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maeby-cursed · 4 months

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vampire!satoru who’s not used to being in the shadows.

he gets turned very young and lives through every stage he could possibly live through; denial, starvation, a deep self loathing and a bitter feeling of acceptance. he was never too concerned about harming others but he was also not used to having his liberties curtailed.

vampire!satoru who begins to hunt others.

he needs the blood, quite literally, to survive. he’s also gotten even more vain in this new skin, this odd state of life between what was and death. he hasn’t found any others like him yet so he has no guidance, he hunts men and women alike and tries to figure out what he likes. he can’t help but admire himself though; this new glow of his skin, his elongated canines… he enjoys the blood dripping down his face, the only drop of color against the white of his hair, skin and eyes.

vampire!satoru who gives up on morals entirely.

he finds new victims easily and feeds on them, enjoying himself like narcissus in the lake. he buys a mansion by stealing money from every prey and works out a system to enjoy his life to the fullest even if he cannot see the sun ever again. he tricks and manipulates women and lies and slaughters men by the thousands. he feels numb with every drop of blood.

he never once kills a child.

vampire!satoru who meets you.

it’s a cold january night and a blizzard has struck the town he resides in at the moment. he could very well go out if he felt inclined to but he’s not forgotten his lazy ways, he doesn’t feel like chasing some poor victim in the middle of a snow storm just to get a drop of cold blood. he’s not that desperate.

he spends his night reading, studying, turning the tv on and off and contemplating himself on every surface he can see himself reflected upon.

he’s in the middle of admiring his eyes on a silver spoon when someone knocks on his door. he’s so startled he drops the utensil, and now he’s annoyed. no one startles the satoru gojo.

vampire!satoru who opens the door and sees your face for the first time.

you’re wrapped in a thick coat, hair floating around your visage due to the wind. he’s struck for a moment with a memory he can’t recall; a warm smile and a mane of black hair.

“who the hell are you?” he asks.

vampire!satoru who for an unknown reason decides to listen to you.

you explain how you were about to catch a flight when the storm hit, how you don’t know the town very well and cannot find your way to a hotel. a shy smile makes your cheeks soft when you timidly ask if you could stay for a night.

vampire!satoru who is a predator, vampire!satoru who is an animal, vampire!satoru who is not human, not your friend, not kind, not good.

vampire!satoru who for a second feels greedy.

you trust him. you trust this creature in front of you who is very obviously not like you, who has the coldest eyes you’ve ever met and the longest canines you’ve ever seen. your instincts know – they must.

and yet… he can see it in your eyes, the kindness hidden behind the pupils that tell him you always expect people to be good, even when you shouldn’t.

vampire!satoru who feels thirsty for something that isn’t blood for the first time in a hundred years.

vampire!satoru who can’t remember who he was all those years ago.

he can’t remember the faces of those he used to love, can’t remember how he looked like or what he thought of the world. who was a human in a world of humans and now feels like a child who’s been told he has to hurt others to survive.

he can’t remember what he’s done since he was turned, can’t remember the number of victims or what they looked like. who was reborn alone and has lived alone and will exist forever alone.

vampire!satoru who really truly doesn’t want this to be his existence.

vampire!satoru who answers your question with an “okay” and lets you in.

#˙⋆ 𓂃 ࣪ch. thoughts !#wrote this in 15 min instead of revising for my finals #can you tell i was a twilight girlie ?#jjk imagines #jjk fluff #jjk x reader #jjk x you #gojo imagines #gojo fluff #gojo x reader #gojo x you #gojo satoru fluff #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x you #satoru gojo fluff #satoru gojo x reader #satoru gojo x you

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starcurtain · 21 days

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Interpreting Aventurine's Situation

(HSR 2.1 spoilers, watch out!) I think one of my favorite things to come out of Penacony is that the plot has left us with two completely opposite but equally valid interpretations of Aventurine's character. Is he a chosen child or just a "lucky" dog? The story leaves the door wide open for both possibilities.

Under a read more for space:

One Interpretation: Unfortunately for Him, Aventurine is Actually Blessed by an Aeon

If you work from the assumption that the Avgin mythology is correct, and Gaiathra Triclops is actually real (possibly a minor aeon of an unknown path or Ena, if you're on that train), then it's entirely possible, in game, that Aventurine has been blessed by a goddess to the point that he functionally cannot lose any gamble he makes. The odds are, literally, ever in his favor. In this interpretation, it doesn't matter how many gambles he takes with his life as the chip because he will always succeed. Despite how risky his behavior looks to everyone else, he's actually been perfectly safe all along.

But this is especially tragic because it means that, despite his mother's and sister's belief that his blessing will help everyone in their tribe, Aventurine's blessing has only ever extended to himself. He's not an omen of good fortune for his people. His luck was never going to protect his parents, sister, or friends. The goddess of the Avgin chose just one person and left the rest of her people to die.

This is where Aventurine's doubts stem from. He asks repeatedly: If the goddess can bless people, then why is life so miserable for the Avgin? Why do they have to live in pain, suffering, fear, and abject poverty if she could make them lucky enough to thrive? Why do people live if it's just going to be horrible?

(To be honest, I don't think this is out of line for the behavior we've seen of aeons so far. Even with aeons like Yaoshi, described as gentle and benevolent, with no intention to cause harm, their gifts often create horror in the human world.)

Aventurine's hands still tremble when he bets. He doesn't really believe he's blessed and still expects his own downfall at every turn--but it's never going to come because he is one of the few human beings in the entire universe with the direct favor of an aeon. Even Ratio, a skeptical, evidence-based genius, seems to think this might be the case.

(Choosing the Chinese because the text is a little clearer than the English, but basically: "This guy always has a way of dragging himself up out of the abyss, which can't be explained by just 'good luck.' Everyone is waiting to see him fail... Maybe even he's waiting too. But as time passed, I couldn't help but wonder: Will that day really come?")

This means Aventurine has lived a life of fear and uncertainty for nothing. He's spent his entire life awaiting a failure and painful death that will never come. He can't recognize the love of his own goddess nor trust in the faith of his own family.

The central question of this interpretation becomes "What does it mean for a single human to be favored by an aeon?" Can Aventurine really be called lucky after losing every single thing that has meaning in his life--all because an aeon chose him and only him? Should that be called a blessing or a curse?

The Opposite Interpretation: Aventurine Isn't Lucky At All, He's Just Skilled

On the other hand, the story leaves the door open to interpret Aventurine's situation in the complete opposite manner too. If, as the IPC seems to think, Gaiathra Triclops isn't real and Aventurine isn't blessed at all, then that means every single risk Aventurine has taken has actually been life-threatening--and that every single achievement he's reached has been by his own merits alone.

If Gaiathra's blessing isn't real, then Aventurine's life becomes one long self-run psyop: Everyone tells him he's blessed, he's lucky, he's favored--so young Kakavasha starts gambling early. Banking on this idea that he's favored, that he's chosen, he starts paying attention, he learns the tricks of the trade, figures out how to slip cards up his sleeves, how to word things just right so people will take his bait--he practices, practices, practices, until he can spot winning odds a mile away, until he can predict every possible outcome, until he's seen it all before.

In this situation, every single gamble he's ever made or will make carries a very, very real risk of failure--but Aventurine continues to succeed because he's just that quick-witted, just that aware, just that good at reading people. (He's been doing it for so much longer than everyone else he meets, after all.) He is the gambler extraordinaire, the archetypal charming rogue who can squirm his way out of any tight spot he gets into, time and time again.

He fears every gamble he makes because he has good reason to--there's literally never any guarantee that he will succeed, and he's constantly just flipping a coin to see what outcome he'll get. His personal skill and quick wit continue to turn things in his favor, but it's inevitable that one day he'll meet a situation that outwits him, a gamble where only a supernatural force could have saved him. And if you take this second interpretation, Gaiathra isn't real, so there won't be one.

This story choice would be interesting because it implies a greater degree of responsibility for everything that happens. If it's Aventurine's own quick wit and skill that continually save him, shouldn't he be able to help others with that skill? Shouldn't he have been able to help himself? How was he able to save himself from death but not from slavery? If it was skill, not luck, all along, then who do you blame for all the misery he still experienced?

This interpretation leads to greater questions of self-doubt and anxiety: Is it actual skill or just sheer dumb luck? Does Aventurine have what it takes mentally, psychologically, emotionally, and even physically to always come out on top by his own merits, or is he just the benefit of the wheel of fortune--statistically speaking, a one in a million chance still has to come through for that one, right? And when it all comes crumbling down eventually, will he have only himself to blame?

A Life of Uncertainty

The story doesn't actually give us any firm indication whether Gaiathra is real or not, or--even if she is real--if Aventurine is actually genuinely blessed. We just don't know, as players.

And Aventurine doesn't know either.

His faith in the goddess of the Avgin is shaky. He seems to want to believe and hold on to his people's mythology, but he has valid doubts that a goddess would choose to bless one person while leaving everyone else to suffer.

Is he the chosen of an aeon? And if he isn't chosen, then what meaning does any of it have? Is he just unbelievably skilled? Has he merely been lucky up to now? When will this blessing or luck or skill finally fail him?

Aventurine's most defining character trait is the extreme uncertainty that has plagued his whole life. What is true? What should he believe? Is he blessed or cursed? Does he have the talent to back up his massive boasts? Should others put any faith in him--should he put any faith in himself? Should he cling to his people's beliefs or reject the goddess that left him the sole survivor of a cultural extinction?

He can't trust anything. He can't trust his family's faith; he can't trust that he's actually a "chosen one" (because how could he chosen and his family be left to die?). He can't even trust that he's lucky because maybe it was just the years of suffering practice he put in. Then again, he can't trust in his own skill because maybe he's just blessed?

Which is it? Which is it? Which is it?

Nothing is certain. Nothing can be taken for granted. Nothing can be proven empirically true or false. There are no guarantees for Aventurine.

Every single thing in his life is a gamble, and none of that is his fault.

What an amazing character. What a great story. Thank you for the treat, Hoyo!

#aventurine #honkai star rail #hsr meta #aventurine meta #alternate character interpretations #gaiathra #damned if you do #damned if you don't #2.1 spoilers #penacony spoilers

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tcfactory · 5 months

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Today I remembered that Mobei-Jun is roughly the same age-range - possibly even a little younger - than the Qing Peak Lords.

[2400 words, smol bean Mobei and big bro Yue Qi traipsing through the countryside to rescue Xiao Jiu]

So please imagine young Mobei Wu, approximately ten years old, stranded in the human realm after yet another of his uncle's murder attempts and too tired or not yet skilled enough to portal back from one realm to the other without a tear in reality to capitalize on.

And instead of Huan Hua cultivators or any other danger, he stumbles into Yue Qi. Yue Qi who is about fifteen, just got out of the cave and is on the way to try and rescue his Xiao Jiu. Yue Qi would never hurt a child smaller than him, not even a demon one. Especially not one that admits, after some careful coaxing with smiles and sweet treats, that it's his uncle who's trying to kill him. Yue Qi can't imagine someone wanting to harm a child who places their trust in him, anyway please call him Qi-ge. What's your name, little one? All right, A-Wu, not so little. (He is very little. Yue Qi is very tall for his age, but this demon is objectively tiny and maybe a little malnourished too.) What a coincidence, they are both named after numbers. Do you want Qi-ge to carry you for a bit?

Yue Qi figures that the least he can do is look out for this kid until he can go home - A-Wu is very reluctant about specifying what's preventing him from leaving right now, but Yue Qi knows it's best not to push a boy that age - so they travel together for a while. He sticks cooling talismans on the inside of the little demon's shirt to prevent him from overheating or stripping off his (already too few, by the standards of human decency) layers, so for most of the journey he's carrying a halfway dozing little snowball of a child like a backpack. Yue Qi tells him all about Xiao Jiu, bolstered by the little hums Mobei Wu makes to show that he's paying attention.

"Where did you get the scars?"

Yue Qi stops mid-sentence and peers hesitantly back over his shoulder, meeting a pair of incredibly vivid blue eyes. "Scars?" It could be that A-Wu noticed the fading slave mark on his neck.

"En. I can feel them all over." So not the slave mark, then.

"Even through my robes?"

"En. They feel... spicy. Wrong." He crunches up his face as he tries to find the right word. "Like lightning."

It could only be the scars etched over his meridians, still overflowing with unstable qi. Yue Qi hesitates, but figures that demon tales are probably much more gruesome than what happened to him, so he tells A-Wu everything - the sword, the cave, the dark, all of it. It's a relief to put the nightmare into words, even if his audience is a precocious demon child who looks at him with big sparkling eyes like he's telling a tale of glory or great adventure.

"Cool. All for your... Jiu?"

"Yes." Mobei Wu seems to approve greatly of that.

"You are cool. I will help you."

It makes Yue Qi smile. Such a shame this kid will likely grow up to be something bloodthirsty eventually. He's really too cute right now.

----------

Qiu manor is gone, burned to ash, and Xiao Jiu likely ash along with it. Yue Qi's world is coming down around his ears and he can't even hear what the kindly old merchant is telling him about the incident. It's only when A-Wu tugs on his sleeve when the world comes back to focus.

"They found no dead boy. Only dead men. He can still live."

True, he can't give up hope just yet. What Mobei Wu says is really logical - but where could Xiao Jiu go from here?

The old lady finally notices the unnaturally blue tint of Mobei Wu's skin and takes a fearful step back. "...Demon?"

"No!" Yue Qi steps between them quickly, shielding the boy with his body. "My little brother just ate a cursed fruit, that's all! It will wear off in a day or two."

He's been trying to live a righteous life since he joined the sect, but to someone like him lying comes as easy as breathing.

"Oh, that's all right, then. I thought you might be like that horrible demonic cultivator who lurked here before."

The mention of a cultivator - even a demonic one - makes Yue Qi perk up. He makes some careful questions, about the fire and when they last saw the demonic cultivator in the area, where he might have left for, whether he had someone with him... By the time he says his thank yous he's certain of it: if Xiao Jiu lives, he is with this Wu Yanzi.

They regroup on the edge of the city, where Yue Qi hands Mobei Wu a stick of tanghulu and rolls out a map to figure out where the demonic cultivator could be if he's traveling on foot with a teenager in tow. The demon is fascinated by the map, asking all sorts of questions about distances and directions in as few words as possible, his face scrunched up in another frown.

"We should probably get you home before I go after Xiao Jiu," Yue Qi says with a sigh, circling the most likely area. "We are a week behind them and I can't fly by sword yet. I will need to buy a horse or catch a cart if I want to catch up to them."

Mobei Wu growls, then looks up from the map, wiping a sticky hand on his shirt before he points east. "That way?"

"Yes, I think so." Before Yue Qi can ask anything, the ground opens up beneath him and he's falling through a cold, dark void.

It doesn't last long. He lands in a lake with a huge splash, just outside of one of the cities halfway to their goal. Mobei lands on top of the water - did he flash freeze it? Such a cool kiddo - with the map safely held in his arms and a very, very smug little smile.

"So, were you aiming for the water on purpose?" Yue Qi asks some time later as he tries to dry his clothes with a fire talisman.

"En. You count distances differently than we do." It's a big lake, allowing a bigger margin of error than portaling straight into the city and getting stuck in a building, probably.

"Smart."

"En." Smug little thing. When he's smirking like that he looks almost like Xiao Jiu.

"How far can you go?"

Mobei seems to think this through, his eyebrows pinched together as he calculates from whatever metric the demons use. "2000."

"2000 bu?" That was a good distance. They could easily catch up to them with that kind of skill, even if Wu Yanzi and Xiao Jiu haven't lingered anywhere on the way.

"Li." Yue Qi chokes on air as he tries to comprehend that distance, but thankfully Xiao Wu doesn't seem to take note of it. "But only in one realm. And only after I eat."

"We'll find you something nice to eat then. What would you like?"

"Meat." A-Wu's smile widens, showing sharp teeth.

"Let's get you some dumplings then. Sounds good?" A-Wu considers it for a long time before he nods.

"En."

Having a teleporting little rascal with him really speeds up the search, even if keeping up with A-Wu's appetite is eating (heh) into his travel funds. Whatever ancestral magic this is, it takes a lot out of the kid, leaving him endearingly dazed and sleepy between jumps. They quickly establish a cover story: the demonic cultivator cursed Yue Qi's little brother to look like a demon, so he's hunting the man to force him to undo the curse. A good sob story always makes people so much more willing to cooperate, especially when it involves a cute child and Mobei Wu is, objectively speaking, cute as a button. Old grannies and grandfathers ooh and aah over him and are quick to point them towards Wu Yanzi's trail.

In the end, they find them much sooner than Yue Qi expects. They walk into a shady looking inn on the edge of a small town and he immediately spots Xiao Jiu, hunkered down in the shadow of a scarred man with a dark mane of hair.

Their eyes meet and everything becomes a blur for a while, his awareness narrowed down to Xiao Jiu. Yue Qi hold him close and murmurs nonsense reassurances into his hair - he's never letting Xiao Jiu go ever again.

Even through the happy fog of the reunion, the sound of a sword being drawn is unmistakable. "Where do you think you are taking my disciple?" Wu Yanzi asks, eyes narrowed. Xiao Jiu spins around, to yell or to fight, Yue Qi will never know, because A-Wu chooses that moment to open another portal and whisk them away. He's getting very used to the feeling of suddenly falling through a frigid void.

It's another lake, this time somewhere much further away. "Xiao Wu, you need to stop opening those underneath people," Yue Qi scolds the unrepentant demon child as he drags the angrily splashing Xiao Jiu to the shore.

There are questions and answers, tears and hugs and no small amount of yelling. They strip their wet clothes off so it's impossible to hide his scars, stark red lines all over his skin, and in the face of Xiao Jiu's anger he caves and tells him everything. While they talk Mobei Wu falls asleep curled up on Yue Qi's miraculously dry bedroll and when they are done they curl around him from both sides too, shielding their precious little helper from the elements.

When the wake up in the morning the child is gone, as if he was never there. He has left behind a string with two beads, cool to the touch from familiar chilly qi.

"A token of thanks? One bead for each of us." Yue Qi suggests.

"Don't be ridiculous. As if a little demon would thank a cultivator for anything," Xiao Jiu scoffs, but he takes one of the beads anyway.

"I hope he gets home safe."

"Think about whether we get home or not! Stupid, soft-hearted Qi-ge. Do we even know how far away we are from your sect?"

Yue Qi can't help but beam down at him, fully aware that he's smiling the awkward, lopsided smile he trained himself out of because his shizun found it unattractive. He missed his thorny Xiao Jiu.

"You are right. Let's go home."

----------

Years later, Sect Leader Yue follows indulgently after his favorite shidi, Shen Jiu deep in the middle of a rant.

"If you are worried about Shang-shidi's safety, you are allowed to say so, shidi," he cuts in with practiced ease.

"Who's worried for that shifty vermin?! I worry for the sect! There is something going on with him and I suspect a security breach." Shen Qingqiu practically kicks down the door of the leisure house, startling the man inside into jumping and dropping the armful of books he was holding. "'Shang-shidi, we need to talk."

"Shen-shixiong, Zhangmen-shixiong, this is not a good time. I'm actually really quite busy..."

"Make time for us."

Yue Qingyuan indulgently follows Shen Jiu inside, noting that Shang Qinghua's eyes keep flickering all over the room, everywhere except towards the closed door of his bedroom. Highly suspicious.

Shang Qinghua is still stammering out excuses and making pleading eyes at Yue Qingyuan to please make his shidi go away. Yue Qingyuan lets him squirm for a few minutes before he interrupts, with his kindest smile.

"Shidi, we are simply worried for your health. Your head disciple reported that you have showed up with more bruises than usual."

Shang Qinghua mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like 'traitor'.

"Shidi," Yue Qingyuan tries again. "You know that you can trust us. I promise that you are not in trouble." Shen Qingqiu huffs, but refrains from commenting when Yue Qingyuan sends him a look. "Please, allow us to..."

A lot of things happen all at once. The bead Yue Qingyuan wears on a simple string around his neck turns so cold it almost burns, and based on the low hiss coming from Shen Jiu the same thing is happening to his. Ice climbs up the walls and the door, blocking their way out of the house. The door to the bedroom is kicked open and good gods that's a very big, very muscular ice demon staring at them with very bright blue eyes.

"My king?" Shang Qinghua squeaks, his eyes bouncing between the ice demon and his two shixiongs in alarm.

The demon ducks into the room and stalks towards them, every step spreading the ice further. There is something familiar in his face, but Yue Qingyuan is much more occupied by the sight of really quite a lot of uncovered skin and the many, many freshly treated cuts all over him.

Finally, he stops just outside of sword range and almost hesitantly rumbles: "Qi-ge?"

Oh. So that's why he was so familiar. He smiles up at Mobei Wu. "It seems I really can't call you 'Xiao Wu' anymore, can I?"

Mobei Wu huffs, the corner of his mouth lifting in something that could be a smile, and the ice encroaching on the room starts melting. "Mobei-Jun." He raises his hands in a salute. "Nominally, for now. Since yesterday."

He can tell the exact moment when Shen Jiu connects the dots - that the little teleporting rascal that helped Yue Qi track him down through half the countryside is now the Northern Demon King. His carefully cultivated mask cracks and he collapses next to the tea table with a wordless sound of outrage. "Shang Qinghua!"

Their shidi startles, once again dropping the books he just started picking back up.

"Yes, Shen-shixiong?"

"Be a good host and make us tea. And then explain how this,-" With his closed fan he gestures between Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua. "- happened."

"It's a long story," Mobei-Jun supplies, taking place next to the table and sprawling in a decadent, demonic fashion.

"That's all right." Yue Qingyuan joins them, briefly running his hand down Shen Qingqiu's tense back to soothe him. "We have the time to listen."

It's an unexpected reunion, but not necessarily a bad one. Xiao Wu was a good kid and when he looks carefully he can still see him in Mobei-Jun, despite the years of stoic frost that settled over his features.

There are much worse allies one could have than the Prodigious Demon King of the Northern Realm.

#svsss #mobei jun #yue qingyuan #shen jiu #I called him Mobei Wu because in this story he's the fifth son #I'm going with the measurements that 1 bu is roughly a meter #and 1 li is 300 meters #so baby Mobei can teleport roughly 600 kilometers and Yue Qi really needs a drink because that's very far #also Mobei is not yet stoic because he's a kid #and he's not immune to Yue Qi's big brother aura #seriously the guy is like a capybara. instantly friend shaped

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therainscene · 1 year

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I’ve been enjoying the sympathetic, we-aren’t-being-shown-the-whole-story takes on Henry lately, and it’s reminded me of something I always found odd about the scene with the rabbit.

On the surface, this looks like a budding serial killer engaging in that red flag behaviour of torturing animals. We see the ensnared rabbit screaming and struggling in front of a young Henry, and older Henry tells us, “as I practiced, I realized I could do more than I possibly imagined...”

But then we see young Henry’s face... and I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see a child torturing an animal for fun. He seems thoughtful, troubled.

What really gets me about this is older Henry’s narration over this shot: “I could reach into others, into their minds, their memories.” What does that have to do with killing a rabbit? He’s not in a mind-reading trance here, his eyes are open.

Immediately following this scene, Henry segues into telling us about his parents, how he’d reached into their minds and seen that they’d done “such awful things”. We see Victor haunted by a vision of the baby he accidentally killed. It screams like the rabbit, unable to escape its burning crib.

Here’s what I think actually happened with the rabbit:

Virginia set up traps to get rid of pests. (Victor was spooked by the dead animals around his property, so I don’t think he was involved.) Henry saw this while practicing his mind-reading, and upon investigating, found a terrified, injured rabbit. He sympathized with it; his mother viewed him as a pest, too, a problem to be solved via cruelty. He killed it to end its suffering, and soon developed a habit of mercy-killing all the animals ensnared by his mother.

I think this reading is a much better fit for Henry than “weirdo kills animals as practice for murder.” When he kills his human victims, he tells them, “it’s time for your suffering to end; it will all be over soon.”

He finds children ensnared by abuse and forced conformity. He sees them in pain, trapped in their burning cribs by cruel or foolish authority figures. He sees himself. He shows them the mercy he wishes he’d been given.

This is, of course, hypocritical. Henry has no right to decide on other people’s behalf how they should cope with their pain -- he’s turned into the same abusive authority figure he’s always railed against. He sees humanity as “a unique type of pest”, just as his mother saw him. Even his beloved spiders were kept imprisoned in jars so he could study them, just as Brenner imprisoned him in the lab.

Many abusers see themselves as victims, and they’re often right. That doesn’t justify the abuse they perpetrate, but in their own minds, they feel justified. They feel like they have no other option. That’s what makes the cycle of abuse so hard to stop.

Here’s what I find most interesting about sympathetic Henry: if he’s a demonstration of the good within evil... what does that imply about his narrative foil?

Will does not like to hurt others and he does not want to become that person. He couldn’t even shoot the Demogorgon in self-defense.

But he’s quick to hurt himself if it means helping his loved ones. He was willing to sacrifice himself in order to close the gate in S2, and he immediately bottled up his feelings to deal with the Mind Flayer in S3 despite being in the midst of a complete mental breakdown as a result of bottling his feelings up for too long.

And in S4, Will knows that his feelings are exactly what will make Mike feel better, but he’s too scared to come out or risk making his bestie feel uncomfortable, so he shills for heteronormativity and disguises his feelings as his sister’s under the assumption that’s what Mike wants to hear.

It is not what Mike wants to hear.

Mike feels pressured to lie to El. El is so distracted by his bullshit that Henry has time to kill Max. Max’s death opens the final gate.

The world ends, and Will Byers played a key role in it.

In his zeal to be a Good Celibate Gay and do no harm, he contributed to the worst harm imaginable. But he felt justified in what he was doing. He thought he had no other option than to decide on Mike’s behalf how he should feel.

Henry’s gonna have a fucking field day calling him out on that one.

Will isn’t a villain and he isn’t going to become one; the real villain in Stranger Things isn’t a person or a monster so much as the monstrous things people do. If there’s one lesson to take away from this show, I’d say it’s to remember that any of us -- even sweet, gentle, well-meaning Will Byers -- is capable of evil.

But it’s okay. Will’s internalized homophobia may have helped end the world... that just means honesty, acceptance, and love are the tools he’ll need to save it again. We’re all capable of that, too.

#stranger things #byler #henry creel #will byers #analysis

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gatitties · 1 year

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Hi 👋😊.

I just had this a idea for almost a whole year and it about a young teen female Reader who have a father figure or mother figure from the pirate they like the most but~~ I want them to be the older version from the future like when they are at the age of 40 or 60 . ( Strawhat pirates & white beard pirates & kid pirates)

And if you don't write about the whitebeard pirate's it okay .instead of it I would like it to be the heart pirates 😊♡.

Edited!\ take your time okay, love your writing by the way👋😊♡

─Strawhats, Heart Pirates, Kid pirates & Whitebeard Pirates x teen!fem!reader (Platonic)

─Summary: some headcannons with your mother/father figure and the rest of the crew

─Warnings: the characters are older, like in those 40/60 year old drawings (reference)

Well yes I write for whitebeard and as a bonus you will have all four crews, ty!! ;)

─ You're like the baby of the crew, no matter how strong or smart you are, for them it's like a duty to keep you safe even though you don't need it.

─ Luffy, Chopper and Usopp are your best allies when you get bored and want to play or play a joke on others, although they are not so young for their usual games they can always make a small exception for you.

─ As for family roles… Sanji was like a father to you, he was the most attentive to everything, he controlled that you had a balanced diet, that you hydrated, and he made sure that nothing and nobody could bother you or harm you, physically or mentally.

─ This cook already has an age and a past that makes him want to protect every possible child, and despite the fact that you were not a child, in his eyes it still seemed that you were 5 years old and not 13.

─ You called him 'dad' once by accident and he cried after you left the room.

─ Sometimes he just walks into your room to tell you something random "did you know that swordfish can swim up to 100 km/h? They are great hunters" and leaves without saying anything else, he doesn't even wait for you to answer, "Close the door!" of course he never closes the door after that.

─ You spend a lot of time in the kitchen and he teaches you to make your favorite dishes.

─ Despite being forty years old, the fights with Zoro won't stop, and he always puts you in the middle to give him support, "yellow looks much better" "green is better, it doesn't look like piss" "Of course not, honey, what do you think about this? Yellow is better isn't it?" "I guess?" "Ha! see, my little girl is always right marimo"

─ Franky and Brook are like the uncles who spoil you.

─ Now… if you're looking for who won to be your mother figure, the award went to Nami, despite not being as young as before and having lived more adventures, she will never stop being like a scared cat and tends to separate you from danger when she sees it.

─ She earned most of your affection pretty quickly.

─ Typical mother who makes you save as much as possible, she'll lend you her old clothes if still in good condition, "this shirt suits you better than it did when I was your age, you'll be a beautiful girl when you grow up!"

─ Although she doesn't mind pampering you a bit if she wants, it's practically difficult for her to deny you something if you really want it, overall, she can always put others in debt to get more money.

─ Lots of relaxing baths with her and Robin, you like to gossip about everything you see when you stay on an island for a while.

— Many moments of shopping together, it doesn't matter if you like it or not, she will simply drag you down because she needs the opinion of someone younger to stay "in fashion".

— She'll also teach you everything she knows about cartography and navigation.

— Father figure Law lives under stress, his night schedules are still as shattered as when he was young and now he has a teenager under his wing to care for.

─ He is very strict with everything, he wants you to maintain a healthy life so you will have many restrictions, ranging from not spending much time inside the submarine to correcting your posture when you're sitting wrong. "You look like a shrimp sitting like this, correct your posture or you'll have back pain" "You look like an emo in your forties and nobody says anything to you" "…"

─ He's worried because teenagers are so carefree and stupid sometimes, he'll have Bepo supervise when he can't.

─ You have many arguments with him for small things, but don't worry, if he punishes you Shachi and Penguin are the uncles who get you out of trouble.

─ This duet with you by their side only means one thing to Law and it's headache.

─ Whenever you're in a bad mood, the crew jokes that Law has infected you with his continual sulking disease, and that now you are like father and daughter.

─ Law is a proud dad inside of him, he won't show that he is proud of you out loud, but in his mind he has you as someone smarter than half the crew.

─ He will teach you everything he knows about medicine, unless you don't like it or are too squeamish about operating or dissecting, however you are required to learn everything about basic first aid.

─ Ikkaku is the only woman on the whole ship so she was the mother figure who helped you not go crazy among so many men and an adorable bear.

─ You're always welcome in the kitchen to help or observe, but mostly to gossip, sometimes Bepo joins.

─ She has small details with you, like buying some matching pendants or bracelets, she also likes to comb your hair with different styles, definitely your personal hairdresser.

─ Unlike Law, Ikkaku will always let you know that she's proud of you for any little thing, like if you've only managed to take down a few guys on your own without help and will yell in mid-battle "Well done, that's my girl!"

─ God bless you with this crew because you will not have a day off, just because they have aged doesn't mean that they are not as chaotic as before.

─ Although they will respect you, you are not in this crew for nothing, and also, all these guys are afraid of an angry teenager with little hours of sleep. "Dude, shut the fuck up if you don't want me to insert this knife as a new piercing in your forehead" "Yo… ok, chill kiddo"

─ The closest thing to a mother figure that you found was Heat, because he was the one who acted the most like a mother hen with you, apparently he was the most concerned about your physical integrity because he was at that age of wanting children and you were the closest to that.

─ It's not like he was depriving you of potentially lethal weapons for a teenager, but he was more afraid of what people would do with someone young like you.

─ Because being in this crew most of the time means fighting and going to clubs, so yeah, he always had an eye on you just in case some nasty person tried something weird with you.

─ Wire always took care to relax Heat when you'd rather just walk around the village than be in a bar because you weren't much of a fan of drinking alcohol at your age. "What if she gets kidnapped? She can be there all alone being scared" "She literally dismembered a guy last time we fought, she'll be fine."

─ Wire is the cool uncle who lets you do whatever you want as long as your worried mom doesn't find out.

─ And if we talk about a father figure… Killer, Killer acted like a responsible father most of the time, not as worried as Heat but always watching over you and above all that you didn't let yourself be influenced by some of Kid's stupidity.

─ Because Kid was like your demon on your shoulder, despite already being of an age, this man wouldn't stop being impulsive and you're an easy-to-influence teenager, so you and Kid have a sibling relationship.

─ Killer just watches the two of you while he looks disapprovingly, you can't even see his face and you already know that he is disappointed with your decisions. "You guys broke what? oh okay." a lot of passive-aggressiveness whenever he scolds you.

─ But he will always scold Kid more because he is of legal age and should be responsible, he definitely doesn't leave you alone with him because the last time you ended up drunk.

─ And despite not being of many words, he's like the presence you need by your side at certain times, someone you can turn to if something bothers you and that you know that he will be there for you.

─ Overprotective squad in general.

─ Everyone sees Whitebeard as a father, however in your eyes he is like your grandfather, because Marco had earned the position of father figure.

─ This man wanted to establish a life a few years ago, start a family etc, then one day you just arrived and he decided to take you under his wing, literally.

─ He is the least worried if you compare him with the men of the other crews, he knows that he has many people who protect you by his side, so he is calm in that aspect.

─ He will still scold you for your bad habits. "Eat slower you'll choke if you keep eating like a turkey" "Don't you have a nest to make or something? I know how to eat, I'm not Ace" "Hey!"

─ Ace may have matured a lot more but he'll still be a bad influence on you, so Marco always asks Izo to keep an eye on both of you, because the last time he left you two alone you ended up in the stomach of a sea king.

─ His chest will swell with pride if you call him 'dad' in front of people.

─ He's the kind of dad who tells all the shits that have happened to you and he embarrasses you in front of the crew just because he wanted to tell a funny anecdote about you, although he later apologizes to you if he really upset you.

─ As for a mother figure, this crew is short of such things, but the closest thing was Izo, because without a doubt, within this crew full of testosterone, he was much more elegant and careful than the others.

─ And more than anything because you could steal his makeup to use it, although you didn't know how to apply many of the things he had, he helped you with that. "Honey you're spreading the makeup wrong" "Can you teach me Izo?"

─ He taught you a lot about self defense in case someone bothers you more than necessary, like using guns, you should know how to protect yourself just in case.

─ Proud mom watching you kick ass.

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evilprincesss · 2 months

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as i said while discussing iroh as a character, despite the comics being a mess, i feel confident saying that at the end of atla, zuko not only realizes that azula has been harmed too, but he rightfully blames ozai for that harm (although ozai is not solely responsible for traumatizing azula).

as big of a win as that is for the possibility of the fire hazard siblings healing their relationship (zuko absolutely has to take the first step there in my opinon; azula would not be willing to at this point, and their relationship has been unbalanced in terms of care historically), their relationship is still quite tragic even with this realization.

there is no way that zuko actually understands what ozai did to azula. he doesn't even know what ozai did to azula. yes, he knows that ozai abused azula, but zuko only understands and knows abuse as he endured it.

there's also almost no way that azula is going to tell zuko about it. not only would she not want to discuss something so vulnerable in a serious or honest manner (see the way she discusses ursa in the beach), but she's also just had a serious psychotic break. it's very possible that she's not fit to see zuko at all right now, let alone discuss her trauma with him even if she wanted to.

so zuko is left to fill in the blanks about the how of azula's trauma. given his pattern of relating other people's trauma to his even when it's not actually the same (i.e. how he relates katara's trauma about kya being killed during the fire nation's genocide against her culture to his own trauma about ursa's disappearance after committing high treason), he would come to understand and conceive of how ozai abused azula through his own experience with ozai's abuse. while zuko's abuse was clearly always an implicit threat dangled over azula's head ("you can't treat me like zuko!") and ozai absolutely used some of the same tools against her that he did zuko, zuko was ozai's scapegoat child while azula was his golden child. their abuse did not look the same, it did not function the same, and it did not impact them the same.

it's also unlikely that he has the perspective at this stage in his own healing process to apply any of his (false) perceptions of azula's trauma to how it would have shaped both their childhood and his perspective of azula. he probably doesn't even realize just how deeply his perspective of her is colored by ozai's abuse of them both.

furthermore, since he's accepted his recollection of their childhood (which is not his fault. he is a victim of abuse who did not have the means or opportunity, as a young child, to see beyond ozai's more obvious abuse of him, which he couldn't even admit, to notice ozai's more subtle abuse of azula), he likely can only conceive of azula's childhood trauma in two ways:

as the byproduct of his own trauma, existing not because of azula's own traumatic childhood experiences but because of her witnessing his, such as the agni kai

as the product of his exile, occurring because he was no longer physically there for ozai to abuse and thus had to find a new target in azula

the former seems less probable given his belief that azula enjoyed his pain when they were children, so he would likely think that she was abused not when they were younger but exclusively after his exile began.

this isn't even touching on how zuko's perception of ursa and iroh clouds his ability to see how they both harmed azula too. that muddles things a lot more since zuko struggles with black and white thinking.

i think azula and zuko could heal their relationship with time and mutual effort, but as long as she refuses to confide in her brother and as long as he assumes she should experience and respond to trauma the same way he has, they're doomed to remain static in relation to each other.

#atla #zuko #azula #fire hazard siblings

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wowowwild · 6 months

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What I'm thinking: Dahlia Hawthorne went through so much as a child and then young adult, receiving no love from her mother once it was clear she wasn't good enough, being only a tool before that. Then being forced upon a father that didn't want her and separated from the one person who believed in her (I do not believe Dahlia was telling the truth when she said she was the one that gave and convinced her father of the idea to send Iris away). And she was what? 14? 'Dating' a grown man? No matter how you feel about Terry personally and how much blame you think does or does not fall on him, someone should have prevented that situation but clearly no one cared enough to do so. It's made clear that her father was not a good man and was abusive. Obviously I cannot condone murder, but she was surviving the best way she knew how when all she was ever taught was that everyone was out to abuse her and the only way to get by was to manipulate and gain any and all advantages possible by whatever means necessary. Iris is designed as a direct contrast. The same beginning, but when she was sent to the temple she gained a proper maternal figure. When she traded spots with Dahlia she got to fall in love. Iris and Dahlia are everything the other could have been. Dahlia could never physically harm her sister, but she does despise her bc she reminds her that she could have been good, could have had good things happen to her, further enforcing that she wasn't worthy why wasn't she deserving? She hadn't done anything wrong when it all started to crash and burn. She was a child. You can't trust anyone, they'll only hurt and manipulate you unless you hurt and manipulate them first. Iris views this as the tragedy it is and bares the weight of it on her shoulders, which only makes Dahlia despise her more. And Dahlia loves her sister in a way that is confusing for her, but more than anything she hates her. Where as Iris is the complete opposite, resenting her sister, yes, but choosing to love her with everything she has. And once she's found out, she becomes a caged tool, yet again. Dahlia is right in her anger. She died too young, yet another thing Iris blames herself for, if only she had been able to love her more, provide more, maybe they'd still be together. And Dahlia lies to everyone about how bad and evil she is bc it's easier if she was irredeemable and no one even tries. If there was no other choice she wouldn't have to even consider feeling remorse bc she would have had no other choice. And when she's 'defeated' it is only Iris who doesn't cheer for her demise, only Iris who understands that it easily could have been her, could have been anyone, that it's a sad thing when someone so young is pushed to those beliefs and dies to them. Iris knows that all Dahlia needed was help and love from the people she should have been able to expect that from, the people she should have been able to trust. And no of course she shouldn't have been committing murders but trying to understand is not the same as excusing. Even Iris, the person who knows and loves her most, can't excuse her actions, she is merely sad about the situation which I feel is the proper response.

What I'm saying: lmao girlboss and sadgirl

#anyway i'm sure this was barely coherent and i hope what i'm trying to say is coming across #this was more dahlia focused bc i've talked about iris before. i believe it's in game posting #ace attorney #dahlia hawthorne #iris hawthorne #ace's post

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bewitchedleague · 1 year

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Kratos, Thor and Odin as parents.

a/n: have fun reading this!

Kratos

He held the whole world in his hands, all that he treasured, all that he had yet to achieve. He felt as if the whole world was in his hands. As Kratos held the tiny bundle of joy in his arms, clinging her to his chest, he gazed at its perfect features - a precious gift of life. A blissful union between you and him. There were no words he could use to describe this magical moment. He knew from then on that his daughter would be well loved and taken care of. After having been through parenthood once, there were things he wouldn’t dare do. Kratos wanted his daughter to trust him, confide in him and always look for him in times of need. As these thoughts raced through his head, he looked over at you and he felt a warmth he hadn’t felt in a while - pure love bloomed inside of him. It was you who provided him with a home, a mother for Atreus, affection, love, as well as a sense of security, to name a few. It was comforting for him to know you were there whenever he needed you. You could disagree with his parenting style and help him sleep peacefully next to you by calling him out on any mistakes he makes. He swore seeing you and Atreus getting along and forming a mother-son bond always made him want to tear up. Despite the fact that he would forever deny that truth, Kratos knew how imperative it was for him to see his child receive pure love and affection from someone other than him. That's why when you were exactly that and more to Atreus, Kratos knew he had to have you by his side forever.

Thor

The tiny child slept soundly in his wooden cradle, completely oblivious to all the world's woes. Thor wished he could keep them safe and away from everything for all time, but he understood it was not possible. The God of the Thunder was even hesitant to cradle his own kid, puffing at you and telling you that you were too big and strong to hold a child so young. However, his adoring and longing stare told you everything there needed to know. He wanted to avoid any kind of harm to them. Unbeknownst to you, whenever you were sleeping, Thor would remain awake and keep an eye on you and the child from anyone he didn't trust, particularly Heimdall. The man's attention was firmly fixed on his newborn baby after losing both of his boys. It seems almost as though he wanted to admit that he had raised Modi and Magni incorrectly and wanted to prove to you that he was capable of raising them correctly. Would worry that you wouldn't stress yourself out with the child, but would be the most stressed out of the two of you and want to do everything and more, practically leaving you with no time to do anything for the child. Thor could only image how it would be if he had more children around; his enormous heart could easily love them all, he thought as he watched you hold the youngster. He could do anything and everything for you as long as you were there for him.

Odin

Being an older god, Odin had a large family that he wasn't very proud of, including numerous offspring and grandchildren. As he phrased it, many of his offspring had undesirable outcomes. Without much of a father figure, his children grew up to be impulsive and had little regard for him once they reached a certain age. Even though he was aware that his words and promises were difficult to believe, Odin pledged to be different this time and that, when the time came, he would demonstrate his difference to you through actions. Even after going through this numerous times, he was still naïve of child care techniques, so when the time came for him to put them to use, Odin would first attentively observe you do it, then swiftly pick it up and use it the next time the circumstance arose. He is capable of doing anything, even changing diapers, bottle-feeding, and putting the baby to sleep. There's no doubt about it; he's only getting the best for his kid and you. His daughter would be spoilt and well-protected from everything since he had the means to make that possible. When he's too busy to be with you two, at least one crow is keeping watch over you two and is standing by in case he's required. He keeps his daughter's crib on his study desk so he can work and oversee the realms while also spending time with her. His acts toward his child would always be sincere and true, despite the fact that he might be a little awkward doing so. In regards to you and his priceless newborn, he made sure that everyone was aware that only a fool would oppose Odin.

Do not repost or translate my work.

#god x reader #god of war x reader #odin x reader #kratos x reader #thor x reader #god of war ragnarok #god of war imagine #god of war

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laundryandtaxes · 1 year

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When the whole thing is said and done, I hope that what comes out of the medical scandal of pediatric transition is an understanding not just of the fact that it's important not to let ideology guide practice such that real physicians tell outright lies, ideological abstractions, and/or functionally religious beliefs (that one may have been born in the wrong body, or that one may have the wrong variety of brain in their body, or that one could possibly be "harmed" by going through one's natural puberty in and of itself, etc) to patients who are literally too young to distinguish between lies and truth, but also an understanding that what happened here on the whole with the medical approach to gender dysphoria was a total abdication of duty to provide least invasive practices first, total refusal to provide justification for the practice of selling extreme body modification to people who are at least often obsessively convinced that something is wrong with their body when medicine doesn't do this regularly for any other patients with body distress, total failure of safeguarding practices in a patient group very likely to contain vulnerable and otherwise emotionally distressed patients, and most of all a refusal to even try to address the mental health concerns of a group of people that these physicians just decided on no basis (there are no large studies comparing overall outcomes with transition treated as an actual variable, wherein some people are given one treatment, others none, others another treatment, underlying this practice) were too ill to respond to all of the practices we have already accepted as approaches to psychological distress.

This is at the heart of why ROGD has so many people freaked out- sure, those people who show signs of extreme gender nonconformity in childhood, who grow more distressed than normal at the onset of puberty because it means a loss of the androgyny that protects so much of child gender nonconformity, who are likely to grow into crossdressing homosexual or bisexual adults, who are more likely than other people to struggle with obsessive and compulsive tendencies, who are more likely to struggle to connect with other people socially, I'm sure they require surgical and hormonal body modification in order to live happy and healthy lives, but I am quite sure that no such treatment is right for my sweet, outgoing, heterosexual daughter who until 6 months ago was never very gender nonconforming. People like her deserve extra safeguarding so that the only treatment medicine ever even attempted at scale for this psychological problem is reserved for the people who truly cannot be integrated into society any other way. It is really quite deeply offensive that, because very gender nonconforming people are less valued, we got none of the normal safeguarding or study or approach to treatment that people who approach doctors with broken bones or other physical problems receive. Of course there is always some very real chance that we just happened upon the "right" treatment, but for one thing we don't know that because we simply never tried anything less invasive the way one normally does in medicine (let alone actual comparative studies different potential treatment options) and for another it's currently being sold to people using ideological abstractions or functionally religious concepts that have no basis in reality like the concept of being born in the wrong body. Those are both problems no matter how long medicine is allowed to continue ignoring them, which by the way will not be forever. If medicine cannot reign itself in, if it cannot police itself, then the only actors left to reign it in are all much more susceptible to their own forms of ideological capture than medicine was, such as state legislatures, which is bad for everyone in the same way that state intervention in doctor/patient decisions is almost always bad for everyone.

#done #once i realized the majority of patients are still dysphoric when they are #which of course the goalposts always move for us because the problem isn't actually any of our body parts #but that when done we are on the whole not just still a little dysphoric but able to ignore it but still extremely obsessed #i was like okay so what the fuck are they selling us and on what basis are they selling it #and i looked really hard for that basis but mostly it seems nobody even believes they need to justify what theyre selling #it is astounding

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the-badger-mole · 25 days

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Who do you think Dark!Aang would have in his entourage? Do you think he would have bodyguards?

His entourage would probably be new characters. Of course, his fan club from the comics would be in there, but most of them would be low level devotees. Some of them would be part of a harem, but a lot of them would probably be regular acolytes(who would of course have ambitions to be part of Aang's harem). Many of them would probably end up helping to raise any children among them, and with the upkeep of the temples. the more artistic and savvy among them would be part of Aang's propaganda campaign. I don't think that's something he would come up with himself, but someone would see a need to hep Aang's message spread.

As for his inner circle, he'd have to completely replace his original friend group, eventually, so lets give him 4 new "friends". He'd probably have a politically ambitious, but low ranking noble from one of the 4 monarchies with him. This person would be looking to make a name for themselves, and think that being part of the Avatar's retinue would do it for them. What would ultimately lead them to follow Aang down the path of corruption would be a thirst for power strong enough to override any good sense they had.

The next would be an orphan who has the potential to be a strong bender, but is untrained (this doesn't necessarily mean that they are very young. I see this being a young adult rather than a child). Aang would take them in and teach them their element. This would be Aang's main muscle. They would feel indebted to Aang for "rescuing" them. It wouldn't take a whole lot for Aang to gain their devotion. This would be the person responsible for handling Aang's more...distasteful tasks. Not that Aang would ever actually ask them to harm someone, but as he will always tell his friend, accidents happen...

The third person in the group would be someone well connected, and probably very rich. This person found Aang while they were looking for fulfillment spiritually. They clicked with Air Nomad philosophy (Aang's version) and went as far with their studies as they could without being an airbender. They probably started as an acolyte, and probably knows more about Air Nomad philosophy than even Aang himself, but still don't actually see how wrong Aang is about so many things.

The last person in the group is...let's face it, Katara's replacement. She is as loving and nurturing as Katara towards Aang, but without the stubbornness and simmering rage. She defers to Aang readily and completely, and never questions him. Unlike Katara, she has no problem with his harem. But she's still cunning, and she uses that cunning to remain as close to him as possible. If another acolyte, or any other woman Aang messes with starts to get above themselves, she is in Aang's ear turning him against them. At a certain point, there will probably be a power struggle between her and Entourage Member 1 and/or 3, but 2 will probably see her as a mother figure, and will protect her almost as devoutly as they protect Aang.

As potentially strong as 2 is, I don't think they'll ever get to be a great bender. I don't think Aang would want any benders stronger than him in his new group. Not after last time...

#alta #dark!aang au #anti aang #anti kataang #the new gaang #gaang lite #all the calories half the flavor

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thebottomfromhell · 15 days

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We don’t get enough Zohakuten content so I was hoping you could make some. I was hoping for something like Zohakuten has a friend. Like what would they do? How did they met? How would their friendship start out as? You can make said friend be human or demon, whichever you’d like! Anyways have a great day/night! :)

Let's give Zohakuten friends! With Zohakuten's character it is easier for me to make demon reader in this one. Honestly, I have the personal HC that if it wasn't because of them being enemies, he and Muichiro would be nice friends, if both were demons or both were humans, they would be like Barbie, The princess and the pauper song, but that is a silly idea of mine. I hope you like the work and sorry for having it so late.

GN Demon Reader and Zohakuten become friends

Warning: Cannibalism, Implied body dysphoria (for demon transformarion and age), Mentioned non-character human death

You are in a weird state, you are young, you feel young in every possible sense. Your mind and emotions feel inexperienced, no matter how many years pass, as if time stopped for them just the same it did to your body, that has no aches, no sting, no harm or wrinckle. It's forever... young, almost childishly fake. In that sense, you also do feel lonely, because it's hard to tell of other demons feel like you. If there is something within them saying that it's time to grow up just to be unable to, and not even knowing why. It's the only ich you are allowed to have, that need of growing up fast against the inability to do so.

You lack some sort of awareness, it's not that you are dumb, but you have a harder time to acknowledge certain realities over your original thoughts on any matter. Similar to a child's innocence, but your body does feel experienced. And it is, having already survived thing no human would, from battling men trained with swords to going long periods without drinking water and sleep. Are you an adult in a child's body? Or a child in an adult's body? Do demon even have such a theing as different body types to tell them apart?

It takes you to meet another kid, even if you yourself don't completely feel like a kid, also a demon, to realize... you actually can tell with other demons. You can tell at one gaze "yep, that is a child", for some oddly reason, even with the fact that you have seen demons that literally look like deformed babies and still were able to tell them as an adult. Is it something among all demons or just yourself? You have to wonder that. Still, at first you couldn't move because of the preassure of this kid's presence, and when he looked at you, you were able to figure why.

Upper Four, a rank inside their eyes, his favor. There are a couple seconds of silence where all you can sense in that tiny body, smaller than yours, is hatred. Then, he speaks, his voice not really matching with his aparent age, more mature than you expected, filled with that feeling his hole body expresses. "Do you have any problem with me? Come and say it out loud." You were not expecting to find this, now realizing there is some blood in his mouth and hands. That fact is enough to make you look around for corpses, a squad of slayers not so far, spread all over the place. A mess of blood, organs, limbs and bones, there are at least 5 people in this, you have to wonder you you didn't notice before. Is this the power of an Uppermoon?

"I'm not looking for trouble, just passing by." You say as your mouth get wet, looking away in embarrasment as you swallow your saliva in order to not drool. When was the last time you ate? Now with so much food you feel so hungry, needing to sink your teeth into the pieces of flesh and lick the red juices of the body. More blood, more blood. But... you are not dumb enough to try and fight a kizuki for food, to take away their prey. You feel your stomach ache as it tights up, yearning for the feast in front of you, even growling a bit. It hasn't done that ever since you turned, why now?

The other demon notices, arching his eyebrow, or trying since it's mostly opening one eye and half-closing the other. Then he turns to the masacre behind him and grabs a liver, still attached to a main arterie and with pieces of stomach, shedding some of the inner liquids. By the time you notice, Upper Four is in front of you, still frowning, but offering the piece. "You want some?" You look at him for some seconds, processing the kind gesture. "Are you not going to eat it?" After the question, his frown deeps in as he face contorsts in disgust. "No, I don't like them like this. It doesn't smell sweaty enough and the body was too small, bad quality of growth." .... a picky eater, you can tell by his face and comment. Still, slowly, with no sudden movements, and barely touching the other demon, you take the piece he is offering you before esting it.

He looks at you, gaze softening as you devour the meal, as if enyone would take it away from you. You love the taste, bold in the mouth. Gamey and methalic, and soon after there is an iron-filled sweetness left in your mouth. After seeing you eat, the kid sits, more relaxed, showing no sighs of aggression. His legs are crossed and his arms are resting on his legs. "What is your name?" He asks, curiosity in his eyes, as if you were something different, something he isn't used to. "My name is Y/N." He stays quiet again before saying what you think is his name. "Zohakuten." Zohakuten, really? Who is called "Hatred"? Then again, it's not the worst name you have heard in your long life.

That is a start, you relax, too. At first, it shows when you start eating more, going for the pieces of flesh. Then, you also sit, once you feel satiated enough to not eat, feeling a bit tired and hot with your stomach full. Then, by the time you realize... "Hey, YN, do you have any Demon Blood Art?" You both start talking to each other. The introductions go to chit chat, chit chat goes to laughing, and laughing goes to promising to meet again. "I had fun with you, Y/N. Hope we see each other again."

It's every once in more than 20 years, but you do see each other again, several times. You feel that times pass, at some point, missing talking to Zohakuten. Besides feeling the time he is gone, when you are bored and have nobody to talk to, you... really don't notice. You don't follow a calendar anymore, nor have anything to do bit eat and survive. But besides that, you don't feel... you don't know, change? Probably that is it. Nothing is new, your body and mind remain the same. You don't get new perspective nor any new stimulatioms in your system. But, you do get hypes, you do feel the same as always, there is just nothing new. Maybe that is why you are obssesed with talking, and even playing, with Zohakuten. It does keep your system alive and working at the same time you are good moments with him, and with how rare those moments are, they are always like new.

"Humans are such a bullies, always hoing after such a tiny body. He is smaller than my hand!" He complains, today is just a regular day, but... sometimes he confides on you. On how he feels about the other clones, or the fact that he barely exists, literally, he is only alive when the already separated clones fuse, and other themes. You also discover he actually likes to listen to different sounds a lot, that he likes drums and dragons, he loves to ramble about those. You also get to tell your part, the things you like, the things you don't like, one or another burden and... It's less lonely like this. And times seems to matter less because of that.

"I swear, if I was half as strong as you I wouldn't have to worry in life. Hunting and evading slayers would be easier." Zohakuten looks at you. "Hantengu wouldn't mind having more company, you could stay around, that way I won't have to look for you everytime the others fuse." He offers but you deny, you really doubt it would be any safer to be around a literal Uppermoon than on your own, specially since you met the old man... he is not really hurting you, but by the way he screams and cowers everytime you get close, you can tell he doesn't like you. "Yeah, I'm not sure about that buddy." He looks annoyed for at the answer, pouting a bit. "Fine, but promise me to never die." He says, and... you are not sure if you can promise that... "I can promise to always be your friend." He seems to think about the offer a bit.

"Ok, let's be friends forever, then." He says before leaving, knowing he needs to go back to Hantengu, who ran when he saw you. He always does that, but you smile at the direction the small body left. A friend. "That sounds nice."

#demon slayer #kny #upper moons #zohakuten #hantengu #the demon kids #demon reader #reader-character friendship #character-reader friendship #i love the kid #even if he is a jerk

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one-flower-one-sword · 1 month

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Hello, and thanks again for sharing your thoughts on my previous ask.

More random thoughts to share! : -D

At the end of the fight with Jun Wun, Xie Lian props up his bamboo hat to shield Jun Wu from the rain. That really stood out to me. Jun Wu tormented him for so long. Most people would spit on his body and burn it. Haha, maybe not all that, BUT, they wouldn't give him any sliver of kindness and that would be expected. Xie Lian doing so is just another tell of how much compassion he has for others, and it just blows me away. I couldn't help but see the parallels between what he did for Jun Wu there and the kindness the man with the bamboo hat showed him. I'm still thinking on this a bit, but...Xie Lian had people who loved him (Hua Cheng) and showed kindness to him (the man with the bamboo hat) even at his lowest. I wonder, even if unconsciously, if he wanted to provide some hope to Jun Wu that he can move forward past the worst part of himself. Not saying at all that Xie Lian wants to be part of that process, simply that once Jun Wu is no longer trying to actively harm him or others, he doesn't have any ill will to him. (but even that is over simplifying things - I'm sure Xie Lian could have bad days where he does). But that's my vague thought on this... Xie Lian is able to see the good in people even while not dismissing the bad they've done. To me, it seems he tries to nurture that as much as possible. What are your thoughts on that scene though? :) __________

Interestingly enough, Xie Lian has the hardest time with Qi Rong's personality. Qi Rong is mean-spirited, self-aggrandizing, and cruel as a child, and even more so as a ghost. By the time he's a wrath ghost and we see him facing off with Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, he's really quite pitiful. He can't even see how pathetic he is and it really comes off like a child begging for any attention he can get, even if it's bad attention. Xie Lian's feelings towards him are very complicated. I find it a little ironic and sad because it really does seem that if Qi Rong had had a much firmer and consistent hand in discipline, boundaries and love, that things could've been different for him. Maybe Xie Lian could have when they were young and both alive, but Xie Lian had so much going on himself and honestly, Xie Lian was still a child himself! The adults needed to step in at that time. And when Xie Lian is old enough, I think he's realized he just can't with Qi Rong. For whatever reason - history, personality, family dynamics he can't deal with Qi Rong in a compassionate way and so does what he can and keeps his distance (until present time run-ins start happening). And honestly, that's probably one of the few acts of self-care and boundaries Xie Lian set for himself. He knew his limits with Qi Rong. I do want to be clear that Qi Rong's actions are his own. He's hurt and killed many. He made his own poor choices and is responsible for that. I just think, if from the beginning, if he'd had someone who could be firm and compassionate, things could've been different for him. And potentially, if he'd met someone as a wrath with the patience and compassion to guide him, things could've been different...even if it took another 800 years! On the flip side, maybe Qi Rong did come across such a person but rejected it. We'll never know since it wasn't revealed in the book, but it's interesting to think about. Also, this is the first time I've thought about their relationship dynamics so I could totally be missing some things. What are your thoughts on their relationship dynamic? ------- On a more lighthearted note - one of the things I really love about the novel are all the many ways Xie Lian and Hua Cheng show their love and care for each other. Not just with big moments, but in little ways too with words and actions. There's so much material and every time I'm reminded of it, I just smile inside. I'm so happy for them! But one scene in particular that came to me was right after Xie Lian and "Ming Yi" help Shi Qingxuan escape the Heavenly Capital. They go back to Puqi Shrine and find Hua Cheng tidying up the place with essentially his shirt off. Xie Lian gets flustered and tells him to put his clothes back on and once he does, Xie Lian notices his collar is a little crooked and straightens it for him. Haha, I thought it was very sweet and definitely a "you're already married" moment. : ) Any favorite small moments you remember off the bat?

Thank you for your ask! I'm sorry it took me so long to reply after all (the funeral was last week, so as you can imagine the days leading up to and after it were quite stressful and draining). That said, let's get right into it :3 Gonna go through it from the top:

Xie Lian - His kindness and compassion really are admirable. It's why I find it so baffling when he's described as naive and/or arrogant by fans because that's not at all how the text portrays him. Throughout the story, he's the one willing to against the status quo - both in the human realm and in heaven - and to help the ones no one else cares about, no matter how much pain it results in for him personally. The trauma Jun Wu causes him almost makes him lose himself and then afterwards there's a long time where he blames himself and it's only through meeting Hua Cheng (again) that he gains back his confidence - and like you said, the final scene with Jun Wu shows in such an understated yet profound way that the core of who Xie Lian is has not changed at all: someone who believes that people deserve saving, that kindness is never in vain.

Qi Rong - I can't think of much else to add at the moment, but yeah just like you said, he might have turned out different had he had better parental guidance, but in the end the text is very firm that our choices are our own. I think it's also interesting that when people call Xie Lian naive and arrogant for wanting to save the common people and blame it on him being "spoiled and privileged", it's actually Qi Rong who demonstrates what happens when people born into privilege never question their status and instead do everything they can to take advantage of it and uphold it. Meanwhile Xie Lian even at seventeen was very critical of the power structures and morals that surrounded him and unlike Qi Rong didn't believe that he should be held to a different standard of justice than those "lower" than him. And it can't be chalked up to different guidance, since Xie Lian's views clashed repeatedly with those of his parents and his teachers.

Hualian - I absolutely adore all those small moments that showcast their relationship. Some of my favorites that immediately come to my mind are when they're in heaven and Mei Nianqing is explaining about Jun Wu's past and then inquiring about Xie Lian kissing Hua Cheng:

"Xie Lian could sense that he'd have a hard time swallowing whatever the state preceptor was about to tell him. He wanted to call for Hua Cheng, but before he could do so, Hua Cheng had already come to sit beside him." [...]

"When Xie Lian realized that Hua Cheng likely hadn't lived past eighteen, his fingers trembled. Hua Cheng reached out with one arm and gently covered Xie Lian's chilly hands, palm to back. Although their skin was equally icy, there was warmth where their hands touched." [...]

"Xie Lian had been desperately trying to stop the state preceptor from talking, but with no success. Covering his face, he silently shuffled behind Hua Cheng, who smiled and circled an arm around him as he raised his brows."

Hua Cheng's mere presence is such a source of comfort and safety for Xie Lian, it makes me so ;_; that he wanted him near for emotional support. And they're so tactile, so gentle with each other, always seeking to be close and to reassure and comfort each other through touch ;_;

I feel like I just rambled but I hope my answers managed to still be interesting and satisfying! Thank you for your ask, the distraction and interaction really helps rn <3

#answered asks #silver-cyn #xie lian #qi rong #hualian

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loweya-blog · 7 months

Text

Late Night Discussions

(SFW, tiny bit of angst, takes place in the Child MC AU. Link for original post here.)

The ticking of the clock echoed through the castle's tea room as he stared out into the distance. His hand was still gripping the teacup that Barbatos had kindly refilled but Diavolo's words were nothing but white noise to him.

"Lucifer?"

He suddenly felt himself being pulled back into the room.

"Sorry, Lord Diavolo."

"...Is everything alright?"

The demon simply nodded in response but Diavolo could see there was more going on in his old companion's mind.

"You realize that I can tell when you're lying?"

Lucifer let out a sigh as he realized he would have to explain himself now, else Diavolo would start to worry. As much as he hated having to tell anyone this, he supposed it was better to ease the young prince's worries now.

"It's... nothing important," Lucifer begins. "....I'm worried. For MC."

Diavolo's face lit up with surprise as he heard Lucifer confess this since the old demon rarely liked expressing his concerns. But he was quick to change his expression, afraid that he would close up again.

"They're a human. Even if they're living with us, that isn't something that can be denied," Lucifer goes on. "I can't help feel that us bringing them to the devildom may have been a mistake."

"I already assured you that they'd be protected here," The prince says.

"I know. But what about the universal human experience? The devildom is so different from the human world, in our food or basic behaviors and expectations." Lucifer explains, "What if they grow up and struggle to be a normal human because WE were the ones to raise them? We can't ever provide a true human experience to them. Even something as basic as the sun rising everyday isn't something we can replicate."

The prince quietly listened to these concerns, realizing how in depth Lucifer was thinking, possibly long before the adoption even occurred.

"I don't want them to regret coming here or being a part of our family," Lucifer admits.

Suddenly Diavolo laughs, catching Lucifer off guard completely.

"May I know what you find so funny?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed. But you remind me of a fussy hen worrying over her chick."

Lucifer looked away, a hint of blush appearing on his cheeks.

"If I knew you were going to dismiss it-"

"No. I'm not dismissing it. You're concerns are valid," The prince quickly says, "Why don't you bring them to Solomon?"

"Solomon?"

"Out of everybody we know, he'd be the only other person stuck between two worlds like MC. Perhaps he could give you some advice or help in come way?"

Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he thought of that shady sorcerer being anywhere near mc.

"Absolutely not. Solomon cannot be trusted."

"But do you really have any other choice?" Diavolo asks, "I'm certain he would never harm MC. He already has made it clear he wants to help. Besides, this isn't about either of you, it's about MC."

After tea, Lucifer walked home to HOL, with much to think about.

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pocketramblr · 9 months

Note

5 ask game: atla au where zuko won the agni kai against his father

Oh interesting...

1- Zuko wins, and Ozai is down. Zuko could, by rights, kill him. Instead he rather loudly says the point is proved and honor his, and he will not sully that honor by committing patricide and regicide. He walks away as the stunned crowd watches. Ozai, who would have burned a surrendering child, certainly has no qualms about attacking one in the back. Zuko goes down and it's chaos.

2- some in the crowd cheer for Ozai, others don't, jaws dropped because this started when Zuko said it was wrong to send out those young recruits to die, and now Ozai broke the law and code of the Agni Kai in order to attack a child, his own son. It's easy to dispose of the recruits from the commoners, to sacrifice them for the good of the noble county. It's a bit harder for some of them to swallow a leader who sees them as equally disposable. The Crown Prince bested his father, and now the Fire Lord is the one acting against his better. What does that mean for the crown? The war? Iroh leaps to his feet and calls for guards and doctors for both of them, injured as they are, and they are quickly separated as the court looks around and tries to place new alliances.

3- Iroh does not focus on the court - after securing Zuko's physical safety, he reaches to those he knows outside the Caldera, tells them the news. The people have fought a long war, and so many never seen the benefit of it directly. Some even harmed, rather directly. A prince who fights with honor and them in mind could be very appealing.

4- Azula is forgotten, in the hubbub. It's a very novel experience for her, and she doesn't like it one bit. She doesn't like that Zuko wasn't as weak as she assumed. She's stronger than him, right? So then she's even stronger then father? If Zuko can take the throne from dad, then Azula can take it from Zuko! (She is like. 11. Girl wouldn't be ruling anything.)

5- the Court is in furious whispers and fragile alliances as Ozai returns to the throne, acting as if nothing has happened, as if Zuko isn't constantly surrounded and hidden from him as possible. But then a trembling magistrate opens a letter from a factory along the river, making the armor and machines needed for their navy. The factory refuses to produce any more, unless they receive one of two things: 1- word of an apology to Crown Prince Zuko for the grave insult paid him, or 2- an order from Fire Lord Zuko to continue production. This isn't the only letter. Ozai made his choice, to stand in the Agni Kai, and by Agni, they will not pretend he has not offended the sun and it's people by what he did there.

#if ozai is smart he'll apologize #but if he tries anything underhanded... he's going to be the first to be blamed #so really what happened next is up to how much he understands that lol #pocket talks to people #anon #ask game

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bio1 · 28 days

Text

Hey everyone, finally finished part two of my transformers Earthspark horror themed fanfic.

If you haven't read act 1, please check out this link.

One last thing, thank you so much for @billie-jay for helping writing and editing of this story. Couldn't have done it without them.

Now let's begin.

Warning: this story contains body horror, blood, and descriptions of graphic violence.

Act 2: rotten to the core

The Terran siblings' optics were the only source of light in the now otherwise pitch black dugout. After the dreadful clicking of the lights switching off, the room was now eerily quiet once again.

“We didn't kill it.” Nightshade finally broke the silence, stating the obvious.

"No, you didn't."

A voice replied, taunting the young bot. Well, perhaps calling it a voice would be too generous. Whatever responded spoke in a manner similar to rusted nails scratching at granite. Its pitch and tone managed to fluctuate in a manner that just barely could be recognizable as words. It was a sound that shouldn't be possible, as if scrap metal could somehow speak. It went beyond uncanny. Hearing something that otherworldly felt downright violating.

What clever children you are, deducing my traits so quickly.

Most don't last long enough to find out that.

Whatever monitors still remained attached flickered on, although they broadcasted nothing but static. When their adversary spoke again, the static shifted in time with its voice.

"My, such a colorful collection. So bright and shiny, sturdy with youthful vigor. Small you might be, but your remains will a part of something far bigger than you could ever dream."

Twitch, with all her remaining energy, was not having any of this cryptic nonsense. She stormed up to the monitors and put her face meter inches from the screen in a confrontational manner.

“Get away from my family, NOW!” She boomed, slamming her foot onto the concrete floor.

The dying power on the monitor only showed one thing, the white enormous eye of their torturer.

"Oh my child, it's far too late for that."

Twitch stepped back, trying her absolute best now to show how terrified she truly was. Too late for what?! What was this thing implying?

“You're bluffing! You haven't gotten to them yet!” Nightshade answered back for her. “Now how about you save us all time and tell us what you want!”

Twitch wasn't sure what her sibling was getting at. Did they want to give into this thing's demands? And how could they know that their family hadn't been harmed yet?

"If you're already awake, I thought we might as well have a little fun."

It was pretty obvious the creature was trying to be creepy, but neither of them knew whether or not it fully understood the context of what it just implied.

The dugout was completely silent and nearly pitch black, the abyss around them only just illuminated from both of the bots glowing optics.

“Nightshade! What do we do?! Our family is out there with that… that thing! I don't even know which way the exit is anymore, it's too dark…”

“There’s no reason for alarm, the dugout has a backup generator in the barn.” Nightshade tried their absolute best to remain calm for her, despite the gravity of the situation weighing on their mind as well.

“I'll go check on everyone in the house. In the meanwhile, you can start up the generator.”

“Wait, shouldn't that be the other way around? I can actually fit in the house, and you would know how the generator works.”

“Because I can grab everyone in one trip. It would take too long for you to back and forth. Plus, turning it on is rather simple.”

“Nightshade, I've seen the things you make, and none of it is simple.”

“It's literally just a red button labeled ‘generator’.”

“Nevermind, I should be able to handle that.”

Both of the bots carefully exited the dugout. With neither spotting the monster, Nightshade and Twitch split up, their goals both in sight.

Twitch approached the generator, optics darting around herself in paranoia.

“It's okay, Twitch. Just a few more steps.” The red mech assured herself, voice still shaky.

She stood in front of the machine, just barely out of arms’ reach. A chill ran down her metallic spine. Thoughts of what occurred earlier in the night ran through her mind. She kept imagining that if she pushed the button, something would come to remove her head from her shoulders.

“Twitch! HURRY!”

The loud voice booming from the doorway startled the poor bot. It was Nightshade, already back with their human family in tow. They were peacefully sleeping, blissfully unaware of the danger around them. Nightshade dashed into the bunker, leaving Twitch to finish their task.

With a deep sigh, she pushed the red button, the lights around her flickering on. Twitch turned back to join their sibling before stopping dead in her tracks. Something was pushing itself through a gap in the barn wall. A black, pulsating mass with gray armor grew larger as more of its amorphous form forced its way into the room. Five huge tendrils sprouted from a centered metal lump. It almost looked like…

“A hand.” She breathed, the terrifying realization overcoming her.

A monster hand, almost bigger than her entire body.

She drew out her swords as the hand flexed its grotesque fingers.

The monster, noticing her presence, immediately lunged at her. She barely had enough time to dodge or before the gnarled fingers could ensnare her. The hand instead grabbed hold of a solid wooden support beam directly behind her. Smaller tendrils unwind themselves from the fingers joints, constricting the beam completely until the pressure caused it to cave in. An entire, solid cylinder of wood, crushed by a single movement into dust. The hand, realizing it has missed it's intended target, reared around with gelatinous eyes protruding from its finger joints, searching for Twitch.

"Hold still !"

“How about no!” She yelled before jabbing her blade into its wrist. The palm of the hand writhed in pain, fingers bending backwards as it struggled to pull the foreign object out. The wrist was almost jammed like a metal rod between two gears.

Twitch grabbed the handle of the embedded sword and twisted it clockwise, separating the hand from its wrist. A spray of oily fluid landed on her optics, muddling her vision. The hand writhed in pain for a moment, finally curling up on itself.

A distant sound of pain could be heard, but Twitch felt like she had no time to celebrate as she went to join her family. The young bot slammed the vault door shut as soon as she made it to the bunker, not wanting to take any more chances. Nightshade has laid the siblings’ organic family into individual sleeping quarters.

“Twitch, are you alright?” Nightshade asked, concerned. Their sibling’s face was drenched in the black, oily blood of their adversary.

“Yeah, I just had my hands full.” she responded confidently. Though her words had the cadence of a joke, Nightshade didn't seem to pick up on it.

“Seriously, what happened?” They prodded further.

“That monster tried to crush me. Sort of like this.” Twitch crushed one of the emptied energy drink cans as a demonstration.

“But it doesn't know who they're messing with, and I manage to cut their hand off.” She smiled proudly, but residual unease from the near death encounter still hung to her tone. This bravado was an attempt to force her mood to improve, and it wasn't entirely working.

“Here, to wipe the oil off.” Nightshade handed her a large cloth.

“Oh, thanks.” She cleaned her face up, before looking down at the now dirtied rag. “Wait, isn't this Robbie's shirt?”

“Yes. I borrowed some spare clothing from all of the family and store it here, in case of emergencies.”

“Borrowed? He told me he couldn't find this shirt for months….” She held out the soaked t-shirt in front of her, rancid oily blood dripping off it onto the floor.

“Emergency preparedness is more important than a diverse wardrobe.” Nightshade took the soiled garment and threw it into a basket. “That'll come off in the laundry. Probably.”

In the corner of Nightshade’s sensitive optics, they picked up some movement on the now activated surviving monitor. The pair raced over to see what it was. Out of the darkness of the forest above, something jumped into fame! The figure startled Nightshade badly enough that they fell to the floor. After recovering from the near spark attack herself, Twitch realized what it was.

“Oh, it's just a deer.” She gave a sigh of relief.

Nightshade got a good giggle from the pair of them getting so startled by a cute little buck. Twitch had mentioned she cut off the monster's hand, right? Surely, it wasn't coming back…

Gazing back at the screen, something reached out and snatched the poor animal. Their monitor’s audio played a sickening crack the moment after. It was the unmistakable noise of snapping bone.

The culprit emerged from the woods, towering above even the tallest of trees. In one gnarled hand, it carried the limp body of the deer, whose neck.was now bent at an unnatural angle, clearly dead.

The other hand was missing, leaving a stub of black tentrals.

It was clear this wasn't some kind of wooden monster they had thought of earlier. This was far worse.

This monster appeared to be wearing the outer armor of a Cybertronian, held together by mangled tendrils and rusted metal sheets. Its abdomen, neck, and joints were made of thick, wiry tentacles twisted together like ropes of licorice. Long, clawed fingers clutched onto the rag doll deer. Its face, seemingly normal at first glance, appeared to have enormous spotlights for optics, surrounded by deep black rings. It was as if it had carved holes in whatever unfortunate mech’s face it was using to fit its massive eyes.

The abomination was mostly gray, with any remaining colors on its shell muted and drained. It reminded Nightshade when they learned from Bumblebee that when a Cybertronian dies as a result of having their spark extinguished, theus body will lose its color. All that's left behind is a gray, empty shell.

The monster lifted the deer so that it was held directly in front of its ghastly face. Instead of simply opening its mouth, it split its own jaw completely in half. Row upon row of sharp yellowed greeted their prey, before sinking into the buck’s head. It antlers sloughed off and fell to the forest floor. The poor deer's head barely gave any resistance to the creature’s bite, getting chomped away easily as a stalk of celery.

Twitch immediately felt sick, the urge to vomit filling her despite not even having a stomach.

Nightshade starred, wide-eyed with morbid curiosity, unawall to tear away their gaze.

With one of its clawed fingers, it easily gutted and flayed the remainder of the deer with the precision of a surgeon. It swallowed each limb whole, not even stopping to back a breather between each bite. The deer's torso was impaled on the tallest tree around, seemingly leaving it for later.

Full enough for now, the metallic corpse leaned over, resting its damaged arm on the forest floor. Slowly but surely, the severed tendrils twisted and grew, sprouting forward from the site of the injury. Soon enough, it had a brand new hand, identical to the original.

All of the damage the siblings had inflicted on the creature was undone in a moment.

“This isn't happening…” Twitch’s voice was barely a whisper, her entire body fighting back the urge to retch.

"A Valiant attempt, little one, But not good enough."

The creature's unnatural voice made the static on the monitor worse as it spoke. How it had heard her from so far away was a complete mystery.

The thing bent forward to show its back, smaller tendrils poking out of the monster's armor. They wriggled and writhed, pulling themselves from the beast's back. Falling out from the cracks in the metal, two smaller creatures collided on the ground before standing up. They superficially resembled Cybertronian protoforms, but were differentiated by the claws and soulless eyes of the original monster.

"Go get me the green one. The red one is yours… consider it a treat."

It pointed towards the camera at the base of the tree. The pawn-like monsters listened, immediately making their way towards the barn.

"I'll be seeing you shortly, Maltos."

It bowed at the camera, before walking backwards out of site, into the woods.

“We are sooooo screwed.” Twitch mumbled, once the whole ordeal had concluded. “How did it find that tiny little camera? And when did it learn our family's name?”

“Don't worry, we, um…” Nightshade’s usually calm demeanor was shaking, the panic getting to them as well. … ‘“We should be safe here.” They placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, metal clicking as they touched. Twitch immediately swatted their hand away, turning in place to face them.

“Safe?” Her optics went wide, sparking with a furocity Nightshade had only seen a few times before. “Safe?! You just saw that thing make more of itself, Nightshade! We are anything BUT safe right now!”

They knew she was right, and that their reassurance was an empty gesture she had easily seen through.

“I’m sick of this.”

She drew out both of her swords.

Nightshade looked visibly shaken from Twitch's outburst, justified as it might be. If they could cry, they would be tearing up.

“Twitch, I-”

Twitch cut them off again.

“I'm going out there to defend what I love!”

Even though Twitch was running off fumes, she would fight an army if it meant keeping their family safe.

Nightshade rubs their optics before putting a hand on her shoulder once again.

“Not by yourself. I'm coming with you.” Nightshade informed her with an uncharacteristically stirred tone.

“You need to stay here, with them.” She pleaded. “I've got more training than you. I can handle this.”

“With all due respect, there isn't a chance you'd survive going head to head alone with our advisory here. I doubt even Optimus could take that monster down by himself. I get why you want to stay back, but we won't be of any use without each other.” They leaned in, giving Twitch a big bear hug.

“We're doing this together,” said Nightshade.

After a moment of hesitation, Twitch nodded firmly.

“Together.” she replied, hugging them back.

They made sure everything was secured before drinking what was left of the energy drinks in hopes of staving off the creature's parasitic exhaustion. Venturing out of the dugout, they double checked to guarantee the door was locked behind them.

The bots stuck close by to one another, Twitch leading slightly ahead. Just as Nightshade got an arm's length away from their sister, something jumped on their shoulders and wrapped its arms around their neck.

It was one of the odd gray things that the creature had produced. The thing was about Twitch’s size, only barely taller than the average human. Nightshade was able to pull their assailant off them, slamming it against the dirt.

Cracks formed on the monster's armor, its left leg was bent in the opposite direction.

This seemingly didn't slow it down, however, as with a high pitch grunt it snapped its leg back in place before charging at the green mech.

“NIGHTSHADE! Go high, I'm going low!” Twitch changed her hand into a blaster before taking aim and firing. The laser shot hit the monster's bad leg, blasting it off from the knee down.

As it stumbled, Nightshade talons struck against its face. This almost completely destroyed one of its eyes, leaving a deep gash. They knock it back with a powerful upcut to its jaw, sending half of its pointy teeth into the air.

As it fell backwards, Twitch raised one of her blades. She sent an aggressive slash on its shoulder. The sword moves in a round arc, cutting its torso in two like a knife through warm butter.

Both halves of the body fell down. Horrifically, even though all the monstrosity had left was a single arm, it continued to drag itself towards them. The thing seems either unaware or unbothered by the fact that its insides were being scrapped across the ground as it moved.

Nightshade backed up a good distance from their pursuer before running back at it, full sprint. With one solid kick, they sent its head flying over the house.

“Goal!” Nightshade cheered, twisting around to check on Twitch. Their little joke seemed to have worked at lightening some of the tension, and she smiled back at him widely. “That was awesome, Nightshade!”

As the small monster's corpse finally fell still, the siblings celebrated by high-fiving each other.

Their victory was short-lived, however, as an enormous hand rapidly grabbed Twitch from around the house. Nightshade ran after it, coming to stand in front of the Goliath.

“Let me go!” Twitch remanded, taking a shot at the thing’s chest, leaving nothing but a small burn mark. It retaliated by squeezing her tighter. With its other hand, it picked up her swords before tossing them away into the woods.

“You! After all this… chaos! What more do you want?” Nightshade yelled as loud as their vocal processor would allow.

The creature flexed its long neck towards the ground, gargantuan eyes boring holes into Nightshade's very being.

"It appears your human masters didn't raise you with any manners, child. But for future reference, it's not considered polite to ask such questions before being given a proper introduction."

It gave a devilish, cocky smirk. A sickeningly smug expression from a creature who had known it had already won. It was just toying with its prey now, watching them squirm and suffer for its own amusement.

"You may call me exquisite corpse. I've seen how smart you are, I assume you can guess how I earned such a title."

Nightshade wasn't even sure how to respond. This thing's manner of speech was infuriatingly civilized, clearly in an attempt to further provoke them.

"As for your question, I am after you in particular, little owl."

“Me?!” They blurted in response. “And what makes you think I'm going to go along with this?” Nightshade challenged, trying not to let their confusion and fear show.

The haughty grin on Exquisite Corpse’s face never faltered.

"Oh, I suspected resistance from you, child. There's a good reason I made my powers known to you from the start."

It leaned in even closer, its massive face just inches from Nightshade. Bits of blood and refuge from the deer it had previously consumed clung to its metal fangs.

"You know what I'm capable of. You know what I could do to not only her..."

It shook Twitch around in its hand, causing the red bot to yelp in shock and discomfort.

"...But to your entire clan if I wanted. So now that you're aware what's at stake, I don't think you'll put up any more struggle when I tell you to come with me."

“Don't even think about it, Nightshade!” Twitch barked.

"I didn't say you could talk, fly!"

It screeched, pressing its claws against her even further. Twitch's body creaked as she tried not to scream from the pain. It was clear that if Exquisite Corpse's grip got any tighter, those claws would rip right through her.

“Stop!” Nightshade begged. “Please, just put her down…”

"Oh, I'll do a lot more than that. Do as I say, and your entire family will get left out of this unfortunate little affair. "

It leaned its empty hand in front of the bot.

"How does that sound, owl?"

The lights in Nightshade's optics streaked, making their vision go blurry. Tensing up, they reluctantly grabbed a finger of the giant hand back, shaking it.

“I accept your terms.” they solemnly said, biting their lip in anguish.

"I knew you were smart. Very good."

It tossed Twitch to the ground, the minion pawns standing behind her with baited breath, held back only by their obedience to their master like a dog on a leash.

Exquisite Corpse gently picked up the owl, exhaling a deep purplish smoke in their face. Nightshade immediately felt more tired than they ever had in their life. As their body went limp for exhaustion, they heard one final exchange from the monster to its servants.

"She's all yours."

As they walked off towards the woods, the last thing Nightshade could process was Twitch's, violently screaming out for their sibling to help her.

To the continued…

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