#she berates herself not because of her magical ability but because she believes that shes stupid

[zapreportsblog]

↱ the allure ↰

➘ summary : Dot finds himself captured by a charming young woman

➘ Dot Barrett x reader, Mashle : Magic and Muscles x Reader

➘ a/n : I can’t believe I haven’t written for this man up until now anyways it’s 4:30 am right now as I write this and I’ve been up all night/morning time to rest

Dot Barrett, known for his unflappable demeanor and sharp wit, had always prided himself on his ability to remain focused in even the most intense situations. As an operative in a covert organization, he had navigated his fair share of dangerous missions with precision and efficiency. However, nothing could have prepared him for the unexpected jolt that surged through him when he was paired up with a girl named (Y/N).

Their assignment required them to work together closely—a situation that Dot hadn't anticipated. As he caught his first glimpse of (Y/N), his usually composed exterior faltered for a moment. Her beauty was striking, and it caught him off guard.

"(Y/N), meet your partner, Dot Barrett," their commanding officer introduced.

Dot extended his hand with a confident smile, doing his best to suppress the sudden rush of emotions. "Nice to meet you, (Y/N). Let's make this mission a success."

(Y/N)'s smile was warm and friendly as she shook his hand. "Likewise, Dot. I'm looking forward to working together."

Throughout the initial briefing and mission preparations, Dot found it hard to focus. He was acutely aware of (Y/N)'s presence, her every movement and word captivating his attention. He berated himself internally, frustrated by his inability to remain composed in her company.

As the mission commenced, Dot and (Y/N) fell into a seamless rhythm, their skills complementing each other. But Dot couldn't shake the undercurrent of distraction that lingered beneath the surface. He found himself stealing glances at (Y/N), captivated by the way she carried herself, her determination evident in every action.

It wasn't just her physical beauty that held his attention; it was the way she handled herself under pressure, the intelligence in her eyes, and the unwavering commitment she displayed to their shared objective. She was more than just a stunning face—she was a capable partner who had earned her place alongside him.

As the mission progressed, Dot's initial infatuation began to evolve. His admiration for (Y/N)'s skills and dedication deepened, overshadowing the superficial attraction he had initially felt. He found himself drawn to her not just because of her appearance, but because of the person she was.

"(Y/N), heads up!" Dot called out, his focus shifting back to the task at hand.

(Y/N) reacted swiftly, executing a move that showcased her agility and resourcefulness. Dot watched in awe as she effortlessly navigated the situation, her actions a testament to the kind of partner she was—a partner he could trust and rely on.

As the mission concluded, Dot and (Y/N) regrouped, their eyes meeting with a sense of camaraderie. The initial distraction had given way to a genuine connection, one forged through shared experiences and mutual respect.

"(Y/N), you were incredible out there," Dot admitted, his voice sincere.

She smiled, a mixture of exhaustion and pride in her eyes. "And you were no slouch yourself, Dot. We make a pretty good team."

Dot's lips curved into a genuine smile, his heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time. (Y/N)'s allure was no longer confined to her appearance; it extended to the strength of her character and the partnership they had forged.

As they parted ways, Dot couldn't help but reflect on the unexpected turn of events. His initial fascination had evolved into something far more meaningful—a partnership that was grounded in respect, trust, and a shared commitment to their mission. And as he headed into the next assignment, he knew that working alongside (Y/N) would be an experience he looked forward to with enthusiasm and anticipation.

Dot and (Y/N) once again found themselves on another mission together, their partnership solidifying with each passing day. Their interactions were filled with camaraderie, banter, and a deep understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Dot admired (Y/N)'s intelligence, resourcefulness, and unwavering dedication to their objectives. It was clear to him that her beauty was just one facet of her multifaceted character.

As they faced challenges and adversaries together, Dot's respect for (Y/N) continued to grow. He was no longer simply captivated by her looks; he was captivated by her spirit. She was a force to be reckoned with, and her determination ignited a fire within him to be the best partner he could be.

One evening, after a particularly grueling day, Dot and (Y/N) found themselves sitting by a campfire, sharing stories and relishing a rare moment of respite. The crackling firelight danced in (Y/N)'s eyes, accentuating her features in a way that Dot found both enchanting and endearing.

"(Y/N), there's something I need to tell you," Dot began, his tone sincere.

She turned her gaze to him, a curious smile on her lips. "What is it, Dot?"

Dot took a deep breath, his gaze unwavering as he met her eyes. "When we first started working together, I was admittedly distracted by your beauty. But as time has passed, I've come to realize that it's your strength, your determination, and your character that truly captivate me."

(Y/N)'s expression softened, a warmth in her eyes that mirrored his sentiment. "Dot, I've come to appreciate the same qualities in you. Your dedication to the mission and your ability to remain composed in the face of danger—it's what makes you a remarkable partner."

Dot's lips curved into a genuine smile, his heart racing with a mix of vulnerability and anticipation. "I care about you, (Y/N), and I want you to know that it's not just about appearances for me. It's about the person you are."

(Y/N) reached out, her fingers brushing against Dot's hand in a gesture of comfort. "Dot, I care about you too. Your determination, your reliability—it's something I value deeply."

Their connection was palpable, the campfire's warmth a reflection of the emotions that had ignited between them. As the night wore on, they found themselves drawn closer, their laughter and shared experiences forging a bond that transcended the superficial.

And as the stars shimmered in the night sky, Dot and (Y/N) embraced the depth of their partnership—a partnership that had grown from the initial allure of beauty into something far more profound. In each other's presence, they had found not only a reliable partner but a kindred spirit—a connection that was grounded in respect, admiration, and the unspoken promise of a future where their shared experiences would continue to shape their bond.

The days turned into weeks, and Dot and (Y/N) continued to navigate their missions with a synergy that spoke volumes. Their bond had evolved from mere partnership into a connection that resonated deep within their hearts. They communicated with unspoken words, a glance or a gesture conveying understanding that words could not fully capture.

As they faced tougher challenges and more dangerous adversaries, their trust in each other became unshakeable. Dot admired (Y/N)'s ability to stay composed in the most dire situations, her courage serving as a source of inspiration for him. And (Y/N) found solace in Dot's steady presence, his unwavering support bolstering her determination.

One mission led them to a remote location, where they were tasked with infiltrating a high-security facility. The tension was palpable as they surveyed their surroundings, preparing for the task ahead. (Y/N)'s hair was swept back by the wind, and the focused determination in her eyes only heightened Dot's admiration for her.

As they moved in silence, navigating the complex web of security systems, Dot couldn't help but reflect on how far their partnership had come. He remembered the initial distraction her beauty had caused, a distraction that had given way to a profound connection rooted in mutual respect and shared experiences.

"(Y/N), we're close to the target. Be ready for anything," Dot whispered, his voice a low murmur.

(Y/N) nodded, her gaze fixed on the objective ahead. They worked in harmony, their movements synchronized as if they shared a singular purpose. And when they finally reached their goal, the satisfaction of success was tinged with a sense of accomplishment that extended beyond the mission itself.

As they made their way back to safety, Dot and (Y/N) found themselves pausing for a moment to catch their breath. Their gazes met, a mutual understanding passing between them. No words were necessary—the intensity of the situation had reaffirmed the depth of their connection.

"(Y/N), I need to say something," Dot began, his voice carrying a weight of emotion.

She turned to him, her eyes searching his. "What is it, Dot?"

He took a deep breath, his heart pounding as he spoke. "I realized that what I feel for you goes beyond admiration. It's something deeper—something that has grown through our shared experiences and the trust we've built."

(Y/N)'s expression softened, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Dot, I feel the same way. Our partnership has evolved into something meaningful to me as well."

Dot's lips curved into a grin, his heart soaring with a mix of relief and happiness. In that moment, their connection felt unbreakable, fortified by the challenges they had faced together and the unwavering support they had provided each other.

As they returned to their base, Dot and (Y/N) knew that their journey was just beginning. Their partnership had transformed into a genuine bond—one that was built on a foundation of mutual respect, shared values, and a love that had grown unexpectedly but undeniably.

And as they faced the uncertainties of their dangerous world, Dot and (Y/N) faced them side by side, knowing that they were stronger together than they could ever be apart. Their connection was a reminder that sometimes, the most unexpected alliances could lead to the most profound and lasting relationships.

#x reader #x reader oneshot #x reader one shot #dot barrett #dot barrett imagine #dot barrett imagines #dot barrett x reader #dot barrett x y/n #dot barrett x you #mashle magic and muscles #mashle magic and muscles imagine #mashle magic and muscles x reader #mashle magic and muscles imagines

[akari-hope]

lgbtq+ anime for pride month

decided to make this for anyone looking for new recommendations, or anyone who’s wanted to get into anime but doesn’t know where to start! all recs will include a summary, genres, applicable representation, and how accessible it is to people brand new to anime, as well as any major content warnings.

(a quick disclaimer for those new to anime - some series on here will NOT have explicit rep, but rather be heavily coded or have implied queer themes. however, these are included generally because the implication is strong enough to treat it as text, or because the series has been generally accepted as queer. i’ll be sure to clarify whether something is canon or coded in each entry.)

ouran high school host club (comedy, romance) summary: haruhi fujioka is an honor student on scholarship at the prestigious ouran academy, who’s only looking for a quiet place to study when he runs into the notorious host club. in his frantic attempt to leave, he accidentally breaks a vase valued at 8 million yen. club leader tamaki suou has an idea for how he can pay them back - working for the host club. rep: crossdressing/drag are staples of this series, nothing explicitly stated but there are definite themes of gender identity exploration, and the show doesn’t shy away from homosexual themes or ideas accessibility: newcomer friendly! the english dub of this series is notably good. content warnings: some 2000s-era language in regards to gay/trans people that may be seen as offensive today, one scene that implies intent of sexual assault (while there is no actual assault and it is quickly played off, it may still be upsetting to some viewers)

yuri!!! on ice (sports) summary: yuri katsuki is a professional figure skater, recovering from a crushing defeat at the grand prix final. he returns to his family home to debate what he plans to do for next season. he goes to the local ice rink to clear his mind, and shows his old friend there something he’s been practicing - his idol victor nikiforov’s latest world-winning routine. unbeknownst to yuri, he’s being filmed. the video goes viral, and before he knows it victor is standing right in front of him, offering to be his coach. rep: canon mlm romance accessibility: newcomer friendly! content warnings: a few scenes that briefly display anxiety/panic attack-like symptoms

given (drama, romance) summary: one day on his way to his favorite napping spot in school, ritsuka uenoyama finds a boy, mafuyu satou, dozing in his spot, clutching onto a guitar with rusted, broken strings. uenoyama wakes him up, berating him for not taking better care of his instrument. mafuyu, noticing his knowledge of the instrument, begs uenoyama to repair it and teach him to play. uenoyama initially refuses, but mafuyu is persistent, even following uenoyama to band practice. it’s not until uenoyama hears mafuyu sing that he changes his tune, offering lessons if he joins the band as their singer. rep: canon mlm romance accessibility: newcomer friendly! content warnings: discussions of grief and loss additional note: given also has a movie sequel, which has a scene involving sexual assault.

sweet blue flowers / aoi hana (romance, slice of life) summary: fumi manjoume and akira okudaira were best friends in elementary school, until fumi moved away. now in high school, fumi is back and attending the same school as akira once again. their relationship isn’t the same now, though. the two must navigate the new trials of high school while trying to revive their waning friendship. rep: canon wlw romance accessibility: newcomer friendly!

bloom into you / yagate kimi ni naru (drama, romance) summary: yuu koito has always dreamed of the sort of soft, heart-fluttering love in shoujo manga. when a boy finally confesses to her though she feels...empty. she begins to wonder if she only understands love conceptually, but cannot feel it. yuu is still mulling over how to respond to her suitor when she witnesses the student council president, touko nanami, turn down a love confession of her own. she decides to approach touko for advice, but then the unexepected happens - touko confesses to yuu. rep: canon wlw romance accessibility: newcomer friendly! content warnings: some mild sexual content, depictions of homophobia

stars align / hoshiai no sora (drama) summary: toma shinjou is desperate to recruit new members to the boys’ soft tennis club, which is on the verge of being disbanded due to poor performance. maki katsuragi, the new transfer student, immediately catches his interest due to his quick reflexes. toma persuades maki to join, and maki’s skill quickly becomes driving momentum for the entire team. through their shared sport, the boys of the soft tennis club explore their own capabilities and hardships as they navigate life. rep: canon nonbinary character, discussions of gender identity and sexuality accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable, but not necessary content warnings: discussions and depictions of abuse, bullying, and violence

mahou shoujo madoka magica (fantasy, psychological drama) summary: madoka kaname and sayaka miki are good friends, regular middle school girls with regular lives. one day, the mysterious homura akemi transfers into their class, and strange happenings begin occuring. they meet a strange cat-like creature known as kyuubey, injured and on the run from homura. as thanks for saving its life, kyuubey offers them a reward - he’ll grant any wish they desire, and in return they’ll become magical girls with the power to help others. homura, despite being a magical girl herself, discourages them, saying everything is not as it seems. rep: sapphic themes and implied romantic feelings accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable content warnings: blood, violence, major character death, unreality, grief additional note: madoka magica has 3 movie sequels, with a 4th on the way. while the first two are merely recaps of the series, the 3rd, rebellion, is a continuation of the story.

no. 6 (sci-fi, drama) summary: the world has been ravaged by war - the last safe haven of mankind lies in six walled-off city-states. shion is an elite resident of one such city-state, no. 6, given priority housing and treatment due to his exceptional abilities. one night, a fugitive by the name of nezumi sneaks into shion’s room, and threatens to kill him. despite knowing he’s a fugitive, shion instead tends to his wounds and shelters him for the night. when his transgression is discovered by the authorities, shion and his mother lose their elite status, and are relocated. now just a regular citizen, shion begins to discover a new side to the city he’s called home. years after their first meeting, he reunites with nezumi once more - their meeting putting in motion a series of events that will unveil the secrets of no. 6. rep: canon mlm romance, trans/nonbinary coded character accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable, but not necessary content warnings: blood, violence, major character death, body horror, insects (bees)

seraph of the end / owari no seraph (supernatural, action) summary: a virus ravages the human race, infecting and killing everyone above the age of 13. their food source now threatened, vampires come out of the shadows to take the remaining humans captive. the children of the hyakuya orphanage are among the survivors. yuuichirou detests the vampires, and is determined to escape. mikaela has hatched a plan to do just that. the hyakuya kids make their way to the exit of the vampire city, only to be ambushed by a vampire noble. yuuichirou is the only one to escape. he’s found by the japanese imperial demon army, who say they’ll use him against the vampires. believing the rest of the children dead, yuuichirou joins immediately, determined to seek revenge against the monsters who killed his only family. rep: implied romantic feelings between two men (in the manga the anime is based on this is canon, and the localization team views the relationship as romantic) accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable, but not necessary content warnings: blood, violence, death, body horror, unreality

banana fish (action, crime drama) summary: ash lynx is a runaway on the streets of nyc, taken in and raised by the godfather of the mafia, dino golzine. now the leader of his own gang, he begins investigating “banana fish” - the only two words his brother will speak after returning from the iraq war. ash meets his friend skip at a bar, where he’s shunichi ibe and eiji okumura, japanese photographers covering american gangs. however, their conversation is cut short, as dino’s men storm the bar and kidnap skip and eiji. ash sets out to rescue them and continue his investigation. rep: canon mlm romance accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable, but not necessary content warnings: blood, violence, major character death, drugs, homophobia, pedophilia, sexual assault, rape

wonder egg priority (fantasy, psychological drama) summary: after the suicide of koito nagase, ai ohto is left to grapple with reality without her best friend. under instructions of a mysterious entity, she purchases a wonder egg. ai breaks the egg in the world that materializes in her sleep, and is tasked with saving people. under the belief that she’ll be able to save koito, ai embarks on a journey where she must recognize the relationship between other people’s demons and her own. rep: canon trans characters, sapphic themes accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable content warnings: blood, violence, death, suicide, self-harm, transphobia, fatphobia, bullying, abuse, pedophilia, sexual assault, rape additional note: wonder egg priority has a special airing on june 30th, 2021, meant to wrap up the original series - as of writing this post, the series is technically incomplete.

flip flappers (fantasy, sci-fi) summary: cocona is an average middle schooler liing with her grandmother, no clear goals in mind for the future. she meets an odd girl, papika, who inites her to join the organization “flip flap”. cocona finds herself dragged along by papika into the world of pure illusion, a mysterious alternate dimension where papika searches for crystal shards. as cocona and papika explore pure illusion, they awaken to the power within the crystals, transforming into magical girls. they must learn to work together in order to unravel the mysteries of pure illusion, and their pasts. rep: sapphic themes and exploration of sexuality accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable content warnings: mild violence, unreality, mild sexual themes and nudity

noir (action, drama) summary: parisian assassin-for-hire mireille bouquet receives a strange email from kirika yuumara, a japanese student, who invites her to make “a pilgrimage to the past”. mireille makes to dismiss the email as nonsense, until it starts playing a song she recognizes from her youth. when the two meet in person, they’re ambushed by gun-wielding men. to mireille’s surprise, kirika is able to fend for herself - even more surprising, kirika has no memory of how she has such skills. the two of them team up to unravel the mysteries of their pasts, operating under the codename “noir”. rep: canon lesbian characters accessibility: some prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is desirable, but not necessary content warnings: violence, death, implied rape and csa (not shown)

revolutionary girl utena / shoujo kakumei utena (fantasy, psychological drama) summary: after an encounter with a prince who comforted her after the death of her parents, utena tenjou is given a rose-crest ring, and a promise that they’ll meet again someday. however, utena has now committed to becoming a prince herself! after witnessing the abuse of fellow classmate anthy himemiya, utena is drawn into a dangerous game. duelists with rings matching her own battle for the ownership of anthy - the “rose bride”. utena decides she must free anthy from this fate. rep: canon sapphic characters, implied romance (in the movie sequel, this becomes canon) accessibility: prior knowledge of anime tropes and themes is necessary to fully enjoy this anime content warnings: unreality, violence, abuse, homophobia, pedophilia, incest, sexual assault, rape (for a comprehensive, spoiler-free breakdown of all potentially disturbing content, click here) additional note: the movie sequel, adolescence of utena, gives more explicit canon romance than the original series. however, the original series is considered an absolute classic must-watch for sapphics.

if anyone has questions about any series on here, feel free to ask! any other recommendations, feel free to tack on! (please include a summary, rep, accessibility, and any content warnings!)

#long post #i am. so sorry this is so long jdfskbngfd. #i'm not tagging everything on here if people find this post then they find it if not oh well- #also before anyone asks i didn't include legal streaming availability bc tbh it's too hard with different countries' availability #anime rec list #happy pride y'all

[shima-draws]

At last, here she is...best girl Olivia!

As usual, all of her info is under the cut c:

Olivia

Age: 18

Hair color: White (with pink/purple streaks)

Eye color: Green

Element: Fire

After a lot of debating I decided that Olivia is actually Jasper and Mouna’s daughter--if you don’t know them they’re two older OCs that I’ve had for a while! (I figured I might as well give her parents already existing within the ATS-verse anyway, and I planned on Jasper and Mouna getting together and having a child somewhere down the line so it fits.)

When she was born, Olivia was very weak, and most healers feared that she would not make it—similar to how weak and frail Jasper was when he was born. Because of this, Jasper and Mouna are both fiercely overprotective of her (Jasper more intensely) so she was sort of suffocated by their attention. She grew up within the Spinelrose Guild and was treated more delicately by the rest of the guild members, especially because of how slow her development was and how often she was ill as a child. She originally had a difficult time making friends because Jasper was so afraid she’d get into trouble and get hurt, and the other kids didn’t want to accidentally put her in danger. Olivia was pretty isolated from her peers as a kid, and that frustrated her, because she didn’t want to be treated differently from everybody else just because of her fragility. Unfortunately she was never really strong enough to make her point, and just ended up being coddled by the guild as a result.

As she developed into a teenager, Olivia eventually outgrew her sickly physique and started to become stronger, both mentally and physically. She started to speak up about her parents’ treatment of her more—she knows that they just want to keep her safe, but she feels smothered by their hovering tendencies. Mouna eventually realizes how important this is to her and starts to back off, realizing how strong her daughter has become. Jasper, however...it’s harder for him to let go lol because she’s his only child and he knows how difficult it was to grow up as the weak link, the one who got ostracized because of their general health and well-being. It doesn’t help that Olivia is very clumsy and gets into little accidents all the time, which just makes his stress skyrocket.

Even worse, Olivia is a fire elemental, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous simply because of how destructive it is without proper control. When Olivia was a kid Jasper forbade her from practicing any of her magic, too worried that she’d end up hurting herself. Of course, Olivia has a bit of a rebellious streak, so she tried it once by herself and inevitably ended up burning the side of her face with her magic. (By now the scar is almost faded, but you can still see it.) Both of her parents flipped their lids, and Olivia was so terrified that she decided to never use her magic again, viewing it as a curse. Mouna tries to tell her that her magic is a blessing, something that encompasses life, and that she just wasn’t ready to use it so freely without any training. But Olivia is insistent—scarred both in the literal and metaphorical sense, she refuses to use her magic, scared that she’s going to hurt herself again, or worse, somebody else. 

As the years pass Olivia starts to feel more and more unsatisfied with her current life—she likes the guild, likes her friends and her family, but she feels as if there’s more she could be doing with her life. Since she’s refrained from using her magic all these years, and because of how much of a klutz she is normally, she’s not really a strong fighter, and is pretty useless on guild missions. Seeing the rest of her guildmates put their all into what they do, and being able to succeed in it, drives her to eventually seek escape and try to start off with a clean slate. When she turns 14, Olivia decides that she’s going to leave the guild and travel to someplace new in an attempt to be more independent and maybe find a purpose for herself.

Of course she realizes that if she tells her parents this they’ll probably refuse her, so she corners her uncle Terrence instead. Seeing her drive, Terrence decides he’s going to escort her to make sure she arrives safely. Olivia initially refuses because this is something she wants to do on her own, but Terrence warns her that the world is a dangerous place, and since she doesn’t know how to fight or use her magic the trip would be near suicidal if she went on her own. Terrence tells her the best option is going to stay with Spinelrose’s sister guild, Amethystus, and receive proper training in order to hone her magic and her fighting skills. That way she’d still have a direct line with Spinelrose in case something goes wrong, but she’d be far enough away to be independent.

Olivia prepares to sneak out in the middle of the night, but she gets caught by both Jasper and Mouna (because Terrence is a good uncle and he told them lmao). Fearing that they’re going to stop her, Olivia stands up for herself and makes it clear that this is something she needs to do. Much to her shock, Jasper and Mouna encourage her to follow her dreams and come home a new woman. It’s a very soft moment when they all hug each other goodbye, and there’s lots of tears :’) Olivia leaves home knowing that her parents are worried, but they’ll support her decisions because they love her.

After their crazy trip (where Olivia second guesses herself a million times and wonders if she can really survive out in a world this chaotic), they finally arrive at the Amethystus Guild! Olivia literally bumps into Ginni and from there, they form an instant close friendship. Ginni respects Olivia’s desire to be independent and is somewhat envious she made the decision to leave her guild in order to become stronger. Olivia admires Ginni’s confident personality and her fearlessness. Together they get into LOTS of trouble lol, mostly led by Ginni who is a notorious troublemaker within the guild, with Olivia just along for the ride.

During all this, Olivia meets the guild’s official blacksmith and, upon seeing the incredible things he can create by using fire magic, starts to rethink her opinions about her own “cursed” fire magic. The blacksmith, normally a very closed off, grumpy, and rude person, notices Olivia’s conflict about fire, and decides he’s going to train her in order to help her overcome her fear. Through a lot of practice and very intense sessions, Olivia is finally able to confront her trauma and move past it—leading to her discovery that she’s a talented natural at using elemental magic, finding that it comes very easy to her and is something she can control without thinking too much. This is a rare skill, for normally it takes an elemental years of practice and training to have perfect control over their magic. On top of that, her fire is very pretty and beautiful to look at, a reflection of her soul. Her master berates her from hiding something so beautiful and pure for so long lol

Olivia finds passion in blacksmithing, and trains under her master in order to create beautiful and powerful weapons. She does get burned a few more times during this, leading to some relapses, but her master tells her it’s part of the job and something that every elemental will come across: they aren’t always the perfect masters of their magic, and sometimes can hurt themselves without meaning to. But being able to understand what went wrong and how to fix it will make her stronger. Within a couple years Olivia flourishes and evolves into one of the guild’s most fiercest fighters, with an excellent handle on her abilities!

Olivia and Ginni grow up together in Amethystus, and are pretty much inseparable. When Ginni gets kidnapped by the Forces and is missing for several weeks, Olivia is beside herself with worry. After Ginni returns with Kaz in tow, Olivia is one of the first people to accept him and trust him fully, because she believes in Ginni more than anybody else. (Kaz develops a soft spot towards Olivia because of this, and is forever grateful for her support.) Over time Olivia starts to realize just how awful Kaz’s life at the Forces was, and grows very sympathetic towards his situation. She understands wanting to start over somewhere new with a clean slate, though Kaz’s circumstances are much worse than hers, because she still has a loving family and home to return to someday. Olivia becomes determined to make Amethystus a home like that for Kaz, as well as Hiro, who they discuss recruiting to their side from the Forces. As Kaz continues to reveal more of his past, as well as Hiro’s, Olivia and Ginni both get very gung ho about going to fetch Hiro LOL because they both want him to be safe (though Kaz assures them Hiro isn’t in any sort of danger, being the colonel, as well as too intelligent to put himself in trouble).

Kaz meets with Hiro, who was actually sent out on a mission to fetch him, and they negotiate Hiro acting as a double agent for Amethystus to spy on the Forces. Hiro had already been planning on leaving the Forces at some point, so he sees this as a perfect opportunity to get back at them for years of mistreatment. Over the course of the next several months, Hiro routinely reports back to Amethystus of the Forces’ plans, their current hideouts, and everything he knows about the higher ups. During all this he and Olivia meet, and at this point Olivia has started to refer to the colonel as ‘Hiro’ in her head, because it’s too confusing for her to call him the colonel, and she reasons that since Ginni gave Kaz his name she might as well give Hiro his. (Also because she believes that he’s a true ‘hero’ for enduring all of that suffering for so long, so it fits ;D) She calls him Hiro by sheer accident, but luckily he takes to the name well haha and they start to grow closer >:’) Hiro comments on how close Kaz and Ginni have become and the two start betting on when they’ll get together lol

Eventually Hiro’s position as a double agent is discovered by Mallary and so he finally breaks away from the Forces (and Mallary’s manipulation) and starts living permanently at the guild. Olivia’s pretty happy about this. She can’t explain why but she feels very safe and at ease around him, and she’s the person he’s the gentlest and softest around—unbeknownst to her, this is because he’s fallen in love with her, but she’s completely oblivious to his feelings. She’s pretty dense when it comes to romantic stuff like this whoops. Olivia finds Hiro’s intelligence incredible and likes that he’s such a skilled fighter despite not being that strong physically. Hiro likes watching her do her blacksmithing duties and always has expert things to say on her craftsmanship. They get along very well! Olivia’s never felt more at home than with Ginni, Kaz, and Hiro, and likes the tight knit little group they’ve formed. She becomes very fond and protective of them and, upon realizing how important they are to her and how much she’s changed because of them and because of her decision to join Amethystus, she decides to cut her hair as another sign of her growth as a person, and as a sign of change! She finally discovers what she wants to do: become a master blacksmith, and work alongside her friends to protect everything they can, including taking down the Forces to set free all of the people forced to work for them, and bring peace to the land.

When the time comes to finally take down the Forces, Olivia starts to develop feelings for Hiro as well, though it takes her a while to figure out because she’s never really been in love before, and mistakes a lot of her attraction for simple admiration. As Hiro continues to put his life on the line for their group and do anything he can to protect them, Olivia starts to discover that maybe she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life with him. There’s a point where Hiro gets injured so badly in battle he’s certainly going to bleed out, so he pleads for her to use her fire magic to cauterize his wound. Olivia’s trauma comes crashing back in and her worst fears are confirmed: her magic will end up hurting the people most important to her. Hiro tells her that by doing this, she’s going to save him, that her magic is life itself. Encouraged by his words, Olivia burns Hiro to save him, though it’s an extremely painful thing for her to do :’( But it’s at this moment she realizes that she definitely is in love with him, and would sacrifice anything for him.

Not long after that, Mallary attacks, enraged, and accuses Olivia of stealing everything important away from her. It’s a really emotional battle;; Mallary basically vents out about being the one left behind, the only one who couldn’t find a happy ending, and who had the only people she cared about taken. She says some really nasty things to Olivia about Hiro lol and this really makes Olivia mad, so they basically duke it out over Mallary’s twisted feelings for Kaz and her perceived ownership of Hiro. And Olivia’s just like. Bitch you don’t own him!! He’s not an object or a toy for you to play with!! Yeah. It’s nuts

After the grand battle with the Forces comes to an end and everything is resolved, Olivia decides to confess her feelings to Hiro, but it doesn’t...really go as planned. Hiro gently rejects her, but Olivia takes it the wrong way, still not realizing how head over heels for her he is. Shortly after this, Hiro and Kaz part ways with the guild, deciding to go on their own personal journeys of self discovery. During the year they’re gone, Olivia laments over her feelings for Hiro, miserable that she didn’t realize how she felt until it was too late, and miserable because she might never see him again. Eventually she tries to move on from that, but Ginni repeatedly tells her that Hiro is literally holding a torch for her lmao and that she shouldn’t let it go so quickly. Olivia protests constantly and strives to work harder to become a better blacksmith and stronger guild member, trying to put her feelings aside and ignore them. 

Of course, when she and Ginni eventually reunite with Kaz and Hiro, Olivia realizes that shit I’m still in love with him and my feelings haven’t gone away, they’ve just grown stronger during the year we were apart;; luckily for her Hiro’s gone through a lot of self reflection and feels ready to be in a relationship with her, so, after a rocky road of awkward confessions and pouring out their feelings, they FINALLY get together. 

The four of them go on a journey together! There’s some problems when Hiro runs into his childhood friend and first love, Lorelai, but in the end he shows he’s pretty damn dedicated to Olivia and it’s super soft. I just. I just love them so m u c h //shakes fists

AND THAT IS ALL FOLKS!! Most of it anyway lol

Extra personality traits:

-Very compassionate and caring about others—she’s a very motherly type. She’s able to get people to open up to her easily because of how friendly she is. She also settles disputes within the guild often, being the mediator between arguments

-A social butterfly. Probably the most social one out of the group, and the one most used to conversing with other people

-She’s got a lot of self-esteem issues because of her upbringing (and really, I promise Jasper is not a bad parent!! He’s just concerned), but she’s learned how to handle it better. She’s definitely way more confident than she was before!

-Tends to be very indecisive when it comes to big decisions, and is hesitant about fighting—though she will put her all into it if the stakes are high. She CAN whoop your ass 

-Super passionate about blacksmithing! It’s her true calling, and something she throws herself into fully. She’s very artful with her work and makes gorgeous pieces, and tends to ramble on about the specifics even when nobody understands lol

-A bit oblivious and airheaded sometimes. She’s completely unaware of several of the guild members’ feelings for her, including Hiro’s.

-VERY affectionate. Because she was isolated from other kids as a child, she’s very touchy feely and loves expressing her affection through casual touches. And lots of hugs!

-Since she’s the sweetest and nicest person in the group, she is terrifying when she’s angry. She’s super protective of her friends and won’t hesitate to leap into action to keep them safe, often getting very fierce when she does so

-She hates being alone. Being raised in an atmosphere with so many people around, she isn’t used to being by herself, and her instant source of comfort is being near others

-Isn’t afraid to tease her friends or state her opinion when it really counts

#FINALLY....... #Among the Stars #ATS #OC #Original character #Character art #Character design #Character reference #Character sheet #Fantasy OC #Original #Art #Digital art #Character ref #Once again it's super long but that's expected at this point ;) #Long post #Shima arts #Shima's OCs #Olivia #WE STAN!!! BEST GIRL!!!!! #shima-draws

[eurydsea]

Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities [Episode 5] Also, I'm Dropping it.

A lot went down in this episode yet I felt absolutely nothing as I watched it all play out on screen. I know these seemingly, hefty scenes were supposed to make me emotional (at least, that's what the director was going for) but I don't know these characters or their world well enough to be invested in anything that happens for it to pack a punch. Like, from the first episode to now, we've been given no foundation or buildup to the story. Just these maddeningly random sequences that make no sense to the narrative when combined as a whole.

For instance, we get scenes like:

The princess' Chastity Stamp becomes null and void but not for the reasons one would expect. Apparently, it's a purity detector for unladylike thoughts not pertaining to her betrothed. And here I was, thinking it was some weird Xianxia take on a Chastity Belt to keep the boys away from her virginal body. But what amuses me to no end about all of this is how she literally entertains the idea of eloping with Su Mo for a few seconds when the Chastity Stamp just...dissolves. Poof. Dust in the wind. If that's all it took to deem her impure, I would've been thrown in harlot jail on day one. Also, equally amusing is the security system equipped with this magical Chastity Stamp. It instantly alerted the Purity Apostle or whatever he is of its corruption and a slew of palace soldiers were on the princess in less time than it takes me to blink. She's then arrested along with Su Mo and they are taken away for Judgment Hour.

The next memorable scene is the Crown Princess flinging herself from the the top of the pagoda because she's now "unpure" and can't inherit earth's power or something and believes she has to die for her next of kin(?) to inherit the power that's needed to become queen. It's absolutely wild and makes no sense but yeah. That's what happens. That's the best answer she could come up with to stop an impeding war and save her family's legacy. Of course, Su Mo is witness to this and he does what any Xianxia hero would do: runs in slow-mo to save the self-sacrificing heroine and helplessly watches as she oh, so slowly plummets to hard ground because he was a few seconds too late. Better luck next time, buddy.

Then we randomly scene cut to Su Mo despairing away in a dungeon as the Crown Prince passionately berates him for lowkey causing the princess' death when all three of these characters got, maybe, 2 scenes together in 5 episodes? Like? Why is the Crown Prince this invested in two people he's only just met? One of which he only become acquainted with a few minutes before she jumped to her death? Why is he guilt tripping a man he doesn't know? Why is he acting like he had any emotional stake in these nonexistent relationships? Why is Su Mo even in a jail cell when he's going to be banished to some other region? It's not like he's going to high tail it out of there. He's too busy hating himself to want to preserve his life. I am confusion but okay...moving on.

Now, here is my favorite scene out of all this tomfoolery. Su Mo has been banished and he's now listlessly wandering through a blizzarding wasteland. Why and to what end? Unclear. My guess would be he's looking for a nice spot to lie down and die in. He manages to find said dying spot and as he's just lying there, ruminating in his despair and regret, his gender-fluid seal disappears, permanently solidifying him as a Real Boy. Apparently, merpeople have this seal on their foreheads that allow them to change genders at will and that ability only goes away when one falls in love with the opposite gender. Thus, bye-bye goes the pride seal. But out of everything I had to suspend disbelief in to carry on watching is the fact that Su Mu didn't turn into a mericle while he roamed the below freezing mountains for God knows how long. Are merpeople immortal? Immune to extreme temperatures? It's a plot hole but one that's minute and weird to fixate on seeing as there's more glaring question marks in the story but here I am.

And now we are on the final part of this post. Fucking finally, am I right? I can prattle on for days, I know. But here we are, if you're still with me:

The last couple of minutes of episode 5 takes place 100 years after everything went to shit and it's just...a lot. It begins with the Crown Princess narrating how she didn't die after jumping from the pagoda and what she's been up too these 100 of years past. Apparently, this magical earth ring flew on her finger before she went caput and it ultimately saved her but put her in a coma for 100 years. Where did this ring come from? Why did it knock her out? No one knows. It just appeared out of thin air to save the day.

The princess then miraculously wakes up from said coma after her 100 year nap and the Crown Prince loses his earth power in a battle against darkness(?) I'm not too clear on that tidbit but then he too, is put into a magical coma. Again, I'm not sure why the coma but yeah. The princess then goes on a quest for his misplaced earth magic to wake him up? At least, I think that's her goal. There are a lot of things I'm not clear on.

As for Su Mo, I'm not 100% sure what he had been up to the all those years but I think he just roamed the snowy mountains in regret? From the little we are shown, he also reluctantly acquaints a band of refugees and a refugee child who has prophetic powers and divines his future which he gets sensitive about because Bai Ying is mentioned. Lord forbid the woman you loved a century ago be brought up in conversation. You know you have it bad when you develop a crush in a week but stay emo about it not working out for 100 years. That's some metal level pining right three. But I digress. So Su Mo, refugee girl, and traveling band of refugees are met with an avalanche and only Su Mo and RG surive it. Neither Su Mo or RG were too concerned with it either. People die and what of it was there take on that. In hindsight, it was an odd scene to include but whatever. Finally, the closing scene is of Su Mo and the princess coincidencely meeting in a forest (how does Su Mo even get from point A to B? I thought he was despairing in the mountains. Did he fly? Can merpeople fly? What am I saying? Ofc he can can fly, it's a Xianxia) when the episode ends.

Finally takes a deep breath.

And that's it, folks.

This pretty much sums up of all the key points from episode 5. Although, I'm left to wonder where the cohesiveness in all of it is. I'm sure had the screenwriter and director planned out a storyboard, these seemingly random segments would make more sense in the grand scheme of things but they obviously didn't and nothing adds up and I'm left highly amused by it all.

Twin Cities by far is the trippiest drama I've seen in recent years and the only way it'd make sense if one's system was pumped with psychedelic drugs.

#a tale of twin cities #mirror: tale of twin cities #mirror a tale of twin cities #cdrama

[half-bakedboy]

You’re a Shadowhunter Now (read on ao3)

Pairing: Clary Fray & Alec Lightwood Rated: Gen Summary: “If she decides to go on her own, we’ve lost Valentine’s daughter to the downworld, and who knows what that means for the Circle,” Jace added even though Alec had already made up his mind. Alec shook his head and let out a frustrated breath through his nose as he walked away from his siblings.

“She’s not gonna listen to me,” Alec yelled as he walked in the direction the redhead had stormed off.

“Make her, Alec, you’re good at that,” Jace supplied.

Alec muttered to himself, “Apparently not good enough.”

For 5 Years of Shadowhunters presented by the @malecdiscordserver​!

The redhead was feisty when she was pissed off and there was something about that aspect of her that both surprised and intrigued Alec. It also had Alec sympathizing with her for the first time in the few hours he had known her. They had gone back to the Institute to figure out how to deal with the nerdy mundane being taken by the New York Vampire Clan in the most diplomatic manner - Alec briefly reminded himself that he was the only one that wanted to deal with it with thought and not action - and the redhead was pissed, to say the least. 

“Someone has got to talk to her,” Izzy said as she inspected her nails, pointedly ignoring any responsibility that she might have been given. Jace sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head at whatever thoughts were running through it. 

“I think Alec should do it,” Jace offered and Alec just gaped at him. 

“You want me to deal with her?” Alec said with a scoff as both Izzy and Jace stared up at him. 

“C’mon, you’re the one who couldn’t bother to be around the mundane and accused Clary of being some Circle spy all within a few hours of meeting her. Maybe if you just apologize--”

Alec held up a hand and argued, “Apologize?! You want me to say I’m sorry for being the only one pointing out scenarios in which this-- this little girl is much more than just a damsel in distress that you can save? I think I’m the only one who is thinking with my head here!” It seemed like his words did nothing to focus Izzy and Jace away from whatever they felt for the redhead and he relented, as he always did, with a heavy sigh. 

“Just go talk to her. Explain why we can’t just go after him and maybe she’ll understand that you want to get Simon back just as much as she does,” Izzy said softly, resting a hand on Alec’s arm comfortingly. He shrugged her off but he couldn’t argue with her words. Shadowhunters were sworn protectors and as much as Alec wanted to just let the vampires get away with the kidnapping, he held duty above all else, and it was his responsibility to get the mundane out of their grasp. 

“If she decides to go on her own, we’ve lost Valentine’s daughter to the downworld, and who knows what that means for the Circle,” Jace added even though Alec had already made up his mind. Alec shook his head and let out a frustrated breath through his nose as he walked away from his siblings. 

“She’s not gonna listen to me,” Alec yelled as he walked in the direction the redhead had stormed off. 

“Make her, Alec, you’re good at that,” Jace supplied. 

Alec muttered to himself, “Apparently not good enough.” He had tried to get Jace to listen to him on many occasions, to stop being so reckless and stop taking in strays as if they were prizes he competed for, to follow the guidelines sent down to him from his parents and the Clave, but it was useless because Jace did what Jace wanted. His bad decisions were rubbing off on Izzy and Alec silently thanked his parents for taking Max away before he could go down the path of resistance with the rest of his siblings. 

He stopped walking when he heard soft sobs coming from one of the residential rooms. His heart tightened in his chest as he remembered the times he had waited outside Izzy’s door while she cried herself to sleep after their mother had berated her. It happened far too often and Alec was always afraid of knocking on the door and offering his support. Izzy had to be strong in order to be who she needed to be and who Alec knew she could be and he wasn’t going to interfere with that. So he would sit outside her door until he was sure she was finally getting some rest and spend the rest of the night staring at his ceiling, wondering if he was doing the right thing. 

With a steady inhale, Alec let his knuckles rap against the door softly, calling out a gentle, “Clary?” He heard some shuffling and sniffling as if she was trying to hide the fact she was crying and Alec respected that more than he thought he would. The door opened slowly and the glare the redhead had on her face was almost as deadly as the one Alec had perfected. 

“What?” She spat, her hair whipping into Alec’s face as she turned quickly and sat on the bed with a huff. 

“I just wanted to-- Are you okay?” He asked and the question seemed to surprise Clary. She nodded at first, quick and sure, but then her bottom lip started to tremble and she shook her head.

“It was my birthday yesterday,” she began as a tear fell down her cheek. Alec stayed silent from where he stood, unsure of how to comfort this girl he had barely just met. “It was supposed to be the best day of my life. I turned 18 - a real adult by human standards - and was accepted into my dream school. I had a mom who-- who was-- is my best friend and a stepdad who I trusted with my life. And I had my best friend, the one person who has been there for me since I was little, celebrating with me.” Her voice shook with each passing confession and Alec resisted the urge to sit beside her and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

“And now?” He asked because if he knew anything, it was that hiding feelings and emotions from those that just wanted to help was the most detrimental thing a person could do to themselves. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to know Clary, but it was too late to change his mind as Clary looked up at him with wide eyes and shook her head again. 

“My mother pushed me into a swirling hole of magic that her best friend created and now I might never see her again. I showed up at my step dad’s work only to overhear him admit that I meant nothing to him, that my mother meant nothing to him. I almost died and was only saved because some guy I just met gave me some mystical tattoo of healing, and now?” Clary took a deep breath and the tears that threatened to fall seemed to disappear as she tried to compose herself. “My best friend has been kidnapped by a guy that had fangs for teeth and the ability to disappear before I could even register what I was seeing.” 

“He’s a vampire,” Alec said ignoring the glare that Clary shot in his direction, “a very powerful one that is using the mund-- Simon,” Alec corrected, “against you.” He sighed heavily, taking a few steps closer to Clary to sit beside her on the bed before continuing, “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re a shadowhunter now. That means you have to follow the rules that have been created to keep all of us safe and protected.” 

“But what about Simon?” Clary questioned, turning toward Alec to grip his thigh in her hands, her nails digging into the flesh there like a desperate plea for answers that Alec couldn’t really give her. Alec rested his hand over hers to urge her to relax. She didn’t know it yet, but he was the one with the mind to make a plan and the good sense to make sure they took the correct next steps in order to keep everyone safe. There was a small part of him that hoped he could prove it to her. 

“They won’t hurt him,” Alec began and at Clary’s look of disbelief, he added, “They won’t. They want something they think you have and I’m starting to believe that you know less than everyone thinks you do.” Clary nodded quickly and sniffed as an escaped tear fell down her cheek. Alec reached up before he could stop himself and swiped it away with his thumb before resting his hand on her shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. “But we can’t just barge into a nest of vampires without a plan, Clary. You know Simon better than the rest of us and you trust him to stay alive, yeah?” 

Clary agreed, “He’s probably torn between fear and excitement that vampires actually exist and he gets to see one in person.” Her watery laugh had Alec relaxing enough to stand and peer down at her. He admitted to himself that he had - still held - reservations about the redhead, but her ability to be thrown into the Shadow World with barely any fear crossing her features was something Alec admired. 

“Then we’ll figure out how to get him back, but we’re going to need your help. I need you to calm yourself down and clear your head,” Alec commanded. Clary stood up and wiped at her face, fixing the leather skirt Izzy had lent her before nodding at Alec again as if ready for action. Alec shook his head and nudged her back to sitting with a gentle hand. 

“Take a second. Mourn the loss of the mundane life you knew because from now on,” Alec said as he walked toward the door, “you’re a shadowhunter first. You’re the responsibility of the Clave which means you’re my responsibility and I take that very seriously.” Clary stared over at him and Alec had to avert his eyes before he became uncomfortable with the trust he saw forming in them. 

“Thank you, Alec,” Clary whispered. Alec nodded but said nothing else as he walked out the door. He shut it behind him and when he heard Clary’s sobs start up again, he slid down the wall outside of the room just to make sure that she was going to be okay. 

#fraywood #fraywood brotp #clary fray #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #my writing #mdsrewatch #5 years of shadowhunters #ahhhhhh i love them so much 🥺 #dont @ me okay #clary is baby

[midnight-queery]

how very polite of you

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26354770

“So, let me get this straight,” Sam started, setting her glass of wine down on the table. Lena snorted at the phrasing, and Sam shook her head. “Kara kissed you.”

“Yes,” Lena mumbled, her eyes darting down to her own glass of wine and staying there. She took a quick swig as Sam did her best to maintain a neutral expression.

“And… you thanked her.” Sam was very proud of herself for not laughing. She could laugh later, when her friend wasn’t slouched on her couch, miserable because of her own screw up. Still, she couldn’t resist: “How very polite of you.”

Lena groaned, very loudly, and hid her face in her hands. Sam still managed not to laugh, though she honestly wasn’t sure how at this point.

“Are you trying to wake Ruby up?” Sam asked, a small smirk on her face. Lena peeked out from between her fingers and shook her head. “Anyway, Lena, I really don’t see why you’re here.”

“Because I fucked up. And usually when I fuck up I can go to Kara. But in case you haven’t realized, that’s not really an option,” Lena snarked. She deflated under Sam’s unimpressed gaze. “I don’t know what to do, okay? You’re supposed to be my friend- help.”

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Friend… magic? I don’t know!” Lena waved her hands erratically. “Kara always found a way to make it better. So just… channel Kara.”

“You want me to channel the person who kissed you? Sorry, Lena, but I’m taken.” Sam leaned back with a smirk and Lena groaned, more quietly this time. Sam sipped her wine as she waited for her friend to get her thoughts in order. Lena remained quiet. It seemed one kiss from Kara had the ability to rob her genius brain of coherent thoughts. Okay then. “When I said I didn’t understand why you were here, I meant I didn’t understand why you were talking to me,” Sam tried. Lena stared at her blankly. Was Kara really that good of a kisser? Geez. “Lena, you should be talking to Kara about this. Then once you two are together and have finally acted on all the sexual tension you force us all to suffer through, you can come back to me and give me all the juicy details.” Sam gave Lena a wide smile as the young Luthor’s brain seemed to short circuit.

“I can’t talk to Kara about this,” Lena finally said. “Are you insane? Did the Luthor madness somehow rub off on you?”

“Since when are you mad?” Sam blurted.

“Well I certainly feel like I’m losing my mind,” Lena grumbled. “She kissed me and I said thank you. Who the fuck does that?” Lena flopped back onto the couch with another loud groan. Before Sam could shush her the sound of footsteps could be heard from the hall. “Fuck,” Lena whispered.

Sam hoped it would be Ruby who had woken up. Sam really, really hoped it had been Ruby. She could send her daughter back to bed. She couldn’t do the same with-

“Alex?” Lena blurted, startling. “What the hell are you doing here? Oh. Oh my god. Oh, fuck.” Lena turned from a bleary-eyed Alex to Sam, her eyes narrowing accusingly. “Sam, why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were dating Kara’s sister? Or that she was currently here?” Lena hissed.

“Uh, well, it’s still new, is all. And we didn’t want to tell you yet because we knew you’d tell Kara. And she apparently threatened to throw Alex’s last girlfriend into the sun or something,” Sam said hurriedly.

“I can keep a secret,” Lena said with a pout. A pout. An actual, genuine, making-Sam-feel-even-worse pout. Alex voiced Sam’s thoughts almost to the letter.

“Ugh, now you’re pouting too? You hang out with Kara too much,” Alex grumbled. She plopped down beside Sam and leaned against her, her sleepy eyes trained on Lena. “Why are you here so late? Or early, I guess. What time is it? Wait, where’s my phone?” Alex started shoving her hand between the couch cushions, apparently having lost her phone before bed and only now realizing when she needed a clock to better berate Lena for her early morning visit.

“No reason,” Lena said quickly, shooting Sam a death glare. Sam only rolled her eyes.

“Lemme guess,” Alex drawled, giving up her search and nudging Sam to search her side of the couch, “you’re having some kind of gay awakening and realizing you’re in love with my little sister.”

Lena looked like she was having a stroke, but Alex was too focused on the phone Sam had just fished out of the cushions to notice.

“Or at least that’s what Sam would have me believe,” Alex grumbled, mostly to herself. “She keeps insisting you two like each other. I don’t really see it.” She glanced up at Lena and froze. “Wait, what’s with that face? What happened?” When Lena remained silent, her mouth opening and closing but no words coming out, Alex turned to Sam.

“Sam, don’t-” Lena tried, but it was too late.

“Kara kissed her and she thanked her instead of admitting her feelings and she came to me instead of talking to Kara cuz she may be a genius but she’s kind of a dumbass,” Sam rushed out, a guilty look on her face. Lena looked like she was wishing for her quarterly assassination attempt to come early. Alex just looked between them both, blinking owlishly, before looking down as her phone buzzed with an incoming call.

“Well, that would explain why Kara is calling at… 3:27 in the morning. And why I have… holy shit, 33 missed calls? I didn’t even realize either of you were gay, and now you’re both gay disasters? C’mon,” Alex grumbled. Sam snorted. Lena hid her face in her hands again, and Sam nearly guffawed when she heard her mumble something about how she at least had a functional gaydar. “I heard that. Now both of you shut up. If I don’t answer the phone Kara is going to-”

Whatever Alex said was drowned out by the front door being thrown open so hard it bounced off the wall with a loud bang, a panicked Kryptonian storming in with a small metal ball in her hand that Sam was pretty sure used to be her spare key. Maybe Sam should rethink having a super strong alien babysit her child. Then again, said alien usually wasn’t freaking out about kissing her best friend, so it should be fine once the two dumdums talked things out.

“Alex you weren’t answering your phone and it’s an emergency and I know you’re dating Sam and we need to talk about that later but I need your help cuz I think I messed up!” Kara rambled. She glanced from Alex to Sam, then over at the sleepy Ruby who had padded into the living room. “Sorry for waking you up, Ruby, but I kissed Lena at our sleepover and she thanked me and then ran away and I don’t think she wanted me to kiss her and I was gonna talk to her first and tell her I’m in love with her and then ask if I could kiss her but she just looked so happy and I really wanted to kiss her and oh Rao Lena is here why is Lena here???” Kara cut off, her eyes impossibly wide and staring at Lena in horror. She did an abrupt about-face and started walking out the door.

“Kara, where are you going?” Alex asked tiredly, stifling a yawn. Ruby was watching with obvious amusement, Lena’s face was fire-engine red, and Sam really wasn’t sure how she hadn’t laughed by now. Seriously, when all this was over she was probably going to have to laugh for eighty years straight just to make up for not laughing right now.

“Back to the Phantom Zone,” Kara replied, still walking away.

“And how exactly do you plan on getting there? I really don’t think J’onn will lend you his spaceship for this,” Alex drawled.

“Brainy is working on something that’ll send lethal threats to the Phantom Zone. It’s not done yet but I should be able to finish it by tomorrow. Goodbye forever.”

Alex actually sat up straight at that, a startled look on her face.

“Kara Zor-El Danvers, get back here right now,” Alex said sternly. Sam gave her girlfriend an impressed look, but Alex’s hard eyes were trained on the slumped form of the Girl of Steel as she shuffled back into the room.

“Alex-”

“No. Sit down.” Alex pointed to the seat beside Lena’s and Kara held out for about five seconds before slumping into it. “Now, both of you are going to talk this out like adults instead of freaking out like teenagers.”

“Hey,” Ruby said, frowning. Alex glanced at her, her gaze softening, before turning back to Lena and Kara with a smirk.

“Sorry, that was an insult to teenagers. But still- you’re both adults. Talk.” Silence. Alex clapped her hands loudly, and Kara and Lena both flinched. “Kara, you first. You’re the one who decided to start this mess at an ungodly hour.”

“I shouldn’t have come here,” Kara grumbled.

“You could have at least waited until daylight, Kar. Now quit stalling.”

“Ugh, fine,” Kara whined. She turned to Lena, unable to look her in the face and only managing to glance at her every few seconds. “I- uhm. I’m sorry I kissed you. Not that, uh, not that I didn’t want to kiss you but I should have like, asked first. And told you that I’m in love with you. Or at least that I- shoot, how do humans put it? That I like like you?” Kara glanced at Ruby for confirmation, and the girl nodded. “Yeah, that. Um. So yeah. I don’t… I’m not really sure why you thanked me? Or why you left… it would have made more sense to kick me out since we were at yourpenthouse?” Kara did manage to look at Lena then, and Lena’s face was even redder. The brunette glanced at Sam for help, but Sam just crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Lena sighed.

“I didn’t mind that you kissed me,” Lena started quietly. “I actually, well, I actually quite enjoyed it. I just wasn’t prepared- I thought you were straight.”

“So much for having a functional gaydar,” Alex grumbled.

“Babe, you thought our first date was just friends having dinner together until I kissed you. I’m obviously the only one with a functional gaydar in this room. Nia and I have been shipping Supercorp for months.” Sam pecked Alex on the cheek to lessen the blow, and Alex grumbled about how impossible it was to stay mad at Kryptonians.

“Supercorp? I like it,” Ruby mused, walking over and plopping down on the couch beside Sam, “but maybe we could also have Karlena, ooh or Karena- but pronounced like ocarina, not just Karen with an a,” Ruby’s face scrunched up and Sam laughed.

“Sounds good, Rubes. But maybe let’s let them actually get together first.” Sam reached over and ruffled Ruby’s hair as the girl rolled her eyes.

“Alex started it,” Ruby mumbled.

“And I’m ending it. Lena, continue.” Sam gave her friend as encouraging a look as she could muster for this ridiculous situation. She’d wanted them to finally get together, just not in her living room at 4 am. Nia was definitely going to be jealous though.

“I’ve been in love with you for an embarrassingly long amount of time,” Lena blurted, her eyes going to Kara’s and staying there. “I didn’t realize at first- I thought it was just another hopeless crush on a cute blonde- but then when you rescued me and revealed you were Supergirl in the process I realized I was more hurt than mad, and then you were trying so hard to make it up to me for not telling me sooner and I decided to give you a second chance and, well I don’t give second chances, but I did for you. That’s why I was so skittish when we first started being friends again, because I realized I was in love with you and that there was no hope of a Super ever loving a Luthor.” Lena took several deep breaths when it was all out, and Sam had the feeling she’d been bottling up those words for awhile now. They apparently needed to have more girls’ nights without the Danvers sisters in tow (Nia could still come though… unless they wanted to complain about their girlfriends’ dangerous jobs, then the other vigilante hero was out).

“Lena,” Kara said softly, a hint of admonishment in her tone. “you’re not a Luthor, or at least not like that. You’re not a villain. Just look at all the good you’ve done for this planet, from the humans to the aliens to the planet itself! Your image inducer helped countless aliens live a better life here, and you’re always anonymously donating to charities, and you’ve made L-Corp the greenest company in National City by far, maybe even in this country! Yeah, you’re a Luthor, but you’ve used all of those resources and connections to start changing your family’s legacy to a good one. We are not our families, Lena. And National City may be slow to realize it, but I’ve known it for awhile now: Lena Luthor is a hero, and no last name can change that.”

And then Lena was crying and Kara was out of her chair in less than a second, doing her best to hug Lena and pressing kisses to her hair and forehead and cheeks and Ruby was watching the whole thing with the tiniest look of disgust on her face.

“Mom, please don’t ever be that mushy with Alex. I don’t think I could take it.”

“No guarantees, kiddo,” Sam said as she used her phone to snap some photos to send to Nia- she was gonna flip when she checked her phone (unless she’d already foreseen this… nah, she would have told Sam- she was about as bad at keeping secrets as Kara).

#supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #danvarias #alex danvers #samantha arias #sam arias #ruby arias #karlena #supergirl #supercorp crack #supercorp one shot #based on a tumblr post #lol

[whenihaveyouromione]

When I Have You - Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

Part of Ron wished Hermione hadn’t told him the date she was due to come back, because the next few weeks dragged. Every day, he’d wake up, get ready, then he and Harry would head off to wherever it was they were asked to show up for training that day. At first, it had started with simple tasks within the Ministry, but more recently, they branched out and were taken to various locations around Britain. It was fun, but completely exhausting, and by the time they got home, neither Ron nor Harry could be bothered to cook for themselves.

Word must have reached Molly about this (perhaps through Ginny, who insisted on spending every second night sleeping over), because she now dropped by every so often with food and berating them for not eating properly.  

Ron had to admit, he was grateful for it, because on the few occasions he or Harry had attempted to make something, they had both failed miserably. 

At the end of each week, they were tested on all the new skills they’d learnt, and much to the chagrin of those who hadn’t spent many months of the last year camping and searching for Horcruxes and experiencing all kinds of Dark magic, Ron and Harry found themselves finishing with the highest marks each time. Ron had the sneaking suspicion that their fellow trainees’ initial awe in working with the Harry Potter had waned ever so slightly. 

But that didn’t bother either of them. Ron’s confidence in his ability to become an Auror had skyrocketed when he discovered he could actually do most — if not all — of the tasks asked of him. 

But slowly—very slowly—the end of July came, and it was just one day away before Hermione was due to come home. 

He’d only received one more letter from her since the first, which had mostly consisted of her being pleased that he and Harry had their own space, that she was happy training was going well, and a brief update on what was happening with her parents. 

She’d been successful in restoring their memories, and each day, more and more came back to them. They still remembered their time as their aliases as well, so Hermione was keeping them company and helping them get through their disorientation of feeling like two different people. But she said everything had gone as well as it could have. Even in the letter, Ron could tell she was pleased with herself. 

Stepping out from the fireplace after a particularly exhausting day, Ron tossed his bag on the couch and was about to collapse beside it when Ginny appeared in the room. 

“Why don’t you just move in here,” he said spitefully. It bothered him that she was staying over so often, but not nearly as much as the irritation he felt about Hermione not staying with him. He just wanted her home.

Harry stepped out a moment after Ron and grinned at Ginny standing before him. “Hey!” he said brightly, coming over to kiss her. 

Ron scowled and looked away. 

“Oh, cheer up,” Ginny said. “Why don’t you come into the kitchen?”

“Why?” Ron asked, his tone harsher then he intended. He was just so tired. “It’s not more of your cooking, I hope.”

“Shut up and just come!” Ginny said, and she and Harry left the living room. 

Ron followed reluctantly, wishing for nothing more than to go upstairs, shower, and go straight to bed. He still had two more days in the week left, and he needed a good night’s sleep. 

But the bad mood he’d felt creeping up on him disappeared the moment he stepped into the kitchen. His heart almost leapt out of his chest and he couldn’t quite believe what — or who — he was seeing. 

“Hermione!” he cried, and he didn’t waste anymore time in closing the gap between him and her. He engulfed her so tightly he wondered if she was able to breathe, but it didn’t seem to bother her. She threw herself into his hug and held on just as tightly. 

“You weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow!” he then said, hugging her even tighter, afraid that if he let go, she’d disappear. 

“I know,” Hermione said warmly. “Mum and Dad reached a point where they just wanted to come home, so I arranged something with the Australian Ministry.” She pulled away and smiled up at him. She looked as tired as Ron felt, but she also looked happy. 

Not being able to help himself, he kissed her, over and over, making up for their lost month. 

“How are your parents, Hermione?” Harry asked. 

Pulling away completely from Ron — Ron shot Harry a disgruntled look — Hermione nodded and looked at him. “They’re good. As good as can be, I mean. The memory of their life in Australia is beginning to fade, and they’re starting to feel more like just themselves. It’ll be a long process, but they’ll eventually forget that they were once Monica and Wendell Wilkins and just remember being… them.” She smiled sadly around at Ron, Harry and Ginny. 

“Where are they now?” Ron asked.

“Home,” Hermione said. “I left them to settle in a bit and came over to see you all. I only got here about five minutes before you did. I’ll need to go back soon, as they sometimes have bouts of amnesia such as forgetting how to use a television or something simple like that. I don’t want them misusing knives or anything. I think it’s a side effect of altering their memories for so long, but no one can tell me if it’s temporary or permanent.” She sniffed.

Ron pulled her towards him again, wrapping his arms around her and resisting the urge to never let her go. “I’m glad you’re back,” he said.

“We all are,” Ginny added. “You’ve been missed.”

Hermione beamed at them, then glanced down at their feet, where a large, orange ball of fluff was slinking in and out between Ron's legs, purring loudly. 

Hermione gasped, bending down to pick up Crookshanks. "What's he doing here?" she asked in amazement. "Crookshanks, I thought you were…"

Crookshanks nestled into Hermione's arms, continuing to purr.

"He was found at Hogwarts a few weeks back," Ron said. "Then, they gave him to me to keep until you returned." Instinctively, he reached out and scratched behind the cat's ears, earning a rather bemused look from Hermione. "Er —"

"He won't admit it," Harry said, "but he's become rather fond of Crookshanks. Was really worried the other day when we couldn't find him."

"Really?" Hermione asked, a smile slowly reaching her lips.

"Well… I…" Ron wouldn't have called it fond, but he had, admittedly, enjoyed the company and also how Crookshanks curled up against him at night. It oddly made him feel less lonely.

Hermione's small smile broke into a wide grin. "Would you like to keep him here?"

Ron, surprised by the thought of it, found he would like that very much, but he said instead, doing his best to sound disinterested, "I've only been looking after him until you got back. He's yours —"

"I'm not sure Mum and Dad would appreciate a cat at this time," Hermione said, and she placed Crookshanks back on the ground. "You'd be doing me a favour if you could look after him some more. I can get the food, of course. And everything else. You just need to provide the space."

"Okay," Ron said. "I don't mind." And he didn't. He'd do whatever to make her happy.

"Thank you," Hermione said. 

"Alright, we better be off then," Ginny said. "Harry and I are going to the Burrow for dinner, so better get ready."

"We… are?" Harry asked, looking as if it was the first time he'd heard about it.

"We are now," Ginny said, and she grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the stairs. "They want to be alone, Harry."

"They could have just asked," Harry muttered, his voice soft as he climbed the stairs. 

The moment they were gone, Ron wanted nothing more than to pick Hermione up and carry her upstairs himself, but he resisted and instead, asked, "How was it, really?"

"Hard," Hermione confessed. "Really hard. But we have plenty of time to talk about that later." She eased her arms around his neck, drawing herself closer to him. Then she kissed him, but it wasn't like all of the other times they'd kissed. There wasn't the urgency, the desperation; it was comforting, like something that had always been there, and always would be.

Ron pulled away, watching her, confusion rising in him. He'd missed her more than anything for the past month, and he'd fantasised often about what it would feel like to see her again. He'd imagined sweeping her into his arms, nights filled with passionate moments, holding her and never wanting to let her go. 

But he'd not imagined this feeling of contentment, of just wanting to hold her, to kiss her, to be with her.

"What?" Hermione asked, her arms still around him. 

Ron shook his head, smiling. "Nothing," he said, and he kissed her again. "I've just missed you. I almost forgot what you looked like."

She laughed. "I've missed you, too," she said, squeezing him tightly. "It really is good to be back."

They held onto each other for a moment longer, and then Ron said, "You want to tell me all about it? I've only heard snippets from Percy and your letters. What are Australian wizards like?"

But Hermione shook her head, dropping her arms from around his neck. "Tell me all about training!" she said excitedly. "I want to hear about everything. I bet you and Harry are fantastic at it. What kind of things have you done so far?"

Grinning, Ron took her hand and led her over to one of the chairs at the table. "It's amazing," he said as they both sat. "Really, really good. A lot of it, yeah, we know, but there's heaps of new stuff too. And at the moment it's all about teaching us signs to look for — not just spells or anything like that, but instead the way people behave. Can't say I'm great at that part, but I'm sure I'll get better."

Hermione watched him for a moment, an uncharacteristically huge smile plastered across her face. Ron suspected she was trying to push down her worry about her parents, but he didn't press the matter. He loved her smile. 

Feeling his face heat at how impressed she looked, he averted his gaze to his hands and shrugged. "It's great."

"You'll make a wonderful Auror, Ron," Hermione said, and he heard the sincerity in her voice. "You have a rather tactical mind, which will be great for such a job. No wonder you're doing so well."

"... thanks," Ron said. "That means a lot."

He saw Hermione move ever so slightly. Ron thought she was going to kiss him again. But at just the same instant, Harry and Ginny reentered the kitchen, now with Harry out of his training  robes, and Ginny with her hair done up.

So this was what it was like living with your best friend when your girlfriend was over. They chose the most inopportune moments to walk in.

"Well, we'll be heading out now," Ginny said cheerfully. "We'll get out of your hair. We probably won't be back until late tonight. See you."

They then left for the fireplace, and Ron turned back to Hermione, hopeful she might have wanted to pick up where they'd left off, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere now.

He reached across and grabbed her hand. "I love you," he said. "And they'll be alright."

She smiled at him, and this time he noticed a stray tear that she blinked away. "I love you, too," she whispered. "And I hope so."

Ron spent some more time talking about the training. Every time he tried to ask her about Australia, though, she'd respond by asking him another question about him. He got the message well enough that she wasn't interested in talking about it just yet and gave up asking.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" he said after a moment, jumping to his feet.

Hermione also stood up, looking at him curiously. “A walk?”

“Of course,” Ron said. “You didn’t think the block ended at Twelve Grimmauld Place, did you?”

Hermione smiled. “Of course not. But when we were hiding out here, I never really thought about the neighbourhood. It would be nice to see it.” And she accepted his hand.

Ron didn’t know why he’d thought of a walk when they had the whole of Grimmauld Place to their disposal, but it felt like the right thing to do. He’d come to value his time with Hermione when he couldn’t have it, and as much as he would have liked to take her upstairs and then proceed to take off her clothes as well, he had a feeling her current concern over her parents would not have set the right mood. 

So, a walk it was. 

They got halfway down the street before Hermione spoke. She looked around at the Muggle houses surrounding them, frowning. “It’s not a pleasant place, is it?” she said. “Grimmauld Place, I mean?”

“Not really,” Ron said. “But it’ll do for a while, I guess. I don’t plan on living there forever. That’d be depressing.”

“How long do you plan on being there?” Hermione asked.

Ron took a moment to reply, contemplating his answer. Truthfully, he hoped that one day he and Hermione could live together. But he didn’t know if she wanted to hear that right now, so he said, “I guess until Harry kicks me out.”

“I don’t think he’ll ever do that,” Hermione said, smirking. “He likes your company.”

“Sure he will,” Ron said. “When he wants Ginny to move in, and then I’ll be in the way all the time.”

“I think it’s great that you have your own space, though, even if it’s only for a little bit.” 

They continued a bit further in silence. They turned down another street that was lined with more Muggle houses. Ron had never ventured this far into the Muggle world — he hadn’t dared without Hermione. Now that he was in it, it seemed a pretty simple life, if he was being honest. 

Hermione’s mind seemed to be on the same thought, because she said, “Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if we didn’t have magic?”

“Not really,” Ron said. “I grew up with it. It’s all I know.”

“That’s true, I suppose. It’s different for me. I feel as if I’ve lived two very separate lives. I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if I’d just been born —”

“Don’t say normal,” Ron said. 

“I don’t know what other word there is for it.” Hermione was thoughtful for a moment. When she looked back at Ron, tears had formed at the corners of her eyes.

Ron stopped walking and gathered her into his arms, running his fingers through her hair. “It’s alright,” he soothed. 

“It’s just,” Hermione sniffed against him, “had I never been born with magic, had I never gotten my letter, then I never would have been able to alter my parents’ memories. We never would have been in danger. I would have —”

“We never would have met,” Ron said, the very thought of not having Hermione in his life a strange one. She’d been a part of his life in one way or another for so long now, to never have met her almost seemed unthinkable.

Hermione smiled, pulling away and wiping her eyes. “I just feel awful for what I did to them. They were so confused, so unsettled. They just weren’t my parents.”

“You kept them safe,” Ron said. “And they’ll be grateful for that. It means you have many more years together with them. When you think what the alternative could have been…”

Hermione nodded. “I know. I just hope they’ll forgive me.”

“They haven’t yet?” Ron asked, wondering if this was why she hadn’t wanted to talk about them until now.

Hermione shook her head. “They have. They just… maybe I need to forgive myself.”

Ron reached for her and cupped her face in his hands. Then, in the middle of the street, he kissed her. Like earlier, it felt different, but his heart beat furiously against his chest with just the touch of her lips against his. His head suddenly swam with so many thoughts and one of them was why did it now feel different?

Her absence, the longing he had felt for her return, had changed everything about their relationship. Not in a bad way — far from it — but it was different. The desperate desire he’d felt for her, trying to make up for years of not knowing how to handle his feelings, had passed. He knew how to handle it now, and that changed everything. 

For him, at least, this was forever. This moment, standing in the middle of a street, lost in her kiss, was how he wanted it to always be. He was completely and utterly in love with her and Merlin was that a good feeling. 

Pulling away, looking rather flushed, but also thrilled, Hermione said, “What was that for?”

“I just missed you,” he replied. “And I’m glad you're back. Please don't ever go away again."

She beamed up at him, her mouth finding his once more. Her arms snaked around his shoulders, drawing him closer towards her. He gladly obliged. 

He knew that in a month she would be going away again, but at least they now had another whole month together where he could pretend that it would be forever.

#ronandhermione #ron and hermione #romione #romionefanfiction #romione fanfiction #romionefanfic #romione fanfic #ronxhermione #hermionexron #hermioneandron #hermione and ron #ronandhermionefanfiction #ron and hermione fanfiction #hermioneandronfanfiction #hermione and ron fanfiction #harrypotterfanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #harrypotter #harry potter #ronweasley #ron weasley #hermionegranger #hermione granger #hermione #hermione x ron #ron x hermione #fanfiction #romance #writing #slice of life

[ryqoshay]

Putting on Hairs: Favorable Dress

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Hinted: KotoUmi Words: ~2.4k Rating: G? Maybe mild T for one of the implications...? AU: Theater, Werewolf, Werebeast, Monster, Cryptid, Angelic, Demonic

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Author’s Note: I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve written this much in this short of time...

Summary: Riko is hoping Kotori and Yoshiko can make a dress for her. But nothing is free...

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Riko approached the costume department with severe trepidation. Her heart was actively trying to pound itself out of her chest at the thought of facing her. Well, not her specifically, she knew she would feel this way about anyone of her kind. But right now, she was the one here.

But, of all the places in this amazing, wonderful world, why did she have to fall here? In this country? In this city? And now she was working at the same theater where Riko had just recently been hired.

Of course, the very same thing could be asked of Riko herself. Why did she have to flee to this particular island off the main coast? Choose this particular city? Accept a position playing the piano in the orchestra pit of this particular theater?

Was this all His idea of a cruel joke?

It was bad enough that she had stood so close during the meeting earlier in the day where the theater’s premiere patron was introduced. Why did she have to do that? Did she not sense Riko like she sensed her? Was she not uncomfortable with Riko’s presence as Riko was with hers?

Riko sighed. Why was she even doing this? Well, she needed a dress. But surely, she could just go find one at a local shop, right? Did she really need to deal with her to have one made special? But the examples she had see so far were just… otherworldly; so much better than anything she had seen window shopping around the area.

“Ah, Riko-chan!” An ashen blonde head poked into the hallway, startling Riko. “Yoshiko-chan was right when she said you were coming. Welcome! Come on in!” Kotori ushered the redhead into the room.

“Pardon the intrusion…” Riko said as she stepped through the door, immediately needing to resist the urge to turn back and run.

There she was, black wings spread wide in all their glory and looking as powerful as any other angel, despite her fallen status. And she was… trimming fur from a black kitten in her lap? What?

Yoshiko looked up with a surprisingly cheerful smile. “Welcome to Hell Zone, Riko!”

“Hell… Zo… eh?” Riko’s gaze flitted fervently around the room, seeking hellforged artifacts or demonic runes or something, anything that might imbue the area with the powers of Hell. And while she certainly sensed auras radiating off most of the equipment and tools, nothing appeared to be of infernal or divine origin.

“Or would you prefer I call you Pirum?”

“Eehhh?!” Riko aborted her vain attempts to scour the room as Yoshiko uttered her true name.

“Kind of a strange name for a demon, though…” Yoshiko continued as if she hadn’t noticed Riko’s reaction. “Do you guys even have pears down there?”

“Now, now, Yoshiko-chan,” Kotori chided playfully “we shouldn’t scare our clients like that. Now, what can we do for you, Riko-chan?”

“Uhm…” Riko fidgeted with her fingers, trying desperately to resist fleeing. “Kurosawa-san recommended I check with you about having a dress made for an upcoming recital?”

“Of course!” Kotori chirped. “We would be happy to make something for you.”

“She, uhm, didn’t give me an idea about pricing though…”

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head about that.” Kotori smiled. “You’re in the orchestra here, right?”

“Yes… but…”

“So, we’ll make the dress for you and you can just owe us a favor.”

Something about the sparkle in the costume designers eye made Riko feel a bit ill at ease. More so than she already was.

“I’m not sure…”

“Surely you know about favors, right?” Yoshiko spoke up. “Your boss’s boss is fond of them, right?” She offered a decidedly devilish grin.

“Uhm…” Riko felt her knees start to shake.

“Don’t mind them.” A deep, masculine voice said from… somewhere. Riko couldn’t readily identify the source. “They’re just teasing you.”

“Phobetor.” Yoshiko gently swatted the kitten in her lap.

Wait, that had been the cat that spoke? But its mouth hadn’t moved. How… Then again, it wasn’t the strangest thing Riko had seen, here or down below.

“Sorry if we scared you.” Kotori giggled. “I am serious about the favor, but don’t worry, it won’t be anything beyond what you’re capable of giving.”

“What… did you have in mind?”

“Hrm…” Kotori considered for a moment. “Would you mind show me your wings?”

“Eh? My… my wings?”

“Yes, please.” Kotori nodded. “You’re a demon, right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a demon’s wings. Are they feathered like Yoshiko-chan’s or leathery and bat-like or skeletal like in some movies?” She seemed to be getting pretty excited about the concept.

“Uhm… could we maybe… close the door first?” Riko requested meekly.

She realized that was closing off her easiest route of escape, but unless it was imbued with some anti-demon inscription or blessed or whatever, it wouldn’t actually prove much of a barrier to her. Also, despite her persisting fear, something in the back of her mind had begun insisting she could trust these two. Or three, really.

Yoshiko hadn’t attacked her on sight. Kotori obviously knew her nature and wasn’t afraid or hateful, rather she seemed genuinely intrigued. And while they had both teased her, neither had been malicious. Even Yoshiko’s mention of her true name had seemed more like an honest, if again teasing, question than some attempt to wield power over her.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Riko unfurled her wings.

Kotori’s eyes grew wide in awe. “They’re beautiful…” She marveled.

Riko blushed. She’d never heard that word associated with her wings before.

“Can I…?” Kotori reached forward.

Riko offered a weak nod before flinching a little as the designer’s hands began exploring.

“Definitely bat-like.” Kotori murmured, moving her fingers gently across the membrane. “A little drier than I expected, but still, lovely material. These will do nicely.”

“M-material?” Riko instinctively snapped her wings back in. “Are you saying you want me to trade my wings for a dress?”

“Not in their entirety.” Kotori replied. “Just a clipping. A little goes a long way, especially when imbued with such power.”

“Uhm…”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, Kotori.” Yoshiko spoke up.

“Oh?” The lead designer asked.

“Because demon wings are different than those of an angel, or a crane.” The blue-haired girl explained. “I mean, I’m no expert in demon physiology, but I’m pretty sure she’s got veins and nerves and stuff running throughout. It’s probably hurt her more than when you or I just pluck our feathers; certainly more than trimming Phobetor’s fur.”

“Although,” Phobetor spoke again “with her regeneration, she could very quickly heal the amount I assume you would be taking.”

“Yeah, but…” Yoshiko started.

“And if I recall correctly, that Kanata girl can adjust her abilities to numb rather than put to sleep. She’d be fully regenerated before she actually felt anything.”

Kanata? “Konoe-san?” Riko asked. “I thought I felt another demonic presence here.”

“Indeed.” Phobetor stood and stretched before yawning. “Although she is here for different reasons than you. While she is here to feed, you seem more interested in music. Pray tell, did you grow weary of playing Hell’s music and came to Earth for a change of pace?”

Riko blinked. “How… how did you know?”

“One of my primary duties is to run reconnaissance and monitor all local entities that could pose a threat to my master.” The cat explained. “Celestials, especially demons, are always worth investigation.”

“I see… wait, so you’ve been spying on me?”

“Indeed. And I have determined that you are not a threat to my master, Ms. Pirum.”

“… Oh…” Whatever was left of Riko’s fear was displaced entirely by embarrassment. “I see, well… uhm… Anyway, Riko is fine…”

“Very well. Riko it is.” Phobetor gave a single, curt nod. “Though it must be said that my assessment is not an indictment upon your power. You are still a demon after all. Rather, I have determined you to be far too… demure, for lack of a better word.”

“… Oh…”

“Also, your reading proclivities are quite… interesting, I must say.”

“Eh?”

“Oh? What kinda books do ya read, Riko?” Yoshiko perked up suddenly. “Earth is filled with a ton of strange tomes and some of their ideas on magic and such are utterly baffling. Though there are some amazing artists who create some amazing manga and doujin. Humans can tell such wonderful stories.”

“D… doujin…” Riko felt herself blush.

“Yeah, have you ever been to Comiket? Mortals sure know how to celebrate their hobbies.”

“She has attended.” Phobetor confirmed.

“Phobetor…” Riko whined.

“Really?” Yoshiko became even more excited. “Maybe we should go together this year.”

“… Maybe…”

“I do believe your tastes are vastly different, though.” Phobetor said.

“Oh? What kinda stuff do you like, Riko?” Yoshiko asked again.

“Uhm…” Riko hesitated.

“Her preferred reading material is…”

“<Stay thy tongue, meddlesome furball!>” Riko snarled in an ancient demonic language.

The other three occupants in the room stared at her in stunned silence.

Riko’s hands flew up to clamp across her mouth as heat exploded across her cheeks, spreading quickly to her ears and down her neck.

Yoshiko snorted.

“I’m… I’m so sorry…” Riko cried, her voice muffled through her fingers. “I didn’t mean…”

Yoshiko burst out laughing. Kotori giggled.

“I thought… you said… she was too demure…” Yoshiko managed get out between bouts.

“That seemed like the best description at the time.” Phobetor stated matter-of-factly.

“Are you… sure… she’s not a… threat?”

“My assessment remains unchanged.”

Why in the nine circles did you have to go and do that, of all things? Riko berated herself. She was so embarrassed she felt she could die and go back to Hell. Well, maybe not. She really had no desire to return.

“There, all done.” Kotori suddenly announced.

“Eh?” Riko came back to reality. “Done? Done with what?”

“Your measurements.”

“Measure…”

“For your dress.”

“Yes, I know, but… when did you…?”

“While you, Yoshiko-chan and Phobetor-chan were talking.”

“I didn’t even notice.” Riko admitted.

Kotori smiled. “I’ll draw up some proposed designs and give them to you tomorrow.” she explained. “Once you decide on one you like, we can get to choosing fabrics.”

“Alright.” Riko agreed. “Oh, uhm… about the favor…”

“Oh, don’t worry about the wing thing.” Kotori dismissed. “We’ll think of something else, it’s fine.”

“Well, if you don’t mind my asking, what did you intend to do with the trimmings?”

“Make leather of course. There are a lot of costumes and accessories that need leather, belts, shoes, jackets, all sorts of things.”

“So, it would be used for the theater?”

“Of course!” Kotori chirped. “Everything I do is for Umi-chan’s theater.”

“Unless someone else like Riko comes and wants something made for a non-theater event.” Yoshiko pointed out.

“Well, yes, but the favors we ask in return always benefit the theater.”

“That’s true.” The fallen angel conceded.

Riko steeled herself for what she was about to say. “I’ll do it. You can use some of my wings to make costumes for the theater.”

Kotori’s eyes widened as she inhaled with excitement. “Really?” She grabbed Riko’s hands and pulled herself closer. “You’ll let me make celestially imbued leather?”

“Y-yes...”

“Oh, thank you, Riko-chan!” Kotori surged forward and wrapped her arms around the redhead.

“Hey, Phobetor,” Yoshiko addressed her cat “you wanna go tell Kanata she’s on notice for numbing duties?”

“Will do.”

With that, Phobetor blinked out of existence. Is he a teleporter? Riko wondered.

“Well, we don’t have to do it right away.” Kotori said, pulling out of the hug. “I won’t collect payment until I know my customer is satisfied with the product I am selling them.”

Yoshiko shrugged. “We’re only putting her on notice.”

“Message has been delivered.” Phobetor’s voice sounded before he popped back into the room. “She said it would only take her a second, so we can have her do so whenever we are ready.”

“Only a second, huh?” Yoshiko pondered something for a moment. “I wonder if her sleep spell works that fast too.”

“I would imagine it takes effect quickly, for the sake of facilitating faster feeding.”

“You mentioned feeding before.” Riko said. “She’s not… eating people… is she?”

“Their dreams.” Phobetor responded. “She calls herself a Somnophore, though I believe Somnophage would be more accurate. But who am I to judge such things?” The cat seemed to almost shrug. “I am surprised you did not know.”

“I sensed she was a fellow demon.” Riko admitted. “But I hadn’t had a chance to determine what kind.”

“I’d let her feed on my dreams…” Yoshiko seemed lost in thought.

“Why, do you want her to put you to sleep, Yoshiko-chan?” Kotori asked.

Yoshiko chuckled. “It would help some nights.”

“Well, Kanata-chan seems to love the pillow I made for her.” Kotori explained. “It’s stuffed with a special blend of our feathers and she says it works wonders.”

“A pillow, huh?” Yoshiko turned her head and shifted one of her wings over for inspections. “I never thought about making one of those.”

“I’d be happy to show you how.”

“Alright.” Yoshiko agreed. “Although I’m surprised you didn’t make one for your precious Umi.”

“Of course, I made one for Umi-chan.” Kotori giggled. “But that was years ago, long before I came here. So that one was made with just my feathers. I made one for Honoka-chan then as well.” Her eyes sparkled as she seemed to be reviewing fond memories. “They still have them to this day.”

“Anyway, we should probably get back to work.” Yoshiko hopped up to her feet and moved across the room. “And I know you have rehearsals coming up. It was nice meeting you, Riko.” She smiled and reaching out a hand.

“Likewise.” Riko agreed, accepting the handshake.

“Phobetor tells me you’re quite good on the piano. Which makes sense, given who you serve under.”

“Well, not really.” Riko shook her head. “Not anymore.”

“Ah, I see.” Yoshiko nodded. “I can empathize completely. I haven’t served Him in a good long while.”

“Mm…”

“Anyway, I still look forward to hearing you play.” She grinned. “Maybe Kotori will let me out of this hell every once in a while, so I can head upstairs and listen a few times.”

“Awuuu…” Kotori pouted. “Yoshiko-chan, don’t make me out to be like some hellish taskmaster.” She blinked and turned to Riko. “No offense.”

Riko chuckled. “None taken. There’s certainly no shortage of taskmasters down there. That’s part of why I came up here.” With that said, she turned toward the door. “I’ll see you two… sorry, three, later.”

Words of departure and well wishes followed Riko into the hallway, and as she walked, her thoughts remained on the individuals she had just met. They were an interesting group, to say the least. But friendly, even to a demon like her. Maybe… perhaps, just maybe, working in close proximity to an angel wouldn’t be all that bad after all.

----------

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post

#YohaRiko #YoshiRiko #Sakurauchi Riko #Tsushima Yohane #Minami Kotori #Phobetor #Love Live Sunshine #Love Live #Putting on Hairs #fanfic #Tsushima Yoshiko

[morganaseren]

So since chapter 17 of OtSttCA deals with Niamh meeting the Champion of Kirkwall, let me introduce you all to Emrys Hawke, my Reaver Warrior from DA2!

So she takes after her father Malcolm with the dark hair and light blue eyes (in my headcanon anyway). Her hair is like Niamh’s in that it’s more of an asymmetrical cut, but the length of it is less wavy in comparison. Honestly, I tend to headcanon that she used her sword to cut away most of the bulk of it one day post-Kirkwall when she goes into hiding. The rest of it is just kept in a ponytail that trails down to mid-back, which you can see a hint of in that last pic.

Of the scars she has, the one she has over the eye was courtesy of Meredith during their battle together. The one splitting the corner of her lip is actually from Aveline, who I believe was wearing gauntlets at the time. Did you guys know that Aveline throws you down to the floor and punches you repeatedly if your rival points are high enough?? In any case, Emrys let her get one good punch in before she retaliated, and the fight had to be stopped by Isabela surprisingly enough. Lol. The final scar across her cheek was when she was helping Isabela with a sea raid.

More background info on her below the cut!

Emrys has strong feelings over the concept of family.

Her father was a man she deeply respected. He went out of his way to help others--even when the situation usually meant putting himself in danger or leading them to move afterward--which she found admirable, and she wound up trying to do the same years later as she grew up. She took the loss of him as hard as the rest of her family, but she took up the mantle of watching after them without complaint, doing her best to provide for them all as she could on her soldier’s salary.

When it came to her mother, however, Emrys always had a somewhat distant relationship with her, who quietly disapproved of her learning the art of swordsmanship and later becoming a soldier. Leandra did eventually become more understanding of the notion when Emrys explained her need to want to be able to protect their family if Templars were ever after them. That never stopped the older woman from worrying constantly about her daughter’s safety though. When Carver died, their relationship became further strained, especially when Leandra impulsively blamed Emrys for the incident, but it was more or less amiable again by the time their family name was restored to nobility in Kirkwall. Leandra’s death still hit Emrys hard however, and although she supports mage freedom, she doesn’t care for the idea of blood magic--especially if it involves an unwilling subject--which is my personal headcanon as to why she’s so vehement about it in Inquisition.

With her siblings, she got along with both quite well. In fact, she was quite protective over them, and in her youth, it wasn’t uncommon for her to get into fights with anyone who thought they could harass the twins. It didn’t matter if Emrys was up against a bigger opponent or even outnumbered; she met them all head-on. Leandra berated her each and every time while Malcolm--and later Bethany--took to healing whatever wounds she sustained from the fights.

Emrys grew less impulsive as she aged, but of the two surviving Hawkes, Bethany is definitely the more level-headed sibling. Lol.

When Bethany inherited their father’s magical abilities, Emrys never really treated her any differently. She adored her little sister endlessly. If anything, she became more mindful of everyone else around her, especially when it came to the ever-watchful eyes of the Templars. As a soldier, she never hesitated to use the bulk of her body and armor to hide Bethany from view on the occasions her sister wanted to travel to the village, often to hear Leliana’s stories in the chantry. Then, she often escorted her sibling back home on her lunch break. Thankfully, people most just saw a protective sibling and never once thought she could be harboring an apostate in their midst.

Emrys was also close with her brother Carver, who followed after her in becoming a warrior, and she often helped him train. When he came of suitable age, he enlisted with the army as well, hoping to also help provide for their family. They had a healthy sibling rivalry, always constantly looking to test their skills against one another to improve upon their own. His loss not long after they escaped Lothering devastated her, and she blamed herself for his death for years afterward.

Personality-wise, she had more of a diplomatic leaning in my DA2 run of her, but she tends to be more playful around Bethany and their friends. It’s probably what drew Isabela to her, and Emrys was equally drawn in by the woman who was so bold and unapologetic in everything she did. The other woman encouraged her to be unafraid in indulging her more mischievous side--much to Bethany’s endless exasperation.

With the exception of Aveline--who she has a deep-seated rivalry with to say the least--Emrys tends to get along rather well with her companions. It admittedly took her longer to warm up to Fenris, especially when their first meeting almost turned disastrous after he called her sister ‘a viper’ and an ‘it.’ In the end, it took Bethany calming her down and Fenris apologizing before she allowed him to officially join her party. As a fellow warrior, she came to respect his skill greatly, and after a time, he was able to earn her loyalty, and she his in turn. While Emrys was closer to others within their close-knit group, she and Fenris developed an understanding of one another, so while they aren’t best friends, they do trust one another.

And if it wasn’t blatantly obvious in chapter 16 of OtSttCA, Bethany was part of Kirkwall’s Circle, and that’s how she ended up meeting and caring for the magelets Niamh meets. Thus, Bethany turning herself into the Templars after Emrys returns from the Deep Roads is probably one of the few times she came close to going against her little sister’s will.

That the then Knight-Captain Cullen and his Templar colleagues were able to escape Gamlen’s household unscathed at all was due in large part to Bethany outright begging her not to make matters worse. Emrys has always greatly respected Bethany’s autonomy and would never do anything to intentionally break that trust, but she couldn’t stop the sense of failure that washed over her following that moment, feeling as though she had lost another family member due to her own inability to protect them as she should.

In any case, Emrys has no love of Templars or what they represent to mages.

For a time, her friends were able to distract her from her abject misery, Isabela especially, who she entered into a casual relationship with. Emrys never pressed her for more--despite her own wishes to the contrary--knowing that the other woman would likely bolt were she to ask. To her chagrin, Isabela left anyway once she had the qunari artifact in hand, and while part of her wished to pursue the other woman, Emrys couldn’t bring herself to simply leave the city while her sister was still imprisoned in the Gallows.

Unfortunately, everything came to a head when the Arishok murdered the Viscount, and even when Isabela came back with the stolen Tome of Koslun, the qunari leader refused to leave without apprehending the thief in question. When Emrys argued against it, the Arishok offered her a compromise: a one-on-one duel to the death for Isabela.

She accepted the terms without question.

Infuriated, Isabela confronted Emrys immediately, asking her why she would place herself in such danger for her when the mistake was of her own doing.

“Because I don’t want to lose you again,” she said simply, stunning Isabela into silence, before striding off to meet the Arishok.

As expected, he was a warrior of great merit, and she was nearly done in by one of his blades as he impaled her. While the qunari thought his victory was all but assured with the wound he inflicted upon her, the sudden blood loss sent Emrys into the Reaver’s infamous dragon rage, enabling her to fight with such a frenzy that her opponent couldn’t hope to match. By the end of it, the massive qunari was cleaved in half with her greatsword. Unfortunately, her injury was so severe that had Anders, Merrill, and Bethany not been present to provide healing magic, she likely would’ve died.

The scar over her abdomen is the only evidence of her battle against the Arishok.

She was appointed as Champion of Kirkwall not long afterward, and she hoped to use her new position to help further the fight toward mage freedom, unaware that her activities were drawing attention to her sister still within the Circle... Then, things took a devastating turn with the destruction of Kirkwall’s chantry, thereby casting more fire into the resulting rebellion already raging throughout the city.

In the uneasy lull that followed with Meredith’s death, she asked her remaining companions and allies to scatter to the winds. With Isabela offering aid, Emrys then took Bethany along with the young charges under her care and went into hiding with them. She was able to stay with them for a time until she felt her presence was drawing far too much unwanted attention, especially with the Seekers now on her trail in addition to the Templars.

Emrys left her faithful mabari Rebel with them as a means of further protection before she actively drew attention to herself from Kirkwall’s remaining Templars, giving Bethany and the magelets the time needed to escape.

Despite her title, Emrys never returned to Kirkwall again.

She traveled with Isabela for some months, enjoying the soft, quiet moments with her as much as the more sensual ones, but when the Hands of the Divine began to close in on her location as well, she had no choice but to go into further seclusion again to protect her lover.

When she heard word that the Herald of Andraste was a mage who later became Inquisitor, she secretly sent word to a few of her companions, asking them to help get Bethany and the magelets back to Ferelden. There, she hoped they would be safe with the Inquisition, especially following the very public alliance offered to Redcliffe’s rebel mages.

What happens following that decision will be revealed in future chapters, but post-Trespasser, Emrys goes back to sailing the seas with Isabela, for like Niamh, she has lost enough, and there is nothing in all Thedas that could keep her from being with the one she loves most.

#Dragon Age: Inquisition #female hawke #Emrys Hawke #photo set #my DA2 daughter returns! #do you guys mind at all when i ramble on about characters like this? lol #chapter 17 of OtSttCA will be up by this weekend with any luck!

[theraikouhotel]

Massive Headcanon Post

ALRIGHT I HAVE IDEAS!!! I think.... Headcanons below the damn cut because they’ll be separated into different series! God I hope this becomes a thing I do...

Please enjoy!! 

Fate

Raikou’s favourite time of day is dawn. She likes to see the sun coming up and the hope of a new day washes over her, making her look forward to another day of her being not insane as she believes she is. 

Shikibu secretly collects figures of the other Casters and sometimes makes them move with her magic, re-enacting something she sees in her head. She then writes out in her little diary, as if it was the most interesting thing ever when really...she made them kiss with her own figure she had gotten made.

Arturia also does baking on the side whenever she’s alone and she’s made sure that the cafeteria is empty. She’s been caught several times but they let her do her thing as she looked determined to get the recipes down. This is usually to thank everyone who has helped her, especially her master.

Tiamat likes to decorate mindlessly when she’s stressed. She’ll do it usually with Christmas decorations she has in her room, because she likes how fun they look. Sometimes it might be with Halloween ones. The Primordial Mother just likes decorating so much.

Europa sometimes might summon Talos and pet him to calm herself down. Having her bull close to her soothes her, especially when she sees things aren’t going as well. If she doesn’t have her bull, she’ll curl up and try to breathe but it doesn’t work sometimes.

Irisviel isn’t too fond of people badmouthing her children. Especially those she considers her own. She’ll kick the crap out of you so hard that you won’t even get up for the next week.

Black Clover

Asta hates it when people ask about his parents or drill into him that he should have died way too long ago. He’s never had any proper blood parents so he’ll say the Father at the church he was raised at is his dad. But when people say that doesn’t count, he won’t like it. He’ll also say that the belief in his comrades helped him live.

Noelle isn’t actually too close to the Mama Squad. She feels awkward around them. Or any sort of mother figure as she has no idea what to say. She’s also afraid of breaking down in front of them as it’s not becoming of a royal as she has drilled into her head. 

Vanessa only drinks to make sure the lonely thoughts don’t invade her mind. She hates feeling lonely and drinking helps alleviate it. But when she doesn’t, her mind starts playing on the fact that she’ll be alone forever and she just heads to bed, crying.

Bleach

Ichigo has nightmares about Yhwach from time to time. He always thinks about how he could have ended it a lot more quicker so that everyone could have lived. He always imagines several outcomes. But whenever he opens his eyes, he remembers those who have died in the War and it hurts him so much.

Orihime wishes she was as strong as Yoruichi. She has one of the strongest abilities yet she hates how indecisive she can be. She has kept to herself that her kind heart has hindered her so much, even with the amount of people telling her it’s her best trait and one that should be kept as there was enough hate in the world.

Yoruichi often feels like a failure. She has strongly felt this ever since Aizen and it continues to eat away at her even after the Thousand Year Blood War. 

Highschool DxD

Issei often feels like the girls that love him aren’t real. That he’s not really deserving of their love. He has these thoughts that plague his mind every other day that tell him that Rias is lying or that Raynare is actually still alive and is playing tricks on him.

Rias does her best to be there for everyone. But hates how her own duties stops her from doing that which instead makes her rely on Issei to see how everyone is. It’s not just as the alpha female in the harem, it’s as a friend to everyone.

Sona secretly enjoys dressing up with her sister, Serafall, as it reminds her that one day she may not be able to spend much time with her. So she never tells her to go away whenever Serafall is with her, rather she’ll just bear it and blush in embarrassment.

Date A Live

Kotori still enjoys the kids meals at the nearest restaurants as she loves how cute they are always made. She’ll always add it in with another order so she gets to indulge in how cute it is before devouring it.

Kurumi isn’t a big fan crowds. Whilst it does help her with her concealment, she feels her heart race whilst being within them. She has to take a moment in the shadows to get her heart to a more normal rate before going back in there again.

Love Live!

Umi is always the strict one. However, she almost always feels bad when she has to berate someone because in her own home, she has been treated a lot more harshly as the next head of the Sonoda household. But she keeps this fact closely guarded.

Kotori is always thinking about something. Usually about how to get Honoka to be hers only but she never acts upon it. She’d hate that she’d feel horrible if she did make Honoka only hers and “took out” the other competition that is her idol group. So instead, she gets out of this habit through fashion designing.

Mari isn’t actually a big fan of showing her wealth off to other people, only her friends. Sometimes she accidentally does it and then they try and cosy up to her. She hates that. She can see right through them and immediately denies them.

Chika doesn’t actually have many passions except idols. If it weren’t for idols, she would most likely stare blankly into the ceiling of her home as she would take over the Ryokan Inn that her mother owns. She’d just wonder what she was doing, whether or not if existing was right or not.

Karin has been offered various modelling gigs, which is of no surprise. However, there have been times when she has considered going 18+ modelling but refused in the end. She was curious yes but will never do it.  Of course, she’s just about getting by.

Emma has always been Karin’s best friend. They always look out for each other. However, Emma can see whether or not something is bothering Karin but doesn’t ever bring it up. Instead, she just wants to see her happy.

Bang Dream!

Sayo is a girl of many secrets. She only ever tells them to her twin sister, Hina as of late. Before, she’d never tell anyone about herself and if she did, it was only the bare minimum. She’s still closed off as she refuses to get hurt by anyone.

Tomoe is always overworking herself. She has lots of volunteering and things she does, which always leaves her knackered (tired as fuck) at the end of the day and all she wants to do is sleep. Even on days when she looks like she’s okay, she isn’t. She wants to rest.

Aya is clumsy and will get lost, just not as often as Kanon, her friend. However, she feels inadequate as an idol. She has trained for this but it always bothers her, as it goes into late night practices and early dawn nap times. She has considered giving up so many times, because of all the hate she has seen, even with her idol group, she’s usually the one with the most hate as she is at the centre most of the time.

Arisa is just gay as fuck. But she isn’t sure if it’s right to feel that way or not about certain people (KASUMI TOYAMA)

My Hero Academia

Kyouka has an innate talent of analysing quirks as well, she has never realised it. She has an analytical brain that can probably compete with Midoriya’s if she applied what she knew about music into hero work. 

Momo hasn’t been the biggest fan of being raised rich. She always wondered what it’d be like to live a normal life, without all the privilege and weight of a legacy she has  on top of her.

Danganronpa

Tenko has always been confused about what to feel about the ‘degenerate males’ she has met. Especially the likes of Shuichi and Makoto. She has wondered if her view of them being horrible is skewed as she seems Shuichi as one of her closest friends. But she won’t ever admit that, ever. 

Kaede really wants to know if she can stop with the piano puns. She likes to make them too much.

Makoto hasn’t exactly had the easiest time mentally. The death of his friends always haunts him even in his sleep. The screams, lights, flames, everything. He remembers all the details vividly and when he tries to reach out for them, their dead bodies are there on the floor.

Komaru has a hard time of knowing if she fits in or not as she had been taken from school and is now older than what she believes she is. She sits there wondering if it’s right to be this way now or not.

Other Muses

Jotaro is very cautious of everyone he meets. He doesn’t want a repeat of what happened in Egypt if he gets too close to anyone he likes. Even if DIO is gone, he’s never gotten rid of the feeling that someone will die in his presence or in his name.

Levi has a soft spot for his brats. He basically sees them as his children as this point and he may have been called dad once or twice by a few them. He enjoyed that but only gave them a glare.

Weiss is a soft gay for Ruby. But apart from that, she’s fine with both guys and girls. 

Mami always has the feeling of her wish being selfish at the back of her mind. It’s there nagging away at her as if it would come back to bite her in the ass so she’s always out there doing her best for her juniors and always on the look our for Kyoko Sakura.

Natsu hates how his former guild had treated him. He isn’t a dumbass who can’t do anything right, rather he’s someone who was the most attuned to his emotions as his flames prove. If he meets anyone from there, he won’t hesitate to take them out with one punch.

Lelouch actually had a crush on Cornelia for a brief moment before knowing of his relation to her. He decided to drop it and add her to the list of “Siblings I absolutely adore” but from time to time he does wonder if they weren’t related, would they take over the world together?

Haru has pictures of her friends in a small box. She also has one thing they owned within it too. She’s unaware of how strange this is.

#{stories - writing headcanons}

[imagitory]

HPHM Profile: Carewyn Cromwell

<<<updated: 12/6/2020 // original template by @hogwarts-misery >>>

“I can’t just live my life however I want! Maybe I want to — sometimes I want to — sometimes I want to so much that I think of just saying ‘forget the Cursed Vaults! Forget about R and their death threats and the fear and the not-knowing-what’s-coming!’ But...I can’t. As long as Jacob is out there — as long as I don’t know whether he’s alive or dead — whether he needs my help or not — how can I put myself first?! How can I justify chasing the Quidditch Cup, or joining the Dueling Club, or singing in the Frog Choir, when anything great I might do won’t mean a thing, without my brother there cheering me on whether I win or lose!? How can I fight for my dreams...while not knowing if Jacob will be able to share them with me? What sort of person would I be? What sort of disgusting — selfish — cowardly — terrible person would I be, if I abandoned him!? How could I face my mum again — face myself again — if I just threw my brother away?!”

[PROFILE]

NAME | Carewyn Lane Cromwell

NICKNAMES | Carey (by her friends, especially Bill, Charlie, and Tonks); Winnie (by her mother); Pip, Pippa (by Jacob); Cursebreaker (by Andre) [Note: In AUs, Jacob calls Carewyn “Wyn” instead of Pip, as “Pippa” is a reference to the Robert Browning poem “Pippa Passes,” which often doesn’t exist in other universes. XD]

GENDER | Female (cisgender)

SEXUAL / ROMANTIC ORIENTATION | Asexual / Panromantic

[PERSONALITY]

In some ways, Carewyn is an ideal heroine. A bright, compassionate girl, she often finds herself drawn to those less confident than her and feels the urge to protect and take care of them. Even when she was very little, she ended up “mothering” her older brother Jacob by encouraging him to eat and sleep more and offering advice, just as much as he often “fathered” her by inspiring her and shielding her from any perceived threats. But don’t mistake this young Cursebreaker for a saint -- Carewyn actually is an incredibly proud person who protects her fragile, sensitive heart with a hard shell of seemingly unbreakable confidence and cool insight. There is nothing she hates more than showing her insecurities and fears, and so she does her best to always look her best and put her best face forward no matter what, even around the people she cares about. This means that almost none of her many friends have any idea about the demons Carewyn is secretly fighting in her pursuit of the Cursed Vaults and her brother. Carewyn dresses the part for whatever situation she’s in, and she always feels most comfortable when she feels in control and believes she has the moral high ground -- admittedly her moral compass is pretty strong on its own, but she also buries any more selfish and meaner feelings she has as deep as she can, pushing herself to be the best, most moral person she can be, even if it’s difficult for her. She wants to be everything that everyone needs, and unfortunately that can result in Carewyn setting standards that are way too high for herself and secretly resenting and berating herself whenever she falls short, or worse not even participating in something she thinks she can’t put all of herself into or wouldn’t do well in. Her self-loathing is so strong that when something traumatic happens to her (such as Jacob’s disappearance or the death of Redacted), she can suffer from severe spells of depression where she neglects her own well-being and as a consequence forcibly removes herself from the people around her so as not to let others see her in such a terrible state. Because of her own high standards for herself, as well, Carewyn also can be judgmental of others, not being prone to change her mind about a person easily. When backed into a corner, Carewyn can freeze up, but when her own self-preservation or her loved ones are threatened, she can bite back really hard, though she’ll almost always regret losing control after the fact. Carewyn has a very organized mind and works best when she has a plan and knows where she’s going at any given time -- ambiguity and mystery are not this girl’s friends. This sadly can result in her being a real stick in the mud, which makes her an easy target for pranks and mischief. Fortunately, despite her overly serious attitude, Carewyn has a nice dry sense of humor and is a very passionate, driven person. In her fifth year, she was even made a Prefect largely due to her protective, nurturing instincts, though it’s good to note that that doesn’t make her a rule follower. Carewyn only respects rules and the people enforcing them if they have earned her respect and she sees the reasoning behind them. If there’s one thing Carewyn can’t stand, it’s condescension. Carewyn’s core interests are singing (her favorite wizard band is the Weird Sisters and her favorite Muggle band is the Eurythmics), Charms, magical history, and magical creatures.

[BIOGRAPHY]

DATE OF BIRTH | August 29, 1973 (Virgo)

BLOOD STATUS | Half-Blood

FAMILY INFO | Carewyn is the second child and only daughter of Evan Bach and Lane Cromwell. Carewyn’s mother Lane alienated her parents, younger brother, and older sisters -- a well-respected, but very overbearing magical family called the Cromwells -- upon moving to Wales and marrying Evan, who was a Muggle. Unfortunately Evan and Lane’s marriage took a turn for the worse after Jacob was born. Jacob’s magical abilities peeked through at an early age and were interpreted by Evan as deliberate misbehavior despite Lane’s best attempts to diffuse any tension. Nine years into their marriage, Evan and Lane were surprised by a late addition to the family -- their daughter, Carewyn. Rather than bringing Evan and Lane closer together, however, Carewyn’s arrival only seemed to drive Evan further away, as he already had had no instincts about how to be a father to Jacob and felt even less sure about how to raise a daughter. Deciding it was better to give up and just let Lane do what was best rather than mess up, Evan withdrew from Carewyn almost completely, leaving Lane and even his son Jacob to look after her. Fortunately Jacob, an nine-year-old boy at the time of Carewyn’s birth, adored his little sister immediately and went out of his way to coddle and protect her however he could. When Jacob turned 11 and received his Hogwarts letter, Lane was finally allowed by law to tell Evan about her magical heritage and the Wizarding World, but by that point, Evan and Lane’s marriage was so rocky that the revelation finally made it buckle and fall apart. Evan left his family that very night, leaving Lane heartbroken. Knowing her family would insist upon her returning to their estate in Yorkshire if she went to them for financial help, Lane instead charted out alone and raised her two children completely on her own while working as a magical historian and Runes expert. Although Lane, Jacob, and Carewyn lived in poverty for almost all of Jacob’s school career and Carewyn’s childhood, the Cromwells managed to dig their way out of debt a year before Jacob disappeared, now sitting on the perimeter of “lower-middle class.”

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE | INFJ “The Advocate”

[MAGICAL ABILITIES]

WAND | Hornbeam and dragon heartstring, 11 inches, inflexible (broken by Rakepick) // Laurel and phoenix feather, 12 inches, unyielding (nicknamed her “Excalibur wand”)

BOGGART | Voldemort [Carewyn’s greatest fear is a threat she has no hope of overcoming, fighting, escaping, or controlling...which, yeah, is Voldemort in a nutshell!]

ANIMAGUS FORM (IF ANY) | Robin

PATRONUS | Abraxan Winged Horse

[AFFILIATION]

HOUSE | Slytherin

QUIDDITCH POSITION (IF ANY) | She prefers playing Chaser in Quidditch friendlies, but she’s been reluctant to commit to the Slytherin team due to her extreme focus on finding her brother and fear of letting Orion and the others down.

PREFECT? | Yup!

[ACADEMICS]

BEST CLASS(ES) | Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic (thanks to her mum!)

WORST CLASS(ES) | Transfiguration, Divination

OWL SCORES | 

Charms - O

Transfiguration - O

Potions - O

Herbology - O

History of Magic - O

Care of Magical Creatures - O 

Defense Against the Dark Arts - O

[RELATIONSHIPS]

PARTNERS |

Andre — In the beginning, Carewyn was completely and totally dedicated romantically to Andre, having attended the Celestial Ball and gone on two dates with him. In the darkest part of her heart, though she was a bit afraid that she wouldn’t be “exciting” enough for Andre in the long term, given that he’s always been quite popular and outgoing and she’s only really gotten any esteem at Hogwarts for being a Cursebreaker, which she didn’t really ever want to be. Add onto this some tension brought on by the All-Wizard Tournament where Andre got so obsessed with winning that he took help from his girlfriend and then flat-out didn’t even consider helping her in return and Carewyn’s severe trust issues, and soon the two had a lot of trouble communicating properly. When times were good, they had a lot of fun together, but if they ever weren’t, the two just couldn’t seem to connect and fix it as a team. Not long after the All-Wizard Tournament, Carewyn finally told Andre she needed a break, and after a talk, they decided it was better to end their romantic relationship and try just being friends again. Despite the break-up, they both remain incredibly fond of each other and respect each other deeply.

Chiara — In the beginning of my game-playing journey, I had considered matching Carewyn with Chiara in the long-term. Ever since they first met, Carewyn has both identified with and greatly admired Chiara. Even if Chiara has had such a rough life, she remains ever gentle, kind, and forgiving -- everything, in essence, that Carewyn wants and tries to be -- all without seemingly even trying. She’s never expected anything from Carewyn, no matter how big her reputation as a Cursebreaker has grown, and is always supportive of her choices. She even wants to Heal others, even if her werewolf form is so hell-bent on destruction and harm. Chiara, meanwhile, identifies with and admires Carewyn just as much for her nurturing, sensitive heart, and thinks she’s one of the bravest people she knows. She understands Carewyn’s self-loathing from a first-hand perspective since she struggles with it herself, but she can’t understand it in the sense that she sees Carewyn as a truly wonderful, strong person who should be able to love herself just as much as she loves others. Carewyn frequently spends time with Chiara in her Animagus form during the full moon to keep her company, singing sweet songs to brighten her darker nights. A Chiara/Carewyn ending would’ve been what I considered the “Peaceful” ending, AKA the “Soft uwu” ending -- but it also sort of struck me that the two’s personalities and demons were similar enough that there wouldn’t be as much chance for growth for both of them, and there wouldn’t be as much action or engaging contrast in their interactions, as they would both be pretty universally supportive of each other except when they’re blocking the other out “for their own good.” Even if Carewyn doesn’t end up with Chiara romantically, though, she cherishes her as a friend and would do anything to make her happy.

Diego —  This option sort of came out of nowhere, but quickly developed from a crackship into a genuine ship for me, given that like Chiara, Diego would be able to bring some sunlight into Carewyn’s life and be a dependable partner who wouldn’t put high expectations on Carewyn’s shoulders. As for Carewyn, she finds Diego’s flirting absolutely hysterical. Part of this is because Carewyn herself is asexual, but she also just isn’t the sort to actively “flirt” with people. Funnily enough, however, Diego’s charm does end up endearing him to Carewyn anyway, though not for the reason it might charm others! Although she does find his behavior funny, she can still tell he’s sincerely trying to compliment the people he’s talking to, and he’s also amazingly modest despite his clear talent at wizard dueling. Add onto this that he likes dancing, and music-loving!Carewyn has found he’s an all-around pretty fun guy to spend time with. Diego also isn’t turned off in the slightest by Carewyn finding amusement in his flirting, either -- if anything, he finds it rather endearing, as Carewyn is usually so serious and he thinks she should laugh more often. A Diego/Carewyn ending would’ve been what I considered the “Fun” ending, AKA the “Romcom” ending -- but it also felt as though it was an ending that could only come to be and work well in peaceful times, with Diego not being as well-equipped in dealing with Carewyn’s darker spells or in dealing with more serious issues or deep heart-to-heart conversations.

Orion — This, after a lot of deliberation, is the final end-game ship I’ve decided for Carewyn post-Second-Wizarding-War. Orion really wasn’t what Carewyn expected out of a Quidditch captain when they first met in her third year and his fourth, but being related to two Ravenclaws, she actually finds his vague, philosophical bent kind of refreshing. It can still frustrate her sometimes due to her desire to plan ahead, but she sees how his off-kilter affect keeps others on their toes and, therefore, can shift control over a situation his way. (Rather appropriate display of cleverness, for a Slytherin.) Learning his backstory prompts a lot of empathy from Carewyn as well, given that she also didn’t have any real friends before attending Hogwarts, and she greatly admires how wise Orion has become both about himself and about life, even after going through what he’s gone through. After being on his team for that short time, Carewyn’s developed a lot of respect for Orion, and even after leaving, she’s remained very supportive of her house team and especially of Orion as their leader. Even if Carewyn’s not on the team, she keeps up with Quidditch not just out of love for the sport, but because of her desire to see Orion’s team do well. As for Orion, he got the sense they were kindred spirits ever since they first played side-by-side in the match against Hufflepuff and quietly laments that she’s never been a permanent member of his team. He frequently cites that Carewyn has “more fire than a Firecrab” -- although he can find it a bit overpowering at times, her passion was the thing that first sparked his interest in her, and over the years, Orion has come to see her as an equal, admiring her not just for that passion, but for her determination, courage, and selflessness. Orion and Carewyn are also both incredibly insightful, thoughtful, sensitive people who have the tendency to “create a family” out of their friends that they support and nurture in an almost parental manner. After Carewyn left the Slytherin team after the match against Hufflepuff, Orion attempted to persuade Carewyn to rejoin several times over the years due to his lingering fondness for her, even though he’s always respected her decision not to. It’s only after Carewyn returns to the team to help Slytherin win the Quidditch Cup for the first time in ten years and gets injured in the process that Orion learns that he and Carewyn have the same Patronus -- an Abraxan Winged Horse -- which, according to the old wives’ tale, suggests that they are soul mates. By then, however, Orion is set to graduate within weeks and he knows that Carewyn’s life is of course consumed with dealing with the Vaults. And so he decides not to pursue the chance of a relationship solely based on a superstition, however much he regrets his lack of action later. As adults, the two reconnect after the end of the Second Wizarding War and an unconventional romance starts between the two. This endgame ship gives Carewyn both things I wanted for her while shipping Chiara/Carewyn and Diego/Carewyn -- peace and fun -- while also matching her with someone who can bring some balance and positivity to her life and help her let go of her inner demons and yet who she can also defend, protect, and love with all of her fire. And because of their differences -- Orion being so chill, passive, and philosophical and Carewyn being so sensible, perfectionistic, and passionate -- they’ll constantly contrast and challenge each other too.

FRIENDS |

Bill —  The Weasley family overall filled the void in Carewyn’s heart that Jacob left behind, none more so than Bill. Carewyn adores Bill like few others and supports him in his Cursebreaking 110%, to the extent that she probably would help him do it even if it didn’t involve the Cursed Vaults. Bill quasi-“adopts” Carewyn into his family pretty early on, but only grows closer to and fonder of her over time, as she’s the first person who he’s ever been able to lean on the way he always let his siblings lean on him. Bill’s accompanied Carewyn to every single Cursed Vault, and he is her right-hand man when it comes to who she’d pick to help her with something dangerous. By the time Bill’s graduated, the two stand on relatively equal footing despite their age gap, and after the death of Redacted, Bill and Carewyn solidly become each other’s best friend and confidante, leaning on and supporting each other more than anyone else. The rest of Carewyn’s friend group likes to jokingly refer to her and Bill as the “Mum” and “Dad” of the group, given their shared tendency to “parent” the others. Bill was the one who coined the nickname “Carey” for Carewyn, and the rest of her friend group has totally run with it since, none more so than Charlie and Tonks.

Charlie — If Bill is Carewyn’s surrogate big brother, Charlie is Carewyn’s twin brother from another mother. Carewyn loves talking about dragons with Charlie. (They’re just so cool!) Charlie and Carewyn also like playing in Quidditch friendlies together, even if they’re in different houses, and they can often be seen handling Prefect duties together. Ever since Charlie, Bill, and Carewyn went into the Portrait Vault with Ben and Merula, the two Weasley boys and Carewyn have been closer than ever. Charlie and Carewyn in particular have latched onto each other in Bill’s absence, given how close both of them were to him. As adults post-Hogwarts, Charlie frequently crashes on Carewyn’s couch whenever he flies in for a visit from Romania, if his mother doesn’t insist upon him staying at the Burrow. Charlie and Carewyn refer to themselves as a pair as “Fireballs,” because Chinese Fireballs are the only dragons known to live among their own kind -- and so the word represents how Charlie and Carewyn see each other as kindred spirits.

Rowan — Rowan was Carewyn’s first friend at Hogwarts, but recently they’ve sort of been growing apart, due to Rowan’s extreme focus on academics and Carewyn’s extreme focus on finding her brother. For Carewyn, it feels like she’s changed a lot in five years -- starting as the shunned younger sister of the delinquent Jacob Cromwell and growing into a renowned Cursebreaker who has learned so much and made so many different friends and now tries to protect Hogwarts and her fellow students however she can -- while Rowan has rigidly stayed put where she was, remaining as studious and socially awkward as ever. Carewyn doesn’t resent Rowan for this -- on the contrary, she’s always admired Rowan’s single-minded ambition to be the youngest professor in Hogwarts history, damn what anyone else says, and wishes she had the luxury of chasing her own dreams that doggedly. But at the same time, Carewyn wouldn’t have felt good about herself, if she’d stayed the way she’d been when she first arrived. She sees herself as having been weaker, less competent, and less capable back then, while Rowan was always so brilliant and both emotionally and intellectually ahead of everyone else. Rowan and Carewyn have grown into very different people over the last five years, but Carewyn still loves and treasures Rowan like few people in the world as her first real friend and the friend that in some ways she wishes she could be more like.

Talbott  — The two at first didn’t see eye-to-eye at all, given that Talbott tends to hide most of his positive emotions at first and Carewyn hides her negative emotions constantly --- but once the ice broke between them, the two really connected and became good friends. Carewyn loves Talbott’s sense of humor and was also pleasantly surprised to find out what a great writer he is! She often volunteers to read whatever he’s working on, which kind of weirds Talbott out, but he secretly is happy she likes his stuff. When Carewyn wants some peace, she’ll take some time to fly around in her robin Animagus form, and she always loves it when Talbott joins her for a flight around the grounds. Carewyn often sings little tweeted songs the entire way, and even if Talbott teases her for it, he does actually really enjoy it. Post-Hogwarts they work together a lot, as Talbott is an Auror and Carewyn is a lawyer.

Ben — Ben was one of the very first people who Carewyn took under her wing, and even now, she remains a bit protective of him. She was always really proud whenever he expressed more courage and initiative in the past, but with the advent of sixth year, Ben has grown a lot more reckless and blunt, to the extent he could easily get himself into a dangerous situation and get hurt. Carewyn isn’t sure at all how to react to the development, but she doesn’t like it -- not one bit. Ben himself is struggling with how much Carewyn wants to look at him as someone to protect while never letting anyone else do the same for her. Because he’s known her longer than most, he’s seen Carewyn’s own dramatic transformation from a quiet, but overemotional little girl into a micromanaging, fussing, stoic, confident Mama Bear, and as much as he’s glad Carewyn’s gotten more confidence, he laments being on equal footing with his friend and feeling like he could help her as much as she helps him. Once they get their emotions and issues sorted, Ben and Carewyn become closer than ever, to the point that he, Merula, Charlie, and Bill are co-leader of the Circle of Khanna with Carewyn.

Barnaby — At first Carewyn couldn’t help but look down on Barnaby a bit given how dim he could be, but once he agreed to help her, she was surprised by how sincere and sweet he really was. Soon enough she felt her protective instincts kick in, and now she’s incredibly encouraging and supportive of him. These days you can usually see them chatting excitedly about magical creatures together in class -- Carewyn’s really happy to see Barnaby succeeding in Care of Magical Creatures as well as enjoying it, and Barnaby loves it whenever Carewyn sings to the creatures they’re working with in order to soothe them.

Jae — Although their personalities are pretty diametrically opposed, even down to house placement, Carewyn gets along pretty well with Jae. She doesn’t entirely see the appeal of him dealing with shadier merchandise, but he still agreed to help her when she needed to go to Knockturn Alley despite the risks and he’s a pretty sharp, resourceful person. Carewyn mostly just thinks he should push himself more, rather than just be content with where he’s at. After learning how much Jae likes cooking, Carewyn has enjoyed spending time with him in the kitchens whenever she wants to try out a new recipe.

Penny — Carewyn was actually a bit startled when popular Penny first took an interest in her in their first year. In their fifth year, Carewyn grew a bit more protective of Penny with the Portrait Curse capturing her younger sister, Beatrice -- now that Beatrice and Penny have started to grow apart, however, Carewyn now finds herself stuck between them, feeling sympathy for Beatrice’s position but still valuing her friendship with Penny.

Liz — Carewyn and Liz’s friendship is a bit more casual than others, but they’ve really connected well thanks to their shared interest in magical creatures. You can usually see Carewyn hanging out with her, Charlie, and Barnaby in Care of Magical Creatures.

Badeea — Art buddies! Carewyn is very encouraging of Badeea’s artistic talent, and the two love talking about music and Charms together.  

Tonks  — Carewyn greatly admires Tonks’s wish to be an Auror and loves how funny her imitations can be, but more often than not ends up being the butt of one of Tonks’s pranks.

Tulip — Like Tonks, Tulip loves pranking Carewyn. A LOT. Carewyn doesn’t find most of her jokes that funny, but can’t stay that mad at her.

Fred and George — Carewyn has only just met the twins, but she can already tell they’re going to be a handful. But they’re Bill and Charlie’s brothers, so in Carewyn’s mind, they are already family, so she feels a bit of protectiveness toward them.

Cedric — When Carewyn met Cedric, her first reaction was immense pity, given how much attention he’d managed to accrue in his first year alone when he clearly didn’t feel like he deserved it. Cedric reminds Carewyn of herself in first and second year, when she was still so shy and insecure whenever people would talk about her, so the Slytherin Prefect feels a lot of compassion for Cedric. She sort of hopes everyone will lay off him a bit so he can just have a normal school life without so much pressure.

Percy — Carewyn hadn’t thought she’d ever encounter someone that she would consider a stick-in-the-mud...until she met Percy Weasley. His rat Scabbers is kind of cute, though -- when he doesn’t bite!

Skye — Carewyn appreciates all of the help Skye gave her when she first started playing in Quidditch friendlies, but at present, she’s not talking to Skye, thanks to her going off and starting unfounded rumors about the Ravenclaw Beater, Erika Rath, the way that people spread rumors about Carewyn when she first started at Hogwarts. NOT COOL, SKYE. Orion deserves better than to deal with that sort of drama!!

Murphy — Both he and Carewyn are planners, and that’s great...but Murphy only plays Wizard Chess, a game he’s great at and Carewyn is terrible at, and that’s not so great.

Professor McGonagall —  The Deputy Headmistress is by far the professor Carewyn respects above all others. Even if she finds her class very challenging, she gives every assignment her all because of how much she respects McGonagall and wants to impress her. McGonagall herself nurtures a soft spot for Carewyn, even despite her being in Slytherin, due to her strong moral streak and desire to protect others.

Professor Flitwick — Charms is Carewyn’s best and favorite class, and Flitwick is a large reason why. Carewyn also really admires Flitwick’s talent in wizard dueling and is always thrilled to learn new dueling spells from him. Flitwick had a soft spot for Carewyn’s brother Jacob back in the day, since Jacob was in his house, and he’s nurtured a similar soft spot for Carewyn because of her great talent in and enthusiasm for Charms.

Professor Kettleburn — Carewyn adores Care of Magical Creatures and, by extension, Professor Kettleburn. She just really doesn’t want to lose as many body parts or clothing pieces as he has. Kettleburn always enjoys when Carewyn sings to the creatures in his class -- he finds it incredibly creative and entertaining.

Hagrid —  Carewyn loves Fang SO MUCH. And Hagrid too. Just not his rock cakes. And Hagrid...well, Carewyn’s just so tiny, but with such a big heart!

FOES |

Rakepick — Pre-Portrait Vault, Carewyn didn’t trust Rakepick as far as she can throw her, largely because she couldn’t get a good fix on her. Even Snape, who Carewyn clashes with at times, seems to have a wonky code of honor (META: largely because she is a Slytherin and -- more notably -- is at school before she could see how terribly he treats Harry and Neville!), but Carewyn wasn’t even sure if she could ascribe that to Rakepick. Her initial judgment seems to have been justified, given how Rakepick acted in the Portrait Vault -- but Rakepick’s betrayal, which was somehow even worse than Carewyn could’ve imagined, has only served to make the young Slytherin feel less sure on her feet, as she’s started to connect the dots and realize that her comrades may have trusted Rakepick for the some of the same reasons that they’ve trusted Carewyn herself. Rakepick and Carewyn have encouraged the others, but have also never trusted them with their true feelings or motives, and they both led them into danger all because of their desire to get to the Cursed Vaults. Although they pursued the Vaults for different reasons, they were both relentless, resourceful, stubborn and proud in their pursuit -- and in enlisting others to help them in that pursuit, they were both responsible for every terrible thing that ensued from it.

Ismelda — Carewyn really doesn’t like her intense interest in pain and suffering -- like...at all. Even if she might put on a strong, unflappable face, Carewyn is way too big of a bleeding heart to enjoy death or pain. Ismelda also considering using a Love Potion on Barnaby soured Carewyn to her quite a bit, though Carewyn is glad Ismelda changed her mind and they were able to come to some sort of a truce.

Merula — Their rivalry was much more intense when they were younger and Merula was actively bullying Ben and Rowan -- nowadays Carewyn just uses her help when it’s useful and ignores her when she’s being her usual awful self. After seeking counsel from her mother and Rowan, Carewyn was even nice enough to give Merula her spot on the Frog Choir, even if she’d really wanted it herself. Although Rowan staying constant and unchanging throughout the years is something Carewyn admires in her, however, she absolutely loathes the quality when it’s expressed in Merula. At the end of year 5, she and Merula came to something of a truce, but with the start of their sixth year, Merula’s taken a couple giant steps back in her evolution, which greatly frustrates and disappoints Carewyn. Carewyn wouldn’t ever call Merula her friend, but...well, she’d still been happy to see Merula had actually been able to prove her a little wrong and become a slightly better person. It’s awful to see her regress after going through that slight improvement.

Professor Dumbledore — Although Dumbledore is an amazingly powerful wizard with a very amiable attitude, over the years Carewyn has gotten very, very frustrated with how much she’s told to stop trying to deal with the Vaults. On top of that, the Headmaster of Hogwarts frequently obfuscates things a bit too much for Carewyn’s liking. She can sense that he is trying to be helpful, but that in a way makes things all the more frustrating, as she finds his methods so phenomenally misguided. Carewyn tries to conceal just how low her opinion of the man has fallen, but in truth she’s become rather resentful of him.

Emily —  Oh gosh. Given how fond Carewyn is of Bill and how ridiculously condescending and prone to bullying Emily can be, Carewyn understandably despises her. She hates her more than she ever hated Merula.

PETS (IF ANY) | Mimi (orange tabby cat), Sir Robin the Brave (toad), Lune (bat), Balto (Cruppy)

ANIMAL PRESERVE (IF ANY) | Wicket the Niffler; Tumnus the Porlock; Arjuna the Abraxan; Belle the Fairy; Esmeralda the Welsh Green; Leila the Thestral, Peter Quill the Knarl; Apollo the Hippogriff; Barnaby Jr. the Bowtruckle

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #carewyn cromwell #jacob's sibling #bill weasley #talbott winger #charlie weasley #barnaby lee #rowan khanna #merula snyde #penny haywood #ben copper #ismelda murk #patricia rakepick #rubeus hagrid #albus dumbledore #minerva mcgonagall #filius flitwick #nymphadora tonks #tulip karasu #chiara lobosca #andre egwu #percy weasley #jacob #harry potter

[elizabethemerald]

Eternal Night Redux: Finale

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

AO3

Please please reblog!

The Hearthstone once more hummed with energy. Throughout the past few months it had slowly recovered from Gunmar draining it. Jim was delighted to see it once again to its previous healthy glow. 

Since Gunmar's defeat at the hand of the Trollhunters, Trollmarket had been constantly busy. Ambassadors from various troll tribes had been constantly coming and going. They were all working to solidify the tenuous peace that had been established. 

There was still tension between different groups. The trolls of Trollmarket disliked the trolls from Gato's Keep since they refused to come in their hour of need. Many of the trolls still hated and distrusted the changelings, and the surviving members of the Janus order returned those feelings in spades. 

Angor was still feared even by some of the trolls who had fought alongside him. And the former assassin still harbored many ill feelings for Strickler. Jim did his best to keep those two apart as much as possible. 

Even with tensions still running high between groups and between individuals they were all still gathered again. Trollmarket was filled with all manner of trolls, Krubera, Quagawump, changeling, and the survivors of old Trollmarket. The troll and changeling armies were waiting outside the Heartstone, just in case things went poorly within. 

Jim marched into the Heartstone with the Staff of Avalon in his hand. Claire and Toby were on either side of him. The rest of his growing family followed behind.

 "I must insist again that this plan is folly!" Merlin's gravely voice called forward from the back of the group. 

"Enough Merlin! We've discussed and debated this point back and forth in circles ever since we killed Gunmar."

Merlin took a breath to argue but Toby spoke over him. 

"Yeah shut up beetle brows." Toby shouted back. "You've done nothing but complain literally since we woke you up."

Merlin pushed past the others and out his arm on Claire's shoulder. "Perhaps the fair Claire-"

"Do you want to get punched again?" Claire smacked his hand off her shoulder. "Because I feel like calling me 'fair Claire' again is a sure fire way to get punched again."

Merlin flapped his mouth like a fish for a moment, and Jim swirled around to face him. 

"We've already decided. If she is going to be an enemy and try to kill us all when she gets out, that outcome will be the same whether we release her now or she breaks free a thousand years from now. At least now we are as prepared as we can be for a fight." Jim turned and led the way down the stairs as he talked. "However if there is any chance to talk her down we have to do it now. We can't just wait till it's convenient."

They pushed forward and spread out into the prison chamber. Jim strode toward the center, beneath Morgana's form, frozen in the stone. With a resounding click he pushed the staff into its home in the key hole. 

Jim looked past the staff to Morgana. If she decided to kill them all it would be the fight of their lives to get out of this chamber. He was sure that some of them would die here if it came to that. He didn't know if he could bare losing anyone here, maybe Merlin was right and this was a bad idea. 

As he wrestled for a moment with his indecision he felt a hand fall on each of his shoulders. Toby and Claire had moved forward with him. They each had one hand on the staff and one on his shoulders. 

Jim leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Claire's lips, then turned and pressed one to Toby's as well. He took just a moment to breath in the same space as them, his eyes closed before he steeled his back. 

"Together?" He asked them. 

"Together." They said as one. 

Jim wrapped both of his hands around the Staff of Avalon and with Claire and Toby speaking in the same breath as him, said the enchantment that would free the Eldritch Queen. 

They carefully aimed the green beam that blasted out from the staff at the hanging crystal. It only took a moment before the crystal shattered. Jim summoned his helmet to protect his face and his shield to protect Claire and Toby's. 

The bits of stone froze in mid air before flying back towards the now free Morgana. Jim resisted the urge to draw his sword as she hovered slowly downward. Toby and Claire both had their collapsed weapons in their hands, they were trying not look threatening, but they didn't want to be taken by surprise. Jim stepped forward toward the golden armored woman. 

"Morgana! We have freed you in a bid for peace." Jim said. His voice took on a commanding air that still took him by surprise, though the others had come to expect it. 

Morgana did not reply instead she swept her gaze over those gathered here. Jim worried for a moment whether she understood him, and was about to try again in Trollish. Before he could the gravely voice he had come to dread spoke up. 

"Like I said, it is foolish to trust her!" Merlin stepped forward his sword in hand. 

Before anyone could react to stop him, golden glyphs appeared around Morgana's emerald hand. The magic blast knocked Merlin back into the wall. Jim hesitated for a moment waiting for any other magic attack. 

"We'll go ahead and give you that one, but we would like to talk peace."

"You dare try and talk to me about peace?" Morgana's voice reverberated in the room. "You want to talk about peace while you are wearing the amulet forged from my hand!"

Jim had to stop himself from taking a step back from the force of her fury. He mentally berated himself. Wearing the armor put a serious dent in his negotiation ability. He was surprised when Claire stepped forward, boldly facing the Eldritch Queen.  

"If you don't want to talk peace with Jim, then talk peace with me!" Claire's voice took on the same magical quality as Morgana's as she spoke. "You possessed me! Tried to destroy my soul! Tried to kill my boyfriend!"

As she spoke Morgana slowly floated lower till she was standing on the ground. She still towered over the children, but at least she wasn't blasting them apart. Jim couldn't help but notice that she was easily the tallest non troll in the room. 

"I have every right to hate you!" Claire continued. "To want you dead for what you did to me! But I want to offer a chance to end the fighting! To end the bloodshed that has stretched back who knows how many thousands of years."

Morgana looked at her closely, her face closed off and unreadable. She studied every line and curve of Claire's face. Whatever she was looking for she seemed to find because she nodded to herself, then settled into a floating seated position. 

"Very well my child. Let's talk of peace."

A sigh ran through the room as if every person there had been holding their breath. Claire sat down on the floor in front of her and Morgana floated lower till they were on the same level. 

"My partners will join me in these talks." Claire said. "Jim will represent the needs of Troll kind. Toby will represent the humans, both those in the town above and in the rest of the world."

Jim stepped forward and sat beside Claire. Toby sat on her other side. In an effort to show their earnestness Jim pulled at the amulet on his chest, allowing his armor to return to light. He pocketed the amulet. Toby set his collapsed warhammer aside as well. 

"It would seem I'm outnumbered at these talks. Would no one join me?" Morgana turned aside and addressed the rest of those gathered in the room. "My champion?"

Angor growled reflexively from where he had been leaning against one of the walls. "I am no longer your champion!"

"No. I suppose not." For the first time an expression other than fury could be seen on her face. Jim could clearly see it as a deep sadness. Morgana turned to where Strickler and Nomura were standing on the opposite side of the chamber. “Well what about you? Will one of you stand by your Lady Creator?”

Nomura looked away a scowl on her face. Strickler however took a step forward. Morgana waited but that was as close as he moved. 

“It is true you created the changelings. So we could work as your spies and assassins in this war. However Jim helped us, without any thought of reward, even while we were still on the opposite sides. Also he was the one who insisted that the changelings be included again and again. He was the one who fought for our place at this table. I think I can speak for all of my brethren when I say we stand for once alongside the Trollhunter. Not against him.”

Morgana looked down, her face thoughtful. When she looked up again Jim could see a fire in her eyes. 

“It is is said, that you can judge a man by the enemies he makes.” She glanced over their shoulders to where Merlin was standing. “Or by the allies he keeps.” At this she glanced to Angor. “But I truly believe the truest test of a man is the enemies he turns into allies, or even friends. Fine. I will sit alone against you.”

On impulse Jim shifted over so he was sitting to the side, in between the Claire and Morgana. Toby quickly caught on to what he was doing and moved so he and Jim were now looking at each other, with Morgana and Claire on their sides. 

“You don’t have to be against us.” Jim said. “We are all sitting together.”

Claire leaned forward pulling Morgana’s attention. 

“The three of us have fought together against everything we have come across.” Claire said. “We can all fight together now.”

In an uncommon display of seriousness Toby also leaned forward as well meeting Morgana’s eyes. “Seriously can we get this conversation started? This armor is super uncomfortable to sit in for long periods of time.”

Jim and Claire laughed, and even Morgana smiled. Together all four of them, the three Trollhunters and the Eldritch Queen sat and talked. They talked of war and bloodshed. And they talked of peace, and rebuilding. They talked long into the night, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh eventually bringing in chairs so they didn’t have to sit on the floor. 

In the end they spoke of balance. Of a balance that had been absent from the world for far too long. Together they spoke of creating a better future, for Troll, Human, Changeling, Wizard and anyone else out in the universe.

Fin

#jim lake junior #tales of arcadia #Trollhunters #claire nunez #toby domzalski #morgana toa #eternal night redux #writing emerald

[juniperwindsong]

Necessary Monsters (1/16)

Summary: His first instinct is to pull her flush against him, and his second is to push her away to disguise his desire for the first. Neither seem appropriate for the setting and Felix settles for reaching a single arm around her to pat her back carefully.

No one at Hogwarts, staff or student, can remember a more heated build-up to the Quidditch Cup. The final match may be between Slytherin and Gryffindor, but the tension has set the entire school on edge. Even the professors have been caught playing sides. McGonagall has neglected to assign homework to Gryffindor the week leading up to the match, and there's a rumour Snape has excused the Slytherin team from Potions classes to fit in extra, secret trainings. 

When the long-anticipated day finally arrives, students begin filing into the stands before breakfast to ensure they have decent seats, and by mid-morning there isn't an empty space anywhere. The stadium itself seems to vibrate with the collective anticipation.

It does not escape the notice of the more observant older students that the spectators appear to be evenly divided into crowds of red and green. Some people sport both colours simultaneously. A match like this would usually show the rest of the school united against Slytherin, the seats filled with red and gold and roaring lions. But enthusiasm for Slytherin is at an all-time high. Its Quidditch team is enjoying a popularity the house has not seen since before the first Wizarding War. For once, the palpable tension has little to do with which houses are playing and more to do with the players themselves. 

Because it isn't just Gryffindor versus Slytherin, it's Weasley versus Windsong.

Both sixth years and captains of their respective teams. The former commonly believed to be the best Seeker ever trained at Hogwarts and the latter famous for her aerial acrobatics and ability to play any position with ease. Efforts by the opposite houses to knock each out of the running has forced both to travel with an entourage for the last month. An entourage that more often than not includes each other as it's a well-known fact that Charlie Weasley and Juniper Windsong are not only Quidditch rivals, but close friends.

The teams walk onto the pitch to tumultuous applause, the two captains coming to face each other on either side of Madam Hooch. They're surprisingly close in height, and the grins they flash at each other, hidden from most of the spectators, are genuine, if competitive. They shake hands, the teams mount their brooms, and the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle is drowned by the roar of the crowd as the players soar into the air.

The game begins, and Felix Rosier isn't sure he's ever been so nervous in his life. Which is ridiculous, he tells himself. He's faced down furious, fire-breathing dragons; why on earth should something as silly as a school Quidditch game have his heart thumping violently in his chest?

He grips his knees tightly as he watches the Slytherin Chaser identified as Skye Parkin by commentator Murphy McNully tear off down the field with the Quaffle. She performs a complicated little flying manouevre that confuses the Gryffindor Keeper and earns the first goal of the game. The stands erupt. Felix realizes he's dizzy from holding his breath. He exhales forcefully and reminds himself that he's not invested in the outcome of this match.

"Relax, friend, what will happen will happen. What can we add to the match by worrying?"

Felix cuts his eyes across to the young man next to him. It's been a few years, but he recognizes the disheveled hair and unshaven chin of recently graduated Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Orion Amari.

"I'm not worried," Felix insists.

Orion nods. "A healthy perspective."

The crowd roars again as Skye Parkin approaches the Gryffindor goal posts at break-neck speed. Murphy McNully's magically amplified voice carries smoothly across the noise.

And will we see a second Slytherin goal in as many minutes? Parkin shoots and - No! Blocked by brand new Gryffindor Keeper, Oliver Wood!

"The new Gryffindor Keeper is well balanced, is he not? Skye will have to alter her tactics to get past him," comments Orion sagely.

Felix merely grunts in response. His focus is on the pitch, though his eyes aren’t following the progress of the Quaffle.

"You are Felix Rosier, aren't you? Slytherin's prefect from a few years ago?" Orion asks.

Felix gives a short nod.

"I heard you were in China studying dragons now?"

"Peru," corrects Felix tersely.

"Ah." Curiousity peeks through Orion’s unflappable veneer. "You know, I cannot remember ever seeing you at a Quidditch match before. Even when you were at school."

Of course, Felix thinks, it would be just his luck to be stuck beside the one person in the entire stadium more interested in conversation than the game.

"I never cared much for Quidditch. Waste of time, really," he says brusquely, hoping the former Captain will be offended enough to stop talking to him. But Orion merely nods again, face impassive.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Although, yours makes it all the more unusual for you to be here."

Felix sighs. "It's an important match for... Slytherin," he says, before turning on Orion abruptly. "You've graduated as well, Amari. What are you doing here?"

"Showing support to my Quidditch family, of course," Orion replies. "We may graduate from school but we never graduate from our friends." He turns to inspect the progress of the game. "And, as you said, it is an important match. Especially for the new Slytherin captain."

Felix's heart stutters, but before he can respond the people around them are on their feet. McNully's commentary can just be heard above the renewed screams of excitement.

And Weasley dives! Is that the Snitch there on the ground? Could this match be over before it truly begins?

Everyone in the stadium, Orion included, is watching Charlie Weasley dive toward the grass below. Everyone except Felix, who closes his eyes, too nervous to look. One shaky breath, then two. The spectators burst into a mix of delighted cheers and disappointed cries.

Foiled! By the brilliant beating of Windsong and Lee!

At the sound of her name, Felix's eyes automatically. Just in time to catch a glimpse of Juniper Windsong swooping by the stands where Felix sits, as she takes a victory lap around the stadium. Felix’s stomach does a pleasant flip, and he has to fight to keep his face straight. 

Everything from Juniper's wide grin to her perfect posture is exceptionally confident as she controls her Comet 260 with only her knees, both hands wielding her Beater's club. Squinting, Felix can just see Barnaby Lee opposite her across the pitch. Together, the two of them keep possession of a Bludger, hitting it back and forth to each other rapidly. Then, with a casual-looking flick of her wrist, Juniper sends it hurtling toward an unlucky Gryffindor Chaser. The Chaser dives out of the way of the Bludger, leaving the path to the goal posts wide open for Skye Parkin to score again.

"They make quite the team, do they not?"

Felix can just hear Orion's voice under the cheers and applause. He purses his lips tightly, but Orion continues as though he hasn't noticed.

"Such an easy rapport. It is indicative of true harmony both on and off the pitch. Perhaps more teams should consider choosing Beaters who are romantically involved."

"They're not romantically involved,” corrects Felix hotly. "Not anymore. They broke up last summer. They haven't been together all year."

"Interesting," Amari murmurs. Felix feels the younger man's eyes on him, but he keeps his gaze steadfastly forward.

The Slytherin Chasers make their way up the pitch in possession of the Quaffle. Felix recognises Skye Parkin's attempt to set up some sort of Quidditch play. He isn't sure of its name or its purpose, but he feels certain it does not involve a second Slytherin Chaser snatching the Quaffle away from Skye at the last minute causing a scuffle in mid-air. A Gryffindor Chaser nearby takes advantage of the confusion and swoops down on them from above. The Chaser nicks the Quaffle and tanks off down the pitch before Skye can gather herself. The red and gold waves in the stands stamp their approval.

Orion shakes his head. "That Chaser is not working in harmony with his fellow players."

Felix's eyes narrow at the offending player. "That's Marcus Flint. He's been driving Windsong mad all year. Doesn't want to take orders from a girl, apparently."

Madam Hooch's whistle rings through the Stadium calling for time out. Juniper Windsong and Skye Parkin land hard near the Slytherin goal posts, Skye ranting at the captain before her feet are even on the ground. Felix is too far away to hear any words, but it's obvious from Skye's wild gesticulations toward Marcus Flint, who has landed nearby, what the conversation concerns. Felix's jaw begins to ache, and he realizes he's been gritting his teeth.

"You know quite a bit about the inner workings of the team for someone who does not care for Quidditch," observes Orion, watching Felix instead of the players on the ground.

Distracted by the sight of Juniper now berating the sullen-looking Flint, Felix answers, "Juniper mentioned him," without thinking.

"I see," Orion says. "I did not know you were so close with our resident cursebreaker."

"We...write.” Felix’s cheeks redden in spite of himself.

"Peru is a long way to come to support a pen friend." Orion's tone is unassuming, but the heat continues to spread down Felix's collar.

"I happened to be in the country," says Felix defensively. "And, as she mentioned being nervous about the game and I had some time on my hands, I thought I'd stop by. That's all."

Orion makes no further comment as the Slytherin players return to the air. Felix steals a quick glance at his pocket watch, fervently hoping the match will not last much longer.

His hopes are dashed as another hour passes, Slytherin in possession of the Quaffle nearly the entire time. Felix is grudgingly impressed by Skye Parkin's performance. She whips between the Gryffindor players as easily as if they were training dummies, although Flint continues to be a thorn in her side. Juniper is forced to fly between them more than once to stop their in-fighting.

Usually Felix would be bored to tears by now, but he can't keep his eyes off Juniper as she flies expertly about the pitch. The way she manages to keep track of the entire game at once, occasionally calling out plays or advice to her team, all while flicking Bludgers at the Gryffindor seeker is fascinating to him. Felix knows admittedly little about Quidditch strategy, but even he can see Juniper's goal is to prevent the Weasley boy from catching the Snitch at all costs. She and Barnaby Lee shadow the fiery red-head about the pitch. No matter how fast he flies, the Gryffindor Seeker cannot seem to shake the Slytherin Beaters.

The fourth time Charlie Weasley spots the Snitch, the little gold ball is fluttering near the same stands in which Felix and Orion sit. Felix has a perfect view of Juniper as she bats a Bludger directly at Charlie's outstretched hand. In the split second he withdraws to avoid breaking any fingers, the Snitch disappears. Juniper grins cheekily at the furious Seeker, and Felix's stomach somersaults again.

Well folks, we're an hour in, and the score stands at 160 points to 40 for Slytherin! Seems like Gryffindor's usual strategy of relying on a quick win by Weasley just isn't working for them this time! Felix can detect a note of glee in McNully's commentary.

Tensions in the air have reached a fever pitch, and Felix has to stop himself from wringing his hands visibly in his lap. Marcus Flint seems to have elected himself Slytherin's enforcer.  He abandons any attempts to score in favor of knocking into Gryffindor players who fly too close to Skye Parkin. The third time he does this, the unfortunate Gryffindor Chaser nearly falls from her broom, and Madam Hooch calls a foul. Felix watches Juniper fly right up next to Flint, grabbing his Quidditch robes by the collar and speaking fiercely into his face. Felix wishes he were close enough to hear what she's saying. He can guess, from the way Flint yanks his robes from her grasp and flies off angrily, it isn't encouragement. Felix runs his fingers through his hair nervously.

Play resumes as the Gryffindor Chaser shoots a penalty shot and scores. The cheers from the crowd have only just begun when a collective gasp ripples through them. Charlie Weasley rockets upward, lying flat against his broom for extra speed. At the far end of the pitch, Juniper hits one Bludger and then the other frantically at the Seeker who manages to dodge both.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter," Felix mumbles under his breath as Weasley stretches his arm above his head, fumbling for the tiny gold ball.

Out of nowhere, Marcus Flint smashes into the Gryffindor Seeker's side, knocking him from his broom entirely. Weasley doesn't fall far before his arm is caught by a teammate, but the Gryffindor fans in the audience howl in outrage.

Foul by Slytherin Chaser Flint! There's Madam Hooch's whistle and it's a penalty shot for Gryffindor - but wait! Looks like Slytherin Captain Windsong has called for time-out.

The green-clad players swoop toward the ground. Felix watches Juniper stalk over to Flint, anger in her every movement. In spite of the distance between them, Felix fancies he can hear Juniper shouting at the rogue Chaser, who bellows right back. Flint is a good head taller than his Captain, broader as well, but Juniper squares up against him undaunted. She points a furious finger across the pitch to the changing rooms. Flint shakes his head, lips moving rapidly. Their argument lasts one tense minute before Flint, snarling, shoves Juniper away from him, hard.

Felix is on his feet without realising, blood pounding in his ears. He's not alone. The stadium around him appears to have exploded. Down on the grass, Barnaby Lee and another Slytherin player drag Flint away from Juniper, herself now restraining a shrieking Skye Parkin. Some primal instinct orders Felix to get to the pitch to assist, the fact that there's nothing he can do having no bearing whatsoever. It takes all the self-control he possesses to force himself to return to his seat.

Madam Hooch lands in the middle of the fight, blowing madly on her whistle. Felix's eyes widen as he recognises Snape crossing the pitch toward the scuffling team, as well. There's a few minutes heated discourse between the Slytherin Head of House and his Quidditch Captain before Juniper breaks away, breathing hard. She holds a swift, secret conversation with Skye, their heads bent close together, then she hands her Beater's bat to Madam Hooch and signals her team to remount their brooms. All except Flint. Felix watches, mouth hanging slightly open, as Snape escorts the furiously railing Slytherin boy back across the pitch and into the changing rooms.

And it looks like Windsong has booted Marcus Flint from the Slytherin team and is taking his place as Chaser! Slytherin will now be one player short for the most critical match of the entire year! A bold move for the new captain.

"Can she do that?" Felix asks, stunned, as the team waits for Madam Hooch's whistle to resume play.

"If she has done it, then it can be done," answers Orion mystically.

Felix brings a hand up to trace the long scar running down the side of his neck. He feels ridiculously helpless. He wishes vainly that he had never come to the match. If he'd had any idea how stressful Quidditch could be, he would simply have caught up with Juniper afterwards, and spared himself this torment.

The game begins again in earnest, and if Slytherin had a monopoly on the Quaffle before, it's nothing compared to now. Between Skye and Juniper, the Gryffindor Chasers barely have a glimpse of the ball. Slytherin gains another 30 points in less than ten minutes.

And Slytherin is now up by enough to win the match even with a Gryffindor Snitch capture! One has to wonder how this will affect Weasley's strategy...

It's obvious even to Felix that the Gryffindor Seeker has slowed his incessant circling of the pitch.  Presumably, he’s waiting until the Chasers score more points, but it seems unlikely Gryffindor will ever catch up. While Oliver Wood manages to save about one in three shots at the goal posts, the Gryffindor Chasers cannot manage to wrest the Quaffle from Skye and Juniper. Although, Felix thinks he can detect a slight lag in the Slytherin Chasers' movements. He wonders if the lengthy game hasn't begun to tire them.

At 300 points up for Slytherin, the spectators begin to be restless. The buzz of scattered conversations can be heard amid the regular cheers.

"Is this a typical length for a Quidditch game?" Felix directs the question at Orion, and the young man gives his enigmatic smile.

"There is nothing typical about a Quidditch match. Each is unique," he replies knowingly, before adding: "This one is rather long, though."

Sudden shouts in the crowd around him cause Felix to look up. He’s in time to see Weasley dive once more, just in front of his stand. As Felix watches, Barnaby Lee zooms forward, Beater's bat poised to aim a passing Bludger at the Seeker, but a shrill whistle distracts him before he can execute the attack. Half the players on the pitch, and Felix in the stands, follow the source of the noise to the Slytherin Captain. Juniper hovers near a goal post, shaking her head frantically at Barnaby.

Felix furrows his brow, confused. "What, does she want Weasley to catch it?" he asks incredulously.

Orion's smile blossoms into something less mysterious and more genuine. "Charlie Weasley is a good friend of Juniper's. Perhaps, she wants his team to lose with dignity."

Felix's face twists in distaste. "Or perhaps she just wants the game to be over," he argues, as Charlie snatches the golden blur hovering just above the ground.

"That too," Orion agrees, and the stadium around them erupts.

Supporters of both sides are screaming and crying. Felix finds himself on his feet with everyone else, caught up in the wave of adoring Quidditch fans applauding uproariously. He watches the Slytherin team hit the ground, brooms forgotten as they reach for each other in a giant, scrum-like embrace. Felix realizes the back of his robes are soaked through with sweat as though he too has been flying nonstop for hours.

Students swarm from the stands like locusts to surround the new Hogwarts Quidditch champions. Felix is just considering whether or not to attempt pushing through them when he catches sight of one lone, green-clad figure moving against the crowd. Juniper forces her way through the ecstatic Slytherins to the end of the pitch where the Gryffindor team has landed, slightly more subdued. Charlie Weasley's bright red hair is visible even from high in the stands. Felix can make out the Gryffindor's reluctant grin as he extends a hand toward the approaching Slytherin. Juniper ignores it. She pulls the short, stocky boy into a tight hug, and Felix's stomach, writhing nearly non-stop for the entire match, suddenly turns to lead.

Beside him, Orion says into his ear, "So, what do you think of Quidditch now?"

Felix scowls, unable to rip his eyes away from the spectacle below him.

"Absolutely pointless," he grumbles.

-

In spite of her scene on the pitch and its obvious implications, Felix decides it would be a phenomenal waste of time to have endured such a painfully long match without seeing Juniper after all, so he joins the throng traipsing from the Quidditch Pitch to the Hogwarts' dungeons. Although it has been a few years, Felix is sure he's never seen the Slytherin common room so crowded. It's impossible to see to the wall opposite, the room is so tightly packed with cheering, jumping bodies. He's certain there aren't this many people in the whole of Slytherin house. Sure enough, Felix catches a glimpse of Penny Haywood and another Hufflepuff girl with spiky pink hair passing out Butterbeers and talking animatedly.

"What in Merlin's name are Hufflepuffs doing here?" Felix mutters to no one in particular.

"Quidditch has a way of bringing people together." Felix rolls his eyes hugely as he recognizes Orion's mellow voice from beside his shoulder. "As does Juniper Windsong."

Felix bristles but says nothing. It's true, Juniper's friend group has always been diverse. It's a trait he usually admires in her, but Felix isn't well-disposed to her inter-house friendships just at present. He has only a moment to brood over this, however, before enormous arms grab him from behind and lift him off his feet.

"Felix!"

He recognises the enthusiastic voice of Barnaby Lee. The muscular boy gives Felix another hard squeeze before lowering him back to the floor.

"Nice to see you too, Barnaby," Felix gasps, winded by the rib-crushing hug. He straightens his robes and glances around self-consciously. Quidditch team members are filing in behind Barnaby, and Felix's heart skips a beat as the crowd around them gives an enormous cheer. But it's only Skye Parkin entering the common room with the Quidditch Cup held above her head.

"What are you doing here?" asks Barnaby excitedly. "I didn't know you were back from China!"

"Peru," Felix corrects, attempting to scan the players behind Barnaby as casually as possible. "And yes, I arrived today."

"Just to see us play?"

Felix fixes his gaze on the extremely tall, well-built young man in front of him. Barnaby has grown-up significantly since the last time Felix saw him, but he hasn't lost any of his boyish good-looks. Felix recalls Orion's comments about Barnaby and Juniper from the Quidditch match, and his already bad mood continues to sour.

"No, of course not," he replies curtly. "I've applied for a transfer to the Romanian Reserve. My interview is next week."

"Wow! That's amazing!" Barnaby's face is full of awe, which soothes Felix's temper very slightly. "But... how did you know we had a match today?"

Felix repeats his now practiced excuse. "Juniper mentioned it in her last letter, and, as I was in the country in time, I thought I'd drop by."

"So, she doesn't know you're here? C'mon, she'll be so excited to see you!" Barnaby grabs Felix by the wrist before he can reply and wades into the sea of bodies, pulling the former prefect in his wake. Felix is careful to stand as close to Barnaby as possible to keep himself from being swallowed by the crowd. He isn't usually bothered by cramped spaces. He's spent the last three years in a variety of tight quarters. But something about the heat and noise and sweat from the excited bodies around him makes him feel dizzy. He closes his eyes, allowing Barnaby to drag him forward, and so he hears Juniper before he sees her.

"Look, I warned him all year. If he wasn't going to be a team player then he wasn't going to play on the team."

Felix’s eyes snap open automatically. A cluster of people in festive green face-paint block his view, many of them busy loudly protesting Juniper's words.

"Weasley would have caught that snitch without Marcus! He saved the game!" says one petulant voice.

"That's how Slytherin plays! It's about doing anything to win!" insists another.

All pretense of nonchalance abandoned, Felix cranes his neck over Barnaby's shoulder. He’s just able to glimpse the back of Juniper's head. Her hair falls in waves, much longer and more kempt than he remembers.

"Look, no one wants to win more than I do!" she argues, and Felix swears he can actually hear her smile. "Well, except maybe Skye."

There's an outburst of appreciative laughter from her audience.

"But cheating is a cop-out," Juniper continues. "It means someone else is really better than me and I couldn't beat them on my own. I told Flint, I wanted us to win because we were the best or die trying, but cheating to make that happen is just the same as losing."

"Yeah, and it's nothing to do with the fact that it's Weasley he knocked about," says a sly voice from somewhere in the crowd.

The outcry around her is divided into loud cheers and raucous laughter, but Barnaby's voice cuts through them.

"Juniper! Juniper, look who's here!"

Barnaby steps aside just as Juniper's head whips around. Her eyes widen in recognition as they fall upon Felix. He has a split second to worry whether he should keep his face neutral or attempt a smile, before she flings her arms around his neck, dragging him into an eager embrace. Felix's first instinct is to pull her flush against him, and his second is to push her away to disguise his desire for the first. Neither seem appropriate for the setting. He settles for reaching a single arm around her to pat her back carefully.

Juniper pulls away, leaving her hands resting on his shoulders. She's grown quite a bit if she can look him in the eye while doing that.

"You're here! I can't believe you're here!" she babbles excitedly, her face transported by her wide smile. She laughs giddily and hugs him again, and as Felix inhales that familiar aroma of lavender and something else he can't identify, all his ill-feeling evaporates.

However entangled she may be with anyone else, Barnaby Lee or Charlie Weasley, it's suddenly as meaningless to him as Quidditch. Her scent, her arms around him, her body pressed up against his, all confirm for Felix what he's suspected for the past year: he's in love with Juniper Windsong. And he's come back to Hogwarts with the express purpose of telling her so.

-

Read Chapter 2 | View all stories on the Masterpost

#felix rosier #felix x mc #felix rosier x mc #felix rosier x jacob's sibling #hogwarts mystery mc #orion amari #skye parkin #murphy mcnully #charlie weasley #marcus flint #oliver wood #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #hphm #hphm mc #hphm fanfiction #necessary monsters #dragons #dragonology 101 #felix rosier x juniper windsong #juniper windsong

[halycondaze]

a very long headcanon dump about the hegemon husk

first: a reminder.  one of the many canon divergencies on my blog is that edelgard does not take the hegemon husk form during azure moon, unless otherwise stated.  however, she has undergone the procedure that allows her to take the form, so it is still possible.  it is also possible in verdant wind, though she never uses it.  in my canon, edelgard uses the hegemon husk during her chapter in silver snow. 

appearance / mechanics: as much as the appearance in canon is good, i am nothing if a pedantic, picky person, and i think she looks far too mechanical, so there are plenty of changes to take into account.  the largest one is that she appears more like this, a far more sleek, understandable threat, though in my mind she would likely have digitigrade legs, and perhaps a small start of wings on her back and arms.  she stands around thirteen feet tall, her hair has fallen from her crown, loose and scraggly, and the horns have become a natural part of her body.  her neck is also slightly bent, as if broken.  her eyes retain the black sclera and red irises, and her face is broken like porcelain.  her scars are completely visible on her monstrous body, even though she is covered in black and red scales.  the crest stone (see below) rests, visibly, at the base of her throat.

because she is not on an immense scale, the hegemon can move frighteningly fast.  combined with her retaining raging storm and the ability of wilted flower, she is a menace to fight.  she attacks in melee using her claws, and has a distance attack of magic.  when she is on her last health bar, the hegemon will “root” herself, quite literally growing roots and breaking through the floorboards / pavement. she loses the ability to move, but heals at the start of every turn, and the tiles around her turn into hazardous terrain, dealing damage to units standing there at the start of every turn. 

lore: as i alluded to, the hegemon husk is not a natural power from having two crests (because, frankly, that makes no sense,) and instead, is another procedure.  one thing that should be noted is el’s lack of choice in the situation.  when those who slither want something from her, there’s not much el can do to stop them.  the masked mages opened up her throat ( while el herself was still conscious ) and implanted a crest stone, either stolen from the monastery or somewhere in the empire.  this crest stone hinders her in normal conversation, as speaking is a drain, and breathing is harder.  this always happens after her loss at grondor, and can be perceived as a punishment for her loss.

as a result of her surgery, el is a bit more emotional during the end of her life, and does not leave enbarr.  she also requires more sleep, her body fighting off the foreign entity in her throat.  she is almost totally alone during this time, so the sleeping does keep her mind off of her pain.  she also begins to realize / fear that fodlan may never change, and that her goals are fruitless, and slowly spirals into suicidal ideation.

the transformation into the hegemon husk is very quick - human eyes can’t quite understand what happens, but she twists and contorts.  even though it’s quick, it’s very painful, and she screams at the top of her lungs, even as her voice morphs into the monstrous cant.  as the hegemon attacks her former friends, she will mock and berate them, accuse them of betrayal and scream. as the hegemon, she can’t really control herself, or her feelings.  the hegemon is edelgard, without the mask on her feelings.  

transforming back into a human, however, takes much longer, and will kill her, unless she has intense medical attention.  immediately, she will return to human scale, and her legs and neck return to normal, though her eyes remain red.  this happens much the same as the first transformation.  however, she will still be covered in the scales and feathers, and indeed, would be nude without them.  she is in intense, unknowable pain, her bones practically broken and the crest stone still lodged in her throat.  

usually, this is the point where either byleth or one of the black eagles will kill her.  she begs for one of them to end her misery - though her voice is broken and it’s mostly coming out as sobs.  in the final moments of her life, el is honest about her pain, and her last words are, of course, “i wanted to walk with you.” 

if she is not killed right after, el starts to shed, making essentially a nest of her own scales and feathers. this is where medical attention comes into play.  as she sheds, her body just cannot make enough skin cells to keep up, and el would essentially bleed to death without healing.  the shedding ends about a week later, at which point, her eyes turn back to lavender. 

even once she is transformed back, edelgard will always have chronic pains after the transformation.  now, yes, she already has chronic pain, but these are generally worse, and center on her throat, fingertips, and knees.  she also needs to have the crest stone removed, or she will never speak above a very quiet tone. were she forced to transform twice, edelgard would not likely survive. 

the hegemon is edelgard’s last resort - she wants to fix fódlan, has tied her worth so much to being “the emperor who ended the crest system” that she cannot imagine living without that.  she would rather die and be remembered a monster than to live in a world where she failed.  it’s one of the many reasons why she thinks she must die if she loses.  silver snow is especially cruel, because for a very long time, she believes the professor and her friends will agree with her, had some hope, which was dashed on the stones.  

#☆ﾟ*・ﾟwith a lily for a stamp — ↳ edelgard headcanon. #me crying while i write this? more than likely #suicidal thoughts - #death - #uuuhg idk how tag this this is a MESS

[psyga315]

Fixing RWBY Volume 6

So, I decided to try my hand at rewriting RWBY. Though, I’m not gonna do the whole “rebuild it from the ground up” angle, but rather tackle one volume to try and have it tie its plot together a little better. In this case: Volume 6. As such, this isn’t “fixing” RWBY so much as tweaking it. So, for the most part, Volume 6 is mostly intact save for the scenes that were changed up.

The first thing we need to establish is the underlying theme. What is this Volume about? From the titles, it seems to imply that the story is about RWBY/JNR breaking away from Ozpin’s path and doing things their way, as most of their titles relate to this subplot. That said, the ending song, character short, and huge part of the climax have the theme of cutting out abuse from your life. Namely Adam.

So, we need to restructure the Volume based off a central theme of both subplots: how to grow past the teachings of your mentor. This can even tie in to the villains’ subplot. Now, it is worth noting that the increased focus on Adam throughout this tweak isn’t to “adambate”, but rather to add prominence to him in the same way Pyrrha was given prominence in Volume 3.

Let’s begin with…

Episode 1

This should pick up right where Volume 5 left off, with a brief montage of the fallout of the Fall of Haven (named such because despite the heroes’ best efforts, without the Headmaster, the Academy fell into disarray for a bit) followed by Mistralians welcoming the Menagerian Faunus with open arms. This is also where Qrow’s exposition comes in, though for a nice jab at the heart, when he mentions how Lionheart died a hero, it cuts to the little girl from Volume 5 (the one who asked “does he know where mommy is”) visiting her mother’s grave to show that something isn’t right with that story.

To further compound this, Sun brings up Lionheart’s betrayal before Blake cuts him off and reminds him of the consequences to the Faunus relationships should the truth of him conspiring with the villains slip out.

So we get the departure scene unedited, though with a scene where Blake tells Sun that, while she thanks him for his efforts, she realized in her separation from Yang that she has feelings for her rather than Sun. Sun, being Sun, is 110% cool with it and encourages her to go after Yang, though Blake mentions how it would be easier said than done given how she believes that she burned that bridge down when she ran.

Most of this episode remains unaltered save for the lamp exposition being done in this episode. The reason for all this exposition is to get them out of the way and to also mentally prepare people for what they expect to be another chat-heavy Volume, only to pull the rug from under them when the train suddenly gets attacked by Grimm. I feel like this might be a better way to poke fun at last Volume than have the characters lampshade it.

Obviously, Ozpin brings up that the Relic attracts Grimm, as that’s the very inciting incident that creates the lack of faith in Ozpin subplot, but Ozpin also brings up that the Relic’s attraction is faint. Jaune combines his Semblance with Ren and is about to cover the train when they hear screaming and a familiar laugh. JNR run to see what’s the matter. When the sound of fighting ensues, Blake is the first to investigate.

Blake goes out to see what’s going on and sees Adam tossing a civilian off the train and laughing about it. Naturally, she freaks out and cuts the connection of the train. She soon realizes what she had done (left JNR alone with Adam) and her fear and paranoia kick up into high gear, causing the Grimm to focus on RWBY’s train rather than JNR’s train.

This is where we see how, despite RWBY coming back together, they hardly are coordinated, especially with a panicking Blake and a twitchy Yang. We get to see this in contrast to JNR’s fight with Adam, where the group is in sync in handling Adam. I’m not gonna sugar-coat Adam’s power level. He’s weak sauce, plain and simple. The only reason he’s “strong” is his ability to gas-light people and trick them into getting angry. Given how Ren and Jaune both went through that ordeal, though, they handle Adam, though his Semblance does throw them off.

The only way they manage to get Adam off their back is Jaune realizing what his Semblance does and, in a scene that demonstrates his strategic mind, overpowers Adam’s Semblance to where his Moonslice pushes him away from the group and out of their sight for the time being, with the obvious note that, because he has a buffed Aura, he’d be able to survive. Just as JNR realize they’re stuck, they hear someone:

“Don’t fret, passengers. The glory of Atlas shall guide you to Argus!”

And we don’t see JNR until after the “Ozpin gets BTFO” Arc and the Apathy Arc.

The fight with the Sphinx and Manticore is the same with the aforementioned bumbling around, and we even see Weiss try to summon again before a Manticore pummels her, with Weiss just saying “screw it!” and using another of her Glyphs to pwn the Manticore.

Episode ends like usual.

Oh, and Ruby’s gift for Yang is explicitly shown to be the magazine she reads in the train because why show the bag if you’re not gonna reveal it.

Episode 2

This is kept the same, except the Cinder scenes are moved to its own episode.

Episode 3

This is kept the same, However, I will add in a detail that makes the God of Light much more benevolent (and nicer) than in the show. Namely, worshippers of the God of Light are the ones to try to talk to Salem about how death is natural and Salem only visits the God of Darkness. The God of Darkness agrees to revive Ozma, but she must do his version of bending the knee: take a dip into his pool. Doesn’t destroy her but instead make her an immortal lord of the Grimm.

God of Light comes in and goes “WTF!?” as the God of Darkness revives Ozma. This time, the battle between the two ends up destroying humanity (and broke the moon) save for Ozma and Salem. Ozma has no idea what happened and Salem kept mum on what happened. They settle down and have kids, but eventually Salem feels compelled to tell Ozma about what happened… and Ozma is devastated. And thus, he does the thing that causes Salem to forever despise him for the rest of his days:

He calmly walked to the pool of Light, left behind in the battle, and takes a swan dive into it, presumably killing him.

It doesn’t though, and instead makes him one with the God of Light, just as Salem became part of the God of Darkness. The God of Light laments in how the world he and his brother created was destroyed simply because humanity relied on them too much. And so, he asks Ozma to unify the world’s remnants, but he also gives him a stipulation: he must also gather the Relics and call upon the Gods when humanity is ready to be judged. If the humans learn to live with each other and not demand anything of the Gods, he will walk among them once again. If not, however aaaaand the world goes boom.

Ozma has his whole reincarnation thing where he finds out that Salem, in her grief, killed their kids and used the Grimm to attack Humanity 2.0, which are basically the Light Brother’s attempt to remake humanity, just that Aura and Semblance are his half-assed means to replicate his brother’s magic, with Dust being the remnants of the Dark Brother’s magic. There’s an implication she had a hand in making Faunus, but not in that “she made them” sort of way. Rather she caused some of them to have more violent features like fangs and stingers that caused humanity to fear them. This causes Blake to react with horror and anger at Salem.

While I was tempted to add a scene where Ozma has more to do with Salem’s fall from grace or give her a reason to hate him, like how the Maidens he gave magic to were Salem’s daughters, but I decided to keep his overall role the same and give the basic gist that he hates people finding out the truth behind his lies because it reminds him of what he did when he found out about what happened to his world. However, there is heavier emphasis on how he had led people to their demise against Salem. Namely how, when Ruby sees Ozpin’s many forms falling before Salem, she sees a flurry of Huntsmen… and a certain white-cloaked figure before it too scatters like a rose.

That and Oscar sees Pyrrha’s death and the whole Maiden thing that Ozpin did to her.

The other thing is that Ozma discovers Salem’s immortality because at one point he does kill her but she doesn’t die. Not because Jinn goes “lol, you can’t.” since I kinda want to make Jinn more benevolent like the God that made her and not somehow sowing the seeds of discord.

Episode 4

Same episode, but now Ruby’s pissed at Ozpin as well. Not enough to punch Oscar or even berate him, but enough to say “good riddance” or “coward” when Ozpin retreats.

The bit with Salem is still kept in but we actually get that scene where Salem wanted to have a word with Tyrian back in Volume 5 (remember that, V5?!). She explains to Tyrian that Qrow is still alive despite his efforts and he breaks down, apologizing to her and even offering to kill himself for her approval and how the only reason she didn’t let him is because he’s still of use to him. This is contrasted with Emerald’s fear of Salem when she talks with her about Cinder’s failure. This basically serves to show the full extent of just what Ozpin could have been but also show how Ozpin isn’t like Salem.

Episode 5

So, this is where a little bit of a change comes in. As the group stay at the Brunswick Farm and they settle for the night, every one of the characters gets an introspective of their developing apathy. In order:

Oscar is worried about being regarded as Ozpin and is even worried about how Jaune would react.

Qrow is depressed over Ozpin’s machinations and, as the episode ends, finds a stash of liquor.

Blake begins to berate herself about Adam and explains the reason of why she let Adam run (namely because of his whole “get inside your head” tactic she mentioned in the finale) to Yang.

Yang, much to Blake’s dismay, doesn’t blame her, but she doesn’t also forgive her either. Instead, she’s caught up in the thought of calling Ozpin out for omitting information about the Relic, only for herself to have omitted information about the Maiden. In short, she also feels guilty about what happened.

Weiss is upset about having to return to Atlas and is visibly shook over her near-death experience and how she was ultimately the one to blame for putting her guard down. Incidentally, she’s the only one who doesn’t feel tired, but that’s only because she’s mindlessly practicing the same fencing moves over and over until her body tires out for her.

Ruby’s the only person who is outright concerned about Salem’s immortality and how no one can beat her. Not just because Yang’s edgelord of a mom was correct, but how her own mother died and proved that statement. She talks to the only person who isn’t affected by the Apathy, Maria, that she just wants to bring the lamp to Atlas, go back home, and never go out again.

Maria eavesdrop to every bit of this, but gives Ruby the advice she needs to move on: “What do you think your mother would do if she knew the truth?” and we end with Maria asking Ruby: “My glasses are no good, but… what color are your eyes?”

Episode 6

Episode mostly remains the same, though with the explicit notion that the Apathy only fed on the negative emotions the group felt and didn’t amplify the doubts they had, thus they don’t go “lol, it was all the Apathy’s fault we were like that”. Probably also either drop hints about this being Adam’s place from when he was a slave there (even have Weiss notice a branding iron with the SDC logo on it and frowning to show foreshadowing) or it being Roman’s home (and it’s Ruby who feels upset with this revelation).

It’s also in this episode that we get a little exposition on the Silver Eyes (the whole “they only work on Grimm” thing and the fact that the Light Brother made them) and this causes Ruby to quickly utilize it when the Apathy attack them. Blake decides to try and sacrifice herself to atone for what she did to Yang, but Ruby’s eyes go off and you know the rest.

Episode 7

This is entirely Cinder’s episode, where she gets out of the Vault and gets the help of the Spiders. However, there’s a heavier emphasis that it’s Adam that was trailing RWBY the whole time and not misleading us by implying it was Hazel.

This also leads to the whole Neo fight and the whole “I was ordered by Salem not to kill Ruby” thing, but Neo gives a jab by implying “why didn’t you kill Ruby when you had the chance?”, as she had heard about the Fall of Haven and Cinder’s role in it, to which Cinder just meekly answers with “well I was going to.”

Basically, rather than sprinkle the Cinder scenes across the volume, condense them into one. We end on Adam recovering from his fall and tracking down RWBY, finding the house and scornfully growling before he kills a stray Apathy.

Episode 7

Basically the same, but heavier emphasis that Tock’s employer was Salem and that she has a connection to Tyrian.

Episode 8 & 9

Keep this relatively the same, but have Cordovin explain why she doesn’t let Weiss’s friends through. “Let’s see, we have an angry girl who attacked someone without their aura on live television, a drunken waste of energy who attacked an Atleasian general in front of a crowd, the team whose member utterly destroyed our masterpiece Huntress-in-training (cue a frown from Ruby and a scornful look from Jaune), and, of course, the Faunus.” She doesn’t even add any details, she just says “the faunus” for Blake. Weiss gets upset and that’s when she goes “we’re done here.”

Now, here’s where this gets the most change, because in all honesty, that whole “Oscar’s missing” thing was stupid cliff-hanger baiting. So, here’s how the change begins.

Jaune calls out Oscar like he did, but adds in one final hook: “Did Pyrrha know about this before you killed her!?” in the same venom that Hazel had. Ruby stops Jaune and tells her that Cinder killed Pyrrha. Jaune tosses Oscar aside and leaves in a huff. Ren and Nora are understandably pissed as well (please let them have more dialogue to address that Pyrrha was also their loss, RT) and it’s agreed that everyone needs to have some space, especially with what had happened at the farm.

And so, slowly and surely, we have our group split up to comfort each other. In order:

Oscar approaches Weiss and tells her about how he wants to help the team and atone for how Ozpin inadvertently hurt JNPR, feeling as though, if he is to become him, he might as well lay the groundwork for a better Ozpin. This naturally gets Weiss inspired to go clothes shopping with him, especially since they’re going to Atlas and if it was cold back there, it’s gonna get colder where they’re going.

Blake talks with Ren and Nora and talks about her experience with Adam. Ren is annoyed when she starts wallowing about him and asks her to get to the point. She mentions how Adam mentored her much like how Ozpin mentored them, but the difference was that Ozpin genuinely cared for them whereas Adam manipulated her. She comes clean about her past at the White Fang to them and expresses a small bit of regret in not letting Ozpin know about them, but that they need to keep moving forward for Pyrrha’s sake. It’d be a bit too cynical for Ren to go “we haven’t heard that one before”, but if we’re going in the tradition of lampshading Volume 5… I dunno, maybe a lighter version of that where it doesn’t sound condescending?

Yang goes out drinking with Qrow to confirm she’s old enough to drink. She hardly is able to talk to Qrow though because every time she does, she worries about slipping up and talking about how she hid the fact that Raven was the Maiden, only for Qrow to mumble out nonsense that ends up implying that he does know about that and knows Yang kept it a secret, but that in the grand scheme of things, there was nothing they could have done now that she’s who knows where. Though this further guilt trips Yang because she believes now that, had she not yelled at Raven and convinced her to leave the Relic back in the vault and closed it, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

Lastly, Ruby talks with Jaune in a scene that mirrors the whole Weiss/Yang scene in Volume 5 with a heavy dose of the Oscar/Ruby scene from the same Volume. Though now, with this line:

“I saw my mom die when Jinn told us the truth. She died the same way Pyrrha did. But she didn’t throw her life away. She fought and despite knowing she couldn’t win, she did it to protect the ones she loves. And I’m certain Pyrrha did the exact same thing.”

Jaune is moved by this and instantly thinks of how to get into Atlas.

Smash cut to a sobered up Qrow (with Yang there, she was able to get him sober before they returned) telling him it’s a stupid plan. Jaune explains the plan in the briefest detail he can and Ruby vouches for him. Basically, what happened at the end, but instead of “we didn’t need an adult to save us” it’s more “we tried the adult way back at Haven and all that did was make us fish in a barrel for Salem. Now, we try it our way.”, hinting to the finale’s title.

Emerald and Mercury have their thing, but at the end, they sneak out with Tyrian and Watts after the former tells them to do what makes them happy (they lampshade how odd it is coming from the crazy man), but the stinger of this volume shows they, on route, saw the Grimm be made with wings.

The Final Quarter

So, the heist goes like before, but with Cinder and Neo getting involved. Not by much, but they mostly just sneak in their airship by using Cordovin’s fight with Ruby as a distraction for them to slip by. We can even have the guys at Argus warn Cordovin about it only for her to brush it off.

The fight doesn’t change by much, but one should change it so that Ruby and the group are reluctant to destroy the mech because of Jaune bringing up how it’s used to protect Argus from big Grimm.

The big scene that changes, though, is Adam’s fight with Blake. It begins with Blake telling Yang that she’ll go to the tower alone, but Yang knows better. They both know Adam is following them and that Blake is aware that Adam is waiting for the right moment for him to strike. Now, this can go one of two ways. The Bumblebee route where they plan out the entire fight (right down to Yang feigning a panic attack in “Seeing Red”) or the Feels Route where the following happens:

Blake wants to atone for her misdeeds and she sees this as the best way to do it, telling Yang to go with Ruby and the others. Yang doesn’t have any of it, but as she grabs her, she notices it’s a shadow.

Blake confronts Adam without being scared. They both know that only one person will come out of this alive. And so, they fight.

As they do, flashbacks of Adam’s past comes to light, emphasising who he was prior to the character short: a scared slave who was purchased by Brunswick from shady Schnee Dust Corporation members whose pain (remember, they had the branding iron) attracted Grimm and prompted Brunswick to bring in the Apathy. From there, he joined the White Fang and made it his mission to oppose humanity for their crimes and we see his slow and gradual fall from grace to the madman that we know him today.

Adam’s reason for hating Blake is simple. She ruined everything. As soon as she ran during the train heist back in the Black Trailer, Adam was caught by the police (as Blake stole the part of the train that kept going) and were it not for Banesaw, he would have been arrested. At first, he wanted to leave Blake for dead, but as soon as he saw her being friends with not just humans, but a Schnee, he was furious and Cinder enabled him to want to destroy everything Blake loved.

Let me repeat this for clarity: Adam was always a manipulative gas-lighter. It’s that Cinder encouraged him to do the whole “I will destroy everything you love” thing.

Yang comes in and… Okay, I’m gonna address an elephant in the room.

Yang’s PTSD is a subject of controversy. You have Unicorn of War showing a person’s thoughts on how Yang’s PTSD is properly portrayed and then you have MuffinManDan making fun at how it wasn’t portrayed. Really, her scene can go either way, but in the spirit of what Adam’s true strength is, here’s how I imagine the rematch.

Yang fights Adam like how it happens, but you can see that Yang is acting purely on adrenaline. Adam notices this and starts to take advantage of it, taunting her about the events at Beacon. Yang begins to panic and Adam’s true strength, his gas-lighting, shines. For a good chunk of the fight, it looks like Adam has the upper hand, continually guilt tripping Yang and Blake and mocking their determination to protect each other.

“You humans are all the same! Nothing but squabbling idiots who are quick and easy to anger!” Adam lands the final blow on Yang…

CLANG!

“Yeah…” Yang used her hand to catch his sword. “Like you.” And her eyes flash red.

It turns out Yang had seen Adam for who he truly is and had no reason to fear him. Her freaking out was her fighting fire with fire and pretending to be afraid. She then lays into Adam and blows his every statement back with each hit. So basically, this is where that whole “she promised to stay by my side, too” “you mean the person she thought she promised?” “WHAT DOES SHE SEE IN YOU!?” exchange come in.

And then Adam is killed. He gets a bit of a better send off than what he got, but not by much. Basically, as he dies, we get a flashback to Adam and Blake working together for the first time and having a genuine scene where Blake bonds with him, as though to illustrate that, had Adam let go of his spite for humanity, he would have had a better life. Adam falls on the ground and dies. Blake breaks down, but Yang reassures her that it’s over and we get Bumblebee confirmed. No, they don’t kiss because kissing over a corpse is goddamned creepy and Bumblebee deserves better than reminding the audience about the Lannisters.

The Leviathan comes, along with the Grimm, but this time we get a bigger emphasis of Ruby realizing she fucked up as we see the Grimm attack civilians and even the Cotta-Arcs getting menaced by a Grimm (though not killed), though Jaune takes part of the blame as he’s the one who suggested it and even strategized how to disable the mech.

However, Ruby, in her culmination of her character arc, decides to do something about it rather than wait for someone else to help her. She has Weiss summon the Queen Lancer and fly off to confront the Leviathan. There, she tries to use Silver Eyes, but the doubts in her head cause the Grimm to nearly eat her had it not been for Jinn stopping time. Remember, in this rewrite, she’s pretty nice and not tearing the team apart with two words.

So Ruby gathers the courage to Silver Eyes the Grimm, Cordovin saves Ruby and the heroes head to Atlas, Bees buzzing with delight as we hype up Weiss’s inevitable reunion with her father and we get a scene where Tyrian rallys some Faunus who are in Mantle, telling them that “our Queen has proclaimed change. Atlas will fall!”

DVD Exclusive Episode Because $$$

This is basically expanding on the stinger that last Volume had, where Raven laments about the past life choices and we finally have that STRQ flashback episode we’ve been wanting, though it’s mostly Raven’s POV so we don’t get any juicy stuff aside from how she left Ozpin and became the Spring Maiden. This is probably the only wish fulfilment I would want out of this entire rewrite. Think of it as the “beach episode” of RWBY.

It ends with Taiyang asking Raven what she’ll do now that she’s realized what a coward she is. Cut to black, see you next Volume.

And that’s how I would tweak Volume 6. Not much except by the end, and even then, I tried to keep most of the scenes intact but reworked the context and made it more worthwhile. Unfortunately I doubt I was able to work in the theme I wanted to do at the beginning, but that’s basically the rough sketch I have for this tweak.

#Rewrite #RWBY #RWDE #RWBY Rewrite

[onwesterlywinds]

Ingvald Bloodhound: There you are, you hellion. Helisent Wynter does a 'who, me?' gesture. Ingvald Bloodhound: Yes! You! Helisent Wynter: ... What did I do this time? Ingvald Bloodhound: My first-ever linkpearl call from my brother, and it's about you. And your antics. Ingvald Bloodhound smirks. Ingvald Bloodhound: Well done. Helisent Wynter bursts out laughing. Helisent Wynter: You should've seen his face when I fell off the cliff when he refused to teach me initially. Ingvald Bloodhound: Oh, he told me of that. I can just about imagine the face he made. Helisent Wynter grins at that, shrugging. Helisent Wynter: I felt bad for giving him a heart attack so I kept it to a minimum for the next few days. Lif Silverlode descends the stairs with several books in her arms and nods a greeting at at the two unfamiliar Hyur as she passes them. Helisent Wynter snaps her fingers. Helisent Wynter: You're ... Lif, right? I think we met a while back. Ingvald Bloodhound is still ready to berate Helisent Wynter - lovingly - but stops at the arrival of the young woman. Lif Silverlode squints at the woman, taken aback, then her eyes light up.

Lif Silverlode: Oh, you're...Helisent, right? I think we met shortly after I first came here. Helisent Wynter: Mhm! Yeah, that sounds about right. How've you been? Lif Silverlode: I've been well, thank you for asking. Work has been slow, but I've kept myself busy with the Sandsea's library. Lif Silverlode gestures to the books in her arms. Lif Silverlode: How have you been? Helisent Wynter: Terrorizing his twin brother so he will teach me how to be a monk, she says, motioning at Ingvald. Ingvald Bloodhound: It's going well. For her, at least. Lif Silverlode turns to the stranger. Lif Silverlode: My apologies. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Lif. Ingvald Bloodhound: Reading anything interesting? Lif Silverlode: I just found a few books on Sil'dih that I haven't read before. Helisent Wynter's head tilts curiously at that. Ingvald Bloodhound nods in greeting. Ingvald Bloodhound: Ingvald. Lif Silverlode nods. Lif Silverlode: A pleasure to meet you. What brings you to the Sandsea? Are you another Riskbreaker? Ingvald Bloodhound: Something like that. I patrol Gyr Abania most of the time. Lif Silverlode nods to Ingvald Bloodhound. Helisent Wynter gives him the most innocent grin. Ingvald Bloodhound shrugs at Helisent Wynter. Lif Silverlode looks at Helisent Wynter with relief. Lif Silverlode: I was actually just wondering that. I don't think I've met your sister yet, but I'll keep an eye out for her. Lif Silverlode: So how do the two of you know each other? Ingvald Bloodhound: We're both Gyr Abanian. We met at some point during the reconstruction, and she hasn't left me alone since. Helisent Wynter: He looked like he needed some brightness in his life, really, she shrugs. I also met Orella, his partner, while I was traveling through the Fringes. Lif Silverlode: Well, after everything Ala Mhigo's been through, I think most of your people could do with some cheer. At least you now have a chance at finding some. Ingvald Bloodhound doesn't quite know what to say to that statement, except for the opinion that he thinks “cheer” may still be a ways off. Ingvald Bloodhound: Hm. Helisent Wynter kicks his shin. Helisent Wynter: Stop brooding, for fuck's sake. Just be happy. Ingvald Bloodhound: Ow! Helisent Wynter kicks his shin again for good measure. Helisent Wynter: Or do I need to do something drastic. Ingvald Bloodhound: You brat! Lif Silverlode bites her lip, suddenly realizing how flippant her statement had been. Lif Silverlode: I am so sorry. That was insensitive of me. I did not mean to make light of what Ala Mhigo's been through. I am truly sorry. Helisent Wynter sticks her tongue out at Ingvald Bloodhound. Ingvald Bloodhound: No, I should apologize. As this one can doubtless tell you, I'm an ornery old man with little to no conversational abilities. Helisent Wynter: I mean, yeah, it's been horrible, but ... You also kinda have to learn to try and be happy, or you just stick in the same patterns of sadness and bad moods. That's why I'm working at getting him and the other block of wood to at least smile sometimes. Ingvald Bloodhound: You are deeply unpleasant. Helisent Wynter: And that's why you kicked me off to go bother your brother! Ingvald Bloodhound: Well, it worked. Helisent Wynter stage-whispers to Lif Silverlode. Helisent Wynter: He likes me, don't let him fool you. Lif Silverlode can't help but smile at the antics of the two Gyr Abanians. Lif Silverlode: I'll have to take your word for it. Lif Silverlode's smile falters for a moment as she feels a stab of nostalgia and longing, but she quickly numbs herself to it. Lif Silverlode: You sound like siblings. Ingvald Bloodhound sobers at that. Helisent Wynter: I implied that he and Orella adopted me, actually. Helisent Wynter gently guides the conversation away from siblings. Helisent Wynter: They both had heart attacks. Ingvald Bloodhound just sighs. Lif Silverlode: It sounds like you didn't have much say in this, Ingvald. Ingvald Bloodhound shrugs at Lif Silverlode. Ingvald Bloodhound: She knows I can throw her into an ancient Ala Mhigan pit if she ever truly irks me. Helisent Wynter: ...You know I can fly, right. Ingvald Bloodhound: Oh, I'm all too aware. Ingvald Bloodhound: ...And now, so is Wilhelm. Ingvald Bloodhound can't help but let out a single chuckle. Helisent Wynter sighs; a breeze that ruffles her clothes, despite being indoors. Helisent Wynter: True. I can only play that joke once on unsuspecting people. Lif Silverlode: I don't mean to pry, but who is Wilhelm? Ingvald Bloodhound: My aforementioned brother. Ingvald Bloodhound has never willingly divulged information about him before. Lif Silverlode: Ah, I see. Lif Silverlode nods, but does not pursue the topic, having sensed the tenderness around the subject. Ingvald Bloodhound: What about you? How long have you been a Riskbreaker? Helisent Wynter looks over interestedly. Lif Silverlode: Only a few months now. I joined up shortly after I first met you, Helisent. Helisent Wynter blinks at that, not having really realized that at all. Lif Silverlode: I'm still trying to learn faces, and there has not been much work to do, but I try to make myself useful where I can. Helisent Wynter: Hey, that's more than I can really say, honestly. I'm mostly here at Nive's invitation. Lif Silverlode: Well, you clearly bring some much needed levity to all of your dour countrymen. Ingvald Bloodhound: Have you been put to any tasks as of yet? Ingvald Bloodhound ignores that last comment. Lif Silverlode: No, I mostly impose upon the Grand Steward's hospitality and read her books, unfortunately. Ingvald Bloodhound: Then we've that in common, at least. Helisent Wynter: That sounds about right. I also heal people, on occasion. Lif Silverlode: Well, at least you didn't accidentally lure a foul-tempered Seeker here. Honestly, I'm surprised I still have a job after that. Helisent Wynter gives a slow head tilt of incomprehension and starts to mentally go through a list of any Seekers she may know. It's not a lot. Ingvald Bloodhound makes an almost identical face. Lif Silverlode: An old friend of mine followed me here and forced herself into the free company. She's a good person...but she can be... a lot. If you see a small, brown-haired Seeker with a scar on her cheek, tread carefully. She's prickly. Assuming she hasn't gotten herself killed antagonizing someone bigger than herself, that is. Ingvald Bloodhound: Given the nature of this company's membership, I imagine that would be most everyone she meets, if she's a Seeker. Lif Silverlode: She's small, even for a Seeker, so you're not wrong. Helisent Wynter smothers a giggle, mostly at Nivelth Ajuyn's offense. Helisent Wynter: I'll keep an eye out. Oh, speaking of short Miqot'e: If you want a research partner, Nive might be willing to help. I don't know if she knows anything about Sil'dih, but... Lif Silverlode: I appreciate that. I am just reading for pleasure, but I always enjoy talking with people who know their history. Ingvald Bloodhound: Supposedly there's an author in residence at the Sandsea. I've not met her yet. Helisent Wynter: I'm not much of a scholar myself. I can read and write, and I know a fair amount of history, but that's mostly because I travel around a lot. Lif Silverlode: An author... Might that be... Priscilla, I believe? The Ga-er... *ahem* Ingvald Bloodhound: Hm? Helisent Wynter knows that name from somewhere, she thinks. Then she turns slightly pink, and coughs, looking away. Ingvald Bloodhound: What. Helisent Wynter: Nothing. Lif Silverlode: I... met a woman named Priscilla who said she was an author. She handed me a book to read, but it had a different name for the author. It was... something. Lif Silverlode turns pink and shifts uncomfortably. Helisent Wynter: That they are. Ingvald Bloodhound looks back and forth between the two young women, and shrugs. Lif Silverlode: *ahem* Anyway... Helisent, you said you are a healer? As I recall, you are skilled in conjury, correct? Helisent Wynter nods at that, grateful for the subject change. Helisent Wynter: Mmhm. Gridanian trained, at that, though I left the Fen. Lif Silverlode smiles, pleased that she remembered. Lif Silverlode: And what kind of work do you do, Ingvald? If I may ask. Ingvald Bloodhound: Red magic. As to what I do with it, that's another question entirely. Ingvald Bloodhound isn't even sure of it himself - aside from hunting down fugitives and surveilling for Garleans. Lif Silverlode nods, inwardly pleased that her guess had been correct. Lif Silverlode: A red mage? That's a talent you don't see much anymore. I'm not sure I've even met one outside of a book. Lif Silverlode is very careful to keep her expression straight and her voice curious. Ingvald Bloodhound: Which makes it difficult to learn from others, as one might for a more common discipline. Helisent Wynter taps her chin, thinking. Lif Silverlode: I bet it does. I'm glad that there are still some that art alive, and I hope that a day will come when I can meet more. Ingvald Bloodhound: As do I. Ingvald Bloodhound looks around briefly. Ingvald Bloodhound: Speaking of which, I'd best get some training in. I hope you'll excuse me. Ingvald Bloodhound: It's good to meet you, Lif. Helisent Wynter: I've heard stories of the Crimson Duelists, while I traveled around Gyr Abania, actually. They sounded interesting. Ingvald Bloodhound: I'll tell you what I know of them. Perhaps another time. If you're good. Lif Silverlode: It was very nice to meet you, Ingvald. Feel free to seek me out any time you're here. I will be around for the foreseeable future. Helisent Wynter, in true contrary fashion, goes to kick his shin again. Helisent Wynter: I'm always good. Ingvald Bloodhound manages to dodge this time. Helisent Wynter almost overextends and faceplants, only to be saved by a breeze that seems to push her up from the ground. She makes a face at Ingvald Bloodhound. Helisent Wynter: Spoilsport. Lif Silverlode: The same goes for you, Helisent. I would love to talk with you again at some point. Helisent Wynter turns back to Lif Silverlode and grins. Helisent Wynter: Sure! I'd like to get to know you some more, if that's alright. I'm just currently sort of in training, and only came back to grab a few things. Lif Silverlode: Ah, right. The monk training you mentioned. I hope your training goes well, and you don't give your 'parents' too many grey hairs. Lif Silverlode smiles. Helisent Wynter: Orella's hair was already grey. Ingvald Bloodhound makes a straight face. Helisent Wynter: ... Don't look at me like that. I'm the light of your life. Ingvald Bloodhound thinks it's more silver, but says nothing.

#Lif Silverlode #Helisent Wynter #Ingvald Bloodhound