#we’re not watching the happy endings universe of Arcane

[dumpster-fire-sapphic-failgirl]

A quick note on the Zaun folks fighting alongside Piltover at the end (not the ones who joined and put on the uniform, that was way more fucked, but the rest) :

1) until Ekko/Jinx rallied them, most of them weren’t having it. They were willing to let topside burn bc fuck it

2) The Noxians, for the most part, weren’t overtly oppressing the citizens of Piltover. The Zaunites, on the other hand, had been dealing with months of them being as bad and sometimes worse than the enforcers. Getting a chance to kill them and be seen as the good guys probably had it’s own appeal

3) Viktor wasn’t gonna stop at pacifying topside. Piltover and Zaun were separated by a bridge and a system of deep oppression, but that wasn’t going to save them from the glorious revolution. it truly was in their best interest to collaborate

(pivoting to the end of the series and the after effects of them helping)

4) Between the hextech pollution, the rule of the chem barons, the months long absence of Ekko, Viktor’s honestly fucked up commune, no more shimmer but also the ravaging after effects of shimmer on the community, Zaun is economically, infrastructurally, and socially kinda fucked.

5) you can see in Sevika’s face at the end there, the fight isn’t over, it has just changed style and venue. The implication is that Zaunites know this too. Why not send Ekko? Ekko is a better community leader. He can rally the people. He can help rebuild. Zaun is better served with him able to focus his efforts there instead of spending his days fighting with topside. So they sent Sevika. What was she to the undercity? The scrapper. The one whose loyalty has always been to a united Zaun. The one that wrangled the chem barons. the deal broker. Nothing in her expression says she is there to kneel. She is there to fight. She can call people out on their bullshit. She draws focus. And while the council has its eyes on her, Ekko can shepherd Zaun’s recovery. It is a small victory. And it is no reward. But it is a step forward. (though they did my girl dirty by giving her absolutely no lines in Act 3)

it’s not the perfect resolution of the system of oppression. In no small part bc it isn’t a resolution at all. The fight continues. But if the Zaunites hadn’t helped the Pilties, the fight would have been over. Not with a free Zaun, but with a pacified one, an empty husk with the peace of the graveyard. Destroying yourself to see an enemy lose is not the victory most people think it is.

Zaun wasn’t fighting alongside Piltover to save Piltover. Zaun was fighting alongside Piltover because the fight in Piltover was the best chance to save Zaun. (plus it was probably nice to have Piltover be the war zone instead of their home, tbh)

[sevsdollette]

pool day with sevika headcannons

i’m at the pool rn and all i’m thinking about is her

contains: not much to warn about. implications of smut but none actually. some kissing and touching but that’s it. just cute modern au sev at the pool :)

MDNI and men go away

sevika doesn’t really like the pool, but she’ll come with you if you beg her. to be honest, her favorite part is seeing you in your bikini. she’ll stall getting ready just so she can watch you undress and put on that suit (that’s essentially just your underwear) but she’s allowed to see you in public with it

when the two of you were at the store to get your swimsuits, she made sure you knew her opinion before purchasing anything. she liked dark suits with a lot of complicated strings. it made her think of when she tied you up at night. if you’re self-conscious about any part of yourself, she puts that first, insisting that you still look gorgeous in something more modest. though, she’ll make sure you know that she loves all of you no matter what.

she wears swim shorts and a swim tank, maybe a bikini top if it’s really hot. maybe if the two of you have your own pool she’ll come out in a bikini set. it’s a rare treat that you savor. a simple black set with ties taught around her muscles. if your backyard is private enough, you’ll tease her by pulling out the knots.

she doesn’t go in the water. if we’re in the arcane universe, i doubt she’d be able to swim. but in a modern au, she just doesn’t really care. in your backyard, she’ll bring out a cold beer and relax as you do laps or tan beside her.

she loves to help you with your sunscreen. it’s probably her second favorite part. she’ll take extra care in rubbing your lotion, insisting that she “just has to” get that handsy with your breasts and ass to ensure you don’t burn. she’ll rub it into your back and you’ll lean your head back on her shoulder. she’ll smile and kiss your forehead before telling you to sit forward again.

tan lines? she’s all about them. that sun-kissed look over your shoulders and belly, but the pale cutouts over your breasts and pussy. she needs to kiss over every edge. there’s something so intimate about it. like she knows where everyone else can see and just how much more she can.

maybe, just maybe you could get her in the water. if you’re annoying enough, she gives in just to have you shut up. she doesn’t really know what to do in the water. she just stands there and, when you come close enough, she’ll grab you and hold you.

she doesn’t like a pool, but she can’t get enough of the hot tub. she’ll have the two of you in it whenever she pleases. she’ll make it nice, pour you some cold wine, and get herself some whiskey. she’ll practically have you in her lap and you relax and talk about your day. it helps her relax after work. she’ll rest her nose into the crook of your neck and enjoy your company.

if you have low iron, low blood pressure, or something that makes you light-headed easily (i do), she’s always extra careful to have you drinking enough water, eating something salty, and standing behind you after a long swim. the sun is a bitch and she’s seen you get dizzy before. it scared the shit out of her, so she’s always there just in case.

at the end of your pool day, she’ll help you get everything pack up and take you home. of course, she’s right beside you in the bathroom, helping you until your bikini and get into the shower. she’ll rinse out your hair and kiss just below your ear. you’re tired after a day in the sun, so she’ll be your best helper in trying to relax.

all dried off and happy, she will insist that there’s no use in getting dressed. it’s a hot summer day after all. though, this always ends with her ulterior motive. after all, you’ve been teasing her all day with that bikini. this time after was what she had been waiting for.

tag list:

@archangeldyke-all, @cacston, @sevsarm, @sevsbaby @maneskinwh0re

[journalofabrokenheartedvirgin]

Page 76 (part 2)

 I want to get off a stressful day of and work and have you come over with dinner and eat on the floor of my bedroom and talk. I want to go out and sit on sunset cliffs with you, I want to sit and steal kisses on the couch in between episodes, I want you to hold my hands above my head while we kiss on my bed. I just want you. And thats the thing, that the day you broke up with me, I had spent all day looking forward to seeing you. I was with my last client  and I kept saying to myself, “only 2 meow hours before I get to go home and see Ryan. Okay now 1 hours, okay now 30 minutes. I was so excited to see you after spending 3 days away from you and now its been 2 weeks. I miss you. I really do wish ,y first boyfriend had dated me for more than a month. It just all solidified that no one is ever going tot truly want to be with me. I finally found you, someone that likes me, but a month in and youre done. I understand youre busy and need to focus on yourself, but it just makes me feel like im not enough, im not worth the effort it takes to be with. I never am and I never will be. I hope in another sims universe we’re together, because it made me so happy when you said that, and I would like to think that we’re one of the rare ones where we didn’t end up together and in most of the other ones we were destined to be each others person, like I thought we were in this one. I had truly hoped you were my person, but not here, not there, not anywhere. Fuck you, but also not fuck you at all. Its all so confusing because I know you broke it off in respect to me, but also because you didnt want to do it anymore and that is the hardest thing to grasp. That it felt like you liked me, that you wanted me. Instead you were questioning it the whole time. Even when you met my fucking family. Thats just embarrassing, you hadn’t even told your brother. Another boy in my life who didnt tell their brother about me until they found out in another way. Wow, shocker. I now just have to start pushing myself toward and try to get over you. I should block you but I probably won’t, I dont want to hurt your feelings. Speaking of, I wonder what youre going to do with the DnD journal I got you. I wonder if you’ll ever use it, or you’ll throw it in your closet, never to be seen again, or if you’ll give it to a friend. I hope you use it, but ill understand if you dont, considering I cant get myself to use the gifts you gave me. It just hurts too much to do so. I also saw the new trailer for the new DnD movie when I was watching Smile with Summer and Wade and it made me sad because I know that if we had stayed together, I would have gone and seen it With you. Summer said I could go see it with them, but I dont want to see it if its not with you. I also cant watch the rest of Arcane because thats your favorite show and watching it would just make me think of us sitting on the couch and watching it together and I dont want to do that. Everywhere in my apartment makes me think of you and I fucking hate it. I was on the floor of my bed earlier crying at the stuff you gave me/that makes me think of you and it just made me think of eating there together, and i was sitting where we hugged and said we were some of each others favorite people. Or my bed where we sleeping together and you kept getting up to pee and then when you got into bed one time you leaned down and kissed me softly as you got back on my bed. Or sitting on the couch and kissing. And the kitchen where we made mojitos and talked. Pathetically enough, I havent thrown out the extra mint you left here from that night because its the last thing , besides my memorabilia, that I have of you, even though its old and disgusting now. I just want it all back. I just want you back. 

[coveredinsun]

okay here it is. this is completely and utterly arbitrary but i’m confident that it actually makes a lot of sense. there’s probably some more nuance that can be added but frankly i don’t care. slam that “keep reading” button for an explanation

there are 3 main bubbles for toxic (self explanatory but also applies if they’re regularly just sort of mean to each other), doomed (do one/both of them die, or are they just fated by a higher power, aka the narrative, to never be together?) and …… happy???? (either they genuinely do get a happy ending, are endgame/canon-adjacent, or are just content with one another)

the only two couples to be happy??? and nothing else are gimleaf and zukka. i think both of these go without explaining. zukka’s got some in-universe drama probably but it all works itself out, and gimleaf sailed away to valinor together. next.

the two couples in the toxic/happy??? intersection are macdennis and loustat. they represent the varying degrees of toxic (macdennis mistreat each other but they’re not smashing the other through walls and trying to kill each other violently) and they also represent a facet of the happy??? category: they work with no one else but each other. they’re so toxic yet so perfect together as individuals that they couldn’t possibly be with anyone else. hannigram would potentially be here if i watched that show but i have not.

we’re skipping the “toxic and nothing else” category because i truly couldn’t think of anything. i’ll think of it 70 years from now but whatever.

you’ll notice brokeback mountain in the doomed but toxic category…. maybe controversial but i’m sticking to that. they’re tragically toxic. inadvertently and accidentally toxic. toxic because of society at large. i can write a master’s thesis about queerness and repression and class and some more profound ideas if you gave me a single monster can, a brokeback mountain rewatch, and 24 hours

next is the doomed and nothing else category. ineffable husbands count as doomed because no writing is good enough to save them from a 90-minute stand-in for an entire season. cherik are fated by the narrative never to be together, and thorin dies so bagginshield is obviously doomed. in the case of kenstewy (arguablyyyyy toxic, but toxic by normal people standards, not succession character standards) they’re also just fated to never be real because kendall roy has never had, and never will have, a single good day in his life. next

okay jayvik (FROM ARCANE idfk league) in the doomed/happy??? category makes me giggle because like….. yeah. they both die but they do so while locked in a cosmic, world-saving forehead touch. their “affection” almost ended the world and actually did save it. like they’re gone (maybe?) yet they’re as content as they can possibly be because they’re together. bitch that’s going in the happy???? category

and finally. the intersection of them all. hilson. they’re mean to each other, doomed as fuck, yet LITERALLY are meant for no one else but the other. big beautiful brown eyes man and piercing blue “give that thing some brown contacts” man. match made in hell truly. i’ve only watched 2 full seasons of house and i have no idea how it ends but i saw a silver springs edit on tiktok which tells me everything i need to know

all my favorite yaoi pairings fit into a surprisingly neat venn diagram? which i created the other week. let me post it for shits and giggles

[fishymom-art]

Bendy and the Dark Revival: Trailer Review

 Attention! This post contains spoilers for the new trailer of the game Bendy and the Dark Revival!

If you haven’t watched the trailer, do it first and then come back to read! I also advise you to check out the stream over on @halfusek​ ‘s YouTube channel, where we reacted to the trailer and discussed it too, but you can do it after you finish reading :))

LET’S START, SHALL WE!

Let’s begin with a huge WHAT THE HELL????? There is so much in this trailer and so many details! I rewatched it a few times already and noticed something new every time! So we have a looooot to unpack.

I will discuss the trailer and theorise about what might happen and what could some things mean. I will be more than happy to hear your own theories based on the trailer! I’ll make a separate hashtag for it, so I don’t lose all of it :). Maybe when the game comes out, we could go through some of those theories again and see, if we did guess something right.

Also sorry in advance if my screenshots aren’t very high quality, I’m working with what I have here, and what I have isn’t always good XD

Onto the trailer!

It starts with a short cutscene of Audrey at her drawing desk. A detail I noticed while making the screenshots, is that it seems to be dark outside and she’s either completely alone at the studio, or there aren’t that many people around for the purpose of making the player concentrate only on the main character, hahaha. 

We also have a screenshot from the Bendy Store website showing more of her workplace. Well would you look at that! She has Henry’s picture hanging on her wall :))

(look at her. She’s so pretty with her cute cheeks and uh... Yellow-ish eyes, for some unknown reason)

I’m pretty sure this is how the game starts. And since we were told that the game is separated into chapters again, I assume that in the first chapter we will explore the layout of the place she works in more and play as the normal Audrey, before she gets covered in ink and shit hits the fan. I’ll stick with the theory that Audrey works for Nathan Arch and not in Joey’s Studio, because this place looks VERY different from what we’re used to.

I also assumed that she might be a replacement for Henry when he left, mainly because of his drawing on her wall. But it might also indicate that she’s either his relative or that little girl asking Joey to tell more stories at the end of the first game... hm. But it looks like the game finds itself a few years later after the events of the first game. Like, for example, we were shown that Audrey drew with colours, which means it’s the era of coloured animation. The first full-color animated film was released in 1930s and became frequent by 50s and her hairstyle and clothes seem to line up. MY PROBLEM IS THAT JDS WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1929 AND OPERATED FOR 30 YEARS. SO EITHER THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARTOON INDUSTRY IN THE BENDY UNIVERSE IS VERY SLOW, OR THEY ALL DECIDED TO STICK WITH THE OLD FASHIONED “DRAWING ONE MOVEMENT FOR 10 HOURS BY HAND ON PAPER WITHOUT ANY COLOR” TECHNIQUE FOR MUCH LONGER THAN THEY SHOULD’VE, BECAUSE THE CARTOONS WERE IN COLOR ALREADY LIKE 10 YEARS AFTER THE STUDIO WAS ESTABLISHED. AM I MISSING SOMETHING?????

khem. Anyway.

When the shot with the corridor appears, we hear a loud noise and Audrey saying “What was that?”. It sounds like something opened or turned on in the building. It doesn’t show what that was or what happened, but I guess she went to check it out, because it’s totally safe and a good idea to go towards scary loud noises [thumbs up]. 

We’re cut straight to a new character, who is probably either the main antagonist or one of the main antagonists alongside other characters that we’re more familiar with (Alice, Ink Demon, etc.).

WELCOME THE CREPPY OLD GUY AKA WILSON!

He is greasy, he is ugly, he looks like someone made a human version of Carver from Showdown Bandit that looks too much like Singed from Arcane. It seems like this is the Unknown guy that was talking to us in the Gameplay Trailer. I really hoped that it’ll be Nathan, but this dried out fig will do too. 

Before I talk a little more about the zombification of Peter Capaldi, let’s look at this screenshot a little more. Behind him is something that looks like a mini version of the Ink Machine. It might be the thing that turned Audrey into the inky mess she’ll be for the rest of the game. But there are also some kind of posters about what seems to be... a movie? About Joey Drew? It’s called “Joey Drew: The Man and the Demon”, and is produced by the Arch Gate Pictures (HOORAY! MY ASSHOLE OF A BOY IS CANON IN THE GAME, HALLELUJAH!). Since the location we’re in still looks like the place we’re started off in, it supports my theory that Audrey works for Nathan. 

Back to the human cotton swab aka Wilson. Since he refers to our main girl by her first name, it seems like he knows Audrey or was at least told about her.

After his appearance there are a couple of shots showing Audrey transforming into her inky form, so to say. This is what she will look like for the rest of the game. The way they cut to her panicking while turning into an ink creature right after introducing our new baddie, makes me think that Wilson turned her into an ink creature. Maybe he like... poured ink on her or smth?

Now let’s make a little stop here, because while I was writing, the official Bendy Twitter account shared this picture:

First of all, I want to assume that it’s not an only reference we will get. Maybe we will see one for Allison or maybe even our new ugly antagonist, Wilson! Let’s go through it first, shall we?

- They deliberately point out, that Audrey was unwillingly pulled into the cartoon world of Bendy. - She has unique mysterious powers. Something that Henry did not have. Which means I have no clue what she can and cannot do. - And there is a new evil at work in the studio. I’m pretty sure they mean Wilson, because there aren’t any new evil characters who could play a big role in the story, except that male version of Annabelle Doll.

And she’s working those hips, like damn girl, looking sharp!

Anyway, I don’t really have much to say about it yet. I will point out stuff about her design later in the review though!

Anyway, back to the trailer.

Now you can notice those familiar textures and the color scheme. We’re in the Joey Drew Studios, aka now “Bendy’s Cartoon World”, as referred to in Audrey’s bio. I have two options for why we’re suddenly in JDS. It’s either:

- Hidden under the Arch Gate Facility like the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaplace under the Pizzaplex in Security Breach or - Audrey’s tripping balls and sees everything like that because of her new shiny lightbulbs that replaced her eyes.

Both theories are standing on legs made out of cheap dry plasticine and have almost no points that could’ve supported them (except Wilson actually being supposedly present in the studio at all times), but oh well! Let’s put THAT nonsense aside and look at some new shiny shots of the JDS! Oh, wait, we’ll look at a crucified Lost One first.

It looks like this guy went through some... extreme bullcrap. But oh wait! Is that- Is that what I think it is?! The new weapon that I keep referring to as the Gold Blitz?!... are we going to just... rip it out of this guy?... Oof.

By the way, from now on, I will always refer to this mechanism as the Gold Blitz, because I’m used to it and I can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be in general. So until we get a clear explanation on what it is and what it’s called, you’ll have to deal with my creative choices.

Other than the obvious rehearsal of some biblical events, we have “Demon Follower” written on the wall next to the Lost One. I assume that being a Demon (pretty sure they mean Bendy) Follower here is strictly prohibited and... very creatively punished. Which is a pretty drastic difference from the first game, where the Lost Ones and Sammy were more known as Ink Demon’s followers. But the Ink Demon and support towards him being vilified is a pretty big deal here. During some other shots, we hear a monologue from no other than a less sexy Morty from Hello Puppets Wilson:

(I couldn’t understand some of the words he said, but the overall meaning is clear, I think) “[...] Children of the Machine. For 211 days you’ve lived without the Ink Demon haunting your [?]. I banished him away. In return, I ask just a little favour. There is a stranger. Bring her to me!” (I’ll come back to that last part later)

After some very VERY beautiful shots of the locations that I’ll show shortly after this, we have those posters, saying “Relax, Wilson Knows Your Purpose”. Wilson here is called “The Man Who Killed The Ink Demon”.

Now here’s a little spelling game! Can you spell “PROPAGANDA”? If you need a hint, I can give you a sentence where this word can be used: “This is a clear case of propaganda and manipulation that shows Wilson as the true hero and saviour, who supposedly got rid of the Ink Demon and freed everyone!”

Now, I can’t really say that the Ink Demon is good, because he clearly isn’t. But Wilson is lying, because we do get to see Ink Demon later in the trailer and we have others talking about him. Did this walking example of what lung cancer does to a person brainwashed the Lost Ones into thinking they are safe? It portrays him as a great leader who can easily manipulate other people into believing him, because “Oh, he saved us from this big threat we experienced! We owe him!”.

I think those are some obvious things and a pretty good introduction to a completely new character. I’ll be very surprised if I was wrong with my theory on who he is and what his motives are XD.

NOW LET’S LOOK AT THOSE PRETTY SHOTS OF THE STUDIO I TALKED ABOUT BEFORE!

Look at those details that aren’t distinguishable because of the poor quality of my screenshots!

Okay, jokes aside, it does look extremely pretty. I don’t really have anything else to say about this shot. It’s just. It’s just so much better. Here, have a screenshot of the same location in the first game. DO YOU SEE WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT?

Although we’ve been waiting for a long LONG time, I am still glad that they took their time with the game. It has so much more to itself and the new design, graphics and overall look make the wait worth it. I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this game when it comes out.

And here’s the other shot! There are... so many details. Clearly this is a cafeteria/canteen or something like that. Honestly looks even like a bar to me, which doesn’t really fit the fact that it’s a fricking studio, but there are many other things that make you question the definition of the word “studio” in this game, so we’ll look over it for now.

I can’t really recognise anything special here except maybe those 3 signs that look like licence plates.

One of them has 414 written on it, because of course it does. I dunno why it has 210 first, I didn’t find anything. The other says “OUTATIME” and the third is “SLW-287R”. Those reference the license plate of the DeLorean Time Machine from “Back to the Future” and Mr. Bean’s car. Nothing else, really, haha.

Of course we also have our beloved Little Miracle station standing in the background, as well as something called Dream Supply and Tasty Eats. I have little to no clue what those are, actually. I’m still confused why is a locker called Miracle Station. But I learned to never question the design choices the developers make, so we’ll just move on.

We also get a quick look at the Art Department or at least something that looks like it, as well as GOLD BLITZ WOOHOO!!! I still have NO idea what this thing is for.

But what I do know, is that we can CHARGE this bad boy! Yes, you heard me! Whatever this abomination of a MacGuffin is, it requires (and presumably emits) electricity. Watch Audrey put this baby in an oversized battery port!

And we actually see that being confirmed in this screenshot. Those lights on the device indicate that it runs on some power and has limited usage. I guess we’ll have to charge it from time to time... I just hope it lasts longer than Glamrock Freddy... also it kinda looks like she made it herself, because it just looks like a pipe with a battery slapped on it ahaha

ALSO LOOK AT MY BOY CHARLIE!!! HE LOOKS SO COOL!

But we actually have something else appear before Audrey gets to show off her new toy!

BOOM! THIS GUY! 

He appeared in one of the trailers for a brief moment already. I assume he’ll be an annoying kind of enemy like the Butcher Gang. I have no idea what to call this son of a gun, so I’ll just refer to him as the Ink Brute if I’ll have to talk about him again. But honestly, he’s my son and I lowkey love him. Just look at him go! Even my boy’s better than the vacuum in a skin costume that calls itself Wilson.

But why would I talk about him separately? Because one of the thing that I love the most about this trailer is the unique designs of different new characters that we will be able to interact with! They are so cool! They are alive! They are PEOPLE!

LOOK AT THIS GUY! HE’S SO FUNKY! HE’S SO COOL! ROCKING HIS GOGGLES LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW (which is probably accurate, because time isn’t a concept the studio decided on following).

OR THIS MAPBOT FROM SECURITY BREACH  DOLL!

Both of them even have their own voices and here’s something the doll girl says

Doll: “Almost everyone here either can’t speak or they’re completely mad.”

Considering that there are differences when it comes to living cartoons, it kinda makes sense. Perfect cartoons, like Boris, cannot speak, for example. And Alice, who was proven to be an imperfect version of her cartoon self, is uh... unwell, to say the least. It doesn’t really apply to the Lost Ones, as well as this Doll. They do speak, but don’t appear to be irrational, at least from what I’ve seen. The only mad characters in the trailer are the Butcher Gang, who are rabid from the get-go, Alice, who’s literally portrayed with a legit GUN later in the video, and the illegitimate son of William Afton and Bill Cipher aka Wilson.

Talking about the characters we already know and love (not counting Wilson). Allison is here, looking SHARP!

There is a short dialogue going on between Audrey and Allison. I assume it’s the first time they meet.

Allison: “I’m not gonna hurt you. Looks like you need some help” 

Audrey: [pulls her hand away as soon as Allison touches it] “Don’t touch me!”

I wanted to add, that Audrey doesn’t say “Don’t touch me!” in a scared voice. More like warning Allison, that it’s not safe to touch her. Although maybe it’s just me looking too much into voice acting hahah. I guess Allison here helps Audrey to adapt around the studio. She takes her hand and points out that our girl needs help just by looking at it. Maybe she realised that Audrey is new to all of this. But she could also be pointing it out because of this distinctive feature of hers:

I’m actually surprised they didn’t really say anything about her arm and I didn’t even think about it until I watched the trailer again. I don’t really have anything else to say though. I hope Allison will answer this question, because it looks like she knows what that could mean. At least I hope she does, because if she doesn’t, we’ll have to interview the old melted wax figure that is Wilson. Or like... ask Alice, or smth. She did pick up a hobby of going through cartoons’ guts, she might know a thing or two- [gets shot with a tommy gun]

Well, anyway, let’s see, what else we have in that trailer. Except the canteen and some random rooms, we get a hallway!

What’s interesting is that it has an almost identical layout as the hallway I showed in the beginning, but it might just be me looking at the floor tiles and thinking I connected the dots, when in reality I didn’t connect shit. But it does work with that “Audrey’s tripping balls” theory I talked about earlier. Although I am leaning more towards the Security Breach comparison at the moment.

And then we have something interesting, which is just a shadow, but it belongs to my boy, my love, my beautiful bean, my favourite creature Nature created while she was drunk on bacon soup. THE INK DEMON!

There is a short dialogue between Allison and Audrey when he appears.

Allison: “Above everything else, stay away from the Ink Demon.” Audrey: “What’s an Ink Demon?” Allison: “He likes to smile. And he kills anything that moves.”

We already heard the last sentence in a different trailer out of context, but now we know that it’s Allison explaining Audrey who the Ink Demon is. Which makes me think that we won’t see our favourite boy for a while. At least not until Allison and Audrey meet.

Bendy also seems to be a little upgraded. His horns are bigger and the head isn’t as smooth and round. And if you look closely when the shadow rises, you can see that he has some kind of spikes on his back. He did have something similar in his old model, but it was more subtle, while the new model seems to be more detailed and “exaggerated”, so to say. Also it seems like he’s not a twink anymore - [gets shot again]

After that we get a better look at Audrey’s model and may I say, she looks pretty badass. Slay, queen! SLAY YOUR ENEMIES! SLAY THE DEMON!

I honestly really enjoy her design. And am... kind of confused why everything around her as well as she herself change their color. Guess it has something to do with the whole “Bendy’s Cartoon World” thing? I never really think about it usually, but the people in the studio don’t really... have that many normal human features. Like, their skin color is orange/brown-ish and all the clothes grey and black (maybe a little white here and there + golden stuff like Audrey’s eyes). It seemed like a design choice in the first game, but now that we were shown a different place that is more colourful and we know that Audrey’s skin and clothes don’t actually look like that in the beginning, it gets a little confusing.

I don’t really know what else to say. A part of me suggests that maybe it means that she’s dead, but that Joker with no make up on (Wilson) is also there and I’m pretty confident that he is alive. Plus, there’s no indication that it might be a purgatory of some sort or that there’s no way out. Even the description of the game that we get on the official Bendy Store website states, that our mission is to leave the studio. Although considering the ending of the first game, that wants us to think that Henry might be dead, it’s a question that will stay open for quite a while. As far as I’m concerned, we might never get a clear answer to what the hell this studio is. I know those Indi developers. They never give a clear answer to the biggest questions, especially BatIM.  So I guess we could theorise about it without ever being sure X). Let’s just move on, we could talk about it the whole day.

Btw, the sign behind Audrey says “Unsafe Area” and asks for the workers’ ID cards. 

There was another location that requires an ID card to enter with the subtitle “Be Drawn to Fear.”

I guess all the locations reserved for Gent workers may require an Identification to enter... LET’S STEAL WALLY’S ID!

//I wrote a shit ton of stuff here and it got deleted, so from now on it will be a little rushed, probably//

///It got deleted twice. I am suffering right now///

Welp, let’s talk more locations! Here we have a... uh... [looks through the notes] a city street. Yep. A city street.

At first I thought it was the Lost Ones harbour/town/haven/whatever. But look at it again and you realise that there’s no fucking way it could be that. I TOLD YOU THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD “STUDIO” IN THIS UNIVERSE IS THE MOST CONFUSING SHIT IN THE WORLD. This place has a grocery store, a pharmacy, a residential building EVEN A SUBWAY STATION. IT HAS A GODDAMN SUBWAY STATION????

This place makes my head hurt as much as Tumblr deleting half of this review every time I’m trying to save it as a draft. I have only one explanation that comes to mind and makes the most sense. The locations from the cartoons/comics become real, just like the characters. It’s the most realistic option in my opinion. We did see city backgrounds in comics and cartoons after all (reference Cheap Seats).

Otherwise it makes absolutely no sense and if I’m wrong here, I will lose all my marbles and I don’t have many left. This just adds like... 50 bucks to the “Put a dollar every time the JDS makes no sense” jar.

Let’s move on before I lose my mind. We do have another screenshot that seems to be taken in the same location, but I’ll leave it for later ;)

NOW WE HAVE THIS! 

IN THE VENTS! IN THE VENTS! WE WILL GO INTO THE VENTS ANd I am not going to make an Among Us joke.

NEXT!

OOH, SOME QUICK GRABBERS WE HAVE HERE! And it clearly belongs to our beloved Ink Demon - his left hand has four fingers and a glove.

Although it does seem like he went through much more changes than I thought. Because this looks much better than whatever the hell it used to be:

Fear the ones you bullied in middle school, so to say.

Although he does lack basic level of intelligence if he thinks that he can reach and grab Audrey through that little hole in the wall. Well, at least one thing they didn’t change about him X) /lh

And here’s something... big. I missed it the first time I watched it and I didn’t really look that deep into it. A table a with a writing on the wall behind it saying “She was the FOURTH”.

But then a friend pointed out that it might have something to do with a thing Meatly said once that left all fans go completely badonkers 2 years ago (yes, it’s been 2 years).

This CLEARLY means that Audrey (or some other female character who we haven’t seen before. Although I’m pretty sure it’s about Audrey) is supposed to represent the fourth member of The Butcher Gang. And this is a pretty huge deal. If it IS Audrey, it could explain why that wet old sock of a person aka Wilson wants to find Audrey so bad. Maybe he tried to turn her into that character, but she managed to escape before he could finish his work. And maybe it’s the reason why she has those unique powers that Allison seems to be familiar with - maybe, all cartoons have this feature?

But we still can’t really say who that character is. Clearly they came up with it pretty late. The comic book already came out when he said it and neither that nor the cartoons acknowledge this character or their existence. Which leads me to the only conclusion I’m able to make right now - that fourth member was a thing at FIRST, but then was scraped by the artists and never made it to the screens/in the comics. If I’m wrong again, I’ll just stick with the joke that Edgar’s toy duck is the fourth member and shut my mouth.

Let’s move on then, because I have nothing else to say about this and I’m very tired and have been writing this part for over 3 hours or something like that.

WHY NOT TALK ABOUT ANOTHER MUCH BETTER (sorry XD) FEMALE CHARACTER THAT IS MY BELOVED ALICE ANGEL?! Because guess what!

THEY GAVE HER A GUN! I REPEAT, THEY GAVE ALICE A FUCKING GUN! BENDY ROYALE IS REAL MWAHAHAHHAHAH

But for real now, this moment made my day when I first saw that XD.

Well, for the last, but not least (although pretty much the littlest)...

PERFECT BENDY IS HERE! HE’S CANON AND HE’S BABY! LOOK AT THIS PRECIOUS LITTLE BEAN!

Look at him in his little vest! What an adorable little gentleman!

This is that other screenshot from the city location I mentioned! Which means that Bendy might accompany us in some of the locations. Which I’m all for! IF I GET TO SEE THIS PRECIOUS LITTLE CREATURE MORE THAN ONCE, I WILL BE THE HAPPIEST FISH ALIVE!

Also it makes me think that the Perfect Bendy might actually be Henry. Now, this is a pretty popular theory and I actually agree with it in some parts. For example, that scene in Chapter 5, where Sammy attacks Henry, saying that he betrayed and abandoned him and that he trusted him, etc. He mistakes Henry for Bendy there and it would only make sense if he did so because Henry looks like his Lord. + Our man had ink splashed in his face on multiple occasions throughout the game, it should’ve affected him somehow. And lastly, every living cartoon was a normal person at first, and it doesn’t exclude Bendy over here. And who fits the role more than Henry? (Except maybe Joey, but I highly doubt it) Plus, he does look like he’s been in the studio for quite some time, because of his messy clothes and messed up face. And we all know by now that Henry went through a lot of loopty loops in this studio, he’s seen some shit.

Of course, I haven’t talked about a couple of other things (like that ball with someone’s name), but mainly because I honestly have nothing to say about that. There is so much in this new trailer and I am extremely happy.

November 15th. Less then two weeks left.

I know I said that I won’t be doing anything bendy related anymore. But I also said that this will be a case only if batdr doesn’t awaken anything in me and boy did it awaken a lot. I can’t wait to play this game and watch other people play and theorise about it. I also can’t wait for you guys to send me your comments, ideas and theories about this game and my review, so we can all talk about it a little more.

I do still think that the developers are assholes. They aren’t good people. But it doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy the everloving hell out of this game. Plus, I am the (self-proclaimed) Owner of Bendy and the Ink Machine ;).

In conclusion... I am happy. I truly am. And I can’t wait to see more when the game comes out.

With love,

FishyMom.

[stellarcat52]

Timeless blue chapter 11

Archie flew ahead as Douxie and Krel hurried behind him. The shattering of glass quickly notified them of where Arthur and Morgana had just jumped out of the window, and where Nari had been frozen solid in a block of ice.

With a quick spell Douxie frees their friend. “Oh, thank you. The order shall surely rip your soul to pieces for this.”

“We’ll work on your pep talks later. I don’t think my little trap was going to last-“ Archie flies in as Douxie speaks.

“The arcane order is back, we’re out of time Douxie.”

“Alright, let’s get Nari back to the others. She’s safer with all of us.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure the order doesn’t”

as if summoned by their name Bellroc and Skrael make their presence known, “Nari!”

“Find you. Go!” Douxie casts his arms back, pushing his friends away from him and their enemies. “Keep running, don’t look back!”

Without the head start the others had, Douxie fell behind the order. His infinite corridor suddenly replaces him as the only thing between them and Nari.

“An infinite corridor eh? Beginners magic. This cannot hold us!”

Douxie let’s a sphere of fire fly past him and into the door that would transport it to behind Skrael. “Buttsnacks!”

“You will die for this!”

Douxie summons his staff, “That was kinda the plan. But it’s worth it, because it means my friends, Krel,” his voice softens as he realizes this is what Krel had feared. Their separation, someone getting hurt, “and Nari can get away!” He finds his courage, saving the world or saving his friends wasn’t a choice he could make. He could make the choice between saving the world and saving himself, although he forced the pain of leaving Krel behind into his stomach.

———

Krel looks behind him immediately after he hears Douxie being pushed down, seeing the infinite corridor go up, even without knowledge of what it is. That barrier would trap Douxie in with two beings more powerful than Krel knew.

“Krel! Douxie will be fine!” Archie had seen more of Douxie’s battles than Krel had, and yet he had to force himself to trust the small dragon.

Even as spells sound from behind them, Nari, Archie, and Krel only spare a few glances back, none of them pausing for more than a moment to try and listen for Douxie’s voice. When they finally got to a place where Archie could safely fly Nari down, Douxie and the Order’s battle is naught but echoes.

Archie glides down and Krel takes inspiration from Morgana in the past to try and levitate himself down. He still falls a great distance, but the Akiridion body is not as fragile as a human one.

Jim and Claire were having a face off, Toby and Steve were off to the side. Krel had never seen such bright human eyes before now, Claire had unnaturally purple eyes that flowed with her own magic.

Krel glances down to where his arms have these magical traces inside, each one glowing and fading as they’re needed or dormant.

As Claire unleashes a great beam of dark magic, Jim falters and gives the whole team hope. This side of him was a result of the order’s magic, if Claire could overpower it and save Jim, surely Douxie, and Morgana, could do the same.

Behind them, Krel saw the gold of Morgana’s magic against Arthur.

“The world isn’t ours anymore, you have failed to destroy it, and I have failed to save it.” The fight between Claire and Jim seemed to fade to background noise, Krel could almost entirely forget about it. “Perhaps they can fare better!” She unleashes another attack. “You are no longer worthy of wielding Excalibur! Magda mani achtenebris kraga doom!” The explosion caused by her spell inturrupted Claire’s concentration and cast Excalibur aside. Just as all seemed to be doing better it was made clear that Excalibur is not what kept Jim tied to the green knight.

“Please Jim, I love you!” Claire’s choking cry almost made Krel jump in to help. “We all do.”

Jim drops Claire after what seemed to be a moment of thought.

———

Douxie was struggling against the order, but he was holding his ground better than he ever thought he could against such powerful legendary creatures. The Order were gloating of his defeat even though the wizard still stood, out of breath albeit. As the order finishes, speaking of a summoning that will happen once they are through with him, Douxie mustered up a final spell.

“Tenebrius...” he started, a blue magic circle being danced to life in each hand and then on the surface on which he stood, “exellium!”

His and the order’s unspoken magic meets, both sides struggling against each other.

Between the magic circle holding his spell together and the mystic glow in his eyes Douxie struggled to see clearly.

“Goodbye, my friends, goodbye Krel.”

He lost the magic keeping him alive and safe from the Order’s attacks. He only hoped what last burst of strength he had given would keep the order away from the other’s far below.

———

Krel watched as Camelot fell, how Claire and Jim got their happy ending. He finally thought things were going up, but as soon as the Order’s lair explodes, and he sees Douxie’s limp body falling through the air, he thinks it foolish for those thoughts to exist.

He was the first to start running. He didn’t bother risking using a portal, Douxie was right about him being untrained.

He still was out of sight of Douxie’s body when he hears that sickening thud.

Claire and Archie had made it there faster. Arch had an ear to Douxie’s chest and with every breath that Douxie must not be breathing his feline features only seem to grow more grim. Krel takes a few moments to get the guts to join the others around him.

He looked down and wished that somehow he could give his core to the human he loved.

Douxie’s body seemed too cold for someone who had only been dead for a few minutes at most. Krel sat down on his knees and pulled Douxie’s head onto his lap. He just stared at him for a minute, tears blurring his vision and too scared to blink them away in case Douxie vanished. He hung his head down, only taking a moment to wipe each of his eyes individually.

“Krel?” Archie caused him to look up, just for a second.

“Why did he have to face them alone?” Krel choked. “I was right there, I could have gone back.”

“That’s just the way Douxie is.” Claire answered, Krel only now noticed she was holding onto one of Douxie’s hands.

Zoe spoke up as she came over to kneel beside them. “Hisirdoux never really learned how to accept help. Not from anyone beside Archie. He always had to them himself, stupid apprentice.”

“Wait!” Archie shouted, pressing an ear to Douxie’s chest again. “His heart!”

Krel could feel the tensing of Douxie’s back muscles as he loses the stiff relaxation of death. His skin grew to a temperature that wasn’t as frightening, but still cold.

It was if Douxie had a second chance, like what a core would have given an Akiridion. Maybe this is something magic could do to humans.

The moment Douxie opened his eyes, Krel stopped caring how. He couldn’t even find the words to say.

“Douxie.” Archie purring into Douxie’s chest. “You brave, foolish boy.”

“Ow!” He yelped as Douxie helped him sit up, shifting to be besides him. “Ow! Everything hurts!”

“Sorry.” Krel mumbled as Douxie looks over at him and grins.

Claire took his attention back for a second. “I can’t believe you’re okay!”

“Barely, seems you’re the one with mine lives!” Douxie let’s Archie rub his head against his cheek. “Don’t you ever do something like that’s again.”

Krel pulls Douxie to his feet, holding him up with his arms. “You scared me you idiot.”

Douxie nearly falls and clutches his chest. “Hey! I just came back from beyond the grave! Be careful.”

“Sorry.” Krel turns his head and kisses Douxie’s cheek. “I’ll protect you next time.”

“I feel like I missed a lot.” Jim spoke up, eyes widening as Claire ran up to hug him, still very happy to just see Jim as a human again.

“Same, but I think we can catch up over brunch.” He looked around again, Krel could see the worry in his eyes. “What about Arthur and Morgana?”

“Squished.” AAARRRGGGHHH looked towards where Excalibur lay imbedded in the stone.”

Of course Toby immediately tried pulling the legendary sword out of the rock it had cut into. To no avail, but he tried nonetheless. Blinky, Douxie, and Claire all urged Jim to try, but his efforts were fruitless as well. Excalibur stayed rooted, and as the group leaves it behind, Jim leaves behind his hope that he may still be a trollhunter, though that might not be the worst thing right now.

———

Zoe and Nari got ready to leave, New York would be gaining two magical beings within a few weeks, and Akiridion 5 would be gaining at least one new human citizen. Claire and Jim were still on the fence of whether or not they wanted to stay or just visit Eli and Aja. Either way after this they knew they wanted to stay together.

Krel and Douxie had told the group they were dating, and Krel got a surprising amount of threats from the almost everyone. AAARRRGGGHHH being an exception but also Jim, Nari, and Toby.

Krel knew that Douxie would get some as soon as Aja and Varvatos were told the news, and Eli would be ready to ask Douxie so many questions about magic that he’d go crazy. Still, nothing could make these two want to risk staying on earth with the Genesis seals one more day, so alongside with Toby, Jim, and Claire, they step into the portal to Akiridion 5 and are whisked across the universe, traveling past planets and stars in mere seconds.

The earth would be safe unless something changed, and although they knew something would, Krel and Douxie were willing to put that to the back of their minds for as long as they can. They are happy, safe, and together.

And as long as Nari is out of the order’s hands, that’s all they care about.

[chibinightowl]

For the writing meme: Tim&Dami "The answer is always blood magic" I can just hear the tired/sarcastic/done/exasperated tone of voice either of them would use for that. Please and thank you. Also, it's a Dragon Age quote and I'm unable to pass it up.

Lookie what I got done tonight! Set in the same universe as How to Summon Me on a Monday Morning.

~*~*~

Damian scowls fiercely at Tim, his little face puckered up even worse than the time he was forced to admit Tim was right about something. That’s a good memory, but now is not the time for happy thoughts or pixie dust.

“You will undo this, Drake.”

“I’m trying, Damian,” Tim replies just as crossly, flipping through his spellbook. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not exactly thrilled about it either.”

“This is all your fault.”

Tim slams the book shut and glares at the boy. “You’re the one who went through my spellbook in the first place. Try again.”

For a brief moment, Damian has the grace to look shamefaced, his gaze dropping to the carefully sealed cardboard box at his feet. It’s hard to miss the protective symbols drawn on the lid and along each side of the box. There’s probably even symbols on the bottom. “I was trying to find something to help her.”

This is why Tim can’t be righteously furious at the young animagus. Damian is so in tune with the needs of animals that the family swears he’s more empath than mage. Thank the gods he is still too young to shape-shift.

“I know and that’s the only reason why I haven’t turned you into a toad.”

The now undead cat in the box lets out a ghastly hiss that manages to send chills down Tim’s spine. From the looks of it, Damian is spooked too.

Good.

Tim opens his book again and flips to the spell he’s fairly certain Damian tried on his own. It’s the only one that deals with raising the dead, although the spell on the next page is one he uses more often, which is banishing the magics used to raise the creatures. “Does this look familiar?”

Damian leans cautiously across the table, trying to avoid knocking into anything. “Yes, I believe so. I recall the part about this being a blood spell.”

Shaking his head, Tim grumbles under his breath. “The answer is always blood magic. Stupid half-hearted sacrifices.”

“What was that, Drake? I believe Pennyworth has stated more than once that you shouldn’t mumble.”

Tim glares. This is why he doesn’t live at home anymore, even if it does mean he has to cook and clean for himself. “When you’re performing necromancy, it’s the act of killing one creature and releasing their life energy that’s used primarily to fuel the spell to raise the undead. The greater the sacrifice, the more powerful the spell.” He pushes his glasses up his nose. “What did you kill?”

Damian stands stiffly even as his dead cat howls again. This time, it doesn’t bother Tim so much. In fact, if he could get away with it, this would be a great way to scare away those pesky sales people who insist on knocking on his door all the time. How they manage to get past his wards, he hasn’t a clue.

“I didn’t kill anything,” the boy replies proudly.

“Then that’s why Athena is trying to eat you,” Tim retorts without missing a beat. “Did you really think you could raise the dead without sacrificing something?”

“I spilled over a third of a cup of my own blood.”

Tim frowns and tries really hard not to strangle Damian. There’s only one way to deal with this now. “No wonder she turned out like this. Give me the box.”

Damian stands protectively in front of it. “I will not let you hurt her.”

“The cat is dead, she won’t feel a thing,” Tim says. “You know this as well as I do, even if you don’t want to admit it.”

The kid sighs and looks away. They both pretend those aren’t tears he’s battling against in his eyes. “Fine,” Damian says after a moment. “Just…can I watch?”

Tim thinks about it briefly. It’s entirely possible the cat is possessed and if she is, then he’ll need Jason to help banish the demon, however minor it is. Summoner he may be, but he also has a surprising talent for holy magic. “Probably not,” he replies. “If she’s what I think she is now, I’ll need to call Jason and have him bring that flaming knife of his.” The one that burns blue from holy flames when in the presence of evil. Like in that one movie they like to watch and make fun of before moving on to more interesting things than wasting their time on a movie they’ve seen a million times already.

Damian shakes his head resolutely. “I’m the one who did this to Athena. I should see it through to the end.”

It’s a brave statement for a twelve year old boy but Tim rises from his work table to place a hand on Damian’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t want you to see this,” he says. “Remember her as the cat she was before.”

Not as the screaming doorstop he’s still half tempted to turn her into. Perhaps he can find a stuffed one online that he can reanimate. If anything, it would be an amusing way to spend Halloween and give the trick-or-treaters something to really scream about. He used to have a bird that would dive bomb unwanted visitors until Jason shot it.

Once again, they both pretend Damian isn’t crying when he turns his head away to stare at the wall and the gloomy bookcase full of arcane crap Tim inherited from his parents. Neither of them were exceptionally powerful in their craft but he makes up for that in spades.

“Okay,” Damian says in a small voice. “Will I be able to lay her to rest when you’re done?”

Tim nods. “I’ll make sure to save the all ashes for you.” All things considered, he feels he’s being a great big brother for not keeping some of the ashes aside for spell components. It would be well within his right to demand such and Damian knows it. “You should go now.”

Damian nods again and kneels in front of the now growling box. “I’m sorry, Athena. I should have known better. Farewell.”

The growling turns into a shriek as Damian leaves the room. Tim waits until he’s left the house before slipping on a pair of rune-stitched gardening gloves. He’ll need all the protection he can get.

Kneeling in front of the box, Tim carefully opens the lid. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”

He slams it shut almost instantly as a malevolent aura fills the room. “Shit.”

Well then. Time to call his other half. Picking up his phone, he presses his second most used speed dial. “Hey, Jace…you won’t believe what Damian did this time…”

[silver-lily-louise]

Hope (Critical Role, Vox Machina campaign - alternative events)

A/N: After Vax is disintegrated by Vecna in episode 102, Sam says ‘Hey! Liam can be Taryon now!’ I know that he was just winding/cheering them up, but it got me thinking - I would kind of love it if Liam had played as Taryon for the following episodes. I think he could have done a really good job of it, for one thing. For another - and this is my main point here - it would have been a still-sensible alternative to the revenant development, and drastically increased Vax’s chances of sharing in the happy ending. 

So here’s an idea of how things might have progressed if the Raven Queen had refused, and Vax never came wandering back to his family in the Feywild. 

~oOo~

Vax is gone, his body turned to dust, and his soul stands once more in the court of the Raven Queen. He pleads with Her to send him back - ‘My family is in danger,’ he says. ‘The world is in danger.’ But She has ever been a necessary force in the universe, not a kind one, and his duty is not to Exandria but to Her will. ‘I am sorry, my Champion,’ She says, and he’ll never know if She means it. ‘Some turns of fate are too brittle for even you to bend.’ 

***

In the Feywild, Vox Machina grieve. 

Keyleth tells them that she has an idea, a way to possibly bring him back - but they don’t have twenty-five thousand gold’s worth of diamonds right now, nor do they have the means for Scanlan to create them. By the time they acquire all the materials and complete the ritual, it may be too late to stop Vecna doing something truly cataclysmic. So instead, they put aside their heartbreak, and swear to return to that plan once Vecna is defeated. 

Vex plants a kiss on the Deathwalker’s Ward before it is consigned to the Bag of Holding, whispering a promise into the feathers. It’s not like he’s in there, Keyleth thinks - but although her anger is vast, it does not yet outweigh her kindness, and so she says nothing. 

***

‘Vox Machina have returned,’ the guard says, and Taryon gets on his broom, hurtling from the castle down to the town itself and landing heavily in the street before his friends. ‘What happened?’ he asks, eyes darting between them all in a rushed headcount. ‘The necklace - I felt -’ He stops short as his brain catches up to his terrified heart, and he realises who’s missing. 

Vex steps forward. ‘Darling, I know you wanted to return home,’ she says, and her eyes are a little shinier than normal, but her voice is steady and determined. ‘But this is worse than we thought. And we need your help.’

Once they return to the castle, the whole story of their venture to Thar Amphala is told, and Taryon’s fear grows with each word. For all his posturing and ego, he doesn’t feel like a hero at this moment, just a foolish child who went looking for adventure and is now in severe danger of biting off far more than he can chew.  But he isn’t a child. He’s a member of Vox Machina, and right now his best friend is looking at him with a thousand worlds of pain in her eyes, asking his help. 

He inhales as much courage as he can, and puts on his most dashing smile. ‘Well, it seems we have a new quest, friends. Now, we simply need a plan.’

***

Their plan feels haphazard as always, and their hearts are filled with vengeance, grief, and desperation. But they do what they can to gather strength and allies, and the days pass far too quickly for a team who already feel like they’re running out of time. 

Somewhere along the way, Scanlan finds himself sitting alone, absentmindedly humming to himself and turning over the vial of Vax’s ashes in his hands. Even with all the time they’re putting into this preparation, all they’re risking for this, it’s hard to imagine that it’s going to be enough. ‘Definitely wouldn’t hurt to have one more champion on our side, though,’ he says quietly, staring down at the vial. ‘Wish we had a way to just bring you back already.’

Perhaps it’s the sheer depth of feeling behind those words, or perhaps it’s the recent blessing of the Knowing Mistress, but even as he speaks he can feel magic swirling within. Powerful magic, more than his usual fare - too much to contain, and even though he has no idea what’s going on right now his hand flies up on instinct to release it. 

With a flash of white light, a huge glass boulder appears on the ground before him, and he yelps and jumps to his feet. ‘What the fuck?!’

A few seconds pass, and his heart hammers in his ears. He glances around, but there’s nowhere around him that this boulder could have come from - and besides, he knows where it came from, he felt the magic leave him and conjure it.  He gingerly takes a step forward, putting his hand out to touch the cool, smooth surface. As he moves, the rock catches the light in a familiar way, and he gasps. It’s not glass, he realises. It’s the biggest fucking diamond he’s ever seen.

The pieces click into place. Wish we had a way to bring you back. They need diamond for the ritual, the one Keyleth was talking about - ‘Keyleth!’ he yells, as loud as he can. ‘Keyleth!’

The rest of the party come sprinting towards the sound of his voice, slowing in confusion when they see the rock before him. ‘Good gods, what is that?’, asks Percy.  ‘It’s a diamond,’ Vex answers automatically, staring in bewilderment even as her keen treasurer’s eyes recognise the precious stone. 

Scanlan laughs out loud, because her confirmation means he was right, means that this might work. ‘Yes, and I’d say it’s worth around twenty-five thousand gold, wouldn’t you, Vex?’ ‘I mean, with the size of it, probably-’ She cuts herself off, eyes widening, and Scanlan’s grin grows as he watches realisation dawn on the faces of the others, too. 

We’re bringing him back.

***

The Raven Queen watches the golden glow dance before Her as the threads of Fate rearrange themselves. Wish, She thinks, shaking Her head. Changer of so many destinies. Strange that mortals should have such power.  The threads twist further still, wrapping around each other like ivy and rising up - before they begin to fan out again, diverging and contorting like the branches of an ancient tree. 

She hums thoughtfully as the glow fades from Her sight, then blinks, summoning Her Champion to Her side. ‘Do you hear them?’ She asks him. 

His look of confusion shifts to one of pain and longing as he listens for a moment, the voices of his loved ones reaching him once again. ’I hear them,’ he says, voice barely above a whisper. ‘Why can I hear them?’  ‘Because they attempt to summon you back to their side. This is no idle chatter, but the sound of resurrection, Vax’ildan.’  He looks down, and She feels his hopeless grief. ‘They can’t. My body was destroyed - there’s nothing for me to go back to.’ 

She steps down towards him, falling into Her human shape. He does not know he can go back, She thinks. I could keep him here. 

But the moment of temptation quickly fades. The threads have already been woven, and it is no foul parody of life his loved ones attempt to bring him into. His duty is to Her, but Hers is to Fate - and though it be through mortal voices and arcane power, Fate has spoken. 

She reaches forward, gently lifting his chin until She can see the tears in his eyes. ‘You will return to me soon enough, my Champion,’ She murmurs, mostly as comfort to Herself. He seems to register what She says, but before the shock on his face even has time to bloom into joy, She kisses his forehead and he vanishes.  Her regret is soothed by the silence of Fate around Her, disturbed but yet unbroken.

***

Vax rises.  (Nothing is promised, but witnessing one miracle is enough to make them believe that they may be granted another. Perhaps we stand a chance, hope whispers in their hearts.)

Vecna falls. (It is not without cost, but battling nightmares has long since taught them how to repair and rebuild in the morning. If we are strong enough to defeat that, we are strong enough to fix ourselves, hope whispers in their hearts.)

(Hope is wiser than all the gods.)

~oOo~

[starlitesymphony]

Timelost Worldbuilding #4: The Birth of Keitu

This week, we’re going back in time to thirty years before the beginning of Ark of the Timelost. To switch things up, instead of the usual vignette from Quin, I made a montage of lines from the actual book. The real juicy worldbuilding details.

To save getting really confused I’d recommend checking out this previous post, The Collective’s Troika. No worries, it’s short. If you’ve got questions, I’m happy to answer them!

Other links for my dystopian science fiction (…solarpunk?) WIP - Timelost Worldbuilding series - novel blurb/snippet - long snippet - moodboards - everything else

In the AOTT universe, humans have been profoundly connected to their nanotech-enriched environment for eons. They reproduce by appealing to their city. The primal AIs put potential parents and their genes through an arcane screening process, part of which requires allowing the city to read the entirety of one’s own memories. Kids are then grown in pod-like structures and emerge being able to walk. (Pods have their own requirements, like a constant mental connection to parents, among other things.)

The Troika, though, are barred from ever becoming parents. Because once you’re implanted with an armor seed, you change. You’re no longer human.

Not just anyone can be implanted. Troika rely on the city of Gallanthius to seek out possible candidates to become apprentices. Over the centuries, candidates have become increasingly rare, to the point where Maddox, Quin’s mentor, waited over a hundred years. And still, years ticked by without a peep from Gallanthius.

Keitu, my apprentice, was Ash’s idea. Your family is all gone? he asked me one day. Yes, I told him. They died of old age. Their great-grandchildren think I did, too. He asked what I thought of having children of my own, which prompted me to inquire what brought that on. If you can’t find an apprentice, he said, what if you could do that? Because wouldn’t your armor-altered DNA make the child compatible with your armor? That was a question I really didn’t know the answer to. Twelve years later, I still didn’t have an answer, and I could not get it off my mind.

The Troika keep their own secrets from the Collective. Only we can grow nanoseeds, and they’re microscopic. The Collective can’t spy on us with any sort of efficiency because nanoarmor can sense observers, not just devices. What we are is largely a mystery to them. They know our genetic patterns, of course, and the technical details of the nanotech. But why can’t you hack the building and grow a nanoseed? Why is it that even if the military conscripts a child who’s nearly identical to you, there’s no guarantee they’re compatible?

… By then, Ash and I were fighting nationalists on Taru Luna. He asked if I’d put any more thought into growing an apprentice.  And this time I told the truth. I wanted to do it. But I didn’t want a clone.

We took eighty nine percent of my genes, eleven percent of Ash’s, and submitted the template to the wills of the city. We hacked the building’s settings and grew a gestation pod in my study, and watched Keitu develop there.

Ash made me promise to tell Aneke, our mentor, about her by the time her neurons started firing.

It was a big spectacle of Collective meetings and Troika uproar. My inbox was a warzone.

Frankly, I didn’t care.

…

Keitu had just achieved full Troika status when Aneke’s ship vanished in warp.

With nothing to do but hope for the best, we waited to see if she would come through. Keitu and I left on separate assignments after weeks of nothing. I got a strange message from her while we were gone. She claimed she saw Aneke—while passing through warp. She saw her not in a ship, but standing on a world somewhere out in spacetime, like she’d been blown off course and Keitu managed a passing glimpse of her through layers of reality.

Everyone dreams in warp. Everyone sees things.

I didn’t think anything of it.

Keitu did.

… Since I had a full schedule and couldn’t talk her out of it, I had Ash go in my place.

All data feeds from their ship ceased when they entered warp.

No one knows what happened after that.

I called in every favor, every contact, every name from the Collective I could come up with. I wrote requests for personal travel until they ordered me to stop and informed me they were working on the problem. A Troika and her apprentice had been sent to the coordinates in question.

They did bring Ash back. Delirious, memory in shambles, armor compromised within a hair of his life.

There’s a thing the Collective believes about Troika. They wouldn’t say it to your face, of course, but they like to imply that the Troika are brainwashed, or deadened emotionally, mechanized to the point of unfeeling logic.

No matter how irrational it was, I still wished I’d been there with Keitu.

It was just as they said. I didn’t deserve an apprentice. I’d failed, and it was time for me to accept it. Another century alone.

… From the moment anyone steps inside the city, it reads them, subtly. The weight and pattern of your footsteps, the composition of your exhale. The city itself alerted the Collective to your presence, Quin. You fit a niche in the ecosystem, so to speak.

The Collective came to my door.

There are three of them appointed to interact with us, and while you might receive assignments from any number of individuals, these are the only ones you’ll ever meet face to face. They call themselves the First Three. They stood in the hallway in ridiculous matching suits, like they’d escaped from a marching band.

I never invite them inside. This was no exception.

The First said, You haven’t answered our messages.

The Second said, Is there a chance you would like to withdraw your application for an apprentice?

The Third said, It’s understandable if you’ve changed your mind.

Taking a moment to answer seems to make them uncomfortable, and rather…shifty. Like their features get fuzzy if you stare too long.

You see, the Third continued, you have given us a nanoseed. We presume you have not grown another since your last apprentice. We would be willing to strike a bargain.

We’ll have to talk about interest.

Personal travel.

Priorities.

Favors.

But if you’re unwilling to commit at this time, we must warn you, the candidate will not be available at a later date. She is most valuable as a future Troika but there are other options.

I wanted to step back and shut the door right in their unnatural doll faces. But I asked, What options?

As soon as I said the words, I knew the answer. Before this, it had never occurred to me that the nanoseed I gave them could have remained intact. I assumed they would study it. Not keep it in storage. Perhaps it seems obvious in hindsight that they would implant someone with my nanoseed without my consent, not to mention without official conscription documents.

The First Three said, in their plain, toneless voices, that the candidate would be joining a separate program.

I couldn’t tell what they thought of my silence. I had to play the part of the indifferent Troika. Used to working alone. What would I know about Collective programs?

So, I said, Let’s talk favors. I’ll give you a fully trained Troika in fifteen years. But Ash stays with Aneke. 

Fine. But you will have extra assignments. Some you might not like so very much. No protesting. No spamming inboxes.

I demanded official conscription documents for the candidate in question.

I agreed to a few specific jobs they had in mind, and the donation of a lock of hair.

It grew difficult to remain stoic. With each concession I made, my lungs seemed to shrink. Finally, I said, I’m yours for six years. Whatever you ask, consider it done. At the end of that time, the candidate will be past childhood, and will become my apprentice. Until then, this conversation stays between us.

The First Three sniffed, exchanged looks, and agreed to my terms as if it was what they’d wanted all along.

(Thank you so much for reading!)

[trilies]

Theory: The Cervello were never Varia or Millefiore aligned. They were always a part of the Giglio Nero.

subtitle: I will give all the female characters in this series the love and thought they deserve and Amano can meet me in the pit 

As a recap, the Cervello are a group of mysterious women that show up three times within the series. Two of those times, they (or another person) claims that they will act as impartial judges for the current shounen fighting gimmick. Their supposed impartialness is debatable, but not in the way you might think. 

The first time they show up is during the Varia Arc, shortly after Xanxus almost blasts away everyone and Iemitsu gets the (fake) letter from the Ninth. They claim here that they’re an independent group directly reporting to the Ninth, to which Iemitsu and Reborn seem dubious because they’ve never heard about it. However, in the end, they still act as judges throughout the entirety of the Ring Battles including at the end when they pronounce the Varia as disqualified and hand the victory over to Tsuna and Co. 

What is particularly interesting, however, is the conversation at the end of the battles when they announce that news and speak with Xanxus. 

Xanxus: Happy your prophecy came true?

To which the Cervello reply... 

Cervello: I’m sorry, sir, but this was neither our wish nor a prophecy we made. 

Now, needless to say, while I can only follow the wording of the translator for these scenes, it’s intensely interesting choice of words. A “prophecy” is a prediction, but it is a word that is associated with the mystical and arcane, seeing a result that others can only really guess at. Xanxus isn’t accusing them of planning against them, because that’s like plotting the weather- a prophecy simply sees the clouds forming and hears the approaching thunder. 

In turn, they deny that they explicitly wanted this, or that it was a prophecy they foretold.... but they don’t exactly deny it was prophecy. 

What I think happened here was Xanxus calling the Cervello out. For all they might have acted like it, treating him and the Varia with deference, the Cervello were never truly on the Varia’s side. The Cervello were working for an outside cause; Xanxus simply mistook it as one similar to his own (or perhaps always knew but his pride assured him that his Varia would win no matter what). By making a jab at the idea of prophecy, he’s saying he knows who the Cervello are truly aligned with. 

Now. Let’s think. In the world of KHR, is there anyone to which prophecy- a mystical act of seeing the future- is relevant to...?

Coincidentally, whereas the Cervello are an organization made up of all women, the Giglio Nero Family is an organization which is always headed by a woman in turn. Women who also have a startling tendency to look similar to one another. 

Of course, this brings up the question of why the Giglio Nero would have seen fit to interfere in something that is explicitly Vongola business. Why would they seemed to have gone along with the Varia’s plans?

For the first question, I think the answer is very simple. If left unchecked, there is absolutely no doubt that the Varia would likely have just straight up murdered the Vongola Tenth gen kids. Unfortunate “accidents” for all of them. However, with as powerful as they are, the Varia aren’t exactly the kind of people that could just be stopped from this course of action outright. They would have had to be convinced to go along with a different plan, while still thinking it was one that would absolutely benefit them and no one else. On the surface, the Ring Battles seem like that plan. The battles will prove that the Varia are stronger and more cunning than these foreign newcomers, and, if worse comes to worse, the destruction of Gola Mosca (and planned death of the Ninth) would give them a ‘revenge’ excuse that would also rally the rest of the Vongola Family behind them. It’d be easy against a bunch of teenagers, right? 

Aria, of course, would know otherwise, able to foresee the victories of Ryohei, Yamamoto, Chrome/Mukuro, and Hibari. 

The Cervello were likely not told about who would win. However, they were likely told to watch over the battles and make sure that the Varia thought they were always on top, that even the Cervello were on their side, that the game was rigged in their favor. So they’ll call Xanxus “-sama”, they’ll add a bit of difficulty to the Storm Battle by forcing Gokudera to get Bel’s ring (and fail), they’ll give the Varia the Lightning and Sky rings when Tsuna interferes (although, by stopping the battle and not making it necessary for Levi to “finish” it, they also make sure Lambo stays alive)... 

...But they’ll also allow Mukuro to fight through Chrome’s body in the Mist Battle, and turn a blind eye to the Cavallone (a known tenth gen ally) infiltrating the Rain arena (wanting to get Yamamoto since Dino thought he’d lose and then getting Squalo instead). 

And it’s a thankless job, going along with the Varia! Because- 

Again. The Varia are a bunch of violent shitshows. This is why it was necessary for them to act as “judges” (aka cat herders). By acting as if they were on the Varia’s side and taking the occasional hit that they can afford to (since they seem to be endless in number), they can ensure that the Vongola Tenth Gen survives and pulls through. 

But why make sure that the Vongola tenth gen survives? 

Why make sure that Tsuna is accepted as the true heir between him and Xanxus?

Well.... If we’re talking about a Family whose boss is someone that can see the future... 

We should probably talk about the Future Arc. 

The entire thing about the Future Arc is that any timeline Byakuran (with his awakened powers) has access to inevitably ends up fucked immediately out the gate... with the sole exception of this particular universe where Shoichi Irie and Tsuna Sawada meet. 

In a universe where this doesn’t happen? Where, say, Tsuna Sawada dies a young death at only fourteen and Xanxus is the leader of the Vongola? 

That is another fucked universe. 

So. In order to both make sure that the Trinisette are still going along as they should and that the world doesn’t explode again, an Aria who could foresee the chance she has in her particular universe would do her best to make sure that Tsuna could survive. 

Thus, the Cervello’s participation in the Ring Battles. 

But what about their participation in Choice?

In this future, the Cervello are a part of the Millefiore- because of course they would be if they’re truly a part of the Giglio Nero which was forced to merge with the Gesso thus creating the Millefiore Family. Thus it’s a different sort of thing than with the Varia. 

....But not as much as you might think. 

Byakuran dismisses the Cervello being any kind of threat, explicitly saying that judging things is all they’re good for, and it’s true. Different in structure than the Ring Battles, Choice doesn’t nearly require as much involvement from the Cervello. They remind the combatants chosen of what rules are in place, offer information on the battlefield, and go to check when the Targets (Daisy and Shoichi) have both been downed to decide the winner. It’s really very simple. 

Yet despite being judges, laying down and enforcing rulings, there’s a very vital moment that could use some judges and yet the Cervello are nowhere to be found after initially declaring the status of the Targets.... 

...and it’s when Yuni, the other co-boss of the Millefiore and true boss of the Giglio Nero, shows up to contest Byakuran’s claims. 

Shoichi demands a rematch Byakuran promised him when they were in college together, Byakuran feigns ignorance of that and denies him another chance, and Yuni shows up to say that, as the other boss of the Millefiore, she is in favor of a rematch or the Gesso-Giglio Nero allegiance is done. 

And the Cervello are nowhere to be found to offer thoughts or rulings on this. 

Yuni is like her mother Aria before her: a seer. She would have foreseen that Byakuran would have come for her Family in order to get the Mare Rings, that he would have been too powerful for her old-but-tiny Family to truly fight with a ten year old at the helm, that the Millefiore would have grown to be horrifically powerful... 

...But she would have also seen what her mother saw. She would have seen that this universe is special, because Tsuna Sawada is alive and Shoichi Irie knows him. Most importantly, she would have seen the chance that the aftermath of Choice would have offered her to give the Vongola a way out and an escape for herself so that she could do more while also saving the rest of the Arcobaleno. 

She would have foreseen what arena the roulette wheel would choose, and could have gotten the Cervello- loyal to the Giglio Nero now and forever, no one else- to escort her there before Choice began. 

Of course the Cervello wouldn’t get in the way of her ruling when she contests Byakuran’s choice. It’s her who they follow and obey. 

Relatedly, what’s the Cervello’s deal? Where did they come from and why do they all look alike? 

Bonus theory: They share a similar kind of ancestor as Luce, Aria, and Yuni do in that their ancestor was not human and instead belonged to the same race that Sepira and Kawahira do. Remember when I said they’re similar in that they all look extremely similar in the same way that the Giglio Nero matriarchs do? Yeah. 

Additional theory mandatory to the other ones: the Cervello ancestor was super in love with Sepira but since the original Cervello (like the rest of their race) was dying out, she made sure to pass on her feelings and mission to her ancestors. 

(This is related to how I think the Giglio Nero matriarchs, possessing of the harmonious Sky Flame, pass down fragments of their personality/feelings/flame to their descendants. This is why Yuni tears up and gets so emotional when she tries to use her seer powers on Kawahira- she’s feeling echoes of Sepira’s own emotions at having to deal so negatively with someone she once cared for.) 

Other additional theory: all of the Cervello feel bursts of love and affection whenever they first meet their Giglio Nero boss, remnants of their ancestor’s feelings which still burn strongly. 

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing: October 22nd - 28th

Happy Sunday Gundam Wing Fandom!

We have tons of super awesome things for you to check out this week!  Many many thanks to those who submitted and tagged us in content - it makes our job so much easier! The fandom is growing, and being part of that is a privilege and job to watch, but it does sometimes make it hard to keep up!  If you’ve created something we missed, please feel free to let us know so we can feature you too!

Remember, if you find something you love, please please make sure you let the creator know how much you enjoyed it!  Every little comment/like/reblog goes a long way towards fueling their desire to do more!  

Thank you for all that you do, and keep submitting your great content to us!

This update was delayed by the Great Tumblr Crash of 2017, please accept our apologies!

-Mod CB

Below the cut!

Fanfiction:

(please take note of any warnings within the fics themselves, do not rely on this list as exhaustive)

@amberlyinviolet​, @yourbloodlikewine

In This Light, Chapter 3: Eli

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12386715/chapters/28402484

Duo x OC, Trowa x OC, Solo x OC. AU, child abuse mention, Sexual Assault Mention, homophobic parents, Re-Written Characters, Drug Use, Violence, off screen murder

Duo spent the last semester working in his older brother's coffee shop. He's resigned himself to a boring spring when a stranger appears, shaking up his entire life.Eli left home last fall, choosing to spend the last six months living out of his van on his travels from the Midwest to the East Coast. By the time he arrives at Ink's, the novelty of traveling alone has started to wear off. Still, the last thing he's expecting is to meet someone who's going to change all that for him

@anaranesindanarie​

Never Forget to Breathe

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12462762/chapters/28362603

2+5, 3x4, 1xR. 

Accident, motorcycle, Drunk Driver, Injury, Recovery, Physical Therapy, Pain, Depression, Anger, Self-Hatred

An accident leaves him with a new outlook on life. After a long recovery period, he decides to travel the world, eventually settling down in a small college town to peruse a degree or three. There he runs into an old friend who he hasn't seen in years.

@chronicwhimsy

Saudade, Chapter 12: Fővárosi Nagycirkusz

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11352189/chapters/28440536

Eventual 3x4, 2+3 bromance throughout

Everyone is fed up of Trowa being useless so they take matters into their own hands. Trowa doesn’t handle it well.

@claraxbarton

This Feeling, Chapter 1

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12520764

2x6, eventual 2x3x6, slow burn, post canon, angst

A dozen years after the wars, Trowa is still trying to find a place for himself. A glimpse into the lives of Duo Maxwell and Zechs Merquise makes him wish for things he had never before considered.

@cosmostar​

Desire Told In Colors, Chapter 16: Navy (Now Complete)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11227302/chapters/28488556

Zechs x Noin. AU, from sex to love, canon het relationship, heterosexual sex, unplanned pregnancy, violence, torture

"There were kisses printed all over his shirt, some playfully smeared, some carefully stamped, some surpassing touching his collarbone, too many for not being remembered. With a swift movement, he pulled off the shirt and found a message written on the back, the lipstick so red it made him think of blood: 'Call me.'" A 2017 Summer of Zechs submission. Color prompts. 

@cynfinnegan​

Omnibus, Chapter 5

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7373635/chapters/28558204

3x4

Another piece of Shatter Me inspired by a writing prompt.

Note that this fic is a collection of smaller bits, so please note individual chapter pairings and warnings.

@fadedsepia

SPF

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12532780

2x3x5, beach, one shot, innuendo, nudist!Wufei

Wufei, Trowa, and Duo discuss sunburn and beachwear.

Kaiser Chris

Fall of the Lightning Count

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12692159/1/Fall-of-the-Lightning-Count

Zechs Merquise the Lightning Count, a legendary MS Ace and hero of OZ. In July of AC 195, Zechs chose to commit treason against OZ, defying the Romefeller Foundation for honor in order to duel a Gundam. What Zechs did not predict that others would find fault with his actions, and strike him down for consorting with the Gundams. A mistake that cost him his life. (AU miniseries)

@kangofu-cb

Belonging

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12473872

1x2x5. Kinktober entry. PWP. Double penetration. Threesome

Heero and Duo help Wufei relax after a rough day at work.

Reflection

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12527160

2x?, Kinktober entry, mirrors, lingerie, mild kink, pwp, rimming

Duo comes home to a much-appreciated surprise.

LittleMouse

Warcraft, Chapter 2: Waking to Us

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12429339/chapters/28489976

AU, fantasy

Alternate Fantasy World - A world where people have ‘Talents’ that allow them to control certain elements. Different Talents can ‘Join’ to become a specific entity - some can heal, some can repair damage to land and buildings, some are weapons. The Talents you ‘Join’ with are called your Others. The perfect Joining is of five separate Talents. One lonely Fire Talent far to the North has given up waiting for his Others - good thing they haven’t stopped looking for him.

Lord Raa

Heero Sandwhich

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12594063/1/Heero-Sandwich

Nobody asked for this, especially not Heero Yuy, but here we are all the same. Prepare for a "comedy" with some adult content. If the chapters feel truncated, then you might want to look for a certain Fanfiction Forum on the (dot) net for a more complete experience.

Luvsanime02

Engage, Chapter 1

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12458772/chapters/28352415

Post-Series, Politics, Friendship, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death, Government Upheaval, Language

The time has come for all of their plans to finally start being put into motion. This is the eighth story in Navigation, a fem!Heero series.

The Fullness of One’s Life

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12442440

Sally x Une.  Kinktober entry.  Fluff.  Bathtub sex.

Une takes a bath after a long, difficult day, and Sally joins her.

Back Against The Wall

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12483552

2x3.  Explicit.  Kinktober entry. Exhibitionism.

“We’re just bros being bros and doing something 100% platonic, but somehow we’re turning each other on because of not-so-buried feelings for each other, and we can’t make it stop” sex. Trowa's tired of painting all day, but at least he has a nice distraction in the form of Duo Maxwell.

Tequila Toasts

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12483604

1x2. Kinktober entry.  69. Explicit sexual content.  AU.

Duo's having some bad luck lately, but he'll feel better after hanging out with his ex, Heero Yuy.

With Words and Deeds

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12498892

Une x Treize. Kinktober entry. Mild kink. Mild sexual content.  Boot fetish.

Une is a young woman, and when she puts on the uniform, she's a soldier. To Treize, she is both.

MaryDBlack

Life & Death, Chapter 4

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11788950/chapters/28386924

Duo x Harry, Harry x Tom Riddle, Harry x Voldemort.  Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, Soulmates, non graphic sex, Rape/Non-con Elements, Reincarnation, Harry is Solo

We see a little of who Solo/Harry is/was. Mentions of child abuse.

Maldoror_Chant 

Flayed Horses

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12458172

1x5. Angst.  PTSD. Trauma. Depression.  Suicidal thoughts.

Wufei found Heero a few months after the war had ended and spent over a year helping him find that end of the war for himself. It was...a lot of work. There were still no go zones and things they could not do together as a couple, but a museum should be safe enough-Wufei found Heero a few months after the war had ended.The war had ended. Ended. Ended.never ends never ends never ends never ends never ends never ends

The Arrangement, Chapter 39: The Distance Between Need and Want, Part II

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12131427/chapters/28523116

1x5. Veeery long fic ahoy, Not a romance per se, sex and violence, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Angst and Humor, Preventer missions, war-time missions, mature themes, mentions of torture, background threesome, communication and emotions are for pansies as far as the main character is concerned

Wufei, struggling with his demons, agrees to a wartime fling with Heero, no affection needed or wanted. But the 'arrangement' lasts and grows as they join the preventers. It could become a source of strength for both. If they let it.

The Source of all Things, Chapter 8: Intersection, Part I

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12121344/chapters/28556848

3x4, eventual 2x5, eventual 1x2x5. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Plot Twists, fairly graphic depiction of sex, Mild description of self-harm, Mathematical Magic, weird science, crones - Freeform, Magic and Technology brawling and eventually screwing, Eventual Threesome, Kinda, Insanity of arcane origin, The universe is a pile of marbles and other dubious allegories

Center, a planet where magic and technology blend. Or more accurately, fight tooth and nail. A planet of Sources, holes in our boring dimension letting through arcane power, chaos and pseudo-deities. In this hot-house of myths and very real dangers, Trowa and Quatre find a mysterious man at the end of a shamanic voyage. Portents suggest this Heero Yuy is crucial to Center’s survival. He’s important enough to have some interesting enemies after him, at any rate: a devious killer and thief called ‘Shinigami’, and a very irate Dragon. Beyond them looms an even greater threat. Indeed, the greatest of them all.

Megumi_L1

Mission Accepted: A Gundam Wing Fanfic, Chapter 7

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7682083/chapters/28450684

1xR. Love's Calling, Dangerous Deeds, Mild Language, Non-Explicit Sex,Low Violence

One year had gone by since the last time they had seen each other face to face, since the people of Earth and of the colonies had made a true peace with each other.Things had changed. It was safe to walk on the streets again. It was all right to voice one's opinions in public again. It was perfectly okay to live.But Heero had always been suspicious of this new existence. It was too peaceful. Those suspicions had led him to a new path, a new adventure, and the young woman next to him, wanting a break from her predictable new life, had decided to join him on that path....

Murshmallow

Mountebank

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12453362/1/Mountebank

AC 205- 25 year old Heero Yuy has been living comfortably in space for the past 5 years as an engineer named Dr. Odin Lowe Jr., heading the life support effort for the Mars Terraformation Project. When he is arrested for the disappearance of Foreign Minister Relena Darlian, he must prove his innocence, while tracking down the person responsible, from behind bars. 

NEW *M* RATING

Dossier

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12449464/1/Dossier

Heero Yuy had spent time soul searching. He had spent time trying to be human. When his birth certificate is handed to him on a harddrive, he may have to do it all again. [1xR]

Mythical Rose

Andromeda, Chapter 1

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12482704/chapters/28413824

1x2, 3x4, 5x6. 

Five years ago Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell met, fell in love and married. Three years of happiness was thrown away when Duo thought Heero had cheated on him. Now two years later, they meet again on the Battlestar Andromeda where Duo is Commander. Sent on a mission together, will they find their love is still there or will saving Earth finally tear them apart.

nagi_schwarz

Unknown Roads Lead Away from Home

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12528300

Stargate and Supernatural crossover. Part 23 of the Good Hunting series.  Dark, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction

Rodney and the team's progress toward opening the gates of Atlantis is sidetracked by a child asking for food.

Nemesis13

The Trials and Tribulations of a High Society Shinigami

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12690364/1/The-Trials-and-Tribulations-of-a-High-Society-Shinigami

Duo was a very caring woman, an open book so to speak, always there to help those that needed it with a smile on hand. The problem was she was surrounded by insane men who needed to be watched over like kids and her fellow women left her to it. Resigning herself to being the team mom Duo did her best, but she hadn't planned on Heero admitting he loved her. Things are weird now…

@noelleian​

Leather and Cream, Chapter 1

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12488244/chapters/28427404

3x4, 1x2x3x4x5. Fivesome - M/M/M/M/M, Smut, BDSM, Fluff and Smut, Sex Toys, Spanking, Rough Sex, Restraints, Pet Names, Aftercare, Rimming, Crack Treated Seriously, Dom/sub Play

In a strangely Freudian fashion, the purpose of such an experience was to know your own mortality. To knock the human ego down a few pegs and remind yourself that no, you are not infallible. To feel the terror of losing control while hidden safely behind a fortress built from steel and mortar. It was like staring Death straight in the eyes and knowing that it wasn't your time. Your body, your life, your soul, placed in the hands of those who would lay down their own to protect them.It was, to put it bluntly, the best of both worlds.

Relena For President

Civil Wars

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12500874/1/Civil-Wars

A.C. 210. Four years after the end of his marriage, Heero Yuy finds himself on a familiar, destructive path. Will it lead to redemption, or pure revenge? [1xR/broken pairing]

Red Moon Rise

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12593127/1/Red-Moon-Rise

A.C. 213. Heero and Relena are reunited after months apart and, at long last, planning a future together. But, as all too often with this fated pair, complications never fail to arise... Sequel to "Red Moon Glow."

@renmaxwell​, @shinigami-of-excellence​

We Don’t Belong, Chapter 3

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12353439/chapters/28336371

Alliance won AU, gundam pilots lost, oz lost, white fang lost, just everyone lost except the alliance, Sexual Slavery, Pedophilia, because let's be real these pilots are still 15, Forced Prostitution, Forced Sex, yes i'll tag them when they happen, Quatre isn't a sissy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, romefeller is a huge player here, angst for YEARS, just so much angst, Dark, Execution, Alternate Universe - Dark

A look into Wufei's new life, with a terrible surprise. The one who would long to be his savior is now just like him and forced into despicable actions. When the would-be savior fails to even do that, torturous punishments follow.

This chapter contains graphic descriptions of rape

Relena’s Glam Squad

The Edge of Oblivion

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10163755/1/The-Edge-of-Oblivion

Heero Yuy returns after a 10-year absence, and much has changed. Meanwhile, the abandonment of large scale weapons didn't end all wars. All it did was lead to the rise of new weapons. Biochemical ones. When that happens, even the best kept secrets can have deadly consequences. [Rating has been changed for violence and adult themes]

Shadow-Hawk2

Imperial Guard

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12559874/1/Imperial-Guard

Duo Maxwell is trapped in another part of the galazy far from all that he knows and the woman he loves.  He must learn to survive among primitive violent people and accept that he may never be able to return to Earth.

Shini02

Connect the Space Between, Chapter 2: Salvage

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12462054/chapters/28361337

AU, Crossover with Transformers

One man's trash is another's treasure.

Strawberrywaltz

The Forgotten, Chapter 13 (Now Complete)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11686344/chapters/28344810

1x4, past 3x4, implied rape/non-con, amnesia, abuse

The entire universe thinks that Quatre Winner is dead, but when Heero starts having strange black-outs he begins to realize the rumors of Quatre's death might not be true.

Sylvieforaday

They Say it was a Concussion, Chapter 10

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12347688/chapters/28382840

2x6. AU. Surgeon Zechs.  Dancer Duo.

Duo takes a spill and Zechs is just what the doctor ordered.

Moving On

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12529256/chapters/28531688

2x5. Angst,  Hurt/Comfort, eventual smut, mention of past sexual abuse, past character death

Duo is trying to find his place in his own world without his crutch - Heero Yuy.

Synthesis

Soldier of OZ: Walker’s Account

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7977074/1/Soldier-of-OZ-Walker-s-Account

In AC 195, five Gundams come to Earth in Operation 'M', testing the strength, virtue and intelligence of officers and soldiers of the world's armed forces. After failing his first encounter, one ex-engineer has a chance at a better outcome, and takes it. An effort to reconcile 'Gundam Wing' with 'The Glory of Losers', from the perspective of those in OZ.

TheManwell

May Demons Rest, Chapter 29: The Contract, and Chapter 30: Cleansing

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10944786/chapters/28475736

2x3, post-canon, bad language, underage drinking, suicidal thoughts

A re-write of my 2004 fanfic "Shinigami Sleeps" - To find and free Duo from his demons, Trowa leaves his uneventful life at the circus for the mean streets of an obscure colony in L2.

Snippets

@amberlyinviolet​

https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/amberlyinviolet/166746291404

@claraxbarton​

http://claraxbarton.tumblr.com/post/166786678750/wip-wednesday-from-an-angsty-hopefully-smutty

@kangofu-cb​

https://kangofu-cb.tumblr.com/post/166802586037/wip-wednesday

https://kangofu-cb.tumblr.com/post/166856627484/happy-hour-so-claraxbarton-suggested-cocktail

https://kangofu-cb.tumblr.com/post/166764577257/youve-been-fic-tagged-share-a-few-lines-from-a

@lifeaftermeteor​ :

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166894505417/an-these-next-few-take-place-over-the-course-of 

 https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166749934674/spoilers-lam-next-gen-pt1

 https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166749950869/spoilers-lam-next-gen-pt2

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166749982359/spoilers-lam-next-gen-pt3

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166654396842/winner-family-compound-outskirts-of-douz-tunisia

@maevemauvaise

http://maevemauvaise.tumblr.com/post/166895175271/youve-been-fic-tagged-share-a-few-lines-from-a

@vegalume

http://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/166797758640/wip-wednesday

Fanart

@alpha2nd2006​

http://alpha2nd2006.tumblr.com/post/166498596662/inktober-day-17 Inktober Pilots Mashup - Clothing Swap

@drkstars-art​

https://drkstars-art.tumblr.com/post/151774942317/inktober2016-number-13-ive-been-wanting-to-draw Grown Up Cathy

@gundamwing-ellesmith​

http://gundamwing-ellesmith.tumblr.com/post/166872401739/voyeurism-dx1-theres-a-story-behind-this-which-i DX1 NSFW 'Storyboard' art

@jamyuyu​

http://jamyuyu.tumblr.com/post/166774279087/get-u-a-girl-who-can-do-both-inktober2016-with Inktober Relena

@landoftherisingspark​

https://landoftherisingspark.tumblr.com/post/166586179885/day-322-theres-nothing-deeper-to-choosing Gundam Wing inspired military garb

@lighteningavenger​

http://lighteningavenger.tumblr.com/post/166722654853 OC drawing for @gwoc-october​

@looklingart​

http://looklingart.tumblr.com/post/166612238149/request-im-always-here-for-anything-duo-duo-x Duo and Quatre

@noromax​

https://lbro009.tumblr.com/post/166874263965/cynfinnegan-noromax-gwepisode50-noromax fanart of unnamed canon character “Hamilton”

@outofworkshinigami

http://outofworkshinigami.tumblr.com/post/166672006472/i-needed-a-full-ref-of-my-treize-so-here-you-go Treize reference

@pawedprints​

http://pawedprints.tumblr.com/post/166690000118/inktober-day-22 Inktober Relena

@vegalume​

http://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/166871514440/finally-got-off-of-my-procrastinating-posterior Painting of Sally on cardboard

Meta/Headcanons

Duo and dogs: https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166862137342/additional-thoughts-below-the-cutmore-ive

Pilots’ scars https://gw-ficrecfriday.tumblr.com/post/166544768116/scars

Dr. Jay Null http://the-indomitable-bhg.tumblr.com/post/166698167092

Heero being alone https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/166620174301

Dorothy http://simulacraryn.tumblr.com/post/166896646418/so-yesi-have-a-head-canon-ya-all-know-about

Sweepers https://the-indomitable-bhg.tumblr.com/post/166838833457/the-sweeper-group-and-a-brief-history-of-space

Duo’s memory https://the-indomitable-bhg.tumblr.com/post/166763174897/its-one-of-the-reasons-he-fills-silence-with

Silly Trieze headcanon http://outofworkshinigami.tumblr.com/post/166783624947/this-is-just-a-silly-thought-but-does-anyone-else

Calendar Events

Unnatural November by @gwblockparty

Begins Wednesday, November 1st, and runs the entire month!

A fanworks celebration of all things weird and supernatural.

Participation information here!

AO3 collection here!

Eve War Event by @gw-evewar​

Posting December 23rd - December 24th.

A fanworks Science Fiction event.

Participation information here!

OC October by @gwoc-october

Ends Tuesday, October 31st - don’t forget to get your submissions in!

A fanworks celebration of Original Characters.

Participation information here!

[ghastlysmemes]

destiny item & quest description sentence meme

feel free to change pronouns & etc as necessary!

’ you did not receive the bond so you could babble arcane words. go forth, and burn our enemy. ’

‘ i think she’s hungry ’

’ you stand for something immutable and transcendent. act like it. ’

‘ the vault whispers of a world beyond. ’

‘ beware of false prophets. ’

‘ i count myself a king of infinite space. ’

‘ imagine the crowds. then block them out. ’

‘ nobody comes back the same. ’

‘ in vacuum, fire flows like water. ’

‘ be wary of what you find between the stars. demons have breached the gates where once only angels dared. ’

‘ join the eternal dance. ’

‘ all things converge. ’

‘ … til even the stars heed our calling. ’

‘ to each a purpose, and to all a fitting end. ’

‘ for this judgement, there is no protection. ’

‘ our enemies watch us huddle and just laugh. but it’s our show now. ’

‘ let no challenge lie. let no question hang. let no music fade. ’

‘ just… come on. just don’t. ’

‘ …a rattling shriek, the crunch of bones and the fading echoes of a brave woman’s last laugh… ’

‘ don’t include it unless you intend to use it. ’

‘ most helmets protect the mind from the universe. not this one. ’

‘ one throne beneath the howling dark. ’

‘ let this bone I reaped in battle give me strength to reap again. ’

‘ you have chosen to explore the depths of the darkness. you better be able to run. ’

‘ this helmet will keep you happy. why shouldn’t you be happy? ’

‘ how does it feel to land a six-meter jump in full armor? that depends who you’re landing on. ’

‘ are you afraid? listen closely: so are they. ’

‘ psychologically tuned to reinforce an important skill: holding down the trigger. ’

‘ swamp camouflage is the hottest fashion these days. ’

‘ feel the swamp. smell the swamp. be the swamp. ’

‘ learn the swamp’s secrets. keep the swamp’s secrets. lie awake at night, horrified by the swamp’s secrets. ’

‘ you can see everything. you can unsee nothing. ’

‘ of bladedancers seem a little unfair it’s because they are. no room for honor in a fight. ’

‘ your job on the fireteam is to answer the question ‘can we kill that thing?’ make sure the answer is always yes. ’

‘ don this monster’s face to hide the monsters lurking behind your own. ’

‘ he never sought glory or prizes. only peace. ’

‘ drive fast and take risks. ’

‘ feet alone cannot take us where we’re going. ’

‘ i face the challenges to come with dry eyes. there will be a time to mourn, but not until we have our vengeance. ’

‘ risk is it’s own reward. ’

‘ the last word. yours. not mine. ’

‘ everything is luminous. ’

‘ blot out the sun. ’

‘ they cast him out. but his words never left. ’

‘ for the more light the worms consume, the hungrier they become. ’

‘ YOU WILL DREAM OF TEETH AND NOTHING ELSE. ’

‘ i saw myself! slaying the darkness! that’s what i saw! ’

‘ the light shines the brightest in those it consumes. ’

‘ if you learn nothing else, learn this: when a hunter takes up the cloak of a dead comrade, this is a vow. ’

‘ the start is always the same. enter his court, and call him out. ’

‘ i will put an ocean into a thimble. i will build a world on the edge of a blade. ’

‘ a sacrifice is required. ’

‘ there was a moment where the hare chose not to defeat the tortoise. ’

‘ witness. ’

‘ are you the dream of a sleeping god? or the nightmare of a dead one? ’