#also i do in fact have an origin story for this city ready

[lazycats-stuff]

Congrats on 500 followers 🥳 ! I know that the weapon!reader fic came out today but I so badly want a fic about how he got adopted into it, like Ik you told us but could do you do write it out, if you get what I mean? Sorry I suck at explaining lol

I’m so sorry to request so soon, so take your time ❤️

Thanks, it's time for the origin story it seems. Also, I'm closing request for a while, I got 9 of them in my inbox and I would like to catch up with them, so just watch my blog description to see when they open. Also, I wrote 2.9k words... What the hell?

Summary: How (Y/N) got adopted.

Warnings: violence, murder, (C/S)= call sign, (F/N)=fake name, (F/L/N) = fake last name, a random target for (Y/N) to kill.

A weapon. A thing. Not even a human being. That was the motto he was told over and over again. He doesn't remember the life he had before all of this training. Or maybe he was just training from when he was born? Who really knows.

He was always on a strict schedule. Wake up at 6 am, have breakfast at 6:30, then it was time to do training. Whether it's martial arts or just being at a shooting range, his days were often filled with training or missions.

He was always a shadow. A person who just melted with people, who blended in with the crowd and who could disappear easily. More appropriate name would be ghost.

He met the best assassins in their world and he earned their respect for his skills and undying devotion and motivation for the mission.

Even Ra's al Ghoul respected (Y/N) and that was something that is not easy to achieve. Even more so, he was shocked when Ra's wanted to meet with him. It was something about a mission that he was going to get.

It was in Gotham city.

And by meeting Ra's al Ghoul, that meant going to his own base. He closed his eyes as he was driving in the helicopter. The vibrations were slightly comforting as he watched the base materialize in front of his eyes.

He was always in awe of Ra's al Ghouls base. The man was untraceable and the fact that he popped up somewhere in the middle of nowhere and the fact that he led (Y/N) to his base was incredible.

When the helicopter landed, (Y/N) took of his headset and stepped out. He squinted due to the sun shining in his face. He bowed his head when he saw Ubu, Ra's al Ghoul's second in command.

" Welcome to our base (C/S). Please follow me. " Ubu said, turning on his heel and walking back to the base. On both sides there was a row of assassins, just ready to strike at moments notice.

It was eerie. He walked right behind Ubu, looking up at the big base. And that man is untraceable too. This base is massive and although in the middle of nowhere, it's easy to find something massive.

They stepped inside into the shade and (Y/N) was relieved to be shielded from the sun. He saw Talia al Ghoul as she walked by, always gorgeous, but fatal. Femme fatal and black widow mixed in one really.

He remembers one altercation that he had with Talia a few years back. Turns out that they were on the same mission and Ra's and (Y/N)'s handler didn't bother to let each of them know before they tried to kill each other.

(Y/N) still remembered the fight and how brutal it was. Talia might not seem to be physically strong, but she most definitely is strong. She could really punch and the entire room was completely trashed. It wasn't until the room was trashed, faces were bloody and (Y/N) broke Talia's nose and Talia broke his wrist.

Ra's and his handler were shocked when they saw the state of them. Talia and (Y/N) were glaring at each other and if not for their handlers, they would have gotten at it again.

But now, they had mutual respect.

Where was that mission anyway? Metropolis? It could be. He remembers hearing about Superman in the news and he also read the newspaper, seeing that Superman was on the front page.

Talia and (Y/N) nodded towards each other, a sign of saying hello and respect for each other. She walked off down the corridor and (Y/N) turned his head back to look forward.

They stopped in front of the big doors and the two guards opened it. (Y/N) stepped into a lavish room. My God, does Ra's have money to burn. Marble, gold... On the left there was a big bookcase with first editions of the biggest literature works. The said man was sitting down at the balcony, seemingly drinking bourbon.

Who even drinks bourbon this early in the morning?

" (Y/N), please, do sit. " Ra's said, pointing to a chair opposite of him.

(Y/N) sat down and Ra's poured him a glass. (Y/N) sat, hand grazing the gun in his holster. It was still there, loaded and ready to go.

" Now, you must wonder why I summoned you here. " Ra's started, turning his entire body to look at (Y/N).

" I can only assume that it has something to do with my upcoming mission in Gotham. " (Y/N) said, leaning slightly back, putting his arm around the back of the chair, but still keeping his other hand near his gun.

" That is true. I know you are no stranger to Gotham, but you are a stranger to Batman's modus operandi. "Ra's started, picking up his glass, before twirling the liquid around.

" I'm familiar to how Batman works. I'm afraid you are wasting your time if you called me because of that. " (Y/N) said, watching as Ra's smirked.

" I have no doubt you know how Batman works, but that was all in theory. Your handler never fought with Batman. I have. " Ra's replied, taking a sip of his bourbon.

" Not a drinker I see. Well, I know your mission is not about Batman, you have assassinate a prominent politician, but Batman will be all over it. That man can tell when somebody very well trained does it. He can recognize assassins and he can tell if somebody of your caliber entered the city. " Ra's stated, turning to look at his people training.

" Batman is like a dog with a bone, I believe that's the term that Americans use. And it's a good term for Batman. Once he has something, he won't let go of it, no matter what. I just want to warn you, once you do this, Batman will look high and low for you. " Ra's explained, turning his head to look at the young man, who looked back at him with confidence in his eyes.

" I'm pretty sure that I will be pretty quick with my mission and will be gone by the time I'm done. I will be in the city for just a few hours. " (Y/N) said, now taking the glass.

" And those few hours might change your life. " Ra's said, taking his glass too. He raised it and (Y/N) followed. " A little toast to your mission. May all go well. " They clinked their glasses and (Y/N) murmured hear hear.

A few days later, he was landing in the Archie Goodwin airport. He has a small sports bag with him, containing his suit, some extra clothes and a burner phone. He walked out of the airport, seeing the car already waiting for him.

He got in, already having the keys in on him. He turned the car on and he drove to a small, shabby motel in Gotham. He turned on the radio, listening to news.

" Welcome back from our brake. Tonight, at the city hall, Richard Peterson will be starting as a mayor. In the attendance are a lot of prominent Gotham citizens, including Bruce Wayne himself. Mister Wayne hasn't been so present in these types of events, but since it's a charity party, mister Wayne is always ready to show up. But don't get me wrong, that man did more for our city then anybody in the mayor's office and the government combined. Thank you for listening to our news and we are going to be back with our regular program. "

(Y/N) turned the volume down a bit, not really interested in music. It was a rock song, but (Y/N) didn't really listen. He watched the road in front of him. The said road was empty, expect for a few cars. He was never a fan of Gotham. It was a dirty city, both with actual garbage and by metaphorical garbage.

Corruption, drugs, murders, muggings... Crime all around. There wasn't a single sign of changing until Batman showed up. His handler told him that. he also told him that Batman coming onto the scene in Gotham has changed the world.

And Batman also changed it by creating the Justice League. Many were happy, and by many, he meant civilians. Villains were not so happy and they created their own league, the League of Light. He took a turn and he drove into the motel parking lot. He turned of the ignition and stepped out. He frowned a bit at the smell.

Ew. He took his sports bag and went to the reception. There was this old lady, probably old enough to retire. She was smoking and it seemed like he was her first guest of the day.

" Hello ma'am. " (Y/N) said politely, leaning on the front desk

" Hello sugar. I assume you need a room. "

" Yes ma'am. "

" Give me your name. "

" (F/N) (F/L/N). " (Y/N) said, taking the key from the lady. " Is it possible to pay up front? " (Y/N) asked, feeling a stack of cash in his pocket.

" Of course. I presume cash. "

" Of course ma'am. " (Y/N) said with a fake smile.

" I still got it. " She said, giving (Y/N) his key and (Y/N) gave a hundred dollar bill.

" You can keep the rest ma'am. " (Y/N) said, making her smile.

" Thanks sugar. "

(Y/N) nodded, taking his sports bag and he went to his room. He saw a pool, but there was no way in hell that he would go in there and swim. And besides, he has way to important things to do rather than to take a swim in the pool.

He dropped the sports bag on the bed. Now he had to go check out the city hall and the surrounding buildings. And he also needed to pick up his weapon from his contact here.

This was going to be a fun evening.

(Y/N) huffed as he set him self down onto a roof. He prepared his rifle to stand on the edge. He was in all black, with a black mask covering the bottom half of his face. He also had a black beanie, covering his hair.

He had his gloves on too. He can't have any fingerprints linking him to this. That is the most armature thing ever to be caught over. He sat down on the roof, waiting for the ceremony to start.

He watched the politicians rolling in their expensive cars and wives or husbands under their arm, used as trophies. He never saw the appeal of it, but he himself in a way was a trophy to his handler. Although, not because of his looks like in this case, rather for his skill set.

Also, why do you pay so much for clothes? (Y/N) could see without his binoculars that the dresses were expensive and he never saw the appeal of it.

He took out a small protein bar, munching on it as he waited for his target to arrive. One tip he learnt is to never shot from a rifle when you are hungry. So, it's better to eat something.

He put the wrapper into his pocket and he got down. His target just got out of the building and stood in front of the podium. (Y/N) looked through the scope, setting his sights on the politician.

When everyone settled down, (Y/N) took a breath and pulled the trigger. (Y/N) shot him through his forehead directly. Screams started and the police started scrambling to secure the area. (Y/N) took his rifle and separated it into parts, to fit into his backpack.

And then he ran from the rooftop, sinking into the shadows. The plan for this was to get to a bridge and throw this backpack into the river. And then get to on a plane get out of here.

Batman knew that this assassination had something to do with somebody of high caliber. It was dead on in the center and the fact that whoever did this didn't leave any traces on the roof where he stood.

However, there was a security camera.

" Tim, I need you to hack into a security camera on the building across from the City hall. Look who was there at the time of the murder. "

" Will do B. Alfred is looking into this politician, trying to figure out why he was killed. " Tim said, already hacking into it.

" I will show you the footage now B. " Tim said.

Bruce tapped a few buttons on his gauntlet and the video feed was shown. Bruce just looked at the eyes, saw the munching on the protein bar. And it seems that when he was escaping that the wrapper fell out.

Maybe the wrapper had something on it. " Tim, look for other footage of him. We need to get a face for the recognition. "

" Already on it. "

Bruce hanged up and scanned the wrapper. It had some DNA on it and he could probably have a DNA sample from this. He scanned it now and put it into every database known to man, even through the Justice League database.

Oh my. It got a hit. It was by the name (C/S), aka (Y/N) (L/N). He started making waves in the assassin community. But what ticked Batman off was the fact that he is a teen.

Whoever trained him... Whoever trained was going to be maimed.

" Everyone, I have a name and a face. Track him Tim. I want to know when he got into Gotham. Look at the airport, stations, everything. "

" Okay, but I put his face to find him through the city. Right now, he is on his way to... The airport. Robin and Red Hood could intercept him."

" I will. Let me know where he is and the car he is driving. " Batman said, calling the Batmobile. Time to find (Y/N).

(Y/N) was driving peacefully, just ready to get out of this city. Batman and the others, however, had other plans. (Y/N) never saw them coming. Batman rammed the Batmobile into the right side of (Y/N)'s car, making it turn a sharp left. (Y/N) braced for impact and more importantly, he got his seatbelt on.

He was a bit shocked, but that quickly wore off as he saw what hit him. He wasn't staying long enough to fight Batman. Nobody in their right mind would.

(Y/N) got out, gripping his gun. He saw a fire escape and ran for it. He can't fight him, he needs to get out of this city and far away from Batman and his sidekicks as humanely possible. He looked down and he saw Robin. He knew who Robin was, he saw a photo of him once though.

He climbed even faster, getting onto a roof. Nope. He stopped in front of Batman, who didn't look impressed.

" Hello (Y/N). You need to come with me. "

" I'm afraid not. I have to go back so... " (Y/N) said, ducking to the side to run. He jumped to the next roof, but somehow Red Hood jumped him from the right putting them trough a window on the roof. They both fell down and (Y/N) hit his head against a beam.

The world got dizzy and he heard voiced mixing. He closed his eyes, hoping to die instead.

(Y/N) wasn't so lucky as to die. He woke up with a big headache and he knew that he didn't escape. He opened his eyes and was met with a glass ceiling. He turned his head and was met with the sight of Batman and the others.

" Morning (Y/N). " Batman said, moving closer to the glass.

(Y/N) sighed, sitting up at the small bed here. " Yeah, sure. How can I help you? "

" You can start with telling me who your handler is. " Batman said calmly.

" I'm afraid not. Besides, I only know him as the handler so... "

" Where is the base then? "

" Aren't you supposed to be the detective? " (Y/N) retorted.

" And you are supposed to be a normal teenager. Enjoying life. Going to high school. And not be an assassin for someone. " Batman retorted back.

" Either way, I can't tell you anything. And you are going to keep me here? "

" Yes. And I don't care about the fact you are not telling me who your handler is, I will find him either way. I won't allow you to go back to him. "

" So what are you going to do? Adopt me? " (Y/N) asked sarcastically.

" Yes. " However he didn't expect such serious response.

" No. "

" I mean, I need to keep you here. " Batman said, making (Y/N) go eye wide.

" Now I wish that Red Hood killed me. " (Y/N) said laying back down, making Jason smirk a bit.

" Likewise. " Jason said, making Bruce give him a quick glare.

" You will be better here (Y/N). You will have a chance at a free live. Your own life. No control, not anything you don't like. " Bruce said, trying to appeal to him.

" Hmm. No. " (Y/N) said, closing his eyes.

" Well, I can't send you back to that hell. " Batman said, finality in his voice.

" Well, I still don't like this. "

#dc comics #dc x male reader #batfamily #x male reader #batman x male reader #batkids #platonic relationships

[valeskafics]

"Dance Of The Dragons" Chapter Nine: I'd Do Anything - Modern!Aemond Targaryen x Reader (Rocker AU) - FINALE

a/n: thank you so much for all your love and support for this story, my loves!! i'm so glad to have finally been able to finish it - aegon will be getting his own little oneshot soon so worry not!! 🥰🩷

Catch Up On This Series HERE.

Summary: Your tour with the Direwolves is coming to an end, so this might be Aemond's one last chance to make you understand his feelings.

TW: profanity, innuendo, afab reader, she/her pronouns, slight angst, semi public sex, p in v sex

Word Count: 1,300 words

Rating: 18+, MDNI

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST HERE 💕

Songs Used In This Chapter: "Boom" (originally by Simple Plan, here written by Reader), "I'd Do Anything (originally by Simple Plan, here written by Aemond)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the House of The Dragon/Fire & Blood characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the songs listed in this chapter nor do I claim to own them.

Comments, likes, and reblogs are never required but are immensely appreciated 🩷

It’s been two years since you and the girls won the Battle of the Bands. And for the last two years, you’ve been touring with the Direwolves and Dance of the Dragons. It’s been amazing, getting people all over the world to listen to your music, from YiTi to Asshai to Essos to back home in King’s Landing. The Doom of Old Valyria has quickly become one of the biggest names on the punk rock scene, all the dreams you ever had for your beloved band coming true in front of your very eyes.

Helaena and Cregan have been together for nearly a year now, Jace and Sara getting back together a few months after that. Baela has had two boy toys on call, the Cargyll brothers, while Rhaena remains single, though she and Aegon have seemed to have a vibe going recently. Love definitely seems to be in the air when it comes to the three most popular bands in the world.

But, one thing everyone is left wondering about is what the hell is going on between you and Aemond. You still haven’t defined whatever the hell it is between the two of you and he hasn’t forced you to, a fact you’re grateful for. But then, on the other hand, you wonder if that means he prefers not being in a relationship, to keep things casual. Though you two agreed to only hook up with each other, part of you wonders if he wants more. To be your boyfriend. To be with you. Or is this romance just going to last until the tour ends in just a few short hours?

Yeah, the most exciting thing that has ever happened to you is drawing to a close. It’s a bittersweet feeling, knowing that you’ve accomplished everything you and the girls ever wanted, everything you told Cerelle you dreamed of. But the tour ending also means not being with Aemond every day. No more sneaking preshow kisses in the green room, no more finding the weirdest museums in every country you visit and going to them together, no more secret dinner dates in the big cities you get to see together.

The idea of not seeing him anymore hurts, but you refuse to admit it. Today, the last day of the tour, he approached you, asking if the two of you could talk. You completely avoided him, rambling some excuse about needing to buy some new guitar strings. The rest of your bandmates - and his - looked at you with suspicion as you darted off toward your tour bus.

And now, here you are, laying in your bunk, trying to stop yourself from crying as you think about the fact that after tonight, all of this is over. You go up first tonight, then the guys, and finally the Direwolves last set of their sensational worldwide tour, one that they say has laid the foundation for the modern pop punk scene.

Time passes by far too quickly, and soon? You’re called for sound check.

You get up on stage, facing the crowd, getting ready to perform your final song of the night. You don’t want to admit it to anyone, but this song is a bit more raw and personal. And it’s for him. You refuse to admit it though, even though you can feel his gaze trained on you from the side of the stage. You start singing, smiling to yourself, though you can feel tears pricking at your eyes from how overwhelming all of this is.

“In a world full of heartache, seems like everyone's burning out. You and me we did it our way,” you glance over at him, seeing him watching you intently, “And this love ain't running out. We got that fire, that glow and I just need you to know!”

The chorus kicks in and you laugh as the boys run on stage, doing the wave behind you and the girls, Aemond of course taking a spot right next to you as you strum on your guitar, singing directly to him.

“You're my favorite song. My sing-along. You shine bright like lighters in the dark and you're my clarity, the best part of me. You still make my crazy little heart go boom.”

You and the girls take a bow, exiting the stage to watch as the boys begin their set. It must have been so obvious to Aemond when you were looking at him that the song was about him. Gods, you hope he didn’t realize it, though. If you’ve fallen for him and the feeling isn’t mutual… You don’t know if you can take another heartbreak. Losing Cerelle, Robin cheating, and the whole thing with Alys.

You’ve always put on a tough front, but you feel more than a bit fragile right now. You’re taken by surprise when, during the middle of the boys’ set, they call you onto the stage to sing “Shallow” with Aemond, the fans going crazy at the chemistry between you as you belt to each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. It seems like everyone wants the same thing as you.

For Aemond to be in love with you.

Before you can leave the stage after the crowd cheers, Aemond speaks up, grabbing your hand.

“This next song goes out to you, my sweet songbird. And I hope you understand what I’m trying to tell you.”

You stare at him in surprise, watching as Aegon begins strumming a riff that you don’t recognize and Aemond begins singing.

“Another day is going by. I'm thinking about you all the time. But you're out there and I'm here waiting. And I wrote this letter in my head ‘cause so many things were left unsaid. But now you're gone and I can't think straight.”

He sings with Aegon and Jace on the prechorus, your lips forming a smile as you realize that maybe, just maybe, Aemond wants the same thing as you.

“This could be the one last chance to make you understand, yeah.”

And with the chorus? You know exactly what it is that he’s trying to tell you.

“I'd do anything just to hold you in my arms. To try to make you laugh. Somehow I can't put you in the past. I'd do anything just to fall asleep with you. Will you remember me? 'Cause I know I won't forget you.”

You cover your face with your hands, tears falling from your eyes as Aemond continues singing to you, the bridge making your heart pound in your chest.

“I close my eyes and all I see is you. I close my eyes. I try to sleep, I can't forget you. And I'd do anything for you.”

After the song ends, Aemond says them. Those three words that you’ve been dying to hear, that you’ve been so afraid of for so long.

“I love you.”

You smile, choking back a sob as you whisper, “I love you too.”

You throw your arms around him, kissing him passionately, listening as the crowd cheers your names.

Lost in him.

After the show, you and Aemond stay behind in the green room, going out onto the stage together after everyone has already left the venue, no security, no staff, nothing. Just you and him. Aemond takes you into his arms, resting his forehead against yours as he holds your face in his hands.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Aemond.”

Several hours later, you lay beside him on that empty stage, his hips moving against yours, your lips pressed to his as you lose yourself in each other. It’s possibly one of the craziest things either of you has ever done, but you can’t bring yourself to care, nor can he.

Not when you’re so lost in each other.

#aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen #aemond x reader #aemond targaryen x you #aemond x you #aemond fic #aemond x fem!reader #aemond targaryen x y/n #prince aemond #prince aemond targaryen #prince aemond x reader #my writing #dotd fic

[likedovesinthewindd]

2:54 AM

tasm!peter parker x fem!reader

summary: you want to know why peter's been distant lately.

warning: injuries, mentions of typical spiderman violence yk, my inability to write a crime accurately (don't look into it too much), reader's a little oblivious to the obvious.

wc: ± 3000

a/n: i hate this endingg!!!! but i need this out of my drafts. let's also pretend that this trope is so original and not overused at all lmao. requests open:)

The incessant ticking of the clock above your head was beginning to piss you off.

The small restaurant was fairly busy, no one would've even be able to hear it, but you'd chosen the table next to the window–the one with the clock hanging on the wall adjacent to the big glass pane. You'd chosen this table because it was Peter's favorite. He loved watching the bustling city outside as the two of you enjoyed your meals.

You'd think that after living in the city as long as he has, that the scenery would have bore him by now, but he absolutely loved people watching. He could spend hours sitting outside on the rooftop or by the big window in your bedroom, just staring down at the people and cars going about their day or night. He could find entertainment in some of the most mundane activities, and that was one of the many things you adored about your boyfriend.

Right now, however, it was hard to think of how you much you adored him, but rather how mad you were at him. Tonight was your and Peter's six month anniversary, and although you weren't one to celebrate every little milestone, Peter had insisted that you go out for the night. Ironic, since he's not even here right now you thought.

You looked down at your wristwatch, almost in a way to spite the big one that hung right above you, and checked the time. It was a forty-eight minutes past eight. You'd been sitting here for almost 50 minutes waiting for Peter to show up.

You checked your phone, praying he had left a message saying that he was on his way, that he was just running late, but the empty lockscreen staring back at you only made a knot form deep in your belly.

Wait till nine, your mind tried convincing you. He's probably just really caught up at work. So you waited impatiently, your heeled foot nearly tapping a hole into the restaurant floor. After a few more minutes, your waitress approached your table. This was her second time at your table; she had come around first at around twenty minutes past eight, and you had kindly asked her to give you some more time, because you were waiting for someone.

You could see the pity on her face, her probably thinking you got stood up. But you weren't getting stood up, because Peter was just a bit late, and in a few minutes he'd walk through the door and the two of you'd enjoy a wonderful dinner. At least, that's what you were trying to convince yourself.

"Are you ready to order ma'am?" the waitress asked politely. You shook your head, putting on your most convincing smile. "No not yet, I'm waiting for my boyfriend, he'll be here any minute," you said. The pity on her face only seemed to increase. She gave you a weak smile and a nod, and went on her way to help another table.

You glanced up at the small TV that was displayed against the wall on the other side of the small restaurant. It was replaying an old football game from the previous week, before being interrupted by a local news channel's lives broadcast. The TV was muted, but you could see the headline at the bottom of the screen in big bold letters as the reporter stood gesturing at the scene behind her:

SPIDER-MAN TO THE RESCUE ONCE AGAIN

The fact that the city quite literally had it's own superhero always amazed you. Here this random guy was, jumping around in a blue and red suit, fighting bad guys and catching criminals, basically doing the cops' jobs and for free.

You've never had any personal encounters with the elusive hero, but you've heard enough stories from people about him, about how charming and slightly cocky he was and how they so desperately wanted to know who hid beneath the mask. You'd be lying if you said you weren't a bit curious to know too.

On the screen you could see Spider-Man lowering people from the second floor of some building by his webs. After lowering everyone to safety, he dissappeared back inside the building. It seemed to be some kind of hostage situation, people scurrying around confusedly and police cars surrounding the building.

You were so enthralled by the scene playing out on the screen that you hadn't noticed how much time had passed. When you looked at the little clock being displayed in the corner of the TV, your heart sank once again.

21:05

It was five minutes past nine, and no Peter in sight. You could feel your cheeks burning up from anger. A whole hour. Peter made you wait a whole hour, and it didn't look like he was gonna come any time soon. The anger was quickly replaced by sadness, the tears of frustration already fighting to fall from your eyes. You made your way over to the counter of the restaurant, apologizing for wasting their time and tipping your waitress for her effort, before making your way to the door.

It felt like everyone's eyes were on you. They could all probably tell you've been stood up too. There was no other reason for a girl to be walking out of a restaurant after ordering nothing for an hour with her head down and tail between her legs like a kicked dog.

The air outside was refreshing. You took a deep breath, trying to calm down your racing heart and somehow will the tears away. It was no use; after months of forced stoicism and pretending like Peter's recent negligence didn't hurt, the dam finally broke. You decided to take the walk to your apartment rather than hailing a cab, reasoning that the cool city air would do you good.

On your walk, the sobs continued to leave your mouth quietly. You missed your boyfriend, you missed being able to spend time with him and just be around him. The two of you worked at different times and lived on different sides of the city, so it was already hard to find a time when both of you were free.

The two of you hadn't been together for too long, but it truly felt like Peter was the one for you. When you first made things official you couldn't stay away from each other for too long. You always went on little dates and would meet up whenever the both of you were free, but recently your boyfriend's been very distant and you've been seeing less and less of him. Tonight had been the third date where he'd stood you up, and you couldn't help but think the worst.

What if he was seeing someone else? What if he didn't enjoy being with me anymore and this was his way of asking to break up?

The thoughts left your mind as soon as they were conjured up in your brain. Peter would never do anything like that to you. Not your Peter. He was the sweetest guy you had ever been with and there wasn't a day he wasn't telling you how lucky he was to be with you, or how pretty he thought you were and how much he loved you.

Even on the days the two of you weren't together (which were almost always lately), he'd still send you messages telling you how much he missed you, or would send flowers to your apartment when he knew you were feeling down and he couldn't be there.

Peter was a sweetheart, but you still couldn't help but wonder why he'd been so distant lately. You pulled your phone from your purse, quickly checking to see if he had left a message yet, but still nothing. You shoved your phone back into your purse angrily and started walking faster. All you needed right now was a hot shower and your bed.

As you entered your apartment you hastily toed off your shoes at the door and threw your purse on the nearest table. After a long, piping hot shower and a bowl of leftovers (you still being hungry due to your failed dinner plans), you decided to head to bed, where you cried some more before falling asleep.

A loud banging woke you up in the middle of the night. You checked the alarm clock on your nightstand, and when it read 2:54 AM, you turned yourself back around and ignored whoever chose to bother you at this ungodly hour.

Not even a minute passed before the knocking returned, this time followed by a shout of your name, not loud enough to wake up the whole floor but loud enough for you to hear. When you recognized Peter's voice, you groaned, kicking the covers from yourself begrudgingly before dragging yourself to the door.

You pulled it open aggressively, and when you were met with Peter's silhouette slouching against the doorframe, his head hanging low, all the angry words you had for him sat stuck in your throat. He looked up at you and his big brown eyes found yours in the dark of the hallway. He gave you a weak smile and you had to fight everything inside you to not smile back, reminding yourself why you were mad at him.

"Hi, sweetheart," he whispered. All the anger suddenly returned, and you found yourself slamming the door in his face, but before it could fully close, he blocked it with his foot and invited himself in. When he got out of the dark hallways and inside your apartment, you noticed the bouquet of flowers he held tightly in his hand. They looked like they had been through a lot, and the dress shirt he was wearing (most likely for your date) was untucked and heavily wrinkled.

"I don't want to talk to you," you said, turning your entire body away from him and crossing your arms like an arrogant child, trying to get him to leave, but he was stubborn, putting the flowers on the nearest table, gripping your arms and turning you to face him again. You refused to make eye contact, rather looking down at his pair of dirty sneakers. "I know, but let me explain myself please—"

"And say what?!" you snapped. You hadn't realized how loud you were until you saw Peter flinch slightly, his grip on you still not loosening. "What are you gonna say Peter? You got caught up at work? You had an 'emergency'? You—" when you finally looked him in the face, you got a good look at him in the warm light of your living room/kitchen.

He had a lot of bruising around his face, a rapidly darkening black eye and a busted lip. You looked down at the arms still holding onto you, and you could see similar marks lining his arms. Most of them looked very fresh.

This was another part of Peter that added to up sleepless nights, worrying yourself sick over your boyfriend. He always seemed to have some sort of bruise whenever you'd meet up. Sometimes it was something small like a cut across his eyebrow or a nasty gash on his cheek, and other times it was way more major, like the one time he showed up to a coffee date with a broken arm after being just fine three days prior.

The best part was how fast he'd heal too, no less than a weak and he'd look perfectly fine. It didn't make you feel any better though, and you'd still worry about where he was getting beat up like this.

You tried asking him about it, multiple times, but every time he would just cover it up with a lame joke or just completely try to change the subject. You stopped asking after a while, but that didn't mean you weren't concerned about his safety and curious about what was causing all of these injuries.

"Peter what happened to you? Your face? Are you—" you wanted to reach out and touch his face, but he stopped you with a hand that quickly caught your wrist. "I'm okay," he said, smiling sweetly and giving your wrist a quick kiss, before letting go of your hand. "No you're not. C'mon lemme clean you up," you said grabbing his hand and dragging him to the bathroom, almost completely forgetting about the argument.

The patter of your socked feet filled the quiet of the apartment as you led Peter to the bathroom. You sat him down on the toilet seat and quietly moved around the almost-too-small bathroom, opening up the medicine cabinet above the sink to retrieve the first aid kit. You started to clean the small cuts and gashes on his face.

His hands hesitated before making their way to your waist, holding onto your hips. Every time one of the cuts would sting, his grip would tighten slightly. The silence stretched on while you continued to patch him up, and after a while you decided to speak up.

"Look, Peter, I understand if you don't wanna, y'know be with me anymore, but even if we were to break up I'd still be concerned about you. I don't like seeing you get hurt and i can't help if—"

"Woah, hey what?" Peter interrupted your rambling, "I don't want to break up." "Then why do you keep canceling our plans, how come I never see you anymore?" you asked, pausing the work on his face. He winced slighty when he noticed your anger had returned.

"I've just...I've been busy, sweetheart," he said softly. "I've been busy too Peter, but I make time, because I wanna see you, and because I miss you like crazy. Do you even miss like you say you do? Because it surely doesn't show."

"Of course I do!" Peter said, the grip he had on you unconsciously tightening again. "Then why don't you make time?!" you said, the tears of frustration quickly returning to your eyes, "and what about all these bruises, huh? Every time I see you you're hurt somehow and I don't like that, 'cause I don't like seeing you hurt, Peter." By now a few tears had already unwillingly fallen, and you tried to swiftly wipe them away with the sleeve of your sweater.

It both warmed and broke Peter's heart to know that you were so worried about him. He really did miss spending time with you; you were his best friend and he loved being around you. He didn't want you knowing about him being Spider-Man, because he didn't want to put you in any danger. He wanted to keep you as far away from that part of his life as possible, you meant too much to him and he wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to you.

He wanted to tell you on many occasions, he'd come close too many times to count, but he'd stop himself each time.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, not knowing what else to say. "Don't apologize, just talk to me, please," you said brushing your fingers through his soft brown hair. The action calmed both you and him down, and he closed his eyes for a moment, appreciating your touch. It was then when he realized how much he missed your touch, how much he missed you, and being close to you. He felt like he hadn't talked to you, or really even seen you in forever.

Peter didn't know what to say, he wanted to be honest with you, wanted to tell you so bad, but he wanted to protect you above all else. The silence between the two of you stretched on until you sighed, removing your hands from him completely and sighing.

He started panicking, he knew what this meant. You were going to break up with him, tell him to get out and never talk to him again, and even the thought alone made his heart sink down to his feet. He braced himself for the inevitable, retracting his hands from your waist and getting ready to get up and leave.

"It's really late, would you like to stay the night?"

He was definitely not expecting you to say that, and the look on his face certainly told you that. "Are you sure?" he asked, not knowing what else to say. "I don't want to taking the train at this time. You can take a shower while I reheat some leftovers for you," you replied dryly, making your way out the bathroom and to the kitchen.

Peter took your advice, still not sure why you weren't screaming at him to get out of your apartment. After a brief shower, he found some of the clothes you had borrowed from him folded neatly on the toilet seat. He put them on and made his way over to the kitchen. After a much appreciated meal the two of you made your way over to your bedroom.

He found himself immediately moving towards the small plush chair that stood by the big window, lowering himself into it and staring down at the city. You stood next to him quietly, placing your hand on his head and running your fingers through the strands once again.

"I promise I'll tell you one day," Peter whispered, turning his head to look up at you. "I know," you replied, "until then, I'll just patch you up when needed."

You wanted so badly to understand what was going on with Peter, but you knew that there was no getting through to him now, because he was stubborn as hell. So you'd take what you could get for now. And in return he'd try and be there more for you, because he missed you, and the selfish part of him loved you too much to let you go, even if that were the right thing to do.

"How about you move in with me?"

#tasm!peter x reader #tasm!peter parker fic #tasm!peter x y/n #the amazing spider man #peter parker x fem!reader #peter parker x reader #likedovesinthewindd

[bluecreates25]

ZOMBIE!GHOST HEADCANNONS ft. GhostSoap

Disclaimer- most of these are not original ideas but a compilation of things I've seen with my own ideas thrown in

So we've all see the theory that he broke his own jaw when he got infected so he wouldn't be able to infect people, right?

which omg is that both painful and hard to do. in addition, in the trailer, it seems like he maintains some of his humanity even after he's infected

WHICH IS DEVASTATING

because basically, I've done too much reading, and I've seen many scenarios

1. is that his group gets infected alongside with him and he remains the sole survivor

eventually, the grief of being alone, and how insanely draining it would be to exist as a rotting corpse, he would essentially shut down/ kill his own mind since he can't actually die.

this is the saddest in my opinion, because I believe he would have insane survivors guilt, and would be absolutely crushed (since in his actual back story his family was murdered, and so this would be the 2nd he's been unable to protect those he cares about)

2. is that he is already long time a zombie, but forms an attachment to some survivor passing through

like someone is passing through the town that he's in, and he immediately forms an attachment to them, but he is conscious enough to realize he would be seen as a threat and even backs up if approached

however, he has a desire to protect that person, so he mostly remains out of sight, watching the area. said person will essentially be protected by him, like he'll literally kill off other zombies to keep them safe

I have such mixed emotions about this, because I feel like he would be so lonely. absolutely infatuated with and determined to protect this person, but he would never allow himself to go near them

3. has to do with John 'Soap' Mactavish

I feel like they'd be with their team when Simon gets bit. the others would try to drag

Soap away or shoot Simon, but Soap isn't having any of that. even Simon would try to get him to leave, but Soap, loyal as ever, would refuse.

Simon would definitely break his jaw in this scenario, but do it while soap goes on a supply run, or is sleeping so he doesn't have to witness it

Simon would eventually give up on begging him to leave, Soap was ready to die with him. once they both realize that Simon is still somewhat conscious, Soap is adamant about taking care of Simon even as he decays, trying to keep him bandaged and cleaned as much as possible

Simon would become like a guard dog for Soap, protecting him from both zombies and other survivors. Simon is especially fast and strong since he still has some control over himself. I think Soap would have to keep a leash on Simon, because Simon's brain, while still holding some function, has zombie instincts, and he easily gets distracted. Also, I think Soap would be able to decipher what Simon's different grunts and groans mean (Simon unable to talk due to broken jaw and rotting) to where they can basically have full conversations

In the end, I think Soap would die of old age (Ghost having protected him his whole life), and we would circle back to Ghost being the sole survivor

OR

Ghost would eventually get to a point where his body has rotted so much that life isn't feasible for him. he can no longer function or protect Soap, and he is able to communicate that with Soap, who in the end shoots him. Soap would be put into absolute agony over this. Soap, being a demolition specialist in the military, makes me personally believe he'd absolutely wreck havoc.

I think he'd probably destroy a city with some makeshift explosives because while Ghost might've been technically dead for a long time, they were still soulmates, and this time, he was gone for good

I think he'd become reckless with his own life, a mix of anger and sadness. There'd be days where he'd be so depressed he wouldn't get up, and others where he'd do the stupidest shit just to not think about the fact he is now completely alone in the apocalypse

I don't think he'd get infected; I think he'd probably pick a fight with some survivor group, or one of his reckless expeditions would be the end of him. I don't even think he'd make it a half year without Simon.

I feel like this would contrast to if he'd stayed with his group after Simon was infected or if Simon had been KIA on a mission (not apocalypse au). I think if he had his team, he would've moved on and lived a good life, although grieving and completely dedicating Simon's death day as a day of remembrance. However, with Simon having been his only companion for so long and the man he threw away everything for, he might as well have died when Simon did

#zombie ghost has me in a chokehold #i hope you guys find this as devastating as i did #ghostsoap #simon ghost riley #zombie ghost #john soap mactavish #task force 141 #cod mw3

[baldursgrave69]

Promise Me

Summary: Agnes worries about the Urge, what if she can’t control herself? She asks Astarion to do the unthinkable if the need arises.

Pairing: Astarion x fem!durge (named)

Word count: 890

Tags: angst

While writing this I was listening to: Oblivion by Bastille

Find me on Ao3 here

Agnes sat between Astarion’s legs on the rooftop of the Elf Song tavern, his arms draped over her shoulders. They had finally made it to the Lower City. The last few days had been eventful to say the least. Agnes finally knew what she was. Who she was. A child of Bhaal. The sickening Urge within her had a name, an origin at last. That didn’t make it any easier to resist. In fact, she played with the idea of embracing it. Of fulfilling her destiny and becoming Bhaal’s Chosen. The idea of killing her sister Orin and taking her place gave her butterflies. Agnes was still struggling to process her meeting with Enver Gortash. He had revealed to her that not only had they been partners in the planning and implementing of the Absolute, they had been more than that. Enver Gortash had shown her correspondence between the two of them, detailing their story. Their love story. Agnes shuddered, trying to push the thoughts from her mind. She didn’t want to think about that night. Or what she had done. Astarion stirred behind her, holding her closer. “What is it, love?” he asked, resting his chin on her shoulder. Agnes let out a huff, leaning against him. “I’m… scared,” she admitted. “The Urge, it’s bothering you again, isn't it?” he asked, shifting behind her. She nodded. He wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her closer to him. “What if I don’t resist it? What if I can’t?” she asked, feeling a knot of worry in her stomach. Astarion frowned, this was so unlike her. She was always confident, always ready to take on whatever horror came next. “Do you want to?” he asked, cautiously, pressing soft kisses to her neck. Agnes paused for a moment. “Yes,” she finally said, hoping it sounded convincing. “Then you will,” Astarion said, leaning back against the cold wall behind him.

“How can you be so sure? What if your confidence is misplaced?” Agnes asked, pulling her knees close to her chest. “I’m rarely wrong,” he sighed, turning her to face him. “Besides, I know you. You won’t hurt me.” he said confidently. Agnes frowned, turning her back to him once more. Astarion sighed, pulling her closer again. He knew she wouldn’t hurt him on purpose, but he also knew that she didn’t always have control. If she did, Alfira would still be here. “You shouldn’t have to constantly watch your back around your partner. You shouldn’t have to worry that I’ll murder you in my sleep. That’s not fair to you,” Agnes started, moving to look at Astarion. “We should just end this now. Before it goes too far,” Agnes said quietly, leaning her head against her knees. “Are we really doing this again?” Astarion growled, leaning towards Agnes. She looked over at him, a wounded expression on his face. “I mean it, Astarion. I don’t want to hurt you,” she hissed, tears forming in her eyes. Astarion rolled his eyes, leaning back. “What, you think I’ll just disappear if you break up with me? Come now, darling. I told you, I’m not going anywhere.” Agnes let out a sigh, a small chuckle leaving her lips. “Gods, you’re stubborn,” she said as she looked up. Astarion smiled at her, a tear running down his cheek. Agnes leaned forward, wiping the tear from his cheek as he pulled her closer to him. “I waited 200 years for someone like you, I’m not letting you go that easy,” he sighed, burying his face in her hair.

“Fine, but you have to promise me something,” she said, suddenly serious again. Astarion pulled back to look at her, a somber look on her face. “If it happens again. If the Urges take over and you can’t restrain me,” Astarion cut her off, hugging her tight. “Promise me you’ll end me before I hurt anyone,” she said quietly as he held her. Astarion held Agnes tight, his mind reeling as he thought about what she was asking of him. Agnes pulled away from Astarion to look at him. He averted his eyes, trying to hide the tears beginning to form. “Remember that first night in camp? You asked me how I’d want you to do it,” she said quietly, pressing her forehead against his. He let out a laugh, wiping a tear with the back of his hand. “You said there were too many choices,” he laughed. He had called her dramatic at the time, he thought she must be insane. “A knife, clean across the neck,” she said quietly, looking into his red eyes. Astarion closed his eyes, shaking his head. “Promise me,” she whispered, placing her hand on his neck, caressing his bite scars. “Agnes, I can’t. Don’t ask this of me,” he pleaded, avoiding her gaze. “I trust you to make the right decision if the time ever comes,” Agnes said quietly. “Alright,” he replied, refusing to look at her. Agnes pulled back from Astarion, lifting his chin so he would look at her. His eyes were rounder than normal, sad. “I’ll keep fighting it, I’ll do whatever I can,” she reassured him. He nodded, his expression still somber. “Enough of the heavy stuff,” Agnes huffed, kissing Astarion on his nose. Astarion wrapped Agnes in his arms, holding her as tightly as he could.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldurs gate iii #baldurs gate tav #bg3 tav #baldurs gate posting #bg3 oc #tav bg3 #bg3 durge #the dark urge #astarion x tav #astarion x oc #baldurs gate astarion #astarion bg3 #bg3 angst #astarion ancunin #tav x astarion #bg3 astarion #astarion #astarion x durge #astarion x female oc #astarion x dark urge #astarion x the dark urge #astarion x f!tav #astarion x female tav #durge bg3 #durge posting #baldurs gate durge #durge x astarion #durge oc

[cadybear420]

Performance for fluffember🤍

The Voice of an Angel

Fandom: High School Story (Original Trilogy)

Pairings: Aiden Zhou x Evie Ayana (female HSS MC), maybe with a small side of Ajay Bhandari x Cher Lee (female HSS:CA MC)

Characters: Aiden Zhou, Evie Ayana (female HSS MC)

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Additional Tags: Fluff, Singing, Performance, Dancing

Word Count: 2,128

Summary: On Evie’s 18th birthday, Aiden and the jazz band whip up a little surprise for her. Takes place approximately between HSS:CA 2 and HSS:CA 3 (though my memory of the HSS:CA timeline is a little more fuzzy).

A/N: First of all: to the anon who sent the prompt, major apologies for sleeping on it for so long. Coming up with writing ideas is a bitch, but it is something I want to do more often. And there was also that one time when Tumblr turned off editing for answers to asks, which carried over to the draft post for this for a while. Second of all, I’m fucking obsessed with this song from Doctor Who (“My Angel Put the Devil in Me”, from the Series 3 soundtrack) and I think Evie and Aiden would be as well. Third of all, yes this is a belated birthday fic for Evie, but I’m glad to get it out before the end of Evie’s birthday month at least. Also haha both Evie’s birthday this year and in the setting of the fic were on a Friday. Fourth of all, arghrghrargh my first time writing a fic where one character sings to another AND does a choreographed dance to it too. It’s a lot more difficult than I imagined lol. 

(Also, the outfit I imagine for the other jazz band kids)

Prompt: Performance

Source for prompts here. Even though it's long past November, I'll still accept prompt suggestions from this list year-round.

Tags: @inlocusmads @aces-and-angels @aria-ashryver @lover-also-fighter-also @jerzwriter @choicesmc @3rdstreetfrank @dutifullynuttywitch @lovealexhunt @lilyoffandoms @peonierose (as this is the complete version of this WIP and this challenge bit), and @choicesficwriterscreations

Friday, March 8, 2019. The day of Evie’s 18th birthday. She’d been planning to host a birthday party at one of her favorite restaurants in the city, starting in the early evening after school. Almost everyone she knew from school was invited. 

It was late in the afternoon now. Evie took one last look at herself in her new outfit– a navy blue suit with a purple floral necktie– and grinned, before dashing to the living room. There, her dad was checking his phone. 

“Alright, I’m ready to go!” she said. 

He turned to her. “Actually… we can’t leave just yet…”

She pouted. “What??? But Daaaad, the party starts at 5 PM and it’s already 4:45!”

“The people doing the decorations are… taking a bit longer than expected.”

“Oh…”

“It’s a bit awkward to go to a party when they’re still putting decorations up, isn’t it?”

“That’s true,” her face softened. “Do the other guests know?”

“...yep! I’ve just told them, in fact.”

“Okay… but how long do we have to wait?”

“Shouldn’t be more than… ten to twenty minutes?”

Evie pouted again. 

“It’s not that long…”

“Okay, fiiiiine, I’ll be patient…”

“And I’ll be doctor!”

Evie winced. “Dad, NO…”

…

About twenty minutes passed, and then finally, her dad said it was okay to start driving to the restaurant. After a fifteen minute drive, they arrived, and Evie wasted no time going in. 

The room was alive with upbeat music, purple decorative lights and flowers, and many of Evie’s friends. It seemed like just about everyone she’d invited had shown up– her main friend group, her teammates, her friends from the other cliques and Hearst, Cher and her friends from theatre, the seniors from last year who hadn’t gone away for college… 

And all of them greeted her with a big “Happy birthday, Evie!!!”, in unison. 

Evie inhaled, beaming at her friends. Many of them ran over to hug her, a few others cheered for her. 

Then she saw Emma and Cher push their way through the crowd and grab her by her arms. 

“Evie! There’s a special surprise for you, right now!” said Cher. 

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!” said Emma. “Just come with us…” 

The crowd parted, making way for Emma and Cher to pull Evie to the opposite side of the room. As they did, the party music slowly faded out and the lights began to dim. 

“What the–” Evie started. 

“Shhhh. You’ll see soon enough!” Emma replied. 

When they made it to the opposite end of the room, a warm spotlight turned on over her, and there she saw it. The jazz band, all set up with their instruments and dressed in matching snazzy black-and-red suits and… devil horns? Yes, devil horns. 

And at the front of it all… was none other than her beautiful boyfriend Aiden, all dressed up and holding a microphone. 

Evie just about stopped in her tracks as she took in his outfit– a snug, ivory-colored flapper dress that had silver beads sewn into intricate patterns, and hung just barely above his knees. Along with that, he also wore a couple of matching long pearl necklaces, a fluffy white halo accessory over his head, and winged eyeliner.

“Wow…” Evie felt her breath catch. “Aiden, you look–”

Just then, Aiden signaled to the band… and they started to play. 

Evie grinned broadly, her eyes immediately lighting up at the familiar upbeat jazzy tune, and watched intently as her boyfriend danced towards her, in steps that were careful and rhythmic, yet lively. 

Then the tempo slowed, and he held the microphone to his mouth and began to sing. 

“I'm a country girl, I ain't seen a lot… But you came along, and my heart went pop! You took a little streetcar to my heart… And an apple of love fell off my apple cart~”

Evie’s cheeks flustered at his melodious voice. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard him sing– he’s sung to her plenty of times, and they’d practically been doing Evie-Aiden duets since the day they met. But this… this was different. Aiden had never done a solo singing performance for her before, let alone one that involved a bit of dance as well. 

“You looked at me, my heart began to pound… You weren't the sort of guy I thought would stick around… Hey, but it don't have to be eternally… My bad, bad Angel put the Devil in me~”

And his singing voice was all the more different this time around too. Even later into their relationship, as Aiden had become more confident about his singing, there was always still a hint of nervousness in his voice when they sang their duets. But this time, he sang loud and clear. Like he was owning the stage. 

Aiden performed a small twirl before stopping, his eyes meeting hers as he began slowly walking up to her, making her heart jump a little.

“You lured me in with your cold grey eyes… Your simple smile, your bewitching lies…”

As he sang that verse, he reached out and grabbed onto her bright purple tie, making Evie’s face heat up as he began tugging on it gently and pulling her closer to him. 

“One and one and one is three… My bad, bad Angel… the Devil in me~!”

The tempo picked up again. Aiden let go of her tie and took her hand in his as he broke out into energetic dance movements while still singing the lyrics to the song, the skirt of his dress swishing about as he swayed gracefully to the instrumental music. 

Evie squeezed his hand and matched his movements, her pulse racing now.  All the while, the crowd watched with excitement. When they came face-to-face again, she was giving him an almost drunken smile.

Soon enough, Aiden broke from her hold and turned around, sashaying slightly as he started stepping away from her… before looking over his shoulder, catching her gaze once again. 

“My bad, bad Angel~ you put the Devil in me~”

Aiden shook his butt side-to-side to the beat, giving Evie a knowing look that made her cheeks brighten. The music slowed, and he turned around to face her again. 

“So, now my dear, I ain't the girl you knew… 'Cause the Angel's got Heaven, but I get you…”

He sauntered back up to her.

“And the tree of life grows tall, you see… My bad, bad Angel… you put the Devil in me~!”

The beat slowed to a more gentle, relaxed tune as Aiden placed his arm over Evie’s shoulder. 

“Oh… You put the Devil in me~”

Aiden gestured towards Evie’s arm, and she placed her arms around him, taking hold of his waist as they began to rock together. 

“You put the Devil in me…”

Gently and smoothly, Aiden broke out of her hold and took her hand again. Lifting her hand, he twirled himself under her arm, then placed himself backwards against her body– all without missing a beat. 

As Aiden continued to sing, Evie wrapped both of her arms around his middle, embracing him from behind. Aiden pressed back against her and placed his free arm over hers, almost as if to hold her arms in place, as they began to sway side-to-side together again. Evie practically melted into him, his body warm against hers. 

“You put the Devil in me…”

Then, the song picked up again. 

“You put the Devil in… me~!”

He swiftly yet carefully broke from her hold again, and danced in a circle around her as he sang the last few verses of the song. She turned to follow him, their eyes locked onto each other yet again, as he gave her an almost sultry gaze. 

“My bad, bad Angel, you put the Devil in me!”

At the final note, the lights slowly faded back on. Aiden stood in front of the now cheering crowd and took a huge bow, grinning proudly. 

Once he straightened back up, Evie finally let out a high pitched “EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”, bouncing up and down before leaping onto Aiden, sweeping him up into her arms, and spinning him around. Aiden gasped, dropping his microphone with a loud *thunk*– but then quickly held her face in his hand and pulled her in for a passionate kiss, prompting the crowd to cheer louder. 

After a moment, Aiden broke the kiss. “Happy eighteenth birthday, Darling~”

Evie squeezed him tighter. “Aiden, that was…” She took a deep breath, a starstruck look in her eyes. “Your singing is amazing… I mean, I’ve heard you sing before, obviously, but…”

A slight but visible rosy tint grew on his cheeks. 

“But I’ve never done a singing performance for you, I know. I figured it was about time I did.”

“And you were fucking amazing. I’ve never heard you sing like that before… like, you were already good, but I didn’t know you were this good…”

“I mean… practice makes perfect, after all…”

“That’s true…”

He planted a small kiss onto her lips, making her whole body warm up. 

“And what made you choose that song from Doctor Who for your first performance? I mean, obviously I love the song–”

“That’s just it. I know how much you love the song, and the episodes it came from.” He chuckled softly. “And, I mean… I don’t blame you. It is a fantastic song.”

Evie’s smile grew wider. “God, Aiden… I fucking love you.”

“I love you too, Evie.” 

They pulled each other in for one more kiss, holding each other tightly, before she set him down. 

“And I love your outfit too… you look absolutely gorgeous, as always~”

Even as Aiden beamed at her so brightly, his cheeks turned as red as the other band members’ devil costumes, prompting Evie to giggle.

“Well… I have been having a lot of fun trying on new outfits…” he said, softly. 

At that moment, Ajay and Cher popped up beside them. 

“Hey… if Aiden likes singing, dancing, and dressing up in fancy outfits now… you think we could convince him to join the upcoming spring musical?” Ajay said. “His talent would just be unmatched…”

Evie and Aiden turned towards them. 

“The next play’s gonna be a musical?” Evie said. “I’ve been wanting to act in a play, but, uh… I don’t think I’m ready for one that involves singing…”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at her. “But we’ve literally been doing duets ever since–”

“That’s different. I can sing alright when it’s more casual, but in a professional musical performance? I’m not that good.”

“You should still consider it!” Cher chirped. “If not an acting role, you can always still be an assistant director or a techie…”

“That sounds much more my speed.”

Cher turned to Aiden. “You should definitely consider trying out for a singing role, though!”

Aiden put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. “It could be fun… I know Evie doesn’t want to sing in a musical, but imagine if we got lead roles together…”

“Oh, perhaps I could be convinced now…” Evie said, before smirking playfully. “But, let’s be real. Put Aiden in the musical, and he’ll probably just upstage all the other singers with how good he is. He’ll make everyone else look like chumps.”

“Hey!” Cher exclaimed, her face scrunching up into a pout. “Are you saying I sing like a chump?”

“What– no, I–” Evie’s face fell. 

Cher dropped her pout and grinned again. “Kidding! You probably have a point… I do sing every now and then, but it could use a little more work. Especially since I’m planning to go for an acting role in the musical, of course.”

“Well, if we can’t get Aiden in a singing role for the musical, perhaps he can be a musical director and help coach the actors who are a little more inexperienced?” Ajay suggested. 

“Actually… that’s a great idea!” Aiden said, his face lighting up. “I’d love to do that!”

Ajay beamed. “Oh, perfect! We’ll talk to Mr. Olson on Monday.”

“I’ll need some time to think about it… but I’ll let you know if I do decide to accept.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ajay reached his hand out, and he and Aiden shook hands. “Anyways, great job on your performance, Aiden! And happy birthday, Evie!”

“Yeah! Happy birthday, Evie!!!” cheered Cher. 

“Aww, thank you both so much!” 

Evie gave each of them a warm hug before they walked off. Aiden placed his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek, and she turned back to him.

“Thank you so much, Aiden. For being the best boyfriend ever, and for giving me this awesome birthday.” 

“It’s my pleasure~” Aiden hugged her tighter. “But… there’s still more, of course. Ready to enjoy the rest of your birthday party?”

“Oh yes!”

#choices stories you play #choices #choices stories we play fandom #choices game #high school story #choices stories we play #hss #choices hss #choices high school story #aiden zhou #aiden x mc #mc x aiden #hss aiden #evie x aiden #aiden x evie #high school story aiden #evie ayana (og hss mc) #hss mc #og hss f!mc #og hss mc #hss f!mc #cadybear's fanfics #cadybear writes

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

What is your opinion of Walt Disney?

Okay I will warn you this will be a bit long

Walt Disney is an inspiration flat out no matter what you say he is an inspiration to me, I come from humble rural backgrounds just 3 hours away from me lays Chicago where the Disney Family built a house and was starting a life before Elias Disney Walt's father moved them to Mississippi

There's a reason Kansas City claims to be Home of the Mouse because that's where Walt did a lot of blue collar work, from working in ad companies to working in the newspapers while he taught himself how to draw and eventually yes how to animate

You know how he first made his projectors at home with one of those really old-fashioned cameras. I am talking 1920s camera a sheet and some technical know-how,

Laugh-o-gram Studios had just gone up and that's what caused them to move to California, they weren't known, they did not have a penny to their name, they were just some Mississippi Chicago boys with a wish and a dream,

And from a shed in the backyard of Walt and Roy's Aunt and Uncle, the Disney Company would be founded and to go from that shed to the absolute massive company we see now

That only happened due in part because of Walt and yes Roy I will always give Roy just as much credit as his brother because he's much like Oswald quite forgotten in this story

Walt was a man ahead of his time, the original Dreamer no matter who laughed jeered ect he kept pushing the boundaries of what people thought Animation could do,

That is not to say he was perfect ohhh no he was definitely human, he had problems sharing he was known for being unbelievably stubborn on certain things, extremely old fashioned in views (He was Lost Gen After all being born in 1901)

1941 he traumatized himself horribly by ostracizing his crew who wanted to form a union, it lead to Walt getting into an actual brawl out front of the Disney Studios with one of his inner circle as they called it, leading to that one leaving with several others it broke his trust badly, and even worse

It took his passion for Animation away from him

A majority of projects in the 40s, 50s and '60s up until his death weren't really headed by him, sure he was involved in certain aspects but a majority of the times it was somebody else in the Studio that was the main overseer of those movies.

It really is sad because Jungle Book which was released in 1967 gave him his passion for animation back he was actually enjoying himself and had a few projects in mind, just as the cancer unfortunately struck and took him not even 2 months later on Dec 15th 1966,

When people say Walt Disney had so much unfinished business, they aren't lying. He was an imperfect human who believed in Family, Wishes,Dreams and seeing the Wonder in everything,that everything had a possibility to be great,

Did you know Characters in the parks aren't supposed to let go in a hug until the child does because Walt said

When a child hugs you, you don't let go first. Let them let go when they're ready because you never know how much they may need that hug in their life.

He was not perfect. However, he was a prime example of not giving up despite adversity, caring for Families instead of the Profits, Lord knows he danced the edge with bankruptcy multiple times fun fact The Three Caballeros helped save the company in the 40s after Fantasias fantastic flop, the government paid Disney to produce that package film and thats what kept them from going completely under, also thank Disney for your Surround Sound because Fantasia is the first 1. There is a reason some do say Disney is the prime example of the American Dream realized.

Because that's all Walt Roy and Ub had when they walked into Hollywood in the 1920s and founded a company that would become known around the World eventually with a Mouse who's name would come to be known by almost every child.

#walt disney #roy disney #ub iwerks #walt disney company #opinion #alana answers

[voidaspects]

My initial thoughts on what we've seen from Little Nightmares III so far:

okay, first of all-

ohmygodohmygod it's happening this is the best day of my life I'm eternally grateful we get more of this oh my god I'm so happy-

okay, with that out of the way, I have more in depth thoughts. My overall feelings on the reveal are incredibly positive, but with the caveat that this is still visibly missing some elements from the initial LN formula. This isn't to say that this will be bad in comparison, just different, and I feel it's worth it to put a spotlight on that.

The most obvious example of a change in philosophy is the inclusion of multiplayer. To be totally honest, I was actually worried about the idea of them including it, because the addition seems to stand against the linear artistic experience that the series is recognized for, but the way they've pitched the multiplayer does sound pretty unobtrusive, so I'll bite my tongue on that. I do think it has a risk of making the experience less cohesive though. It's clear that the decision was inspired by LN2, but that undersells the amount of individuality that six has in that game. You can't recreate the volatile emotions of your interactions with her if there wasn't the moments where she's not there with you, and you couldn’t have the scripted moments where she acts of her own accord to serve the narrative, if she was meant to serve the dual purpose of being a vessel for another player. idk, I suppose we'll see.

The other visible element that branches out from the original philosophy is the very clear push towards grounded, overt storytelling. Little nightmares from the beginning has presented it's story in a very deliberately vague way. Typically, it pushes the story beats through implication, and let's your brain fill in the gaps to get the intended story beats alongside some lingering uncertainty of the conclusion you've come to. it's not a game that is meant to be explained (contrary to what some youtube videos might tell you lol). the truth of little nightmares story is, explicitly, what you personally take away from it. some people view six as sympathetic, some people view her as purely heartless, and neither conclusion is wrong (please don't fight about it ; ;)

anyway, point is... this new entry is distancing itself from that element that's been inherently baked in until this point. like in the initial development of the first game, they removed all references to real world language, there is deliberately no spoken language in the series. the only exception so far, out of every piece of media in the series, has been the comics, which were cancelled and decanonized (though those characters still exist in that universe somewhere, in my heart ; ;) and the press release material, which has been the backbone of all explicitly stated Little Nightmares facts. we wouldn't even have character names if it weren't for that stuff, there are no names stated in any of those games!

with that said, and while it is cool as hell that they exist... making the new announcement of additional story media in this universe be through audio drama is a bit of an odd choice, isn't it? like... inherently? with this in mind? Like I'm over the moon with excitement, I'm not complaining, but the change in philosophy is pretty visible, right?

also, speaking of the universe, another example of the shift to more overt and clear storytelling is that they've officially given the setting a name. this isn't strictly new, we have "The Maw" "The Nest" (still canon in my heart ; ;) "The Pale City" and the new game, in turn, has "The Necropolis"

and yet, another name in the marketing has been "the Nowhere," a name that has been exclusively described with language implying we are already familiar with it, e.g. "welcome back to the Nowhere" and "are you ready to return to the Nowhere?"

This name has never been used in any previous media, as far as I know, but I think it's pretty clear that the underlying implication is that "The Nowhere" refers to the entirety of the LN universe.

not to sound like a broken record, but... my reaction remains a simultaneous "this is cool as hell" and "this was made with a very different philosophy in mind."

I predict that LN3 will have a much more cohesive story, grounded in a specific and defined setting. We've lost the ambiguity present in the series' identity, but that could lead to some cool things in the future.

overall? I'm extremely excited and incredibly optimistic, but do think that we should go into this new experience with the understanding that it might be a different one. There is visibly a new team working on this one, and while they may not have put as much focus into the subtleties of this franchise's identity, they are very clearly trying to stay true to the overall identity. you can tell in the art style, it's borderline perfect, and it's very clear that the people working on this knew how important stuff like that was to this game, and to us. This won't be the same experience that Tarsier would have made, but Tarsier was content to not make any more of that experience, so a new direction is far from blasphemous. I'm overjoyed that we're getting this new experience, with all it's little differences, and I can't wait to see what they do.

(also, to anyone who's curious about the design philosophy of the original game, I highly recommend this presentation. I feel like not enough people have seen this, and it's so interesting. Its all neat, but since It was partially to promote the game while it was still being developed, a lot of stuff in it is just showcasing a demo of the game and showing the trailer. All the cool stuff you'll wanna hear starts around the 16 minute mark)

#little nightmares 2 #little nightmares six #little nightmares #little nightmares 3 #little nightmares spoilers #little nightmares game #very little nightmares #ramblings

[kmze]

I have been reading & watching some old cast interviews and comic con panels lately.I never really paid attention to offscreen stuff before but is it me or there was always some underlying tension among them?Either they were trolling or they could barely stand each other to be in the same room or maybe I am reading too much into it.I think the one thing that remained constant was PW relentlessly trolling the show and its below-average writing and outlandish plots.So anyway in the process I got to the part where Malarkey slipped that Enzo will be Bonnie's love interest and Dries spewing BS about Bonlaric in the interviews.This is something Plec said she came up with after their scene in 6×21(hard to believe but whatever).Caroline was the only one the writers didn't say absolutely anything about until they probably decided to incorporate candice's pregnancy.One thing that I remember about both Bonnie and Caroline's so-called future relationships is that neither were compelling enough and little to no effort were made for them before the time jump while both SC & DB were left on cliffhanger.In fact both Carenzo and Bonenzo had the same story.Enzo betrayed both.;vervained Caroline & tied her up,hit Bonnie in the head and injected her with something that disabled her magic.And then in the end got his ass handed over to him by both the girls.😎

Anyway,in one interview,julie had even said that Bonnie and Caroline were going to take centre stage but Candice called and said she was pregnant.I'm not exactly sure how Candice's pregnancy could affect Bonnie's narrative unless it was just one of her lame ass excuses which it absolutely was.So what do you think Baroline's story was originally going to be before the time jump?Baroline being lesbians,dating each other and having the time of their lives in some European city?To be honest I would rather watch THAT.I hope someone does a Tell-All Book someday unless they all signed a NDA because too much shit happened that didn't make any lick of sense.

Hey so I actually think the cast are way more fond of each other than they let on, mostly because I don't see how a group of people would do so many of these cons together if they couldn't stand each other. I think Pauls just did a lot of trolling because he knew people thought it was funny. I do however think Kat hates Caroline Dries as she should and I don't think she likes Julie much either which is also completely warranted. The thing about Dries and Kat in what would be Bonnie's LI in S7 is that Dries said she didn't tell Kat but told Malarkey because Kat wasn't ready to hear it yet and like WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN??? Why does she think she had the right to treat her like a child? I'm so glad that bitch basically got fired in S7 and hasn't had success since, it's what she deserves. Bonnie and Enzo had some build-up in S5 too but it was similar to the stuff they had in 6x21 so it just felt like something the writers were putting a pin in for the future if they needed it. I just think the writers had no idea what to do with Enzo in S6 once they decided they didn't need him as the Klaus-lite foil to Stefan and rather wanted to isolate Stefan and Caroline while they built their love story.

I can probably answer the S7 questions better after I rewatch that season (I'm mid-way through S6 now) but I like 7x04 gives a good idea of what the season would have looked like with Candice's pregnancy. I think the SV baby would have been introduced and that would have been the obstacle for Steroline, maybe Stefan would have been stabbed protecting his kid? I also think Valerie might not have had such a big role that season if Candice wasn't pregnant because her screen time really dwindled after she was about 7 months pregnant. Bonnie on the other hand might have been more involved in the heretics plot and maybe that could have been used to develop Bonenzo but I'm sure Dries decided to make Enzo obsessed with Lily because she hates Kat. Like she would rather take a character we just fucking met and give her more stuff than Bonnie because to be blunt Valerie is white and Dries is racist.

#ask for ts

[yuki-hitomi-chan]

Show us your ocs!!!!

Okay okay. Note that I'm bad at remembering to take screenshots, so the ones I have will have to do. I'll do my video game ones, including Dragon Age (origins and inquisition) and Baldur's Gate 3. Yes, they're all very similar I know, and yes I like playing as elves shush.

Baldur's Gate 3

Current Tav: Rion About: Half-Elf/ Rogue/ Thief/ Urchin Canon Romance: Gale

So this is Rion, and he's romancing Gale. He's pretty charismatic (12) but don't ask him to lift anything. He's like every other guy in the game and has a total of 8 STR. You also can't see it here, but he has red highlights that show up in the sun. As for personality, he's mostly good aligned, although he will sometimes cause problems on purpose, especially if he thinks it's funny. He's a sweetheart and has a bad habit of picking up stray children (he wants to protect them like he wasn't when he was a kid), so yes, he finds the tiefling kids funny and even gave them some tips on how to improve their scams. Fun note: He's transgender, which is why he makes certain decisions (He got magic hrt don't ask me how it works it's magic), especially if it comes to affecting how he looks.

Also, I didn't realize that there was another half-elf with his name in the game until I met them. Was a bit funny, since they pronounce it like Rye-on and he pronounces it as Re-On.

Dragon Age Origins

Hero of Ferelden: Da'len Tabris About: City Elf/ Duel wield Rogue/ Assassin Canon Romance: Zevran Arainai

Da'len is my Tabris Warden! Her name means "Child" in Elven, and the story behind that is her father heard a mother calling to her child, and thought it was a wonderful name despite her mother's (rightful) disagreement. Turns out, she's just permanently named 'Kiddo' (which earns her some weird looks from those who actually understand elven to her annoyance. She didn't choose her name, her shut-in father did). Always the troublemaker in her family she wasn't ready to settle down at the beginning of her adventure, giving her family a headache, but that doesn't mean she won't kill for them. She fell in love with the assassin who tried to kill her. She's somewhat grated against humans, which gets her in trouble a lot, especially when she doesn't put up with their bullshit, and even more so when she thinks a knife is a good way to solve a problem (I mean, sometimes it is). Still not sure who's bright idea it was to keep her as the leader of the group, but nobody important died, so that's gotta count for something, right?

Ironically, despite having a mabari, she's not really a dog person.

Dragon Age Inquisition

Inquisitor: Ferris Lavellen About: Dalish elf/ Archer Rogue/ Assassin Specialty (I also played him as a mage at one point.) Canon Romance: Dorian Pavus

This is Ferris! He's a Dalish hunter turned savior for a god he doesn't even believe in! (Well, he sort of recognizes the maker as "a god" but more like the human's god versus his pantheon.) He originally had brown eyes, but due to the Breach and it's magic, he got very green eyes that sometimes weird people out because of how unnaturally green they are (No, they never change back, so good thing he looks good with green eyes). He struggles at first because he has no idea what proper human social cues are, but eventually he figures it out. He doesn't really like being a leader, but does it because someone has to fill the role, and he's the only one who's going to do it. He wasn't too sure about Dorian at first, but he came to fall in love with his sarcasm and flirting. (Ferris is not subtle about his flirting with someone who could be considered an enemy socially, something that makes Cassandra and Josie want to pull out their hair)

Fun fact, this boy right here is how I figured out I'm a gay trans man!

So that's my OCs from those games. If anyone wants to learn more about them, feel free to drop an ask! I know I got a bit ramble-y here, but I had fun!

#dragon age inquisition #dragon age origins #baldurs gate 3 #Original Characters #Crow's OCs #inquisitor lavellan #warden tabris #bg3 tav #Ask to tag #ocs

[bigtimesinsmallspaces]

Post 6: A Tale of Two Zephyrs Part One

Even the word Zephyr sounds beautiful, and has a poetic meaning of “gentle winds”. Boarding this train FELT poetic and momentous. We had worked hard to get here. This was also the one segment of the trip that we had booked outside of our Rail Pass and upgraded to an actual sleeper. So for 24 hours we would be living the life of luxury, in our own roomette, with meals in the dining car. I was ready to sleep laying down on the train!!

The #6 California Zephyr originates outside of San Francisco. Boarding two hours down the line at Sacramento (after that razzle dazzle to get us to the train on time) we would travel eastward for the next 24 hours through Truckee, Reno, and Salt Lake City, to our next stop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Shortly after getting on the train we were slowly climbing in elevation. Soon we would be riding through Truckee and the Sierra Nevadas. Truckee is a snowy, cold ski and recreational town. The Donner Pass is here and you can Google the details. Suffice it to say I would not wish to be in a wagon train stuck for the winter of 1846 at Donner Pass. At over 7,000 feet this was also the only area where I felt the impact of high elevation— slight nausea and a bit breathless. This quickly subsided as we came down out of the mountains and later had a stop at Reno.

Having access to the dining car and full meal service was a real treat after many days of picking through our bag of snacks and eating cafe food. The dining car may not meet the standards of those who reminisce about the grand ‘ole days on the train (yes, I do own some china once used on the Norfolk and Western Line) but it was top notch to me. I’ll do a separate blog later discussing in greater detail the logistics of what it’s like to live on the train for nine days. For now I’ll just say that in this 24 hour segment we had some good food.

We met some very nice people along the way, as well as many wonderful Amtrak employees. But an interesting aspect of the dining car is that Amtrak must maximize its dining capacity, and therefore enforces community dining— that is, there are no tables for one or two. You are seated with other passengers. On this segment we were “matched with” a young woman for both our lunch and dinner. She was traveling from Florida in between jobs and happened to have gone to college near where I grew up in Virginia. I say “matched with” because the dining room attendant, Drew, entertained us (past the dinner hour) with stories about his job. He said he literally did try to match people up in the seatings. In fact he said he matched a couple who returned to the train a year later to be married (while the train was in the Moffet Tunnel no less) and he served as the officiant. At breakfast we were “matched” with a retired gentleman who happened to live in the neighborhood outside American University where Allison went to school. It was interesting to share our excitement and experiences with others.

After an oversized dinner dessert we were ready for our undersized bunk beds in our even more undersized 22 square foot roomette (that is NOT a typo) with equally unimpressive two inch mattresses. Regardless, we were in HORIZONTAL heaven!! We slept beneath some battery operated Christmas lights we strung up for ambiance or just in case we lost power in a tunnel (hey, after reading about Donners Pass some lights and a plethora of snacks seemed like a minimal effort). Let me say, regardless of how it’s done, there is just nothing like sleeping (or trying to sleep) on a train. The sound of the whistle throughout the night, along with the rocking of the train, and the sense of catapulting through space is absolutely mesmerizing. For me it’s often trying to sleep, it’s just so wonderful I don’t even want to miss a minute!

The next morning we were greeted with a pot of coffee right outside our room. While we were at breakfast our wonderful car attendent LaShonda transformed our tiny beds back to seats as we enjoyed the beautiful ride into Utah.

Pictures below: At the Sacramento Station preparing to board the Zephyr, scenes from the Sierra Nevadas and Donner Pass, Dinner in the dining car with Drew, the 22 sq ft roomette at bedtime.

[tblsomedoodles]

Imagine if Leo's normal doctor had the day off and was watching the events of the movie unfold, and the moment he caught sight of his favorite patient in camera (blurry and not clear at all but still recognizable to thos ehwo know the turtles) he jsut stood up and system getting ready to go into work like

"Yep, I'm gonna be called in today... might as well get shit ready"

Oh definitely. He was just as worried about them as anyone. He's been their main doctor for months now, he knows them and, more importantly, he cares for them. So seeing those boys up there fighting off giant brain aliens scares the ever loving shit out of him and he just knows they're going to need help afterwards.

I feel like this is a pretty good moment to explain exactly who this doctor is, b/c i have finally come up with that.

Ok, so this dude was a man named Dr. Leonard Hyde before he was mutated. He was (and still is) a very brilliant doctor who delighted in learning everything he possibly could about his craft.

He was mutated when one of his more unappreciative patients smacked him over the head with an expensive crocodile skin bag, after which he got bit by an oozequeto. This obviously left him a reptile mutant and, therefore, no longer able to continue as a human doctor.

After some time, Big Mama heard about this reptile mutant doctor and, having just discovered she's the mother of four other reptile mutants that would probably need healthcare at some point, decided to reach out and offer him a deal.

Basically she set him up in the hidden city and helped him acquire a job at the local hospital, her only stipulation being that he helps keep her Arena fighters in top shape and is on call as needed. This eventually evolves to him being the boys' main doctor because 1) he knows the most about reptile mutations, and 2) he is big and tough enough to deal with Feral Cat Leo without getting too hurt in the process. (as much as he's tried, Leo has yet to actually be able to make so much as a dent in his skin)

Also, one last note, though he still goes as Dr. Hyde while he's in the hospital, the boys, after hearing his mutation story, gave him the nickname Dr. Leatherhead.

so yes! a Rise version of Leatherhead is their general practitioner (and is, in fact, the same doctor that originally treated Donnie when he was sick at the hotel.) They couldn't be in better hands.

Thank you!

I mean kinda. I did address Leo's hospital stay before (link here!) but Basically, yeah. he'd probably be either passed out or very much on his way to being passed out by the time he got to the hospital. And while he's there, he can't really fight against the doctors like he normally would b/c he's injured and on strong pain meds. So most of the time he spends there he spends either sleeping or begging whoevers in the room with him to take him home.

They end up sending him home early (with his house call doc on hand) b/c him staying in the hospital was doing him more harm then good.

Thank you!

#asks #tmnt #rottmnt #family web au

[acourtofthought]

Do you think Elain will be featured at all in CC3, even just mentioned in passing? I think it was said that some time will have passed between the ending of ACOSF and the events of HOFAS. I really want to know what her character has been up to during that time!

I would be so happy if Lucien was brought up too, but I see his character being involved in the crossover even less than Elain.

I think there are two likely scenarios.

The first is that Elain is not going to be featured in CC3 unless it's a very casual mention of "my other sister isn't here right now" and I think we'd get explanation for her absence in the next ACOTAR book.

I know most think Az will get next because he had his Bonus Chapter in SF and he's featured in the crossover but.....

Elain (or a mention of her) appeared in both SF bonus chapters and the information we got in Feysands was equally important to what happened in Az's. "Had she been wearing Lucien's gloves, she would have never gotten pierced at all" and "let's help one sisters before helping the other".

Also, in ACOWAR, ACOFAS, and ACOSF, we were told that there were some very pressing issues with Vassa, Koschei, Beron, and Spring.

Like, a few months time frame is what they're working with kind of issues. Even Eris said, "I can only hold my father off for so long, maybe a few months" and they were so concerned about what would happen in Spring that they permanently stationed Lucien there. Koschei also said, "tell my Vassa I'm waiting".

Does it make sense that those things were all at the forefront in SF only to have them take a backseat to whatever is happening in the crossover and after which puts us at least a year out from SF?

People keep saying Elain isn't connected to the current plot but the fact is, Elain is connected to nearly EVERY current plot in the ACOTAR world and if someone did not read CC2 / CC3 when they started reading the next ACOTAR book, the only plots they would be aware of would be the ones related to Koschei, Beron wanting to take over Spring, Elain getting rejected by Az, Lucien showing the markers of being a High Lord, him being permanently stationed in Spring, Nesta thinking of how Spring had been made for someone like Elain, etc. (as well as the formation of the Valkyries pissing off the Illryians and the Trove items / made weapons being in their possession). If someone stays an ACOTAR reader and ACOTAR reader alone, it would be pretty strange to go from all of those concerns to, "the IC had an interplanetary space travel land in their world and now Koschei, Vassa, Spring really aren't a big deal anymore!"

The introduction of the crossover in the Crescent City series isn't the current plot in the acotar world. I do think SJM will eventually connect it to the ACOTAR series but wouldn't it be a little strange starting the next book with an Az pov where she has to recap Bryce landing in Prythian? Something that would be absolutely shocking if you hadn't read the CC series?

Also, the Illyrians being mad about the Rite isn't the "current" plot, Gwyn not being ready to leave the library yet or her unknown heritage aren't the only current plots, they're simply plots SJM has now added to the other plots that haven't been resolved. And if Elain and Lucien's story is meant to deal with Koschei, Spring, etc, then it makes sense SJM would have started planting the seeds for the plot that will take place after that.

SJM is not a linear author. She begins planning for things early on that branch off from the original storyline. Like she began planning for Elucien's story all the way back in ACOMAF / ACOWAR but set them aside in favor of finishing Feysand and Nessian's story (I don't think Nesta's story had any major plot related foreshadowing until the novella). Just because she started building Az's future book doesn't mean SJM has to now give us Az's book next. It can simply mean she's preparing it, as she did for Elucien in ACOWAR, while wrapping up the storylines that are still outstanding.

So to me, I don't think Elain will be in CC because I think Elain is no longer in the NC to know that Bryce landed there. I think while CC3 starts 6-9 months after SF, SJM will take a step back and start Elucien's book 2-3 books after SF to fill in the blanks of what happened during that time (because again, I don't know how the characters could be sooo worried about Spring and Koschei and a war only to just sit on their asses for months doing nothing) and maybe at the end of their book, it'll show Lucien and Elain visiting Feysand (now happily mated) after the events of CC3 where they'll fill them in on what happened with the arrival of Bryce. Where they're now worried about who else can cross into their world and that will set up Az to be the next book.

Or......

If I'm completely wrong and Elain does make an appearance, it will be minor. I don't think she'd use powers that she wasn't even using in SF. Usually a characters book is the chance for us to get inside their head while they go on their journey including mastering their powers and if Elain were using her powers after they were dormant in SF, she would have yet another big moment for her happening off page (the way some in the fandom already believe she's fallen in love and found her family of friends).

Not to mention SJM has already set the stage that Elain, again, is not a major part of the IC when she had her notably absent at the end scene of CC2, something that carried on from SF and something that I think sets her up for beginning her journey of leaving the NC. So it wouldn't make sense to have her play a role of major importance when that goes against everything the author has been building for her in the NC.

#elucien #elucien book

[starlitangels]

Cataclysm Plot Summary

Welcome to Imperium | Cataclysm

Aka Imperium Season 2: Electric Boogaloo

Aka Apparently Showing Us the Boys in a Messed Up AU Wasn’t Enough Now We Have to Have A Plot™

A while back I did a rundown of the original Imperium series (click the underlined words if you’re new to Tumblr and don’t know that underlines are links) and told it with a messy, sarcastic, lighthearted, chaotic energy in an attempt to reduce the dark tones.

I’m trying to do the same here, but I don’t know how much I succeeded... my last Imperium summary was 2.8k words. This one is 10.0k

Without further ado, let’s get started

Spoiler Alert if you intend to watch Cataclysm (but if you don’t intend to watch Cataclysm and still want to know what happens in it, then you’re on the right post!)

So! As mentioned above, season 1 of the Imperium was really more of a character study with a lot of world lore showing why the characters were as messed up as they were and only a vague overarching story going on in the background

This season threw that out the window in favor of heavy plot

Read the link above if you don’t want to watch the original Imperium series but need a rundown on why the world is so dark and messed up

Alright! So, the first video is basically Echo coming back and being like, “Boo. Guess who? It’s been a while. We’re going back to Imperium where everything is f^&*ed and y’all can’t do anything about it.” And then he punts us through the mirror to the dark side of it and we’re back in the Imperium... yayyyy -_-...

Before I really get into it, I need to add a bit of information I left off of my last rundown because I either A) forgot or B) didn’t think it’d be important back then

Last time, each episode featured, like, 1 or 2 of the main canon characters and was just kind of showing how this AU affected who they were. There was baby bits of plot going on, but it was mostly about the characters. This year, each episode jumped around with a bunch of characters, so I’m going to try to format this a little better to show what happens when. Kinda similar to how I formatted my Inversion reaction post way back XD

The other bit of information I left off last time (I think), is that Mass-Maker vampires give their power to invoke their new turns to the Imperium. Sam mentions in his video last year that with careful wording of an invocation, he can transfer it so someone else holds the power to invoke his progeny. Hence why the Vampire Pyramid Scheme thing is under the Imperium’s governmental control. But even Mass-Makers are still under invocation to not reveal who that person they tied their invocations to is.

With those bits out of the way, let’s do what I promised and have an actual plot summary!

Light the Match

Episode 1 proper. It has been a year in-universe and out since the last time we saw these characters, and things have Progressed. Magic use hasn’t slowed down and, in fact, has gotten worse. The Meridian doesn’t have long left, but the resistance is still fighting to save it.

We open on Milo and Asher. Being dumb and being out in the woods at night (thankfully they’re driving so I guess it could be worse). Milo is telling Asher that this is a bad idea, and Asher agrees, but doesn’t do anything about it, and they continue on their way. They’re talking about going to meet a Freeborn (was never part of the Mass-Maker/Vampire Pyramid Scheme) vampire. Take a wild frickin’ guess who it is

We also learn that the Shaw Pack has properly joined Starlight and Babe’s resistance, and have gotten most of the other packs in Dahlia on board with it too. As many of us guessed they would Yay!

We find out that Asher and Milo are trying to free all the vampires from the Imperium’s control because the Imperium essentially uses them as soldiers/enforcers and there are so many of them that if the resistance tries to tear down the Imperium while the vamps are still under Imperial control, the resistance cannot win.

Milo calls the city a powder keg ready to blow, and says someone just needs to “light the match” roll credits but Asher says they need the info first

Anyway, they get to their destination after a little more arguing, and we jump perspectives a bit.

To the inside of the house they’ve just pulled up to. And it’s... *drumroll* You guessed it! It’s Vincent’s house! Y’know... Vincent... our favorite flirty vampire... who in this universe is a sadistic monster...

Remember in my last Imperium rundown post where I said Vincent still had some humanity in him? I take it back. I was wrong.

And is, when we see him again, feeding off Lovely in the creepy basement of his house. Lovely’s still there after a year of being held essentially captive and... I guess I’ll say they’re essentially kinda... brainwashed? Vincent says something about, “no thoughts in that empty brain, just how I like it” and then tells them to beg for another bite when he asks if they want another one. I assume this is because the pleasure a vampire feels from a bite reflects back on the person and they’re basically addicted to it?

But, before that actually happens, there’s a knock on the door. It’s Asher and Milo! They’re, uh, early for their meeting time with Vincent and we all wonder “who are you and what have you done with perpetually-late-to-everything Asher?” and Vincent’s a little miffed because they interrupted his feeding session with Lovely

There’s a little disagreement over Milo’s presence and Vincent is a total jerk to Milo for being small and honestly we all wanted to see a little action there but I’m not surprised we didn’t. Because Asher told Milo to stand down because they need the information they’ve come to Vincent for

Asher goes inside to talk to Vincent and leaves Milo outside to stand watch, and Milo is not happy about it. Asher basically tells Vincent he’s a jerk and Vincent brushes it off

Then they get started on the information. Vincent knows who the Imperium binds all the invocations to (William knows and Vincent managed at some point to get that information out of him). Asher wants the name/location of said person so they can get that person to release the invocations so the legions of vampires are no longer under Imperium control and the resistance stands a chance at winning

Vincent’s not convinced to give up the information so easily, and pokes and prods at Asher about David’s death, and the fact that David and Asher used to be romantically involved, pissing off Asher in the process

Vincent tells Asher that he’ll give up the coordinates of The Invoker if Asher...

Kills Alexis.

See, William’s only invocation on Vincent was to never be able to kill her himself even though Alexis is fully allowed to try to kill Vincent whenever she wants

Asher protests, saying Alexis is innocent of all this

And then Vincent explains that she’s not innocent of anything and promptly drops a Major Lore Bomb on us:

Alexis and Quinn were involved with each other (the phrase Vincent uses is “shared a bed” and outright says their relationship was at least, sexual, jury’s out on “romantic”) and Alexis was involved in the torturing of Darlin’s unempowered friend that ultimately resulted in the deaths of David and Darlin’—but Alexis wasn’t actually there that night when David and Darlin’ fought Quinn and his two other vampire companions because she was too busy trying (and failing) to kill Vincent

And that’s what gets Asher to agree

One Misery For Another

We turn our sights from the wolves and vampires, to the Imperial Academy of Dahlia.

Yeeeup! We’re back at f^&*ed up D.A.M.N.! Yay???

Aaand... we get Lasko again. President Lasko Moore. Creep-in-chief who Echo’s intro video this go-around taunts some of the audience members for quietly muttering, “NGL Imperium Lasko can kinda Get It...”

Anyway. Freelancer! They show up to his office because he’s apparently taken a special, personal interest in their education and he’s as condescending and creepy as always and my skin won’t stop crawling

Actually they want to ask him a question but the fact remains that he’s creepy

Lasko asks after Freelancer’s education, and then severely talks down on healing magic when Freelancer tells him they’ve been liking their healing classes the most. Because he wants them to be special and powerful and all that and thinks healing magic is useful, but just a tool for people with real power and wants FL to have “real power”

Side note: he outright confirms that our favorite Freelancer is, in fact, a powerful magic user. Which we all pretty much figured probs but it bears mentioning that It Has Been Confirmed™

Then Freelancer asks if they can go see Vindemiator. And Lasko gets Jealous™ Lasko agrees, and is like, “sometime this week, sure.” And Freelancer’s like, “No. Today.” And Lasko’s like, “Why today?” and Freelancer’s like, “Because then I won’t be thinking about it while I study this week and I can actually focus on school” and Lasko’s like, “A’ight. Lemme call the haven peeps and let them know you’re allowed to see him.”

But he only agrees with the condition that Freelancer comes back later that evening to continue their conversation. Fl agrees to be picked up later that evening and finally gets to leave President Creep’s office

And now we get to see Vindemiator! (I was very excited)

And over this past year he and Fl fell in love again! They are Meant to Be in every universe, Your Honor!

But before they can do any romantic lovey-dovey stuff, Fl has to shut the door because Vindemiator’s bedroom cell? in the haven doesn’t have cameras, but the hallways do, and they’re trying to be subtle

Vind is like, “How’d you get him to agree so fast?” and Fl gives the same answer they gave Lasko I guess, and Vindemiator’s like, “Usually he dangles this over your head before caving” and Fl’s just like, “Don’t worry about it, I’m here. I have to go back to talk to him later tonight, but I’m here now”

And Vind is worried about Fl’s comfort meeting up with Lasko after business hours and Fl shrugs it off but Vind pushes a little more. He hates that Fl keeps playing Lasko’s games in order to see Vind as often as they can and Fl, of course, brushes it off as “worth it” and Vind hates that even more because it means Fl has to put up with Lasko being a bigot and, I quote, “tolerate his touching”

Which, if that doesn’t set off warning alarms and raise red flags, I don’t know what would because yikes. There’s a reason I keep calling Lasko a creep in the Imperium universe y’all and this is it. Ew

Vind is feeling sorry for Fl and himself because Fl knowing Gavin essentially traded “one misery for another” roll credits from hiding their powers as a humanborn to putting up with Lasko with their magic out in the open, even Fl insists he saved them and he did from Kody, to be fair, but Vind is sulky

Also there’s lots of desperate kisses in this scene that break my heart and he calls Fl “my love” softly at least once and you can hear my heart shattering like dropped glass somewhere in the distance because they’re trying to be happy together in a world that stomps happiness out with glee

And then we move on to some juicy plot

Apparently Cam has been pretending to feed on a technician *insert eyes emoji here* it’s not Marcus, don’t worry in order to conspire with him to make a program presumably on a flash drive that can hijack the academy and haven’s security feeds

Vindemiator also briefly mentions Vega has a new way of getting through wards but we’ll come back to that I promise because “new way of getting through wards” is literally all Vind has to say, meaning he doesn’t know what that way is

He reveals that the plan has changed. Originally they were gonna scramble the security feeds and then the daemons were going to escape. Run away. GTFO. Leave Dahlia.

Now they intend to take the Academy as a stronghold. Not-D.A.M.N. is the nearest Imperial safehouse for the monarchs so it’s heavily fortified, and is a good home-base for striking out against the Imperium. And the haven is gonna stage a coup and snatch it out from under the Imperium’s nose as subtly as they can.

Avior gets a mention of Vindemiator believing in him and you hear my heart shatter again because canon universe!Avior has been so thoroughly left alone by all the other voiced characters that hearing the other daemons believe in him makes me wanna cry—look at my boy go! If you follow my blog and somehow aren’t aware that I am the biggest sucker for Avior, are you really following my blog? Anyway

And the other daemons in the haven (mostly Avior, who’s In Charge) want Fl to put the feed-scrambling program in Lasko’s computer because Lasko’s got the highest clearance. Vindemiator, of course, does not want Fl to put it in the computer. He doesn’t want Fl to risk it and he didn’t even want to ask them to do it because he knows they’d say yes, damning the risks, because that’s just the kind of compassionate Fl is

Vindemiator just so happens to have the flash drive with him, and Fl takes it, with the promise that if the opportunity to plug it into Lasko’s computer never presents itself, they won’t try again, and they won’t risk themselves too much

Fl promises and confirms that Anton’s not going to blackout the systems immediately before taking the drive

Then blah blah blah Vind laments that Fl has known too many burdens and deserves some peace and he’s entirely correct but doesn’t seem to remember that this is the Imperium, sucker! There is no peace! and promises to find some way to bring FL peace even if it’s just for a “short, precious while”

They kiss—

And we move on to the next segment, which is after Fl’s visit to the haven when our most loathsome Enforcer, Huxley, comes to pick up Fl to go to Lasko’s and is in general being a bigot and a jerk and my heart breaks but I also want to punch him in the face at the same time and he mocks Freelancer for being in love with Vindemiator because he thinks daemons are all just manipulators to get humans to feel whatever emotion they need to survive and in the distance you can hear me shouting “let me at him!”

Anyway he takes Fl to Lasko’s, like, office reception area or whatever and Lasko has already poured some drinks... because that’s not sus at all and we totally weren’t waiting for Fl to get drugged or poisoned or something while Lasko’s saying, “tonight we don’t have to be president and student, we can just be us!” and we’re all side-eyeing each other like, “that’s a red flag!”

And then they do a “Cheers” and the episode ends... Oof.

Luxury of Morality

Aaaaand we’re back to the wolves! Yay! This one came out while I was in an airport so my notes were really hard to read and understand so I redid this from relistening to the episode in full... r.i.p.

Anyway! Asher comes into the pack den or whatever from being outside in the endlessly pouring rain to Baaabe just kinda hanging out waiting for him and he’s like, “Didn’t you have a meeting with your coordinator friend?” (Starlight) And Babe’s like, “Bruh that was ages ago” and Ash groans that he lost track of time meeting with Vincent when he can’t afford to lose track of time

Ash asks how Babe’s meeting with Starlight went and Babe replies that the daemons are days away from being ready and Ash flips because he and the wolves won’t be ready in days—they need more time to get the vampires neutralized and if these two things don’t happen within a short time of each other, it probably won’t work and Ash thinks the daemons are gonna get themselves killed. Babe tells Ash about the program that hijacks the academy security and Ash is skeptical at best because if Anton misses one of the academy’s many check-ins with the Department, it’s going to arouse a lot of suspicion.

Ash points out that daemons are strong but their magic has limits too and there’s such a thing as being outnumbered, and the Imperium has a lot of vampires and complains that Avior needs to wait until they’re ready and Babe tries to be nice but Ash retorts that Avior most likely doesn’t think Asher and the pack can actually get the Invoker to release all the vampires in time—and he doesn’t blame Avior because he’s not sure he can either

He also mentions that daylight won’t be to their advantage because the Imperium can just order Air and Water Elementals to make a stormcloud to block the sun which is simultaneously kinda awesome and Absolutely Terrifying at the same time. The only way to ensure the vampires can’t be set on the academy is to free them, and the only way to find the person is to do Vincent’s favor and then convincing the Invoker to let the vampires go

And Ash has a bit of an existential monologue about he’d rather die trying to save the world than do nothing and let it end, even if he thinks he and the rest of Elegy are already dead

He tells Babe to keep him posted about the haven and tries to leave but Babe insists on him telling them what Vincent’s favor is. Ash tries to sidestep with the “you don’t want to know” BS but Babe pushes no matter how much Ash tries to dodge

So Asher tells them to sit down and reveals the deal he and Vincent made. The info, for killing Alexis.

Then they get into an argument because Babe thinks killing is always wrong and Asher shoots back that in this situation he doesn’t have the “luxury of morality” roll credits because it’s “Alexis dies now, or everyone dies soon”

Asher tells Babe, too, that he didn’t believe Vincent at face value and therefore verified the story and found out a lot about Alexis, before Babe could keep defending a woman they didn’t actually know anything about.

Alexis has a plot of land out beyond Ferris (the town where the Keaton Pack relocated to in the Prime universe) with high concrete walls that’s like an overgrown maze inside where she trucks in unempowered people and hunts them down, particularly families. 

She’s a Mass-Maker so she gets away with all of it because the Imperium says she’s earned it.

And when she can, she likes hunting shifters too. She already killed the entire Keaton Pack. They got on the wrong side of the Imperium and the Imperium essentially handed the pack over to her.

Asher continues to tell Babe that Alexis is partially responsible for Darlin’ and David’s deaths—and if everything else Alexis had done wasn’t enough to get Asher on board with killing her, that alone would be plenty

Asher also reveals what Vincent teased at before—that Asher and David weren’t just romantically involved, they were mates in this universe. Which I freely admit I didn’t see coming because that seems like something that would have come up last year when Asher was berating Christian, blaming him for David’s death, and saying last year that “his alpha” died not “his mate” and that seems like a pretty radical difference to me but it also certainly explains why Ash “over”reacted the way he did last year so meh makes sense

But anyway. We’re not here for my tangents obsessing over word choice. We’re here for plot and drama!

Ash admits that Babe has given him and the pack something to fight for in a world that he didn’t think he’d want to fight for after everything he’s lost, which he’s grateful for, but despite all that Babe has given him in regards to purpose, it isn’t enough to make him consider the immorality of killing Alexis

He doesn’t care if Babe sees him as a monster for it, either.

And he leaves the room.

While the thunderstorm continues in the background

What You Deserve

Swapping back over to the D.A.M.N. side of the story, we open with—

Wait

Vega?

Yeah. So, on my original Imperium summary I kinda brushed past Vega’s BA because I thought the only relevant bit was that humans could, like, volunteer to let daemons feed off of them at the havens in feeding rooms that had cameras in them

But apparently I was wrong. The other relevant bit was that the human from that BA was supposed to be letting Cam feed off of them and accidentally walked into Vega’s room instead due to a clerical error, and ended up locked in. And found Vega wildly attractive and Vega accused them of being a bit of a masochist and... well... it’s an NSFW Bonus Audio so... you can probably guess what happened back then.

A year later, Vega and that same human are pretty much in love. Huh. Vega as a thoughtful partner wasn’t on my Cataclysm Bingo Card but it’s interesting to explore

Vega’s trying to soothe the human listener character (who he calls Pet so that’s what I’m gonna use to simplify) because they’re worried about the plan and want to hold Vega and Vega’s like, “Sure. If that comforts you. Not what I expected but sure.”

He tells Pet that when the fighting starts, they need to stay in the haven. And if the resistance fails, he makes Pet promise him that they’ll tell the humans he was nothing more than a cruel, sadistic monster who held them captive. Because the humans would expect to hear that and it will keep Pet safe

Vega goes on to say Freelancer is going to try to plant the program in Lasko’s computer tonight (this takes place the same night as the last time we saw them, btw) and everything will permanently change either way. Comforting, Vega. 10/10 good job

Pet is a little scared but Vega gives actual comfort over the changes with a complicated river metaphor, but realizes Pet isn’t just worried about the broad, sweeping changes about to happen. They’re worried for Vega.

And I’ll say it right now: Vega is the only character whose canon universe version would be punched in the face by his Imperium version, rather than the other way around like Huxley or Sam

Vega reassures Pet that they don’t need to worry about him because he’s perfectly capable of handling himself and promises he won’t leave Pet the way others have, and tells them their soft heart is safe with him

Moving back to Freelancer in Lasko’s office area! Who, thank the Sovereigns, is not getting drugged or poisoned by whatever drink Lasko gave them. And they’re having a somewhat pleasant chat but also not really because it’s kinda creepy because Lasko is talking about whether or not Fl left behind a partner in their old life and when FL’s like “nope” Lasko doesn’t believe them and makes a quiet comment about how with “that body?” he can’t imagine they didn’t have someone but Fl insists they didn’t

But guess what? Avior, Vega, Vindemiator, and Anton are monitoring Fl from the haven and Vind is like, “They’re super uncomfortable. If this keeps up I’m going in there”

And Avior, over the radio, is like, “Calm down, Vin. Trust them.” (Vin! Vin! A nickname! From Avior! I about lost it because, I mean, c’mon! That at least means they’re somewhat friendly and all I want is Gavin and Avior in the canon universe to be friends toooooo!)

Then we jump back to Freelancer, who asks where the bathroom is. It’s just past Lasko’s office, but when they get up, they go into Lasko’s office instead and start rummaging around to get the flash drive or whatever plugged into the computer

And Lasko comes to the door (which Fl locked when they slipped inside) and is trying to get inside while Fl keeps running the program and he acts at first like he thinks Fl is joking with him and slowly starts getting more and more vocally aggressive when Fl doesn’t respond

And, in the haven, Vindemiator can’t take it anymore, even as Anton announces that Freelancer was successful in getting the drive into the computer, and he takes off at super speed for Lasko’s office. Avior, on the radio, is like, “No!” but Vind doesn’t listen so Vega’s like, “I’ll go with him and put wards up to hide that we’re there.” And also takes off and Avior mutters, “Assuming Vin doesn’t level the building” and then instructs Anton to do what he can.

Back at Lasko’s office, Lasko is mad that Fl still hasn’t opened the door or even said anything

And negates the air in the room in his office (he can do it through a wall with no problem)

Starting to asphyxiate Freelancer, taunting them through the door when they try to get out but can’t think straight because they’re losing oxygen, saying that he’s trying to teach them a lesson, not kill them—

Then Vin to the rescue!

(After Freelancer passes out on the other side of the door)

Lasko tries the same trick, negating the air, but Vin laughs and is like, “Nice try. Daemons don’t need to breathe.” And promptly mutes Lasko’s powers, so now Lasko does have to breathe, and proceeds to use magic to beat Lasko up, and choke him out. Because Air Elementals apparently don’t need to breathe either when they negate the air in a room until their powers are taken from them and Vindemiator is getting his revenge—

When Vega shows up, holding Freelancer. He and Vin talk about how Lasko deserves more than the broken bones Vindemiator just gave him, and Vindemiator wants to be the one to give Lasko what he deserves, but he admits that he still sees Kody’s broken form on the floor from last year when he tries to go to sleep, and he can’t hurt someone like that again so he drops Lasko from the chokehold—and Lasko gets a chance to catch his breath. Until...

Vega’s like, “You can’t. I can.” And when Vindemiator’s like, “Wait what?” Vega grabs Lasko with his powers, holds him down, starts torturing him, and silences him. Vindemiator protests, but Vega boils it down to, “Your heart is soft, Vindemiator. And that’s fine. That’s why I’m here. To do the things you can’t.”

He tells Vindemiator to take Fl and get out, and after a bit of arguing (because Vega used the term “pet” and Vindemiator snapped back that Fl is not his pet and Vega’s like “different words same concept. Go”), Vindemiator does.

Leaving Lasko alone with Vega.

During which Vega reveals that he’s been faking being half-starved and weakened all the time. Because Lasko, and everyone Lasko’s assigned to the haven, are all hateful and cruel—and Vega’s been feeding on that for a long time. He’s more powerful than Lasko could ever conceive of, and it’s all Lasko’s fault. Vega thanks him for that, and promises that he’s going to use the power Lasko’s enforcers gave him to tear the Imperium apart. And if it fails, come and watch as the Meridian collapsing washes Lasko away, so the last thing Lasko ever sees is Vega’s smile

Then Vega Slices Lasko’s Threads!

Which is terrifying and kinda hot but not entirely undeserved on Lasko’s part either

While the thunderstorms continue in the background

Worth Dying For

Alrighty-doe! Back to Asher!

But! We also get Milo...

And our new second-favorite Incubus: Scorpius! Yay! (I’m not kidding when I say it’s always a delight for me to hear GB)

And after Scorpius and Milo give each other so much attitude and sass that I want to hear more of their interactions for the rest of forever, Asher offers Scorpius a deal:

Overclock Asher’s Core, and the wolves will take Scorpius to the safety of the haven

Scorpius is skeptical because he tried to get into the daemon haven before with no luck, and Ash remarks it’s because he tried to go to the front door, and the wolves have a back way in that is guaranteed to work

And Scorpius is like, “yeah okay, but the Imperium banned overclocking ages ago. You realize it’s a bad idea, right?”

Asher’s like, “I know. But the why isn’t part of the deal.”

So, for context now, “overclocking” is when a daemon pours some of their magic into a human’s Core, supercharging their magic for a short while. But it’s ridiculously risky because the only way to get rid of it once it’s in their bodies is to use it all—and the longer the human holds on to the demon magic, the more it burns their Core to a crisp. (Sound familiar? Inversion, anyone?) Basically, the human is very likely to lose their magic if they Overclock their Core.

So why does Asher want Scorpius to do it to him?

We’re getting to that.

Asher argues with Scorpius that because he’s a shifter and magic isn’t just in his Core like most of the other magical races, he’s more confident that he’ll be able to take it in sound familiar?! and potentially not lose his magic permanently

Scorpius reluctantly agrees after a bit more arguing

We move now to Damien and Royal Consul Jett!

Jett informs Damien that not-D.A.M.N. missed a check-in (they were a little late because Anton is doing those, but the Department doesn’t know that yet) and Damien’s all, “Seriously? You’re bugging me for this? One academy being late?” and Jett’s like, “it’s the nearest safehouse for you though.” and Damien’s like, “It’s beneath my concern right now. I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

And Jett’s like, “Sire the public hasn’t seen or heard from you in four months, maybe you should stop isolating yourself in your quarters”

And Damien’s like, “Why do you think they haven’t?”

Jett tries to soften his words by saying it had been four months since “the loss” of Damien’s consort (who, remember, is actually Angel)

Damien practically blows a gasket because “loss” makes it sound like an accident, but Angel was speaking out against the Imperium (releasing documents revealing background information) and no matter how Damien’s attempts to stop them escalated, they wouldn’t stop

So they were executed

Yeah. Angel’s dead. We didn’t even get to see them fight Damien before it happened :-(

Y’all I feel a bad for Sal because every time he’s voicing Jett on Redacted’s channel, Jett’s getting yelled at. First by Milo in the Inversion, now by Damien... I don’t care much for Jett but poor Sal XD

And Damien orders Jett out, and he leaves.

Back to Milo and Ash!

They’re on their way to meet Scorpius. Arden is going to come pick him up once they’re done and take him to the haven—which is great for Avior because they’re gonna need all the magic they can get 

And Milo and Ash get into an argument about Ash not risking the pack for this and going to take her out alone, and the overclocking, during which Asher reveals why he needs Scorpius to do it.

The older a vampire gets, the more resistant to magic they are, and Alexis is fifty and was turned by Old Blood. A lot of magic won’t necessarily work on her well when she’s at full strength. So they have to weaken her. And there’s only one way Asher can think of to do that.

See, vampires can’t feed on daemon blood. It’s essentially poison to them because it’s basically magic made physical that would overload their bodies and destroy them. And Asher knows he can’t trick Alexis into feeding on a daemon, so the next best thing is to overclock his Core. The saturation of magic in his blood should, hopefully, poison her and weaken her long enough to kill her if he can get her to feed on him

Milo, of course, freaks out at how bad of an idea it is and basically begs Asher not to do it, and gives the most emotional speech that I can’t even summarize without crying so I’m skipping it for now, and begs Asher to bring Milo with him to kill Alexis, and Asher actually agrees

They go and meet Scorpius and Scorpius double checks that this is what they wanna do and Milo asks for confirmation that once Scorpius gives Asher his magic, he won’t be able to take it back or transfer it—and won’t have enough to do it again

And Milo goes, “That’s what I thought. In that case... Sorry, Ash” and promptly knocks Ash tf out and tells Scorpius to overclock him instead

Scorpius is like, “Wait my deal was with your alpha.” And Milo’s like, “You’re still getting into the haven. Just do it to me, not him.”

Scorpius agrees, and once he gives Milo some of his magic, Milo radioes Arden and tells her to come get Scorpius to take him to the haven and thanks Scorpius

Anyone else experiencing deja vu or is it just me? *glares at Milo for being a brave, dumb, self-sacrificing idiot again*

Truth Will Out

Alright. This one starts

with Sam?

Yep. See, I didn’t think we’d see Sam this year. I thought that once he got his Mass-Maker title he’d f^&* off to the Solaire Clan wherever they are and enjoy his freedom.

But nah. Why should my predictions ever be right?

Anyway. He and a large crowd of vampires are standing outside not-D.A.M.N. in the storm, shaking the chained gates, and Sam seems to be the spokesperson, saying they know the academy has been taken over by the daemons—and tells the “Children of Aria” to come greet their guests.

So Avior goes out. Alone (10/10 fantastic idea, Avior. Good job *eyeroll*) and is like, “how did you know we took the academy?”

And Sam dodges the question. Multiple times. But he’s got his crowd of vampires—

But that they want to help? What the hell?

They’re Mass-Makers and freeborns (ones who were turned but never under the Imperium’s control), all of them. And they hate the Imperium and want to help tear it down

And no matter how many times Avior asks how they know, Sam dodges or avoids the question—and points out that the longer Avior waits with this massive force of vampires outside the gates, the Department’s gonna start noticing soon.

He tells Avior that he can double check the truth of their story if he wants. Which Avior does want to do. So the vampires get locked up in the haven for temporary holding while Anton verifies their stories

The vampires get escorted to the containment rooms and Avior goes somewhere to be alone

Which is where Starlight finds him. And—it’s important for me to note—he calls them Starlight. Meaning they’re in love in this universe too now! Which is a win for me!

And Avior’s telling Starlight that he didn’t have much other choice but to bring them in, and they’re both worrying that the vampires are suspicious which they should be, but all the vamps are who they say they are—and several of them are on the Imperium’s hit list. So yeah. No love there

But the most worrisome is that none of them will explain how they know the daemons took the haven—there’s a leak somewhere, and they refuse to say where. Avior promises that if the vampires turn on them, the vampires won’t survive the event

He goes over the plan with Starlight—even with these vampires, he’s not confident in their forces yet to attack the Imperium outright. They need to deliver one fatal blow to the Imperium or the resistance can’t survive to make a second strike against the might of the Department

Starlight suggests kicking out the vampires but Avior says he can’t. He doesn’t trust the vampires or the convenience of them showing up, but it would be too suspicious—and one of the vamps might tattle to the Department—and he can’t afford to ignore the extra hands

And Avior reveals why it’s always raining in the background in the Imperium

The world is dying as the Meridian keeps wearing thinner and thinner. The storms and the earthquakes are the world’s death throes (“The final movements or sounds, often erratic, of a living being as it dies”). They haven’t seen the sun in ages because of it.

But McKinley’s daemon havens are on the same page and have taken their havens from Imperial control and are on their way—but it’ll take them a few days to get to Dahlia. Borden’s (another city’s) aren’t ready yet but they’re on their way

Starlight asks if they could use magic to pull the truth from the vampires’ minds. Avior admits it’s possible, but unethical and he’s not willing to do it. He says Vega and a few of the others would be willing, but Avior is the one In Charge (the way he said that—I’m not even gonna lie was pretty hot) and he’s not even going to ask because the vampires, technically, haven’t provoked it yet. So it’s the Absolute Last Resort

And we turn to Vega and Pet—

And Vega and Pet have a sweet conversation where Vega expresses how he’s always surprised at how Pet looks at him and treats him

He tells them to prepare for a quick change as the fight breaks out elsewhere. He promises to come back, but they’re gonna be alone for a bit as he leaves. Pet wants to go with him, but he won’t let them. He can’t keep them safe when the fighting starts. Pet, reluctantly, agrees

And they tell him he “holds their heart” and he gives a soft speech about how his hands are better made for crushing, tearing, breaking—destruction and cruelty, and to be trusted to hold Pet’s soft heart was something he never expected. 

He starts to tell Pet his plan. He doesn’t want them to have to lie to the Department should it fail, but he doesn’t want them to misunderstand him, either— 

And Vega tells Pet that he is the reason the vampires are here. He used his magic—Telepathy, I assume—to reach into the minds of the vampires free of the Imperium and most willing to volunteer for something like this, and suggested they gather for this. Any vampire that he sensed would resist, he ignored, rather than try to take over their minds because it wouldn’t be stable. So he just. Offered. And they agreed. But if any of them betray him, he’ll destroy them.

He says he knew Avior would never agree, so he just did it. Avior is a good leader and a worthy voice for daemonkind, but too reserved to make harder decisions. He says Avior should be the leader, but should stay behind the front lines and needs a general willing to take risks and fight and carry the pain so Avior doesn’t. And Vega took that upon himself because the other daemons would never be able to do it.

And he’s going to take the vampires and the other daemons to the Imperium Spire (the palace/governmental seat, essentially) tonight to lead the strike. To kill Damien and the Ruling Council or die trying. Either way, it’ll be over.

And Pet is worried, of course, because they love him. And he asks that they trust him. He promises he’s not gonna be the one dying. He promises to come back and that he was “born of cruelty, but is more than that” and won’t leave Pet alone in this harsh world

I am mildly in love with Imperium!Vega, not gonna lie. But Canon!Vega can take a hike

We move, now, to Fl and Vindemiator. Fl is awake after being suffocated and Vin is trying to convince them to rest and they won’t. Fl is imagining what their and Vin’s lives could be in a world without the Imperium and Vin desperately wants to give that life to them. They deserve to see their canon counterparts, Your Honor!

Then, Freelancer suggests they leave. Apparently they’re fed up with everything they’ve been put through and they want to find some well-deserved peace—finally

And Vin says he can’t. He protests that he can’t abandon the resistance. That Avior’s gonna need all the demons he can get

But Fl argues that one daemon isn’t going to make or break the fight which I disagree with but this universe had no Inversion to prove that to them but ssshhh

So, after a bit of convincing, Vin and Fl decide to run away together. To just have a few days of peace and happiness, before the end of the world.

They run. They don’t even pack a bag. They. They Just Go.

And we literally never hear from them again for the rest of Cataclysm

Tantum Tyrannus

(Which translates, according to Google Translate, to “Only a Tyrant”)(In case you’re curious. I was)

Well, sh!+

Asher wakes up to Sweetheart (Finally showing up) waking him up. Sweetheart can’t find Milo anywhere gee wonder why and Asher realizes what Milo did. He explains it to Sweetheart and Sweetheart’s like “why did you let him do that?” And Asher’s all, “I wouldn’t have—which is why he knocked me tf out and did it anyway!”

Asher is determined to go after him, and Sweetheart convinces Asher to take them with him no matter how much he resists and he finally caves after Sweetheart asks what Asher would have done to be there, fighting at David’s side, the night David died. Asher tells Sweetheart to stay cloaked as long as possible, but lets them join him

And off they go to save Milo! (Assuming he’s alive)

Then we move to Damien!

And Nate Wexler! (Remember him, from Inversion? The Probably-Freelancer who sounds like he’s about 14?) He’s an adjunct to Consul Jett and Jett was called before the Ruling Council and sent Nate in his place

That or he figured Damien would be less pissy with someone with the voice of An Actual Child™ and made up an excuse but that’s none of my business

Damien’s like, “Fine, what’s your report?”

The weather has been getting worse and the planet is experiencing geological instability and Nate Wexler is trying to encourage Damien to make some sort of statement, to which Damien lashes out that he shouldn’t have to be holding the citizens’ hands

Damien asks Nate Wexler what the Elemental Magistrate is doing about the weather (because it’s evidently their job to handle the weather and stuff) and Nate’s like, “They’re doing everything they can but it’s not working.”

And Damien, being Damien, just snaps that they need to work harder or he’s putting them on Blood Supply

So Damien tells Nate to send some vamps to keep an eye on the Elemental Magistrate—in essence, intimidate them into trying harder—and dismisses him. So off the poor bean goes

Anyway back to Asher and Sweetheart where the fun is

They get to Alexis’ house and it’s... too easy. There are no guards. No wards. Just the house. Asher is Very Suspicious™ as he should be

And as he and Sweetheart approach the house, floodlights turn on and a loudspeaker activates.

It’s Alexis. Taunting Asher (remember Sweetheart’s cloaked and Alexis probably can’t detect their Stealth aura because they can pretty much fully mute it for a while) about Milo and beckoning him inside.

They go inside and Alexis has a beaten-up Milo in her grip.

She and Asher argue and she taunts him for not giving the pack his last name, instead hiding behind David’s, and she clenches Milo’s arm in her fist and breaks it. She threatens to turn Milo into a vamp and invoke him to attack Asher before he even takes his first breath as a vampire

Milo, being Milo, dares her to try

She bites him—

And his poisoned blood fills Alexis’ mouth. She recoils like, “What is that?”

And Sweetheart (I assume) hits her with enough magic to hold her still long enough for Asher to tear her head off

Then they get Milo tf out of there to go get healed ‘cause he kinda passed out. Poor guy

And Asher goes to pay a visit to a certain Vincent Solaire...

He brings Alexis’ head with him and Vincent is actually surprised that Asher pulled it off. When Asher explains how, and that the plan didn’t quite happen the way he’d wanted, Vincent laughs, saying Milo is “small and stupid” and keeps mocking Milo for taking it on himself

Vincent warns Asher that the Invoker has held the invocations for the vampires for as long as the Imperium has existed—meaning the Invoker is in some way immortal because the Imperium has been around for centuries

Asher tells him to “go to Hell” and when Vincent just laughs, Asher insists that Vincent gives up the coordinates on the Invoker. Vincent writes them down and hands them over—

And then Asher shifts and tears his head off too and growls, “Save me a seat”

Which was the most badass one-liner I could ever imagine because Imperium Vincent is a di—

Okay moving on

One Last Wish

Second to last, y’all! You’ve almost made it down this trainwreck of a summary!

We’re back with Milo and Asher. Milo’s in bed, recovering though no word is given on if he actually fully burnt out his Core or not but Asher seems confident when he says it’ll come back after Milo expresses doubt, but Sweetheart went to go make some food for him (probably before coming back to give him the Lecture of the Century™—assuming Marie doesn’t get to it first)

Asher tells Milo what happened with Vincent—that he got the info before ripping Vincent’s head off and liberating multiple people being held captive in the basement including Lovely (who had been there the longest by the sound of it) and getting those people to the healers with Miguel and Christian’s help

They have a heartfelt conversation about how Asher is a good alpha and Milo knows he can’t be as good of one, which was why he couldn’t let Ash burn out his Core

Then Milo asks Ash why he hasn’t given the pack his own last name—that the pack would be proud to be named after Asher and we all hold our breath for a potential Last Name Reveal?

Asher says it’s because he’s not the one that needs to be remembered. That it’s Gabe and David who deserve it and we all sigh because we don’t get the Last Name Reveal

Ash takes some time to cry because he can’t feel the magic in the word mate anymore now that David’s dead and says he keeps the pack called the Shaw Pack because it’s one of very few things he has left of David—David hated having his picture taken so there’s only a few pictures of him but Ash has David’s jacket and old wallet... but very little else

He and Asher have a moment of sobbing together and Milo tells Ash to “come here” and Ash gets closer but is like “Why” and Milo’s like, “if I get off this bed you’ll yell at me but I’ll be damned if I don’t do this” and gives Asher a hug

Asher holds onto Milo and they both cry, and as Asher pulls away, Milo figures out immediately that Asher’s leaving and asks if he can convince Ash to take anyone with him to go after the Invoker and Ash is like “nope”

And Milo tells Ash he loves him and tells him to come home. Ash loves Milo too and then Sweetheart comes in and Asher goes out (they exchange a hug and Asher does a *pat pat* on their back and they are family, Your Honor)

And Asher heads off to go confront the Invoker after steadying himself just outside Milo’s closed door.

On to Avior and Starlight! And Vega.

Starlight rushes into the room and Avior’s like “What’s up?” because Starlight is clearly distressed and Starlight saw Vega doing something sus and Avior’s like, “Crap. C’mon. We gotta catch up to him” and they rush off to Vega and find him heading for the courtyard to lead the vampires and daemons to the Imperium Spire.

They catch up to Vega when he’s alone and Avior’s like “what are you doing?” and Vega gives a literal answer that he’s heading for the courtyard and Avior’s like “Don’t play semantics with me” and they start arguing about logistics

And Vega finally gives up his plan to Avior, telling him that Vega was the one who brought the vampires here. And Avior is shocked and Vega tells him the same thing he told Vin—Vega does what the softer hearts can’t. He also says if any of the vampires think about turning on him, he’ll just take control of them

Avior is, understandably, against the notion

The two argue and Vega says he won’t magically fight Avior, and Avior’s like, “You can’t stop me without a fight!”

And Vega says he’s going to remove Avior—by sending him back to Aria. Avior’s like, “No. Only daemons who serve the Chorus are strong enough to rift” and Vega says, “Nope. It’s not power. It’s knowledge. Knowledge the Chorus didn’t share.”

Because yeah—Vega’s known how to rift this whole gatdang time and never did anything with it. Avior is appalled that he never went home and Vega says, “The Sovereigns deserve their fate. Humanity doesn’t.” Literally Vega’s stayed on Elegy this whole time to help humanity and for some reason I fall a little more in love with this version of him

Starlight tries to protest and get close and Vega warns them off, saying if they get too close, the rift will suck them in too and obviously we know humans can’t survive in Aria

Avior pleads with Vega not to do this, but Vega promises he’ll see Avior soon anyway. Either when they succeed and Vega retrieves him, or if they fail and Aria merges into Elegy and all of daemonkind is reunited

He opens a rift—

And Starlight rushes over to try to stop it and gets pulled in too

Vega laments that it was a needless death but that it won’t be in vain

And heads for the courtyard

Say hello once again to Damien and Nate Wexler!

The Imperium Spire is under attack! The daemons and vampires have stormed it and are making massive headway. The legions Damien commands are scattered, all they have are the normal security at the Spire—who are the best, but not enough, numbers-wise. And also they’ve lost contact with almost every daemon haven in the whole Imperium and Damien’s like, “Pull everyone from Dahlia then I don’t care where they’re stationed, we’re not fleeing the Spire like they want but we have to defend the building!”

And Nate’s like, “yes sir” and scampers off

Back to Avior—

And Starlight?

Yup! Starlight’s not actually dead! Yay!

Because guess what?!

The same thing happened here that did in the canon universe

The gatdang rift collapsed again!

So Avior and Starlight are in some barren, dripping landscape where every atom is made of magic that’s shaking bad and surrounded by voids and are like, “Okay... wtf do we do?” and they try and figure out whether the voids are ways out or not and Avior’s like, “we can’t do the first thing we think of without thinking things through!” and then the landscape shakes harder and Avior’s like, “Okay... maybe we don’t have time to think things through.”

And because they are always a mildly reckless idiot, Starlight shoves their hand (or fully jumps through) one of the voids and is pulled in. Just like in canon

And then there’s a background rhythm beating and you hear two voices. One is Erik’s, one is a woman’s.

“Child...

“Of Land...

“You...

“Are needed...”

What the fu—

We’re back to Asher now!

He’s made it to wherever the Imperium holds the Invoker and he fights off what few guards there are. A handful of vampires already trying to flee.

He doesn’t know the door passcode and goads the Invoker, hoping to get him to open the door

And after a moment, he does.

And it’s

Brachium

WHAT THE FU—

All Cruel Things

Last one. The finale. We made it this far, but this video is 51 and a half minutes long so prepare yourselves

We start at the fight at the Spire. It’s mayhem. Camelopardalis radioes Vega saying that the Ruling Council have evacuated and gives their location. Vega, delighted, and happening to be near Sam (because remember Vega brought all the vampires), tells Sam he has to go attend to something and to give the king his regards

And Sam—taking too much pleasure in that instruction—is like “Yes sir”  before Vega blasts off

He wrecks the truck or whatever that the Ruling Council was in and gives a big fancy speech to the Council about the wrongs they’ve done and how his vengeance is basically that they will become dust and it seems like he uses his magic to quite possibly bury them alive and/or crush them to dust? It’s the same sound effect as Huxley’s big earthquakes

We go, quickly, back to Asher

And Brachium

And Ash is so confused

Because Brachium

Is a daemon!

And I was frickin’ right and I frickin’ called it when I guessed that Deathwalkers were daemons and woohoo! I was so excited

Anyway, Ash is like “Why would they bind the invocations to a daemon?”

Brachium’s like “Daemons are immortal as long as we’re fed and can defend ourselves well because we’re so strong compared to humans so it was safer”

And he reveals that he’s been on Elegy for millennia. He was the first daemon exiled from Aria for speaking out against the treatment of the Sovereigns

And he’s a Serenity Daemon

Ash is confused what Brachium gets out of the arrangement and Brachium answers that the Imperium keeps him safe, alive, and fed—

Because he’s afraid of death. He was the first one trapped on Earth, and he was afraid of dying from the beginning because it’s really only in Elegy that daemons can die

Asher’s like “why aren’t you killing me? why are you telling me this?”

And Brachium says Asher’s strength is waning from overuse, and doesn’t see Ash as a threat and asks if Ash wants to kill him. Ash is like, “I just want the invocations released, however that happens”

Ash says he’s not afraid to die—but Brachium contradicts that statement and after a bit of encouragement, Ash breaks down, admitting he doesn’t believe in an afterlife after everything the world has taken from him. His parents, David, Gabe, Milo’s dad, the Keaton Pack—he doesn’t think they’re waiting for him on the other side. That there is no other side. He thinks once someone’s gone, they’re gone. And Ash sobs at how exhausted he is

Brachium wishes he had the answer of whether there was or not because dramatic irony, but he doesn’t. And only being able to feed on peace and serenity has made him blind and complacent to the harm his role has done on the world because they were the only human feelings he ever experienced. He thought he knew that was why the Imperium did that, and that knowing it would help him resist, but after thousands of years, he wasn’t.

And the only way to release the invocations, is by the death of the holder

And Brachium is no longer afraid of death, after thousands of years of being alive on Elegy

Brachium reveals that he’s already dying because of how long he’s been solely on Elegy and the pain that is constantly flowing across Elegy from the cruelty of the Imperium has torn him apart, and the Imperium has been trying to convince him to bind the invocations to someone else, but he’s been refusing to release them. Ash protests that once the Meridian collapses, Brachium can go home, but Brachium’s form has been so worn down by time in Elegy that he won’t be able to withstand the violent merging of the two realities and will die anyway

So he expends all his magic, sacrificing himself, making me cry and releasing all the invocations, freeing the vampires

Or... so he and Asher think

We return to Sam—and Cam hehe that rhymes—right after Brachium’s sacrifice

And... Brachium was wrong.

His death didn’t free the vampires. Freed them from the Imperium, but not truly free.

It just transferred their invocations back to their Makers.

Sam figures it out first before any of the other Mass-Makers. Every person he’s ever turned as a Mass-Maker who’s still alive, anyway is back under his control.

Camelopardalis is like, “How many vampires is that?”

Sam doesn’t have an exact number but he says “More than enough to win”

And we jump cut up to Damien’s quarters

Where Nate Wexler is opening the door—

Only to get torn asunder and/or drained in seconds by Sam, who is still taking waaay too much pleasure in all this for me to consider sane

Sam reveals to Damien that the vampires have been freed from Imperium control and asks if Damien’s gonna defend himself, and Damien says it’s pointless, and if the Imperium dies, his king should die too

Sam’s like “Cute sentiment.” And attacks him.

Now, finally to Avior, Starlight, and the voices in the Meridian

It’s Elaetum and Min’Ara. They are all that’s left of the Meridian, and have been so worn down that they merged into one being in the middle of an identity crisis over that fact and can barely remember any of that from how much they’ve been reduced

They ask Starlight if they can use Starlight’s body in order to speak to Avior, and Starlight agrees

They explain to Avior that they had to speak through Starlight because Starlight, as a physical being instead of a magical one, is separate enough from their energy and the power of the Meridian to hold Starlight’s form. Avior, as a “starchild” (daemon) would have been consumed in an attempt to bind to him the same way. Elaetum/Min’Ara reveal that they stopped the rift before it reached Aria so they could have this conversation

Avior asks what they want, and they want to live, but their magic is too empty, and the tears can’t heal. They tell Avior to bring them a Sovereign

Avior protests that he has no way to get a Sovereign out of Aria, but—

They tell Avior that if he becomes a conduit for their power, they can take one of the Sovereigns out of Aria, they can use that Sovereign’s power to reinforce the Meridian.

Avior confirms that this will save Elegy and they say that’s true

So Avior agrees to become the conduit

He channels their power—sounding like he probably passed out—and we get a brief soundbite of Aria and then hear Elaetum/Min’Ara say the Sovereigns emphasis on the plural will be as one

And they take all of the Sovereigns from Aria into the Meridian

Avior freaks out because they’re leaving all the daemons in Aria to starve that way but Elaetum/Min’Ara assure him that daemons will be fine if they learn to make both Aria and Elegy their home, living the way Avior has for all these years by feeding on humans, and rift back and forth

Avior tries to protest that Elegy’s in chaos and if daemons start crossing over to feed it’s just going to get worse—but it’s too late

Elaetum/Min’Ara promise the Meridian will never fall, and make a rift for Avior to leave with Starlight—

And Echo appears for just a moment to the audience, saying, “But they’re gonna wish it had!” And cackles

Creepy eyeball motherhugger. Go take a hike

Anyway. Back to Sam.

Who did not kill Damien.

Instead, turned him. Into a vampire

Because he hasn’t earned that release yet

And takes way too much pleasure in invoking him to lick what’s left of Nate Wexler off his boot. Which is gross. Sam fully intends to inflict pain and humiliation and suffering on Damien after everything the Imperium put Sam through.

Then Sam opens the Comms channel

Right as Avior and Starlight run into Asher, back in Elegy

There’s a brief moment of reunion where Ash and Avior get caught up on the Meridian becoming stable—

Just in time to hear Sam announcing that he’s turned Damien into a vampire and the Imperium is over. And that he’s taking Dahlia as his territory as King Samuel Collins, but welcomes the other Mass-Makers to fight for land elsewhere with their progenies as little armies. Informing them that their invocations are back in their hands. 

The man is insane, okay?

And Avior, Starlight, and Ash are horrified. Asher says Brachium died believing he’d freed the vampires... not give them back to the Makers.

The last words are Avior saying, “Oh, my God. What have we done?”

—

Then Echo comes back and is like, “LOL the Meridian’s fine but Elegy and Aria might still tear each other apart. Brachium’s gone so the Mass-Makers are warlords now and Aria’s going crazy now that the daemons all know they can and have to rift to Elegy to survive and everything’s F^&*ED! Tootles!” and cackles himself out

Then credits roll—

And we get a post-credits scene?

Yup!

Sam brings Damien a person to feed on, telling him to clean up after himself when he’s done

And...

It’s Huxley

But Damien has an idea

He turns Huxley, rather than draining him, saying he’s got a better idea for what to do with Huxley

So Huxley goes from being one of the most powerful Earth Elementals in the Imperium, to pretty much the weakest vampire.

Fun.

—

Tag list of people who were waiting for this: @princecharmingfrosting @0o-starboy-o0 @cindertooth @angelicaether @lemonxdebaby​ @zozo-01 

#Redacted ASMR #Redacted Imperium #Redacted Audio #Redacted Cataclysm

[wifebread]

Obsessed | Pt.7

Pairing: Stalker!Min Yoongi x Original female character

Tags: Forced relationships, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulations, Mentions of cruelty, Mentions of deaths, Mentions of drugs, Murders, Original female character,  Out of character, Stalking, Unhealthy relationships, Violence.

Summary: She wasn't afraid of this man, didn't take threats seriously, blaming everything on the fact that it was just to attract attention. However, she did’t know what he was capable of.

word count: 2,4k

I do not condone the actions described in the story, this is all fiction and does not relate to the real members of the BTS in any way. If you are uncomfortable with tags, please do not read!! Or read at your own risk.

a/n: Thanks to the wonderful author who allowed me to translate this work! Please keep in mind that English is not my native language, so if you notice any mistakes, point them out to me! I can also edit the chapter after I publish it, so don't be surprised if you see some strange moments (it means I haven't corrected them yet). Thank you.

source: https://ficbook.net/readfic/12255891

Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 ,Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , Chapter 8

"Don't distress yourself"

“Is it uncomfortable to lie on wood?” he asked watching Percy constantly squirming and trying to take a different position. The girl nodded and wanted to roll over on her back. “Let's move to the grass.”

Lifting the Song in his arms, the stranger went to the tree to lie down next to it.

Lowering the girl, he sat down on the ground himself, resting her head on his legs. Percy was finally able to roll over and face the stranger. Contrary to her expectations, it wasn't Suga. How did she determine that? His hair is blond, and the stranger had peach-colored hair. Percy stared at him for a long time, not caring at all that it was indecent.

“You’re about to drill a hole in me with your eyes,” looking into Percy’s eyes, whose head was still on his lap, the guy said.

“What a coward he is,” chuckled Song, rolling over on her side. Inside, everything was burning, tearing apart. “Sent another errand boy, no offense.”  she added, waving her hand.

“What makes you think that someone sent me? I dragged myself here.”

“Because there was almost no one in the park. In addition, nowadays, no one will run himself to help, without someone's requests and orders. To shoot on the phone – yes, to help – hardly. Most people, passing by those who need help, think: "someone will help him," therefore they simply ignore.

“Okay, I give up,” the stranger said hesitantly. “But seriously, why did you jump into the water?”

“What difference does it make now? It didn't work out anyway.” the girl pressed her hands to her chest, looking at the pier from which she jumped some time ago, hoping to drown.

They were in this position in silence for a couple of minutes, until the guy decided to answer the girl's words anyway. And although he might get in trouble for it, he just couldn't leave it like that.

“Think about it,” he began, exhaling and looking up at the sky. “if he had come here or to the party himself, would he have been able to control himself?” Percy rolled over on her back, then looked questioningly at the guy.  “He's ready to bury half the city just for saying an unkind word to you. At the same time,” poking the girl's forehead with his index finger, he continued. “he himself can, in a fit, mess things up and harm.”

“Nonsense,” Song began with a snort. “You are now retelling a chapter from some mafia fan fiction on wattpad. V said he's angry now.”  After a short pause, Percy continued. “He would definitely... kill me.”

"He's not mad at you,” the guy began, rubbing his eyes and sighing heavily. “but at  himself. God, who am I explaining it to? Whatever I tell you, it's all fantasy and chapters from fan fiction.”

The girl thought about the guy's words. Percy wondered why Suga was mad... at himself. Maybe because he chose her?

“Why is he angry?” Song asked softly, fingering the grass.

“What do you think?” the guy looked at her as if she was a fool, and she just shrugged her shoulders. “What funny kids you are," he said with a grin. “Because ...” the guy did not have time to finish, when suddenly the phones of both vibrated.

Percy left her smartphone at the pier so that, in case of failure with drowning, it wouldn’t be damaged. And yet, she assumed the option that she would stay alive.

Abruptly rising from the guy's lap, Son sat down on the grass and turned on the phone entering the messages.

From: Suga

23:44 "The princess can't live without a formidable dragon?"

The girl snorted, reading the message over and over again. She thought it was funny, because thoughts about the film "Shrek" immediately crept into her head.

However, the guy whose name we still don't know was tense and in no hurry to open messages. Although he was a person close to Suga, you can expect anything from him.

From: Suga

23:46 "Jin was supposed to give you a note"

23:46 "Did he do it?"

The girl looked at the guy who started searching his pockets. Taking out the cherished piece of paper, Jin put it on the grass.

“He'll definitely hang me," the guy said, laughing. The problem is that the piece of paper was in his pocket all the time. And at the moment when he was pulling Percy out of the water too, that’s why it was all wet and it became extremely problematic to make out the text.

"And you don't remember what was there?"  Song asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I'll tell you more," Jin began, trying to dry the paper and waving his hand. “I was not enlightened at all about what was written there.”

The girl was shaking again, but not from the cold. Percy realized that she had to get out of it somehow, otherwise Jin would suffer.

Song looked at him, then at the smartphone, thinking what to do.

If you answer "no", you will sign the guy's sentence, but whether he is mortal or not is unknown. If you text "yes", you can screw up if he asks you to tell him what was in that note.

“Hit-or-miss,” Percy whispered, exhaling, and then answered Suga "yes."

The girl immediately told Jin that she had answered Suga, so together they began to wait for an answer from him.

He didn't keep them waiting long.

From: Suga

23:50 "Good"

23:51 "Then don't forget to leave the window open for me ;)"

Goosebumps ran down the girl's body, and her legs became wadded up, and it seemed that if she got up now, she would fall back to the ground like a sack.

“Well, what's there?” noticing how the girl changed her face, Jin asked, pursing his lips.

“He told me to leave the window open for him.”  Percy cleared her throat. “So... he'll come by himself?” Jin looked away, lost in thought. “Or just deliver something?”

There was silence for a couple of minutes.

“You know,” the guy suddenly began. “I don't want to scare you or upset you, but most likely he will come himself.”  Jin said with a sigh.

“And what will he do?”  the girl asked the guy, thinking that he knows everything, even though it's not so. “He doesn't want to tell his name, and he wasn't going to show his face either.”

"Nobody knows what's on Suga's mind," Jin began, spreading his hands. "Only him himself. Don't distress yourself," the guy continued, patting the girl on the shoulder. "He hasn't done anything to you, and he won't.”  Jin highlighted the last words. “He'll try to scare you, yes.” taking the phones and sticking the microphones and speakers into the ground, the guy said. “I don't know if he will threaten...”  Jin continued hesitantly, which made the girl laugh hysterically.

"He's already threatened," Percy said, sighing. “It seems to me that I can take it all. I messed up, made him angry, and you said that no one knows what's on his mind. No one can guarantee that he won’t touch me, even if he loves me greatly.

Jin tensed, looking sympathetically at the girl.

“I can only give advice,” looking at one point, the guy began, to which Percy nodded questioningly. “Indulge his whims; try not to make him angry anymore. If he's going to visit, then prepare yourself somehow.”

Percy looked away and went deep into her thoughts:

"How to prepare?"

"Go to the shower, clean up the room and buy something delicious?"

"Or prepare in another way?"

"Not in this lifetime! If this psychopath thinks that I'm going to sleep with him, hell no"

"And if he gets this from me with threats?"

"Or maybe he just wants to talk?"

And in order not to waste nerves and not scare herself with the worst options, the girl stopped at going to the shower, she will clean up the room and get something for tea.

***

On the way home, Percy went into a convenience store and bought brownies, as well as a cake.

She has already laid out sweets on her desktop and cleaned up. All she had to do is take a shower.

 “He shouldn't get mad,” Percy thought as she lathered her hair. "I do everything for His Majesty," the girl continued her thoughts with a chuckle.

Percy didn’t even suspect that he was standing under the windows to her room and waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.

Suga liked the idea of Percy going to the convenience store at night, alone, despite her fear of the dark, and buying something for him. He was especially glad that the girl was now splashing in the shower for him. Wants to smell nice and maybe to please him. But how much is enough?

“I love this feeling," Percy said, exhaling and plopping down on the bed.

The girl did not dry her hair, because it's night outside and parents will be angry because of the noise. Removing the towel from her head, Percy got out of bed and hung it on the door that leads to the bathroom.

After looking around the room and not noticing the changes, Song sighed with relief and, taking the phone, lay down on the bed. The girl was looking for a comfortable position for a long time, and finally, when she lay down on her right side, she was able to relax.

She wanted to dismiss thoughts about Suga and the fear of him somewhere far away, but it was difficult to do so. Even her favorite program could not help distract her, because the image of the guy immediately popped up before her eyes.

Song had never seen him, so she could only build an image herself. In Percy's eyes, Suga's body was completely covered with tattoos; because of Shin's words, Percy thought he was a bodybuilder or a former trainer at a fitness club; age over 20, although thoughts crept in that he was 30 at all; light eyes, possibly blue.

The last thing she wanted to think about was that he was over 30. Percy finds it disgusting.

While Song was immersed in her thoughts, almost not listening to the presenters of the program, she didn’t notice how the mattress bent under the weight of someone else's body. For a moment, Percy thought she was imagining it. However, she realized that she was wrong when she was hugged around the waist and pressed to someone. The phone immediately fell out of the hand.

"The dragon has come to his princess," the guy's slightly hoarse voice was heard right next to her ear, which made Percy twitch. There was no doubt that it was Suga. After all, who in their right mind would climb into someone's room through a window?

"Don't shake, my darling," Suga purred, burying his nose in the girl's neck. “Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?”  after a short silence, he continued, hugging Percy even more tightly. “They are cold even after a shower,” taking Son by the hand and twining her fingers with his, he continued.

“Are you..." it sounded like a squeak, so Song cleared her throat. “mad at me?”  She felt Suga tensed. The guy squeezed Percy's fingers harder, causing a slight pain. However, when he heard the girl hiss, he let go.

“Why would I be mad at you?” he purred, running his nose along Percy's neck, which caused goosebumps. "It's not your fault.”

Closing her eyes for a moment, the girl exhaled faintly.

“But let's make a deal," Suga began, releasing Song's hand and sliding up her body to her neck. “that you will no longer go to such parties, meet someone and turn off the phone.” the guy covered Percy's neck with his palm, then lightly squeezed. "Baby, you'll really upset me if you let someone else touch you.” he continued, squeezing her throat harder, which really scared Percy.

“Okay,” feeling a tickle in her throat, the girl answered hoarsely, covering the guy's hand with her own in an attempt to remove it.

“Not 'okay' ” Suga suddenly barked, throwing the girl away from him, causing her to almost fall off the bed. “Today you turned off your phone and tried to drown yourself, and what are you going to do tomorrow?”  The guy grabbed Percy's shoulders. “Will you become a drug addict and go to a whorehouse?”

Song looked into Suga's eyes and was surprised at how quickly his mood changed. She noticed that the guy was quite attractive and that he had a wiry build.

“How can you not understand that you will only be happy with me?” Suga looked like a child. "Do I have to lock you up with hundreds of locks so that you don't disobey anymore?"  After these words, Percy's mouth opened slightly in mute shock.

"I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't mean to scare you." lifting Song and pressing it to his chest, he said.

"Don't lock me up," the girl whispered, afraid to move.

And although Percy could save herself with words: "I swear I won't disappoint you anymore! We can see each other, go for a walk and even start a relationship, because I like you!" she sat motionless. Song decided to act a little differently.

"If you want to lock me up, it's obviously not at my house, right?"  Suga nodded. “Don't you think it's we should... start seeing each other more and get to know each other better in order to move to such a level?" she was trying to delay what Suga was talking about. Percy has no doubt that he can lock her up.

"I like your idea," Suga chuckled, pulling Song closer to him and kissing the top of her head. "Maybe my darling will see that I'm not a monster or a beast, and then I won't have to lock her up.”  the girl, pulling a smile, recoiled from the guy, looking into his eyes. Running her hand over his cheek, she was surprised at how pale Suga's skin was.

“Is this for me?” nodding at the boxes of sweets on the table, the guy asked.

“Of course,” Song replied without removing her fake smile.

Percy had read articles about unhealthy people more than once, so she decided that it was better to play along with him and do as he wanted. Over time, he may get tired of Song and Suga will forget her.

to be continued...

#yandere bts #yandere youngi #yoongi x reader #yandere x reader #bts x reader #stalker yoongi #yandere kpop #bts yandere #btsyandere #yandere bangtan #kpop yandere #yandere #yandere au #bts #bts fanfic

[quaddmgd]

Now that CyberHanami23 is over, I figured I'll clear my head and do a wrap-up on stuff I posted throughout the week. I went into it encouraged by my partner, without a clue about what I'll post and how long will it take me to break a streak. Turns out, I managed to post every day, which is something I'm very proud of.

I'm kinda new to this fandom, so during this week I managed to meet some beautiful people and see their jaw-dropping posts, made with love to their OCs and the franchise. Furthermore, I received an overwhelming amount of kind words towards my pics and characters in them. I can't find words to describe how grateful I am for that. It might sound cheesy, but for the lack of better words - thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to anyone that decided to even take a look at my stuff. It means a lot <3

So, how about some trivia about my cyberhanami23 posts? <3

I wanted to share more about Crystal and have a running theme - "Moving On" - but lack of any prior planning didn't do it a service. The theme is there, except it wasn't portrayed well at all. No one would ever guess what I had in mind. I wonder if I should write a post on how this theme relates to C.

For each day, I aimed to include a different character Crystal met at some point - and I almost managed to do that, apart from Day 7. There are many characters I'd like to include, but I wasn't able to come up with stories that would do them justice.

In Day 2, other than changing time of day, I didn't mess with the lighting. Yes, the last shot just came out like that, with no sun or any additional light sources. I didn't know how to do lighting yet.

I don't know what would be the deal between Crystal and Hanako, nor how does she know Meredith (Day 2 and Day 5). When I was initially developing her and listing every person she'll come in contact with, I figured she has to meet Hanako once. There are multiple reasons why their dynamic would be fantastic. Regarding Meredith, it's something I came up with the day before posting her. It'd be quite interesting if Stout had led a different life before becoming a corpo. And I wanted to pay her respect, as she ended up at the bottom of the ocean, wearing cement shoes, following my actions in the game.

Excluding blonde Crystal from Day 4, every picture from this week was shot the same day it was posted. Screenshots with blonde C are part of an upcoming post about her last day as a nomad. She's indeed a natural blonde and these pics are supposed to show that day.

The red Shion Targa MZT visible in some of the days is canonically Crystal's. She got it during a gig in the city. I love this car and it pisses me off that I can't buy it on console.

Elegy mentioned in Day 6 is @oranzuwu's OC and that Kusanagi in the last picture belongs to her. We know so much about each other's characters and figured out how they would meet and what kind of relationship they would have. Fun fact: Crystal knows Judy through Elegy.

I didn't know what to post on Day 7, so I started writing down songs I like with cool names, fitting for a title of the day. It didn't help, so my s/o came up with an idea to shoot pics of Crystal getting ready for bed - it's the 7th day after all, a time to rest. I started messing around and ended up snapping pictures of Crystal drinking beer with E3 2019 Fem V. It didn't fit any song, so I ditched the idea and went for back-alley Japantown tech-noir, also partially influenced by my s/o. Even though the original idea was scrapped, I'll probably post it in the next few days.

Originally I wanted to name Day 7 "Shadow Lady" or "Dark Paradise", but I settled on a song with lyrics that would fit the photos... and I felt the need to show my love for Ladytron - they're great. Although Dark Paradise doesn't fit the Day 7, it kinda makes sense as a theme song for the entire week.

I had a lot of fun and learned even more, especially regarding AMM. I never modded Cyberpunk before, as I mainly play the Xbox version. It didn't reach an acceptable level of performance on my rig and I switched to console. For the most part, I'm gonna stay there, at least until I run out of ways to creatively work around the constraints of its photo mode. Occasionally, I'll shoot something on PC, sure, but my GPU, even with FSR 2.1, doesn't produce satisfactory results - the internal res needed for playable framerates is just too low for it to look good. You don't wanna know what it takes for my PC to render these 1440p ultra settings images. Believe me, it's not used to do anything beyond running Linux, PS2 games and compiling code.

Anyway, it was cool to be a part of such event and I'm looking forward to participate in more of them, if the opportunity arises! For now, I'll continue posting my drafted screenshots and maybe even talk about something different than Cyberpunk to diversify a bit.

#wow that's some certified heather rambling #i don't know if it makes sense #head hurts #text.qd #oc: crystal hartley