#and the two start becoming friends from that point on. lyra becomes really important to kris

[iamthenerdqueen]

The Red String of Faith - Chapter XI

Idol!AteezXOCs Soulmates!ot8AteezXOCs OCXOC Slight Social Media AU!

MDNI 18+ ONLY

slight twigger warnings:Polyamory, group of 10, two OC's -feel free to replace one OC with yourself if you'd like- , listen this is an idea me and my best friend had and is something for fun read at own risk, not edited as always, also we are starting to explore themes such as bxb and gxg if thats not for you, this story may not be for you.

Chapter VIII, Chapter IX. Chapter X, Next

The hardest part about moving to the other side of the world, literally was finding a place to live. On top of that, finding a place large enough for 10 people to live comfortably in a city as populated as Seoul. 

Just after Lia and Lyra returned home from LA months ago, they decided that the most important thing in their move was this exact issue. With the help of the ever-faithful Hajoon, they began a very specific hunt, and to no one's surprise, they found nothing that was what they imagined. Now, did they really expect to find an apartment or condo with enough space for 10 adults to have their own rooms, no. 

Instead what they ended up finding, by a stroke of luck and a random choice was an apartment complex up for sale. It was rather large and seemed to be a luxury apartment complex. Now the price had several zeros attached to it, but something the girls rarely spoke of was their current finances. After Lia had begun getting a decent income from her streams and brand deals the first thing the girls did was invest in property. 

They owned the apartment they lived in, a rental house in Myrtle Beach, and their most expensive property up until that point was a historic home located in downtown Charleston. They made a significant amount of passive income from these properties, and the Charleston house was specifically successful as it was used often as a wedding venue. So, dealing with property wasn’t anything new for them, but the biggest problem was that they weren’t Korean citizens nor did they understand the laws surrounding owning property like that in Korea. 

This is where Hajoon was a real lifesaver, he knew a good deal about how to go about this. Instead of the complex belonging to Lia and Lyra as personal property, they were able to obtain it using the property management company they had established in the United States for their Charleston property. 

The fun part of all of this is that because of the change in management and the sale, many of the tenants had moved out long before the girls came into the picture. Those who had remained through the buying process had turned out to be incredibly kind tenants and many of them had lived in the building for many years. 

New lease agreements had to be sent out to those who remained and the girls did all they could to keep the rent the same or even lower it if they could, they also let those who remained know that there would be some renovations taking place as soon as possible. 

They had really lucked out with the fact that the top floor of the building had become completely vacant during the process, and to accommodate their large soulgroup they were planning to turn the entire top floor into one large living space. There were six units on each floor of the building, four three-bedroom/two-bath apartments, and two three-bedroom/three-bathroom apartments on every floor of the building. 

So to begin with the girls had decided to take two of the three-bedroom apartments and one of the three-bedroom apartments to make one ten-bedroom apartment, plus each of the three-bedroom apartments had a small office. Now, you might be a little lost here because of the sheer amount of luck the girls had in making this possible, they were too. They really handed a lot of the reins over to Hajoon to figure out the layout of the project as he knew what would work the best for the boys and their lifestyles. The few things the girls requested were as follows: one bathtub, one western-style standing shower, at least two refrigerators, a washer, and a dryer. 

It was a lot and a lot of money. It really ate into the savings the girls had acquired over the years but their plan was to live and die in this place. Plus Lyra didn’t think she could handle using a drying rack ever again after college. What surprised them was pretty soon after renovations were in full swing and they were again accepting tenant applications was the outreach from several other soulgroups looking to apply for housing. Before they knew it they had a nearly full complex with soulgroups or families of at least 5 people, it was quite the shock. They also were able to retain the same staff as the previous owner employed, with a very strict NDA to sign in their new employment contracts to add some protection to the boys from stalkers or paparazzi. 

The most interesting part of it all was that the boys had no idea, and all Hajoon had told them was they would be moving to a new residence to accommodate the new size. They were none the wiser to the fact that the girls owned the building or that they had completely renovated a space for all of them. 

“Tell me again why we’re meeting the girls there? Why are they there before us?” Wooyoung was badgering Hajoon with questions about the whole situation and was really annoyed at the fact they had been back in Korea for only 48 hours, had only seen the girls twice as they had to go into the company and do some schedules, plus they had just haphazardly packed up their whole life to move to some random new dorm on the other side of town. He did have to admit it was the fancy part of town but still… he was crabby.

“Because Wooyoung, they are already there and have been since we returned to Korea. They’ve had their own things to handle like their visas and all the soulmate paperwork, you boys got off easy because you had to be at the company all you needed to do this round was sign the paperwork. Plus they had their things shipped here from the otherside of the world and have been working on putting together furniture, being there for final installations, so” Hajoon rattled off as he drove.

“Final installations? What do you mean?” Hongjoong asked from farther back in the SUV, Jonho and Yeosang were also in the back of the car with him while Wooyoung sat in the passenger seat. The other half of their group was in an SUV behind them with Yunho driving. 

“You’ll understand when we get there, it’s just a new place.” Hajoon did his best to not tell them anything, he knew the girls wanted everything to be a secret. Silence fell over the car and remained that way until Hajoon pulled their vehicle into the garage attached to the apartment building. 

For Lia and Lyra, they were still unpacking. They had made it through all the crap that went into their rooms, their shared office space that was also Lia’s filming set up, and everything for the living room they had and was like 60% of the way through the things that belonged in the kitchen. 

There were two main things both of them hated about moving which were packing and unpacking. It was clear to tell that during their packing they had given up as they now were dealing with boxes of random shit intermixed with their kitchen supplies. 

The current box they were dealing with had pots and pans as well as some things that were obviously last-minute additions intended to go in a box headed for Lia’s bedroom. 

“Oh my god, Lia. Listen, I know you like some weird shit but this paddle…” Lyra didn’t finish her sentence, instead, she just laughed as she held up the bright pink paddle that looked more like a gag gift than a real sex toy. It had the Playboy bunny logo cut out in the middle and meow etched across the pink leather handle. 

“I don’t have an answer for that one. I saw it on Amazon and knew I had to have it.” Lia answered straight-faced, “It was under my sink in case anyone went snooping they would think I was a freak and stop looking through my things,” she finished now halfway into another box. 

This was when all eight of their other soulmates and one incredibly tired Hajoon came in through the door. Walking into the room they all just saw two piles of boxes, some of their own but most of them belonging to the girls. Lyra, with a bright pink paddle in her hand, and Lia bent over in front of her reaching into a box. 

It was very…. suggestive to say the least. 

“I thought you two were platonic, this doesn’t look very platonic to me,” Wooyoung was the first to say anything, his hands on his hips like a parent who just found out their child was doing something naughty. 

“Hajoon I’m so sorry. I swear this is not what it looks like,” Lyra said as she tossed the paddle across the room as if she was trying to dispose of the evidence. The boys just started laughing, unable to take the situation seriously, Yunho even laughed so hard that he dropped the duffle bag he was carrying. It was that movement that made the girls realize that the boys were carrying the last of their things with them, mostly the last of their clothes in luggage or duffle bags plus their daily essentials like their toiletries. 

“I’m going home now, I’ll be back to pick you all up for schedules the day after tomorrow. Please, don’t call me.” Hajoon was joking, well everyone hoped he was joking as the tired man waved as he walked out the door of the apartment. 

The boys paused to take their shows off at the door before walking further into their new space all of them with the same confused look on their faces, they knew they would be in a large apartment but this was huge. 

“KQ has gone all out huh, how did they afford this? I know we are doing well, but this is like something insane,” Seonghwa said as he walked through the new living room that was somewhat put together with a brand new couch big enough for all of them to fit comfortably, a couple of new tables that matched the new entertainment system that was set up along the back wall. 

“KQ didn’t pay for this?” LIa said from her new spot crisscrossed on the floor working on the same box as before, “We bought it once we made the finalized plans to move here, the whole building actually.”

“What?” Several of the boys said at the same time while some others just looked at Lia like she had grown two heads. 

“It just ended up making more sense to own and this opportunity came up, it also gave us the chance to have free reign on what we wanted. Come on,” Lia stopped talking to stand from her spot on the floor, “Let’s go on the grand tour,” 

The next forty-five minutes were spent with the whole group going through the entire apartment. They were the most excited about the fact that each of them got their own room, and had a space to make a small in-house studio if they wanted in the empty office. The real kicker was their reaction to the kitchen, well the two kitchens combined into one. 

“It’s huge, I think I might pass out. Two fridges, this is a dream,” Wooyoung really did look like he might pass out at the sight of the new kitchen. 

“Wait until you see the one in the den,” Lyra said as she began toward the other side of the apartment, though calling it an apartment at this point was a little lackluster. Really they should call it a penthouse or their floor, something more true to size. 

“Den?” Yunho put his arm around Lyra's waist as he walked up behind her to follow her through the rest of the tour. He wasn’t super familiar with the term, it sounded funny to him in English.

When he saw the set up his jaw dropped, the den was on the far side of their new space. The room was huge and almost all of the walls were lined with shelves. Books filled one whole wall from floor to ceiling with different series and books while the other side was half books and games for all kinds of consoles. 

“What?” Yunho asked in Korean, taking in the room, it seemed more personal and geared toward them here. Unlike the living room, they had seen right when they walked in. 

“We know you all are gamers, and I have quite the book collection, so…” Lyra shrugged, smiling at the room, personal things like this made it all worth it for her. Seeing parts of all of them coming together, making a home for all of them. 

All the boys filtered in and began exploring, most of them looking at the area where they could set up their games and seeing the gaming consoles the girls had brought with them. A switch and an older Xbox 360 were all they had, leaving plenty of room for the boys to set up the ones they brought with them. 

“I don’t know this book,” Yeosang said from where he stood looking at the books, noticing different ones on slight display. Some he knew despite the English titles, like Harry Potter and The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, but he hadn’t read this one. 

It was displayed in a mixture of poetry and other books. 

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am.” Lyra spoke softly and mimicked the thumping of a heart as she spoke the last few words, “That is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, I love that book. It’s about a woman in college who struggles with her mental health. I read it as a young woman in college struggling with her mental health, it helped me a lot. The ones to the right are the books I wrote my senior thesis about,” Lyra pointed to two books shelved together before shifting to point to the tallest shelf.

“The quote I just said, I used part of it on my graduation cap. To remind myself that I got myself where I was, to feel the beating of my heart not because I was nervous, but because I was proud of myself.” The cap had a background of what looked like pages out of an old book, the entire edge of the cap was lined with fake white pearls. The top and bottom corners were lined with a mixture of pink and white fake flowers that had a thin layer of glitter on them from what Yeosang could see. The English words were clear in the middle of the cap. I am, I am, I am.

The closer Yeosang looked across the shelves of books he noticed that there were books in Korean, poetry, histories, fables, and versions of copies of some of the books from the other side. 

“Why did you get the same books in Korean?” Yeosang asked as he picked up a second copy of Peter Pan, this one in Korean. 

“I got those so that you all knew that there is something for you all to read, there are some of my favorites and some of Lia’s favorites,” Lyra pointed to the copy of Dracula and tapped the hardback cover he had in his hand, “That is my favorite of all. I fell in love with the idea of Neverland and decided that I would never grow up.”

Yeosang smiled at her words, the girls always seemed to surprise him. He couldn’t think that thought from his head as the night continued. The boys unpacked some of their things, beginning most excited to set up the den with their own games and consoles. 

Everyone spread out within their new space trying to get settled, not much could be done for the boys as their new furniture had yet to arrive, only their new mattresses had come. Lia and Lyra were both engrossed once again in the process of unpacking, doing a little here and there.

“Pretty!! I want to see your room!” San was far from quiet as he made his way down the hall toward Lia’s room. 

Without much hesitation, San walked into the room of all-white furniture and fake plants. A string of fairy lights was Lia’s current task as she was standing on her bed putting the string up above her headboard. 

“It’s not totally done yet, I don’t have my vanity set up yet.” Lia’s words went in one ear and out the other as San focused in on the CDs she had displayed on the wall and beside it the album they belonged to set neatly on several shelves. 

“It’s all so cute except for the albums.” San was pouting from behind her Lia could hear it in his voice. Turning over her shoulder to look at him she saw the expression on his face, he was full-on pouting but also glaring at the wall where she had her kpop albums displayed.

“The albums are cute, you’re just mad that I listen to more groups than y’all.” Lia stuck her tongue out at him as she teased her soulmate from across the room. 

“I can’t believe my own soulmate is cheating on us with so many others,” San made the motion to wipe away a fake tear from his eye.

“You are so dramatic,” Lia rolled her eyes as she walked over to him and hugged him despite the fact that he had crossed his arms.

“How are you calling me dramatic when you’re the one with Stray Kids, BTS, Seventeen, and NCT on your wall? Do we mean nothing to you?” the fake crying returned at this point as he tipped his head up toward the ceiling playfully. 

“Oh no, you don’t get to leave out the fact that Ateez is also on that wall, thank you very much.” Lia pointed to the places where several of their albums were on display. “And at least I didn’t display my lightsticks… yet. Lyra has her up in her room already.”

At Lia’s words, San's eyes went wide before he began to turn to go hunt down his other soulmate who had the audacity to stan other groups. 

Lyra, who was unexpectedly folding clothes in her room with Jongho, was surprised when San walked into the room like a bat out of hell. 

“You are also a cheater, not even trying to hide it,” San went straight up to one of her bookshelves where she had her albums neatly shelved with her two light sticks on either side as if they were book ends. 

“Is this about us being multi-stans again?” Lyra didn’t blink as San picked up her Ahgabong and waved it around as proof. 

“How could you, I thought you were ATINY. I thought we were the lights of your lives, I thought you loved us,” San’s volume had attracted a few more of the boys down the hall to the girls' rooms, most notably Hongjoong had come down as well. 

Hongjoong was just a little too smug at the conversation happening as he was probably the most unhappy with the fact that the girls were die-hard fans of other groups. 

“I mean, by this train of thought I’m cheating on GOT7 with you, not the other way around,” Lyra shrugged, not really bothered by the dramatics of her soulmates. 

A gasp left Hongjoong from just inside her bedroom door, before Lia spoke from her spot in the room, “Yeah, I would technically be cheating on Stray Kids with Ateez.”

The was a split second where the boys seemed to make eye contact and even Jongho who really didn’t have a dog in this fight quickly caught on to what was about to happen, so he shifted to the left of Lyra to get out of the way.

Both girls were soon wrapped up by San and Hongjoong respectively as they showered them with aggressive affection as they would call it. The girls were helpless to escape the awful tickling they were receiving until they gave in to the boys' demands to be ATINY first and everything else second.

A few hours later they had all settled and had unpacked as much as they possibly could. 

In plain honest truth, they were all clingy, and at some point, someone had suggested they just make a giant pallet on the floor of the den. 

It was Lia. Lia suggested the giant pallet on the floor and because the boys had very little willpower when the girls were concerned, they were all lying in a giant puppy pile on the floor. Lia snuggled between Jongho and Yeosang, each of them had their own blankets, unlike the rest of the soulmates who were sharing with each other. Those three were blanket hogs and unashamed to say it. 

Lyra had found herself between Wooyoung and San, the three of them under the same blanket. It’s a good thing that Lyra tended to sleep on her back, but she couldn’t move if she wanted to because of the vice grip both her soulmates had on either side of her. They were all chatting quietly while Yunho and Jongho were playing a 1 vs. 1 game on the switch. 

Lyra was almost asleep when she heard Lia get up hastily from her spot on the floor, making a bee-line for the bathroom. She had been dealing with some sort of nausea since the flight into Korea. Her immune system had always been trash and all this traveling was finally catching up to Lia were the last thoughts that crossed Lyra's mind as she fell asleep that night. 

A/N: Hi friends :) Long time no see, but I am back with the next chapter and the start of the second arch of this story. That being said this is not my favorite chapter tbh and is really nothing more than a filler. I also would like to say here that it will be few and far between for a while until I update again, but I will be doing my best to write and publish many at once.

#ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fluff #ateez imagines #ateez san #ateez soulmate au #ateez x oc #ateez x reader #ateez x y/n #ateez smut #ateez scenarios #ateez fic #atiny #ateez smau #atz x reader #atz smut #atz fanfic #atz wooyoung #mingi #san #seonghwa #atz imagines #atz #hongjoong #jongho #yeosang #wooyoung #jeong yunho #ateez yunho

[the-silvertonguewitch]

Some thoughts, now that I’ve finished my re read of TSC

-When Lyra reach the Blue Hotel, she finds Nur Huda already there and waiting for her, but Pan, who’s been travelling with Nur Huda, isn’t. Nur Huda seems to know her way around the Blue Hotel. If Pan isn’t waiting outside with her, it could be because, while humans might come and go as they please in the Blue Hotel, once daemons get inside, they – technically – can’t leave. That would explain why so many people who go there don’t return (they’d rather stay there with their daemons than leave without them) and why people that do return from there appear “diminished” (TSC, 609). Wild guess: It’s possible that in order to leave with Pan, Lyra will have to hide him inside of her, make him invisible, like people’s daemons from Will’s world. That way she’ll trick the zarghuls there into believing that she’s leaving the Blue Hotel alone. The alchemist Agrippa also predicted that Lyra would find her daemon again, but not in the way she’d expect (i.e., that Pan would become an “internal” daemon, perhaps).

-On her way to Seleukeia, Lyra meets a man with two apparent purposes in the story: to give Lyra a set of stories telling cards called a “Myriorama”, and to warn her that Seleukeia isn’t safe. The story he tells the little boy and his mother sharing their cabin involves two soldiers, one wanting to shoot a giant bird that stole their horses, and the other convincing the first not to shoot, since killing the bird would also kill the horses. Wild guess: this is another warning intended for Lyra. She’s the bird. The first soldier is Olivier Bonneville. The second one is Abdel Ionides. The man with the Myriorama is akin to those fairies in disguise (undercover fairies, you know which ones) in children’s stories. These fairies test people, often travelers, asking them for some food and rewarding them if they accept to share, or punishing them if they don’t. Lyra, who shares her food with the little boy and his mother, is rewarded with an honest warning and a useful magical item.

-After being shot in the leg, Malcolm takes a train to Aleppo. The train makes an unexpected stop somewhere in order to board someone important, or several important people. This is a direct parallel to the events of chapter 18 (“Malcolm in Geneva”), where another train is highjacked by the newly appointed President of the High Council of the Magisterium and his suite. That president is assassinated soon after and replaced by Marcel Delamare. Not so wild guess: Malcolm just passed out on a train that’s getting filled with members of the High Council of the Magisterium. Delamare is among them and he knows about a burly, ginger “Matthew” Polstead working against the Magisterium, so Malcolm could find himself in a pickle when he wakes up.

-Abdel Ionides knowns an awful lot. Either he is an alethiometrist himself, or he has his own Myriorama pack, or he’s extremely observant and knows about the Lyra/Rukhsana thing – because he’s aware that she’s headed for the rose garden in Karamakan, even if Lyra never told him. He wants gold (or some sort of other treasure), like Chen, the camel herder who guided Dr. Hassall and Dr. Strauss into Karamakan, did, and he believes that only Lyra can get it for him. Wild guess: he thinks that Lyra, and no one but her, can get in and out of the red building. Maybe because she’s “Rukhsana” and special rules applies to Rukhsana, who knows.

-The poem Lyra quotes in “Little stick” is titled Le cor, by Alfred de Vigny. It alludes to the hero Roland, from La chanson de Roland (“The song of Roland”). Roland and another soldier are surrounded by enemies and the soldier urges Roland to surrender, to which Roland reply “only when the mountains roll down into the river below” (I’m roughly translating). Somehow that’s exactly what happens, and Roland and his friend are precipitated down the gulch and into the river, where they’re both crushed by falling stones. A knight named Turpin finds them some time later and declares that Roland’s soul blew the horn twice before going to Heaven. Funny detail: the soldier standing with Roland is a man from the desert and his name is “Olivier”.

(Going further into the chapter, it’s easy to see where and how Lyra is meant to parallel Roland.)

-In our world, Aleppo would be in Syria and Smyrna would be “Izmir”. I was curious so I googled it. Lyra’s journey would look a bit like this:

1 (Oxford) 2 (Amsterdam) 3 (Paris) 4 (Prague) 5 (Istanbul/Constantinople) 6 (Izmir/Smyrna) 7 (Seleucia/Seleukeia). And Aleppo is circled in red. Lyra traveled by ferry twice: once going from England to Amsterdam (the ferry with the loud, annoying guy and the welsh miners) and once from point 5 (Constantinople) to point 6 (Smyrna). That’s the one where the boat crash occurred. The Blue Hotel would be located somewhere between Iraq and Syria.

If the Blue Hotel wasn’t a place, but a person, it would be a person without a daemon. Maybe that’s why daemons are attracted to it.

EDIT:

The place called “Seleucia”/Seleukeia is a bit confusing. Wherever it is, or was, it refers to the ruins of a very old city. Actually, It looks like there’s two places called “Seleucia”, both ruins, now (in our world, that is): the ruins of Seleucia in Baghdad, also called Seleucia-on-Tigris, and the ruins of Seleucia in Antalya, Turkey. The second one is also called/pronounced “Seleukeia”, and is located on the coast of Pamphylia. I couldn’t find it on the map. 

Most pictures of Seleucia I can find on Google are of the second one. It looks like this:

When I google Seleucia-on-Tigris, I get black and white pictures and photos of old maps from the Seleucid Empire. I’m guessing there isn’t much left of it. If our friend Wiki is to be believed, 

“The city eventually faded into obscurity and was swallowed by the desert sands, probably abandoned after the Tigris shifted its course.”

You know what this reminds me of? The Blue Hotel. 

EDIT:

ACTUALLY, THERE ARE SEVERAL PLACES CALLED (OR WHO USED TO BE CALLED) SELEUKEIA! 😱

*Deep breath*

Ok, let’s check further. Our world’s equivalent of the Karamakan desert is the Taklamakan desert and it’s located in North West China. In TSC’s last chapter, Ionides tells Bonneville that the “treasure”, which I’m guessing is in Karamakan/Taklamakan, is 3000 miles from their current location, i.e., the Blue Hotel. 

The distance between Baghdad (Seleucia-on-Tigris) and Taklamakan, in our world, is approx. 2127 miles.

The distance between Antalya (where the Seleukeia from the picture above is) and Taklamakan, in our world, is approx. 2768 miles.

The distance between Silifke (previously known as Seleucia on the Calycadnus - this is getting complicated isn’t it) and Taklamakan, in our world, is approx. 2612 miles.

The distance between Antakya (previously the Seleucid Capital, also known as Seleucia Pieria, phew) and Taklamakan, is approx. 2498 miles.

The Blue Hotel is about a day’s walk on camel back from Lyra’s Seleukeia, so it’s not very far. If we try to go by the 3000 miles indication, we can probably eliminate Seleucia-on-Tigris in Iraq (sorry, I was wrong!)

Lyra’s Seleukeia is a coastal town. The book tells us that much. (Ok, it definitely couldn’t have been Seleucia-on-Tigris.)

Antalya’s Seleukeia, also known as “Lyrbe” (sounds a bit like Lyra?), is located here:

While Silifke is located here:

And Antakya is here:

So they’re all coastal, kind of. For a very general view, you’ve got:

From left to right (in yellow): Seleukeia/Lyrbe, Seleucia on the Calycadnus/Silifke, Seleucia Pieria/Antakya, and Aleppo. The puzzle is to decide which of the first three is Lyra’s Seleukeia. They’re all under 3000 miles from Taklamakan but I wouldn’t discount any of them because of it (the distance is probably calculated from the starting point to the border of Taklamakan, and the “treasure” is in the “heart” of the desert, so way further). 

I’m guessing that the one Lyra went to was the third - Seleucia Pieria/Antakya. It would explain why it’s a dangerous location (it’s located on the Syrian borders). It would make more sense to use the expression “between Seleukeia and Aleppo” to indicate where the Blue Hotel might be (since that Seleukeia and Aleppo are geographically the closest to one another). 

So let’s say Antakya. What does the place look like in our world?

More ruins, unlike the Seleukeia of Lyra’s world, where people still live and do trade. It’s all very curious. I really do wonder if Pullman got the idea for the Blue Hotel from all these seleucid ruins, or if there’s another place in Syria that would match more.

#his dark materials #lyra belacqua #lyra silvertongue #the secret commonwealth #hdm meta #my ramblings #Abdel Ionides #malcolm polstead #my metas

[bills-pokedex]

Worldbuilding Month: Day 9

{I s2g somebody asked me whether or not Bill owns that lighthouse in this canon, but I can’t for the life of me find it. (I still have two asks for Worldbuilding Month, though, and as I continue to put off talking about the last two topics I actually walked into this month planning on talking about, I’mma probably going to answer those. :D)

Anyway, to respond to a question that Tumblr seems to have eaten, first off, yes. Bill calls the lighthouse the Sea Cottage because he thinks he’s hilarious when it comes to names, but its actual, full name is the Cerulean Cape Lighthouse. It’s been decommissioned for the past thirty-some years, though, since most sea routes have been diverted away from Cerulean Cape thanks to the Eastern Kanto Power Station—or, in other words, the Power Plant. You would think it’s actually because of Zapdos, but no, they just diverted it because you probably don’t want to have ships sailing too close to an active power plant, you know?

But the point is, it was decommissioned and actually abandoned until Bill came along and was like, “I have no idea who I have to shove money at to have this place, but I want this to be my home now.” And the town of Cerulean Cape—because there’s a town right there, between Cerulean City and Vermilion City—was like, “...okay.”

But that’s not quite as important as which canon does this blog even take place in?

(Oh, don’t worry. We’ll talk about Bill’s actual reputation with the locals at some point this month.)

The answer is ... all of them.

Or, well, most of them except Special and Pocket Monsters (the latter of which is the one where Red has a clefairy). I’ll get into why later, but first, let me explain how this works.

Gameverse Red is the same as Zenshou Red. He’s the one who fought Team Rocket at Saffron City, defeated the mysterious Viridian Gym Leader (and chased him out of the gym, basically—though he obviously doesn’t retire from a life of crime after this point), became champion, conceded championhood to Lance, and retreated to Mount Silver.

Ash Ketchum is the one who started out from Pallet Town and then ... did everything you probably are aware of thanks to the anime. (I ignore Electric Tales canon when it comes to Ash and Gary, though I adopt the hell out of it for every other character that appeared in it. Just ... just roll with it.) Ash and Gary are a year younger than Red and Blue, the latter of whom is Gary’s cousin. (Red has no relation to Ash.)

Consider all of the above to be Gen I. You’ll need this notation for later, so just keep it in mind.

That takes care of the first gen. Subsequent gens look like this:

- Most of the gens occur exactly as they do in canon, but wherever you have a choice between male or female avatars, it’s usually the female character who goes on to be the hero and champion. There’s really no reason for this, other than a joke I cracked with a reader of a sci-fi fic I write on the side, wherein someone noted the fact that Hilda and Rosa were champions, to which I responded with, “Yes, and Hilbert and Nate ran off to start a noodle cart together.” This turned out to be half-true. Hilbert and Nate ran off to start a noodle restaurant together. They’re gay, and Hilbert keeps inflicting terrible food ideas on the customers. But anyway.

- Another note: I realize in a previous post that I name each of the champions as ... not being the player characters. As in, according to the queer culture post, Steven, Diantha, Iris, and so on are still champion. The truth is that they’re actually ... not unless a character decided to hand the title back to them for one reason or another. That means that the best way to read the earlier post is by looking at it as, “This is a list I made with these characters as champion so I don’t have to immediately explain that these other characters are champion.”

- Gen II: This means that Lyra is indeed the Johtonian champion, with Ethan Gold (meaning, Ethan and Gold are the same person) not quite completing his journey. Crystal exists as well but quit her journey to become a researcher. It was Lyra who stopped Team Rocket’s attempt to take over Goldenrod City, although this plot didn’t have anything to do with finding and reaching out to Giovanni. Rather, it was just an attempt to use the Goldenrod Radio Tower to broadcast the frequency the Rockets had perfected at the Lake of Rage. (Lyra did not stop Team Rocket at Lake of Rage; that was Ash.)

- Incidentally, Giovanni never properly retired. He merely gave up the Viridian Gym after suspicions fell on him as to what he did on the side. To the majority of the public, he still maintains the facade of an upstanding businessman who cares about the people, and his cover story for giving up the gym was that he wished to focus more on his business pursuits. (This is why trying to prove that he’s a member of Team Rocket pisses Bill off just a little. Giovanni is just too good at covering his tracks.)

- Anyway, yeah, the branch of Team Rocket that tried to take over Goldenrod wasn’t trying to find Giovanni, as mentioned above, but rather establish a better foothold in Johto. They half-succeeded. Team Rocket still has a very strong presence in the region outside of Goldenrod, and the only reason why they don’t have Goldenrod is because that city’s already half run by the local yakuza and half run by criminal rings formed by Galarian immigrants, and neither of these groups have any interest in either joining Team Rocket or putting up with Rockets encroaching on their businesses. Lyra just defeated the executives at the Radio Tower, it was the locals who chased Team Rocket out of Goldenrod. With chains, knives, and guns, no less.

- Gen III: Emerald is the canon universe for Gen III, meaning both Groudon and Kyogre were awake at the same time. The western half of Hoenn was subsequently hit with a massive heatwave, while the eastern half was pounded with torrential rain. Lanette had been taken to Ever Grande for her safety early in the legendaries’ battle, and this is how she developed a phobia of intense storms.

- Sapphire Birch (daughter of Professor Birch) and Ruby Maple (son of the Petalburg Gym Leader) teamed up to summon Rayquaza and stop the battle, but it was Sapphire who caught Rayquaza and subsequently became both the hero and champion of Hoenn (by way of defeating Steven), until she conceded to Wallace. Ruby, who didn’t want the press, left Hoenn to continue his journey elsewhere. Sapphire is still a prominent trainer in Hoenn.

- The Delta Episode didn’t happen as it does in canon, but Zinnia exists in this world. She notes that it’s very different from both the one she came from and the one “the other her” was supposed to save. Deoxys was intercepted by the government and remains a pokémon known only to government officials and top-level Symposium researchers.

- Gen IV: Full disclosure: I never finished Platinum, so instead, I follow DP canon for the blog. No one knows what actually happened at the top of Mt. Coronet, including which legendary was awakened there. We do know that both Dawn and Lucas were present but not which one specifically saved the world. Both proceeded to become champions (Lucas defeated Cynthia, while Dawn defeated Lucas, then conceded the title back to Cynthia). Dawn then went back to Sandgem to resume her work as Professor Rowan’s assistant. Lucas went to the top of Mt. Coronet with an ancient artifact and hasn’t been seen since.

- Gen V: Hilbert was Hilda’s childhood friend and started alongside her but not with her (or Cheren or Bianca). They crossed paths numerous times until Hilbert decided training wasn’t for him and proceeded to retire. Hilda went on to become the Hero of Ideals and the champion of Unova, a title she almost immediately conceded to Iris (who she let defeat her so she could go off to find N).

- Gen V.5: Nate follows a similar story to Rosa: he was her childhood friend but not close enough to travel with her. Eventually, he met Hilbert, who talked him into becoming a business partner of sorts. Rosa, meanwhile, proceeded through the rest of the canon story, obtaining Reshiram from N and claiming the title of champion for herself. She’s still the champion of Unova ... and the only one who knows where N (and by extent, Hilda) are at any given time.

- Both Black City and White Forest exist. They’re right next to each other. Opelucid is a city with a mix of both old and modern architecture, and Drayden and Iris had shared the position of gym leader until Iris challenged Hilda for the title of champion. Iris never went back to the Opelucid gym after being defeated, but she is a prominent trainer who often supports actual champion Rosa. She’s filling in for Grimsley as the fourth member of the Elite Four while Grimsley’s off globe-trotting.

- Side point, but Alder exists and was defeated by Hilda. I just keep forgetting he exists because I never actually 100%’ed BW, lol.

- Gen VI: Serena and Calem are the same person. Or more accurately, Calem’s deadname is Serena, until he came out as trans shortly after the events of Gen VI. Something about what happened at Geosenge made him realize he needed to be truthful to himself because, you know. Life’s too short not to. Besides, becoming champion kinda gave him the power to be like, “Listen. If you don’t accept me, that’s fine, but just so you know, I have literally faced the gods of life and death, survived, and proceeded to wipe the floor with this region’s Elite Four and former champion.” Diantha, of course, is 100% in support of both Calem and the aforementioned statement.

- Just as an added cherry on top, which legendary did Team Flare try to awaken? And which one did Calem catch as a result? Yveltal. He eventually found Xerneas too, but I can’t go into that in case someone actually does want to read that giant sci-fi fic I’m writing on the side.

- But yeah, Lysandre is dead as hell. Sycamore is secretly devastated, which is why Calem set off to find Xerneas.

- Gen VII: Selene, a newcomer to the Alola region, is the one who did ... pretty much all of what went down in Gen VII, including eventually taming Solgaleo (“Nebby”). Lunala never surfaced, and USUM never happened.

- Lillie eventually found her way to Bill, who took her under his wing for about a year. After that, Lillie returned to Alola with copies of Bill’s notes and a thumb drive containing what they hoped would be a cure for Lusamine. Turns out, it was, and Lusamine has been well (and in therapy) since. So ... in case anyone’s wondering what happened to Lillie after the few brief times she was mentioned early on in this blog’s history.

- Elio, a boy from Iki Town, is blissfully unaware of all of this, but he was the second person to ascend to Alola’s Pokémon League and challenge their Elite Four. Acerola kicked his ass.

- By the way, Hala was an Elite Four member for all of a month before deciding he would much rather go back to Melemele Island and resume his duties as a kahuna. Molayne took his place (at Kukui’s request) and has remained ever since. The other admins are still baffled by how this man can be a hardcore gamer and Elite Four member and still have time to both do science and run the storage system ... except Bill, who is an unrepentant workaholic who doesn’t sleep, so therefore, his opinion doesn’t count.

- Gen VIII: Victor is just one of Hop’s friends. He's traveling mostly to keep up with what Hop’s doing and support his friend, but he doesn’t really go out of his way to adventure or get stronger.

- Gloria, on the other hand, is the hero of Galar and will absolutely kick your ass in a heartbeat. She doesn’t have a Scottish accent, but she does have Cumbrian one, given that Postwick is literally supposed to be Windermere. Anyway, she’s the chosen one for Zacian. (Hop gets Zamazenta.)

- Chase and Elaine do not exist, LGPE did not happen, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.

- All of the events that are actually stated as happening above occurred pretty much in rapid succession, within a few years of each other. Or to make this visual even clearer, the timeline is as follows:

Gen I (FRLG) happened at the same time as Gen III (Emerald). > Ash Ketchum left Pallet Town a year later. > Gen II (HGSS) and Gen IV (DP) happened two years later. > Gen V (W) happened three years later. > Gen V.5 (B2) and VI (Y) happened two years later. > Gen VII (Sun) happened three years later. > Gen VIII (Sword) happened three years later > the Crown Tundra sideplot of this blog happened one year later.

This means it’s been fifteen years since Red and Blue left Pallet Town and fourteen since Ash left.

That said, circling back to Bill and his team, I know the Pokémon anime states that the storage system is a transfer system and that it was invented by someone else, but because all of this went down in the infamous porygon episode, I can say that’s not true, and you probably wouldn’t have known otherwise if I didn’t just tell you. So Professor Akihabara doesn’t exist, and the digital storage system does.

But yes, Bill lives in a lighthouse he calls the Sea Cottage. He dyes his hair green and speaks with an accent that to our ears in the real world sounds awfully British, and in addition to being a tech researcher/engineer, he studies ancient pokémon behavior on the side. His backstory (hated school, used a trainer’s journey as an excuse to get out of going, had an ivysaur that evolved into a venusaur and inspired him to become a researcher) is lifted straight from Electric Tales, but a few side details are either taken from the games (details about his family, being the son of a fellow pokémaniac who annoys the piss out of him, etc) or How I Became a Pokémon Card (he once met a dratini that was the child of a giant dragonite, and furthermore, he gave dratini its official National Dex name). As for which pokémon he’s fused with, it was a clefairy (first, according to the games), followed by a rattata (Special), and finally a nidorino (Zenshou, also games).

That said, I also ignore a lot of Special canon, in part because I didn’t read much more than the stuff related to Bill and in part because I just ... don’t really care for Bill’s interpretation in that universe. Oh, sure, it’s funny to see him try to throw hands whenever possible, but I just kinda grew up with the chiller Bill from literally every other universe. That and I kinda want to provide Bill content that doesn’t just fall back onto the default interpretation for him, which always seems to be some variation of the Special interpretation. So while I still take elements from Special (his birthday is another one, for that matter), the vast majority of the canon I use is really from other sources.

Same thing can be said for the rest of the canon used here. The short version of all of this is that I rely on a mix of the anime and games for all facts offered here, coupled with my own twists on canon when it comes to characters and timeline of recent events in order to blend the two together.

It’s confusing, but just roll with it.}

#pokemon lore #pokemon worldbuilding #pokemon headcanon #pokemon headcanons #worldbuilding month #resources #long post

[awhilde]

down, down the rabbit hole

pairings: none, but the characters include mingyu. wonwoo, jihoon, jeonghan (from svt) and an oc

genre(s): thriller, gore (tiny bit). a made-in-abyss!au :D

warnings: because of the previously mentioned gore, readers discretion is advised. also swearing!

word count: 4.06k words

synopsis: in which mingyu and his friends allow their naivety and curiosity to drive them forward, dropping them down a 20,000 metre abyss where the abnormal becomes far too evident. stumbling through nature’s phenomenon, the group is forced to experience horrors that sombre their once exhilarating endeavours. will they be able to be decisive when their friend’s life is on the line, and who is this red-eyed creature that promises them sanctuary? 

author’s note: hey guys! unfortunately, this isn’t the genshin au i promised however i hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! i believe i published this a while ago on another account but i’m posting it again for content <3 also it was originally a y/n piece so please tell me if there’s a “you” or “your” that i’ve missed in my brief editing!  the genshin au will come out soon :)

mingyu struggled to pinpoint an exact moment in his life which he could blame for his current circumstances.

it was as easy for him to say that sneaking into his good friends wonwoo and jihoon’s room past the stroke of midnight was the cause, as it were to say growing up at his local orphanage was at fault. hell, if the reasoning travelled down this path, it could also be justified that by simply existing he’d cause himself to arrive at his current position. perhaps this was his destiny, every event of his life leading up to this climax, worthless in the grand scheme of fate for every decision he had believed to have made was manipulated for the sole purpose of mingyu in the situation he was in as of present; torn with the constant conflict of emotion he was experiencing.

this was where his life had led him, 20,000 metres deep into a swirling, unforgiving vortex where the abnormal became evident with every blink of the eye, and where it intended to end, it seemed.  

the sky overhead had vanished from sight two layers into the unnatural phenomenon, when the fog by their feet had thickened to a substance that clung moist against every vulnerable patch of skin and surface. mingyu never thought he would come to miss the cloudy skies of his mediocre hometown. where had his thirst for adrenaline gone now? but after a tormenting week treading deeper and deeper into the abyss’ claws, mingyu had yearned for familiarity.

when his stomach gave way on the third layer, mingyu missed most the plain bowl of congee the orphanage served to him every morning despite its lack of taste and colour.

when his eyes started to leak pus and blood, mingyu missed most the shimmering sun, burning on the edge of the horizon every evening despite its glare on his skin.

there was much the boy felt grateful for, oh how he only came to this realisation now, 20,000 metres far from home. his goal to reach the very depth of the abyss slipped from his hands like running water, gathered only by the company his friends provided him. mingyu never felt more grateful that he hadn’t entered alone.

if his naivety had gotten away from him yet again, mingyu shivered at the prospect of descending without the companionship of his three closest friends, wonwoo, jihoon and lyra. he never sourced his complaints outside of his head, for every disaster that he experienced, he knew his friends experienced the same suffering alongside him, comfort in the form of unspoken understanding. mingyu knew he would be able to overcome these mishaps as long as their companionship never left him.  

however, god’s sense of humour must be twisted for the first night of the fifth layer, the last layer of mingyu’s sanity thinned.

“fuck!” jihoon swore. his hand shook in the tangles of his hair, the other hovering over wonwoo’s body as if uncertain. “fuck, fuck, fuck!”

mingyu heard jihoon’s cursing as if submerged underwater for his head went static from his own worry. he tipped his backpack upside down in desperation, seeking an item his sub-conscious knew didn’t exist. hadn’t they packed an antidote for this specific reason? but it had been long gone, shattered and spilt over the edge of a crumbling cliff after a desperate struggle of power between a gnarly beast and mingyu’s life. that mistake could possibly cost his friend’s life.

lyre caressed wonwoo’s hair as his head laid like deadweight on her lap, mouth dry against the dense air, chest heaving harsh pants. his eyes, heavily diluted, seemed to stare past her head at empty space and lyre may have lost all hope had it not been for the ghost of determination underlining the furrow of his brows. “wonwoo, i swear you’ll be okay, just hold on a little longer. mingyu’s getting the antidote now, he’s just a little slow. you know how clumsy he can get, just hang on, okay?”

but wonwoo had stopped giving replies ten minutes ago.

her hands, like her voice, trembled under the weight of a moist cloth, aiming to replace the steaming one on his head but fear diverted its path with every shake. doubt threatened to choke her of her words, leaving lyre curled up by the side of the abnormal rainforest, the world never viewed the same again. but she knew, if not marginally, that panic wouldn’t do the situation any more good.

jihoon seemed to have lost all sense of this concept however, as he continued to alternate between standing and pacing the grounds. “there has to be something i’ve forgotten, something that can help. think, jihoon, think!”

wonwoo hissed in pain then, and all three of his friends turned in fright. his arm had swelled to an abnormal size, pulsing liquid under his skin and shaded a dark purple.

“jihoon.” lyre called after the boy had settled, voice wavering. “wasn’t there something we learnt at school? something about the poison of []’s?”

“i know there was something, i know! but i can’t remember it!” jihoon let his words explode from his chest yet he heeds no apology. “damn it, what was it?” his eyes found mingyu across the field, still digging through the contents of their shared bags. “for fuck’s sake, leave the fucking bags, mingyu! they’re worthless right now.”  

mingyu glanced up from his own world of regret and doubt, torment swimming in the pools of his eyes. the situation looked hopeless no matter what angle he portrayed it in. and, this had been his fault. his own carelessness, his naivety had prompted the death of his best friend. why hadn’t he listened to them all when they told him to step back from the pond? what had his mind been doing, telling him to continue his reckless behaviour just for the short lived praise he might have received? he had been pushed to the side when the lone [ ] had arrived at the scene, a creature so foreign and unknown that fear had short-circuited his actions.

he had stood frozen in the line of danger, horror encasing his body in suffocating crystals. it was wonwoo that had moved first, wonwoo who had considered all possible options which led him to sacrifice his own body for mingyu’s, wonwoo that had thrown himself at the creature, mingyu’s life and not his own being the only thing weighing on hid mind.

what had his last words been? the thought dawned on mingyu, like a nostalgic taste on the tip of his tongue. “don’t sulk, you look super dumb?” no, there was something else. something of potential importance, yet it mocked his grasp when he neared the truth. wonwoo’s whines of pain sounded as background noise at the point of his pondering, so familiar and yet gruelling at the pits of his stomach.

“something…” he mumbled, and lyre and jihoon looked up at the sound of his voice. “wonwoo said something before he couldn’t speak, what was it?”

“is this really the time?” jihoon snapped. “this isn’t the time.”

“jihoon, shut up. there was something he said before he became like this. i have a feeling he was trying to tell us how to deal with the situation.”

lyre turned her head from mingyu to the pale boy in her lap, a concentrated look evident in the crease between her eyebrows. mingyu caught the movement from the corner of his eye and clicked his finger at her. “lyre, you were the closest to him at the time. do you remember what it was?”

at the sudden spotlight, her mind blanked. there had been something previously, but the thought taunted and danced around the perimeter of her head as she tried, and failed, to chase it. “his arm, he mentioned something about his arm.” she finally blurted, his voice entering her head.

jihoon practically growled at the words. “well geez, that solves everything, doesn’t it? thanks for wasting our time, mingyu.” both mingyu and lyre took no offense to his harsh words; someone had to be the angry one in the current situation. lyre continued that train of thought, blocking out the noise of jihoon’s ranting, mingyu’s mumbling and wonwoo’s whimpers. she hoped that fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to give her this sliver of hope, thin and feeble in her hands, and that the solution to this dawning terror would be solved with the following revelation. “breaking something… he mentioned breaking something. what was it? a tree branch? true, the antidote of a beast should be found around the region so that its prey may survive from its poison. otherwise, the ecosystem would fail. but which tree? in this rainforest, what tree are we talking about. breaking apart… a bug? another small mammal? no, you wouldn’t break something with flesh, you would break something that’s hard. breaking… like snapping? breaking…”

jihoon continued to pace around you and wonwoo, head spinning in constant agony. there was fault coloured in the pale flush of his cheeks, why didn’t he know how to solve this issue? why didn’t he pull mingyu aside when the monster had first showed itself? and worse, why hadn’t he been the one to risk his life? why had he froze, selfish in the way that he valued his life over his dear friend’s, opting instead to leave someone else to do the harsh deed. why hadn’t he moved and pull wonwoo who laid by his feet out of harm’s way, instead standing still and letting the monster take a fierce chomp out of wonwoo’s arm? there was no doubt that if he had successfully performed the manoeuvre, wonwoo wouldn’t be in the position he was in now.

his feet crunched against a fallen stick as he paced and the noise triggered a thought in lyre’s head, her eyes widening in disbelief as it all clicked together.

“oh my god, his arm.” she murmured.

jihoon goes to quieten her, goes to tell her to stop obsessing over the idea of his arm when a tear slips from her eyes. the sheer terror from the thought evoked strong pulses of emotion to leak from lyre’s eyes like bleeding cyanide, but she pushed through regardless. how selfish would it be to only think of yourself whilst your friend suffered on the brink of death?

she looked jihoon in the eyes and repeated herself. “his arm. he wants us to snap his arm before the poison reaches his brain.”

lyre gave the boys no time to digest this new sliver of information, working instead to tear off a section of your shirt and wrapping it tightly where the poison had evidently stopped on his arm, black and purple, budging skin pressed against the material. in truth, lyre had no idea what she was doing, simply relying on memory and the many shows she’d watched to guide her movements as she tightened the knot.

the still silence broke when mingyu began to protest against the speculation, fearing the consequence of the action, but jihoon had moved to her side without further protest.

“guys, what are you doing? this isn’t right, we’ll just be killing him instead! guys, please stop, don’t think like that, there’ll be another way, please…” mingyu’s words failed to comprehend through his friends’ ears.

jihoon’s hands replaced lyra’s on the fabric and took over the job, eyes empty as he worked. only lyre saw the tremor in his hands as he tore more fabric and secured the separation of skin. his eyes meet the shivering girl’s over wonwoo’s body. “can you do this?”

her intake of breath is loud in the air shared between the two of you. clearly, jihoon had no idea what he was doing either, despite being the token medical friend. despite knowing that it was her idea, lyre shook her head softly.

“i’m going to use the axe that we kept to break his bones. can you help snap the rest?”

his words were gruesome, sickening to its core but wonwoo’s cries answered his question before she was able to, and she nodded seconds after. hesitance could cost wonwoo’s life.

     mingyu stood over the two of them, passing the axe to jihoon with a grimace on his face. “god this is wrong, god this is so, so wrong.” but the transition is smooth as he lets the axe fall into his friend’s hands.

jihoon acknowledged the fact with an incoherent mumble before adjusting his grip on the tool. “mingyu, get me some water. we may not have disinfectants but if we don’t wash it, bacteria will kill him instead.”

the boy’s shadow left the trio. lyra  placed a hand over wonwoo’s eyes, hoping that he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of what was to come. was he even conscious in the process? what if she had been wrong to think that his last words demanded the loss of a limb. this was by no means a perfectly successful strategy, but as it was all they had, so regardless of any .lingering whips of doubt, she held onto it like a lifeline.

“ready?” jihoon murmured.

the both of them nodded their heads slightly; there was no way they would be completely ready. but lyra’s hands found wonwoo’s biceps and they stayed there, stayed there until the axe swung up into the air, metal glinting in the reflection of the sun before falling from the force of gravity and the aid of jihoon’s strength. stayed there until the axe fell and met his flesh with a sickening thud.

a thud.

a blunt thud.

wonwoo’s shrill screams pierced through the previously tranquil atmosphere of the rainforest. his back lurched forward but mingyu had some sense to hold down his body before the axe had fallen. though mingyu had held down his body, wonwoo didn’t halt thrashing around. his arms pulsed under lyra’s hands and his legs kicked out for an escape.

“oh god.” jihoon exclaimed in horror, white sheet evident against his face. his hands shook and the axe fell to the floor.

underneath where the blade of the axe had fallen, crimson paint blossomed leaving a trail of broken skin and something else twisted. his flesh peaked from under the flabs of his skin, untainted until it was, blood and pus swimming from his arm.

wonwoo couldn’t stop screaming.

it was clear that jihoon had failed to touch the bone.

wonwoo’s eyes felt wet under lyra’s hands and she let out a weak sob.

jihoon froze.

mingyu struggled under wonwoo’s flailing figure.

“give it here!” mingyu was quick to shout, snatching the axe from the ground without a response, forcing jihoon to quickly melt his terror from his skin and throw himself onto wonwoo’s body.  

wonwoo cries were deafening, coarse now from use and the strength in his limbs had weakened, allowing jihoon to hold down his body with more ease despite the weight difference.

mingyu swung without any indication of doing so, hard and fast against the same spot jihoon had attacked. this time, he pulled away with a weak crack. he whimpered at the noise but raised it again.

“oh my god.” lyra whimpered. “oh my god, why did we use a blunt axe?”

but mingyu doesn’t stop. he continued to swing the axe, up and down, letting the momentum aid his strength, letting wonwoo’s protests to stop fuel his stamina. there is a squelch among the splinters, a cry amongst the shouts but mingyu never falters. he doesn’t falter when lyra moved her own hands to help settle the body, avid to stop his movements. he doesn’t stop when wonwoo’s voice crack, soundless screams like the cries of tormenting ghosts whispering regret and fault into his ears. he doesn’t stop when the boy’s eyes roll back into his head, revealing murky white. and he doesn’t stop when wonwoo’s body finally falls slack on the floor, limp and drained of all energy from the continued torture he had undergone.

he only stopped when the arm separates completely from the body, a tattered arm lying lifelessly away from its previously conjoined biceps, adorned with the colour of fresh blood and oozing pus. the wound pulsated with flowing blood.

“water!” mingyu cried. he turned to a shell-shocked jihoon whose eyes had watched without blinking. “get the water, goddamnit!”

perhaps it was his tear-stricken face, or his eyes that reflected a haunted expression due to the fact he axed away at his friend, but jihoon finally moved. he’d leapt to grab their source of water and begun to pour it without thought at the injury.

lyra gasped, taking in the oxygen that your body severely lacked. “stop, you’re wasting it! put the bottle closer!”

truthfully, half of the spent water and rushed and spilt onto the jungle floor, worthless to their current situation. the boy instantly followed after your words, edging nearer to the smell of rotting flesh and decay. the boy felt faint at the scent, more so at the sight. god, there was so much blood.

mingyu rebooted and finally began to move again. “tear off your shirt.”

the girl hesitated at his words.

“tear off your shirt!” he repeated with more intended force.

she was quick to break out of her trance and began to tear long stripes of cotton from her attire, mingyu doing the same. in a clumsy, almost child-like way, the three of you attempt to bandage the leaking wound as best as you can, but the white cloth turns scarlet red as soon as its placed. a hopeless sob escaped your throat. had you just murdered your friend?

the almost lifeless body laid like a corpse on the ground, pale in his complexion and unconscious. he would have been mistaken for dead had it not been for the shallow breaths the three of them heard occasionally. when the sun had fallen, the bleeding had eased. simply for a lack of supple, lyra wondered in half-hearted ponder. she felt lightheaded in the sense that thought ran away from her. she wished for water, but they had used the majority in hopes of washing wonwoo’s wound.

it seemed hopeless all over again.

“oh my. perhaps it’s finally my time to step in.”

lost in her own world of panic, lyra missed the words of a newcomer though it appeared jihoon hadn’t.

“who are you?” jihoon asked, successfully gaining lyra’s and mingyu’s attention away from the body though it lingers on their minds. hostility crept into the boy’s voice as he continued. “what do you want?”

the source of the unfamiliar voice stemmed from a figure hidden within the shadows of the towering trees. none of the three could determine the identity of the creature causing suspicion to raise.

the creature walked from beneath the tree’s shade, a smug-like expression adorning their face. they appeared human-like, sharing similar features with the humans lyra was familiar with. they had normal curly, black hair that tickled the tips of his ears, eyes that curved like crescents and a mouth in which appeared to be in a constant mocking state. they would have come off as human save for the sharp teeth that glimmered in his grin and the red, hungry look in his eyes. “my name is jeonghan.” he explained.

“are you… human?” mingyu wondered.

the thing chuckled as if he found something the boy said humorous. “that’s funny, as if i could possibly downgrade.”

jihoon positioned his boy to protectively angle his body against the strange creature. “what do you want from us?”

jeonghan tilted his head. “why, what does it look like i’m doing?”

“it looks like you’re being a nuisance.” he answered. grabbing at the axe, he placed it between the four of you and the red eyed beast. wonwoo’s blood dripped from the edge of the blade to which jeonghan raised his eyebrows at. “stay back.” but jihoon’s voice betrayed his attitude and cracked under the pressure.

“put the axe down, jihoon.” jeonghan warned, taking a step forward. despite his firm voice, his lips wavered as if to conceal a smile.

“how do you know my name?” the boy replied instead of complying. despite jeonghan stepping closer, jihoon’s threats made no appearance. he had entered the abyss in hopes to solve the lifelong mystery of where it came from, not to fight a mystical creature. nothing in his life had trained him for this

“you two were screaming it so much it was hard to miss. it would be, rather, more shocking if i hadn’t heard it.” jeonghan said, gesturing to lyra and mingyu. “you two should really keep it down, by the way, or you’ll wake stronger beasts than the one you encountered before, you know, the one that bit your friend? and then even i wouldn’t be able to save you from them.” he hesitated and you flinched from his words. “well, maybe i could.”

mingyu took the silence that followed after as an opportunity to speak. “this sounds like you’re here to help us?”

jeonghan shrugged and mingyu noticed that he had been steadily closing the gap between him and the group but he let the thought slide. he were tired, oh so tired from the fear of losing his friend, the adrenaline from contributing to said friend’s loss of a limb and now this, a potential threat. perhaps death called, though it couldn’t be so bad if it promised a peaceful rest.

           “i would simply be delighted to aid you in your…” he glanced around jihoon’s guarding figure to wonwoo’s body. “successful attempt to save your friend.” he finally spoke, words coming out rather slowly. “however, my buddy jihoon here, seems to be opposed against my gracious decision. perhaps you want wonwoo to die, jihoon buddy ol’ pal?”

jihoon looked to be physically in pain, teeth grinding upon each other. his mouth opened to say more but mingyu placed a firm hand on his arm. “we’ll accept.” mingyu said. “please save our friend.” the boy glanced at jihoon and shook his head desperately. “wonwoo doesn’t have time for us to argue.” he offered as explanation and when jihoon sighted wonwoo, he found himself agreeing.

“fine. please help us, jeonghan.” he muttered, hands still tightening on the handle of the axe though he lets his arm drop.

the creature clapped his hands in excitement. “excellent! i knew you would come around, jihoon.”

lyra cut into the conversation before jihoon could take the bait and bite back. “how are you going to save him? what are you going to do?”

the desperateness must have coloured her tone for jeonghan turned to face her. his eyes were haunting when they settled on hers for the first time, seemingly delving deep into her soul and prying deep into her memories. they left no surface unturned, a hurricane in his wake, the smile engraved into the crevices of her mind as he spoke once more. “come back with me and i’ll show you.”

lyra watched as jeonghan turned from her, colour returning into her sight as his figure began to disappear against the backdrop of the rainforest. she heard only her faint breaths and the whistle of perching birds, heads tilted in curiosity as they watched the event that occurred in the world beneath them. her eyes find mingyu’s which have been hardened beyond recognition and the two of you knew that the moment would forever be etched into the wrinkles of their brains. if they were to ever survive this, it would only mean elongated suffering.

there were tears in lyra’s eyes at the prospect of failing their initial endeveurs to explore the hidden depths of the unknown phenomenon. hadn’t they only wanted to explore what the abyss had offer? hadn’t they simply wanted the thrill of adventuring with your childhood friends, seeking out a journey that would be inked in history? and now the reality of the world had sunken into their bones like cement.

the four of them had barely descended past the fifth layer, edging on the boundaries and the concept of returning knocked on your mind like an unwanted friend.

jihoon stood, rustling the wind at the sudden disturbance. he swung wonwoo’s only arm over his shoulder and wordlessly trekked after jeonghan whose back was almost consumed by the forest’s shadows. there was only one option and jihoon knew this, knew this before the rest of his friends did.

mingyu followed after jihoon, zipping up his backpack and tossing it over his shoulder. he offered lyra a hand as he passed her on the floor, which she accepted. an unspoken nod is bounced back between the two, something like determination and acceptance in the gesture.

whatever was in their path of destiny had to be overcome no matter its challenge, for the four of them had descended so far to die only at its fifth layer.

#seventeen #seventeenfic #seventeenthriller #seventeenau #madeinabyss #madeinabyssau #jeonghan #jihoon #woozi #wonwoo #wonwu #mingyu #oc #animefic #anime #kinda an old piece but #it should be okay #mingyu fic #svt #angst #character death #mingyu angst #jihoon angst #svt imagines #svtcreations #svt mingyu #svt jihoon #svt wonwoo #seventeen horror #svt horror

[gregtroyan]

Radiant Epoch: Chapter 2 - Lyra

 All the truly enjoyable things in the world came in two kinds.  One kind had only a finite lifespan. With things of this kind, there was a moment one could look back on when they first clearly understood that it contained a whole new world of delights just waiting to be explored.

 But with that realization came the silent promise that, if one devoted enough time to it, sooner or later, there would be nothing left of it to explore.  And finally, the day would come when it no longer felt like an enjoyable thing at all; and without really thinking much of it, a person would simply cease to pursue it. Ten years ago, Lyra would have unhesitatingly cited her dolls and their imagined adventures as one of the more enjoyable things she knew of.  The rather impressive doll collection she boasted as a child was just one of many ways in which her life had been enriched by her family’s vocation as retail merchants, which made novel items imported from far-flung regions of the Hafen Empire and beyond a common sight in her house.

 The Lyra of today could not recall when playing with dolls had stopped being an enjoyable for her, but she knew it had been many years since she’d felt the urge to do it, and that, at some point, she began to find it more enjoyable by far to see a little girl’s face light up when told that one of Lyra’s childhood toys was hers to keep forever. Incidentally, indulging this more recently discovered pleasure had ultimately whittled her once-prized assemblage down to a single member: a very unusual artifact of the now badly endangered traditional culture of the Anhelos Archipelago, which had managed to stay on as one of her possessions after losing its value as a plaything by becoming instead an evocative symbol of yet another of her enjoyable things, that being a growing earnestness to learn as much as possible about the world she lived in (an interest of hers which no doubt had its roots in her father’s habit of providing his young daughter not only with unique toys, but also with tales of the faraway lands from which they came).

 Things of the second kind were a bit more mysterious to Lyra.  They had no clear origin, and the way they felt never seemed to change.  It was as though people had just been designed to love certain things. Seeing the world slowly flood with light before a sunrise.  The feeling of cool air early in the morning.  The melodic chirping of the birds who lived in the mountains surrounding Paach as they took to the skies in anticipation of the sunrise.  How clear the sound of running water was at the canal while most of her neighbors still slept, or the way the soil in her family’s garden smelled after she watered it.

 Lyra had no idea why any of these things which embellished her mornings made her happy, or how she could feel so certain they always would. Perhaps giving toys to children was another pleasure which, once discovered, would never fade.  She had seen no evidence in her seventeen years that adults ever got tired of doing that no matter how old they grew.

 Such were the thoughts drifting aimlessly through Lyra’s mind this morning as she lay motionless in her bed, not quite sure she had really woken up just yet, or whether a minute or an hour had passed since possibility of getting out of her bed had first occurred to her.

 As the first calls of the birds she had just been thinking of reached her ears, she snapped her eyes open and finally acquiesced to wakefulness, rolling out of bed and making for the chemise she had placed on her dresser last night all in one motion.  After donning the garment, she felt around for another item she knew to be on her dresser, and soon found it: a small cylinder, with a tiny hole bored into one of its bases.  She placed her finger into the hole for a moment.  A faint humming could be heard coming from the object, and then suddenly her room was bathed in a soft red light.

 Talises were by now a rare sight in most parts of the Hafen Empire.  Most kinds had been banned, recalled, and destroyed within a year of the technology’s debut, after the horrific effects they had on the body became tragically apparent.  All that was now left of the promise of a vastly improved world which had been fleetingly attached to these items when Lyra was a little girl were a few trinkets offering mild convenience such as the one she now held, which had been allowed to remain in legal circulation because they supposedly used too little magic to cause any harm.

 Most people remained extremely wary of them regardless.  In Paach, only a handful of eccentrics owned even a single talis.  Lyra’s family owned several, and she had recently started keeping this one in her bedroom as an aid to her morning routine, since at this time of year, it was almost always still dark out when she first woke up.  To date, she had felt no ill effect from using it.  Her father had even said that “everyone” in the city of Hafen still used talises for lighting at night, and he had brought most of the ones they owned back after one of his annual trips to the capital.

 The thought had crossed Lyra’s mind before that, given her father’s obsessions with the latest things to come from Hafen, she and her family probably would have been among the first to die of magic sickness in Paach if their business had been as active as it was now when talises had first been available.

 Lyra set her talis back down on the dresser, and, with the help of its light, stepped in front of her mirror and reluctantly began putting on the rest of the outfit she had laid out the night before: a long white skirt adorned with colorful foliate embroidery, and a very billowy coat cinched to the wearer’s body by drawstrings.  Her father had procured these for her just a few weeks ago during his most recent stay in Hafen, and had presented them to her with the utmost assurance that they were highly fashionable among young women in Hafen these days.

 There was probably no human girl in Paach who owned as much “fashionable” clothing as Lyra.  There were probably also few who would have cared to less.  By now, her parents had to have known that Lyra was not one to be impressed by whatever strangers living hundreds of miles away found fashionable, but every time they presented something like this to her, they talked on and on about it as though this was the one that would finally make their daughter understand.

Admittedly, Lyra had been slightly more interested in gifts of ornate clothing when she was younger, but as she grew older, she realized that in a town like Paach, “being fashionable” just meant sticking out everywhere you went, stirring up jealousy in the other girls and even some married women in her fairly well-to-do neighborhood, and getting nasty glares from cordillans or any human to whom Hafen culture was still anathema (which, in Paach, was a lot of humans).

 Around the same time she had wised up about wearing high-quality imported clothing about town, she also realized that these clothes had always been more for her parents than for her anyway.  What better way to showcase their shop’s access to the finest merchandise coming in from Hafen than by displaying it on the person of their lovely daughter?  That, and her father liked to be surrounded by anything that might let him imagine he was but a temporarily displaced member of the Hafen bourgeoisie, and not a man born and raised in Paach as he actually was.

 Lyra let out a sigh as she finished tying off the cords on her coat.  She would be minding the store alone in the morning as her parents attended to some business elsewhere in town, so she had no choice but to assume her role of living advertisement today, at least until they returned.  She was already looking forward to stripping these off later in the day and changing into the simple but pretty blue kirtle Tyce had bought for her a few days ago.

 “Tyce….” Lyra muttered softly as she turned away from the mirror.

 A month ago, that had been just a name to her.  The name of one of her best friends in this world, sure, but saying it aloud had really felt no different than saying anybody else’s name.  Now, it had become a charm that could make her feel just a little bit happy every time she said it.  It seemed like the kind of charm that should wear off after a few uses, but somehow it never did.

Tyce and Lyra had begun dating just a little under a month ago, following an unintentionally romantic evening under the stars.  Looking back on it, Lyra was still unable to explain how she’d acted that night. Truthfully, she had felt strange even before Tyce had arrived, like the night was just uncontrollably different, but not for any reason she could pin down.  And then out-of-the-ordinary things started happening one after the other. Tyce showed up on time.  Geneon did not show up at all, leaving the two of them alone.  A perfectly normal and innocent chat somehow immediately brought out her long un-confided dread of a seemingly unavoidable future playing out a scripted life in Paach.

By the time they’d set off for the cave, Lyra had been awash with far more conflicting emotions than she’d been prepared to grapple with on what was supposed to have been nothing more than yet another carefree and relaxing time with her friends.  She had been angry at herself for letting herself get so vulnerable for no real reason, angry at Tyce for his ineptitude at handling her vulnerability, angry at herself for being unreasonably angry with Tyce, upset that her tried and true mental routines for reigning in her anxiousness around other people were for the first time she could remember simply not working, and desperately searching for a way to shove all of it aside and just have a fun night — all while her worries about the future seemed far more crushingly valid after having finally been heard by someone else.

 But she had also been deeply appreciative, to her own surprise, of Tyce’s unyielding efforts to comfort her in spite of his ineptitude.  And when he had hugged her by the waterfall, she had suddenly become irrepressibly cognizant of the fact that she was alone in a beautiful place with someone who had actually grown to be quite an attractive man, who she trusted, and who cared about her deeply.  It was like there was been some other Lyra who’d been taking a nap in the back of her mind for years who had been well aware all along of what that meant, and that simple touch had finally woken her up; after Tyce’s words at the cave, she was ready to take the reins, and somehow knew exactly what to do next.

It had been the sort of rash and inexplicable action that Lyra had always believed generally led to no good, but so far, she wasn’t complaining about the results.  In fact, just about everything since then when it came to Tyce felt totally new and inexplicable to her. It had become clear to her very quickly that the lexicon she’d been given for understanding it all fell far short of the task.  Words like “love”, “passion”, “heartache”, or “lust” seemed hopelessly clumsy in practice for navigating romance.  It was like people had just given up on coming up with new names for anything once they got to this part of life.

 As Lyra headed downstairs, she laughed as remembered what she’d been thinking about in bed a few minutes ago, and wondered which of the two kinds love was.  If she thought about it, it had to be closer to the second kind, but overall, her theory of the good things in life now felt like a much less profound epiphany than it had when she was half asleep.

 Shelving the whole idea for some other morning’s idle contemplation, she turned her mind to her plans for the day.  Her parents would be out during the morning, and she would be minding the store in their absence.  After they got back, it was off to her date with Tyce. Troupe Astral had come to Paach, and Tyce was taking her to see their performance.  Year by year, Paach was become more open and integrated into the cultural life of the Hafen Empire, but as far as Lyra knew, getting to see a show like this was a first for the people of the town.  She was excited for it, and the fact that they showed up so soon after she and Tyce had begun dating somehow made it feel like the whole thing had been specially timed just for them.  Lyra had no doubt that this was a day she would remember for the rest of her life.  It was hard to believe that after her date, she had something even more important to do.

 Before meeting up with Tyce, she was going to see Geneon.

The one and only problem in Tyce and Lyras’ new relationship was what to do about Geneon.  A month ago, Geneon and Tyce had more or less shared the same place in Lyra’s heart.  The trio had been best friends for long time now, and tended to spend as much of their downtime together as possible.  In fact, as far as Lyra was concerned, the two of them were at this point her only friends, or at least her only real ones.  Now, though, all of that was in danger of becoming a thing of the past.

 It wasn’t just that Tyce and Lyras’ relationship had changed.  Of course they were going to want to spend more time with only each other’s company.  That probably would have been a bad enough strain on their friendships with Geneon, but it was something that could have been gotten through with time.  From what Lyra had seen of other people’s relationships, the whirlwind of mutual infatuation in which she and Tyce had found themselves helplessly caught these past weeks was probably not destined to remain so overpowering forever.

 No, the real problem was the huge fight they’d had when Tyce and Lyra had finally worked up the courage to tell him about “them”.  It had been the kind of fight where nobody involved was sure whether they were ever speaking again afterward.

 Lyra mostly blamed herself for what had happened.  First, they should have told him right away rather than waiting so long.  Although in fairness, it wasn’t like they were keeping it a secret from him specifically.  Tyce’s mother was the only person who heard before Geneon, and that was only because Tyce had just blurted out the truth like it was no big deal when his mom asked how his night went the morning after their first kiss.  For her part, that night had left Lyra’s mind spinning.  It was only after seeing Tyce again and talking about it all that she finally came to the conclusion, “This person is now my boyfriend,” and the change was so dramatic and hard to believe that she felt like she needed time before telling Geneon, let alone her own parents.

 That said, she had only wanted that time to come to terms with her own feelings.  As soon as “being in love with Tyce” felt safely like her new normal, she was ready to announce it to the world.  She had rehearsed any number of ways the conversation might go with her parents, and was fully prepared to withstand any resistance to her relationship they might put up.

 But somehow, she’d given no real thought to how the talk with Geneon would go.  Partly that was because, unlike the talk with her parents, Tyce would be there, too, and it wasn’t like she could just write him a script and tell him to stick to it.  Not like they should need some plan of action just to talk to their best friend anyway.  What was there to do but explain things and assure Geneon he meant no less to them now than he had before?

Suffice to say it had not gone well.  If she was being honest, Lyra had noticed long ago that Geneon probably had feelings of his own for her.  It was something toward which she had always feigned obliviousness.  He’d never confessed his love for her, after all. How could he?  A cordillan orphan, and a human daughter of what passed for high society in their town?  It was tragically unfair, but that wasn’t going to be an easy life to make work.  Besides, in all those years since she’d first started to wonder if he felt that way, “love” for Lyra had always been something for the future — ideally with a mature, intelligent, and well-organized man from somewhere other than Paach who she was sure to fatefully encounter through her family’s business one of these day.  For as long as that had remained true, it was easy to just not think about love at all.

Lyra’s big mistake that day had been assuming, without even noticing she was assuming it, that, because Geneon had not acted on his feelings for her, that meant they weren’t every bit as powerful and turbulent as what she and Tyce now felt for each other. She had frankly expected him to accept the situation, be at least a little happy for them, and soon put to rest whatever feelings he might have had for her before she started dating Tyce.  Put simply, she was so wrapped up in her feelings for Tyce that she hadn’t even considered that she would need to take how Geneon felt seriously at all.

 It would be the easiest thing in the world to leave things as they were.  No one else in Tyce and Lyras’ lives had ever been particularly happy about their longstanding friendship with a cordillan, and it would come as a relief to them if Geneon was out of the picture for good. The one exception to this was Tyce’s mother, Ellen.  As a widow who ran her own smithy and casually treated cordillans like humans without finding it unusual, she had long been regarded as an oddball (albeit, owing to the necessity of her labor and her seemingly boundless generosity toward others, a well-liked one).

 As for Tyce himself, he was being irritatingly stubborn about the whole thing.  It was clear he was still angry with Geneon, and every time he came up in conversation, Tyce would hear nothing of going to see him together, and would just say that Geneon would come around when he was ready.  But Lyra knew that might never happen.  People had been begrudgingly tolerant of their relationship with Geneon when they were children, but they were getting less so with each passing year.  It wasn’t like Geneon didn’t face criticism for getting friendly with humans, either, and given his unenviable lot in life, people not liking the way he did things wasn’t just something he could brush off and go about his business the way Lyra and Tyce did. All of the pressures in their lives were for their friendship to dissolve, and their feelings for each other were the only thing standing against them.  It just wasn’t a fight Geneon could be expected to make on his own.

The most frightening moment for Lyra had come last night as she was coming home after finalizing her plans for today with Tyce.  She was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of their next date, and at some point, the situation with Geneon had crossed her mind.  It had only been for an instant, but the thought had popped up loud and clear, Things change.  We’re going to be full-fledged adults soon, and then there’ll be no time for playing around outside of town anyway. Maybe it’s fine this way.

 After expressing reflexive disgust at that thought and stamping it right back down, Lyra suddenly realized that maybe this was how most of the adults she knew became so self-absorbed and unconcerned about others. She vowed then and there that she would never become the kind of person who could just say, “It’s sad, but that’s life,” about a dear friend she’d grown up with just because she’d found some happiness for herself.  She would go confront Geneon the very next minute she had the chance to, and today, she was going to have about three hours free between her parents’ return from their errands and her meetup with Tyce.  Lyra was determined to save their friendship and wasn't going to give up on him.

#RadiantEpoch JRPG Novel Novelization Webnovel Webstory OriginalStory OriginalContent Fantasy SciFi Teenager Teenage Love Drama

[itsthe-neo-zone]

Wands and potions: NCT Dream & WayV 

Please read the Masterlist before continuing ahead with the upcoming chapter. Thank you.

A/N: I apologize for taking so long to post (im a mess) but i had some issues to deal with, personal things at home and some family members were feeling sick so things were a mess, as always I hope you enjoy the chapter and I’ll try to get back on track. I’m sorry if my posts aren’t up to the standard I usually output in. 

Chapter 17:

[Lyra’s Pov]

[10th Jan 2005]

The first memory I had of my parents was a fight. It was one of my earliest. And one id never forget. The shouts and screams being thrown about. It was hazy and only when I began whimpering and crying weakly the blond male lifted me up into his hold. His cold icy eyes warming up for me. Melting the frozen glacier of cerulean into a deep royal navy.

I’ve been hidden from everyone and anyone around me for their safety and their status in the social wizarding world. I was a child that wasn’t ever supposed to be born and it was hurtful the longer the secret was kept. Whilst my siblings were given all the love and care in the world, lived to be around them in a comforting lovable world. I was left to be brought up by myself. Alone.

[06:18PM]

“You deserve to know, and I deserve to be treated like I’m desired, like I’m loved and wanted.” I murmured quietly my voice came out fragile and broken, its displayed the 14 years of raw emotion behind it.

“Remember when you told me you really felt we were like sisters?” I saw Selene’s expression warp into confusion her lips between teeth as she sat next to me her eyes shaking nervously. She didn’t want to glance into my own, but she nodded confirming my words.

“Well we could be, if Scorpius believes me... when I tell him, I- I’m his half-sister. His blood sister...” Selene stared as if I'd just produced a rhinoceros from my pocket. Though the expression on Scorpius face was unreadable. It was a mix of confusion, guilt and denial.

“Please say something.” I pleaded, he needed to respond. In any way possible, I needed to know how he felt. My heart was being torn by the second, this was worse than being stabbed multiple times and left to bleed to death...

“I can’t- i don’t know- how do I?” he sighed, exasperatedly. “I need some time to think about this.” He stood his eyes frantically looking around, Scorpius looked anxious wanting to leave, and even though it was freezing cold he was loosening the green tie around his neck.

“Please, don’t tell anyone. You can’t let anyone know.” I stood desperately wanting to hold or grab him. I yearned for his acceptance for so many years. My only sibling I cared about. This had to be kept a personal family secret as well.

“Scorpius, are you ok? Do you need me to-” “NO, no- I’m fine,” it came through gritted teeth...

“Selene, just stay with her? I need some space.” He quickly takes his leave frantically looking off, not once did he look back at us.

“Give him some time, he’ll come back. Don’t worry.”

“How are you taking this?” I turn to Selene who was hugging me, her arm on my back comforting me. She seemed dazed, her eyes were clouded. It’s like she wasn't here.

“You were already my sister; all you did was give me confirmation.” She held me close pulling me into her hold.

“Thank you, for being here.” I whisper clutching her robes her hair tickling the side of my face. I was glad to have her around me.

[06:25PM]

Pieces of mirror shatter breaking into a shower of tiny pieces; the amount of negative energy in the air was boundless. “Scorpius please calm down.” the rage in him needed to get out somehow? He wasn’t himself.

“He lied! HE LIED TO ME AND HER!” the bloodcurdling cry echoed; his mouth wide open as he released his inner demons. The scream made all the hair on his body stand. Albus wanted to stop him. To help him.

He couldn’t.

“He had another child, behind her back, she was thrown to the side. Like it was nothing!” The sobbing continued gales began to swirl and enter through the sides of the bathroom. Unknowingly, he was brewing a whirlwind. A storm hitting, equal to the force it felt inside him. It was building for weeks now and all Lyra did was confirm the reality.

His vice was strained, and it hurt like hell, but he continued letting all the pain and sorrow out. His head was pounding now. He wanted it to stop. Scorpius yearned for the numb feeling

“Stop you’re going to hurt yourself.” We he? Scorpius wished He’d hurt himself. Maybe that pain would distract him from the searing agony he was feeling. Pain sears through his abdomen better than a branding iron, his mind conceding to the torment, unable to bring a thought to completion.

Everything had been a lie.

“Want it to end. Please.” The crouched figure in the centre of the room strained himself. He didn’t want to be here anymore. “leave.”

Albus couldn’t do that. He couldn’t leave his friend in such a vulnerable and defenceless position. “let me help you.” A crack in his voice, it shows the pain he was feeling it reflected into Albus. the young boy stumbled back pushing from the sheer force of the gales that tormented Scorpius this whole time.  

“I SAID GO!”

The pain was increasing in waves; getting bigger by the second, giving false hope of an end. But it would never end.

It was too loud to hear anything at this point the push of the wind tore bits off the wooden cubicle doors. Becoming spinning daggers of anger within the whirling storm.

Scorpius increased the howling gusts, faster and faster until they sheathed him with a spray of sprinkled sharp edges and crusted glass, they shimmered in the ill lit bathroom; the gloomy skies reflecting its dusty grey cold rays.

“Scorpiu-”

Albus had no way of coming near him he was forced out of the bathroom having no choice but to leave his friend in there suffering alone. The soft tears fell down the boy’s face, he hated the haunted feeling of having no form of control over the situation.

 Across the empty acres of land, empty silent castle hauntingly still not much moving, was two figures perched up upon the north towers. A forbidden duo, though ones that felt comforted in another’s presence. The light breeze slowly yet surely trying to pull against their night robes.

“I want to get over the anxiety I have, I want to control my feelings not the other way.” murmured to the male, she had been spending most of her time. Days -and starting now- her nights were spent with the devilish Durmstrang boy.

“It’s not easy.” he spun on his own two feet looking across the edge of the tower towards her. Selene was perched upon the handle of the metallic barrier.

“I know. but I want to at least try. Will you help me?” Selene was in her sleeping robes she was twiddling with her wand spending most her days with him she had gotten extremely comfortable with the male who she has come to know for his sharp tongue and the ability to be quite convincing.  

“I will. But first you need to show that you can trust me.”

“I do, I trust you.” Selene leaned off just a little further. She was content in being here silently with him. But was he? did he enjoy their secret nights alone?

“Do you think I can be like them?” letting her hair cascade past her figure, taking orders from the wind it wrapped over her -like the tentacles of the giant squid- across her body.

“Like them?” Repeating the words; he asked for more.

“My ancestors. I want to find out more.” It was like a persistent hunger that couldn’t be satiated. From a fairly long time, it was that absence of complete acceptance and love. Deep down she understood that but was she never going to admit it?

“You want to follow the prophecy?” a hesitant nod answered his questioning. the endless chewing on her dry lips and thoughts fighting against one another proved to show the utter confusion in what she really wanted. The certainty was on one thing though “I want to belong.”

“A girl, Dominique, from Beauxbaton.” Leaving the edge Selene moved towards the boy getting slightly closer. “She mentioned that the Lestrange ancestral family had a connection to France.”

“You think it could be important?” she pondered over his words for a moment. “Didn’t you mention that Grindelwald had his convocation in Paris France?”

“He did. But what’s-”

“I can find out more, what happened? Who I am.” Curling back into herself Selene hummed a soft tune she was comforted by her own arms wrapping around herself. Making her feel the soft pressure upon her own body.

“Selene.” Yangyang mumbled as he stepped closer sitting next to her “When you were at the mirror, the first time we met, it showed you something.” he grasped her two hands in his softly rubbing his slender fingers over her palm. His eyes were captivating.

“it showed me myself.”

“it showed you something else along with it.” He edged, the slight smile on his face and his eyes boring into selenes pushed her to continue. It felt as if everything was surreal, it was all a dream, why was everything so easily spilling past her lips.

“What I wanted; I want to find myself.” Capturing his eyes she glanced at the void contained the magnitude of the earth and the blackhole sucking the shimmers of light inwards. Nothing could escape.

“I promise I can help you do that, but you can’t go to France just yet.”

“I can’t go to France…” Selene murmured his eyes were captivating. As time passed slowly, she fell deeper into his gaze.

“Yes, you have something to do. First.”

 [13th October]

“Someone has taken a large noticeable dose of tentacle juice, from the private potions storage. If anyone has any known whereabouts or knows of anyone having sources, you must inform your head of year or head of house. Thank you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me-” shifting to take seat next to her position next to the others the raven-haired witch sat calmly the frustration only evident in her voice. “-they wake us up at 8am for this?”

“Yeah, some bastard nicking a few drops of poison…” Irene adds muttering, every single student for a 20-meter radius was yawning uncontrollably and dozing off on the study tables but once awake you needed to prepare for breakfast.

“Where were you this morning?” Ravelle had a sly smile on her lips as she pondered not so innocently over the whereabouts of the ginger witch before her.

“Out taking a short walk.” Blowing out an exasperated huff Selene stood taking her leave from the depressing and sleep deprived circle, “You know there’s only so much ‘Ravelle’ I can take in one day.” Sarcasm slipping past her voice was what made the sneaky witch drop her innocent act.

“Really, I’ve only asked you one question you shouldn’t be so defensive… unless there is something for you to hide?”

Selene stopped in her tracks, movement stuttering for a second. The wrapping of a dusty cloth rough in her hands.

“I have nothing to hide.” The outrage in her voice was enough to alert those around them that somewhat of a fight was about to start and, like the usual- all hell was about to break loose.

“Though I must let you know that I am exceeding the amount of ‘bitchiness’ I can take from you in a day so mind if I leave?” she widened her eyes turning to face the raven and nodded frivolously, she feigned sorrow for her and a sympathetic smile came to her face as she left.

“Thought you’d never ask…” Ravelle murmured the words she wasn’t interested in Selene herself. The antics she had grown accustomed to, -since that night with the celebratory introduction Selene had been on edge, spitting back ruthlessly and harsh words were leaving her lips- Ravelle eyed the linen wrap in her hands, it covered something, and it was important, no doubt delicate by the way she was cradling it to her core like a mother would do to her babe.

   [1st November]

Many days passed and winter edged nearer, visibly shortening the once lengthy and enjoyable days. The cold let soft cotton and thick clothes layer up with the many peaking noses out of scarves turn red and pink. 

The clouds of air exhaled when talking put things together but what really allowed the community to know the ending of summer solstice was the thick coat of white sheen that glistened in the early morning rays, covering the lands and lulling them to sleep.

“Anyone received any personal invites to the yule ball?” Albus whispered to the young brunette. The two now becoming much friendlier than usual were confiding in themselves after all they both had Scorpius to worry about.

“No not yet.” She glanced at him weary of the random questioning. lyra had enough on her plate already. It was harsh and difficult that her only brother wasn’t talking to her and Selene was sleeping off half her days and running of at night.

“If this is about Selene the-” “It’s not.”

“Then who-”

“I’m just asking.” She shuffled to turn towards him, sceptically reading his face the Slytherin shifted uncomfortably. “Such a liar.”

“You dummy, I can see it in your eyes. Who pushed you to do this? This is about Selene.”

“It isn’t, I swear.” His hands flew up in retaliation. The silent pause of scepticism made him sigh in relief when she dropped the accusations.  

“I’m sick of this, it’s all going to hell and I cant get any of them to even sit and talk to me. It’s awful.” Lyra whined her frustration could be seen in the way she tugged at her roots the hair lengthier than it was a few weeks ago.

“Scorpius isn’t ready to face this ye-.”

“-Hell never be ready then. Albus I can’t wait any more. How does he think I feel?” the brunette boys turned into saucers at the sudden interruption. She had been waiting for the past 3 weeks and it was getting agitating for a while, but nobody understood her. The way she felt.

“Whats wrong with Selene then? He can’t talk now so whats the issue with your ginger friend?”

“Oh don’t get me started with her.” She shifts in her seat lyra was starting to remember the situations Selene was in, breaking her heart for the past fortnight. “She’s gone, really lost it.”

“Sleeps all day and sneaks out at night, its odd Selene would have never done such a thing.” She mutters, the frown on her face showed her feeling of betrayal. “I can’t get her to spend any time with me at all, it’s always ‘Yangyang this Yangyang that’!”

“Wait.”

“You mean Durmstrang Liu” if his eyes were saucers back then they were as wide as cauldrons. His hands clenched up visibly the whole demeanor he possessed was stiffened within a second, Lyra didn’t comprehend the change until she spared him a quick glimpse.

“Yeah him,” she blinked dropping her head further into her grasp as she questioned his body language “Whats got you so surprised, most girls already know!”

“Liu Yangyang that German-Taiwanese boy?” the voice crack gave him away, there was definitely something wrong, but Lyra had no clue what was happening to him, what kind of reaction was that.

“Hold on know what?” he interrupted again.

“Well, supposedly they’re in a relationship, and I don’t know… but he’s really affecting Selene.”

“They can’t be though?” the denial in his voice was giving all the wrong signals and signs, Lyra turned towards him fully, hands out of hair and eyes skimming his face, his expression wasn’t helping the previous accusations planted upon him by her.

“Why Albus? Do you like her or something?”

What came out of his mouth after wasn’t a big shocker or anything but lyra was shocked to find out such a revelation and from him, Albus, who seemed to have no clue who the boy is.

“No, its just. He has a girlfriend already,”

“Yeah Selene.” The response came quick.

“No, he’s engaged to her, its not Selene. She’s back in Germany.” He was referring to another girl, that Selene wasn’t the only one in a relationship with the male and it made Lyra's blood boil.

“HE’S TWO-TIMING?”

The two had another issue to deal with, Selene couldn’t find out, even if it meant lying to her. She wouldn’t be able to handle what was to come.

@ajuniceuajuniceu​ @kkuljungwoo​ @sensiblebutch​ @kangkinoa​ @nctzen2020​ @mystic-jungkook​ @merryandhappylele​ @bcbymingi​ @mochischeeks  @rilakunma​ @jaehyunspaghetti​ @commentgirl​ @99jjh​ @johnnys-wifeu​ @misaraem @apricottulips​ @h2ogamergirl @angelsnowflake​

#Wands and Potions #nct hogwarts au #wayv series #NCT Dream Scenarios #nct x reader #chenle x reader #yangyang x reader #nct yangyang #wayv senarios #nct scenarios #Park Jisung #wayv hogwarts au #kpop fanfiction #kpop series #nct dream series #liu yangyang #school au

[wtwo-archive]

i'm about to ramble about some dumb bullshit nobody cares about but truly... hilbert/hilda and nate/rosa play the same role in gen 5 that red and ethan/kris/lyra did in their games respectively.

in other words, pokemon black and white are the red and blue of gen 5, and pokemon black 2 and white 2 are the gold, silver and crystal.

the gsc/hgss protagonists basically do almost the same things as red and experience almost the same things he did. they receive pokedexes from professor oak, they have a rival that's an asshole, they encounter team rocket along the way. they collect all 8 gym badges for their region. they take team rocket down. they become the new champion. and then they travel to another region (something red didn't do in his games) and collect those gym badges as well.

and then after the player ends up at the top of mt silver, face to face with red. the former champion. the kid who took down team rocket. the ultimate trainer. and with only the exchange of two eyes meeting, they fight.

the biggest difference here is that you never see the bw hero in black and white 2. you hear mentions of them, of course, from people like bianca, cheren, n, team plasma members and their mom, but you never get to see them for themself. their story is plain and simple—they were the hero that saved unova two years before plasma decided to strike again. they might have been champion, too, at some point, but that's more ambiguous. nate/rosa follow almost exactly the same path hilbert/hilda did on their journey, they just start in a different place and go through different obstacles. they both get a pokédex from juniper (technically bianca for the bw2 heroes), collect 8 gym badges, run into team plasma and n, and then they confront ghetsis at the climax of the main story and take team plasma down.

the parallels you can draw from these two different yet similar storylines don't just limit themselves to the player's journey. in hgss, blue says this to the player:

and, honestly? looking at ethan and lyra's designs, i can see it!

in bw2, a lot of people compare nate/rosa to the bw protag. most of them don't mean it like, physically, and more in how strong and determined they are, but how can you look at these designs and not think that someone could mistake them for older versions of hilbert and hilda?

one big difference between the bw and the bw2 protags is that the dragon they get is different. depending on the version, hilbert/hilda will get reshiram (black) or zekrom (white), while nate/rosa will get the dragon that n had in the postgame (zekrom for black 2, reshiram for white 2). this doesn't really add to the parallels, but i think it's fun how they can be seen as foils in that regard.

the rivals for red and the johto protagonists are very similar. as in they're both assholes who at first only want to get stronger, but then after getting beat repeatedly by the player they realize that they can't just rely on being strong. blue's change is evident from the three-year time gap between kanto's events and johto's events, while silver's spans from the main game to the postgame and some of pokemon masters (which is in a weird limbo of canon but I Think It Counts Because It's Important To Me). cheren is the blue to the bw protag's red, while hugh can be seen as the silver to the bw2 protag's ethan/kris/lyra. cheren and blue both have a huge final goal of becoming stronger and being the champion, while silver and hugh are extremely fixated on becoming stronger to crush their regions respective evil teams.

blue and cheren both become gym leaders in the next games they appear in and reference their journey/red or the bw protag a lot. blue talks about red beating him with a bitter fondness like they've known each other their entire lives, while cheren talks about his journey with hilbert/hilda and bianca on occasion and says that it changed him a lot and he's grateful for it and how it made him grow.

silver and hugh both want to take down the evil teams in their games for personal reasons. silver sees them as weak and bitterly resents them because his father, giovanni, was the leader of team rocket before abandoning his son after blue and red beat him, with red also taking down team rocket himself. team plasma stole the purrloin hugh's sister was gifted by their grandfather five years before bw2's events, and is desperate to try and take them down and save it. both of these goals cause them to get really bad tunnel vision, where silver loses it after lance defeats him and berates silver for not caring about his pokemon beyond their strength, and hugh doesn't know what to do with the stolen purrloin, now a liepard, glowering at him with hatred and no memory of who he is. the main differences between them are that hugh isn't as mean as silver can be and doesn't get physical with the player, as he and the player are childhood friends. he can still be harsh to some people though, mainly the ex members of team plasma.

the last parallel i'll draw between these games is the one between red's mother in gsc/hgss and hilbert/hilda's mom in bw2.

in the johto games, when the player visits her, red's mom says this:

"Hi! Red's been away. He hasn't called either, so I have no idea where he is or what he's been doing. They say no news is good news, but I do worry about him."

and in bw2, hilbert/hilda's mom says this:

"No news is good news they say. Being happy about something like that is a little difficult though. Being a parent is tough."

there are a lot of different ways you can compare these games, but these are by far the most important details that i felt had to be shared. if you got this far, thank you for reading this post!

#LONG POST #hopefully the read more works #pokemon #pokemon meta #trainer red #trainer ethan #trainer lyra #trainer kris #trainer hilbert #trainer hilda #trainer nate #trainer rosa #rival blue #rival silver #rival cheren #rival hugh #pkmn #jude meta dump #dont expect me to use that tag often

[bubblytarts]

What about the rivals and friends in the Emissary Au? What are their stories?

Anon you’ve made me very happy for asking about my au *simp eyes emoji*

And oops, it has a lot of characters in it. Hope you don’t mind this going under the cut!

The stories and goals of protagonists, rivals, and other friends:

Red - As stated in a previous post, Red wants to go on a journey through the Kanto region. He would like to be friends with both Blue and Green, but they both seem to be fighting off his advances. While he originally elects to ignore Team Rocket, he can’t stand by once they start hurting Pokemon. (His starter is Charmander)

Blue - Blue wants to prove to his Gramps that he can be the strongest trainer ever. He and Red used to be friends, but Blue’s bluntness pushed the two of them apart. He sees Red as the only obstacle between him and greatness. Not so fun fact is that his greatest fear is ghosts - including ghost types. (His starter is Squirtle)

Green - Taking inspiration from pokespe, Green is a thief. She knows it’s wrong to steal, but doesn’t mind doing it in order to keep her head above water. She makes off with the last starter from Oak’s lab, and later runs into Red and Blue when she steals from them. While she seems open to being friends with Red, Blue gets on her nerves. (Her starter is Bulbasaur)

Ethan - Ethan wants to become the strongest trainer who ever lived. His goal is to beat Lance and become Champion, and then challenge Kanto after that. He gets caught up in Team Rocket not because of justice, but because Proton criticizes his battle skills. (His starter is Cyndaquil)

Lyra - Lyra originally just follows Ethan to help get an egg for Professor Elm, but then sticks with Ethan in order to raise Togepi herself and also to make sure Ethan doesn’t get himself killed. She ends up getting separated from Ethan and Silver when she decides to help Eusine hunt for Suicune, which rapidly goes wrong. (Her starter is Chikorita)

Silver - Silver, like Green, steals his starter. His goal is to stop Team Rocket at any cost. He reluctantly teams up with Ethan and Lyra at the Goldenrod Radio Tower, and gets dragged along. He’s reluctant to become Ethan’s friend, but even more reluctant to tell him why he hates Team Rocket so much. Silver also hates how Ethan has absolutely zero strategy in battle, and it gets them into many arguments. (His starter is Totodile)

Brendan - Brendan originally starts challenging the gyms to prove to his dad that’s he’s strong. But as time passes, Brendan realizes that Hoenn isn’t perfect, and through talking with Steven, decides that he’s going to become champion so he can make the world a better place for both people and pokemon. He also primarily fights Team Magma, and in the Battle of Sootopolis, fights with Maxie. (His starter is Treeko)

May - May is Birch’s daughter, and immediately inserts herself as Brendan’s new best friend. She travels with Brendan because Birch can’t handle her raw, chaotic energy. May has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up, but she’s okay with that. She’s more about enjoying the experience. In the Battle of Sootopolis, she fights with Archie, which is a much more dangerous fight than Brendan’s fight with Maxie. (Her starter is Mudkip)

Lucas - Lucas is Rowan’s assistant. He’s a bit uptight, and doesn’t appreciate Dawn and Barry’s antics. Originally, he was sent on a fetch quest by Rowan and Dawn’s mother to find her after she ran away from home, but then decides to play tour guide to help Dawn live her life the way she wants to. (His starter is Chimchar)

Dawn - Dawn’s mother is very rich, and very overprotective. Overprotective to the point that she’s having the family move to Kanto so Dawn can’t go on her journey around Sinnoh. So, she runs away from home with her friend Barry after stealing from Rowan on accident. Cynthia convinces her to actually try to make something of her journey, and Dawn gains a lot of confidence as she fights the gyms and Team Galactic. (Her starter is Piplup)

Barry - Barry convinces Dawn to run away from home. He wants to rush through all the gyms to get strong enough to fight his dad, but Dawn convinces him to slow down and enjoy the journey. According to his list of fines, Team Galactic should file for bankruptcy. (His starter is Turtwig)

Hilbert - He’s a genius. Hilbert is an excelling student, but has more of an interest in staying a kid than learning to be a businessman or politician. He goes on his journey with his twin sister, Hilda, and friends Cheren and Bianca. He’s also the first one of the group to trust N despite being the King of Team Plasma. Hilbert ends up becoming the champion of Unova, but ultimately meets a terrible fate. (His starter is Oshawott)

Hilda - If Hilbert’s the brains, Hilda’s the brawn. She’s very driven, and is striving to become an entrepreneur. But of what, she’s not sure yet. She also is very accepting of N, and realizes that he doesn’t quite realize how little power he has in his situation. After the defeat of Team Plasma when Hilbert goes missing, Hilda is the one to recruit Rosa and Nate to help find him. (Her starter is Tepig)

N - The King of Team Plasma. N asks the twins to join the team, and is slightly disappointed when they refuse, because they seem like nice people. That being said, N doesn’t get along very well with Cheren. Over time, he starts to realize that maybe Hilbert and Hilda are better people than his father. Once Hilbert goes missing, N goes into hiding to avoid being the next victim, all while searching for his best friend. 

Nate - Nate wants to be the new champion. Or at least, he thought he did. As Nate and his friend Rosa are forced to help Hilda fight off Neo Team Plasma, Nate realizes that battling isn’t really for him. Instead, he finds that he enjoys pretending to be someone else for stealth missions, and that translates afterwards to a love of acting. (His starter is Tepig)

Rosa - Rosa wanted a cute pokemon and to travel with her best friend. She didn’t mean to meet N, or later Hilda, or get caught up in Neo Team Plasma’s plot. But she finds that she’s a rather good leader. Plus, there’s Colress, who seems to be pulling the strings on the opposing side, yet doesn’t seem to believe in their goals himself. Rosa is the only one on her side to consider that Colress could be a hero if he tried - however, he disagrees. (Her starter is Snivy)

Calem - Calem has amnesia. That’s the problem with him trying to tell his story. Calem woke up passed out on the steps of Sycamore’s lab with Serena and Shauna staring at him. He accompanies them on their journey hoping that traveling Kalos will trigger his memories to return. All he remembers is that he needs to tell the professor something important. Maybe it has something to do with his irrational hatred for Team Flare. (His starter is Froakie)

Serena - Serena wants to be champion. She planned on traveling the region with her best friend, only to get two extra passengers. Calem, who is contributing nothing to her journey, and Victor, who wants to take photos of everyone but her. Over time though, Serena comes to appreciate both of them as her close group of friends - and Victor maybe more than friends. But Team Flare is awfully suspicious, and a passionate person like Serena isn’t going to let them get away with whatever they’re planning. (Her starter is Fennekin)

Shauna - Shauna, on the other hand, loves her new friends. She’s ready to make memories with Serena and the others, but is also one of the first to realize that maybe there’s a reason Calem showed up right when Team Flare really started to bother the region. (Her starter is Chespin)

Elio - Elio has always lived in Alola, and is thrilled to be hosting Selene for the summer. While they both start the Island Challenge, Elio quickly gets sidetracked by worrying about Team Skull and forming a rivalry at first sight with Gladion. Elio is much more interested in working under Nanu and getting him to arrest the gang members. He quickly realizes that won’t happen. (His starter is Litten)

Selene - Selene is Dawn’s younger sister. Dawn managed to stay in Sinnoh, but Selene was forced to move to Kanto. She convinced her mother to let her spend a summer in Alola with Elio and his mother, and then of course found a loophole with Kukui to go on her Island Challenge. Selene spends lots of time with Hau and Lillie, and also helps to convince Guzma that Lusamine is not going to provide him with the help she’s promising. (Her starter is Rowlett)

Victor - Victor actually makes his debut in Kalos. He’s a photographer trying to photograph famous people in the region, and follows the Kalos party in order to best find the gym leaders. Along the way, he falls in love with Serena, and when he heads back to Galar, she gives him a present that sets in motion the future. During his sister’s Gym Challenge, Rose recruits Victor to be his and Leon’s personal photographer, which puts Victor in incredible danger - even if Rose doesn’t realize quite how much power Victor brought from Kalos. 

Gloria - A feisty trainer ready to take on the Gym Challenge and Leon. She feels like something isn’t quite right in Galar, and willing to work with Sonia to figure it out, but not if it gets in the way of her training. Along the way, she becomes good friends with Marnie, and has a friendly rivalry with Bede. She may also have a slight crush on Hop, but that’s not her biggest worry. (Her starter is Sobble)

Hop - Hop has always wanted to challenge his brother, and doing it with Gloria by his side is perfect. However, as he continues to lose to his rival and fall behind, he loses confidence. It takes saving Leon and the world to make Hop believe in himself again. (His starter is Scorbunny)

In addition, there’s a little girl. She has a large straw hat and a Pikachu. She appears all across the regions, talking about things that have happened, and things that are yet to come. She seems kind, but perhaps she knows more than she lets on. If so, some terrible predictions may come to pass, but the return of old foes? That’s not possible, right?

#emissary au #anonymous #ask #trainer red #trainer blue #trainer green #trainer ethan #trainer lyra #trainer silver #trainer brendan #trainer may #trainer lucas #trainer dawn #trainer barry #trainer hilbert #trainer hilda #trainer n #trainer nate #trainer rosa #trainer calem #trainer serena #trainer shauna #trainer elio #trainer selene #trainer victor #trainer gloria #trainer hop #trainer yellow

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Tori as Cinders and Jame as Briar Rose. That, thats a great concept. Tori chasing after his sister for thirty years (unlike canon) just gets me.

RIGHT????

Okay, so, some other thoughts I’ve thunk about this.  Obviously I would call it “oh my love (as the cities you were razing)” because that line fucks.

Obviously Tori is both Cinders and Snow/General White--he blames himself for not saving Jame (as all versions of Tori must) and so on his mission to find her, he starts rallying the resistance.  He assumes Jame is dead, at first, while he and Burr and Rowan and Harn and Rose and a couple others escape on a sabotaged ship.  Rose bleeds out from her wounds while she’s pumping oxygen, but with one less person burdening the system means they live to make landfall.  They go into hiding briefly, but then...

Then the Banes start turning out, in huge numbers, slim and lethal soldiers with clawed hands and silver eyes, and black curls shorn down to their scalps.  Tori understands the very first time he sees one, looks into his sister’s eyes, his eyes, and doesn’t see a goddamn thing looking back.  The Bane hesitates, though--not a flinch, just.  An extra moment in raising its arm to shoot him.  Tori shuts his eyes and puts a bullet through its heart, and rips off his glove without thinking, to see the ring on his hand.  Its stone is as white as snow, and he breathes, and breathes, and breathes, and then he reloads his gun and starts shooting Banes.

They are not Jame.  They are not.  He repeats the words until he can shoot them with his eyes open, looking into those silver eyes as they go dim and still.

(Jame, dreaming, sees her own hand rise, holding a gun, pointed at the other half of her soul, and screams no, helpless in the grip of a nightmare, one of the thousands upon thousands of nightmares she sees in fragments, and the hand--hesitates.  And then Tori shoots her--it--them--and she’s gone, snatched away to the infinite mind of a Behemoth, rolling across a planet like a storm front.)

(Her body, the real one, frowns faintly in her glass coffin.)

Tori leads from the front, as General Black.  This is why it’s rather important that he wears all black, you see--the Banes are armored in steel grey with the red crest of the Master for an accent, and an apology wouldn’t bring their general back, if you shot him by accident.  He ignores the way his own people flinch, if he comes up on them too suddenly.  He’s not here to be their friend.  He’s here to be their fixed point, the star they all navigate by, and to follow his ring as it slowly, so slowly, tints darker with each inch the resistance creeps toward the heart of the Master’s power.

Torisen wears his ring on a chain around his neck, after the first time it’s nearly lost in a fight.  He can hide it, that way.  Not everyone is eager to know that their general is seeking the woman they’ve been killing all these years.

(The Banes don’t flinch from him, not quite.  It’s not enough to be noticed as anything more than good luck on his part.  But Tori doesn’t often get shot, either.)

Grimly goes by the name Red Hood and brands his virus the WOLF, and Gorbel and Lyra overthrow their planet’s Snow King and pick his Mirror chips out of their skulls to give the resistance a home base, and the fearless general Aerulan and her wife and guardian, nicknamed Brenwyr the Beast, become known for their gift for evacuating planets before the Master’s forces can hit.  Kindrie, the best healer in the resistance, always knows when someone is going to die, and he’s given the nickname Godfather Death for his talents and his bone-white hair.

The anthem of the resistance is written about Pereden, who slew a Bane Behemoth--except, of course, that he didn’t.  He ordered his people to fall back and then he was never seen again, and Tori didn’t argue when the resistance hailed him as a hero, dead of his wounds.  He needed the support of Pereden’s father, Ardeth, commonly called the Cat.  He kills Pereden quietly for his treason, orders Harn and Burr to burn the body in secret, and bites back the guilt when he replaces Pereden in Ardeth’s affections, as the new Marquis de Carabas.  The resistance needs the money.

(The boy who really did kill the Behemoth died without anyone seeing him, in that same battle, after he brought down the Behemoth through pure dumb luck.  A child, too young for war, really, mourned by only Torisen and his closest advisors, those who knew the truth of Pereden’s treason.  The only witness to Donkerri’s death is the Bane who kills him, and the sleeping soldier watching through its silver eyes.)

The first Bane, the Bane that went wrong and got wired into the Master’s defense grid, is also the Bane whose mind has touched Jame’s the most, in the thirty years of their dreaming.  She knows him inside out, knows that there’s a whole person in there, knows that he’s full of broken glass and hate and the need to kill.  He has some of her memories, some of his own.  She presses the face of her brother, their brother, Torisen, the other half of her soul, into his mind whenever she can, tells him I love him, lived for him, would die for him, protect him.  The Shadow Bane, as he’s been nicknamed by the resistance, coughs out stasis fluid on his knees as Tori’s soldiers pull wires and tubes from the ports on his spine, and then grins, through drenched black hair.

It’s Jame’s face, but she could never wear a smile like that, Tori thinks.  It’s been thirty years since he could feel sick, but he feels the memory of it as the Shadow Bane rises to its--his?--feet.

“So,” he says, standing on shaking legs and ripping the last of the wires away with his own hands.  “You’re the one she loves.”

“Sir?” Burr asks, casting a glance at Tori, as if to ask if they should, maybe, have just shot him.

The Shadow Bane steps forward, wavering, and his starved frame looks nothing like Jame, doesn’t even have her claws, but he has her bright silver eyes and Tori stands his ground.  One of the damp fingers raps him on the chest, where the scarlet glow of Tori’s ring can be seen through his shirt, and the Bane’s voice is low and rasping from disuse, utterly unfamiliar, but the laugh is still bright and cruel when he says, “You’re closer than you think, brother.”

“Take me to her,” Tori says, keeping his voice carefully even.

“She says it’s my choice,” the Bane drawls, tracing his hand up to Tori’s throat, as if considering trying to crush it in his hands.  Tori thinks he might be able to stop him, depending on how much of Jame’s strength is in those fragile-looking hands.

Then the Bane moves, lightning-quick, and Tori remembers that this was their first attempt, known for instability, who wiped out a moon, and then--

The kiss draws blood, maybe his, maybe the Bane’s, spilling iron and salt across his tongue, and their lips are both stained red with it, when the Bane pulls away, a feral light in his silver eyes.

“A blood price, then, for our sister,” the Bane says, bright and mad.

The Bane, mad and cruel and as dangerous to his allies as his enemies, lives three days in freedom, before he dies to save Jame, newly released from her glass prison, so that she can kill the Master.  Jame kneels over Torisen, holding his bloodied chest together as she shouts for the resistance, shouts for a medic, and gives the Bane a nod of gratitude as the light goes out of his silver eyes.  

It’s only her long hair, falling almost to her waist, that saves her from being shot on sight, when Kindrie and the survivors of Tori’s original seven storm into the throne room.

“Who are you?” Kindrie demands, holding up a hand.

“I’m--” Jame’s voice fails her, looking at the Banes dead around them, the one in black, the many in silver and red, her hands covered in gore with her ring ablaze on her finger, and then she says, “I’m Tori’s sister.  He needs help.”

Kindrie presses his lips together, hesitates, and then says, “Arrest her.  I’ll see to the General.”

Jame is still in chains, sitting at Tori’s bedside, when he finally wakes up nearly two weeks later.  No one can look at her.  Only a few can bear to speak to her.  Tori reaches blindly for a gun, when he comes around, and then he blinks and sees the long black hair bound back into a braid, the shackles around the slender wrists, and he says, “Don’t tell me they chained you up.”

“I’m afraid so,” Jame says with a wet laugh, and she shakes her wrists to make her chains clink.  “Hello, brother.”

#kencyrath #chronicles of the kencyrath #the mechanisms #once upon a time in space #as the cities you were razing #OH OKAY I SEE I HAD MORE THOUGHTS THAN I THOUGHT I DID #hm actually this au absolutely fucking slaps. maybe i will turn it into a real fic. #some questions that i have decided to ignore include! #'where are the mechanisms' they're not here. the only people with the right energy for those lunatics are jame bane tori and kindrie #and i already used them #if you want an au where tori has a morals switch and jame isn't captain that's a different thing #'why is bane a guy' idk gender's fake. he's a clone of jame don't ask questions. #'where's the dreamweaver' no idea! long dead maybe! maybe one of the three little pigs! #'what's up with ganth' idk fuck him #I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH THIS THOUGH #LIKE NOT TO TOOT MY OWN HORN HERE BUT BANE AS SLEEPING BEAUTY WAS BRILLIANT #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #seirnarei #asked and answered

[chevalier-tialys]

Look to the Stars

Rating: Gen

Summary: Lee is offered help by a few witches, and finds himself in an even bigger problem than he was in before.

His Dark Materials Fan Week

Day six: thing you are most looking forward to about season two | Lee attending the witches’ council

[Read on Ao3]

The sky split open, and Lee knew deep in his bones that something had gone wrong.

Unfortunately, his balloon had taken a terrible hit during the storm, so he couldn’t go and scout out exactly what was going on. No doubt Serafina Pekkala was doing as much right now, while Lee got his balloon back to Svalbard with the help of a few bears. He didn’t see Iorek anywhere, but then hadn’t expected to be able to with his new rank as king. King Iorek Byrnison, Lee thought with a wry grin. He’d told Iorek years ago that he had royal blood, exile be damned, but the bear hadn’t really listened.

Lee would do anything to shove that memory into his friend’s face, but right now his priority was to get his balloon fixed somehow and go find Lyra.

A rush of wind at his side alerted him to Serafina’s presence. “Lord Asriel opened a bridge to another world,” she announced without preamble.

“I’m sorry, what?” He had not signed up for this nonsense, and even now he was only helping out for Lyra’s sake, but… other worlds? “How is that even possible?”

She shrugged helplessly. “I think it has to do with Dust, since he was reportedly researching it in incredible detail. I saw an airship docked by his laboratory – I assume his research is now under Magisterium control.”

“The Oblation Board…”

“Perhaps. It doesn’t bode well for us,” she admitted, sounding as close to troubled as Lee had ever heard her.

He sighed. “Did you find Lyra and her friend anywhere? Roger, I mean.”

Serafina’s expression twisted. “I found the boy’s body in the snow,” she said mournfully.

“Not dead?”

“I’m afraid so. And I found this beside him,” she added, handing over a scrap of blue fabric – Bolvangar uniform, Lee supposed. “I believe it’s Lyra’s.”

Lee’s eyes widened. “She was there?”

“Not when I flew there, no. But I assume she was, at some point before. She likely took the bridge into another world,” Serafina mused aloud.

He swore under his breath.

“That’s not the worst,” she added grimly. “I found something else there as well, and the image is… disturbing, at the very least.”

“Worse than Bolvangar?” Lee asked, only halfway sarcastic. When Serafina didn’t respond, his heart sank. “Miss Pekkala…”

“Intercision cages,” she said grimly. “With a manual lever. Mr. Scoresby, I believe Lord Asriel killed Roger Parslow when he – when he cut them, to open the bridge in the Aurora.”

Lee fell silent, horrified by the act. He couldn’t tell if he found it more sickening than the experimentation in Bolvangar, or less so. For one thing, Asriel must have had the guts to commit the act himself, so there was no impersonal automation controlling the guillotine. On the other hand, the kid’s murder had probably been instrumental to Asriel’s success, which meant that it was planned.

“Damn.”

“I did say this was bigger than anything we might have imagined,” Serafina responded, still grave.

“Yeah, but – worlds? None of us could have predicted this, except–”

 “A city in the Northern Lights,” Lyra said, peering up at the Aurora. She’d opted to lay beside him on the sled that carried his balloon and stargaze for a change, instead of trekking beside the rest of the gyptians. Lee hadn’t protested, the kid had to be pretty tired from all the walking and thinner air at this altitude. He might have been used to it by now, but her Oxford upbringing wouldn’t be.

“A mirage?” Lee had never really seen a mirage himself, but he’d heard the ranchers back in Texas talk about the heat-illusions on particularly hot days when they’d been on the road for a while. He much preferred lying to travelling across land, so it hadn’t really become relevant.

Lyra shook her head. “An actual city. My father, Lord Asriel, he took a photogram of it to show the Scholars in Jordan College. So I know I ‘ent imagining things.”

“I didn’t say that you imagined it, kid,” he grunted as he sat upright, craning his neck to look at the shifting lights. No matter how much he saw them, the view never got old. “But if others have recorded the sight, I suppose…”

“What?”

“Could be some celestial phenomenon,” Lee mused aloud. “That sort of thing happens sometimes, the Aurora can look like different shapes from certain angles. Once, it even looked like a freshwater trout.”

Lyra frowned at him. “No, it can’t have. That’s ridiculous.”

“It is ridiculous,” Hester agreed, nipping at Lee’s finger. He hissed and flicked her ear in return, leaning back against the balloon.

“I guess it is,” he said amiably. “But it probably could look like a trout one day. Who knows, you might have seen an actual city there too, like Asriel. Anything’s possible ‘round these parts.”

 Anything’s possible indeed, Lee thought.

“Mr. Scoresby?”

“Lyra knew,” he said sharply. “She said that Asriel recorded an image of the city in the Aurora. You don’t think…?”

“It’s possible,” she said slowly. “But there are hundreds of thousands of worlds to cross into, Mr. Scoresby, we can’t risk following her into a place we don’t know only to get lost ourselves.”

Lee sighed. “You’re right,” he conceded. “‘Sides, we probably need to get my balloon fixed first. Though how that can be done in Svalbard I have no idea.”

“You won’t need to fix it in Svalbard,” Serafina assured him. “I summoned the aid of my clan, so my sisters will take you to Lake Enara and assist you with it themselves.”

Lee’s eyes widened. “Miss Pekkala, this is – you don’t have to–”

“Perhaps not, but it’s always good to help people when they’re in need.” Serafina’s eyes glittered. “And as I told you earlier, the universe has greater plans for you, Mr. Scoresby. Helping you wouldn’t be as altruistic as it sounds if it helps save the world, or, if my suspicions are correct, worlds.”

“Because obviously I was worried about altruism.”

She laughed.

-*-

“Lee, stop pacing,” Hester scolded. “The witches are here to help you, it’ll be fine.”

“We’ll be fine,” Lee corrected pointedly. “We don’t know where Lyra is, or – or what’s happened to her. She could be injured, and she just lost her friend! Does she even know about that? She’s probably in a strange world, and I have no idea if she’s with safe company.” He kicked a tree root and swore when pain shot up his foot.

“Don’t,” he snapped when Hester moved to speak. She sighed, exasperated.

“Lee, you’re trying to help her. If there’s any way we can find her, it’ll be with the help of the witches. They know of these worlds already, remember? Even if they’ve never been in them.”

Lee nodded. “I know, I know, I’m just–”

“Worried,” Hester completed. “I get it. I’m worried about the kid too.”

“Of course you are, we’re the same person.”

“Lee.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he conceded. “Wait a minute – that’s not a witch from the Lake Enara clan.”

From the distance, a light blur whizzed into view, landing a few paces away from Lee. A witch, certainly, from a different clan – light where Lake Enara was dark, and, lucky him, also familiar.

“Miss Virtanen,” he greeted amiably. “It’s been a while.”

“Mr. Scoresby,” she returned enthusiastically. “How are you faring, I didn’t expect to see you at this council meeting.”

“It’s a weird time,” he answered honestly. “Wait – council?”

She nodded. “I’m sure you know the significance of inviting someone who isn’t a witch into these gatherings.”

Well. Yeah.

“I thought men weren’t supposed to be witness to councils?”

“Like you said, Mr. Scoresby,” she replied sadly, “these are strange times. My sisters are meeting with the Lake Enara clan to discuss what we’ve observed so far, and Queen Serafina tells us that you have some important information of your own.”

“I hope so,” he said. “I’m not sure how relevant it is, but I’d hate it to be insignificant in the end.”

“I’m sure it won’t be,” Lisaveta assured him. “I can sense the calling of fate about your daemon.”

“Witches can do that?” he asked dryly. She grinned sheepishly and nodded.

“Some of us pay attention to the energies of the world. Others find it more productive to study people. I can say with utmost confidence that I am gifted in the latter.”

He smiled, and then remembered what he was actually here for. “I’m here about the kid – Lyra,” he clarified. “Apparently, she’s meant to save the world, or something. I want to help her do it, but mostly I just want to find her.”

His old friend cast a scrutinizing look at him. “I’m not entirely sure who you speak of,” she said at last, “but I believe Queen Serafina has something to say about it when we convene at the glen. Though it seems an awful lot like you’ve found yourself a daughter.”

“This conversation lasted for barely a minute,” Lee said exasperatedly. She just looked at him expectantly, and he deflated. “Fine, you’re not wrong. But she hasn’t had much luck by way of parents, so if I find her and escort her through her journey, I won’t push on the subject.”

She nodded and started to move towards the secluded glen, turning around to make sure he followed. “It’s like I said before, Mr. Scoresby. I’m good at reading people, and I generally stick with my first impressions of people I meet, witches or otherwise. They tend to be a lot more accurate than getting to know them before making a judgement of their character.”

“Out of curiosity, could you read an armoured bear that well?”

“Probably not,” she said. “But I will admit that I have never tried. Perhaps when this is all over, I could speak to the Svalbard bears and try.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Lee said. “To know who they are, and all that. I mean, Iorek’s my best friend, and even I don’t know what’s on his mind half the time. Bears are strange like that.”

“They are,” she agreed softly. “Then again, people are also remarkably capable of being strange, especially mortals – humans, that is.”

“I suppose we are,” Lee chuckled.

“But I stand by what I said about you,” she said, amused. “Lyra would be very lucky to have you on her side.”

He shrugged, feeling heat rush to his face. “Well. I just try to help, and the kid’s hard to dislike.”

“Which is more than most would do. You’re a good man, Mr. Scoresby, and I trust a queen’s judgement. If Serafina Pekkala says that you have an important role to play in the fate of the world, I would be inclined to believe her. And not simply because of her rank.”

“I’m flattered,” he said, baffled, “but I still don’t know why I’m here. I thought I was just supposed to stay till my balloon was fixed, but it seems like everyone has other plans.”

“Mr. Scoresby, I just got here,” Lisaveta said, amused. “But I do think it will be interesting to find out, don’t you agree?”

Lee snorted. “Interesting doesn’t begin to cover it.”

#lee scoresby #serafina pekkala #hester #hdmsourcefanweek #*mine: fic #hdmedit #hdmsource #usergeo #usereffie #this was the first piece i worked on btw #i finished this a good week before this started

[mymarvelbunch]

Different Roads... Same Destination: Part Four

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader (established). This specific chapter contains a lot of Steve x Peggy! (Also, brief mentions to Steve x Sharon)

Summary: When the Avengers went back in time to get the Infinity Stones, new timelines were created. By not delivering them back to their exact same spots, you and Steve created major changes in those timelines. What happened? (Non-American!Reader)

This is a sequel to “Be Your Own Hero”. I highly recommend you read it first, since it features many major changes in canon that are addressed here.

Notes: Y/N = your (first) name; Y/Co = your home country; Y/Ci = your home city; Y/N/L = your native language (to be ignored in case you speak English).

Masterlist

Part Four

1945

Peggy was, naturally, in denial. It took a lot of time to convince her of his identity, and even then she was only fully convinced when she kissed him. “You kiss the same”, she whispered, pulling away after brief seconds (enough time for him to cup her face).

He had wanted to keep his return a secret at first, but he failed to account for Howard Stark. Soon Captain America was all over the news as ‘coming back from the dead’. Journalists gathered around him to get interviews, and for months he didn’t have a single moment of peace.

It didn’t matter much, not as he and Peggy danced to a newly released song, kissing every time the lyrics told them to.

“Kiss me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again, It’s been a long, long time...”

1947

He and Peggy got married with only Howard, Jarvis and their wives as witnesses. On their honeymoon, he told her all about alternate Steve and showed the small notebook he gave him.

“Sergeant Barnes alive?”, she nearly gasped.

“Kept prisoner by HYDRA, according to this”, he said. “Had been injected by a prototype serum when I rescued him, which enabled him to survive his fall. Makes sense in retrospect.”

She bit her lip. “I guess it’s worth a look, though we can’t do anything useful before we go back to Washington.”

They didn’t wait long after that. Sgt. Barnes was successfully rescued four months later, along with other prisoners. “I’m offended I didn’t get to be your best man, punk”, was the first full sentenced Bucky said after stepping foot on American soil. Steve laughed, and Peggy grinned.

“I hope being our child’s godfather can compensate for it”, she said, placing her hands on her belly. Steve’s attention was suddenly all on her as he hugged her tightly.

Bucky joined SHIELD soon after Howard made him a new arm. “Way prettier than the one HYDRA gave me. More functional too.”

“Of course”, Howard boasted. “Don’t compare me to that shitty corporation.”

Bucky was also very vocal about not letting Zola inside SHIELD, which reminded Steve of another thing written in The Notebook. He would not tell Howard about his alternate self - he didn’t trust the man to keep his mouth shut - but he was able to reason with him.

“Zola belongs either in jail or in a grave”, Peggy spat. Pregnancy made her more prone to anger. The scientist was found dead not much after, and no one ever found out how he died (not that anyone bothered that much).

1970

Bucky got married in 1950 to Angie Martinelli, Peggy’s friend who was Sarah Rogers’ godmother along with him. Their first children (a couple of twins, Peter and Lyra) came to world two years later, a week before Steve and Peggy’s first son, Christopher.

Peggy was still director of SHIELD, Steve slowly fading to the background as its agent. Not that he minded, even though Peggy insisted on his importance as Captain America. “You are a symbol, Steve”, she’d say.

“Captain America is a title”, he’d reply. “It can belong to someone else.”

However, he was only able to pass his mantle when Sarah turned 20 and completed her training. All his four children (Sarah, Chris, Emily and Paul) were born with his serum on their veins, enabling them to follow their father’s steps if they wanted.

Sarah was the only one who did, much to Steve’s relief; he wasn’t looking forward to a family of spies. She officially took the title of Captain America on the week that marked Tony Stark’s birth.

It was another point of his and Peggy’s talks. The Notebook had notes on Howard’s only son; how he had not received enough love from his father, and only relied on his mother (and sometimes his family butler) for support. “If we got named as his godparents, we’ll have a perfect excuse to be in his life”, he told her, and she agreed.

It was a little odd, the time it took for Howard and Maria to have a child. By the time Tony was born, the only reason they weren’t grandparents yet was the fact that Sarah didn’t want to get married.

Meanwhile, Christopher and Emily were engaged to each of Bucky’s twins. “Reminds me of when the entire 107th though you and I were fucking”, his best friend said, laughing like it was the best joke he had ever heard.

Peggy didn’t help any. “You mean that you were ‘fondueing’?”, she asked while taking a sip of tea, like the British woman she was. Steve just groaned.

1976

Peggy’s sister-in-law (who was ten years younger than her husband) gave birth to her youngest child on the same month she and Steve became grandparents. Sharon Carter was mentioned in The Notebook, but in passing; he missed it on his first reading.

“Agent 13″, he read aloud to Peggy. She already had a few white hair locks, and the difference between their aging speed was visible (though he was sure he saw a white strand on the previous week). “I suppose this means she worked for SHIELD in the other timeline.”

“It might not be the case now”, his wife replied softly. “This is Sharon who had another uncle. She probably saw you looking less than 30.” A chuckle. “Who knows, this other Steve might have even dated her.”

“Absolutely not, she’s my niece.”

“She isn’t the other Steve’s.”

A loud groan was heard. “I really don’t want to imagine it, Peggy. We’re talking about a baby. A baby who’s our grandson’s age.”

~~

The amount of teasing Steve endured at that very moment could not be properly translated into words. You were no help, busy as you were laughing.

“Aw, I wish she was here to watch this”, Sam said. “Why didn’t you invite her, Scott?”

“I... don’t know her?”

“Where is she, by the way?”, Natasha wondered. You glanced at Steve, who huffed.

“I kiss her one time, and now I’m supposed to know all her whereabouts?” When you didn’t answer, just kept staring, he sighed. “I’ve heard she moved to California.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard.”

“I clearly have a type: women who can kick my ass and laugh at my expense.”

“I can’t kick your ass, not without Mjölnir, or Stormbreaker.”

“The mere fact that you can wield them already enables you to kick my ass.”

“Stop arguing before it gets kinky!”, Tony shouted. You two laughed.

~~

1991

Taking down KGB was not an easy task. Without HYDRA, the Soviets invested more on their national espionage division.

However, it got easier with the fall of Soviet Union. Following her father’s instructions, Sarah rescued many little girls training to be spies. One of them was to be brought to US, if she consented to it.

Natalia Romanova, a 7-year-old girl with dreams of becoming a ballerina, is adopted by the Starks. Tony, a 21-year-old adult, happily welcomes his little sister into the family.

“There’s someone else for us to look after”, he mentioned to Peggy. His hair was fully white now, and his ‘Adonis muscles’ had started to fade off, but he was still more energetic than most 73-year olds.

“There are many names, actually”, Peggy replied. She had just retired from SHIELD, after turning 70. She wasn’t as ‘preserved’ as her husband, but still looked younger than her age. “We only crossed Bucky’s, Tony’s and Natasha’s. There is still a lot of work to do if we are going to follow your notebook, and so far it seems to be the right thing to do.”

However, right after they took Clint Barton from the circus and had Emily adopt him too, they took a pause to mourn their youngest son.

In 1979, Paul told his parents he was gay. Although surprised, they simply told him that they’d always love and support him. He and Sarah moved out of their parents’ home and lived together, since neither of them would marry. In 1990, however, he was diagnosed with AIDS after he started coughing blood. It left the whole family terrified; Paul himself had been telling them about his other gay/bi friends who had been taken away due to that horrible disease.

Two years later, he died at home, holding his sister’s hand and gasping for breath.

~~

Was it okay to cry for a son you never had? Because tears were falling down Steve’s cheeks for Paul. You kissed his cheek and embraced him tighter, but didn’t say a word. You tried to imagine yourself in Peggy’s place. Steve might have already been prepared for the possibility of outliving his offspring; after all, no one knew how long he’d live with the serum in his blood. But Peggy was like you, a normal human. At the age of 70 especially, she would never think she’d outlive one of her children, let alone her youngest.

You had studied a bit about the AIDS pandemic at college, but no reading would do justice to the pain you could see in the faces of those alternate versions of your friends and their beloved ones.

~~

1995

By the time Carol Danvers showed on SHIELD’s radar, Sarah Rogers had already passed the Captain America mantle to her 15-year-old nephew John. “It’ll be temporary”, he warned, “until any of my siblings or cousins is ready to take it.”

Still, he was there to watch over Carol and rescue her from the Kree who tried to kidnap her. He took her to her best friend, and he could swear he saw his deceased uncle when Danvers and Rambeau smiled and embraced each other.

Ten years later, he’d pass the mantle to his young brother James as he and Monica Rambeau had their first child.

2008

Tony was still kidnapped in Afghanistan and still became Iron Man, his parents long gone (Howard had a heart attack in 1993 and Maria had a stroke in 1998). Looking back, he blamed himself for not listening to Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve; they had always told him to shut down the weapons department of Stark Industries (but how could he? He had a duty to SHIELD).

This time, however, he had more than just Pepper, Rhodey and Happy for support. Natasha soon realized Obadiah Stane’s true intentions and unmasked him before he could do any real damage. Tony’s little sister got an iron suit of her own in her 24th birthday. 

Clint and Natasha still joined SHIELD, but with no red on their ledger to wipe out. Hank Pym still recruited Scott Lang, but years in advance, thanks to a ‘casual tip’ Peggy Carter gave him (he never left SHIELD or Stark Industries in this one). His daughter would eventually get a suit of her own, though hers would take more time.

Sam was recruited to SHIELD too, shortly after losing Riley. His new job gave him a purpose, and he was happy.

Banner never turned into the Hulk, not when he had Steve to talk him out of replicate his serum. “This is no blessing”, he told him. “Just look at mine and Bucky’s kids. Why do you think they married within our inner circle? Why do you think John married a woman who lived with a super-powered step-mom? None of us really fit in, we’re outsiders. You don’t want that.”

So, when Loki arrived with the Chitauri army, a slightly different team defeated him. James Rogers was barely 18, too young to lead, but Tony had grown up with Steve as his godfather and Sarah as his ‘cousin’ and knew how to do it. Iron Man, Iron Scarlet (there was no Black Widow alias for Natasha to adopt), Captain America (fourth of his name, as people called him), Hawkeye, Thor, Captain Marvel and Ant-Man teamed up rather easily.  (A couple years later, War Machine, Falcon and the Wasp would join the team.)

With no HYDRA, there is no Scarlet Witch, no Quicksilver. Tony is a different man here, not blinded by trauma and fear, and there is no Ultron either. T’Chaka is never killed, but this time, Wakanda is visited by the Avengers and the three former Captain Americas. Their borders are opened without a civil war, and eventually Shuri is the one added to the Avengers line-up (not in a Black Panther suit, of course; it’d be disrespectful).

Peggy passes away in her sleep in 2016. Steve is still strong enough to carry her coffin, with Bucky by his side and their sons behind them. “Did that notebook tell you that?”, his best friend asked after they left the cemetery.

“No. The notes end on ‘Thanos’ and ‘Infinity Stones’. I’m not sure what any of these mean.”

“You should pass it on to the Avengers. It’s past our time to help, punk.”

It was true. Both of them lost most of their built-up appearance, and truly looked like old men. Their third great-grandkid had just been born, and now both were widowers (Angie had died a year before Peggy, in a hospital, after fracturing her left femur). A week later, they moved to an apartment Tony bought for them, near the Avengers Tower. Steve gave the Notebook to James and retired for good.

2018

In the end, no warning prepared them for the Decimation. In their defense, Thanos didn’t really invade Earth this time. Ebony Maw showed up to get the Time Stone and, like in the original timeline, the battle was taken to space.

The heartbreak over losing so many of his family, so suddenly, not to mention his best friend, was too much for Steve. A huge service was made for the first Captain America, and small, intimate funeral was made for the man under the helmet and uniform.

Some things don’t change, though. Three years later, you still show up at the Avengers compound with an idea to reverse things. Time travel was still figured out, and they brought everyone back without any major casualties. You still fell in love with Captain America, and he with you. It was just a different person wearing the mantle.

Bucky died less than a year later. His last words were “till the end of the line, pal”.

~~

It was odd to see a timeline where you never met Steve. “Honestly, it was better this way”, he commented when you pointed that out. “I really don’t want to see if we’re meant to be when I’m over 100 years old. I’ll gladly let this version of you be with my grandson instead.”

“He looks better than you, punk”, Bucky added. “Must be the addition of Peggy’s genes and mine.”

“Your alternate wife also helped”, Natasha agreed.

They laughed. “That was the last one”, Strange said after they stopped laughing. “I’m not doing this again.”

You smiled anyway. “Thank you, Strange. It was fun to watch, especially among friends.”

He nodded and gave you a tiny smile in return.

~~

We’re nearly finished! All that’s left is the epilogue. I plan on writing it to be cute <3

#Steve Rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #marvel imagine #peggy carter #steggy

[antipokeandamour]

Pokeshipping Never Meant to Be

I’ve seen so many people, even “non shippers” believe the pokemon anime was supposed to end with Ash/Satoshi & Misty/Kasami ending up together & usually end up spewing twisted up pokeshipping hints. The best Pokeshipping was was one-sided, but you could say that for most of the pokegirls with Ash ship, except maybe Dawn/Hikari. 

Before you read on, I like everyone to know I have no hatred for Ash, OG Ash (he was the best Ash), or Misty/Kasumi. The point of this post is to show that pokeshipping is and was no better than any other AshXmain girl ship, and my view on how I never saw this ever becoming canon. But for this rant or however you want to views this, I avoided talking much about different ships as much as I can to avoid conflict & because it was different writers than from the original writers. With that out of the way...

“Ash Blushed at Misty in a kimono! CANONZ!” 1. He starred at her, in which I interpreted it as: Wow, Misty can look like a girl. And that’s the most she ever got out of Ash. And yes, it’d make since Ash would think that, as I get to in #2 here.

2. There are a lot more moments where Ash refers to her as ugly. In School of Hard Knocks they implied heavily that Ash believes Misty has a nasty personality (oof, that’s even more important than finding someone attractive, people) & looks ugly. In Beauty & the Beach he also comments that she can look like a girl. This in both Eng & Jap raw, Ash thinks Misty is unattractive. He does find someone attractive, and shes the only one too. Hint: it starts with a G & ends with an E. Aka NOT MISTY/KISAMI.

(note: I don’t ship Ash/Satoshi with her, just making a point).

3. Even if he found he attractive then... That was when she was in clothes she is not comfortable with. So she’d have to go out of her way to satisfy Ash, when she doesn’t usually even like that kind of style to dress as at all. While there where guys out there that found her attractive in her usual wear (Rudy & that one guy in Chronicles for example). She’d be much happier with them than a guy who’d fine her “ugly” and looking like a guy in what she feels comfortable in.

“Romantic tones with the kimono scene!” They always do that with Brock though.

And Brock has yet to have a gf or anything close to one. Sure, he had a couple of girls who where interested in him, yet after he sees another girl he finds attractive it’s the same thing. In the original series, there where a lot of girls this happened to with Brock. And it’s never expected that Brock will end with any girl at this time. If “romantic tones” are supposed to be serious, then it should always be serious to be point out who ends with who, and not to add on to a joke sometimes then other times its serious. And it’s extremely odd if pokeshpping was supposed to be canon, but there was no other point like this to make it look like Ash viewing Misty as someone he’s interested in with “romantic tones.” Like with Misty the Mermaid, there were no romantic tones when Ash saw Misty or in Beauty & the Beach. 

“Ash Blushed in pokeball peril! CANONZ!”

1. There are many reasons why people turn red, & sometimes it has nothing to do with “blushing.” He could be mad/annoyed, or simply embarrassed that 3 people he doesn’t like are assuming that just because 1 person left them that means they’re dating/in love.

2. Misty is the only one clearly blushing. Ash... well, he loses his z marks, but he doesn’t look red, like he clearly is when he was staring at a pic of a girl that starts with a G & ends with a E.

 Also, Jessie says, “...But you’re blushing!” after Misty speaks. She doesn’t say, “you two...” or “both of you.” Just the singular YOU’RE.

3. People have said Ash acted “irrational” & “overacted” to being accused of loving Misty here because he was going to have Pikachu thunderbolt them & forgot they’re on a blimp. I’m pretty sure he was going to have Pikachu use thunderbolt in the last episode & in the same situation, yet no one accused him of being in love with Misty then. And hes done something like that in a lot of episodes where he almost used thunderbolt in a terrible spot to use it at, yet again NO ONE WAS ACCUSING OF ASH BEING IN LOVE WITH MISTY.

“Ash is jealous of...”

1.Tracey: Oh yes. For 1 episode of a full 5 min span, Ash got jealous with Tracey because Misty found him impressive, & after said incident never felt jealous with Tracey when Tracey talks to Misty while Ash is battling or away from them, and didn’t upset when Misty found Tracey’s drawing impressive... But Ash was totally “jealous” in just that one moment even when nothing was cleared up on Misty’s feelings to Tracey for Ash. LMAO k. 

But in all seriousness, Here’s what most likely going through Ash’s mind during In The Pink. Once Ash hears Misty praise Tracey for doing what he did, Ash doesn’t see the skill Tracey possessed to get as close as he did, and think Misty is over reacting to something he believes is simple to do. Since he sees himself as able to do anything, he plans on going on befriending the ryhorn, but fails completely. As a 10 yr old with 0 desire for woman & who is pretty full of himself (Well... mostly OG-AG Ash), this makes more sense than Ash having a sudden rage due to a random attraction & jealously for a girl he usually finds unattractive when she went through no appearance changes at all. 

2. Rudy: It really pisses me off when people who go out of their way to make it seem like Ash wanted Misty in this episode. How does it not make sense for Ash to be upset with Rudy... WHEN HE’S NOT DOING HIS DAMN JOB? I really hope pokeshippers this desperate for their ship to look canon trying to make people believe “Ash was so jealous cuz Rudy was flirting with his wannabe wifeu <3 <3 lolz″ lose a competition or try out because the judge was too busy flirting with their mom, or sister/brother/dad/best friend/etc... who was there watching them for support. I bet they’d be extremely “jealous” too.

And I don’t understand why people keep believing this, when Rudy proposed to her & asked her to stay with him and his sister, Ash did absolutely NOTHING in that situation. He didn’t even say anything bad about Rudy after he said that (to show jealousy), or make a scene when he was right there as Rudy asked her that. Doesn’t seem he cared that much that Rudy could’ve woo’ed Misty.

3. Danny: Ash didn’t care that Misty was drooling all over him. 

 He only cared because a girl who usually is trying to help him win a battle is cheering for a guy they just met & has nothing to gain beating Ash. No wonder hes wondering, “what so special about him?” And it ANGERS me when people  twist Ash wanting a blanket when Misty goes to get Danny one, as everyone ether has or is being catered to one (Danny), while he’s standing there shivering.   

“He cried when Misty left, while he didn’t when Brock left for OI, or for any other pokegirl!”

I guess Ash “loved” Butterfree & Pikachu as well.

Way to go pokeshippers, making it seem like Ash doesn’t give a s**t about Brock or his other friends. When Brock first left, Ash did say he wished that he came back to traveling with them. And during Gotta Catch Ya Later, he talked about BOTH Brock and Misty before “crying.”

And there’s a HUGE difference between having 1 friend to travel around with for help & support instead of 2, to going to a foreign place all by yourself with 0 human support and to a place where you know no one in the whole region you’re going to. 

As with Ash’s other friends... there was no reason for him to be sad, as they where happily perusing what they want to do, and he was just going home and was most likely used to saying goodbye to friends at this point. Also, I guess Ash “stopped loving Misty,” as when she left in her other cameos he was far from sad/crying.

You can cry “different writers! They would’ve made Ash cry if it was the OG writers!” But then that could be true for Ash crying while saying goodbye to his other friends.

“He didn’t let Dawn use the lure he got from Misty...” Yeah, BECAUSE HE WAS GOING TO USE IT. And it’s his’s. 

“And is seems over-protective of it!” ... Because it’s his, & doesn’t want to lose a gift from a friend whom give it to him for good luck? And tell me when Ash let’s anyone else touch his other gifts from his friends, ex: pokeball halves, wooden teddiursa, ribbon half, etc...

“Misty says they’ll be married one day, and Ash agreed!” 1. Misty most likely meant in general, not to each other. So Ash is agreeing to be marrying someone (not Misty).

2. Kisami IN THE ORIGINAL RAW, said:  "Looks like she fell for Takeshi(Brock) in first sight." Biasedkids(4kids) liked to add random pokeshipping moments, but that has no barring on actual canon, as biasedkids aren’t the actual writers of the pokeanime. Also, this is also the case when Ash tells Max that “a good friend left him & misses her everyday.” Just a biasedkids add in.

“So many thought they were dating, like Jessie, James, Meowth, & a Nurse Joy!”  So? In the Hoenn series, there’s an episode called, The Bicker the Better where Ash & May/Haruka are accused of dating by some weird couple, & James implied May being “Ash’s girl.” Yet, most pokeshippers don’t think Advanceshipping had a chance & believe the show was making Drew/Shuu & May a couple. Of course, more times Drew and May where accused of dating/liking each other, but my point still stands that just because someone thought a & b are dating/like each other, doesn’t mean a & b will marry/actually have any romantic feelings for each other. Also, Lyra in the Sinnoh series thought Ash & Dawn should’ve became a couple, & Kenny was jealous of Ash & Dawn being so close, even though both didn’t see each other in a romantic way.   

“In the 1st movie trailer in Japan, Misty was with her’s & Ash’s daughter! They where with a Pikachu with them, so it’s obviously Ash’s daughter!”

/facepalm 1. That girl... HAS PINK HAIR. Ash has black, Misty has red/orange. How is this little girl their daughter? 2. There’s more than 1 pikachu in the pokeanime. Pikachu is the face of ALL OF POKEMON. It’s not that farfetch’d of them to have it to promote a trailer, or for someone else to own one. 3. ...And what’s with the blue haired gal then?  4.  This teaser was made and released when the movie's production was well underway and after the decision had been made to keep Ash' story going past an adaption of Red/Blue.  Heck, they were already making the Indigo league tournament episodes when this was released. The opening scene is just Misty and the woman talking to the girl about how she likes Pokémon and how there is a movie coming out, the girl meant to represent children who are fans of the show and seeing this trailer. They do this all the time with the pokemon movies where they just throw in generic scenes that don't match the actual movie.

At the end of the day, I don’t care if people ship pokeshipping. Yes, I get extremely annoyed with a lot of them, but that’s because they are annoying with their “ORIGINAL CANON” claim (though I know there are other shippers who are just as annoying with canon claiming) & annoying dumb hints (again, there are other shippers who are just as annoying & stupid with their hints). So go ahead and ship what you wanna ship, and if you still believe that it was supposed to be canon (even despite Shudo saying they were always meant to be friends) then fine. As there’s nothing you can say to make me believe “Ash/Satoshi always loved Misty/Kasami,” I understand that there’s nothing I can say to make you believe it was never meant to be. 

#pokemon anime #anti pokeshpping #Ash #Satoshi #Misty #Katsami

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @dottie-wan-kenobi!

Dear @dottie-wan-kenobi, I hope you have a wonderful holiday and that this little fic brings a smile to your face!

*****

Instant Family

*record scratch* *freeze frame* Yup, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

Stiles posts the picture on his Instagram and then sighs, leaning back in his chair as he watches it upload. It’s a photo that he didn’t take and he isn’t as amused as he knows the people who follow him will be. He’s in it but he’s not alone, unlike most of his usual posts. But then, he hasn’t really been alone for the past few days, until just now when he’s finally getting a little bit of a reprieve and a moment of peace.

It’s been a wild ride from the moment that he and Derek drove up to Satomi’s home last week because of the phone call she made to Derek. She didn’t say much, only that it was an emergency and involved a pack having been attacked by some hunters. Most of the hunters were dead by the time she called, though a few of them got away with only being arrested for the ambush and murders of the pack members. Derek said he’d known of the pack and that they’d been friends of his parents once upon a time.

Now, a week later, Stiles finally has time to process everything that happened. The tiny pack, only a family really, had been ambushed in their own home, surrounded and their house set alight the way the Hale house was years ago. Only, because it wasn’t in as remote an area as the Beacon Hills Preserve and because the hunters had not known about the tiny detail that was mountain ash – something that the Kate Argent used against the Hale pack – there were some survivors.

The pack’s Alpha managed to get the kids out in time. She didn’t have a chance to save the adults since there were only two left to begin with, her and her husband. She, despite her healing abilities, didn’t survive the wolfsbane bullets that hit her while she was rescuing the children and her mate had been human, which meant that he didn’t survive the fire itself.

That’s why Stiles now has a multitude of photos where he’s surrounded by the kids, five of them, all under the age of seven.

Satomi called them because her pack is still not stable enough to take in newcomers and she knows that the Hale-McCall pack is in a better position to help even if only temporarily. They all have had years to recover but the Ito pack suffered bigger losses in the war against Gerard’s little army. Derek didn’t hesitate to volunteer them for fostering the children since their parents had been his family’s friends. Stiles said nothing at the time but he’s reconsidering that choice the same way he has been doing ever since they got back to Beacon Hills.

“All the regrets,” he mutters and then sighs.

“Really?"

"Oh my god, I’m getting you a bell,” Stiles grumbles once he catches his breath and turns around to face Derek.

“You’ve been promising that for years, I think you might be bluffing,” Derek replies with a grin and Stiles watches him land on the bed and closing his eyes.

“Kids asleep?"

Derek huffs.

"Most of them, yeah,” he says after a beat. “Aya asked if she could stay up a little longer to read. Nate needed extra bedtime stories."

"Lyra?"

"Out like a light, teeth seem to be done torturing her."

"The twins?"

"Sleeping in Aya’s room.”

“Camping?"

"Simon wanted to be close,” Derek says, lifting himself up on his elbows and looking at Stiles. “It’s the moon, probably. Close enough to full that he needs his pack. And of course because he wanted to be with her, Daniel had to follow suit.”

“Naturally,” Stiles deadpans. “Does Aya have a deadline?"

Derek pauses, looks like he’s focusing hard for a moment, then grins. "Well, she did, but apparently it wasn’t needed.”

“Sleeping?”

“Yup.”

Stiles lets out a relieved sigh. He knows that it’s probably only going to be a short blessing and the youngest, Lyra, will wake up before the morning and need his or Derek’s attention, but he’s willing to take what he can get. He gets out of his chair, drops his phone on the table, then moves over to the bed and drops on top of it, just next to Derek.

Sleep has been a rare commodity because of the kids and he’s not willing to give up the possibility to catch up on some of it now.

As he’s drifting away, he feels the warmth of Derek’s palm on his lower back and the comfort of it lulls him to sleep.

-=-=-

It’s another week before they get some time away from the kids again. They’re all still in the house – a situation that Stiles thinks has a chance of becoming permanent, the way Derek is bonding with them – but Stiles and Derek are not, for a change. Lydia is back in town for a while and she and Jordan offered to babysit. Without anyone suggesting it, the rest of the pack invited themselves and there’s now an entire sleepover happening.

“Bonding time,” Lydia called it when everyone else started showing up.

The plan wasn’t to take the kids in permanently but Stiles can’t see any other way. Not only have the kids latched on to both him and Derek but everyone else is becoming attached to them fast. He knows that his dad is already considering them family, though it’s only been a few weeks. And even if the decision was made to find them a different permanent home – not that Stiles has any idea who would make that particular decision – there’s no way they can separate them. It wouldn’t be right, not with what they’ve already been through.

So he’s pretty sure that the Hale-McCall pack is getting their first batch of the next generation. It’s not surprising, really, considering Scott’s ongoing mission to find and fight all the remaining factions of Gerard and Monroe’s former army of hunters. They don’t leave happiness in their wake but this was the first time they’ve only left underage survivors and that they had nowhere else to go. Most of the packs in the country are closely connected nowadays, through a network that Stiles and Lydia set up for information exchange and the ability to call on each other for help if needed.

All of what’s going on is weighing heavily on Stiles’s mind, hitting him hard when he gets to stop and think. All of it would be a big deal regardless of the circumstances, considering they’re five children, very young ones, some of them werewolves without the familial bond of their pack. But it’s an even bigger deal because it’s not like Stiles and Derek have what would be called an established, solid family that would have been around for as long as other packs have. Their own pack is a jumble of people, more than half of the time scattered across not only the country but several continents. Stiles can’t help but wonder if theirs is the right place for the kids.

“You’re thinking very loudly,” Derek tells him as they pull up at the diner. “You’re lucky mind-reading isn’t a werewolf ability.”

“You’d complain that my thoughts give you a headache,” Stiles replies with a smirk. “Like you used to say about me talking.”

“Would make it easier to follow your train of thought.”

“Keep those pipe dreams alive,” Stiles tells Derek as they get out of the car. “I can’t even do that sometimes and they’re my thoughts."

"Okay, fair,” Derek concedes, reaching out and linking his fingers with Stiles’s. “What is it that’s got your mind spinning this time?‘

"The kids."

"You thinking we’re not right for them?"

Stiles pauses and looks at Derek in surprise. It still amazes him how well Derek can sense – or guess, Stiles hasn’t yet figured out which it is – what it is that’s running through Stiles’s mind at any given point. They’ve known each other for years now and they’ve been together for two of them but the connection continues to be mind-blowing.

"Yeah,” he says quietly. “I mean, they’ve obviously latched on to us but we’re not…. they’re not…”

“We are a pack, strange as it is,” Derek replies. “But you’re right, it’s a very big deal if we were to keep them.”

“The most important question, because nothing else matters more,” Stiles says and takes a breath as Derek nods. “Do you want to keep them?"

He doesn’t get a response immediately. Derek turns his head to the window next to their table and sighs. Stiles doesn’t rush him, no matter how much his mind is racing and craving an answer. He knows what his own reply would be, if it’s only his desire that’s to be considered without thinking of any other circumstances.

"What can I get you boys?"

Stiles startles as Tina – she’s been the waitress here longer than Stiles can remember – asks her question, since he was too lost in thought to pay attention to his surroundings.

"You both look like you could do with a rather sizable meal,” she says with a smile that’s betrayed by the concern in her eyes.

“Two specials, two fries, two Cokes,” Stiles says and glances at Derek for confirmation.

“That and a basket of onion rings,” Derek adds.

“Be right back with those, you just relax,” Tina says and heads to the counter.

Another moment passes and then Derek takes a deep breath, like he’s bracing himself for a rejection – Stiles remembers that expression from the first time Derek asked him on a date – and then finally answers Stiles’s question.

“I do. I want to."

"Keep them?"

"Yeah.”

“All of them?”

Derek throws Stiles a glare which Stiles can understand because it’s a dumb question.

“I mean, yeah, obviously all of them,” Stiles says quickly. “Sorry, just processing.”

“Do you not want to?” Derek asks and he sounds disappointed.

Stiles shakes his head, then speaks up before Derek takes it the wrong way.

“I do. Just as a pure want, yes, I wish we’’d keep them.”

“But?”

“But I’m also thinking, is this the best place for them? Can we handle it?"

"I think we can, yeah. Money is not an issue, obviously. We do have the space for them in the house,” Derek says. “We’d need to figure out schooling, I don’t know if homeschooling would work or if we can do that and with what they’ve been through, I don’t know if all of them will be able to handle school just yet.”

“I think Aya will. The twins are obviously not an issue and we’ll have to see about Nate and Lyra,” Stiles tells him. “Think they’re were?"

"Lyra probably is. Nate, I’m not so sure. Might be a late bloomer, normally we start showing signs at around twelve months."

"You’d need to school me on what to look for, other than hearing conversations they’re not supposed to hear,” Stiles says with a grin.

Aya, the oldest of the kids, has already given away her ability by accident, first time at Satomi’s when she overheard Stiles and Derek talking about taking the kids with them to Beacon Hills. She was out in the yard while they were in the kitchen, separated by a closed door and windows.

“I also think that the pack will help,” Derek says. “Your dad for sure. Melissa too."

"So. Five kids. Should I request a desk job?"

Stiles has been on leave since they brought the kids home. But he knows that his job at the FBI won’t wait for him forever. He’ll need to return at some point for many reasons, one of them being that he’s the liaison for Scott’s search for the hunters.

"I wouldn’t ask you to do that. I know you can’t.”

“Well, I can, theoretically.”

“You shouldn’t. Not if you being out there means it can prevent any tragedies like the one that brought the kids to us."

"I’ll see if I can extend my leave some more,” Stiles says quietly.

“Does that mean I’ll see both you boys in here more?” Tina says with a bright smile as she puts their burgers and fries down on the table.

“You just might, Tina.”

“Bring those little mites with you next time,” she says. “It’s a great thing you’re doing, taking care of them.”

“Thanks. We’ll see about that,” Stiles says. “Might not want to get them addicted to these goodies quite so soon.”

“Pssh. Like we don’t have healthy options,” Tina says. “You two enjoy your date night."

"Thanks.”

Stiles starts picking out fries out of the basket and eating them, his mind spinning around what feels like a decision.

“So. Anything else we need to consider before we start figuring out the paperwork we need?” Derek asks just as the silence starts feeling like it’s been going on for too long.

“Maybe just asking them if they want to stay?"

"I think we know the answer to that. But you’re right, Aya and the twins will want to tell us.”

“So, we ask them tonight?"

"They’ll be in bed by the time we get home.”

“Keep those dreams alive, Derek,” Stiles chuckles. “Everyone is there, I have a feeling the kids will have a weird sleeping pattern for a few days.”

“Not like Lyra doesn’t already have that without any interference,” Derek says, then takes a bite of his burger.

They don’t talk about it any more after that. Once their meal is done, Tina brings them pie – on the house, she says – and with that little sugar boost, Stiles doesn’t feel like going home just yet. Instead, they drive out to the lake at the back of the Preserve and sit there for a while, watching the stars until the air chills too much.

“So, tomorrow?” Stiles asks.

“Hm?”

“We ask the kids if they want to stay."

"Yeah.” Derek agrees. “Are you ready for that?”

Stiles thinks for a moment and then he reaches out for Derek’s hand.

“Yeah, I am. It’s gonna be wild though,” he says.

“It is. But the pack always has been a little strange. Nothing we haven’t dealt with before.”

Stiles can’t do anything but nod. They’ve dealt with so much crap in their lives, them and the kids. It’s time to make something good out of it all, together.

#dottie-wan-kenobi #stereksanta19 #*fics19 #*gifts19

[falneou17]

May 2015 - May 2020

No, this is not announcing my retirement or whatever. It’s just that after doing anything for a couple years, there will come a time when you start to look back and see how far you have come in those years. All the highs and lows, all the milestones and all the achievements.

And I kind of wanted to do something like this for a while; this is not the first time that I looked back at the time I have been writing fanfiction (and I am sure it won’t be the last), but I still want to, you know... document this. Share it in case there are people out there who are interested to see my perspective on this.

I am actually going to start to the time before I was writing fanfiction, because fanfiction was actually not my first experience with writing fiction; I actually wrote a collab original story with my good childhood friend Blue-san back in late-2012/early-2013. I can’t quite remember the date and Blue-san has since closed down her website she hosted it on, but it was in that era.

Shortly after that, in early-mid 2013 I wrote my own original story. I think I might still have it saved somewhere. As a matter of fact, actually, Falneou17′s name comes from that story. Well, the Falneou part anyway; seventeen’s just one of my fave numbers, both back then and right now.

Late-2013 and the year 2014 were both really busy and really weird for me, so I kind of pulled away from writing. That was until early 2015 (around February if I remember correctly) when I was feeling nostalgic and I looked up Pokemon fanfiction. Okay, to be fair, at the time I was looking for Pokemon fanworks in general, but it quickly gravitated towards fanfiction in particular. More specifically, Pokemon Special fanfiction, which was also the time when I read the stories of the six fanfiction writers who inspired me to write fanfiction. Of these six, only 1358456 is still writing, and while I will freely admit that I haven’t been reading her fics since I left the Pokemon Special fandom, I can wholeheartedly recommend her fics!

And that was pretty much how it began, I opened a fanfiction.net account in May 2015 and published my very first fanfiction (for Pokemon Special), Specialventure Academy which was my attempt at a high school AU for this franchise in the early days of the following month. Did it age well? No way XD but it did give me a lot of experience that helped me not only grow but also start out as a writer.

Like, most notably I think, it showed me the error in trying to incorporate everybody at the time (as BW2 wasn’t finished when I wrote that fanfiction and wouldn’t be for years to come, it would “only” have up to BW cast... which, as it included Lyra, Wally, Cherren, and Bianca, got the total to nineteen... yeah...). I think I realized this and tried to rectify my mistake in the second third of the story? Speaking of mistakes, another mistake I made with this story that really helped me grow was learning that my readers’ wishes and hopes did not mean I had to change my writing. Writing to make them happy was one thing, but I remember actively changing parts of my stories at the time to try and please everybody. Which, of course, is impossible (if you have readers who love Yellow and those who hate Yellow, for instance, how can you compromise to please everybody?).

This so far has only been about Specialventure, I haven’t even talked about the other fics in this era. For me, the three biggest fics in the 2015-2016 Pokemon Special era were, aside from Specialventure, Night of the Black Sun and Crimson Sunlight.

Black Sun was a really ambitious attempt for me at the time, not only because of what the story was trying to do but also because it would be my third multi-chapter fic I would be writing at the same time (alongside the other two fics I just mentioned). ‘Controversial’ is probably the wrong word, but Black Sun was definitely... polarizing. It’s also the only fanfiction of mine at the time (and only one of two to this day as of writing this) that received rude negative reviews. And because it was the first fic that received this... distinction... it hit quite hard, but I also feel like that made me realize not only the things that I did wrong but also that what I did had a big enough impact that it could affect other people that much. I think it is fair for me to say that the mistakes I made with Black Sun would not reappear in any of my other fanfictions after that... at least not to the same extent.

The third and final most memorable Pokemon Special fanfiction in this era, for me, was Crimson Sunlight. For the BanG Dream readers: no, this has nothing to do with either Scarlet Sunlight or Shining Sunlight, we’ll get to those soon enough. Looking back, from a writer’s perspective, Crimson definitely felt like it had a drop in quality, but at the same time it also felt the most... accomplished... of the three fanfiction. And Crimson basically taught me two things, I feel... it emphasized the importance of having a story’s plot planned out and it showcased how fluid the story could be if I were to focus on as few characters as possible (Crimson, being based on and inspired by konbu’s doujinshi titled How Far Are You?, focused on Red and Yellow and only Red and Yellow). And, out of the Pokemon fics in this first year era, Crimson is definitely the story I feel didn’t necessarily age the best but it is definitely the one I look back at the fondest.

The time around the end of 2015 and the start of 2016 I remember there were a few big things happening to me. Let’s talk chronologically: the first big thing that happened (that has no direct effect on my fanfiction, but I never said this post was to only look back on the fanfiction-specific times in the last half decade) was that I got promoted to moderator on the forums of JB2448′s site (the forums has since been taken down in... mid-2017? Mid-2017 sounds about right...), but the actual site is still live for those who want to use it to read Pokemon manga. I think this is worth noting because it would really hammer the point that what I did and said had an impact and that I had to be mindful of what I said online as a result...

The other notable thing that happened was that I got introduced to RWBY by DaPokemonMadster. There may have been more people involved, but Mads was definitely the one whose efforts to drag me into RWBY is the vividest... most vivid? It’s the one I remember the most, let’s keep it at that. This moment was significant for multiple reasons, I feel; not only did it open the doors to a new fandom, but it also sparked the birth of not only my longest oneshot at the time, White Rose Valentine, but also the fanfiction that would turn writing fanfiction for me upside-down: Field of Tomorrow. More than any other multi-chapter fanfiction I have ever published, even more so than Black Sun and Specialventure, Field of Tomorrow has been the biggest turning point for me in terms of writing and in terms of where I can say my writing got a big jump in quality (as arrogant as it is to say that). Despite the fact that, you know... FoT got officially discontinued earlier this year...

The writing, the story, the characterization... FoT introduced me to the ease of writing of both Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna (who would later become the base for another very notable character for me) as well as Neo (who would later become the base for yet another very notable character for me), but FoT did something else as well: beta readers. Before this point in time I would either publish the chapter right away (which, if you are a new/aspiring writer: don’t do that) or try to edit it myself. But, as I am sure every single writer can attest to: there is only so much editing that a writer can do on their own. And FoT really showed the difference between a chapter that I would edit by myself and a chapter that had a beta reader look at. It was phenomenal and a really big eye opener and I cannot thank Namitaa776 and LightZephyr enough.

The final fanfic that I can remember really fondly in this first year (I can’t believe I have written this much down already and we haven’t passed the first year yet) would be my one-year anniversary oneshot A Silver Lining. The Pokemon fanfiction that I think aged the best and would be partly the base for a fanfiction I am well known for in the BanG Dream! fandom. Before this point, I did not have any fanfiction deal directly with death before. I had danced around it a couple of times, but this oneshot was the first one to actively explore the possibilities... and to truly open the door to the “Angst” genre of the site... as a matter of fact, if it wasn’t for A Silver Lining, I might never have delved as much in the Angst genre as I have. So... thank you, A Silver Lining, for that opportunity. Even if I really hate the ending, but oh well... I think I was afraid that people would hate it if I were to go all in with it which is why I ended the oneshot like I did. I learned my lesson as the BanG Dream! fandom can attest to...

The rest of 2016 (the calendar year anyway) proceeded relatively uneventfully fanfiction-wise. I continued my multi-chapter fanfics that were ongoing, wrapped up Specialventure in August of 2016 and decided to stay mainly in the RWBY fandom because I felt the RWBY fandom gave me better reader interactions and reviews and such than Pokemon did. Specialventure definitely got the advantage in terms of view count, but the number of views a RWBY chapter would get on the day it got uploaded always baffled me. Then and now... especially since I was never a really big RWBY writer to begin with...

The good reader interaction in RWBY was, of course, until I published the fanfiction that I so very often call the fanfiction that did the worst. My fourth-most favorited (41), my third-most followed (35), my fourth-most viewed fanfiction on the site at the time of writing... Frozen Tears got one review. That was really demoralizing--okay, no, let me rephrase that. It was nice to see the counters of viewership and faves and follows rise up, but FT was definitely the fanfiction that made me realize that an effectively high review counter is what I wanted and that I had to find a new fandom to write for. I am sure a lot of writers can agree with me here: we like it when our fanfics get views, we love it when people fave them, but we absolutely adore it when people leave reviews.

As it so happened, the summer of 2016 was huge for me in terms of finding new franchises to like and watch. Most notably out of these, I got into Railgun, Index, Accel World, and my first of a handful of idol franchises: Love Live. Accel World is the only franchise I just mentioned that I have not written anything for, but fans of the franchise should be able to find plenty of references I made to that show. With both Pokemon and RWBY effectively behind me, I now had options for my third fandom...

Then we arrive in the year 2017, which I think... yeah, in terms of calendar year it was definitely my most memorable year. Let’s start with the fanfiction, because 2017 had a bunch of really notable fics for me.

The first thing of 2017 I want to mention is the Saten Ruiko Day Countdown that I did in 2017: a series of oneshots that would lead up to Saten Ruiko Day (10 March). They weren’t just any oneshots; no, they were all oneshots for a different franchise dedicated to LightZephyr and beta read by Namitaa776 (for those wondering why I didn’t do anything like it for Nami: I did something else for her that I didn’t publish for the whole world to see). Looking back, the oneshots themselves would be... they would be okay... decent... ‘good’ at best, probably. But on top of everything, they would be like a trial run of sorts to test out the different fandoms. Giving me a chance to see how writing for each would go and how the fandoms would react to my writing. The one that did the “best”, so to say, is by far the one for Love Live, but (and this is what is interesting to me) the ones for RWBY and Pokemon were actually the ones I think did the worst (both only receiving a single review). You know... the two fandoms I had already written for... low blow, Pokemon and RWBY, low blow...

But the oneshot I wrote for Love Live isn’t the one that’s most memorable for me. This is because I would receive a certain PM a few months later from BigTAnderson. He wanted to do a fanfiction reading of one my fanfiction for this countdown (A Step Back In The Shadows). And I was really happy with this; not only did somebody else wanted to do something with/for something that I did, but this felt more memorable than an average review of “I LOVE IT!” to me. It was confirmation that I was doing something right. And, unless I am badly mistaken, I think this is the first time somebody would do something with one of my fanfics. I know Reiriniverse would go on to regularly make the cover art for my fanfictions, but I am pretty sure that this fanfiction reading would be the first work based on one of my fanfics that anyone has ever done for me. And that is something one won’t easily forget, so if you miraculously are reading this BigTAnderson: thank you :)

The next notable thing of 2017 is probably my most polarizing act since publishing Night of the Black Sun in 2015: officially moving away from Pokemon and officially joining BanG Dream (not in that order, admittedly). The BanG Dream fandom at the time was only a couple weeks old, but it really was a big contrast to my time in Pokemon Special. In Pokemon Special, as you would already know if you’ve read this far, I had role models. I had people I could follow and learn characterization and figure out story ideas and such by reading their stories. BanG Dream had nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, I ended up becoming the writer of both the first English published BanG Dream fanfiction on the site (A Step Back, 2 April 2017) and the first published English multi-chapter BanG Dream fanfiction on the site (The Times We Lost, 10 April 2017) during a time period when we still didn’t know much about... I want to say at least a third of the characters at the time? Maybe even half now that I think about it... As a matter of fact, to put it into perspective: the first chapter of TTWL was published (not written, published) before the end of the second in-game event story on the Japanese server (because... we only had the Japanese server back then).

I am not going to be arrogant and say that I hope I can inspire an aspiring BanG Dream fanfiction writer as much as someone like 1358456 has inspired me, but... the realization that I would have to pave my own way in this fandom without having landmarks to aim for was a big deal at the time. Even today, this realization catches me off-guard every once in a while knowing that I am the only BanG Dream writer who published something in 2017 who still publishes on the site for this fandom to this day.

Another big thing that happened in 2017 was that I got admitted to the hospital and would have to spend half a year to recover from it, effectively making me miss out on an entire semester. ...oh yeah, I probably did not mention this before, but the entire period of writing fanfiction for me up to this point was done while I was a full-time university student. This semester off was honestly a blessing in disguise for me as it forced me into a position where I couldn’t do much... so to eat away at the time I needed to rest I would end up writing fanfiction. Which is part of the reason why The Times We Lost and The Times We Lost Collection could be updated and uploaded as fast as they did. And I definitely remember both very fondly, especially since I had to extrapolate a lot of the characters’ characterization as we did not have much to go on. Remember how I mentioned two very notable characters earlier back in FoT? Yeah... my experience with Weiss, Blake, and Neo in my FoT days definitely helped a lot with getting a base going for both Mitake Ran and Aoba Moca in the days before we had their first event story.

As I mentioned earlier, TTWL and, by extension, TTWLC, will always have a big place in my heart. They’re technically an AU where I had to be very careful with how I wrote the characters... at the same time having a ton of freedom to do so as not a lot was confirmed/denied about them. A cute example would be the different hairstyle I had for one of the characters... which ended up becoming confirmed in canon (in a flashback, admittedly) a few months after she appeared with that hairstyle in my fanfiction. TTWL also set the stage, so to say, for my time here in the BanG Dream fandom and it carved my niche as an Afterglow-centric writer who is able to write both fluff and angst for the girls. Not to mention that TTWL was literally the first multi-chapter BanG Dream fanfiction we have on the site.

Collection ended up being written because TTWL had to extrapolate a lot. It had to make this new realm of reality with headcanons and theories and such that went into writing TTWL to try and make the characters feel alive. Some ended up becoming confirmed, some were debunked, but to allow future readers of TTWL to truly understand where I was going and why I wrote the characters the way I did, I knew I had to make a sort-of prequel to TTWL. Which is pretty much what Collection was: a collection of oneshots that were mainly set prior to the events of TTWL to try and explain all the headcanons and theories I ended up using in the TTWL. Most of these, by the way, still live on in other fanfictions of mine to this day.

Next up: 2017 was my first successful attempt at the NaNoWriMo. For people who don’t know, NaNoWriMo involves writing fifty-thousand words in thirty days (equating to an average of 1667 words each day). I wanted to do it for BanG Dream, I really did, but I wasn’t confident I knew enough about the BanG Dream characters at the time to succeed in NaNoWriMo. Instead, I decided to go with something Railgun-based and The Nighttime Terror of Academy City was born. It honestly was so much fun writing that I ended up writing well above the targeted average each day (although I probably will never be able to replicate that effort); writing seventeen hundred, eighteen hundred, at some point even surpassing the twenty-two hundred word count quite regularly, actually. And, while definitely not as bad as Black Sun received a year or two prior, Nighttime Terror also received a bunch of rude reviews. So much, even, that it prompted me to make every guest review have to be moderated first before they get published.

As if all of that wasn’t enough to make 2017 probably the most memorable year for me, the final notable fanfiction for me that got published in 2017... you know it, you were waiting for it to be said... every writer has that one fanfiction that they are more known for than any other fanfiction they have published, and for me... BanG Dream fandom definitely know me as the writer of The Final Glow of Afterglow. A oneshot that aimed to surpass A Silver Lining I published a year and a half ago... and, as the writer of both oneshots, I think it is fair for me to say that it definitely did that. The plot of the two stories are different (they do overlap noticeably), I feel like TFGOA not only left a bigger impact but also has better stats (most notably more reviews) despite being much newer and in a much smaller fandom. I am sure people will associate me most with TFGOA for a long time to come and, honestly... if there is only one of my fanfiction that can survive the tests of time, I sure hope it is TFGOA. TFGOA also stole the title of longest chapter that I published, previously held by RWBY’s White Rose Valentine (jumping from ~7k to ~11k words).

2018 was a lot slower for me mainly because it was my last year in university. I think this was best showcased in the quiet era in the end of 2018 and the fact I had to slow down my third BanG Dream multi-chapter story Scarlet Sunlight. Scarlet, by the way, has a lot of fond memories as well. It was the first time I could really let loose with BanG Dream (aside from TFGOA, of course), while also more or less acting as a FoT 2.0 in a way. It’s also the first multi-chapter fanfiction, since FoT I think, where I had a constant beta reader throughout the entire process. And I feel like that really helped Scarlet shape up into what it is. Am I claiming it is the best BanG Dream fanfiction out there? No, of course not, even Scarlet has its faults. But I think it definitely did well for itself, even compared to my other notable fanfiction I have mentioned already despite being so new. Scarlet managed to break past the coveted 100k word mark (being one of two BanG Dream fanfiction at the time of writing this to achieve this, the other being teawithmugi’s Reign of Silence). It is also my longest fanfiction at the time of writing this, in terms of number of chapters, in terms of word count, and in terms of how long I wrote the story from start to finish. Yeah, Scarlet will always be fondly remembered...

2018 was also the second year in which I did something for Saten Ruiko Day (and so far last year as I missed both 2019 and 2020). Same concept as 2017, effectively, but instead of switching the franchises I tried to do something... interesting (or what I thought was interesting anyway). I knew BanG Dream wasn’t very popular nor had it a lot of fanfiction, and there isn’t much worse than searching for fanworks of your favorite and not running into any. So what I would do was write a oneshot that had two randomly chosen BanG Dream girls, and I would fill up the countdown that way. I literally gave every girl a number and pulled a random number generator to assign each girl with in pairs for the sake of the oneshots. Sure it would still leave out a handful of girls of the franchise but it was the best I could do at the time. It also was a really good experience for me as a writer to try and write so many different characters (especially when, again, we didn’t know too much about them as of yet).

The other notable thing that happened in 2018, I feel, was that it was when I began writing more Shirokane Rinko. I think this is notable for several reasons... first of all, up to that point, I always struggled to write characters who were shy. I always excelled at loner-type characters (Silver of PokeSpe and Blake from RWBY were by far the easiest characters of their respective franchises whom I could write; and before RWBY fans come after me, this is the time before Blake really opened up to the rest of her team. We’re talking V2!Blake here). What I am trying to say is that Rinko was a challenge in and of itself to write, but she’s amongst the characters I am most comfortable writing today.

Secondly, and this is just stroking my own ego to be fair, is that Rinko’s introduction to my fanfics (or, better phrased, the fact that I wrote her more regularly now) came with a very amusing perk. What started as a playful and fun headcanon at the time quickly evolved into a ship that I managed to drag most if not all my regular reviewers into myself. It’s actually kind of amusing looking back on that.

The next year I would describe as “the year I return to the past”... in the sense that I would do things related to things I did in the past, in a way. I published a Pokemon Special oneshot in 2019, something I think a lot of people would have missed as it didn’t do nowhere near as well as l would have expected. I wrote two oneshots specifically to surpass TFGOA (Flying Through The Skies Above and Their First Date in two different “categories”), but neither made as big of an impact as TFGOA did.

Late-ish into 2019, at the end of August, I received a welcome surprise: a five-part ask that basically came down to someone telling me that I did the one thing I always wanted to do: inspire aspiring writers. This was a big moment for me, maybe even bigger than being asked if someone can do a reading of one of my fanfiction, because... it was concrete proof, actual evidence that what I did, that what I produced... it made a positive impact on other people’s lives, it helped make someone’s day brighter just by doing what I do on a daily basis. Flower anon, I have no other way to refer to you or even ask you how you are doing, but if you are reading this: I am honored to be able to inspire you.

The only other thing of note that happened in 2019 was the increase of anon hate I got and that I entered the Akuma no Riddle fandom for a few weeks. A few weeks because my experience with that part of that fandom was... let’s just say it was less than ideal and leave it at that, shall we?

And then, here we are, in 2020. I honestly don’t see myself publishing too many unique stories, but I will try to keep the train going with Shining Sunlight. I am taking a big risk with Shining as it is the first fanfiction since Black Sun where I am writing a multi-chapter story without having a very defined plot... and we all know how Black Sun went, right~? That being said, it’s half a decade later, I have learned so much in these last few years and I am feeling confident in Shining and what it can become.

I know I have focused more on the multi-chapter stories in this post than I have on the oneshots (with some notable exceptions), but the truth is... for me as the writer, there’s just so much that is being put in the multi-chapter stories that the oneshots are simply lacking. Which should speak volumes to oneshots like The Final Glow of Afterglow and A Step Back In The Shadows to remain so memorable and notable for me despite being “only” oneshots.

These last five years have been... amazing, really. The highs and lows, the ability and access to a platform to continue doing this. It’s been a lot of fun, it has really been life changing, and while I know I won’t be doing this forever... I sure as hell will make sure I will enjoy every second of time I am doing this!

#Falneou17

[ongoingaccident-deleted]

The HoK

Feeling bored again, decided to talk about the HoK this time. I love the idea that all of the MCs come from the same family, so she’s also a Darrell. I’m cheesy, sorry. Full details under the cut, and thank you in advance for reading!

Y’know, before I start I just want to say that Lyra was very lucky that there was no one that died tragically at the end of the MQ in Skyrim, cause a lot of the other heroes in her family end up losing their loved ones tragically. Hm. (Fun fact: most of the Darrell heroes are not /strictly/ from the same line, they’re descendants of siblings mostly.)

Yeah, yeah, I know. Shipping the HoK with Martin. Very original. Sorry. I love him and I love Sean Bean, so it was bound to happen. Anywho! About the HoK.

Adelaide Asenath Darrell is the oldest child of two. Her younger sister, named Valerie, is just generally... better at the things that matter to their parents, like dealing with people in a way that’s commanding and yet polite, and running the house, and politics. Adelaide is very gentle compared to a lot of the other members of her family (not really in a pushover way, at least by the time the MQ happens, but she’s just very genuinely kind in a soft-spoken way if that makes sense), and she eventually decides to go it on her own as a mercenary.

Her parents are really okay with this decision. It’s not like she was really an embarrassment to them or anything, she just really doesn’t do well with the political games they play, and they’re more than happy to tell people that she’s gone to travel the world rather than have her act awkwardly at their dinner parties. The mercenary business makes Adelaide tough very quickly. She never loses her kindness when she’s interacting with people, but she learns to fight dirty and that being good with a sword and some fire is often more important than being good with words.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, how did someone like this wind up in jail and slated for an execution? The answer is really boring, honestly - she came across some corrupt guards and tried to stop them from abusing their power. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize exactly how high up the corruption ran or the lengths that they would go to in order to prevent anyone else from finding out, particularly when she got into a small fistfight with a guard she saw taking advantage of a beggar.

Then, you know, the whole MQ happens. Her and Martin become very close, particularly because he’s one of the only close friends she’s ever had, and she eventually falls for him. She never says anything for fear of rejection and ruining the closest friendship she’s ever had, and then suddenly he’s gone and she’s heartbroken. She starts having weird symptoms that the healers she’s taken to after the big final battle think are from overexertion and stress.

Adelaide spends way too much time at the Temple with the dragon statue for a while after everything happens, but no one’s brave enough to tell her that it’s probably not healthy and that she’s definitely not helping herself by dwelling on everything to the extent that she is. And then, suddenly, she’s gone one morning and no one knows where she went. After that, she kind of becomes an almost mythological figure for the people of Cyrodiil. Rumors start going around that if you need help, and you’re very patient, the Hero of Kvatch will come and aid you with your problems.

This continues for some time, but eventually the weird symptoms she started having at the end of the Oblivion Crisis get bad enough that she can’t just shrug them off anymore. She begins to head back to the Imperial City to ask Ocato for help cause she quite frankly doesn’t know what the hell is going on, but she barely makes it back. By the time she gets back, she’s barely hanging on, and this time the healers realize what they missed the first time - she’s dying of a disease she picked up inside of an Oblivion Gate. There’s nothing they can do for her at this point, and there probably wouldn’t have been anything they could have done if they’d realized right away, either. So yeah. She dies young of an awful disease in my main canon.

I have two AUs though that I really like - one where she becomes Sheogorath instead of Jaede and one where Akatosh just sends her and Martin to Skyrim right after the Oblivion MQ and Martin is the dragonborn where Adelaide just tries to keep him from getting killed, and I’ll talk about them both sometime. :)

Don’t worry friends, there’s way more bullshit to come. I also am more than happy to take requests if there’s something specific you have an interest in or questions about, even if it’s something I have yet to talk about. :D i love you all

#adelaide darrell #cat says things #cat queued #she's too precious for this world #i love her #i love all my characters because i live vicariously through fictional creations #because i'm unsatisfied with my own life #uh #i mean #i like video game #cat is having an aneurysm in the tags again #tes #elder scrolls #oblivion #you guys have no idea how many characters i still have to talk about #hint: a lot #more garbage is coming #courtesy of your local idiot

[fireeaglespirit]

beyond-far-horizons

more-oc-questions: Which OC claims they’re tough...

OOOH Sindra and Aquila come close? That is so cool or rather warm given the trope.

YESS. This is literally the central theme and the heart of the story... 

Among Aquila’s main relationships Sindra is the most substantial because its at the heart of the story and conflict and its resolution means a change in the world itself (think Madara and Hashirama and the clan conflict in Naruto).

They are the ‘lead characters’ of the main sides of the story and they’re at the center of this and eventually they reach for each other.

Hence the opposite color scheme, theme, personality, etc.. i.e. Aquila is warm and somewhat careless, Sindra is cold and strict, etc... they have a lot to gain from each other and evolve together.

They’re supposed to be the friends to enemies to friends trope we all love so much, plus red oni/blue oni, fire/ice, light/darkness, chaos/order, etc... 

Of course, as years pass by I have created many other important relationship for these two characters, but they were sort of the initial spark and still central to the theme. In fact, Aquila is much older in my head, but she was supposed to have a frienemy from the start and that took the shape of Sindra... so they’re both old AF (at least 14 years old as I've started drawing the outlines during school).

The story was initially just birds vs dragons and very simple, but now I added a third element in the form of humans and its becoming more complicated. Still, basically in the initial we have both axis like this...

Aquila has more or less...

1: Her own phoenix related issues to work with (what means to be a phoenix, dealing with the deity, etc..),

2: Her parents stuff (her father’s disappearance and her mother’s sorrow), Aquila goes on an Horus-like quest to find her dad (they mirror the Egyptian family of deities quite perfectly as in, Aquila: Horus, Damaris: Isis and Suzaku: Osiris/Ra, from there on you guess...

3: Her own quest understanding her ancestor, the Raven Queen and uncovering ancient avian secrets (which eventually leads her to Eltanin and draconians)...

4: Aquila & Altair’s quest involving the true nature of flight (a self discovery quest which messes up with the avian’s own nature, etc.. which will lead eventually to the origin of avians and their ancestors) and also to...

5: The transformation of the avian society and her relationship with the other phoenixes,

6: Her personal quest is one of gaining freedom initially and them sharing it with the world, she’s a catalyst of change. Aquila starts the story as a very naive and even childish person due to her complicated childhood (she basically died and duh) she was kept on a ‘golden cage’ for a long time after becoming a phoenix... because she was in great danger. After she goes out of it we have the start of her arc of self discovery and traveling around the world uncovering its secrets, basically.

Sindra has more or less...

1: Her own issues about being a draconian and her dragon ancestors (Polaris & Ishanur and how she relate to them and her evolving relationship with them, what influences they have on her, etc...), basically Sindra feels conflicted about her nature and rejects her human side due to dragon slayers having killed her parents which leads to... she needs to build a balance and understand it all,

2: Her revenge quest for said parents. They were friends with Aquila’s parents and trying t build a bridge to peace between all races, and they were murdered due to it... so here is a point they get close (Aquila & Sindra, early on)

3: Her sister Nix which she is very protective about, basically she need to learn how to deal with this all and also Nix leads to the next one:

4: Her issues with the human kingdom of Novencia enhances after Nix gets enamored with Procyon,

5: Lyra and the dragonslayers (they want to kill each other) lmao, basically her primary antagonists early on,

6: And least but one of the more important: her relationship with her aunt, Kigaly which is due to explode as soon as she finds out she had a hand on her parents demise....

This is my fault I haven’t given any sensible way for people to guess what the story is about. In fact, I have avoided some central subjects and branched out to more and more concepts, etc... I need to sit down and write what this is all about but I don’t know if I’ll live long enough, at this rate (lmao)

Anyway, this is just the very beginning and the premises I want to work about for these two, but they meet somewhere in the middle. Also, many characters such as Eltanin were designed to have ties to both of them:

1: Eltanin, the main antagonist... loved Raven (Gienah), which was Aquila’s most infamous ancestor (due to being perceived as a traitor by her kind since she joined the draconians eventually and whose story parallels Aquila in her struggles with the phoenix deity and her desire to change the avian society, etc...)

Eltanin is an ancestral figure to Sindra and supposed to be like Madara is to Sasuke (a shadow both in the past and future of their kin). Sindra follow his footsteps somewhat and almost falls to the same themes, so they are mirrored also by their relationship with the dragon Ishanur (a fatherly figure to both of them).

Sindra later on joins Aquila in order to stop him, etc..

2: Kigaly mainly serves as an antagonist for most part of the story as she behaves quite madly and puts everything in danger in order to get her heart’s desire... her story ties closely to Sindra as I mentioned, they have a lot of beef to solve, etc.. but Kigaly also is interested in the phoenix power since she perceives it as a chance to bring her beloved sister back from the dead, so she is destined to be an antagonist to both Aquila and Sindra and this can grow more personal later on.

3: Aquila and Sindra are supposed to join forces later on and travel a bit together on a quest they eventually wind up on a place called Gaea, which is basically a forest with meso/south america theme where they meet an ancient culture which has potential to teach them their kinds can evolve together, etc... among other things they have to work this out.

4: Later on Sindra deals with Erebus, which is the dark parallel of Aithnë (the fire spirit) so they both have mirrored themes in having to deal with dangerous and complicated other-worldly beings, etc... (lulz).

By the end of the story they’ll be great friends and much more than that, soul mates in a way... and they’re supposed to lift each other and complement each other, etc... initially it might appear impossible and that’s exactly the premise of the story. Aquila opens up sooner as she noticed Sindra’s inner turmoil and despair as a silent scream for help... (she’s very perceptive and empathetic), but it takes a while for Sindra to accept any help from the outside, but eventually she does... she will have to rethink her life as she starts defrosting and focusing on what really matters, so eventually she repays the kindness in due and both are supposed to grow and evolve becoming much better than their initial versions, while keeping the structure and theme.

I hope I haven’t forgotten any important aspects of the story, LMAO. I’m quite sleepy right now but wanted to write you this quick guide to their relationship...

To sum it up, Aquila & Sindra are destined to some big things, they are the opposite forces that need to work together to make the world better, etc.. they are the central focus of the whole ‘bird vs dragon’ thing, of course I have many other characters which have become perhaps just as vital but they were the root of this all in my mind and everything has branched from it.

They’ll clash a lot before that, and there’s a reason it looks like they’re not very connected. A: I’m dumb and don’t write down things and B: you always see the base characters on my posts as I’m developing this...

And yes, I love the theme and I agree its rather warm, lol. But I have to make sure not only Aquila takes action on it, lol as she’s more prone to it.

#aquila #sindra #avians #draconians