#we genuinely don't know much about him and these are all a little tainted by wyn's experiences so. that's all I got

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

Have YOU been following my inconsistent and largely incoherent ramblings about my Curse of Strahd game? Ever wondered who exactly I'm talking about when I refer to "the fighter" or "the rogue" in our party? No? TOO BAD. This is my blog and I do what I want, up to and including writing up a little who's who on the party in question.

Under a cut, of course, because I'm not a monster.

The Barovia Tour Group

Elowyn "Wyn" Bannon

Played by yours truly. From a noble family out of Neverwinter, whose recently acquired nobility stems not from blood, but from the fact that they helped open a bunch of mines on a minor lord's land and made him a ton of money. Wyn abdicated this responsibility thanks to some unpleasantness with her brother (of the "died and came back wrong thanks to her" variety) and ended up in Barovia as a nice little nightcap to her terrible awful no-good very bad luck. A tiefling cleric of the grave domain, she is currently functioning as the team's plan-maker and guiding hand, which she absolutely should not be. Well-spoken, practical, and extremely grim even in comparison to Barovian sensibilities, except when her very ridiculous sense of humor is tickled by the party wizard. Which is often. Has a soft spot for him, and for the party fighter.

Francis "Frank" Nigel Fourter

If you catch the very stupid joke of his name, you win a prize. A farmhand gone wannabe swordsman, Frankie began his losing streak to the hands of fate when he joined up with what he thought was an adventuring party and what ended up being a roving group of bandits. This revelation came to him as they were actively robbing Wyn, and while he helped her escape and swore an oath to protect her for the rest of the trip to Waterdeep, they were left with nothing but a waterskin and a handful of gold between them. They joined up with the fateful caravan that dragged the entire party into Barovia shortly after, and I'm sorry to say that poor Frankie's luck hasn't improved much since. Earnest, good-hearted, and loyal maybe to a fault, Frankie's obsession with stories of wandering do-gooders and with his battered copy of "Van Richten's Picture Guide to Monster Hunting" has figured largely into his protective nature. The party fighter, with lofty aspirations of paladinship. Might be the only one with a positive integer as their strength modifier. Himbo extraordinaire, as described by his player. Got traumatized in the Vallakovich house and all he got was this lousy t-shirt.

Orxim Brynhildr

Another Neverwinter native, Orxim is an artisan goldsmith whose proficiency with tinkering has earned him a space as the party artificer. He fumbled his way into Barovia with the rest of us because he was traveling to Waterdeep with his old guildmaster's mark, having recently inherited it upon said guildmaster's death. Which doesn't sound QUITE like how a master's title should work, but no one in the party knows enough about artisans guilds to question it. (Except maybe Wyn, but she has somehow managed to never be in the room when this comes up.) Courtly, studious, and maybe a little too keen on that book we got from Strahd's library. Very afraid of spiders. Acts like he learned noble etiquette out of a book, or from a bad TV show. Helped his master make the distinctive golden leg of a certain NPC before said master's untimely end. The second of our three human party members.

Tobias the Magnificent/Wizard of the Stars/Whatever other silly bullshit he's come up with recently

A wandering conman and self-made divination wizard, Tobias spent most of his time pre-Barovia swindling people out of their cash by plying them with his "fortune-telling" prowess. Flippant, self-confident, and particularly keen on uncovering hidden knowledge, Tobias has all of the makings of a bastard except that he can't seem to stop being so goddamn nice all the time. His penchant for absurd, straight-faced humor in the face of despair makes him one of the few fonts of levity in Barovia, and a central star around which the party often operates. Clever and incredibly book-smart, but with absolutely no charisma score to speak of. Obsessed with all things magic. Uses spellcasting to show off almost constantly, in a way that would be annoying if he wasn't so ridiculously theater kid about it. Got so freaked out by an encounter with an entity that wanted to make a deal with him for knowledge that he's been asking Wyn about finding god for a cleric multiclass. Gives startlingly good hugs.

Conner Silverblade

The party rogue. Hasn't deigned to share much about himself save that he lived for no small amount of time in a sewer. Keen on nothing so much as stealing anything he can get his hands on, even against advisement. Maybe especially against advisement. Had a run-in recently with some delicate cargo that made all of our lives difficult. The only other non-human in the party besides Wyn. He's HERE, I guess???

[prettyboykatsuki-moved]

fang i need to see yukimiya with an oversexed s/o so bad

i think about this all the time bc of hypersexuality

tags for some implied religious trauma on mr yukimiyas part and very explicit sexual content. reader is very wanton lol, 18+

it is . sooooo hard for him. the thing is yukimiya genuinely thinks of you as such a warm, kind person. his feelings for you are so deep and sincere and completely removed from any lust he might feel for you. or at least that lust is intertwined with a stronger desire to be gentle and intimate and sweet with you yk

but you are sooooo horny and so shameless and it is soooo much for that poor boy. i do genuinely think yukimiya has like self imposed saving himself for marriage thing. and he's super upfront about it with you from the start bc u so obviously want to jump his bones. he has a very Strong sense of discipline overall.

like the first time you kiss you're just like... all over him. hands in his hair, pressed against his lap, tongue in mouth and he is trying to handle all the sensory input and failing. he has to PRY you off of him and he's so red and he's like no no we can't go any further.

and you pout jokingly but you never push him. you're so sweet about it, maybe a little teasing but that's it. you always express your desires and voice them, always tell him whats on you mind. if you think he looks handsome or sexy or whatever—you'll sort of fidget with the end of your straw and bite and make a comment so unbelievably lewd before moving right along.

you make these like... eyes at him. fuck me eyes, he's heard the term before but he didn't really get it until he met you. you know exactly what you want from him and you're thinking about how you can get it. a little dazed, very determined. always gets him sooo flush.

you brush things off easily enough when he blows you off about it. you're a lot but you're not....forceful or anything. he makes a little face of faux disappointment and you laugh it off and thats all there really is but the longer you date the less he feels sure of himself.

yukimiya wanted to get married young and didnt see a whole lot of purpose in trying to lose virginity to someone he didn't love so he held onto it for longer than most people. that plus growing up religious its just something he was so sure about it.

and he does want to treat you well. marry you. yukimiya is the first guy to ever be such a gentleman to you and he doesnt want to taint that because of his own ...desires. its dirty to him. he doesn't think it's bad when you want things, but it's different when he wants things.

but it gets. harder and harder. you're so forward and you are also so good at touching him (too good) and so attractive already without trying very hard. you could do anything and look insanely beautiful to him but god.

you really don't go farther than making out and heavy petting. but that in itself gets so obscene. the way you space out your kisses, the way you flick your tongue - how your hands slide up his chest and neck, thumb rubbing against his ears, how you carry your weight in his lap, how you use your teeth. you kiss him like you could eat him whole.

when your hand gets on his belt he always loses his sense of reason - only barely tears himself a way from it each time. half-hard and apologetic. eventually you get the feeling that he's not even... it's not like he doesn't want to do it but he's holding onto beliefs he only barely has.

you have to have a long conversation about it i think. give him a peptalk about how you know how much he loves you and sex can be intimate too etc. when he's still resistant to it, you make a compromise. no penetration until he's ready, even if that means marriage. no sex. you think its silly but it helps him make sense of everything.

i think he agrees to this kind of blindly, assuming it will take the edge and tension off. like letting the pressure out slowly so something doesnt explode.

but. once you open that box, you can't really close it again.

so you do everything but have sex. and it absolutely makes him want to fuck you.

its light at first. dry humping while you make out and making him cum in his jeans. giving a handjob or teaching him how to finger you ("for when you do fuck me, someday"). directing him on how exactly you like getting head - on foreplay, your sure hands over his shaky ones as he make him squeeze your tits and guide them into his mouth. tell him the other places on your body you like being touched.

you teach him things about his own body too. or rather, he learns them because of you. his ears get red and sensitive, he likes when you bite his ear lobes lightly.his lips too. likes your hands on his biceps or chest or back, kissing and rubbing his muscles appreciatively. it does something to him. he knows he's attractive but it's... different. it's a nice feeling to be wanted but being wanted by you makes his whole body break into these terrible shivers.

he learns that the tip of his cock is way more sensitve than it should be. he learns he doesn't mind when you take advantage of this either.

he's got a few moles on his body and he likes how you kiss them when you go down on him. on his hip and inner thigh and some other places. likes when you rub up against him in general, when you cling to him during it or when your nails dig into his arms

yukimiya likes how... relaxed you get when you feel good. the first time he makes you cum with his mouth he feels so absurdly accomplished, even more so when you giggle at him and kiss him so full of love.

nothing changes. you go on dates and see each other. sleep in the same bed. but when you stay over at his place now - he's started to anticipate your little escapades.

no penetration. he knows that should mean not getting his dick anywhere near you. but you're persuasive. it's fine, yuu-kun. just slide your dick against me, it'll feel good. you can do it between my thighs, if you want.

the first time yukimiya slides his hard cock through the soft, slick folds of your pussy he nearly passes out. randomly on a date night. it just turns out that way. your hands on the back of his neck, kissing him as it slips through the sticky warmth.

it feels so good. it's mindblowing. it's so unfair. how can something feeling so much better when everything else you've been feeling had felt so incredible? how can there be anything more tempting than what you already do?

but there is. its you with your ass up and your thighs squeeze as yukimiya fucks the plush of them - tip knocking against your clit, catching on your hole, one misstep away from thrusting. the thought haunts him even as he's cumming up against your belly and thighs.

there's a guilt he feels about greed in particular, even more than lust. sometimes you go at it and he just. can't help it. can't help but want more. can't help but shamefully jerk off in the bathroom after you've already done it for a while.

you come onto him the same as always, more now that he's receptive to it but god he can never turn down your advances. even when it'd be smarter to do it. all it takes is his name now, or maybe just you taking his glasses off so it's a little easier to kiss him. it scares him a little, just how easy it'd be to slip up and . take you really. thin threads of control fraying as he gets close and closer to just giving you what you want.

it's Hard. he holds onto it for so long. i think he snaps eventually when you do something very thoughtful for him on a bday or anniversay and he just becomes uncharacteristcally aggressive (not that ur mad) and u have such intense deep missionary. like eye contact, chest to chest, slow rolling of his hips while he grinds into you. it is such a crazy feeling.

yukimiya just really. bends to your whims after you have these breakthroughs. he is so unbearably seduced by you even when he tries so hard to fight but it . god its rough on his brain. shame and pleasure are not opposites for him, that's for sure.

[incomingalbatross]

I like the "sweetheart" backstory. It DOES change it, from being (what looks like) a sarcastic, scornful epithet developing into a genuine endearment, to being a genuine endearment more-or-less tainted by bitterness throughout the trilogy. BUT. I don't mind that change.

Haymitch's use of it in SotR is so tender and affectionate and sounds so absolutely natural in his mouth that it's a shocking contrast between what he was as a teen and what he is by the time of the 74th Games.

Teen Haymitch is soft around kids and loved ones without any effort. Adult Haymitch's sentiments come out sharp-edged and broken and angry 90% of the time, even toward those he loves most.

It is also ENTIRELY IN KEEPING with the first use of it in THG and just adds another layer of typical cross-purposes between Haymitch and Katniss. Because the first use of it comes after Katniss shoots the apple out of the roast pig's mouth, then comes back and locks herself in her room and cries for an hour because she's Ruined Everything.

At dinner a few hours later, we get this:

The adults begin some chitchat about the weather forecast, and I let my eyes meet Peeta’s. He raises his eyebrows. A question. What happened? I just give my head a small shake. Then, as they’re serving the main course, I hear Haymitch say, “Okay, enough small talk, just how bad were you today?” Peeta jumps in. “I don’t know that it mattered. By the time I showed up, no one even bothered to look at me. They were singing some kind of drinking song, I think. So, I threw around some heavy objects until they told me I could go.” That makes me feel a bit better. It’s not like Peeta attacked the Gamemakers, but at least he was provoked, too. “And you, sweetheart?” says Haymitch. Somehow Haymitch calling me sweetheart ticks me off enough that I’m at least able to speak. “I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers.”

Katniss clearly takes it as condescending and insincere, and so do we - but the SotR intrepretation WORKS here. And makes it much funnier.

Haymitch, looking at Katniss's tear-blotched face and trying to figure out what went wrong: "And you, sweetheart?" WAIT why did I call her that no I'm not supposed to CARE about them abort abort abort Katniss "surely Peeta is trying to sabotage me when he's being nice and says he loves me" Everdeen, reacting characteristically: How DARE he patronize me like that

And the other thing I like is that it adds a layer to the Haymitch-Katniss relationship. We all know the parallels, we all know they both see themselves in each other and hate it... BUT this means that he also saw Louella in her. He doesn't just see her as a younger mirror of him, he sees a smart, spunky little girl he tried to protect and couldn't. A girl who deserved to be safe from the Games. And I just... it makes me happy that Haymitch was seeing her from the start as a child he wanted to protect, along with a kindred spirit.

ALSO, finally, I think if/when Katniss learned this was an inherited endearment she'd have very messy feelings about that. Which is fun.

[dragon-susceptible]

Lissa

I'm having some thinky thoughts about Lissa, Viren's ex-wife, Soren and Claudia's mom.

So from the way Claudia talks about her in season 2, she and Viren fought a lot, it wasn't a good environment for kids, and then she and Viren pressured their kids (each no more than 5) to decide which parent to stay with. I'm a little suspicious of the details here because how are you remembering that much at 3 years old, Claudia, and why would any adult expect you to make that kind of decision when you're still learning how to make sentences? Anyways my suspicions on the details aside, the major events of them fighting and Lissa leaving are backed up in Viren's story in Arc 2.

Here's the thing. I trust Viren's account more not because I trust him all that much more, but because he didn't actually let anyone see it. I think he was genuinely being vulnerable, being weak, and that's why he couldn't let Soren actually see it in the end.

So in Viren's account, he and Lissa weren't fighting all the time. It was something that developed in their desperation to help Soren, who was suffering with his breathing illness. Ultimately, it explodes into Viren physically assaulting Lissa for her tears to work the spell to fix Soren's lungs, which he frames as saving him. Lissa left him very quickly after that.

So here's the thing. We don't know enough about Lissa to really judge her. I could see how this might be a case of an immigrant woman who found herself swept away by this charming Katolian aristocrat, who maybe had a temper but he wasn't violent with people, generally, and genuinely loved him and built a family with him. Then one day he snaps, and she finds out he can be violent with people too, actually, even with her, and she's terrified and horrified, but - but he did it to save their son. She can't stand staying with a man who would hurt her like that, but if he's willing to attack her for Soren, surely he'll be willing to do anything to protect their children. They'll be safe with him, they'll be well-off with him. So when Soren clings to him she lets them stay, but has to leave for her own safety no matter how much that hurts, and because she has to cut Viren out so much, she never realizes how badly this backlashes on the kids.

Or she could have resented Viren, resented their relationship because how dare fate hand her the suffering of her firstborn, and then her husband turning abusive on top of it, maybe she was glad to be rid of all of them when she left

Hell maybe it was all an excuse and she's just a transient asshole who was looking for a reason to leave, and Viren just gave her one on a silver platter when he assaulted her

Maybe she was a genuinely loving wife and mother right up until it came to the issue of dark magic, and she hated Viren for using it on Soren and believed Soren to be "tainted" with it and that's why she didn't fight for them. Or maybe it was only an issue because Viren targeted her for the materials for dark magic, and it's not about the magic but every time she looks at Soren now she sees his father's cold face while he hurt her.

There's so many ways she could be a fucked up individual, and some of them she's not even the asshole. Maybe she genuinely thought the kids would be better off with Viren and she just had to stay safe, and that it would be better for them if she just disappeared instead of making them deal with the complications of parents who won't see each other. They were so young when she left, I can follow the reasoning. I think she's wrong, but I can understand it. Or she could be a bitch for any number of reasons.

Both of the kids seem to remember her with some level of resentment, but Claudia was so young she's likely pulling mostly from Viren's feelings about her. Soren talks as if he resents her but he keeps a portrait of her tucked into his armor, so he must have some . . . Curiosity, at least, or hope. It's just really interesting to think about.

[another-lost-mc]

do u think belphie would have a spit kink?? having sm thoughts of belphie craving to be close to mc in every way possible (i need help)

a/n: he's a little brat and I think there's a lot of things under the degradation umbrella he'd be into.

➤ belphie + degradation

0.5k words | nsfw | kink discussion (spitting, humiliation)

So, Belphie's a little shit (affectionately). He's got this really smooth manipulative streak that kind of feels dirty. You're tainted every time his pouty mouth and wide, watery eyes plead with you to give something new a try. If you like it, he likes to boast how great his ideas are and next time you shouldn't whine so much.

Of course, if you don't like something you try together, he twists things around and makes it sounds like it was your idea the whole time and it's not his fault. He's also a bit sulky after because he's pretty sure you're not going to try it again, at least not anytime soon. He spends a lot of time thinking about what went wrong and how he can change things for next time so that you might be willing to give it another shot.

Belphie likes degradation. He can be mean and selfish—he drips insults into your ear and marks your body with his filth. He's sloppy with aftercare because he wants to keep you that way. He marks you in ways he's not sure anyone else ever has (or ever will if he has a say in it). He wants you to smell like him and leave his taste in your mouth and walk around with sticky skin as a reminder of everything you do together. He wouldn't waste his energy or time doing this sort of thing with a random fuck, either. He wants you so desperately because he loves you.

So, a spit kink? It falls under that whole degradation umbrella of things he loves to do with you. With spitting specifically, it works both ways. On the rare occasion he actually gets on top, he holds your chin and forces your lips apart so he can spit in your mouth. Your eyes are watery with desire and shame but you swallow obediently anyway. Maybe you're riding him and you're nearly begging him to stop because you're overstimulated and it feels like you're about to rip apart at the seams. You're cock-drunk and you can't think straight, and you can barely speak other than little hiccupped sounds when you try to say his name. Your mouth hangs open and drool trickles slowly down your face and rolls down your chin. He swipes it away with his finger and sucks it into his mouth. "Look at you, you're so dumb on my cock you're slobbering all over yourself like a little bitch in heat. Does it feel good? It's okay, I know it does. One more for me, yeah? Then we can have a little nap."

There might be occasions when you drool on his pillow while he's railing into you from behind. His hand grips the back of your neck and pushes you down into the damp cotton, and the annoyance in his voice is genuine. "You're makin' a fucking mess all over my favourite pillow." He literally rubs your face in it, and you might whimper from embarrassment or stutter out apologies, but your body betrays you and clenches around his cock when he calls you a dirty little whore.

[spideyhexx]

okay i love ur coryo writings, and can we juuuust talk about how much of a sub pre-peacekeeper era coryo is??? and he's sweet then too, i think he has very genuine feelings for anyone at that time. he lets you cradle his face and everything, being the touch starved little guy that he is... ahh i just daydream about him in the academy era so much💝

thank you!!! been waiting to speak on this.

I think while he's still got some questionable tendencies while he's at the academy, he's less tainted by those thoughts. I think he's still not completely attuned to his own feelings, but he's a lot more accepting of them? And with you, he's falling very hard, he'd just about let you do anything to him if it means he gets to feel your touch or have you in his space.

so it makes sense that he ends up being submissive in bed. Coryo wants to be pleased and taken care of, but he also finds himself completely and utterly at your mercy. So if you decided he wouldn't be pleased one night, he'd take it with just a pout on his face, but fully give in to give you all the pleasure you asked of him.

You would cradle his face in your hands and give him sweet small kisses anywhere you can on his face, thanking him for being such a good boy. His cock would twitch against you and your smirk makes him tremble.

Coryo's hands would always get him in trouble. He would touch your breasts before you give him permission. "Please, baby, you know I just missed them," he would try to plead with, giving you his puppy dog eyes that he doesn't even need to try to do, it's just natural for him.

Sometimes, you would give in regardless if he misbehaved. You're too struck by how hard his cock is pressing against the zipper of his pants that you've made him keep on.

"I need your mouth, not your hand, please." Coryo grits his teeth as you fist his cock in your hand, nipping at his neck as he mewls in pleasure. He'd let out a fucking growl when you ignore his pleas.

"Mmm what was that? Is my good boy getting frustrated? Poor baby," your words and your mocking put him in his place so easy. "Don't get all pathetic on me, Coryo, take what I give you." Its funny how much power you have over him. And in all honesty, you would actually love how pathetic he'd be for you.

And then, when you finally let him cum, he keeps mumbling out a thank you, leaning his head against yours as you pepper kisses on his cheek.

let's chat about coryo, here :)

[caxyanalysis]

Thinking about how Homelander is actually so fucking tragic.

Raised to be the symbol of patriotism. Won the superpower lottery. Durable enough that a nuclear bomb wouldn't kill him, fast enough that nothing can outpace him, full freedom from gravity because of flight, laser vision that he can control the strength of to such a fine degree that he could cook popcorn or cauterize your brain in half and it's not even hard for him to do.

All of this, together, make him a god among men.

And it's so.

Fucking.

Boring.

And it's tragic, too.

It is.

I know, I know, "he's a fascist!!!" I get it, and you're right.

But look at what he's been through.

He was raised in a lab. No parents besides the scientists that studied him to figure out what he could and couldn't survive, what would and wouldn't hurt him, what he was capable of and how he could be useful.

At every turn, he was denied human connection in any meaningful way. His father was never in the picture, his mother was dead, he existed solely as a test subject, and as soon as he was old enough to be on TV, they wheeled him out like a shiny new toy and said "Look! It's the embodiment of America! The peak of human evolution!"

He has never, EVER known anything except two concepts: Fear and Blind Adoration.

The people who love him don't love HIM, they love the idea he represents. The people who know him fear him with all they have.

Spoilers for The Boys below

He finally meets someone who doesn't fear him, and claims to love him, and it's Stillwell. She doesn't fear him. But he doesn't realize the reason she doesn't fear him is because she thinks she has him under control. A little mommy-play here, a little milk there, and he's docile. She thinks she has him in her pocket.

But then she slips up. And out comes the truth. She's never loved him. Ever. She has always, always hated him, always been afraid of him. And suddenly all those happy memories of the only mother-figure he's ever known are tainted, ruined by the idea that she would have rather had him be dead than ever touch her, but she did what she felt she had to do so he would be a good boy.

And he doesn't understand. He was a good boy, wasn't he? His heart was in the right place, wasn't it? He only did what he thought would make her happy, and he tried to be have his best when she asked, didn't he? So why did she hate him so much? Why was she so afraid of him?

And it tears him up inside. It destroys him. He feels hurt, and angry, and scared, and it burns him up until that heat has nowhere to go but out.

And he kills her. And it kills him.

It's with Stillwell's death we see him truly change. He stops being the boy scout, in his own eyes. He just killed someone who meant everything to him. He killed someone he thought genuinely cared about him, saw him as good, and loved.

We watch him die right alongside her, and in that moment he performs one last act of kindness as he loses the final shred of hope in his heart: he saves Billy Butcher and makes sure that Stillwell's baby survives as well.

We see another kick in the head when he visits his "creator", the man in charge of the Homelander experiment that gave birth to him. And this man says he is nothing but a failure. A living embodiment of all that man did wrong, and all that man failed to achieve. He says that Homelander is nothing but one big failed experiment, and is his greatest regret in life.

Flash ahead. He's unchained, mostly. Edgar is still in control of him, but Edgar doesn't care enough to tug the leash. He expects Homelander to tie his own chain, and if he doesn't, then Edgar will yank it and choke the bastard for all he's worth until he sits, heels, like a good little attack dog.

And for the most part this works. Homelander stays under Edgar's radar, his descent hardly noticed, because he doesn't do anything that Vaught can track that he wouldn't have done before Stillwell's death.

All the while, mourning the loss of the only person to ever even pretend to care about him.

And then we meet Ryan, and realize who he is.

And when Homelander learns he has a son, we see something special, something that, until now, didn't seem possible.

We see the light come back into his eyes.

We see him start to hope again.

A son. The perfect opportunity to do better, to prove he is, in fact, a good man. If he can just do right by Ryan, if he can raise him right, be a good dad to him, show him the love, and compassion, and care that he never knew, then Ryan could grow up happy. Well-adjusted. We see that Homelander fully recognizes how broken and mangled a man he is.

Homelander wants Ryan to turn out better than him. He wants Ryan to turn out happier than him.

And we watch Stormfront ruin that pure, beautiful desire.

Stormfront corrupts him. He's vulnerable, he's weak-minded, after Stillwell. He knows what he wants, but he doesn't know how to do it or why, he knows what he desires, but he can't have it. And then Stormfront gives it to him. A supe who can not only take what he can dish out, but give it back just as well. A supe who sees him as good. A supe who seems to love him, truly.

She doesn't.

She, like all of his fans, loves WHAT he is, loves the IDEA of him, not Homelander himself.

He's blond, blue-eyed, white, and an omnipotent powerhouse.

And Stormfront is a nazi. How could she not love what he is and what he represents?

She manipulates him, turns him against his own idea of wanting to be good and convinces him that this brattiness, this pettiness, this immature need to be better than everyone is not a flaw, it's his birthright.

And Ryan is the product of that birthright. Ryan does not need to be better than Homelander, Ryan needs to learn from Homelander, learn to rule, to subjugate, because Homelander is a God, one who should rule the Earth, and Ryan is his Prince, destined to take over one day.

All of this is instilled into Homelander through Stormfront's manipulations. And on the one day every year that he's allowed to be treated like a person, the one day every year he gets a taste of humanity...

She does the one thing that would guarantee her lies stick like glue.

She dies.

She rips away the last person he ever thought he would have to live without, on the one day he never expected to be hurt on.

And we see that light, the one Ryan reignited, flicker.

He gets angry. He gets bitter. He realizes that, aside from Ryan, he is entirely peerless. Alone.

And Ryan must be nurtured, yes? Guided, right? Stormfront wanted the world for Ryan, and Homelander wants the best for his son, and so the world is exactly what Ryan will get. Homelander no longer cares about himself. He doesn't.

Homelander cannot be selfish past this point; he could drop dead then and there and as long as Ryan has the world in his palm, Homelander would die happy.

But he can't die. He won't die. Ryan needs him. Ryan deserves a father. Ryan deserves Homelander's life, his attention, his dedication.

And we see spots of vanity, yes. The preening, the pruning of grey hairs, the bitterness over his noticeable aging.

But these are not the same as selfishness. These are things integral to Homelander. He's supposed to be a God. God's don't age, why is he aging? It's so disgustingly human. That's what he thinks.

But it gives him a sense of urgency. He doesn't know how long he has. A year? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? Two hundred? More? Nobody knows, with supes. Some don't age at all, others age too fast, others age slowly, and Homelander is already a one-in-a-million fluke. Who's to say he won't suddenly age fifty years in the span of the next ten? Who's to say he'll ever age beyond what he is now?

He doesn't know. And he can't control it. He can't fight it. He can't change it. He has to prepare for the possibility he hates most.

He has to prepare for his death.

But then he learns who his father is. He learns that his father is alive, even. Soldier Boy, the idea that inspired Homelander. And he has to meet the man, has to introduce Ryan to his grandfather. We see that light in his eyes grow, because now he doesn't just have a son, he has a father.

The father he needed.

And when he finally meets him, finally gets face-to-face with the man who could so easily give him everything he ever wanted, the man who could fix him, show him what it means to be a parent...

He's rejected.

Soldier Boy tells him that he's pathetic, that he's nothing, that he's hardly even a man. Even the suit Homelander is so proud of isn't free from insult, with Soldier Boy saying "Look at you...You're wearing a goddamn cape..."

He has nothing but disappointment for what Homelander is, and resentment for the way Homelander was raised, but sees him as too far gone, too broken, too weak to fix. The only cure is death.

And once again, we see that light flicker.

He needs to be better than this man, DO better than this man.

And that means securing Ryan's place atop the world. This is why he calls in Sister Sage. Sister Sage is so incredibly intelligent, so beautifully smart, she can guarantee things he would never even figure out are possible. And, begrudgingly, he accepts her help.

But her help isn't giving him what he really wants most, because while putting Ryan atop the pyramid is his end goal, he wants Ryan's love just as badly. He wants to see the fruits of his efforts, to know that what he's doing is good and right, that it's best for Ryan.

And Ryan is showing him, at every turn, that it's not right.

Homelander kills for Ryan, and Ryan doesn't like it.

Homelander makes Ryan the object of public adoration, and Ryan doesn't like it.

Homelander is glad Billy's dying, and Ryan doesn't like it.

Everything Homelander does for Ryan, every effort he makes, is torn apart by the fact that Ryan doesn't want any of it. He wants a dad, not a coach, he wants a parent, not an instructor.

He wants a life, not godhood.

And Homelander has been so corrupted, so broken, so destroyed by every single person in his life that he cannot understand that.

To him, godhood and life are one and the same. Being alive is not a right, in his eyes, it is something that is deserved, earned, a reward, and he is the man to impress, he is the man to earn it from, and one day that man will be Ryan, and why can't Ryan see any of that?

None of this is in defense of Homelander. But I can't see one side of anything without seeing every other side of it.

And in Homelander's mind, he has done everything he can to be loved, to be appreciated, to be known and cared about...

And every single time, his power has caused people to hate him, to fear him. The only love he's ever known is that of the public and that of his son, and with every outburst, every conflict of interests, he is slowly losing that more and more.

And every time Ryan runs away from him, every time Ryan cries because of him, every time Ryan frowns over something Homelander has done, every human Ryan mourns, is a slap in the face. Water on the fire.

And we see that light drain from his eyes a little more each time.

I don't believe anything Homelander has done is justified.

But I do believe that, in his shoes, with his life, under all of the same circumstances...

I believe most of us would be no different than he is.

Broken.

Betrayed.

Abused.

Lashing out at every reminder of the pains of our existence.

A scared, angry child, with the power of a god, who was never shown that a better way does exist.

A wounded animal conditioned from birth to hate humans for what they did to it.

Homelander is tragic.

And I feel so very sorry for him.

[luverz-exe]

Hey, I was wondering if maybe you could do yandere headcanons for The Riddler from arkahm city? I rarley see anything about the arkahm games. However, If not it's fine, have a nice day or night!

Yandere Arkham City! Riddler Headcanons

...Uh, hi. I'm back. sorry for the prolonged hiatus, I've just been...dealing with a lot at the moment. I'm glad to be back. I'm not gonna be making a full blown post for it, so imma just say my piece here. Don't worry Anon, I'm gonna get to your request soon- just wanna talk a little bit. Requests will be off for awhile, how long, I'm not sure. Going to finish the requests I can, I won't force myself to do them all- because if I can't write it, then I realize I'm not obligated to. A reason that I quit was because I was so overwhelmed with stuff. But that was any of your faults! I am absolutely astounded that I have so much support! Just that sometimes I need to realize that I can't do everything there is out there, because I'm still an amateur writer, there's a lot I can't do and even more that I have yet to get good at. Sorry for rambling, here's your request Anon!!

Slightly suggestive near the end, oopsie doopsie guys. Oh yeah, and he says some really mean words, guys- an absolute shocker 🤯

Here's the thing when it comes to Edward. He's an asshole- a smug, insensitive asshole. Of course, we all know this by now. But this snarky self-absorbed piece of shit is slowly starting to decay, inside out. His mental state fluctuates, and it really is straining on your "relationship". He believes in more practicality, you're here to be his assistant, and he's here to protect your primitive brain (though, less than your peers, just enough for him to take you under his wing and truly try and help you flourish) from combusting. He can make you smarter, you know. You have so much potential, enough to be second best...Just watch, and learn. It's not like you'll have a choice.

Yeah...The first few weeks-months will be tenuous- it's likely you didn't join this relationship of your own volition. And even if you somehow did, it's not going to be any better. He's making you go no contact with the outside world. While you call it a fucked up form of house arrest, he prefers to call it a more civilized form of rehabilitation. Sorry, not sorry- those idiotic, moronic, brain-dead louts would taint you again. No wonder you're so much dumber than him, all your life you've been surrounded by bad influences (so was he, but he's a prodigy, and you're just smarter than average- it's different). You have to stay away from them because any smarts he's been giving you might be sucked up by those braindead leeches!

Good news though- free range of his living space (if you can even call it that)! While he's still keeping his appearance semi-clean, his space hasn't, as he's slowly beginning his descent into the Arkham Knight version. But hey, how about you be a good helper and pick some stuff up- keep you occupied short-term. Because, you try and talk to him, it's going to be a lot longer- and you might want to take notes because he is going to test your knowledge on it later.

"Why are you bothering me? ..Cleaning? No, no, you stop that. If you're going to keep your mind occupied, then I recommend you grab the 11mm crowfoot wrench and get over here." When you didn't move, be it you didn't know where he stored those or a genuine lack of knowledge about wrenches, he peered up from his work. "..What, can't even do that?" He signed, furrowing his brow, but prevented himself from badmouthing further. It wasn't their fault for having an idiot society teach them about these things. "..Just- grab the flashlight, over there on the counter, I'll get it myself- and you better pay attention. This mistake will not be made more than once, I assure you of it."

Pity is a common occurrence, but his sympathy isn't. Oh, your poor pitiful shrunken brain, rotting away from all the bad people in your life. But you should've taken one quick look at him, realized he was your intellectual superior and asked for him to bring your brain to a normal size and to ditch everyone else in your life. That's your fault.

Now, it isn't all bad! Look on the bright side, learning is now your full time job- with him as your teacher (in a non-sexual way, because god-damnit if you think you can get out of learning about the proper ways to build one of his puzzles by giving him a handjob (you can, and probably should to avoid what would be considered a 5 hour lecture over the course of the day)). He enjoys teaching you all that he knows, and he expects you to share that enthusiasm, especially when he talks about batman. When he starts talking about the flying rat that plagues his life, you better listen. You're going to be his assistant someday with all of this 'killing Batman' thing, so you better hop on that train early.

While he does call you an idiot, he's just self-projecting his hatred of Batman (and himself) onto you. No, it's not your fault- it's 100% his own and he won't apologize or acknowledge it in a meaningful way. It slowly dissipates the more your 'nasty' attitude does, but even then it never fully disappears. Depends on the day. He'll never get better, though, not fully. And once you see how bad he becomes in Arkham Knight, you'll realize this isn't as low as he can go.

"You idiot! Can't you do something right? When I talk, you listen! Why do I even keep you around?! You're an absolute buffoon, you know that?...Of course you don't, you see? If you were with me sooner, you wouldn't be like this. We'll get you to the intelligence level you should be, don't you worry, but clearly we're going to need to change tactics if I'm going to get it through that thick skull of yours."

[dirthamen-enjoyer]

me just rambling about dragon age lore. spoilers for veilguard under the keep reading line.

i wish they had gone down the route of solas not telling the full truth of the evanuris. "they're tyrants and slave owners!" (paraphrase) but in actuality when they get released (ALL OF THEM BC I WANT TO SEE ALL OF THEM) it reveals that there are factions within. those who were actually awful tyrants, those who were lesser evils who never truly helped either side, those that were either secretly or openly helping solas in his rebellion. like imagine the idea of the evanuris that helped him willingly sacrificing themselves to create a stronger seal on the prison. or like the idea that they were genuinely betrayed and have a conflicting relationship with solas after being locked away for so long. i don't like that all the gods are just "tyrants and slave owners." give us variety. not everything should be so cut and dry. and yeah, i don't like that they're just all spirits :/ keep them mysterious immortal beings while solas is the spirit that is used and turned towards the conflict and war.

i also think taking the gods of a diaspora, especially one with clear influences, and making them all evil with no real moral ambiguity wasn't really the best way to go... i understand gods not being morally perfect because many gods within our religions aren't, but there are few that are just "evil" with nothing else to them.

i was going to talk about the reveal that elves are originally spirits that used the titans to become physical and the resulting war, but i got carried away and i think it might be it's own post lol. (it was more about the titans than elves)

i personally don't really like that idea that much because i don't think we need to be given explanations on how races are created. we don't fully know how dwarves came to be, only that dwarves lived with titans. we don't know the full story of qunari, we don't know the full story of humans. so why do we need to know the full story of elves?

i also don't like how the blight changed. i get why, because it can be used by ghilan'nain and elgar'nan, but it also just feels like a copout so they can use it more as a mechanic within the game. popping boils and making puzzles from the blight. taking away how it completely destroys land and taints every single being that comes into prolonged contact with it was not a good change in my opinion. the blight as it was and the taint adds pressure and consequences. they kind of did it with d'meta's crossing, but after that it "changed" more. show us ghouls, show us land actually dying. i loved walking around the western approach, seeing how the blight completely changed the land. i loved finding the silent plains concept art recently.

and to be honest, i don't know how i would have connected creation of the blight to a specific event so i'm not going to really talk about it.

oh and the old gods of tevinter. lame reveal that the dragons were just thralls of the evanuris. taking all these religions and connecting them to one group of people doesn't bring me joy. it makes the world smaller and it takes away the fun of fantasy. as an avid "let the gods being mysterious gods" person, i think the old gods of tevinter should be their own thing. have them be another enemy of the evanuris. you talked about multiple wars? there. another war. maybe it could even be the final wars that started while solas had his rebellion? and the forgotten ones are the old gods, locked away in the abyss (deep underground), while the evanuris are locked away in the sky (the black city / fade).

"how would the tevinter people worship them if they are locked away before humans are said to come to thedas?" easy. retcon. they already love doing that with little things. and honestly i feel like this would be a retcon that most people would not mind as much as other retcons. or, you know, expand on what yavana said in the silent grove about a time before the veil and high dragons in the sky.

was gonna say more but i don't know how to word it well so okie dokie i'm done rambling.

[joohanisms]

who in xh do you think has a corruption kink?

OMG ........... they got shorter towards the least likely members but i hope you enjoy either way!!!!

xdh + corruption kinks 💭💫

cw: corruption kink, mention of religion, caught watching porn, penetrative sex, possessive tones, loss of virginity, training (what is that even called???)

most likely

gunil

i have NEVER!!!!! seen a church guy without a corruption kink. sex before marriage and all that – as le sserafim said, i wish for what's forbidden <3

he wants to ruin you AND have you ruin him. LET'S SAY you're both virgins.

fine your first time would be sickly sweet, all 🥺 and 🥰, the softest most vanilla making love missionary sex you've ever seen

but the next time – after the guilt of ""betraying god"" goes away – he fucks you, legs in the air and all.

and he gets off sooooo much to the idea that both of you have become tainted; that both of you took that step together, that you'll be forever bonded by this. that somehow, you'll always belong to each other. your souls were painted red at the same time and that's not something you can just forget. you were the one to bring him down from heaven but also give heaven to him, and vice-versa.

this thought is always on the back of his mind whenever you have sex, and it always turns him on.

jiseok

tell me he wouldn't get SO HARD at the idea of introducing you to kinky shit.

you guys have been having vanilla sex – which isn't wrong or bad or boring at all – until you catch him jerking off to a video on his phone.

he's obviously burning red with shame, thinking you'll jump to conclusions and think he's jerking off to kinky videos on twitter because you haven't been satisfying him (which is a lie. you very much satisfy him. he just came across a hot video and got lost in the moment).

but the only thing you can think about is how the girl on his phone screen is doing the NASTIEST shit to her partner.

"jiseok, what are you watching?" you sit beside him, and he starts pulling his underwear up to stall.

"i can explain, baby. i just saw this on my–"

"what are you watching. explain it to me." it sounds more like an order, and his dick twitches in his boxers.

"it's just, um, a kinky video." reluctantly, he turns the screen towards you, watching your shiny eyes scan the video. you look up at him, with genuine innocence in your expression, and his cock twitches again.

"have you done this before?" he nods. "how does it feel?"

he's done for. he'll have to tell you, to show you, how good it is to explore, to figure out what you like.

don't be surprised if his way of introducing you to kink is by doing everything with you (consensually and with a safeword, of course). making you less innocent, corrupted, by the day.

seungmin

we all know seungmin is freaky.

and that extends to corruption kinks.

they're not his favorite, but he does really like to feel how you're slowly becoming as freaky as him.

every time you do something new, something different, he's reminded that he is the one to introduce you to it. he is making you freakier, dirtier, kinkier, and it's alllll his fault. he loves it.

if you were a virgin by the time you started dating him, he would get a little hard when he was reminded that you're pure and innocent and he's going to take it all away.

same as gunil, your first time would be softer – he doesn't want to hurt you or scare you away – but the next time you fuck (which could very easily be the morning after LMAO) he's going rough on you. fucking all that purity away.

you're not a good girl anymore, and it's his task to make you worse by the second ❤️

also, i'm a firm believer that he loves lingerie and other visual aspects of sex soooo if he comes home and you're sitting on the bed, on your knees, with a white lingerie set – something angel themed, even – you better be aware that not only it stays on during sex, he's also going to ruin the lace by cumming all over it.

jungsu

now, jungsu goes a little bit insane when you're having sex for the first time and you look up to him from between his legs and goes "it's not going to fit."

first of all, a delicious stroke to his ego

second of all, he knows you don't have much experience – you're not a virgin, but you're not the ceo of sex either. which means–

"i've never had anyone this big before."

fuck. he wants to rearrange your guts. fuck you so hard you think you'll split in half. fuck you so deep with his big cock your walls will remember its shape forever.

he settles on a "it will fit, baby. if you can't take it today, we'll try again some other time." with a caress to your hair.

(spoiler: it didn't actually fit. even after two orgasms his mouth generously gave you.)

and that's how training came up.

so jungsu is 1) too fucking big for your pussy 2) working you up to take his size and 3) being the one to stretch you out nice and loose.

you're so angelic, such a good girl – and here he is, making you bounce on a dildo that's slightly smaller than him, praising you for "how good you're taking it", "his cock will be next", and "you'll be able to take it in no time".

he's literally making your cunt loose and sloppy, only for him – and he's the only one who ever had to train you to take his cock.

it kinda goes away after that, though. he'll always feel a little hot when he's reminded of your training era but he doesn't care/doesn't have much interest in any other aspect of the corruption kink

jooyeon

he doesn't mind it, most of the time. it doesn't do much for him, but if you get off to it he'll make an effort to whisper some nasty shit in your ear while you take him missionary style

(which is a surprising position; he ALWAYS favors having you on top)

"not as much of a good girl anymore, yeah? couldn't resist me?"

"it's okay. your innocence was never going to last anyway. i was always meant to take it away."

"this white lingerie makes you look so dainty, so pretty. innocent. too bad you can't be that as long as i'm with you."

hyeongjun

look, it's not that he Doesn't like it. he's more about the marking aspect, the possessive aspect.

he's not corrupting you. he's making you His.

in a way, you were already corrupted when you started dating him – he's just staking his claim.

something along the lines of "from now on, i'm the only one who's taking advantage of your corrupted state", if that even makes sense.

least likely

[anonymous-existences]

Chapter 14 : Dismantling Red Tainted Walls

I almost forgot to post this here—

[12:35 𝐀𝐌, 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞-𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐎𝐕]

Dante stared out the windows of the Watchtower, his eyes subtly sparkling as he watches the stars twinkle from afar out In space.. "I wish Danny was here to see this." Dante mutters with a pained look. He covers his face with his hand and drags it down his face as he groans, visibly stressed.

"Hey, we'll find Danny Okay?" Jason Reassures his big teddy bear of a boyfriend by carresing his cheek and hugging his arm, he clasped his hand tightly as Jason made Dante look at him. "Just this time we don't have to be reckless.. we have to plan how to save him and all of you from these shitty fucking people." Jason comforts Dante, trying to become a speaker or Logical Reason for Dante's Disarray Family.

Dante nods and presses his forehead on Jason and Jason obliged. "We just need hope..." Jason mutters, "yes... Hope... Right....", Dante whispered back. They both heard Batman's Grunt to get their attention and both looked at him in sync.

Bruce walked inside the meeting room and Dante held Jason's hand as he walked to follow Batman. "Woah, who's that big man B?" Flash the speedster asks clearly taken aback by Dante's Large Size and his unexpected piercing crimson red eyes. "Ah... A speedster... Clockwork always hated you guys..." Dante mutters under his breathe. "Who is Clockwork?" Superman asks but Dante just takes a look at him and ignores his question. "Okay...— I suppose I am Invisible I guess—" Superman says with a sigh.

"Kronos's Granddaughter.." Dante says as he stared at Diana, Wonder Woman. "How do.. how did you know—?" Diana asks in wonder as he had not even introduced herself to this clearly unknowing strange "meta"-being. "I am the apprentice of your Grandfather, I suppose I'm like your uncle because of that." Dante casually says as he faces the screen and summoning a little chip that contains someone important.

"Wait Pardon? Kronos's Apprentice—??" Diana was in shock, perhaps even in distraught and confusion. "Not that it matters, he's changed anyways... No need to worry about the time bastard anymore." Dante chuckles as he inserted the chip in a lodge that Bruce allowed him to insert the "corrupted" files into.

"And Please Sir Martian Manhunter or J'onn J'onzz as you'd like to call yourself, no you cannot bypass my thoughts I have a built in automatic barrier on me at all times by the old "time is my bitch" Clockwork and yes I can read your mind back as well and I know you too is trying to dig something in me but I can assure you that it is VERY uncomfortable that you do so." Dante says as he prepares to summon someone from the screen. He did not spare anyone else a glance, he was in a rush but he needed to be careful with his next actions.

"I Apologize for my rude actions, I was simply being cautious and curious of what is going through your head." J'onn states and Dante understands his reasonings and nods. "Wait Kronos Hates me??" Flash suddenly speaks up. "You break timelines so much to the point he genuinely someday want to strangle you at one point." Dante groans as he was fixing some stuff with the chip.

"There..." Dante mutters as the chip finally does what it's supposed to do. Release Technus into this Burner PC.

"I HAVE so many questions as to who he is, howis he here and, why are we here." Superman states, "Brush off those Questions for later goody two shoes, you'll have more Questions soon enough after all of this.", Dante chuckles as he pulls out a summoning sigil and pressed it on the screen of the computer.

""Ｔ𝑒Ć𝓱𝐍ย丂. ⓗ𝑒𝑒𝓭 м𝔂 ⓒ𝐚ᒪᒪ." Dante says in Ghost-speak and the Sigil burned a bright Lazarus Green, the screen glitched for a moment before text lines itself on the screen.

"ɨ ǟʍ ȶɛƈɦռʊֆ! ȶɛƈɦռʊֆ ռɨӄօʟǟ— աɦǟȶ ɖօ ʏօʊ աǟռȶ ɖǟռȶɛ."

"Amity Park Files of GIW. They have Danny and we plan to prove to these people that The GIW are pieces of shit and that we're sentient HARMLESS beings 80% of the time but still." Dante sputters and glared at the screen. "PowerPoint it." He says one last time with a sigh as he leans on the wall.

The screen glitched out and a hand emerged. "A POWERPOINT I HEAR! HAHA! good good. I am best at that. That Tucker Foley Child has Taught me after all the importance of PRESENTATION!" Technus says as he fully emerge out of the screen. " As much as I hate all these people, I can tell that we are now desperate to find our little Prince! So I shall oblige with your demand and call!" Technus says with pride.

Technus touches the base of the Burner Screens and A PowerPoint appears, he dims the lights and it took the JL members aback because he's controlling the electricity and digital functions with ease. And how he is visible unlike DeadMan Boston which in Zatanna and Constantine's words. "Powerful Ghosts can have be seen by the naked Eye because of how powerful their presence is."

The chill in the room deepened a lot lower than before as Technus Talked about Ghosts and Culture. Amity Park, Basic Stuff until.

"But... The GIW Appeared, also known as the Ghost Investigation Ward, Called Guys in White by the Locals of Amity Park.

Horrid Monsters. More than Me to say the least to be honest! I don't experiment on children ghosts or not! Sure I attack sometimes but that's just as I said how ghosts communicate and play!" Technus says and continues on about how The GIW recently killed many children and People of Amity Park because of how they suspected they were Ecto-Contaminated. How they experimented on ghosts no matter the species or age. Dissecting and Looking for a core they can find without it being shattered inside the Body of the Ghost because of their resistance.

As Technus Went on and on about the GIW Superman couldn't help but feel horrified. MARTIAN Manhunter showed concern in his face, Diana was to say the least not very pleased and Bruce's Face remained stoic but deep inside anger stirred within him. Aquaman wanted to look away but he couldn't. Flash just covered his eyes and just listened to this and Green Lantern was Stunned.

I mean what kind of monsters would... Experiment on sentient living beings whilst they are Conscious? Especially children?? Sure... People like those exist but atleast they kill their victims first before continuing with those horrendous acts.

"Before I continue do any of you have any questions?" Superman raised his hand and Technus Nodded "why... Why has no one called the League if you all knew we existed...?" He asks nervously and Technus Laughed.

Not happily but sarcastically and Technus looked at Dante.

"Because the league always ignored our calls. At first the children were the one to call. That was the time ghosts started attacking the town and they thought the kids were joking.

The second time was when Amity Park was sucked into the Infinite Realms and they didn't heed our call. Ghosts and The People of Amity Park slowly gained this.. level of understanding and ghosts stopped attacking but the GIW still kept Attacking Ghosts.

The people tried to stop them and Yada Yada more stuff and now we're here!... Fun innit..?" Dante sighs as he eats a candy in exhaustion.

The JL members were horrified. The JL ignored their calls? What?... that's... When— "that's why we hate you all! But Right now we don't really have a choice now don't we? Our little Prince is the only person that's keeping me from killing everyone in this ship. And Dante's Lover but he's not the main character here." Technus laughed sarcastically. "I assume I've explained enough, and now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to fixing skulker's Metal Hunk of a Robotic Body." Technus says and Dante nods as he opens a portal Under Technus making Technus slowly but steadily lower down to the portal until he was no longer there.

The room turned back to normal and the chill was no longer haunting the room, although there were traces of frost trailing across the metal bolts of the Room and on the edges of the screens.

Jason Pats Dante's Shoulder "you did good." Jason says and Dante smiled and nods. This was the best they could do. "We need to save Danny first whilst also Dismantling the GIW... That is... If you want this world to still exist." Dante threatens and using Fright Knight's Deep Presence he sent a spine chilling fear induced aura to the League.

They looked at each other and nodded in unison once they turn their heads to Dante. Dante walked out of the room with Jason to let the League discuss what they want to do.

Dante rests his head on Jason's shoulder. "Ancients Spare Danny..." He mutters, exhausted from everything and the hours of discussion they have presented to the League.

[𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚅𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙲𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔]

"Why are you here again Clockwork..." Vlad mutters as he enters the living room and staring at clockwork who's drinking tea again, "Why? I can't see my favorite man?" Clockwork stood up and tapped on Vlad's Chin again teasingly.

"Wow... Very homosexual." Ellie mutters Behind Vlad., "am I getting a stepfather now?" Ellie says with a giggle and Vlad reddened and Clockwork looked like he was thinking.

"Hopefully!" Clockwork says happily, "I like your daddy after all." Clockwork licks his lips and sharp teeth and glanced at Vlad who wanted to melt on the spot.

"I like my Daddy too!" Ellie giggled and ran to Hug Clockwork, "mmm that's good little Ellie. Your future is bright... Happy and Stable." Clockwork says, his eyes fluttering gently at Ellie who he carries in his arms.

"Yay!" she celebrates enthusiastically.

<33 Little Side Stories now for the fun of it, next chapter might be a bit longer than here 👀 I'll make sure of it HEHEHEHAHAHAH.

[moistvonlipwig]

you know what i keep circling back to with the xander=whed@n thing? most of the time that idea is brought up, it's just used to shut down conversation about xander or shame the idea of liking his character. just a catchall used to dismiss him as evil outright bc his awful creator sometimes identified with him. i truly genuinely don't care that most of fandom hates him now, but i AM sick of the pervasive idea that liking him is indicative of your own values. he's hardly the only annoying problematic white boy around, and tbh i don't see what's so much worse about him than a pile of other ones. esp in a landscape of morally complex characters like the buffyverse. of all genres, shouldn't this be one where you stop judging ppl for the characters they love bc half these characters have committed horrifying crimes? can't you just say wow i personally find that character super annoying but you do you?

literally like. i've talked about this a little bit before but it is so fucking annoying the way people use joss's grossness to brand certain characters or relationships or storylines as Tainted By Joss and thus shut down positive or constructive conversations about them. even when joss had nothing to do with them or not as much to do with them as everyone seems to think. xander is not joss. he is not joss's self-insert. he is a character in a show that joss created & showran for five seasons just like every other character in buffy. it's FINE to think he's annoying, he often is, it's fine to hate him even, but can we all just go back to saying "Hey I don't like Xander because I find him unfunny and annoying" as opposed to "Xander is literally Joss and Joss is the only writer who ever wrote him and everything Xander does is something Joss wanted to do [nevermind that Xander never got with Buffy and Joss wanted to kill Xander in S7 and Joss hired Steven S. DeKnight off a spec script of why giving Xander Slayer powers would end terribly]." please. i beg. and also can we stop pretending xander is morally the worst person on the show. willow, giles, angel, spike, faith, and anya are all way worse people than he is. i'm not saying you have to like characters in order of how moral they are, that's obviously nonsense, you can like characters based on how much they entertain or interest you, god knows i do!!! but don't pretend to like characters based on moral worth if that's not actually how you judge them. and as you said, let's especially stop pretending someone liking xander is an indication of their own moral worth or their opinion on joss whedon. he's literally a fake little guy and everyone is free to love or hate him as they so choose

[mydisenchantedeulogy]

Last Line Tag

Tagged by the wonderful and talented @carlosoliveiraa (thank you, hun).

Since I'm working on multiple WIPs at a time, I'll share a few. Below are snippets from The Highest Cost (The Lost Boys), Sweet Revenge (Beetlejuice), Love Me Bitterly (Hazbin Hotel), Future On Hold (Final Fantasy XVI), Where the Tainted Kiss (Far Cry 3), and Rapture (Resident Evil). Please enjoy.

The Highest Cost (David x OC)

“I just want to figure out why my dreams are linked to this town. There is something here, and they're trying to show me what.” 

Cadence scoffed. “If we stay here, we might die. Don't you think that's what they mean?”

Even after telling her at the hospital about David’s statement about her dreams being linked to her, she could not understand why Cadence wanted to leave. Did she not want to help her? What if the visions went away. She could be free of them. Yes, she was right about the danger, but Mia did not care. She was so close to the truth. 

David would understand. 

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she immediately felt selfish. Was it her future she wanted to know more about? Or David. 

Sweet Revenge (Betelgeuse x OC)

The persistent honk-honk of a beat-up Accord speeding up the washed-out driveway woke Lilah from a dreamless nap. It was a strange belief that the dead could fall asleep, one that came as a shock four months ago when she first did it. But what really shook her was when she woke to find herself floating 24 inches off the floor. 

Love Me Bitterly (Adam x OC)

“Did you see who claimed the VIP seats?” Lita asked. 

Marcella clasped the necklace and then hummed. 

“No. I was just focused on getting here.”

Tossing her soft lavender hair over her shoulder, Lita motioned for her to follow and led her to the mouth of the tent. Seated in the VIP section, at the front of the stage, were a ‘Seraphim’, and two ‘Archangels’. Marcella widened her eyes in shock. One in particular made her heart race. 

“Azrael is here.” She could not believe it. 

Future On Hold (Cidolfus 'Cid' Telamon x OC)

“I don't want to sound pessimistic, but there is a reason the Deadlands are inhabitable.”

“For all we know,” Cid retorted. “No damn fool has ever tried to settle in it.” 

Eirene frowned. 

“Is the cause of the Blight not more important?”

“What do you reckon caused the Blight?” Cid asked. He sat the book down beside him and untied a pouch from his side, searching for a water crystal. 

Eirene had her theories, but she was not sure. 

“The Mothercrystals, I assume.”

Realizing that Cid might take offense, she tried to apologize. Quite a few Valistheans did not share her opinion, but luckily, the Lord Commander seemed to have an open mind. He merely snorted. 

“It makes the most sense, but until it's proven, making use of the Deadlands is the next best option.”

“And if we can not?” Eirene asked.

She was genuinely curious.

“Then we are doomed,” Cid answered grimly.

He believed that it was far too late, but he could not give up. With an initiated sigh, he poured the contents of the pouch onto the ground. The water crystal was missing.

“Fuck.”

Eirene sighed. She understood a little, but it was a fool’s errand. At least someone was doing something. She sighed and brought her hand out over the turned earth, materializing a sphere of water. Gently small drops wet the soil. 

A scolding grunt from Cid made her grin.

“Someone has to do it.” 

“Brat,” Cid retorted. 

Where the Tainted Kiss (Vaas Montenegro x OC)

“You want my fucking attention, huh?” Vaas asked. Even with a gun pointed at him, his eyes showed no fear. It was like he did not believe she would do it. “Come on. Show me how much of a badass you've become. ¡Muéstrame! ¡Vamos! (Show me! Come on)!”

Liv tightened her jaw. She was not afraid of him, but her hands trembled. Angry tears poured down her heated cheeks. She had him right where she wanted him. He was at her mercy, and yet she was hesitant. But why? He pushed her to this. He made her into a monster.

Rapture (Vampre Albert Wesker x OC)

Tossing aside the dust jacket, she took the ledger back to Dylan and squatted beside him, showing him the pages.

“What is this?”

“Fuck you,” Dylan rasped. 

His voice was coming back. The extract was slowing his regenerative abilities, but he still was not able to move much, aside from his head. 

Aria sighed in annoyance.

“Even in death, you lot are stubborn. Look…I know you're not scared of me. But you are scared of someone. This shitshow is going tits up as soon as I make the call, and you know who is not going to be happy. What I'm doing to you is gonna seem like a tickle compared to what he's gonna do.”

“I don't know who you are talking about,” Dylan retorted. 

Something in his voice seemed genuine. Perhaps he didn't know who he was dealing with.

“I feel sorry for you, I do. You'll find out soon enough.”

Tagging: @quinloki , @mishwanders , @the-resident-vampire , @bonez-drabblez , @lo1k-diamonds , @icy-spicy , @swamplinglvr , @savage-rhi , @nagumoan, @kazenomegaminowanpisu , and anyone who wants to play.

[celestiall0tus]

Redemption is a noble idea, but...

not everyone is capable of redemption. It is a sad, but honest truth. I'm not saying this to be a negative nancy, but I work with people who are down on their luck, at odds with the law, and I see this. I see people given a chance to better themselves, to get a fresh start on life, but they don't always take those chances and opportunities. Some are just genuinely in denial while you have those that know they have a problem but can't find the strength to stand back up again. After all, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Now, I know in media we get an escape and something we wouldn't normally in life. A fulfillment that can only be found there because of how shit life is. However, not everyone is worthy of redemption, especially a fast redemption.

I'm going to rip this old bandaid off. The Diamonds didn't deserve a redemption. Yes, Diamonds. Yellow, Blue, and White (I'll get to Pink in a whole different post as her story wasn't about redemption) The Diamonds were evil tyrant dictators that committed atrocities across the universe in their conquest. Immediately, Yellow and White aren't exactly deserving of a redemption. Now, Blue had redeeming qualities. She cared more for Pink than the others, mourned her, kept her memory alive, and actively sided with Steven first, but there's one big thing that really taints it for me. The gaslighting and abuse that Blue participated in towards Pink. I don't care what your opinion of Pink is, but the fact is that she was a victim of abuse. She was locked away, told she was "loved" and constantly treated as less than a Diamond. I have no doubt that Blue truly loved Pink, but the way she participated in the abuse and how it was quickly wrapped up will never sit right with me. Especially in the end when Pink is damned while the other Diamonds are redeemed.

To my Miraculous fans, we recently saw this. Gabriel, the worst of the worst, given redemption. This one is a little... muddy. So, he was granted redemption, but he granted it to himself. Mari tried, but was stabbed in the back. That I appreciate. He was able to use the wish to get what he wanted. He didn't need Mari to keep a promise or anything like that when Gimmi gave him exactly what he wanted, at the cost of himself. So, it's really muddy. No, he didn't deserve a redemption, but he won. He got what he wanted in the end. If he lost, but was offered redemption, that would be one thing. However, he actually won. He got his wish and rewrote reality to what he wanted. Again, it is extremely muddy and unclear. I do hope that in season 6 we get some answers. However, even I know that is too much to wish for.

On top of that for my Miraculous fans, I'll briefly touch on the big ones being Felix and Chloe. One who was given a redemption while the other who was started to give redemption, but then given a damnation.

Felix is a mixed bag. He definitely was a little shit at the start and it was genuinely jarring to see him again in Emotion wanting to help Adrien when he actively tormented Adrien. He was a good candidate for redemption, however, it needed time. As it stands, Felix's redemption was so jarring and quick. And, this could be just me, but is a little tied to Kagami. He really changed when Kagami was introduced into his life, and it's cute. But I'm so tired of this. I'm so tired of a romantic interest being the reason a person changes. I get love can change people, but I'm so fucking sick of it. I do wish we could have seen more of Felix's shift rather than drops of vague intrigue.

Now the sore spot: Chloe. Allow me to say this, I will be using the correct terminology for this when addressing her arc. It is my duty as a writer to address this as professionally as possible. If any of my phrasing or terms upset you, grow a pair.

Chloe, like Felix, was a perfect candidate for redemption. What made her redemption far more compelling is that we had time to digest it. It wasn't just dropped on our heads like Felix. We got to see the horrible mother that Audrey was (bitch was straight savage), the trauma that she endured because of Audrey's abandonment. It doesn't justify what she did, but it gives context. On top of that, you can buy her actions as a coping mechanism as she tries to act just like her mother. This does lead her to doing horrible things, that which is pretty bad, but it doesn't make her completely irredeemable. What ultimately led her to a damnation arc was Ladybug. I'll just say it, Ladybug was hypocrite. She told Chloe no more Queen Bee, but then acted rashly and gave Kagami the dragon again, despite Kagami revealing herself. It is no wonder that Chloe would turn to Hawkmoth in her most vulnerable moment.

Speaking of, there is a reason villains attack during a person's weakest. Chloe was a die hard Ladybug fan. She was utterly devoted because Ladybug was her hero. However, her hero tore her down and destroyed her, much like her own mother. This brings her to a vulnerable point. It's a lot like the original Disney's Ariel when Ursula goes after her. It is directly after Triton destroys the grotto and Ariel is shattered. The moment that they are at their weakest. And yet, both Ariel and Chloe are blamed for their actions without analyzing the events that lead them to it. Ariel had everything she loved destroyed by someone she loved dearly. Chloe had her devotion and hope shattered by a person she idolized. And yet people wonder why they did the things they did.

Chloe was someone that was on the right track to redemption, but was damned by her idol. I honestly think it is poetic, but wished there was acknowledgement. The damnation could have worked more if Ladybug acknowledged her own faults and tried to actively right them to put Chloe back on track for redemption. You want them to be seen as grown up by season 5, Astruc, add these moments. Ladybug blaming Chloe was not right by any means. Ladybug is at fault. She was the final straw that destroyed Chloe's redemption arc and pushed her towards damnation.

That is all for this post. I have one more to address a little later, but first need to collect my thoughts on. Stayed tuned for that one

[twoidiotwriters1]

Daughter of Olympus (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: The Nemean lion is so baby me thinks -Danny Words: 2,813 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter / Next Chapter Listen to: 'Jumpstarted' -by Jukebox The Ghost

XXIII: I Hope This Doesn't Awaken Anything in Me

"Welcome, baby!" My mother has been waiting for me. "Take a seat—You've gotten so big since the last time we spoke!"

I examine myself on one of the many mirrors around in the living room. I have not grown, the only difference is the bruises and scratches on my body from all the hard training. 

"Why am I here? Or why are you..." I frown. "Where are we?"

"This is my home in Olympus. Have a drink!" Pink lemonade appears on the table, along with my favorite super-stuffed cookies. My mother's smile widens. "All for you."

"Why?"

"Your birthday!" She clasps her hands together. "Thirteen is a cute age! So many changes..." She stares at me intently. "Let's talk about it."

I step back. "I'm sure I can ask Chiron later on—"

"Oh, that old horse doesn't see the full potential of an Aphrodite," she turns up her nose. "Might and skill—as if love isn't at the core of everything! Love—"

"Makes people useless," a man's voice comes from the doorway.

Aphrodite's eyes flash with annoyance. "Clean your boots before coming in."

"I'm only here to grab lunch," Hephaestus makes his way to the kitchen. "Hi again, kid."

"Hi," I say awestruck.

This has to be their shared home, though it's clearly decorated and used by Aphrodite only. I doubt he likes spending his afternoons in a soft and cozy room like this one.

"Can you hurry?" Aphrodite asks coldly. "We're having a private conversation."

"Ruining her," he glances at us. "The first of your children that's not a lost cause, and you're tainting her mind already."

"Tainting her?" My mother's eyes fill with tears. "You gave her the pantodýnamos!" Hephaestus grumbles, but I can't hear what he's saying. "You're such a momma's boy, and you don't even like her!"

The god's gaze is on fire, though unlike Ares's, his isn't violent. "Your child will be rewarded—mine won't have her luck, and that's on you." Hephaestus looks at me before leaving. "You've dealt with your brother's vanishment bravely, you'll learn from it."

Most gods take the opportunity to show off in front of mortals, but he seems to dislike talking to us. I can't blame him, he's been overshadowed by his peers, and Aphrodite has deemed him unlovable, that's got to sting.

"You have a funny mind," my mother sighs, drying her tears. "He's not special, honey. Hephaestus wants to be worshiped as much as I do."

"You were listening to my thoughts," I frown.

"Wherever love is, I get called to it. That's how it works."

I return to our prior discussion. "What can you tell me that not even Chiron would know?"

"Right!" My mother claps excitedly. "I haven't gotten one like you in decades!"

"What are you talking about?"

"A matchmaker!" She beams. "You see soul lights!"

To my mind comes that scarlet glow that enveloped Annabeth and Percy. "You mean that's a power?" I stammer. "That's a... a thing Aphrodite can do?"

"It's a blessing," she brushes my hair lovingly.

"I don't want it!" I whine. "My siblings do that all the time and they only cause trouble!"

"That's innocent fun," she starts to erase the bruises and scratches from my body. "This is a gift! To be a spokeswoman of love is..." My mom stops her speech and makes a face. "You think it's beneath you. Love is part of who you are, Arae."

I pout. "What's the use?"

"Soul lights show more than just compatibility. People can't hide their true nature from you."

I try to understand what she means. "So I can see... what, exactly?"

"Let's put it this way," Mother tilts her head pensively. "If you were to visit a chef's kitchen, you'd see him light up while he's cooking. If someone swears they care about something, but their skin remains the same, you'd know they're not being genuine."

"So I could discover who the traitor is?" I ask eagerly.

My mother frowns a little, but she nods. "You could."

If training is not enough, I have to prove I'm valuable in other ways. 

"Mom, I'll make good use of this gift."

"I have no doubt," she sighs heavily. I get up to leave, but she speaks one last time. "I don't think my husband is unlovable, Ara. But he doesn't respect me, so I don't respect him."

I have nothing to say to that, but I do have a question. "Do you hate that I like his children better than some of my siblings?"

She laughs. "Why would I hate you for loving those who need it most?"

If Jason dies in the stupidest way possible, she'll go to the Underworld, drag him back to life, and kill him herself. 

"It's no use, child," Hera tells Piper.

The girl is holding onto Jason desperately. The wolf house has been restored to its original gloomy looks, and luckily for Ara, the Nemean lion lives. He's licking his paws next to her.

"This is your fault," Thalia cries. "Do something!"

"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—"

"Fix him!"

"I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form."

"Um... True form is bad, right?" Leo frowns. "So why did you do it?"

"I unleashed my power to help you, fool! I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice."

"But mortals can't look upon you in that form! You've killed him!" Thalia cries.

"That's what our prophecy meant," Leo pouts. "Death unleash, through Hera's rage. Come on, lady. You're a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back."

"It doesn't work like that," Ara replies quietly. She remembers Bianca Di Angelo, how her ghost asked Nico to stop his attempts at resurrecting her.

"He's breathing!" Piper gasps.

"Impossible," Hera gets slightly closer. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—"

"Jason! Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite," Hera tries to be the voice of reason, but reason can't reach a broken heart. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—"

"Jason," Piper's voice echoes in an unnatural way. "Wake up."

The boy opens his eyes abruptly, they're like Kronos's and for a moment Ara fears he's been possessed by an evil being, but then his eyes go back to normal, and he coughs. "What—what happened?"

"Impossible!" Hera steps back in shock.

Piper pulls Jason into a hug and squeezes him. 

"Crushing me..." He chokes out.

"Sorry," she sniffs, hastily cleaning her face.

"How do you feel?" Thalia asks.

"Hot. Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible."

"That was Hera. Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."

"That's it, Thalia Grace! I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—"

"Stop it, you two," Piper snaps.

Ara hits Jason. "Ouch!"

"That's for not closing your eyes!" She scolds him. "Don't you have any survival instincts at all?"

"I almost died and you're punching me?" He complains.

"I wouldn't punch you if you were smart! Leo almost died too but that wasn't his fault! And I'm not punching him, am I?"

"Heard that? I'm smarter than the lightning boy," Leo grins, but he holds his tongue after Ara glares at him.

"Now..." Piper speaks as they help Jason up. "Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again—I wouldn't have met him—if it weren't for Hera. You two make nice, because we've got bigger problems."

After a moment of heavy silence, Thalia huffs. "You've got spirit, Piper. You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you." She places a card inside Piper's jacket.

"Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite," Hera crosses her arms. "You wondered, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn't reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. You're even stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together."

"Yeah," Leo sighs. "I don't suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?"

"No. By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—"

"He ran away. But to where?"

"Home," Ara scratches her lion's ear. "Where all of them were born the first time."

Hera stares at her. "Arae Jackson, when the Fates chose you none of us understood, but I'm starting to see through your disguise. Your resilience and wits are outstanding."

The girl seriously doubts that, considering she's the only one who looks like she's been run over by a truck and struggles with basic math.

After a second of silence, Thalia clears her throat. "I need to find Annabeth, she has to know what's happened here."

"Thalia..." Jason holds her hand. "We never got to talk about this place, or—"

"I know. I lost you here once. I don't want to leave you again. But we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood." She looks at the goddess. "You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do." 

"It's not your place to tell me—"

"Queen Hera," Piper presses.

"Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!" Hera scowls.

Thalia reaches Ara and she smirks. "Hit by lightning. What's next, bitten by a hellhound?"

"That already happened. Mrs. O'Leary mistook me for a chew toy," Ara grins. "What's next is to be drowned."

Thalia eyes the lion next to them and shakes her head. "I can't believe you're making me agree with Hera, but she's right. You really are the daughter of Olympus."

By the time the hunters leave, the moon is up in the sky. Ara looks around as she rubs her bad shoulder, and before she can ask, Piper does it for her. 

"Jason, what happened to you here? I mean—I know your mom abandoned you here. But you said it was sacred ground for demigods. Why? What happened after you were on your own?"

"It's still murky. The wolves..."

"You were given a destiny," Hera reminds him. "You were given into my service."

"Because you forced my mom to do that," he frowns. "You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he'd fallen for her twice. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone."

"It was the right choice for you as well, Jason. The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect—the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened—two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You had to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey."

"Of his kind?"

"She means Roman," Jason explains. "Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf that raised Romulus and Remus."

"And if you are strong enough, you live," Hera concludes.

"But... What happened after that? I mean, Jason never made it to camp," Leo raises a brow.

"Not to Camp Half-Blood, no."

"You went somewhere else," Piper understands what they're implying. "That's where you've been all these years. Somewhere else for demigods—but where?"

"The memories are coming back, but not the location," Jason looks back to the goddess. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"No. That is part of your destiny, Jason. You must find your own way back. But when you do... you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly—against Gaea herself."

"You want us to help you, but you're holding back information."

"Giving you answers would make those answers invalid," Hera shrugs. "That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything, Ara knows how true that is. Already, you four have surprised me. I would not have thought it possible..."

Ara stops rubbing her shoulder. If Roman demigods have to start their journey here, and Percy switched places with Jason...

"Enough of that, Jackson!" Hera exclaims, startling Ara. "Suffice to say, you have performed well, but this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase."

Ara isn't interested in arguing with the goddess, so she points to the lion. "Can I keep him?"

Hera scrunches up her nose. "I suppose... your mother sent it because you cared for him like no one else—you know, Hercules would've—"

"But I'm not Heracles," Ara replies politely. "Thank you for letting me keep it, but he can't take all of us to camp in one night, so..."

"I suppose you destroyed my nice storm spirit horse too, so we'll have to walk home?" Jason adds.

"Storm spirits are creatures of chaos. I did not destroy that one, though I have no idea where he went, or whether you'll see him again. But there is an easier way home for you," Hera replies. "As you have done me a great service, so I can help you—at least this once. Farewell, demigods, for now."

Ara's body flickers oddly, she hears the lion growl, and then the screaming. Ara jumps off the table where she's standing and runs, shielding the creature with her body.

"WEAPONS DOWN!" She orders. "HE'S FRIENDLY!"

"Ara!?" Lily Saggio stands, eyes wide open.

Leo is the next one to jump off the table and run to a bronze brazier to puke. Ara grimaces, the gods won't like that smell floating around their throne room.

"Jason, Ara..." Chiron says in utter shock. "What—How—?"

"Hi," Piper speaks, and it's then that Ara realizes they materialized on top of Aphrodite's table. Her sister has one foot firmly planted on Drew's dinner. "We're back." 

The crowd starts spitting out questions but none of them approaches Ara, she's still next to the Nemean lion, and she guesses he needs a friendlier name now. 

"Silence!" Chiron exclaims. "Jason, Piper, get off the table—nymphs, give Leo a fresh glass of water—and Ara, that Nemean lion..." the centaur raises a brow. "Belongs to you?"

"Yeah," Ara pats his muzzle. "Hera said I could keep him."

Chiron settles everything so now the four can narrate their quest to the campers. They're terrified, so she's half expecting them to start chanting "Curse! Dishonor on your cows!" at any given moment.

"So you rescued Hera, sent Enceladus back to Tartarus, tamed the Nemean lion—and got clues about Percy's disappearance?" Lily recounts.

"Basically, yeah," Ara replies. "But—" Lily interrupts her with a hug.

"Let's hear it for our General!" Travis clamors.

The crowd erupts into cheers, and Ara blushes furiously at their reaction. It was all Piper, Leo, and Jason, she was there mostly for moral support! No one seems to care, though. She gets carried all the way to the Big House. 

Ara's lost her new friends in the sea of people. The campers leave her on the porch, and Lily ushers everyone away.

"Let her rest..." Lily notices Ara's injured arm when she takes off her cloak. "Oh gods, what happened!?"

Ara sighs. "Lighting hit me, but I'm—"

"WHAT!"

"I'm fine!" Ara raises her voice but Lily's gone back into the crowd shouting Will's name. Ara lets out a weary chuckle. "Never listens..."

"That was quite a welcome."

Ara gives a start. Leo Valdez found his way back to her. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you—I mean, you, Jason, and Piper, but the campers took you away, and the others went to sleep as soon as the campers stopped paying attention—"

"I didn't want to steal the spotlight—gods, that sounds terrible. I'm so sorry," she rambles.

"Do you hear me complaining?" Leo smirks. "You deserve to be carried around like the legend you are, but we got work to do, so that's why I'm here."

Ara's skin glows when the boy moves a couple of steps forward. Now that they're safe, and she's got her answers, it's much harder to ignore how attracted to Leo she is. She thinks that if she's ever gonna get the chance to "shake off" the feelings before it's too late, that moment is now... and she's about to waste it.

"You think you can meet me in the forest? Tomorrow, after you're done with your General duties."

Ara's tongue isn't responding nearly as fast as she would like, having a crush was way more problematic than she'd anticipated. "'kay."

The boy smiles a little. "I think you'll love what I have to show you, might be the answer to our problems."

"What problems?"

Leo winks at her. "Sleep tight!"

Ara doesn't want the conversation to end, but Lily returns with a heavily concerned Will Solace by her side so she's forced to move on.

"Hit by lightning! What are you, a magnet for natural disasters?"

"Think so," she replies with genuine worry.

Next Chapter ->

Taglist.

siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @ash-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris

[kazumahashimoto]

all my ff7 rebirth thoughts i can remember upon a first watch, split into good and bad

THE GOOD:

-AERITH'S DAMN SONG IS REALLY GOOD IT'S BEEN STUCK IN MY HEAD. I CRIED.

-both gold saucer dates with aerith were really good. cloud instantly following aerith's bit with the announcer voice shocked me so bad i started crying just a little it was so fucking cute 😭 and i think they did the conversation about zack really well!!!! i like it. i really liked how they traded off helping each other get on/off. very sweets.

-there was a scene like somewhat early on i think with aerith cloud and nanaki where aerith tries to get him to let her touch his paws cos she thinks they'll be soft and he says no. aerith tries to get cloud on her side and he says “i mean, i am curious” I LOVE how he follows her bits. IT'S SO CUTE. HE'S SO SILLY AROUND HER.

-in nanaki's date the paws thing gets referenced with cloud shaking his paw and saying “woah, they are soft” i love a callback. cloud silly moments

-barret saying in-kweh-dible

-CAIT SITH IS SO CUTE. I'M SO JEALOUS OF HIM. HE'S SO CUTE. it is unfortunately tainted by the fact they chose to mispronounced his name however.

-yuffie pretending to hit barret and barret pretending to be hit 😭<3

-BARRET’S STORY WAS DONE PERFECT. i was crying so bad. the visuals, the voice acting, the writing, it was all there. i'm so so glad they stuck the landing with this one.

-VOICE ACTING MOSTLY GOOD. nothing was so terrible i was actively pulling my hair out while it happened like with reunion, so i'm pleased. cody christian has definitely improved since last time too he's kinda lost that awkward disjointed manner of speaking sentences, which i'll always have a fondness for but he really did an incredible job here. i really like the main remake cast's new voices!!! i know the recast wasn't received well by everybody but i really think they're all doing great. the only people i really struggle with are zack, and recently reno? he sounds off. he was lacking whimsy. though we don't see him too much here anyway so shrug. ALSO I REALLY LIKED ELENA'S VOICE. i'm not sure familiar with elena as a character so i can't speak much on how she was being characterized here, but i LOVED what the actress was doing. i love all her inflections. she was always very petulant and cocky and she felt perhaps younger than she actually is? but i think that's what they were going for with her being new. anyway she was a standout for me in terms of new voices for this game.

-aerith says “for real? awesome!” at one point and while i HATE that they changed that line in reunion, the fact that aerith is mimicking zack drives me insane. she says for real at least one more time after this too i love it. i can't remember every instance of her mimicking zack but just assume i got a kick out of all of them

-cloud aerith date after falling into the pit, “you don't look like you're on a date… more like, ‘at a funeral’.” what if i died? what if i blew up right here?

-”cloud…[...]aerith… how the hell am i supposed to choose?” zack so close to realizing he can have them both

-zack cloud and aerith all being alive in the same room together for the first time and two of them are unconscious made me laugh. i stay losing i love it (genuinely it's funny i think it's good that they died ect)

-OH ZACK THROWING A FUCKING LAMP POST OR WHATEVER INTO A HELICOPTER WITHIN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF THE VIDEO GAME HAD ME SCREAMING THAT SHIT WAS SO FUNNY. LIKE GODDAMN. ALRIGHT. WORK.

-”alright. follow my lead.” “look at you takin charge! i like it!” my essay in why zack is submissive,

-AERITH HUGGING CAIT. WWEWEWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-”QUESTION. am i a dumbass?” “i'm cetra! am i intolerant?” i love you girl.

-cloud junior reminds me of the quaxly i named cloud jr. who was birthed by my friend's quaquaval cloud strife

-blanket statement i love all of cloud and aerith's interactions really i do. even if the plot was annoying me i must admit to enjoying all their cute smiles at each other. real cute. THEY MAKE GREAT GIFSETS !

-WE ARE IN THE FUCKING CLEAR. ANGEAL STAYED DEAD. PHEW.

-zack was looking at a notice board in the slums and there was a banora white poster directly next to his head

-the end scene was real fucking cute. i love a call back. ending on cloud's dumb smiley face and “you promise?” “promise.” AWAYUGH. i like them. they're sweets.

THE BAD:

-zack. oh girl. like, admittedly i was already coming to this from the perspective of “zack lives doesn't need to be canon”, but even STILL. god THEY FUCKED IT. now let me defend my initial stance here too. zack has no narrative purpose being alive in the canon story of ff7. the story of ff7 is already a complete one full of characters that each play their own role in how things turn out in the end. zack has his role. he's there to be cloud’s SOLDIER friend he looked up to, one that saved his life and brought him where he is now. his character gets expanded in crisis core, but ultimately he's still there to die. his role is to be dead. and, looking to crisis core, he gets a full story as well. it's not to say he has no room left to grow, theoretically, but WHAT would his purpose be in the canon story of ff7 if he still lived? here the thing. fanfiction does not need to be canon. fanfic and aus and headcanons are great, they're a wonderful tool to flesh out characters more, get in their heads, it's a chance to explore “what if”s. but they don't need to be canon. just because you like a character and want to see them more does not mean they'd serve an actual narrative purpose in the canon material. there's nothing zack could really offer here, in my opinion, and clearly the writers agree because they didn't give him shit to do.

everytime we skip back over to zack, he isn't doing anything. he's looking over cloud, looking over aerith, he's talking to marlene, to biggs, to elmyra, about NOTHING. “hopes, dreams maybe? something like that.” marlene gives him Weird predictions of the future, which changes nothing. he gives biggs a pep talk, which does nothing. honestly it feels like they were just trying to buy time until they could try and prod some jealousy out of him over cloud and aerith and then the final team up with cloud against sephiroth. and they couldn't even keep him IN CHARACTER the entire time.

i have my small gripes. zack so nonchalantly messing up an angeal speech (which he should have absolutely drilled in his head at this point. hah, one of THOSE, huh.) irks me. i still don't think caleb's voice really suits him, though it was much better this time around. i think zack not realizing that there's literally no way biggs could have possibly met cloud is stupid. but the worst, the most egregious bit of mischaracterization i have ever seen, is marlene telling zack he needs to make cloud better so he can protect aerith, and zack deciding to go to hojo. are you… fucking. kidding me? zack's internal clock is messed up. sure, okay, that doesn't stop him from remembering aerith's letter where she tells him he's been gone for FOUR YEARS. GETTING EXPERIMENTED ON IN A BASEMENT. WITH CLOUD. BY HOJO. and then he just, shows up! he shows up, and he says, “pretty sure i only asked to meet hojo, not a whole platoon.” he says, “whatever. the world's about to end anyway.” do they think he's fucking stupid? do they think he's dumb? do they think zack is so, what, cocky? so sure of himself? that he can’t possibly find all the very obvious flashing warning signs that that idea makes no fucking sense? you expect me to believe zack would just go back? that he'd even consider it? that he'd put his life, CLOUD'S LIFE, AERITH'S LIFE, at risk like that? like i'm speechless. what are they DOING to him? what did this even MEAN for his character? so he finds out aerith has a thing for cloud. he stands next to cloud for a minute. he leaves. what did this add? what did this even set up? nothing. zack being alive had zero impact on the story, so why keep him around to begin with?

-on the topic of biggs, biggs! he also had no fucking purpose! and he won't shut up about it either! survivor's guilt, oh sure, but when he starts waxing poetic about how he doesn't know why he was saved, all i can think is well of course they picked you, the other choices were a woman and a fat guy. no fucking wonder they went with you. AND THEN HE DIES WITHOUT HAVING DONE ANYTHING. he literally added NOTHING to the story. him and zack are just there for hungry fans to point and go LOOK, LOOK! MY FAVORITE IS HERE AGAIN! WE’RE EATING GOOD CRUMBS TONIGHT!

-cissnei. when i tell you cissnei was the literal only new potential plotline i was looking forward to going into this, i mean that fully. and you know what? i got baited. i, too, got baited with look, look, my favorite is here again. i thought of so many different ways cissnei could impact the story, based on the short clip we got from the last trailer, with her saying “it's you!” i thought, cissnei is the only person left who knew zack and cloud simultaneously while they were both alive, besides tifa who's keeping quiet and sephiroth who's fucking with cloud on purpose. this could be so interesting. she recognized him! i'm enthralled. i get to gongaga, cissnei shows up near immediately, and she says, “wait, it's you! oh, i thought you were someone else.” and they move on. it's never brought up again. like. really? really? “i thought you were someone else.” who in the WORLD else could he possibly be. cissnei sees this scrawny, short little “ex soldier first class” running around with the dumbest, FAMOUSLY, CANONICALLY, FREQUENTLY BROUGHT UP IN THIS VERY GAME, ICONIC hair style, and she says “i thought you were someone else.” I DON'T BUY IT. CISSNEI ISN'T STUPID. like it wouldn't have even needed to change the story line. any acknowledgment that she KNOWS him would have been better than THIS. a simple “it’s you! you're still alive!” “what do you mean?” “oh, uh, i saw you on the news!” BOOM there you go, now WE know she knows him, and everyone else just thinks she recognizes him from being wanted by shinra. excellent. but, no! no in fact cissnei serves no narrative purpose beyond “oh, she fulfilled zack's wish from crisis core” and “oh, i know her!” 

-the whispers were the worst fucking thing to happen to this fucking franchise. like not only are we getting the dumb “fate” bullshit (that's just there to poke fun at all the fans that wanted remake to be the original story with updated graphics), but we're also getting lost memories! in fact, we're using the whispers as explanations for things that did not need answering from the original game now too! aerith tells tifa about her missing memories, and tifa says she thinks that must be happening to her too. and i suppose i don't doubt that, given the whispers exist in this iteration of the story, tifa would THINK that that's what's happening to her, but what bothers me is that there's an ANSWER. if you're a new fan and don't know how this goes originally, you're going to be thinking “oh, it's the whispers” too. but there was no REASON for there to BE an answer. tifa thinks she's crazy. tifa thinks SHE'S the one in the wrong here, it can't possibly be cloud, but she's SO SURE she doesn't remember him there. there's so much turmoil there, especially as more and more signs point to tifa being right. but here, the answer is whispers. alright, guess tifa's memory is just fucked cos of the whispers. nothing to do about it!

i believe, due to the fact that whispers fucking with memories is something they kept bringing up, that everytime you think “the characters should already know this at this point” the answer is whispers! isn't that fun? isn't it Fun that we're getting plot convenient memory loss on EVERYBODY? honestly by the time they added a third fucking type of whisper i was fully convinced their literal only purpose is to drive the plot in whatever direction the writers feel like at any given moment. we need this character to do x, but how? well the answer is whispers. if EVERYONE is a puppet, what makes cloud so special huh? they're all at the whispers whims. don't seem to be defying much fate right now!

-on the topic of memory loss, yeah the only reason cloud remembers zack this early is so we could get that team up at the end. it's cheap. like, in theory the way they did it makes enough sense, he sees the room at the inn and remembers that he was with someone in there. (the conversation he remembers is also grossly out of character for zack at that point and seriously misleads you on what was such a somber conversation initially but uhhhh let's call it cloud's imagination huh.) alright, he sees the river flowing down the mountain and remembers he watched someone drown, must be zack! makes sense. and then, tifa agrees? yes, he drowned. oh, we should tell aerith. we should, but let me, and let’s keep it a secret. cloud just remembered he had a best friend, he says they were so close, how could he forget, he just remembered that he watched him die. and tifa tells him to keep it a secret? like i understand WHY but isn’t that a bit rude? i don’t know that she'd actually go about it like that. regardless it's getting REAL tiring how they keep adding in scenes early. they did it with the forest scene with aerith in remake and they're doing it here too. IT'S RUINING THE NARRATIVE FLOW!!!!!!

-um. no rocket town? we get cid with no rocket town? like picking up yuffie and vinny different from the original doesn't Super bother me, i think they did it well enough that it's not really worth noting for me, but this is quite the direction for cid. they've sucked all the misogyny right out of him and took out the area where he acts the absolute worst. i've never liked cid! but this just feels like. damn they didn't even wanna TRY getting into cid keeping this woman in his house doing all his chores cos she feels indebted to him. feels a bit selective to me, they had no problem making women squeal at the thought of hojo getting them pregnant, using women as bubbly set dressing, having cloud put a dress on and pretend to be a woman to trick a man into sleeping with him. oh but, cid is just a hair too far. we still need him for the travel though, so, welcome aboard! maybe the whispers made him forget.

-OH MY GOD THEY DIDN'T HAVE CLOUD SAY “did sephiroth… do this?” LIKE!!!!!!!! dude that's like if they decided zack didn't need to say “me? gongaga” to cloud when he asks where he's from. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

-why did they decide shinra flew tifa out to corel? shinra, who wanted no survivors after the fire. shinra, who sent a full platoon after zack to kill him after he escaped. oh, but, in this one the residents in nibelheim all know that it burnt down? nibelheim, the town that's meant to be full of actors. the residents that are supposed to tell you “what an awful thing to say” when you explain the town burned down five years ago. oh but now it's a town dedicated to helping those with mako poisoning. right.

-i know damn well a furry did not design that galian beast WHERE IS HIS FUR. WHY ARE YOU WHITE. WHY IS HE NOT OURPLE. he looks too much like vinny, which might seem like a silly complaint but given how much he usually Doesn't look like him it kind of feels like they're treating us like we're dumb, like we couldn't possibly understand that that's vinny unless it really looks like him. not a fan.

-sephiroth didn’t even chuck the materia at cloud and then do a flip and fly away. girl you're missing all your most iconic scenes. at this point cloud's not gonna say let's mosey.

-what was the point of roche if they were just gonna essentially kill him off? i hate to sound like a broken record but girl what's the point of having all these characters when they add NOTHING. AND THEN THEY DIE.

-alright i wasn't playing the video game so maybe this was actually INCREDIBLY COMPELLING GAMEPLAY but why were half the puzzles in every area “move a big box very slowly to a location” like. damn no wonder they put that thing in the demo you're gonna be doing it in every area for the next 20 hours

-good christ the ending was so convoluted and confusing. i already don't really care for timeline convergences as a plot point, so of course this really isn’t for me, but even still it was so frustrating and hard to follow. and i think they wanted it to be that way, but that doesn't make it interesting? that doesn't make it thought provoking or compelling, it makes it frustrating and hard to follow. AND MEANINGLESS. AERITH STILL DIED. like they keep going on and on about defying fate, doing whatever, they're taking charge of destiny and whatever. oh, here comes zack to help us fight. and he’s gone. oh, here comes aerith to help us fight, and we're mourning. not cloud though! i really don't get it.

-aerith DIES!!!!!!!! THIS IS A GOOD THING I WAS WORRIED THEY'D PUSSY OUT. and well they kinda did! we don't get the iconic scene of cloud putting her in the water? like her materia falls into the water OK but that's it. it's just cloud holding her and he tells her to wake up and she does and they smile. i tell ya what, it makes a real pretty gifset! and that's it!

-really and truly what bothers me the most about this all is that to so many people, THIS is what the story of ff7 is. to many new fans, this is the only version that matters. they don't care to go back and see what originally happened because the game is old and looks “bad”. no one's getting mad at dissidia for not following exact canon and keeping everyone alive. it's not a matter of everything needing to be 100% accurate all the time. it's the fact that this IS the story of final fantasy 7 in current times. this is what people are currently viewing as default. but it's fucking up the storyline, plot progression, narrative flow, characterization, character importance. and for what? a story that's nearly impossible for someone to fully understand without having prior knowledge of the original, and adds a plot device that mocks fans that just wanted the original's story with updated graphics? that's what bothers me most.