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supercorp-hosie · 3 years

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My thoughts for Legacies 316: (here we go again😂)

(I’m combining after thoughts with live thoughts)

1) The soundtracks for this episode are amazing, they fit very well even for Finsie that I heard that a lot of people were complaining on Reddit.

2) I finally get my team Sowanby! I just feel so much from them! They kind of make a great team, but please, do not go on another heist again. You both sucks at that! The holes are, the museum don’t have a fucking alarm for Leonardo DaVinci’s work? Are you kidding me? And Landon beating the shit out of the guard but not putting him out first is so dumb. The worst is Cleo calling Landon’s name so loud, I can’t😂😂😂😂😂😂 you don’t want people to be on your back when you have the Malivore threat going on guys! And ha! You guys are on the headline! That’s why I really feel like these supernaturals are so outdated and solidified from modern technology, even in 2030! Are you going to tell me everything technology will still be the same like now?? Come on, there’ll be cameras watching everywhere. Like they can see Cleo using magic! I need my Trimini (or bridge) coven and Hope starting to integrate the supernatural world with the modern world. About Trimini and Hope future career, click here.

3) the line about “many who shaped it are never acknowledged” I stand! After that, about the key card my random thoughts were about Landon being the one that stole the key card😂 just out of the blue and I’m proven wrong though.

4) Landon bonding with Cleo!!!! They thought the same way, and “I can promise that anyone that have to get to you, they have to get to me” is so strong! But the scene after, is the moment I started really doubting Landon, the look is too alarming. But there are still Sowanby scenes😭😭😭 and the melted heart mud... I mean I genuinely believed that the spell didn’t work because Landon is also mud himself. But in hindsight it is horrific, like the serial killer is just standing next to you but and the signs are right in front of you.

5) Malivore mud being artistically friendly! I can’t haha! Oh and when Holarke walked on Sowanby inspiring moment🤣🤣🤣I can’t, they act like both of them are cheating on one another it’s hilarious. Thank you for acknowledging each other Holarke and Sowanby🤣. By now, I should have known that’s MaliLandon. It’s humiliating because Holarke and Sowanby got me so happy that I didn’t see the clues lmao! Because there’s this line: “Following the footstep of the Renaissance greatest man? ” but this thing, Cleo only did it with Leonardo, with whom she slept with......

6) And damn, after that, I felt like a FOOL, CLOWN, WHATEVER after that! All I have for team Sowanby is fake 🙃🙃🙃🤡🤡🤡 Anyway we still have to admit that the promise still stand true right, cuz it’s literal.🤣🤣🤣 MaliLandon fulfills his promise by eating Cleo. TYPICAL.

7) Holarke! Clarke is still handsome as ever😍. We can see his presence is clearly affecting Josie and making Hope giving him information. Can we talk about how cute is he sleeping soundly here?

8) Lizzie being the only unaffected queen here. AND IT’S FINALLY LIZZIE’S TURN FOR “AD SONNUM” I can totally see her pleasantness in doing that to somebody after being on the receiving end🤣🤣🤣 Josie and Hope had done it before so now we actually see her doing it. I somehow feel completed.

9) The look Hope and Josie shared. Hosie!

10) Josie is going to be the death of me! I like her look. And how the camera moving upward gosh! And I’m totally digressing here, what is a razzleberry? And what is a slush? I have no idea what they are, I just feel like tasting what she tasting now. Lizzie’s line, crashing and splashing😂 Am I colour blind? Cuz I really can’t tell whether Hope is wearing dark blue or dark green 😅 if it’s green, then the traffic lights colour are back again lol. If blue, then Hosie matching clothes! Did Finsie ever have matching colours? I’m just wondering.

11) Hosie scene! They talked about how seeing Clarke traumatised Josie~~ damn and Josie says traumatised is her permanent resting state. I mean even on her birthday she was buried alive lmao. And Hope wants to help Josie stop the traumas by sacrificing herself to defeat Malivore, like by literally dying. Which she didn’t want because she didn’t want to live forever.

12) Holarke scene again! I love all those banters and their dynamics😂😂 how Hope is the only one that trusts Clarke now. The mimic spell! It’s their thing😍😍. Oh it totally surprised me that Clarke isn’t mud man anymore. I’m really happy for him, because he finally break himself out of the abuse! It seems like triad is totally gone?? But I still kind of think that there may be something more? And Clarke’s reaction to Hope opening the artefact! 🤣🤣🤣 and the way that Clarke sensed the familiarity with Cleo! Yea boy, she’s the inspiration to the creation of you.

13) Clarke keeps calling Hope and Landon kids🤣 how’s the feeling of getting kid!Hope kicking your ass and saving you😂😂😂 oh she’s totally your equal. Frenemies at best! YES! I love Holarke bonding. And the fact that Clarke being Hope inspiration to believe in friendship and her family now can help her to defeat Malivore, I Stan! Don’t lose sight of the corner! Josie! Lizzie! Clarke! Yes you have them! I’m glad that Clarke didn’t die, I’ll be so mad because the writer would be bringing him back for nothing. Oh the incendia is painful, affecting me more than the fake looking MaliLandon eating Cleo. The height difference again🤣 with Holarke this time.

14) I love Maleb clothes, not really shipping them just short form for their bromance😂 but I do enjoy if there suggests shipping cuz it’s fun! Love that them being supportive of each other, superheroing, and the hero name🤣🤣they’re clueless too. Poor Kaleb and Cleo. I really need his backstory 😫

15) about hero names, I’m still having playback of “blursome and essential” in my mind. MG is looking at the mask longer than Kaleb, I feel like he’s missing Ethan, like a lot. Another thing is, since we see the effect of someone else being compelled so clearly, but we never seen Ethan’s compelling effects. Or it’s a budget matter? They must be kidding right? So maybe Ethan is really faking it? So that leads us to Lethan....

16) if my suspicion is true, then damn, Ethan is using Lizzie to get into SBS? I’m worried for Lizzie’s wellbeing. Also the look on Josie when Ethan drives near tight after she said like some eligible will fall out of the sky🤣🤣🤣 the timing is impeccable lmao. For real, Lizzie wanting Ethan to be Hope’s rebound after her kiss with him in the trio imagination, is ....so the trio is now sharing guys now? Jandon is still there in the history! It’ll be like a very messing love multi-triangle😌😌😌

17) the way Lizzie talked about how Hope is perfect the whole way and judging by the day when they arrived at SBS? That’s very long! Lmao, Lizzie are you sure you’re not in love with Hope? Hizzie rights! (I don’t even know when I started to ship Hizzie, it’s a mystery🤣) I think I can only talk like that about my love. Why don’t you make you and your sister Hope’s rebound? I’ll be happy with what I get🤣

18) The decision to bring Ethan on a tour, is so bad. What if ethan ended up enrolling SBS and Alaric can’t deny the application? Did she ever think of that?? And Josie and Mg is going to face the consequences in the near future🤣 dreadful! From there I already felt the cliche sweetness that when you’re trying to be a wingwoman and ended up “selling” yourself out🤣🤣 fuck CW for cutting the scenes of Lizzie’s epic facial expression when she was slapped with her own words😂😂😂anyway, it’s no way she can refuse the ask out after 315 where Lizzie still thinks that she can’t be the chosen one when Hope is there, but someone actually chooses her even after all the Hope is perfect speech. As much as I mourn for Methan and Mizzie, I’m happy that she got someone to tell her that. But I think they’re destined to backfire😅

19) so does the Mizzie “will they won’t they?” officially end here? I’m confused. Btw it’s really a way to mention Sebastian’s death being relocated permanently 🤣 oh wait...she knew that that prison world is destroyed forever right????? Someone save me.

20) okay I have to go back before Ethan picked the twins up: while Lizzie is actually worrying about themselves being stranded, Josie is just more concerned about Hope? Hosie! Poor Josie, she never sees that she is Hope soft spot and can totally make Hope happy too. Look at your dumb joke at 103, Hope’s laugh is magnificent too. It’s because of you. And yes I’m with Josie, I just ship Hope with herself and her axe right now, don’t put her with anyone for at least 5 more episode please.

21) The one that doesn’t dissolve into goo! Now is Clarke! And the both of you my dear twins. Btw, the dna thing, where Clarke confirms that dna is still toxic... so it applies to Landon too right? And it’s now just more overwhelmingly apparent that handon sex is without protection. Yea so much for epic love. And this is about the possibility where (hopefully) it’s not MaliLandon when the sex scene happened.

22) Finsie time! I got to say, it’s really improving. Their scene is beautiful, finally. That feeling that they’re nice together is now going on continuous for me. I’m happy for them! They are now stepping up on Hosie, not derogatory, I’m just seeing some parallels from hosie here. The disclose of Ethan broken arm, where Hosie has done, before that there’s Clarke’s traumatising Josie thing with Hosie. Next, the focus on the hand holding, I’m thinking of 207 and others. The “me being here with you”, with hosie 308 “then I’ll be here with you”. The whole thing is very comforting for Josie. The hug is good too. We can see that they finally have some nice scene and the bgm is good for them.

23) I have no idea what is magical agronomy, so I look it up. Again, that shows how Josie love plants, like someone in Reddit said they observed that Josie’s side of room has several plants. And in 307, the herbs, that she remembers. I think it can help a lot if Hope is starting a magical technology company. Josie’s interest in that can come in handy. They’ll make a great team. About TRIMINI INDUSTRIES tap here.

24) we are still missing Jed here. Justice for Jed. We need Jed real first name. Did anyone notice when the super squad faces MaliLandon there’s no werewolf present? They’re really downplaying that huh? But maybe I can be satisfied that they are not making Finch being there but not Jed.

25) We need to address this thing about Handon. It’s like one and a half time that Hope couldn’t recognise that Landon is not Landon right? We still have to give credits to her memories shared with Cleo actually make Cleo kind of recognise the difference? So half a time. I agree with Josie’s words that Landon makes Hope happy. I mean, yes, most of the time they failed in working but there’s still sweet scenes between them. So that’s actually what makes Handon tolerable. They are what makes me only do facepalm rather than skipping them. So yes of course Hope has happy moments with Landon. Just that it doesn’t mean that they’re good together.

26) it’s always Landon’s bros that first find out Landon wasn’t Landon😂 this time is Clarke. It’s Clarke that tell Hope, “Landon will never leave you”. That’s the inconsistency of the writers, not counting MaliLandon’s time, it’s still two times. And there’s time that some will argue that Landon’s feet literally walk away from Hope. So...that’s not true, do not stuff that in our throat anymore. “I always thought you two are destined to be together” is this the writer way of saying they’re not doing Handon anymore or otherwise? Cuz “thought” is past tense and “are” is present tense. I’m tired. It’s normal that Hope still wants Landon to be happy and still love him. But after the breakup, when she still doesn’t know that it’s MaliLandon, the “still dying to get Landon again” is obsession. Girl, it’s derogatory to your self-esteem. “If a mud man like me can beat his fate, maybe you kids can too” yea that’s Handon going on.

27) we shouldn’t need to be told that Handon is epic love multiple times. We should be able to feel them, see them ourselves. Why did I start approving Finsie now, because instead of them being only all talking and no showing, now we see them working well (until now). I have been widely accepting to any other legacies ships and why I never ship Handon? So really these multiple telling us that how good is Landon to Hope, is not working. I’ve never been so frustrated.

28) Let’s appreciate the Handon parallel with 101. It’s interesting that how Landon is inside the cage and Hope is outside the cage again. The meaning of the cage has deep meaning here. Handon first kiss is in the cage, that kind of mean that their love is trapped there. Like how their relationship being so troublesome and bound by these fateful encounters. The lights are quite similar, handon always has this blue lighting for them, which sometimes it’s kind of weird. The first time it is Hope decorating the ceiling with stars for Landon. It’s sweet, but also implying that what Handon has is the false beauty of them and not keeping the cage symbolism in mind. In other way of interpreting it, this is the writer foreshadowing their endgame. Cuz they’re trapped there, no way in no way out.

29) I think I’m not the only one bothered by the mostly lack of real Landon appearance in s3. As we can see how MaliLandon words sits so right about, Landon not belonging to SBS if it weren’t Hope. Then he leaves with Cleo, that’s a thing for Sowanby too, they still don’t have roots with the school, and it’s a great bonding between them, friendship or not. It’s the bond between them that matter. In 314 315, we always see that the students were totally fine without Landon. Like the three trios paralleling? It’s sad that Landon is like bouncing here and there in SBS but never really belong. And now the writers kind of ripped his personal development. So now he has neither his pheonix powers nor fighting skills, great? And even Hope’s growth too. We are seeing her moving to a good direction and the writers have to drag her back in the hell hole. Hope needs to not always looking at Landon for her happiness, it’s not good for the both of them. Like MG said, be your own person.

30) THEORIES regarding Landon: a) It’s MaliLandon all the way? I hope not, it’s reminding me of Lost Girl that one of the characters slept with the father personating the person she loves, and got pregnant. Tell you what was more alarming? When the episode ended, I was recommended to move on to Lost Girl on CW seed. It’s disgusting! Why do you want to help make me hate Handon? I don’t even hate them initially! I’m like struggling to be logical and lean on the positive side here. Why I can’t move on from this possibility: first, I’ve always headcannon that Malivore has partial control over Landon. Like how Landon actually wasn’t lying in 102 103? That’s Malivore. And Handon, as genius as always, doesn’t talk about it. Second, the way that Landon dissolved, he was human back then, but he turns into goo? how does it even work? If he is human, toxic to dna will make him die, not become goo, right? Even if that wasn’t a problem, it can also be MaliLandon trying his luck. Third, Malivore purpose is to make the perfect legacy, he will totally give it a try to make tribrid-Malivore babies. Fourth, during the inspiration from Cleo, MaliLandon has Landon’s memories, enhancing the theories that Malivore has partial control over Landon, so even if it wasn’t MaliLandon, it’s still partial-MaliLandon. Fifth, after the inspiration, MaliLandon said that he doesn’t need Hope to tackle his problem or for his purposes, which means he initially wanted Hope, thinking getting to Hope can help with his purposes. It’s really not a far-fetched.

31) THEORIES regarding Landon: b) it’s real Landon during sex, but Malivore got him in the prison world. While having Landon’s personal growth ripped and Handon still dragging out are not pleasant at all, this is still a more pleasant theory for me. At least Landon did start fighting for himself after sometime, and while the sex is still partial-MaliLandon, at least it’s not MaliLandon. (I’m always using at least for Handon 🙃) maybe we can still have Landon fighting skills? Cuz I was happy for him about this though. But I just don’t think so. The evidence for this theory is, my feeling about Landon in 306 is that it kind of fits Landon personality, but he did start his violence there. Another thing is the letter. There’s care in “to whom it may concern”. However, that can be just me being simp. And there’s also possibilities that the partial control from Malivore is cultivating Landon’s behaviour starting there and slowly taking control. Because making a deal with the devil always has its consequences. It’s either that or Landon was taken after the letter.

32) regarding the picture above, i just want to point out about another interesting point about the structure of the scene, if you scroll back and see sowanby picture with the door and another bonding talk, you can se that there’s always pillar and frames that’s framing or trapping them together. Like Handon. I mean that’s totally MaliLandon, so this pointing out is not mean to be romantic. It’s just a thought about how devastating that Cleo is stuck in something her whole life, especially the picture structure that implies that she’s stuck with MaliLandon again.

33) overall I’m thinking this is a good and disgusting episode. With all the unexpected twist, it’s really good, there’s actually layers in showing us that Landon is not Landon every time. Then those bonding. The soundtrack, the scenes. Disgusting, is about the theory, and how we are all tangled back to Handon again after we finally have some fresh air. Not to mention the always surprisingly convenient that Landon always has an excuse when we see Landon did something bad to Hope. Like he can never be making big mistake while only having little questionable doings that can’t possible tarnish him being the perfect person in the show. The first time he lies, Malivore controlled him. During the pageant competition, he is justified to walk away when he totally chose the wrong timing to ask that question, leaving Hope alone breaking in front of such important event. 207, monsters are coming for him, he’s protecting people by leaving. Musical episode, he needs to cross boundaries because it’s bound to be, without further reasoning it with Hope, when Hope specifically was very respectful of him in 111 about his songs. And now, this. That’s not him, we can’t blame him. He will never be blame for something big because the writers is biased. Very biased in making that Landon is better than anyone else in the show, so he’s the perfect guy for Hope. Like no one can compare with him. He’s almost perfect. Perfect than Hope.

34) Reflect on what Hope did in 308, MG is kind of right, she shouldn’t have touched it without fully prepared. Because it totally let Malivore running out free instead of him being an originally contained problem. It’s for the good view in whole. Heroes make hard decisions. There’s still the hair thing cut from Hope and Golem!Landon.

These pictures is my work, while it’s easy to get it yourself, and not that I’m professional in doing this. But I still did screenshot them one by one and did some editing. So please like or label the sources when you save or use it. ♥️

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toxooz · 3 years

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It is me I am back, with two things. 1. Take your time with the update we are willing to wait as long as it takes for good content and don't want you to rush and burn yourself out! 2. How do you get your ideas for creatures/monsters?

Personally I make my own type of species and or look into mythological creatures to tweak!

Btw, hope your having a good day whenever you see this 🤚🏽😤 may gummies and your favorite drinks replenish your kitchen

i knoooow even tho it's frustrating😭if anything that post was to prevent me from rushing and stressing out so that im not obligated to try and finish it by the 25th Because I Said I Would Earlier so it was just an update type deal 😅 i almost always look to animals/ rocks and mineral/ plants/ insects/ even planets occasionally so just about anything i can lay my grubby eyes on! from mammals with rlly cool coats with intricate patterns on them, even just looking at it for a split second and trying to imitate what i saw can lead to a new unique pattern for a monster; rocks n minerals with all of their different color combos and visual textures that i like to challenge myself to try and pin down; plants and their leaf formations, flowers, fungi is a v interesting thing to study and get monster ideas from bc they are w e i r d ; sea life, as much as the ocean disturbs me there are S O many different life forms there that look like they're not even from this universe particularly down in the depths which lead to hella questions abt why they are the way they are and what different abilities they have to simply live in the seemingly unlivable, you think u know what a coral reef looks like until u try to draw the details and realize u don't know what in the sam hell ur looking at can lead to inspiration over even the vaguest of shapes, insects, again as much as i hate them, they too look like little aliens if u rlly try to dissect what they look like and how they function, also i feel like tarantulas are an untouched design gold mine with all the different abdomen designs and patterns they have along with snakes and reptiles those are big ones too on unique patterns, as more high definition pics are being revealed with planets comes with inspo as well especially Jupiter with the close up images now shes fukkin gorgeous 😳 nebulas are also a silver platter for potential monster designs as well and the science behind them that could be put into the science of the monster design so basically literally anything im willing to think abt designs for! 😤

#and to u a very gummy and fav drink abundance as well sksksk

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thesunshinebunny · 4 years

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Idk if your taking requests right nowww buuut can you do Erik and Damian fighting over s/o? Ahhh sorry if I’m weird nahsjshjd I love ur writing btw❤️💕💖

Oh boy…ohhhhhhh boooy!!! The house is on FIRE

Thank u so much for your sweet comment ❤️❤️❤️❤️

PD: I maaaaaaaaaaaaayyy have used as reference The Prince vs The Brute episode (maybe, it’s a big maybe)

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The day started like any other, a normal day. The sun rising at the horizon, one or two birds singing, the wind hitting lightly on the window and the heat of spring entering through the pores of the skin. Except that, in a normal life, you don't have five incubi sleeping under your same roof, waiting like any mortal for the first rays of the sun to start a productive day. Nor on a normal day is the slight knock on the door, knowing that one of the incubros awaits your response on the other side of it.

But these were normal days for you.

With a hoarse voice you allowed to enter the incubus who was waiting patiently, ignoring the reason for his morning awakening.

"I'm sorry it's too early, I couldn't go back to sleep and ... well, I made you breakfast"

Ahh, Damien, as thoughtful as ever. Even in your sleepy state you could feel the sweetness in his voice and how his feet moved on the carpet, avoiding making any noise that could bother you.

"This is the best way to wake up, thanks Damien." You felt the sheets sink to the empty side of the bed. Damien put the tray on the nightstand and waited for you to straighten up and be able to calmly open your eyes.

It took a few seconds, but when you were finally able to take your eyes off, your sight was rewarded with the warm orange-haired smile. But when your nose unconsciously smelled the aroma of toast with Nutella, your stomach growled with hunger. What a shame.

"Pff- hahaha, I'm glad to hear that you're hungry. I did a lot of things to tell the truth ”

He was right. On the tray you could see the pair of toasts, a cup of freshly made black coffee, a glass with orange juice, a bowl with small slices of fruits and some mini waffles in the shape of a bear.

"How adorable Damien, thank you very much."

"Sorry to disturb you, Your Highness, but ... oh, I see you've already been awakened." Erik was standing under the doorway, holding a huge bouquet of red roses. His gaze however didn’t find yours but his younger brother.

"Good morning Erik, the flowers look beautiful"

"Ah yes! These flowers are fresh from the gazebo, I hope they’re for your delight, your Highness ”

He put the bouquet down on my nightstand and gave you a nice smile before heading back to the door. "I was going to say that breakfast was going to be ready in a few minutes, but apparently my brother went ahead"

And with that he closed the door, leaving you and Damien alone in the room again.

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During the noon and afternoon, having the mansion almost empty, you devoted yourself to review notes and books that were left in virtual classes. But still spending boring hours just reading, you also had the time to teach Damien. For weeks you was teaching him to read and write and now he can write the whole alphabet and read kids short stories. Sometimes you can see the frustrated face when he try to read your books and don't succeed.

And that's where you come to the rescue! (baby steps Damien, baby steps)

“The audi… audio-visual montage is a process of uniting… uniting…”

"Uniting pieces of film to create sequences, ending in a final tape"

You appeared discreetly in the library doorframe. Damien was trying again to read a book from one of your subjects and from what you could hear, he had improved, but he had problems him a few words.

"You know the whole book backwards?" Damien scoffed slightly, setting the book down on the small coffee table.

"More or less, I mean, they are going to take an exam soon, it’s better to learn it as soon as possible"

You sat next to him on the sofa, leaving some children's stories on the table. A friend of your parents, who had become a father few years ago, lent them to you for a certain time.

"Thank you for helping me, but you shouldn't waste your time on me." He put his hand over yours and gave you a slight yet sad smile.

"No problem Damien, I like to help you and spend time with you" His eyes began to shine, but not because he’s about to cry, on the contrary, you could see a slight happiness in them. Which disappeared when a melody began to sound from the living room.

Someone was playing the piano.

The tune was slow and smooth, I would say even romantic. You and Damien went down the stairs to the source of the sound. In the living room, sitting at the piano, was Erik with a small glass pot with a red rose on it.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness, Damien. I'm sorry for the sound, but it had been days since I played a little ballad and seeing this little rose when I returned from work gave me the necessary energy ”

His slow voice accompanied the notes of the melody, as if he’s singing. As you went down the big stairs, Damien stayed behind you, watching as his older brother used his boring compliments. Perhaps the evening sunrays made the scene more romantic than Damien wanted to accept.

He watched how your gaze was lost between Erik's skillful fingers on the piano and how his gaze was lost on your innocent and happy smile. Damien's eyes flashed with determination; determination of not to let his brother win your heart.

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"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!"

"I'm trying to make us dinner, I don't know what you are trying to do"

A great uproar could be heard coming from the kitchen. Damien and Erik were apparently trying to cook in unison, but they couldn't get along with each other, much less make a decently cooked meal.

"Erik, it should be impossible to say this, but you are burning the water."

"And you Damien, dear little brother, you don't know how to clean a fish bone"

"Do you think you can do better?!"

"What The Hell Is Going On Here?!?!" James stormed into the kitchen to find his two younger brothers barely making a pitched battle in it. Pots scattered on the countertops, small puddles of water and bits of scales on the floor. You didn't have to have the ability to read minds to know that James wasn’t just fucking them up and down, but that he was counting from 0 to 1000 in milliseconds so as not to kill them right now.

“Both of you. OUT. NOW ” Both brothers left the sight of James with their heads down and when they were about to cross the threshold the brunette spoke again “If you have something to fix or just want to have a real fight, go outside to the gazeboo”

When they went out to the dining room they could hear their brother talking on the phone, apparently ordering Chinese food since the food had been spoiled.

"If you end up destroying the plants I will kill you"

A minute later, loud screams could be heard from outside the mansion.

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"What's going on outside? Who is fighting?” You ran downstars to the dining room trying to understand the situation. You had heard a few small screams a few minutes ago, but didn’t understood a word, not even the context.

"Miss / Mister, you better stay out of this..."

"James? What do you mean?" The incubus was standing in front of the front door holding two bags, apparently of Chinese food. Weird coming from James, who was always willing to cook.

“Well… let's say… Erik and Damien have some business to settle. I don't think it's a good idea that you get involved. ”

You understood very well the fighting between brothers, it was something that an outsider to that bond couldn’t fully involve. You’re about to help James bring the food to the table when the screaming from outside increased.

"YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW TO SEDUCE ?!"

"WITH OR WITHOUT MY GIFTS OF SEDUCTION I WILL MAKE THEM FALL IN LOVE WITH ME"

What? What they were fighting about? Or… maybe… for WHO were they fighting?

"I LOVE THEM. I LOVE (Y/N) AS I NEVER LOVED BEFORE”

Oh no. They were fighting over you.

That’s not good.

"I LOVE THEM TOO, AND I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE THEIR HEART WITHOUT FIGHTING"

You bolted out the door of the gazebo and opened it wide. Even before opening it, you could feel a slight charge of their powers, they were about to transform into their original form and it was better to stop this.

"You better stop that RIGHT NOW"

Both brothers were frozen in their places. Damien's skin tattoos peeked over the collar of his shirt and Erik's eyes shone with that golden color characteristic of his race. They stared at you for a long time, so long it made it uncomfortable. You were about to speak again when Erik cut you off.

“You heard our fight, we have nothing to hide" His eyes returned to normal and he gave Damien and you a sad look.

"I don't want to continue fighting anymore" Damien instead tried to avoid your gaze, like a sad and wet dog, but something in the environment prevented him from avoiding it for a long time.

"Me neither" Erik looked you straight in the eyes while giving off an intense aura "The decision is yours, your Highness"

"Erik! You can't ask them like that out of nowhere”

"It’s not our place to decide who is best for them. It’s their heart”

"In that ... you're right" Damien walked to position himself in front of you "The decision is yours"

Support me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/abrightsunshine

#seduce me the otome #seduce me the otome 2 #erik x reader #damien x reader #erik seduce me the otome #damien seduce me the otome #Erik Anderson #Damien Anderson #seduce me the otome x reader #incubus x reader #fluff

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fvaleraye · 4 years

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WyldWood

ayyyyyyyyy, would you look at that, another chapter. heck yeah

i was in the mood to write smth for Velda, so i thought this might be a good chance to give y’all a little bit of world background at the same time. Velda’s been to some neat places, y’all this takes place before Unexpected Reunions btw, just in case that’s not obvious-

i hope y’all enjoy reading ‘^^

The Great Forest was a deep, winding, intimidating expanse of trees. It was so expansive that efforts to make roads to every village in and past the edges of it were still ongoing. It was filled with more foliage than you could imagine, as well as monsters, bandits, and a myriad of other dissidents, looking to escape the ever expanding clutches of civilization and law, or simply trying to live as far from man as they could. There are some things, however, that man avoids in these woods. In the deepest parts of the woods, the center of that immense expanse of forest, is a place unlike any other. A place where the great Council dare not tread, where magic has soaked into the boughs of the greatest trees, and magic seeps into the earth through the roots, and, in time, returns to the roots. A place not meant for little fleshlings. Only for the branch and the root.

The WyldWood.

Few dared to tread in the WyldWood, so few that there were no roads leading to it, in fact all roads gave it a unreasonably wide berth. But it lied there, in the center of the forest. Through the dense and ever-shaded forest was a place that could only be described as... magical. The bark and the leaves of the trees, the grass, even the sky and the clouds, it was all so much brighter, more vibrant, almost as if they were a painting you could walk right into. Wisps of magic trailed through the air, like embers from a fire, handily demonstrating the sheer amount of magic contained in this place. Vines both great and small, thorned and smooth, grew everywhere, at times covering the ground below them entirely, making travel through it a bit troublesome. What could make a home in such a place, you may ask? Well, it wasn't the animals, it wasn't the elves, it wasn't fairies either, it certainly wasn't humans. No. The only things here were the trees, the plants. The WyldBorn.

The WyldBorn were a strange race of living plants, bark and vine given Sparks. Such a thing was unheard of, but here it was. There was no other place on Magna Terra where plant life could gain a Spark. The WyldWood was just that special. The WyldBorn could be an... obtuse race to interact with. Their ways were strange. Their speech was strange. Their mannerisms were difficult to understand for anyone but themselves. And they found "Fleshlings", as they called the other races, to be just as obtuse. Sentience among the WyldBorn varied, from little Wyldling drones that existed only to do simple tasks, to the "nobility", for lack of a better term, among them that possessed some sort of higher consciousness. At the very center of the WyldWood was the great, immortal progenitor of the race as a whole. The Great RootMother. The center of the great Wyld consciousness, shaper of the WyldWood, and the origin and greatest user of Wyld Magic. The great being was the oldest living thing on the entirety of Magna Terra, or, at least, the oldest living thing that has been confirmed to actually exist. Many sought her out for her knowledge, knowledge of the world, of Wyld Magic, or simply to see if she truly did exist. While the RootMother did not know all, she did still know many things. More than any other living being. Many considered the RootMother to be a sort of nature goddess, though the Holy Church was quick to dismiss any of that sort of implication. It was a trek, but few people made the trip and came out saying that it wasn't worth it. They knew what they were getting into.

The one person making the journey right now, though, only really had an idea of what she was getting herself into.

Velda had been walking through the woods for days now, with nothing but a little bag of rations, a bedroll, her old bow and arrows, and the dirty brown clothes on her back. She had seen the Silver City magi and historians, but nobody knew anything about what she wanted to know. It was disheartening. But a few people did point her in the direction of the RootMother, and said that if anyone on this earth knew the answers she sought, it would be her. Thankfully the WyldWood wasn't too hard to find, nearly every map you could find had a big "DON'T GO HERE" area in the middle of the Great Forest. She had never met a WyldBorn. She wondered what they were like. Were they really all plants...? It was pretty exciting. Of course, the slog through the woods to get there wasn't. It was miserable. The bedroll was better than sleeping on the dirt, but her back still really didn't appreciate it. She couldn't wait until she could go home and sleep in a real bed. With a mattress. And pillows. And Blankets. But, she couldn't leave, not yet, not until she had found the RootMother and spoke to her. Gods, please let her be real, I don't want to have walked all this way for literally nothing... Eventually, as she walked, miserable, but still keeping a steady pace, the dirt and faded grass gave way to much more luscious greenery. Seemed like she was going the right way.

As she kept her pace, she started to feel an... odd feeling in her chest. A. Lightness. Like she was floating. A moment later, she started to see little wisps of magic trailing around lazily. There were a few, but as she kept going there were many. Yeah, she was definitely in the right place. She took a deep breath, trying to shake off the weird floaty feeling she was getting. It was probably from the sheer saturation of magic in the area. As she continued for a few minutes longer, the ground started to rumble, and she froze. She looked around. But there was nothing. Nothing except the vines, and the trees. After a moment, some of those vines started to move.

The tangled mess of vines and roots in front of her started to snake and coil, tangling and untangling, shifting and contorting, until its form resembled something like a hulking beast. Vines coalesced at its "shoulders", and a wooden face-like mask formed at its face, eyeholes glowing as brightly as the runes on its body. The two shared a long, silent stare.

"... uh.... u-uh... h... hiiii...?" The girl greeted, hesitantly, trying to surpress her panic. "I.... u-uh... I-I'm looking f-for th-the... the RootMother...?"

The WyldGiant just stared, as unmoving as the trees surrounding them. Then, after a few moments, it looked up at the sky thoughtfully, as if it had just processed her words. "... Rrrrroooooooot.... Mmmmmoooootheerrrrrrrrr......." It parroted, its voice deep, rumbling like an earthquake. It looked back down at Velda, and slowly brought its creaking extremities around her, picking her up gently, like one would a baby bird. She tried her best to not move to much, though she was ready to have a panic attack. It set her ever-so-gently onto its shoulder, giving her a long glance. Then, it looked to the ground for a moment, unmoving. after a minute or so, it looked up again, and started to trod through the forest. The girl just anxiously held on for dear life.

The walk was slow, or, at least, it felt like it. It was a big creature that was carrying her around. It was trying its best not to throw her off, but it was still rocking quite a bit as it moved. The two moved in relative silence, though it couldn't really be considered silence, what with how much noise the giant was making as it moved along. Eventually, she decided to speak up. "... s-so... i-if I may ask..." She started, quietly, fidgeting as she spoke. "... wh-where are g-going...?"

The answer didn't come immediately, the WyldGiant seemed to need a few moments in advance before it did anything, but an answer did indeed come eventually. "... to.... Rooot... Mmmmoootherrr..." It replied, its own voice shaking its entire being.

"... y-you're just... gonna t-take me there? N-no questions asked??"

"... Mmmmotherrrrr... lllliiiikes... visiiitoorrrrrs..."

"... o-okay..."

The trip took a while, the sun had started to set by the time the giant stopped. The sprites of magic were that much brighter in the evening dusk, and the runes dotting the landscape were that much more obvious. It laid down low to the ground, and let its passenger off. It gave a long, thoughtful gaze forward, prompting her to look in the same direction. She could see an absolutely enormous tree. She was guessing that was the RootMother. Then, the giant turned around, and slowly plodded back off into the forest.

"... th-thank you." She called over her shoulder, meekly. There wasn't answer, but it did hear her. It just continued to walk off. Velda started what seemed to be the last leg of her trip.

It was much easier, thankfully. There weren't nearly as many vines, the ground was fairly even, if a bit bumpy in places. She decided to take the time to actually consider what she was going to say to the RootMother. How does one speak to a plant being older than your entire family line? Should she talk normally, or should she try to be respectful? Does she talk quietly or a loudly? Does she even need to talk at all?? What if the RootMother can hear her thoughts??? Oh gods how would she even be able to handle that-

Calm down. I’m overthinking again... ... but how can I not overthink when I’m about to meet a giant tree god???

It wasn't long before she was at the foot of the great tree. She was able to get a good look at it now. Bark and boughs twisted gracefully, fluidly, into one surprisingly cohesive form. Runes were etched all along the surface. The tree was shaped vaguely like a woman, though it was still clearly a tree. One could make a lovely, graceful form, though, in place of arms, there were branches holding up the lush, vibrant, enormous greenery that was her leaves, her Spark shining brightly within her chest. A face-like mask, very similar to the WyldGiants, slowly came down from the treetop, the near deafening creaking echoing throughout the entire forest as the enormous entity bent down to get a good look at her guest. She bared no expression, but the visitor could feel a sort of motherly gentleness on her blank features. The silence between the two was awkwardly long. At least, it was for Velda.

"... h... h-hello." She said, figuring that a simple hello would probably be a good start. "Are... are y-you the... th-the R-RootMother...?"

"Yes." She replied, her voice soft, echoing gently off the forest around them. The answer came much quicker than the other was expecting, to be quite honest.

"O-oh, g-good, good..." Her voice trailed off as she fidgeted. How does one speak to a millennia-old forest god? Was there any sort of etiquette? She had no clue. This wasn't exactly an every-day thing.

"Have you something to ask me, child...?" She asked, her tone coming off as a mother trying to gentle comfort her nervous child.

She continued to fidget, and let out a small nervous chuckle. "H-how'd you know...?"

"Most come to me with questions. Especially in these times. However, if you have come to ask me about the dragons, I cannot help you. They were before even my time, I’m afraid."

"O-oh! N-no! I-I'm not h-here to ask about d-dragons! I-I'm not much of a historian..."

"I see... then what, pray tell, are you here to ask then...?"

The girls eyes fell to the ground, her hands still wringing nervously. She considered how to put this question. It was one thing to ask a person, it was another thing entirely to ask a... tree god. After a moment, though, she did finally speak up. "... I... th... this might b-be a... weird question... but... do you kn-know... what I... am...?"

The RootMother took a long, hard look at her visitor. She tilted her head, and the other could feel her squinting, even if she couldn't really physically squint. "Hmmm... I am... unsure..." She answered, thoughtfully. Velda's arms fell to her sides as she gave a look of incredulous confusion.

"W-what do you mean you're "unsure"???" She said, her voice betraying her utter disbelief. "I-I thought y-you were supposed to know e-everything when it c-came to m-magic a-a-and sparks!"

"I know much. Not all." She replied, her tone still as gentle and even as ever. "I am truly sorry. But your... spark, is not something I am knowledgeable in."

The girl just stood there for a while, in shock. She. She came all this way. All this way. Just to get an "I don't know". Gods. Fucking damnit. Slowly, she sat on the ground, head in her hands, and let out a long sigh. She wanted to cry.

"... I will say, however..." She added, her tone starting to sound even gentler than before. "I do feel a sort of... kindred spirit, in your spark."

"... kindred spirit...?" She parroted, raising her head slowly. "What's that s-supposed to mean...?"

"There is a... familiarity. I cannot place it. But it is there."

She considered the beings words for a moment. Hmm. She. Wasn't really sure what she meant by that. But it was the closest thing to an answer she's gotten in a long, long time. It was progress. "... wh-where do I even g-go from here..."

"If I may... have you considered seeing the elflings...? You seem to bare a sort of resemblance to their kin."

"... yeah I g-get that a l-lot..." She mumbled, letting out another sigh. "I-I haven't seen the elves. I f-figured I'd try after this, if you... didn't have answers..."

"I am truly sorry I could not give you the answers you sought, child. I can tell it troubles you so."

"... you have no idea..."

"I may not have the answers you desire, but, as I said, I do feel a sort of kinship with you... so, I shall grant you something. A gift."

"A... a g-gift?"

"Yes. Hand me your bow."

She tilted her head at the RootMother. She... wasn't sure where she was going with this, but okay. She stood up, slowly, and hesitantly took the bow from her back, nervously handing it out to her. A few wisps of magic started to circle around as vines took the bow from her hand, wrapping around the old cracked wood like a snake coiling around its prey. The little motes of magic continued to circle it, until they all disappeared in small flash. Then, the vines started to sink back into the ground, revealing the bow once more. It was different now. It seemed to be as good as new, and glowing blue runes now covered it in nearly its entirety. She hesitantly took the bow back, looking up at the others face.

"I dub thee, Moonsong. Your bow is now kissed by the purest of Wyld Magic."

"W-wyld Magic...?" She gripped the bow, testing its weight a bit, glancing at the other as she did. "... isn't that, like, the m-most random and chaotic magic ever...?"

"It is only as disordered and "random" as nature is." She replied, sagely. "Do not fret, it will not cause you harm. It will give each arrow you fire special properties, and, under the moonlight, you will not even need arrows at all, for the Wyld shall provide you with arrows of moonlight."

"... neat..." She whispered, putting the bow back over her shoulder.

She gave a little snicker at the girls phrase. "Yes. "Neat" indeed."

"... th-thank you, really. E-even if you c-couldn't tell me what I w-wanted to know, I... I-I think you helped me g-get a little c-closer."

"You're welcome, child. I'm sorry I could not help more... safe travels."

#Valerie Writes #Scintillam #Velda #i had fun with this one asdflkjn-#and i'm p happy with how it turned out...#just a chill little adventure #well. i mean #depends on ur definition of chill i guess aslkdfjn #i hope y'all enjoy readin' '^^#*softly* n' reblogs would be appreciated if u did-

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cottonblush · 5 years

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puppy love | nyt

❧ word count: 5,916

❧ genre: fluff with some floff on the side

❧ notes: this is the first full length oneshot that i’ve written that i’m actually proud of?? i’ve written anime oneshots and stuff but they were always subpar? but this is like my first ever masterpiece so i really hope you guys like it:) also tysm @joynct and shira for helping me choose which member to base it on. i think the reason it flows so well is because yuta just fits this storyline so perfectly?? btw there’s a hint of embarrassed!yuta at the end oomf!! also p.s: mary, the messy bun is for you:)) p.p.s: i’m renaming this and idk what to use for initials because like Nakamoto YuTa or Joong YooTae

It was a warm August afternoon and Yuta had just moved into his apartment off campus for his second year of college. He hung up the last of his hoodies in and placed it in his closet before taking a few steps back to admire his handiwork. He released an accomplished grunt before flopping down on his mattress. The feeling of tiredness seeped into Yuta's bones as his eyes slowly closed and his mind drifted closer and closer to sleep. Sunlight streamed in through his windows and cascaded down onto his fair skin, creating a blanket of warmth. The soft chirping of the birds outside was like Yuta's own natural noise machine. Ah, Yuta thought to himself, I'm living the life-

A series of knocks pierced through the tranquil silence, alerting Yuta that someone was at his front door. "I'm coming," he groaned out, even though he knew whoever was on the other side of the door would never hear him. He sauntered over to the entrance and grasped the cool metal of the doorknob, yanking the large oak door open. He was met with the sight of a young lady who seemed to be around the same age as him. You had a fairly large duffel bag looped around each arm and a box in your hands.

Offering a kind smile, you introduced yourself, "Hey, I'm Y/n! Looks like we'll be roommates." You shuffled forward a bit and Yuta backed up in response, allowing you to get acquainted with the apartment.

"I'll grab some of your stuff," Yuta offered, already moving to pick up some of the boxes that were sitting idly in the hallway. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Your room is the one on the right. Mine is on the left. Maybe once you're done unpacking we can introduce ourselves a bit more." In response, Yuta heard a soft giggle and a 'sure.'

Not long after all of the boxes had been transferred to your room and Yuta settled down on the couch in the living room, he heard a door open. He glanced up in time to see you lethargically walk over and plop yourself down on a chair, releasing a loud sigh.

"Done unpacking?" he asked, mirth swimming in his deep orbs they swept over your tired form. He definitely related.

"Not even close. I'll get to it tomorrow or something. I just have so much stuff. I may or may not have packed way too much stuff," you sheepishly responded.

"Ah, so you must be a freshman."

"Jeez. Is it that obvious?"

"I mean, kinda? All freshmen tend to overestimate how much they need. Plus, all your boxes say 'college stuff' so I knew you weren't some random girl."

The two laughed and the atmosphere settled into a comfortable silence. Yuta grabbed his laptop from its resting place on the coffee table, enjoying the feeling of the cool exterior against the warm pads of his fingertips. Within a minute, the only sounds that filled the room were the dull sound of the TV playing and the soft clicks of a keyboard as he typed up a storm. For a split second, his eyes flickered away from the bright screen in front of him and towards the small chair on the other side of the coffee table. He expected to find his new roommate scrolling through her phone like she had been moments before. However, he saw your legs pulled up into your chest and your head nestled snuggly between your knees. Although your eyelids weren't completely closed, they seemed to drag down, wanting to pull you into the land of dreams. The slight parting of your lips and the consistent rise and fall of your chest indicated that you were not far from it.

Yuta felt for you. Just a year ago, he was in your exact position. He knew you had to be feeling quite nervous being in a new environment alone for the first time. A small smile fell on the young man's lips as he slowly and quietly got up from his position on the couch. He turned off the TV and tiptoed over to his room so he could grab a blanket. Once he returned, he gently draped the fluffy fabric over your shoulders and drew the blinds shut, preventing the harsh rays of the sun from falling onto her face. He picked up his laptop and headed back to his room, shutting the door behind him so that he could play some music without disturbing his new roommate.

Time passed in a flash and before he knew it, Yuta looked out of his window and saw the sun already setting along the horizon. His stomach grumbled sonorously, causing him to look towards the clock resting on his bedside table. His eyebrows shot up as he saw that the small digital clock read 7 o'clock. "Man, I can't believe I got so distracted. I missed dinner time," Yuta grumbled as he swung his legs over the side of his bed and trudged towards the kitchen. In his peripheral vision, he noticed you slowly stretching your limbs, arching your back, and releasing a content sigh before swaddling yourself back into his snuggly blue blanket. You reminded him of a kitten basking in the sun and as someone who could morph into a dog, he thought that thought might turn him off, but Yuta found it somewhat adorable.

It was a shame that he had to wake her from her catnap, but he figured you should get something to eat too. He shook her shoulder a bit, watching as your eyelashes fluttered before they revealed her deep irises. "You should eat something," Yuta suggested. As he walked towards the light switches to illuminate the room, he heard you mumble in a soft voice, "Hmm.. This blanket smells really nice. Smells like home."

At the time, Yuta didn't know why there was a falter in his step. He found that the room had become weirdly warm and even went to the thermostat to check if something was amiss. And as he grabbed a pot from one of the cabinets and saw his distorted reflection in the bottom of the stainless steel vessel, he had no idea why his cheeks were so rosy. It wasn't like Yuta found the girl cute or anything. Nope. Definitely not something as absurd as that.

Ignoring the tingling feeling that passed through his body, Yuta put the pot on the stove along with some water and got out a packet of ramen noodles. "You eat dinner really early, dude," came your voice from the living room.

Letting out a chortle, Yuta didn't hesitate to retort, "It's not healthy to eat late, y'know?"

You walked around the small island in the middle of the kitchen in order to see what was being prepared, a teasing smile appearing on your face when you saw a familiar ramen noodle package and some shredded cheese. Not one to back down, you said, "Cheesy ramen isn't very healthy no matter what time, is it?"

"Touché."

Yuta was becoming increasingly annoyed with himself. He'd only known you for a little more than half a day, and yet everything you did brought a warm feeling to his chest. He mentally berated himself, You can't have a crush on this girl, Yuta! Pull yourself together. It hasn't even been a day.

About two months into the first semester of his sophomore year, Yuta acknowledged that he had just been in denial. It took him a while but he had come to terms with the fact that he liked his roommate. After all, not many girls could have him feeling so happy-go-lucky with just a simple smile. However, much to his dismay, you appeared to have no interest in him at all. Maybe, he figured, I'm just not her type.

Now, any rational guy would probably give up on the girl, fearing the possibility of an awkward atmosphere if their relationship were to go awry. Especially if this girl was living with them for the rest of the school year. However, Yuta was far from normal. He'd always been. He began thinking of what kind of guys you might've liked. He snapped his fingers as a great thought hit him. He'd seen a soccer jersey sitting on the top of her laundry basket. If you were athletic, maybe you liked guys who were athletic too.

Yuta was definitely not what you would consider athletic. He hadn't got real exercise since P.E. in his last year of high school. It'd been more than a year and all he'd done was focus on studying and playing video games. He'd turned into a pile of skinny, lanky limbs. But one thing was for sure. Yuta was determined. Determined to get you to notice him. He started going to the gym regularly. He ate healthier and even joined a Facebook group for guys who wanted to get in shape. There, he met one of his closest friends, Taeil. He learned that Taeil was also a sophomore at the same school and eventually, the two started going to the gym together. He kept up his routine, always making time to study, of course. At the start of the second semester, he'd already developed definition in his biceps and his figure had become much sturdier.

Riding on a wave of confidence from his new and improved self, Yuta ended up trying out for the soccer team (a.k.a the university's pride and joy) along with his new friend. The two ended up making the team, though they were far from being a starting player. It was on the cold, thin benches that the duo of Yuta and Taeil became a trio. They met another bench warmer who was a transfer student from China named Sicheng and the three instantly hit it off.

Eventually, Yuta opened up to his two best friends about his predicament. They talked for hours one day and by the end of the evening, Sicheng had planted a seed of a thought in Yuta's head that you would notice him if he was a starting player. Once again, Yuta began his fitness grind, practicing drills and spending much more time on the field than some of the team's star players. It turned out that Yuta and Sicheng were natural soccer players, Yuta excelling in speed and agility, and Sicheng pulling of crazy trick shots with his insane flexibility and previous martial arts knowledge. They became starters in no time. Taeil, on the other hand, decided that soccer wasn't his thing and decided that next year, he would take up tennis instead.

With the joy of making it to the starting team also came increased popularity. The trio got invited to parties almost every weekend and even hosted a couple of their own. Yuta truly did enjoy this faster paced lifestyle. It felt nice to be finally noticed. It felt nice to be considered a 'prodigy' or a 'genius.' However, when he was at all those rumbustious parties surrounded by girls that he would've considered to be way out of his league just months before, a part of his mind always drifted back to you. He'd started this all to impress you, but what good would it do if he was spending all his time at parties instead of at home with you.

Unfortunately, you still didn't seem to be showing any interest in Yuta and with a battered ego, he was easily swept away into the exuberant life of partying and popularity. Of course, you two were still friends. You never drifted away, but you never got close either. It was as if the two of you were like the same poles of two magnets. Yuta wanted to get closer to you, yet some force seemed to be keeping you two apart.

The rest of the year passed by within a blink of an eye, and before he knew it, Yuta was spending on summer vacation again, basking in the cool air of his air conditioner as the blazing sun heated up the whole town. It was around the middle of June when Yuta got a text from you. Honestly, he hadn't been thinking of you as often and was starting to think that maybe his feelings were dying down. He didn't make as much of an effort to get in touch with you as he used to, so when got a text from you wondering if you two were planning on being roommates again for the next school year, Yuta was genuinely surprised. Just because he was surprised, it didn't mean he would turn down your offer. You two got along well and looked out for each other. Coincidentally, the week before, Taeil and Sicheng had let Yuta know that they would be living on campus together with one of Taeil's friends who was transferring that year. So if living with you meant he could escape the possibility of rooming with someone he didn't get along with, he'd gladly say yes.

And that's exactly what he did. He chose to call you to let you know, but he started to regret his decision when he heard you pick up and your cheerful voice sing into his ear.

"Hi, Yuta! What's up?"

That's weird, Yuta thought. You almost sounded… nervous?

"Hey. I got your text. Just wanted to let you know I'm down to room with you again. Did you want to find a place in the same building?"

"Haha, yeah. That'd be convenient. And this year, my parents are coming with me to help unpack! Isn't that cool? I know you moved out before me last year, but this year, you'll finally get to meet them!"

"Oh yeah, um, that's exciting?"

If anyone asked, Yuta would definitely deny the fact that his voice cracked at the thought of getting to meet your parents. Ok, so maybe he hadn't completely gotten over you. But it was a work in progress, at least.

"You must be Yuta," a man with a familiar jovial tone said to our protagonist as he approached the new apartment that he decided to rent with you. Yuta offered a signature smile and nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Sir. It's been a pleasure living with Y/n and I'm glad you've allowed me to do so again this year."

Your father let out a hearty chuckle in response, "Oh, son, there's no need to be so formal! Y/n has only said good things of you. You can consider yourself part of the family!"

The two men were shaking hands with each other when they were interrupted by your voice shouting in a shrill tone, "Yuta, oh my gosh! Your suitcase!"

Instead of turning to the sound of your voice like his body automatically wanted to do, he forced himself to look back to where he came from. His eyes widened as he saw the elevator closing and descending, taking his suitcase along with it. You ran up to him and placed a hand on his arm, hunched over laughing. Once you managed to regain your breath, you said to him, "Yuta, the way you manage to be such an airhead sometimes while maintaining a perfect GPA and being on the soccer team still amazes me to this day. You have a true gift, I swear!"

Yuta's face burned with embarrassment, but he couldn't help laugh along with you as you ran down the hall and repeatedly hit the button that would bring the elevator back up. This was definitely a great way to make a good impression on the parents of the girl he'd had a crush on for almost all of his sophomore year. He didn't let it get to him, though. He missed it; he missed being around you.

He quickly got all of his things unpacked with the help of you and your family. As the sun set and the stars made themselves apparent, you said waved goodbye to your family and shut the door behind you, releasing a tired and somewhat melancholic sigh. "I miss them already," you muttered dejectedly, "I can't believe I have to wait until Thanksgiving to see them again."

Yuta, wanting to put an end to the sad atmosphere, cheerily assured you, "Well, Y/n, I guess the two of us just have two have a super fun year so that the time flies by!" He finished by flashing his pearly whites and doing a cute little eye smile for extra effect.

"R-Right," you said, as if surprised by his presence. Without warning, you quickly scurried off into your room and shut the door behind you.

It was Yuta's turn to sigh as he pointedly told himself, "Wow, Yuta. You can’t even cheer her up. What kind of roommate and friend are you?"

Luckily, it seemed your mood had turned quickly and by the end of the hour, you had come out of your room and situated yourself on the couch with a book, humming a soft tune as you became enraptured by the story. Yuta felt his shoulders finally relax as he saw that your spirits had brightened. Usually, he'd go sit right next to you and offer to watch a movie, but that night, he decided to give you some space and turned in early, bidding you a fleeting 'goodnight.'

By the time school rolled around, the dynamic between you two had been built back up and you eased into the school year like you'd been doing it your whole life. It was all going so smooth until one afternoon a bit before Yuta's 4 o'clock analytic chemistry class. He and you were sitting on the couch, you flipping through channels while he did some last minute reading. All of a sudden you said something that made Yuta pause.

"I have a date tonight. Don't wait up, okay?"

When Yuta paused, he quite literally paused everything. His hand stopped mid page flip, his brain went blank, and he was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a bit. Clearing his throat and trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible, he said, "Oh, that's cool, I guess."

He thought to himself, Do not get jealous, Yuta. You are NOT jealous of someone you don't even know. Y/n hasn't paid you any attention in the past year. Why would she start now?

But once you jumped up excitedly and started rambling on about the outfit you were going to wear, he slowly felt a green eyed monster growing in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh, that's right! I've got to get some makeup for my date tonight," you informed. "I should be back in about an hour so I guess I'll see you when I see you."

As you grabbed your wallet and shut the door behind you, Yuta's vision went white. The thought of you on a date with someone else made him uncomfortable. The thought of someone else with their arms around you made him absolutely furious. He knew he didn’t own you or anything, but the thought of you with someone else just felt so wrong that he truly believed it to be. He had to do something. He felt his body do something he hadn't done in a very long time. He felt his body shrink in size as he got on all fours, his limbs becoming furry and his nose extending out into a snout. Within a matter of seconds, he had successfully shapeshifted into a medium sized Shiba Inu and was already heading towards your bedroom. Pushing the door open with his head, he immediately spotted the aforementioned date outfit lying on your bed. Without giving it any thought, he grabbed it between his sharp teeth and pulled as hard as he could.

When Yuta finally came to, he realized he had just destroyed a perfectly good dress of yours and you would be livid if you found out. He panicked for a second before getting an idea. Morphing back into his human form, he opened the window in your bedroom and placed a couple pieces of torn fabric on the floor and on the windowsill, creating a trail. That way, it looked like some animal had gotten in and been the one to rip up your clothes.

Looking at the time on his watch, he realized he had to leave right away if he wanted to make it to class, so he grabbed his things and rushed out the door, slamming it behind him with a resonant thud.

Throughout his whole class, he couldn't focus on the teacher at all, his mind drifting toward what your reaction was going to be. He ended up having to ask one of his friends for a summary of the lesson after class and even then, every word he heard was muddled and his brain was fuzzy.

When he got to the front door of your shared apartment, Yuta didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps you ended up going on the date anyway. But when he opened the door, he was greeted with the sight of you sitting crisscross-apple-sauce on the couch shoveling ice cream into your mouth at an alarming rate and pouting all the while.

Trying to be as casual and unassuming as possible, he greeted you, "H-Hey, Y/n. What's up? How come you're not on your date?"

You pouted some more before turning to him with big doe eyes and whining, "Some bird or squirrel or whatever got into the apartment and ripped up my nice outfit. It was my only fancy outfit, too! I had to cancel. I didn't want to show up looking like a hobo. It was so last minute too. He's never gonna want to go out with me again!"

Yuta wanted to assure you that you'd look stunning even if you wore the ugliest, most garish outfit ever, but he forced those words down his throat.

"I'm sorry. How about we order some pizza and sushi and pig out," he said as he situated himself next to you and gave your back a comforting pat.

You let out a huff and leaned yourself on his side. Resting your head on his shoulder, you grumbled, "I guess… But right now I just want to watch a super badass murder mystery. Like Inspector Gadget."

Once again, Yuta wanted to mention that Inspector Gadget was not a homicide investigator, nor was he badass in any way, shape, or form, but he decided it just wasn’t the time. Also, he probably couldn't form proper sentences even if he tried. All he could think about was how soft your hair was as it tickled his cheek and the sensitive skin on his neck.

This little routine continued for quite a while. Whenever you had a date, your clothes or shoes would mysteriously get chewed up. And even when you prepared a backup outfit, that got ruined too. In all honesty, Yuta was pretty content with the way things were. It's not like you ever got mad about it. You were just disappointed that you couldn't get a date. But all good things in Yuta's life eventually came to an end. He knew this would never last.

He was relaxing with Taeil, Sicheng, and the newest addition to the group, Taeyong, in the quad and was lamenting for the thousandth time about how you still didn't notice him and how he was still not over you. Taeil disappointedly shook his head and remarked, "Bro, you're as whipped for her as a stiffened meringue."

Yuta furrowed his brows and said, "I thought you said you'd take up tennis, not cooking or baking or whatever."

Taeil seemed to think about it for a second before responding, "Yeah, I did say that. But Taeyong convinced me that cooking would be fun!"

Yuta's eyes drifted over to Taeyong's slightly guilty visage, letting out an amused chortle. He seemed to have the opposite reaction to Sicheng's. While Yuta's eyes danced with mirth, Sicheng groaned and rested his head in his hands. He pleaded, "Oh my god, Yuta. Please stop him. Please! I thought living with two chefs would be cool and I could leech off of them and their good food, but all Taeil does is make food puns and Taeyong is too nice to tell him to stop."

"Ok, but why can't you tell Taeil to stop-"

"He literally won't listen. It's like I'm invisible or something. I've never been ignored by him before"

"Aww, Sicheng! Are you jealous?"

Taeyong chose that time to cut in to the conversation, "Speaking of jealous, I know you all are gonna be super jealous of me! I have a date tonight with a really cute girl. And she's like super smart too!"

Yuta really didn't care much about where the conversation was headed. Sure, he was happy for Taeyong, but he was really down in the dumps about you. He almost zoned out until Taeyong suddenly sprang up and pointed to somewhere behind him and yelped, "Look! There she is! Her name's Y/n and hopefully you guys will meet her soon when I can introduce her as my girlfriend. Anyway, I'll see you guys later. I'm gonna go see if she'll let me walk her to her next class!"

And with that, Taeyong scurried off into the distance looking happy as could be. Contrastingly, Yuta blanched when he heard your name. He turned around just to check if perhaps Taeyong was talking about a different Y/n, but was greeted by the sight of Taeyong catching up to you and grabbing your free hand that wasn't grasping a backpack strap, sending you a shy smile. Turning back around, Yuta slumped in his lawn chair and let out a dejected moan. Dragging his hands down his face, he sighed, "Of course. It had to be her."

Sicheng and Taeil offered looks of pity, both saying how there was no way Taeyong could've known and that if Yuta talked to Taeyong, he'd surely step down. But he couldn't. "I couldn't ask him to do that," he told his two friends. "She's free to choose whoever she wants and date whoever she wants to date. I don't own her. No one does."

His friends nodded in understanding and offered him a somewhat awkward goodbye as they watched him collect his stuff and head back to your shared apartment that was not too far from campus. As he trudged back, Yuta thought to himself, You're such a hypocrite. It's not like you've been giving her much of a choice lately.

Yuta was sipping on a protein shake and watching another episode of Inspector Gadget (you'd got him hooked onto the show, but he'd never admit it to you) when your bedroom door opened. You stepped out wearing an adorable yellow off the shoulder top and a pair of dark wash jeans that happened to make your butt look better than Yuta thought imaginable. Your hair was neatly parted and although it looked like you hadn't spent much time on it, each curl fell perfectly around your face. Your makeup was very light, but it was definitely there. One look at your lips and he could almost smell the strawberry lip balm that he was almost certain you were wearing. It was his favorite. All in all, it looked like this outfit was made for him. For the first time in his life, he was truly and totally breathless. The way you could be so effortless and make him feel the way he felt? It scared him. It scared him so much.

You walked to the door anxiously, as if waiting for something to happen. Usually, your sneakers would barely create any sound against the hardwood floors. But the whole apartment was silent, so each step you took seemed to echo tauntingly in Yuta's ears. His animalistic side urged him, pleaded him, to do something before it was too late.

So he did. For once, he was willing to take the risk. It took him all of his sophomore year and half of his junior year to realize that he was utterly, wholly in love with you. And the thought of you and Taeyong together was clawing at his heart so violently that he could barely breathe. Within three large strides, he was right behind you, grasping your hand as if you'd disappear if he let go.

"Y/n," he croaked. When you wouldn't look him in the eye, he gently grabbed your chin and tilted it towards him. For a second, he didn't know what to say. The tension between you and him was almost palpable. Your large doe eyes urged him to do something, to say something. But Yuta was frustrated. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to tell say 'I love you' when he knew you felt nothing for him in return. Delicately, he whispered, "Oh my god, how can you be so oblivious?" Your eyebrows pinched together in confusion and you were about to respond when he dropped your hand, leaving it to grasp at the air where he stood as he stormed off to his bedroom and shut himself in with a loud slam of the door.

"I'm stupid," Yuta said to himself as he laid on his bed in the darkness and stared at his ceiling, "I'm so stupid." He repeated it over and over again, almost like a mantra, for who knows how long when there was a soft knock at his door.

"Yuta," your voice called out with uncertainty. "Are you still in there?" The door cracked open and warm yellow light slowly poured into his room. He squinted a bit, eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness as he sat himself up and turned to face you.

He took in your appearance, your baggy sweatpants, your hair tied up in a messy bun, your makeup wiped away but that goddamn strawberry lip balm ever present on your soft petals. "What are you doing here?" he questioned.

She let out a tired chuckle and approached him, sitting in front of him on the edge of his bed. "I'm here for you, dumbass. I don't know if you could tell or not, but I've liked you for a while. Since summer, I think."

"W-What? Are you serious? What about Taeyong?"

"I told him it wouldn't work out because I was already interested in you. It was kinda weird. When I told him I'm your roommate, he just looked super guilty for some reason."

Yuta made a mental note to tell his friend how genuinely kind a person he was and maybe set him up with one of the many people who he knew had a crush on Taeyong. "Wow, bless him, honestly. I don't deserve him." You gave him a puzzled look, but he continued anyway, "What made you change your mind? You haven't really shown much interest in me at all."

"Well, it's kinda a long story. I mean, I've liked you since the beginning of summer. That's why I probably sounded so weird over the phone when I asked you to be my roommate again. But you got super popular and you didn't show me much interest either. So I kinda tried to push my feelings away. And then this guy asked me out on a date and it was like this golden opportunity. But my outfit got ruined. And all my date outfits kept on getting ruined."

Yuta gulped nervously and was about to interrupt, but you were on a roll, "And they just kept on getting ruined. But only the nice ones. I'm not dumb, so I did a little experimenting. I put nuts and treats in my closet to see if the animals would maybe eat those instead, but they only seemed to be interested in the clothes that I laid out. Step two, I laid out clothes on random nights when I didn't have dates too, but those never got chewed up. That was when I knew something was up. So I put a camera in my room and had one of my friends help me set up a live feed. And I caught this dog. This really cute Shiba Inu. I found the culprit. But I kept watching and it turned into you. And if I'm being honest, I was freaked out at first. But now I just think it's cool. Anyway, I knew it was you, but I didn't want to assume, so I waited for a sign. And tonight, you gave me one. So I took it and ran with it, I guess."

Yuta was feeling so many emotions in that moment. He was embarrassed, confused, and scared. But he was also overwhelmingly happy. However, in the midst of all the emotions, he still felt that he had to clear things up. "Hold on a second," he uttered. "I didn't show you any interest?! You really are oblivious, Y/n! I've liked you since you first moved in with me! The only reason I started working out and joined the soccer team was to impress you because I saw that stupid Lionel Messi jersey in your laundry basket one time. The entirety of my sophomore year of college was me trying to impress you. Oh my gosh, how am I in love with someone as dumb as you?"

"Hey! I'm not dumb. I just wasn't interested in dating during my freshman year and I- Wait. Did you say you love me?"

"No?"

"Yes. You totally did! I just heard you. Wow, guess I have blackmail against you now, don't I?"

You let out an obnoxiously loud laugh, your shoulders shaking and your eyes sparkling with joy. In that moment, you looked like an angel. Actually, screw that. You were the most beautiful thing in the whole universe. Better than any angel.

"I love you," Yuta said. "I love you, like a lot. And you don't have to say it back. I just want you to know that I love you and I think you're perfect." With that, he grabbed your shoulders and slowly brought you closer, placing a gentle, fleeting kiss on your forehead and then leaning back. But the reaction he got was not what he expected.

Your face was blank as you articulated, "That's it? That's all I get? You just professed your undying love for me and all I get is a frickin' forehead kiss?" Your voice rose with every word you spoke as you got closer and closer until only a few millimeters separated the two of you. Gathering up some courage, you placed your hands on Yuta's cheeks and pulled him in for a proper kiss.

Your lips fit perfectly into his and you wanted to stay like that forever, but a thought suddenly plagued your brain. You just had to ask, "Hey, Yuta? Will you ever let me see you transform in real life? Wait! Do you like to be pet and stuff! OHMYGOSH WAITWAITWAIT THAT'S LIKE SO CUTE WHAT THE HECK!! Um no wait ignore those questions! Most importantly, do you have like a kink that comes with it? Like do you like doggy style or-"

"Y/N I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE I WILL NEVER TALK TO YOU!"

"Aww, you're embarrassed! That's cute. I really caught myself a cutie!"

"I hate you."

"You love me."

"Ugh, I know."

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littlethingwithfeathers · 5 years

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Writing Update: 9-9-19

Work was a little slow this week, and will likely continue to be. I’m still catching up from being at Dragon Con last week, plus I’m in tech for the show I’m working on this week. But “Intercalation” has begun publishing and that will keep my queue going for a couple months while I work on some other projects. Thanks for following and reading!

Publishing now!

Intercalation (HBO’s Chernobyl): A Valery/Boris/Ulana fix-it fic that picks up immediately after the final scene of the show. Ulana and Boris try to re-balance their lives after Valery is viciously ripped away from them, all the while facing reminder after reminder of the people they were before Chernobyl and the people they had become together while they were there.

Excerpt:

July 16, 1987

Standing on the poisoned ground of Chernobyl, Boris and Ulana watch helplessly as the car drives away from the makeshift courthouse. They watch with their hearts in their throats and their stomachs in their shoes as the KGB drive away with their comrade in tow. Not "comrade" in the Party sense of the word. They'd perverted it. If telling a truth that potentially saved lives was punished like this, they'd perverted it. They perverted everything.

But what else was there to call it? They'd never dared name the strange shape that had formed around the three of them. Between them. Through them. A year in the crucible of Chernobyl had changed them inexorably, as the accident would change everything for kilometers around it and for years to come.

And now they were split asunder, just as cruelly as they had been fused together.

"Where are they taking him?" Ulana asks, staring up at Boris with wide, lost eyes. She looks shell-shocked. Horrified. I did this,her face says. I told him to tell the truth at all costs, and now he's going to pay. Just him. It should be me.

***

Other “Friendship is Unnecessary” fics at various stages:

But Most of All : Based off this post. In progress, currently just past the 2k mark. This is a short, upbeat, porny little one-shot of Nat being a shit and teasing Steve. Because honestly… this series needs some levity after what I’ve done in “Stolen Season.” Not sure of an ETA, but soon.

One of Those Things (Prologue): Since I’ve written this beast of a series completely out of order, and thus all my author notes are no doubt VERY confusing, I thought I’d put a short prologue on the front. Just a couple of short scenes to plant some seeds and give an actual starting place to this whole sprawling, intertwining mess, but also to give me a chance to address new readers so my forewords on the rest of the fics don’t seem weird. I’ve got a little more than a thousand words written on it which is probably about a third to half way.

Untitled Pre-War Steve/Bucky and Pre-Avengers Phil/Clint/Natasha: Partially a request from @crazyevildru that I’m toying with. Probably a flashback or a memory. This series really does need more Steve/Bucky, and I feel bad about it. I’m thinking of also adding a prequel/flashback of Clint/Phil/Natasha as well… maybe have the whole thing be a discussion over dinner post-Endgame.

Sweet and Honorable (Title pending): Set post Civil War. Bucky insists on coming with Sam and Natasha to rescue Steve when he gets captured. This is starting to take shape in my head as a sort of work through for some of the issues that get raised in “Echo in my Soul.” Given what we know about the new Black Widow movie, I may hold off on this one for a bit. At least until I can figure out how I’m going to squirm around or ignore the added canon. (can’t wait for that movie BTW)

***

Other works coming soon!

Hymn of Acxiom: Scarlet/Vision. It would be post Endgame, with Wanda helping a newly reconstructed Vision who has no memories and no personality without the Mind Stone to network all the pieces and facets of his personality. This is next on the docket after “Intercalation.” I’ve really only just gotten started. Sketching scenes and playing with theme. Don’t expect anything before November.

Untitled Sarge/Melinda May fic: I know. I KNOW! Don’t give me that look. You’re watching the same show I am and you’re seeing what I’m seeing. This shit writes itself. I’ve been sketching on a few things, and now that the season’s wrapped up I have an idea of what I want to do. I might crowbar in a few days just so that I can have some exploration time… sometime between (SPOILERS) May shooting Sarge and them heading for the Temple.

A Maelstrom Whirls Below: I’m toying with the possibility of a sequel to my Darcy/Eddie/Venom fic “A Room for Rent in the Fourth Estate.” A rough outline is in place, and I’m starting to sketch around on a few scenes. But right now it’s just some ideas and a few zippy one-liners. It’s starting to get some traction though! Likely won’t start work in earnest until after all this Chernobyl and Wanda/Vision stuff is done, but I’m definitely letting it percolate.

Hang By Every Word: The outline for my Stucky fic is still coming along but it will be awhile yet before I start writing on it in earnest. The basic theme (and I’m sure this has been done, but fuck it) is the undoing of Bucky’s conditioning one trigger word at a time. And each trigger word locked down a memory that HYDRA deemed integral to Bucky’s personality. And of course… they all involve Steve. So I have to write things from Steve’s point of view, and all ten memories have to be written from Bucky’s point of view, and they have to tie together into a cohesive narrative. The memories are out of order, but Steve’s timeline isn’t and… It’s a challenge. I’m still largely in the brainstorming phase… writing little snippets here and there. Nothing’s solidly taking form just yet. Again… just letting it percolate.

#writing #writing update

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zenosanalytic · 4 years

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Breaking The Wheel

A Summarized Analysis of the first three books of HoxPoX: House of X #1&2, and Powers of X #1

Ok so, I’ve been working on/thinking about this for awhile now, mostly because life just keeps interrupting and so I haven’t had the time to just sit down and finish it, but also partially cuz I’ve been struggling with the form I want to put it in. Honestly you could write multipage analyses of EACH of these books, as well as the Stuff they share and conflict over, but I’m going for something more condensed than that so that I can FINALLY move on to just reading the rest of the series! In later posts I’ll be getting into specific themes and instances of symbolism, but first I just want to get my basic observations&guesses abt the series(which everyone else has already read X|) down. So here we go:

Resurrection/Rebirth:

HoX#1 opens with the XMen emerging from some sort of plant-eggs. My guess(which is p much confirmed for me since I’ve read Excalibur #1) was that this is a resurrection. There’s a heavy cthonic tone to the whole Deal, and Xavier is visually placed in an ambiguously parental/godly role to the XMen as they emerge. Of course, in our culture resurrection and rebirth are heavily conflated and so the symbols INVOKING resurrection here --egg shapes, trees, chrysalises, golden light-- are all ALSO symbolic of fertility and rebirth and, as I love puns&multiple meanings, I absolutely think that’s important too. Beyond informing the action of the page, on a meta level this is obvsl also a powerful thesis & statement of intent for X Men, a long-running and hugely popular comic book property: a declaration of both reviving a moribund past, and the intention to do something new with it. The decision to bring back old costumes and classic art styles, and to center it on long-forgotten locations, plot points(like Krakoa itself), and typically overlooked or underwritten characters(like Moira McTaggart and Mystique’s supporting cast), absolutely suggests a dedication to this task, and the intention to accomplish it moving forward.

Cycles:

Related to this is the importance of repeating, “inescapable” Cycles to the work. HoX 1 moves from this scene of resurrection to scenes of planting and plant growth which cycle through both seasonal phases and phases of the day. HoX 1 then carries this forward by taking place over the COURSE of a single day.

PoX 1 repeats this with cycles of Time and information gathering: Mystique delivering the usb from Damage Control in (Year 10); Rasputin and Cardinal retrieving & delivering information from The Nexus in Year 100; The Librarian trying to recover information from Cylobel(a mutant bred, rebelled, then captured by the sentinels), now part of the Mutant Library, in Year 1000. This is supported subtly in the art of all three books(but made explicit in the opening scenes of PoX 1 where Moira meets Xavier) through cycles of color: Green/Teal, Gold, and Purple. The symbolic meaning of the colors are various and contextual, I’ll get more into it later, but the basic foundation seems to be Green=Naivety/Beginnings/Ambiguity, Gold=Power/Knowledge, Purple=Death/Endings/Rebirths. PoX 1 ends with Beginnings: The Librarian fondly regards an Eden-like Zoo for what remains of “pure-strain” homo sapiens, and Rasputin(a mutant freedom fighter in Year 100) delivers her information just as Mystique did in the first section after the introduction of the book.

Hox 2 continues and solidifies the pattern of cycles. It ends were PoX 1 began: with Moira and Xavier’s meeting at the fair(a mobius double helix reach around, perhaps :p). It begins with Moira’s birth and a recounting of her first, entirely human, life. It continues through the cycles of her lives and deaths as she grapples with her Groundhog Day existence(a personal struggle which parallels and microcosms the larger struggle within humanity over mutation), which in a tenuous way seems to be narratively structured around the stages of grief. First she isn’t aware&trying to understand what’s happening(denial), then out of resentment of what she has lost from her first life, she rejects mutation and tries to “cure” it(anger), then seeks coexistence, and increasingly tenuous proposition over lifetimes(bargaining), before giving up in despair and wallowing in mutually destructive conflict(depression). The color symbolism is retained: The sickbed where her resurrection powers manifest is bathed in gold light, her first human childhood surrounded by naive greens, with the death/rebirth of her 2nd life gestated in wombly fuschias, and continued with a pink-purple dress in her 2nd toddlerhood. The sentinels, the mechanical agents of death throughout her lives, are purple, as ever.

However, HoX 2 ultimately struggles against, and seeks to subvert, the cycles even as it repeats them, suggesting to me that Escape is the ultimate endpoint of the series. While HoX&PoX 1 are told from within the cycles, HoX 2 is an outside recounting of them. At least one of Moira’s lives seems to be missing, likely hidden, and the end of another is obscured in eternal war. Moira breaks the 4th wall to discuss her mutation, and it’s impact directly with the audience; literally displaying her ability and desire to break out of the cycles. Her actions within each cycle are either to carry information between them, or motivated by what she’s learned from previous ones, thereby breaking the boundaries btw them and flattening out the cycles into a single linear narrative. In fact by the time of the series, by her 10th life, ending the violent cycles of her lives and deaths(and thus, the cycles of intrahuman conflict over mutation) is Moira’s declared and explicit goal(and HoX2 presents the series as the story of Moira). Her 10th life is canonically either her last or second to last life. In the “stages of grief” model, the last stage is “acceptance”; synthesizing and integrate one’s grief and loss into a new, healthy life. Both narratively and thematically, HoX 2 positions HoXPoX as a Dune-scaled epic narrative; not as the story of a particular conflict, but as a Historical narrative; as the story of structural patterns of behavior reinforced by instinctive dispositions, repeated throughout time, and one attempt to escape them for something better.

Ambiguity:

The narrative takes the point of view, and thus also the side, of the mutants, but that isnt to say it presents the mutants as unquestionably the “good guys”, or the human-AI alliance as necessarily the “bad guys”. While the forces of ~Human Purity~ and supremacy, those rejecting the shared humanity of mutants(Orchis: a mega organization of Marvel’s secret societies&black-ops orgs), are clearly presented as fascist, both visually and narratively, supremacist talk ALSO abounds on the mutant side which, when combined with trophically sinister visual cues suggests the mutant-nationalist sepratist project contains its own dangerous contradictions(further lampshaded by setting one of the major plots of HoX 1 in Israel, thus drawing parallels btw the two). Meanwhile the AIs, who carry out the Purists’ genocidal campaign, are presented as a sort of blameless technological inevitability; aware of the wrongness of what they do, and yet unable to stop doing it due to their programming. In this way, I suspect, they are meant to act as a commentary on the mutant-non-mutant conflict itself; on the way in which humans(both mutant and non) are primed to reject each other as fully human by both instinctive impulse and cultural structures emphasizing competition-based interpretations of evolution. I suspect this is even further and more directly lampshaded in the series at two points: In HoX#1 with discussion of “the cro-magnon problem”, and in HoX#2 through Moira’s off-hand reference to this idea in her 4th life(when she first decides to give Xavier and coexistence a shot). The idea both times that other homo species were “wiped out” by competition with Homo sapiens because they SEEM to no longer exist, but this is a false conclusion. In rreality genetic studies show significant admixture of the other homo branches within the sapiens line. The reality of pre-historical hominid interaction wasn’t genocide, but synthesis. The inability to conceive of this(in other words, the inability to conceive of all homo sapiens as equally human, and mutants as a new evolutionary stage; the drive to cling to “ethnic purity”) is, I believe, the core problem the series will posit drives human&mutant conflict, which needs to be gotten past in someway. Obvsl this guess could be wrong.

Alright that’s the first post on my read through of the first 3 books. Like I said I’ll be posting more detailed analysis later.

#Marvel #HoXPoX #HoX 1 #HoX 2 #PoX 1 #X Men #Hickman et al #analytic posts

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canumoveurseatup-no · 5 years

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Shadow and Shade Casting List Part 3

So excited for this series and happy you guys are enjoying the idea of a casting list and the little facts!

Here is part 3 and this will contain her three main siblings! (I might add Hades, Athena, Artemis, Zeus etc. later on in the story!!)

Part two of Shadow and Shade will hopefully come tomorrow (Tuesday Feb. 12)

Btw the little quotes I use for them will appear in the story and will most likely be their most ‘iconic’ line.

————

Zendaya as Gaia, Goddess of Earth/Mother Earth:

Also spelled as Gaea. Sister to Nyx (you). A Protogenoi. She is also the primordial Goddess of nature, harvest, animals, fertility, motherhood, birth, procreation, creation and life.

Abilities:

-Creation of Sentient Life Forms: can create monsters powerful enough to challenge and potentially defeat other Gods/Goddesses.

-Geokinesis: as the embodiment of of Earth she has divine authority and absolute control over Earth.

-Earth Awareness: ability to know everything that happens on Earth.

-Earth Manifestation: while sleeping, she can manifest from dirt to anything she wanted

-Chlorokinesis: infinity control regarding plants

-Premonition: She can show memories or visions to others

-Transfiguration: She has the power to transform any object or being into something else

-Atmokinesis: can control and manipulate the weather

-Ferrokinesis: as the embodiment of Earth, she can bend metals of her body (Earth) in any shape she wants (this helps to dodge and counter attacks) with this power she has a scythe that can destroy the bodies and souls of other primordial deities.

Home: she resides on Earth

Personality/Traits: She is a very demanding Goddess. She is mother of all things and definitely plays that warm motherly role. She will do anything to protect what she loves. She can most definitely be mean, just because she is Mother Earth don’t think she won’t set someone straight. But she also knows how to be nice, it’s the perfect balance. Due to her being protective and taking any kind of measures to protect what she loves, she is seen as cruel. Most of the times she is very loving and caring.

Quote: “You all are living on this planet as if you had another one to go to! You do not inherit the planet from your ancestors you borrow it from your children. The blue sky is my mind, the green leaves pulse with my blood, the wind is my breath and the rain is my water of life. Love your mother!,”

———

Idris Elba as Erebus, God of Darkness:

Brother to Nyx (you). Protogenoi.

Abilities:

-Unparalleled Erebokinesis: Darkness/shadow manipulation

-Advanced Netherkinesis: Death-force manipulation, necromancy

-Psychokinesis: telekinesis, emotion manipulation, teleportation

-Shadow Travel

-Darkness solidification: can solidify shadows into impenetrable shields or whatever he wants.

Home: Underworld

Personality/Traits: Erebus is the scary, overprotective brother. He enjoys scaring people, especially kids. When little kids are afraid of the dark it’s because of him. He has a hard, dark exterior but can be really sweet when he wants to be. He’s very stand offish but loves drama and stirring the pot. Him and Nyx are very close and work side by side because Night and Darkness go together like two peas in a pod.

Quote: “That is not my shadow, for it is my darkness. Don’t ever try to get inside my head, it is too dark for you,”

———

Jessie Williams as Tartarus, God of the Punishment Realm:

Brother of Nyx. Protogenoi. Tartarus existed way before Hades and the other Olympians. Tartarus is also a place, it is a region of the Underworld that is far below Hades. Tartarus is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and a prison for the Titans. The kingdom of Hades is the place of the dead while Tartarus is where ferocious monsters and horrible criminals were banished or where Gods and Goddesses imprisoned their war rivals. The others Gods and Goddesses in this story that live here just live here because that’s their home.

Abilities:

-Supreme Strength: far surpassing a Titan.

-Dark Gravity: can pull opponents into a terrifying whirlpool/black hole

-Essence Absorption: can technically kill other deities by absorbing their immortal essence.

-Umbrakinesis: but not as much as Nyx (you) or Erebus

-Monster Lordship: absolute control and divine authority over monsters

-Telumkinesis: can summon and control weapons that cause pain and suffering.

Personality/Traits: Absolutely evil. People think they should fear Hades? Yeah well he’s nothing compared to Tartarus! Tartarus is somber and absolutely sadistic, more than his nieces and nephews. He loves to bring despair in the most exquisite forms. He is also highly arrogant and has a disdain for mortals. He is unapologetically honest. He takes pleasure in inciting fear in his victims.

Quote: “You can not kill me! I am the pit itself. You might as well try to kill the Earth. Gaia and I- we are eternal. We own you, flesh and spirit!”

————

Hope you guys enjoy!! Let me know what you think!💕

Tags- @sideeffectsofyou @mbaku-babygirl @blackreaders-assemble @majikmelanin @vozit @chonisberonica @babybubastis @mirajanestrauss1999 @scarletlingeries @curlyhairclub @whothehellisbinky @motivation-idontknowher @amandahq @jillilama-blog @yournonlocalpoc @anise-d-castle6 @just-a-littlebit-of-everything @adreamemporium @ssaaraw @a-lumos-in-the-nox @unstable1902 @winksasleeplesseye @hold-me-like-a-heart-beat @cutiepiemimi13 @celishaa-xx @amethyst-dreams-and-candy-canes @shluttybaby

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justkeeptrekkin · 5 years

Note

For the prompts... Hizashi and Shouta's reactions to each other immediately after the end of chapter 9 of Kogane no Kami (I ADORE that story, btw). If you want something more casual, umm, something something mutual pining and keeping warm. Tbh, I'm just excited to read anything you write ♡

Hello listener~Thank you so much i’m really glad you liked my fic!! I would absolutely LOVE to do a chapter 9 follow up but, just in case anyone out there hasn’t read it and doesn’t want major spoilers, i’m going to stick to the second half of your question. Thanks for the prompt

Hizashi lies under his duvet and two blankets. He is wrapped up in his dressing gown, beneath which he’s wearing his winter pyjamas. He has two pairs of socks on. His head is buried under the covers.

How is he still cold?

The sound of his teeth chattering sounds oddly loud under the roof of blankets. And even though he’s really- really really- tired, he can’t sleep. Instead, all he can do is stare at the underside of his duvet, and the bluish light of the streetlights peeking through the gaps that Hizashi’s missed whilst making this cocoon.

His eyes are cold. How is that a thing?

After about ten minutes of trying to sleep, it becomes too much. With a loud, frustrated growl, he rips himself out from under the duvets and blankets. It brings on unpleasant consequences.

“Shit! Oh my God why is it so cold-”

Hizashi dances on the spot for a moment as he decides whether to run a hot bath, make a cup of tea, or a hot water bottle. Of course, he knows why it’s so cold. He and Shouta have the worst landlord in the universe and they haven’t fixed the heating in time for winter, despite the fact that they’ve told him multiple times that it’s caput. Shouta’s been moaning about it far less than him, but it’s reached the point now where they’ve both lost their patience.

Hizashi instinctively looks to the wall on his left. On the other side, Shouta’s in bed. They’ve lived together for years, and yet the thought of him being just on the other side of the wall sometimes makes Hizashi’s stomach flutter. Still.

After all this time.

Maybe Shouta is cold too, he thinks.

“No,” he warns himself, because he knows where this is going.

But his mind betrays him. Maybe Shouta could do with some extra warmth, like I could.

Hizashi measures this thought that drifts into his mind, looks down at his feet as he does so. They’re covered in fluffy, cat shaped bed socks. They even have little ears. And his pyjamas have Doraemon on them. Running a hot bath would be much more sensible than what he is considering doing next. But then, no man wearing a combination this silly has ever done anything sensible.

He looks back at the wall.

There is little point pretending to argue with himself, he realises. He made his choice as soon as the idea popped into his head.

Hizashi’s feet transport him to Shouta’s door, and then he’s knocking. And no one’s answering.

He’s asleep. Of course he is, it’s Shouta. Hizashi huffs to himself, watches his breath form a cloud in front of his face. Pretends not to be upset or frustrated. Paces around in front of Shouta’s door for a moment, feeling a bit like a lost puppy. Then, gritting his teeth against the agonising, illogical feeling of rejection, he-

The door opens. “‘Zashi.”

Hizashi stops in his tracks and spins round to face the man standing in the doorway. His arms are wrapped around him, and he’s wearing a turtle neck jumper. He’s unrolled the neck so that it covers his chin and mouth.

“Shou, sorry man, I just- it’s freezing.”Shouta doesn’t respond immediately. “Yes.”

Hizashi feels warm for the first time in hours. His cheeks, unmistakably, are hot. “You’re cold too?”

Again, Shouta doesn’t seem to know what to do with this. He’s never been good at small talk, and Hizashi isn’t exactly making this easy. “Obviously.”

“Cool, yeah. Obviously. No, I just came because- uh-”

Because I want an excuse to cuddle you?

Thankfully, Shouta doesn’t give Hizashi any more time to talk nonsense. He disappears into his room, leaving the door open for Hizashi to follow. He smiles to himself and takes the invitation.

And then he looks at Shouta’s bed. He’s been in here plenty of times, and never has his bed ever felt daunting. Hizashi combs his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit that he never seemed to be able to kick as an adult.

“Which side do you want.”

Hizashi’s heart stops at how casually he asks this, but, as ever, his mouth is on autopilot. “Right! I always prefer right.”“Thought so.”“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Remember when we were in second year and we went on that class excursion, we had to share a bed then too.”Hizashi does remember, but only now that he brings it up. Back then, it hadn’t felt so weird. They’d stayed up half the night eating junk food and talking about everything and nothing. Hizashi is usually the one with the good memory. He wonders what made Shouta remember that trip now.

“You kick in your sleep.”“Do not!”“Do, too. If you kick me tonight I’ll throw you out the window.”Hizashi makes an unconvincing sob. “OK,” he moans. “I can’t help what I do in my sleep though.”“Not my problem.”

Shouta gets back under the covers. When Hizashi doesn’t move at first, he stares at him blankly. Hizashi startles, joins him in bed without further hesitation.

“Oh my god it’s so warm. How are you so warm. You’re a little radiator.”

“Hmmm.”

Hizashi lies on his back and shuffles down the bed, so the lower half of his face is covered by duvet. Whenever he breathes his face feels, irritatingly, too warm. Shouta lies still, turned towards him on his side.

“What are you doing.”

Hizashi peers over at him, wide eyed. “Huh?”

“I thought the whole point of this was sharing body heat.”

Hizashi swallows. Trust Shouta to say something like that out loud and not be embarrassed. Never freak out or make things weird.

Hizashi, on the other hand: “Errrrrrrrrrrr-”

“Come here.”An arm suddenly wraps itself around his waist, pulling him towards Shouta. Hizashi yelps in surprise but allows it; is suddenly pressed up close against Shouta.

In his bed.

He can feel his breath at the back of his neck. Shouta’s hand lies against his stomach, although he can’t really feel it through all the layers he’s wearing. If he weren’t absolutely freezing, he’d be wishing he wasn’t wearing any pyjamas under his dressing gown.

And that’s exactly the kind of thought that’s going to get you into trouble. STOP IT.

Shouta wriggles, moves his other arm so that it lays beneath Hizashi’s head, rather than being bent awkwardly between their bodies. There’s something even more intimate about that, and it takes all the will power Hizashi has to steady his breathing.

“You remind me of that cat. Have you seen that gif of that cat?”“I’ve seen every cat gif ever made,” Shouta says seriously, and Hizashi laughs. His voice is quiet and low. “You’ll have to be more specific.”“You know, the one with the mummy kitty pulling in the little sleeping baby kitty in its arms. Like it’s a soft toy or something. That’s basically what you just did.”

“Hmm,” Shouta considers. There’s a suspicious pause. “Hizashi, do you consider me a parental figure in your life?”“Wh- No!”

Shouta laughs, and Hizashi playfully, and without much conviction, tries to escape his embrace. Shouta holds him there tightly.

“God, you’re so annoying!”

He can imagine the smirk on his face right now, even though he’s turned away from him. Hizashi’s breath forms clouds in his vision.

“This isn’t fair.”Shouta sighs. “What?”

“You’ve got the better end of the bargain. You can warm up your face-”

-By burying it in my neck? My hair? Is that really what you’re going to say, Hizashi, you MORON?

“I mean- you know- my nose is cold,” is what Hizashi eventually decides on.

Shouta snorts. He plants his hand directly on Hizashi’s face.

“Better?”“Eugh- God you’re in the weirdest mood tonight-”

“And you won’t stop complaining. Just turn round, Hizashi.”He does as he’s told, and finds himself just below Shouta’s chin, eye-level with his clavicle. It’s warm. Shouta is warm. His arm is draped over him under the covers, and Hizashi’s leg instinctively finds it’s way between Shouta’s. He doesn’t have time to regret it, because Shouta shuffles closer.

“Oh,” he says out loud.

“Hm?”“Nothing,” Hizashi croaks.

Hizashi can feel Shouta’s heart racing through his sweatshirt.

It’s enough confirmation that maybe- just maybe- Hizashi’s not alone in feeling like this. Whatever this is- he hasn’t found the word to describe it yet. He shuffles down and presses his face against his chest. He doesn’t miss the shakiness to Shouta’s deep, slow breath.

By the time Shouta’s heartbeat has settled, they’ve both fallen asleep.

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majormeilani · 5 years

Note

For the oc meme im.on phone idk what that thing is b u t pretend i did and + salem!!

okay so it’s time to talk about the girl tm

salem !!

alright so here’s really how she came about

so me and a friend finally watched gravity falls in its entirety together and they wanted me to play the dating sim that the fandom made for it (which btw is really cute and i also need to finish ford’s route oof)

but anyway in the game you get to pick your name and pronouns and we were trying to come up with a good name for the protag and we googled names and unisex names eventually settling on city names which is where her name came from

and she’s also decidedly a gravity falls oc based on those circumstances, having originated from the dating sim anyways lol

but she did not have a design for the longest time until i finally got through a majority of stan’s route and grew attached to her as a character. (this is also where the nickname “salem the thirsty” comes from bc we kept joking about her being thirsty for the stan twins bc of some of the options you can choose in the dating sim lmaooo)

but as far as her design goes i actually combined a few traits from character designs to get her shape and form. i used the shape of gwen from camp camp as inspiration for her body type and her hairstyle was designed after a combination of hanazuki’s and this little cloud girl from this 3d animation short because i thought the designs were cute. her outfit i chose because it was simple but a lil flashy for the occupation i later gave her.

she went through a lot of color palette changes as i tried to decide what she looked like. and i mean A LOT. my sister helped me to decide on colors because i wanted her palette to be easy on the eyes yet catching. eventually we decided her having a dark color scheme worked best with the whole witch thing she has going. one of her color palettes was bright red hair in contrast with her outfit but i decided a soft, dark blue worked best for her. her design was also chosen because it’s fun for me to draw and simple enough that it’s probably easy to animate since she’s supposed to be from a cartoon.

also!!!! i decided since her name was salem i just had to make her a witch (bc i love witches and magical characters a LOT) but i considered the idea that it’s just a nickname since the background stuff about her character and the fact that it could be her stage name as a stage performer. however, i decided not to give her a surname or middle name (at least for the time being, that may change) bc i can’t really find a good last name for her.

in an essential sense, she is a “green” or “nature” witch due to her ability to manipulate and work with plants and is strongly connected to nature. however, i call her a “harvest witch” because of her ability to quickly grow plants to the point of being ready to harvest them and for the importance of pumpkins to her character. there’s a little more i still haven’t worked out regarding her magic but she’s really bad at hiding she’s a witch when she’s caught as plants can grow in her footsteps as she walks or moves places outdoors.

her personality is very shy at first but once she warms up and trusts someone, she’s loud and silly and will really do most anything for a friend. she is greatly drawn to humans and their world but often hesitates from fear perpetuated in her home realm by her family. (she’s from a witches realm and got pulled into a human realm and eventually made her way to gravity falls) but she is also a hopeless romantic and finds herself often distracted when she needs to focus on something. (which again is def something i got from the dating sim bc personally i think it’s really funny) though she’s terrible at acting on her feelings unless she feels close to the person she likes. she also tends to pull on her hat when she’s embarrassed or frustrated and will stomp when angry.

and her background i’m still working out the details in but basically it goes like this: salem was born in a witches realm to a family of two parents and three siblings. her siblings performed well in their magic studies but she tended to slack since she thought most spells were useless. she however had a natural ability to manipulate plants from a very young age and was mostly drawn to nature and would do magic related to that.

also she had a familiar named fig that her parents disapproved of her naming after something from a human’s realm. she also loved pumpkins as they were so rare to her in her realm. and she also had a strong curiousity for humans but her family warned her they hated witches and to stay away from them. but one day when she was outside something bad happened and she ended up being pulled from her realm to a human’s realm and was later adopted and raised by a kind old farmer into her teens. then she had to live on her own and ended up becoming a touring performer, hiding under the guise of being just a “witch performer” as the fear her parents tried to instill settled in after ridicule she’d recieved and the way witches were treated/viewed in a human realm. by happenstance, she ends up in gravity falls and meets the pines family on one of her performance days that goes horribly wrong and needs to stay with them for a time. and some things happen that i still am working out and being vague about on purpose lol.

also when salem walks, depending on her mood, different types of plants will grow in her footsteps if she is outside. she is also able to grow fungi and mushrooms and sometimes even moss and vines at whim or involuntarily. i just thought that would be a fun character trait to have tbh…. also there’s more that her powers can do but some of it i’m still developing lol-

and there’s loads more i can say about her but this is already really long but dw i’ll def share more some other time!!!!!!!

#answered asks #fericul-ivel #oc ramblings meme #salem #salem the harvest witch #gravity falls #tho mostly just #gf oc #tysm friend!!!

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tacosandtomcos · 6 years

Note

This is in Refrence to your blood moon theory. PT. 1 Ok. I respect your opinion and this theory but let me give a Counter argument. Marco as the sun is implied through his original name, sol, his position in the prophecy room by the sun, and the green part of his wand is an actual symbol for the sun. Cause remember. Star has heart cheeks and a star wand, her position in the room is a star and Marco has moon cheeks and a sun wand, his position in the room.

Part 2 of the blood moon theory counter. As well as yes tom did interrupt the dance so it’s completion may not be full and to add on he wasn’t under the moon with either of the two. He stood under by himself for about 4 seconds until the thing closed. Another rule for prophecy’s lol. “ your part of the prophecy can’t be thing thing that put you into the prophecy in the first place” so yeah there are some valid points here but there’s really not much putting tom into a position in the fire power.

Part 3 of blood moon theory This is just a request for you. If it’s not too much trouble can you please post all the parts of the counter argument and give your response. Thanks

Part 4- blood moon theory sorry in advance. Your putting a bit too much faith in including tom in the prophecy when in all honesty he has almost noting to really do with it. he could be counted as under it with Marco for ½ a second he definitely can’t be under it with star. Plus from a writing standpoint it would seem A bit dumb to take a prophecy that everything’s hinted for being for 2,being Marcos dream, where tom was not but moon was, and making it into 3 . If I was being nit picky sorry.

Ok, i need to go to sleep very soon, but let me brief you on your counter arguments real quick.

For one, i already did talk about the sol thing, and you have to remember that name was WAY back in the show’s production. Things change, ideas change, whether that was Marco’s original name or not it isn’t anymore.

Star was originally gonna be six, and non-magic, and Marco was gonna be her enemy and not friend. The show has gone through ALOT of changes in time, still is. Tom’s folks? Were clearly changed at some point in either season 2 or 3′s production, were clearly intended to be something different when the show started. Tom? Was gonna be a villain, but was also changed later in production. Sol might have been marco’s name at some point but that really doesn’t mean a lot when that’s not what they went with in the end. The show has changed a lot from those older ideas and considering all the ideas they threw out Marco’s old name really doesn’t mean as much as it used to since it was from an older draft.

Next, let me get this out of the way:

This is not a sun. This looks absolutely nothing like a sun, at all. And if it’s supposed to be a sun well then it’s WAY off mark.

If you knew nothing about the star, moon, and sun imagery, and you saw this wand. Would a sun ever come to mind?

Star’s wand, looks like a star, in shape and in color. while Marco instead has a prickly green style that is much more reminiscent of monsters or plants then a sun. Star’s gemstone on her wand, is a star. Marco instead gets a purple diamond in the center which just adds on to how little this looks like a sun. Shouldn’t he have like….a sun gem in here? Or maybe his wand is colored more warmly to seem more like a sun?

Like, the only real link Marco has to that sun symbol ((Which looks nothing like the wand btw)) was him just walking towards it. And really, that’s not much to go on, and could feel like you were being thrown off since the Moon was also in that direction.

maybe if it changed or was reborn like Star’s wand? But even then Star’s wands all are very much the same except for slight feature and color changes. The basic shape and features are still the same and only have minor changes for the most part to them. Lobster Claw’s too, both his wands, while one being more evil the the other, were still the same in form, just different in smaller details. If Marco’s wand becomes orange or yellow and maybe gets more spikes along the outside maybe i might see it more? But as far as this goes, he has a wand that looks nothing like a sun or even close to the sun symbol he walked towards.

Star’s wand at least LOOKED like her symbol.

Yeah, but you’re forgetting what the demon who announced the ball said. You don’t have to dance under it, you just have to be UNDER it. Dancing is not a requirement to be bonded. And it’s hard to say it’s not a little bit fishy when the moon chooses to stop following Star and Marco both, to focus on Tom for some reason.

Tom busts his way in, and instead of just disbanding or following Star or Marco, the Moon chooses to just….Sit on Tom for a few seconds before leaving. Why? If this darn thing has a mind of it’s own then really it should’ve stopped before Tom ever showed up, but when it shows up it solely focuses on him?!

And if it has magic powers, then Tom bursting in should’ve done something. Tom walks under a magical ray and nothing just happens?!

We know so little about this stupid moon that at this point i wouldn’t be surprised if whoever just ends up under the light ends up bonded regardless. It’s not exactly like we have much to say otherwise, cause it’s equally possible the moon and how it works has been misinterpreted a lot considering how old it is.

You seem to be under the impression i believe it’s canon, which isn’t true. I tend not to ever call something canon unless…it’s actually proven canon, i’d be setting myself up for disappointment in that case. This is just a passionate theory i would LIKE to see canon since it actually could really work as a plot twist.

No, Tom has much to do with this. The blood moon is apart of HIS culture, HE was the reason Star and Marco went to this party, this moon is on his ballroom, it’s on top of his castle, it’s HIS dance, and there’s also the fact that demons are in the prophecy room.

like there’s no denying it, these are demons, with the spaded tails and everything. There’s some weird demonic link to this moon and i wonder what it is.

Yeah but the prophecy has not really been hinted for two. Heck, it’s never talked about on the actual show, you just get an idea of it in this one scene and …that’s about it. and with my idea, the moon is actually a THIRD symbol, which pretty much is straightforward from there. It’s not exactly like there’s this huge focus or buildup on it, we don’t even know what it is? Is anyone really gonna be disappointed that a prophecy we know nothing about was for three people and not two?

It might mean nothing, but Tom does seem to have some kinda of odd connection to Star and Marco other characters don’t. Might be the way he’s written with them, but it is unique how he’s used in comparison to characters like ponyhead or janna.

Yeah, but once again, that was a dream. And that only brings up my point of marco’s connection to the moon. Star is bonded, we know that for sure, but she don’t get no moon dreams, or moons showing up to stalk her, or nearly as many odd experiences with it as Marco has.

You can believe what you want in the end, but i find this prophecy too fishy to be so clear cut and dry. So many little details just do not add up and i’m curious if the show is subverting another cliche and trying to fool the audience in the meantime.

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pipedreamprayer · 7 years

Text

Street Kid Vigilante AU

This originated from looking at all the family AU’s where only the youngest 4 were de-aged, and wondering what it would be like if Shiro was a teenager to their pre-teen status rather than still an adult. What's the first situation where the closest thing to an adult leading them was a teenager I could think of? Street kid AU. Then I had a way to incorporate Allura and Coran in a way vaguely paralleling their canonical story, and from there it only made sense that this group would try to fight back against the bad guys, both because if they don’t then no one else will stop these people and in order to defend their new friends and because it was the right thing to do. Then it was similarly obvious how to include Voltron and it actually didn't work as well without it, and suddenly I realised that this idea of a handful of helpless kids with too big a job and some equipment that should not be in their young hands against an economic, political and societal superpower is almost literally what they are up against canonically! There's so much emphasis in the show of how big a job it is, how impossible it is that a grand total of 7 people, most still experiencing puberty, are against such an enormous, indomitable force, that I absolutely HAD to develop this!

In other words this AU went from an even cuter de-aged family fic to a sincerely profound metaphor for the main continuity that promises to have a ton of angst and tension juxtaposing the fluff (because goddamnit, this started off as a fluff-appeal and no matter how off-track it's gotten it will incorporate at least some if it kills me!)

But oh good god, I started out planning a small one-shot series with a cute set-up, and wound up with a full length story idea that just keep pushing more and more ways to parallel the main series in my face and looks like it's going to have a whole plot from start to finish. Help.

BTW Does anyone know of any automobiles with ‘castle’ in the name? If not I'll probably end up making one up to use at some point, the plot bunnies won't let me leave it out!

Edit a little for summary: Shiro is a teenager (maybe about 15, so if the others are 9 the canonical equivalents could be seen as 16 versus 22, which is pretty viable) who's somehow become the unofficial guardian of 4 younger children - while they're all homeless. Enter Allura, the daughter of a rich businessman who was recently murdered by a competitor, and her current guardian, his right hand man Coran, both on the run from the same murderer. It's chaotic, dangerous and not something these poor kids ought to be having to deal with, but it's life.

Ideas, also known as more parallels to the original series:

The rival companies are Altea Tech and Galra Corp, maybe the Garrison is the social services, or at least the orphanage that they keep trying to drag the kids to. In other words Iverson is seriously on their case, more or less the person they’re on the run from. MAYBE they’re the police force I. E. Iverson is a cop after them.

Galra Corp is after Allura because she holds the prototypes for a series of breakthrough technology that would revolutionise the way we live. The issue was that the ‘Voltron series’ could easily be weaponised, as Zarkon intends. The kids initially assume he intends to sell it to military and militia groups for high prices, but it eventually turns out that, having essentially monopolised the world with the fall of Altea Tech, Zarkon intends to become a world dictator himself!

The Voltron series is split into two: the Bayards and the Lions. What makes them both Voltron is that they utilise never-before-seen technology that connects with your mental assets to work, making the 10 pieces one of a kind and utterly priceless, especially seeing as how Allura and Coran burned the blueprints, prototypes and patents to keep Zarkon’s hands off them. However, aware that they may be the only things able to stand against him as well as all that remains of Alfor’s legacy and life's work, they keep the recently completed final prototypes. When Zarkon sent his people after them to obtain them they had already gone on the run with them.

The Lions are small patches (in the shape of the Voltron crest from canon - or maybe bracelets? Like the wrist-guard part of the paladin armour?) that can boost certain capabilities and unlocks a person’s full potential in various ways. The Forest Green Lion Patch allows Pidge to hack with her mind alone (like in Greening the Cube, even though I hadn’t seen the second season when I came up with these ideas!!), the Earth Yellow one gives Hunk at least 3 times his usual strength (like the grip claws!), the Aqua Blue Patch enhances Lance’s senses to the point he can tell when people are coming from vibrations in the ground and hearing footsteps no other human could detect (like the sonic scans! S2 was a bit of a mind-blow for me when I realised all the parallels), while the Flame Red Lion made Keith as agile and quick as a cat (the kids choice of comparison) and the Cosmos Black one allowed Shiro to make one hand (the prosthetic) into some sort of energy blade-like weapon. The idea is that someone with all the patches will be rather unstoppable, and are called ‘Voltron’ as a result. In other words the Lions combine to form a Voltron of unmatched strength, though they start to suspect there is even more adaptability to this, even more abilities hidden in the tech. For example, the kids prove to be building up resistance to certain effects: Keith can handle high temperatures unflinchingly, Lance doesn’t seem to get cold, Pidge has lost her hayfever and, apparently, other allergies to plants (maybe even building up an immunity to things like poison ivy and nettles as well), while Hunk’s skin seems to be toughening to the point that what would normally graze someone doesn’t break his skin at all (e.g. he can crawl through thistles without it making a difference to him so long as he protects his eyes). Notably, Allura and Coran didn't know what the Lions and Bayards actually did, so finding these effects was as much a surprise for them as the kids. Maybe there's even some sort of semi-permanent link effect between the tech and the user, so once the kids use it they’re sort of stuck with them.

The Bayards are physical, able to morph from small devices to different objects depending on the users will. There is of course a limit in terms of mass, and imagination is vital. Luckily they're now in the hands of small children, who make them anything from toys to tools to weapons of self-defence, with the powerful imaginations of childhood, no matter how much they've been through. That said, they sometimes come up with ideas that aren't possible, or don't think things through properly. Shiro was completely against giving the children potential weapons until it was pointed out that they're used to having to defend themselves already (hence Keith’s knife, that he refuses to let Shiro take off him) and as they refuse to be left behind (they'd just follow him if he tried to separate from them, and would therefore be in even more danger being unprepared) they'll need something to defend themselves and get out of tight spots the most. They prove to be the best candidates out of the group anyway - their imaginative minds conjure things no one else would of through of e.g. robotic mice to serve as a distraction. Then, after that, one of their favourite things to do with their Bayards was to make pets out of them until needed as something else - particularly robotic mini-lions, already thinking about the animals a lot because of the names of the other line of Voltron products.

Zarkon already has the Black Bayard, having stolen it at the same time as Alfor, Allura’s father, was killed, and he always has it on him to remind himself of the taste he's had of the power available, of why he wants more. The Black Bayard and Lion are connected (as are all corresponding colours) so he can sometimes sense when Shiro is near, or when he activates the patch - either way he can’t exactly track them in the traditional way, but does know when to look for them. The group don’t realise for a good while that this is happening and just think he has people out looking for them everywhere for them at all times and they just pick up on the signs they give away when they get into a situation that requires Shiro’s weaponised hand.

Maybe Allura had pet mice in real life, and it was the stories she had about them that inspired the kids move with the Bayards. Allura is maybe 17, so older than Shiro by about 2 years but still a teenager and also on the cusp of legal adulthood - at which point she’ll inherit her father’s company. At the moment though, she tentatively bonds with the kids surprisingly well, Shiro coaxing her into opening up and being a kid with them rather than a future CEO. She sometimes jerks out of phases of loosening up somewhat by snapping that they can’t afford to be kids when they have her father’s murderer on her, and now their, trail.

If Zarkon owns and heads Galra Inc, maybe Haggar is head scientist? Sendak may be the head of security or Thace is the head of security, Sendak is the hired muscle/assassin, the same probably going for the other big-shot Galra we’ve seen. Again, started this long before season 2, so not sure how to incorporate Lotor - maybe he’s in charge of these hired guys? Or maybe he’s heading his own mini army of assassins directly under Zarkon, i.e. rather than the difference between him and his team being that he’s Zarkon’s son maybe it’s that he’s actively loyal to Zarkon rather than just hired. I mean if he were to be the future heir to the company then he would be trained in business, not fighting, so he wouldn’t really be a threat like the other Galra.

MAYBE Altea Tech has fallen behind a bit over the past 10 years as Alfor devoted so much time to the Voltron Project - so it dying out and being absorbed by Galra Inc wouldn’t raise so many eyebrows - nobody would know that Alfor was planning something big this whole time because it wasn’t actually ready yet. Maybe there’s even something about how potential investors thought it was a fools endeavour because there was only theory to begin with, and now that he has proof that it works he’s been silenced and Zarkon is out to take it all, without anyone being any the wiser. At least, not until it’s too late.

MAYBE Shiro is more on the run than homeless: he was kidnapped alongside several other teens (including Matt Holt) for experimentation but managed to escape before they could amputate his arm, it having gotten a badly infected wound. However it is still pretty weak, and he suspects that the Black Lion therefore intentionally sought to make the weakest part of him, the most likely to let him down or be targeted, the strongest part by far.

Katie went on the run from the authorities with her older brother after the care system threatened to separate them not long after their parents death, but when he was kidnapped by strange men she built up a less feminine persona known as Pidge both to cope with all the loss and convince herself and others that this scrap of a child could make it on the streets alone - she wanted to channel her brother as much as she could, and even wore his old glasses. Then she met Shiro and the boys and didn't need to do it alone any longer.

I'm struggling a bit with the boys back stories, so I'll juggle some ideas:

Hunk’s parents died and he joined his best friend’s family, only for the two to eventually run away after being neglected due to the overwhelming size of the family.

Their families all died in the same accident, or maybe a burglary, or even being targeted for some reason by Galra Inc. MAYBE the boys saw something they oughtn't have, but by the time they managed to get an adult to listen to them (their family continually being distracted by other members) the Galra had been sent after them, and everyone was slaughtered. The boys somehow managed to escape, leaving the deaths rather pointless and in vain - not to mention the boys entirely blame themselves. Perhaps because they think their families were targeted because they tried to tell them, they want it keep it a secret from their new family for their own safety. Thus they clam up when it comes to talk about how they ended up in this situation, and unless thoroughly distracted will at least tense and question everything they say when discussing family in general. This contrasts Pidge’s way of voicing memories whenever she gets the chance, a little afraid of forgetting, and Keith’s absolute reluctance to say anything at all about his past.

Maybe, just MAYBE I could incorporate the Alien!Keith headcanon (not exactly pure speculation anymore, hallelujah!) in that his parents were a part of the Galra ‘empire’. However maybe I can include something that the Aliens can't: They were undercover spies. Like, full-on-MI6-James-Bond style (again, shockingly similar to the undercover BoM agents!). However, when they discovered something important (either Zarkon’s eventual plans or some weakness. BIG MAYBE that the top-tier Galra are actual Aliens!!) they were killed, but not before getting their small son to safety (the Galra never knew about him but would have found him at the house). While they were able to, they gave him the vital evidence they were killed for i.e. not knowing about him and not having reason to suspect his existence means the enemy will never find him or it until he’s worked out what it is and turned it in to the proper authorities. MAYBE it’s his knife: he always thought it was a memento of his parents but really it was evidence that Zarkon was an alien OR has some sort of other significance e.g. hidden memory stick or the symbol has meaning with the organisation they worked for.

Katie renamed herself Pidge after a random pigeon she saw on the street - unlike her it could come and go as it pleased and she wanted to be more like it. She was maybe 6 at the time, met Shiro about a year later and is currently just about 9, 3/4 of a year younger than the second youngest (Keith, who’s a few months younger than Lance who is younger than Hunk by even less) but is exceptionally small for her age. Maybe her birthday even comes up during the story. Maybe Shiro and Matt met in the facility that took the formers arm, so he knows he'll likely be kept alive and also that he has a little sister who was left behind. When he got out he tried searching for Katie for Matt's sake, even to find out if she'd died while alone or been taken into care or something, but EITHER found Hunk and Lance together first, then Pidge then they all found Keith, whom Shiro had known before he was kidnapped and Keith's parents died OR Pidge had already met Hunk and Lance, and Shiro found them after finding Keith.

Maybe Keith heard his parents mention a bomb so when the gang realise the connection between them and Galra Corp they start looking into bombs that occurred around the time. However Pidge eventually realises that they may have instead said "B.O.M" as in Blade of Marmora. This unfortunately renders their research so far potentially, but not certainly, useless, so no matter which option they choose to investigate they could be wasting more time even as they are hunted day and night. Furthermore, they are still no closer to finding out if his parents were even good guys or not - just like they could have been referring to a bomb they were involved in setting off or preventing they could be a part of the Blade of Marmora or seeking to eliminate their agents. It’s tense situation (that was unintentional but still, ba-dum-tsh).

Not going to include most of season 2 because I can’t follow the plot identically, though some of the characters can be useful i.e. the mall Galra can come up when they genuinely steal from a mall owned by Galra Corp.

I think starting with a prologue to show how Shiro became responsible for the kids would be a good idea. MAYBE paralleled by snippet of Allura’s life at the time I. E. Before her father’s death, possibly by her seeing them in the middle of all this and not thinking much of it. Like, she just sees some random kids causing a scene one way or another and shrugs it off.

First chapter begins with Allura and Coran, maybe finding Alfor’s corpse, on the run already or burning things that don’t make sense to the reader at the time.

Then it moves on to the kids, spending some time showing how they function normally, a mundane day (pick-pocketing and a couple of thefts because CPS will be called if they're seen begging), before Allura and Coran burst into it, being chased. MAYBE Shiro recognises Sendak from his time as a prisoner and therefore knows who the bad guys are in this situation instantly. He rushes in to help on instinct, not realising until it’s too late that his kids have followed him. MAYBE they find Allura’s bag of equipment (including a teleporter that only activates for her DNA signature? It would only go small distances, but could be extremely useful) and use the Bayards to fend off the enemy from the get-go. If so, they do it in order: i.e. Lance finds it first and the others follow suit like in the first episode. MAYBE one is already in the hands of the enemy, but Keith actually gets it back (little shout-out to badass!Keith getting the Red Lion in the first episode).

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i-am-an-accidental-hipster · 6 years

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this "Mataguy Madness" is interesting, sounds a bit r/nosleep-esque. Give us all the spooky stories! (If you wanna) :D

Heh, i don’t know if they’re spooky, but that may be because I’ve lived it.

Ok, so the camp that I work at is called “Mataguay”. It borders on the local kumeyaay reservation, as in if you wander too far up the slope of one of the hills they are legally allowed to shoot you. I’ve never tested it, and I don’t intend to.

We have ghost stories at the camp, but it is common knowledge among the staff that the stories are almost entirely made up. there is some true information to be found in it, though. the valley used to belong to the kumeyaay, and they had a conflict with the spaniards, a lot of them died and were supposedly buried in a mass grave on one side of the valley, and then english (or american? not sure) settlers moved in. most of the new guys were jerks, but this one guy (Trainer? Traynor?) was more nice to them, i guess. then he was crushed by a tree branch and died, and the kumeyaay created a memorial stone for him in his favorite part of camp, and his wife’s ashes were spread around it when she died. supposedly the stone is cursed, which of course means that people dare each-other to touch it. his barn is still standing, btw. then the portion of the land which trainer owned was donated by his daughter to the boy scouts. later, when the kumeyaay needed money they sold part of their land to the camp. and then some more later on.

also, the camp is infested with Datura Stramonium, a very potent and highly lethal psychoactive plant, so take everything i’m about to say with a grain of salt. but also, i’m not making any of this up. this is all stuff that happened as i remember it.

there were some red flags that the camp was a haunted madhouse right when I joined, because right off the bat one of the more experienced staff encountered a doppelganger. of me.

apparently she was walking over near the old observatory when she heard, very distinctly, my voice shouting a greeting to her “from the trees”. She ran up to me and literally asked me “were you in the trees? i heard your voice coming from the trees”. i had just come from the trading post, not the old observatory, so i said no, and she seemed very distressed by the revelation.

even back then, when the madness had not come over me, i could tell that there was something wrong about Mountain Man Meadow. Every other part of camp had a sort of natural white noise to it, with crickets, frogs, bats, and even just the wind making some kind of noise. But when we held an astronomy outing in the meadow that year, it was eerily, deafeningly silent. and there was a feeling of oppressive dread which seemed to emanate from the place, almost as if the shadows were moving of their own volition. it creeped me out enough to distract me from the astronomy, and I love astronomy.

mataguay madness always starts with one landmark event, which marks the point where you first start to crack. for most, it comes in the form of violantly intrusive thoughts, like “I wonder what my life would be like if I were a little french girl”, followed by an inability to process reality for a minute or two, and can strike even in the middle of a class in front of an audience (actual example, and no, the guy is not trans). It usually strikes at the end of the second year. mine was more... dramatic.

... i got high...

...on ice cubes.

i’m not kidding. I wasn’t even eating the ice, I was holding a large clump of ice cubes in my hands, watching them melt and feeling the cold run through my fingers. then, I started to snicker. the snicker developed into a chuckle, then into a loud, uncontrollable, almost painful cackle. one of the other staff came over to me to see if i was alright, but was rather taken aback by how utterly unhinged i looked, rocking back and forth and laughing like a stereotypical asylum patient. i calmed down after a few more seconds, but i was forever changed.

years later, a friend of mine who i would later date for a time suffered her bout of madness by tearing the bean-bag chairs apart, spreading around the little Styrofoam pellets, and giggling hysterically as she rubbed some of them into my hair. not as dramatic, but pretty similar. she had no idea why she did it.

anyways, the next year i officially joined staff, as the astronomy instructor. and for whatever reason i decided to take a plastic owl I had found in the upper room while I was sorting (one of the ones used to scare off rats and such) and carry it in my arms. for the entire summer. I named it Arcturus. Also, because I thought I was hilarious, I told everyone that I could use it to steal people’s souls if they displeased me. All the campers found it funny (for the most part), and so did the younger staff. The older staff, on the other hand, seemed to become afraid of the owl. They actually asked me to turn it away from them when I would set it on the table during meals. I thought that was hilarious too, until they kidnapped it and through it away during the last week of camp. I had grown rather attached to the thing over that summer, so i was notably distressed when I found out. One of the other staffers gave me a replacement owl, Spica, which I still have in my room.

the next year, i completely changed my look. I still wore my staff uniform, but over it I wore a lab-coat i had found in one of the drawers at my house, i changed my haircut, and i carried around a large “walking stick” i had found in the woods. this may seem irrelevant now, but it will become relevant later, as I basically kept this look for the next 4 years, and was instantly recognizable.

My eyes began developing a bit of a quirk. i could barely stand the daylight, but during the night i could see perfectly, as if it were day (I still have this). The constellations started to reveal themselves to me, but not as if I were learning their shapes but more like they were actual people, introducing themselves to me. sometimes, i could almost hear them speaking to me, and could certainly feel them. As soon as the stars came out, I would feel as if my body were humming with some kind of power. i can’t explain it. i began wandering around at night without a flashlight, sometimes crossing the entire valley just to play diablo 2. where i used to feel the shadows crowding around me, now I could kinda see them, but they always seemed to be fleeing from me. they looked like a shadowy haze in the vague form of man. occasionally, they would group up and try to bar my way, but i would just stare at them and start singing “Flying Fortress”, or reciting the Saint Michael prayer, and they would part around me. I was never quite sure if what I was seeing was real, or the result of an over-active imagination, though.

Back to mountain man meadow, my area was right next to it, and i began noticing some strange things about it, not the least of which was the blood-curdling scream which came from the forest just beyond it every once and awhile at sunset, a scream of a little girl. we actually sent in search parties to figure out who was screaming, but we never found anything. might have been a goat. but i also know that there were footprints that would appear in the meadow whenever one wasn’t looking. i checked.

apparently the meadow is right next to that kumeyaay mass grave I mentioned earlier. I could never get an exact answer on where said grave was relative to the meadow, though. other people have said that they saw actual apparitions there, a little girl in a white dress and a little boy in a small headress, both silent. One guy even claimed the first one followed him around, though he also he believes he saw the ghost from our false ghost story, so...

ok, so my madness was bad, but this one guy... i dunno. it was either madness or he was stupid as a brick. he ended up stabbing himself through his sleeping bag somehow, apparently while “trying to stab a rat that was on the wall next to him”. i don’t doubt the part about the rat, as i have had to bed a foot from a tarantula, but HOW DOES ONE MISS AT A 90 DEGREE ANGLE AND STAB ONE’S LEG IN A SLEEPING BAG WHILE TRYING TO STAB A RAT? anyways, he goes to the hospital to have it stitched up, and he comes back a week later with explicit instructions to stay out of the water or the cut will re-open

the first thing he does when he gets back is jump in the pool. he spends the rest of the week in the med lodge. he comes out the next week only to do the exact same thing, and repeat. administration began confiscating his knives, and he kept buying new ones and bringing them to camp, often playing with them dangerously in front of the scouts. he got fired.

now for mataguay magic. during that very same year, there was a revival of mataguay’s apparently very old practice of what is called “rain turtles”, though they are more properly called weather turtles. their purpose is to change the weather. it’s kinda like alchemy, ah-la FMA. first you draw a circle on the ground, and then draw four legs, a head, and a tail on it so it looks like a turtle as viewed from above. then you draw the kind of weather you want inside it, usually rain. you dig a shallow hole in the center, and then place something of the same “element” as what you want in the hole, usually spitting in it for rain. then you dance around it in a circle, counterclockwise while spinning around counterclockwise as well. The intended weather usually strikes within 48 hours. our “camp witchdoctor” earned his title when he had his class each make they’re own rain turtles in mountain man meadow every week, resulting in every weekend being covered in an absolute deluge. he actually got in trouble with administration, not for teaching his students magic but for doing the ritual the day before clean-up day every week, because even the administration believed the stuff actually works. as if to spite them, he then made a turtle with a picture of a fire in it and threw his lighter into it. low and behold, the next morning the other side of the hills from camp burst into flames. never reached us, but still. he was then banned from making weather turtles ever again.

now for mataguay religion. during that very same year, a cult began to form around the program director. largely because he was the first good program director we had in years. at first it was all in fun, with chants of “hail [redacted]” and much air-punching. then it got weird. some of the older staff began taking pictures of him while he was asleep (a rare occurrence, as he pulled way too many all-nighters to try to fix all the problems the previous directors had caused) and making said pictures the desktop background for every computer they could get their hands on. they changed the screen-savers to “hail [redacted]”, and taped that phrase on the wall of my area’s staircase in red tape, with the “hail” spelled the german way. because of course it was. I happened to share a name with said program director, so in order to keep people from thinking i was an egotistical nazi i would tear the message down, only to have it show up the next day. Then our camp witch-doctor took it too far, and signed it up with the state as a protestant sect and became a minister of it. since then, even though that program director left I haven’t been able to escape the cult, largely because we have the same name and everyone thinks that I’m the god of mataguay. I really don’t like it, and it may have contributed to the full emergence of my doppelganger last year.

the camp witch doctor mentions to me, almost off-handedly, that the spirits of the camp seem scared of me.

the next year was the first time camp begins to suspect there is something up. about ME. one of the administration comments he heard footsteps and the muffled sound of my voice emanating from my classroom in the middle of the night. he goes to check, but there is no-one there, but he feels a certain wrongness in the place. he goes back down stairs only to hear footsteps again, this time leaving the room, and then heading off in the direction of mountain man meadow. he asks me about it the next day, only for me to tell him that i had been on the other side of camp doing an astronomy outing. there is much perplextion on either side. it also comes to my attention that people have begun seeing what looks like the glow of electric lights in trainer’s house, even though no-one lives there and further there is no electric current running to the house, as no-one has ever bothered to run an electric cable out that far. i remembered a time when we were walking back from the camp ghost story as a tenderfoot and i saw a blue flickering light in that very same house which i had assumed was an old tv set.

by this point i have started to talk to the constellations and greet them when they appear, and also to yell at the sun to stop hogging the glory

the next year, near the end of the year, i come across a friend of mine who is trying to get out of working his area the next day. I catch him performing an extremely bastardized version of the rain turtle ritual and, even though i have avoided ever doing the ritual myself, i feel compelled to correct him. this turned out to be a mistake. upon completing the ritual, i feel a tugging sensation in my gut, and he and i and this one scout who was watching us nearby felt both the temperature and pressure drop in three waves over a course of 5 seconds, and clouds begin appearing on the horizon. the scout was awestruck and begins asking what i just did, my friend was elated, and i... i was highly disturbed.it rained from thursday to tuesday that week, and the forecast said it as supposed to be sunny with slight clouds. i have never performed that ritual ever again, because i felt like a bit of me seeped into the land when i did so.

this turned out to be a bit of a prophetic feeling, because at the beginning of the next year a series of disturbing events started to occur. the first evidence that something was seriously wrong was that, a week before we moved back into the cabins they already showed signs of being haunted for some unknown reason. only two people were on camp at the time: a new staffer and one who had worked there for nearly a decade and a half. the older one fell asleep in the cabins, with the lights off, while the new one went to the staff lounge to get a drink. he came back to find the lights on, and the older staff member still asleep. he woke u the older staffer to ask him who turned the lights on, only to have the older one look at him with confusion (the older one has very low-functioning autism, and has never been known to lie even in jest, so i doubt he was playing any kind of trick).

2 weeks later, I got annoyed when someone was vaping in the cabin and the fumes kept wafting over to my bunk and with the fact that they were going to press people into work parties as soon as we woke up, so I got up without telling anyone, left my sleeping bag on the bunk, and went to go sleep on one of the comfy couches in the staff lounge. keep in mind, i did this in the middle of the night. in the morning, the person next to my bed told me that he could have sworn that he heard me get up at 5am, say “they’ll never find me”, and walk out the door. he was adamant that he had heard me say it, and was baffled when i told him i was in the staff lounge the whole time. however, i also mentioned that i did wake up briefly at 5 am and think that exact thought.

soon thereafter, an even more anomalous thing occurred: the shadow people began to come back, and with such frequency and audacity that even the new staff began to see them clearly. many of them appeared at one of my old haunts, a concrete platform next to a broken shack known as the “old observatory”, though I never saw them there myself. one of them even walked towards a trio of new staff into the moonlight so that it was fully visible as a hazy, black mist in the shape of a man. that trio shortly fled the area.

even so, it seems the shadow people were still afraid of me. Once, when I was sitting up on the hill overlooking the dining hall at night, I saw a shadow flit past my shoulder, and it was running towards the staff cabins. I stood up and addressed it directly. I told it I would not harm it, and that I wanted to see what it looked like. It paused, turned towards me, and the shadow collapsed into a single point in mid-air, which shifted to become an orange-red light. It only stayed that way for a moment before changing back to it’s shadow form and speeding away from me as fast as it’s shadow legs could carry it.

but that was only the prelude of what was to come, because soon after that, IT started showing up, visibly. And by it, I mean me. Whatever had been copying my voice and footsteps before now was copying my appearance as well. staff became adamant that they saw me, walking silently between Mountain Man Meadow and the Fort, with my white lab-coat blowing in the breeze and my walking stick clacking on the asphalt in time with my steps. Two things were wrong with that: #1 I was on the other side of camp playing Warcraft 2 and #2 I never walk quietly. I always sing or chant or pray aloud when walking at night, as loud as I can, because I can. Me moving in silence at night is so out of character it was jarring to hear. In most cases when the staff member in question called to me in greeting, “I” did not speak up but instead glanced over in their direction without expression and waved mechanically back at them. we began calling this other me “[redacted]” which is my name backwards. when I later ask one of my friends who was into magic if i had indeed been it two places at once, she got back to me a day later and told me “that thing wasn’t you. don’t go back there.”

I think it was the first time in a long time I had actually been scared of something supernatural in nature. as silly as it might be, there is something dreadful about thinking that at any moment you might see your own face staring at you blankly through the window. even today, a year after having quit the job, I still have difficulty looking in mirrors, as it brings back foul memories of fearing the sight of my own face.

i had one regret upon finally leaving the camp, after so long, and that regret was leaving my friends, the constellations. sure, I had set up a promising successor to teach the badge (i never had anyone to teach me), but I knew that for a time the quality of instruction would take a serious nose-dive. And I also knew that I would miss seeing the constellations. i live in a place with a lot of light pollution, so it can be hard to find a place to see my old friends properly, whereas in mataguay they veritably blaze in the sky, cold and beautiful. and i knew, somehow, that the constellations would miss me too, miss me retelling their stories or explaining fun facts about the stars within them. Above all, I would miss Scorpio, the first constellation I would see each evening, the one I liked to talk to most. sure, i could see them occasionally on camp-outs and whatnot, but it wouldn’t be the same. call it madness if you will, but that day I feel like I lost some good friends.

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littlethingwithfeathers · 5 years

Text

Writing Update: 9/16/19

Tech week is behind me and now I’m back to writing again. Sorry to anyone who has tried to reach me or has tagged me over the last week. I’ve been buried in cue sheets and fight calls. :)

Publishing now!

Excerpt:

"Professor Legasov," Boris chewed pointedly on the choice of title, earning him another more lingering and quizzical look. He let the formal appellation hang in the air a moment as he stood and refilled both their glasses. "You talked about ionization of the air when you pointed out the glow we saw from the helicopter. But Bryukhanov claimed that it was the Cherenkov Effect causing that glow, which you say is erroneous information that came from Dyatlov. I know what neither of these things are, much less the difference between them, and clearly I should understand it because if I had, I too would have known the reactor was blown open on sight, even if I didn't recognize the graphite in the rubble. So." He paused for a drink. "What causes the Cherenkov Effect? What do you mean when you say the air is being ionized? And why is it one and not the other?"

Valery slowly turned to look at him, sipping at his vodka as he did so. He didn't smile exactly, but it appeared to Boris that he, perhaps, frowned a little less as he addressed him. “Comrade Deputy Chairman Shcherbina," he replied with his own puckish crispness. "That is three questions. Which would you like me to answer first?”

Boris tried not to look too pleased with himself as he topped off both their glasses and returned to the couch. Good. He was playing along. "I suppose whichever you think is best." He replied. "You're the expert here. Not me." His words had bite, but no teeth. Only an amused playfulness, barely veiled as he divested himself of his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his starched white shirt.

Valery lifted a shoulder, the motion barely visible under his baggy suit jacket. “I suppose the best place to start is why Dyatlov had it wrong.”

***

Other “Friendship is Unnecessary” fics at various stages:

But Most of All : Based off this post. The rough draft is finished, currently just under the 4k mark. Gonna let it sit a bit before editing. This is a short, upbeat, porny little one-shot of Nat being a shit and teasing Steve. Because honestly… this series needs some levity after what I’ve done in “Stolen Season.” Not sure of an ETA, but soon.

***

Other works coming soon!

#writing #writing update

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