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steve0discusses · 3 years

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S5 Ep 15 Pt 1: The Gang Gets Lost in India

Ah, back to Yugioh classic. Sort of. We’re going into the second filler arc before Bakura, which I have been told is kind of nonsense. And youknow what, from the first scene--this is the first scene by the way--yeah I can see the nonsense.

We got Yami cosplaying as the Chrysler building, we got Yugi saying WTFWTF, we got...this thing?

This thing tells us “Join my game, Yugi!” and then the demon just kinda bounces.

K, bye, I guess.

(read more under the cut)

Waking up from this nightmare, Yugi reveals that he has outgrown his good pajamas. Or maybe he just overused them like I did to my favorite pajamas during quarantine (which, not gonna lie, I hand sewed my favorite pajama pants back together 2 or 3 times like they were the Velveteen Rabbit. Quarantine pajamas and me were like best buds for a year there.)

RIP Yugi’s good pajamas.

It’s fine. I’m fine.

I can get used to Yugi in his normal ass old man pajamas without any cute stars on them. I can accept this. He’s getting older. So much older that for a second I thought he was learning Hebrew, by the looks of his books on his counter. I thought...wow, is Yugi actually attempting to learn a language spoken around the time of ancient Egyptians???

But uh...I went a searching and unfortunately that’s not Hebrew, and if that is a language, I don’t know what it is. Pretty sure it’s just random marks because this show has to be translated in so many languages. Man. For a second there that looked like really sneaky world building, but nah, Yugi is still kind of a dumbass who has yet to attend a solid year of school.

Also, I got to take in this mustard yellow as if I’ve seen it for the first time.

It has strong building blocks energy. It’s...so much yellow and it’s extremely the vibe of that one set of animal crossing decorations that I have because it’s a very common recipe, but, can’t figure out for the life of me how to fit into any room.

What am I supposed to do with these, Nintendo? Other than recreate Yugi’s Muto’s haunted game store/house?

Like I live in the Bay area and we have wild painted houses so you can see them through the fog (back when we...still had fog, RIP California) --but this is a little much. This is such strong Protagonist energy but as a house.

Also, I’ve don’t think I’ve brought this up before, but like...Yugi is loaded, right? Like he’s way too good and humble to ever say he’s loaded, and they sort of make it seem like he’s not (when compared to Seto Kaiba) but damn, this location of his real estate sure is something. That and Grandpa’s tiny shop seems to run on a constant deficit and his family just doesn’t care.

We flash back a bit to Gramps sneaking out, and Yugi is like “oh great, my only Father figure I ever talk about is getting a backpack together and just...leaving without any notice, huh? Without telling me you were going to go? Didn’t think that would maybe be a little off putting?“ and Gramps is like “Yes?”

Like Gramps nearly died going to an amusement park a few episodes back so I can see why Yugi is a little bit concerned.

Down the street at a little town lottery, Joey is getting further into gambling (I don’t know what those little street lotteries are called, it’s in a lot of anime--but kinda looks like mom lotteries for moms.)

I’m not sure why India is on Joey Wheeler’s bucket list, seems a little random, but he went to Pegasus’ country, after all and that’s barely even a country.

Joey going nuts on a lottery machine instead of going to school was pretty peak filler, so I’m not really minding this stuff so far.

And then, just to spook me, check this out:

I can’t believe they even let them back into a classroom. In my nerd school, if you missed one too many days, you were sent to the bad schools to be someone else’s problem. But in Yugi’s case...that either IS his school or...Yugi is failing International School, which is just a thing he’s allowed to do, because, as I said before, this kid has got to be loaded. Even Seto Kaiba was like “I’m not spending money on this school anymore. That outfit is like 50 bucks a jacket.”

Youknow, I have seen all the other characters knock on Tea’s choice of cute ass monsters for the last 5 seasons, and she has never once changed them out. She is holding onto this scary seraphim thing with the many wings like every child with their first Pidgey. She does not care.

Also how is this thing cute?

like the front of this orb has a face with hearts on it but like...it is kind of remarkable what Yugioh decides is cute. Magma golem: not cute. this thing? This thing that looks like it’s a chibi version of the last chapters of the bible and will sound the trumpets of the second coming? So cuuuuute.

Tristan used to be the Janitor/hall monitor/square archetype. Like hell he can walk around with that 00′s R+B soundtrack.

Joey appears in order to get us the hell out of school, and the art team retires this school background for the rest of what I assume is this entire series.

Goodbye school. Maybe you’ll come back with Bakura. Which would be weird, since rumor is that arc takes place in ancient Egypt.

On their walk home, Tea lets out in an inner monologue that no one could hear that after 5 straight seasons of his BS, she’s sick and tired of Pharaoh being the center of attention all the time and she needs a freakin break.

TBH, as she was thinking in her head like “Pharoah is just so freakin much” Yugi switched over to Pharaoh and was like “WHATS UP TEA, THINKING ABOUT ME??” and I thought for a split second maybe he read her mind with his Pharaoh powers.

And like...maybe he did? Seems like a thing he can just do but chooses not to tell anyone about. I mean would you tell anyone? I wouldn’t.

So, unlike Miho in Season Zero, who at least had the decency to try to take her Mother to Australia, Joey Wheeler has wisely decided that the 3 other ticket holders will not be the 3 other members of his immediate family. That would have been the most awkward trip between Serenity, his mother he hasn’t really spoken to in 7 years, and his absent father who was written out of the series for being a raging alcoholic. They would have not even made it to the plane.

Instead he’s gonna take the ghost in Yugi’s head and call that an adult (two tickets in one, really). It’s honestly not that bad of a plan, since his only other father figure, Grandpa, is MIA, and his only other, other father figure, Roland, charges like 300 dollars an hour and wants stock options and health insurance.

And honestly they should have taken Roland because he’s one of their best plane guys.

So they take the smallest little Amelia Earheart plane in the world, going from Japan to (checks map) India...which 2 times the distance this plane can go and it crashes...which is exactly what would happen if you took a teeny tiny plane over the Himalayan mountains without refueling that thing.

We call this a magical incident later in the episode, but this is just basic math.

So, fun fact, (and probably why I discuss planes so often on this blog) two of my Grandfathers were pilots (well, three, since my grandmother remarried another pilot), which sounds like a crazy coincidence until you recall that their generation was in WW2 and we just shoved children in planes for 20 years and called that normal.

Anyway, to save on travel costs, my engineer Grandfather built his own plane out of junkyard parts, which, as you can imagine, is a living nightmare, and it was held together by like duct tape and gasoline (which at one time used to be cheap). Tempted God every day that Howls Moving Castle touched the sky.

And while I only know it from photos since I wasn’t exactly born yet, it looked exactly like this plane. So looking at this, all I can think is...yeah...that’s what you get for flying to India in a tin can car. To this day I cannot trust any plane of this size.

So, they climb out of their wreckage virtually unscathed and into familiar Californian territory.

At least Joey thought about bringing a tent.

It’s interesting how our cast has become so accustomed to this that they’re not even all that shell shocked. It’s just another day in the life.

So next time we shall find out what India has in store for us. Or if we’re even in India...because again...feels a lot like this BG team doesn’t do any research into their landscapes and every place feels a whole lot of the same. But...at least they didn’t put any Arizonan mesas in India.

#Yugioh #YGO #yu-gi-oh #recap #photo recap #S5 #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Tea Gardner #School?????#A really ass plane #gambling #And a trip to India

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silvyavan · 3 years

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Rule of Five and Astaroth

*McDonald's voice* Can I get a number five theory with demöns?

I've been wanting to make a post about this for a While So Here We Go:

Asta and Liebe's lives are very much connected to the number 5.

Five leaf clover grimoire, Fifth of October were found, five scars and all that. At the age of 5 or so, children awaken their magic. At 15, they get a grimoire.

The number five is pretty relevant to both of them, as its likely a number of meaning to Asta specifically.

And I feel like this is gonna be even more obvious in the later climax of the Qlipoth Arc.

Now, about Asta's devil union form that has me BUGGING:

Where the fuck did the second horns/additional markings come from??? And whats with the crosses??? Is Asta some antichrist???

So then it hit me, that Asta's parentage isn't so much as "Asta has demon parentage/is half demon" so much as "Asta has a demon ancestry/ancestors used to mess with demons". It would make more sense that way.

With Licita never actually stating that she was cursed, simply that she has a body that steals mana and life force from around her. Plus, being cursed wouldn't actually be enough to throw someone out of the village entirely, but being related/descended from a demon (seeing as how the villagers knew what a devil looked like) might. It would also explain why Licita was so used to the idea of demons or superstitions about them: she has one as an ancestor. And maybe at some point down the line the genes either went dormant/became too thin to actually show any traits.

I'm going with the dormant option because Asta and Liebe's devil union would essentially awaken the dormant genes, but only while in Union form as a way of exposure.

It would also make sense as to how Asta survived while being in contact with Licita when he was born. Licita was probably under the assumption that, since the cursed body took Asta's mana as a baby, it would take his life too. But it wouldn't because Asta's life force isn't completely human, so while he would have ended up being a sickly child, he wouldn't be dead per se.

Its a different take from the half demon theory but its also something that Tabata would pull in his reverse trope habit.

As for Astaroth, someone on twitter shared this handy pic:

Which shows an approximate show of which demon goes first and who goes last. The order and the Qlipoth positions are actually reversed, so we'd get something like this:

Which is a little approximate and not sure if it goes this way, but there's a strong possibility that Astaroth would be the fifth demon to bust out.

With Asta's name being up to several meanings, some that come up is meaning the word "to love" from Nordic (connected to Licita who named Liebe "love" in German), "great strength" (his main ability), "star-like" (his personality) and a literal exerpt from the name Astaroth (this fucking bitch).

With Astaroth most definitely being part of the Qlipoth, and several namedrops and lore connections which I mentioned here, this bitch would definitely be the type to just leave a bunch of bastardly descendants around for either host material or simply for the shits of it.

I can imagine that, with Morris adding the growth of the Qlipoth, Asta beating the ancient demon and having to take time to get to spade on its own and maybe even cutting down the second ancient demon, we can approximately predict that he'll readily arrive in the battlefield when the 4th/5th gate opens to raise the stakes.

So I'm assuming that Astaroth is gonna see this gremlin with a parody of his face cutting up his coworkers and think "Ah shit, the descendants survived. Welp, I wanna retire after this either way, so time to pick up an heir."

The reason for this is that Astaroth is also gonna be the 5th "demon" Asta fights (Zagred>> Dante>> Nacht>> Ancient Twin Demon>> Astaroth) in this arc as well.

With the number 5 playing into the likely fight against Astaroth, I'm assuming that either Astaroths death gives Asta some form of hint or bonus to defeat Lucifero: either a weakness of his or a new sword.

Like a Fifth Sword.

My theory is that Asta's fifth sword is gonna be a sword from the Underworld, likely one that had been under Astaroths possession, and the one with which he'll be able to completely defeat Lucifero with. Because a sword that was made in the Underworld will absolutely mirror the effects of the host in the human realm to the devil in the origin world.

Its also a numeric symbol, with each of the swords from Licht representing the three leaf Clover (faith, hope, love) and Yami's would represent luck (either they were lucky to beat Dante or unlucky that Zenon came in the last minute). With that being in mind, the fifth "leaf" or sword in this case would definitely be a demon sword.

People have also speculated that Asta and Liebe's Devil Union form looking unfinished or yet to grow fully, so maybe Astaroths death would give/develop The form to full maturity in a way.

But that's just my crackhead two cents.

#black clover #black clover manga #asta black clover #black clover theory #liebe black clover #black clover asta #devil union asta #silv writes

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official-cisphobe · 4 years

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i highly admire your worldbuilding skills. can you tell us more about your OCs and their universe?

this is probably gonna be a bit lengthy so strap in! (edit: it is very lengthy)

the basics of Voidverse, like I explained earlier, is that there is a group of people tethered to each other by fate and higher forces, the purpose of the Alts is that they are a sort of keeper of balance between worlds and each of them is a sort of savour or hero in their respective timeline/universe. They weren't always aware of each other but when a great danger threatens all multiverses and all life they have to come together to defeat it—they do this with the help of someone called Katalin Huerta who has an ability called The Bridge ie she can create 'bridges' to other timelines/universes from wherever she is.

Technically the main character of Voidverse is Classic the Demon aka Classic, who is sort of a butterfly effect to get both the Alts and the end of the world running. but more about that later, I'll explain the other characters first.

anyway this ended up being super long so added a Read More to not take oevr anyone’s dash akdhsfsfg

Jojo - already explained

Leoh Yu - Leoh aka Badger is probably the most normal Alt out of all of them concidering he's not a demon or any sort of supernatural or sci-fi creature. Leoh grew up in Dazhai, China in the late 1970's to late 1980's with his mother and grandmother where they owned a farm and a bakery. His life took a turn when his mother got very sick and his family couldn't afford good doctors or treatments. at some point in the way of making money Leoh at 18-years-old was approached by a group of hitmen to recruit him, which after some time and thinking he accepted. Leoh worked as a hitman for about 30 years before retiring at age 40 to get married to his now husband Nico Mahariel as well as adopting a babygirl named Qing-Qiu. Leoh's past, however, will not let him go that easy but that's a story for another time.

Tuyja - Tuyja was a prophet of the Goddess Ghalme in an ancient civilisation called the Weykha. the Weykha lived in a sandstone kingdom and it is rumoured that they are where the legends of mermaids and Atlantis came from. Tyuja however was not of the Weykha people, instead she was born from the stars with ocean blue skin and horns made from spacedust. She was regarded as a sort of next in command from the Royal family and was basically treated as an extention of the Royal family (if not even higher than them), which infuriated the jealous Weykha prince. Tuyja had also fallen in love with a servant girl called Muza, which the Prince had used as leverage against her and turned the Weykha people against her, telling them that Tuyja would steal all their gold and jewellery and give it to a servant girl, that he had heard her say she would strip the skies of moon and star so that Muza would shine the brightest, that he had seen her tame ocean waves so that the servant girl could pick sea shells from the sand below. Tuyja had become a threat to the people who had praised her and come to her for guidance, they had banished her into the sea for 5000 years.

Quiet - named after one of my friends because I really like teir name and I've had difficulties naming this character for years, Quiet was born and raised in a lab where they were subjected to varieties of cruel and inhumane experiments going as far as getting permanent damage to their ribs and lungs. in canon Quiet only got their name after joining the Alts, Jojo who became their closest friend nicknamed them Quiet because they're,,, well,,, really quiet. ngl their story and character arc is on the undeveloped side

Lotus Draqon - Lotus is a half-human half-dragon who grew up outside his pack of origin because his mother Jupiter wasn't sure how the Matriarchs would react to Lotus' half-human trait. The dragons are an ancient people of long ago with vast magical abilities and lived in harmony with mortals, sharing their magic with them—until an evil was awakening and the Gods began to tear down entire cities. Mortals expected and begged the dragons to help them survive but the Matriarchs decided to abandon them, priotising the dragon's survival. They lived in isolation and hiding, shielded in a deep forest by magic for thousands of years. until Lotus as a young adult decided it was time for him to leave the nest and see the world. Jupiter was reluctant but Lotus was determined to never again live in fear. In time Lotus would become a very important figure to both the dragon and the mortals inhabiting the lands as dark forces began to matirialise and the Matriarchs became restless, declaring war against mortals.

Voidkeeper - demons are very hard to kill creatures, no regular blade or bullet with damage them much beyond cuts and bruises. the most efficient way to kill a demon is for one to end their own life which by Satan's rule is forbidden. It has happened technically two times but the first one was by a demon now known only as the Voidkeeper. After ending their own life as punishment their horns and tail were cut off, their magic taken away, and they were banished to the Void forever. Slyly they managed to grab some of their depleted magic and put it into a magical stone for safekeeping, it is only a very limited amount but can do very wondrous and powerful things things. The Void grants the Voidkeeper clairvoyance as to what is going on in whichever timeline and universe, they are a sort of silent watcher and will never interfere with the goingonabouts of the mortals. the Voidkeeper has a very minor but very important part to play in regards to the Alts and the saving of all life in the multiverse but for now they are patiently waiting and watching.

and finally there's our boy Class whose story is undoubtedly the most developed out of all of these so let's go through it:

Classic is a minor demon and was born at a time when the Underworld and the Human world were not so separate. He was born in a tiny demon village of about 15-20 inhabitants. His father had left him and his mother when Classic was about three years old and has not been seen since, Classic doesn't know if his father is dead or alive and doesn't really care about it either. Classic was an only child and pretty much a mama's boy, although he had a few friends in his village. Unfortunately his life changed forever at 12 years old when human soldiers pillaged his home, killing everyone—Classic would have been dead as well but his mother used her dying breath to save him with magic.

Classic had been knocked out during the raid but when he awoke he witnessed the aftermath of a bloodbath. Scared and alone and unsure of what to do he ran away from the scene and travelled days across the country until he stumbled upon a town of humans. Wrath overcoming his senses he murdered the entire town, leaving no human alive, going as far as tearing down entire houses and setting the entire place on fire.

Classic was later found in the ruins of that town crying by a group of angels. He was taken by them to a city in the sky and adopted by a family of angels. He wasn't generally liked by his neighbours but the angel child he lived with became his best friend for years to come. They grew up together, learned to use their different magicks together, Classic learned he could even materialise wings and fly albeit badly at first.

But as history has shown, wherever Classic goes, terror follows.

Classic had been having nightmares for months, very terrible ones, of dark forces beyond his understanding. They felt familiar and cruel, almost mocking.

Before he realised what he had done, the angel he spent his childhood with was dead and there was blood on his hands. Just like before, as if on instinct he ran away from the city of angels and went into hiding. Multiple years had passed by now and the human world was very different from what he remembered. It was no longer that easy to stay out of the radar of humans, since they were pretty much everywhere with cameras and police.

To say he was causing issues in the human world would be an understatement. He would steal, break into houses, even kill to survive. Random fires would start and radiation with no apparent source would appear all over.

This is where Katalin Huerta comes in—see, she is a commander of a very special branch of task force, it was her own creation. Her people dealt with supernatural oddities and threats, it was govrrment funded but entirely indepentant from their meddling albeit they can be difficult to please. Katalin was born with special abilities, a sort of family tradition—at birth her soul was bonded with that of a powerful spirit that had once been one with the soul of Katalin's mother. The spirit gave her the ability to control and create fire but her own speciality was her Bridge ability.

anyway, Katalin had taken notice of the strange indicents around town and taken some of her people to go check it out, only to find a teenaged demon crawling in an abondoned factory. She could tell the demon was just afraid and lost and decided to help him. Which is how Classic joined her task force.

Which honestly was probably the best thing that had happened to Classic, Katalin taught him to fight and better utilise his demon magic as well as taught him to use a sword (Classic has never understood guns and will never attempt to). Learning spells with a human was a difficult task but eventually they figured it out. Classic's natural abilities worked very strongly as illusion based magic as well as materialisation, although the latter has been more tricky to master even after all these years so as we speak Classic's only materialisation spells are his wings as well as his sword and teleportation.

Eventually the darkness haunting Classic began to rear its head again, Katalin catches wind of this and fortunately can help him keep it out from his head yet it still lingers in the air and grows stronger.

until now Classic had never before talked about the darkness. but at this point he was cornered and Katalin wouldn't take no for an answer.

At that point in time all Classic knew about the darkness was that it was some sort of ancient entity, it wasn't a demon because its presence felt entirely different from at least the demons Classic was used to. He nicknamed it Ash, as all he could remember from the times it has appeared are the ashes left by roaring embers.

In reality the darkness is one of the five forgotten gods of an ancient people. It was cast aside by the Creator and exiled from the land of gods. The darkness hates mortal life because of the gods' love for them, so it seeks to destroy all that is living. in its weakened state it needs a vessel to succeed and has been corrupting Classic and molding him into that vessel since that day he turned 12-years-old.

Only the Alts can defeat the darkness, whether Ash stays defeated is only a matter of time.

#äsks #konsta-nt ramble #long post

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dolphin-bouillabaisse · 5 years

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GO-ctober Prompt, 18

Inktober except without the ink, and with drabbles instead.

Prompt #18 - Misfit

(previous | next | beginning)

(find it all on Ao3)

(Warning: this one deals with homophobia. It’s not that hurtful and overall the story is very positive, but please consider this a trigger-warning if you have trouble with that sort of thing.)

“We don't want that kind of stuff advertised here. Sorry.” The server behind the till did not look sorry in the least. The young girl in front, letting the stack of flyers sink down in her hands, whispering a quiet 'sorry' herself, seemed far more apologetic.

Aziraphale, two people down the line to order, was not one to eavesdrop or cause a scene at a coffee shop (or anywhere in particular). Especially not with a demon in tow who was known for causing quite some scenes if he wanted to.

But seeing the polite young girl turn away with such a defeated look in her face, feeling the pain and hurt and fear of her washing over his senses almost made his blood boil. He was sure Crowley'd felt it too, at least judging by the slight squeeze his hand gave, almost involuntarily. Demons were meant to enjoy such feelings from humans, but demons were meant to do a lot of things Crowley didn't.

“Whatcha got there?” He stopped the girl in her tracks, and Aziraphale silently thanked him for it.

“Maybe I can take some of your flyers for my shop.” He held out a friendly hand towards them, but the girl recoiled. His hand sank.

“No, uhm, it's fine, I wouldn't want to cause-” she stammered, looking the angel up and down, and for once he almost cursed his rather old-fashioned dress. Her flyers, covered in all kinds of colourful flags and symbols, had told him enough – her wary look towards what she probably considered a very conservative older gentleman only made it clearer.

“Don't worry, dear. I've got a lot of local pamphlets and flyers lying around, I'm sure there's space for some of yours.” He gave her what he hoped was a re-assuring smile while lifting a hand for the flyers again, but she barely saw it. Her eyes wandered down to his other hand instead, tightly locked with Crowley's.

Some of the tension in her shoulders disappeared.

“Oh, ok.” She took a stack of the flyers and pushed them into the angel's hand. A quick smile flashed across her face. “Thanks. Can I- may I ask which shop you own?”

“The antique bookshop on the corner.”

“Oh!” Her eyes lit up. “You're Mr. Fell!”

-*-

“I'm sorry, sir.” A quiet voice interrupted his reading, more fitting for a library than a bookshop, but then again, was his bookshop not more of a library anyway? “Do you have a bathroom I could use?”

Aziraphale's eyes barely lifted off of the book, staring at the person in front of him over the rim of his glasses. “Not one for customers, I'm afraid. I believe the cafe at the end of the street has facilities.”

“Oh. Sure.” The young man played with his shirtsleeve, long eyelashes batting down in a shy look. “I just don't think they'll want me to-”

“Second door behind the Ancient History bookshelf.”

A quick 'Thank you' before he darted down the pointed direction, and Aziraphale caught Crowley with one of his rare soft smiles across the front room.

“I thought you didn't like customers rifling around unobserved.”

“He's not a customer.” Aziraphale closed the book after marking his place, picking up some of the flyers from the till to place them next to the entrance. Maybe he'd see them while leaving. “He's just a kid who needs support.”

“And a non-judgemental toilet, I guess.”

Aziraphale stared out the door's window, down the street. “That cafe is troubling, though.”

“Nothing you can do, angel.” Crowley swept his legs over the chair's armrest. “Plenty I could do, though. Want me to get health inspectors in there? Still got some rat friends that owe me a favour.”

“No, no.” Aziraphale tutted as he heard the bathroom door that hadn't existed ten minutes prior open and close. “We'll simply have to be better.”

The boy awkwardly shuffled past the lounging demon, throwing a small smile towards the angel. “Thank you, Mr. Fell.”

“No trouble at all, my dear boy.” He watched his face light up at the words.

“Tell your friends.” Crowley said and almost managed not to sound nice. “Take a flyer.”

-*-

“You can ask him. Don't worry.”

“I can't!”

Aziraphale pretended not to hear the whispers. The two kids had come in almost an hour before, and were hiding one bookshelf over. And again, he wasn't one to eavesdrop.

“Do you want me to ask?”

A quiet pause. A tense feeling giving way to some relief.

“Please.”

“Mr. Fell?” The young girl he recognised from the cafe several weeks before, who'd come to visit once or twice, rounded past the bookshelves towards him. “Do you have any books about research into different sexualities? Just to read, sir. We'll be careful.” She'd spent several hours deep into a book about queer symbolism in poetry the last time she'd come by, and Aziraphale had noticed with quite some joy that she had indeed been very careful with the book and had shown no intention to buy it, either.

The other girl was hiding a few feet away, and he pretended not to see her shaking as he smiled.

“I certainly do! They're a bit hidden, I'm afraid, the sorting system is difficult to manoeuvre. Let me show you.”

He went down several rows, the two girls in tow, pulling out a few worn and faded hardcovers.

“These, and if you're interested, I have some more recent paperbacks I can get for you.”

“I thought you only had antiques.” The asking girl kept asking, as her shy companion took the books Aziraphale had offered her.

“My husband suggested I expand a little bit, and I have to agree with him. There've been some very interesting things coming out the past few years.”

He was met with a beaming smile.

-*-

“Help me with the flag, please, dearest.” Aziraphale balanced with one foot on the stepstool, holding on to the window's frame. Crowley took one step up on the windowsill, pulled the rainbow flag from his hands and hung it across the curtain rod without so much as needing to stretch.

“You've really gotten into this, haven't you?” He grinned as he patted the side of the new, old bookshelf that had wedged itself into the front room, filled with literature and research and informational booklets. The windowsill beside the entrance was overflowing with flyers, pamphlets, and more booklets. A poster from the local youth club was obscuring the window facing down the road, towards the cafe.

“I like to help out. They have so many questions I feel incapable of answering properly. No one should be afraid to ask questions.” Aziraphale pulled on the flag's edges, making sure it hung properly. “By the way, could you set up one of those wifi-things for me? With a password, maybe? Marsha said there was a lot of resources online.”

“You can just look it up on your computer, angel, it's been working without wifi for years.”

“Yes, but...” He fiddled with the edges of the flag some more, almost pulling it down again. “I was thinking of setting up some tables, you know, Marsha brought her portable computer last time, and I imagine some of the other kids might want to do some research, and it's difficult at home sometimes-”

“Sure.” Crowley gave him another one of those soft smiles, the ones he cherished the most. “But you know it's gonna cause more and more customers coming in here, right?”

“They're not customers.” Aziraphale protested yet again, and he was right. Marsha (the girl from the cafe had introduced herself two weeks ago, after several days spent reading pretty much everything the shop had to offer with even the slightest hint of LGBT+ in it), and her friends, and all the other young people they'd told about the safe haven that A.Z. Fell's Books had become, had never tried to buy even one of his beloved books. “They're just young people who need information. And they're all very polite.”

“What if you get some in that aren't polite? What if they're a bit angry?”

“Well, I figured I'd hand them over to you.” A small grin, a tiny bit of bastard showing through. “I think you could teach them a thing or two about proper protesting and rebelling.”

“What if you get people in who aren't happy about what you're doing?”

“Well.” Aziraphale patted his cheek with a smile. “I figured I'd still hand them over to you.”

-*-

“Do you think what you're doing here is proper?”

Crowley had tried to figure out where he recognised the lady that had come in minutes ago. As she stood beside the till now, a scowl on her face as she threw the question into Aziraphale's, he remembered with fiery hatred. He'd almost forgotten her face, considering they hadn't been back to the cafe ever since that day with Marsha and her flyers.

“I assure you my business is all set up and properly done, miss. Taxes and all.” Aziraphale smiled, but Crowley could tell it was fake, how it never entered his eyes. He was gearing up to interrupt, but the lady was faster.

“Not that.” She scoffed. “That.” Her hand pointed accusingly at the flag in the window, the bookshelf beside it, the layer of flyers. “You think it's proper to harbour these kind of ideas? To spread it to misinformed young people?”

“They're not misinformed. They're excellent at research.”

“You're leading them down a path of debauchery and self-destruction!”

Crowley's hand on her shoulder was ice-cold, and his glare even from behind sunglasses was not much better.

“You're getting it all wrong. Debauchery is my job, and I've been retired for a while now.” He smiled at her, teeth bared in the way a cat would smile at its prey before killing it. “And if I catch you yelling at my husband again, I will show you a thing or two about destruction.”

She stuttered and stammered, almost looking as if she was going to start a fight, before shoving his hand off her shoulder and practically running out of the shop. Crowley's stare followed her.

“I'm calling in the rats.”

Aziraphale sighed and nodded. “Please do.”

Aziraphale hadn't said a word all afternoon. He'd pretended to be engrossed by some book, hiding in the backroom after closing shop early (the doorbell was still on, however, hidden behind a rainbow sticker outside, installed just weeks before and quietly whispered about amongst the groups seeking refuge in the shops even when the door was locked. Mr. Fell never turned away anyone who rang the bell). Crowley could tell he was not reading. He'd barely turned twenty pages in the past two hours.

“It's still bothering you. I warned you.”

“I just don't understand.” He mumbled as Crowley handed him a cup of hot chocolate. “Why people have to be so judgemental and hateful.”

“Hate to say it, but the churches your lot started haven't really helped that particular topic.”

“They're supposed to be loving. Welcoming.” Aziraphale took a sip, and Crowley leaned against the desk next to him.

“When's the last time you saw someone connected to Upstairs in any way do the thing they're supposed to be doing? Including Upstairs themselves.”

Aziraphale sighed again, staring at the cup in his hands. Crowley waited beside him, patiently. The angel was not done, but he'd give him all the time in the world to formulate what he wanted to say.

“They just want to be. And find a place where they fit in.”

This wasn't just about the kids going in and out of the shop anymore, and they both knew it. Deep down, Aziraphale had always known, and was glad Crowley hadn't pointed out the obvious yet, even if he had probably realised long before him.

They'd never fit in anywhere. They'd had to fight tooth and nail for themselves to just be. For their own side.

“You've done a great job giving them that place, angel.” Crowley's voice, soft and quiet and full of love, finally broke the silence. His hand rested on Aziraphale's shoulder, far kinder than it had been hours ago on the cafe-owners. “Don't let one stuck-up, hateful bitch get you down and ruin it.”

“Oh, I won't.” Aziraphale sat up with a determined, small smile. “It's not the first time I've had to deal with people unhappy with what I do, and with whom I consort.”

Crowley grinned before Aziraphale took his hand and carefully kissed it.

“And if all else fails, I can always hand them off to you, with your debauchery and destruction.”

“Proud to help.”

“Proud to have you.”

#good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #tw homophobia #my writing #prompts #october prompts #lgbt+#queer

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cilly-the-writer · 5 years

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Endgame but we get what we want and people are alive

IN THE SOUL STONE:

Quill making a universe for everyone in the soul stone out of his celestial magic because his father lied and he never lost his powers

Shuri utilizing Quill's celestial powers to tap into the power of the infinity stones and monitor what’s going on in the real world, and successfully creating an inter-dimensional teleportation prototype. Peter Parker volunteering to be the test subject

Shuri's systems getting fried after sending Peter outside the soul stone world. Not knowing if he made it. Fighting like hell to recreate a new prototype

Wanda regaining enough of her power to distract Thanos from their plan

T'Challa, Bucky, Sam, and Dr. Strange interactions. Groot.

THOR:

Thor getting visions to return to Norway. Being the first one to leave the group—Rocket tagging along with because he's lonely and Thor can speak Groot

Thor somehow visiting Odin and Frigga in the afterlife and asking for Loki, but Frigga saying, "He is not here." The silence hanging in the air when they realize he's probably in Hel

Heimdell stepping forward and saying, "I do not see him there."

Thor being all wHAT, but Heimdell explains that he cannot see him anywhere across the nine realms. "In any case, that's not why I called you here..." Then revealing that he got his powers from the soul stone. How else do you think Heimdell can see all the billions of souls across the nine realms? His eyes ARE orange like the soul stone so

Instructing Thor on how to claim the soul stone from Thanos' possession by traveling into the soul world and bringing Gamora back. Heimdell then pinpointing Valkyrie's and the other Asgardians' location. He's gonna need them

INFINITY WAR REVELATIONS:

We find out that Dr. Strange used the time stone to freeze time on Titan to teleport himself into the quantum realm, where time is irrelevant and he's unaffected by the events that occur outside of it

We find out that Dr. Strange sling-ringed Loki to the quantum realm when he stepped off screen in Infinity War

Dr. Strange and Loki agreed to work together as masterminds to restore what was lost because they can both remotely peek into the universe from the quantum realm

Bumping into Scott, who they share their plan with

ENDGAME PRESENT:

Sending Scott to Avengers Headquarters and revealing that Tony is still alive

Loki casting his illusion into space to find Tony. Loki using the quantum realm's "life giving force" (alluded to in Dr. Strange's origin movie when he met the ancient one) to revive him from space death

Nebula and Loki recognizing each other and acknowledging how Thanos tortured them both

Carol arriving to give Tony's spaceship a boost and deliver him safely to Earth

Scott, Tony, and Bruce each working on the science involved in powering up a multi-user time machine to collect each of the infinity stones—Dr. Strange already having the time stone in his possession

Tony taking it upon himself to deliver the rest of the infinity stones to the quantum realm so that Thanos will never realize they have been missing from any point in time

Dr. Strange simultaneously concentrating on freezing up to six different points in time once each stone is retrieved

Revisiting the battle of New York and traumatized Loki to retrieve the space stone

ENDGAME RISING ACTION:

Carol helping Eitri make a second gauntlet because she can withstand just as much star power as Thor, if not—more

Deciding not to go back into the past to retrieve the soul stone before Thanos—because he'll know the jig is up (and it would dramatically alter how Infinity War ended). Waiting until they get Gamora out of the soul stone

Clint going to the soul stone world with Thor and Valkyrie maybe. And idk, fighting fake reality stone demons Thanos created to keep Gamora in the soul world

From there, the Avengers know they're on the clock and someone must immediately make a, uh, sacrifice for the soul stone. No idea who would make that sacrifice, hahaha *nervous sweat*

ENDGAME CLIMAX:

Going to Vormir, getting the stone, and fighting with Thanos in the present timeline. Once the soul stone disappears from his gauntlet, he will know what's up. But he'll still have FIVE stones and can teleport right to the avengers

Cap and Stark fighting their best fight ever side by side, completely synchronized in attack mode

Peter Parker appearing in the quantum realm and meeting Loki. Dr. Strange sending him out to help with battle

Waiting for Captain Marvel like, "OH MY GOD, CAROL, WHERE ARE YOU, WE NEED YOU RIGHT NOW," because her job is going to be to hold Thanos off IN THIS TIMELINE

Pepper being suited up and ALSO ready to hold Thanos off in this timeline, much to Tony's dismay. But she reassures him that it's not this timeline that matters (hint: this is where the dark stuff happens)

Tony traveling to the events in Infinity War just before the snap and Dr. Strange and Loki working together to pull some quantum realm shit. Gives everyone their roles and tasks

Thor and Loki finally interacting in the quantum realm and having a tearful reunion… because… them defeating Thanos is entirely dependent on Loki returning the ship where Thanos committed mass genocide on their people

Loki knows he needs to die at the hands of Thanos so that the events in Infinity War don't get catastrophically altered

The SNAP still happens, but they allow it happen so that it renders Thanos' gauntlet in this timeline useless

The LAST BIG FIGHT OF THE MOVIE?

Cue new infinity gauntlet and Dr. Strange handing over the infinity stones he's been holding onto in the quantum realm. All the dust reforming into everyone who disappeared

CONCLUSION:

The other timeline where Tony left Pepper, Cap, Carol, and others to hold off Thanos disappears

Loki returns to the ship to face his death

The only thing left to do is return each of the infinity stones to their respective timelines and unfreeze time there. Easy enough

Tony and Cap retire

SURPRISE! Pepper and Tony are having a kid. And Harley is back and he wants in on the Iron Man business. Tony can't stop him because he's already building his own suits

Captain Marvel pops up again and is completely aware of the lost timeline and what happened in it. She takes Steve to go see Peggy. Steve's all, "But that would alter the timeline!" and Carol is all, "No it wouldn't. It's already in the timeline." thanks to maybe Howard Stark or someone. Idk, it COULD HAVE happened

Dr. Strange reflects on everything that occurred in the quantum realm with Loki and decides him and Heimdell are both deserving of a resurrection. He uses the time stone to achieve this hello Loki God of Mischief on Disney+

Clint gets his family back and Nat and Bruce get together

AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

THE END

feel free to add on to this

Based on various theories, the Endgame cast list, and fan wishes floating around—here is a big head cannon theory mash up that balances enough drama, risk, and sacrifice to live up to the hype and high stakes of Endgame

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oldtumblhurgoyf · 5 years

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Lauren Orsini wants to kiss a cat man and that’s wrong*

Here’s a ranking of All 36 'Magic: The Gathering' War of the Spark Planeswalkers Ranked By Dateability in Forbes no less. But it’s so terribly wrong. Here’s my Empirically Correct List of Planeswalkers Ranked By Dateability.

*this is all very silly and Orsini’s list is fine, I’m sure... for her.

36-28 Undateable

36 and 35. Tie between Gideon Jura and Domri Rade (with an honorable mention to Dack Fayden).

Dudes are all literally dead. Sorry, but I’m not dating a corpse. Also, before Gideon’s death, he was running himself ragged hopping from plane to plane to save the world. He didn’t have the time for a relationship. Domri is an obnoxious child (emphasis on child too). Of the three, Dack had the most potential but even alive he’d be lucky to break the top 20 of my list. Good for a few fun weekends and that’s probably it. Tempting to hope your love could reform him but that’s just a good way to have your heart stolen.

34. Nicol Bolas

He’s downright evil and self-centered to an unfathomable degree. Hard pass, no thank you. Literally no redeeming qualities.

33. Ob Nixilis

The obvious date for him is someone into BDSM, right? Wrong. He’s not going to respect your boundaries or practice good after care. He’ll use and abuse you for what he wants and then probably murder you. That’s not a date.

32. Dovin Baan

This dude’s whole deal is that he sees the flaws in everything. He’d probably outright refuse to date and if not, he’d constantly be nitpicking your relationship and you. There’s probably a decent amount of built up angst and stuff and if he ever cut loose there could be some fun, but it would be very fleeting and comes at too great a cost (months later thinking “what did he mean by ‘your forehead is adequate, but your nose is not the ideal shape’?”).

31. Tibalt

See Ob Nixilis. Kind of crazy how similar these two are.

30. Ashiok

We don’t know a whole lot about them, but I’m envisioning they’re like Ob Nixilis/Tibalt except it’s all mental/psychological harm. It’s Dovin Baan but instead of an ostensible pursuit of perfection, the mental anguish is its own reward.

29. Ugin

Like dating a dad, but a really boring dad. And like any other dragon, he’s still very full of himself, he’s just a little more subtle about it. Besides, apparently you’d do all your dating in the Prison Realm and Bolas would be there trying to ruin your (already pretty miserable) date as some small payback for being trapped.

28. Sorin Markov

Things will be okay, but he gives me weird unwanted daddy vibes and he’s just going to ghost you anyway.

27-19 Redeeming Qualities, Not Long-Term Material

27. The Wanderer

Not much to go on here but we do know she’s gonna ghost you though probably not voluntarily.

26. Teyo Verada

He seems nice enough but he’s pretty young and super naive. He’s got some things to figure out and some growing to do before you’d want to date him.

25. Jiang Yanggu

What I said for Teyo goes for Yanggu as well. Plus side, every date with him there is a really cute pupper coming along.

24. Kaya

She’s giving me Gideon vibes. I think she’d be more fun than Gids, but she’s too devoted to her career to have time for a relationship.

23. Teferi

It’s a common refrain I’m running into here, but Teferi is also too dedicated to his job to make for a good relationship. Additionally he’s got lifetimes of experiences that make him “The Most Interesting Man in the Multiverse” and you’re always going to feel like a second fiddle to him, not an equal. This is a case where he’s almost too perfect.

22. Jaya

Jaya’s got distinct mother vibes for me. There’s just no way I could see a date with her that isn’t weird. It wouldn’t even be a bad date per se, but it’s not gonna happen.

21. Samut

I’m intimidated by Samut. I mean, who wouldn’t be? She’s been through Amonkhet’s trials and stood ready in front of Hazoret’s spear. That’s such a singular dedication that few others can match. I think I’d shrivel in front of her love.

20. Kiora

She’s a playful trickster and kind of flighty. You’ve got one good date with her and then maybe a follow up fling at some point, but there’s no building a relationship here. I mean, unless you’re really lucky, but I wouldn’t count on it.

19. Karn

Karn’s got plenty going for him. He’s done some really interesting stuff, he’s motivated, and deeply invested even if he doesn’t always show it. He can certainly show you a lot of cool things. But long term the lack of humanity creates distance and problems.

18-10 A Good Time, Let’s See How it Works Out

19. Liliana Vess

She’s a toss up to me at this point. She’s been through a whole helluva lot and this is the point where she could go completely good, or take her get out of demon-contract-death jail free card and double down on all her worst attributes. She’ll be a fun date, you just can’t be sure it should be more than that.

17. Angrath

Dude’s super dedicated to his family but he gets incredibly frustrated and pretty damn easily. His name’s literally angry wrath so you kind of have to expect that. If you think going to a dive bar and getting into a fight with a biker is a good date then Angrath is going to be a fun time.

16. Vivien Reid

Maybe I just haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention, but I know less about Vivien Reid than any other planeswalker on this list I think (which is wild when you consider exactly how little we know about the Wanderer or Kasmina). But as the Steve Irwin of the multiverse, there’s no way this date isn’t fun. You’ve just perhaps bitten off more than you can chew.

15. Ajani Goldmane

Ajani is a total sweetheart who will care for you like no other. The flip side of that is he is always pushing you to be your better self and, hon, that’s just a little much for me. Like can’t we just stay in and cuddle for once? I do NOT want to go to the gym again this week.

14. Arlinn Kord

Unlike Jaya, I don’t have mom vibes here. She’s a good looking lady who definitely seems to be here for a good time.

13. Huatli

This one is totally an “it’s not you, it’s me situation.” She’s so big on community and sharing stories--I’m more of a homebody. There’s nothing wrong exactly, we just won’t be compatible, I don’t think. But somebody out there is, and the two of you will get along famously. Another list would totally rank her as marriage material.

12. Narset

This is another case of such dedication and perfectionism that I just don’t think I could measure up in a relationship with her. She’ll come home from exploring the multiverse and meditation and combat training and reading ancient scrolls to find all I’ve done is take out the trash and do some dishes before playing some games and... not be disappointed exactly, but it won’t inspire respect and desire in her. Another one where there’s incredible potential there... for the right person.

11. Kasmina

Mysterious as she is, I’m getting young Jaya vibes from Kasmina. Not as in, when Jaya was actually young and all fiery temper and stuff. But rather, current Jaya without the creepy (to me) mom vibes. There’s potential here but so much mystery it’s impossible to say for sure without taking a chance.

10. Nahiri

I can’t imagine anyone I’d have a better single date with. Like a real good time. She’s planned it out perfectly and she’s ready to go. It might not last, but you’ll enjoy it while it does. Keep the lines of communication clear, respect boundaries, and be aware she can hold a grudge, and I think this actually has a chance.

9-1 Marriage Material

9. Jace Beleren

He’s sort of what I see Yanggu or Teyo needing. He’s done that growing and learning and he’s a pretty solid guy. He’s learned a lot of lessons the hard way but he’s definitely better for it.

8. Tamiyo

She’s literally married and raising kids in a happy home. The potential is there (if we ignore her canon marriage and assume she is available to date), not to mention her chosen career of essentially multiverse astronomer is pretty damn cool and relatively safe compared to what these other planeswalkers have devoted themselves to. (Sure, there’s Innistrad and Emrakul, but I imagine most planes’ moons are much safer to observe than that.)

7. Sarkhan Vol

Like Jace, he’s worked through a lot and is a pretty awesome person because of it. Unlike Jace, he’s been attractive the whole time. He’s tender and vibrant and aware and just cool as all hell. Bringing him home would be like dating Brendan Frasier in his prime.

6. Vraska

Downside to Vraska is that she’s pretty clique-ish and suspect of anyone from outside her group. Her views have expanded recently, but I think she’s still going to put up a rock hard exterior. If you can chisel your way through that then you’ve got a heart of gold.

5. Davriel Cane

Forget the demon contracts and all that nonsense. What this guy wants deep down is to just be left alone. Let’s retire to a nice estate on the countryside and enjoy our time together.

4. Saheeli Rai

Creative and inspiring, Saheeli is an absolute sweetheart. And she’s dedicated to a craft that she can do at home. She doesn’t have go trooping about the multiverse on dangerous missions without you. She can work on amazing marvels in her workshop then come next door to take you out for ice cream.

3. Nissa Revane

Nissa is a bit aloof and distant, but don’t let that fool you. She’s nurturing in every way you could want and then some. She’s great if you can get past that stoic exterior.

2. Ral Zarek

Ral’s more romantic than I ever woulda thought. He’s dedicated and thoughtful, but not so stuffy that things get boring. Actually the biggest detractor here is that things will never be boring with Ral, but he’ll make it worth your while to stick beside him through it all.

1. Chandra Nalaar

Full of warmth and passion, Chandra’s got what it takes to make the strongest connection. And she’s another character who has made some incredible personal growth recently. She’s ready to take the next step with someone special and if that were you, the two of you are in for a long-burning love.

#mtg #planeswalkers #forbes #lauren orsini #dateability #this is a really silly list #but it was fun

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crwlee-archived · 5 years

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ᴄʀᴏᴡʟᴇʏ & ᴠᴀʀɪᴏᴜs ᴄʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs // PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG

For clarities sake here I will write some important points about how my Crowley fits into various other worlds, where reworking is required to allow Good Omens canon to take place as closely as possible. This is how I default when interacting with any crossover characters. If you wish to deviate from any of these points please let me know so we can plot something else!

Below includes Supernatural, Lucifer, MCU, CAoS & Gravity Falls [ more to be added as needed ]

CW’s Supernatural -- & demons : The common demon remains the same, a human soul twisted in Hell. Crowley is not one of these demons. Crowley is one of the Fallen, an ancient sect of demons as old as angels themselves, in fact, they were once angels, cast out of Heaven when Lucifer was locked in the cage for siding with him in the rebellion. ( his normal affiliation applies, he did not mean to fall ) The Fallen rarely leave Hell and are only known of by the most knowledgeable of hunters. ( Crowley, however, has been stationed on Earth since the beginning ) & raphael : My Crowley is The Fallen who was once known as the Archangel Raphael. All moments of Raphael in SPN show canon are replaced with Sandalphon of Good Omens ( as they seem to be the Raphael replacement ) & spn crowley : Crowley of Good Omens is not Crowley of SPN. They simply share a name. I have three verse variants available to explain the connection. ( see verses ) & female crowley : As I use Ruth Connell for my female Crowley faceclaim I thought I should mention for rp sake similarities should be ignored, or simply pointed out how alike they look rather than identical. ( unless otherwise plotted !! ) & the antichirst : Jesse Turner was not the true antichrist, he was simply a cambion ( child of a demon and a human ) the true antichrist is Adam Young, a boy born in the 90′s. ( older brother to Jack Kline ) All Good Omens canon follows having happened roughly 25 years in Crowley’s past. Crowley has been retired ever since and has not kept up with current Hell gossip ( and because of this has never heard of the Winchesters ) & armageddon : As in the incident with Adam Young ( Good Omens canon ) was quickly hushed up by both Heaven and Hell, rarely spoken of by either, and almost unheard of on Earth aside from the tales from those who were there. Netflix’s Lucifer -- & tempting eve : Crowley was the demon to physically tempt Eve with the apple, however, it was on Lucifer’s orders, so he is often given sole credit. & demons : Crowley is one of the Fallen, a sect of demons equal to angels themselves because they once were angels, they are the ‘siblings’ cast out of Heaven with Lucifer during his rebellion. The highest level of demon under Lucifer who aid him in running Hell. They watch over hell while Lucifer is on Earth. Not Crowley however, in the beginning, shortly after the fall, after Eve and the apple Crowley was given special orders from Lucifer to remain on Earth as his agent. & armageddon/the antichrist : The incident with Adam Young ( Good Omens canon ) happened some time in the 90′s. However individual Lucifer rpers are free to choose their connection with Adam and if Lucifer himself was involved at all, or if it was upper-level demons carrying out the plan on their own. & raphael : Crowley as the former Raphael ( In the same way Lucifer is the former Samael ) they are in fact, ‘brothers’. I will leave it up to individual Lucifer rpers to plot with me their relationship further. Marvel Cinematic Universe -- & god : Though not fully understood, ( as she hasn’t exactly told anyone ) it is often assumed The Almighty, aka Her, aka God, is responsible for the creation of Earth and it’s surrounding galaxy, with Her angels divided amongst the planets with life for guidance. Crowley ( formerly the Archangel Raphael ) is of the Earth division. & heaven/hell : Similar to Asgard, Heaven and Hell are realms of their own, linked to the worlds of their galaxy. They serve as the afterlife for those who believe in the Almighty. & armageddon : Some time in the 90′s the canon events of Good Omens takes place. It is all quickly hushed up by both Heaven and Hell for the embarrassment it was. Only those who were there really know the full details. Since then Crowley has been a free agent, retired from Hell. Netflix’s Chilling Adventure of Sabrina -- & demons/fallen : Crowley is of the Fallen. Angels cast out with Lucifer during his rebellion, becoming the first demons. & tempting eve : Crowley was the demon to physically tempt Eve with the apple, however, it was on Lucifer’s orders, so he is often given sole credit. & armageddon/the antichrist : The incident with Adam Young ( Good Omens canon ) happened some time in the 90′s but was unsuccessful. Crowley has been more or less in hiding referring to himself as ‘retired’ ever since his role in helping stop Armageddon. Adam Young is Sabrina Spellmans half brother.

Gravity Falls -- & armageddon/the antichrist : The incident with Adam Young ( Good Omens canon ) happened some time in the 90′s. It was a goddamned mess. It is all quickly hushed up by both Heaven and Hell for the embarrassment it was. Only those who were there really know the full details ( And one annoying human probably wrote it in some journals ) Since then Crowley has been a free agent, retired from Hell. & mothman : Crowley was the being humans saw that was deemed ‘the Mothman’. [ see headcanon ] He owes Stanford Pines money. ( He can’t remember why, but like Hell he’s gonna pay up )

#[ •• ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴ ]#[ •• ᴄʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀ ]#[ •• ᴄʜᴀʀ || ᴄʀᴏᴡʟᴇʏ ]#|| long post #|| please don't reblog!

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lilysrpgdungeon-blog · 5 years

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Who Remembers Monte Cook’s World of Darkness?

We all know the big two World Of Darkness timelines – the classic timeline that’s recently been given a second chance at life, and the criminally underrated reboot, Chronicles Of Darkness. But what you might not know is that there was actually a third World Of Darkness timeline – one that took up all of one sourcebook and was written by one of the most influential game designers in the RPG medium. This is the mysterious case of Monte Cook’s World Of Darkness.

First, a little real-world history. Monte Cook is a game designer who did a lot of work on the third edition of Dungeons And Dragons, writing the majority of the Dungeon Master’s Guide and apparently doing such a good job on it than the Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons And Dragons, said that the book made him a better Dungeon Master. Even after leaving Wizards Of The Coast in 2001, he did a lot of work for other games, including publishing Arcana Unearthed, an alternate setting for Dungeons And Dragons: Third Edition. So, in 2006, when it was announced that Monte Cook was going to be working on his own interpretation of the World Of Darkness canon, people should’ve been hype!

And yet, somehow, this game is pretty obscure as far as I can tell. I only stumbled across it when I was Wikipedia surfing. I mean, the game is abbreviated to McWoD. How was it not an instant classic?

Well, if you ask me, I place the blame squarely on Chronicles Of Darkness. See, while I personally enjoy the reboot, people were – and still are, to this day – pretty down on the reboot. And given that McWoD seems to take a lot more influence from Chronicles than the original World timeline, that probably killed a good bit of the game’s hype. Which is pretty sad, considering that this was supposedly Monte Cook’s last game before he retired from the gaming industry. Now, obviously, that didn’t happen, but people thought so at the time.

Anyway, let’s move onto fictional history, my real bread and butter. What innovative new ideas did Mister Cook bring to the table?

Well...quite a few it turns out! One of the big ideas Monty Mole had when coming up with the lore for his World Of Darkness was that, instead of vampires, werewolves, and mages being these ancient secret societies that controlled humanity from the shadows, they were the newcomers in our world. The game takes place on Earth, a few years after a near-cataclysm took place. This eldritch horror known as the Iconnu tried to wipe out all life on Earth, but was stopped by the Awakened, seemingly ordinary humans who had been blessed with extraordinary strength and will. They managed to hold off the Iconnu, but not before it sent out a shockwave known as the Nightmare Wave. The Nightmare Wave, originating from the American midwest, left nothing untouched, scorching the land, mutating the wildlife, and warping the humans it touched into...something else entirely.

So, basically, the closer you get to the Intrusion Point the more it resembles the Fallout universe, complete with horrible mutated animals, raving mad men, and a floating pile of giblets with no skin because the graphics fucked up again. Or maybe that was just my GM.

But speaking of warped humans, the player classes! You’ve got your standard vampires, werewolves, mages, demons, and Awakened humans. There are five vampire clans, five werewolf auspices, five mage specializations, two types of demons, and one type of human. So far, so WoD. But the specifics are where it gets interesting.

First, vampires. They drink blood, brood in the darkness, and are super sexy. But there's a bit more to McWoD vampires than their...McWads. See, a vampire is actually two souls in a single body. The first is the soul the body belongs to – some poor rando who got struck by the Nightmare Wave, while the second is the soul of some ancient evil person – serial killers, rapists, reaction YouTubers, the works. That means each vampire is essentially two people. With some vampires, one personally is more dominant than the other, while for others, existence is a constant struggle for control.

So it’s basically a whole clan of Malkavians.

Next, there's werewolves – spirits of vengeance, murder, rage, and all that other happy shit that have possessed human bodies. (Gosh, there's a lot of possession in this game. I think we’ve found Monty Python’s fetish here...) “Werewolf” is a bit of a misnomer, however, since the beast form of a werewolf hardly resembles a werewolf, and you can purchase a feat to change your beast form. But, it’s World Of Darkness, so...werewolf!

Next, there’s mages, who...actually aren’t that different. They’re people who use their souls to cast spells.

Then, there are the Awakened, who...also aren’t that interesting. They’re slightly more powerful-than-average humans.

And lastly, there's demons, who are, once again, pretty unique! Demons are spirits of pure evil who – say it with me now – possess bodies in the earthly realm. Strangely enough, however, they can’t possess human bodies. Demons often possess objects and morph them to suit their needs. Demons are either Tempters – the typical silver-tongued devil – or Scourges – badass, hellish warriors.

So yeah, that’s about it for the lore. As you can see, it’s very different from any other incarnation of the World Of Darkness. And while it’s universal law that anything bad is to be burned at the stake, I think I’m gonna have to be right there with the game because I like really like what Monte Conte did with this! I would’ve liked it to use any other system that the D20 system, but I’d still love to give this game a try some time!

#world of darkness #Dungeons and Dragons #vampire the masquerade #werewolf the apocalypse #mage the ascension #Tabletop RPG #pen and paper RPG

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mynameisdreartblog · 6 years

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Fish 2

Leo: Lionfish. There’s something crawling through the pipes and I don’t much like how it’s clogging up the toilets. I can take a guess at what it is: maybe a frog, or some type of snake. It doesn’t matter what it is, all I know is that my water bill is hiking up drastically, and that we need to do something about it. Here, you can take a plunger, along with a sidearm, and you can go check it out yourself. I’ll have you attached to a rope that’ll pull you out in case things get dire. Good luck in there. Oh, I must also mention that the toilet seat is broken, so don’t report to me if you step in some porcelain down there. Also, since Sprint coverage doesn’t reach down there, you’re not gonna be able to communicate with me in any other way than screaming. Ok, first (and probably last) operation is a go. Good luck in there! [...] Ok, we’re three minutes into this scavenge and the little rodent hasn’t shown his face anywhere. The rope status is good so far, if a bit slimy. I think I’ve stepped in a decent amount of shit at this point, and we’re not getting any results so far. I think it’s about time you pull me u- wait, what was that? Oh, I think it’s finally shown its face, let’s go get it. Woosh! [...] Ah crap, I gotta get back to class now; you took too long in there, and we didn’t get anything out of it. How many times do I have to give you a swirly before you get the point, Benson?

Taurus: A… whale? It’s so tranquil, up until the clock strikes twelve, and a man, who shouldn’t have been born yet, comes barging into your house while you were making noodles. He says that he’s here to duel a master, and he also believes that master is you. From your perspective, he’s very much mistaken, but I guess there had to be something to come along and change the pace of your life, whether or not you desired it. After attempting to plea with him, he has only grown angrier. He draws out not one, but two blades out from the sheathes on his back. He’s preparing to lunge towards you, and at the worst time: the noodles are almost done cooking and you’re really hungry. I’m afraid that the noodles will’ve to be put on hold. Now is the time, take up the pot lid from the cooked noodles and use it to defend yourself against his barrage of attacks. Parry each blow with the stainless steel, you got from Walmart half-off, and watch as his blades can seemingly do nothing against it. You’ve already bested him before the duel’s even over. You know, this life of retirement could’ve been simple: just reside within the secluded mountain top and live out your last days in peace, but that couldn’t be so. But suddenly, the noodles spill over the stove, now lying tarnished on the temple floor. You’re devastated, but your enemy doesn’t notice such a tragedy, and slips in the spilled noodles. From this, he has fallen, but at what cost?

Aquarius: Generic shark. Yes, my reptilian exhibit is coming along nicely. Now I’ve added three new subspecies of iguana to my showcase; the guests will love it. In other news, I have a new supply of iguanas coming in from a West Virginian retailer. Ah, look at those beauties right there. Admire the natural glory that comes within their scaley patterns. Look at the graceful manner in which they lick their eyeballs and stare at bugs on the wall. Ooh, how exciting! You know, I really think there’s a lot of character within them that other people just don’t see. Each one of these scaley boys has has a personality, and it’s expressed in how they move about. It’s truly beautiful, and the only thing better would be admiring them in their natural habitat, but I can’t do that for legal reasons. But they’re not all perfect little angels as I was leading on, they can be little demons as well. Just the other day, Damion here, pooped on my new rug, and he scoffed at me when I tried to consult him about it. How jerkish! Oh, and also, get this, Clarence here thought it’d be nice if he knocked over my unfortunately-placed vases! I’m getting so mad, I just wanna yell at them again. Give me a second. [...] “How many, of your own kin, do I have to scream at before you get the point that it’s what we should be doing to fix our relationship?”

Pisces: Salmon. Sometimes, you just gotta put your head down and stop worrying about who’s going to help you in the next undertaking of your life, Murray. I get it: aid is important and all in dealing with challenges in one’s life, but it’s never something to make the subject of your life. I don’t wanna define you, but you’re not the healing type, as evidenced by your reliance on others for such a thing. Trust me, everybody’s concerned over the big gaping wounds on your legs, but if you keep trying to cover up the blood trail they’re making, then it’s obvious as to why you’re so worried that nobody’s assisting you. [...] Here we are now, sitting center in a once-bustling city with a town square now so empty. Don’t ask me what happened to the inhabitants, because all I did was just follow your trail, your long and bloody trail. I think you killed a couple of blokes back there, but I ain’t too sure about that, as they look like they died a longer time ago. Anyways, I think we’re finally at that ancient temple you rambled about so much back at home. Wow, it’s quite the piece of fine art, that thing. No golden tropes, but there’s many finely-crafted marble statues in its place. [...] The most exciting part of this whole ordeal was pulling you back up from nearly falling off that cliff. Apologies if I hunched over a little too much, when I was pulling you back up, and you got a glimpse at my amazing neon underwear.

#zodiaccupuncture #Leo #Taurus #Aquarius #Pisces

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couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name · 7 years

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I've been to Wildwood. The Jersey Shore is crazy in general but wildwood is next level. The board walk has like 200 of the same t-shirt store, feels like you're walking through the fires of hell, and is jam packed with kids on camp trips. I've only ever done the board walk there but I've seen the walk you have to take to get out to the beach, it's insane. I can only imagine what it's like with family. How old are your cousins and what are they like?

My family has literally been coming to Wildwood every year since, like, at LEAST the 1930’s, I’m not sure on anyone earlier than that, and my family is insane, so let’s dive into this.

The Main Characters In My Life On Vacation Are:

-My Grandmother, who was a child dancer star (she tapped on the radio!) who’s been coming down here her whole life- her parents used to come down the same day there would be a talent show, enter her in it, and then use her first prize reward for the money they’d spend throughout the week. Has been in the old person stage of “I’m an elder, who cares what I say or do” for the past 15 years. Has eight living kids and Too Many Descendants. Loud and refuses to admit she can’t walk half the time.

- My Mother, who gets confused very easily, overshares and breaks off into meaningless tangents in the middle of stories, snores like a literal demon, always wants to be asleep, keeps pushing for family activities, doesn’t realize all the kids think she’s lame.

- Me, who is always Extra Depressed in the summer months, and is the Sole Person In This Family My Age- everyone just stopped having babies for a few years when my mother decided to have me (Everyone is either over 25 or under 16). Because of this I’m usually confined to my room, unable to really do anything on the boardwalk because going on rides alone is depressing and my mother has heart problems. Just wants to read and write, but the children keep Screaming.

- My Aunt and Her Husband- A Very Loud Couple, she likes to control everything and he’s the only one who ever bothers to yell back at her. They always fight exactly once, every year, and every year somehow I always end up being the only other person in the apartment while its happening, so I just have to sit in awkward silence until my aunt finally huffs out “I can’t believe you’re doing this in front of my goddaughter!” and storms out to go find her kids. They make a lot of jokes and think their children are very dramatic.

- Jenna, the 14 year old cousin. Very dramatic. Mastered the art of the eye roll at a young age. Has literally looked like a mini model since she was born. Can’t be bothered to deal with anyone. We usually have one (1) tiny girl-bonding moment each vacation and then she promptly acts like she doesn’t care even though it’s clear she does. Athletic and artistic and musically/theatrically gifted. Very sarcastic. Always doing cartwheels.

- Seanie, the 12 year old cousin. Middle child syndrome. Tries to hard to be funny for attention. VERY dramatic. Will cry at the drop of a dime (I’m typing this and I literally just heard him burst into tears in the other room??). Super adorable, you can tell he’s gonna be one of those high school boys that pulls Ridiculous Shit but after one charming smile the teachers can’t bring themselves to stay mad. Very loud. Currently addicted to video game youtubers.

-Zack, the 7 year old cousin. Adorable. Loud. Lowkey a prodigy child but they can’t afford to get him into Special Schools so he’s always bored in class. Baby Of The Family syndrome. Currently in an aggressive pokemon phase. Doesn’t understand he’s literally a child, he acts like an old man half the time.

We’re all shoved into a small apartment for a week, but there are Others:

- Kathy, Grandmom’s second oldest. Literally the most bland person I have ever encountered on this planet. Very, very into trying to plan ‘fun’ family events. Thinks any conversation is a riveting conversation.

- Kathy’s husband, who is just a plain old guy who’s lowkey a hoarder and jokes around a lot, but every time someone mentions his past or his family it gets more and more confusing??? He may have a brother who was in the CIA??? He may have been homeless or he may have lived with his sister???? He may have killed a man???? I literally know nothing concrete about this man other than he’s apparently been with my aunt since they were teens but I. D. K. Every new piece of information I receive just scatters the puzzle more.

- Their eldest daughter and her husband spend most of the summer down here but always make sure to match up the schedule for when we come down. Loud, energetic couple. I have no idea what either of them do for work? They might currently be unemployed? Really into alcohol. At some point in the week every year, everyone in my apartment bonds together to diss them after we get back from the beach. Like, they’ll do something or another EVERY YEAR that sets EVERYONE off.

- The 16 year old. Tries to show everyone memes on his phone. Never really talks to people. Does NOT get along with his parents because he’s kinda an outlier in the family. I feel like he might be a stoner, but if I find out he’s got a hidden gun collection, I wouldn’t be surprised? That probably sounds awful but he’s a good kid I promise.

- Danny, 12. Adorable. Quiet. Mini golden boy. Makes jokes when you aren’t expecting them. Very resigned to the fact he has to hug me and my mother when he sees us.

- Kathy and Mystery Man’s youngest daughter, a librarian, and her stand up comedian husband, and now their three month old who is ADORABLE and everyone was surprised to learn they hadn’t named her Hermione.

Other recurring family members are prone to popping up throughout the vacation- Aunt Margie, Grandmom’s sister-in-law, who, I love her, but remember that chocolate episode of spongebob with the old woman that was essentially a stick in a wheelchair and had a chain smoker voice??? Put that in the tiniest bikini you can imagine and add a wheezing laugh and you got her. Her daughter who I could not recognize on a street if I tried. Her son Michael, who is best friends with my mom and apparently Not Gay (no one’s really convinced). A step-cousin sometimes pops by, she’s very breezy and easy-going and you can’t distinguish her Actual Talking Voice with her Talking To Little Kids Voice.

Anyway, Wildwood itself is just. Goddamn ridiculous.

The aesthetic of this place is somewhere between the 1950’s, a trailer park, and the kind of developed land you get when a moustache-twirling man wants to convince all the old people he can to retire to his buildings. Some buildings are harsh metal, and others are bright pastels, but the only thing joining them together is the fact that it looks like no one has cleaned anything here in years. EVERYTHING, even the knew stuff, looks worn and faded. Even like…the AIR is faded. It’s not just the sun being too bright, everything you’re looking at looks like it’s an old photograph. If you stay too long, you might start to fade into the landscape yourself.

I have never once seen an animal that wasn’t a seagull here. Most towns, islands, places, whatever- you usually have at least squirrels running around, maybe some variations of birds, just. ANYTHING. But it’s all seagulls all the time. You cannot exist in a spot for longer than a few moments without one of them dive bombing you. They are not mere birds. They are feathered demons that Hath No Fear Of The Foolish Mortals Of Mankind.

The song “Wildwood Days” plays on the Boardwalk every half hour. It is the only way to appease the spirits. It’s the modern, New Jersey-ian version of painting lamb blood over your door frame. As much as I’ve grown to hate the song, to twitch and clench my fist at each note, I deeply fear for the day the song doesn’t play on time and the curse is unleashed. I have a deep, sinking feeling that this moment will come within my life time.

If You Don’t Stop To Watch The Fireworks, Your Bones Shall Never Be Found.

You hear the ongoing chant of “Watch the Tram Car, Please!”, and look around, but there isn’t a Tram Car coming. The order grows louder and louder. You realize you aren’t even on the Boardwalk any more. The sound is right behind you, but you can’t find the source. “Watch the Tram Car, Please!” you realize, to your horror, the sound is now coming from inside you. You never find your true voice again.

Despite The Fact That This Place Is A Mosh Pit Of Families From All Over The World, If You Can’t Immediately Place My Accent Or Figure Out What Language I’m Speaking, I Have Legal Grounds To Kill You.

The sand simply isn’t normal. It’s ADVANCED sand. It doesn’t make sense. It never truly washes off. The more you scrub, the more appears.

Ancient gods from multiple pantheons like to chill out on the beach, have a few beers. You never know for sure who is who, but you Know they aren’t the same as you, and you know they know more about you than you’re comfortable with. For your own sake, NEVER ask them to turn their music down.

There is always at least one plane flying over with a sign reading “Jen, will you marry Sean?”. It’s been decades. Will Jen ever say yes?

Elevators Are For The Weak And We Use Them To Judge Who To Do Away With First.

The ocean goes back and forth between green and grey, and you know the color makes a significant difference but you can never quite put your finger on what.

Fish Are Fake.

All the stores sell everything you want, but nothing you need.

King Kong Is Our Fierce Protector, Loving Hero, And Just Enforcer

All the police officers and firemen and general ‘in charge’ jobs seemed to be run completely by 18 years olds

No one truly knows who pulls the shots when it comes to deciding the Boardwalks style each year. Every store sells the same Designated Style, and each year they make less and less sense. You buy a specialized hoodie anyway, and you have no idea why.

I could keep going on with that list, but the point is, Wildwood is a Strange Place and I have a Ridiculous Family, so every year is always a bit of an experience.

Like, no one in my family really has anything in common other than everyone’s always loud and everyone’s always right and everyone is always ready to loudly fight over the fact that they’re definitely right, but like. Imagine crawling through some Hillbilly Murder Showers in the garage of a condo, using all of your force to pry open a suspiciously heavy and questionably mechanized door, walking under the boardwalk and trekking over sand dunes just to find a bunch of screaming yet physically relaxed people under the flag for Montserrat. Some guy’s cracking stand up jokes while no less than three children are fighting each other, your mother is promising for the 14th year in a row that you’re gonna go on a whale watching trip and everyone knows she’s lying, some woman’s trying to hold a conversation about buying applesauce in bulk while her husband and children get drunk, there’s a skinny pale guy with horrible sunburn blasting songs from N.W.A., a girl’s cartwheeling around the site to the point you think she doesn’t know how to move any other way, a boy’s quietly drinking pickle juice, there’s a 7 year old literally trapped in a giant hole that he dug, your mother is snoring loud enough to alarm the people around you, and just when you’re starting to get a little comfortable about the feathered demons and start to relax, a tide comes in so strongly your chair literally starts getting pulled out to sea with you in in. It’s average. It's fading into the landscape with the rest of the place.

#I was gonna make this Funnier and go into more specifics about my family but im literally about to pass out so night #wildwood #family #vacation #molly's memories #asks #molly mumbles

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silence-burns · 7 years

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Something Different //part4

Fandom: Supernatural

Summary: Slow-burn Crowley x asexual!reader. When Crowley notices you actually have a weak point, he becomes very interested in taking advantage of it. But not everything goes as he expected.

Word count: 3,218

[Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

You heard the bunker’s door creak open in the middle of the night. You were preparing something sweet for the night’s marathon with your newest favorite show when the boys finally arrived. You looked at the clock, although you didn’t really have too, as they were already a few hours late. You worried, but you kept reminding yourself that they could take care of themselves and Kevin, who they had transported to some other safe house.

You heard Dean calling you so you shouted back to inform him where you were. After a while, they marched into the kitchen, visibly tired, but not injured. You greeted them with a very proud smile, as you showed them the goods you’d baked.

Dean whistled as a hungry look appeared in his suddenly bright eyes.

“I’m so happy Kevin is not here right now,” he confessed.

“It doesn’t mean you’ll get more, though,” you warned him, moving them further away. “I made it mainly for myself, remember? By the way, how is Kevin? Is everything all right with him?”

“It will be,” Sam assured you. You slapped Dean’s hand when he tried to steal the cookies. “Crowley messed with him pretty badly, but he'll get over it hopefully.”

“And if he doesn’t?” you asked what was bothering you for a while now. “He is the prophet and the only person that can read the tablets right now. If he goes crazy and tries to find his mother and Crowley’s demons catch him...”

You didn’t finish. You didn’t have to. All of you have been wondering about that problem since the incident with Kevin happened, but you still had no idea how to efficiently stop him from breaking loose. It reminded you of something.

“Where did you take him?” you asked. “Won’t he escape?”

“Even if he tries, it won’t be that easy, since we’ve planted a transmitter to show us where he is,” Dean said proudly with a grin. It must have been his idea.

“Well… But you do remember Kevin knows more about all that computer stuff than any of us? Are you sure he won’t notice?”

“Even if he does, we have a friend checking up on him, a retired hunter. He'll be fine.”

“I hope so,” you exhaled deeply, brushing your face with a hand. Dean stole one of the cookies, shoving the whole thing in his mouth. You death-glared him, but didn’t say anything. He will always be a kid.

“By the way, how do you feel?” Sam suddenly asked out of nowhere, catching you off guard.

“I’m… okay, I guess… It actually depends on what will be required from me...”

“Right,” he laughed gently. “We need you to pack up and come with us. On our way back here we had found something and we think it may be something big, but we can’t get it alone. It’s probably got some weird mojo-stuff scrawled over the entrance and we don’t want to go down there unprepared.”

“So we are going on a case?” you asked suspiciously, sensing that there was something he wasn’t telling you.

“Yeah, we may need backup.”

“If it’s so easy, why do I still feel that you’re about to drop something big that I really don’t want to hear...?”

“We are definitely gonna need your sixth sense,” Dean muffled with his mouth full, not even bothering anymore to hide stealing the cookies and eating them openly.

“We have to take Crowley too,” Sam answered, looking a little sorry.

Your jaw dropped. You wished it was a joke, but Sam looked dead serious.

“Why? You have nothing to make him do what you want him to do. Even if he could read it, why the hell would he?” you tried to reason with them, not wanting to sound too desperate.

“It’s not a problem. Our main worry is to keep an eye on him if he tries to escape in the middle of a hunt. If he senses he has a chance, well, you will take care of him when we hunt down whatever is in that crypt. What’s wrong?” Sam finally noticed your strange behaviour.

“Nothing. Better hurry, boys. I really want to have this over asap,” you shook your head, moving to your room and leaving Dean with the scraps of cookies. You lost the mood to properly enjoy them.

Sam caught up with you in the corridor. He must have sensed that something was off with you back in the kitchen. He always worried about you too much for your liking. It was nice of him, but he sometimes tended to dig into matters you wanted to keep to yourself.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, following you to your room. “Did something happen when we were out?”

Bingo, Moose.

“No. I just don’t feel well,” you mentally scoffed at yourself the moment you said that. Now he would worry even more.

“Are you sick? Maybe you should stay in the bunker, until...”

“No, Sammy, it’s okay. I just… It’s something I have to deal with myself,” you tried to reassure him with a warm smile, but you could see by the look on his face that it wasn’t working.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” he made sure, opening your door for you.

“I know. Thank you. Are we leaving right now?”

“Yeah, whatever is in that crypt, became really active when we checked it out. We don’t know if it won’t break free on its own. Do you need more time?”

“No. I’ll meet you in the garage in ten, okay?”

“Sure. Take your time.”

He finally left you alone. You reached for your gun on the bedside table, checking the bullets. You grabbed your coat already feeling the coolness of the night. What perfect scenery for an unwanted talk, probably including some heartbreaking confessions. Yeah, it was a good thing you weren’t a character in some cheesy romance. In your version of the story, you had a gun, a demon-killing knife, and years of practice in hunting on your side. And no intention of starting something that wouldn’t last.

You raised your chin and straightened your back. After all, you were still a hunter and had a work to do, even if that work was one of the most unpleasant things you'd had to do in the past years.

Crowley was just sitting down in the backseat of the Impala when you arrived and took the opposite seat.

“What are we thinking about?” he asked as if nothing had happened few days ago.

“That I would love to be back in the sewers, looking for a dragon, over being here,” you answered him coldly, avoiding his look.

Dean mumbled something about how his Impala was not even partially that bad, but you didn’t say anything. Looking out the window, you could still see the hazy reflection of the demon. Crowley was silent for the rest of the ride, which was unusual for him, but you tried not to overthink that. One couldn’t guess what was on his mind. You didn’t see it the last time and that didn’t end well, so you were far from trying to guess again. Apparently, you weren’t as skilled in that matter as you used to think, but you still had other skills, much more useful in certain situations.

Dean pulled over near the gates of an old cemetery on the outskirts of the town. It looked like no one had been there for a long time as everything was dirty and poorly maintained. The leaves were banking up over the graves, some of which were tilted or plainly broken and forgotten. Judging by the dates engraved on them, the closest relatives of the people laying there were long dead too, and their offspring clearly neglected their duties. It made you sad, but you quickly dismissed that thought. You had other things to worry about.

You moved back to the boys standing before the ancient-looking crypt they told you about. Their annoyed faces almost made you laugh. When you caught up with them, Crowley was explaining to them how much he wasn’t going to help them.

“But why?” Dean almost groaned. “Don’t you see that you have no choice in the matter?”

“Squirrel, you are only making me enjoy myself more when I show you don’t have any power over me,” Crowley laughed loudly.

“We can kill all of your best demons!”

“Then there will come next ones. We are demons, that’s what we do. You can’t exterminate all of my kind.”

“We'll see about that,” Sam grinned promisingly.

“Is this a pep talk…?”

“We can give you to Abbadon, remember that?” Dean teased him, which Crowley ignored.

“Or help you track her,” you added, surprising yourself and the three men.

Dean gave you the “what the hell” look from behind Crowley, who also eyed you weirdly. You shrugged, not really bothered by their reaction. The boys knew that sooner or later you would have to deal with growing in strength against Abbadon. She was not only Crowley’s problem. The raising chaos in Hell and her ideas on how to capture as many souls as possible were as important as the angels’ fall. And Crowley had to have something to gain to do what you wanted from him. That was just how he worked. Right?

Crowley squinted his eyes at you, trying to find a catch.

“What do you say, Crowley?” Sam rushed him, noticing the change in his mood and sensing his hesitation. “Deal?”

Crowley death-glared him, but nodded after a while of consideration. He glanced at you, but you kept your “bored beyond imagination” face, so he couldn’t read anything.

The demon moved to the closed entrance of the crypt, silently reading the ancient words in some probably dead language you didn’t understand at all. Dean moved closer to you, keeping an eye on Crowley.

“What the hell was that about?” he whispered to you almost angrily.

“You wanted him to help. I made him do it,” you said calmly as if you didn’t see what he had in mind.

Sure, it could be considered unusual for you to stand up for Crowley so openly, but you didn’t understand Dean’s surprise. You have always tried to act fair to everyone, including the other species as long as they weren’t breaking the law or hurting anyone. You and Dean have even had some mild arguments because of it a few times. Crowley may have been a douche one too many times, but recently did nothing evil.

Dean shot you another weird stare, which left you uneasy, but fortunately, Crowley deciphered the words on the marble walls, turning to you.

“It basically says in some fancy old French to keep away from and never open it. Are you ready, boys? I can’t wait to see you struggling with whatever it is.”

“Come on, Crowley, there is like two meters of text, what does it all say? There has to be some clue to what it is,” Dean left you, moving back to the crypt.

“According to these lame rhymes, it’s undead and living off of human emotions. My guess is that a lovey-dovey night of some emo kids on one of those benches woke up this creature. It’s pretty romantic, isn’t it?”

The Winchesters ignored him, talking with each other about what they should take. You exhaled deeply, wishing you could go with them, but you were aware they made a great team together. And someone had to have an eye on Crowley, still cuffed, but not less dangerous.

You wished the boys good luck when they finally managed to break the crypt’s entrance open. They were lucky no one was in the neighbourhood at that hour.

After they disappeared in the darkness, an awkward descended between you and Crowley. You didn’t want to look at him too much, because you had no idea what he would think, but at the same time you knew this moment had to arrive at last. Your previous confidence melted away quicker than you would have expected.

It started to rain. You shivered when the temperature dropped drastically. It looked like winter was indeed coming quickly that year. The Impala was parked at the cemetery gates, from where you could still see the crypt, just in case anything decided to slide out. Crowley noticed your longing look. He could feel the cool air too.

“We don’t have to stand here like idiots,” he said, jerking his head toward the parked car.

You raised an eyebrow.

“Since when are you so docile?”

Crowley shrugged it off casually. Sometimes, when he gave up on all his “King-of-Hell-ness”, you could easily forget he wasn’t a human.

“You first,” you gestured and he smirked at your carefulness, but didn’t say anything, moving slowly, as if in no rush at all.

You sat in the back of the Impala, finally protected from the rain. Your hair was wet already and you didn’t even want to look in the mirror to see how bad it was. You rarely cared for looks, your own included, and it was a riddle why you gained anyone’s attention at all.

Crowley brushed his short hair carelessly. He looked so goddamn well, no matter what happened to him, that it made you almost jealous. He noticed your stare. You were aware there was nothing you could do more to avoid that confrontation.

“How much longer are you gonna pretend nothing happened?” he asked quietly with hoarseness in his voice.

You moved your eyes to the crypt.

“However long I can,” you answered honestly.

“Why?” he asked after a moment of hesitation. You would kill for a chance to look into his mind.

Your mouth felt dry and made your words crack more than you wished.

“I had already told you back then. It wouldn’t work. I am a hunter and you are one of the worst enemies of people like me...”

“Cut it out. I know when I hear a lie.”

You growled, leaning your head on the backrest. At this point, you were too tired of hiding and Crowley didn’t lose his interest in you even though it’s been months since you first said no to him. He deserved at least to know why.

“I am asexual, Crowley,” you blurted out, trying really hard not to look at him. Your throat clenched, almost suffocating you.

“So?” was not what you have expected.

You looked at him, for a brief moment forgetting about your clenched insides and stress pumping through your veins. Completely bewildered, you stared at his unamused face, expecting him to add anything. He only raised an eyebrow.

“I just said I am...”

“I heard you perfectly well, darling. And I don’t see any problem,” he said confidently, making you squint your eyes suspiciously. Maybe he didn’t understand what you meant, not many people did.

“Even if we… I wouldn’t...” you tried to explain what he would have to accept, but you failed miserably, feeling your whole face burn like it was set on fire.

“I know,” he didn’t lose his confidence.

You scoffed, shaking your head incredulously.

“And since when are you so wiling to change your whole… style? Please, Crowley, just stop this nonsense...”

“You admitted you… could be interested in me,” he stated carefully, for the first time in your conversation looking back from you to his still cuffed hands. “And it makes our… situation different from anything that… used to happen to me. With me.”

You tried to comprehend what he wanted to say and what it meant in relation to you. Both of you. It almost felt like a dream weaved by a Djinn and was too promising to be real. You didn’t even realize how desperate you had been, wanting to hear such words from him until then.

But at the same time, there still was this part of you, which couldn’t forget that you had already heard those promises before and that it never ended well. Sooner or later, it became too much for the other person and you couldn’t even truly blame them. They were normal and had their own needs.

Your thoughts must have been visible on your face, because Crowley sighed deeply, not used to this kind of conversation. He could see it was what you needed though, so he forced himself to say what he felt.

“Look, darling, I cannot give you any proof of what I’m saying, so all I can do is to assure you that I am not some horny teenager or two-faced cheater and I actually want something... different, to put it in words. And if I weren’t sure I can agree on your terms, I wouldn’t toy with you.”

“Yeah, because you’d never toy with someone, right?” you snickered sadly, desperately trying not to wish for too much. Hope has already started to grow in your unusually light heart and was making every word harder for you to say.

“Guilty,” Crowley admitted with a nod. “But you will never know until you try me yourself, love.”

“Do I want to?” you whispered, locking your gaze with his.

“You have to answer that on your own, I’m afraid,” he said just as quiet as you and you felt yourself shiver.

That was exactly the moment when the Winchesters came back to the Impala, shutting the door loudly. They were still buzzing with adrenaline and you could smell the odor of some ancient dead bodies even from where you were sitting. You made a face, opening your window slightly.

“Ugh, did you hug the dead or something?” you whined loudly and Crowley grinned.

“We won’t have this talk,” Dean shushed you quickly, shivering at the mere thought of what they had encountered in the crypt. You were lucky nothing got out of it behind their backs, because you wouldn’t even notice.

“At least it’s done,” Sam turned to you, smiling slightly. Something black was smudged on his face but you didn’t want to know exactly what it was. He gestured to Crowley. “Any problems?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” you shrugged it off, not looking at the demon.

“Exactly, Moose. And now we can get back to your cosy little place and play with the chains,” Crowley added with a smug look on his face. He seemed genuinely happier now that you’d told him the truth and it took you a moment not to smile and make Sam suspicious.

“Hey, I’m not your chauffeur,” Dean groaned, starting the car.

“Of course you are not. I still have standards.”

That time you couldn’t contain a small giggle that escaped your lips, but the boys didn’t hear it. Crowley, on the other hand, looked like a cat that had just caught a very fat bird. Your only wonder was what he was going to do with it, but that you could take. Everything felt so… easy and bright, right now and you honestly couldn’t care less about anything.

Even if it wasn’t going to be all a fairy tail, at least the weight on your shoulders that accumulated over the past months was gone. About the rest – you shall see what the future brings you.

[Part 5 - Epilogue]

#crowley #something different #crowley x reader #crowley x you #crowleyxreader #supernatural #crowleyxyou #crowley/reader #crowley x asexual!reader #asexual!reader #crowley imagine #crowley/you

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creativerogues · 7 years

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Writing Prompt: Opposites

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As with all adventures, this tale starts with the destruction of an ancient artifact of pure evil, and the noble party of a human, elf, and dwarf that saved the world. The guarded the item to the only place it could be destroyed in the most magical spot in all of the Medieval world, and they fought the evil housed there...and they saved all. Returning to their Queen as heroes of their nations.

Only.

Not so much.

That ancient artifact that they destroyed? The item that was supposed to put an end to all of the suffering in the known world...it was a meat tenderizer that had been lovingly decorated by the wife of a chef. A chef who then lost it because of a gambling debt.

The Magic clearing they went to? It wasn’t even a clearing. It was a section of forest that had been cleared by a forest fire some years prior, and was finally starting to regrow. With wild flowers just beginning to blossom, and seedlings dotting the landscape.

And that evil they killed? It was only a drunk dragonborn, covered by a black hooded cloak to keep the chill at bay. He hadn’t even known that he was in danger. He hadn’t even been able to draw the small knife that he carried to skin the deers that he hunted for food.

Not that that mattered to our noble heroes.

They had killed the evil and destroyed the demon. They won.

Only not so much.

But common folk tend to be blind to things that they do not wish to see, and with the actions of the “noble heroes”, the dark magic that seemed to plague them went away. There were less monster attacks, and no one feared the wander at night anymore.

At least, nothing happened that anyone would know about.

After all, what did it matter if a few half orcs vanished from their home in the middle of the night? Orcs were dangerous, and half orcs weren’t much better. No one actually cared about them missing.

And why would any of the noble races take notice of a Gnome village going up in smoke? Gnomes were small and, to them, were rather insignificant to the more important races after all. Besides, Gnomes were rather notorious for their experiments and tricks. It was probably their own fault.

After years of this, though, people started taking notice. But the Heroes of Old were, by this point, old. The human was on his last legs, the dwarf had retired to his family in the mountains and none had seen him for years, and the elf had taken a position of power among his people, and seemed to care little about the suffering of the lesser people.

But the Queen cared.

But, at this point, the Queen and her family were nothing more than figureheads. People who were there because they had always been there. The people had elected a Minister to rule their home, and nominated a large party of people to argue in their favor.

And argue they did, day and night, until finally, finally, the one of the Human’s stood and slammed his large, clumsy, hands on the table. “I have had enough of this,” He bellowed, his round face growing red in anger and frustration. “You people claim that the evil never went away, and yet you offer no proof!”

“What proof should we offer?” A gnome asked, her voice like silk through the room, “What proof would make you believe that your hero is nothing more than a fraud?”

“You,” The human snarled, “I will not hear this from the likes of you.”

“And why should she not speak?” The large Firbolg asked, “It is, in fact, her people who have lost the most.” He spoke like he moved, slowly and contemplatively, never speaking before he had considered all of the options, but he, like the large majority of his counterparts, were growing tired of the complacency of the Humans, Dwarves, and Elves.

“Now, now. My loud friend may speak rashly, but he does speak the truth.” The Elven representative cut in, before another argument could start, “Find us proof, and we will throw all of our support behind you. But until then...this meeting accomplishes nothing more than wasting our breath...and time.”

With that declaration made, the House left, some leaving in anger, some in defeat, and some in victory. As was the norm for these kinds of sessions.

Not much later, a very different group of people were meeting up.

These people were considered undesirable, even to their own people.

There was a half orc mystic, stunningly intelligent and wise, but also clumsy and weak. He was large enough to be intimidating, but his size only helped his trip over his own feet and hurt himself. He was, in fact, a danger to himself.

The second person in the group was a Gnome Hexblade Warlock, who carried a halberd that was three times as tall as she was, and yet carried as if it weighed nothing at all. She was nimble, but violent, and often was the only reason that her Half orc friend was still alive.

The last people in the group was a Kenku bard who sang the most haunting of songs and ballads, but only when he was in combat.

Their names were Harm, Serenity, and Clink.

Harm was the half orc with a silver tongue, and was a pacifist at heart.

Serenity was the Gnome who would kill you for breathing in her direction.

And Clink was the Kanku, who never made a noise as unattractive as a cling.

But none of that mattered. Well, not to them at least, and not to the Firbolg and Tabaxi who were standing in front of them.

“Lemme see if I understand you,” Serenity asked, her voice practically dripping in venom, “You wanna send us to find out this proof so you can shove those high an’ mighty assholes outta window?”

“...That is not how I would put it, but, basically, yes.” The Representative for the Tabaxi said slowly.

“Deal.”

“W-Wait, Serenity, perhaps we should consider this a little better?” Harm asked, his voice tentative ask he inched closer to the tiny woman. “This could, will, end badly for us.”

Serenity sniffed, “We’re doing it. ‘Sides, it’s not like we’re not gonna die out here anyway.”

“I think that was a double negative, Serenity.” Harm murmured.

“Can it,” the Gnome ordered. “We’re going. We leave now.” She turned darkly glinting eyes towards the two Politicians, “But, you’re gonna pay us first.”

After getting as much money as they could out of the two men, using a rather impressive amount of magic and sheer violence, the trio left the village, heading, at first, to the field where the heroes of old had, supposedly, saved them all.

And they were less than impressed.

Especially when Clink picked up the remains of a meat tenderizer, and made the rather distinctive noise of a hammer hitting a nail.

“This could be proof,” Harm murmured, taking the hammer and running a few tests on it, frowning when he saw that there wasn’t a lick of magic on the item. Not even residual magic. Just dirt, grass, and a few bugs. “Or, they could just say that we’re lying. We’re not heroes, Serenity.”

“We don’t gotta be.” Serenity replied, “Or, well, maybe we do. But who says we haveta be their kinda heros?”

Clink made a noise that sounded a lot like people cheering and triumphant music, and then it changed to a slow funeral dirge, and he waved his arms around like he was being executed, and fell over, playing dead.

“He’s right.” The half orc replied, “No matter what we discover, odds are they’re not going to name us as heroes. We’ll just be called criminals. And hung. Or shot. Or beheaded.”

“That’s cheery, yeah?” Serenity countered, walking over to them and kicking Harm in the shin, before she glared at him, “Well then, we best not fuck this up, ya think?”

Three weeks later, and Harm finally decided that he couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. He cleared his throat, paused, cleared it again, and then timidly tapped Serenity on the top of her tiny head.

Serenity, who had been growing more and more irate by the passing hour, whirled on her much larger friend and practically snarled out a demand to know why he was bothering her, her small hand tightly gripping his sleeve.

“Have you noticed, Miss Serenity, that, ah, we’ve been walking in circles.” Harm asked mildly, lightly gesturing to the red ribbon tied around a tree. A red ribbon that he had placed there previously. A ribbon that they had passed no less than 5 times.

Clink looked at Serenity’s red face, and made a soft exploding noise, before he cowered behind Harm, sure that the tiny girl was going to slaughter them both. Only to be relieved when Serenity scowled, and muttered that she had noticed.

“Perhaps I can help?” Harm offered, “I know some magic, not a lot, but…if we rest for the night, and let me think, I can make it work.” He nodded, and motioned for Clink to start setting up camp, taking the option away from Serenity.

The next night, the unlikely trio of heroes was standing in front of a crack in the clearing. It almost looked as if there were a mirror in the center of the clearing, and the mirror had shattered because of Harm’s actions. And through the crack was an odd scent, almost acidic, and smokey, though it was unlike any smoke that the trio had ever smelled before.

But, it looked to be their only path.

So with a sigh, Serenity jumped through first, her weapon at the ready. With Clink and Harm on her heels.

And as soon as Harm passed through the crack, it sealed behind them. Trapping them on the other side.

“Oh my…” Harm murmured, casting wide eyes around the city that they found themselves in.

“What the hell…” Serenity breathed out, coughing as some sort of self moving carriage zoomed passed her, billowing acrid smoke in her face, causing her to cough and gag. “Where are we?” She choked out, wiping her watering eyes as her coughing fit settled.

“You are in Fared,” A deep male voice boomed from behind them, “And you are not supposed to be here. You “Experiments” are supposed to stay on the other side of the veil. The High Lord will want to know that some have escaped.” He murmured.

And with a snap of his fingers, Serenity, Harm, and Clink were surrounded by soldiers, and they were bound to each other, and stripped from their armor and weapons. And they were marched to the fortress that none of them had noticed until it had been pointed out.

But for the group of three, they didn’t care about the Fortress so much. As they were looking at everything else. Like the clothing that the people were wearing, and the lack of weapons that they carried...and the fact that there were very few non-humans walking around.

The most unsettling thing was that no one spoke to them. And when Harm tried to speak, he was silenced, violently, with a spell that he had never heard of before. He assumed that Clink and Serenity had been silenced as well, as the normally violent female seemed almost docile.

And as soon as they entered the Fortress, Harm’s heart sank to his toes. Serenity lost all color, and Clink made a sad noise. The man greeting them was none other than the elven hero of old. The one who failed.

He was dressed in an impeccable suit, and he looked over them with a look of disgust on his flawless features. “Oh. Some of the degenerates escaped. Perhaps you aren’t as dumb as you look.” He stalked over to them and looked down his nose at them.

“Sire, what do you want done with them?” One of the guards asked blandly, as if he were speaking about rats, and not living beings.

“...Kill the Kenku, and the tiny...thing.” He said, looking down at them, “The other one...I’ll keep him as a pet. You never know when someone as large as him will come in useful. Have him fit for a control collar.”

“Yes my liege.” Was murmured from around the room, before they were roughly pulled away from each other.

Harm screamed silently as a thick metal band was welded around his neck, and his robes were removed and replaced with scraps of cloth. And then there was nothing as the magic in the collar activated, and all free will was drained from him.

Serenity seemed to be floating, a calm smile on her face as she looked up at the nice lady who was dressing her in a fine gown and doing her hair. For once, she wasn’t angry or wanting to rip someone’s face off. Sure, she couldn’t feel her weapon, but, at the moment, it wasn’t a concern. And then there was nothing at all.

Serenity didn’t even notice as a thin blade pierced her heart, killing her instantly.

Clink was aware of what was happening to him, but he was lucky in a way that his friends weren’t. No one expected a Kanku to break into song, a song filled with magic. He escaped from the dungeon, vanishing into the city with no one the wiser.

There would be no hero in this story, this time. For the only people who knew just what was happening had no way to stop it. One was dead. The other a slave. And the last a fugitive. And with no heroes to speak of a new Age of Darkness began.

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one-more-miracle-gatsby · 7 years

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I just finished Impyrium by Henry H Neff and I’m gonna talk about it because I have a lot of feelings so spoiler warning

-I completely forgot the demon’s conditions for the Red Winter Treaty so I saw the Prusian Sea on the map and I was like “huh I wonder what the crafty bastard did to get an ocean named after him” and then I got to the line about underwater demon kingdoms and I was like THAT’S RIGHT THEY BANISHED HIM TO THE SEA and of course he still managed to go make himself a successful kingdom like ffs Prusias just enjoy retirement.

-Sigga Fenn is my new favorite character. What a bro. I mean yeah she played Hob like a panther stalking a rabbit and absolutely would have killed him in an instant and we don’t still know what her exact orders are but there are times when she does seem to be as sincere and friendly as she can professionally be and like honestly it’s nice to have such a chill agent. Disguising herself as the old lady was hilarious like that was so unnecessary Sigga you didn’t have to steal her dessert

-I love the dynamics between the triplets. Isabel is great.

-homunculus breeding is fascinating oh my god

-”Hazel saw that Harkün had also drawn a dagger with a wavy black blade” TFW you’re such a die-hard Cooper fan you can recognize his weapon 3000 years later

-speaking of the devil, I hope that Mystic with mismatched eyes was a descendant of who I think she was because please imagine Hazel Cooper’s reaction to finding her greatx3k granddaughter gambling with a domovoi

-Like. I know Prime is not going to turn out to be Cooper but there’s a tiny part of my sappy fangirl heart going, “if anyone were to volunteer themselves to be turned into a statue for all eternity to protect Rowan it would probably be him”

-Hob’s sass is beautiful can he give me lessons

-THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SHROPES COOKING AT ROWAN

-I love the quotes at the start of the chapters, not only did they bring more meaning to the chapters but they also provided some context and backstory, like how old David lived to be.

-Honestly Hazel’s mentality was so unapologetically realistic like she was so innocent and oblivious but then she started learning things and I love her revelations that she can take control of her own life. But like she was still allowed to be delicate and cry and sleep with a stuffed giraffe and it wasn’t depicted as weakness.

-I will be forever be impressed at the all the political webs Henry weaves

-Montague’s character development

-I wonder what Ember really did with Mina like did he really eat her or is she chillin in his mouth under the sea

-The two perspectives were so great and it was awesome because you can’t trust the Fellowship and you can’t trust the royals, you can only trust that the main characters themselves will see the faults of their respective sides and make the right decisions. I love how they opened each other’s eyes to new things.

-It’s so cool because The Tapestry was so heavily based in Irish mythology and now Impyrium is based in Tapestry mythology like the original series became the mythology of the new series, which means that our world is part of that mythology. I remember Henry saying something about how The Tapestry was partially a story about human perseverance and that really spoke to me in some parts of this book too. That ancient, scratched-up, barely-working Disney film was so unsettling but so wonderful. Burke’s line about “would you believe we lowly little humans once walked on the moon?” The part where the Fellowship is explaining about how humans once built flying ships and split matter to its smallest components without any magic, just with the sheer power of their minds. It’s inspiring. And it was interesting seeing that different perspective of the destruction of the Book of Thoth, like we were just starting to explore the heavens themselves and then that technology was taken away from us. But like it said, at least we’re still walking on the Earth. It’s surreal reading this and realizing that in this book we are the ancient civilizations. Much of our history is either not known at all or considered a nonsensical fairy tale. But Disney films and the Brothers Grimm tales still exist. Stories persevere, no matter how rare or expensive or illegal they may become. Getting even more meta, it’s just like the stories of the original series becoming the mythology of this one. Stories stick around, no matter how much they may change, and apparently the same applies to humanity.

-I would love to talk to someone who read Impyrium without reading The Tapestry first and find out what that realization was like, when it suddenly dawned on them that this had once been our world.

-It’s also really interesting and kind of funny seeing the empress and the princesses have the whole week-long pilgrimage and put themselves through such physical and mental duress to go worship this mysterious scary god-king from another world when those of us who have read The Tapestry know that this all-powerful warrior is the same guy who got repeatedly bossed around by a talking goose and once used magic to leap 20 feet in the air because he got startled by a robot centipede. The Hound of Rowan, everybody. One thing I always admired about Max’s character was that no matter how much he grew and changed the core of his personality, his kindness and his humor, stayed the same (and even when he went full supernova god in the Workshop he was still able to keep from destroying everybody because of the love he felt for his friends). And I’m glad that even just from that little glimpse we got of him we can see that he still holds that same personality, that he was so eager to help this teenage girl that he forgot about the FATAL WOUND that would literally kill him if he went through the gate like Max never change

-I was not expecting this story to give me so many Max feels like I thought I was over the end of The Red Winter but apparently not. I actually laughed when they brought out the lyrmrills as offerings because it was so beautifully nostalgic and sentimental but also like, what else would it be? The man loves his lymrills.

-Speaking of Max getting bossed around by Hannah I seem to remember her saying she was immortal at the end of The Red Winter so are she and her goslings still wandering around the Direwoods oh god

-Again it must be such a different experience reading this without the context of the first series because that whole Direwoods field trip was kind of a punch in the gut. I remember in The Hound of Rowan reading about the abandoned charges wandering the Sanctuary and forgetting that humans ever cared for them and I thought that was so sad and now the entire Sanctuary is like that. The Sanctuary was such a beacon of hope and peace and now it’s just a creepy haunted forest where little rich kids are afraid to get their feet dirty. Who knows how long selkies live, that could have been Frigga or Helga in the lagoon being so glad to have some humans to play with again. And the ruins of the Warming Lodge and the dvergar brother’s forge. Dude that one classroom had Nile Croakers and domovoi and stuff in cages and the selkies were described as “water beasts” like that was so sad it feels so wrong and it’s such a good representation of how the culture has changed

-Like honestly it’s just such a message about the nature of history. It reminds me of Church’s monologue from the end of season 13 of Red vs Blue, where he talked about the hero never getting to know if his sacrifice was worth it. Max didn’t know what became of his friends or the world he left behind presumably until David’s death (and don’t think I don’t have a fanfic idea about that), and then Max and David and everyone presumably don’t really know what became of their world 3000 years later, like they know the gate and the dragon exist and they know about the Faeregines coming on pilgrimage every few years, but I guess they probably don’t know much beyond that. They never get to see the long-lasting effects of their efforts, and they don’t get to know the perspectives with which people view them and the legends they’ve become. They didn’t want Rowan to become a place for snobby elites, and they didn’t want nonmagical people to be discriminated against, but they can’t do anything about it. Because we can act to change our history, but in the long run we never know how our stories will end up being told. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take action to better our world for the present and the foreseeable future.

-I love all the subtle parallels, intentional or not, between this story and The Tapestry. Kids sneaking out at night for a sleepover on a ship, kids sneaking out for a duel. A man losing his face. Workshop specimens getting stolen. Being betrayed by a friend (honestly, I didn’t suspect Viktor at all until he suggested that they collect firewood and then my mind immediately went to Rolf and Connor for some reason even though there was no real connection). The illustration of Hob outside Hazel’s tent with the House Blade next to the fire reminded me so much of Cooper sneaking into Max’s tent with the poisoned Atropos blade, and it was Scathach the shadow who saved Max and Sigga the shadow who saved Hazel and Hob. History repeats itself. No matter how much some things change, some things still repeat.

-Olly was such a great character, like he had flaws but he acknowledged and apologized for them and he was so great. Sniff.

-Seriously Sigga is that teacher who’s like “I know you’re going though a lot so I’m going to conveniently forget to close the submission box until a while after the due date so I won’t know if you turned the homework in late but if I do catch you turning it in late I gotta fail you sorry”

-Also can we talk about the fact that Ember apparently fell in love with Astaroth’s hell dragon that he conjured from dead people like oh my god Ember plz you guys almost killed each other

-I feel like remember Henry saying something about us eventually getting to hear more about the grymholch from Prusias’s arena and the world it was from and I hope that happens

#The Tapestry #Impyrium #Henry H Neff #Max McDaniels #The Hound of Rowan

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2gameprince · 7 years

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The Bedlam Memoir Of DeLorenzo Santiago

It was probably a hundred. It might have been a thousand. Yeah, that was it! One thousands demons, charging out the pages of a demonic grimoire, and heading straight for me. Wasn’t too hard to do them all in, though. The second they rushed me, I busted out a second grimoire, absorbing all their stupid-asses right back into other enchanted book. This was just one of a million instances which have made me one of the top most feared demon slayers to have ever walked the Earth. When the guilty close their eyes, they see demons. When demons close their eyes, they see me! As for my background, I’m not Italian, or Spanish. I am American, I guess. Just American. Not that my name would suggest that. It’s not actually my real name, of course. It’s too cool to be my real name. I like my new name better. My last one sucked. At least, when I bust into a room full of demons now, they know who’s staring them down. Not like how things used to be, working as the assistant for that piss-poor excuse for a monster-hunter. Killing demons is where it’s at. And not only is it fun, but quite productive and good for the afterlife. Less demons equals less evil in the universe. I used to be the assistant to this middle-aged monster-hunter, back in my teenage days. His name was Harry, and damn was he powerful. We fought monsters of all sorts. But nothing could have prepared us for a freakin’ Sumerian Demon! It cut Harry right in half, and not too long afterwards, I was shoving a silver crucifix up it’s ass. I guess that was when I first realized that demons were the one biggest threat in today’s society. And they come in all forms. Sometimes it’s hard to talk your way out of police custody after a demon massacre. Especially when it leaves you drenched in the blood of said demons. I’d say I’m decently established. I kinda work like a private investigator, with clients coming to me. Exorcisms are all talk and play. Things really get kicking when you’re able to trick the demonic entity into manifesting itself. At that point I just start wailing on it till it’s dead. I believe I’ve killed over two hundred and twenty one demons, to date! Shame, most monster-hunters don’t live long enough to even see two. I see other monsters now and again, but I won’t hunt them anymore. Most fear the forces of evil, just like humans do. Hunting them just made me feel like a jerk. Demons don’t really have ranks. Wherever they come from, it must be vast, cause sometimes it just seems like their population never ends. I have been to Hell, or the Underworld, or the Nether, or whatever you want to call it. I went there, once. See, I met up with this ancient magician-guy a while back. He’s the one who gave me the grimoire that I use to fight and trap demons with, along with my wicked gun, The Interfectorem, and ancient sword, The Restitutor. So, yeah. Over the years I’ve come to use a variety of weapons to kill demonic forces all across Earth. My trip to Hell wasn’t as bad as some would think. I bumbled around a bit, went three circles down and got bored with the place. Well, that’s not entirely true. I was kinda chased out. It was a long story. I know a few lesser demons. They aren’t really a threat, but apparently me hanging around with them gave em’ bad rep. So, I don’t go down there anymore. Not that it was ever easy to get there to begin with. The modern day pushes the ideas of the mystical and supernatural out of it’s mindset. The year is two-thousand and four, and I have no plan for retirement anytime soon! I would say I’m the savior of mankind, in some ways, but I’m not going to. I’m just a poor sucker who was born into the wrong stretch of time, with the wrong people, and a slew of otherworldly shitheads to fight till the day I die. Death. Now that’s something I’m gonna look forward to. I’m not one of those edgy folks who do good by the law of universe and live the life of some egotistical sinner, aching to tell their angsty backstories to love interests in the rainy moonlight. It’s all a joke. My old master said I should get ready for the day when I would have to take on a successor. I don’t see that happening though. I been doing this so long, I’ve taken on so much shit; I guarantee any student of mine has probably missed some pretty important pointers by now. Besides, I’ve suffered the effects of taking on students prematurely. My first one went bad, killed some folks, so I had to lock him away in a book. I bet he’ll escape someday soon and we’ll have a whole big battle. No doubt, I’ll kick his ass, but it’ll still be inconvenient. My second student died on a trip back from the underworld. She never saw it coming. Problem was, because we chose to be in Hell at the time, couldn’t really ask for heavenly assistance if any dark entities got ahold of one of us. And I couldn’t save her. So no more students for me! Nothing but trouble. Then again… third times a charm.

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