#tiny angry powerful magician

[aka-tua-braindump]

Klaus is me when I play D&D and now no one invites me to play anymore.

This was my character in my long campaign that's literally klaus+five

Their character development song list was:

1. Right now by one direction

2. Girl on fire by Alicia keys

3. Centuries by fall out boy

everything klaus does is so intricately and vitally intertwined with every single major plot point in the show and yet he is always on some bizarre side quest. simultaneously the most and least plot involved character.

[anarchy-and-piglins]

AU time!

Eragon AU!

Shades in Eragon are sorcerers who were overtaken by the spirits they tried to control. They aren't just a single person, but a legion of spirits trapped in an unfortunate victim's body. They crave violence and blood to fill the hole inside them. Canonically, they have red hair and red eyes. The only way to kill them is by stabbing them through the heart. They are masters of magic and monsterously strong. Cunning and intelligent, there is a reason only two people in history ever survived slaying a Shade.

They also lose all memory of their previous life.

Technoblade was a teenager when he was offered to study as a sorcerer. He had an aptitude for magic and a thirst for knowledge, so when a slightly sketchy person offered to train him, he took them up on the offer. He didn’t trust them, but he though he could use them to learn and then leave.

He didn't get a chance.

Shades can also be MADE. A team of magicians can force a person to be made into a Shade. And those with unethical curiousity see no reason not to experiment with that process. To try to understand the world while using the vulnerable as expermental material.

Technoblade couldn’t take on four trained sorcerers. He also had no training to prevent the invasion of spirits into his mind and soul. He only had his own willpower, his identity tossed about like a tiny stone in a rushing river, a torrent of rage and hatred and cruelty threatening to stamp out everything he was.

And in a way, it does. He doesn't remember who he was. He doesn't remember his name. But a part of him survives. Maybe that's why his hair doesn't turn red, but stays pink. Maybe that's why the spirits shriek for blood and violence, but cannot control his steps. Something inside him remained, his incredibly force of will not crushed by the machinations of the cruel.

Technoblade still slaughters them, though.

He knows he was someone, and he knows those sorcers took that from him. So he is all too willing to follow the screams in his ears and to tear the arrogant magicians apart.

But afterwards? What is he supposed to do?

The voices crave blood. They want him to carve a bloody swathe across all of Algaesia. But he doesn't want that. It won't fill the emptiness in his chest. He knows that.

So he wanders.

He hides his hair. Hides his eyes. Shades are feared for good reason, hunted by powerful individuals. He wanders and learns. He sees the sea. He sees the mountains. He gazes at the dwarven caverns. He visits the bustling cities. He secretly visits Urgal villages. He watches Dragons fly through the sky of Vroengard. He wants to wander the elvish forests of Du Weldenvarden-

But something was happening there. Even the spirits of violence seem perturbed by the waves of angry magic pouring from those trees.

Instead, he heads north.

Into the ice and snow, following tales of interest. There are apparently semi-volcanic patches if you know where to look. That must be an interesting sight.

He stumbles across a man in the snow.

The man is probably human? It's hard to tell. Human Dragonriders start to look slightly elvish after a time. That would certainly be more likely than a half-elf, but there is no dragon to be seen.

The voices want him to kill the man, but Technoblade disagrees.

Technoblade rescues the man, bringing him to a cave and stoking a fire. He warms the man's limbs, checks on his breathing, does what he can to resuscitate him.

The man survives. His name is Philza.

Philza was a dragonrider. Emphasis on the WAS. He had been assigned a task by the Dragonrider council and, in fulfilling his duty, his Dragon was slain. Not entirely, as the Dragon's eldunarí (Their heart of hearts, their soul) still existed. But Philza's dragon had no body.

Philza had worked for centuries on a spell that would give his dragon a physical form. It was tireless work with many setbacks. But after years and years of work, he had managed it. It would work. He was sure of it.

The Council forbid him to use it.

They said it was too dangerous. They said it was too wrong. That it shouldn't exist at all. The amount of energy it required would be astronomical.

Philza argued that Dragons do the impossible with magic all the time. That if his dragon could find the inspiration to cast the spell for themself, then energy cost would not even factor.

They still refused.

It became a heated discussion.

Then it became a fight.

Philza and his dragon lost.

The council was cruel. They decided that this was high treason and destroyed Philza's Dragon's eldunarí. Philza had to deal with his soul's bond, his dragon, his closest's friends presence be torn from his mind. It is the worst sensation a Dragonrider can go through. Even experiencing his Dragon's mortal death could not compare.

They then stripped Philza of even the memory of his Dragon's name and tossed him into the snowy tundra, condeming him to either die or lose his mind.

Technoblade listens to this story with sympathy, and with the voices screaming in his ear. Technoblade has dealt with a hole in his chest and a lack of purpose for ages now. Seeing Philza, who had a whole part of his soul and life's purpose ripped from him, he feels a kinship. And he gives Philza his advice.

"Those who treat me with kindness, I will repay that kindness tenfold.

And those that treat with injustice, that use me, that hunt me down, that hurt my friends, I shall repay that injustice a thousand times over."

The two of them plot, in that little cave in the northern snow. They plot for a new world. A world where none can tell them who they should be, how they should act. They plot to destroy the systems that could create such broken people as them.

They plot their own empire, a downfall to the Riders who have corrupted the land.

Anyway, Philza as a better Galbatorix and Techno as a better Durza. They aren't going to lose to the power of friendship and love because they have that in spades.

I'm keeping like 5 of these amazing Lenn AU asks hostage in my inbox at this point so I suppose I better start posting them kekw

I should say I know nothing about Eragon but this is very fun <3 Even if my lack of knowledge about the source material means I have no idea what happens next. The Shade lore is really cool :D

[lucyav13]

Dimentio

A more deep investigation about this emblematic character.

His name is a pun on "dementia" and "dimension". Like Mario and Mimi, he can flip between dimensions, but he can also manipulate them (an ability he shares with Merloo).

A theory says that the surviving son of the pixl inventor is his ancestor.

In the english version, Tippi seems to inmediatly recognize Dimentio upon encountering first. However, in the original Japanese script, her reaction is more ambiguous, afirmaning that Dimentio is one of the Count's minions.

Dimentio originally intended for Dimension D to multiply his power by 256. Upon winning the battle against him, the player character claims that the dimension made them more powerful as well, leaving everyone's stats unchanged relative to each other. This may be a homage to 8-bit storage capacity: 8-bit integers have 256 possible values, so adding 256 (although not multiplying by it) will overflow the integer and result in no net change.

 The void is absent from the background of this dimension.

According to Carson, Dimentio approached the Count on his own, wishing to join him. While he was turned down once, he was hired after Bleck read about someone having a similar role in the Dark Prognosticus...

My theory: Dimentio is impure. But not the son of Blumiere or Timapni. The tribe of darkness knew the power and monstrosity of the impures thanks to him. As the tribe saw how dangerous it was and the consequences it would bring, he was left forgotten along with his parents. Maybe that's why he's an impure. For this reason, Timpani, in one of his many visits, was able to see him and his family being thrown out of the tribe. Since he has floating hands and teleportation powers, just like the Count Bleck.

But his mask doesn't let us see how he really is...

Aditional information:

Catch Card: 195

HP Max: 80

Attack: 4

Defense:

Score: 8000

Card Description: Dimentio is Count Bleck's dimension-bending mercenary. The question is, do psycho jesters get good benefits?

Tattle: That's Dimentio... A magician who works for Count Bleck... He's like an evil clown... He'll use many magic tricks, including making doubles of himself... It's hard to get a read on this suspicious character...

Quotes:

"And so I arrive, like a sudden windstorm at a kindergarten picnic!"

"Ah ha ha. Finally, you arrive!"

"Yes, yes, no one likes the icky stuff... Yessss... A perfect world... Sounds magical!..."

"It would be so very DULL if your journey ended so easily... Instead, it ends with...magic!"

"It is truly enchanting to finally meet my hapless victims."

"You must be Bowser. I knew the moment I saw the flailing nubbins you call arms."

"Well met, lady. Your beauty is as refreshing as a slap to the face on a crisp winter day!"

"At last, the hero... I know of you from the festival of hair that dances upon your lip!"

"Now we must duel, like two gleaming banjos on a moonlit stoop!"

"Can you pierce this...illusion?"

"Your blows are like miniature jackhammers wielded by tiny, angry road workers!"

"The next time we meet, you will feast on a deadly eight-course meal!"

"I am not violent by nature, you know. I'd prefer to settle this peacefully, in fact."

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Again, for dramatic effect! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA."

"You've proven to be worthy foes in the past, so I'm not going to make it easy."

"I'm saying that you no longer have value to me, so I'm ending your games."

"And so I strike, like an unseen dodgeball at an echoing gymnasium!"

"Ciao!"

The above text is from the Super Mario Wiki and is available under a Creative Commons license. Attribution must be provided through a list of authors or a link back to the original article. Source: https://www.mariowiki.com/Dimentio

(A:N) If you want to share any theory that you have had, let me know in the comments and I will rate your theory in a part of this book. Bye!

[alyjojo]

May 🏋🏻 2024 Monthly - Cancer

Preshuffle: I’m hearing “what you want, wants you,” though you’ve either been blocked away from attaining this before - or you will be currently. It seems to be regarding a relationship, something passionate and exciting. If the actions aren’t being taken, you’re definitely receiving encouraging news.

Meditation: You were a spider 🕷️ expertly crafting a spiderweb 🕸️ in the shape of a heart. You added many layers to the heart shape, to make it obvious, and when the outside was done, you filled the center of the heart with tiny, delicate little webs, so as not to distract from the message itself - the heart 💜 There’s a lot of detail going into something you love this month.

Main energy: The Magician

You seem to be transmuting some kind of pain you’ve been in, whether an illness or injury, of any kind. It’s kept you solitary, or could be someone else - someone you’ve been seeing has had the flu for a week or something and you’re dyingggg to see them. Feels like you though. A necessary break period has occurred for you, and rather than feeling a way about it for too long, you’re using this time to really motivate yourself to create the circumstances, relationships, whatever thing you want to create. Excellent manifesting energy this month. I started hearing Ariana Grande with that last one, I’ll add it at the end. Whale shows music is essential for you right now, let it be another song to motivate the way you create the life of your dreams, you have every tool in your possession to do so ✨

What’s going on in May:

King of Cups:

You and a romantic interest could’ve parted ways temporarily - yes, I’m getting it’s temporary. You’ve been angry & impatient over all of this, angry this person may have literally left your presence, in order to “get some air”. Maybe quite a bit of air. I get the intention always being to come back around, they’re just trying to emotionally detach a bit, and hope you do too. Clear-cut communication is needed in this connection, and I do see you have deep love for them. Underneath all of the aggravation & impatience that is. For some, your person could be “separated” because of other things. Work, illness, family camping trip, it could be any reason. But you’ve been alone, and none too happy about it either 💯 If you’re single, you’ve about had enough of this alone bs - and manifesting the perfect opportunity for love & romance could be what you’re creating here. The Magician being a Gemini card could signal the tail end of May being a good time to put your manifesting powers to good use. Or they could be one 🤷🏾‍♀️

The Hermit:

You’ve spent a lot of time alone, or will be (forced), looking inside of yourself for the answers to the questions that eat you alive. Ruminating over past relationships possibly, this person you’ve recently separated from, if that applies. Or not separated from, they show up as your divine counterpart - King & Queen of Pentacles. For someone, an ex may have moved on to a divine counterpart, and they’re still heavy on your mind - but for most I get this is you & your current person. They’re away, or you are, but they’re on your mind constantly. How you met, the last thing you did, memories on social media, things that make you think of that one time you two did - whatever you did. If single, you’re longing for your soulmate, the real thing. Pentacles does not bother with casual connections, they seek to build a lasting foundation or it’s a waste of their time. If that’s not what you have, it’s what you want. Consider this alone time a blessing, rather than being so frustrated about it - it’s brought you clear understanding of what you want, so that once you’re feeling magical again (now/soon), you’ll manage to create this for yourself. And make it look easy 💅🏽

2 Wands:

You plan to heal a connection moving forward, there may have been some emotional displays shown that you’re not the most proud of, tears and some dramatics. Either causing the separation or during it, maybe your person is in another city and they don’t respond for a whole day, you could’ve gotten upset and acted as such. If single, you’ve had a break from this for awhile and you’re ready to move forward now - having healed from whatever happened in the past, you now have high hopes and an optimistic outlook for your future - The Star at the bottom. You might feel you’re moving towards a calling, a soulmate, something that’s *meant* for you.

Knight of Swords:

Whatever has been going on internally will be made public knowledge, whether a romantic interest, friend, you’re talking to someone who has the power to help this dream come true, whatever it is. Or just bringing it to light, you know there’s no sense in keeping quiet about it. You want this, you feel that is your path (Star at the bottom again), and this Knight takes quick action to jump on an opportunity or communicate/call an authority of sorts that can help you do this. If you’re single, this can be a dating profile where you highlight your best traits and what you desire in a person, making it clear for anyone interested. You could also be opening the channels of communication with your person, letting them know exactly what it is you want - it’s happiness so idk why they’d have a problem with that. Or that *they* make you happy. Some of you could receive news that comes with action, the go ahead, “I’ll be there in five” type of energy, and it makes you very happy,

Justice:

The scales are balanced ⚖️ A fair decision will be made, necessary actions will be taken, and this is exactly the outcome you’ve been hoping for: manifesting a wish come true. There is new love, new passion - either with someone you’ve been on the outs with, or someone brand new. Whether love related (most) or otherwise, whatever you’re manifesting into your world is turning out beautifully. Love & passion/inspiration. Probably come Gemini season, which is the 24-25th - since it’s at the end of the reading. By then you’ll know exactly what you want, and then reach out & grab it (or chase it down 😆, I heard).

Signs you may be dealing with:

Heavy Earth 🌹 Virgo, Gemini, Libra

Oracle: ✨

Coach 🧑‍🏫

Advice - Obedience - Knowledge

Perseverance 🏃‍♂️

Challenge - Endurement - Resolution

Humpback Whale 🐋

“Music is essential to your healing and well-being, whether singing, playing an instrument, or listening.”

In order to diagnose their patients, one of the questions that shamans often asked was when the patient stopped singing. If it had been quite some time, the shaman was certain to recommend singing (among other remedies) as an essential aspect of recovery. All that’s involved when you sing - the fullness and rhythm of your breathing, the soulful and creative expression of your spirit - serves to enhance your health and raise your vibrations. Similarly, playing an instrument can touch on those inner creative depths that yearn to be expressed. Simply listening to your favorite tunes or melodies can inspire & heal. Let the magical child inside help you rediscover the joy of creating music. It’s time to play!

We enter into May as:

Ivory Tower 👨‍🎨 :

“They won’t use me.”

Ivory Tower reflects the way we function in a world with values that are different from our own. While we might not fit into the world as it is, we are aware of it and accept the differences, for those differences also benefit us on some level. If you are considering moving away from “the norm” you will not be unhappy. Like the artist that chooses to express himself with paint, you too must express yourself, even if it means “they” won’t use you. Rejection is Spirit’s way of protecting us. Whether or not you are accepted, you must do it anyway. This card can also represent a teacher or mentor being sent to you by Spirit, they may not be who you would’ve thought, or even picked, but they will teach you a lot. Hold your judgement.

What is to be learned in May:

Royal Purple Brick 🧱

“She resists what she clings to.”

The fear of stepping out, of being abused, has grown so great that you no longer need a wall of fear to prevent you from living - a simple brick will do. Which of course symbolizes that what frightens you is much smaller than you imagine. What we resist, we cannot heal. Royal Purple Brick appears when we are resisting something, and may indicate a loss of faith. This is a sign of fear holding you back in some way and preventing you from moving forward. If you are experiencing pain, holding on tighter will only worsen the situation. Fear may also indicate you’re trying to save yourself from a path that will not serve you! Are you following your true passion? Is it divinely guided?

This can also indicate presently using your energy in a self-defeating way. Use your courage to let go of control and allow Spirit to come in and heal you. The promise of Royal Purple Brick is freedom after surrender. In letting go you may feel some discomfort, but you’ll also allow healing in. The fear of something is always greater than the actual event. This time period will be a life changing experience for you. Accept mystery. Release the brick and be free.

Purple may be a lucky color 💜

[fuckyeahladybug]

When people in Paris, France are angry, sad, or experiencing any kind of strong negative emotion, those around them need to BEWARE! There is an Evil Butterfly Man, and he uses those emotions to turn people into supervillains. (Show terms: akuma, akumatized, akuma attack)

Akumas have some ability to resist Evil Butterfly Man, but only if they’re able to summon enough willpower and/or calm down. Evil Butterfly Man has some measure of control over the Akumas and the powers they get, but it isn’t absolute. Once* he akumatized a baby by accident, for example, and it mostly just wanted to find and eat a lollipop.

What does Evil Butterfly Man want? By day, he’s Gabriel Agreste, famous fashion designer and head of a company that produces such varied products as cologne, smart rings with holographic screens, and haute couture. From the underground garden beneath** his manor, Gabriel operates as Evil Butterfly Man, an emotion-powered supervillain on a quest to awaken his comatose*** wife by stealing magic jewelry.

Magic jewelry! The miraculous are a collection of magic jewels inhabited by tiny godlike beings**** called kwamis, who embody fundamental concepts within the universe. There are dozens of them, but only four of them are relevant to this explanation.

When a human being wears a piece of this magic jewelry and uses a transformation phrase, they can access a somewhat-weakened, controlled version of the relevant kwami’s power. This also gives them a superhero costume and the classic agility/durability upgrades common to magical girl shows. It is possible to use multiple miraculous at the same time, but it is an incredible strain on the user’s body and mind.

Evil Butterfly Man has the Butterfly Miraculous, naturally. At the start of the show, he also has access to the Peacock Miraculous, which was badly damaged but gives the wielder the power to create and control constructs (called sentimonsters) based on their emotions. Using a broken miraculous is very dangerous and can make the user very sick.

Our heroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir, have the two miraculouses that Evil Butterfly Man is trying to steal. If the same person wears both the Ladybug Miraculous, which represents creation, and the Black Cat Miraculous, which represents destruction, they will be able to make one powerful, dangerous, universe-rewriting wish. Evil Butterfly Man wants to wish to revive his wife.

Ladybug is secretly Marinette Dupain-Cheng, an aspiring fashion designer and the daughter of two bakers. Marinette is in love with Adrien Agreste. Chat Noir is secretly Adrien Agreste, a fashion model and the son of Evil Butterfly Man and his comatose wife. Adrien is in love with Ladybug. Marinette and Adrien do not know each other’s identities.

Evil Butterfly Man’s wife, Adrien’s mom, is in a coma*** because she used the broken Peacock Miraculous. She used it to create Adrien. Adrien is a sentimonster. Adrien’s cousin and ex-girlfriend are also sentimonsters.

This is the tip of the lore-iceberg and doesn’t cover most developments in later seasons.

Footnotes under the cut.

*Then he kept akumatizing the baby, seemingly on purpose, even though the baby’s power is to be a building-sized baby and that’s never been particularly helpful to Evil Butterfly Man’s cause.

**The actual position of the garden is subject to some debate. Gabriel takes an elevator down to reach it, and it seems to take long enough that he ought to be underground. But there is also a stained glass window that gets seemingly-natural light and, when open, overlooks the city. This window doesn’t seem to be visible from outside the building.

***It’s not fully clear whether Emilie Agreste is dead or in a coma. Gabriel keeps her in a glass coffin in his underground (see above) garden.

****The kwamis are only able to be visible on the material plane and interact with humans because of their connection to the magic jewels, which were created by ancient human magicians and have been guarded by secret orders of monks ever since. They take on tiny, cute forms as part of that connection, but those aren’t their true forms. They are able to fly and become intangible, and cannot be picked up by cameras.

THE PICTURE OF ADRIEN AS A CHILD IN THE MIRACULOUS LADYBUG MOVIE IS TRACED FROM A BOSS BABY RENDER OF TIM IVE KNOWN THIS FOR MONTHS

[chiefsawyer]

Full Name: Elaine Jean Sawyer

Nickname(s): Laine, Lainey, EJ, Baby bird/Bird

DOB: July 24th

Female; she/her; straight?

Height: 5'4’’

Hair color: Red

Eye color: Blue

Tattoos: None

Piercings: Ears; two on each of her lobes

Language(s): English, a moderate amount of Spanish, some French, and fluent in ASL

Occupation: Chief of Staff at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital ( formerly a General Surgeon who found a love for business and evil )

Relationship Status: Married to Donovan Lewis

Summary:

tw: death, mental illness ( schizophrenia mention ) manipulation 

- Elaine grew up a sweet little redhead and then some things went down with her mom, who struggled with paranoid schizophrenia. When her mom had a bit of a break and scooped Elaine out of bed in the middle of the night, convinced that Elaine's father and brothers were conspiring against Elaine and her mother, and that they weren't safe at home and needed to get far away and proceeded to drive Elaine across the country. Elaine ofc was down for the roadtrip with her mom, her bestie. After a few weeks of Elaine and her mother being reported missing, when they were found by police, her father had her mother admitted to a full time care facility and Elaine's lack of understanding the entire situation made her real angry at her dad ( she uses her mom's maiden name as her last name, Sawyer, and has since the incident when she was 6 ). Given that she was the youngest of 5 kids and the gap between her and her next sibling was 10 years, her now single dad ended up dragging her all around with him and she went to too many poker nights with him so between her tiny child rage over missing her mom and not understanding anything except for the poker games, blossomed a love for learning how to be deceitful, perceptive, and berry toxic. She was ( and still is ) very good at such might we add.

- She kept being toxic through life and would basically just get close with her dads friends/her teachers/mentors through college/medschool and then hold those relationships/interactions/boinking against them ( BUT she did meet Donovan during her internship and he was the first person in power who gave her enough respect to build a fun/wink wink/goofy friendship with and really never abused his power against her shoutout Don ) to get ahead and then eventually married one of those mentors bc he was kinda chill but then he passed away due to a small medical issue that escalated and his death DEFINITELY was not manipulated/caused by Elaine ( shhhh ) but he left her lots of money and his kids, her stepchildren, are literally her age and they’re pretty chill so probably felt at least a little bad tampering with his life/playing god but it’s fine bc she took his job and was HBIC in her department for a minute. After her husband passed away, she also reconnected with Donovan for a money-related deal and they were married for one year in order to help Don get inheritance money and they split the fat check but after a year she felt obligated to absolutely bounce back to work focused crazy bitch.

- Miss ma’am ended up getting pretty bored so she continued being toxic and making friends/getting close with people and learning things about them to get ahead ( she really boinked her way up to the top ok ) and would subtly threaten/blackmail those people to get ahead and boy did she and then she met another husband and he was really cool but he had a big bad air about him and she WAS NOT here to be arm candy so she was like time for my biggest magician act yet and through some connections knew about SGMW and had some dirt on the chief there ( an NPC for the sake of writing ) and basically hopped on a redeye and threatened the chief with some dirt. Her husband found out about the threatening, he was friends with the chief, and was like ma’am if you do this I’m leaving you no cap and Elaine was like bestie the divorce papers are on the kitchen counter checkmate my brother and she also had boatloads of dirt against husband and wrote up a heinous divorce contract with her lawyer that screwed him so bad so she got lots of money in the divorce too hehehe

- Anyways chief was like mkay you win and basically stepped down for ‘personal reasons’ and she was their first pick ( duh ) for replacement and she nailed her interview because even though she doesn’t play fair, she does a good job at what she does career-wise and now she’s here vibing and kind of relaxing because being toxic is tiring I guess? She’s a pretty chill lady but kinda rude/doesn’t let people get very close to her because over her dead body would you get dirt on her. But she’ll take all the gossip and secrets and loves playing therapist for her own gain honestly and that is all 

[jaydonsjam]

Defenders IV

Defenders #12

Defenders #12 written by Len Wein | pencilled by Sal Buscema | inked by Jack Abel

We start off with the return of Xemnu the Titan ruining a perfect Hulk moment in nature. I gotta say that Hulk in this book is growing on me. As I’ve said in the past, Hulk is not a character I really care much about. I love how childlike he can be and he just has so many great moments of funny dialogue especially in relation to dumb magician or Doctor Strange as everyone else knows him. Xemnu here is way more powerful than before being able to control inanimate objects instead of just living beings. I liked the development of Hulk finally considering Dr. Strange a friend along with Val. That was a great moment. The fight between the Defenders and Xemnu was okay. You can tell that he’s a very powerful villain and it’s a balancing act with trying to make him not too strong. I liked the ending where Hulk is so angry that he just throws Xemnu’s rocket ship at him, killing him? Maybe? I’m still waiting for the breakout arc for Xemnu. So far he’s been a little forgettable. Funny moments with Hulk and a great development at the end with the team made this an enjoyable read.

Giant-Size Defenders #1

Giant-Size Defenders #1 written by Tony Isabella, Bill Everett and Dennis O’Neil | pencilled by Jim Starlin, Jack Kirby, Bill Everett and Steve Ditko | inked by Al Milgrom and Dick Ayers

This was mostly a reprint which kinda made me a little sad. Clea (who continues to be one of my favorite characters) accidentally does a spell where she sends Namor, Hulk and Doctor Strange back in time to relive events so that she can help Valkyrie get a different look at the other Defenders. I should add that Clea doesn’t know she’s actually forcing the Defenders to be sent back in time to relive past events. She just thinks it’s a recap for Val. There’s some great trippy Doctor Strange art when they are stuck in between dimensions and time. Besides Val ending the issue having a better hold on her idea of the other three Defenders there’s not much that happens here. Unless you haven’t read these old reprinted stories.

Defenders #13-14

Defenders #13-14 written by Len Wein and pencilled by Sal Buscema #13 inked by Klaus Janson #14 inked by Dan Green

This story arc was great! I loved seeing the Squadron Sinister and Nebulon was a really interesting cosmic villain.

I didn’t see the true form of Nebulon being what it turned out to be. That was cool. The Squadron Sinister from Hyperion, Whizzer, Doctor Spectrum to Nighthawk were all cool and had unique personalities and powers with the obvious counterparts to Justice League being Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and Batman, respectively.

Hyperion looks rough and I hated his design here. The costume keeps that look into the modern age with some color changes but the problem here is his god-awful hair. Nighthawk is the member who betrays the other members to tell the Defenders about their plan to flood the Earth. His design was also terrible, he literally has a tiny beak covering his nose and I just couldn’t take him seriously so I’m glad that his costume was trashed at the end and he’s going to get a new one soon.

Then Namor leaves the Defenders cause they got him to join against his will and Nighthawk becomes his replacement! I was excited to see them accept him as a member because he’s a new character for me to experience and learn more about! By the way, my previous reading of Squadron is from the recentish Heroes Reborn event from a year or two ago. I loved the fight between the Defenders and the Squadron and it was cool to see a Hulk and “Superman” fight. Doctor Spectrum remains my favorite member of the Squadron and that’s probably because GL is one of my favorite comic book characters of all time. He has the best costume out of all of the Squadron and I really want more of him. Yeah this was a high point to end my reading of Defenders on and I’m really interested to see what’s up with Nighthawk cause he gives the readers a look like he might have something up his sleeve and might still be a villain. Great art and writing here. This was really fun! Next up is some more Brother Voodoo! Thanks for reading my moronic thoughts!

[greydoesthearts]

Wrote a snippet about this too lol

,

The sound of scissors and marker on cardboard were crisp and scratchy in different ways, but both satisfying nonetheless. Especially as the kids began to see how their crafts were coming together.

Sunday scribbled in the last bit of their golden bear mask, while Marvin cut the tiny ears of his cat out; just because they hadn't been gifted their masks yet, that wouldn't stop them both from a little bit of pretend.

"Check it out!" Sunday said as they tied the last knot of the string so the mask stayed on their face. It got hidden away in the back of their coily hair, anyway.

Marvin pulled his tongue back into his mouth as he carefully finished gluing the last detail to his cardboard necklace, then looked up and nodded excitedly at Sunday's mask. "It looks awesome, Sunny!"

He quickly tied a string to his as well so that he could wear it around his neck, as one does, and then adorned it proudly, holding it in his hand. His smile soon fell. "I wish it could actually work."

Sunday sat against the frame of their bed. "Oy, we'll have real ones some day, mate. You're bound to be a hugely powerful magician, right!?"

"Yeah, you're right."

Marvin grinned again and dusted some of the cardboard shavings off of Sunday's blanket so they'd land on the carpet haphazardly and it caused Sunday to jump to their knees in a scramble to pick it all up.

"Marv! My dad said not to make a mess, remember?! Come on!" They weren't angry, but they pouted anyway, before gaining an idea as Marvin continued to be a nuisance.

"Hey, Marv, think fast," they said.

The small boy wasn't fast enough, helpless as Sunday yanked their blanket off the bed and Marvin came toppling down in it.

While on his stomach, tangled and struggling in the confines, Sunday reached and took his brand new cardboard necklace off. Marvin gasped in shock as he finally got free, but Sunday placed a hand on top of his head and held it out of reach.

"Hah! Take that!"

Marvin's forehead thunked against the floor in laughter.

,

@glass-trash-bab

Sleepover 🥺🥺🥺

Baby Sunspell :3

Tags: @glass-trash-bab @the3rddenialist @kalcifers-blog

[pillow-anime-talk]

genshin month ; twenty-second day.

synopsis: While walking with your little son, you were attacked by dangerous creatures. Fortunately, a dark-haired man walking nearby and saved the two of you from danger very quickly. So... how should you thank him?

# tags: scenario; strangers/lovers?; single mom!au; drama; mild romance; also soft fluff; daddy zhongli, uwu; sfw

includes: female reader ft. zhongli {genshin impact}

author’s note: i love him, guys...

It was a warm summer evening, a Friday to be exact; you were coming back with your four-year-old son from his grandmother and grandfather (by the way, they were your parents), all the time holding his tiny hand and talking to him about what you both should do the next day. Your little boy offered to eat a sorbet, so you couldn’t refuse, especially since you also loved such cold, fruity desserts.

Unluckily, halfway to Qingce Village – it means, the place where you lived for many years – you heard a odd growl and the sound of a loud stomping on hard ground. You looked uncertainly from your beloved child to the source of the noise, and your pretty eyes widened much more than necessary at the sight of the five hilichurls running towards you. They weren’t the smartest creatures, but their mere presence and willingness to fight were enough to scare you. In addition, the fact that your son was next to you made logical thinking difficult, and even the desire to stand on straight legs. You were terrified and angry; terrified that they might hurt you and your little one, and angry that you refused to stay overnight in your parents’ cottage, and it turned out to be a huge, really huge mistake.

“... Honey, it’s getting darker, isn’t it? Mom will pick you up now and we’ll run to our home, okay? We can’t be late for dinner after all.” You smiled cutely, and the baby, as if not guessing the threat, nodded slightly to you and giggling charmingly. “Let’s go quick then.” As soon as the smol toddler landed in your safe arms, you kissed his warm forehead and sprinted forward. You were really happy that you didn’t have luggage or other valuable and heavy things with you that would hinder your escape, but... even that wasn’t enough.

You were an ordinary, fragile woman who never held a sword, bow or shield in her hand. That’s why your son, though still young, seemed really heavy to you. For a moment you even laughed in your mind at the thought that recently he had really grown up and turned into a big, brave boy.

“Mommy... we don’t... we don’t have to hurry. Y-You’re tired, aren’t you?” A soft voice reached your ears and you shook your head. Even though your breathing was exhausted, you knew you couldn’t stress your young one.

“I-It’s alright, sweetheart! But how about if we play a little game? Whoever shouts ‘Help!’ louder towards the sky will win an extra portion of sorbet tomorrow! Sounds good, h-huh?” The kid was still unaware and indescribably happy at the same time, so your joint scream spread among the rocks, trees and lush flora.

You felt more and more weary as you ran, and your arms and legs ached a lot, but at one point you stopped because of a powerful ‘bang!’ that happened not far behind you. You looked back fastly, your child too, and you both saw a yellowish rock approaching and also a unknown man a few yards from the point of hit. Interestingly, a short second later it turned out that all five beasts were gone, and the tall stranger turned slowly in your direction, smiling gently.

“All right?”

“Mommy, mommy! This gentleman is a magician!” Your baby jumped on your hip and after a while you put your toddler down on the ground, breathing deeply. Obviously, the little boy ran towards the man, grabbing his hot, large hand. “It was so... w-woah!”

You chuckled shyly at the kid’s happy voice, then walked over to your (handsome) savior to thank him personally. He accepted your words humbly by shaking his head.

“I’m glad I could help. It’s the duty of every human being to save those in need. Hmmm... Maybe I’ll escort you to a safe place?”

“Ah, I will be grateful. As a thank you, would you like to have supper with us?”

“My name is Zhongli and I would be honored. But... won’t your husband mind?” He asked uncertainly, and you just smiled sadly.

“I have been without a partner for five years, so don’t worry about anything. And ah, and nice to meet you, thanks again for that... I’m Y/N, and that little rascal over here is Shun.”

“Yaaay! It’s so, so cool that you will eat with us! Nobody cooks as well as my mommy does, I swear!” The lil boy took your hand and pulled you towards the Qingce, bouncing happily. “Come on, mommy!” Unfortunately, you stumbled a bit because of the sudden pace. The tall fair-eyed luckily grabbed your sensitive body around the waist and helped you stand straight by touching innocently your smooth fingers.

Your four-year-old, as a typical child, was still unaware of what had happened; neither that you were being chased by hilichurls, nor that a dark-haired man killed them all with something amazing and indescribable, or even that three of you looked like a real family at that moment, which you never had in such a form, because after all, your former partner, when he heard about your pregnancy, left you and Shun totally alone. Of course, the elderly people from the whole village were very happy to help you two, but despite that, you often felt lonely and incomplete.

Now, however, seeing this tender but manly smile, and also feeling an unimaginable sense of security right next to your figure, you could say it was worth waiting so many long years for such a moment.

“... Certainly your mom is a great cook. After all, such delicate hands can only create wonderful things.” He admitted calmly, stroking your son’s head, and you blushed furiously as you looked away quickly. “Let’s go. This conversation make me really hungry.” You still felt the light touch of his thumb against your skin, but you didn’t feel bad about it, quite the opposite.

Right, right. This evening didn’t start well, but it will end up perfectly; of that one thing you were definitely sure of, and you happily took his smooth hand more correctly as you continued, now peaceful walk.

previous day ; venti ♡ next day ; chongyun

[alotsgonnachange]

Tilly Bio:

Name: Tilly (Mathilde) Larue

DOB: Jan 16th birthday/Capricorn

Gender: cisgender female

Pronouns: She/Her

Height: 5’11

Favorite Food: Black coffee, lentil soup

Magical specialties: Eclectic Witch/Psychic

Familiar: a white ferret named Elle

MBTI: INTP-A

Patron Arcana: Temperance

Ethnicity: A large urban area somewhere more northwest of Vesuvia - Think England

Family - Two mothers and an older sister named Topaz

Occupation: Court Magician

Love Interest: Muriel

Personality:

Mathilde is a gentle and thoughtful magician. Though she comes off as soft spoken and withdrawn, She is naturally curious and intuitive. She carries herself in a dreamlike/contemplative manner and does not really care about how she is perceived by others. With her friends, she is often comforting and has a good sense of humor. Has an affinity for nature and animals and would always rather be outside. She has a tendency to be naive or unrealistic and loses hold on her emotions in tough situations (ie. cries if she’s angry). She often feels misunderstood by those around her.

Magic Overview

Tilly was trained from a young age by two talented witch mothers and matriculated at a prestigious school for young magic users, so her knowledge and ability is vast. Divination is what comes naturally to her. Though she doesn’t always rely only on one method, she is often looking for signs in nature and her environment for a certain outcome. She doesn’t often extend this ability to others, but when she does it will usually come in the form of words/whispers that she hears in her head, or visions.

Height and Appearance:

Tilly is the tallest (5’11) - She has dark skin and long dark blue hair . Her eyes are sky blue. She is small chested but hourglass figured. She appears well manicured and made up most of the time and often wears painted nails, and bejeweled hair. Her legs are very long. She can alter her hair if she wishes and has been known to wear it in tiny microbraids instead. She has several ear piercings but her most accentuated is her septum, which she has many replacements but prefers gold.

Most eclectic style, prefers to wear dark blue or purple robes. Generally pretty well covered. Her wardrobe is very stylish but slightly antiquated. Often found wearing impractical clothing items like veils and skirts with a train on very normal days and for no reason. likes to accessorize with strange jewelry (usually makes it in her spare time of things she finds). Mostly dresses, usually long sleeved and sometimes with elements of lace.

Abridged Backstory:

Tilly was born to a wealthy family whose prowess for magic has gone back many generations. Virtuosic from a young age, she and her older sister Topaz were prepared by her mothers to be the best magician she could possibly be. She wore the finest clothing and attended a large boarding school for talented young magicians. Though this was not always desirable seeing as how she was often picked on. She felt, extraordinarily different from those around her. When she felt she couldn’t relate to others or was being punished for her behavior, she shut down. This would cause a fright for her mothers and teachers as she would go extremely large stretches of time without saying a word, hence why she is so soft spoken to this day.

Topaz, on the other hand, was naturally outgoing and a social butterfly and often tried to help and help others understand her younger sister. Though she often meant well, Tilly would feel smothered by this behavior and harbor some resentment as a result.

One way or another, she would grow up to be a very talented, yet sheltered magician. She was convinced by her parents that the world was too dangerous and that people were going to want to hurt her and take her away because of her power, which was an explanation that made no sense to her if she was as good as they thought she was. She would spend much of her young adult years sneaking out into the woods near her estate to simply explore and get into trouble. She was always looking for something but was never quite able to find it.

Her upbringing made her proper, but a bit socially awkward, often lacking a filter in professional and casual situations. Friendships and flings were few and far between, though that didn’t stop her from picking up a few along the way.

As A Friend: Tilly gets really excited when she makes friends and almost overdoes it at beginning stages (extravagant gifts, wearing crazy outfits to outings, etc) but once she truly feels comfortable, she’s a cool person to have around. She likes non-judgemental people who will accompany her while she Does Her Thing (wandering, foraging, reading) and not be a jerk or ask a million questions. She also likes to chill in silence while both people do different things. Though she’s not well versed in comforting or emotional support, she’s more than happy to talk things through and help you find a solution to whatever you’re struggling with.

As a Lover: Clingy, wants to be around the person all the time. Likes to just. Stare. Not much of a compliment giver but you may end up with a small pile of weird gifts by being with her. She wants to do her lover’s hair too and put beads and shells and stuff in it. Honestly not too much different from a friendship level, just an elevated and more intimate experience. While she’s someone who enjoys solitude, just being in the same room and occasionally holding hands or touching the other person is a huge point of comfort for her.

Sexually, she experiences sensory issues and overload pretty easily, so she likes to talk things out beforehand and doesn’t tend to be spontaneous. Once some boundaries are established, she feels more comfortable physically on top, but is fine taking either a dominant or submissive role. Because she’s quite tall, she’d also like a taller partner so she can climb them like a tree.

[tomtepixiedust]

vague writing idea, a dark fantasy and a hilarious twist

The High Council gathered, looking desperately for the scattered heirs, the ones they carefully groomed to serve them, as if they had already attained immortality. They reeked of desperation, that she could tell, she had been one of the little tiny heirs, known them enough to see through the smooth façade of indifference.

These old wankers, thinking they could get what they wanted - yet that was not the moment for her to burst out laughing.

No, after many days or maybe months dancing, hiding around within the Palace walls, carefully poking at any weak spots, striding through the Council rooms, like a spectre, an illusion, a royal prankster - a ghost casually sitting on the dusty from long disuse throne. The terrified and angry screams tasting like sweet and sour volcano berries.

“All your heirs - they are long dead.” And honest she was, there weren’t any heirs left to inherit the spooky scary power that glowed in the dark, a warmth that would slowly boil their veins - a power to raise the waves surrounding their island Kingdom, destroy any enemy and secure their place, their homeland, their pride as the stronghold they should be. The whispers of great power promised to them always nearby when the Grand Magician of the Council explained that rotten core of corruption.

The main source that turned living people into lifeless puppets.

Well, she did enough to make their blood boil in anger, much to her own amusement - what with a clear breathing heir right in front of them, the others proclaimed dead. Well dead Heirs to the Throne of the Kingdom, everyone now free to be their own people without that pesky title.

So, to end this funny charade of hiding and disrupting any important talks of strategic movement across the neighbouring seas, the time came to let them see - their last hope of the blood heir to the power, dying in front of them.

Because there was no one left to inherit that core, no one that could become a lifeless weapon - not to their knowledge, of course. 

May the spirits of Humour and Glee guide her well into another hilarious place.

Her time here would end soon, taking out these old crazy folk as well. Their moment of shock and terror when the realization sunk in its sharp teeth into their dense skulls - the last laugh belonged to her. 

Cause damn would she go out with a beautiful bang!

Momentary source of inspiration: To Athena - Angscht  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy2DgyLkgQw

[lightsupinthenorth]

Harringrove teachers AU part 3

Part 1 - Part 2 

Thank you to everyone who read, liked and/or reblogged the previous parts. Also, the people who said something nice in the tags or in reactions own my heart. Just thought you should know ;) <3 

Tag list: @twoprettyboys, @inkedplume​, @marianaosborne​, @liglitterbug​, @hmg621 @spreckle @goldenweatherharringrove @yikesharringrove @yogurtfordinner @wingedbears @charlotte-frey @hargrovesharrington​

If anyone wants to be added to or taken off the tag list for the future posts of this AU, let me know ;)

I hope the tags are working because I recently had some trouble with them (ah, Tumblr is a mess). 

I was planning on keeping the chapters short but every part has been longer than the last so far ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (then again, it’s still pretty short so I guess it’s fine ^^). 

I’ll stop rambling now.

*

Billy didn’t know how he had ended up in this situation, this situation being Steve and he making out in the otherwise empty teachers’ lounge, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. He wanted to keep Steve’s soft lips on his forever. Sadly, he didn’t get his way: there was a loud bang, and suddenly Steve’s lips were gone. Steve was gone too, as well as the teachers’ lounge. Billy woke up at home, in his bed, hard as a rock in the basket-ball shorts he was wearing as pajamas.

Great, he got an erection just from dreaming he and Steve were kissing. What was he? A teenager? That was pathetic.

Billy was considering rubbing one out, despite the embarrassment, but there was another loud bang that made him remember why he had woken up in the first place.

What the fuck was happening this early on a Saturday?

Billy instantly worried Max had fallen or, worse, that someone had broken into the flat and would hurt her (highly improbable in such a small town, but Billy wasn’t alert enough to be logical). The concern killed his arousal in two seconds tops. He shot up from bed and exited his bedroom in a hurry.

He found Max in their open kitchen, mixing what appeared to be pancakes ingredients.

“What was that noise?” He asked, in lieu of a greeting.  

“I dropped the pan. Sorry.”

“There were two noises.”

“I dropped the mixing bowl too. Let me live! It’s your fault, you stored both these things on the highest shelf” Max complained.

“Hey, no need for a defense, I’m not accusing you. I was just worried, shitbird.”

“Oh… well, I’m okay.”

“And you’re making pancakes, so I’m certainly not going to complain.” Billy added.

“Who told you I was making some for you?”

Billy pouted, even though he knew Max was bluffing. He could see the amount of batter in the mixing bowl. She had quite an appetite, but there was no way she’d be able to eat all of that on her own.

“So mean, so early in the morning.”

“What can I say, I love messing with you.”  

Paradoxically, Billy was happy that she did. When they had first met, he’d been a perpetually angry teenager, and teeny tiny Max had done everything she could to stay out of his way. Once Susan had announced she was ill, though, Billy had tried his hardest to be the brother Max deserved. After Susan’s death, Billy had looked after Max and kept her safe from his father until he had turned legal. He had then fought to get Max away from Neil and had obtained full custody of her.  

It had been hard to balance getting his degree, working part-time jobs, and taking care of Max. Even more so with Neil trying to steer trouble every now and again. But they had made it out alright, in the hand, and Billy didn’t regret a second of it.

“Sit your ass down.” Max said as she turned the stove on.

“Oh no, no way. You ‘sit your ass down’. I’ll take it from here.”

Max was good at finding the best recipes and at mixing ingredients, but the cooking process was another thing entirely: she had nearly burned the kitchen down almost every time she had tried using the oven or the stove. Her cooking privileges had been revoked after the fifth time.

“Ugh, fine.”

Billy had two plates full on pancakes in no time. He put one in front of Max and went to sit down with his own on the other side of the table. The second his ass touched his chair, Max asked:

“So, you have plans with Steve and Robin this afternoon?”

Billy frowned.

“First of all, it’s Mrs. Buckley and Mr. Harrington for you”, he started, just to get on her nerves (he didn’t give a fuck how she called her teachers), “and second, how do you know that?”

Max arched an eyebrow.

“You literally talked about it with Steve right in front of me yesterday”, she said, ignoring Billy’s reprimand (no surprise, there).

“Oh… right… I did.”

Truthfully, Billy had stopped paying attention to Max and El the second he had laid eyes on Steve and the dumb spot of blue paint that had been resting on his cheek as if it had any right to.

“So, what are you guys going to do?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re going to grade papers.”

“Well, that’s exciting.”

Her sarcasm was off the charts.

“Tell me about it”, Billy mumbled, around a mouthful of pancake.

“Ew, gross.”

Billy stuffed even more pancake into his mouth, in defiance, before he spoke again:

“So, Art club, uh? What’s up with that?”

They hadn’t had an opportunity to talk about it the day before, because Friday night was movie night, and they had eaten dinner in front of the tv. Plus, Billy would have been too distracted to hold a conversation (Steve hadn’t left his mind).

“Steve said I should come. He noticed I haven’t been speaking to a lot of people, and he said it might help to do an activity in a smaller group…” Max wasn’t looking at Billy as she explained.

“Anyway, I think he was right. He’s the best!” She beamed as she said it, finally looking up from her slowly but surely diminishing pile of pancakes.

“That’s good. I’m glad.”

Billy was glad, really. He was also a bit frustrated that Steve had managed to talk to Max about making friends, when Billy hadn’t known how to bring it up without offending her, but he wasn’t petty enough to show he had a problem with it. Even if Max calling Steve “the best” was treason of the highest order, Billy just wanted her to be happy. If Steve’s intervention helped more than Billy himself could, then so be it.

They finished breakfast, got ready for the day and then went grocery shopping. As they got back to the flat, Max went to her room to chill, and Billy read for a while before he started preparing lunch. Keeping busy distracted him from thinking about seeing Steve in the afternoon. Well, he didn’t think about it too much, at least.

-

When Billy made his way into the coffee shop, Steve and Robin were already seated, talking animatedly… in another language.

“Hi. Was that Italian?”

They must not have noticed him approaching, because as soon as he greeted them, they stopped talking, and Steve looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Hey Billy”, Robin said, “as a matter of fact, it was.”

“Don’t you teach French and Spanish?”

Billy was perplexed.

“I do. Doesn’t mean I don’t speak Italian.”

“It figures”, Billy shrugged.

He wanted to ask Steve where he had learnt Italian, because it intrigued him. However, he chose not to. He didn’t want to talk to him unless it was necessary. It’d be better for everyone if they had the bare minimum of interactions together, surely.

“Are these new piercings?” Robin asked, gesturing toward his ears.

“Uh, no. I’ve had them for a long time. I just don’t wear them at school.”

“Well, you should. They look really cool, and I’m sure no one would have anything to say about it.”

Billy stared at Steve pointedly, but Steve looked away as soon as he caught his gaze.

“I’ll think about it.” Billy finally said.

Steve and Robin already had their orders, so Billy took his wallet from his bag and went to the counter. He glanced at the display case and eyed the cherry pie with envy, but decided against it. After this morning’s pancakes, it wouldn’t be reasonable. Plus, he hadn’t hit the gym in a few days. He had to start indulging less if he wanted to stay in shape. He went for a simple black coffee. As the burly man behind the counter, whom Billy guessed to be Benny, asked him if he wanted anything else, Billy nearly surrendered, but he powered through. He handed Benny a ten-dollar bill and put the change he was given in one of his pockets.

When Billy went back to their table with his cup of coffee, Steve was blowing on his cup of steaming hot tea. Billy’s eyes caught on the ‘o’ shape of Steve’s lips, which reminded him of his dream. He averted his eyes, praying to God he wasn’t blushing, now that he couldn’t hide it behind his tan anymore (screw Hawkins, Indiana).

As Billy sat down, he noticed Steve had a piece of the pie he’d been eyeing. Not fair. He nearly started pouting but caught himself. After all, his pie-less state was his own fault. Why did he have to be reasonable?

Billy took his pen and the essays he had to grade out of his backpack to give himself something to focus on. But then Steve started eating. And he moaned. Quite obscenely.

“Mh, this is so good. Benny is a magician. You guys want a bite?”

Billy really wanted to say yes, not only because he wanted pie, but because Steve was the one offering. It would have been weird, though? Right?

“No thanks” he ended up saying. What a hard thing to say.

Robin had no such qualms. She needn’t have, since she and Steve were actually friends. Not only did she get to experience Steve warmth and kindness, she also got a bite of his pie. Did she even know how lucky she was?

Billy got into his grading. And he was already past the no-pouting stage of the afternoon. It sucked to be him, sometimes.

“You should probably wait for Steve to finish eating… and drinking too, to be honest, before you put your students’ paper on the table. That man is a disaster.”

Billy had to admit Robin was right. He ate lunch with Steve on a regular basis, and had therefore seen him spill a bunch of things on himself. Thankfully, nothing he had ever spilled had reached Billy, so they were probably safe.

“Oh come on! We’re on opposite ends of the table.” Steve objected.

“I know, but I’m sure you’d find a way.”

Steve scoffed but didn’t try to argue his case any further. He looked adorably ruffled when Robin laughed at his expanse.

They didn’t say anything more for a while, as they were finally doing what they had come here to do. At some point, though, Robin brought up a point one of her students had made about the French translation of “Newspeak” in George Orwell’s 1984, which led her and Billy to launch a discussion about the novel.

Steve offered no input whatsoever, but he had stopped grading and had been staring at them for five minutes straight.

It was making Billy’s skin itch.

At some point, he couldn’t take it anymore and asked:

“What’s your opinion Steve?”

“Uh… I… I don’t really have one.” He stammered, caught off guard.

“How come?”

“I, uh, I haven’t actually read the book.”

“Oh. Well, you should. It’s an amazing book.”

Steve fidgeted with his red pen, repeatedly taking the cap off and then putting it back on.

“Uh… I don’t know about that. It’s not really my thing.”

“How can you know it’s not your thing if you haven’t read it?” Billy asked, a tad defensively.

“I didn’t mean the book… I meant, reading.”

Steve bit his lower lip.

“Why not? Is that beneath a math buff such as yourself, or something?” Billy’s tone had become hostile.

And, by pulling accusations out of his ass like that, he had gone from defensive to straight up aggressive.

“No. ‘course not… It’s just… reading is hard for me… I’m, uh… I’m dyslexic, so…” Steve trailed off, looking down at the pen he was seemingly holding in a vice grip.

Billy was speechless with shame and regret, as Steve offered a wobbly smile and said: “I’m gonna… go get some more tea”, before leaving the table.

Billy stared at his retreating form before he turned to Robin and found her glaring at him. If he could have felt worse than he already did, he would have.

“So… should I go apologize right now or should I leave him alone and apologize later?”

Teenage Billy would have probably not apologized at all, but present-time Billy knew better. He felt like the biggest jerk.

“I’d say, go for it.”

Billy followed Robin’s advice and, with knots in his stomach, he went to Steve, who was waiting for his tea behind the counter.

“Steve, man… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay…” Steve said, but his eyes didn’t leave his own shoes.

That wouldn’t do. Billy had made Steve feel shitty, and he would make it better if it were the last thing he did.

“No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have pushed.”

Billy had let his frustration with Steve get the better of him, and that was unacceptable. Steve was not particularly nice to him, so what? It wasn’t a reason to be outright mean to the guy.

“Really, it’s no big deal… It’s not like it’s a secret… my dyslexia, I mean.”

“Yeah, but you obviously didn’t want to share this piece of info with me, and I should have dropped it.”

“I just… I was afraid you’d find me stupid… But you probably thought I was stupid already, anyway… what with me never having anything interesting to say when Robin and you talk about literature.”

“Hey, I don’t…”

Benny placed Steve’s cup of tea on the counter, cutting Billy mid-sentence.

“It’s on me”, Billy said, fishing his five-dollar bill of change out of his jean’s back pocket and handing it to Benny.

“You didn’t have to.”

Was Steve blushing or was it a trick of the light?

“I want to make it up to you.”

“There’s nothing to make up for, but thanks.”

Steve grabbed his cup of tea and was going to go back to their table, but Billy held him back.

“Wait… I want you to know I don’t find you stupid, okay? I know I’m kind of a jackass, but not enough of one to actually think dyslexic people are stupid.”

“Good to know”, Steve replied.

“So, are we good?”

“I told you, we are.” Steve assured, smiling brighter than he had ever smiled at Billy before.

The knots in Billy’s stomach loosened, and his heart filled with warmth. So that was how it felt, when Steve’s sunshine fell upon you? Billy couldn’t wait to experience that feeling again.

“We should get back to Robin.”

“We should” Billy echoed, before following Steve, awestruck.

[clownattack]

Castor - character bio

I’ve been struggling with getting a bio out for Cas for waaaaay too long now, but i feel pretty ok with how it looks currently - i'm going to repost it on my art blog with some drawings of Cas and Hjalle in the future (hopefully). If you want to skip most of the nonsense and just get a feel for her personality, the section under the bio paragraphs is FULL OF POINTS.

links to drawn refs here and here

Longpost under the cut

✦ Early life in Hjalle:

Being born into the noble family Aran, Castor’s early life consisted mostly of being pampered by the attendants and strict education. Cas was a rowdy kid, and with time, lack of affection and validation from her family served to amplify the trait - she went from occasionally disobedient to full-on antagonistic towards her parents, and the nobility as a whole. She began to sneak out; spending her time outside of the Fort, spying on the guards and trying to bribe knights into taking her on as a page.

When Cas turned nine a sibling came into the picture, and she made it her duty to assure Aster’s upbringing would be better than hers. She poured everything she had into Aster, but soon developed a brash and overbearing streak, unyielding in her focus to teach the meek little sister to stand her ground. Aster became torn between Cas and the parents, who in all fairness, treated her much better than their firstborn. This would remain the case until Castor’s dragon-induced injuries.

In her late teens, Cas was seldom seen in the fort - to everyone's great relief. Her mood was always sour, she gave up on her studies and only seemed to care about Aster and joining the hunting parties. Her parents reached their limit when Castor announced she would not become one of the renowned judges of House Aran - this led to an explosive argument, which concluded with Castor storming out. For the following two years, she lived and worked with rangers tasked with protecting and providing for the town.

It was in those years that Cas acquired her battle prowess and scars, the most prominent being a gift from an especially large and angry dragon. A single swipe of its tail tore Castor’s chest and forearm open, forcing the hunting party to rush her to the fort in (what the hunters expected to be) a futile attempt to get her family to provide medical help for their dying kin. The reception was cold indeed, and if it weren’t for Aster’s hysterics and outrage over her family’s indifference, Cas would have not survived the grievous wounds. The upside to this event was a new high tale to impress people with, and strengthening the bond between two sisters. The downside - Castor was now under her parent’s thumb. They made her accept the position of inquisitor; to make up for the hassle she caused them. Taking up the mantle turned Castor’s world upside down - not only would she have to work in close proximity to her father, but her dreams of being knighted were shattered, as inquisitorial duties stand in stark opposition to virtues of knighthood. As Inquisitor she was tasked with investigating and interrogating for the court - the latter, as Aran tradition had it, was extraordinarily bloody.

 ✦ Vesuvia:

Almost as soon as she arrived, the city sparked something in Cas. This was unexpected to say the least; she was certain the years of gruesome work as inquisitor numbed her to simple joys of life. The sights and sounds of Vesuvia however, made her eager to explore and see how everything ticked - and the more she saw the more she wished to remain in the city. After attending the Masquerade and becoming acquainted with Asra, Cas was prepared to do anything to stay - even if it meant sucking up to the Buffoon count and begging for a job. Lucio proved to be anything but opposed - he’d heard of the “bloody good shows” (pun intended) Castor was infamous for, and was eager to take her off her parents hands. This led to working parallel to the count and his court, but also enabled Cas to dabble in magic under Asra’s tutelage.

This slight betterment of Cas’ situation would not last long however, as The Red Plague took complete hold of the city mere months after she took up her residence in Vesuvia. After perishing, and being brought back by Asra, she very slowly regains certain memories and traits - her sister, love of astronomy, sword skills. She sneaks out, snoops, and is a handful overall; but Asra is happy to see Castor’s “new” self free of bitterness and pain.

After this point, the “game events” take place. I like to imagine Castor braving an amalgam of Nadia and Portia routes, with a fistful (or multiple) of courtier drama. Castor is tasked with an investigation, slowly  but surely unravelling how deep the corruption runs in Vesuvia, and how much of it can be attributed to the courtiers. The conclusion of her story focuses on first facing off against the court, then the Justice Arcana.

  ✦ Physical appearance

Light olive skin, she picks up a slight tan in Vesuvia.

Dark gray eyes, striking marbling on the iris.

Long girl - 176 cm tall, loves being the “tall friend” (and manhandling people close to her). Being taller than her is taken as an indirect challenge.

She has a rectangular body type, could be described as a “runner’s body”.

Prominent scarring across right forearm and torso, missing right breast.

Tastefully disheveled. Her hair has a constantly windswept quality, and the gray streaks seem to be especially unruly.

Inherited the “Aran silver” (early graying), she tries to ignore it. “The more you hide it, the more it shows”.

Secretly really bothered by the many similarities to her father. Avoids looking at herself too much, and whenever she does it feels like he’s looking back at her, judging.

Only ever smoothes herself over before important court meetings and social events. She doesn't know how makeup works, so before any party she asks Asra to sort her out. Cas looking prim is both a treat and a source of friendly jabs.

✦ Character traits

Power walking by default. This can be somewhat intimidating, and she won’t stop if someone is in her way - just put them to the side and continue.

Puts up a really convincing pretence of formality and refinement.

In actuality she finds this facade tiresome, and just wants to talk fast about battle/hunting feats or astronomy. Maybe show off her pyromancy.

Loves socializing, it recharges her batteries.

Dilligent worker.

Tends to overwork herself and neglect her relationships.

Often scatter minded and wanting to do too many things at one time.

Doesn’t appreciate people instigating physical contact or getting up in her face. She needs to prepare herself for it, or be the initiator.

Stubborn as a mule. Never knows when to stop pressing people.

Extremely callous at times.

Annoyingly overbearing

Most of this springs from a place of fear - things had a habit of getting worse whenever her family imposed decisions onto her. In her mind, if she’s the one holding the reins, everything will be better. And if something does fail - she will be the only one to blame.

Starting arguments comes much too easily to her, but she’s just as quick to introspect, and seek out the person she argued with to apologize and approach the issue in an appropriate manner.

Forgives easily

Eternally scoffing at astrology. She knows shes being bigoted, but at this point its almost like an inside joke between her and Asra. “Astrology? It's baby stuff. PSEUDOSCIENCE!” (she cries as she worries over her afternoon tarot reading and preparing pretty horoscopes for the Shop...)

A huge hypocrite at times. “Do as I say, not as I do” could easily be her motto.

Both the upright and reversed Knight of Swords card sums her character up perfectly.

✦ Occupation & Residency

Vesuvia:

Beginning of her story follows the game canon almost to a T - Cas lives with Asra in the Shop, and works there. It bores her to death, and she plays tricks on every customer just to entertain herself.

After being officially hired by Nadia as the Palace Magician, Castor moves out of the shop and purchases a modest house in Goldgrave, much below the value of what Nadia offered her, and what she could afford. It’s convenient and that’s what matters to Cas. She continues supplying the shop diligently, and takes over whenever Asra runs off.

Nadia insisted on Castor having an office in the palace. It grew on her with time, and after The Devil is dealt with it becomes her little “hub”.

Hjalle:

Cas lived with her family in the castle site until 17 years old.

After denying her parents their plans for her future as a judge, she hunkered down in a hunting lodge outside of the town, and spent almost two years living that way - she still thinks of these two years as the most joyous time in her life.

The only thing she ever used her family’s wealth for was commissioning the construction of an extravagant observatory. Reminiscent of a gothic fortress, the stark exterior is contrasted with insides filled with artwork and art-nouveau ornaments. The central chamber is a vast library with a powerful telescope in its apse - it is a sight that could take the breath of the most haughty of nobles.

There’s a tiny living space below the main chamber, furnished sparingly, but with a lovely fireplace (in Hjalle, its a necessity). It’s where Cas stays after becoming the inquisitor/whenever she visits after the in-game events.

✦ Trivia

Cas is 23 years old when she first arrives to Vesuvia - 28 at the time of The Devil’s downfall.

She freed Merlin from a merchant’s cage in the Red Market, during one of her outings in the three year interlude after her death - Asra fumes after they find out she snuck out to the market - yet is amazed that Cas found a familiar.

Cas regained her first memories via touching objects linked to her past life - a letter from Aster, articles of clothing, a sword...

This self re-discovering takes a turn for the worse when Cas finally finds a large, ornate knife - the one she inherited after becoming inquisitor. The memories it resurfaces are a staggering blow to Castor, completely derailing the beliefs she had about her own person. She thought of herself as a paragon, and remembering the torture she inflicted upon others, the lives taken in the name of “justice” made her relapse into bitterness and disenchantment. She deals with those feelings as her investigation into the courtiers progresses.

Predominantly uses pyromancy, other types of magic are strictly used for her work at the palace, and rather sparingly.

Could be best described as a battlemage - enjoys being in melee range and assaulting her quarry with both sword and fire; the latter being used more as a way to distract or stagger the enemy than actually harm. There's no fun in just burning them up!

Doesn’t cook for herself, although she has a natural knack for it - will only cook for guests and short people.

Her dislike of Lucio clashes with gratitude for employing her when she first arrived to Vesuvia - he was the knife which cut Cas off from her parents, and it’s something she could never forget.

Demiromatic/sexual.

She was offered to be knighted by Nadia after defeating The Devil. Cas declined - It’s much more than a title to her, and accepting seemed like mockery (considering her past as inquisitor).

Short fuse, she learns to better control herself while working in the palace. But if someone really pushes her the nearby candles miiiight get a bit out of control. Or she’ll just throttle them.

Hates her full name - Castor is such a mouthful. Sounds stuck up too...

[cheemers-writing-archive]

A Hairy Situation

Request: Could we maybe get a scenario with the Stardust Crusaders if they were turned into animals?(like what animal they would be, and how they'd adapt to having to run around on 4 legs or fly with bird wings) If you're up to it, of course.

Requested by: anon

Enjoy!

Joseph was slowly waking up from his involuntary nap, groaning. Whatever had happened, he hoped it was nothing too crazy. Although, considering that the slumber was induced by a Stand, he dropped those hopes down by a lot. He put a hand on his head, as if he was having a headache. At least, he put a limb on his head. Definitely not a hand, or an arm, or a foot, or any human body part. Even stranger, the limb felt… soft. Soft and feathery. Actually, now that he was looking at it, it was feathery. There were literal feathers on his limb. Now that he realized it, his mouth felt weird, too. Gently stroking it, the mouth felt all too strange to be human. It was like a beak.

Wait a minute. The feathers, the beak, it was all adding up. Joseph looked down at his feet to see bird-like claws. Encasing his body were colorful feathers, the main color being red. He was a parrot!

Surveying his surroundings, Joseph saw that he wasn’t the only one. A wolf with mainly black fur, a red-furred monkey, a grey cat, and a brown owl had replaced the four others in the team.

“Finally, the old man’s awake,” the wolf, still with Jotaro’s voice, groaned.

“We can still talk?” Joseph asked.

“That seems to be the case,” the owl, in Avdol’s voice, answered. “Or maybe, since we’re all animals, we can understand each other but not human dialect.”

“It’s the latter,” Iggy sighed. “Now I have to deal with you talking in my language.”

“Iggy,” the monkey, Kakyoin, said, “did you see which way the Stand user went?”

“What do I look like, your teammate?” Iggy rolled his eyes, settling down for a nap in the sand. “Go find him yourselves.”

“He’s a stubborn mutt, even when we can talk to him,” Polnareff, the cat, grumbled.

“You better watch your mouth, Polpol,” Iggy retorted, “because dogs like chasing cats, and this dog can outrun any cat in the Bronx.” Iggy licked his lips and let his eyes have a predator-like glare.

“You’re… you’re just joking, right?” Polnareff nervously chuckled, slowly backing away, his back arching up.

“I don’t know,” Iggy shrugged, “am I?” Without warning, he jumped up from his spot and ran straight for Polnareff.

“He wasn’t joking!” Polnareff screamed. “He’s gonna kill me!” He started to run, but faceplanted into the ground since he didn’t have good footing with his new body.

While the poor cat was spitting out sand, Iggy rolled over in laughter. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless!” he cackled.

“Very funny,” Polnareff shook the sand out of his fur. “Can’t you go just twenty four hours without bullying me?”

“Look, can we just go after the Stand user now?” Jotaro asked impatiently. “Iggy scaring Polnareff was funny and all, but I want to walk on two legs again.”

“Jotaro’s got a point,” Kakyoin added. “I don’t like being a monkey.”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” Joseph started flapping his wings, but only got a little traction before falling to the ground again. “Let’s all split up and look for this guy. We’ll cover a lot more ground that way. Plus, what else could he do to us? We’re already animals.”

“I agree with Mr. Joestar,” Avdol said. “Usually, we should stick in groups, but who knows what we’ll do to each other if we go feral?”

“Then it’s settled,” Joseph declared, trying out his wings again and succeeding this time. “I’ll take to the skies, and you guys split up in whatever way you need to.”

And with that, everyone went their separate ways, searching for the Stand user.

Jotaro was having some trouble on four legs. Not exactly that it was hard to balance on (although it was a little bit), but more that it was humiliating, with his rear end sticking out for everyone to see. It made him feel better that no other humans could see him, but considering all the amount of animals that didn’t belong in the desert, he assumed that he and the other crusaders weren’t the only people affected. That also boosted his confidence a little bit, because everyone was going through the same thing he was.

“Huh. Some poor guy got turned into a squirrel,” Jotaro said to himself. For some reason, the thought of a squirrel was sending his brain into autopilot, desperately trying to take over the front of his brain. He shook his head, knocking the canine instincts out of him. “That was weird,” he muttered. “Most likely it’ll happen again. This time I’m prepared for it, though.”

Kakyoin was having an okay time, the only problem being that he had no clue what to do with his tail. It would just spaz everywhere.

“Excuse me,” he asked a panda, “did you see a man pass by here? Probably strange-looking? And human?”

“I didn’t, sorry,” the panda answered. “Are you trying to stop him?”

“I’ll do everything in my power to,” Kakyoin promised. Then, strolling along, he started to notice something. Multiple animals were standing on two legs, and much taller than they should be. As he proceeded further, he noticed that he was doing the same, too. In fact, the longer he walked, the more human he looked, up until he was himself again.

“Strange,” Kakyoin muttered. “I must’ve reached the user’s range limit. So, the closer you get to him, the more animal-like you become. But all of us, we were nowhere close to him, yet we were fully animal. That can only mean, the closer you get to the user, the more animal-like you become, first physically, then… mentally!”

Kakyoin dashed back into the Stand’s radius, not caring if he turned back into a monkey. He had to warn his friends!

Joseph has finally gotten the hang of flying, which was a relief. He was scanning the area, but no Stand user was in sight. In fact, the only thing he noticed as he was going further and further down the streets was that there were no people. Anywhere. That, and the animals that lined the streets seemed to be getting more and more feral. The farther he traveled, the more he could feel his brain acting up, meaning he had to be going in the right direction. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how far he could fly up before he turned human again? No, that was a bad idea. If he lost control mid-flight, it would be a deadly landing.

Wait, what was that just now? Joseph could have sworn it was a human. And if there was only one human, then that must be their Stand user! Quickly diving down, he opened up his beak to try and bite the enemy. However, as he dove down, his brain started acting weird. He no longer wanted to attack this man, this huge, menacing creature that could take him out in one hit. Instinct took over, and he turned the other way to fly back to safety. But before he had the chance to do that, a hand wrapped around his body and threw him in a cage.

“Poor, dumb bird,” the man laughed as Joseph thrashed about in his cage. “Didn’t think about the fact that your animal instincts would change as you got closer to me? It’s too late now, though. I’ve got you, Polnareff, Jotaro, Kakyoin, and Avdol. Now all that’s left is-”

“Iggy?”

The man turned to the black and white dog, standing in a defensive stance.

“You can’t animalize someone who was already a dog,” Iggy smirked. He had the sand around him form into The Fool, but the enemy only laughed.

“You’re forgetting something,” he said. “Your friends are currently feral. They don’t have their human intelligence. And they’ll attack anyone and anything that threatens them. You, Iggy, could likely be seen as a threat.”

Iggy scoffed. “You think I care about them? I was forced to be on this journey against my own will! I just want to fix everyone else so they don’t try to attack me and waste my time.”

“Good luck with that,” the man chuckled. He cracked open the cages of the crusaders, and they all charged straight at Iggy. The tiny dog rolled his eyes, and had The Fool attack.

Something that Iggy had learned today: just because someone turns into an animal doesn’t mean that their Stand will go away. He was completely unprepared for Jotaro’s Star Platinum, which punched Iggy right in the face.

“Small one in my territory,” Jotaro growled. “Must kill!”

“What kind of an enemy are you if you talk like that?” Iggy asked. Of course, he didn’t get an answer, just some angry oras. Iggy put up a defensive wall of sand, but Star Platinum was getting uncomfortably close to breaking through it. While the barrier was still up, Iggy ran to hide under The Fool, in hopes of fending them off for a while. However, he wasn’t prepared for Joseph to fly under the belly of the Stand, reaching out with Hermit Purple.

“Predator spotted,” Joseph cawed. “Will scare away!”

Iggy thankfully dodged just in time. He could sense another animal sneaking up on him from behind.

“This time I scare the dog!” Polnareff cackled. Iggy whipped his head around, giving Polnareff a deadly glare, with a growl to match it.

“Nevermind!” Polnareff said as he ran away.

As Iggy was chuckling to himself, he was almost burned by Magician’s Red.

“Hey!” he shouted. “I need these legs!”

“Then I guess it would be okay for me to attack the rest of your body,” Kakyoin replied. Iggy blocked the emeralds barraging toward him with sand with ease.

“You can talk?” he asked.

“Apparently so,” Kakyoin replied. “It seems to me that I have a more fluent language than the rest of these guys.”

“So that means you don’t want to kill me, right?” Iggy chuckled nervously.

“Are you kidding me?” Kakyoin laughed. “My one goal in life is to kill you!”

Iggy sighed. “Well, if you guys are too far gone, I guess there’s nothing left for me to do except fight back.”

Of course, fighting back was easier said than done. Even though Iggy had scared Polnareff, the cat was still attacking The Fool with his Silver Chariot, as was everyone else. Iggy would attack, but it took insane concentration for him to just be able to block all of the attacks coming his way. If he attacked, that mental energy would go to offense and not defense, which wouldn’t normally be a problem, except that five feral animals with Stands had surrounded him.

“Give up, Iggy!” the enemy laughed. “You’re surrounded!”

“No, thanks,” Iggy smirked. “The one thing I hate more than this group of idiots is stuck-up people like you, thinking they rule the world.”

While Iggy was preoccupied talking to the enemy, Jotaro snuck up and sunk his teeth into the little dog. His heart was pierced through, ribcage shattered, and lungs destroyed, so much so that he started coughing up sand.

Sand?

“Little one no taste good,” Jotaro said as he spat out small grains. Iggy, laying on the ground, started to become discolored, and his dead body disintegrated before becoming a pile of the dry desert soil.

“What?” the enemy cried out. “Wh… h… what happened to Iggy?”

“I’m right here,” Iggy, who was now right behind the enemy, said. “You didn’t notice that Iggy was a fake decoy?”

“Why, you…”

“Now, it’s time for me to listen to my animalistic instincts,” Iggy laughed. “Say goodbye to your hairline!”

While the enemy was busy trying to pry Iggy off of his head (to no avail), the rest of the crusaders slowly morphed back into their human form.

“See?” Joseph said. “Iggy would come in handy one day!”

“I still have sand in my mouth,” Jotaro griped.

“But at least you’re not a wolf anymore,” Kakyoin replied.

“And I’m not a cat, anymore, either,” Polnareff sighed. “Thank goodness. Iggy almost killed me twice.”

After Iggy left the enemy passed out and completely bald, he looked back at Polnareff, with a dangerous glint in his eye. Polnareff took that as an invitation to a head start to getting away from the dog and bolted away, screaming.

“Looks like some things never change, no matter what species you are,” Avdol chuckled. “Come on, we need to get back and rest. It’s been a tough day.”

“Guys! Help! Help me!” Polnareff shouted. Everyone looked over, and burst out in laughter.

“Now we just need to find Dio’s mansion,” Jotaro said.

[thegreatobsesso]

OCtober, (belated) day 11: Truce.

Based on this prompt list from @oc-growth-and-development!

— 🍂🍁🎃🍁🍂 —

A couple of these Lyonall scenes are just seven headmasters sitting around a table arguing about the issues du jour, and they’re also me getting stuff out. None of that is particularly thinly veiled either. 😇

— 🍂🍁🎃🍁🍂 —

Simon POV

Perrine paused, weighing something in her mind. “I find your shrine to the dark magician Nauxial offensive and tasteless, Mr. Prentice,” she said, calmly and clearly. “This was a man who caused much suffering.”

The mood in the room shifted; Lucinda perked up and Wayland averted his eyes.

Adrian took a moment to gauge everyone’s response. “So we’re quibbling over decor now,” he said, folding his hands neatly in front of him.

“It’s about more than that, and you know it,” Ash said. “Don’t take us for fools. Wayland agrees, don’t you? You said so yourself, when we walked past it yesterday.”

Wayland shifted in his chair. “It’s pretty gross,” he said. “The guy was a murderer and a racist.”

“A fact that is unproven.”

“But known by everyone,” Ash said, “which is exactly why you hang it.”

His power was giving him a headache. The tension between the two of them made the room feel like a tinderbox. Adrian just watched her calmly, a picture of innocence. “That painting is a piece of our history-”

“That you should be ashamed of!” Ash’s face contorted like she’d bit into something sour. “The only thing the founders of this place have a history of is being simpering sycophants to a twisted leader who’d kill them in a split second if they had a power he still needed.”

Janan moved to interject, reaching out a hand toward Ash to calm her, but Adrian interrupted.

“No, by all means, let her talk,” he said, his voice taking on an edge Simon hadn’t heard yet. “I’d love to hear how they decorate the walls at Davenport. Artistic, black-and-white photos of homeless typs, I imagine, just to remind the students they’re no better.”

“Hey,” Simon said, and it came out louder and sharper than he expected. The room fell silent and Adrian looked at him like he’d forgotten he was there. “Don’t say that word in my presence ever again.”

Adrian drummed his fingers on the table, evaluating, his ring clacking against the wood. “My apologies,” he said, eventually. “Individuals possessing typical expression of the-”

“Non-magicians, Adrian,” Perrine supplied. “This will suffice.”

He stared at Simon. There was nothing angry or confrontational in his expression, but an unspoken truce had been broken. The tiny line of gasoline that ran between them caught fire.

[shinebrite97]

Welcome Back to The Devildom - Part 1

“Yuri Ivanov, please exit the building. There are police at every exit. Turn yourself in and let this end now. You’re parents are with us. You’re going to be safe.”

Let this end. 

The words played like a broken record in her head.

Let this end. Let this end. Let this end. 

Her hands trembled, the pistol between her fingers left like a hundred pound weight., and with One final quivering breath she flipped the safety button up. 

It was ready. 

She was ready. 

“Greed…” she whispered, remembering each instance in the past three months where she chose to be selfish. Each time she made flimsy excuses to keep her money to herself, each time she shorted on dues in the club. 

“Envy…” All the times she sabotaged her co-workers, her sisters. 

“Gluttony…” Stealing from the club’s snack pantry was easy enough, no cameras in the dressing room, just an honor system and plenty of downtime alone in the salon. 

“Lust…” At her age, it was easy enough to find work in some sleazy strip club, plenty of extra unsolicited money to be made under the table, who cared if she ever enjoyed it or not. 

“Sloth…” It took effort on her part, oversleeping and being late for work and skipping plans just for some self care in her cheap little rented room.

“Wrath…” She had been so angry, so tired of her treatment, so tired of the men around her feeling entitled to her body, to her thoughts, to her smiles, she hadn’t thought twice when she shot the man who followed her home, cat-calling and threatening her as she ignored him. 

“Last but not least, Pride…” She never asked for help, she became her own self-fulfilled prophecy. She never accepted anyone’s well-wishes, she allowed Him to take over whenever she felt like caving, whenever she felt like seeking help for the hole she’d put herself into. But no. 

She swore to them the day she left that she’d make them proud. That she’d come back down a legend. 

They smiled at her, thinking she was just being cute, they didn’t realize the severity of her promise. 

“Yuri...please come out sweetheart…” The voice now was her mother. The only person who tried to adapt to her sudden return. The only one who didn’t now hate her. 

“No,” She whispered to herself. “I need to go back.”

She wondered if Solomon had lost his memory, or Luke, or Simeon. But she knew it wouldn’t make sense. They all had power, Solomon was a magician older than dirt with a possible vendetta against God, and the Angels were ambassadors, they’d remember everything to report back. 

It was her. The lowly human with no magic, with nothing but spite to bring back the memories of the last year of her life. 

“I’ll make you proud.”

She had done it before. She knew exactly how this weapon worked. How it fit in her fingers, how immediate this would be. 

One more exhale. One whimper of despair. 

Then she raised the barrel to her temple. 

I’m coming home.

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

One moment she was sitting on the floor of her rented room above a Chinese restaurant, the next she was sprawled out on a cold hard floor with a blinding headache. 

“Rise.” The command came from a reverberating voice, deep like rolling thunder, and as she glanced up, feeling pain shoot from every nerve ending, all the unpleasant sensations ceased at once at the sight before her. 

Golden eyes and spiky red hair. Royal jewel tones in his clothes, rich-colored skin and an air of ownership over the space around them. 

Lord Diavolo. Her first friendly face of the Devildom in life and now in death, and she was so happy she could cry all over again.

Yuri squeaked in pain as she obeyed, shifting to her knees, pausing to take a deep breath and prepare herself, and then stepping onto the sole of her foot, using her upturned knee for support, but as she pushed herself up, she felt herself fall. 

She never hit the ground. Instead meeting eye to golden eye with Diavolo. She could see herself reflected in the endless pools of color, before his pupils took over, expanding fast as he let out a choked sound. 

“...Yuri?” His lips fell slack as the emotions flitted across his face, his ever expressive face.  

It was shock. 

It was happiness.

A pause of realization.

Then pain. 

Anger. 

Denial. 

Sadness. 

“Hello again, Lord Diavolo.” 

She figured there would be judgement. Before she ever learned of the devildom, she often pictured a looming monstrous creature with horns and a tail flanked by tiny gargoyle servants with pitchforks, waiting for the new soul to become their playthings. 

She expected fire. 

To say Hell was not what she expected was an understatement. 

Once Diavolo had recovered from his initial shock, he began the barrage of questions.

Why was she here? 

How did she get here? 

Where was Solomon? 

Where were the angels? 

When he finally paused for a breath, Yuri lowered her head in shame. 

“I...I came here alone.” She said. 

“How?” he asked. “That’s a feat of magic, you’d need a portal, you’d need runes, you would need Magic, Yuri.”

“Sir, I…” 

“Yuri…” Now it was Barbatos, filling in the assumed position of the gargoyle henchman, still just Diavolo’s faithful butler, a student just like she had been. She flinched when he brought his gloved hand close to her face. Unprepared for the gentle touch he maintained, turning her head to examine her closely, clicking his tongue at the sight of the smoldering hole in the side of her head.. 

“You killed yourself, didn’t you?” His voice was a soothing whisper. His tone was too sweet for the words he used, but with hesitance, she nodded.

“Yuri…” Diavolo whispered. “No…” 

“I did.” She replied. 

“Milord…” Barbatos said, turning his full attention to Diavolo. “Please inform Lucifer. I will bring Yuri to a cell until her judgement is prepared.” 

“Judgement?” She asked. 

“Circumstances…” Barbatos said. “You came down here organically. Just like any other human or angel who falls, we must assess your sin, we must figure out where you stand among your new brethren.”

Yuri nodded. 

“Okay.” 

“I will inform the brothers.” Diavolo said. 

“I will make all necessary arrangements.” Barbatos added.

“And you, my dear, will follow Barbatos.”

                                           *   *   *   *   *