#I put this in descending order least to most votes I think | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lovelylogans · 1 year

Text

fanfic survey: the results

hey there! with 213 responses, here it is: the results of the survey!

before i get into it, though, i just wanna reiterate this disclaimer: this is not meant to tell fic writers what they should or should not write!!! or to tell people what they should or should not read!!! authors should write what they want to write and readers should read what they want to read and for both, it should be what makes them happy—this is purely a curiosity thing! if what you love to write or read turns out to be something in the most popular answer to a question, awesome! if it turns out to be the least popular answer, that’s awesome too!! as long as it makes you happy to write or read, that is what matters.

i will say that i am removing myself entirely from the answers—i didn’t take my own survey, this is the only time that i’m going to be “speaking,” at the beginning to offer commentary on why i’ve organized things a certain way, and after questions if i need to make mention of a slip-up on my part, or a change to a question. there might be things on here i love, there might be things on here that i don’t like so much, but this is all the voice of you guys—the 213 people who took this survey. i’m just the one who made the survey and is putting the answers out there. i am attempting to make this as unbiased as possible.

in terms of the survey: i’m not a statistician. i do know that i probably haven’t made the Perfect survey, and that i might have missed categories or questions along the way. 213 people also isn’t the biggest cross-section of the fandom, so this is probably a small segment, and shouldn’t be taken as absolute fact with no exceptions—there is a definite margin of error here.

for example: math was not tidy on the pairings questions! i decided to just law out raw data in this results post. i made another post, linked here, ranking most-least popular based on the number of answers for questions 15, 17, 19, and 21 (for example, if column janus got 2 votes in logan, and column logan got 3 votes in janus, then that gets added up to 5 logan/janus votes in that post; here. to think i laid it out like this because i thought it would make neater results!)

these may not be the way the results were listed on the survey; for the results, i’ve made it so that the answer with the most responses is at the top, and then the answers continue in descending order until we reach the “other” category. if the responses don’t add up for some questions, it could be 1. a fault with my math, as sometimes i had to count things by hand or calculate it out myself, or 2. due to the fact that people could select multiple responses for some questions.

when it comes to the “other” category, i have attempted to summarize the majority of 213 answers, so i tended to put down the most common responses.

and now, the results:

Where do you read fanfiction?

210 (98.6%) said AO3 (Archive of Our Own)

146 (68.5%) said Tumblr

22 (10.3%) said Wattpad

14 (6.6%)said Fanfiction.net

3 (1.4%) said Quotev

the other category makes up 3 (1.4%), which said:

Back in the day, it was on Livejournal. And before that, FF.net. Before THAT, fansites.

Used to read on wattpad but not anymore

Mosty AO3

2. Do you write fanfiction?

94 (44.1%) said Yes

59 (27.7%) said No, but I want to/used to

28 (13.1%) said No

19 (8.9%) said Yes, but not for this fandom

the other category makes up 13 (6.10%), some of which said:

Yes and yes but not for this fandom

Sometimes?

I used to write TSS fanfics, but I don't anymore

I used to write fanfics, but not for this fandom

Yes, but I don't post it

3. Do you make fanart?

67 (31.5%) said No

65 (30.5%) said Yes

50 (23.5%) said No, but I want to/used to

20 (9.4%) said Yes, but not for this fandom

the other category makes up 11 (5.1%), some of which said:

Yes, but not for this fandom

I try to

I used to, but not as much anymore

If photoshopping counts

Yes, but I don't post it

4. Do you make other fandom-centric content? (gifsets, video edits, moodboards, speculative posts, etc.)

131 (61.5%) said No

68 (31.9%) said Yes

the other category makes up 14 (6.6%), some of which said:

I make occasional posts

Cosplay

Yes, but not for this fandom

Animation

Yes, but I don't post them

5. How often do you read fanfiction in general?

135 (63.4%) said Daily

45 (21.1%) said Once a week

9 (4.2%) said Twice a month

7 (3.3%) said Once a month

4 (1.9%) said Once (or fewer) every three months

the other category makes up 13 (6.1%), some of which said:

Sporadically

When I get into a fandom, I binge read

It varies/depends

6. How often do you read Sanders Sides/TS fanfiction?

54 (25.4%) said Daily

49 (23%) said Once (or fewer) every three months

40 (18.8%) said Once a week

26 (12.2%) said Twice a month

22 (10.3%) said Once a month

the other category makes up 22 (10.3%), some of which said:

Sporadically

I'm just getting into the fandom, I don't have frame of reference

Whenever I feel like it

More than once a week, but not every day

About as often as Thomas posts

Close to daily when it was my hyperfixation

7. Where do you get recommendations for fanfiction?

182 (85.4%) said Using the website's sorting functions

134 (62.9%) said From people I follow (Twitter, Tumblr, etc.)

81 (38%) said Browsing through the bookmarks of others

80 (37.6%) said From friends within fandom (personal friends, Discord servers, etc.)

11 (5.2%) said I only read fanfiction by friends/people I follow

the other category makes up 10 (5%), some which said:

From whatever new fic gets updated on AO3

Videos from Tiktok

I don't understand the question

Searching fic recs

A combination

Scrolling through tags

I only read from one author

8. If you use sorting functions, do you sort by:

160 (75.1%) said Tags I want

98 (46%) said Newest first

69 (32.4%) said Most kudos

23 (10.8%) said Most bookmarks

16 (7.5%) said N/A, I do not use sorting functions

12 (5.6%) said Most hits

4 (1.9%) said Most comments

the other category makes up 14 (6.5%), some of which said:

Word count

Kudos, then start on the last page and work my way forward so I find hidden gems

Date updated

Rating

Relationships

Specific tags

Completed

In progress

Depends on the day

9. Do your preferred fanfictions range across fandoms?

81 (38%) said Yes, about an 80/20 split (majority other content)

41 (19.2%) said Yes, about an 80/20 split (majority TS content)

19 (8.9%) said No, I read exclusively Sanders Sides fanfiction

19 (8.9%) said About a 50/50 split

15 (7%) said Yes, about a 60/40 split (majority TS content)

13 (6.1%) said Yes, about a 60/40 split (majority other content)

the other category makes up 25 (11.7%), some of which said:

I bounce back and forth between fandoms depending on the day

Whenever the hyperfixation hits

It's more than an 80/20 split

Like a 95/5 split

Mostly in the fandom, but I LOVE crossovers

The percentages break down a bit more because I'm in a lot of other fandoms

10. Do you read fanfictions in progress, completed fanfictions, or a combination of the above?

182 (85.4%) said A combination

30 (14.1%) said Completed only

1 (0.5%) said In progress only

11. What genres within the TSS fandom do you find yourself reading most often?

160 (75.1%) said Hurt/comfort

141 (66.2%) said AUs

125 (58.7%) said Fluff

125 (58.7%) said Angst

124 (58.2%) said Works centered around shipping

59 (27.7%) said Smut

18 (8.5%) said Crossover

the other category makes up 9 (4.2%), which said:

A few x readers

Works centered around NOT shipping

Depends on the day

Found family (the most popular "other" answer)

Crack

Roman and Remus having just — the worst possible sibling relationship

12. Is there a specific AU you tend to read?

138 (64.8%) said Human AU

115 (54%) said Other kinds of popular fanfiction AUs

105 (49.3%) said Canon compliant AU

83 (39%) said High school/college AU

70 (32.9%) said Enemies to lovers AU

59 (27.7%) said Roommate AU

34 (16%) said Fake dating AU

the other category makes up 37 (17.3%), some of which said:

Fantasy AU (the most popular "other" answer)

Weird AU (it's gotta be weird)

TV show AUs

Soulmate AUs

Any AU

No particular preference

Role swap/light dark

Supernatural AU

AUs in which the Sides are another species (some mentioned: merpeople, fae, with wings, space orcs, selkies, vampires, magic users)

13. Is there a specific character you prefer as your "main character?"

47 (22.1%) said Virgil

44 (20.7%) said I prefer ensemble pieces

30 (14.1%) said Logan

22 (10.3%) said N/A

21 (9.9%) said Roman

17 (8%) said Janus

12 (5.6%) said Patton

11 (5.2%) said Remus

1 (0.5%) said Thomas

1 (0.5%) said Other Thomas characters (Vines, shorts, Cartoon Therapy, etc.)

1 (0.5%) said RPF (Thomas' friend such as Joan, Valerie, etc.)

the other category makes up 7 (3.2%), some of which said:

Creativitwins equally

Virgil and Logan equally

Janus and Virgil equally

A combination of characters

Changes daily

14. Is there a specific character you avoid as your "main character?"

48 (22.5%) said N/A

38 (17.8%) said RPF (Thomas' friends such as Joan, Valerie, etc.)

28 (13.1%) said Patton

21 (9.9%) said I prefer ensemble pieces

17 (8%) said Thomas

14 (6.6%) said Roman

14 (6.6%) said Other Thomas characters (Vines, shorts, Cartoon Therapy, etc.)

10 (4.7%) said Virgil

9 (4.2%) said Remus

6 (2.8%) said Logan

4 (1.9%) said Janus

the other category makes up 4 (1.9%), which said:

Everyone but Virgil

Patton of Virgil equally

RPF, Thomas, and Virgil

Other Thomas characters and Thomas' friends as characters

A combination of characters

15. Is there a specific romantic pairing you prefer as your main pairing? Please select the intersection of the two characters. (A polyship/other pairings not listed specification option is below.) disclaimer: this is where the math may get a bit dicey; i did my best to calculate correctly! this is where the data is laid out raw.

Of the 56 responses in column N/A: 49 said N/A; 2 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 2 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 1 said Remus; 2 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 107 responses in column Janus: 7 said N/A; 27 said Patton; 20 said Logan; 15 said Virgil; 7 said Roman; 27 said Remus; 1 said Janus; 3 said Other

Of the 105 responses in column Logan: 6 said N/A; 16 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 26 said Virgil; 12 said Roman; 26 said Remus; 17 said Janus; 2 said Other

Of the 91 responses in column Patton: 12 said N/A; 0 said Patton; 29 said Logan; 4 said Virgil; 9 said Roman; 6 said Remus; 29 said Janus; 2 said Other

Of the 83 responses in column Remus: 10 said N/A; 7 said Patton; 22 said Logan; 7 said Virgil; 2 said Roman; 2 said Remus; 32 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 111 responses in column Roman: 6 said N/A; 12 said Patton; 16 said Logan; 57 said Virgil; 1 said Roman; 4 said Remus; 13 said Janus; 2 said Other

Of the 114 responses in column Virgil: 7 said N/A; 6 said Patton; 27 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 50 said Roman; 5 said Remus; 17 said Janus; 2 said Other

Of the 51 responses in column Other: 20 said N/A; 1 said Patton; 2 said Logan; 3 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 1 said Remus; 2 said Janus; 22 said Other

16. Other pairing/polyship that is preferred:

This was an optional, fillable other category, which received 116 (54.4%) responses, some of which said:

LAMP (the most popular "other" option)

Intruloceit

Virgil/Remus/Janus

Nico/Thomas

Analogince

Roloceit

Analoceit

Anyone with Virgil

Galaxy polycule (Noise/Roman/Youngblood)

Dark side poly

Thomas/Virgil

Thomas/Janus

Analoceitmus

Logan/Patton/Virgil

I like them all

17. Is there a specific romantic pairing you prefer to avoid as your main pairing? Please select the intersection of the two characters. (A polyship/other pairings not listed specification option is below.) disclaimer: this is where the math may get a bit dicey; i did my best to calculate correctly!

Of the 45 responses in column N/A: 42 said N/A; 1 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 1 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 0 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 74 responses in column Janus: 16 said N/A; 12 said Patton; 12 said Logan; 14 said Virgil; 12 said Roman; 7 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 66 responses in column Logan: 20 said N/A; 29 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 3 said Virgil; 5 said Roman; 4 said Remus; 4 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 81 responses in column Patton: 12 said N/A; 2 said Patton; 12 said Logan; 26 said Virgil; 13 said Roman; 10 said Remus; 5 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 115 responses in column Remus: 4 said N/A; 11 said Patton; 4 said Logan; 9 said Virgil; 83 said Roman; 1 said Remus; 2 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 110 responses in column Roman: 5 said N/A; 15 said Patton; 3 said Logan; 17 said Virgil; 2 said Roman; 61 said Remus; 7 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 86 responses in column Virgil: 10 said N/A; 42 said Patton; 1 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 12 said Roman; 7 said Remus; 14 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 31 responses in column Other: 21 said N/A; 2 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 1 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 1 said Remus; 1 said Janus; 5 said Other

18. Other pairing/polyship to avoid:

This was an optional, fillable other category, which received 61 (28.6%) responses, some of which said:

Roman/Remus (the most popular "other" answer)

I avoid shipping in general

Patton/Remus

Remus/Virgil

Virgil/Janus/Remus

Anything with Patton unless it's Remus

Remus/any light side

Roman/Janus

Anxceit

I avoid shipping Thomas with anyone

Any poly ships that involve both Roman and Remus

Most Virgil and Patton ships

19. Is there a specific friendship you prefer as your main platonic pairing? Please select the intersection of the two characters. (A polyship/other pairings not listed specification option is below.) disclaimer: this is where the math may get a bit dicey; i did my best to calculate correctly!

Of the 45 responses in column N/A: 43 said N/A; 0 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 0 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 2 said Other

Of the 98 responses in column Janus: 5 said N/A; 18 said Patton; 15 said Logan; 22 said Virgil; 5 said Roman; 32 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 79 responses in column Logan: 6 said N/A; 12 said Patton; 2 said Logan; 19 said Virgil; 14 said Roman; 16 said Remus; 9 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 83 responses in column Patton: 8 said N/A; 1 said Patton; 17 said Logan; 25 said Virgil; 9 said Roman; 7 said Remus; 15 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 92 responses in column Remus: 6 said N/A; 5 said Patton; 6 said Logan; 16 said Virgil; 30 said Roman; 2 said Remus; 26 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 79 responses in column Roman: 7 said N/A; 8 said Patton; 15 said Logan; 14 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 27 said Remus; 7 said Janus; 1 said Other

Of the 102 responses in column Virgil: 6 said N/A; 28 said Patton; 19 said Logan; 1 said Virgil; 18 said Roman; 15 said Remus; 12 said Janus; 3 said Other

Of the 33 responses in column Other: 16 said N/A; 0 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 0 said Remus; 2 said Janus; 15 said Other

20. Other friendship/group friendship preferred:

This was an optional, fillable other category, which received 75 (35.2%) responses, some of which said:

LAMP (the most popular "other" answer)

All of them!

Janus/Remus/Virgil

FamILY

Creativity brothers

"When the gangs all here..."

Thomas and Joan

Remy/Sleep and Janus

Moceit

Platonic prinxiety

Virgil and Remy

Logan and Janus

Traffic light trio

21. Is there a specific friendship you avoid as your main platonic pairing? Please select the intersection of the two characters. (A polyship/other pairings not listed specification option is below.) disclaimer: this is where the math may get a bit dicey; i did my best to calculate correctly!

Of the 116 responses in column N/A: 116 said N/A; 0 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 0 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 44 responses in column Janus: 25 said N/A; 5 said Patton; 2 said Logan; 3 said Virgil; 7 said Roman; 2 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 42 responses in column Logan: 28 said N/A; 5 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 1 said Virgil; 3 said Roman; 3 said Remus; 2 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 47 responses in column Patton: 26 said N/A; 1 said Patton; 1 said Logan; 2 said Virgil; 2 said Roman; 9 said Remus; 3 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 44 responses in column Remus: 27 said N/A; 11 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 3 said Virgil; 2 said Roman; 0 said Remus; 1 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 41 responses in column Roman: 27 said N/A; 5 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 2 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 1 said Remus; 6 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 42 responses in column Virgil: 27 said N/A; 7 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 2 said Roman; 0 said Remus; 6 said Janus; 0 said Other

Of the 32 responses in column Other: 28 said N/A; 1 said Patton; 0 said Logan; 0 said Virgil; 0 said Roman; 1 said Remus; 0 said Janus; 0 said Other

22. Other friendship/group friendship to avoid:

This was an optional, fillable other category, which received 22 (10.3%) responses, some of which said:

N/A (the most popular other answer)

I don't mind who is friends with who

Patton anything

LAMP

23. Do you find yourself gravitating toward a certain fanfic length?

100 (46.9%) said 5k-10k

90 (42.3%) said 10k-20k

68 (31.9%) said 20k-50k

66 (31%) said Less than 5k

52 (24.4%) said 50k-100k

38 (17.8%) said 100k+

the other category makes up 53 (24.8%), which said:

Any length (the most popular "other" answer)

4k-150k

Depends on my mood

Chapter length

24. How often do you leave kudos? with 1 being categorized as "Never" and 5 being categorized as "Always"

87 (40.8%) said 4

76 (35.7%) said 5 (Always)

28 (13.1%) said 3

14 (6.6%) said 2

8 (3.8%) said 1 (Never)

25. How often do you bookmark/save a fic for later? with 1 being categorized as "Never" and 5 being categorized as "Always"

67 (31.5%) said 3

53 (24.9%) said 2

37 (17.4%) said 4

33 (15.5%) said 1 (Never)

23 (10.8%) said 5 (Always)

26. How often do you comment? with 1 being categorized as "Never" and 5 being categorized as "Always"

74 (34.7%) said 2

60 (28.2%) said 1 (Never)

54 (25.4%) said 3

18 (8.5%) said 4

7 (3.3%) said 5 (Always)

27. Of the fanfiction authors you read, are they someone you know? (Either in real life or online.) with 1 being categorized as "Never" and 5 being categorized as "Always"

99 (46.5%) said 1 (Never)

65 (30.5%) said 2

36 (16.9%) said 3

13 (6.1%) said 4

0 (0%) said 5 (Always)

28. Do you find length is a significant factor when reading fanfictions?

80 (37.6%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but length is probably one of the LEAST important

73 (34.3%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but length is definitely one of the MOST important

30 (14.1%) said No

20 (9.4%) said Yes

the other category makes up 10 (4.6%), some of which said:

It's about in the middle (the most popular "other" answer)

It factors in especially when choosing bedtime stories

Depends on fic and fandom

It doesn't particularly matter most of the time, then sometimes it really does

Unsure of what question means

29. Do you find lack of tags is a significant factor when reading fanfictions?

69 (32.4%) said Yes

66 (31%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but lack of tags is one of the MOST important

35 (16.4%) said No

33 (15.5%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but lack of tags is probably one of the LEAST important

the other category makes up 10 (4.6%), some of which said:

It's very likely to deter me

It depends, usually it's a big deal to me, but if the summary is interesting enough I'll read it

Tags are extremely important when it comes to "heavy" content.

Depends on if I "know" the author

It depends on if I'm looking for something specific

Unsure of what the question means

30. Do you find an abundance of tags is a significant factor when reading fanfictions?

60 (28.2%) said No

53 (24.9%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but abundance of tags is definitely one of the MOST important

50 (23.5%) said Yes

41 (x%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but abundance of tags is probably one of the LEAST important

the other category makes up 9 (4.2%), some of which said:

An abundance of "relevant" tags makes it easier for me to make a decision

Yes, in that I don't like it

I do enjoy thorough tagging

Not too much, not too little

If the summary is descriptive or intriguing enough it doesn't need too many tags, but the more the better

Unsure of what question means

31. Do you find the summary is a significant factor when reading fanfictions?

133 (62.4%) said Yes

53 (24.9%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but the summary is definitely one of the MOST important

13 (6.1%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but the summary is probably one of the LEAST important

12 (5.6%) said No

the other category makes up 2 (0.9%), which said:

Summaries have an influence, but not more than the tags

If the tags are super thorough, no. If they're not, yes

32. Do you find accompanying fanart/playlists/other content makes you more likely to read a fanfiction?

94 (44.1%) said No

55 (25.8%) said Yes

51 (23.9%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but additional content is probably one of the LEAST important

10 (4.7%) said It depends on a combination of factors, but additional content is definitely one of the MOST important

the other category makes up 3 (1.4%), which said:

Neither the most or least important, but it's helpful to see.

It makes the work more enticing, but it's not a requirement to get my attention.

No, but it makes it more likely to get me to enjoy/finish it

33. Of options not listed above, is there something that is more likely to get you to read a fanfiction? (interesting title, good spelling/grammar, promising tags/plot, etc.)

81 (38%) said N/A

29 (13.6%) said other

Some more include:

Promising tags/plot

Good spelling/grammar

If it's an AU I like and the summary has a clear plot

Well-written

Interesting title

Tags I'm looking for

Recommendations from friends

A title I recognize from a poem/quote/song

Ships I like

Good formatting

Characterization

34. Of options not listed above, is there something that is more likely to get you to NOT read a fanfiction? (no/poor formatting, untagged content, bad spelling/grammar, etc.)

56 (26.3%) said N/A

55 (25.8%) said Other

Some more include:

Untagged content

Plot devices I find unappealing

Bad grammar, spelling, or formatting

No paragraph breaks

First person/second person

Uninteresting plot

Author's comments in the summary

DNIs/text explicitly denigrating other people in fandom

I dislike most AUs

Unsympathetic tags

Woobification

If it's a complicated concept and it's incomplete

thanks so much for taking this survey, y'all!

#fanfiction survey #sanders sides fanfiction survey

27 notes · View notes

troped-fanfic-challenge · 3 years

Text

JATP ROUND TWO FICS!

We received seventeen (17!!!!!) Fics for the Second Round of the JATP TROPED Event! These fics were fluff-filled and super fun, and we loved to see how you all challenged yourselves with the theme, tropes, and pairings!

Please try to read as many fics as you can! Take some notes, leave some kudos/comments for the authors, and help us vote on the winners!

Voting will be open until May 14th at 11:59pm EST! Vote here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BZ3W5FT

Please rank ALL the fics in each question based on the USE of each trope, the theme, the fics overall, and the two bonus polls (best setting + most unique pairing)! Your #1 spot should be the best answer and your last spot the least likely answer for the question. The Best Overall Poll will determine who will be writing in the Final Round! We ask that you please rank EVERY fic, so we can avoid technical difficulties! A reminder that you must include a Tumblr or AO3 username/URL, and you may only vote once, we will NOT count multiple votes by the same person.

————

Okay, Campers, Rise and Shine! (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: When Reggie launches a particularly ill-advised prank war at HGC Ranch, Luke's fully prepared to take it in stride.

When the days start looping, though, he begins to suspect that this might all be a little bit above his head.

In other words, he's at least 78% sure that the time loop isn't a direct result of Reggie's pranks.

Maybe 77%.

Oh, well.

At least he's not in it alone.

(The Groundhog Day meets Gravity Falls meets Summer Camp meets The Author's Own Distaste For Prank Wars AU that no one asked for. Ever. At all.)

Starting To Forget (Just What Summer Ever Meant To You) (Not Rated) [Flynn x Carrie]

Summary: Last summer didn't end on a positive note for Carrie Wilson - she and her girlfriend broke up on the last night of camp, and she's been miserable since. But it seems that the universe is intent on having her fix that this summer. Even if that means she has to live through the same day over and over and over again until she does.

Creative B.S. Was No More, Was No Less (Look Around, You're Gonna Miss What You Found) (Rated T) [Alex x Luke, Flynn x Reggie]

Summary: The midnight men move again

Don't know when

Best friends forever

In trouble again

Here's to you, here's to me

Over the rafters and we're free

--- Over the Rafters, Rick Schiffman

***

Alex and Luke go undercover on a mission to a summer camp in order to find a talisman that could endanger the camp and all the kids. While there, they bond with the kids and make peace with the fact that they broke up.

While Alex and Luke are away, Flynn accidentally fucks with time.

bitch but like romantically (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie]

Summary: The dining hall’s exactly the same as it has been for two mornings now, and Flynn doesn’t hesitate to poke Willie twice on the nose and whisper “pancake” on her way past their seat.

His eyes widen and he whips his head around to follow them, excitement glimmering in their eyes.

“Really?” they blurt. Flynn rolls her eyes and nods.

or: flynn gets stuck in a time loop. {for troped jatp round 2}

down by the bay (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: Over time, Camp Phantom has simply become known as a selective summer camp: one that took only the kids that Caleb saw promise in. And Caleb wasn’t exactly lying. He really did take only the ones he saw promise in, he simply looked for different traits than others might.

For example, say, hypothetically, a boy who could see the future. Or, hypothetically, a girl who could interact with ghosts. Or, hypothetically, a boy who could summon objects to him with a simple thought. Or, and this is completely hypothetical mind you, a boy who could manipulate time.

Those might be some traits that Caleb saw promise in. Just, like, as examples.

Time will tell (But only if you do it right) (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie]

Summary: Carrie had been acting a little off for a week or so, but Flynn was pretty much known for seeing something in nothing, and that was probably what they were doing then. If something was going on, Carrie would tell her eventually.

Who knew all it took was a little bit of miscommunication to mess up time itself?

and so it begins (Rated T) [Bobby x Reggie]

Summary: It’s the first day of their second week at Camp Carolling (they’re spending an entire month, and they’re getting paid to be there!) when Reggie gets a little lost in the woods. During this misadventure into the woods, he finds an egg shaped rock, an inhabited cabin that may or may not be riddled with signs, and something that might be magic. He probably doesn't get paid enough to discover magic.

or, when they were thirteen years old, four boys met at camp carolling and eventually became a band that almost became something legendary. now, all four boys are coming back as counselors, three boys in one band and one boy in his own solo act.

so begins the reunion, though it doesn't go how any of them imagine.

Porcupine Day (Rated T) [Bobby x Ray x Rose]

Summary: It’s been fifteen years since Trevor broke up with Ray and Rose and they’re... not fine, but managing. But when Trevor to adds insult to injury and buys the camp across the lake from the one they once owned together, the two camps become locked in a bitter rivalry. With neither side willing to set aside their pride and work out their issues, the universe decides to settle their fates itself.

Day After Day (After Day After Day) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: When Alex met Willie just after their senior year of high school, they spent a wonderful three months dating before their relationship ended in a blaze of glory. Now, four years later, they meet again as counselors at a summer camp. The only problem? Alex keeps reliving their first day together. The day that Luke had declared "Prank Day."

This is not how Alex pictured his summer going.

clocks move faster (it's all we're after) (Rated G) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: Julie likes it when her friends are happy, so when she realizes she's stuck in a time loop, she uses her knowledge to make sure everything works out for everyone... except she conveniently forgets to factor herself (and Luke) into the mix.

Touch of Magic (Not Rated) [Alex x Luke]

Summary: When everything stands in Luke and Alex’s way of getting to be with the people they love, they have to repeat the day over and over until they can get the happily ever after that they want.

The play's the thing (that goes wrong) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day for Macbeth, but not so for Alex and the production of Hamlet that he is directing and starring in. And while he's stuck repeating the day of the performance over and over, mishaps of all kinds befall the cast.

anything, anything (for another run with you) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: The moment Alex steps foot in Camp Greenwood, he knows that this summer is a bad idea.

He knows it as soon as he sees tan skin, long hair, and a tie-dyed crop top at the check-in table.

Willie.

the camp counselor/exes/prank war/time loop fic of your dreams (unless you read all of the other troped round 2 fics lmao)

there’s a glorious sunrise, dappled with the flickers of light (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: What comes next happens in slow motion. Luke’s foot catches on the last rung of the ladder. Julie watches as he stumbles a step forward, barely catching himself before falling on his face. The ladder clatters to the floor below. The trapdoor, no longer propped open by it, falls closed with a loud thunk, the lock clicking into place. They’re stuck.

“Luke!” she exclaims loudly. “Look what you did!” Julie drops to her knees in front of the trap door, desperately trying to fit her fingers between the wood and the stone to pry it open again. Of course it doesn’t work.

“What?” he snaps back. “I wouldn’t be up here in the first place if it weren’t for you trying to fuck us over.”

or: ex-best friends Luke and Julie, working as camp counselors at rivaling camps, find themselves stuck in a time loop

the daughter of apollo (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: (the JATP x Camp Half Blood AU that nobody asked for)

maybe the world isn't ending (maybe it's been postponed) (Rated G) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: Alex runs his fingers through Willie’s hair. “I think it’s best to just leave them to their own prank war at this point. Let’s not forget that time Julie put hot sauce in the coffee pot and my mouth was on fire for an entire hour.”

“You’re exaggerating, Alex-”

“I most certainly am not,” Alex cuts Reggie off.

“Or how about the time Luke tried to put glitter in Julie’s bed,” Carrie joins in, “but got my bed instead? I can appreciate some glitter, but even I know when enough is enough.”

“Suffice it to say,” Willie finishes after they’ve passed around a dozen or so more memories of pranks from the summer, “we’re all done being your collateral damage. Whatever Julie has planned for you tomorrow, Luke, you’re on your own.”

It's the last day of camp and Julie has one more prank planned for Luke. He just doesn't know what it is.

Here We Go Again (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: Julie blinked as she stared at the place Euterpe had disappeared. What did that even mean? What journey? Old places and lost faces? What was she talking about? But before she could dwell on the questions swirling around in her mind, the sky full of stars began to move, shifting in place and descending until they were all around her. Julie felt her feet leave the ground as she rose up and up. One star in particular was burning brighter than the others, growing bigger in front of her.

It grew and grew, until the light was blinding and Julie had to throw a hand up against the harsh light. She closed her eyes as the light surrounded her and then she was falling. Falling down, down, down.

#troped: jatp #round 2: fluff #jatp fanfiction #submissions #round 2 submissions #round 2 voting #troped: voting

48 notes · View notes

iwhumpyou · 3 years

Note

Dizziness?

*gasps* What’s that? Original whumpfic?

Hope this fills what you were looking for!

Masterlist. Raider.

Taglist: @smileevenwhenyoudontfeellikeit, @whumps-the-word, @whumpy-daydreams.

Exhaustion.

~#~

She could sit upright now. Well, slump upright, curled up in the corner, head pressed against the wall as she fought to keep her eyes open. Her surroundings faded in and out, the crowd of people blurring to splotches of color and the conversations fading to murmurs.

She knew they were looking at her – she could feel the weight of their glares. She knew they were talking about her – she could catch snatches of furious hisses and snarled insults. She just didn’t have the energy to care about it.

She didn’t have the energy to do anything.

It surprised her. She had always been driven – top of her class, ambitious, proud, head raider by the age of twenty-six, a voice on the Council.

And she had crippled every one of her ambitions for a shot in the dark. One chance to do the right thing. Slight, small, probably entirely worthless in the long run, but she had been so tired of stepping aside and letting the Council follow a dark path.

So she’d spoken out. Cast her vote. Made sure that particular law wouldn’t be passed. And in doing so, destroyed her relationship with her family, ruined any chance of keeping her position or her job, and lost every safe harbor she’d ever had.

Her family. The raiders. Her friends – she wasn’t very good at making friends, and any casual acquaintance would balk at sheltering her, especially when she had such powerful enemies hunting for her head.

The Council. Killian. Every single enemy she’d made over the years in her tenure as raider. Laila may have sheltered her out of some fading sense of obligation for the relationship they’d once had, but she had a position to regain. Tanner and Kate had only helped her out of duty to Laila.

Riya was resourceful. She could start her whole life from scratch – she certainly had the skills to do so. But the old poison had wrecked her endurance, the building had crushed her, the Council’s thugs had crippled her, and Killian’s torture had finished the job. She couldn’t even sit upright, much less stand, much less fight. Someone could walk up to her and put a knife under her chin and all she’d be able to do was fall on the blade.

She was in a lawless den of outlaws and fugitives, with no friends, resources, or shelter, and she didn’t have the energy to try and escape.

She just prayed that Killian wouldn’t be the one to get his hands on her. Her family would execute her, the Council would jail her, anyone else would just slit her throat, but Killian would torture her and Riya was so close to breaking.

“Riya. Riya.”

She blinked, and was vaguely surprised when a familiar face resolved itself in front of her, a tone halfway between worried and annoyed. She wondered how long they’d been calling her name.

“Riya –”

“Yes?” Riya managed, blinking slowly. Freya was scowling. It wasn’t a meal time, and she wasn’t carrying food anyway. What did she want?

“We’re having a discussion about what to do with you,” Freya informed her, “And I thought you might like to join.”

Riya stared blankly at her. What was the point? She didn’t need to hear a list of reasons of why Sherwood hated raiders, or maybe hated her specifically, or all the gruesome imaginings of what they wanted to do to her.

“Get up,” Freya said. So she wasn’t getting a choice.

Riya made an attempt at getting to her feet. Unsurprisingly, it failed.

There was an annoyed huff above her, and hands closed around her arms, pulling her upright. The world spun around her, her head pounding as her legs trembled, the world washing out to sickening spirals of colors.

“Wait,” Riya tried to say, her tongue heavy in her mouth as her stomach twisted, pins and needles jittering down her limbs. Jolts ran through her muscles, too fast, too close, and her head was already spinning, she’d crumple entirely if they forced her to walk.

The colors slowly receded to their original places, gravity resumed its normal position, and Riya blinked to see Freya staring at her, her hands vices around Riya’s upper arms.

“Good?” Freya asked slowly, her expression carefully neutral.

Riya nodded in lieu of unsticking her tongue to answer.

Their progress was slow as Riya had to pause every few steps to let the world reassert itself, exhaustion dragging at her as she was forced to move fatigued, trembling limbs. It was sixty-three steps to the meeting hall, and Riya knew that because every single one was a painful hurdle.

She gratefully collapsed into the chair Freya nudged her into, eyes sliding shut, and let the world go fuzzy. She was forced to attend, no one said anything about participation, and Riya only attempted to pry open her eyelids when someone said her name five times, in increasing order of annoyance.

“So glad the head raider finally deigns to grace us with her attention,” a man Riya recognized as Nigel Bryce made a cold, thin-lipped smile as he flicked a knife in one hand.

“Not the head raider,” Riya managed, because Bryce had been on their wanted list for years, and now the violently murderous psychopath was sitting five seats down from her.

“Really?” Bryce said, leaning forward, “How did you manage that?”

“Decided to have an original thought,” Riya said, voice sharp, and something inside of her shivered at the slow smile.

“You’re lying,” the woman next to Freya responded, face blank.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re lying,” she repeated, “You’re still head raider.”

“You’re operating with outdated information –”

“As of two days ago, Riya Faris is still listed as head raider of the Seawirk division,” the woman recited calmly.

Riya stared at her. That wasn’t true. That couldn’t be true. The Council had gone after her. She’d been missing for at least two weeks, and there wasn’t a hint of an increased raider presence on the streets.

It didn’t make any sense –

“Do you know how many people in this city want your head, Riya?”

Unless they trying to start a fight. Unless they were attempting to uproot the peace treaty that had been finalized years ago, that had stabilized only recently – under threat of Killian – and that Riya had thrown her career away to safeguard.

Riya made a low, choked sound and slumped further in the chair, squeezing her eyes shut. Plots upon plans upon tricks, and she had only ever discovered the first layer.

Set her up for the fall. But not a public disownment, not yet, not until the head raider was found murdered on the streets and the city could descend into exactly the anarchy the Council needed to swoop in and reassert order.

The exact anarchy Killian needed to swoop in and take control.

Riya felt like she was holding half a puzzle, and she didn’t like the picture it was forming.

“Riya! Riya!”

Riya blinked her eyes open again, and hissed when the world spun. There were fingers digging into her shoulder and she tried to twist away from them, but merely slid further into her chair as her muscles spasmed and gave out.

“Riya,” Freya’s face was hovering above hers, expression tight and eyes narrowed, “You should’ve long since healed, what happened to you?”

“Poison,” Riya rasped, “A building collapsed. An attack. Killian’s particular brand of torture. Take your pick.” Freya’s face wavered, and drew back. “If you’re going to kill me, could you please get on with it? I’m not sure how much longer I can stay awake.”

She was already beginning to feel floaty, her arms and legs curiously detached and numb – she was practically curled in her chair, staring out at a gathering of some of the most dangerous outlaws in the world, and all she could think was how badly she wanted a nap.

“Generally,” Bryce said dryly, “We give our acquisitions a chance to make a case for why they should be left alive.”

Riya laughed. Or chuckled anyway, unamused giggles trickling out because the world was spinning and she couldn’t suppress the jolt of hysteria. “You’re joking, right?” she said between hiccups, “Someone is going to slit my throat two steps from your front door. There is no case for leaving me alive.”

A series of glances were exchanged up and down the table, but Riya could only think about her dry mouth and aching head and how the lights were too bright and her vision was swimming. She tried to swallow, and it stuck in her throat.

“As it’s apparent that Riya is still considered the head raider,” Freya’s voice said from far away, “I move we hold an auction.”

“I second that vote,” Bryce added, and the darkness wrapped around her in tune to murmured agreements.

~#~

TBC.

#whumpfic #raider #arc: auction #dizziness #exhaustion #collapse #at an enemy's mercy #request fill

18 notes · View notes

yavannah · 3 years

Text

Possible The Sims 4 challenge idea

I found old notebooks from a time when I was still playing the Sims 2 game and in it I once tried to play with multiple players together in a Legacy challenge. The site was radosims.com, but unfortunately that site / forum no longer exists.

But now I got the idea to put here what I myself came up with and remembered this challenge. It’s not even radosims challenges at first, but I guess you’ll find it on some other Sims site too. I don't even remember if it was Mod the Sims or some other similar site.

So the rules and guidelines can be, to put it mildly, confusing, because I don’t fully remember them myself, and it’s actually been quite a long time since I tried this challenge. I thought that with The Sims 4 it could be easier when the challenge sim can be shared through the gallery if needed.

But here come the whole thing. Tell me what you think. :)

Let's play together Legacy challenge

That name may not be right, but I had to come up with a descriptive title, so that’s what it is now. Sure, you can fix me and tell me what it really was.

That is, the idea is to play one Sims family among multiple players as if in a Legacy challenge.

Of course, everyone has so-called artistic freedom and every time the sim moves to the next player it is sent without the downloaded cc, of course everyone gets to use their own downloaded cc and only the defaults could make an exception, even if they don't come, but each player changes own defaults or the game's own genetics/outfits, etc.

The number of generations, on the other hand, can go according to how many players are involved in the challenge, or a certain number is agreed between the players, even if it's a traditional ten generations, or played as long as there is enough enthusiasm and players.

That is, one sim is created initially, gender and sexual orientation do not matter as long as the sim has genetic offspring. The beginner age could be a teenager-young adult or an adult.

Simi should be a basic sim anyway, but of course it can be a special sim (alien / witch / vampire / mermaid) if agreed between the players and if other players have special add-ons that require special sims (Get to work/Realm of Magic/Dream Islands/Vampires).

If not, then we will stay with the basics and we can even develop something for sim that must be passed on to Sim’s descendants. Eye color etc.

And in order for this to remain a bit interesting, as I mentioned at the beginning, the players have so-called artistic freedom and everyone should be able to create some kind of story for their own generation if they so wish. But of course you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to or can’t.

Once the sim of the gaming generation has found a spouse and had children, then as the children grow into teenagers, a choice can be made as to which of the children will be able to continue the family.

It can be done even with a so-called vote among all the players and why not the story among the next and the teen sim who got the most votes moves on to the next player. Admittedly, I was wondering here whether the whole family could be moved with the same effort, so the sim's memories would not disappear, but that too would probably be reconcilable between the players.

And with the scores you actually played (if you want to count your points) it would go exactly according to the rules of the basic Legacy challenge. That is, initially a suitable amount that the sim can move to a suitable lot and even get the basics.

Of course if you have a university, then you can start from university and then after completing it move to live on the lot of your choice or if you want an extreme start on such a sim lot and only necessary, money to zero and the plot to feature off the range.

And a sim can only remove this feature when sim has received, for example, a certain number of handiness points in dexterity, as well as a certain amount of money.

Oh and the sims are only allowed to marry the non-playable sims in the game. I recommend not trying your luck with Mrs. Crumplebottom, she’s not very romantic in nature and she’s especially reluctant to hit everyone with her handbag.

But kids made with ready-made sims might be allowed, but that the sims of the finished families must not change the challenge to Sim's plot, nor the challenges sim must move to their plots. Challenge sims can be related to these sims, depending of course on what kind of goal the challenge sims have.

Of course, each player has a great deal of freedom to wear and make-up the sim to their liking on their own turn, but the character traits and goals set for the sim before sending, as well as genetic traits (eye, skin and hair colors) must be maintained. Of course, this also depends on what add-ons, sets, packs and possible downloads, etc. each have their own use.

And if you use some special mods, then of course it would be advisable to mention them to other players as well, so as not to wonder why some things can or cannot be done in your own game.

Oh yeah, and I'm thinking that if necessary, the plot could also be shared either compressed into a Zip/Rar file (whatever you want to share, simsfileshare, Dropbox, etc.) or through the gallery. The gallery could be the easiest and most direct.

Although I fully understand if someone is not willing to share their own gallery name/nickname with everyone else.

And the challenge is done/completed when the agreed number of generations is reached. Until then, it’s meant to be fun.

In general, according to the Legacy challenge, cheat codes are prohibited, but in some cases they may be allowed. At least in the beginning, when you are supposed to get a sim on the desired plot and deduct money when everything necessary is acquired. I suggest using an already vacant plot.

Admittedly, when using the largest lot of land in New Crest, it must be remembered that after a long period of use of that lot, it may begin to badly bugging, so that you are living there at your own risk.

And of course, sim is allowed to have adventures outside the lot, to attend festivals and community lots, otherwise it would be impossible for sim to face potential spouse candidates.

It is up to everyone to decide whether or not to take money out of their sim for each trip to the community lots.

A sim can only go on holiday (for holiday plots if you have those add-ons at your disposal) when the sim has enough money and the sim is work, of course, and a relatively decent house to live in.

That is, nothing but happy game moments for everyone. :)

I know, looks terribly confusing, so sorry about that. English is not my home language and anyway, the whole thing was written according to what ideas came to my mind and how I remembered to play that challenge.

You can definitely suggest your own ideas and correct me if I have made typos or if there is something wrong or otherwise confusing in the rules.

So now I will let you have your own views on this. I definitely want to know if this would be feasible in The Sims 4.

#the sims 4 #challenge #idea

2 notes · View notes

captain-azoren · 3 years

Text

Legend of Korra books 3 & 4

Finished rewatching books 3 and 4 of Korra. Here on my thoughts on them and the series as a whole after seeing it again after so many years.

I think books 3 and 4 are pretty solid. Aside from a few flaws, I think 3 is the overall best with the best pacing. I think a big issue with book 2 was that it was trying and failing to juggle a very big cast and multiple subplots that made it feel like a mess. That’s not an issue with 3 or 4, where every character has a relevant purpose and plot threads come together more naturally.

4 does this a little bit worse as I think the plot kind of starts and stops a couple of times, but it’s not terrible. Kuvira’s build up as a villain is very shaky when compared to Amon and Zaheer, but still better than Unalaq’s arc going down the drain. It really does seem like the worst parts of her villainy are told and not shown (those being the reeducation camps and slave labor). I think they could have shown at least one of these camps instead of just seeing the escapees that Varrick and Bolin meet.

I still think the Red Lotus are the best antagonists in LoK just for having the best arc overall. They had Amon’s intrigue, stayed consistent in their motivations like Kuvira, and they have the most dimensions overall just from the little bits of interaction we see of them. What’s more, they didn’t disappoint me in the end.

The Colossus I didn’t mind or find out of place. It just doesn’t bother me when the show has had Koizilla and giant drills in AtLA. I can understand how the mechanics of it work as well. I didn’t feel like my suspension of disbelief was broken considering everything else. I think fans who dislike it are more bothered by it breaking the setting further away from fantasy and into sci-fi.One question though, why does a spirit energy canon need a rifled barrel?

Mako is a much better character in 3 and 4 because he’s finally allowed to be someone other than a love interest. His interactions with Bolin can be really fun and it’s kind of a shame how often they’re separated. I also noticed on a rewatch that he does make a good detective, having good perception and coming up with ideas. It’s better than the pro-bender he started out as and probably his best strength.

I think I actually like Mako now whereas before he was the most forgettable, and I think he deserves some looking into. A lot of the hate comes from him being put into really tough spots where he just can’t win. Mako goes from being extremely aloof to being a loyal but beleaguered straight man to the group.

Raiko I feel similarly to Mako. I think he’s another guy who keeps getting put into tough spots with no easy solution. He doesn’t really deserve hate either, and honestly probably made the best decisions he could as a president (I know from experience how bad they can be...) Him being hated and voted out in the comics seem like Bryke was over correcting, something they seem to do a lot.

Suyin I have mixed feelings on. She really does seem like someone Bryke really wanted fans to like and agree with, but they shilled her a bit too much and at the expense of Lin. Su’s apology to Lin at the end of their dispute felt kind of half-hearted, and despite being justified, the whole thing is framed as Lin being the one in the wrong, stuck in the past, unable to move on after Su had changed. We don’t see Su change though, and Su keeps acting like what she did wasn’t that big a deal, so it falls flat.

What’s more, Su continues being a big presence into book 4, and I think I have to agree with Kuvira that Su should have at least done something to help the EK out. It really does make Su come off as kind of a cowardly hypocrite who’s so afraid of looking like a dictator that she doesn’t even try to help. She doesn’t want to be treated like royalty or an authoritarian, but if you look at Zaofu the place is already set up like a small kingdom, with the Beifongs being the divine bloodline descended from Toph, the strongest bender to ever live. Su is a queen in all but name, and if she was so afraid of looking like a dictator she could have just given up the power like Kuvira was supposed to have done. Su just rubs me the wrong way from start to finish, and it’s partly because the show doesn’t challenge her or make her change. It just expects us to see her as being right, and she just isn’t.

Bolin being a lava bender I remember being really excited for, because it was something I predicted when I first saw it years ago. I don’t have a problem with how he discovered it. It’s not the best way I’d like see someone discover a new power, but I think it’s better than when Korra finally got airbending (though that didn’t bother me too much either). It just kind of made sense to me and finally gave something else to stand out besides comic relief.

The air kids got better in 3 and 4 too. Meelo got less annoying, Jinora was more fleshed out, and I actually really like Ikki in book 4.

Now Korra and Asami. I think Korra is maybe at her most static in book 3, but her arc in book 4 is the most interesting as she had to build herself back up. I don’t agree with some of the things that are just told to the viewer, like how she needed to learn from her enemies. At the finale Korra says she had to suffer to learn compassion, but it’s not like Korra wasn’t a compassionate person already. Korra’s arc seemed more centered on dealing with trauma and finding her purpose in a world that seemed hellbent on telling her she wasn’t needed. I don’t know if that was some kind of meta commentary, but it does work.

I do like Korra’s overall development from where she was in book 1. If I had to put it into words, I think her story is about trying to fulfill a role that she’s been groomed for her whole life, trying to live up to expectations, pushed into doing what others want her to do, failing those things, then finding the strength and resolve to achieve success on her own terms, even if it’s not what everyone wants. Korra gradually learns to stop being a tool for world leaders to use to keep order or power. It’s not always done well, but it’s there.

It’s nice to see her and Asami be friends after the love triangle stuff. It’s kind of surprising, but they didn’t really interact all that much in the first two books all things considered. Asami doesn’t change a whole lot throughout the series, but her reconnecting with her dad at the end felt satisfying.

I’ll be honest, I never really saw Korrasami happening and didn’t view much of their interactions as being romantic in nature. I think only the letter writing and their reunion seems a little shippy, but not very obvious. That said, I can buy the two of them finally realizing they might be attracted to each other at the finale, as a beginning to their relationship. The real problem is that shippers and even Bryke overhyped this moment up as it being ENDGAME rather than treating it as what is was, a spark of attraction. Korra and Asami aren’t in love yet, they’re just going on their first official date.

I do like them being together though. It seems a lot healthier than other potential relationships, and let’s be real here; Asami NEEDED something to make her happy because holy shit has she be through a lot by the end of the series. Dumped by Mako twice, almost lost her company and lost her dad after she forgave him. Give the poor rich girl a break.

So, final thoughts on the series as a whole; it’s not as good as AtLA, but that’s mostly on the execution. LoK was messy and had issues, but it did eventually smooth things out after a lot of course correcting. There are things I don’t like, but not enough for me to write it off, and it has plenty of strengths that make it deserving of a watch if you keep an open mind.

I remember ThunderCats 2011 getting a lot of flak too, and that’s one of my favorite shows ever despite its glaring flaws, so I really can’t work up the energy to trash LoK. I know plenty of people can connect to it even if I don’t, at least not fully, and I honestly do believe that overall LoK’s strengths outweigh its flaws, even if it can be inconsistent and unpolished.

LoK may take place in the same world as AtLA, but it is a very fundamentally different series, and beyond a few very core basics of storytelling I think it’s a little unfair to compare the two. It’s not the masterpiece it could have been, but at the end I still enjoyed it. I might have more thoughts later, but these are what I have for now.

#Legend of Korra #The Legend of Korra #lok #tlok #korra #mako #bolin #asami #asami sato #korrasami

15 notes · View notes

pianoperson · 4 years

Text

Cradle Awards Predictions

I want to make this post in response to this post regarding their Cradle Awards predictions. I would put it in a reblog, but it is going to be long, and I want people to know of some things in this that they may be unable to see if it was in a reblog.

Predictions Under The Cut (if you just want to see the predictions, scroll past and find ‘Cradle Awards Predictions’)

A Reply to the Post

First of all, as some of the people in the comments of that post have said, no the top 3 of Seth’s voters are not bots. They are three individuals who teamed up together to give Seth as much votes as they can, and I say this with confidence because I know them from Discord. If you have been taking note of their names throughout the whole event, they weren’t called Seth Army the entire time, only at the end.

While we’re on the topic of Seth, your comment on Seth having a suspiciously high top 10 for someone with no route release is funny. By that logic, shouldn’t Oliver have a high top 10 especially because he was the newest route released? And yet, you have seen his numbers, he’s at the bottom four when it comes to the number of votes the top 10 gave. What’s wrong with people wanting to support Seth by giving him a huge number of votes for him?

Now about the top 10, the way you predicted the results of the awards is inaccurate. Based on the results I have seen in the past Cradle Awards, top 10 says nothing about the outcome. The people in the top 10 for each guy can give all the votes they can give to their man, but if the people after them barely give them anything, then the suitor won’t rank high because they aren’t receiving votes from the other thousands of people who are voting for him. Every vote counts. You can’t base your predictions from only 10 people because it’s such a small scale, and you don’t see if the others following the 10th placer is giving their votes with the same effort.

Do you know about Zero’s top 1 last year? They gave him more than 11,000 votes and if you add the top 10 of each of the guys, Zero had the highest top 10. But he did not even make it to top 10, hitting 11th place in the final rankings.

Just to visualize what I mean, I have the final results of the 3rd JP Cradle Awards, albeit instead of top 10, I only have top 3.

Adding the votes of the top 3 in the 3rd JP awards, these are the results:

Lancelot: 8533 + 3304 + 3115= 14952 Jonah: 10808 + 4747 + 3275= 18830 Edgar: 6246 + 2053 + 1634= 9933 Kyle: 2917 + 2658 + 2151= 7726 Zero: 1755 + 1733 + 1731= 5219

Ray: 6604 + 5101 + 3798= 15503 Sirius: 2134 + 1981 + 1805= 5920 Luka: 2213 + 2175 + 1894= 6282 Seth: 2661 + 838 + 810= 4309 Fenrir: 2173 + 1974 + 1791= 5938

Harr: 4100 + 1730 + 1485= 7315 Loki: 2180 + 1087 + 1044= 4311 Blanc: 4460, 831, 825= 6116 Oliver: 2150 + 1898 + 1188= 5236 Mousse: 1024 + 844 + 822= 2690 Dean: 3073 + 1711 + 866= 5650 Dalim: 1645 + 1581 + 1396= 4622

Based on top 3 alone for each guy, this would be the ranking in descending order:

Jonah Ray Lancelot Edgar Kyle Harr Luka Blanc Fenrir Sirius Dean Oliver Zero Dalim Loki Seth Mousse

This isn’t the case, however, in the final rankings, as the order goes, in descending order:

Ray Sirius Jonah Lancelot Oliver Edgar Kyle Luka Fenrir Zero Harr Dalim Loki Seth Dean Mousse Blanc

Now why is that? Let’s broaden our scale and take into account the top 300 per guy.

Lancelot: 358 Jonah: 383 Edgar: 369 Kyle: 361 Zero: 185

Ray: 403 Sirius: 468 Luka: 323 Seth: 116 Fenrir: 300

Harr: 141 Loki: 141 Blanc: 95 Oliver: 350 Mousse: 100 Dean: 102 Dalim: 177

To see the bigger picture, I multiply each of the numbers by 300 since 300 people per guy have at least gave out the given number of votes, therefore we have:

Lancelot: 107400 Jonah: 114900 Edgar: 110700 Kyle: 108300 Zero: 55500

Ray: 120900 Sirius: 140400 Luka: 96900 Seth: 34800 Fenrir: 90000

Harr: 42300 Loki: 42300 Blanc: 28500 Oliver: 105000 Mousse: 30000 Dean: 30600 Dalim: 53100

Based on this, this is the ranking in descending order:

Sirius Ray Jonah Edgar Kyle Lancelot Oliver Luka Fenrir Zero Dalim Harr and Loki Dean Mousse Blanc

It’s not completely accurate to the final ones, but it is closer than the one where only top 3 are taken into account.

Tl;dr don’t just take into account a small amount of people like 3 people or 10 people per guy because it won’t give an accurate account.

Lastly, about what you said regarding Cybird rigging the elections and falsifying rankings, I was informed that there was a time Cybird rigged the elections in the past, particularly with Midcin’s election 3 years ago. I think if you had specified this, what you stated in your post may not have been as baseless as they appear now. But it’s especially because of how messy it got afterwards that it is unwise of them to do so, for two reasons. One, we all know how Cybird loves the cha-ching, and if they rig the elections to get the guy they want to put as first place to win, they can lose many fans. The reason why they even hold these elections is to see who the audience likes the most among the suitors to determine which guys to give more content to earn more revenue. Two, and this is more directed to the English version, there isn’t a point to rig the elections. At the end of the day, their main job is translating and reprinting past events from the Japanese version so international fans can enjoy the stories of Ikerev, and the events of the JP version cater to the JP audience and English translates those same stories so even if English team would rig the elections to bring, say Blanc, up to first place, there’s no point since JP has barely any stories for him.

And especially now that Luka is in first place according to mid-ranking results, there’s even less of a reason to say they’re rigging the elections because if they did rig it, they would definitely have put Ray up there.

Cradle Awards Predictions

Now that that’s clear, this is my prediction based on the top 100 and 300. I have posted already the top 10, 100, and 300 of all guys in another post, but I admit that it wasn’t very well organized and had an ugly format. So for the sake of this post, I’ll repost it here. First ten numbers are the top 10, then the eleventh number is top 100, and the last number is top 300.

Lancelot: 851, 705, 691, 682, 673, 657, 608, 594, 564, 564; 283; 161 Jonah: 931, 783, 705, 663, 584, 552, 544, 542, 528, 512; 296; 151 Edgar: 811, 781, 714, 612, 547, 503, 491, 458, 450, 435; 235; 100 Zero: 800, 680, 598, 566, 474, 443, 417, 403, 388, 362; 224; 108 Kyle: 789, 671, 545, 521, 452, 445, 415, 410, 400, 395; 212; 104

Ray: 907, 757, 698, 681, 662, 643, 640, 607, 589, 570; 282; 184 Sirius: 1184, 1129, 836, 636, 611, 608, 574, 569, 480, 470; 280; 167 Luka: 715, 679, 650, 572, 482, 465, 462, 453, 450, 445; 276; 170 Fenrir: 1226, 755, 682, 665, 622, 523, 511, 500, 483, 455; 266; 154 Seth: 950, 900, 725, 679, 637, 589, 529, 439, 405, 388; 166; 70

Harr: 550, 502, 460, 455, 448, 387, 384, 378, 376, 366; 211; 107 Loki: 722, 658, 647, 500, 470, 450, 400, 379, 363, 350; 181; 100 Blanc: 600, 521, 492, 460, 456, 392, 385, 370, 341, 329; 121; 48 Oliver: 528, 500, 467, 466, 455, 454, 441, 440, 417, 409; 227; 126

If we’re going to base the ranks on top 10 alone, these are the rankings:

Sirius: 7,098 Ray: 6,754 Lancelot: 6,589 Fenrir: 6,422 Jonah: 6,344 Seth: 6,241 Edgar: 5,802 Luka: 5,373 Zero: 5,131 Kyle: 5,043 Loki: 4,939 Oliver: 4,577 Blanc: 4,346 Harr: 4,306

If it’s based on top 100, these are the rankings (top 100 numbers are multiplied by 100 since at least 100 people have given that amount of votes):

Jonah: 29600 Lancelot: 28300 Ray: 28200 Sirius: 28000 Luka: 27600 Fenrir: 26600 Edgar: 23500 Oliver: 22700 Zero: 22400 Kyle: 21200 Harr: 21100 Loki: 18100 Seth: 16600 Blanc: 12100

If it’s based on top 300, and frankly since this takes into account the most amount of people it’s the most accurate we can get, these are the rankings:

Ray: 55200 Luka: 51000 Sirius: 50100 Lancelot: 48300 Fenrir: 46200 Jonah: 45300 Oliver: 37800 Zero: 32400 Harr: 32100 Kyle: 31200 Edgar: 30000 Loki: 30000 Seth: 21000 Blanc: 14400

Right now, our only basis for accuracy for English Cradle Awards is the mid-ranking, and the one taking into account for the top 300 matches up the mid-ranking results the most. Of course, I’m not saying this is the final ranking, so we’ll still have to wait until June 10 login time. Meantime, take this time to breathe because the upcoming anniversary events are going to be good. And to everyone, you have done so amazing voting for the guy you like or the guy who deserved to win the category. All your votes count, and your men are proud of you for doing your best.

#ikerev #ikemen revolution #cradle awards 2020

67 notes · View notes

kyndaris · 3 years

Text

2020: Unprecedented Times

Most people, at the start of the year, had high hopes for 2020. For many, it was the start of a new decade (though, ask anyone on the street and the start of a decade is open to debate). Here in Australia, the start of 2020 merely carried on the disasters of 2019. Beset by bushfires all along the Eastern coast, we watched as our tourism numbers slump as the denizens of Sydney wore masks as a means to fight the harmful effects of smoke inhalation. Many small businesses, particularly in small towns, felt the brunt of the natural disaster. Homes were destroyed by the thousands. Worse was the fact that livelihoods that were dependent on visitors from all around the world (in particular, China) were also badly affected.

Why would anyone come to Australia, after all, when there was smoke in the air and the air quality was teetering on dangerously toxic?

Many hoped that once the fires had petered out, however, life would return to normal. Little did they know that by March, the world would be caught in the grips of COVID-19. After all, though there were the occasional news headlines of a new disease plaguing China in early January (which resulted in me warning my grandmother that maybe she not go over to celebrate the Year of the Rat), most people were focused on Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Then, of course, there was the assassination of an infamous Iranian general: Qasem Soleimani. Once again, the world’s attention was arrested by the acts of the United States of America. Most were worried that the tension between Iran and the United States of America would boil over. At the time, it almost felt like a repeat of Trump’s antagonism towards North Korea.

In the United Kingdom, Brexit was well underway. After his re-election in December 2019, Boris Johnson continued his negotiations for a way that Britain could leave the European Union.

On a more personal scale, Australia was wracked by sport club funding scandals and climate change protests.

As for me, I was more concerned about the video game delays. Now that I write this, in December of 2020, I look back and think that perhaps it was appropriate for Cyberpunk 2077 to have been delayed until next year in order to fix the bugs that have the plagued the title ever since launch. Still, I was also vastly disappointed that Vampires the Masquerade II would not be releasing anytime soon. And saddened to hear that The Last of Us Part II had been pushed back.

After COVID-19 swept across the globe and taken hold in most countries and continents (which now extends to Antarctica thanks to a few Chileans testing positive), I watched as stupidity rose to the fore. Lockdown protests, the politicisation of the wearing of masks and the attacks on East Asians. Despite the severity of the virus and how infectious it was, I was disheartened to see so many people flout social distancing rules and break lockdown requirements. Most notably among the rich and famous such as politicians and NRL (National Rugby League) players.

Of course, being in Australia, our bid to ‘flatten the curve’ proved incredibly effective. Articles I’ve read indicate that this was mostly due to Australian’s observance of laws and regulations, as well as our trust in science. In fact, I’ve heard the refrain, ‘at least we’re not America’ spoken quite a few times this year. And honestly, after looking at the statistics, with the Land of the Free having upwards of 18.5 million cases with 326,000 (and counting) deaths, I couldn't agree more to the sentiment.

The whole ‘do as we say, not as we do’ approach by its President further served to fracture society and gave rise to conspiracy theories that served no purpose but showcase the height of people’s ignorance and distrust. It didn’t help that most Western countries also placed more importance on the ‘economy’ than people’s lives. Many global leaders were of the opinion that the ‘cure should not be worse than the disease’ and that a few deaths to keep the budget afloat was a necessary evil.

Well, to that, I say, ‘Bah! Humbug!’ Without acting decisively and quickly, many nations have ruined their economy AND seen their people die in droves. When people are falling sick and suffering from long-term effects, they’re hardly likely to spend money. Nor will they be able to contribute to society and be able to continue working. Instead, you’ll be saddled with additional welfare taxes. By going hard and fast, closing down the economy for two months, maybe three, you can bounce back harder and stronger without fear of contagion.

Now, many countries are struggling with high numbers of new infected each day AND an economy that’s in tatters. Good job.

It also doesn’t hurt to give back to the community and help struggling businesses. Schemes such as Jobkeeper and Jobseeker (at least in Australia) were able to alleviate some of the stress for many workers. And honestly, perhaps if the world had implemented a universal basic income, this would also enable people ensure their basic needs are met without sinking into poverty.

The fact that so many only see the short-term rather than long-term is astounding. And as for Sweden’s model? The less said about it, the better. ‘Herd immunity’ without a working vaccine? Madness. Utter madness. Particularly when the virus is airborne.

After enjoying a decent summer, numbers rose again in Europe and much of it was back under lockdown. A new strain, that has proven much more infectious, was discovered in the South of England! Trump tested positive for COVID-19, but to the dismay of many, he recovered quite quickly.

But 2020 did not end there. Once again, the struggles between ethnic minorities were brought again to the limelight. The death of George Floyd saw the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and served to highlight the disproportionate number of those living in poverty and in prison. As a person of colour myself (being of East Asian descent), I tried to explain some of this to my colleagues. But some of them saw Black Lives Matter as a predominantly American issue - and disregarded the fact that many Indigenous Australians were also in prison, caught in a vicious cycle of crime and violence.

It wasn’t long, however, that Australia experienced its own second wave in Melbourne, due to breaches in hotel quarantine. And honestly, it came as a surprise when it also happened in Adelaide and we learned that they weren’t testing hospital workers or those in high-risk workplaces on a REGULAR basis. You would have thought that all workers that transported aircrew or worked as security for those quarantining in hotels would be temperature-checked and given a swab every few days (or at least once a week). But no.

This is why we can’t have good things.

Christmas in Sydney has also been somewhat neutered by the fact that there has been another sizeable outbreak in the Northern Beaches local council. And, of course, many people in Greater Sydney have been barred from other states. Gotta love those hard state borders where we treat each other as separate countries. Still - if it protects the people, the Premiers will stop at nothing. Even if it means families can’t be together. But better that than seeing Australia become the United States of America.

Jumping from COVID-19, 2020 also saw an explosion in Beirut due to the storing of large amounts of ammonium nitrate at the port. Approximately 178 people were killed and more than 6,500 were injured. Locust swarms in Africa descended upon crops, threatening food supply and livelihoods for millions of people. The West Coast of the United States of America suffered from catastrophic wildfires. Meanwhile, in south-east Asia, countries were hit by flooding and typhoons. As a side note, Armenia and Azerbaijan restarted their ongoing feud.

And to cap it all off, 2020 decided to further traumatise the future generation, a suicide video was uploaded to Tiktok.

And oh, the US election. Where our favourite President tried to delay and impede mail-in-votes. In the days following the 3 November 2020 election, the world eagerly watched as the votes were counted and each state was certified. Trump, as is always his way, attempted to claim victory in the early hours of the morning of 4 November 2020, before deriding voter fraud with no evidence to substantiate his claims.

The weeks that followed saw a number of lawsuits that were lodged. Most, of which, were simply dismissed out of hand. And while his supporters have continued to claim that fraud was evident in the 2020 election, there has been no substantial pieces of evidence provided. Affidavits and hearsay, fortunately, do not a case make.

In Australia, our once promising relationship with China took a turn for the worse. While instances of racism, after the initial COVID-19, did not help, it also seemed that the finger pointing among government officials and demands for inquiries into wet markets only served to fuel the fire between the two nations. After initiating a trade war with the United States of America, China then saw fit to put significant tariffs on Australian beef, barley, wine and coal (to name but a few).

The spat between Australia and China also took on a more insidious tone when several Australian journalists were forced to flee.

And with the unveiling of alleged war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan, the relationship between the two nations have come to an all-time low. China’s tweet of a doctored image that had an Australian soldier about to cut the throat of an Afghan child saw our Prime Minister taking to social media to demand an apology.

All in all, 2020 has felt like both an incredibly short and long year in equal measure. For an introvert, such as myself, it’s been mostly the same. In fact, I can’t believe that it’s already at an end. Though my gaming has continued, as has my writing, I felt like I hardly interacted with any of my friends or did anything conducive to my social skills. While I’ve been made permanent at my place of work, it’s also felt a little stagnant. For a good long while, particularly in March, it felt like we were on the cusp of something huge and terrible. As the numbers climbed, I desperately wanted a hard lockdown to be called when leaders vacillated.

2021 does not promise to be much better. While vaccines have rolled out in several countries, it’ll be a long time coming before the world manages to attain a sense of normalcy. For this blogger, I look forward to just kicking back and finally getting my hands on a PlayStation 5.

As for anyone that has worked on the front lines during this pandemic, I just want to say a big hearty ‘thank you.’ All of you have sacrificed so much and seen so many terrible things. I wish that we all listened to your warnings instead of inundating emergency rooms thinking COVID-19 was a hoax.

Remember: keep at least 1.5 metres away from another person, wash/ sanitise your hands regularly and wear a mask if you can’t socially distance or are in an enclosed space.

#personal blog #2020 year in review

4 notes · View notes

himiko-yumehellno · 4 years

Text

Dafaa survey results

So I had a bit of a test survey go out for Dafaa a while ago, and now it's finally time to publish the results! I will be keeping the last question mostly unpublished as I don't feel like showing off a bunch of theories people have will add much to the survey (and not everyone answered that question anyway), but I will touch on some of the popular theories I saw in a handful of reaponses. That means we have about 6.5-7 questions to go through, so without further ado, here are the results!

1. So far, who is best boy?

Kaito Momota came in with an easy win with 14 votes! Tying up 2nd place was Kiibo and Rantaro with 6 votes each, and Gonta came in 3rd with 4 votes! The rest of the boys, in descending order, are: Shuichi with 3 votes, Korekiyo with 1 vote, and Ryoma with sadly no votes at all. Not much of a surprise that our Luminary came in first, but wow, I wasn't expecting so much love for the resident supreme leader!

2. So far, who is best girl?

Much like Kaito, the winner of this question was an easy guess. Tenko Chabashira came in first with an entire 28 votes! Wow! Kaede came in 2nd with 3 votes, and Maki came in 3rd with 2 votes. Angie is the last person to get any votes at all, beating out Tsumugi, Miu, and Himiko with her 1 vote. The other girls, unfortunately, did not receive any votes at all.

3. Who are your suspected victims?

Some people did not adhere to the five person limit for this question, unfortunately. Nevertheless, here are the results:

Gonta Gokuhara came in 1st with 19 votes! In 2nd place was Shuichi, and 3rd place was a triple tie with Kiibo, Korekiyo, and Kaede all receiving 15 votes! Wow, you guys really don't expect the K names to survive, do you?

In 4th place was Angie in 14 votes; 5th place goes to Maki and Tsumugi with a tie of 13 votes each, and 6th place is Kirumi's seat with a total of 12 votes. Kaito comes in 7th with 10 votes, and that's the end of the double digit votes.

Rantaro had 6 votes, putting him in at 8th place, and in 9th place was another tie, with both Tenko and Ryoma receiving 5 votes. It appears none of you suspect me of pulling a protag switch the way Danganronpa did, because coming in at 10th place is our protagonist himself, Kokichi, with absolutely 0 votes!

4. Who are your suspected blackeneds?

Again, not everyone adhered to the 5 maximum votes rule, but it's alright, because not everyone voted up to 5 people. Just don't do it in the future, alright?

In first place we have a tie; Korekiyo and Angie both received 18 votes! Korekiyo was not a surprise, but I wonder what it is that's resulting in so much suspicion thrown Angie's way... Hmm... ;)

2nd place goes to Rantaro with 17 votes (how ironic for the "not suspicious" boi), and 3rd place is – wow! Yet another tie! I never would have expected that! /s Ryoma and Tsumugi both received 16 votes for being suspected blackeneds.

Up next is our second three way tie, as Kirumi, Maki, and Kaito all received 12 points, putting them all in 4th place. 5th place goes to Shuichi with 10 votes, which, wow, I was not expecting as a result! You all really do like the idea of him snapping and killing, huh?

Moving right along to 6th place, we have Kaede with 4 votes! Our main side characters, Kaito and Tenko, received 3 votes each, putting them in 7th, and Gonta brings up 8th place with just 2 votes. Once again, Kokichi has received no votes, but at least this time he's in 9th place instead of 10th!

5. Who do you suspect is the mastermind?

We have quite the surprise for first place, because it seems a lot of people jumped into the idea that... Kaede Akamatsu is the mastermind! Coming in at 1st place with nine votes... I knew at least one person suspected she might be the mastermind, but I didn't expect so many people would suspect her! Who would have thought, you know?

Next up in 2nd place is a much more expected result: Tsumugi received 8 votes! 3rd place went to Shuichi with 7 votes, but I wasn't as surprised by this result as I knew very well just what details may have left to this suspicion. These three took the lead in this question by far, with the other results not coming close to their numbers.

In 4th place we have Kaito and Kirumi with 2 votes, and 5th place was our biggest tie yet, with Maki, Kiibo, Angie, Ryoma, Rantaro, and even Kokichi receiving 1 vote each! The rest of the students did not receive any votes. But hey, good on Kokichi for finally receiving a vote for once!

6. Which character do you think has or will have the most tragic death?

Poor, poor students of mine... Tenko Chabashira came in 1st place with 10 votes, really showing just how much you all expect the death of one of our most beloved characters in this fanfic. I don't blame you, but I can't help but wonder – how soon do you all think she will die...?

2nd place went to our antagonist Kiibo, with 6 votes! I suppose antags do tend to die a lot, don't they? 3rd place brought us Shuichi with 5 votes, and isn't that an interesting comparison with the mastermind suspect numbers?

In 4th place was Kaito and Gonta with 4 votes each; 5th place went to Kokichi with 3 votes (do you guys think I'll kill off my main character or not?!), and in 6th place with 1 vote each was Miu and Rantaro. Miu is the only one out of this list who has actually died yet, so that was interesting to see! Himiko, Maki, Tsumugi, Korekiyo, Angie, Kirumi, Ryoma, and Kaede all received 0 votes (sorry Himiko).

7. Do you have any theories?

A lot of people talked about the theory of the killing game being virtual reality, which was fun to see. VR is a popular theory for canon as well, so I suppose it makes sense! Many people mentioned the possibility of Team Danganronpa being behind the time loop, as well as Kokichi being bigender, both of which are ideas I've enjoyed seeing in my comments. It's just so fun to see people discuss what could happen, and seeing certain theories become popular is especially fun! It makes me sad that I can't explain the answers to some of your questions until the very end of the fic, or at the very least for a very long number of chapters... I hope you all will be patient with me as the fic goes on!

—

There you have it, everyone! The results of every question in the first ever survey of DAFAA! Thank you to all who participated. Have a great day!

#dafaa #surveys #himiko cast original post #drv3 spoilers #full drv3 cast

7 notes · View notes

sinsiriuslyemo · 4 years

Text

Okay, I know that these last few imagines and (spoilers, this one too) are super politically charged. I hope you guys don’t mind, this is just how I’m processing life right now. I love you guys, hope you’re all taking care of yourselves and each other!

Sinceriously Always,

Hero

Not Till We Win

Sebastian couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride watching the Democrats speak after the judiciary committee violated their own rules and pushed through a nomination despite not having a quorum. Even if this seemed like a loss for the American people, he couldn’t help but hold on to that little bit of hope that it would all work out in the end. Somehow. It was becoming more and more clear the lengths that the GOP were going to go in order to discourage voters from voting, including making them feel as though there was no hope. Luckily, the majority of Democrats were on to them, so were the American people from all across the political spectrum.

Every now and then, he would indulge in fantasies where Amy Coney Barret was simply waiting out the confirmation process so that when she was finally confirmed, she could then refuse the appointment, with not enough time for Trump and the Republicans to hold hearings on another nominee in her place. He knew it was unlikely, but he could dream. He could dream that three of the Republicans would realize how unethical this entire process had been in the wake of an emotionally charged election taking place in the middle of a global pandemic. This fantasy seemed slightly more likely to occur, though still a long shot.

The only thing that kept his spirits up lately was the clear unity and strength that the Democrats were portraying. The fact that they were all standing tall, on the steps of the courthouse that Rafael had climbed and descended so many times in the name of justice and truth, was comforting to every American experiencing genuine fear and anxiety, and Sebastian suspected there were quite a lot.

He could hear Rafael moving in the kitchen behind him, the clanking of pots and plates being set in the sink before gentle, approaching footsteps sounded from behind.

“Bastian, breakfast.” Rafael’s voice was tender, coaxing him away from his position in front of the TV and back to the kitchen table, where plates of pancakes and bacon awaited him.

“How much worse do you think this is going to get?” he asked, sitting in the chair beside his husband.

“I’m not sure,” Rafael answered, glancing up at the TV screen as Cory Booker stepped up to the podium outside the courthouse. “But we have to stay focused, no matter what. This SCOTUS nomination, the Hunter Biden story, it’s all a distraction. We can’t let them steal another election. Not now, not when so much is on the line.”

Sebastian poured syrup on his pancakes; at least one thing was back to normal, even if everything else around them was on fire. As he cut up his pancakes, he indulged in the fantasy of ACB doing an about face on her nomination but it wasn’t having its usual impact. “What if she’s confirmed?”

“She’ll almost certainly be confirmed,” Rafael mumbled around a mouthful of food. “We can’t worry about that right now. We have to focus on the election and winning. We get wrapped up in this SCOTUS nominee now, we’ll lose in 12 days and that can’t happen. Our national security, our healthcare, women’s choice...our marriage, it all depends on what happens on November 3rd.”

Sighing heavily, Sebastian stabbed at a piece of pancake and brought it to his lips. How was it that people still supported the president and the GOP? Every day they gave more and more proof that they were not only putting party before country, but they were willing to risk the national security of America in order to retain power. Their actions weren’t the most frightening of all, the most frightening was the way people believed every lie the GOP and POTUS uttered, with little scrutiny and double the vitriol as they worked to spread falsehoods. It was frustrating and terrifying, infuriating and disparaging.

“Don’t worry,” he heard Rafael say from beside him. Looking up, he found Rafael’s gentle eyes regarding him. “We can do this. It’s taking some time, but people are beginning to see through his smoke screen.”

“But will it be enough?” Sebastian asked in a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

“Slow and steady, that’s been our strategy from the beginning of the campaign. Slow and steady. Measured movements, focus on policy. We’ve learned a lot from 2016 and we will not make the same mistakes this time.”

“You sound so sure,” Sebastian said with a half smile.

“I am,” Rafael answered, nodding his head and smiling back. “We can’t give up. Not now.”

“I know.” Lacing his fingers with Rafael’s, Sebastian kissed his husband’s knuckles. “I believe in you, Raf.”

“Believe in us. Believe in America, in the people that remember what it was like to live in a country where we were all united.”

Smirking as he nodded, Sebastian gave Rafael’s fingers a gentle squeeze when the latter’s phone buzzed on the kitchen counter. Rafael turned his head in acknowledgement.

“Don’t,” Sebastian said, pulling slightly on his husband’s hand to make his point.

“I have to,” Rafael whispered, giving the musician an apologetic glance. Getting up, he reached for his blackberry and opened the text message from his colleague that had just come in. His expression fell, “Oh my God,” he groaned.

“Jesus Christ, what?”

“Trump just released footage from the 60 interview he did a couple days ago,” Rafael answered, looking up to meet Sebastian’s eyes. He would have to listen to the interview, especially since the final debate was scheduled for tonight--he had to know if the interview would play to their advantage one way or another. But the look of defeat on his husband’s face held him back. “I can watch it after we finish breakfast.” He set the phone, screen down on the table.

“Just do it. Who knows, it might not be so bad. Every time he opens his mouth lately he sticks his boot in it,” Sebastian said.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Maybe it’ll make me feel better,” Sebastian said with another smirk as he cut another piece from his stack of pancakes.

Picking up the phone again, Rafael tapped the screen, following a link to the president’s facebook page. He put the phone at the center of the table, hit play on the video and turned the volume up. As the interview began to play, they continued to eat and listened while Leslie Stahl and Donald Trump spoke seemingly off the record.

“Are you going to be fair?” the president could be heard asking.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Jesus, already? Can’t he even wait until the interview starts to start his bitching?”

“That’s asking quite a bit, honey,” Rafael mumbled.

The entire interview had been posted on Donald Trump’s official facebook page as evidence of the “fake news” but in reality, the more they listened, the more it made Donald Trump appear completely unhinged. He was clearly still obsessed with his “record numbers” from before the pandemic hit, and of course as always, he complained about Obama, suggesting that he was corrupt and that it had been proven despite the fact that it had been debunked time and time again.

“I think it’s so pathetic how obsessed he is with Obama,” Sebastian said.

“He hates that Obama is still widely loved by more than half the country,” Rafael replied. “You’re right, it’s pathetic.”

“Oh, here he goes,” Sebastian groaned as the president then began to talk about the phony Hunter Biden story running in the New York Post. “Let it go, Elsa! It hasn’t been confirmed! Your sources have no credibility!” he hollered.

“He really thinks we’re gonna fall for the same play he ran in 2016,” Rafael said.

“He couldn’t even come up with a different tactic, it's pathetic. The Post is the Wikileaks of 2020,” Sebastian replied.

“We’re having a record comeback, because if you look...we have the fastest growing nation in the world…”

“You are so full of shit!” Sebastian yelled, bringing his fist down on the table. “What reality does this guy live in?”

“The one where he’s not responsible for anything and everybody else is lying,” Rafael answered.

“I don’t understand how we have people in this country that buy his bullshit, hook, line and sinker,” Sebastian replied.

“And what he said about his alleged healthcare plan? We have one and then seconds later, We’ll come up with one?” Rafael answered as the interview came to a sudden stop when Trump insisted that they ‘had enough.’ “I’m sure you’ve had enough, I certainly have,” Rafael mumbled as he clicked on the comments to see what people were saying.

“He’s sinking his own ship,” Sebastiann said, shoving another piece of pancake in his mouth.

“Not according to the comments. Though it is facebook, which is notable, and there are a few comments calling him out,” Rafael replied. “I gotta call John and see if he wants to work any of this in for the debate tonight.”

Sebastian reached to place a hand on his husband’s arm. “That can wait until after breakfast.”

Letting out a breath through his nose, Rafael set the phone down again only for it to buzz, doing a sideways dance on the table. “Fine.”

A moment of silence fell between them as they continued to eat their breakfast, forks lightly tapping against the ceramic plates the only sound breaking the stillness. Sebastian chewed methodically as his brain, ever the active muscle, continued to run at a hundred miles an hour. Why was this happening? Surely this wasn’t the only trick Trump had up his sleeve.

“You don’t think he’s pulling a Vinny ‘The Chin’, do you?” he asked, eyes turning to his husband.

Rafael knitted his brows. “What do you mean?”

“You know how Vincent Gigante used to walk around the city in a bathrobe, mumbling to himself to make people think he was crazy and avoid prison for all those years?”

“Really,” Rafael replied.

“Yeah, and for a while it worked, he even had court appointed psychologists and doctors fooled. What if Trump’s doing the same thing? Acting like he’s losing it in the hopes that the Biden campaign lets their guard down,” Sebastian said.

Rafael smirked and shook his head. “Not a chance. We’re not gonna have a repeat of 2016. Nobody is letting their guard down, not for one minute, not for one second until this election is over.”

The conviction in his husband’s voice brought a smile to Sebastian’s face. It was the same prowess Rafael had once used in the courtroom to convict countless criminals. “I love when you get ruthless.”

“Is that right?” Rafael replied, smirk still firmly planted on his face.

“Mhm,” Sebastian said as his hand slid over his husband’s thigh. “It's so sexy,” he whispered while he leaned in to press his lips against Rafael’s. His husband hummed against their kiss, shaking his head again.

“We can’t,” he mumbled against Sebastian’s lips. “Bastian…” He closed his eyes as Sebastian’s kisses migrated to his neck.

“Why not?” the musician mumbled against his skin before pulling his earlobe between his lips.

Rafael groaned and swallowed hard. “Because I need to focus.”

Giving a whiny moan against his husband's ear, Sebastian pulled himself away. “It's been almost two months--”

“I know, trust me, I’m well aware but I can’t get distracted right now. We’re so close, we just need to get through these next 12 days,” Rafael replied.

Sighing in defeat, Sebastian let his head fall forward, reluctantly leaning back upright in his seat. “Okay.”

Grinning at his husband’s clear impatience and forced restraint, Rafael shovelled the last bite of pancakes into his mouth and washed it down with some orange juice. “But...after we win the election, just so you know…” He stood and picked up his plate before bending at the waist to bring his lips to Sebastian’s ear. “I’m gonna want us to fuck each other all night until neither one of us can even move.”

Sebastian froze mid-chew as his husband left him in a puddle to put his plate into the dishwasher. Inhaling deeply, he ignored the way his groin tingled and cleared his throat as he looked up at Rafael. “I’m gonna hold you to that.”

“You better,” Rafael answered with a wink.

#rafael barba #rafael barba x male #the lawyer and the piano bar #rafael barba x omc #law and order svu

6 notes · View notes

emma-nation · 4 years

Text

Within You - Bloodbound AU - Chapter 10

Summary: One year after defeating Gaius, the gang has finally found peace… Until a tragic incident awakens the ultimate and most dangerous threat they ever faced.

Genre: Angst/Adventure/Romance

Rating: T - Warning for violence and language

Notes:

- Sequel to the fics For You, In The Daylight and Without You. You can read all of them here.

- This chapter is my baby and I’m really proud of it. I hope you like it too!

- I probably won’t be around for the next few days (for BB finale included), so please forgive me if I take too long to post Chapter 11.

- My fellow writers: stay home writing your awesome fics.

- Dear readers: stay home reading and leaving your lovely reviews. We love you. Stay safe!

Tag List: @supersphynxsworld, @lightning-fury, @spacecarrousel, @tigerbryn11, @gavryllo, @annabellewerecorgi, @whoinvitedalx, @sheyah, @imnotdonewiththeelementalists, @scaryqueenbee, @bigmemesplz, @la-guerra-69, @kamilahsayeed-owns-me, @morvengarde, @tephy24, @iam-the-fuckin-queen, @voltos9, @scorpichoices, @leavemeandmyshipsalone, @jen825, @andreear17, @justejuste727, @aureliaxj, @graceschoices, @mrskamilxh, @msuhailey, @zoe6111, @noodledragon22, @tigerbryn11, @shanuuh, @ilovetaylorswiftforever7, @ilovekamilahsayeed, @allaboutchoices , @fal-carrington , @scarlet-letter-a0114, @trouble-with-the-curve

Kamilah

In her office, Kamilah tried one last time to dial her brother’s number. Voice mail again. She rolled her eyes.

“Until when are you going to ignore me?” She sighed.

She remembered their last conversation, a few days earlier. It was late night, he knocked her penthouse’s door repeatedly. When Kamilah opened it, Lysimachus was pale as a ghost. His heart was racing inside his chest and his breath shallow and quick, indicating he was in great distress.

“It’s her, Kamilah,” he told, when she forced him to sit down and calm himself. “Rheya’s the First.”

“Brother, she just left my place,” she argued. “I invited her for dinner. I tested her through the day. There’s no evidence…”

“She confessed, Kamilah! Right in my face. She’s not who you think she is, okay? She set up that whole situation with Priya. She threatened to kill Katherine… and me!”

Kamilah sat down and looked deeply into his brother eyes. They never lied to each other. And he was scared, truly scared. In truth, she had never seen Lysimachus so frightened before.

“Brother, I…” she grabbed his hand, unsure of what to say to comfort him. Unsure of what to think. “I’m so confused.”

“Why don’t you believe me?” He seemed hurt. Truly hurt. And especially obsessed to find a manner to defeat the First Vampire.

In the next morning, Adrian called her. An emergency. A vial containing a blood sample from the Tree Of Eternal Life had disappeared from the laboratory. They searched all over the city, in every place it could be. They conducted searches at Priya’s mansion and club, Lester’s businesses and even among their own Clan members. There was no sign of the blood.

Until Kamilah found it by accident, inside the secret weapon storage in her brother’s apartment. Lysimachus swore, once again, that it was Rheya’s doing. But all evidence lead to him. His old card was used to access the safest areas in the laboratory. The employees also remembered seeing him there during the night. The footage from the security cameras had been purposely erased. Everything pointed to one direction, he planned to ingest the blood to become more powerful.

An emergency voting decided it would be better if he was temporarily out of The Council.

“I know you’re going through a lot of stress,” Kamilah told him. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but I’m also not saying I am. Just, stay in New Orleans for a few days. Clear your mind a bit.”

“Not even you… my fucking twin sister!” Lysimachus punched a hole in the wall. “You’ll all regret what you’re doing, and especially who you’re trusting. She’s manipulating each one of you!”

Coming back to reality, somebody was waiting for her at the door. Rheya. All those days, Kamilah was monitoring her closely. There wasn’t a single part of her that indicated danger.

“Kamilah?” She asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Absolutely,” Kamilah answered. “Personal issues. And you? Anything I can help with?”

“Actually, I’ve seen something that concerned me. I’ve been receiving threats and I believe they’re coming from the Order Of Dawn. I think they could be coming for me.”

She showed Kamilah some strange messages she received and pictures she took of strangers observing her out of the window.

“Don’t worry,” she assured. “We’ll investigate and grant you some protection.”

“Really?” Her eyes filled with tears and she started to cry. “Sometimes I think it’d be better if I returned to Europe. I never wanted to cause you trouble.”

“Rheya, no…”

Kamilah felt extremely bad for her. She quickly called Adrian and some of her Clan members to patrol the city and make sure no Order soldiers were walking around New York.

———-

Lysimachus

Angry, Lysimachus trained alone with a punching bag in his apartment in New Orleans. As soon as he arrived, Garrus checked his mind. Rheya’s presence was beginning to take over the place. With his Fae magic, he was able to remove it. But it was too late, everyone at The Council was convinced he was guilty.

He had to find a manner to stop Rheya by himself. She should have at least one weakness. She wasn’t invincible. Nothing could be. In nature, everything had a balance. An opposite.

“Wow,” a female voice said behind him, “someone’s mad.”

“Katherine,” he turned around, wiping off the sweat from his face with a towel. “Do you know how to kill a bitch?”

“Stake her. Or set her on fire. Assuming you’re talking about the Queen Bitch, Priya Lacroix.”

“Not actually. I’m talking about the First Vampire.”

“Is she truly real?” Her eyes went wide in surprise.

“Why do you think I’m back here?” Lysimachus told. “She caused that situation with Priya and found a manner to put everyone against me, when I discovered her identity.”

“Oh boy, you’re in serious trouble.”

“I know.”

After he showered, they walked around the streets of New Orleans while he informed her about the whole story. Since the Tree Of Eternal Life, the creation of Gaius and Xenocrates to the First Vampire’s return, using of Amy’s death.

“Why Amy?” Katherine wanted to know.

“According to this creepy British cult, she’s her descendant,” Lysimachus told. “And also a Bloodkeeper. What in my opinion, is the major sign of their connection. Their powers seem to be very similar.”

“Have you told all of that to your sister?”

He let out a chuckle.

“Who says she believes me? If Rheya asks her company, she’d probably give her everything in a second. She trusts her with her eyes closed.”

They stopped by the Graveyard Shift for a drink. Nik and Cal joined them and became part of the conversation. None of them had any ideas of what in this world could kill a legendary vampire.

“What do you think her plans are?” Nik asked. “She seems harmless so far.”

“She’s playing cautiously,” Lysimachus told. “Slowly involving and seducing everyone into her game. Soon they will bend to her will or meet a terrible fate. But her main interest… I think she wants Amy. For some purpose.”

“If she’s truly a queen,” Cal commented. “Amy would be her princess. Isn’t it obvious? She wants to share her legacy.”

“A legacy of blood and destruction,” Katherine added. “After that, she’ll probably eradicate the human kind.”

They all stared at each other in silence. None of them had a suggestion that could help.

“Let’s drink while we still can,” Nik suggested.

After he order at the bar, Ivy approached the table bringing their drinks and heard the conversation.

“Well well, a conversation about a legendary bloody creature. My favorite subject.”

“It wouldn’t be, if you met her,” Lysimachus showed them a picture of Rheya on his phone. “Ladies and gentlemen, the real face of evil. Rheya Apostolous.”

“Legendary. Bloody. And hot,” Ivy grinned.

“No wonder why your friends are getting into her so easily,” Cal joked.

“Come on, guys. Yes, she’s gorgeous. But she want all of us dead or kissing her feet. Would you mind helping me to come up with a plan? Something that could end her for good? There must be something. A balance nature created to stop her.”

Ivy was pensive for a moment before speaking:

“Meet me at the library tonight. I think I’ve got something we can do.”

“Does it involve the dead?” Lysimachus rolled his eyes, wondering how many ghosts he’d have to capture. “Or necromancy of any sorts?”

“Yes. I was thinking about… a Ouija board. But better.”

“Here we go again,” Katherine looked at him and sighed.

———-

Amy

As a form to protect Rheya, Kamilah requested Amy to follow her to all places. She was more than glad to help, after all she and the Greek vampire had an immense connection.

“So, Amy. How is it going with your psychic powers?” Rheya asked while they were working out together at the private gym in her building.

“I feel great,” she smiled. “Everyday I gain more and more control over them.”

“You not only can enter people’s minds, but you can make them actually experience the memories, is that correct?”

Rheya’s expression suddenly changed. She stopped with her exercises, looking sad, nostalgic.

“Yes. What’s wrong?” Confused, Amy stopped too. She lead Rheya to the nearest bench.

“Would you mind… showing me my family again? It’s been so long. Time is cruel. It has erased my husband’s voice from my memories or the scent of my little daughter’s hair. I miss them everyday and… I can’t barely remember their faces.”

“Of course.”

Amy grabbed her hands, focusing on the depths of her mind. Suddenly she could see both of them standing in an ancient throne room, where Rheya was in company of a man and a little girl.

“At least now I have the evening free to have dinner with you and Iola,” she smiled. “My two loves.”

“Mama, I want to see your fangs again!” Iola asked.

“They’re nothing special…“

“They are! I want fangs like you, Mama!”

“My darling… No, Iola. These are just for me, do you understand?”

Watching the scene, Amy couldn’t avoid feeling emotional. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. For some reason she felt attached to those people. Maybe because of the tragedy she knew that would later separate them. Or even because it made her think of her own family.

When they returned, Rheya’s eyes were teary but she had a smile on her face.

“Thank you so much, Amy,” she hugged her tightly. “It was so good to see my Iola again. Actually… you remind me a lot of her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, since young age she was exactly like you. Adventurous, fierce and she had a great sense of humor.”

At the same time Amy felt sadness hearing those words, it also caused her unexplainable joy.

“I’m sorry she was taken from you,” Amy lamented.

“Don’t be,” Rheya touched her cheek fondly. “Sometimes life takes something away from you… but it grants you something else in return. Sooner or later.”

Amy went home and showered, but the scene she experienced with Rheya wouldn’t leave her thoughts. Especially her daughter. They seemed to be so close, so affectionate to each other.

That vision triggered inside Amy an intense desire of having a family on her own too. She imagined having a daughter with Kamilah. She’d give her little girl everything her mother didn’t provide her while growing up. She not only would be her parent, but her best friend. They’d share good memories and start adventures together.

She texted Kamilah, asking her to go home as soon as possible. After lunch she was impatiently waiting for her wife. As Amy sat down on the couch, their kitten, Beruthiel, quickly jumped on her lap.

In the first days, Kamilah was reluctant about getting attached to their new pet, considering how short their life-span could be compared to theirs. Now, everyday she’d come home with a new gift for Beruthiel. She was literally treating her like a princess.

They could form a beautiful little family. She, Kamilah, their cat and a baby.

“Hey,” her wife entered the penthouse, “is everything okay? You said you needed to see me.”

“Yes,” Amy wrapped her arms around Kamilah’s neck. “I’ve scheduled a visit to Raines Corporation. You know, only to check how his research is progressing.”

“Oh, what research?”

“The one we can have a baby.”

“Only to check, huh?” Kamilah’s raised eyebrow suggested she already knew what Amy had in mind.

“And get informed on how it would work.”

“Amy…” Kamilah sighed. “I’m okay with adopting a cat but… we’re not in a good moment to consider having children.”

“Why?” Amy wanted to know. “We’re married, with a stable life, I’ve got perfect control of my powers. I see no reason to postpone it.”

“She’s out there. The First Vampire.”

“Kamilah, please… I even stopped having those creepy visions. She’s gone for good.”

“She’s not,” Kamilah’s expression was serious and certain. “I sensed her presence the other day. She could be the one who manipulated Priya’s mind and yours. And besides, there’s also the possibility the Order soldiers could be out there, getting ready to strike.”

“So…” Amy threw herself on the couch, biting her lower lip. “Didn’t you have to discuss this Order issues with Adrian? I could come with you.”

Kamilah stared at her in silence again. Her face suggested she wasn’t thrilled about the idea.

“It’s not the right moment, Amy. It’s not like we’re buying a new video game, it’s a life we’re talking about. I’m not bringing a child to this world, knowing they could be in danger.”

“It will never be good moment right? I mean, you said countless times you never wanted to be a mother and that you can’t stand children.”

Amy stood up from the couch, storming to the front door. She knew it was only another excuse. Kamilah would never give her what she wanted the most. She felt extremely upset and frustrated.

“Amy…” Kamilah interrupted her. “Can we talk about this?”

“No,” she responded, coldly and ironic. “It’s not the right moment.”

Alone, she took her car and drove directly to Raines Corporation. If Kamilah didn’t want to be part of this decision, she’d do it by herself. And in the end, if she still couldn’t accept it… maybe she didn’t love her as much as she thought.

———-

Lysimachus

After midnight, Lysimachus and Katherine followed to Ivy’s library. Trusting her was never the smartest or safest idea, but it was the only option he had at the moment.

The library was completely dark, until the very end of the building, where Ivy had prepared a magical seal on the floor, surrounded by candles.

“For heaven’s sake, what is that?” Katherine asked. “Please tell me you’re not planning to take him to the Realm of Death.”

“I considered it,” Ivy said. “But it was too risky, especially because he’s… biologically dead? So I decided to bring the dead to our world instead.”

“Wait,” Lysimachus interrupted. “Who are you planning to summon from the dead?

“The Two Sons. Xenocrates and Gaius.”

Only that name alone brought shivers to Lysimachus body. He hated that man with every fiber of his body being. If one thing he was sure, was that he never wanted to see Gaius again. Not even in spirit.

“Bring Xenocrates. Let Gaius trapped in hell, where it’s his place.”

“Okay, I’ll need to perform a ritual. Mind giving me some privacy?”

“Of course.”

Lysimachus walked to an armchair where he sat down. Katherine followed him. He buried his head in his hands, wondering what could even happen if that ritual went wrong and for some reason Gaius escaped the Realm Of Death and returned to life. By the side of his beloved Goddess, they’d rule the world, exterminating the human kind.

“Hey,” Katherine touched his shoulder, “what’s wrong? You’re shaking.”

“Gaius,” he confessed. “Only the mention of his name it… it drives me crazy. Have you ever hated someone so badly it consumes you, changes you?”

“Yeah, not someone. Something. A monster.”

“He Turned me, against my will. Besides keeping me separated from my sister from centuries. I can help thinking everything he caused in her life was a revenge against me. Even if he’s dead… the part of me he took away is never returning.”

“I can relate. That monster… it took the most precious thing I’ve ever had. And I will never be the same again. Even if I try. Part of me also died that day.”

“Katherine…” Lysimachus looked into her eyes. For the first time she looked open, vulnerable. “You never told me…”

“I usually don’t,” Katherine shrugged, fighting off her emotions. “I think I’m really starting to trust you.”

“Well, that’s a good thing.”

“Not for me.”

They both shared a laugh, when Ivy’s voice called them back. It was time to summon Xenocrates’ spirit. Ivy was voicing some words in an ancient language when the flames from the candles exploded and intensified, almost blinding them with the light.

As Lysimachus opened his eyes again, Xenocrates’ form was standing in the middle of the seal.

“What did you call me here for?” He snarled. "A man can’t even be dead, without being bothered by abominations like you?“

"We need answers,” Lysimachus approached. “About Rheya. You were her First Son, you must know how to end her for good.”

“And why do you think I’d help you? Especially, when you were all responsible for setting her free.”

“They didn’t,” Katherine intervened. “They didn’t set her free. They were only studying the blood, for good purposes.”

“It had nothing to do with the blood. It was… something else.”

“What was it?” Lysimachus asked, intrigued. “We didn’t know. And now, she has started to cause trouble. I need to stop her before the damage spreads.”

“I don’t know what brought Rheya back, otherwise I’d have prevented it,” Xenocrates told. “But if you want to stop her you’ll need to go after her husband, Demetrius. His blood is the only thing that can stop her.”

“Isn’t he dead?”

“Sort of. Rheya attempted to Turn him when he was murdered but it was too late. Her blood transformed him into something dark, without a conscience. A monster.”

“The First Feral,” Katherine concluded.

“His presence brought death to everything around him, including Rheya herself,” Xenocrates continued. “She was weakened by his darkness. So she sent him away.”

“And where is he now?” Lysimachus wanted to know.

“In the Island of Death, somewhere in South Pacific.”

“I’ll find him.”

“You will,” Xenocrates let out a sarcastic laugh. “But you won’t make it back home. The Island will drain all your life before you even get to him.”

“So what do I have to do?”

“My time here is over.”

“No! Wait!”

A strong wind filled the room, lighting off all the candles and the First Son disappeared.

“So what do we do now?” Katherine wondered. “How will we get to the Island?”

“I don’t know,” Lysimachus sighed, frustrated. “He said it drains the life of any living being that approaches it.”

“But he didn’t say anything about a undead being, did he?” Ivy suggested.

———-

Kamilah

In the beginning of the night, Kamilah went to Raines Corporation to meet Adrian and find out if he had any news about a possible invasion of the Order Of Dawn in New York. Amy wasn’t picking up her calls, but she found out she was at the Shadow Den with Lily. Apparently they invited Rheya for a girl’s night.

“Please, tell me she didn’t convince you to impregnate her,” Kamilah took a sip of the whiskey Adrian served her. “I know her, Adrian. She does that puppy dog eyes that make you unable to say no.”

“She didn’t,” Adrian let out a small laugh. “I showed her the research, but explained it’s still a work in progress. And I’d need your DNA too.”

“Good. How would it work anyways?”

“It’s a serum. First, you both must sign a contract. I’ll mix Amy’s DNA to yours and add the blood from the Tree. The three elements together will generate a new life. A new being.”

“Just like that?”

“Not really,” Adrian explained. “After I inject it on Amy’s body or yours, you will have to… conceive the baby, if you know what I mean. Like a regular pregnancy.”

“I see.”

Kamilah swallowed the entire glass of whiskey in one sip, trying to get rid of the stress the thought of being a mother caused her.

“What’s the deal, Kamilah?” Adrian asked, noticing her silence.

“I’m not ready, Adrian,” Kamilah sighed and confessed. “And I don’t think I’ll ever be! I’m 2065 years old. I’ve killed people and burned cities to the ground. How can I become a mother? How am I supposed to raise a child?”

“We’re never ready, but when the moment comes, it’s just magical. You’ll learn to be a mom, Kamilah. Together with Amy.”

She noticed how distant and nostalgic Adrian looked after that talk. It probably reminded him of his son, Charles.

“We’ve adopted a cat recently,” Kamilah changed the subject. “Her name is…”

She couldn’t get used to that name. Something Amy and Lily picked out from one of their geeky obsessions.

“Beruthiel. I heard about her,” a smile returned to Adrian’s face. “I was also told you’ve been using your penthouse security system to observe her when you’re absent. And that you’ve bought her like 10 different collars in a week.”

She only rolled her eyes in response and walked to the window. Kamilah started remembering Amy’s behavior that afternoon. ‘No. It’s not the right moment’. Those words were said with the same coldness and rage as when she was under the First Vampire’s influence, before her Turning. She was about to express her concerns about her dark presence inhabiting Amy’s body, when the emergency alarm of Raines Corporartion started echoing through the entire building.

“What is that?” Kamilah asked, confused.

“I don’t know,” Adrian ran to his computer. “But it doesn’t sound good.”

From the security cameras, they observed as a small group dressed in white marched into the building, inspecting every corner. Searching for something specific. Their clothes and weapons had a military look, like they were soldiers of some kind. Kamilah recognized immediately who they were.

“The Order Of Dawn,” she concluded. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Adrian was completely enraged. “But I won’t be standing here and watch them kill my employees.”

Kamilah followed him outside the office, with her daggers in hand. The Order Of Dawn was known for their skilled and ruthless hunters, who would kill everyone that stood in the way of their mission, humans or vampires.

“They’re at the labs,” Adrian whispered, watching the security cameras from his cell phone. “They’re… torturing them.”

Kamilah glanced at the screen, observing the soldiers holding a blade against one of the scientists’ neck. Adrian hands were shaking in anger. His eyes were dark and distant. She knew it was useless to try to calm him down at this stage.

“Look,” Kamilah pointed. “Two of them are guarding the main hall. We can ambush them and steal their outfits. It’ll make it easier for us to get the rest of them.”

“Good plan.”

They followed to the main hall through the emergency staircase, avoiding to make any noise. Arriving at the company’s entrance, they waited for the right moment to strike. Moving silent and stealth, Kamilah took down one guard while Adrian took the other.

After wearing their uniforms, Adrian checked the cameras one last time. They weren’t in a large group, only 7 soldiers, he counted. He and Kamilah proceeded with their plan, entering the laboratories disguised as members of the Order Of Dawn.

“What are you two doing here?” One of them asked, as he saw them. “You were supposed to guard the door. Raines could be arriving at any minute.”

“He won’t, Kamilah told, approaching the group, ready to draw her daggers.

"How can you be so sure?!”

“Because…” Adrian grabbed the soldier’s neck, breaking it instantly. “He’s right here.”

The remaining soldiers pulled their weapons and circled them.

“There’s six now,” Kamilah looked at Adrian. “Three for each?”

He nodded in agreement.

Kamilah’s soldiers attacked her with their UV flashlights. She looked at them for a second, before rolling her eyes.

“It seems like you haven’t received the latest updates,” she threw one of her daggers right into a soldier’s chest. “UV light doesn’t do a damn thing on me!”

Using her advanced speed, Kamilah dodged their crossbows and retrieved back her dagger. From behind, she stabbed both of them at the same time. She looked at Adrian, holding in his hands the hearts of two of his soldiers, while chasing the last of them. Kamilah streaked in his direction, daggers in hands, going straight for his neck.

“It’s over,” she said as he dropped dead on the floor.

After checking his employees, Adrian offered Kamilah drank some stored blood to recover strength and heal any minor injuries.

Kamilah’s cell phone started ringing. It was Priya.

“I know you hate me. But sending the Order Of Dawn to my club was a slut move, Kamilah!”

“What? Are they in there too?” She shared a concerned look with Adrian.

“Of course…” by the sound, Priya stopped to shoot the soldiers with a gun. “Otherwise, why would I even call you? ”

“I… I’ll send some reinforcement.”

“Those were one of my favorite shoes!” The fashion designer yelled. Panicked screams were heard in the background.

“Priya?!”

“There’s no need, I think I killed all of them. Wait…” she fired the gun again. “Yes, now I did.”

Adrian was also on his phone. The Order also attacked Lester’s business. With the help of his Clan, he managed to get rid of them.

“Leave one of them alive,” Adrian ordered. “Bring him for an interrogation tomorrow.”

He hung up. Both of their phones buzzed at the same time with texts from several vampires of Jax’s clan. The Shadow Den was under attack, by the largest group of soldiers seem in New York so far.

“Oh no.”

“We have to go,” Kamilah rushed, headed to her car. “Amy is in danger.”

———-

Amy

“Another fight?!” Lily questioned, while Amy finished putting on some make-up. Rheya would arrive soon and they’d introduce her to the life in the Shadow Den. “And because you want to have children?!”

“Yes,” Amy answered. “I just feel ready for the next step. I want to start a family with Kamilah.”

“Amy, I’m sorry but it doesn’t sound like you. I mean, you guys have been married for only a year. A lot can change.”

“What are you suggesting? Nothing is changing between us.”

“You’re a vampire now,” Lily told. “There’s so much you may want to experience. You’ll have the eternity to be a mother.”

“Being married to Kamilah, I’ve already experienced a lot,” Amy argued. “We’ve traveled to so many places, she introduced me to a lot of new things, we’ve grown up as couple… it seems like the right moment.”

“Well, that’s your decision to make. But make sure you’re not using it only to mask your past traumas.”

Amy did have a family-related trauma. She always felt abandoned, rejected by her mom. Ofter she’d seek for affection in her friend’s families. The conflicts between them only got worse when she became a teenager. In many occasions, she made her mom cry. Which was enough for her to decided the should follow different paths.

Now she had built her own life away from her hometown. She had a great job, a loving wife and she finally got answers about her mother’s behavior and her origins. In truth, she was starting to understand and even forgive her.

Having a baby with Kamilah had little to do with that. Part of her didn’t want children before because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to be a good mother, based on her own experiences. Now she wanted to break that cycle. She wanted to fix things with her mom, and at the same time, have the motherhood experience herself.

“Hello,” for some reason Rheya was already standing in the living room. “You didn’t hear me knocking, the door was opened so I entered. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Not at all!” Amy smiled, dismissing her thoughts. “We were waiting for you. By the way, that’s Lily. My best friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Lily extended her hand. “Very nice.”

“It’s my pleasure, darling. Amy talks about you all the time.”

Amy checked her watch. It was almost time for Liv’s new show to start. Both of her friends had engaged in a conversation. Lily seemed to be nervous around Rheya, panicking and stuttering. She shook her head in denial.

“Hey, you two,” she called. “Let’s go!”

First, they gave Rheya a tour of the Shadow Den. She was impressed by the place, checking all the stores and attractions the community had to offer.

“This place is amazing. A mass of vampires, rejected by The Council, build all of this? Without any support?”

“They did,” Lily told. “We made some improvements and redesigned after we were recognized as a Clan by The Council.”

“And there…” Amy pointed to the male vampire coming in their direction, “is the man behind most of it, Jax Matsuo.”

“Hey,” Jax joined them, briefly nodding at Rheya. “What are you girls up to?”

“We’re headed to Liv’s new show, but before we’re showing Rheya around.”

“Rheya, huh? I remember seeing you at the Tribunal. You saved Priya’s ass.”

“Jax,” Rheya looked deeply into his eyes and grabbed one of his hands. “Your bravery, your strength is like no other. Building this place, protecting your people, fighting for your rights… it’s inspiring. You have my admiration.”

“Whoa,” Jax’s cheeks turned a little pink. “Thank you, but I had help of my Clan members. We were all part of this.”

“I… I…” Lily made some effort to insert herself in the conversation. “I created the Fangbook. A social network for vampires.”

Rheya grinned and grabbed her hand too.

“This is also amazing, darling. An online gathering of all vampires in the world. Your knowledge can serve for greater purposes. You can achieve great things. Never doubt your potential.”

“T-Thank you.”

Amy laughed and patted her best friend’s shoulder.

Together they followed to Liv’s cabaret, finding their reserved seats in the front row. That was the debut of a show she long planned, back when she still a mortal. She looked unusually happy that night.

“This place is crowded,” Amy told Jax, before the lights went out.

“I know, right?” He said. “It’s good to finally see a smile on her face.”

A dancing number started on the stage, Amy was very focused. The music was hypnotizing. She and Lily started to move their bodies in sync to the rhythm.

“Come on, Jax,” Amy shouted. “Join us.”

“In a moment,” he looked serious at his cell phone screen. “There’s something wrong in the tunnels.”

Jax didn’t have any time to leave, as soon as he got up a group of soldiers dressed in white burst through the doors. Amy recognized them from Greece.

“The Order Of Dawn.”

“Everyone take cover!” Jax yelled, as they started to aim and shoot their crossbows at the vampires in the cabaret.

Amy stood frozen in the middle of the commotion, her eyes registering the scene all around her. Vampires attempted to run, or even to protect themselves, only to suffer cruel and painful deaths. There was a lot of screaming and crying, while the Order Of Dawn chanted:

”The Order does not yield. The Order does not sleep. The Order shows no mercy… and leaves no survivors.”

She tried to locate Rheya and Lily but they were nowhere to be seen. A tightness on her chest started to suffocate her.

“Amy!” Jax pulled her out of the way, to prevent an attack with UV light. Considering the desperation of the moment, he probably had forgotten it didn’t affect her.

“Jax,” she returned to her conscience. However, when she looked at the male vampire on the ground he wasn’t moving. His chest had a big burning wound. Tears stated to fill her eyes as she touched it. No vampire would survive an injury of that extent. “Jax, please…”

“Die,” an Order soldier appeared in front of her, with a crossbow aimed to her chest. She fired. Amy stopped the stake midway with her psychic powers.

Looking around, she could see piles of ash all around the club, along with severely hurt vampires, struggling to stay alive. Rage started to consume her. She felt her eyes burning in pure anger.

With a grin on her face, she sent the stake back in the soldier’s direction. Hitting her right in the middle of her eyes.

“What is that?” A group of soldiers came in her direction, as their member’s lifeless body fell on the ground.

Amy could feel their hearts beating. The blood flowing inside their veins. They had no idea what she could do. They had no idea of what she could become. She had the urge to kill them. All of them. She focused, gathering all her power.

“Kill her,” their leader ordered. She jerked her hand, sending all of them flying. The heavy impact against the wall crushed every bone inside their fragile human bodies.

More soldiers came in her direction. She leaped forward. With fangs drawn, she went directly to their throats. Her hands also fought, tearing into some soldiers’ chests and ripping off their hearts.

“Monster! Monster!” They started to retreat and runaway scared.

Amy couldn’t let them get away. Not after what they had done. They deserved no second chances. Only death. By the time they reached the door, she appeared in front of them.

“Leave… no… survivors!” She yelled, mocking their chant. Her hands were engulfed by fire and she send blasts in their direction. She stood and watched while it consumed their bodies.

As they silenced, she closed her eyes. She could sense a couple of human heartbeats coming from behind the bar. Taking Jax’s katana, she slowly walked to them. They barely had any time to scream. The blood spraying from their slit throats soaked her skin and her clothes. She fed herself some of it, before going back to Jax unconscious body.

She kneeled right beside him, placing her hands over the wound. And that’s the last thing she did, before collapsing in exhaustion.

#bloodbound #kamilah sayeed #kamilah x mc #playchoices #choices stories you play #bloodbound fanfiction #within you #hoping it works this time

26 notes · View notes

newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Pandemic aftershocks overwhelm global supply lines (Washington Post) One year after the coronavirus pandemic first disrupted global supply chains by closing Chinese factories, fresh shipping headaches are delaying U.S. farm exports, crimping domestic manufacturing and threatening higher prices for American consumers. The cost of shipping a container of goods has risen by 80 percent since early November and has nearly tripled over the past year, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. The increase reflects dramatic shifts in consumption during the pandemic, as consumers redirect money they once spent at restaurants or movie theaters to the purchase of record amounts of imported clothing, computers, furniture and other goods. That abrupt and unprecedented spending shift has upended long-standing trade patterns. “It’s crazy. Prices are at record highs. Multiple things are happening all at once,” said Phil Levy, an economist with Flexport, a San Francisco-based freight forwarder. “People work off of expectations. But now there’s just so much uncertainty.” At the Port of Los Angeles one day last week, 42 ships were anchored offshore, waiting to unload their cargoes, even as every warehouse within 60 miles was already full. A shortage of dock workers amid California’s worsening coronavirus outbreak is further complicating operations; inbound cargo volumes in December were more than 23 percent higher than one year earlier. “Some areas of the supply chain need to be sharpened,” Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director, said. “People are a little bit on edge.” It’s a global problem, and it may get worse before it gets better.

Destructive protests by anarchists and extremists signal divided left as Biden administration begins (Washington Post) The hundreds of far-left and anarchist demonstrators who gathered in protest mere hours after President Biden swore the oath of office Wednesday signal a fracturing on the left that could become a scourge for the new administration, political leaders and experts say. Some activists are carrying their destructive tactics into a new administration to voice rejection of centrist ideologies they believe will do little to address existential worries over climate change, economic inequality, foreign wars and racism. The vandalizing of the Oregon Democratic Party headquarters by extreme-left demonstrators on Inauguration Day has split Portland liberals, and federal agents’ launching of tear gas at crowds that descended on the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters produced scenes reminiscent of similar summer standoffs ordered by President Donald Trump. In Seattle, a march organized by anarchists and the city’s Youth Liberation Front branch roved through neighborhoods, chanting expletives at both Trump and Biden, some breaking windows. James Ofsink, president of Portland Forward, a local advocacy group for liberal causes, said the growing tension in Portland’s progressive circles is emblematic of a larger tug of war happening in the nation. “Portland is going to continue to be a microcosm of the political divides, especially among the left, that we’re seeing across the country,” Ofsink said. “The idea that middle-of-the-road Democrats can say with a straight face that we need to take things slowly or do things in a very deliberate way rubs a lot of people the very wrong way.”

Trump’s coming impeachment trial aggravates rift among Republicans (Reuters) The coming second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol has aggravated a rift among his fellow Republicans that was on full display on Sunday. At least one Republican, Senator Mitt Romney, said he believed the trial, which could lead to a vote banning Trump from future office, was a necessary response to the former president’s inflammatory call to his supporters to “fight” his election defeat before the Jan. 6 attack. Ten Republicans joined the House of Representatives in voting to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection. But a significant number of Republican lawmakers, concerned about Trump’s devoted base of voters, have raised objections to the impeachment. Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached after leaving office. Senator Tom Cotton, another Republican, said the Senate was acting beyond its constitutional authority by holding a trial. “I think a lot of Americans are going to think it’s strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,” Cotton told Fox News on Sunday. “I think the trial is stupid,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday, saying he would vote to end it at the first opportunity. “I think it’s counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it’s like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.”

Ununited Kingdom (Times of London) The UK is facing a constitutional crisis that will strain the Union as new polls reveal a majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland want referendums on the break-up of Britain. A four-country survey we commissioned, based on separate polls in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales, also found that the sense of British identity that once bound the country together is disintegrating. And in another significant move, the Scottish National Party (SNP) announced that it is prepared to call a wildcat referendum of its own if Boris Johnson refuses to grant one himself—a move that puts the two governments on a constitutional collision course.

Riots explode across Netherlands over covid restrictions (Washington Post) Dutch rioters who attacked police and destroyed property over the weekend while protesting new coronavirus measures are “criminals,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday, as law enforcement officials warned that the violence could last for weeks. The unrest across the Netherlands, some of the worst in decades, had “nothing to do with protest,” Rutte, who resigned last week following a scandal, told reporters outside his office in The Hague, news agencies reported. Protesters had gathered in defiance of lockdown orders in at least 10 towns and cities Sunday, looting stores and clashing with police after authorities imposed a new nighttime curfew — the first in the Netherlands since World War II. The violence continued Monday night in several cities, including Amsterdam and The Hague. The curfew, from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., tightens an already-strict lockdown aimed at curbing coronavirus infections and comes amid fears that a new, more contagious variant, first identified in Britain, will cause a surge in cases.

In France, growing alarm over students’ well-being as pandemic pushes some to the brink (Washington Post) he hardships of university students during the pandemic have now reached the attention of the highest levels of the French government, with President Emmanuel Macron promising to provide more assistance. “You haven’t been forgotten,” he said this month. But students protesting de facto campus closures, seeking psychological support and lining up for free food handed out by private donors have come to a different conclusion. In a country that prides itself on having one of the world’s most generous public welfare systems, student food banks have become the most visible display of the economic impact of the pandemic on young people. After 10 months of varying degrees of isolation and restrictions, a less visible but increasingly worrisome mental health crisis is taking form among students, too. Some have been confined for months under lockdown or curfew in 97-square-foot dorm rooms off campus. New measures by Macron last week indicated growing alarm among French officials that financial distress and mental health are increasingly intertwined and are fueling one another. Students have written open letters asking French ministers for more support. Mental health hospitals have expanded their offerings to cope with a surge in demand among high school and university students. Some professors have themselves requested psychological support after finding their students in distress.

Navalny Protests Sweep Russia (Reuters) Russian authorities have attempted to deflect attention from Saturday’s nationwide street protests—the largest in years—by accusing the United States of interfering in the country. On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the U.S. embassy in Moscow of fanning the flames of dissent by publishing protest times and routes (as part of a notice to avoid such gatherings) on the embassy website. “What was that: a setup or an instruction?” Zakharova told the Russian news agency TASS, adding that if the Russian embassy in Washington had done the same during U.S. protests “global hysteria” would ensue. The government’s rhetorical counters came after thousands of Russians across roughly 100 towns and cities protested amid freezing winter temperatures on Saturday, heeding a call from detained anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny to take to the streets to demand his release. Over 3,500 people were arrested during the protests, according to the monitoring group OVD Info—the most arrests the NGO had ever recorded in one day.

Angry farmers drive thousands of tractors into New Delhi (AP) Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day. They waved farm union flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence. Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones. Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest. For nearly two months, farmers have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government. They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialize agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are under pressure as never before (Washington Post) Millions of Syrians have sought safety in Lebanon and across the region since the Syrian uprising began nearly a decade ago. Now they are stuck between untenable options: ongoing instability and violence back in Syria as President Bashar al-Assad consolidates control, and deteriorating conditions in cash-strapped Lebanon, where politicians are pressing refugees to leave. Syrians have long struggled in Lebanon, where about a million refugees make up some 20 percent of the population. But 2020 brought a new cascade of problems. The country’s financial system collapsed, and the prime minister resigned, ousted by protesters fed up with endemic corruption. Then the coronavirus hit, followed by the devastating Beirut port explosion, of which many Syrians were among the victims. In less than a year, the currency depreciated by more than 80 percent. Communities across Lebanon are hurting, especially Syrians, amid mounting competition for resources, said Elena Dikomitis, advocacy adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon. “The landscape of needs in Lebanon has changed dramatically over the last year,” she said. “There are a lot of increasing tensions as one can expect over access to jobs, to aid, to basic services.” In October, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated that nearly 90 percent of Syrians in Lebanon lived below the extreme poverty line, up from 55 percent the year before. Already legally excluded from many jobs, 90 percent of Syrians reported losing their income or having salaries reduced, the agency found in July. [Many Lebanese want the refugees to go home. Syria, however, remains a very dangerous homeland.]

Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea (Reuters) Pirates are stepping up attacks on ships in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, defying regional navies. On Saturday, pirates off Nigeria kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship and killed one. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea kidnapped 130 seafarers in 22 separate incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized at sea worldwide. The pirates come from Nigeria’s turbulent Niger Delta, experts say. The region produces the bulk of the nation’s petroleum, but is woefully underdeveloped, scarred by pollution and has some of the highest unemployment in the country. Bands of men desperate for money engage in a variety of illegal but lucrative activities, including kidnapping, stealing and refining oil, and piracy. Last year’s oil price crash and Nigeria’s second recession in five years worsened unemployment and economic hardship. Saturday’s attack, which took place 200 nautical miles offshore, reflected increasing sophistication, as vessels further from shore are less likely to have naval protection.

Satellites (Space.com) SpaceX launched a record 143 small satellites into orbit on Sunday, the most ever on a single rocket. The launch was the first mission where SpaceX ferried lots of satellites up rideshare-style along with 10 of its own Starlink internet satellites. In 2019, the company announced that at various points in the year smaller satellites could hitch a ride at launch for $1 million a pop. Among the payload was a South Korean military communications satellite, two Taiwanese satellites which will improve navigation, a payload called Celestis 17 containing cremated human remains, three Hawk 2 radio satellites and a cargo capsule for the space station. The team successfully recovered the Falcon 9’s first stage in the Atlantic, which was the 73rd recovery of a booster for the company.

#headlines #news

1 note · View note

anthonycrowleymoved · 5 years

Text

HAIR SURVEY RESULTS TWO: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

i know this was a long time coming. without further ado, i’m going to show you the final scores. then, if you so choose, you can go in and see my ~further analysis and information~ as well as other details and a comparison of lev’s earlier survey.

SO. here’s how it worked. i had a total of 561 people rank 16 of crowley’s hairstyles. i wanted people to rank the hairstyles to see if the results differed from when people were asked what their favorite overall style was. each person who gave a hairstyle a ranking of 1 contributed 16 points towards that style, 2 contributed 15 points, and so on. this means the lowest possible score a Look™ can get is 561, and the highest is 8976 (16 x 561)

OFFICIAL RANKINGS:

1. 2012 BUN - 7965

2. GOLGOTHA - 7108

3. PRESENT DAY - 7060

4. 2007 HAIR - 6988

5. MESOPOTAMIA - 6820

6. EDEN - 5547

7. 1941 (CHURCH SCENE) - 5406

8. 1967 - 4644

9. 2012 NANNY - 4146

10. BOOK!CROWLEY - 3650

11. 1970s - 3408

12. 33 AD (ROME) - 3040

13. 1601 (SHAKESPEARE) - 2770

14. 541 AD (KNIGHTS) - 2751

15. 1862 - 2708

16. 1793 (FRENCH REVOLUTION) - 2477

DISCUSSION OF OVERALL RESULTS

graphic representation of all of the results, in descending order. as you can see, bun was the runaway lead, with the next four highest scoring looks™ pretty close together. similarly, the shakespeare look, knight look, and sideburn look are all similarly hated.

fig. 2: scores sorted by in-universe order of appearance. i think it’s interesting to look at this and see that there seems to be....sort of a trend. in general people seem to like the very early looks and the very modern looks, with the lowest scoring looks all clumped together.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

now, i’d like to discuss the individual breakdown of each look™, to determine how universally it was liked or disliked, or alternately the distribution of votes

eden

eden had an average score of 9.89. people seemed pretty middle of the road on this look, with the occasional person either loving it or hating it. it’s a lot more divisive than a lot of his hairstyles for sure. (me, i personally thought it verged a bit into ‘bad wig’ territory, and i did see a couple people thinking the same)

mesopotamia

i was kind of surprised by this one being as low as it was! obviously it was in that grouping of popular hairstyles, but i feel like the general consensus you read on here is that this is the fan favorite. apparently not so. the average score was 12.16, however, which, not bad. people in general did tend to like this look, obviously, with a few holdouts scattered about

golgotha

fun fact! this is my personal favorite because, the headscarf. my god. iconic. and apparently y’all agree! it eeked out second place with an average score of 12.67

rome

so this is the first. not great look. people don’t seem to be crazy about this one. it had an average score of 5.41

knight look

“oh maggie why is this even here we can’t see his hair” It’s My Survey And I Get To Choose The Looks. but anyway. no one liked this. seriously. this is the first one that didn’t get a single person to give it the top spot. average score was 4.903, which also isn’t great.

1601

look, i know you’re supposed to be unbiased or whatever, but this is a tumblr survey and none of this matters. i hate this look. i hate it so much i often forget it exists out of self preservation. even now as i type this i know if i scroll up i’ll see that terrible facial hair, and i saw it like a minute ago when i uploaded the picture, but i can’t for the life of me remember what it looks like because my brain has put up a protective barrier. you all seem to agree with me, as the average score of this is just 4.94. excellent taste all around

1793

LAST PLACE. i don’t completely. GET. the hatred of this one. i found it to be. very middle of the road. fine i suppose. but the people have spoken with an average score of just 4.42. so what do i know

1862

another one no one said was their favorite. i mean. fair. this one had an average of 4.83, and many people said this was his most heterosexual look, and i agree. bad.

1941

this one seemed to be a bit middle of the road for people, which is kind of understandable. it’s a great hat, but i get that people like the more dramatique™ looks better. had an average score of 9.64, so like. not bad

1967

now this one was ALLLLL over the place. people love it, people hate it, people are indifferent. average score was 8.28, which, again, shows how split this one was. i for one welcome john lennon and joyce byers’ demon lovechild.

1970s

i’m so mad. average score was 6.07. this is my second favorite hairstyle overall. yes, seriously. anyway you all are wrong and that’s all i have to say about that have a good night

1990s

people kept asking me why i included the illustration from the modern cover of the book, and the primary reason was because i thought it would be funny, which is why i do most things. i also was kind of wondering what people would do with it, and the answer is seemingly ‘question why it was there.’ i wish there was a way i could have included ‘your own personal headcanon for what he looked like while reading the book,’ but alas this is as close as i could get. average score was 6.51. the people who gave said this was their favorite are my heroes, and one person described him as looking like an insurance salesman, which like. thank you from the bottom of my heart

2007

yeah. okay. i nicknamed this one ‘cursed’ in my master list. i don’t get it. i’m so sorry. i am like, the singular holdout who just can’t stand this hair. but i am very much in the minority, everyone else seems to love it. average score was 12.46. good for you, 2007 crowley. i will never understand you

2012 (Nanny)

this is the last....not great look. again, a bit all over the place. average score was 7.39.

2012 (Bun)

i LOVE this hairstyle, but i was blown away by how high it was on lev’s poll and i’m blown away again with how high it is here. i just feel like we collectively never talk about how much we love the bun look, and then when we’re asked we go feral. this had an average score of 14.19. how. gender, indeed.

present

ahhh, the classic tennant hair. a solid look. no one really seems to dislike it, it’s just. not everyone’s top spot. there’s nothing offensive about it, clearly, but i don’t think it sets anyone off like some of the other top contenders. and i’m slightly surprised how little we talk about this hairstyle considering how popular it is (and i get it, he looks like every lesbian i’ve ever had a crush on who was painfully out of my league), but again, that might be because it’s Tennant Classic™. average score was 12.58.

LEV DYKEIEL’S RESULTS VERSUS MAGGIE ANTHONYCROWLEY’S RESULTS: A BRIEF ANALYSIS

the main reason i wanted to do this in the first place was to see if the results changed at all from lev’s survey when i asked people to rank their choices rather than just choose their favorite. the answer is actually like, kind of! not majorly, but a bit. the comparison as it stands without the entries that did not appear on both lists:

if you want to see the changes more easily, i’ve done some color coding here:

as you can see, there were definitely some shifts, but what i’d like to focus on is the change in rank of the golgotha hair, the two that came in last place, and the sixties and seventies looks. for the golgotha hair, i suspect that because it was so close to the mesopotamia hair, the vote may have been split a bit, whereas here you could have realistically given both a good score. lev also said that in their results, after the 2012 bun look, 2007, present, and mesopotamia were kind of always in a bit of a tie with each other, whereas this was the case with mine with the addition of the golgotha hair. taking that into consideration i think it’s interesting that that one ended up getting second place.

i also think it’s interesting that france wasn’t in last place on lev’s poll, because there’s such a huge difference in points between the sideburn look and the french revolution look according to my numbers. however, as i said before, no one actually picked sideburns as their favorite on this survey, but there were a couple of people who like, loved the revolution hair. i think that may have ended up giving lev and i slightly different results, as the revolution hair is like ‘you either really love it for some reason (rare) or despise it’ and the 1860s hair is like ‘you either hate it or you’re lukewarm about it’.

similarly, the shift in rank in both the sixties and seventies looks is also interesting, because they both moved kind of significantly. i think the 60s look changed because, as i said, it seemed to be a pretty divisive look. people don’t seem to be agreed on how much they like it, so there are people really Into It who voted it as their favorite on lev’s, but there are also people who HATE IT. i think something sort of similar happened with the 70s look in the opposite direction. i think not many people LOVE it, but a lot of people kind it not to be like, the worst one. as a result it went up a bit because, while few people consider it their favorite (can’t relate), a few people were like ‘okay it’s fun’ and ranked it semi-high, or at least there was more of a distribution than some of the more hated looks. also it’s almost 2 am i hope this analysis makes sense because words. the english language.

ANYWAY THOSE ARE MY RESULTS I KNOW I PROMISED TABLEAU GRAPHICS BUT I FORGOT I NO LONGER HAVE A LICENSE FOR THAT BECAUSE I GRADUATED AND ALSO IT LOOKS FINE WITH THE GOOGLE GRAPHICS AND I DON’T WANT TO MAKE MY LIFE HARDER COOL BYE!

#shut up maggie #text #CAN U SEE ??? WHY THIS TOOK SO LONG #good omens #go #long post #but there should be a read more

416 notes · View notes

thanksjro · 4 years

Text

Last Stand of the Wreckers, Issue #3: Garrus-9 is Fun for the Whole Family

Noticed a little something as I was reading- in issue #1, Roberts is credited for contributing to the story. However, in issue #2 and on, he’s credited as a writer alongside Roche.

Maybe it’s just a change in the how the credits were being labelled within IDW, because it never seems to stay consistent between series, but that’s still quite the jump. He’s accumulating power much faster than I originally thought. How delightful, and also terrifying.

Getting back to the story, we open up this issue with a flashback: two years ago, Overlord deigned it necessary to reunite Shockwave’s head with his body. Now, this was still nearly a year after he’d first taken over Garrus-9, and Shockwave can’t help but question the wait.

Back when Megatron still had Overlord under him, he had Shockwave slap something called an “Achilles virus” into the guy. This virus made it impossible for Overlord to comprehend any weaknesses Megatron might have- something positively devastating to a tactician as ruthless as Overlord. He, of course, wants the thing removed. Shockwave agrees.

With how many of the IDW universe’s problems this chunky purple fuck is responsible for, I’d honestly be more surprised if helping Overlord DIDN’T help him further his own agenda in some way.

Once Shockwave frees up Overlord’s processors, he’ll be free to go and cause more mayhem, while Overlord keeps doing his thing on Garrus-9. Shockwave, because he’s a smarty-pants, knows what he’s up to- he’s trying to goad Megatron into coming to see him, by way of ultraviolence.

When I was a little kid- we’re talking no more than five- if I wanted my parents to come see me after I’d woken up in the morning, I’d do this god-awful thing where I’d shriek at the top of my lungs repeatedly and then hide under my blankets acting as if I’d been sleeping like a perfect little angel the whole time. This feels a lot like that, except Overlord’s been screaming for three years.

Back in the present, we get a taste of some dramatic irony, by way of Fisitron’s fanboy datalogs.

You’re never going to guess what’s happened.

Since the ping-pong ball Verity was riding in smashed right into where Overlord likes to hang out, it’s looking somewhat grim for them. Not that things are looking any better over here.

Guzzle isn’t much of a team player, it would seem.

Springer’s worried that the others were DOA, but Twin Twist seems to think things are alright.

And he would know, I suppose.

Over in the Pit, Overlord’s greeting his new guests. Rotorstorm tries to break the tension with a joke. It actually goes over pretty well with Overlord.

Still, it’s a tough crowd.

Back over with Wrecker team A, the boys have just blown up a hallway to buy themselves a little time. Well, Guzzle blew up the hallway, since he’s a tank, but the others were there for moral support.

Things have really hit the fan, and Springer makes the call to split up and look for clues get help. Guzzle and Kup pair up and run for it, which seems appropriately themed, while Twin Twist decides it’s time to break out the alt-mode and dig through the floor so they can get to the Autobot prisoners. Springer’s not too sure about that, seeing as Twin Twist’s hurt, but he says they can take it. Yes, they.

After that painful scene transition, Overlord implores the Wreckers before him to surrender. Perceptor, having a case of terminal bad-ass disease, orders Pyro to keep Verity safe- which he does by stuffing her into his chest?- while he and the others attempt to bare-knuckle box Overlord into submission.

I’m not kidding, he’s just shoving her in there.

While Perceptor and the gang commit suicide, Twin Twist’s just finished drilling, and it’s looking like it’s a bit more of a drop than he was expecting. Luckily, Springer swoops in and catches him before he can take any fall damage.

Both they and Impactor land safely on the floor of an energy reactor, and it looks like they’ve got company.

The company is Kick-Off’s corpse. Guess Overlord kinda sucks at rewarding people.

As Impactor and Springer discuss Kick-Off’s very brief stint as a prison gladiator, Twin Twist makes the horrific discovery that they’ve set off a defense mechanism, and if they don’t get out of there pronto, they’re gonna be robo-toast.

Overlord gets word of these guys running around in the energy reactor as, he kicks Percy and pals’ ass. Repeatedly. Delighted that there are more toys to play with, he makes a prison-wide announcement: anyone who brings him the head of a Wrecker can leave Garrus-9.

I don’t think Percy likes that idea too much.

Without any further ado, Overlord sicks the entire prison populace on the Wreckers. Perceptor, ever the brainiac, buys them a little time by blowing up a fuel tank that managed to survive the ping-pong ball crashing. The Wreckers book it out of the Pit, ready to head for Aequitas. Only one problem- Ironfist is having a breakdown. Perceptor is surprisingly considerate about the whole thing.

Like, this is about as much as anyone could ask for in such a dangerous situation. Of course, Ironfist is a bit too hung up on the complete annihilation of a skull he just witnessed to appreciate Percy’s kindness.

Here’s the thing about fanboys; they have a bit of a habit of putting their heroes on pedestals.

No, the adventuring doesn’t happen until 2012, Ironfist, and you aren’t going to be there for all that.

Seems like Overlord’s presence on Garrus-9 has sort of smashed Ironfist’s dreams of grandeur. Though given the constantly-changing roster, and the fact that Ironfist probably knows more about the Wreckers’ escapades than most, one would think he’d at least be prepared for something this wild to be a possibility.

This whole spouting off attracts Topspin, who berates Ironfist for being a baby. He doesn’t even know why the guy got brought along on this mission, seeing as none of the established Wreckers voted him on. Ironfist is just sort of here. Before we can get into all that though, Perceptor breaks their little squabble up, because we just don’t have time for that right now.

Over with Guzzle and Kup, we’re descending a ladder and reveling in implications, as Guzzle notes how he had a bunch of friends die in a rescue attempt similar to this one. Kup mentions that he hopes the guy being rescued was worth it. Guzzle says that it depends on who you ask.

So we’ve got an angry little tank dude and the old man who’s responsible for several of his friends’ demises, working together, without any other supervision, in an insanely dangerous place filled with murderous Decepticons and high places that don’t follow OSHA regulations. What could possibly go wrong?

Back with Percy and the boys, we finally get the down-low on what Topspin and Twin Twist’s whole deal is. Turns out they’ve got a rare and potentially exploitable manufacturing error- they’ve got branched sparks, which means that their nervous systems overlap to a point where they can feel each other’s pain. This seems like it ought to discourage one from joining the Wreckers, but since when have the Transformers ever been about self-preservation?

Look at that face. It’s like he knows what the narrative’s gearing up towards.

Perceptor’s found a funny part of the wall, which gives him a pretty good feeling that Aequitas is right behind it. It’s at this point that the others start asking just who the hell Aequitas is, and then Pyro remembers he’s still got Verity trapped inside his chest cavity.

Verity is released from the torso jail, a little banged up and a lot pissed off about being forgotten. She starts saying some rather uncalled-for things about the dead before she catches herself, and we get a bit of an insight into Wrecker ideology.

Perceptor has busted through the wall while Topspin’s explaining the group philosophy, and we finally find what Fortress Maximus’ has been up to while all this has been going down.

The Decepticons have been using ol’ Max here as a lock pick, seeing as he wouldn’t just GIVE Overlord the code to the chamber. Perceptor starts cutting the poor guy out of all the cabling he’s hooked up to, and everyone once again questions just what’s up with Aequitas that the Decepticons want to get to him so badly.

Speaking of Decepticons, they’re collecting in droves in the hallway, just itching to rip off some Wrecker heads for a free ticket out of Garrus-9. Perceptor unhooks Fort Max, passes his limbless, eyeless body off to be carried by the two largest friends at his disposal, and the chamber opens up.

This is about the time that the story catches up with the other team of Wreckers, the guys who were trapped in the energy reactor. Yeah, that branched spark plot point is about to get very relevant.

Dentists are the worst, even in space.

And that’s the end of issue #3.

#transformers #jro #last stand of the wreckers #issue 3 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #story plotting #comic script writing #wreckers trilogy

30 notes · View notes

fantasyfandommaiden · 5 years

Text

Adrien’s Mentorship AU: Adrien’s Familiar

Not every magic user needs a familiar in order to be great, however Carmine points out that it would help move along Adrien’s magical training.... and if he happens to get a magically sidekick like some magical girls do in the anime’s he loves that just a bonus.

[[MORE]]

Carmine had preformed the lineage ritual before Adrien arrived for his next lesson a week later. Adrien had been disappointed in not being able to see the ritual being performed but Carmine had insisted to him that it was actually fairly mundane without much fanfare.

“So I do have magic in my family?” Adrien asked as they sat at the table, drinking tea. Carmine had insisted that drinking tea helped with the magical process (Adrien figured it was more to do with her tea addiction, but he wasn’t about to argue with his teacher).

Carmine nodded, smiling gently at him “Yes. The ritual showed me that SOMEWHERE in your family blood line there is magic, however it has been dormant for a few generations.”

Adrien blinked in confusion “... how does that happen?” He asked “Can you just... lose your magic?”

“Well... yes and no.” Carmine said, leaning back in her chair. “SOMETIMES, if you are deemed a danger to the magical or mortal community, you can have your magic taken, and if you have no magic in your blood, it can take a few generations for it to reappear in your family. Besides for that there is no way to lose your magic.”

“... so... is there a ministry of magic than?” Adrien asked, grinning widely “Like in Harry Potter?”

Carmine let out a soft hum as she thought to over “We don’t have a ministry so much as we have a council, and each country has one. Placing one person in charge of an entire magical community isn’t always the right idea unless you have someone like Merlin in charge, bless his soul.” Carmine stated, sipping her tea. “The politics are somewhat confusing but basically it’s usually a group of fifteen or so magic users who are appointed or voted into the council. As a collective they make major decisions about the magical community, and rulings about anyone that posses a threat to both the magical and non magical community.”

Adrien was furiously writing this all down as Carmine spoke, not stopping until he got all the information down. “So, could you be on the council?”

Carmine gave a loud laugh, Gladiolus seeming to do the same from his spot at the table “Oh by the gods no, for one I am too young to be apart of the council, you need to be at least 40. Two, I am much happier helping people directly than through politics. My uncle however, Yarrow Rosewood, is a member of the council here in France. We could meet him and he could tell you more about the politics if your interested, politics was never my forte.”

Adrien looked at her, blinking. His experience with older males in a place of authority were... great but if he was related Carmine he must be good! That and... it would be nice to have a male role model. Mlle Carmine was great! But there were some things he wanted to talk about with... a man.

“So does he decide if someone needs to have their magic taken away? What sort of ruling would need to be done for that?”

Carmine leaned back in her chair, looking at Adrien sombrely “... anyone who causes the community a great loss of life or a danger to that life. A pair of pyromancers back in 1871 were both quarreling over the affections of a young woman, their duel got out of hand and caused the Great Chicago Fire.”

Adrien’s pencil stopped as he looked at Carmine in shock “Wait... wasn’t that when-“

“300 people lost their lives, leaving 100,000 residents homeless and almost three and a half square miles of the city damaged? Yes, yes it was, and all over a woman.” Carmine said with a roll of her eyes “Said woman was the one who brought forth both of them to the council for judgement, they had been attempting to court her for months and she. Was. Done with their bullshit.” Carmine stated her eyes cold “She almost lost her best friend in that fire, and as punishment for their recklessness and the reason for the fight to begin with, they were stripped of their magic and their descendants for the next twenty generations.”

Adrien looked at Carmine, his mouth feeling dry. He hadn’t realized how... dangerous this was going to be. Cataclysm was dangerous but he had never caused that much damage to be done. “Are... are they still without magic?”

Carmine blinked at the question, closing her eyes and murmuring softly, Adrien only hearing her because of his enhanced hearing, she was counting.

“... yes, but only for another four generations, after which the magic will slowly return.”

“... what happened to the woman?”

Carmine looked at him with a raised brow, Adrien blushing slightly “... I... I mean, she turned them both in and her friend almost died... I can’t imagine that would have been easily, especially turning in two gentlemen who were courting her.”

“She married her best friend, and the two ladies were very happy together.” She stated sipping her tea “Well, married by magic standards, but back to why we are here.”

“Right!” Adrien said smiling widely “My magic! It’s not dormant, so we can start my training right?”

Carmine frowned “Well, it’s not dormant but it’s very weak, most likely you family might have only regain its magic with your mother, because I refuse to believe Gabriel has any magic in him.” Carmine said, leaning back in her chair, her fingers drumming against the table “Since you have such a small pool of magic that will make it difficult to train you...”

“Is there a way to increase so it’s not as difficult?” Adrien asked, Carmine looked at him with a raised brow “Not that I don’t want to put in the work! I mean, if it’s hard I’m willing to work twice as hard to prove myself-“

“Adrien, you don’t need to worry, I’m not going to drop you as my student just because you want to know if there is a simpler or easier way.” Carmine stated “Knowledge is power, and in this case there IS a way to increase your magic at a more accelerated pace... so instead of years it will only take a handful of a handful of months, maybe weeks depending on what you get.”

Adrien blinked, looking at Carmine confused. “What I ‘get’... what are you going to do?”

Carmine looked at Adrien, a small smile on her face “... Adrien, we are going to summon a familiar for you.”

~~~~~~~~~

Adrien had helped Carmine push her furniture in the living room to the walls and sat on the couch as she drew on the floor with chalk, Gladiolus holding the pages of her grimoire down and gesturing towards certain passages on the pages.

“So... will my familiar be like Gladiolus? A ferret?”

“Gladiolus chooses to be a ferret for the sake of convience more than appearance.” Carmine told him, her concentration on the circle she was drawing “Fey like Gladiolus typically dont have appearances in the material plane, the only ones I know of are Kwami’s.”

“Because messing with fey can lead to a lot of headaches.” Plagg stated, glaring at the circle “Your sure this is safe? I don’t want to go through the headache of getting use to a new chosen.”

Carmine looked up at Plagg with a deadpanned expression “Plagg, this isn’t my first rodeo, nor my first summoning circle! I’ve done this at least 20 times for my family, and I’ve over seen twice as many after that. I’ve got this.” Carmine stated before returning back to the circle, muttering something about ‘stupid kwami cats’.

Plagg glared at Carmine “Hey, this is my kitten, you got that, if anything happens to him, I will show you WHY I hold the mantle of destruction incarnate!”

Carmine stopped, looking up at Plagg “... the worst that will happen is he will become extrmly tired afterwards, that’s it. Besides, he’ll have fail safe, Gladiolus.”

The ferret ran off towards the bedroom, coming back with a beaded bracelet, rushing at Adrien and dropping in his lap “If you ever feel your endanger, pull it apart and it will bring you back.”

“Back?” Adrien looked at her, wide eyed “Where am I going?”

“Physically, nowhere, it’s your spirit that will be traveling to the spirit realm to find a fey that is willing to be your familiar.” Carmine stated, standing up and brushing the chalk off her hands “All done.”

“So... like Avatar?”

Carmine sighed, looking at Adrien with a small smile “... yes, like Avatar. Now sit yourself in the middle of this circle, and I’ll explain what is going to happen.”

~~~~~~

In short Carmine explained it like this.

- she was going to help his spirit travel to the spirit realm, there he was encounter perhaps three or fourth spirits who would be interested in being his familiar.

- Don’t give any of the fey your name, they will use it against you to make you do things. (As some sort of mind control or something, he was still confused but agreed to not say his name out loud)

- He is to decide who would be the best familiar for him, his spirit will know which is best.

- Once he finds a familiar, he is to rip the bracelet apart brining him and his familiar back.

Carmine had told him there was a chance that there was no spirit that would be suited for him, and Carmine herself had taken three attempts before she met Gladiolus, so not to feel distraught if he couldn’t find one, and most importantly to not ‘settle’ with one.

“This is a bond that will last for the rest of your life, it is not something to be rushed.”

Adrien simply nodded, sitting on the floor cross legged, eyes closed. He didn’t know how long he sat there, but it must have been a REALLY long time, because he was getting bored, and honestly nothing had changed.

He sighed as he opened his eyes “Mlle Carmine, I don’t think it’s-“ he stopped short, looking around. He was no longer in Carmine’s living room anymore, but instead in a large grassy field.

He felt the wind gently blowing against his his skin as he slowly stood up, looking around. The grass was a deep green colour and the sky the deepest blue he had ever seen, but he didn’t see a town or building anywhere as far as his eyes could see.

“Hello?” He called out, his voice seeming to echo out into the grasslands. Adrien looked around, no seeing any spirits... was he suppose to walk around? Carmine hadn’t really given him any instructions beyond him arriving and meeting possible spirits.

As if sensing his unease, the scenery changed as if everything around him had been a mirage, and now he stood in the middle of a forest, standing on top of a large tree stump. Her heard the soft chattering of birds, and soft wind blowing through the leaves.

Although it was a nice change, it didn’t help out Adrien too much with finding a spirit. He knew he had to be patient, and it might not happen this time, but he REALLY wanted to impress Mlle Carmine... or at the very least prove to her that it was the right decision to take him on as her student...

Adrien blinked when he heard a different sound.... it sounded like soft, gibberish chatter that got louder, and louder, and the wind seemed to pick up as the trees groaned and seemed to sway. Adrien felt his body tense up as he gripped the beaded bracelet in his hand, looking around as suddenly a horde of lights and sounds and wind tore through the tree line into the small clearing were where Adrien stood.

The lights and sounds circled him in a never ending tornado, it shocked him so much that he dropped the bracelet somewhere, but Adrien was to preoccupied to notice. It was too LOUD, there was too much sound and colours and he felt like his brain was going to BURST with all the chatter that the dozens, maybe even four or five dozen dancing lights circled him, chanting different thing. He fell to his knees, his hands covering his ears and his eyes closed tightly. He wanted it to stop, but Carmine had told him to be respectful, and his mind couldn’t take this torture as the spirits continued to talk and chant.

‘So much magic!’

‘Ancient magic!’

‘The ring! It’s the ring!’

‘Pick me! I’ll be your familiar!’

‘No me! I will make you stronger! I must be near that ring!’

It was too loud, Adrien didn’t known how much more he could take much more, he would give anything to make them all stop, even if it was as simple as accepting one of the as his familiar, but none of them felt right. He didn’t feel a pull to any of them, or a strong connection, not like what he expected, but he needed all the noise and lights to stop! He opened his mouth, about to accept the first spirit he saw when he heard one voice speak, not too loudly or in a bossy tone, but a voice that commanded authority.

“Will you all shut the fuck up!” It snapped, and all the lights and sounded stopped. Adrien felt his body trembling, not daring to look up as he kept his ears covered in case the spirits tried to begin chanting again.

“Now get the hell out of here, can’t you see your scaring the kid to death!”

“But... the ring-“

“Did I fucking stutter?” The voice responded “Your not becoming a familiar to some damned ring but to the boy himself! Now, if I have to say it again, you will all cease to exsist, am I understood?”

“Ah-“

“Am. I. Under. Stood?”

And suddenly there was silence, but Adrien still did not dare to remove his hands from his ears or open his eyes. His body trembling as he remained on his knees.

After a few moments of complete silence he dared to open his eyes and saw a light, this one not as blinding and not so much a ball as a shape. It looked humanoid, possibly masculine if the outline had anything to say, but it still appeared to be light, albeit much dimmer than the other spirits, and they sat cross legged in front of him, seeming to be waiting.

“First time in the spirit realm?” The spirit asked him in a quiet voice, to which Adrien nodded. “Pfft, that explains it. Whoever sent you here is either not very smart and hasn’t dealt with a lot of ancient magical items before.” It stated, pointing at Adrien’s ring. “THAT is why they swarmed you. Powerful and old item like that was bound to draw that many excitable spirits. Most of them don’t mean you any harm but they don’t understand boundaries.”

Adrien simply nodded again, still not moving besides his trembling body. The spirit looked at him thoughtfully “... You do know you could have told them to fuck off right? Maybe not in those words, but you could have told them ‘No thanks, your not for me.’ Or ‘no thanks, I’m not ready for this’.”

“I was...” Adrien licked his lips, which felt dry before speaking again “I was told to be respectful.”

“There’s being respectful and there’s being a doormat.” The spirit told him, looking around the clearing “Honestly, if I hadn’t come along you would have probably just picked the first spirit you saw to be your familiar, no questions asked and live with some subpar or down right awful spirit, and trust me you don’t want any of those LEECHES for a familiar.” He stated, before looking back at Adrien.

“... do you want to go back to your world?” The spirit asked, holding out Adrien’s bracelet “There’s no shame in not getting a familiar on the first try... at least that’s why I assume you are here for.” The spirit said to him.

Adrien took the bracelet gently, looking at the spirit “... but... I don’t want to let my mentor down...”

The spirit seemed to almost give off the impression that he rolled his eyes “Listen, you won’t let your ‘mentor’ by not getting a familiar on the first try. Did he get it on the first try?”

Adrien blinked, shaking his head “... no, the third apparently.”

“There you have, so your old coot of a mentor won’t be on your ass for it, I sought he will be mad.” The spirit said standing “but if your that determined to get a familiar I’ll help you out... but first...” the spirit helped Adrien stand up, than walked behind him, grabbing his shoulders and forcing them back slightly before he walked in front of him, grabbing his face and making Adrien look straight in front of him.

“Good, now hold that pose and tell me to leave.”

Adrien blinked, relaxing slightly with confusion only for the spirit to snap his fingers again and Adrien (of his own will) go back to the more confidant position the spirit had place him in “Go on, pretend I’m one of the annoying spirits from before and tell me to leave you alone.”

“Um...” Adrien looked at the spirit somewhat confused “... please leave me alone?” He said in a somewhat lame tone.

The spirit looked at him in a bored manner “... are you asking me or telling me? Try again.”

“Leave me alone please.”

“No.”

“I said, leave me alone please.”

“Yeah, still no.”

“Leave me alone!” Adrien shouted at him angrily, getting somewhat annoyed with this.

“I’m stubborn, not deaf. Show me some resolve, make me want to leave.” The spirit said to Adrien.

Adrien glared at the spirit, taking a deep breath as he thought of all the people he wished he could say this to. The fan girls, the pushy photographers, the models that were a little TOO hands on, Lila with her touching and invading of his personal space.

He let the breath out slowly as he glared at the spirit “... leave me alone, now please.” He said in a deadly serious tone. The spirit clasped his hands on Adrien’s shoulders, bending down slightly to look Adrien in the eye.

“.... now that is how you do it. Alright kid!” He stood up straighter and began to walk towards a random direction “Let’s go find your familiar spirit.”

Adrien looked at the spirit curiously, remembering back to the conversation he had with Carmine before entering the spirit realm...

“Will it be like love at first sight or something like that when I meet my familiar?” Adrien asked excitedly, almost bouncing in his seat as he watched Carmine start the chalk circle.

“Some people say it’s like that, that it’s an instant connection, like a part you didn’t know is missing is found.” Carmine replied back evenly “Others say it feels like you’ve been shot with lightning, the sensation causing tingles to go down your whole body, others say it’s like meeting a new best friend, everyone’s experience is different when it comes to finding your familiar.”

“What was it like with you and Gladiolus?”

Carmine stopped momentarily, a small warm smile spreading across her face “... like meeting an old friend.”

Adrien looked at the spirit in front of him as he continued to speak about the different kind fo spirits he could potentially have as his familiar.

He didn’t feel like a part of him was found, or like lightning had struck him, or like meeting a new friend. Heck, he didn’t even feel like he was meeting an old one, but something about this felt... right, like being around that one person who gave you a boost of confidence even when you were at your lowest. It felt... good, and maybe that was what Adrien needed.

“Um, Mr. Spirit, actually....”

~~~~~

Adrien groaned as he felt his spirit return to his body, feeling exhausted both mentally and physically. He saw Carmine sitting cross legged in front of the circle, like she had been when he entered the spirit realm and she sat up straighter.

“Adrien, thank goodness, you were in there so long, I was beginning to... worry.” Carmine’s eyes were looking down at Adrien’s lap, a look of shock on her face. Adrien looked down as well in concern only for the expression to change from concern, to confusion, to joy.

Sitting in his lap was a hamster, it looked like it was a grey dwarf hamster, however it’s eyes instead of being a dark brown were a deep shade of blue. Adrien starred at it and the hamster starred up at him. “... hi?” Adrien said slowly, only for him to ‘hear’ a response in the back of his head.

‘Hey Kid, you look like shit, you should really rest-‘ the hamster stopped short as he examined his surroundings only to freeze at the sight of Carmine who was still starring at him.

“Adrien, you summoned a familiar!” Carmine said, her face breaking out into a large grin as the hamster climbed up Adrien’s shirt to sit on his shoulder, which had been a good thing because Carmine all but FLEW at Adrien to hug him tightly “Good job! This is amazing! Hardly anyone summons their familiar on the first try!”

‘Psssst, kid!’

Adrien, who had been to distracted by the hug, glanced at his familiar who was looking at Carmine with great interest.

‘Who’s this lovely woman?’

“This is Mlle Carmine, my mentor!” Adrien said to him, as Carmine sat up straight and looked at the hamster “What’s his name?” She asked.

‘You did NOT tell me your mentor was such a fine example of femininity and grace!’ The hamster exclaimed, and Adrien felt himself becoming more confused as he noticed how the hamsters eyes were starring directly at Carmine’s bust and waistline and... lingering there.

‘Oh, I look forward to getting to know you, AND her quite well~’ the voice all but sang.

Adrien felt his face blush deep red... of god... his familiar was a pervert!

“Adrien.” Carmine said, looking at him confused. She couldn’t hear the voice since the hamster wasn’t her familiar “Have you two decided on what his name will be?”

Oh, Adrien had the perfect name for him.

“Zeus.”

#ladybug au #ml au #adrien’s mentorship au #carmine regal #adrien agreste #tea magic #introducing Zeus the Familiar #Familiar!Zeus #Hamster!Zeus #long post

26 notes · View notes