#i will NOT be going for the guard mask obviously i think i'll probably go for machinist but we'll see i have not played enough | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mikhailwrites · 7 months

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What happens in a pub, stays in a pub / Ghost x Soap

Kinktober #1 - Leather&Latex

Alright, I've never done any challenges so we'll see how it goes. These will be short so I'll be crossposting on AO3.

Obviously 18+.

Ghost is usually the last to arrive at One-Four-One's celebratory drinks. As he goes inside, immediately locking on Price's bucket hat and Gaz's bright laughter, it takes just a second to see that they're still one man short. And they probably will be for the rest of the evening, what with Soap still on medical leave.

Ghost takes his usual place in the booth's corner, momentarily thrown off by the fact that he doesn't have to squeeze past his Sergeant. His life has been imbalanced by Soap's absence, but it's not the big things that get to him; his training and experience can account for most of them. No, the devil's in the details.

In the fact that in the past three weeks, nobody brought him a cuppa while he was working late, finishing some reports and forms. That he's been doing his morning runs and gym sessions alone. That he couldn't pick on Soap's accent or torture him with horrible jokes. Ah, yes, there's also the minor inconvenience of Ghost having to wank off instead of shagging his Sergeant. All in all, he's unhappy about Soap's leave.

Taking a swing from a glass of bourbon that just got delivered to him, he hopes it will better his mood.

They are all about two and a half glasses in when the door of the pub opens. Ghost's attention immediately snaps at the sound, unable to keep his guard down fully, even in the friendly and familiar environment.

The moment he lays eyes on the newcomer, however, his brain shortcircuits. There's Soap walking over to them. That alone would be surprising but hardly shocking. It's the get-up he's in: tight, black leather pants and a padded jacket, also leather. Ghost's seen him in civvies, but never like this. It twists something deep in his gut.

Some part of his astonishment has to be clear on him despite the mask because Gaz picks up on it and turns around, immediately raising his hand to greet his fellow mate.

Soap grins as he comes closer and sits next to Ghost. Ghost, who cannot but wonder if Soap knows how well his arse looks in the leather.

"Sorry I'm late; the traffic's been a nightmare," Soap smiles, raising his glass of beer.

"No worries, mate, had no idea you were coming back tonight," Gaz nods. So the Ghost hasn't been the only one kept in the dark.

Price can probably tell what they're thinking; otherwise, Ghost cannot explain the apt choice of Captain's next words. "I didn't want you boys to keep the hopes up in case he couldn't make it, so I didn't tell you."

"I would be here sooner if I took the plane from Glasgow, but then I'd have to leave my sweetheart up in Scotland, and that just wouldn't do," Soap explains. Unfortunately, nobody really has any idea what he's talking about.

"Your what, mate?" Gaz voices what Ghost thinks.

"Ah, that's right, you dinnae ken. Got a bike, I really like to go for a ride sometimes, so I've got it stashed away on the base usually."

Now, that explains the attire.

The conversation flows and ebbs naturally over the course of the evening, but Ghost doesn't really pay attention. It's a good thing that he's usually quiet, so nobody notices. Well, nobody except for Soap, who's giving him these covert side glances.

Ghost settles more comfortably in the corner, letting his hand fall under the table in what he hopes passes as an innocuous gesture. It's not all that innocuous as his hand gingerly touches Soap's thigh, feeling the smooth material, warm with Soap's body heat seeping through it.

The Sergeant does a heroic job of appearing unphased by it. Ghost only takes it as an open challenge as he angles his hand so his fingers brush gently against the bulge in Soap's crotch. Johnny twitches, quickly rolling his shoulders to mask it.

A minute later, Soap stands up, excusing himself to the bathroom. Ghost seizes the opportunity and follows him. Not immediately; that would look suspicious. He waits a minute or two, trying to look as bored as ever. When he does get up, he's mindful to keep his own groin as out of sight as he can.

Soap is standing by the basins, washing his hands. The moment the door closes behind Ghost, he looks up into the mirror, locking eyes with him.

"Fancy meeting you here, LT," Soap smiles. Ghost's fuse, already short, blows. He grabs Soap by the shoulders and ushers him into the stall, locking the doors behind them. He wastes no time, pushing him against the wall before kissing him deeply, tasting the beer he's had. Soap joins in without a pause. Grabbing Ghost's waist and pressing them together as he moans into the kiss.

Ghost grinds against him, but it's way too uncomfortable, and he wants something else, anyway. Leaving Soap's kiss-swollen lips, he latches onto his neck briefly before he sinks to his knees, between Johnny's legs.

"Creepin' Jesus, Simon," Johnny whispers, reaching for the top of the balaclava before he yanks it off. He knows he can; he has done it many times already, yet he seems to enjoy it still. Ghost runs the palm of his head against Soap's leather-clad boner, humming in appreciation as he feels it twitch.

Reaching up, he tugs Soap's black tee and kisses him on the navel before licking his way down to the hem of the cursed pants. Soap tastes of salty sweat and sea. He feels him shiver as Ghost blows gently on the line of dark hair. Suddenly, there are hands in Ghost's hair, urging him lower.

"You tease me with these fucking pants all evening and now get impatient?" Ghost argues, but he's not resisting. He puts his hands on Soap's ass, kneading at the firm muscle as he opts for the cheapest move in the book, unbuttoning and unzipping the pants with his mouth alone. It's a bit tricky, but the look of utter disbelief he gets is worth it.

Ghost nuzzles against the straining fabric of Soap's black briefs before he pulls the waistband down. Soap reaches to the hem of his pants to lower them as well, but Ghost stops him. "No way, love, these stay on."

Soap chuckles. The smile doesn't last as Ghost dives in, licking Soap's prick from base to the tip with long, broad strokes. The smell of leather, sweat and arousal does nothing to quell his own hard-on.

Ghost licks his lips before letting the cock head press against them, then past and deeper into his mouth. Johnny's moan is repressed but sweet, the tightening grip of his hand in Simon's hair a clear sign of appreciation. Ghost hollows his cheek, sucking him slowly in until the coarse hair tickles his nose. Under his palms, Johnny's arse clenches as he fights the urge to simply fuck Simon's mouth.

Ghost shifts slightly and relaxes before pushing Soap's hips forward, forcing his cock deeper.

Johnny whimpers above him, a sound that's halfway between protest and delight. Ghost pushes him a little bit away, giving him a false sense of control and security before he grabs Johnny's hand still resting on top of Ghost's head, forcing it to hold him tighter and with his other hand urging his hips forward again. At the moment, he cannot give Soap any louder and clearer consent.

Thankfully, Johnny catches on. A second hand is tangled in Simon's blonde strands, and Soap snaps his hips forward, groaning as he sheathes himself fully in the wet heat of Simon's throat.

He jerks back and then forth again, setting an unsteady rhythm crowned by unbridled brutality. He seems to be just as pent up as Simon after Soap's three-week-long leave. Simon kneads at the leather, hearing the distinct creak of it, and in the brief moments of reprieve, breathes in its smell as he lets Soap do as he pleases.

"Si…I…I'm gonna…," Soap stutters a warning, but he doesn't stop. Simon doesn't mind, closing his eyes, humming deep in his throat, knowing full well the vibration of his vocal cords will bring Soap over the edge.

Johnny gasps, his grip on Simon's hair painful as he thrusts a few more times before going completely still. Simon feels spurt after spurt of salty-bitter, hot load on the back of his tongue, swallowing it without a second thought.

Ghost stands up and winces at the ache in his knees. Well, there's a reason they wear knee pads in the fields. Johnny is slumped against the wall, breathing heavily, face deeply flushed. However, it only takes a moment for his usual smug self to return in full power.

As he tucks himself away, noting a damp stain in Ghost's crotch, he grins. "Christ, Ghost, if I knew how much these pants turn ye on, I'd have worn them sooner."

#call of duty #ghost mw2 #ghost x soap #ghostsoap #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #soapghost #soap mw2 #ghoap #ao3 writer #kinktober #kinktober 2023 #leather

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blackkatmagic · 5 months

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12, 15, and 21 for Feemor please??

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

I think my big one is that he joined the Temple Guard and that's why we never see him in canon. He's there, obviously! Canon wouldn't forget a whole member of Qui-Gon's lineage! He's just wearing a mask, you see.

15. What’s your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not.)

At this precise moment, probably Feemor/Fox. I just love The Vibes™, you know?

21. If you’re a fic writer and have written for this character, what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re writing for this character? What’s something you don’t like?

I'll start with the negative so I can end on a positive, ha. But...I really don't like it that the majority of the fics that feature Feemor are 99.999% focused on Obi-Wan and go hard on the Poor Obi-Wan He's So Sad plot. Just. let Feemor have fics that are about him. Featuring his relationship or lack thereof with Obi-Wan doesn't bother me! But making it solely about Obi-Wan, with no attempt to explore Feemor's feelings/history/hang-ups is just...kind of sad, you know?

For things I like, I think having a blank slate character like Feemor, who only has like two lines in canon, makes for a really fun canvas for exploring different personalities/stories. There's just so much you can do with a character like Feemor, who's related to all the main characters but is also determinedly off doing his own thing. I'm in fanfic for the potential stories, and Feemor is a gateway to a lot of them.

#kat answers

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filmfactors · 9 months

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opinion on hunter from toh

WARNING: I probably won't get all my thoughts across perfectly. Sorry it's honestly taken me awhile to get back to this anon, I did have thought's but couldn't quite catch myself in the mood to write em! Now let's get started:

Hunter is, by all means, a character I personally should've liked. I did at one point! The Golden Guard easily had my attention, he was sassy and I love my masked characters. It's what they started doing with him that made me less of a fan over time, that and I have a personal grievance with the fandom. Being the rare Belos fan I couldn't go into his tag without seeing it mostly about Hunter all the time.

Obviously I'll state I do not dislike Hunter for having a redemption, rather, it's how Owl House redeems characters that make's him as fascinating as plain white bread. What is this method?

Redemption = Lack of bite, a total lack of genuine flaws... and a reason why their actions can be blamed on someone else.

Let's bring in Amity as another example: Upon her introduction we see her bullying Willow, alone. When Understanding Willow comes around, we see that it's claimed it was her parents, and even later, just her moms fault. Inner Willow says 'you let your friends pick on her for years' but we don't acknowledge Amity did the exact same for no good reason.

Once Amity is redeemed, do we see the attitude? Do we see her hesitations with Willow? Do we even see her trying to make it up to Willow? I am not counting Labyrinth Runners for this because sure we got some closure but it doesn't fix the base issue. Any sort of Amity's actually negative flaws are erased once she is Luz's cool girlfriend.

It happens to Lilith, with her complexes, she never again expresses negative feelings that aren't easy and palpable. She's never superior or with attitude, and she only cursed her sister thinking it'd only be a day. That's a whole other can of worms though.

Point being, Hunter is the exact same. We can blame all his negative attributes on Belos, and once he's good he can no longer have any of those. He's not sassy, or fun, and admittedly is just kind of an angst machine.

I often feel the point of redemption is that it is nice to see someone who did bad things, get help or help themselves. The belief even bad people can change, because in the end they are still human. It's not fun when all your redeemed characters are simply 'misunderstood.' When you can push the blame off of them and instead place it on someone else. Owl House's message is that people are complex, but fails to deliver on this.

An easy comparison to make is Hunter is Zuko, but he's absolutely no Zuko. They both follow a similar principle, it was a family member that led them down the path of ruin. Yet Avatar understood that at some point down the line, your actions are your own. Zuko is conflicted, and hurting but he still does actions that hurt others. He has to apologize, make up for it, etc.

Now I'll say Zuko's redemption is not and has never been the end all be all for redemption. I have a whole slew of thoughts on the matter, point being is that Hunter was this type of redemption. It fails to be anything much other than making Hunter the resident sad but bad boy, and the shows punching bag.

At some point all of his angst was just egregious punching down, as in by Thanks to Them. Flapjack, the possession... it didn't need to happen. In fact it hardly effected anything at all! It just gave Hunter more trauma and powers, but what did it do for the story? Hunter is barely in the finale. I guess let's watch some Boscha and Kikimora hijinks instead?

Moving on from the general issue of Owl House's writing, what else can be said about Hunter? Well he is a screen time leech. Consider, an episode like Labyrinth Runners. Technically a Gus episode, but he once again takes a backseat for other characters. Just like his one other episode! Hunter for some reason knows Willow better than him as well, just for some shipping fuel.

All that to say I don't hate the concept of this episode, I really enjoyed the Gus and Hunter interactions! I find their friendship to probably be Hunter's most compelling relationship outside of Luz. It's only a problem for the fact Gus' whole character is tossed aside by the writers.

He sees Belos' memories, his traumas, etc- what does this lead to? Making Hunter feel better. Gus never actually gets to do anything despite all the set up of his illusion powers, his episodes are overtaken by someone else or a ship. I'll admit this is not just a Hunter problem, but it contributes a lot.

All in all once Hunter was introduced, it left Willow and Gus further on the back burner. No matter what you say, there is an obvious lack of use of these two. Speaking of them, or more specifically Willow:

I'm actually okay with the concept of huntlow! I do not think it's nearly as bad as people in the critical tag claim it to be. It was rushed and not well written, but I felt the writers were on the right track for the idea. However, there have been some pretty bad faith readings of the pairing. Mostly for folks claiming that she 'didn't start liking him until he had powers' which is blatantly untrue.

Willow may not blush at Hunter, the tell tale sign someone in Owl House has a crush. Yet I feel you can pick up on the fact she has an interest in him in Thanks to Them, notably a pre-Hunter powers episode. I won't claim it's extremely compelling, but it's simple and it's cute it just results in some messy things for the sake of ship fuel.

My biggest complaint is that yet again, Hunter steals Gus' role of being a good friend to Willow in For the Future.

I feel there is much more I could say on Hunter, and his character, but I'm bad at writing all my thoughts without specific questions to remind me...

Overall just take it as I dislike Hunter, while also thinking he's one of the better characters of the series. He's got all the right ingredients to make a good cake, but the writers kept adding too much vanilla extract.

#owl talk #toh critical #my biggest hot take is that they shouldve just rolled amity and hunters character into one #also if you bring up the cancelation im going to become a feral animal IK ABT IT but it doesnt change the fact they couldve managed #their time soooo much better

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bambirex · 1 year

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Hi!! Can you please write something for Quinntana post wedding hookup featuring Pezberry friendship. Maybe Quinn comes to visit the loft or Santana to New Haven. Thank you :)))

Hi!! There you go, I hope you'll like it 💕

Warnings: none

"Twice!?"

"Yes, Rachel, twice."

"And Quinn still insists she's straight?"

Santana could only reply with a snort. She only wished she knew what Quinn insisted on- they haven't talked since Mr. Schue's wedding, where, as Rachel screeched, they had sex twice. Everything has been so awkward since then. They said their rushed goodbyes in the morning, parted ways without even sparing a glance back at each other, and now there was complete radio silence.

And Santana desperately wanted to convince herself that she didn't care, because it was just a hookup, and so what if she never sees Quinn again, but to be honest, she couldn't stop thinking about that night. Or about Quinn in general. The situation was so dire, that she ended up spilling her heart out to Rachel.

Rachel, despite what so many people claimed, was a good friend. She did care; she listened to Santana rambling, and only interrupted her at the part where Santana mentioned it was actually a two-time thing. Not that anyone could blame her for being surprised.

"Look, why don't you call her, then?" Rachel asked her after a while, a small smile playing on her lips. "I know you must be frustrated..."

"I'm not!" Santana snapped, way too frustrated for someone who insisted they weren't. At Rachel's amused look, she let out a deep sigh. "Okay, maybe I am... It's just... We've been friends. Or frenemies, rather. We've always been the two ends of the same bitch-goddess spectrum, and obviously, I've noticed that Quinn was hot. And the sex was good, but it's not like I'm in love with her, right?"

Rachel let out a soft laugh. "You're asking me?"

Santana, the queen of witty comebacks, suddenly didn't know what to say. So, instead, she plopped down on the couch with a dramatic sigh, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"I can't believe you're making me admit this," Santana said, unable to keep the fondness out of her voice. "Me, taking advice from Rachel Berry?"

"Come on, you know you love me," Rachel cooed. When Santana made a fake disgusted face, Rachel wrapped her arms around her neck and pressed an overly loud kiss to her cheek.

"Do this again, and I'll strangle you," Santana scoffed, though she ended up hugging Rachel in return. As much as she insisted on being annoyed by her flatmate, the truth was, she really did love Rachel, and right now, she was the only person who saw through Santana's carefully crafted mask. Maybe that was exactly what Santana needed at the moment: someone who wouldn't take no shit from her, who wouldn't let her get away with her usual facade.

"I really should call her, I guess," Santana concluded, "but what if she never wants to see me again?"

"Then, she's losing out on all the awesomeness that you are," Rachel replied earnestly. "And I really doubt she wouldn't want to see you again. I mean, she did sleep with you twice... And, also, I've seen how she's looking at you, too. You need to take a chance on her."

"Alright, but if she rejects me, you know it's gonna be your fault," Santana chuckled, eyeing her phone on the coffee table. It was easy enough: she just needed to call Quinn, ask her how she was doing. Then, try to bring up the wedding hookup and hopefully get her to say what she was really thinking, because God, Quinn was just as stubborn and emotionally guarded as Santana, if not more.

So, maybe it won't even be that easy.

Just as Santana finally decided to reach for her phone, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Rachel announced, jumping off the couch and rushing to the door. Santana didn't even look up to see who it was, assuming it was probably Kurt forgetting his keys again.

She didn't expect a soft and familiar voice to greet them.

Santana jumped up so quickly her knees popped in protest. Heat rose to her cheeks as she spotted Quinn standing in the doorway, looking beautiful as always and with an almost shy smile on her face.

"It's good to see you, Santana," she said. Santana's mouth ran dry, but she managed to squeeze out a "you too."

"Oh, I forgot about my appointment," Rachel suddenly said, in the company of a cheeky grin. "I'll leave you two alone."

Before Santana could prevent her from leaving her alone in this situation, Rachel was already out the door. Great. Now she really had to face her fears.

"How come you're dropping by?" Santana asked, hoping she didn't sound too enthusiastic. "I haven't seen you since..."

"The wedding, I know," Quinn chuckled, taking a careful step towards Santana. Only now that she was standing this close, did Santana realize that Quinn was probably just as nervous as she was.

"I wanted to talk to you," Quinn admitted, staring at her shoes instead of at Santana. "Because... Well."

"I understand, it was a two-time thing, just a fun experiment between friends," Santana said quickly, adding a shrug to appear nonchalant. "Don't worry about it, Fabray."

"Is that what it was to you?" Quinn asked, finally looking up. There was pain in both her voice and her eyes, and Santana suddenly wanted to slap herself.

"I..."

"Because... Maybe, it was more, to me," Quinn said quietly, taking one more step closer. Now Santana caught a whiff of her sweet perfume, and it made her head spin.

"Maybe," Quinn continued, reaching for Santana's hand, "it's hard to stop thinking about it. What if I told you, that I can't sleep at night, because all I think about is you?"

Santana suddenly forgot how to breathe. There were so many things she wanted to say, things she should have said, but no word came out. She just gaped at Quinn, blinking rapidly to make sure this wasn't just a fever dream.

"And I came here, because I wanted to tell you this, and if you hate me now, or never want to see me again, that's fine," now Quinn let go of Santana's hand and took a step back, suddenly so insecure, and Santana couldn't bear it. Because she couldn't stop thinking about Quinn either, and she couldn't make her think this was one-sided.

"I'm glad you did," she ended up saying. This time, she was the one who stepped closer. "I'm glad you came. I was just considering calling you, because Berry made me."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, amused, making Santana realize how bad this sounded.

"I mean, I wanted to talk to you, too, but I guess I was a bit... nervous, and needed a bit of a push...?"

There was a smile, almost a smirk on Quinn's face, similar to when she told Santana she quite enjoyed slow-dancing with a girl.

"I make the great Santana Lopez nervous?"

Santana scoffed, mentally cursing at herself for blushing at the way Quinn's voice dropped lower.

"Don't be too full of yourself."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Quinn grinned, gently cupping Santana's face between her palms. "Now, that I've come such a long way, and you vaguely admitted I wasn't just a fun lay for you, can I kiss you?"

"I didn't admit anything," Santana murmured under her breath, too lost in staring at the way Quinn slowly licked her lips to sound convincing. "But, yeah. You can."

Not a single doubt remained when Quinn pressed her lips to hers- it was familiar, the taste of her, but it was also new. It wasn't rushed and messy, like at the wedding. It was slower, more tentative, more promising. Like maybe this could truly become something more between them. Santana wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck, and Quinn placed her hands on her waist, pulling her closer.

They were still kissing when Rachel came back home.

#quinntana #pezberry #my fic #glee fanfiction #request #glee fic #quinn x santana #santana lopez #quinn fabray #glee

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haacked · 8 months

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send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it // @heroonlybyblood

breathes on my screen

Outside writing and video games, DnD is my lifelong love, honestly. My tiefling rogue is one of the first characters I ever got to roleplay, second only to a VtM character, so it definitely has a special place. Anything fantasy-related kind of does to some extent. And god, thinking about dropping Aiden into that kind of setting - I might have a couple thoughts.

To name a few:

HEAR ME OUT: Human rogue/artificer combo. I suppose it could be fighter/artificer, too, but I'm partial to rogues, and Aiden checks enough boxes to qualify, so I'm sticking with that. There's some flexibility that's essential for Aiden - on one hand, he could absolutely be a combat-oriented rogue. With the addition of gadgets and whatever else he makes, finds, or buys, on top of general experience and agility, he could be an absolutely lethal opponent. On the other hand, having him be a more typical, stealth-oriented rogue with heavy reliance on gadgetry could also be a possibility. Then there's the combination of both, so really, the possibilities are endless here when it comes to giving him a general "class".

ON THAT NOTE THOUGH, I had another thought: a battle mage of sorts, though his ability with magic is…limited. He doesn't have much as far as offensive spells go, at least not in the direct manner most would think of when they hear offensive magic. His is specialized in that it's mainly disruptive - interfering with counterspells, shattering wards and protective barriers, causing artificer gadgetry to fail and/or backfire, and things of that nature..

He's still a blade for hire, albeit one with some semblance of a conscience, which translates to, he won't accept every job thrown his way, regardless of what the promised pay is. On top of that, he probably plays a sort of Robin Hood-esque role - stealing from obviously rich patrons in taverns or markets to help the less fortunate (which...may end up being himself on occasion, depending on what sort of storm he has or hasn't dealt with, but overall, his heart is in the right place), on top of being a blade for hire.

He still has the trademark mask, but he's losing the hat. Everyone, take a moment of silence for this unfortunate, verse-specific loss.

Instead of stemming from the design on his now-missing hat, "The Fox" is a nickname given to the masked individual who continuously escapes even the most skilled guards around his hometown. Their best efforts can't seem to pin this guy down - he's quick, agile, and incredibly clever. Clearly, it's a moniker he has rightfully earned.

I would also like everyone to picture Aiden trying to walk through a busy market with two little kids trying to pull him two different directions. That is one thing that remains true across all verses; the loving, doting uncle part of him, the protective big brother part, the inconvenience them in any way and I'll fuck your shit up part of him. His methods for playing that part might change slightly to suit different verses, but the gist is the same.

Lena's death. The cause would undoubtedly change, as obviously in a fantasy verse, there is probably not going to be a car accident. Maybe it'd be something like, a mercenary's crossbow shot that missed its mark and hit her instead, or a blade meant only to threaten the little girl as a means to scare Aiden into doing whatever it was the wielder wanted him to do, but something went wrong, and…well, regardless of the how, it'd take that to push him into becoming more than just a thug; a halfway decent thug, sure, but still. You best believe he'll be willing to travel across the goddamn world twice, on foot, if it meant tracking the culprit down. And hey, he might even accept additional party members, if they prove themselves useful to his cause.

I FEEL LIKE I'M MISSING SOME, but I did manage to remember these. Still don't know what happened and I am so sorry sldjfks. But, in any case, this was fun to think about, and I would absolutely love to a) iron out some concrete details instead of playing with what ifs and b) play around in a fantasy - high or low - verse a little. That kind of thing is my JAM

#heroonlybyblood #ooc tbt #ask tbt #[ thank you for this!! ]#[ i don't know what happened to the original ask. tumblr ate most of my reply lsdkjfsl ]

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twdmusicboxmystery · 1 year

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FTWD 8x01: Remember What They Took From You

For the next 3 days or so I'll be doing our analysis of FTWD, episode 1 of season 8. @galadrieljones was the first to do a writeup, so I'll post her thoughts first so the conversation makes sense. ;D Enjoy!

@galadrieljones:

Mainly what I want to share are some parallels with Slabtown. There were a lot of them, and they were very pointed to me. There are also parallels to some other TWD episodes, mainly A, Say Yes, and Conquer.

There are lots of odd medical things in this episode. When Morgan is being “processed,” they let him listen to a baby crying on the monitor. He asks what they are doing to her, and the man on the intercom says, “They’re drawing blood to make sure she doesn’t get sick. To make sure she doesn’t get other children sick.” They also frequently draw blood from Madison, like once a week, while she’s incarcerated.

At some point later in the episode, while they’re taking Mo/Wren back to PADRE, Shrike (which is the name of the female guard/agent/villain with the short curly hair), tells Morgan that “He (Padre) has invested too much in that girl to let her cross paths with [Morgan] again.”

She’s very young and not a fighter yet. She’s really a good fighter but she’s got a lot of toughening up to do. It’s unclear what’s been “invested” in her. I think there’s probably something going on with immunity treatments here, and that’s why they need kids, because it’s going to be easiest to implement this treatment while the immune system is still premature.

The kids seem take survival skills and combat strategy classes; however, my guess is this is a smoke screen for something else. They’re apparently training the kids to survive on “the mainland,” but Madison mentions at some point like, what do you need to train a bunch of kids for? Can’t be anything good. Speaking of screens, the adults seem to wear these screen masks a lot, while the kids only wear them when they’re fighting.

The walkers are all teeming with this mossy green stuff. It grows all out of them, like roots and all. I don't know if that's just because they're in the middle of a marsh, and so this is just what happens. They shove this green goo stuff in the walkers' mouths before fighting the kids. It's like some sort of muzzle. Like they knock the teeth out of the walkers and then shove in this green goo. I think it's to protect the kids but also the green goo is very reminiscent of both the green chlorine gas and the green acid that burns Amanda's face off in Davon.

All of the children and the adults seem to have bird names in PADRE. Oreole, Lark, Nightingale, Wren, Shrike. This is obviously so interesting. Birds in a bird cage.

Also the villain chick, her name is Shrike. Shrikes are a kind of predatory bird. Their genus, called "Lanius" is derived from the Latin word for "butcher," and some shrikes are called "butcherbirds" for the way they kill their prey: "Shrikes are known for their habit of catching insects and small vertebrates and impaling them on thorns, branches, the spikes on barbed-wire fences, or any available sharp point. This helps them to tear the flesh into smaller, more conveniently sized fragments, and serves as a cache so that the shrike can return to the uneaten portions at a later time." This is why they're called "butchers." Bizarre, never heard of them.

Lark is Madison's name. Larks have a lot of symbolism. They symbolize Christ in the Bible.

There were so many parallels with Madison and Beth. The first being that Madison keeps trying desperately to kill herself. After she gets ahold of the sledgehammer from Mo, she breaks the glass window and tries to cut her own throat with it, re: 18mi Out. While Madison is incarcerated, too, there's a lot of weird Slabtown parallelism. I have visuals lol. Shrike reminds me of Dawn. She's "caring" but in this creepy villain way. Like, she seems like she cares. She treats Madison with care and respect, but she's also authoritarian and extremely cold, a lot like Dawn. There's an emphasis on Madison's food tray, which is oddly sitting on her toilet. She won't eat. Shrike tells her they have ways of making her eat. It very much reminded me of Dawn urging Beth to eat at Grady.

Madison is also parallel to Joan. Shrike is adamant that PADRE won't let her die, no matter how much she wants to.

Mo keeps having flashbacks to Grace singing. She retrieves her latent memories after she hears the song. I had this thought about Judith meeting Beth, and finally remembering her when she hears Beth sing one of the songs she used to sing.

Mo also has lots in common with Beth, as well as Judith. She wears the Beth braid. She wields a mini-sledge hammer in the end, just like Judith wielding the mini-katana. Also, this is more specific: She keeps getting her foot stuck. She gets it stuck in the quicksand of the marsh two times. Just like Beth getting her foot stuck in that fox trap.

Honestly the episode had so many little parallels like this, I'm certain I missed some, so I’m looking forward to your notes as well. It seems to definitely be drawing us backward. We keep getting closer and closer to Grady with every turn.

Another visual parallel. In the house boat, Morgan and Madison sit on a couch with a blanket that has a southwest Navajo style blanket. It's almost the same exact pattern as Daryl's poncho. (I made another visual)

Also, notice the weird giant mosquito hanging from the ceiling. Another reference to drawing blood, aka: bloodletting.

Ofc the episode "Bloodletting" is all about Rick transfusing his own blood into Carl. In the episode, T-Dog also has a nasty infection. Bloodletting also means "the violent killing or wounding of people in a war or conflict." It can also mean "bitter division or quarreling within an organization." All of these things are relevant in PADRE.

I think that after the WB coda, and learning about the research they were doing in France (Jenner refers to it as their "latest study"), there is something going on with the circulatory system and how they're attempting to treat the virus. I'm very curious though about the connection between the Teams in France and the US.

I have a feeling that after correspondence in France was cut off from the US, which was fairly early on, like a month or so into the outbreak, France went completely rogue, and most of the scientists there were jailed, killed, or outlawed. This is what whatever has been going on in Ohio is extremely important. The Primrose Team was in Toledo, and so my extreme speculation is that the CRM extended a hand to the Primrose Team and exchanged protection for research. I think they immediately diversified what was going on and started to implement research facilities in different places around the country.

The first was at Grady, and the second was at PADRE. Remember PADRE was some sort of protocol initially, which Alicia discovered via Will who had used to work for a Senator in Texas. But just like with everything else, I feel that whatever PADRE was supposed to be, just like Grady, it was turned into something else in the years following the Fall.

In 8.1 of Fear, there's mention of Galveston. It seems like probably PADRE is off the coast of Galveston, on an island, home to the Galveston National Laboratory, which is a Biosafety Level 4 facility where they do research on exotic viruses. Remember when Jenner mentions "weaponized ebola" in season 1? That's the kind of thing they keep at the Galveston National Laboratory. It's ofc very curious, that both Grady and PADRE are in proximity to virology labs.

What's weird though is that there's nothing like this in Ohio, as far as I can tell. HEre's a list of the locations for Biosafety Level 4 laboratories in the US. There are some very "coincidental" locations here: Fort Collins, CO Atlanta, GA Manhattan, KS Bethesda, MD Fort Derick, MD Boston, MA Hamilton, MT Galveston, TX San Antonio, TX Richmond, VA

Anyway, every time this show gets bigger so do the mysteries surrounding Wildfire. I'm really looking forward to Daryl's spin-off. For the record, there IS a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory in the suburbs outside of Paris.

I also want to point out that the Biosafety 4 lab in Fort Collins, CO, which has affiliations with Colorado State University, is referenced in The Last of Us. Joel is trying to get Ellie there, where they're doing research for a cure, but by the time they get there, it's already been abandoned and overrun by research monkeys.

So this is a lasting trope in scifi adjacent zombie apocalypse texts

Anyway, I think this is all of my notes. I'm really excited for this season of Fear, because I think we're going to learn some extremely cool stuff about cure research, wildfire, and what was going on at Grady. Mo also has an injury/scar on her wrist, which felt like another callback to Beth. We don't really learn how she got it yet in episode 1, only that she got it while they were trying to escape. Would be interesting if it's a bite.

One last thing I noticed was that PADRE seems to be kind of a small organization. The character named Dove tells Mo that when she first escaped, Madison took out "a dozen guards" and equated this to half of PADRE. Madison also escapes with her and Mo in two seconds during a shift change.

This organization could easily be taken down based on the surface level, sort of like the Commonwealth, but I think it has deep ties to the CRM, which will make it very difficult to deal with. At one point, at the end, when they show up on boats to take Mo back, Madison asks where the hell they're getting gasoline. That's clearly meant to tip us off toward the CRM providing them with supplies.

Madison also is incarcerated in some sort of hyperbaric chamber. Shrike basically laughs it off when Madison tries to shoot herself in the beginning, because obviously bringing live ammo and shooting a gun in a hyperbaric chamber would be like a bomb going off.

I think PADRE is some sort of a "mercenary group," connected but not actively monitored by CRM soldiers. There may be hidden agents of course, like we suspect was going on at the CW, and also with the Reapers. PADRE is also apparently one single man. They refer to PADRE as a "him" multiple times. Perhaps the man on the intercom? The man behind the curtain.

Apparently, Madison almost killed him during her initial escape with Mo and Morgan.

OH crap, I have one more visual. (SORRY lol) The parallels with the carnival, the ferris wheel, A, Conquer, and Say Yes. Rick's death fake-out, wheels of fortune foreshadowing a major twist of fate, also the carnival as a place of innocence, families, kids.

@wdway:

Morgan being interrogated. Two things that really caught my attention, the black lamp with a very bright white light. It's very reminiscent of the black lamps and light that we see around Beth at Grady.

The little walkie-talkie on the table that almost looks like a child's monitor, looks an awful lot like the little device that (my mind has gone totally blank the leader of Commonwealth was it Milton) whatever her name was it is so similar to one that she used but we only saw it one time. It left me with the thought that that's what she used when communicating with the CRM. One of the things I want to go back and compare but haven't yet.

Little Moe/Wren her braid also reminded me of the Beth's braid. A while back I was checking out what a braid could stand for and was referred to the Bible, three strands of a rope is all but unbreakable, so much stronger than a single strand. It's also a nod to the Trinity.

Two impressions I got when I saw Wren fully dressed in this battle suit. First it reminded me of the Tin men from The Wizard of Oz. The second was, I don't know the name of it but a famous (I want to say Italian opera) with a clown. And then when I saw the clown head in the opening credit art and at the carnival site it just emphasized this outfit to me.

You spoke of the what I think looks like a giant large tea strainer face mask. There were times when I'm was thinking that it really does not give a lot of protection from bites and then the thought occurred to me and I'm just going to throw out the thought that it's not so much protection from getting a bite to the face but possibly if someone were to turn they could not bite because of the mask.

Something that you did not mention that I thought might have some significance was Wren's cap. That she threw at at Madison. I thought that finding that cap might help in finding them but there wasn't any more attention brought to it. I can't help but wonder the significance because everything has significance. In the little class setting we see children in different color caps, white, orange gray. Wren's was gray. The color of Beth's sweater and Rick's t-shirt in Coda. A color I always think of is neither white or black but something in between, shades of gray.

The houseboat was such a call back to Rick and Aaron finding the houseboat. They were being watched by one of the hipsters.

They spoke of Madison almost killing "him" and it occurred to me that him might actually be H.I.M. just like Padre is P.A.D.E.

That's all I have for now. I'm anxious to read @twdmusicboxmystery's thoughts and then rewatch with new insight.

@galadrieljones:

Awesome thoughts. I love that note about the cap. I remember it happening but I didn’t think about the fact that all the kids are wearing those hats you’re totally right.

On the “tea diffuser masks” (lol) I thought about something similar, like maybe they were protecting the wearers from something more than bites, like something to do with all the plants growing off the walkers, like if there’s a danger with the virus infecting the plants and then transmitting off pollen or seeds or something. Would be interesting if it had something to do with being protective against the wearer turning, as it would imply that the turn happens so fast, there’s potentially no time to put them down before it happens.

@wday:

I really like the idea of the person possibly turning so quickly. That had not occurred to me. But that would make total sense wouldn't it. We could be looking at a very rapid variance type change. A couple of other things that neither you or I initially mentioned. The color orange which is typical for a prison jumpsuit in real life but orange is also part of the color scheme of the CRM.

Silas's and Rick's jacket has a orange stripe on the sleeve. The other thing is of course the logo printed on the back of the orange jumpsuits are of wings which will always remind people of Daryl's angel wings. I just thought about Beth was the Songbird of the prison. And of course Daryl's personal song bird in Alone.

@galadrieljones:

Good point on the orange CRM bands. I hadn’t thought of that. Or the prison inmates outfits but ofc that brings us back to season 4 again. Hitchhikers could be escaping inmates. (I’m pretty sure it’s Carol who sees this sign and I always thought of her as like a hitchhiker, hitching a ride on another timeline. That’s a digression but still lol.) Also the wings are probably supposed to be “bird wings,” but they look like angel wings and that’s purposeful. Wren/Mo is referred to as a fledgling. My guess is they graduate from the jumpsuits when they’re ready to “fly.”

The way the symbolism is working at PADRE is really thoughtful. I really thought that was one of the best episodes of Fear.l we’ve ever gotten. When Mo heard Grace’s song on the Walkman and suddenly remembered being an infant with the headphones on, I teared up. The thought of giving up my child because I truly thought that’s what would be best and then my child being without me and losing memories was a lot to handle. The little girl actress is also really good! She has me convinced. A lot of energy.

@wdway:

I think we saw the Inmate no picking up hitchhiker sign during the Maggie, Sasha and Bob segment or it might have been the Glenn, Tara, Abe and Co, one. We only saw Carol in Inmates when she appeared to the girls and Tyrese. Did we see that inmate hitchhiking sign when Rick was returning back to the prison at the end of Indifference? I know we saw a pack of dogs. Kind of makes you wonder if that was foreshadowing of the dogs we would see in Them. Oh, I'm going down side tunnels, sorry.

@galadrieljonesjones:

Hmm you might be right. I thought Carol saw it in a flashback in the beginning of The Grove but I could definitely be wrong.

Oh yeah those dogs. That is such an interesting moment. But wait I am thinking of Consumed.

I’m all mixed up with my Carol episodes lol.

@wdway:

Mixed up about episodes? I can't possibly know why, there were only like 20 of them, right. Sarcasm.

@galadrieljonesjones:

LOL. Either way I’m sticking with Carol as a timeline hitchhiker

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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klutzymaiden123 · 2 years

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hello!

I am a huge fan of your story and its probably my most favourite thing I've ever read on the site :0

After I've caught up I'm probably going to write something more in depth but on the mean time may I have a description of each of the characters hero outfits??

I'd love to draw them all together!

I love your work, and I hope you have a great day :)

Omgg, thank you so much! This is so sweet, I'm honoured that you love it so much because as you can tell, so do I!

Oooh okay, so settle in, I'll try using some reference pics for each of the girls!

Helga/Blue Jay.

Okay, so when I first wrote this story, I was kinda on the tail end of my obsession of The Hunger Games, so her uniform was very much inspired by Katniss' Mockingjay uniform. This does not mean it was the same down to the tea, but it was where the braid, the black and the practicality came from.

Moreso, I was heavily inspired by this one design I came across in the beginning stages.

Specifically, the feathers on the shoulder pads, which I thought were neat.So, while her arms are bare, her shoulder guards are covered in grey feathers with a blue sheen.

The rest of her uniform consists of something like this:

And her hair is swept back into a braid like this:

And picturing her face, it's similar to this.

Lila/Lark.

Okay, so I was finally able to find some images that best convey what I have in my head.

So, she wears a halter-ish shirt green shirt that, like Helga’s, is bullet-proof, but most importantly, wind resistant.

She keeps her weapons strapped on her back, crossed over her shoulders like this:

And her pants are black and cover her legs, tucked into her knee high, flat boots.

Her face and hair was heavily inspired by this character I came across on pinterest.

Rhonda/Raven.

Rhonda has a red, peek-a-boo top; it’s stylish but protective.

And comfortable black pants, matching boots and like everyone else, she has vambraces (although hers don’t form into gloves).

Minus the gold rope in this picture and make the armour silver instead of gold, and it’s basically this.

And her hair is pulled back into a braid like this:

And picturing her face, this is what I think of:

They all have superhero masks as well (Rhonda's is dark red, but the others are black); I didn't add them because they resemble birds spreading out their wings to take flight, but honestly, regular superhero masks are fine.

Obviously, the fourth Guardian isn't included yet because she hasn't officially joined, but when she does, I'll probably write up a similar post for her!

But yeah, that's the closest I can explain their uniforms; again, sorry I just find it difficult to describe unordinary clothes! Thank you so much for this, I appreciate the effort and I'm, once again, so honoured that the story appeals to you so much! 💙

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what-if-nct · 2 years

Note

hellooo today's reminder will be messy but here we go

so i just finished watching the new fill it up episode and to see Doyoung be so frank about running on fumes and not really enjoying what he's doing, but that he's holding on because there's people relying on and supporting him, and then for Taeyong to actually label it burnout… it feels much more real than i think I've ever felt 127 be. like dream, wayv, shinee, all seem like groups that talk about things that bother them, that have open communication and clear the air regularly. and obviously that has a lot to do with the journeys they've been on, but 127 has always felt more… not surface level, but less vocal. like they know when one of them is upset, but mostly outsource the comforting to Doyoung. like as a group, they would rather just cheer the person up in the moment than deal with the root cause. one of the things that made me click with Yuta right in the beginning is that i feel like he's very similar to me in the sense of he loves very deeply, but his love language is silent acts of service, he just happens to be surrounded by people that know and appreciate that. but none of them, other than Doyoung and Johnny, really seem to me like people who would just hear you out when you're upset. so to see Doyoung, who to me feels like the emotional pillar of the group, talk about feeling burnt out… i don't know, maybe I'm just too sceptical about on-camera sentimentality, but to me it was the first time 127 talking about stuff like this has felt real.

Hii, I haven't watched it yet or all of the episodes yet. I'll get to it at some point. I watch dream and Wayv's content like the moment it comes out but keepin up with the 127 is just hard for some reason. But I understand what you mean like you just never really see that side of them. As you do with Wayv and Dream. Like Renjun and Jaemin really express themselves so well and don't try to mask what they're feeling. And Wayv talks very comfortably like you can just feel they're not holding back. And I think if the 127 members need to keep themselves shielded for their own mental health that's understandable. I think that's what jaehyun does. Like you almost never see him get deep at all thats probably something he needs to do for himself. But it is nice to see them share other sides of themselves that a lot of fans could really relate to and feel less alone. Like when Jaemin said when he's giving a lot of himself to others he needs to take time away to himself. I think a lot of us can relate to that and understand him. It's just really nice to see. Like Stray Kids also are very open and expressive about their feelings. Chan's room sometimes feels like a therapy session. And it's nice. Hyunjin has literally had a therapy session with fans. But also shared his own personal problems. Like if they're more comfortable just keeping it to themselves then that's fine but it's nice to see that vulnerability and letting their guards down. And Doyoung and Johnny seem like they're more use to comforting rather than looking for comfort. But it's nice when you see them get that comfort and understanding they need.

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seashellblue · 11 months

Text

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (Part 2)

Alright, time for the long one.

If you're wondering what this is about, see my last post, and if you're here for the story notes, you can find them under the cut ~

Also, and I have to stress this. Not proofread. Not proofread at all.

This one's from middle school so that's how you know it gonna be a fun time. I took a second stab at it in high school, but left the rewrite unfinished. It's been so long now that'd I'd probably have to start from the beginning a third time, and I uh... refuse to do that.

The setting is vaguely inspired by Egyptian mythology, by which I mean all the primary characters had the names of Egyptian gods. But then the actual Egyptian gods were also in the story, so the entire thing is a bit of a nightmare.

Throughout the concept's history I was debating whether to make the primary mortal cast humans with animal traits, or just a full on talking animal story in a similar vein to Guardians of Ga'Hoole or Warriors, never did land on a concrete answer though.

Here's the first try from middle school, I'll post a second part with the highschool try tomorrow:

The story begins with a fight scene between Apep and Apophis, judged by the ever-masked Aten. This fight should show off the skill of both brothers, but end with Apep the clear victor, on top of this, Aten should clearly favour and praise Apep, while admonishing Apophis for a lack of skill. Both points should come together to help form the framework for the rivalry.

Immediately after the sparring session, a messenger should enter and praise Apep’s skill in combat, as well as introduce the fact that Aten serves as royal advisor to Nun and Neith. The messenger will then announce that official coronation for the next king of the kingdom of Isfet will take place in *some interval of time,* obviously within the same day. Apophis responds by saying something along the lines of “As if we’d forget,” in an annoyed tone. A little character note for Apophis, he’s annoyed that the messenger focuses on Apep instead of him, doubly so because he believes that as the elder sibling he’s guaranteed to be named official heir, though this exact point will be mentioned in-story later.

I think it wouldn’t be too jarring to skip directly to right before the ceremony and skip however many hours were in between the training and the celebration, so that’s what happens next. Apep and Apophis are now “backstage,” so to speak, have a last-minute conversation. Apep is excited as to who will be named king, then Apophis cooly replies that he knows that he’s going to be named king, due to the whole elder sibling-thing. Apep is completely supportive of this idea, and comments on what an excellent king Apophis would make.

The ceremony officially begins, Apep is happy-nervous, while Apophis is quietly confident. This confidence is shattered when Apep is chosen as heir instead, although this comes as a surprise to Apophis, the various accomplishments and praises heaped on to Apep show that this choice was obvious to basically everyone but Apophis.

The Moon-eater khopesh is officially introduced, as well as the idea that it will activate as a magical god-relic in the presence of a worthy wielder. The khopesh is passed down from Nun to Apep as part of the ceremony naming him as Crown Prince, then the festivities begin. All the while Apophis is left standing there, internally devastated, but never letting the turmoil show for a moment.

Although Apep probably spends the rest of the night partying, Apophis, Nun and many others who are less celebration-inclined eventually retire. Before that though, is the beginning of an extremely intense confrontation between Apophis and his parents (Nun and Neith for clarity’s sake). One small detail before the conversation begins, as Apophis barges into whatever royal room his mother Neith quietly tells to guards to leave the room so that the three of them may speak privately.

Obviously Apophis begins by demanding to know why Apep was chosen as heir, despite Apophis being the eldest. His parents, completely oblivious to Apophis’ jealousy, go on to list all the reasons why Apep is so amazing and intelligent and a great leader etc. etc. and are mostly just confused why Apophis isn’t as happy for his brother as they are for their son.

The next big point of the conversation is Apophis actually bringing up the jealousy, saying how he’s always felt outshined by his brother, and kingship was going to be the one thing that he was going to have that his brother didn’t. Obviously this anger takes his parents completely off-guard, Nun specifically stating that it’s almost as if Apophis was talking about his worst enemy, questioning if Apophis actually hates his brother.

Apophis vehemently denies this, he begins to explain that although this entire situation has been really awful for him, he doesn’t hate Apep at all. However, partway through this declaration is when the actual demon Apophis possesses him, using the prince’s negative emotions as an access point (just a formatting note, Apophis the Demon will be bolded so that one can tell the difference more easily). Visually this takes the form of Apophis suddenly stumbling, before catching himself on a pillar, now possessed. Another key visual note, while Apophis’ eyes are naturally a dark brown, while possessed they’re pure gold.

Neith and Nun instantly go to help their son, but Apophis waves them off, angrily saying that he doesn’t need their help (for more clarity, this excess anger is part of the demonic possession thing). Nun asks if Apophis is really okay, to which the prince responds that he’s got a headache, and he just wants the night to be over. As he turns and storms out of the room, Neith tells Apophis to take care of himself.

Time skip to next morning (though taking into account all the partying, probably more like the next afternoon), we’re in a scene with Apep and Neith, situated at a massive pool full of lily pads and other cool stuff. Apep questions Neith, asking if he was really the right choice, wondering if Apophis would’ve made a better ruler. Neith responds by saying it doesn’t matter whether Apep or Apophis is officially crowned king, as long as the two brothers work together, Isfet’s prosperity is assured.

The still-possessed Apophis walk in, telling Apep he just found the really cool, secret hunting spot, and that the two of them should go by themselves, without any guards or royal processions to scare away the animals (this clearly being Apophis setting up Apep’s murder). Apep, completely trusting of his brother, agrees to go alone, and Neith jokingly promises to keep their secret. As the two brothers leave, Neith tells Apep that she loves him, these will be the last words she says to Apep, so that should be noted.

Cut to Apep and Apophis moving into increasingly more secluded wilderness, Apep begins wondering what it’ll be like to one day become king of Isfet, this obviously causes Apophis’ blood to boil, the anger multiplied by the demon Apophis. Eventually they reach Apophis’ planned murder-spot, at which point Apophis asks if he could hold the Moon-eater khopesh, which Apep is fine with giving to him.

So, Apep brings up how the khopesh is a magical weapon, and how it’ll activate in the possession of a worthy wielder. He then goes to say how amazing it would be if he was “worthy,” how he would lead Isfet to glory and riches. This hypothetical, “imagine if” scenario is finally enough to push Apophis over the edge, the older brother stabbing Apep in the chest with the Moon-eater khopesh, which he was still holding. Since Apophis stops possessing him immediately after Apep is stabbed, Apophis is absolutely horrified by his actions. He abandons Apep and runs back to the palace.

After short Apophis heals Apep, and after Apep’s reaction to suddenly not having a gaping chest wound, the two exchange some dialogue. Key points of the conversation, in order, would begin with introductions. Specific-wise, I like the idea of Apep saying “You’re Apophis!?” Or something like that, and then Apophis would say something like “Indeed, Serpent of Rebirth, Encircler of the World, The One Who Was Spat Out… your namesake.”

I like the idea of a little bit of subversion here, where Apep says he’s not accepting any deals that Apophis offers, and the demon responds saying that Apep was a fool for thinking he had a choice in the first place. Next conversation point is Apophis saying that Apep will act as its agent of chaos, but that it’s not going to reveal what exactly that means just yet. After being turned into Apophis’ chosen, Apep’s character design is updated, black scale looks like obsidian, grey becomes flint and yellow shines like gold, but not in a literal sense, just for clarification’s sake.

After being informed that Apophis will be following his progress, Apep, on autopilot, begins walking back to the palace, but Apophis reminds him that his brother is the one that murdered him, and that Apophis has probably already spun a story to pin the blame on Apep. The realization that his trusted brother betrayed him begins to set in, and Apep runs off into the desert

Cut to montage of Apep slowly realizing just how bad an idea it was to walk into the middle of the desert alone and with no supplies. I’d like the idea of showing both days and nights passing with no word from Apophis. A weakened Apep thinks about how stupid it was for Apophis to revive, only to him then die of thirst in the middle of the desert, for a moment he considers this all being a trick of Apophis to make Apep suffer, or maybe he’s been dead all along and this is just a dream.

Those were just really short musings though, the next full thought is of all of the people he cares about (which could be referring to his parents Neith and Nun, but could also refer to Kauket and Heqet, who show up later), and how he never got to say goodbye. He then prompt;y passes out in the middle of the desert, only to be found by Sutekh and his thugs, Sutekh being framed in a very menacing manner.

Back at the Isfet palace, Apophis stumbles in, very clearly distraught. He claims that while out hunting he and Apep were attacked by “bandits” and that Apep bravely sacrificed himself to save both Apophis and their kingdom’s sacred relic. Disturbingly, Apophis does possess several shallow wounds (which one could infer were self-inflicted), which means he is quickly taken to the infirmary.

Montage of the news spreading and its effects. Neith and Nun are in mourning, letters are sent out to Kauket and Heqet (we could even have their hieroglyphic names written on the letters, as a sort of stealth introduction), and two elite members of the guard (Anuket and Anhur) are notified (another stealth introduction).

When we finally return to Apophis, bandaged and seemingly alone in the infirmary, he begins to muse aloud how he never wanted to kill Apep, he only wanted to change his destiny. This specific desire causes the Moon-eater khopesh to awaken, but Apophis doesn’t consider this a good thing. He begins to scream about how the khopesh shouldn’t have chosen him, that he doesn’t deserve it after killing Apep, before finally returning to quiet sobbing. Though Apophis doesn’t know it, Aten (who should be sprinkled into as many shots as possible as a background character) has heard the entire meltdown and quietly scuttles away into the shadows.

Night becomes day as we shift back to Apep’s side of the story. Apep wakes up to the unsettling black eyes of Serqet, which startles him, which startles Serqet, suffice to say everyone is quite startled by the whole affair. Nekhbet, who’s had no reaction so far, asks Apep how he is. Serqet, however, is more curious about what he is, but when Apep replies that A, he’s fine, and B, he’s a king cobra, Serqet is quick to point out that his scales and eyes have the wrong colouration for a king cobra. Note that the eyes specifically have gone for brown with rounded pupils to pure gold with slitted pupils, similar to what happened when Apophis was possessed.

After Apep replies that he’s special “or something” Nekhbet asks where he’s from, Apep replies something like “you first,” and both begin glaring at each other, already suspicious of one another. In order to break the growing tension, Serqet suggests that they all reveal their backstories at once, and that she’ll go first.

Nekhbet asks where he's from, he says it's personal. Serqet comes up with a strategy, everyone says their backstories, then Apep will tell his. Serqet excitedly decides to start with a "Used to live in some village or something, stolen by bandits raid, families missing, presumed dead n' stuff" and kind of plays off how sad it is.

Nekhbet begins to tell her story. She was the daughter of a royal guard in the kingdom of Ma'at, and she was with her father when assassins came for Re and Mehet-Weret, they died, her father died, and she was taken to be sold as cannon fodder for the Red Desert Arena, where she's been fighting alongside Serqet for the past little while.

Apep decides to open up, but doesn't tell the full story. He says someone he thought he could trust tried to kill him, and he ran away into the desert. He finishes with how he wants revenge and he's going to escape. Put extra emphasis on the revenge part. After he's done they're immediately called out to fight, Apep acknowledges that it's not a good idea to try and fight his way out cause there's loads of people and he doesn't know he's got super powers

As they head towards the arena, and Nekhbet tells them they'll be fighting the arena champion Maahes and that they'll probably die. Up in the stands Set can be seen with his father, Sutekh. Sutekh is definitely responsible for this, Set seems both worried and disgusted.

The fight begins, everyone picks up a weapon, which were scattered around the arena. Apep gets a khopesh, Nekhbet a spear and Serqet doesn’t pick up anything, relying on her tough exoskeleton. Maahes tries to crush Serqet ("Like the bug you are!"), but Apep gets in the way, and is knocked across the arena, cracking the wall. Everyone assumes he's dead, and there's a dust cloud.

Apep gets up, and notices his spine hasn't turned to dust. He runs to Maahes since he wants to draw attention away from Nekhbet and Serqet, and Maahes tries to punch him. He blocks it, and notes how he feels so much stronger. He proceeds to beat up Maahes. After Maahes is on the ground, Apep spares him, to Set's surprise, but Sutekh orders Maahes's death because he lost. Apep is pretty angry about this, but Sutekh's collaborators restrain him and Sutekh knock him out with the base of a possibly(?) glowing was scepter. Serqet, and Nekhbet stand by, unable to act because of the arrows trained on them, they raise their hands. Set thinks this is finally crossing the line Later on, in the middle of the night, after Apep wakes up, there's a little mini-conversation between him, Serqet and Nekhbet. He's kinda "Thanks for not helping me take down Maahes" Serqet responds with a "I wanted to see what you'd do" and Nekhbet with a "mb, that was kinda a jerk move but it turned out fine right?" Then Nekhbet hears some footsteps and it turns out Set is there. After some choice insults from Apep about his family relations Set calmly respond that he's there to break them out As they are walking through the corridor, Apep comments on why Set would want to disobey Sutekh, turns out Sutekh is a pretty trash dad, who would have guessed. Also have Set mention that they must not be found because Sutekh murdered someone with a god-relic that increases his strength, which is also how he got to running the coliseum The four-man band take on the guards, while Apep takes on Sutekh (Get it? Cause Set/Sutekh fought Apep on Ra's sun boat?). They fight for a bit, but Apep ends up pinned. Apep is about to be stabbed (again) when a spear pierces through Sutekh's chest, stopping inches away from Apep's heart. Ra and a bunch of birds are there now, and take the band away.

Back in the Kingdom Of Isfet, Kauket and Heqet are walking towards the palace, and are cleared by the guards, along the way they talk about how not that long ago they were all regular kids and now Apep is dead and Apophis is definitely going to need them right now, at least for a little while. An internally-broken Apophis welcomes his childhood friends Kauket and Heqet into the palace. They ask why he now has two bodyguards (Anhur and Anuket), and he responds that things have become more dangerous recently, which is a reference to his murdered brother. The group enters into Apep’s official funeral. Nobody expected this so everything’s kinda bad and rushed, and then Nun and Neith step up to the podium or whatever and talk about what a tragedy it is that they don’t have Apep’s body, as that means he’s going to the afterlife etc. etc. Apophis eventually snaps and rushes out of the funeral to have a mini-mental breakdown Apophis returns hours later post-ceremony to his parents in the throne room and apologizes profusely to them, along with his bodyguards, Kauket and Heqet for walking out on them. It is then that Aten breaks in with his traitor-guards, announcing his intent to overthrow Nun and Neith with villainous extravagance The few remaining royal guards rush forward (excluding Anuket and Anhur) and are quickly cut down. Apophis, Heqet and Kauket are restrained as Anhur and Anuket kill the guards who are after them, but have no choice but to flee in order to assemble the royal armies. A large portion of Aten's guards follow them Apophis talks about how Aten plan is going to fail, Aten replies by making Apophis an orphan. He then goes on the say his plan, which is to rule through Apophis who must submit to his will, explaining he will be the puppetmaster behind the throne. Kauket spits venom in a guy's face (because she's a black-necked spitting cobra) and flings a knife at the soldier behind Heqet. As Kauket and Heqet fight the last two remaining soldiers, Apophis leap at Aten, fangs out. Apophis is going to stab Aten with his Moon-eater Khopesh (works just as well on shadowy figures as it does on younger brothers!) when Aten is like, "Are you going to kill me like you brother?" and Apophis freezes up. Aten throws a solid punch and escapes. Kauket was also Apep friend, so she's confused/angry/scared/all of the above. She questions Apophis who very vocal about how it's all his fault and he got his family murdered. Mostly because he thinks it's payback for killing Apep. As Anhur and Anuket return with reinforcements, they come back to a room full of Aten's dead soldiers and a new king who is teetering on the edge of the abyss. While Kauket and Heqet speak with Anuket and Anhur, Apophis leaves to quietly grieve. Later that evening, Kauket and Apophis have a heart-to-fratricidal-heart conversation about what exactly happened to Apophis. Apophis is considering admitting what he did, but surprisingly Kauket says that's a bad idea. With no direct heir to the throne, the kingdom would be left to fight over who would rule, destroying it. Kauket doesn't forgive him, but she values her kingdom over her friend.

Poof we're in the Kingdom of Ma'at now. Apep and his little band have been hanging out for a while on the palace grounds, they think it's because Nekhbet got some sick connections or something but it's actually because Ra wants to win his favour and install him as a puppet king shh- Apep's having fun with Thoth, Eset and Ra's step son Horus. Have Horus talk about how cool his mom is, and how she'd make a great leader just like his dad, in order to set up the Hatshepsut-style co-kingery that'll happen later on. Also, have Eset note how different Ra's been seen slightly before his parents died. Apep retires to his cool room that Ra gave him, and then Apophis bursts in like "I'm here to ruin your day." Apep is pretty miffed and Apophis begins to explain he's not doing nearly enough to spread chaos and murder his brother. Apep is like "I don't follow your orders." In his head Apep wonders if he even really wants to kill his brother, and Apophis (the demon) secretly implants a thought in his head saying he does. Apophis is pretty annoyed. So he's like "You're my spawn, you're only still alive because I say so, and I'm only giving you free will because making you follow my orders is orderly and you know how I hate that." Apep still isn't giving a care so then Apophis coils around him and is like "How about I break some of your ribs does that change your mind" Apep screams, people are on their way to help, so Apophis gives some vague warnings and prophecy bits like "Eat the sun" or something and Apep is like "That's extremely vague and not helpful at all" and Apophis is like "Too bad I'm chaotic if it made sense I wouldn't have said it" Apep's band bursts in and are like "How." and he's like "mumble mumble accident mumble mumble s'fine" and he doesn't worry or anything 'cause he's demon-spawn and heals fast. Set isn't taking any of his lies so he presses further only to once again be rebuffed by Apep aloofness Set is like "tell us please." and Apep is like "no" and this escalates until Set is like "trust us!" and Apep's like "the last time I trusted someone they killed me!" and then tries to save it by being like "tried to, they tried to kill me" but he fails miserably. He then decides to give an explanation of what happened to him because you know, reasons. Everyone's very shocked by this but they all agree it does explain a lot. Apep's like "leave" and while Nekhbet, Serqet, and do leave, Set stays behind and is like "I'm... sorry" and Apep's like "I know. Just leave," and Set decides to finally go. It's evening by this point so Apep decides to sleep.

The next day, remembering what Apohis vaguely said Apep asks Thoth if there are any magic artifacts having to do with the sun in the kingdom. Thoth goes on a spiel about how the kingdom of Ma'at has plenty, because Ra (the god) favours them. Apophis gets more specific and asks about eclipses, and Thoth tells him about the Sun-eater Khopesh, and how it was stolen from the tomb of Khepri. Apep decides he's going to get that khopesh (for himself) and use it to defeat his brother. When he tells the band this, Set and Serqet are in, but Nekhbet says the khopesh would belong to the king Ra if it was found. Also that using it would be like stealing from him and that's not okay because Ra rescued them from the coliseum and has provided for them. Apep, Set and Serqet go out to search got the khopesh, starting at the tomb of Khepri, also maybe stealing some horses to get there but don't worry, they're totally going to return them, definitely, no question about it. They discuss entering the tomb but like Egyptians they decide that's a mega no-no. Not to mention that khopesh has already been stolen anyway. Thoroughly demotivated, the three head back to the nearby town. They decide to split up and try and think of a plan, or maybe ask around. While alone, Set is jumped and kidnapped. Serqet and Apep are notified by his yelling and there's a tiny blood trail leading Serqet and Apep right to their home base. They debate asking Ra to fix this, but decide not to because they'd have to explain why they're there. Apep and Serqet bust through the doors only to find out that it was Serqet's two sisters (Ta-Bitjet and Hededet as the leader). After a confusing reunion, Hededet reveals she has a wand (not the Harry Potter kind) made by Eset (The Goddess), which senses the presence of The Evil Lizard (Apophis, the demon). Hededet continues that she figured The Evil Lizard doing anything would be something she'd want to be in on. Serqet convinces Hededet and Ta-Bitjet it'd be a good idea to let them go since they need find a magic khopesh, overthrow a murderous king, you know, the usual. Apep asks if Hededet and Ta-Bitjet know where the Sun-eater Khopesh is. Turns out, Hededet had it all along, having won it in a duel against a bandit leader in order to protect the town. Hededet is like "you could probably break all the things with this 'cause you're Apophis-spawn" and Apophis is like "I got this" and then Hededet is like "no you don't." Apep, deciding that he totally has this, makes a break for the Sun-eater Khopesh, and when he gets it cue a mini explosion or something because Apep totally didn't have it, like, at all. Turns out the Apophis-spawn + Apophis artifact equals an evil snake demon who's mildly impressed and is going to watch you more closely now, after it explains how the Sun-eater khopesh can fire beams of light Aside from the new demon in his head Apophis is no worse for wear but Hededet says that even though Apep is worthy of the khopesh, he definitely shouldn't rule a kingdom because he'll spread Apophis' chaotic influence and that would lead to instability and ruin. Apep and co. leave. Serqet tells her sisters that she needs to leave to save the kingdom of Isfet, but that she'll be back. The group begin their journey home, Set and Serqet wonder aloud if Nekhbet will be more mad about them having the Sun-eater Khopesh, or just leaving without her.

Back to Apophis. Everyone is losing their collective minds preparing for a formal coronation for Apophis, him feeling bad the entire time. Kauket and Heqet and reminiscing. "Remember that time we went swimming in the river and you did water tricks for us?" "Remember the first time we played senet together?" Basically Kauket and Heqet are sad one of their friends is dead, and the other is the murderer. Apep and co. arrive back at the palace of the Ma'at kingdom. Nekhbet is super unhappy about all of the things. Large argument time, Serqet and Set are left mostly out of it because it wasn't their idea. Nekhbet decides that what Apep is doing is treason, so she swipes the Sun-eater Khopesh and flies towards Ra's chambers. Not wanting to be thrown into a dungeon, Apep and co. chase after Nekhbet. Apep is the fastest and is able to intercept Nekhbet right outside of Ra's royal chambers. They're about to fight and stuff, but Apep hears Aten in the other room and explains why they should listen to why he's there. Nekhbet quiets down. Aten was definitely working under Ra's orders the entire time. Ra goes on about invading a foreign kingdom because their people are in disarray and their king is unstable. He also revealed how he orchestrated the deaths of Re and Mehet-Weret. Nekhbet loses all faith in Ra, and the two meet up with the other, deciding to leave for the Kingdom of Isfet. They reason that if they restore Apep to the throne, they can return with an army

Back to Apophis and co. Apophis is officially crowned as king of Isfet, and afterwards works with Anuket and Anhur to figure out what the Moon-eater Khopesh does. Apophis is reluctant to use it because the last time he used it he stabbed his brother in the chest, it's not a bad reason...

Anyway, Apophis and co. try doing stuff to make that khopesh work, like yelling at it, or shooting an arrow near Apophis to see if his fear will set it off. Nothing is working until Apophis steps into the shadow of one of the statues around them. The khopesh then takes in the energy of the shadow, the blade turning a shadowy-black Apophis tests out what his khopesh can do by creating a spiked shadow-structure, when the darkness leaves the khopesh it returns to its normal colour. It eventually dissolves and returns to the shadow of the statue. Everyone's pretty happy knowing Apophis can use the khopesh. Apep time, even though the band was quick to flee the kingdom of Ma'at, they weren't able to escape without someone noticing they had the Sun-eater Khopesh. Nekhbet speculates that Ra probably had spies who had spotted them as they group prepares for an attack by Ma'at soldiers. Because of their days spent in the Red Desert Arena, Serqet, Set and Nekhbet are holding their own, and Apep is crushing it since he's demon-spawn with a demon-relic, still, they're hopelessly outnumbered, noticing Set is about to be shot with multiple arrows, he pushes him out of the way, and gets shot instead. Much to the band's horror, he falls to the ground The band keep fighting for a little while, but they're surrounded. Ready to fight to the bitter end the band gets ready to fight, but then Apep gets up. Nekhbet is the one who notices that Apep is totally not okay. With a Voice Of The Legion he's all "Nak and Sebau, body these fools" and then two massive horned vipers show up, heralding a sandstorm. After the soldiers run away in fear, the band finds themselves in a cave with a very possessed Apep. Set is like "where is he?" and Apophis is like "don't worry he's fine I checked on him immediately after he fainted from blood loss" and then the question of how Apep even survived comes up and Apophis is like "Ha, nothing short of decapitation is taking him down, not as long as I'm here, doubt he knows it though" Nekhbet is pretty angry because Nak, Sebau and Apophis are demons, but then Nak and Sebau state that the only difference between gods and demons is reputation. The storm outside begins to clear up, so the band prepare to get on their way, and Apophis hands back the reins to Apep, who is all of the confused. After a brief explanation someone brings up the fact that they're pretty close to Apophis' (the mortal) kingdom, which caused a visible reaction in Apep, who is very angry.

Apophis time, he's all alone in his chambers, having ordered away Anhur and Anuket. Apophis thinks about what it would have been like if he hadn't killed Apep. This is about the same time he hears a thud behind him, and Apep reveals himself. Apep decides to talk about how he beat the guards (but didn't kill them, since it's not their fault n' stuff) other than Anuket and Anhur, who weren't there, while Apophis is in shock, oddly enough something seems a little off about him, or maybe Apophis is remembering someone who isn't there.

Pinning Apophis Apep goes in for the stab when Apophis is like "Do what you want, I don't care, I'm just glad you're alive" which kinda makes Apep break down in an "I'm sorry, I just realized I was about to make the same mistake you did" Anuket and Anhur rush in though, oh no~

Anhur and Anuket have a little tussle with Apep before Apophis is like "I'm king so stop" and Apep is like "what, explain please" and Apophis is like "now we have something in common with Batman isn't that cool?" and Apep definitely isn't sad about it or anything [sarcasm]

The pieces of the puzzle begin to come together for Apep, and he asks when their parents died. Apophis answers and it's apparent that Aten arrived in the Kingsom of Ma'at in the shortest amount of time possible if he had left directly after the failed assassination atempt

Apep then connects the fragile kingdom Ra was planning to invade with the kingdom of Isfet as a messenger bursts in and after doing a double-take at Apep's not-deadness, he states that that Ra's armies are on the way. Panic time, everyone (and I do mean everyone) is running all over the place. Apep and Apophis's respective bands are prepping, minus Heqet and Kauket, whose helping evacuate their fellow civilians. Cool shot of the remaining band members for a poster that doesn't exist.

While all the peoples are prepping, Apophis says something about how Ra was expecting a broken king and disorderly kingdom, neither of which he will find. The armies finish their preparations just as the armies are spotted setting up a base camp. Among many other things Apep notices that the Ma'at forces are using old weaponry, as if there hasn't been any advancements in their technology, which Apep explains is due to Ra's influence and how it really doesn't like change, and that Ra (the king) was acting very strangely and like it's old enemy, Apep is creeped out by the fact Apophis (the demon) is in his head, and Apophis is like "You are mine, I can do whatever I want"

With Apophis' statement it finally clicks in Apep's head that Ra the king didn't orchestrate his own parent's death, it was Ra the god, and now that god is possessing him. Sure in the belief that Apophis (the king) can handle winning the war, especially with the technology advantage, Apep sneaks off, wanting to deal with Ra (both of them) one on one, Demon-spawn to God-spawn

Mini-boss time! Apep and technically Apophis the demon too, fight Aten, Apep but not before being stabbed an amount more than twice, and Aten gets away. He's not in any danger of dying, but Apep gets the feeling that just beating the god out of Ra isn't going to work anymore, still gotta try though, since Apep would rather this war end as soon as possible

So Apep and Apophis (the demon) finally reach Ra's little base camp and Ra is like "don't shoot them on sight I want to be a Bond villains and talk for an absurd amount of time at my ancient rival" and Apep's kinda fine with that because that'll give him a little more time to heal from all the stabs

Ra says, in all his godly lack of wisdom, that this is actually Apep's fault because he just had to mess with his plans and not be a puppet king and unite the kingdoms in perfect order. This gets Apep very angry and against Apophis' advice he starts the climactic final battle of life and destiny. He looks cool for precisely two second before Ra punches him in the wound and pick him up by the neck, you know? That choke hold thing?

Apep notes that Ra's being uncharacteristically angry and vengeful, not very orderly, or logical. Ra's like "am not" and Apep's like "Are too, you seem to be acting a lot like a mortal." and Ra realizes this, that he's being influenced, and leaves Ra, the king, who turns out to be Dead All Along, near instantly turning into a mummy the moment Ra stops possessing it, Apep looks at it with disgust, and also horror, as he realizes that might be exactly what happens to him once Apophis (the demon) decides to leave

Ra (the king)'s soldiers have no idea what the heck just happened, but Ra (the god) is like, "Withdraw the armies, put Eset on the throne or something, she'd be a pretty orderly leader." And the soldiers can only nod and back away slowly. Ra then turns his attention towards Apep and Apophis, and he's like "it's k I'm chill now, sucks I was stuck thinking like a mortal for a while, I owe you one, a war would have brought a lot of chaos, which I hate, so I'll let you off the hook on this one."

Back to the mortal Apophis, he along with everyone else are in a mad scramble to find the missing Apep when he just shows up and he explains why the entire Ma'at army just up and left, before the battle even started, Serqet notes that it was even a little anticlimactic. Apep looks downright terrified even though everything went better than anyone could have possibly hoped for, Set inquires about this, but Apep says he's fine, and heads towards his chambers, saying he's tired, the other look worried but don't press further

Apep enters his old room, it's dusty, he didn't want anyone to see him die, and he's just sitting, waiting for what he thinks is inevitable, when Apophis (the demon) shows up again, though this time his form seems a lot less menacing, the size of a regular king cobra, instead of halfway to kaiju.

Apophis explains that when gods possess mortals, they are influenced by their personality. Ra's descent into madness was slow because he was possessing a dead body, but he was still hit by all the pain and anger associated with a violent death, even if he didn't know it. Apep on the other hand, he was still alive when Apophis semi-possessed him, and Apophis turned faster, becoming more like the kind-hearted Apep.

Apep focuses on the "before he was dead" parts, and Apophis states that yeah, Apep never actually died (this one's for tonal reasons, not very fun to read a swashbuckling adventure if your main character dies at the end), Apophis healed him before that, and because of that, and it's more than capable of just letting him go, and it kind of should, it's only fair because it got Apep almost killed in the first place.

Apep is confused by this, and Apophis explains further that it was possessing the mortal Apophis during the whole stabbing affair his entire plan being to have Apep kill Apophis, get executed for murder, and then laugh while Apep’s soul was devoured by Ammit (W.I.P. note, Apophis kept Apep alive specifically because if Apep had died, his soul would’ve been under Osiris’ dominion, and if Apep’s living soul didn’t actively choose to muder his brother and doom his kingdom, he wouldn’t have his soul devoured by Ammit) and the kingdom of Isfet fell to ruin without a clear heir to the throne. Apep is a little betrayed by this, but he reasons that in a way he should have expected something like this from a demon, and decides not to try and push his luck by calling Apophis out on it.

Apophis states that a part of it wants to stay mortal, to have mortal morality and to slowly become one with Apep's personality, being just another snake, with kind friends and a family that loves it, but it knows that these are not actually it's thoughts, and it would rather give all that up than lose itself. So Apophis leaves, Apep watches it slither away into the desert, as he hears Set calling for him, and returns, ready to celebrate his second chance with everyone he knew and met along the way.

#copyleft #ideas #inspiration #writing #plot outline #fiction #writeblr #free to use #creative writing #textpost #original story #fantasy #egyptian mythology #egyptian gods #apep #apophis

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fandom-queen-13 · 1 year

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Not Quite Narnia: Chapter 2

Albert ran into the cabin and immediately tripped over a pile of junk.

The hybrid creature nimbly hopped over the piles of junk and through a tent flap. A tent flap that shouldn't have existed, since this was a cabin!

"Oh, hi there! You're back!" a decidedly male voice called out from the front.

Curious now, Albert crept towards the tent flap. He could see the back of a man with bright red hair, a red jacket, and aviator goggles strapped to his head. To Albert's amazement, the wolf-bird-hybrid hopped onto the table, ruffled its wings, and froze in place, soft fur and feathers hardening like clay in the sun.

"Okay, let's see what we have here. First aid kit, might be useful, clothes, nah, got enough of those; ooh, human snacks! Oh! Now this!" The man turned to look at the mirror behind him. He had put on a pair of sunglasses, despite still wearing his goggles on his head. "Yeah, this will be a good fashion statement. Everything else, well," He turned back to the table with Albert's backpack on it. "Everything else I should probably sell."

"NOPE NOPE NOpe, nope nope." Albert ran up, snagged his bag off of the table, and ran for it. Vaguely wondering why there wasn't any door anymore, he ducked under the bottom of the tent…and almost fell off a cliff.

This DEFINITELY wasn't the camp anymore.

The skies were tinted pink, there was a large array of buildings and beasts alike, and those sculptures that surrounded him…

Those looked like ribs. He was in a giant ribcage.

"Woah…what is this place? Is this Narnia?"

"I don't know what that place is," the man said, suddenly appearing beside him, "But I'm going to have to say no."

Albert jumped. "OH GOD PLEASE DON'T HURT ME I JUST WANTED MY STUFF BACK-"

The man’s eyes-eye, his right eye had a scar on it-widened. “Woah, chill out! Why would I want to hurt…”

“A potential customer?” He plopped Albert into the chair across from his little tent and started pulling out random junk. The man obviously didn’t know anything about what he was actually showing, calling a piece of chalk “human energy supplement,” a sealed bottle of what looked like maple syrup “a test of strength,” and finally a cell phone “a paperweight”.

“You’re not around here, I bet.” the man laughed. It was a good-natured laugh, like a bird’s trill. Albert was told he also laughed like that (which is how he got that annoying nickname in the first place).

“I am, actually, but I get why you might think that. He tucked his hair behind his ears, revealing something Albert never would have expected: very pointy ears. Now, he had seen some pointy ears. Micheal had pointy ears. Even the nice lady at the foster home had sort-of-pointy ears.

But this man’s ears were pointier than anything he had seen before.

"My name is Jack, lord of cardinals, bane of witches and demons alike!"

"SURROUNDED!" a man with a conical mask banged his fist on the table, nearly breaking it in half.

"Woah! What's going on?!" Albert shrieked.

"Oh, I'll tell you what's going on!" The cone-masked man grabbed Albert by the wrist. "Jack Flaps, you're under arrest for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors. And for trying to drag another person into your schemes!” He grabbed Jack by his wrist as well. “You are hereby required to come with me to the Conformatorium!”

“Okay, okay! Jeez,” Jack pulled his arm out of the man’s grip. He snatched up the hybrid creature on the table and ducked under it. “At least let me do…THIS!”

He slammed a staff that hadn’t been there previously into the iron man’s mask. The guard crumpled. Albert only had time to scoop the supplies that had fallen out of his bag back in, but when he turned back around, the entire tent had collapsed into a small bundle at the end of Jack’s staff. Belatedly, he noticed that the wolf figurine was at the end.

“Follow me, human!”

“Wait, so puff you’re puff not a hu-puff-man?”

“Haha, nope!” Jack hooked Albert’s waist with one of his arms, holding his staff with the other. He jumped onto the staff, and they sailed up and away.

“You. You’re not my brother.”

“She’s looking for me. I needed a place to hide, but the door disappeared behind me.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“The same way I can trust you, I guess!”

“Alright, you got me there. But he’s taller, and his hair’s more of a brown than a burnt sienna…yeah like that. Oh, and one more thing:”

“What?”

“Can I call you Owlbert?”

Previous chapter:

Next chapter:

#owl house #the owl house #owlbert #the owl house owlbert #Owlbert toh #toh owlbert #owl house fic #Not Quite Narnia

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ragingbookdragon · 2 years

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Setting Suns Below The Horizon PT. 1

Avad x OC Story

Word Count: 2.2K Warnings: None

Author's Note: I'll beat depression one story at a time. Also, been playing HZD again AND I WAS COMPELLED TO WRITE THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Enjoy! -Thorne

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With the final Glinthawk down and Dervahl sprawled out on the stone, for a moment, everyone took a moment to breathe a big sigh of relief. A major crisis had been averted, a plan of regicide thwarted, and many, many lives saved. Even Aloy couldn’t help but let her shoulders drop in relief. Though, it was that moment exactly that she cursed as a bellow echoed from behind, causing the small group of three Oseram, Carja, and Nora to spin, all obviously stunned for a split second as the last of Dervahl’s men came sprinting out, warhammer already poised and ready to strike down upon the King of Meridian.

A striking red ribbon shot out like a beam from a Watcher and curled around the Oseram’s neck, and the next thing anyone knew, he was jerking back as gloved hands wrapped around his head, and a sickening snap silenced his bellowing. He dropped to the ground like a dead boar and in his place stand their savior, a graceful looking woman cloaked in black leather adorned with silver pieces at her most vulnerable areas. She flicked her wrist, and the red ribbon went taut like a wire before it retracted into something underneath her forearm; tipping her head up, they saw she had a mask, mouthless and nose-less, no openings except for the slits for her eyes and even then, they were covered by black looking lenses—she obviously wasn’t looking to be discovered.

“It seems my infiltration plan wasn’t going to be a complete waste of time after all,” she commented and stepped over the dead Oseram, keeping her eyes on how a few Carja guards had seemed to bleed out from the steps and shift to protect their King from the new guest. “And to think he probably would’ve been successful if he hadn’t yelled before striking.”

“Who are you?” Aloy asked, already drawing her bow, one hand slipping up to tap at the Focus next to her ear.

“The woman who just saved your lives, for starters,” she retorted heatlessly. “Your Focus won’t identify me beyond being human, Seeker Aloy of the Nora.”

Aloy saw how energy rippled from beneath her cloak, similar to that of the rippling blue shield that Aloy herself had stitched into her armor. “How do you know about my Focus?”

She reached up and tapped at the side of her head and Aloy’s Focus buzzed slightly as the two connected. “You aren’t the only one who spends her time digging in old ruins of our ancestors. You’re just newer at it.” Bending down, she slipped her hand into Dervahl’s armor, digging around for something and when she pulled her hand away, there was a glowing green crystal there. “I’ve been waiting for Dervahl’s plan to occur, but you seem to have beaten me to the punch, Aloy. I see quite a similarity between us but at the same time such a difference. I wait and watch. You dive right into hellfire.”

“Who are you?” Aloy repeated, this time a little less harsh. “You handle yourself like you know what you’re doing.”

“Because I do,” she answered. “I was trained by the best hunters alive.”

“You’re from the Carja?” Erend asked and the woman looked at him as she rose.

“Oh no, not from these select Hunters. I’m from a long, long ways from Meridian. I’ve traveled the lands all my life in search of the unknown and exciting.” She reached up and grasped at the mask with one hand and pulled it away from her face.

Sun-King Avad’s expression bled surprise as he noted, “You’re the dancer who’s been…” he trailed off, uncharacteristically becoming sheepish as his cheeks dusted crimson.

She grinned back at him. “Dancing in the courtyard for the past two weeks while you watched atop your pretty little throne? Yes, that was me.” Her mask was replaced moments later. “I was gathering information as well as various affections from your guards,” she commented, tipping her head to the few guards around Avad who suddenly found the ground much more interesting. “It’s what helped me get into the palace moments before all of this,” she gestured to Dervahl, “went down.” Her head tilted in Aloy’s direction again. “As I said, you beat me to the punch of actually throwing the wrench in his plans. Good work. You saved a lot of people. Your old mentor would be proud.”

Aloy’s surprise showed on her face. “You knew Rost?”

“Knew is a stretch,” she replied. “I’d heard of him during travels through the Noran lands. I’ve heard more since the attack at the Proving a few weeks ago.” She blinked. “The only survivor named Seeker and sent to save the lands. The High Matriarchs don’t let just anyone out. You’re special, Aloy.”

“I’m just me,” Aloy deflected with ease.

“Oh, no need to be modest. Not just anyone can take out a fleet of Glinthawks like it’s no one’s business.” She adjusted her stance. “Still though, I assume this is merely a moment in passing for your mission? You’ve lots to do, yes? Take over Tallnecks and other machines, raid bandit camps with Nil, explore more ruins?”

Aloy almost reared back at the mention of Nil, but she caught herself and instead nodded in agreement. “I…do.” She turned to Avad and Erend. “I’ll be needing to leave shortly, so…”

“Of course,” Avad answered as the guards took Dervahl away. “But we must speak before you do.” Before she could even walk away, he pointed at her and said, “You stay put…please. I want to speak to you after I do Aloy.”

She waggled her fingers in his direction. “Well, it’s not like I had anything better to do than be circled by a bunch of Carja guardsmen.” She glanced at the group that had her rather surrounded and to unnerve them she quipped, “You all know I can take you down in less time than it would take you to arm yourselves, yes?”

They said nothing as Aloy and Avad bypassed them into the shaded area and moments later Aloy appeared again, nodding at her as she hurried by. She waited for a few more seconds before craning her neck and glancing back, watching as Avad appeared in the archway. “Let us talk.” As she moved, so did the palace guardsmen and she paused, merely staring at Avad until he added, “Alone, please.”

“Your Majesty—” one started but Avad gave a tight-lipped smile.

“I’m sure our mysterious guest would have caused us harm already if her plans were to do so.” He gestured for her to follow. “I will be alright.”

The guards dispersed at his order, and she entered under the shade as Avad took a seat on the bench, she herself leaning against the table set up in the middle. Her arms were lazily crossed over her chest beneath her cloak and though her posture seemed relaxed, Avad knew it was merely a ploy to put on airs—she was ready for action.

“It’s rather humorous,” she said. “The last time I was in this palace, your father was sending people to death left and right. And now…well, all is calm in the day.”

“You were here when my father was king? I don’t remember seeing you here.”

“I wasn’t taught to be seen, King Avad,” she humored. “I was here to see the degression of Jiran’s mentality and the status of the city.”

“Any ulterior motives?” he questioned, gazing at her with eyes that didn’t seem as scrutinizing as his voice was.

“You mean was I planning regicide?” she grinned, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “Oh, I was…but as history has seen to be repeated…you beat me to that punch as well.”

A bitter taste was left in Avad’s mouth at the memory, and he looked away for a moment, then glanced back at her. “You never said your name. May I ask it?”

She hummed thoughtfully. “I’m known across the lands as a ghost of sorts. A thing in the dead of night that saves the innocent, lays siege to battalions of rogue soldiers, slays murderers in their tracks, robs the rich and feeds the poor.” She looked at him. “I’m known as the Ghost to my enemies and my associates. But you may call me,” lifting the hood from her head, she pulled away the mask. “Kelaria. Or Aria for short.”

“I’ve never heard a name like that,” Avad noted. “Where do you hail from Aria?”

“As I said earlier, a long ways from Meridian.” She blinked. “My home is long gone and so are the people who lived there. There’s nothing left but a mass grave and so it need not be spoken of.” Kelaria glanced over the railing. “Who is going to lead the Vanguard now that Ersa’s dead?”

He recoiled slightly at her affront question but recovered quickly. “Erend for now.”

“Hmm…seems a reluctant choice if you ask me.” Her eyes found his. “You need someone more capable of commanding major forces, King Avad. Your Carja force for example really needs someone capable.”

“I’m assuming you’re the woman for the job?” he inquired, though it seemed much more rhetorical.

Kelaria cocked a brow. “You literally just offered Aloy that position not five minutes ago, did you not?” his cheeks flushed crimson and he spluttered, though she didn’t pay it any mind. “Erend is capable enough of commanding the forces beneath him but not like Ersa did, and you know the same. I can though.”

Avad watched her for a moment. “Why do you want this position, Aria? What boon do you hope to gain from it? A woman like you seems best suited for shadows and nighttime missions, not in the broad daylight.”

“Too true, King Avad,” she agreed. “But the position is open to a capable woman who can command respect and believe me, if I had to beat every soldier under your command in one-on-one combat, I would merely to prove the point that I could.”

“But…” he urged.

“Butyou and I aren’t built for outright battle,” she said. “You and I are alike in that way, King Avad. We fight our battles with the abilities we have. Yours is diplomacy and mine is through shadows. But we both know we can fight for all we’re worth when it comes down to the line.”

“It seems to me like Marad’s job is what you’re best suited for.”

She shrugged. “Spymaster is a title I’ve held before but if Marad were to leave Meridian you’d have to kill him because he knows too much and well…you wouldn’t do that.”

He raised a brow. “And why’s that?”

“Because you’re soft,” she answered matter of factly. “Marad’s been around since you were a child. He’s as much a father to you as Jiran was.” Gazing at him with knowing eyes, she added, “You couldn’t kill him even if you wanted to.”

“You aren’t making a very good case for your hiring,” Avad griped.

“Am I wrong?” Kelaria challenged, eyes sharp and Avad found himself stuck in her gaze.

He looked at his hands. “No, I cannot say you are wrong. Marad is as much a father to me as my own was. Killing him would be much like it.”

She hummed. “I’m not interested in becoming your spymaster, King Avad, but I would like to take up the position of the Captain of your guard force.”

“The Vanguard are Oseram, Aria, it wouldn’t exactly be wise to put a…” he trailed off without the lack of her origin and she smirked.

“Put a?”

“You’re not an Oseram, Aria. I cannot in good conscience make you the leader of the Vanguard, no matter how good of a leader you may be.”

“Duly noted,” she responded. “But I’m not looking to be the leader of your Vanguard. Erend can lead the Oseram troops. I want the Carja army under my leadership.”

Avad inhaled and exhaled deeply, meeting her gaze. “You truly have your mind set on being Captain of the Guard, don’t you?”

“I can prove I’ll be an asset, King Avad,” Kelaria affirmed. “I know how to lead and trust me, you want me leading your army.”

“And what is that reason?” he inquired.

Kelaria stood from the table and turned, already heading for the archway; she paused as she reached it and glanced back at him, offering, “That I’d be a much deadlier enemy.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Oh no,” she laughed, pulling the hood over her head, and putting the mask back on. “The price atop your head isn’t nearly as expensive as it has to be for me to think about lifting a finger. Plus, killing innocent people isn’t my thing.” She looked at him as she pulled something out of her pocket. “Think it over for a few days. I’ll return in time to hear your answer.”

Avad started to rise. “And if it’s a no?”

Kelaria raised her arm above her head. “Then I’ll be on my way to the next hidden discovery awaiting me.” She brought her arm down and threw something to the ground and he jerked back as smoke billowed around her.

When it cleared, she was gone and Avad looked around the palace before him, mulling over her suggestion—and potential partnership.

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