developed in the wake of the Tea Party movement, in which the Republican party got taken over by its populist libertarian flank ostensibly obsessed with small government and lowering taxes, who were in practice using these as levers to oppose ever compromising with Democrats.

Raiden destroys Metal Gear EXCELSUS, and in doing so calls bullshit on Armstrong’s professed ideology, in the same way that Jetstream Sam called bullshit on Raiden at the start of the game. Armstrong is forced to fess up: he wants all of this money and social capital so he can burn down the faceless military-industrial complex and create a society where might makes right on a personal level and everyone fights and kills for what they believe in, where only the fit survive. It’s an eclectic mix of fascism, anarchism, populism, and the chaos routes of Shin Megami Tensei games. Perhaps the better comparison would be master morality in Nietzsche’s paradigm, positioning Raiden as a slave moralist.

Senator Armstrong’s world is the one of the ubermensch, the right-libertarianism to Raiden’s left-libertarianism. It’s batshit crazy, but he has the money and power and physical strength to back it up on a personal level. What memes does Raiden even have at this point, that he could use to fight back? Let’s recap:

“My sword is a tool of justice to protect the weak” was his base ideology, but he hardly even believes it himself anymore

“Killing feels good” from Monsoon

“Violence is only natural” from Sundowner

“The strong can only truly be disproven through combat” from Jetstream Sam

With these in particular bouncing around in his head, it’s no wonder why Raiden throws aside his own sword, dons Sam’s for the final fight, and uses it to impale a standing U.S. senator.

Armstrong is killed and the day is saved, but you have to remember that Raiden is a vessel for ideology. Much like Monsoon, Armstrong recognizes that putting Raiden through the wringer is all it takes to pass on his values. He seems almost gleeful as he dies, claiming that he is “leaving a worthy successor” in Raiden, as he has demonstrated his ability to oppose society and kill endlessly to fight for what he believes in, making him a prime example of Armstrong’s ideal world. Raiden crushes Armstrong’s heart and absorbs all the electrolytes, which seals this transfer of ideals. We see him one last time in a post-credits scene, where we get confirmation that Raiden is a lone wolf now, but not what he’s fighting for now. That’s up to the reader to decide, because we sure as hell aren’t getting a sequel to this game.

So that’s Metal Gear Rising. It’s a story of a gay little cyborg sovereign citizen who gives up on institutionalism after a series of grave injustices, and in doing so, opens himself up to the kind of people who will shift his politics from the left-wing fringes to the right. I’m not saying that horseshoe theory is real, but there is at least a one-way gradient for this kind of thing.

At least, this is my interpretation. You could also approach the game from a more series-focused perspective and argue that Armstrong is the latest in a line of idiots misinterpreting The Boss’s will. Sunny, Snake and Otacon’s adopted daughter, shows up in the final stretch of Revengeance, and you could point to her aerospace company as an example of how science will always be co-opted for war, and how she’ll be the fourth Emmerich to fall into this trap.

On the philosophy side, you could parse Metal Gear Rising as a series of dialectics, or actually read The Selfish Gene and go all-in on the memetic analysis. Or talk about how Raiden is literally thrown a trolley problem at the end of Chapter 2, or actually read The Stranger and go full absurdist on this game. The point is, you’ve got options.

But these are your essays to write, not mine. I’m looking forward to them, though! Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is quite the deep game for what it is. There’s a reason it’s stuck around in our collective memory for so long compared to other games of its era, and it’s not just because of the one-liners. Zandatsu literally translates to “cut and take”, and I think there’s a lot to take out of this game with every angle of dissection.  

[witchysethharper]

Seth had long hoped that Gotrik would never return to the castle after he’d left. Or, well, he supposed as a councilman still in power his return would be inevitable like all other councilmen around the world one way or another coming to Krovs for an extended business vacation. At the very least, he’d prayed the Danish councilman would have stayed far, far away until Seth finally felt it was time to truly leave and restart his life outside of this place with a healthy savings account and better control and knowledge over his magic. Or until their contract expired at the end of this year of which Seth had no intentions in renewing. 

The document had been a means for the young witch gaining some semblance of control in this “relationship” that Gotrik apparently so desired with him for reasons Seth still didn’t understand. He had zero interest in being some “classy girlfriend” that wore gowns and enjoyed the opera. That was the exact opposite of Seth’s style and taste in entertainment. And there was only so much he could do to fight against Gotrik and his demands until those reminders of how the giant ass vampire could and would kill Shade and send Seth himself back into the Undercroft as a slave to claim and truly make his own property stopped the witch in his tracks and he relented. 

Perhaps he could utilize his newest arrangement with another councilman to wiggle out of the one with Gotrik. He knew that Lucien was older and smarter and he had Raiden as a fledgling likely bonded as vampires did with their newborns, which in Seth’s mind translated as control over Raiden. Nobody fucked with Raiden, so by that logic, nobody should fuck with Lucien either. It totally made sense in his mind as he tapped out the message to Lucien on his phone, sure that he could cash in a second favor since the one the Frenchman asked of him gathering information on Cairo was long-term and ongoing. This would be fine. It would work. 

Text: Could we meet? I have something I need to ask of you. 

Text: My suite or yours for privacy? Or let me know if you prefer somewhere else. 

@drluciengaudet

[stigranselm]

Stigr made himself more comfortable on the couch, resting one hand against the arm rest as he lazily swirled his own drink around in the glass. Whether or not Nahim did keep everything to himself that they discussed wasn't something the older vampire was quite sure about yet, not knowing the man well enough just yet to ascertain how honest he truly was. After all, you didn't make it onto the council by being a very sincere person. "Really, most of the ones that currently reside here aren't too terrible. Most of what occurs when we're all together for meetings is just petty arguments." He shifted just slightly on the couch to face Nahim better, clearly amused as he talked. "I suppose the only one that I have any real grievance with that I would warn you against is Raiden. He's more beast than anything and I often times question why we ever allowed that to join our ranks. Though I'm sure you've already heard of him."

nahim shook his head as he wandered to the couch, settling comfortably into place as he rested an arm along the back of it and crossed an ankle over his knee. “no, of course not. whatever’s discussed between us will remain between us.” confidentiality wasn’t something nahim took lightly, even with something as simplistic as a review of some of their fellow councilmen. he watched stigr in muted interest as their glasses were filled and gracefully accepted the offering as it was presented, a nod of thanks following suit as stigr joined him. “i’m intrigued to see if our opinions differ regarding certain members,” nahim’s voice trailed off as he studied the wine within his glass, watching it keenly as he gently rolled his wrist to swirl its contents. “i have a feeling they may. but you’ve endured the sheer force of all their personalities far longer than i have– kudos to you for that.” he tilted his glass towards stigr with a smirk in a mock toast, righting it before a drop had a chance to spill and took a sip, an approving sigh leaving him as he swallowed. “don’t hold back. be as brutally honest as you’d like.”

[j-crawley]

faces

cont’d from here | @raidenproulx​

"The fuck would I be botherin with you if you couldn't." Raiden growled letting his other hand slip around the officers waist. "Ass is supposed to serve and protect and I'm lookin for a some service. You feel me." he grit yanking the lesser vampire, pulling him flush against Raiden.

“As dashing as you... I mean, that’s clearly a very different sort of service you’re after...” Being pulled against the other man was definitely a surprise, but there was no mistaking exactly what he was implying. 

“Do vampires do that for each other here?” he asked with a small smile, his eyes narrowing slightly as he raised his hands to press them against the taller man’s chest. Anything so that he could try to find a way to excuse himself.

[summerwritesfics]

🎧Song Inspired Shorts - Happy Halloween

Pairing & Characters: Raiden/Jax & Jax/Vera, Jacqui Briggs Length: 643 words Rating: Teen Content/Warnings: Polyamory (M/M & M/F), Trick or treating, Kid Jacqui being adorable, Fluff, Brief mention of a bunny girl costume Song: Happy Halloween - Raon Lee

Song Inspired Shorts Masterlist

だって Happy Halloween, 悪戯しちゃうぞ ding-dong-dang, あっちもこっちも trick or treat, キャンディーはくれないの？, だって Happy Halloween, 幼気なランタンパンプキン, 疲れたジャックも踊るよ　朝まで

“So what do you think?”

Raiden looked around from the window to see Jax in a waist coat and wearing a red lined cape that attached to the cuff's of his shirt. He couldn't tell from this far away, but he could have sworn Jax's canines looked sharper.

“What exactly are you meant to be?” Raiden questioned as the other man approached him. Closer he could see that he'd been right about Jax's teeth.

“What do you mean what am I?” Jax asked in an offended tone, bringing the cape around him. “I'm a vampire!”

“Oh, of course, it was so obvious,” Raiden rumbled in response. He'd met vampires, the native species of Vaeternus, and he'd never met any that dressed quite like that. He supposed he might have missed a trend somewhere.

“Anyway, never mind my costume, where's yours?” Jax asked, hands on hips and looking Raiden up and down.

“This is my costume,” Raiden spoke as he gestured to what was just his usual clothing. “I'm going as Lord Raiden, God of Thunder.”

“So let me get this straight, you're telling me you're going trick or treating as yourself?” Raiden nodded proudly, his plan to avoid wearing some ridiculous costume worked. “That's unfortunate. Having two Lord Raiden's might be a bit much.”

Before Raiden had the chance to ask what he meant by that, he heard the pitter patter of small feet rush into the room. One glance at little Jacqui explained everything.

“I'm Lord Raiden, god of thunder,” she cheerfully announced in her miniature replica of the god's outfit, down to the minuet details. Vera must have made it for her especially. Jacqui looked up at Raiden with a huge grin on her face, and it made Raiden's resolve falter slightly.

“She insisted on the outfit,” Jax said, elbowing him lightly. “So are we gonna have two Lord Raiden's or is one of you going to change?”

Raiden looked at him for a few seconds, oh Jax was wearing that stupid smile he'd get when he knew he'd won in one their battle of wits. Because Jax knew that Raiden wouldn't deny his (sort of) step-daughter something like this.

“Oh you are evil,” Raiden muttered, hating the triumphant look on Jax's face. “I assume since you have this all planned out, you already have a costume for me.”

“We absolutely do,” Vera sang from the doorway, dressed in a long black dress and floppy hat, holding a package of something in her hands. She threw the object at Raiden, and he caught it, looking at what he'd been given. It was a costume set that the packaging labelled as being a devil.

“I suppose it could have been worse,” Raiden spoke, trying to hide from his boyfriend and his boyfriend's wife the small smile on his face. It was a ridiculous outfit yes, and he knew Jax would have oh so much fun teasing him about it, but it really was quite modest.

“Yeah well, you're lucky she talked me out of getting you the bunny girl outfit,” Jax chuckled, Oh there it was, the teasing already started and he hadn't even put the thing on yet. “Anyway, better get it on quick before everyone else get's the good candy and we're left only with candy corn.” Jacqui gave a small horrified gasp at the mere thought.

Raiden rolled his eyes, he wasn't sure what this candy corn was but he was certain it wasn't the end of the world like Jax was trying to make it seem. Still he made his way past them, to go and try and get the costume on as quickly as possible. For Jacqui's sake obviously, and not because he wanted to.

Well, okay maybe he wanted to a little bit.

[raiden-dryad]

Driving through the Outskirts, Raiden had gone out intending to follow up on Logan’s suggestion to check out the other bars and clubs nearby. If anything, since the other man’s visit, Dryad had taken it personally about how he wanted to put a spin on the Crossroads. By ear, Underworld was supposed to be something. When he’d first heard the name, admittedly, he’d taken a double-take about whether he’d misheard because it was far too reflective of somewhere he knew a lot better. Because of that, Raid was making sure to keep the comparisons separate. God forbid being involved in another Underground. 

He pulled up behind the bricked building, it looked like nothing more than a factory buried amongst the night and Raid was a little impressed by its unimposing exterior. However, Dryad felt like he’d placed too much faith in his newfound vampire companion because he didn’t like surrounding himself too much with the supernatural at the best of times - he was in Edgewood because he was distancing from that chaos. So, with the knowledge that the Underworld had a somewhat supernatural persuasion, it unsettled him. But not completely, because you’re curious to see it, aren’t you? The sliver of something dangerous weaved its way from the back of his mind and told him that it was no excuse to lose control - no matter what was to happen inside or who dared provoke him. 

The outside worked perfectly to disguise the inner workings of the club; the moment Raiden had slipped his way past the bouncers in the entranceway, he was greeted by thumping dance music and blaring neon lights in all directions. Immediately, he realised, he was not going to be replacing the lowlights of Crossroads for anything else. If he didn’t get into any issues with any people, he’d likely start a war with the lighting. You’ve been to parties much like these when Harken’s dragged you there, you’ll get over it. Frowning, Dryad pushed all those memories away and headed to the bar, the long line of people queuing from each corner told him that he might be waiting a while. 

So he made sure to slip into the opening where two youngsters had moved away towards the dancefloor. “Whiskey, neat.” he called, raising his voice over the music vibrating through the floor. He could feel it reverberating up his legs and sighing, he lounged over the bar lazily, right before realising his arms were attached to some kind of sticky substance; a drink hadn’t been wiped from the bar counter. “Can I get a cloth too?” he asked, lifting his arms with a grimace and then turning around to survey the club. He was interested in establishing any threats first, then he could try and enjoy himself. 

@maxinebeauchamp​

[valeriebianchi]

Unexpected 24hr Aftermath -Valerie || Raiden

Valerie Bianchi was a shifter that changed the appearance of her face-something that would do her absolutely no good right now. What this female needed instead was to wake up from this very long horrible nightmare that she was having. Yes, that’s what needs to happen, she thought to herself.

Except none of this was a dream.

Valerie taking her friends shift at work. Val almost getting jumped outside of work. Raiden injuring a boy with a pebble. Raiden and Val getting in a car accident. Valerie offering her blood to a vampire, which she had only recently discovered that very evening. And finally, Raiden taking her home and feeding her his blood as well.

Could anyone blame the woman for wanting it all to be a dream? Not a dream, not a dream, not a dream, we’re the only words going around and around in her mind as Valerie followed Raiden’s orders. He had said he would answer any question she had if she just followed him to who knows where. And was Val dumb enough to follow? Well of course. The Bianchi woman wanted answers.

Except, when she followed Raiden on foot or by being held in a way that allowed him to carry and use his super speed to “clean up” his mess, Valerie couldn’t find any words much less sentences to form. Where would she start? How exactly was she supposed to ask the questions? Which question was most important anyway? Groaning as Val held her head in her hands, she couldn’t think straight. So instead, Val remained silent as they made their way to what appeared to be Raidens place.

For some odd reason, Valerie wasn’t afraid of walking into a strangers household-correction, a vampires household. But Val couldn’t understand why; something inside her simply told her that if the vampire wanted her dead-she’d be dead.

If Valerie was in her right mind, the woman’s eyes wouldn’t have been looking down for the majority of what seemed to be like a tour Raiden was giving. Her dark brown eyes would have wondered the halls, taken in the scenes around her with every little detail she could pick up. But, she wasn’t in her right mind. Instead, Val felt as if she were walking in a new body-healed body- and didn’t feel or sense the things around her. Whether Raiden next to her picked up on that, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was one minute both were standing by, who knows where in the house, and the next they were standing by what appeared to be in front of a guest room.

The Bianchi girl didn’t pay any attention to what the man said or the fact that he had walked away at some point. All Valerie did was stand in front of that room and stare at the guest bed.

Hearing a bird poke it’s beak against the window was what snapped Valerie out of her thoughtless trance and forced herself to try and gain control of her body. As she walked towards the window, her eyes caught her reflection of herself in a full length mirror inside the room. Feet frozen on the floor, Val saw her eyes trail down her body to her bloodied and shredded clothes. Fuck Valerie!

Her heart suddenly began to beat faster and the sound of it all was prominent in her ears. Well that’s a lot louder then usual, she thought and quickly turned to look at what the drawers had to offer her: nothing. There was nothing in these drawers. “Shit!” Her voice cursed and without thinking things through, her long legs made their way to the other room in Raiden’s place.

Whoa, what happened? Valerie wondered, frowning as she looked at where she was now standing in less then three seconds. The shifter knew she had slightly heighten skills but this was something new. A small smile began to form on Valerie’s lips before a giggle passed through and without a single knock, walked into Raiden’s room.

“So, I’m going to have to borrow some clothes. A shirt and shorts will be fine....but the shorts with like an elastic band around the waist? Stretchy joggers? Or are they called sweatpants? I mean, I call them both. Anyway, pants that are able to be tied around the waist you know? That way, they aren’t constantly falling down-not that I mind walking around with just a tshirt and undies on but, wait no. I do mind, since, well, it’s not like I know you-hey is that a painting you did? It’s actually really nice. Or was it a gift? It does look like it could also have been bought at the store? Either way...it’s really nice....”

The words would not stop as the shifter moved from the door and automatically in front of the painting she was speaking about. Valerie’s emotions were growing much more heightened as well as her curiosity. In addition, a more carefree wave was beginning to take over and there was no telling what Valerie was about to do or feel next. ( @raiden-dryad )

[shctteredillusions]

The Rebellion

In light of the fact that I won’t likely be able to write these events up, I’ve made a list of what will take place during the rebellion so that it’s known when the muse suddenly changes and why it happened.

Under read more for length

Ichirou will end up saving his sister Emi from near death by taking a blow intended for her instead. Because of this, he gets decapitated and though they manage to get his head back before he actually dies, he is left with a rather deep scar across his neck.

Emi, even after being saved by Ichirou that time, will end up dying at the hands of Rin (the wife of Akio, the current head of the clans), who happens to be a hybrid, half vampire and half lycanthrope. While typical Lycans don’t have the venomous bite while in their human form, her as a hybrid has that deadly bite even when not transformed and she bites Emi, injected her with the Lycan venom and killing her. It’s a quick death but excruciatingly painful. So Emi is now only a temporary muse until her death.

When Ichirou becomes human to be with his girlfriend and found family, with Emi already dead that leaves no one left of the first Nishimora line so the second line will become the first and since their first born, Kaito, is also already dead it will go to Hayate to become the next leader of the Nishimora clan. I will be writing up a bio for Hayate soon enough.

With the rebellion raging on, Ayame’s fiancé Mason will come to fear the win of the younger generation and believe his only way of keeping the deal with the clans intact is by taking Ayame and using her against them. He hires a bounty hunter to find her and snatch her away, using her friends Meg and Aspis as leverage to get her to listen and she waits for the right time to strike as Meg and Aspis search for her and ends up killing Mason so he can never threaten her friends again.

During a battle, Minami and Maiko are outnumbered and to save Minami, Maiko ends up dying in Minami’s arms and the emotional strain on Minami’s powers causes her to lose control and ends up killing the ones they were fighting. Due to this, Minami a period where it’s like she’s lost. Locking herself up within the library and away from everyone because Maiko was like a daughter to her.

Raiden almost dies during the rebellion and ends up with a scar very similar to Ichirou’s though the one who had caused it didn’t have the chance to finish so it only reaches across 3/4 of his neck before he hit the enemy with a deadly bolt of lightning. Kyoko loses not only her father but her sister Takara as well during the rebellion to add to the mother she lost all those years ago.

Yuka will get injected with diluted Lycan blood which is one of the only weaknesses the Purebloods have. Instead of causing a quick death, it weakens them drastically, makes them extremely ill with the possible effects of death if they aren’t strong enough to handle it and if they are, they can become human as the Lycan blood kills off the vampire gene. Because of this she also becomes human.

Haru who is hit with hallucination magic ends up believing that Yuka is an enemy attacking him and very nearly kills her while she is already mortal and severely ill. He remains with her until she finally gets better (the time for her to heal is anywhere from weeks to months) and then he disappears without a trace.

Asame and Shiori run off with Shiori’s boyfriend Ren and their friend Samir to hide out until the rebellion is over and try to set Shiori’s memories back the way they were before Ichirou was forced to change them to make her into the perfect housewife for Takahashi.

Asuga is placed in charge of finding Shiori and Asame and he ends up giving false and misleading information back to the clans to avoid their capture but Akio finds out about it and has Azuma kill him and, because she was supposed to meet up with Asuga to discuss what was happening, Asame bore witness to the entire thing but she knew she had no chance of fighting someone as strong as Azuma and knew that confronting him would only put the rest of her friends at risk so she did the only thing she could think of and instead ran and the guilt weighs heavily upon her.

Eriko receives some pretty bad scars on the right side of her body and ends up having to cut her hair after she ends up in a battle against her close friend Kagome from the Yamazaki clan who uses her deflection magic to send Kyoko’s flames back on them. Eriko shoves her brother Kensei out of the way and takes the full brunt of the flames.

Kensei, under the control of Ruka’s (Ichirou’s mother) mind control, turns on his own team and kills his younger brother Ryota. Eriko (before the attack on her with Kagome) manages to land a blow harsh enough to knock Kensei out of her control and they end up killing Ruka in return but because of the injuries Eriko received saving him and the death of his little brother at his own hands, Kensei ends up breaking down and it takes him a very long time before he can manage his duties once more but even then he’s not the man he was before.

[noctispostmortem-blog]

Akio, Himiko and Rin Minori

Muse Relation: Father of Kyoko and Raiden - Uncle to Haru, Takahashi and Yuka Age: 1472 Birthday: Exact birthday is unknown but he was born in the year 545 Children: (In order of birth) Kyoko, Mizuko, Azuma, Raiden, Katsu, Takara and Misaki Hair: Black, long and worn in a long ponytail Eyes: Lavender Height: 6′4 Orientation: Hetero Tag: Side Character; Akio

{Under a readmore for length}

Akio is the current clan leader for all the Pureblood vampires. He is the father of Kyoko and Raiden as well as uncle to Haru, Takahashi, and Yuka. He has seven children altogether, six with his deceased wife Himiko and one with his current wife Rin. He rules with a firm hand and is merciless when it comes to enforcing their laws. Nothing happens without his say. He is supposed to be succeeded in position by Kyoko though since she has run off, they have yet to decide if they will simply let the second born take the seat or press forward with tracking her down.

When Akio was still young, word spread of a vampire who had laid with a Lycan and had even had a child. This was a dangerous thing to do for not only did they not know what might come from a child born of these two species but they were currently battling a war with the Lycans since they were created simply for the extermination of all vampires. He was sent to investigate and having found this to be true, he was ordered to rule judgment on them by death. Akio killed the vampire and Lycan but when he had gotten to the child, he found himself unable to pull through and left her alive. This woman grew up to be his second wife Rin though he currently doesn't know it's her.

Rin, on a mission to avenge her parent's death, sought out a witch to hide her Lycan side, keeping only the vampire side at the forefront. With that accomplished, she made her way to the Minori manor and claimed herself as a Fullblood vampire (meaning a vampire born from two vampire parents without any noble blood) who had lost both her parents to the Lycans. She claimed that she had no other family and no place to go so the clans took her in and made her a servant to the manor. Slowly, over time she worked her way up until finally becoming a personal servant of Akio's.

This was when she made her move, it took time but eventually, she had been able to seduce Akio, (at this point he had taken over the seat for the clan's leader) becoming his mistress. Slowly, he began to develop feelings for her and when she was certain she had him completely, she murdered his wife Himiko in her library. Now that he was a widower, he was free for her to make her next move and only two months after his first wife's death, he had married Rin. It was right after this that Kyoko had run away. A few years later and she gave birth to his seventh child Misaki.

As time passed, Rin began the next part of her plan. She wants to slowly murder each and every one of Akio's children from his first wife, leaving only Misaki to take the seat before she finally takes out Akio himself and then destroys the clans from the inside out. As of right now, they are all still alive though she is actively seeking ways to get rid of them. The first target is Kyoko and the next in line for the seat. She plans on hiring a hunter/hitman to kill off the Pureblood.

Name: Himiko Minori  Muse Relation: Mother of Kyoko and Raiden - Aunt to Haru, Takahashi, and Yuka Age: 1281 Birthday: Exact birthday is unknown but she was born in the year 736 Children: (In order of birth) Kyoko, Mizuko, Azuma, Raiden, Katsu, and Takara Hair: Long vibrant blond hair worn straight and always down Eyes: Red Height: 5′6 Orientation: Hetero Tag: Side Character; Himiko

Himiko was always a very kindhearted woman who loved her husband and children dearly. She was always very close with Kyoko, in particular, they had these mom and daughter binge reading times where they would lock themselves in the library for days and only emerge after they had read enough books. It was a shame that she had died, even more so that Kyoko was the one who had found her body and subsequently lost control of her powers, burning down the entire library and her mothers body in the process.

Name: Rin Minori Muse Relation: Mother of Misaki - Stepmother to Raiden and Kyoko - Step Aunt (?) to Haru, Takahashi, and Yuka Age: 1398 Birthday: Exact birthday is unknown but she was born in the year 619 Children: (Stepmother of:) Kyoko , Mizuko, Azuma, Raiden, Katsu, and Takara (Mother of:) MIsaki Hair: Long black hair, usually worn in a tight bun or flat down. Eyes: Deep blue Height: 5′5 Orientation: Hetero Tag: Side Character; Rin

Rin comes off as a composed woman but there is always that feeling that something is off about her which is why it took her so long to raise up to get close enough to Akio. She is pretty good at pulling off the caring stepmother role when in front of those who she feels she needs to put the act on for but even Akio now knows that she doesn’t care much for his previous children and babies Misaki.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, May 20 - Monday, May 21

XANDER: So you just went home? BUFFY: What was I supposed to do? Say to Owen, 'Sorry I was late, I was sitting in a cemetery with the librarian waiting for a vampire to rise so I could prevent an evil prophecy from coming to pass?' XANDER: Or flat tire? BUFFY: I can't take this anymore. I feel like everyone is staring at me, the big, hideous, dateless monster. (to a passing student) What? Yeah, that's right, I have no life, c'mon, nothin' to see here, pal, move it along! XANDER: You're acting a little overly, aren't you? I mean, you could have any guy in school. BUFFY: He's not any guy. He's more... Oweny. XANDER: Sure, he's got a certain Owenosity, but that's not hard to find. I mean, a lotta guys read. I can read.

~~Never Kill a Boy on the First Date~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

A Product of Its Time (Angel, T, Stranger Things xover) by beer-good-foamy

3 Spuffy poems by thenewbuzwuzz

Wasted On The Young (Buffy/Giles, T) by quaggy

Dwell (Oz, Mr. Osbourne, Mrs. Ozbourne, G, MCU crossover) by tvashti

A Hundred Tiny Silver Deer (Buffy/Spike, T) by thenewbuzwuzz

I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Faith/Fred, E) by permanentfrown

A Work of Art (Darla, T) by aflawedfashion

Don't Get Caught Up (Buffy/Faith, E) by det395

Untitled (Buffy/Faith, T) by jenny-calendar

Demon Slayers (Buffy, T, Devil May Cry xover) by mangakamarie

[Chaptered Fiction]

Chapter Twenty Six of Divided Destiny (Buffy/Spike, M) by elisi

Second Chances: Season 7 Ch. 1/? (Ensemble, M) by chadmaako

Forward Without Seeing Chapter 82: Older and Far Away/The Waning Youth (2) (Buffy/Spike, M) by queen_insane

Of Magic and Lies Ch. 3 (Buffy/Oz, T) by JessAngelus

Wreckless Love Ch. 19 (Buffy/Angel, M, all-human) by Janis 70

The Poet and The Beast Ch. 1 (Xander/Spike, G) by LeBuggycas

The Road Back: Season Three Ch.19 (Ensemble, T) by xxmagex

Save the Last Dance for Me, Ch. 14 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Passion4Spike

Priorities Ch. 6 (Ensemble, T) by dogbertcarroll

Life Hard Ch. 39 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Soulburnt

Loose Ends, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, E) by All4Spike

To Heaven and Back, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, T) by Synefred

Heart Under Siege, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, all-human AU) by handwithquill

Hindsight, Chapter 47 and Chapter 48 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Toften

Thorn Within, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Axell

Buffy Noir, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, T) by zabjade

Scattered Echoes, Chapter 18 (Buffy/Spike, M) by myrabeth

Where Do We Go From Here, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, E) by holetoledo

CHOSEN Series: Season One - EPISODE EIGHT: A MOMENT IN THE DARK (Ensemble, T) by maylennafanfictionhq

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Another Becoming banner (Buffy/Spike) by double_dutchess

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Banner battle: Nix vs badsister

Banner Battle: Taake and Puppet

[Reviews & Recaps]

Giles: Girl Blue, Part Four [preview] by buffythecomicslayer

Buffy rewatch: Teacher's Pet (1.04) by elsalapizza

Buffy rewatch: Witch (1.03) by elsalapizza

Buffy rewatch: welcome to the hellmouth (pilot) by elsalapizza

Buffy rewatch: The Harvest (1.02) by elsalapizza

PODCAST: Buffy Virgin | S4 E1 The Freshman | Buffy The Vampire Slayer Review by Buffy Virgin Podcast

PODCAST: Episode #264: ‘Angel’ 5×15 and 5×16 – He’s Got a Big Perky Heart by Hypable

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PUBLICATION: TV Club: Buffy the Vampire Slayer S01E02, The Harvest by TV Club

PODCAST: If The Apocalypse Comes, Beep Me Season 2, episode 20 - “Go Fish.” by

[Community Announcements]

Banner Poll - Spring 2018 at seasonal-spuffy

Banner Poll - Spring 2018 by seasonal-spuffy

[Fandom Discussions]

Fic Rec: Ride a Pale Horse by sparrow2000

Problems with fanon about Faith’s age by dreamsofghostsandstars and torrilin

More on Faith’s age by dreamsofghostsandstars

Why do you think Laura/Carm being with each other while one's a human and the other's a vampire would work, but Buffy/Angel wouldn't? by sulietsexual

Revelation; Bangel forehead touches and kisses by gianelson

When Buffy dies does she remember her time with Angel when he was mortal? by jumporstayintheboat

One of my all-time favorite exchanges of dialogue between Buffy and Angel by xxromancegirlxx

Giles and Buffy’s relationship by themediocreseven

Angel losing his soul? by traumasurvivors

Were the monks working from false memories? by dreamsofghostsandstars

Willow and Xander by laufeysons

Teachers in BtVS by jobpm

It’s only now that I understand why the class protector award is an umbrella by ifyoulikepinacoladas31000

Fic Rec: Bowiebharata series by caijennichi

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Banner battle: Nix vs badsister

Should Kendra have stayed alive and turn her evil in season 3 and continued Faith storylines? by Benz

New watcher - one season only! by Athena

Romantic Angel? by nightshade

Should the Watcher's Council have been in this season? by slayer730

Vampires and their bling by EarthLogic

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New Buffyverse Comics: What Do You Want? byThe Ferg

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Aplus Where Is The 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' Cast Now?

PUBLICATION: CBR.com 15 Dark Secrets You Didn’t Know About Xander Harris

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