#tldr: powered spies

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gods and Clergy: Bane

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | Bhaal | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP

Well, I did the murderhobos, might as well cover the deity and daily business of our favourite hot-topic-shopping dictator and co. now? Ahahahahaaaaa There is too much goddamn material on Bane, I'm going to kill Ed Greenwood-

Intro: If you're not consumed with fear and hatred while trying to take over a city which you intend to rule with cruelty and an iron fist then this is not the religion/political party for you. If this is not the religion/party for you, please lower your neck so that I can attach this slave collar to it.

Banites: The hierarchy and rituals and stupid toys of the church of Bane is what you get when Lawful Evil and Lawful Stupid have a horrible, overcomplicated offspring called Lawful Sadistic. Bring me the avatar of Bane I'm going to stab this fucker Also, being goth is mandatory.

Dreadmasters: More teleporting! Bossy, immune to fear and fond of magic rods. Also, do you remember that "divine oath" Durge and Gortash swore...?

The Chosen: Should be way more impressive than what we saw in game. Forging unbreakable oaths! Pet beholders! Detachable shadow spies! Etcetera!

Bane: Boy, the world (and my sanity) would've been a much better off if this dude had gotten intensive therapy instead of divine power!

(This thing is too fucking long and should perhaps be split into two posts but ooooh my god am I not editing this anymore.)

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Bane's clergy often hear their god whispering his dogma in their dreams:

"Serve no one but me. Fear me always - and make others fear me even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down on those who stand against it in the end. Defy me and die - or in your death find loyalty, for I shall compel it. Submit to my will, [as uttered by my ranking clergy] since true power can only be gained through service to me. [Spread the dark fear of Bane.] It is the doom of those unguided by me to let power spill through their hands. [Those who cross the Black Hand meet their dooms earlier and more harshly than those who worship other deities.]" - Bane's Dogma [with 14th century addendums in brackets]

Bane is basically the quintessential villain of the Realms. When a person pictures the face of evil, they picture this god and his followers.

The most important thing to know about Bane and his religion, in my opinion, is summed up here:

"The summons [from Ao] had come wearing the face and form of that which each of the gods feared most. [...] To the Black Lord, Bane, the summons came in the guise of absolute love and understanding, its light searing his essence as it carried him from his kingdom." - Shadowdale

You want to give one of the most evil bastard in the pantheon a panic attack? Give him a hug.

Following a brief version of a backstory that has been given for him; the mortal who would be Bane was born on Abeir, Toril's linked twin planet/parallel universe. There he was a nameless battle slave to Maram of the Great Spear - an ancient primordial being of absolute evil whom the Netherese had summoned into the world, where it broke free and started inflicting horrors upon the world. While in the service of said horrifying evil, the young slave nurtured ambitions of having absolute power for himself.

While on Toril he teamed up with his two future frenemies, Bhaal and Myrkul, and they killed (or possibly subjugated) his master and took his power for themselves, before heading off to nag Jergal for his job. After bickering, the ex-slave known only as "the Bane of the Ancients" wins the draw and gets to be what he always wanted - the epitome of tyranny with godlike power. The next step for him is to conquer the mortal world and destroy all the other gods so that none have power and control over him.

Banite religion is founded on the principle of making Bane's dream of global domination possible. Every Banite is a link in the chains of Bane's power. What they rule, he rules. All Banites strive to take over something (village, city, kingdom, army, whatever). All Banites are expected to aid and obey their superiors in this domination.

When in control, a Banite is to use their power to "further the cause of hate, fear, destruction and strife." Doing so within the control of the law is preferable, but chaos is tolerated as long as that chaos is wielded as a tool with perfect control. You can get voted into power by stirring up people's fears of minorities, or start the apocalypse and present yourself as the saviour - but you must not be overwhelmed, or you have failed.

The world is divided into slaves who have no power and exist to serve, and the powerful who command them. Bane is the rightful master of all and all are to serve him, and by extension his followers (those with the strength to seek, take and hold power), willingly or by force. Control is the key virtue in the eyes of the faith. Always be in control and/or be controlled by somebody more capable/deserving of power than you. As their lessers are expected to obey every order perfectly, the superiors are expected to be competent in their leadership and wield perfect command.

Banites pride themselves on being cold and decisive in all that they say and do. They also enjoy cutting sarcasm. It's vital to appear in command of yourself and the world around you - shouting, loss of temper and other outbursts of behaviour that suggest a lack of control/power are avoided like the plague. Two Banites on the brink of killing each other may appear to be in the midst of only a polite, but insistent disagreement.

Bane used to enjoy watching his power hungry idiots backstabbing each other to climb the ranks while overzealous worshippers splintered into factions and started killing each other (most notably a divide between the divine-magic based orthodoxy and the arcane-magic based reformers/"Transformers".) Then Mystra technically killed him during a fight with Torm in the Time of Troubles, and Cyric took over his church. When Bane made a comeback in the 14th century he immediately decided they wouldn't be doing that anymore. Now it's an united rigid hierarchy from top to bottom, and Banites are a well organised, well equipped unit.

The laws of the heathens are irrelevant, but a Banite who gets caught breaking those law trying to achieve their goals is expected to suck it up and do the time for failure - unless they've been doing such a good job that everybody's too far under their control to try and punish them for it, in which case great job. A+ in Bane worship.

Banites typically establish themselves in an area by finding a location out of sight of a civilisation and building a fortress, where they build their power until they are too strong a force to drive off. Taking over an existing fort is also a possibility. The temple is run like a military base: spartan, with only tapestries showing Bane's symbol and religious texts on it for decoration. The courtyard is meant for military drills and rituals, and there's a mass hall for dining and holding prayer. They like pointy architecture. And black. Oh, and the torture basements! Can't forget those. It's also where they keep a variety of trained monsters in pens. You may end up sharing your cell with a displacer beast or something, but don't worry about it.

Banites have a secret network of teleporting spells. The actual "portals" will be any space of stone big enough to stand on, which are magically connected to other points (also stone). If you stand on one and speak the correct password, then it will teleport you to the destination designated by that password. There are no spells or barriers that can prevent the teleporter from arriving at their destination. Banites can bring others along with them if they are physically connected when the password is said. They can't bring more than 100lbs of inanimate matter with them.

All are welcome to convert to Bane. There will be an interview where your intentions are checked, although if it turns out you're not actually evil-aligned you can still join. There's a good chance that they'll use magic to turn you into an "incorruptible champion of evil and uncompromising disciple of order" anyway; "for Bane recognizes the value of those who have seen the lure of good and turned away from it to serve evil."

Or just use dark magic to twist you from a person into a weapon/guard/servant bound to the service of Bane anyway.

Banites are also able to ensure loyalty with a magically binding divine oath called the Dark Promise, cast by his favoured priests (Dreadmasters). It's an old spell, back from the early days when Bane was a new god and his followers were vulnerable, and is not used as often. When the spell is cast and the oath is made, a set of circumstances are set into motion that targets of the spell must follow to the letter. The promise must have Bane's interests at heart and the conditions and stipulations cannot be endanger the individuals' lives. If the oath is violated, it drains the oath breaker's life force. The damage done by this spell cannot be healed, and if the oath breaking does not cease then they will die.

Bane is one of the few exceptions amongst the gods in that his worshippers are all henotheistic rather than polytheistic. Banites consider worship of other deities "foolish," Bane is the only master you should truly serve. All under Banite rule will be forced to convert to the worship of Bane. They are however willing to cooperate with the followers of Loviatar (pain), Talona (disease), Malar (predation), and Mask (thievery) as Bane has terrified these gods into allying with him. From a certain school of Banite thought, this means that they and their followers are part of the chains of Bane's will (the gods/faithful in question probably wouldn't agree). Bhaal was, or perhaps still is, a servant of Bane and he and Myrkul have also been counted amongst Bane's allies in the past, despite their tendency to squabble, so cooperation with Bhaalists and Myrkulites is not unimaginable when it serves both their deities.

Banites do not get on so well with... anybody, but they particularly hate worshippers of Ilmater (compassion), Tyr (justice), Helm (non-Banite order), Lathander (optimism/renewal), Torm (champion of the innocent), Oghma (knowledge) and Mystra. If they get their hands on one they'll usually torture them and leave their mutilated bodies somewhere for the distressed public to find. Bane and Cyric are still at war, both due to humiliation and the fact that they're still fighting over areas of divine power that the other has stolen/reclaimed from the other, and the corpses of Cyricists that fall into Banite hands are usually found with "heretic" branded on their foreheads as a warning to others who worship the usurper.

Banite clergy are expected to always be armed, and it is mandatory that you at least wear something black at all times. For ceremonial purposes, Banites wear black armour or robes with a blood-red cape. Wizards like to enchant their robes so that they swirl and give off illusions of glittering with "black stars" and have blood dripping off the hem. The higher in the ranks you go, the fancier the clothes get. Banites used to have facial tattooing, although this made them rather easy to identify and kill off when Cyric took over and some purges took place. The highest ranking Banites can be identified by a gem that they wear on their forehead. Banites are not expected to wear anything that would identify their religious affiliations if it would get them persecuted, but they do like decorating their clothes with spikes and are are expected to dress in a certain specific colour that I'm getting sick of typing out. When Bane rules the world we will all be dressing as goths under threat of execution...

Each priest has a ceremonial staff denoting their rank, which they will have at these rituals. When a Banite dies they are buried with it. They are unenchanted and purely for ceremony, at most being used to light braziers. It starts with a simple black wood staff [level 1], which at higher ranks has an ivory skull at the top [lvl 2-4]. Higher yet they add silver plating, and the skull is the size of a fist [lvl 5], and the even higher level priests that skull has ram horns [lvl 6]. After that you get real human skulls! [at lvl 7+]! They're allowed to decorate theirs how they like, as well as adding enchantments. So gemstones, magic runes, etc.

Bane's holy symbol is the Black Hand, a symbol of terror recognisable to the entire Realms. Versions include a black handprint, a black claw or a metal gauntlet embedded with jewels. Priests usually wear a replica of the hand as a carved pendant of black stone. There is another Black Hand seen on his high-ranking priests: elbow-length gloves crafted of flexible metal mesh or chainmail, usually worn on the left hand. It emits an eerie dark radiance, i's supposed to be black, and a non-Banite found wearing one can expect every Banite on the planet to hunt them to the ends of the world for this blasphemy (also it's about 50,000gp in value jfc). The gauntlet cannot be damaged by force and absorbs all spells of third level or less. Area of effect spells are not negated, but cannot affect the wearer. It can drain magic out of items, should the wearer touch them with intent to do so. The wearer can then discharge all of the absorbed magic into the body of another by touching them, causing them damage. They can also paralyze undead and living beings via touch.

To question or disobey a superior is to question or disobey Bane himself, and is answered by torture, disfigurement and/or death. The word of a Banite of superior rank is law, and you will do literally anything they ask you to do.

Banites have invented a magic whip (a mystic lash) that does all sorts of fun nonsense in case that happens. It's made of glowing red energy. If the priest needs their hands free then the whip can actually wield itself (need to scourge that annoying initiate, but you don't want to look up from your book? Then good news!) If the wielder choses, a lash of the whip may cause one of the following; paralysis, memory loss, seizures, extra damage plus the disintegration of equipment, or electrocution.

One is expected to greet those of higher rank by kneeling in front of them and kissing their boots

At the bottom of the hierarchy are the novices, who are addressed by the title of "slave." If they're good enough, Bane will send them a dream vision or manifest as a voice speaking from one of his altars - he will name them, and they are allowed to enter the first rank of the priesthood… of which there are 12 ranks with their own unique addresses, which everybody is expected to memorise. Disrespect to a higher rank will, as mentioned, involve insulting Bane and lead to torture, disfigurement and potential death.

The only time you're not expected to use the titles is when in the presence of heathens, Banites will address each other as Brother/Sister Faithful (when speaking to an equal/lesser) or Dread Brother/Sister (when addressing a superior).

Banites do not refer to each other by name, only by the name of their rank (unless there are too many individuals of the same rank. In the case you had a room full of Black Fangs, you would address them individually as Black Fang [Surname].) It's generally impossible for eavesdroppers to learn the names or personal details of a Banite.

The rankings are determined by character level, and are as follows:

Watchful Brother/Sister/Sibling

Deadly Adept

Trusted Servant

Willing Whip

Hooded Menace

Black Fang

Striking Hand

Vigilant Talon

Masked Death

Dark Doom

Higher Doom

Deep Mystery

The Deep Mysteries include the Deeper Mysteries… which have their own ranks! Secret, higher levels which are unknown to those of the first 11 levels who must address all higher ranking Banites as "Deep Mystery." There is no official means by which a Banite is bestowed this title, they bestow them upon themselves if they believe they should have the rank. The test lies in the fact that in order to keep the title their fellow Banites must also begin using them - in other words if you are not a pretender and truly have the power and authority to hold this title, then your siblings in the faith will follow.

The ranks of the Deep Mysteries, in order of authority, from lowest to highest:

Vigilator

Lord/Lady of Mysteries

Lord/Lady of the Hand

Imperceptor

Dark Imperceptor

Grand Bloodletter

High Inquisitor

The High Imperceptor is the Banite of highest rank of the Deep Mysteries, supreme living servant of Bane, and unlike the prior titles this one cannot be self-bestowed. I haven't seen any explanation for how it is bestowed, but I imagine Bane decides.

Banites don't bother with set holy days. We will have a holy day whenever the leading priest decides we're having one, and it will be called whatever they decide it is. This usually means a) somebody fucked up, time for a public punishment; or b) we've got an enemy/traitor, time for human sacrifice.

Rituals are to be held in as close to pitch darkness as is possible, gathered around the Black Altar (a wood table covered in a black cloth, a block of black stone - whatever, just so long as it's black so we can give it an ominous name). The Black Altar is to be made holy by having a replica of the Holy Hand of Bane floating above it (this too has to be black in colour). This is a levitating 6 foot tall stone hand that can sense alignments within a 60 foot radius, and it will attack good-aligned people on encountering them. When not in use it patrols Banite locations, seeking out spies and intruders and killing them.

And that the Seat of Bane will be placed in front of the Black Altar. The chair is black, its back is carved into the shape of a hand. Senior clergy sit in the throne when acting as Bane's voice for the rest of the congregation. So the leader of the area's Banites sits in the chair, and that means Bane is sitting in the chair. While sitting in it, the seated can read the thoughts of all beings within 90 yards. it can project a forcefield around the chair; can nullify magic in the area; allows the seated to see through illusions and invisibility; know the alignment of everyone present; allow the seated to speak with dead; and also conjure walls of fire. If the chair is knocked over, it causes a massive explosion of fire that kills everyone around it.

Then the party. With minimum partying and maximum solemn, ominous chanting and deep, heavy drum beats. Those guilty of disobedience or other failures will be chained to the altar and whipped in front of the congregation. And then there's the human sacrifice: "Sacrifices had to be humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before dying to be acceptable to Bane, and they usually met their deaths through slashing, flogging, or being crushed by the Hand of Bane."

The traditional power base of the Banite faith was Zhentil Keep, the base of operations for the Zhentarim. The Black Network has once again been taken from Bane by Cyricists however, after the death of Fzoul Chembryl a few decades back - Fzoul was a Chosen of Bane and basically his favourite servant (who has since been made into a quasi-deity bearing some of Bane's divine power, that he may continue to serve) and Zhentil Keep is currently in ruins. The loss of the Keep (for a second time) destroyed Zhentarim power, and now they're mostly just a bunch of mercenaries with good connections on the black market trade routes (slaves, drugs, weapons, etc) as far as I can find.

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The Dreadmasters are Bane's specialty priests, making up 10% of all Banites. Dreadmaster is a unisex title. They spend their time doing all the spellwork and making all the delightful inventions that have been giving me a headache. They have a stupid number of spells given to them. Nobody else's specialty priests have this many fucking spells.

They cannot feel fear from sources other than Bane

They can, however, project the feeling of absolute terror into every being within 10 feet of them, usually causing everyone to run screaming.

They can completely destroy the souls of the dying

Create extra evil undead

Create powerful, still sapient undead servants from dead Banites (from ghouls up to vampires)

Create animated suits of armour that serve the Banites, powered by people's souls

Make a warding symbol drawn with a mixture containing three drops of blood from a collection made by sacrificing 30 people. The ward is invisible and cannot be detected, and when activated it drains the life out of everyone present.

They have a supernatural knack for reading other's true moods and intentions They have a supernatural level of charisma and authority over their servants, who cannot help but be fanatically loyal

They are exceptionally skilled in the artificing of magical wands, rods and staves. When they use them the magic of the items is increased.

They're the ones who cast the stonewalk spells that make the teleport network run.

They're also the priests responsible for binding the Dark Promise.

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"The Chosen of Bane are tyrants in every sense of the word, consumed with the quest for absolute power. Hand-picked by the deity of tyranny and fear, [they] are both charismatic and filled with hate [...] They seek only to rule with absolute, unchallenged authority over every living and undead create across the world."

They are unbothered by temperature, both hot and cold, as well as resistant to being burned or electrocuted.

They do not age, though they will still die at an age where they would've died if they did age.

Supernatural insight into motives and emotions, and a massive boost to their charisma.

They can mind control people, are immune to fear, can share this immunity with others or increase the fear they feel.

They can also cast gaes, which is basically exactly the same as the Dark Promise, but doesn't necessarily have to benefit Bane (blasphemous as that sounds).

They can summon undead beholders to serve them

They can grant their own shadows independence as an undead creature of the same name (shadows), While separate the shadow is free-willed, though the two remain telepathically linked.

They are served by a retinue of their own master's servants including: doppelgangers; helmed horrors; beholders; undead Banites; hell hounds; imps; displacer beasts; Banelar nagas (evil snake things with human faces)

-

Bane doesn't like using avatars, if he needs to manifest on Toril he just possesses people in positions of wealth and power who transform into handsome, yet "oily" looking black haired men as long as he's inhabiting them. The souls of these people are forced to watch as the god does what he wants. Once the body is "worn out" from all the punishment he puts them through (mortal shells, so fragile) he'll move to another evil or neutral mortal via touch.

If he strikes out with his gauntleted hand, then there is a good chance that the person stuck will drop dead.

In combat he warps the face into a more beastial visage. His hands become talons capable of "rending flesh and bone" and in the Time of Troubles when he was first forced to manifest as a normal human he immediately started editing the body into a more demonic visage although that might've been because he'd just crash landed in his own temple and destroyed it, and only had a few moments until his torture happy zealots turned up to find what seemed to be some random dude standing in the wreckage. He was in kind of a panic trying to make sure they saw Bane, God of Tyranny not... that.

His other manifestations as a pair of blazing red eyes staring out from the darkness, and a black, taloned hand which was the temperature of ice to the touch. They work exactly like his other manifestation.

Bane sometimes announces his presence, and that he is paying attention to you, with the sudden manifestation of the giant footprint of a boot, scorched into the earth. He shows his approval of his followers through their sudden discovery of a black sapphire. His disapproval is shown through the sudden appearance of red carnelian, ground into dust.

He is served by various devils, beholders, death tyrants (the undead remains of beholders that failed him), black dragons, banelar nagas and pride incarnates

Bane can cast any spell at will, save those that heal or create.

Bane was slain in the Time of Troubles. After his death his followers had an even bigger row between those who were loyal to Bane (orthodoxy) and those who worshipped his portfolio instead of the god himself and switched to Cyric. Many of the Orthodoxy began worshipping Iyachtu Xvim the Godson, son of Bane (whose mother was either a fiend or a fallen human paladin, nobody's sure).

Xvim was doing a pretty ok job in his nascent godhood up until 1372 DR, when Bane hijacked the essence of himself he'd left in his son and destroyed him - being reborn within his body and immediately regaining the rank of Greater Deity. About a few years following the Bhaalspawn Crisis, the year where Bhaal was supposed to be reborn from the death of his kids but failed.

Bane went on to continue being one of the most infamous, powerful and dangerous gods on Faerûn up until the Second Sundering, when suddenly we've got confusion.

In BG3 canon, the Dead Three are clearly greater than quasi-deity status. Due to new rules that WotC pulled out of their ass, gods of lesser deity status or higher cannot manifest avatars. Bane can still empower clerics and have Chosen, so he's most likely still a Greater Deity in BG3.

In Descent into Avernus, the Dead Three are apparently quasi-deities now, forced to exist in permanent avatars on Toril and unable to grant spells of have Chosen.

I think this nicely explains what I mean when I say D&D has no fucking "real" canon, it's all just a mountain of everyone's headcanons.

[glitteringobliteration]

Porter Is The Enemy.

Fig was right this whole time! Hear me out:

When Fig was talking to Porter and Zara, it really made me feel kinda weird and upset for Fig when they (more specifically, Porter) started claiming that her powers weren’t manifesting for/from Cassandra. It made me pause for a second bc i felt like, who are they to tell her where her own powers are coming from?

Then it hit me. What did Porter say she needs to do? Stop focusing on doubt, and put more of her concentration into her fire and rage.

What have they been fighting this whole time?

🛎️ DING 🛎️ DING 🛎️ DING ‼️ Rage!!!!

My working theory is that Porter is somehow involved in the work for bringing back this dead rage god, and trying to bring out as much fire and anger and rage in the aguefort students as he can is part of that. He’s been so incredibly helpful to Fig and even Gorgug this year (honestly he seems to care more about the students of aguefort than most teachers there, save for maybe Yolanda), but there could absolutely be ulterior motives.

Like, just think of how powerful they could be with an archdevil of rebellion taken over by one of those rage stars from the Wizard’s synod mall on their side. We went through all of the fiendish connections Fig has during this episode and it’s a LOT; she has a ton of pull in Hell. She could summon an army from her own blood alone (see: Baby), not to mention all the other souls Fig has already influenced simply of her own volition (see: recording studio).

Then suddenly Fig is running security detail for the cleric of Cassandra’s presidential campaign? The spouse (ex-spouse?) of this rage god? If the Bad Kids are right on this one and they’re going to off Mazey next to get Kangaroo Cuntface the spot as principal, that’s a big problem. Kristen Applebees becoming wildly popular/successful despite her 3rd god basically dying, losing all her spells, and having no followers (except Craig i guess. and me) and teetering on the brink of expulsion = big problem for Big Rage God. Of COURSE Porter, a teacher they have come to put their trust into, would tell them to lean into their rage more, the Bad Kids are powerhouses now and he’s scared!

I’ll be really interested to see if any of my ramblings come true in the future episodes. I love unlocking more of this mystery and all in all i really just want cassandra to be ok. I’m mostly excited rn to figure out what spies tongue curse means but i guess we’ll have to wait for next week’s episode. See you at basrar’s!!

TLDR: I have a feeling Porter is secretly working for the rage god and pushing the Bad Kids to lean into their anger for his own/the god’s own personal agenda. Fig will be redeemed!

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Miracle Creator's Chapter 138

New TCF chapter title - 20. A Miracle Happened in the Demon Cult

TLDR; Cale x HD moment. Angry HD. Blood Cult spies captured. Upcoming CH and CJS spar.

Soos? LSH = ❌ CJS = ✅

Cale x HD Moment My inner fangirl screamed again today. Last chapter, we had handholding (leeeeewd 🤩) and staring at each other's eyes closely. Today, we have ear whispers!!! 😳🤭

The scene went like this:

Cale and HD: *talks about what to do with Blood Cult spies* Cale: By the way... *looks serious* HD: *senses Cale's serious air and becomes serious too* Cale: *whispers* Can we get some snacks? I have a child who wants to eat. HD: ... Cale: (Why is he looking at me like that?) Raon: Yey! I'm excited! Go bring out all the expensive sweets!

Okay, it's just my BL filter acting up... 😅 But this scene was funny. The atmosphere was so serious, and then Cale suddenly asks HD for sweets. 😂Even Cale was embarrassed of his request, so he ended up whispering to HD... 🤣🤣🤣

One more Cale and HD moment: They talk to each other casually now. HD no longer uses "Young Master" when he calls Cale. He simply said "Kim Hae-il." And Cale replied to him with short words.

Angry Heavenly Demon This is to be expected. HD was so angry that his dark red aura, that was similar to Cale's Dominating Aura, was in full blast. He was so cool when he dominated the Demon Cult and gave all those orders. I want to go into detail but this is a reaction post, so sorry~ 🤐 All I can tell you is that he also gave the command to annihilate the Blood Cult like what the Namgung Clan did.

Our Cale was both impressed and fearful upon seeing the might of the Demon Cult because of HD. He even thought Blood Cult made a fatal mistake in making the Demon Cult their enemy.

And Cale experienced again how people felt when he uses his Dominating Aura because of HD's aura. He had goosebumps in his arms that he had to use his own DA AP to counteract HD's aura.

Blood Cult Spies Captured The spies were subdued quite quickly, and our Cale was scared again of the Demon Cult's power. They're still alive and would be interrogated. The way before they were subdued was also a cool scene.

We get some flashback of HD's miserable childhood and why he hated noise and actual rats. And then there was the transition to the "rats" (the spies) that entered the Demon Cult.

Oh yeah, who were the spies? -Pavilion Master Kee from the Coin Tree Pavilion -Captain Maeng, leader of one of the Demon Cult's 8 brigades

Upcoming CH and CJS Spar And we have our Soos scene at the end of the chapter. Which means it ended at a cliff... 😑B-B-BUT! This means that the next chapter on Monday is full of Soos!!! 🥰

Ending Remarks Today was full of cool scenes highlighting the power of HD and the Demon Cult. Yeah, HD is the author's favorite murim arc character. Anyway, look forward to next week's Soos interaction! See ya!

[vaxxman]

Do you actually use the vacc all the time? Stock is better for taking out sentries, or no? (genuinely asking)

Please don't learn from my wannabe strategies, they are really not good and very beginner-ish. Actually good medic mains would probably cry at some things that I do. In short, no. It's the same for any other medic weapon, really.

(Really) long answer, which is based on an unreliable "2 months of playing medic nearly every day" is below.

All mediguns are situational, but I follow some personal rule of thumb that goes:

If on attacking team: Stock Medigun If on defending team: Kritzkrieg

(Depicted is the ideal situation shortly before your Kritzkrieg reaches 100%)

I'm not an asshole who denies a good team potential killstreaks with a Kritzkrieg. A good team deserves a good uber. But if that medigun set up doesn't seem to work out with my team (eg. my team is only Demoknights and Market Gardeners / the enemy team has a god-like sniper and is killing everyone at the same spawn door) and the flanking classes are more fit to actually do the objective, I will switch to a different set up.

If on attacking team: Vaccinator If on defending team: Quickfix

(Depicted is what Vaxx encounters 70% of matches on payload maps)

My reason for this is that both of these mediguns focus more on survival, rather than making sudden pushes for ground; ground that the entire team might not be able to keep. I strongly follow the credo of "Don't pocket", so these two fast charging mediguns are perfect for switching around patients during building and uber pop to make sure many people as possible profit from them. They are also much more hectic to play, so most of the time I will switch from Crossbow to Overdose, and from ubersaw to solemn vow, because I am much more vulnerable to spies and flanks from hyper focusing on everyone's healthbars and jumping across the map, trying to keep the team together. Vaccing scouts is incredibly fun, you couldn't imagine until you tried ("Hello Doc, this is Jeremy, your Uber driver to pick you up").

On payload, when my team is pushing, I generally use Vacc and am part of the cart pushing team, unless I see that the team work and positioning is good enough. Upon death I'll respawn with stock to help the power classes who are pushing at the frontline instead, because the cart heals, too, and I trust my team to not die. Sometimes, all it takes for your team to successfully move out and gain ground is some popped bullet resistances on the first person who is leaving spawn to make sure the snipers don't delete them before you even get to the cart.

When I say "play more aggressive as medic" I really just mean being able to stand in the crossfire more often and actively encouraging your patients to go into situations, because they can trust that your 75% resistance will let them survive it (also you just pop the bubble and stress them into GOING IN BEFORE THE EFFECT WEARS OFF). If you run into a sniper sightline and manage to get him to snipe at you while a bullet resistance bubble is popped, the rest of your team can follow you until the sniper has reloaded, and that alone may already have caused enough pressure for the sniper to leave his position. I like to think of Vacc and Stock as the fight-or-flight-reflex triggering mediguns, with Vacc being the medigun that seemingly locks people into battle with you, as people attempt to take you down with focus fire, while Stock causes everyone to flee. Dying with Vacc isn't too bad for your uber charge, and no healing for some seconds is a risk I am willing to take sometimes, if it means I'm drawing the enemies' attention away from my other team mates and wasting their ammo for the last push.

So tldr: Since I'm playing casual mostly, eventually I will use Vaccinator a lot because my alternative is to gamble that one or two players are competent enough to perform extremely well during an 8 second long uber. Yes Stock uber is the best for taking out sentries, but sometimes your team might not be the best for the job.

Whatever people say about medic gameplay being boring, I don't see it, it's super engaging, and extremely strategy heavy to me.

(Depicted are reasons why normal and sane medic mains use Stock vs why Vaxx uses Vaccinator)

[nikethestatue]

I've been keeping a list of running theories/justifications the anti-elriels have been clinging to since HOFAS (for my own personal amusement ofc). I think you might also get a kick out of them:

Gwyn is destined to wield Gwydion because it's Truth Teller's "mate" and she is Azriel's mate. And also she is named after Gwydion...bc you know..Gwyn..GWYdion...Same thing with their reading comprehension i guess?

Valkrie headquarters at the dusk court

Gwyn is from the Autumn Court, her dad is Beron probably

Gwyn will help Azriel save Illyria

ACOTAR 6 will be more Valkrie girlboss time

Azriel is getting the next book (because despite SJM saying 4000 times ACOTAR will follow the archeron sisters...Chaol (TOG, different series) got a book).

Gwyn is a MC because she is an Illyrian warrior (do you still even get Carynthian status if you're passed tf out and carried to the top by an actual Illyrian?)

Valkries will ride pegasi into battle

Gwyn's father could be someone super important which would then make gwyn super important

Gwyn will become a spy with azriel because she spied in ACOSF (can you please point to where she did such a thing? Bc I cannot find it in the canon text. Unless they mean when she sat in a tree and monitored the Illyrians right below it....which isn't really spying imo...like homegirl was just trying to survive another day not "spy")

Basically, tldr, they are dead set on thinking the next book will feature azriel, and in a desperate attempt to make Gwyn relevant enough to be his love interest, they are breaking their backs reaching for things to make this girl who cant even leave the library sound important. When the truth is all these plotlines they want with Az, Nesta, Gwyn could be fulfilled with just Az and Elain. But nooo Elain bad, Elain boring, elain plant, elain object to keep precious lulu baby happy!!

They are right about one thing. The next book WILL feature Azriel. A lot. Only with Elain. Ooops.

The funny thing is that it's always--Gwyn is someone's daughter, Gwyn's is someone's girlfriend, Gwyn is someone's mate, Gwyn will get a pegasus from someone and will ride it...Gwyn is always attached to someone. Someone MORE important than her. Because Gwyn doesn't really have a story of her own. Not one worth 800 pages. So it's always, Gwyn will be Tamlin's/Beron's/Eris's/Lucien's daughter. She will be Azriel's mate. She is Nesta's friend.

And Elain? Well, Elain IS Elain, isn't she? Powerful AF in her own right. Doesn't need to be anybody's anything. Just Elain.

[parafic]

Per the will of domoz, I am here to encourage writing. Please write 100 words of... *spies a new fic* kagami needs rescuing! :D ♡ (Can I also say I'm so impressed how good the flow is whenever you and domoz do these prompts? They feel so polished?! Witchcraft???)

The will of Domoz is very powerful.

And THANK YOU I am very flattered and uh. rambled somewhat more than necessary, so that's going to go under the cut after the fic. TLDR I do edit some as I write, it doesn't all come out that smooth! But the very first version doesn't get posted, because I'd have to post like... a quarter of a sentence at a time.

Anyway, time to put a small child in danger!

Kagami needs rescuing:

The Senju have been focusing on Hikaku, which has given Ruri and Kagami the space to scramble out of the way of jutsu and kunai showers.  Ruri has stuck close to Kagami, dragging him with her when he couldn’t have dodged fast enough on his own, and Hikaku is proud of her for that, even if it’s not going to make a difference. Her hand is still clamped on Kagami’s forearm when they land beside Hikaku at the base of the cliff.  It’s as good a chance as Hikaku will get.  He lets his head drop as he forces himself back to his feet, hiding his mouth as well as he can.  “Ruri, when you see an opening, I want you both to run.”

I do edit some as I write! For example, the last sentence in this section of Typhoon Island was originally:

"These will stop working (break? communicates 'stop producing light' but it's not REALLY accurate, there's got to be a better word) if the stone they're on is rearranged or cracked (broken?)(disrupted is what I mean for both really but I don't want to use it)."

which I only actually typed about the first three or four words of before I decided it didn't work, too many words I couldn't decide on. So the second version, which actually got typed was:

"These seals are easily damaged," Tobirama says. "Will a change in the light be a problem for you?"

And that worked better, but then I couldn't get Tobirama's next line of dialogue to flow in a way I liked, so that got cut to just the question and the 'easily disrupted' info went into his next line.

(But you can kinda still tell, because that's why Izuna immediately refers to the angle of the light and doesn't consider, say, the color; I'd decided on his response while I was still thinking of that first version of Tobirama's sentence. 'Tobirama intends to make many of these, some of which may go off without warning' isn't a totally unreasonable conclusion for him to pick up as it is, but it makes a lot more sense if Tobirama has already referenced multiple seals and that they're easily disrupted. So this is something I'll probably edit more before it goes on AO3.)

I don't usually do that much with every sentence, all the rest in that excerpt I just wrote once and moved on. (And if I am feeling the need to do that sort of rewriting every sentence, that's a 'you have a problem ten sentences back, go rewrite' sign for me.) But there is definitely some polishing going on.

Also I've been doing forum RP off and on for... about fourteen years now? which has given me a lot of practice at writing sections of a scene about this length, 100-300 words, and trying to make that small piece impactful while also keeping in mind the overall arc of the scene and what options the sentence I'm currently writing will give me in the next paragraph. It's not exactly the same as this, but I'm keeping mostly the same things in mind as I write, so the practice helps a lot.

Anyway all that to say REALLY THANK YOU SO MUCH, the witchcraft is I am an English nerd and uh. that's prettymuch it.

[magical-grrrl-mavis]

I need to familiarize myself with some magical girl themes beyond word of mouth- especially how the (Hero's Nourney Voice) Call Tl Action/Power Gaining and, destiny parts commonly works. Is there any particular shows I should watch?

Ummmm

This is a rambly one but TLDR: a season of Precure I guess?

This is difficult to answer because the magical girl genre is... weird. It's vague and includes a lot more than just the "magical girl warrior" shows like Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew that people think of.

There's slice of life series like Machikado Mazoku and 'Magical Idol' series like Mewkeldreamy, and of course little witch girl series like Little Witch Academia

And a whole bunch of shit that doesn't fit any of that, or parodies like Panty & Stocking or Kill La Kill, and "dark magical girls" which are their own mess

You'd think the unifying trait here would be "girl with magic" except Totally Spies is considered a magical girl warrior show and there are plenty others like Bubblegum Crisis where they have sci fi weapons or alien technology

And there are magical boys! You seen Steven Universe?

At the end of the day there are some established tropes and themes you'll see in a lot of them, especially characters being strong because of their femininity rather than in spite of it, but honestly most of the time it's just vibes.

My first magical girl was Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

I can't really tell you how to gain an understanding of the genre as a whole, but if you want to get into magical girl warrior show--which are definitely the most popular--I'd suggest a season or two of Precure.

It's a kids show but it's still very well written and usually conveys the most common themes of that genre. It is 20 seasons long but each season is it's own story with it's own characters so you don't really need to watch then in any order. I suggest Smile Precure, it's fun and has a decent dub.

But honestly just find any magical girl show and jump in. Except for Magical Girl Site, nobody should watch that ever.

[shallowrambles]

I have been thinking about Cas and Raphael (lovingly) allll day and I have more thoughts about Cas's needs for constant ressurance (are you with me or against me?) and allegiance from the angels in season 6 that are fun and relate to the prior disillusionment and moral injury...esp the one right before The Rapture where he was initially gonna break ranks.

And ofc...Raphael very likely has spies since it's a civil war.

Tldr; version - I really see it as the fallout of authoritarianism and the angelic power structure. It feeds into the paranoia and the secrecy

[lordgrimoire]

My Time Has Come

The Fentons were an anomaly, why? Because after the world became aware of Amity Park [Finally] they decided on their own that they wanted ALL of that Fenton Tech. The Problem? Amity Park has essentially been self sufficient for half a decade and trusts the US Government and UN about as far as one would trust the Joker to get from Arkham. 

Thankfully in Lex’s case he hadn’t been the fool to put in the Anti Ecto Acts, regrettably he had completely failed to repeal them, so now he was sitting here, listening as Jackson Fenton declared ‘no’ in the longest form possible. Lex began to actually feel mental exhaustion, these two Doctors had done miracles while searching out Ghosts and trying to punch a hole into their dimension and while Lex would have scoffed in the past, now, now he would throttle his Presidential self hard enough to kill.

The Justice League were having slightly better luck, but only because they offered to put some serious pressure on the US Government to repeal the Anti-Ecto Acts, which confused several of them since all they had had in the start of these negotiations were the Fentons’ Original papers and research reports, which painted them as rather viscously anti-Ghost, which had seemingly flipped in the five years since the Portal, which Superman wanted sealed, had opened.

Problem with that, The Fenton’s Outright Refused to close it, and when they gave their reasons it did make sense, All of Amity Park was Ecto-Contaminated at best prior to the Portal Opening, most Amity Parkers were now Liminal of some sort or other, which meant they had to absorb some ectoplasm, usually just by hanging out in town. If they closed the portal then the whole of the town could pass on fully within a year, maybe two if they were able to ration the ectoplasm they had. Furthermore the only other truly thin point the citizens of Amity would be able to get to was in Gotham and Batman had run the possibilities already, most Amity Parkers had some ability or other that put them on the Meta Human field of powers but lacked a meta gene, which meant nothing except that they would probably stomp your average Gotham Rogue flat in a fight, and Batman did not want to deal with Incinerated Joker at any point soon.

Danny meanwhile, was having the absolute time of his life talking with Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, and his favorite John Constantine. Well John was only his favorite at the moment because he’d won the Bingo competition, and was now in the process of explaining the rules to the assembled heroes who’d come to the “Meet and Greet Rogues of Amity Park” he had set up on the edge of town. Which had originally spooked the visiting heroes but had devolved into Flash getting over his existential crisis of Oh Hey There’s Ghosts, and most of the other present Leaguers just pumping the Ghosts, Danny, Red Huntress, and the Concerning number of present civilians about what life was like in Amity Park. 

TLDR: Everyone is losing their minds while the locals just go about their days ignoring or talking to the visiting Spies just going “Oi, the good spots are all taken, scram or I’ll dump ectoplasm on you.” While also holding casual conversations with just about anyone else, mostly. 

FOR FOLKS WHO WANTED TO BE TAGGED!

@fanficfan13 @dannyphantomphan @trainer-sean @scarlet-cape @spekulatiusmuffin @minnesota-fats @bonebrokebuddy @aikoiya​ @sarahlikesbugs-blog​   

I was rereading a Dead Marvel x Danny Phantom crossover ( last updated in 2014, RIP ) called Marvel Phantom by Slayer Anderson, and here is the Summary.

So...the Fentons punch a hole through to the afterlife in their basement, and develop unparalleled hover technology and...they're crackpots?

In that fic, that gets played seriously because they showed their tech and a brief glimpse of the Ghost Zone to the News for an interview on their studies and everyone on the planet, from Companies to the Military, wants their tech.

Like they made a physic cancelers shd gravity inverters for their hover machines to study ghosts, not knowing that what they did went beyond groundbreaking and make every technology look like it came from the stone age.

That they are actually geniuses that do genius things despite being 'kooky.'

And you know what, that author is right. Are there any other stories out there where someone stops and says 'You built a what in your basement that did what?!

Sure, Amity is Amity which deals with weird supernatural shit, so they get a pass on not actually stopping and thinking that, but what's everyone else excuse?

Suddenly imagine everyone knows about FentonTech and what they can do.

Remember the Fenton Crammer that can shrink humans and inanimate objects? And if a ghost gets shrunk, their powers get weaker? That can be very useful to transport stuff that would had taken time and money.

Or how they have a what's basically a futuristic tank for a RV that has a lot of space?

Or that they have an Emergency Ops Center on their home that can turn into a hover vehicle.

All of the anti-ghost weapons.

I can go on and on, but things can get funny/ hairy real fast.

Wayne Ent, Lex Corp, Cadmus, every military will want a generous piece of that Fenton Pie, with the Fentons going, what's the big deal? We only made this for ghosts and shit. Whatever happened because of that was a happy accident.

Also imagine Lex Luthor about to pop a blood vessel, and holding himself back from throttling Jack during a talk .

Lex: 'Let me get this straight. You built a pocket-sized mini nuclear reactor that can power the US for six generations at full capacity and still have the juice to power an extra two, and instead of using that to for the betterment of mankind and showing those aliens ( cough Superman cough ) their place, you use it to power a pastry machine homemade peanut butter FUDGE!?'

Jack: Gourmet peanut butter fudge! :D it even makes pies and cookies. That nice Superhero with that A on his chest sure loved the Apple Pie it made!

Luthor: *collaspes and start to foam at the mouth out of rage, shock and disbelief*

Vlad that was sitting at a corner: *Sniff*. 'Welcome to my world.'

Bro this is HILARIOUS!!!!

This is the type of chaos I LIVE FOR!

I know little to nothing of Alex Luther other than the fact that he is a xenophobe…. And that he got cancer from being a xenophobe. (Ha! that’s how it should be for racists and such(jk cancer is actually really bad and not a joke))

He would just be MAD that these social idiots would have been able to go all of this with NO FUNDING!

Like seriously where did they get the money to do this crap????

Also Vlad crying in the corner is so funny to me, the grown ass man being a pouty bitch cuz he can’t have a woman he simpped for for 20 plus years!

Wish I could add more but I can’t possibly think of what else to add other than this.

[luvnetwork]

A  BRIEF  INTRODUCTION  INTO  THE  NAM  FAMILY.

father  jihoon  nam  &  mother  miyoung  nam.  fraternal  twins  echo  &  evae  nam  (seo  yeji  &  kim goeun),  identical  twins  miteum  &  mireu  nam  (woo  dohwan),  benjamin  “benji”  reid  (jordan  fisher),  december  “ember”  zhao  (zhu  zhengting),  &  phoenix  “nix”  nam  (choi  soobin)

with  inspiration  taken  from  the  umbrella  academy,  the  raven  cycle,  x-men,  my  hero  academia,  and  agents  of  shield.  

jihoon  nam  was  born  gifted.  he  was  smart,  yes,  but  was  talented  in  separate  means  as  well.  when  people  say  that  something  came  to  them  in  a  dream,  it’s  usually  metaphorical.  jihoon,  however,  could  quite  literally  pull  things  out  of  his  dreams.  if  he  was  lucid  enough,  he  could  form  anything  he  could  ever  imagine  and  wake  up  with  it  in  his  hands.  despite  his  attempts  of  keeping  his  gift  hidden,  his  twin  brother  ostracized  him,  wanting  nothing  to  do  with  him  and  his  ‘demonic’  powers.  as  an  adult,  he  took  over  his  father’s  technology  company,  reputation  increasing  because  of  his  imaginative  mind  and  of  course,  his  power.  

quickly,  he  realized  he  was  lonely.  in  his  dreams  he  had  already  met  a  beautiful  woman  his  age,  miyoung,  and  it  was  just  a  matter  of  grabbing  her  hand  and  pulling  her  into  his  world.  and  so  he  did.  the  two  of  them  were  happy,  king  and  queen  of  a  technological  empire.  

1988  |  their  first  child,  phoenix,  wasn’t  planned,  but  he  was  loved  for.  paranoid,  jihoon  didn’t  let  the  child  be  known  to  the  public,  deciding  instead  to  have  him  homeschooled.  nix  didn’t  take  to  this  well,  and  often  snuck  out  in  the  night  as  he  was  growing  up.  his  own  powers,  matching  jihoon’s,  manifested  when  he  was  six  years  old  and  had  brought  back  a  glow-in-the-dark  butterfly  from  a  particularly  vivid  dream.

1990  |  two  years  later,  miyoung  found  two  baby  girls  abandoned  at  the  front  desk  of  the  nam  industries  building.  she  and  jihoon  adopted  the  two  as  their  own,  naming  them  echo  and  evae.  both  of  them  also  developed  powers  at  a  young  age:  echo,  the  ability  to  see  three  seconds  into  the  future,  and  evae,  the  ability  to  run  at  superspeed  for  three  seconds.  echo  was  always  more  assertive  and  opinionated,  while  evae  was  closer  to  nix  in  personality  and  often  helped  him  sneak  out.

1998  |  jihoon’s  brother  gives  his  six  year  old  sons,  miteum  and  mireu,  up  to  him.  like  jihoon,  they  too  had  abilities  that  terrified  and  disgusted  him,  leading  him  to  want  nothing  to  do  with  his  children.  mireu  can  temporarily  brainwash  someone  when  they  answer  something  he  asks.  his  older  twin,  miteum,  can  copy  others’  abilities  upon  touching  them.  the  older  is  serious,  stoic,  and  introverted,  whereas  mireu  has  more  of  a  joke-y  and  extroverted  personality.

2004  |  eight  year  olds  benji  and  ember  meet  at  a  hospital.  they  are  quick  to  figure  out  that  they  have  been  eachothers  consciences  their  entire  lives.  literally,  they  had  been  communicating  with  eachother  forever,  but  had  no  idea  of  the  fact  until  their  parents  get  into  a  car  accident.  both  sets  of  parents  unfortunately  die,  but  as  if  jihoon  was  expecting  this  to  happen,  he  is  there  to  take  care  of  the  children.

obsessed  with  the  power  jihoon  has  under  him,  he’s  eager  to  train  his  five  children’s  skills,  working  hard  to  make  sure  they  can  take  on  anything  and  anyone  they  encounter.  nam  industries  provides  a  cover  for  the  family  as  they  do  this.  

it  starts  as  small  projects  at  first,  little  movements  to  take  down  corrupt  public  figures  and  whatnot,  but  it  escalates  before  jihoon  can  stop  it  from  doing  so.  miyoung  gets  caught  in  the  crossfires.  she  died  in  2007  in  what  the  public  called  a  freak  accident,  but  jihoon  knew  better.  the  kids  knew  better.  

jihoon  disappeared  off  of  the  face  of  the  earth  in  2008.  a  week  later,  on  phoenix’s  twentieth  birthday,  the  oldest  nam  child  didn't  wake  up.  he’s  alive,  breathing,  heart  pumping,  but  his  eyes  don’t  open.  all  of  jihoon’s  possessions  that  he  dreamed  up  stop  working  as  well.  the  other  children  are  quick  to  figure  out  what  this  means  —  phoenix  was  a  dream  thing  too.

he  stays  in  the  medical  bay  in  a  basement  level  of  the  nam  industries  building,  his  siblings  not  ready  to  accept  the  fact  that  their  family  was  falling  apart  right  in  front  of  their  eyes.  what  they  dubbed  as  their  ‘adventures’  that  they  trained  day  and  night  for  skid  to  a  halt.

they  move  on  with  their  lives,  distancing  themselves  from  eachother.  in  2015,  echo  takes  over  as  the  ceo  of  nam  industries  with  little  fanfare.  it’s  silent  knowledge  that  it  should  have  been  phoenix  in  that  chair  on  the  topmost  floor,  but  he  sleeps  at  the  lowest.  

on  the  twelfth  anniversary  of  jihoon’s  disappearance,  the  six  remaining  of  the  nam  family  pay  their  respects  to  the  three  they’ve  lost.  they  gather  at  midnight  in  echo’s  office,  bottles  of  expensive  wine  and  take  out  containers  passed  around  them.  in  the  past  ten  years,  no  one  dared  visiting  phoenix.  maybe  if  they  did,  they  wouldn’t  have  been  surprised  to  see  him  standing  in  the  doorway  of  the  office,  blood  trickling  down  his  arm  where  his  iv  was  just  minutes  ago.

in  the  silence,  they  take  in  what  this  all  means.  one,  phoenix  hasn’t  aged  a  day.  he  looks  like  the  same  twenty  year  old  he  was  when  he  slipped  in  to  the  coma,  and  by  the  way  eyes  wander  around  the  room  curiously,  his  mind  is  twenty  as  well.  two,  they  are  whole  again.

three,  jihoon  has  to  be  alive.

they  haven’t  gotten  used  to  phoenix’s  sudden  appearance,  and  they  don’t  suppose  they  ever  will.  he’s  the  same  yet  completely  different,  dynamics  completely  turned  on  their  heads.  their  team  is  somewhat  reestablished,  and  behind  the  front  of  nam  industries,  the  seven  of  them  employ  a  covert  operation.  assignments  from  external  forces  are  given  to  them,  and  they  complete  them  silently  without  question.  their  main  focus,  however,  is  trying  to  figure  out  where  the  hell  jihoon  nam  went,  why  he  is  back,  and  if  they  should  try  to  find  him  at  all.

[neo-shitty]

ahh congrats on finishing midterm!! sending u party toot thingies so we can toot party toot things together toot toot (idk what theyre called)

but for the firectors cut!! if i can be so selfish as to ask for two..

⭐️ meet me where the flowers are

⭐️ thou shall not die

literally anything you wanna say about them pls maam i'll be happy w mere crumbs

(i actually went back to ur m.list and i really wanna reread these)

thank you so much! sorry it took me a day to reply, i was waiting for one final midterm (i was technically done with majors but this one subj just felt important to make me wait a whole damn day only to never issues the exam <3 i am fucking pissed) it's not selfish to ask for two! you could've asked for more and i wouldn't bat an eye.

meet me where the flowers are - hwang hyunjin

oh, the love of my life. i think i spent days trying to find the right word combination to open the fic. i wasn’t heading anywhere with anything and i had rows upon rows of opening lines until i finally found the right one. it took a while, i can even remember just letting it sit in my drafts, completely given up on. but alas, i came up with the right word combination and with a plot already ready, i got to writing.

three inspirations: the k-drama youth of may which i finished days before i started writing this, the song hain ka by bullet dumas, and my frustration towards the results of our national elections. i came up with this at a restaurant (haha i remember looking at a chair across the room and imagining hyunjin sitting there? yk, like in that scene?) but i think the ride there was the actual medium. it gave me time to think about all three of them and before i knew it, i was typing this down on my notes app.

i was mad then, hearing the news of the son of a dictator leading the race for presidency. i couldn’t fathom how people allowed this blatant repetition of history to happen. i heard of stories of corruption, abuse, torture and killings back when that man’s father was in power and they ousted him and his family for it. only to have the same damn hands welcome them back into power 4 decades later. fucking hell. but, as enraged as i was, this story wasn’t written out of hatred (maybe a little bit haha). this was born out of grief towards people i never got to know but people who nonetheless only had the country’s best interest in mind. they fought back and lost their lives for it. everything that they fought for, all for nothing. (im not gonna bore you with politics tho so!! moving on!!)

i watched youth of may not knowing that the story would take a similar turn. turns out 80s in korea and 80s where i’m from weren’t too different lol lots of governments enforcing martial law and justifying extrajudicial killings as part of their duty <3 the gwangju massacre was a lockdown on an area where the SK gov’t suspected NK spies resided. and it frustrates me how a room full of people could issue a few commands to kill off a hundred innocent people just because of poorly supported suspicions. same goes for my country back then. and while i was very fortunate to live in a region where the dictator had some sort of bias towards, i never suffered losing someone directly. but i’ve heard enough stories, watched too many documentaries to still live in this bubble of neutrality. 

then there’s ‘hain ka’ which translates into ‘where are you’. it’s a song written in my mother tongue making it more personal than literally anything else on my playlist. it tells a story of someone wondering what life would be like if the person they miss was still around. it breaks my heart every time i listen to it and it hurts no matter which way i listen to it. be it from the perspective of a friend suffering a fall out or a person grieving over someone who has passed away. YOU KNOW I’D BE HAPPY TO TRANSLATE THE WHOLE THING FOR YOU, that is if you want me to.

tldr; it’s a very personal fic, second only to ghosting. and it might be the first fic where i tackle a topic out of the ordinary fic scope. it’s borderline reality disguised in the form of fanfiction.

thou shall not die - kim seungmin

this is straight up chuuya brainrot disguised as a stray kids fanfic. i distinctly remember that this was inspired by me <dying on the dentist chair> and seeing my doctor’s sleeve smeared with my blood for the first time in the decade i’ve been visiting him. no, i’m not romanticizing my dentist or the act of going to my dentist. i was just shocked to see evidence of my bleeding be visible. the gauzes come and go but that smear would take bleach to remove and maybe a change of gowns before the next patient came in. it made me feel mortal in a way and like, i know i am, i’m just not actively reminded about it. i also know i nearly died a couple of times in that clinic but that was just the first time i paid any particular attention i guess. 

fic-wise, this drew inspiration from a lot of things. there’s the wheel from howl’s moving castle, fissures with monsters from game of thrones, chuuya and yosano’s abilities from bungo stray dogs. there is really no deeper meaning to this beyond wanting to kill off a strong mc that actually has a chance to fight back but their power has a limit and this is it? DID THAT SENTENCE EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE. 

god i just realized that both these fics are just people running out of time. i picture how mc could’ve lived instead of sacrificing themselves. if they waited a little longer to regain their strengths and had that miraculous 1 out of 14 million chance of winning the losing battle without another casualty, they would’ve. but that wouldn’t make a good story to tell 🥱 honestly, i haven’t thought too much about this bc i hated it : ] but looking back it had such good dystopia potential especially with their abilities. i wish i introduced the whole gang and how their powers worked but i haven’t thought that far into it, didn’t feel the need to.

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Trash Boss's Chapter 136

TLDR; Cale agrees to the banquet. Cale and Ron plot to have the 2 Chois talk. Ron's sour tea returns. More living jiangshi. Blood Cult spies appear.

Soos? LSH = ✅ CJS = ✅

The Banquet That part about Chief Eunuch Wi still in shock at Cale rudely referring to HD as "that bastard" last chapter had me laughing 🤣🤣🤣 Of course, Cale eventually reverted to his polite and courteous self, but Wi had a hard time comprehending when Cale broke his polite act... Wi, that's actually Cale's real self... 😂

Poor Cale. His plan to avoid attending the banquet by using the "Durst faints at the sight of HD" excuse did not work. 🥲 In the end, Cale agreed to go because he just had to meet the candidates and say a few good words to them. RIP Cale's slacker plan for the week 🪦

Cale and Ron The Soos were mentioned in the two's conversation. CJS had shut himself in the room together with LSH. That's all for LSH's mention 😢 Our CJS got mentioned again when Cale and Ron hatched a plot to make the two Choi family members talk.

It seems that CH reached an obstacle in his Heavenly Sword training, so Cale and Ron plotted to have CJS help his uncle. Awww.... 🥰But Ron had to ruin Cale's smile by serving him tea that was sourer than lemon tea... 😂

Blood Cult Spies And we get to the serious part. Day of the banquet and Durst identified two new Living Jiangshi, but not among the candidates.

An emergency occurred then. Black smoke rose from HD again, and Raon informed Cale that he heard two people secretly talking via Chi Hidden Voice about a change of plans regarding the Living Jiangshi in the Demon Cult. 😟

Cale understood that they were spies from the Blood Cult when the spies ended their words with a sentence praising the Blood Cult. So Cale's modified slacker plan to just sit and chat a bit got killed again... 🤣🤣🤣

Ending Remarks Battle scene next chapter? Now that the members of the Blood Cult have appeared, how will our Cale keep his purification powers a secret from them? Or will those 2 spies end up like our unfortunate Number 7? And when will Cale's slacker plans ever succeed?

Yeah, I have so many questions, but unfortunately, the chapter ended with a cliffhanger. 😖 At least, there was a balance between the funny and serious parts today. Anyway, that's all for today. See you all next Wednesday!

[grain-strengths]

Ok my whack crack theory is that it was vecna via a demogorgon he had possessed. So technically yes, Will is chased by a demogorgon, but vecna is the brains behind it and he used his telekinesis to open Will’s front door. Because let’s face it, the demogorgons usually just smash their way through obstacles. The lock opening scene confuses the shit out of me because there’s demogorgon noises (growling) as the lock is sliding open.

So to expand, Will sees the demogorgon near the Hawkins National Laboratory sign. My guess is that El opened the gate and the demogorgon escapes in right side up Hawkins that way. El opens the gate when she makes contact with the demogorgon, which is the second time she sees it.

So hang with me, El banished Henry/vecna/001 into an alternate dimension. Vecna doesn’t seem to be able to open gates at this point (otherwise I feel like he would have come back to the right side up earlier). The only way he can open gates in st4 is by making a connection with someone in the right side up and killing them.

But maybe vecna has void traveling powers like El. So vecna is seething and plotting. And sometimes spies on El in the void. He sees her when she first spots the demogorgon and he knows Brenner. Vecna knows Brenner will want El to find the demogorgon again, so vecna possesses it in hopes of breaking into the right side up.

Vecna (via demogorgon body) makes it back to right side up Hawkins and wanders out of the lab. Will sees him and runs. Idk why he chases Will. Maybe vecna spied on Hawkins kids and knows Will has powers. Wtf knows (I really need that question to be answered in st5).

Anyway, demogorgon aka vecna pursues Will and opens the lock. Will goes to the shed. The lights weren’t flickering when the demogorgon opened the lock, but the shed light flickers and then Will and the demogorgon are gone.

Ok so my guess is that Will was scared and transported him and the demogorgon to the upside down aka Will’s ultimate hiding spot (Jonathan mentioned that Will is really good at hiding. I think Will retreats to an alternate dimension when he’s scared. He knows about his powers but doesn’t know what to make of them or isn’t fully aware of what’s happening when he’s scared). Vecna is astounded that Will can open gates. He sucks Will’s powers out of him (like he did with El is st3) and uses those for the demogorgon to open gates. The Hawkins upside down is stuck on the day Will disappeared because Will created that alternate dimension that day.

Will is saved and leaves the upside down. But he takes a piece of it with him. Vecna is able to use that and possess Will in st2.

So tldr, vecna conducts his bidding in st1 via a demogorgon he possesses and sucks Will’s powers out of him. Like I said crack theory.

I’m so so so intrigued by the upside down. I can’t wait to learn more about its lore and hopefully find out what happened when Will was there in st1.

[kurokoros]

Nancy’s side-quest in S2 about taking down the lab actually just... should not have worked at all, like you’re trying to tell me this is a high security government lab who, in S1 alone, murdered Benny Hammond for simply learning El existed, managed to break into the Byers home completely undetected, and created a convincing enough fake corpse that Hopper couldn’t immediately tell it was fake and you mean to tell me not one person thought to search Nancy’s purse???

Nancy and Jonathan absolutely would have been searched for weapons. her bag would have been dumped out. they would have been detained by the lab and possibly faced with legal action for attempting to break an NDA. them getting a confession on tape simply does not work. it doesn’t make Nancy look clever like the show wants you to think she is, it just makes the people working at the lab seem painfully incompetent at their jobs

(not to mention the lab probably just would have made a fake body for Barb, too. and Nancy’s crusade is only about Barb, not about the other residents of Hawkins who were killed by the Demogorgon, or Benny, who was the only one directly killed by the lab, but whatever I guess)

bit of a tangent, but the characters in ST diving headfirst into things with zero plan and having things work out because the plot says it has to is a reoccurring thing that pokes so many holes in the story it isn’t even funny. I don’t want to think about S3 because the writing pisses me off so much and I basically scrub the plot from my brain immediately after I finish rewatching it because the entire premise just... fundamentally does not work (it’s obvious the duffers were raised as city kids, because lmao everyone who lives in a midwestern small town would immediately take notice of a goddamn military base being built beneath the mall), but there are minor things too, like the entire scoops plotline: all four of them realistically would have been shot on sight and Steve and Robin are extremely lucky that all they did was smack Steve around a little and then give them funny drugs that they were able to “puke up” despite said drugs being injected into their bloodstream 🙃 it was also very stupid of them to go in with no kind of weapon, no plan, and without having told anyone where they were going and what they were doing. this wasn’t like season one where no one really knew what they were getting into, this was three teenagers and a child breaking into what they fully believed was a facility being run by Russian spies

S4 is even more egregious with the final showdown against Vecna. I’ve seen people try to argue that the plan was meant to be bad because of how desperate the characters were, but the problem isn’t that it’s a bad plan, the problem is that it’s a bad plan that works at all. the entire plan hinges on Max keeping Vecna distracted and then using the power of music to get away, but Vecna has literally no reason to go after Max again, knowing that she knows how to escape, when there’s an entire town full of potentially traumatized teenagers to choose from. but I guess he doesn’t have any backup options at all. and I guess he has to psychologically torment his sacrifices first for the gates to open, but haha that’s not ever explained because fuck you duffer brothers

TLDR: the main characters in ST only seem smart because the antagonists are written to be painfully stupid by comparison

[lilithisamess]

This is a reply to @90smikewheeler’s response to my post. i was gonna reblog, but it’s too long and i don’t really want to do any more self reblogs lol

This is a pretty big paragraph and some of it is not directly related to the point of my previous post, so I’m ignoring it lol (for now, I may reply to it later.)(If I have the time.)

The whole point of that mall montage was to give El some experience as a teenage girl, going to the mall was not at all damaging for her and she seemed to have a lot of fun. Not to mention how important it was for Jane’s character development. It was also not as dangerous as you might think.

At this point of the narrative, the mf still hadn’t recognized El. This actually happened in ep3, The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard. It was actually a pretty big plot-point: when “Billy” saw El and Max at Heather’s house and recognized her as the girl who hurt him and closed the gate. He was so upset that Will felt his presence more intensely than he had before, being sure for the first time that the mf was back. Also, Billy was the only flayed at this point.

About the Russians being a threat to her: I’m not so sure they knew about El. She was a weapon to be used against the Russians, but they not once mention the existence of a girl with superpowers.

The doctor who helped Hop with El’s adoption told him he should keep her inside for the next year, but nothing happened that was a consequence of Max taking El to the mall.

The spying was not an abuse of her powers. And it did work. They had laughs, they had fun, she was a teenager with powers. Again, it was not a very ethical thing to do, but not because it was a use of her powers. It didn’t harm her at all, she didn’t even ever feel guilty about doing it. Yes, she bleeds through her nose, but it doesn’t seem to phase her.

It’s true that Jane has been abused for her powers, used as a weapon and pushed to her limit, but she was clearly not at her limit here. She was clear not in pain, she was clearly comfortable with the usage of her powers. She was safe, so much so that nothing bad happened as she spied on the boys. El is the one who should decide whether her powers are to be used for silly everyday things, because despite what she’s been led to believe up to the end of se2, they’re hers. Not anyone else’s.

And her abilities caused a lot of indirect pain for herself, but the show itself seems to tell us that yes, they are essentially a gift. In fact, that’s the exact word Kali uses to describe them in The Lost Sister, s2e7.

The way you worded this implies that any of the tragedies that happed later in se3 were consequences of Max’s and El’s mistakes, which is not at all true. Had they not been at the mall, Billy would still be flayed and the Russians would still be out there. Not a single thing went wrong because of how Max took El to the mall, so I’m not sure what your point here is.

She’s not implying that “El IS her powers.” Max was not right in thinking El could take on the world by herself (I’d even go as far as saying this was her only mistake lol), but this doesn’t make her any less of a good friend. What happed is that Max completely idolized El ever since se2, she even showed her a Wonder Woman comic, which definitely was a hint to how Max sees El. She looks up to her, she things El is a real life superhero and she’s not entirely wrong. Jane shouldn’t do things alone, but Max never implied that she is her powers; what she implied is that they should trust her to know her own limits. PLEASE 💀

TLDR: Max never used El for her powers, despite what some might say. This was the point I made in my initial post and it stands.

[deviant3lover]

What did lessons and skills did Markus learn from the farm?

A lot.

He was an Infiltrator made and trained to infiltrate the circles of powerful people. Politicians, business people, rich families- basically, the rich and influential. High society.

He was a very petite and unthreatening little girl back then. Quiet, curious, thoughtful, and smart. With enough practice, he put up convincing masks that gave the illusion that he was innocent and sweet.

He wasn’t. Not to his targets.

To maintain his cover as a kid of someone who belonged in the circles he was assigned to, he had to study and learn many skills. Etiquette, ballroom dances, several languages, general knowledge of the Classics (arts, literature, music, etc), education that’s expected of any upper-class kid that attends school, etc. Considering the people he had to extract information from, he also had to be well-versed in various aspects of culture. That includes customs, taboos, values, societal rules, etcetera. 

However, as a spy, he had to learn a lot of skills related to the trade. Lock-picking, emotional manipulation, several cipher languages, geopolitics, economics, some branches of law, internal affairs, foreign intelligence, history, etc. Of course, he also had to familiarise himself with the codes, gadgets, and practices that come with being a spy: not only is it useful in guiding his own actions, it also helped in identifying other spies. On a physical level, he learned how to be subtle and good at stealth in emergencies.

Many of these were uploaded into his brain in the form of memories like any other Re-Gene, but a good number of them had to be practised and studied more intensively. 

On a personal level? He learned how to profile and read people. Body language, appearances, mannerisms. These were already standard lessons in his job, but he took it to another level through observational learning + telepathic help. Following this, he learned how to be more discreet with his telepathic influencing.

His mother was also pretty ruthless, as well as opportunistic. He learned how to adapt better to new, unexpected developments, how to endure agonising pain, fear, and deprivation, and how to think outside of the box. This is what eventually lead to him designing his first telepathic weapon as seen in-game: Damocles. 

(And another one he’d never tell anyone about: Burned Cross.)

He was never trained to be a tactician, but he got the occasional taste for it from his handlers. Learning how to turn problems into advantages, when to engage or abscond from a bad situation. Risk assessments. It helped the transition from ‘high society spy’ to ‘tactical hero’ when he eventually became Sidestep. 

TLDR: Markus learned a lot at the Farm.