#that could potentially fix some small plot holes

[sacredlilygarden]

the overview effect + sagau?

(note that this was written before I knew anything about the fountain archon quest, so expect furina slander)

specifically people of power, like the archons, or fatui harbingers, get them to see just how valuable human life is, how small it is, how fragile, how venerable, how ultimately insignificant everything is.

let them see your perspective, how the people of fontaine do not have a suitable archon, a joke for an archon, how the archon has openly said she’s bored with a real court case, how the dragon serves the nation, the questionable morals, ones that could potentially end lives, how it’s destroying the environment? how sumeru is willing to give everything for knowledge, how the archon, the protector of said nation, was inslaved? just how small inazuma is compared to the rest of the world how people were held captive, slaughtered, driven mad, all for a single vision? how the archon of Liyue forsaken his own nation, put his people in danger, and did nothing? How the people of Mondstate believe their archon has passed, how they were put in danger, excluding the high possibility of it, how the nation its self was put in danger with all the hilichurls constantly attacking, even when attacking the city head on, their “protecter” ignored it, when stormterror attacked, nothing, the archon has ignored his responsibility of archon. his duty.

there duty.

how human life must be protected at all costs.

(this was very quickly written down so I’d didn’t lose the idea so excuse my poor grammar(and the plot holes(?)i just wanted to carry the hate I have for the archons ignoring their responsibilities, and how some a random Outlander(just looking for their sibling)fixed their problems), excluding the fact it’s currently 12:39 AM on a school day for me😅, whoops, I’ll probably start write this in the morning or something, but sleep it is for now)

#genshin impact #genshin impact sagau #genshin #genshin sagau #sagau cult au #sagau genshin #sagau x reader #sagau #brain-rot #genshin cult au #Genshin sagau cult au #Genshin impact cult au

[sleepingdeath-bboys]

indulging in impropriety ; 18+

pairing ; thomas thorne x female!reader

word count ; 3028

warnings ; porn with some plot, premarital sex acts (gasp!), handjob (male receiving), oral (female receiving)

read also on ; ao3 | wattpad

It was the height of winter when you’d first met, with your estate coated in a thick blanket of snow entirely unlike the usual weather of England — a still and undisturbed winter wonderland that provided a beautiful contrast to the comfortable warmth and endless movement that characterised the internal goings on of your family manor. Men and women of gentle breeding were mingling freely, sharing polite laughter over the rims of wine glasses and dancing with perfect poise about the ballroom as your staff busied themselves with serving your prestigious company.

A gala, entirely of your parents’ making, that provided them with the perfect opportunity to bump elbows with their contemporaries and show off their wealth and esteem through the sheer scope of the event. Their estate was spotless, full of life yet feeling entirely un-lived in; their staff were silent and effective, remaining seen yet unacknowledged and completely devoted to their duties, which they carried out without complaint or flaw; their clothing was of the highest quality, rich in look and feel, and reflecting of their influence and conformity of the expectations of your social status — and then there was you. The daughter they kept well educated and well groomed, perfectly obedient and quant as you stood at their side and entertained your guests with grace and humility; beautiful in voice and in form.

Though through all of the conversation and movement and light, you found yourself becoming so terribly overwhelmed and politely excused yourself to an adjacent hallway. A mild headache, you’d insisted, nothing that couldn’t be fixed with some fresh air and a moment or two to catch your breath (hopefully away from some of those suitors that were eyeing you up rather shamelessly from across the hall).

And it was in that hallway, away from the rest of the small world you’d known, that you came face to face with Thomas Thorne for the first time.

He was everything you could have hoped for in a suitor, even if you’d caught him terribly off guard: perfectly polite and gentlemanly to a fault, greeting you with a kiss to the back of your hand with a quiet apology on the tip of his tongue; passionate about his craft irrespective of how he was perceived, having been reciting some sonnets beneath his breath and scribbling away on a piece of parchment when you made your presence known; beautiful of soul and body, with curls the colour of oak wood upon his head and eyes so wide and dark that you felt yourself getting lost in them. Wonderful, intelligent, polite and thankfully not betrothed to anyone else.

The perfect man of your era; and the man you then proceeded to court in relative secrecy over the next few months until your families could meet for a formal discussion of your potential union. A meeting you both eagerly awaited.

————

As you exited the carriage alongside your parents, you tried desperately to soothe your nerves, smoothing out the few creases of your dress — happy to be finally getting the opportunity to court and woo him publicly but afraid of any protests your family could raise against him. Though, thankfully, you just about managed to regain your composure and, with the words of his last letter still ringing clearly in your mind, you quietly followed your parents into the Thorne estate.

The meeting itself was terribly plain and unexciting, filled with very drawling discussions of finances, employment and intentions — of children and heirs that you could see the idea of had sent your love into a veritable rabbit hole of thought (at least if the flushing of his cheeks was anything to go off of). Though it seemed the only relevant parties in the conversation were your parents and Thomas, so your mind was free to wander so long as you kept up that polite, smiling facade and nodded at suitable intervals — a skill you'd honed since childhood.

And lord did your mind wander, diving into some more inappropriate ideas that tended to torment you whenever you were around your love. Thoughts of doing the most crass acts that you'd heard of in whispers from married friends and even from some of your more trusted staff members — most often the maids that you'd entrusted with delivering and carrying the letters you and Thomas tended to exchange. Acts that had you pressing your thighs together beneath your thick skirts and digging your nails into your palms to ground you back into the moment.

Not that these attempts were particularly successful, however, as having him so close by whilst being entirely untouchable was too much for your mind to handle and you began to internally indulge in those fantasies — taking full advantage of your company’s obliviousness towards you in the process.

————

You allowed yourself to imagine what it would feel like to have him so completely (so intimately). What his hands would feel like as they explored you, explored your body. for the first time, how gently and curiously they’d map out every spare millimetre of skin as it was exposed to him — tracing a feather light touch from your jawline to your ankles, stopping only where you needed him most. What his lips would feel like when they pressed against the column of your throat and slowly, methodically, made their way lower; how they’d suckle and massage the soft curve of your breasts and kiss a path down from your sternum (grinning against you as he felt the hummingbird rhythm of your heart beneath his lips) to the soaking apex of your thighs. What he’d feel like when he was inside you, and how you’d take any form of him in his entirety over not having him at all: tongue, fingers or sex.

Anything, everything, of his you’d gladly take — adore, worship. And you were certain he’d do the same.

Would he compose poetry against you? Turn you into yet another medium to spread his art; mouthing sonnets into the flesh of your stomach and thighs, tracing intricate letterings with his fingertips along your hips and sides, and tracing the tip of his tongue along your most sensitive parts to coax music of your own creation from your lips. Would he turn you into a performance, an orchestra, a passionate play?

You hoped he would. God, how you hoped.

He was the muse of your most private thoughts, the moments that transpired only in the dark solitude of your quarters where you allowed your hands to stray sinfully between your legs and his name spilled so freely from your lips like a mantra, a prayer. Your divine adoration, your Eros and Apollo in equal measure; skilfully igniting such passion in the same breath that he conjured artful phrases from nothing.

A poet in the truest form and you couldn’t wait any longer to have him in his entirely (and from the heated nature of your last correspondence, you knew he felt much the same way).

So the moment that Thomas offered his arm to you in order to give you a proper tour of the estate, you all but leapt at the opportunity to get a moment or two alone — politely bidding your parents farewell and walking with him through the well-decorated hallways of his home.

————

“… and this is the dining room,” Thomas gestured broadly to your surroundings before placing his hand back over your own, “we only really make use of it when we have company, I prefer to dine where I work and mother tends to take her meals outdoors whenever she can,”

“That hardly surprises me,” you jested, leaning your head against his shoulder as you made a most useful observation, “though you don’t seem to have many members of staff, my dear; unless they’re just in hiding?”

“Hm?” He turned to look at you quizzically for a beat before continuing. “I suppose not. There has only been the two of us for the longest time and we very rarely host any guests, so I suppose that I never really considered such a thing.”

You nodded at that and, after taking a very cursory look along either end of the hallway, all but dragged Thomas into the empty room and closed the door behind you — shoving him back against it in a single smooth movement that left him rather shocked to say the least.

“Darling I have something I must confess,” you began, pressing your hands against his chest gently but firmly as you scanned his features for any sign of discomfort or hesitance, “your last letter has… haunted me; leaving me with so many thoughts,” you inhaled sharply and leaned in close to whisper the next bit into his ear, cautious of being caught in such a compromising position even still, “inappropriate thoughts of you, of the two of us. And I fear that I am no longer able to fight them,”

You heard him take in a sharp breath and as you pulled back you could see his cheeks and the tips of his ears had gone a deep shade of scarlet from your words. Though, whilst he did avert his eyes somewhat, what he said only spurred you on to take what it was you so dearly wanted — no, needed.

“My apologies, my love, I hadn’t intended to leave you so deeply affected in our time apart,” another shuddering intake of breath, “though as your betrothed it is my responsibility to take care of you, protect you, so I beg of you to let me know what it is that would soothe your pains.”

“My pains?” You laughed quietly in spite of yourself, hands trembling as you reached up to caress the side of his burning face. “My dear the only thing I long for is to have you — but I know not how to have you without besmirching your reputation or risking our engagement.” Then, with a start and a sudden epiphany, you continued, “Lest we act without any true consummation?”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Thomas asked, voice a higher pitch than you’d ever heard from him as he fought through his flustered demeanour to meet your eager gaze, wide pupils giving away his own want as clear as day.

“I have heard a few things from some married friends of mine and would be happy to partake, if you’d allow it?”

And the nod that he gave was all the encouragement you needed as you quickly pressed your lips against his in a long-anticipated and passionate kiss — hands coming up to tangle in his soft, curly hair whilst his found an unsure purchase on your waist.

————

Not breaking the kiss, you reached between you both with one hand and began to fumble with the buttons of his breeches for a few moments before you finally managed to pull them open and reach what you were aiming for. The moment your fingertips grazed the base and length of his dick, Thomas moaned against your lips and bucked into your touch, his grip on your waist momentarily tightening before he caught himself and began to massage your sides with his thumbs in a wordless apology.

But that muffled moan was nothing compared to the litany of verifiably lewd sounds that escaped him when you pulled him from his clothing and began to shyly jerk him off. Every pump of your wrist, every squeeze of the root, every time you massaged the leaking head with your thumb, every long movement coaxed another beautiful sound from his soft lips that you greedily swallowed as you kept him upright against the dining room door. And, for your part, every sigh and moan and groan only spurred you on further — building your confidence as you began to get faster and more consistent with your strokes, settling into a rhythm that suited you both.

It didn’t take long for him to start outright fucking your fist due to his over sensitivity and inexperience, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care as you rode the high of being in such a dominant position over your future husband. Of being the first and only person to draw such noises from his throat, to see him in such a disheveled state.

And, a few moments later, the first to see him cum as he spilled his seed into your hand with a particularly vulgar moan that sounded vaguely like your name as it reverberated through your body — moving from your lips to heat your blood before settling in your very bones as a desire that burned your every nerve. Though, kind as you were, you continued to gently pump along his throbbing cock to help him prolong his climax (mentally thanking your dear maid for passing on such a trick to you a few weeks prior).

Then, once he seemed to have calmed down, you pulled away just enough to place a few chaste kisses on his nose and lips before reaching for his handkerchief and using that to clean your hand and wrist. Thomas, meanwhile, was full of apologies and praise as he held you close and rested his forehead against your own; all “that was amazing, my love”s and “you are a most wonderful temptress”s in a breathy voice as he regained his composure.

At which point he was rather determined to return the favour and insisted on you sitting down on a nearby chair as he hastily redressed and knelt down between your open legs — unsure of what exactly he was to do but trusting you to guide him and wanting nothing more than to please you (as was the duty of a (future) husband).

————

After taking a moment to tug your undergarments down your legs and carefully setting them aside, Thomas took a deep breath and moved your legs to have them resting over his shoulders. Being confronted with the sight of your dropping sex seemed to leave the poor man breathless, though, as all you could feel were his hands massaging your thighs and he tentatively stuck his tongue out and licked a stripe along your slit — from your clit to your entrance with such gentleness that you could barely feel his presence.

Though the moment you let out a sharp gasp and dug your fingers in his hair, he seemed to regain his resolve and swiftly began eating you out with an endearing messiness that had you grinding against his face and tongue. He alternated between drawing figure eights on your clit and plunging his tongue into you (following the stuttered instructions you’d passed on to him just moments before), all the while moaning and groaning into you. He’d also occasionally break away to offer the lewdest of praise that had your head spinning and your skin burning with a mixture of desire and bashfulness, biting down on your lower lip to stifle the moans and whines that threatened to escape you.

My Aphrodite. My Venus. My Galatea. My Andromeda. My goddess reborn; all beauties of the past and of myth could only pale in comparison to your light, your smile, your eyes. He’d insisted with such passion as he devoured you whole, his movements and touch so entirely unrefined and unsophisticated that he was more animal than man as he feared between your legs — savouring your flavour like a rich wine yet at the same time gorging himself like a starved beggar at the king’s feast.

A poetic contradiction so entirely Thomas that you began losing yourself in his praise, his touch; throwing your head back in ecstasy and slamming your hands over your mouth to silence yourself as yet another wave of pleasure wracked your body. Though still, Thomas continued to ruin you and built you back up from the rubble; ravish and worship you like a deity whilst tongue-fucking you like a common whore; whispering the sweetest of praises with the same tongue that was buried deep in your aching, throbbing cunt. Uncaring of being caught in the moment, uncaring of anything that wasn’t you: your body, your voice, your flavour and your pleasure.

But only did you truly lose yourself to the cascade of pleasure when he began to make use of one of his hands; latching onto your clit with his lips whilst plunging two fingers into your soaking wet pussy. Only then did the endless waves of hedonistic need start to overwhelm you, drag you under and drown you as you came with a start; drenching his mouth and wrist with your essence as he greedily drank everything you gave him — continuing to pleasure you through your climax.

Yet still with blurred vision, heaving lungs and bitten raw lips you could just about make out the continual praise he was sending your way. His words, as always, poetic and his tone low and sensual as he composed poetry against your sex — moaning and groaning each time you bucked into his face as if he were the one in the throes of nirvana in your place. As if he were the one who’s mind was wrought with a barrage of thoughts of him and him alone: touch, body, voice and especially that wonderful mouth that turned you into a living art piece for his praise and devotion. An alter to yourself.

After all was done, you couldn’t help but crave him even more as you gradually came down from your high and looked down at him as he knelt obediently between your parted thighs. The dishevelment of his soft hair, his blown-wide pupils that were positively brimming with love and lust, the way he eagerly licked his fingers clean of your juices when he finally removed them from your spent core. He was so effortlessly erotic in everything he did; making beauty look far easier than it ought to.

And for a few moments you allowed yourself to bask in the afterglow of intimacy, temporarily forgetting the positive impropriety of what you’d done, and thanked every deity you knew of that you’d be able to spend your life with Thomas Thorne — as, after all, you couldn’t imagine being like this with anyone but him.

#sleepingdeath #smut one shot #smut #bbc ghosts smut #thomas thorne smut #thomas thorne one shot #thomas thorne x reader #female reader #not sfw death #18+ account #minors dni #minors do not touch

[teeth-cable]

Hey. I've seen some of your HB rewrites and their pretty cool. I even like some of the ideas you came up with (ex. Stolas & Stella being political enemies rather than a married couple, imps being intersex & following a binary gender system, etc).

I was wondering if you could give me some writing advice with rewrite stuff. See, I have this portfolio-like series called 'Let's Reimagine', where I revision (i.e. rewrite and/or redesign) a piece of media (be it a show, movie, webcomic, video game, etc), whether it be something I like, or something that while I'm not a fan of, believe that it could've been great (or at least decent) had it been handled better, while also integrating my OCs (including self-inserts) into my revisions as if they were canon characters in said media. This is one of my passion projects that I'd love to bring to life someday, as I wish to make YouTube videos about them when I create my YT channel (which doesn't exist at this point in time) in the future, so for now, I'm starting small by making posts talking about my revisions on Tumblr & Reddit as like a practice run of sorts (like for ex. creating a manga and then having that manga get an anime adaptation, or creating a comic (like a webcomic) and having that be adapted into an animation of some sort (ex. series, short(s), etc), or creating a book or novel and having said book or novel being adapted into a movie and/or series).

I'm also an aspiring writer who wishes to share their stories with everyone for them to enjoy, including 'Let's Reimagine' (where Helluva Boss is one of the shows I plan on reimagining, due to the many issues it's got, especially with the increase of them in Season 2; as much as I like & enjoy HB, I do have to agree that it's kind of a mess, and I get where fans are coming from with its criticisms, especially towards Season 2). However, there are some issues of mine that I feel could detriment my writing abilities & projects (including 'Let's Reimagine') in general (ex. not thinking about potential plot holes, inconsistencies, worldbuilding/lore issues, & questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, rushing into things before thinking & planning stuff out, worrying about my stories not being good enough for anyone to enjoy, feeling inferior compared to other artists & writers, people hating what I make, and thinking the worst possible outcomes; apologizes if that got a little too personal and if I (potentially) made you worried; I suffer from anxiety and have a tendency to get anxious and worked up too quickly, especially when thinking negatively, and trying to be a perfectionist, worrying that if I or my content aren't perfect, then I come across as a failure; but I assure you that I am trying to work on these issues and getting past them for the better).

So, with all that said, do you have any advice in creating & doing rewrites/revisions (ex. planning stuff out, character arcs/development, worldbuilding/lore, plot points, fixing & covering plot holes & inconsistences, fulfilling wasted/missed potential & missed opportunities, avoiding questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, integrating ocs/self-inserts into said rewrite/revision, etc) to any writers out there (including aspiring ones)?

Feel free to respond back to me whenever you get the chance. Thank you and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night. 🤗💕❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖💕🤗

This is very late, I'm so sorry it took me this long to answer your ask.

Things has changed sufficiently from when this ask was submitted. My HB rewrite is on currently on pause so I can focus on my Hazbin one instead.

I do like the concept of your Let's Reimagine series. It sounds like a fun passionate project in which you experiment with your writing and show tough love for the shows you're rewriting for. I hope soon you'll be able to release your first rewrite for the series.

I have some general writing advice and one specific advice for rewrites I personally use.

Create the world building first

If your rewrite takes place in a fantasy world, I suggest fleshing the world building first before the characters. This is a different world from our, so their rules and lore will affect these characters differently, and you should know why first to explain the certain elements of the both the characters and world. Fleshing the world building first can help create plot ideas and external conflict easier.

Have a Beta Reader

This one is standard. I suggest having a beta reader to review your rewrites and concepts. As writers, we think our stories make sense because we know the context, but to readers who don't know anything, our scripts realistically be confusing at first. Along the same vain, they can help you realize that an idea is underdeveloped or useless. Another good reason is they can offer new and improved concepts and ideas you didn’t or wouldn't think of before.

Be open to criticism

Criticism will help you grow as a writer. You don't have to like them all or listen to every piece, but still keep an open mind because they can and will help you. I heavily suggest being open to criticism specially when you’re writing a topic you have no experience in (Ex: mental illness, addiction, a specific identity). Again, not only will it help you improve, but also portray those topics better.

Rewrite

My only rewrite specific advice is to expand and flesh out ideas and characters, you felt the original show skimmed over. In both of my rewrites, I'm putting a greater focus on the world building, dark character concepts and how they intertwined with each other because the shows barely touches on them. It's your rewrite so do whatever you want with it, don’t feel limitless.

I hope this helps!

#꧁rambles꧂ #➥asks #writing advice

[a-gal-with-taste]

Thing of Dreams (Oneshot)

Birthday-gift for the amazing talented, wonderfully gifted, beautiful master of the art of words, @ink-and-dagger ♡

Warnings: SFW. Only-one-bed!troupe, tension, boss-employee relationship, borderline flirtation, Freshly-showered!Silco (you're welcome ♡), humor, open-ending, potential for future-parts, maybe

The exact, perfectly-structured set up for tragedy lies before you, and you can do nothing but stare in complete horror. Terror, too - Gods know you won’t live after this, not after your companion sees what lies before you.

You ponder if there’s time to run. To duck back through the doors and sprint down the halls, or better yet, duck into the nearby closet in order to hide from fate itself, or Silco’s entirely predictable ire.

The only problem is, you have no idea if the closet is big enough to hide in. 

Another problem arises when the door opens behind you, and Silco steps into the hotel room before you can even attempt to run or hide. Stepping inside, you don’t dare to turn and catch his expression, the reaction to what outrage he’s viewing with his own, two-coloured eyes.

You have a pretty good guess as to what the reaction he has, when you hear him growl, low and darkly, at the sight of a single queen-size bed in the room, “What?”

“I… they said-” Helpless, you chance a glance over your shoulder, and are struck. By his dark expression, yes, but also how long his dark, gray-streaked locks are when wet. “Oh. You took a shower?”

“I don’t fancy going to bed while covered in the day's grime and blood, thank you very much,” He said, still low, and tone sharp as his eyes snapped towards you. “I spent too many nights like that, and I don’t plan to spend another… nor do I plan to spend it with you.”

You turn, panic bleeding into outrage. “I didn’t plan this!”

“And yet there’s two of us, one bed, and I certainly didn’t request either-”

“This was the only room available!” Your voice borders on a wail, embarrassment and terror clear in your high-pitched tone as your hands come up, running through your hair in an anxious-tick. “I thought there would be two beds in one room, I obviously didn’t think there would only be one for couples!” 

Though, that explained the front-desk’s raised brow, and knowing smirk twitching on painted lips as she handed over the keys. Thinking she was giving the keys to a fun night, and not literally handing the keys to your own doom.

Melodramatic? A bit, but Silco was too, so it fit… the man is pacing, for Gods’ sake, and you imagine there could be an additional bill for damages by tomorrow morning, if he continues to burn a hole in the floor like that.

“Ridiculous,” He manages, glaring at the bed as if it personally offended him. And when Silco raises his gaze, he fixes you with the same look. “What did you say to them?”

“What do you-?”

“Did you tell them we were a couple?” His thin lips downturn into a displeased scowl, in time with a rivet of water cascading down his face from his hairline. Apparently, he feels nothing on the scarred-side of his face, as the man doesn’t so much as twitch as the small stream crosses over the cracked-skin. “What… Did you hope to get a discount?”

“No, I-” Cutting yourself off, you pause, thinking. And after thinking for a couple heartbeats, you suddenly feel angry. “It was an accident, Silco. I had no control over this - and I clearly didn't do this on purpose!”

Sleeping with your boss… even in its most innocent format, such a sentence would be cause for years, decades of torment from your fellow thugs within the main-gang, and Janna knows there was already some raised brows and shared sideways-glances at the news that you, and only you, would accompany Silco on an out-of-town meeting.

If Silco let you live through the night, the taunts and teasing from your fellow gang members were certain to be the death of you, if they ever found out.

“Regardless of intentions and plots, this is unacceptable,” He said flatly as you bristled, the back-handed accusation clear in his tone. “Thankfully, there’s rugs.”

You blink, a bit confused. “Rugs…?”

“Rugs. Floor-covers, mats, carpets,” You were surprised his throat hadn’t closed up, considering Silco had been nothing but dry since returning from a shower. “A decently soft surface for you to sleep on. I’ll even allow you a pillow.”

I’ll even allow you a pillow…?

Expectant. Silco looks at you, cool, and waiting - it’s much like the look he gives when you’re hesitating at the doorway of the office, papers or collections clenched tight in your hands as he awaits for you to step into the snake’s den. You’ve never thought of yourself as being at-risk of being bit by the man, but it could not be understated on the aura of danger, and the air of deadly confidence that surrounded the man.

A confidence that, despite your own good and life-longevity, drew you towards him. It was… intoxicating, an overwhelming presence of control, pure power radiating from him that was too impossible to simply ignore. 

Like now - you can’t ignore that piercing look, one that stabs straight through you and sends thoughts to scatter about your own mind, as he looks to you and waits for his orders to be followed.

But - he hasn’t given an order.

“I… I don’t follow…?”

Silco doesn’t look away from you, and the sigh he gives is, oddly, patient, despite the blaze flickering faintly in his eye of swirling blood and shadows. “It makes no sense to send you away now, and you need as much rest as myself. Thankfully, there’s an abundance of pillows, and a ground soft enough to sleep on-”

“The ground?!”

“Yes.” The new sigh isn’t so patient due to your rude shriek of an interruption; again, an expectant glint in his gaze. “I’m sure you’ve slept on worse.”

Gawking, that outrage born from a day’s travel, and exhaustion of keeping on-guard around this dangerous Chem-Baron, once more flares inside you as you mull over his absolute gall. “You want me to take the floor?! I told you, I didn’t plan for there to be only one bed-!”

“And believe it or not, this isn’t a punishment for your oversight,” He says, a voice now a sharp hiss that, any other time, would strike you still and silent. “It’s unreasonable that this is what we are left with, but while options are limited, they are not scarce or nonexistent entirely.” Gesturing with a hand still damp, faint steam rolling from his skin from a hot shower, he speaks as if discussing battleplans, and not the sleeping-arrangements.

“Obviously, it’s unacceptable to split up, and should this be the only room available in the hotel at the present moment, sharing is a temporary-exception I can make for an evening. You take the floor, and i’ll settle in the bed-”

“Or you take the floor, and i’ll take the bed.”

The short growl you make causes Silco to look at you with wide eyes, as if you just suggested he should do a backflip off the Bridge of Progress.

Then they narrow, and the cerulean and crimson-laced eyes become dangerous.

“Insubordination is not wise at this time,” He says, tone soft in a way that makes every follicle on your body rise in a goosebumps. “It’s been a long day. A long, tiring day, and I imagine that streak is bound to continue…”

Silco takes one step towards you, and the radiating aura of power doesn’t just reach you - it consumes you, and overwhelms your senses enough that all you’re aware of, is his duo-colored gaze fixated on you, and the soft, deep baritone of his voice.

“So I advise you not to be difficult. It’s hardly a trait that suits you… normally so pliable, so obedient,” There’s the beginning of a purr in his voice, but you know that behind it, there’s plenty of cutting-claws. “Let’s make this simple, yes? Get on the floor.”

“No.”

“No?” The singular-brow Silco still possesses, is raised. Not just from your quick reply, but the choked, quiet firmness that lies in the near-mute voice you now own. 

A deep, deep inhale, and you try not to choke on the smell of fresh soap, and the lingering remains of spiced-smoke. Both from him.

“No. I won’t take the floor - with all due respect, but we’re in the same situation. We both need to rest, and rest well, and I somehow I doubt I'll be able to do either on all the comforts of a floor,” You open your eyes, unaware you had ever closed them, and fix your gaze to Silco. For once, not twitching, not avoiding, and meeting his gaze squarely with a raised, steady chin.

“So, no. I’m not going to sleep on the floor, and if you’re gonna be an ass about it, you can find yourself another room.”

Your voice is steady - everything else is trembling, ever so slightly, and Silco’s gaze drops briefly from yours to observe the shaky-nature of your body. Trailing slowly, eyes observant but otherwise unreadable in his study of your form, you try not to flinch back as you watch the Eye trace along every curve, every dip, contour and shape of your body…

It’s like he’s looking at you. Not for the first time, but the first time he is indulging at taking in every single detail your body has to offer his sight - and you, the fool, are unable to do anything but offer freely, simply by standing there and staring at him.

Truly, like an idiot.

An idiot, and a coward. 

A flinch races through your nerves and muscles when his eyes snap towards yours, and you twitch again when you realize you can see nothing but blue and dark, bloody red - there’s only colors, not a single speck of emotion within that infamous gaze.

It would put anyone on edge, and quietly fearing for their life after delivering such sharp words to a man who owns several knives that are far, far sharper.

That’s why you’re certain that, when he takes one step forward, it’s instrict and self-preservation that urges you to take two-steps back -

The back of your knees hit the end of the bed, and the limbs buckle under the sudden, surprise stop behind you. Squawking in surprise, you go down with wide eyes and a mouth dropping wide in a single, punching exhale as you land back-first onto the bed, bouncing once, twice, before settling and growing still.

Stiffer than a corpse, staring up at the ceiling, and absolutely mortified in the long silence that follows from your obvious actions, and the embarrassing way it showed directly in front of Silco himself.

You await a growl. A sigh of disappointment, aggravated by your pathetic and ridiculous display - as it continues, you half expect the silence to soon be filled with the sounds of your frantic apologies and shrieks as Silco drags you from the room.

What you don’t expect is for him to simply say, “Fine.”

And without another, Silco returns with ease into the quiet that unnerves you, moving around the room as you continue to stare up at the ceiling. Bewildered, and still bracing for… another form of reaction from your curt disrespect, and show of cowardly behavior in the very-face of the most powerful man in the Undercity.

But Silco gives you no such respite. Moving in silence, save for the occasional rustles and the sparse shuffling around the room as Silco prepares for bed. Otherwise, there’s only the quiet symphony of his even, slow breaths aligning with your own breathing, to offer any form of evidence that he didn’t just storm out of the room.

You think he would. You don’t dare to raise your head to see, but a part of you - stupidly optimistic - likes to think that he would take his chances in finding new accommodations for the evening, and leave you to spend the evening alone, and alone to contemplate on how to explain away all of… this, to him in the morning.

The world of Runeterra, of course, is never that merciful.

“Move over, there’s more than enough space,” Silco’s order comes in a clear, firm tone from the corner of your sight, and it’s one that you’re so used to hearing, that you go to follow without question, before you pause.

Confused, you inquire, “I… do you want me to take the floor-?”

“No. You’ve made your feelings on that quite clear, and I have no energy to battle with you further on such juvenile matters,” He says flatly, and you wince again at your previous conduct. Before you can even attempt to apologize, his hand reaches down, long fingers curling just-enough to grip your shoulder with enough strength to command your attention - as if he doesn’t already have it. “We’ll act as adults for once, and learn to share without throwing a fit. Now, move over.”

… Is he…?

There’s the faintest, but pointed push on your shoulder and your stunned body is so lifeless that you turn with the movement onto your side, now facing the empty half of the bed…

The bed that, you realize with a jolt, that Silco means to share.

This is worse.

This is so, so much worse. Not only because death-by-embarrassment would be all but assured should anyone from the gang find out about not only sharing a room, but now a bed with the Eye of Zaun himself, but now there’s a very real chance that you could die by Silco’s hand.

You wouldn’t put it past him not to strangle you in your sleep, for the absolutely abhorrent way you chose to dismiss his idea of sleeping on the floor - an option that looks far, far more comfortable to your nerves, but it’s too late to backtrack now.

Numbly, you shuffle over, still looking towards the ceiling with wide, disbelieving eyes at the situation you found yourself in. In twenty-four hours, you went from a drinking contest with Dustin and Ran to nurse away the stings of a successful, but rough transportation job, to being the road-trip buddy of an Undercity crime lord.

A crime lord who tucks himself under the covers with all the ease of a man in his own element, his own room, and like you didn’t even exist.

Which… could be a positive thing. If he forgot your existence, at least for one night, then maybe he would pretend your previous behavior didn’t exist as well - yet another benefit for you.

Again, the universe is not that merciful.

“You’re typically loyal,” Silco comments, mildly. If he feels the bed twitch at the sound of his sudden voice, he makes no note of it. “Not simply to a fault - wholly so. Entirely dedicated, never once questioning… certainly never back-talking.”

Another flinch, and this one triggers a sigh from him, “I’m sorry, sir-”

“Apologize again, and I'll gag you.” Eyes wide, you turn your head with your cheek on the pillow beneath you, gapping at a man whose expression is as flat as your voice. “I’ll lash you to the bed for good measure. You’re right on one account… It's been a long day. I would prefer to simply sleep, and neither of us will get much of it, if all we focus on is apologies.”

“R-right, sor-”

Silco turns, mirroring your own form, side of head resting on the pillow as he glowers at you, a deep frown on his face and eyes… still not quite readable. “I mean it. Stop apologizing.”

Wisely, brilliantly, you decided to keep your mouth shut.

Silco gave you a moment’s peace - from his voice, but not his eyes. Those remained latched onto yours, almost searching, from what you could decipher, and you found yourself frozen, prevented from even attempting to look away from his piercing gaze.

“... I didn’t realize there was a bark behind the bite,” He says, and his tone is as oddly unreadable as the look in his eyes. In fact, it’s almost as if he’s forgotten you were here entirely - impossible, as he looks directly at you - but his musements continue as if you’ve ceased to exist right in front of him. “You’ve been an acceptable employee to date. Fiery, with a decent punch if the numbers add up correctly, but I didn’t realize that would extend to myself…”

“Sor-”

His skin tastes of water.

Fresh-water, straight from a shower - even his palm is devoid of that consistent stench of cigars, and as Silco grips your lower chin with his fingers, palm flat and firm over your lips, all you can process is the taste of water on Silco’s skin.

“Last. Chance.” Silco says, softly in a way that once again, reminds you of the sharp claws and teeth that the cleverest of predators hide from their prey. “You can follow one order, can you not? You’ve followed so many in the past… don’t disappoint me now.”

The thought makes your stomach do flips… but for the first time, not in fear. 

Maybe you’ve experienced too much of it, and that the effect has faded somewhat because of the abundance of it, with sharing such close-quarters with him.

Or maybe it’s the thumb stroking faintly at a patch of skin along your jaw.

Maybe that has something to do with it.

But regardless, you nod. And Silco doesn’t quite smile, but there’s a glint in his eyes that doesn’t directly remind you of the tip of a blade, that saps at the tension in your body, enough that you don’t even try to speak as his palm pulls away from your lips, that are now incredibly dry.

His fingers remain, though. Twitching along your jaw-length in time with his head tilting slightly, once more resting on the pillow as his gaze travels over you, again, taking in details he had never bothered to make a note-of before. 

Any attempts to do the same, or even do anything, fade immediately as he commends you for your self-control over silence, by simply saying, almost matter-of-factly, “Good girl.”

He pauses, almost mutely daring as he gazes into your eyes, and you do nothing but stare back into his.

If Silco is disappointed at the lack of a reaction from your short-circuited brain, or feeling thwarted that you didn’t dare respond with a confused sorry, he doesn’t show it. And simply continues, once more pointed and yet aloof as well, “I like that fire. You don’t show it often, and I didn’t think you had the guts to show it to me… but I've heard tales of it. It’s impressive, the thought that you’d swallow back your nerves to backtalk a man you seem petrified of-”

“Not petrified,” You comment, and his fingers stiffen at the feel of the thick swallow, gliding down your throat before you attempt speech again. “But… you… you know you’re pretty imposing, right?”

“Of course. Even with only one complete eye, doesn’t directly make me blind. Yet years of being in my employment hasn’t softened your trepidation around me? Not one bit?” The hand, not holding your face hostage, braces on the bed beneath him. This time, there’s not even a creak as Silco pushes himself up to gaze down at you from over the sharp, severe curve of his nose - taking you in fully, and fully curious about you. 

“Years with me,” He murmurs, more soft than anything you had ever heard in your life, and a million times as deadly. “And yet you still fear?”

Again, he feels you swallow thickly. And maybe Silco can feel the words gathering beneath the skin of your throat before you even speak them, because there’s already a shifting-light in his gaze when you finally, hoarsely, make out your reply.

“Fear what you don’t know. Think that’s a pretty typical mindset, sir?”

“Would you like to?”

You blink, and Silco just became more deadly than any apex predator on the face of the planet. You didn’t think it was possible, but a single look at that small, unpracticed smile on his face, would be enough to send anyone else running.

It’s almost warm, and you find that to be just as dangerous as when Silco is acting coldly.

“Would you like to know me? I’m finding myself suddenly incredibly curious in regards to you… perhaps we can learn to know one another?”

“Sounds… dangerous.”

“Ah. But it would not be unknown… or rather, I would no-longer be.”

“And,” Another swallow, and his fingers drift further down. The cool, calloused pads of his fingers, barely brushing at the soft skin at the hollow of your throat don’t press any further at the skin, and yet, you feel as though you are choking. Not at his hands, but his gaze. “You… you would do that? For me?”

“Again,” He leans close, and you’re frozen. And not even his soft, warm breath that brushes along your skin as the distance goes from inches, to less than an inch, can warm you. “I’m curious to know you as well.”

A single inhale, and you taste smoke on his breath. Direct contrast from the water on his skin.

Then, he releases you. Turning his head away before he removes his hand, the Eye of Zaun shuffles elegantly to place his bare back - he’s not wearing a shirt - to you, fingers brushing as they pull away slowly from their place along your skin. Then, once he’s comfortable settled, Silco says, “But another time. It’s late. Get some rest.”

You blink.

Then you sit up, fighting away the urge to breathe heavier as you brace your hands against the bed to loom and stare down at Silco, but also to get some oxygen to your brain so that things can start making sense.

“I… you… what?”

“Goodnight,” He says your name, tacking it onto the firm, not-command to his obvious command without even bothering to look at you, while all you can do is stare at him, stunned to silence over… whatever…that was.

What… What was that?

Were it any other human on the planet, you wouldn’t hesitate to reach out, snatching shoulders and turning him to straddle him, fist braced overhead until some good, old-fashioned answers poured out of his mouth. 

But as is, you’re stunned into silence, and into stillness, as you simply gaze down at the slightly-askew waves of damp, dark, and gray-streaked hair. It takes all the strength you have to manage to move your eyes inside your very skull, and even then, they seem to move without permission - trailing along long, lean body full of pale skin, marred and splotched in places where wounds, injuries and mistakes of an old life lie along his skin…

Silco has a scar, curved perfectly like a large fish-hook, coiling over his shoulder. 

You’re not so stunned still - your fingers twitch at the idea to trace over the pale-pink skin-

“One typically grows restful after closing their eyes for an extended period of time. I would highly suggest it, and go to sleep.”

Your face flops onto the pillow beneath you, almost violently, and you can’t tell what burns your face more - that Silco didn’t even have to face you, or open his damn eye to know you were staring, or that the bed shakes slightly beneath you in your hasty retreat for pure mortification at being caught.

But not terror.

No… it seems you’ve been stunned into silence, largely-stillness, and fearlessness, in a sense.

There’s still something, churning and cold, deep in the pit of your stomach from whatever just transpired between you and Silco, but something warmer seems to encompass it. Pressing, tight and deep inside you… and you don’t have a word for it, the intensity that’s suddenly sparked from within.

Eyes wide, staring into the dark of the room - entirely unaware as to when exactly the lights turned off, you’re in the middle of trying to decipher the exact word for what you are feeling inside, as Silco says in a low, smooth voice of a predator on a hunt, “Sweet dreams.”

And you, like prey, fall into the trap of his words so easily.

You instantly slam your eyes shut - choking out something vaguely humanoid and something resembling a reply - to try and will yourself into sleep, and those so-called dreams Silco hopes for you.

If you find them, you don’t remember. 

Or perhaps that’s the point - that the greatest of your dreams is empty, dark and without any form of pleasures or torments to fill your dreamscape. A dreamless sleep… possibly the sweetest of all, because Gods know after today, you just might need it.

But there’s one dream, that you ebb in and out of in the dead of the night, when the line of consciousness is so blurred, that you don’t even know if you’re crossing-it in truth, or just dream that you do…

The feel of arms around your middle, soft breath warming and waving the hairs at the back of your skull rhythmically. Heart beating faintly in a chest pressed against your back, and, for a moment, before darkness remakes you once-more into sleep, you drowsy realize you are more comfortably secure than you had ever felt previously in your life…

Surely, the thing of dreams?

#silco #arcane #arcane silco #silco x reader #arcane fanfic

[player-1]

Here’s some Byeol headcanons I had in mind since the little creture has potential even if there’s just barebones info and speculations:

1. Byeol just exudes toddler energy, no doubt about it. He might be smarter than he lets on if absolutely no one in the Guild has any idea why he wasn’t following the typical Tyrant archetype or somehow evading the Greater Drakes (and if Byeol even has a Renegade in the first place), but he’s all for finding someone that interests him and following them around until they scare him off with a Nexomon battle or whatnot. Also Byeol could move around without the star he rides, he's just way too small to do anything useful (besides using his Psychic powers).

2. Besides every other Tyrant and Legendary only liking the Perfect Berry (starfruit-shaped berry) to increase capture rates, Byeol absolutely adores the thing since it’s sweet and star-shaped just like him. And yes, I fully believe he will fight anyone for it (the only exception to being a danger to any tamers), and given his skillset mostly being AoE-like there would definitely be some collateral damage from it.

3. Byeol might be found in Palmaya despite the residents claiming its Tyrant-free since it’s the only safe space that isn’t fully in the Guild’s control (though he still travels around the world), but I also like the idea that the Palmayans have Byeol as an unofficial mascot since he's friendly to those that spoil him (and obviously food-motivated). Bonus points if Byeol’s known as “The Star (of Palmaya)” by the residents to confuse any Guild tamers looking for him.

4. Byeol hates being called a Tyrant and calls anyone meanies if they say so. I mean, how would you think that adorable thing is dangerous? (⬥⭐️v⭐️⬥)

5. Before Caelesa was killed by the Guild (or Lateria), Byeol would see her as the bestest friend ever because of their similar motifs and penchant to explore the world on their own terms (give or take theory if Byeol's also an Abyssal and/or siblings). Byeol will also only call Caelesa Caeli (Latin for heaven and short version of heavenly) cause it sounds cute to him and Caelesa tolerates it as long as it's just between them.

6. Since I’m also reaching very hard with the game’s intro (if the thing talking to the MC is Byeol), but I like to think that Byeol is really bad with names and mostly defaults on appearances, personality, or whatever cool thing interests him about the person. A few exceptions are MC (knows them as Solus first and human name second (after a lot of reminders too)), Caelesa (Caeli), and Venefelis (Vene).

7. And to fix the possible plot hole, Byeol might've also met Venefelis/Salem and became good friends as well. It would make some sense since Salem seems pretty childish and playful (possibly learned from Byeol to keep herself sane and innocent-looking) before going villain mode when she gets revived, as well as the strange fact that Venefelis somehow knew where the other Abyssal graves where and travelling to Precursor Mountain despite being trapped in the forest she was sealed in the entire time...So who's to say that Byeol gave her info about the world outside Pinewoods and maybe indirectly helped her plan to revive the Abyssals both to get Kroma to complete her goal and try to figure out about their creator's grand design after 1,000 years of silence.

So that's all I have for now, so feel free to pick and choose anything from here :)

#nexomon #nexomon spoilers #nexomon extinction #nexomon extinction spoilers #nexomon abyssal spoilers #nexomon byeol #nexomon headcanons #Let the little gremlin get some love in Nexomon 3 please #or I'll have to make something myself until then >:(

[fifteenth-entity]

top 5 books you wish you could have written yourself because they have wasted potential™

OH. OH BOY. OHHHH BOY. YOU HAVE OPENED PANDORAS BOX. I'm about to make a few people angry here.

THE ATLAS SIX Notice how I emboldened, italicized, and capitalized the book title? THAT'S BECAUSE THIS STORY IS IN NEED OF SOME MAJOR TLC. I'm convinced this author hates like 1/3rd of her cast at least and is writing this story for like 2 characters, but the story wouldn't work with just them two because they are the most insufferable people on the planet with so much wasted potential. Anyway, personal greivances aside, I won't say the plot had potential, cuz there is no plot. There is potential for A plot, but there is no Plot itself. The magic system.... is barely there. There is magic there, yes, but it's less of a system and more of a buzzword in order for Olivie Blake to give her characters plot armor under the guise of "Why?" "Magic". The Dark Academia? Nonexistent. There's nothing Dark or Academic about this book. They do some Intellectual stuff, sure, but it's not academic (new hypothesis: Olivie Blake has never been to college). And the characters. Ohhh the characters. All of them, ALLLL of them, all 9 of them, have way more potential, but no, Olivie Blake would rahter write thinly veiled smut for 9 people than make good characters. A lot of characters could use some love from the author, but I think the biggest offender here is Tristan Caine. Like this guy has so much potential and utilizes none of it. Also he's super inconsistent as a character in favor of... Threesomes and magical condoms. Great writing. Also this is the only story out of this roster that made me so angry I wrote 3 fix it fics for it.

Less Read the premise of the story. Read the synopsis. Formulate your opinions. NOW DISMANTLE THEM CUZ THAT'S NOT WHAT FUCKING HAPPENS IN THE BOOK. Also Arthur Less is such a cunt, I hate him so much, I'd gladly rewrite the entire book with a different protagonist while strictly following the synopsis of the book. Enough said.

To Kill a Mockingbird This one is gonna rattle some people but hear me out: To Kill a Mockingbird should have been focused on sexism, misogyny, homophobia and feminism rather than racism. As a story itself, I didn't like it, but there was shit there to work with for the not racist stuff. I think it would've offered more to society if it focused on those, because Scout DOES mention offhandedly how deeply those issues affect her. But alas.

The Unravelling Oh my god I hated this book. See, the thing about this book is... it's fine as a historical fiction story. It works. It's lackluster, but I just don't think it's a good story worth saving as a historical work. Now, this book was advertised to me as a fantasy. It is not a fantasy. BUT, the potential this story has as a fantasy is a goldmine so deep and fruitful the British would try to colonize it before you could even fucking blink. Buuuuut it's not that so, womp womp.

The Shadow and Bone trilogy There's not a lot I would rewrite about this book. The plot itself was fine and the characters where... there, for sure. What I think warrants the most major rehauls is the magic system and the romance. There's a very basic idea there for a magic system that, once you think about it a little more, is less a nice neat box with a bow, and more the contents of a cat's stomach hacked right up onto your doorstep. Nothing to speak of the character relationships, I don't understand how half these people are alive because they should've been dead by now with how much they hate each other. The pacing and the characters themselves would be small pot holes I'd smooth over while rewriting but that's about it. Leigh Bardugo can be an amazing writer when she doesn't focus on magic, and focuses more on actual psychology, crime and politics (see: the Six of Crows duology, fucking amazing books) and her writing is very beautiful. But like... anything from the Grisha trilogy to the Nikolai duology isn't her best work. ... I've actually started rewriting the magic system myself. For... reasons. Wink wink nudge nudge

Honorable mentions: Interview with the Vampire, ALL of Harry Potter I won't dwell much on these two, but here goes: IwtV has a great premise and concept, but Anne Rice is a little too crazed with sexual taboos (see: emotional incest and pedophilia) in order to write an actually compelling story. Also the fact that she's obsessed with sexual taboos and features two very homoerotic vampires leads me to suspect she sees homosexuality as taboo as well and not as something morally innocuous which... yikes! Anyway I'd just make it gay(er) and move on. Harry Potter: Too many character deaths to inconvenience Harry, aside from the obvious (racism of all kinds, homophobia, transphobia and fatphobia). Also a few fix its here and there. Otherwise it passes. Harry Potter is trans and gay <3

#asks #books #KEEP EM COMING BOYS #this was so fun to write #i feel lighter as a person

[marinaiguess]

Hiiiiii I’m not sure if u saw my @ so I’ll just ask directly, I should’ve just done this earlier lmao anyway:

Ok so I’ve been bouncing this idea inside my head for months now and I *need* to get this out there bc I despise how this plot was written, it could’ve been so good. So I’ve been thinking. In Sonic 06, how would the plot play out if Blaze took Elise’s place in the story? Better yet let them swap places, rewrite the storyline with that in mind and I think the plots holes in Sonic 06 would be instantly fixed if not mendable

What do u think? Too out there?

oh I'm sorry, you probably tagged me on that post while I was on my small break:') I didn't check my notifications lol

the idea is cool :) but I also think it could be divisive? like, I'm not sure if it would be able to fill the plot holes that were there yknow? 06 was messy but it was also good. yeah, I do talk a lot about my dislike on how blaze was handled but I don't think swapping her with Elise would be the best idea. it is interesting to consider though. and to be fair, I haven't seen anyone mention a swap between the two, just blaze taking Elise's place.

If there was a swap, it would mean Elise is from the future but blaze was from Solaris right? interesting and confusing all the same. it depends on how a potential fic or story would be handled for me to decide whether I ultimately really enjoy the idea or not. if this was canon, I'm not sure if it would have been better or worse than 06's current storyline. still, that doesn't stop it from being a decent and interesting idea and if I see some expansions on it, i might be even more interested in the future, who knows:')

#violeteatsart #THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!! #i appreciate this. your sharing this idea with me #sonic 06 #blaze the cat #sonic the hedgehog #elise the third

[serenafainx]

༶ ⋆ possible connections & plots

(  under the cut is a list of possible / wanted connections and plots, particularly around serena’s power of visions. pls feel free to comment or msg me here or on discord to discuss how to start !! 

and these are all mainly starting points, they don’t have to stay friendly for example, it could end tragically 👀 )

work-school-related

someone who works at the fantasia theatre, or is a performer there. 

serena has just started creating and tailoring costumes there. she’s probably been there for just a few weeks?

someone who frequents the tailor shop she works at ( 2nd job ). 

someone who’s really happy with how she alters and fixes clothes? 

someone who didn’t like it? 

think: adjusting clothes to fit properly, helping create suits and bespoke clothes, helping with measurements, ironing, drycleaning, fixing seams, holes, etc.

she studies a diploma at the university!

study-buddies!

study...enemies ?? (passive-aggressive interaction at the library?)

personal-life

someone who lives in the same apartment building, or lives close by

shared dinners because they’re both low-income rip

always oweing each other things (food, laundry money, taking care of plants)

friends !!!! she’s quiet at first but loves to hang out 

exchanging small gifts (serena will create anything from fabric)

deep and meaningful sessions

exploring elias together

exploring elias together illegally

the extrovert friend to serena’s introvert

frenemies ???

neighbours who are annoyed at each other

serena walks around the city a lot and has potentially trespassed at interesting places. someone who questions why she’s there, someone who catches her?

visions

they’ve started off as very strong senses and feelings. it’s nothing ‘visual’ yet, as in she can’t see things in her mind, because she’s sort of refused to see them. the visual visions only appear in her dreams. for her to see them when she’s awake, she has to be open for them. 

for anyone who needs something revealed to them about their past or the near future, i would love to throw serena at them.

ideas i have for vision plots

piecing things together from their past, that could interpret something for their near-future

quick flashes of near-future visions, that serve as warnings that the person needs to see

some far-future things that could also act as warnings...like “if you don’t change your course now, this is where you will end up”

#about. #in which serena is just christmas past present and future

[cookie-rat]

Ok ok ok so maybe it's a bit early to be thinking of how to tie in cinnamon but. What I made the new legendary their parent.

#rat rambles #that could potentially fix some small plot holes #if the in game story doesnt do some super specific things to fuck it up #I should stop brainstorming and just wait for the update #oh but croissant? almost certainly hates cinnamon's guts #they would be a mennace to any sort of time regulators #YOU SPENT HOW LONG IN THE CITY OF WIZARDS???? #WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT YOU LIVED IN THE DREAM KEEPERS BASEMENT???? DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH YOU COULD HAVE FUCKED UP??? #to be fair its not their fault. cinnamon cant really control their powers.

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Hermitopia AU Masterpost 1 [COMPLETE]

This is a gathering place for the events of the Hermitopia AU, as well as art and writing resulting from it (art and writing listed at the bottom). Please read the AU introduction and rules here before submitting! Feel free to join the discussions on the HCHC discord server!

(Disclaimer/PSA: All points are asks contributed by the community, the mods take no credit for the ideas within them)

If you would like specific credit in the masterpost, please sign within the text of the ask! (A dash and a signature at the end should do.) Asks not signed will be treated as anonymous.

Summary posts:

Not all elements of plot and character will be summarized, but here are a few basic things you may want to be familiar with before submitting an ask! (Unless you are purposely aiming to create an [ALTERNATE] idea for a Hermit)

1 - Starting positions and each Hermit's powers (based on the submissions from Day 1)

Summary post 2 - Interpersonal connections (based on Day 1 and 2 submissions)

Make sure to check out the second masterpost here for more up to date information, including newer art and writing!

Asks:

- (copied ask) [summarized mod comment]

- Hermitopia | Scar was experimented on by Cub. He gained dangerous powers and wings that resemble a dragon’s, but he keeps both hidden. Unless someone makes him angry. He has no idea who gave him his powers. Eventually he and Cub decided that they wanted to control things beyond their corporation, so Scar ran for mayor. (there are things to fill in but im lazy) [Scar assumes he got the powers in an accident during research. He enjoys having them but has no idea that they were intentional.]

- Hermitopia AU team ZIT is a superpowered crime-fighting trio!

- owing to a very particular set of guidelines he put in place, Joe can now copy powers if he sees them in use and can reverse-engineer how those powers are used. needless to say, this is massively overpowered in the right hands.but it got worse. at some point, there was an... incident... on ConCorp grounds, something to do with a mass amount of entities causing time dilation -- and Joe was caught in the thick of it, unable to be rescued for a while.the problem is, he got out by piecing together how the time dilation worked.needless to say, Joe... has a ridiculous powerset. so he chooses largely not to use his powers anymore unless it's absolutely dire or petty enough to shrug off as a random occurrence. nobody needs to know that one of the most powerful Unaffiliated in the city is standing right in front of them... especially not ConCorp.

- doc was a former high ranking employee of concorp before he volunteered for an experiment and it went horribly wrong. since then, the company has tried to erase any evidence of his existence. doc is now seeking revenge for all that the company did to him and is determined to tear it apart

- HI ok follow up asks will be sent later when my thoughts are coherent but concept: cleo has like super messed up healing powers where she can make healing go Too Far. also i pin her as unbound, considering, like, everything - shovel-shuffle

- So, his power was meant to be super-regen, right? except things don't always quite go to plan. Someone volunteered for the powers surgeries and is arguably dead. Etho is a name shared by the many many clones that developed themselves out of the leftovers. They're not quite individuals, not quite a hivemind. Any one of them has no fear of death because the others will continue, but they all act independently around their overarching goal. (which I won't snitch about) - DragonKay

- Bdubs was a hero. Key word? Was. He climbed the ranks through the government, he was a loyal and dutiful member of society, and he used his plant manipulation powers to subdue evil-doers without hurting them. But he’s always been a friendly guy, and he couldn’t help himself—talking to the Unrestrained, especially those in custody, was interesting! ...but it’s a slippery slope to walk, being friendly with the enemy and not sympathizing to their cause. Nobody knows where he is now, but there are rumours of a vigilante with similar abilities, and his three compatriots, two of whom he helped escape from ConCorp... They call themselves the nHo. - slimetek [Bdubs deserted Concorp while helping Doc escape after his experiment went wrong]

- Concorp managed to make a device that allows animals to speak or translate their thoughts into writing. This means that the good old mayor Scar has a certain cat giving some advice on how to run the city.

- Iskall is an assasin/mercenary against their own volition. An accident they'd rather forget almost killed them, and in exchange for their freedom and free will they got to live as a cyborg. Though its hard to forget with the implant that covers their eye and the limb of cool metal hanging at their side - @ghastly-ghostie [Iskall works for Concorp off-books, bound by the debt owed to them for the life saving experimental modifications]

- so I think grians original powers could be like cloning, but something goes wrong and the clones are different people. as a result of the duplication process, some funky magic rocks are made. the clones decide to take most of the funky rocks and run off, leaving grian with one rock that gives him some new abilities and the clones' rocks give him others. also uhh mechanical wings bc yes. so grians plot is him trying to find them while also causing problems on purpose. infinity stones. update to my grian ask from earlier, I had better ideas: the rocks are old like magic things that grian finds before the cloning and ends up collecting, but his clones snatch them - simplyskipper [some of the alternate Grians are aligned with different factions in Hermitopia, while the locations of others are farther or unknown]

- Hermitopia- Impulse has solid-light powers. He has golden crystals implanted in his hands, which he can reflect light through to solidify it into all sorts of shapes. This can be used to make barriers, projectiles, and much more, though more detailed constructs take more time.- @mleemwyvern

- Hermitopia AU Poultry man is a well-known chaotic neutral leaning towards good, as a one of the unrestrained.

- I think Team ZIT should be a little be wild card-y, that's how they act after all! [they are employed by the government for standard crimefighting, but they don't always take Scar's word at its intended meaning and often play a bit on the chaotic side when given instructions]

- [Hermitopia AU] False is an antihero/vigilante type who's specialty is not defined by powers or the such, but just... the absolute skill of being able to dual wield two (more sci-fi era) short swords. Maybe someone upgrades them to be "enchanted" (electrical, fire, etc. something that tech could do well probably). She's willing to be paid-for-hire, but if you go past her moral line she's also willin' to backstab you. -- @cheshire-vex [she's a free agent who sort of drifts between Concorp, the government, and whoever else will pay her on a job-by-job basis]

- Hermitopia impulse has more connections then one may think. He has ties to people pretty much everywhere, for reasons unknown. There is a 100% someone will come and greet him wherever he goes. [the greetings are usually friendly]

- Hermitopia Au! Keralis is a hero who most people wouldn't expect to be too skilled at fighting. His power is similar to hypnosis so he has no need to get very physical. Yeah, that changed when some bastard villain decided to attack his friends shop. [that incident caused his employer Scar to realize his untapped potential for protecting people and assign him to a few more high-stakes jobs]

- Hermittopia!TFC was one of ConCorp’s first experiments and as such his powers are a bit less...refined then the others. He has geokinetic powers, allowing him to psychically control rocks and other earthen materials. He used to be one of the VEX programs top graduates, but has since parted ways with them for unknown reasons and now operates his own plans of keep crime in Hermitopia under control. -lechairpourriedegrianri [he is considered Unaffiliated and both Concorp and the government largely leave him to his own devices, since he is helping to keep the city together]

-Wels doesn't have powers. He does have a super-suit made of fire and heat resistant carbon fibre (like the material used for the space shuttle) and has a built in hologram projector. One time, he used the hologram projector to project an image of himself, which everyone thought was a clone. He didn't have the heart to tell them otherwise. (AKA everyone thinks Wels has powers but he doesn't) -Silverwolf53 [he got the suit in Project VEX]

- To follow up on the Impulse ask- Team ZIT are a space-themed superhero team. Government-aligned, at least for now.Tango has meteor-like powers, he can shoot fire from his hands and feet and often uses this to propel himself at high speeds. Zed has gravity powers! He can increase or decrease the density of any object, to the point of making small black holes. They all have space-themed costumes, and it was probably Zed's idea. - @mleemwyvern

- TFC was the first participant in project VEX

- Grian was an attempted success. It fixed some problems with Etho's unintended cloning, but at the same time created some problems of its own, seeing as the clones appeared to have a life of their own.It's fine, though. It's probably fine

- I would say Grian is unrestrained, a bit like Etho, Chaotic in his own way. Does not activily Try to hurt people, but does mostly what he wants for fun.-Ciara

- Xisuma is a civilian- he has hero friends, but despite all their teasing he’s never wanted to go through VEX training. But in the night, the unrestrained Void walks the streets [Void is a symbiotic creature made of nothingness that uses Xisuma's body as a substitute physical form]

- Bdubs was such a good man... he could be trusted to look after Doc, couldn’t he? Somebody had to oversee him, somebody who was reliable and would never, ever consider betraying the mayor and ConCorp...They let their guard down, and Bdubs got curious. Bdubs made a friend.And then they lost him.- Slimetek

- The hels hermits are considered evil by default. How do you spot these clones, how could you protect yourself? Well in the past it was a lot easier, just look for their red eyesNowadays contacts exist but that doesn't stop people trying to call the police on tango, calling him a hels. Hes netherian, they have unnatural eye colours and their iris fills the entire eye, hes not evil but if people keep doing this hes gonna be!

- Beef woke up from his brain surgery to receive telepathy powers, took one look into the mind of the overseer, and noped put of there as fast as he could go.He's on very public record. After all, the mind control he may be capable of is a very convenient explanation for anyone who turns against concorp... ~DragonKay

- Hypno can’t control minds.They say he does. It’s why he’s named Hypno, after all.In reality, he can’t control people like that... but he can control what they see.Your best friend might look like your greatest enemy. A pit of lava might look like solid ground. A 100-foot drop might look like a step down.It’s a good thing he’s a hero, and a good thing he keeps his true powers hidden beneath a guise of low-level hypnotism. There’s no telling what he could do if they let him go. [he works for Concorp, helping to protect VEX trainees from people trying to harm them before they get a chance to finish the program, as well as keeping other resources safe]

- The 9th Street Incident [referring to an earlier Impulse comment] was a friendly greeting. That particular version of Etho just thought that drawing weapons would be a friendly greeting for Impulse, but Tango and Zed seem to disagree

- They still don’t trust Bdubs. He was with the government for a long time, and things are hard out there on the run. Besides, they don’t know what he got up to there. ConCorp could have any sort of information on him, something that might scare him back.Bdubs understands this. He doesn’t want to go back. He’d hate to go back....but they think he will, and maybe there’s something he’s not telling them. An ace that ConCorp has yet to play.- Slimetek

- Mumbo works for concorp as an engineer specialising in robotics, most recently taking on the task of maintaining Iskall's cybernetics that somehow they just keep damaging. Iskall assures him they're just.. very clumsy. So far Mumbo hasn't caught on.

- Ren's power is that hes a werewolf, but he only found out when he was in his late teens with his childhood friend Iskall. He still feels guilty about it, he did kill his best friend afterall. Or so he thinks.He's lived off grid ever since, too overwhelmed with grief and guilt to rejoin society. Most assume he's dead too - @ghastly-ghostie [Ren dropped Iskall off to Concorp as a last ditch effort, running away before he could see whether they took his friend in or not. They did, starting Iskall's plotline. Iskall told Concorp about Ren's abilities, triggering a panic in the Concorp ranks at the fact that Ren is a superhuman being created by some force other than their own project]

- Where does Void come from? The same place all powers come from.Little did they know, something survived the crash and has taken a human host. Maybe it's not the only one...No, that place is not Concorp. Concorp's original goal was to develop technology by reverse-engineering from a crashed alien spaceship. These aliens did gene-editing the way some people do nose jobs, so they adapted that technology, too.~DragonKay

- i've already said a bit about it in the discord but i have hermitopia cleo brainrot. joe being there was able to save her by giving her the regen powers along with her puppeteering telekinesis power. anyways cleo is presumed dead, sent by concorp into a mission as fodder basically until zit could arrive. but now there's is one (1) bitter undead vigilante against concorp that is presumed dead

- Stress’s name has a few meanings in relation to her. Whenever she gets too angry or /stressed/, she transforms into the StressMonster, a monster that feeds off of other people’s stress to become more powerful. Luckily, the monster is rarely seen, but does terrible things when she is. She’s one of the most feared creatures in Hermitopia. Stress hates her and tries her best to hide her from her friends, but it can backfire sometimes. - @guster-animations

- to follow-up on Joe being presumed dead: remember the time dilation incident he was stuck in? ConCorp figured it was best to cut their losses and not try to send anyone in to rescue him -- it would be a pointless mission. so they abandoned him, quietly announced that he had died in the line of duty, and put the affected area under high security clearance in order to prevent any future accidents. they figured he was already dead. and Joe figures, given that they up and abandoned him, maybe it's for the best that they continue to figure just that. he changed his last name to "Hills" -- a joke about the biome containing the time anomaly -- and otherwise proceeded to stay under the radar. he still uses the time dilation area as a base of operations, sometimes; it's very useful to have a hideout that people physically cannot get into/out of without his direct assistance. is he nursing a grudge, coming up with some convoluted scheme to get back at the paramilitary group for abandoning him? or does he just want to live a relatively normal life off the grid? who knows. that's the Joe [REDACTED] Hills difference. -@betweenlands

- False has some big scary power that is almost Eldritch she just happens to prefer a sword and doesn’t really care for who she works for as long as they’re paying... (they don’t need to know of the power that had harmed the ones she loves the most)

- Keralis once encountered Void sulking around where Xisuma worked. So fearful for his friend’s safety, he used his power on Void and told him to go away. Apparently the charm is still active, because if Void spots Keralis anywhere, he’ll turn tail and run. No, it’s not because he’s scared. Absolutely not.

- Grumbot serves as a sentient supercomputer created by Mumbo for Grian. Grian is using Grumbot for... various activities, all of which harmless, but a certain evil clone [Helsknight] has reverse engineered the technology. Concorp would like for Mumbo to give them the tech, but mumbo stuck some eyes to the computer, got emotionally attached, and refuses to give up his baby boy.

- When Impulse hears his friend/colleague Bdubs has been "taken over" by the mind-controller [Beef], he wants to go on an off-the-books mission to rescue him! Just giving up like they were told to isn't in his nature.Of course the rest of ZIT are with him. Heroes save people! It's what they do!~DragonKay

- Hermitopia is a mixture of sleek futuristic and cyberpunk in terms of style. It really depends on where you live and work (ik this doesnt include any hermits but whatever) - @ghastly-ghostie

- I wonder if Cleo's overactive healing powers affect herself and if any injuries she receives immediately heal over like wolverine or deadpool

- Ren used to be friends with Cleo too, but then she died. Strangely enough, she died on the same day that Ren killed Iskall. Ren’s lost all his friends. It’s hard living in isolation when there’s no one left that even cares about you. (Unless— no, that’s impossible.)

- I was thinking about Biffa, like you do. And Biffa would totally be some robot that was created by Project VEX in its early stages, however they realised fast that it was easier to use humans and give them powers, maybe its not their strong suit with robots. But Biff went sentient and glitched and was scrapped so hes just out there doing his thing. Hes a wildcard and plays for which side he wants at the time, sometimes he'll help or sometimes hes the one causing trouble. He looks pretty similar to a android like in Detroit:Become human but hes a bit uncanny and eerie, maybe its the eyes or the blood red armour. Powerwise, he's got more strength than a human does, mainly because he isn't limited like others are. try not to get punched by him, it'll hurt! [He's convinced Concorp will destroy him if they find out he's alive and Unaffiliated] -lucodak

- Going off of my thing about hermotopia impulse having friends everywhere....this may include the nho. Okay, they beat him to a pulp on one of his solo patrols once, but theey felt bad n patched him up! He has to keep it a secret. He brings them dinner alot. And checks in on them.

- Beef is the perfect cover-up for Bdubs’ desertion. ConCorp doesn’t want any other employees getting bright ideas, now, do they? Nor do they want employees getting nosy and trying to figure out where Bdubs went. They don’t have to tell people what Beef’s powers are. They just release that he developed powers after brain surgery, and a rumour that he was spotted lurking around before Bdubs suddenly betrayed ConCorp... and people draw their own conclusions. -Slimetek

- xB is pretty sure he’s supposed to be evil.I mean, that’s what sentient AIs usually end up being, according to a quick internet search. And yet he’s... not. Or maybe he’s just on the wrong side. - Slimetek

- Yes impulse is friends with the nho....what he doesn't know? He's....easily susceptible to hypnosis. Very easily.......Of course, after impulse is basically a very tired n warm cuddle bug, so, cuddle piles tend to happen after all information is spilled. He must've fallen asleep at their apartment again! Whoops! But it's okay.....they take good care of him if he does! [Beef is using his mind reading ability on Impulse without his knowledge, to make sure that he hasn't spilled their location and to predict the government's next moves. He feels slightly bad about it but feels that it is necessary for the nHo's survival.]

- So far, Grian has only ever encountered two of his clones, NPC Grian and Robot Grian. Technically three, if one were to count Ariana Griande. Grian doesn't really, but some do. [Ariana Griande is a popular musician in Hermitopia who is building a career using the magical stone of voice enhancement she recieved through the cloning process]

- To handle the two Grumbot issue: the one working with Helsknight can be Jrumbot, a legion of robot drones meant to work as Grumbot’s physical form that ended up being hijacked by Helsknight and turned against ConCorp

- There...aren’t a lot of “normal” animals left in Hermittopia. ConCorp took one look at the animals populating the city and decided that, hey, they could make some improvements. Species after species, they modified their behavior, appearance, internal structure, whatever they could fix, tweak, or add. They were just improving their lives and the lives of the citizens of Hermittopia, after all, but the new animals quickly outcompeted the old for resources and habitats. And if it makes it easier for ConCorp to stick a camera in one or two of them, or set up robotic animals to keep a better eye on the city, no harm, no foul, right?(Bonus: there is one (1) singular cat left in Hermittopia, resulting in a spy movie-style heist where two teams of Hermits attempt to “rescue” the cat simultaneously. The cat keeps wandering away from both teams. Shenanigans ensue)- Adonis [the cat is Jellie, who orchestrated the competition between Team ZIT and Cleo and Joe for her own entertainment, getting away from both parties in the end]

- The Leak:Not all mutations are the result of controlled experiments! If some alien tech got away from the crash site, concorp never would have picked it up. It might have got into nature, not as refined as they made it in the labs but causing little changes here and there. Ren may have become a werewolf from being bitten by a mutant wolf~DragonKay

- Impulse is able to use his powers to create illusions or male things appear invisible! Sort of. After all, light dictates what we see. It takes a lot of focus, though, so it's not that practical. -@rayveewrites

- The one thing Hels wasn't able to steal was the cloning technology, hence his hostility with Concorp -- he needs the cloning device, because how else is the void going to get a body of their own? - SilverWolf53

- *glances at the hermitopia werewolf ask* okay but what if the same mystery people who made ren into a werewolf also created jevin, and maybe Etho? idk if either of them have been given any hermitopia headcanons yet lol. but im sure the same people who made a werewolf could make a sentient slime (or perhaps rescue one) or make... whatever etho is. [Since the "second organization" is an incorrect assumption believed by Concorp, Jevin was created when he came in contact with a waterway contaminated by The Leak. Concorp assumes he was created by an opposing organization and not by accident, and therefore would like to bring him in along with Ren.]

- hermitopia - mumbo and grian were friends back when cloning experiments were still happening (or . as friendly as you can be with someone who's treating you like a lab rat), but after everything went wrong and grian escaped, mumbo has his memories wiped nd thats why he's trusted w iskall's stuff? bc he inherently remembers working on high-level things without knowing where he learnt it - muscle memory, yk?anyway massive angst with grian maybe recognising mumbo, but not the other way round, and trying to rekindle their friendship? and that's where grumbot comes in? -gin [Mumbo's memory was wiped so that he would forget the deadly purpose of Iskall's cybernetics, which he was working on at the same time as the Grian project in the background. Mumbo does not remember creating Grian's mechanical wings or Iskall's arm and eye, and he has no memory of either individual previous to "meeting" Iskall as the person assigned to his repair and upkeep.]

- Etho doesn't so much have powers as he is powers. All the powers the ‘original’ had went into creating him; now he just exists, as whatever sort of being he is. Not a human one, that much is obvious. ~DragonKay [Etho has no powers beyond the hivemind and his training, due to the error in the experiment that caused the clones]

- Mumbo started the button as a joke. A nonsense social expirement to see how much people want worthless signs of status. Unfortunately things got out of hand, and violent too. But hey! It's not his fault that the five special anomalous stones were misplaced into the prize dispenser! It was just chance that they fell into the hands of the clone of the worst gremlin in the city! Don't fire him! [He was not fired, but Cub was Decidedly Unhappy with him for a good long while]

- Void mostly trashes ConCorp facilities- trying to figure out if any of his siblings survived the spaceship crash, but occasionally he’ll pilfer from a bakery, because X is a health nut and Void just wants a gods damned cookie [Void very much dislikes unseasoned chicken]

- If the Stress Monster gets too big, too dangerous, Cleo is sworn under oath to Stress to zap her with her healing powers. Cleo doesn’t like to do it, overhealing a stressed Stress makes her so calm she gets knocked out for a couple of days, but Stress can take a small comfort in the fact that at least one person out there can stop her

- Ooh with the self healing Cleo she'd be able to develop a small amount of super strength, with how the mind keeps from going full throttle because it would destroy the body once she gets over it it's hysterical strength whenever she wants [it is quite painful, but a good backup plan]

- Being a hive mind of disposable clones that can spawn new copies at will, it can sometimes be hard for the Etho Entity to remember that it is indeed a big deal for other people when they get hurt. This can make him come off as callous to those around him, placing him firmly in the "villain" category in most citizen's books, but he really doesn't intend any harm!

- Grian used to be tall, but then the cloning happened. With each clone they stole a little bit of his height making him the short man he is today. He needs to capture those clones and get his height back. [Grian isn't entirely sure how to accomplish this, but he's dead set on trying! He misses being tall!]

- While Grian was perfectly fine with Ariana Griande living her own life, he did insist on one thing.Her "older brother" getting backstage access whenever she was on tour. He's very proud and supportive of her and her music career.

- Mumbo is perfectly content working in tech, watching the other hermits get up to crazy shenanigans. Except of course, there was that one time he was out testing some new gear and accidentally saved a crowd from some villains... and there were all those times after too...But hey! It’s not his fault that people like him, and he certainly isn’t going to get caught by Concorp during his after hours activities. [Mumbo considers himself an accidental hobbyist, not thinking he has the nerve or the skill for proper hero work. Time will tell if he's right about that or not...but unfortunately, he probably is. This should be fun.]

- There’s still some people overseeing VEX, even over Cub. They’re the ones that push Cub to do certain experiments or to scrap one. They’re the ones to give Cub the decision for Iskall’s life debt. Scar was under them too for the longest time, but eventually he wanted out. Cub still wanted in. They were still in the right, right? That’s what they tell him. He’s starting to doubt it. [Cub is way too invested in everything he's built to even think about going rogue now, but he does resent and occasionally question the judgement of his superiors increasingly as his project begins to fail more and more often. He also fears that Scar's shift in career will be seen as a betrayal, rather than as a tactical attempt to gain the company influence in the government.]

- Been thinking about the impulse + nho asks and just,,, what would happen if concorp/the government found out? It cant be good with interrogation/hypnosis on both sides (incase you cant tell,, the brainrot got me as well) (apologies if this is a mess im excited) [Hypno is assigned to set up an illusionary conversation to make Impulse reveal nHo location to Concorp and government agents while thinking that he's actually talking to the nHo in a random encounter]

- The one mind Beef can't read is Etho's. Their hivemind is just too weird for him to comprehend. If he ever tries to listen in, it sounds like just a bunch of static from an old TV.

- for hermitopia au!: Out of most of the heros, the most reckless may be team zit. sure they tell themselves they'll plan out missions but it's hard when they share a braincell and tango just runs in. impulse and zed share a look everytime and have to run after him to make sure he doesn't get too hurt or overwhelmed by the enemy. in their defence its hard to plan ahead against an enemy when you dont know what they are thinking.-lucodak ["You might not have known what they were thinking, Tango, but we'd generally like you to know what you're thinking!"]

- i bet ConCorp really wants to make it out like theres some secret shady organization creating all these people with mutations, rather than their own operatives deserting and their own failure to contain dangerous chemicals... whether its malicious coverups or just ignorance to the fact they messed up, wonder what would happen if that sort of thing came to light...? [If they found out that the unintentional superhumans were a result of the poorly-contained crash site? Cub would lose his job...maybe worse. If Cub found out (and he hasn't, yet) he would do everything in his power to keep that information from his superiors.]

- (paraphrased) Impulse accidentally walks in on heroes and agents breaking down the doors of the nHo's hideout and confronting them. Scar claims that they did so on information Impulse himself provided and thanks him for his service. Impulse, feeling confused and betrayed, resists Hypno's attempts to illusion him back to Scar's side and flees the scene with the nHo, knowing very little other than the fact that he doesn't want to be manipulated by the government any more (and still not knowing that Beef has been reading his mind)

- Impulse may have been labeled a traitor. But do you really think that Impulse, secret rebel, starting to learn how dangerous and corrupted Concorp really is, wouldn't let his best friends know about the danger they might be in? I think Team ZIT is more loyal to each other than to the government. - @mleemwyvern [ Impulse's first stop after escaping with the nHo is to find a place to secretly meet Tango and Zedaph and tell them about the way he was tricked. It takes a lot of explaining and a lot of trust, but they eventually decide to believe his claims and are left with a choice: will they openly go rogue and become a target along with Impulse and the rest of the nHo, or are they better off using their established image and reputation to keep an eye on the government heros' movements from the inside?]

- (two asks combined, paraphrased) Ren runs out of supplies and decides to head back into the city, confident in his ability to stay off the grid after so many years of experience and such a long time away. Once there, he runs into Doc, and they hit it off quite quickly. However, the more Ren talks the more Doc realizes - with his ex-Concorp knowledge - that Ren matches the description of Iskall's main target exactly. He warns Ren, who is then faced with the knowledge that Iskall is alive and assigned to kill him...so many questions and so many tears to follow...

- Why did Hermitopia start needing heroes? When the Unrestrained started to appear, if course. Why did the Unrestrained start to appear? A question asked a little less. When did the VEX program start? When did they start taking more risks? When did they stop caring about certainty and safety and shift towards trying to push boundaries they weren't ready to? People can be so enamoured with the concept of superhuman abilities, something bright and glorious and good- and perhaps they could have that too- they don't ask all the right questions. It's all an elaborate game of damage control, don't let the flashy heroics fool you, they've made mistakes, terrible, terrible mistakes, and now there are villains running loose with powers they fooled ConCorp into giving them. Are they villains? Are they victims? Does it matter? They're causing problems. [Project VEX has developed into a solution to its own problems, a self perpetuating cycle...one that Cub, as a businessman, is very familiar with. It's what keeps the wheels of industry turning. It's what keeps innovation creeping forward. It wasn't intentional, not this time...but if it keeps his project alive, he'll take it.]

- One time, Jevin had narrowly dodged being captured by Concorp. He was laying low in the forest out of town, when he had a run-in with some sort of wolf creature. Thankfully, claws and teeth couldn't exactly hurt him anymore, so he just played dead until it gave up.When the moon set, the wolf-thing slowly transformed into a human being. Ren was horrified at the thought he'd lost control and hurt someone- again- but Jevin assured him he was fine. Jevin got the feeling that the werewolf needed a friend, and Jevin himself needed a place to stay for a while... -RayveeWrites [Ren and Jevin are not currently in the same location, but they each have a means of contacting each other for help if needed]

- Worm Man wasn't a well- known super, but plenty of people have noticed that he seemed to vanish at the same time Team ZIT first started active duty. Those people have also noticed that one of the members has a very similar power set to WM.Officially, that's just a coincidence. Officially.-RayveeWrites [Zedaph was trying to get some unofficial practice while still in training in the VEX program]

- A common misconception is that Bdubs conjures up his vines from nowhere. He can't.Like any plant, his vines grow from seeds. They grow unnaturally fast, when Bdubs wills it, but they have to come from seeds. Where do these seeds come from, you may ask?Well, a long time ago, Bdubs ingested some strange fruits. Somehow, in wild defiance of human biology, the seeds contained in those fruits worked their way into his muscles and germinated. Some of the roots worked their way into his brain and fused into it; the rest spread through his muscles, grew beneath his skin, coiled around his bones. Thanks to the way the vines connected to his brain, Bdubs is able to command the vines, and their magic, at will.The vines produce seeds; some stay in his body to replace the old ones when they die, and most work their way into a pair of 'seed pods' in his wrists. Bdubs provides the nutrients, the energy; the vines provide the seeds, the magic. As an extra bonus: if the vines were to be totally removed from Bdubs' body, he would be at best extremely weak, and at worst dead. The vines have grown into his muscles, to the point where they've essentially replaced them in some areas. It's fortunate that they connected with his mind so early on, otherwise he'd be dead. -RayveeWrites [Concorp developed the fruit, and the fact that Bdubs is evidence of the unlikely success of that experiment makes them all the more angry at his betrayal]

- A lot of excellent xB information (it's too long to copy but please read it it's very good)

- Iskall has exactly one (1) failed assignment. That assignment? The kill or capture of Stress. Stress and Iskall have been, or should it be were now, friends for a very long time, since before Iskall even met Ren. So one can imagine the stress this causes Iskall, to be told to kill his one remaining friend that he knows is alive. Of course, this stress is quite enough to to Stress's Stress Monster into one it's strongest yet seen forms, allowing for Stress to then get away. (1/2)(2/2) Of course, Con Corp doesn't- and can never- know the true reason that Iskall cannot kill or capture Stress. If they knew, if they subjected Stress to the same hell he's in- no, that cannot happen. So Iskall hires False to protect Stress, to interfere whenever they send him on a mission for her. Luckily, False is good at keeping secrets when she wants to, and this one she'll keep. But as far as Con Corp knows, Iskall has severe stress and trauma from being a cyborg, and that's why he fails. [This all adds up to a monumental waste of Concorp's time and money, which also results in False getting payed, so all parties involved are happy except for Concorp >:)]

- Impulse would take a bullet for his teammates, and he knows they might be about to take one for him, keeping him updated on what's going on government side of this... slander. Still, Tango and Zed are great actors, and if he didn't know better, he might be a little worried they would *actually* be hunting him down in the name of justice [Tango and Zed are now being sent on missions to retrieve Impulse, which they must pretend to lose believably. They occasionally overestimate their friend's abilities and give him a few more close calls than he'd like, but overall the ruse is holding up.]

Writing:

- Wels, Hels, TFC, and Grumbot

- Bdubs Concorp promotion and desertion

- Joe Hills in his time dilation hideout

- Etho clones, ZIT, and the nHo

- Keralis and Void

- [ALTERNATE] Reveal of Impulse's situation with the nHo

Art:

- Impulse suit design

#hermitcraft #hermitblr #hcraft #Hermitopia AU #masterpost #long post #mod Shade

[nanowrimo]

5 Tips for Finishing Your Novel

April’s session of Camp NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close, and you might find yourself nearing the end of your novel. If you need some tips on writing and polishing the ending of your story, author Derek Murphy is here to share a few! Plus, you can check out the rest of our novel-finishing resources on our #NaNoFinMo page. 

You won NaNoWriMo and have a 50k collection of scenes and sentences, but how do you clean it up and get it done? How do you make sure it’s finished, satisfying and enjoyable? Here are 5 powerful strategies for finishing your novel and some helpful writing tips that will push you past the finish line.

1. Give it a satisfying resolution.

In order to have a powerful story, your book should probably focus on a main character’s change or transformation. There’s an inner war, a.k.a. the character’s emotional healing, and an outer war: the conflict that forced the reckoning. If it’s a purely symbolic internal realization, you can mirror that with actual conflict in the real scene: the breaking of a dish, a fit of rage, a sudden ray of sunlight (or a storm… this should not be pleasant; It’s a breaking point and spiritual death/rebirth).

You can clarify the moment of change by setting up an illustrative contrast, a before and after, that shows how those internal changes have resulted in real-world consequences or benefits. Each character’s unique challenge will match their personal weakness or fear. The price for victory is the one thing they have so far refused to do, or something they cannot give up or bear to lose.

Make sure your protagonist has gone through a transformative struggle to arrive at deep insights, knowledge or awareness. Find a way to deepen the incidental scenes so that they become instrumental to a deeper purpose, leading towards an identity-shifting event.

The plot is what happens, and it’s important. But you can make it more dramatic and meaningful by making sure you demonstrate how hard it was and what it cost. It matters, it is remarkable, because it forced your protagonist to change.

Your conclusion might include:

Physical tension as allies perform a tug-of-war battle against resistance, that shows how difficult this struggle is, and how much force is required.

The consideration phase, as characters are tempted last minute or the price for victory is revealed: the sweet memories that give them awareness that this fight is worth the cost or risk (you need to show them making the choice, knowing what they will lose).

The final flashback, as the full backstory is revealed so we can see exactly why this conflict is so difficult or meaningful for the main character.

2. Add (unresolved) conflict.

Your story is made up of the events and scenes, where something happens. Each new event will push the characters further into the plot. Slow scenes where nothing is really happening can be red flags, so the first thing to focus on is increasing conflict, drama, suspense and intrigue. This is what creates urgency. The full reveal, demonstrating why THIS challenge is so difficult and powerful, should happen just before the final battle or resolution.

You want to make sure every scene, especially in your conclusion, has enough conflict. I recommend these three:

Outer Conflict (threats): Challenges or obstacles that prevent the character from achieving goals.

Inner Conflict (doubts): Moral struggles, decisions, guilt or shame, anger.

Friendly Fire (betrayal): Strong disagreements between allies or supporting characters. 

You want to extend and deepen the potential conflict, without resolving it too easily. The biggest destroyer of conflict is conversation: when your characters just sit around and talk to each other. Most conflict involves a lack of information, and a desire for clarity. A lot of conflict is perceived or imagined.

The most important information needs to come last, and come at a great price. The information that has an emotional impact, and influences their actions and decisions, should be big reveals at dramatic peaks. A surprise or twist should be treated as an event: each scene is leading towards a change or new piece of information that provokes the protagonist to respond.

3. Fill plot holes with character motivation.

After you’ve made sure that “what actually happens” is intriguing (opening questions and raising tensions without resolving them) you can focus on making sure the plot holes are filled, and characters are properly motivated – these two things are usually adjacent.

You can find and fill plot holes by asking:

Why are the characters doing this?

Why does any of it matter?

Basically, readers need to respect the main characters enough to care what happens to them, so their choices and actions need to make sense within the given information. If there’s a simpler, easier solution, readers will get stuck up on “why didn’t they just…”? To fix plot holes and gaps in logic or continuity, or make the story go where you need it to, you can add urgency, fix the mood of the scene (bigger stakes require bigger justifications), show characters in a weakened mental state, or raise concerns but have them dismissed, with an excuse or justification.

You need rational characters to make plausible choices that lead to dire consequences. You need show why they don’t do something easier, or nothing at all, or why they face clear challenges, despite potential obstacles.

They’ll also require a deeper motivation, for why they’re willing to put themselves in identity-destroying conflict, rather than just giving up or running away. Why do they stay in THIS fight, when they’ve run from similar ones? If they weren’t ready at the beginning, why are the ready now – what changed in them, as a result of your story’s journey?

Your protagonist needs to have a strong, consistent internal compass, and it needs to be revealed through incidents that establish their character. This is who they are. Without this reliable core identity, we won’t be able to tell a story that forces them to change. 

4. Let readers picture your story with detailed description.

In the final stages of revision, you can begin improving the description with specific details.

It’s smart to start – or end – a chapter with a vivid, immediate scene. You want to leave readers with an image they can see in their minds, hopefully connected to the feeling you aim to evoke. You can close a chapter with a reference back to a motif or image, with a deeper or more reflective context; applying meaning to the metaphor. This will help readers feel engaged, be moved, and leave a lasting impact.

Vivid scenes are mostly a matter of detailed description, so add the specifics about the story environment. Be precise, not vague. Instead of “she put a plate of tea and snacks on the table” you can write “she gently placed an antique porcelain teapot on the table. I could smell it was Earl Grey from the scent of bergamot. The half-sleeve of Oreos and can of onion-flavored Pringles seemed incongruous with the fancy dishes, but I knew she was making an effort to welcome me.”

Focus on the sensations and feelings; but also zero-in on any potential sources of conflict or internal emotions or states of mind. In my example above, the host might be nervous or ashamed of her spread; or perhaps she has a degenerative brain disease and doesn’t notice the incongruity. Tensions are unspoken, potential sources of negative feelings. They hover in the background of your description.

Readers will remember the pictures you put in their heads, not the words on the page.

Description should serve and be bound to the story, not distract from it.

It should be squeezed into and around the scene action, when the protagonist is using or exploring.

Show what’s different, not what’s the same.

Leave space for readers to fill in the gaps, but get them started in the right direction so they aren’t surprised later.

Sidenote: be careful about your metaphors, analogies and similes. Each one will put a picture into readers’ minds, and it can quickly get overcrowded with imagery. You’re asking them to ignore your real scene and think of something else. Use them to confirm and amplify the scene you have, and limit distractions.

5. Prepare to publish.

Typos are bad, but perfectionism will ruin you. This section is about editing and proofreading, but I don’t have time for all that, and you don’t either. The real problem with a story is rarely the number of typos. A very clean book isn’t better if people stop reading.

You can solve a lot of common writing problems, with my big list of 25 common writing mistakes, and self-edit your manuscript to make it as good as possible. After that, a copyeditor or proofreader isn’t always the best investment (and it can also be the biggest publishing cost).

Instead, use an editing software (I like Grammarly) to root out obvious mistakes, but don’t dwell on the small stuff like perfecting every word or rearranging the commas. Spending a very long time wrestling a poorly-written manuscript in shape is less effective than getting something (actually) done to the point where you’re comfortable sharing it.

This may be difficult at first, but you can’t learn and improve without genuine reader feedback (from people who aren’t your mom or best friend; nor the short-sighted opinions of a self-proclaimed literature enthusiast). You need to find readers who enjoy your particular genre, and the sooner you find them, the more valuable feedback you can get.

Shorten the feedback loop: Get over the fear and focus on learning by getting feedback early and often. However, this doesn’t just mean joining a writer’s club: writers are brutal and might focus on trivial things. The safest bet is to make it public, on Wattpad at least. Or get a cheap cover and throw it up on Kindle, Draft2Digital or even your own blog.

Making it public is scary and vulnerable, but it’s better than letting the fear of messing up keep you from the brutal, necessary experience of allowing readers to tell you what they liked and disliked about your writing. Will some people be critical? Yes! But guess what, you’ll get negative reviews even if you’re a brilliant, famous writer. Those are inevitable. And the first negative reviews may teach you more about writing than 10 years attempting to self-edit, afraid of putting your book out into the world.

PS. You can use resources, like my 24-chapter plot outline, as a way to spot story gaps in your manuscript and improve the structure (especially if your book suffers from a “soggy middle.)

Derek Murphy has a PhD in Literature, writes urban fantasy and is the founder of the alliance of young adult authors. More recently, he’s started sharing writing tips on http://www.writethemagic.com

Top photo by Adegbenro Emmanuel Dipo on Unsplash.

#nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo #nanofinmo #writing advice #writing tips #finishing a novel #by nano guest #derek murphy

[whetstonefires]

When I was a kid my house didn’t have TV--like, we had a TV, but it was only good for watching VHS tapes, there were no shows getting beamed into it. We’d have needed to rent a satellite dish for the privilege and we were having a hard enough time eating, thanks.

Which meant that I liked the 90s Spiderman cartoon, but I mostly watched the same, like, 3 episodes a bunch of times. I could probably still do most of the dialogue from the episode with ‘The Spot!’ with voices and everything.

(incidentally Tony Stark cameos in that episode, and I wouldn’t know who he was for like a decade but his voice actor did a great job, because even though he was technically doing the right thing, his whole 14 words of dialogue still made me want to knock him on the floor and punch him in the teeth with my tiny child hands and I didn’t even like the person he was being an asshole to, he was just that condescending and dismissive)

but anyway the bit of the climax of that episode where the artificial black hole is starting to eat New York and the Spot tells Spiderman he needs to get close to fix it and the Kingpin is like

“Gentlemen, perhaps I can be of some assistance” and his minion with the mutant face is like

“Why would you help them?!” and Kingpin is like,

“There is no profit to be made in the destruction of the planet. It is very bad for business.”

And then they save the world with the help of Kingpin’s helicopter.

I like how that’s a sequence that was clearly written 90% because when they were hashing out the script they needed a way to get the characters up to the hole in the sky that would give The Spot time for last words, unlike webslinging where Spidey would have basically needed to hurl the guy through and keep swinging, and then they, the scriptwriters, were like ‘okay kingpin has a helicopter’ and then they were like ‘we need to justify him letting them use it, tho, because giving peter the ability to just steal helicopters is giving him too much power and potentially a Bad Example For The Kids, and if he loans it without explanation that’s weird and will imply follow-up we don’t intend on’ so they just wrote a couple of lines to cover that

but at the same time, that couple seconds of cartoon that was just there to get the writers out of a potential plot hole taught Small Me an important lesson at a formative time about how sometimes awful people can do good things out of rational self-interest, and it doesn’t necessarily have to carry some Deep Moral Impact or Revelation wrt them or anyone who works together toward the same Valid Goal. which i’ve realized is not a lesson everyone received.

It doesn’t particularly redeem Kingpin or corrupt Spiderman, or change their relationship, to go in together to this extent on Not Dying In The Next Half Hour. It’s just the sane thing to do.

Mind you I was also given by this episode of Amazing Spiderman an unfairly generous evaluation of how intelligent the average supervillain is when it comes to ‘putting resources toward preventing the imminent destruction of the world,’ but hey you can’t have everything in one place.

(Also Capone reportedly took care of his neighborhood and made the feds regulate milk so kids would stop getting poisoned. So possibly Kingpin’s organized crime background predisposes him to have a better understanding of the survival value of taking responsibility than you get as his equivalent villain level in the purely corporate sector?)

#hoc est meum #spiderman #enlightened self-interest #wilson fisk #cartoons

[ettawritesnstudies]

braindumping here because @raevenlywrites​ WBW ask got my wheels turning and gave me a cool new idea for why Runaways should exist within the same universe as all my other WIPs and also conveniently fix several small plot holes at the same time.

So grabbing this concept of each planet having a different magical ID, I was wondering what’s the makeup of each of my main WIP planets and why would that explain why the magic is Like That on each world? Yes its influenced in a large part by the people and plants and animals who live there, but the life there also only exists because the planet existed in that place and time with that magical core in the first place. SO WHAT DO WE HAVE?

Laoche: this world has extremely potent magical fields - it’s in the air, it’s in the water, it’s in the rocks, they have anti-gravity metal, the stuff is everywhere. Every person on that planet has the potential to be super-powered by being born in the right place at the right time and having certain events occur as a child before their own magic settles into it’s niche. Luca’s basically a nuclear bomb waiting to explode. He does explode. They have charms that act like radioactive isotopes. Acheran is a charm maker which is this world’s equivalent of making jewelry out of lithium ion batteries.

Runaways: Our world but SLANT. There are fae hiding in pockets of the forest, mermaids chilling in the deep ocean, and ghosts hanging around abandoned farmhouses. Did I have any explanation for this before? nope. Something vaguely about convenient allegory. Now??? Their world is a lot like Earth in how it formed, but the core of the earth includes some pretty serious nullification properties. It’s made of iron. It creates a magnetic field that serves the same purpose as a magic field but effectively cancels it out in the process. Why are fae allergic to iron??? boom, here’s the answer.

Now this anti-magic field isn’t perfectly uniform and there are some patches in the earth’s crust that have the opposite effect and let the magic seep through by amplifying the signal. These magic zones are where the magic creatures live/evolve/immigrate to, and became tinier to better use the limited space they have. The illusions are a natural side effect of the magical/nonmagical barrier butting up against each other. S Faerie realms become kind of like pocket dimensions and other-worlds on their own planet - parts of the map that you don’t even notice are blank.

And because magic is so scarce and spells only work on the magic-side, if they want to influence anything outside of their realms, fae need to have very powerful magic to overcome the planet’s own field. What’s a stronger magic than taking control of a person’s own magical identity? What’s a stronger magic than taking a true name? This isn’t even something that occurs to people on Laoche because they can huck fireballs at you, “power” in magic takes on a very different idea. And when it does happen, Madelyn is a rare rare rare case that’s not well understood and traumatized by the experience because magic is so innate. But fae can strip you of your name and your powers at the same time and most humans wouldn’t notice what they lost, which is horrifying and perfect.

(runaways spoilers ahead)

Why does Cecelia lose her ability to do normal fae magic when she becomes a changeling? The switching spell gives her not-cecelia’s name and not-cecelia’s mundane powers. She’s only able to shapeshift once she returns to the Seelie court!

Why does the Taken only attack Hannah once she steps inside the faerie ring? She doesn’t have any power outside the faerie ring! They had to lure her to it first before they could strike! Why doesn’t the piper mind control Hannah during their first meeting? His power is weakened in the forest! He’s still close enough to fae he has some control but not enough to completely take over.

Why can the Seelie only protect Cecelia if she stayed in faerie? Their power literally doesn’t extend outside of faerie, it’s not even a political thing, they cannot do anything for her as soon as she steps outside again. But Hannah can, because she’s not tied to the faerie world in the first place.

Why do the Unseelie and the Seelie fight in the first place? Competition for survival! A population grows big enough and there’s not enough space for all of them in the magic zones so they start trying to exert their influence over humans too.

Why does Tess finding her name have so much power? How does she know that Tess her her true name? Her lost magic resonates when she first hears it! She doesn’t know why but she knows it fits. Taking it back from the Piper destroys his powers over her because they’re her powers again.

#guys I'm so excited I feel like I just discovered a hidden secret of the universe #worldbuilding wednesday #wbw #etta rambles #magic system #laoche #runaways #saving for future reference #worldwanderer

[joaquinwhorres]

The Fool (Ch. 6) {Fred Weasley x F!OC}

SUMMARY ››››› After getting tangled up with the Weasley Twins during the events of the Quidditch World Cup, Wren Collings’ life takes a turn for the chaotic. It threatens everything she has going for her, but she’s not convinced that’s entirely a bad thing.

PAIRING ››››› Fred Weasley x Female OC

WORD COUNT ››››› 4,589

WARNINGS ››››› There is no depression or mental health issues in this story, but there are mentions of death, violence, abuse, some PTSD, etc. As most of the specific warnings revolve around major plot points or are found throughout most chapters, I’m just going to rate certain chapters on the movie scale. This is chapter PG-13.

A/N ››››› General plea for validation through reblogs and comments.

Series Masterlist | Read on ff.net | Read on AO3

Wren felt sick all morning.

Ever since Fred and George had been escorted off to the Hospital Wing by Lee Jordan, she felt as if her stomach was twisting in on itself. She supposed this was a natural reaction to sending your friends to the Hospital Wing--a theory that was further solidified throughout the day as it seemed like everybody was talking about the failed attempts to enter the Tournament. Fred and George were not the only ones thwarted by the ageline, but their story was by far the most popular throughout the castle. Wren had even heard a group of ghosts gossiping about it, and several portraits had stopped her on her way to the common room to interrogate her about the incident and settle a debate as to whether their beards had gone down to their waist or their ankles.

The Common Room was not much safer in terms of avoiding talk of the Failure. Lee Jordan appeared to be holding court in the corner, recounting the story from his perspective to an enraptured audience, and even up in her room, Wren couldn't seem to get away from the terrible feeling that had made itself right at home in her core. Even her Potions' homework wasn't enough to distract her from the fact that Fred and George still hadn't made their way up to the common room yet, and it was nearing lunch.

Which was why right before noon, Wren found herself hovering outside the Hospital Wing.

It seemed to be busier than normal, which wasn't that much of a surprise, given how many names of unsuccessful entrants Wren'd heard other students throw around. She had to admit though, that she was a bit surprised at how raucous the noise was. Wren edged a bit closer to the open door, one voice rising above the others in an uncanny imitation of an old Scottish woman. "Albus, last year a known murderer and pack of Dementors roamed the school, and the year before that the heir of Slytherin opened the Chamber of Secrets. Perhaps, we could open it up to all students turning 17 this year?"

A slow measured voice responded, "Now, now, Minerva. Dementors and Basilisks are one thing, but a student died over 200 years ago from this Tournament. And even though it's now Ministry sanctioned, and we could potentially make it a tad bit safer, we must remain true to the spirit of the games, and only students who are of age can enter."

"But Albus, a student died--"

Footsteps rounded the corner, and Wren jumped back whirling on the couple who just came down the hallway.

Not a couple.

The bronze haired boy who was smirking as he said something to the girl walking beside him was Simon. He looked up from the blonde, his eyes landing on Wren who was just a step away from entering the Hospital Wing, and surprise quickly overtook his features. Still, he didn't look quite as surprised as Wendy Fairchild did, her cheeks turning a delicate pink.

"Wren?" Simon said, as if he couldn't believe that she was actually there. Then again, she could count the number of times she'd been to the Hospital Wing over the past six years on her fingers, so maybe it wasn't entirely unreasonable for him to be so shocked. Her eyes were drawn once again to Wendy, who suddenly looked very uncomfortable and very trapped. Simon stepped away from the blonde and towards Wren. "Did something happen? Are you alright?"

Her eyes shifted to the Hospital Wing's door, the noise suddenly quelled by the sound of a sharp admonishment. "I had a stomach ache, is all," Wren said, stepping further away from the door.  "Hi Wendy."

"Hi Wren," Wendy greeted, her eyes darting between the couple as the tension between the three thickened. The blonde Ravenclaw licked her lips, her eyes darting for Simon as if he'd provide a way out of the awkward situation but he was focused on Wren, the worry gone from his face, and a cool stoniness taking over in its place. A small sigh escaped Wendy. "Well, I best be going. Thank you again for the help, Simon," she offered a brief strained smile at the couple before hurrying off down the hallway.

Wren looked down at the stones between her and her boyfriend, eyes studying the grooves and dimples.

"I heard about what happened to Fred and George," Simon remarked, and Wren's stomach rolled. Words bubbled up, excuses and explanations and apologies all at the tip of her tongue as she looked up at him, but he continued. "I'm sure you see now why I didn't want you to do it."

Wren flushed and nodded her head, pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear. "Simon I--"

"It's ok, Wren," Simon cut her off, stepping forward and folding her into his arms. "I forgive you." He pulled back slightly, cupping her face in his hand. "At least you realized how foolish it'd be and pulled out."

Wren offered up a shaky smile which dissolved as Simon bent forward and kissed her, before releasing her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe next time, you'll just listen to me."

The sick feeling in her gut was worse, her insides churning in protest even as she kept her lips sealed shut, keeping her confession trapped inside. Simon looked down at her, seeming to note her silence.

He sighed, withdrawing his arm from around her. "You might as well just ask, I know what you're wondering."

Wren's brow furrowed in confusion as she cast him a look. "What I'm wondering?"

"Wren, I'm not stupid. I saw the look you gave me with Wendy, and I see the look you're giving me now. You're easy to read."

Realization dawned on Wren at what he was implying, and she quickly stumbled over her words. "Simon, I--"

"She needed help with her Alchemy work, and that's it. Nothing happened."

"I know--" Wren started again, but Simon cut her off.

"I made one mistake," Simon said. "One. And you and I both know that you're just as responsible for it happening as I am."

Wren looked to the ground, nodding her head. "I know. I…" she trailed off. "You're right. I shouldn't have even wondered. I'm sorry."

Simon sighed, his arm going around her shoulders once more. "I forgive you, I just wish you'd believe me that I love you."

"I do," Wren said, looking up into his face. "I know you love me."

He nodded solemnly. "More than anyone else ever could," he said before pressing his lips to hers and whisking her away to lunch.

Wren spent most of her lunch picking at her food and absentmindedly listening to Alicia's ranting about her parents and their post-Hogwarts desires for her and to Katie's wondering about whether everything Professor Moody did was strictly legal.

If the other girls noticed that Wren hadn't really touched her food or seemed to be preoccupied, they didn't say anything. It's possible a look was shared, but she didn't catch it.

Instead, she sat there distracted until she noticed her dorm mates getting up from the table, and she did the same, leaving behind a half full plate to follow them up to the common room.

There, she lost four games of Exploding Snap in a row, and was in the middle of losing a fifth when Fred and George burst through the portrait hole, announcing their arrival with a chorus of "Heyyyyy".

Wren's head snapped to them, watching as the twins modeled their newly clean-shaven faces, stroking the smooth skin of their chins to a smattering of applause and laughter.

Fred scanned the common room, his eyes locking on hers once he found her. He navigated his way around the couches and chairs to her. "There she is…" Fred said as he approached, and she flinched. Alicia tapped the stack of cards and looked entirely unapologetic as Wren glared at her.

"Cheater."

"Hardly," the other girl returned, twirling her wand between her fingers.

Fred plopped himself next to Wren as George sat next to Alicia, throwing himself into her lap. She shoved him off, and with a dramatic sigh, he switched to laying in Angelina's.

"About time you're back," Angelina said, tugging at George's ear. He winced, swatting her hand away. "How long does it take to fix a couple of beards anyway?"

"Longer when Dumbledore interrogates us for the secrets of our near success," Fred said, catching Wren's startled glance. "Don't worry--we told him we couldn't divulge any information."

"He seemed to understand but mentioned he'd be much obliged if the recipe  should ever end up under his office door," George said with a grin at Wren.

She flushed, shaking her head. "It didn't even work. I mean you two could have ended up--"

"Maybe it didn't work, Fred cut her off. But no one else even made it through the age line. We're the only ones to have crossed it."

"It was a good bit of magic, Wren," George agreed.

"But it just as easily could have landed you in the Hospital Wing for more than a few hours," Wren argued, and the group exchanged looks.

"I thought we'd been over this," George said, sitting himself up. "It was a minor risk, yeah, but we've taken bigger risks with our own testing."

"Besides, I doubt Dumbledore would have put any enchantment on the Goblet that could harm students if the whole point was to keep underage witches and wizards from entering," Angelina reasoned.

Wren wet her lips, turning this over in her mind. She still couldn't help but feel guilty for her failure, but what made her feel even worse was not the fact that she could have hurt Fred and George, but that she was disappointed her potion hadn't succeeded.

"Come on," Fred said, nudging her shoulder with his own. "You've got to admit, it was at least a bit thrilling to give it a go."

The corner of her lips traitorously twitched up. Around her, her friends made sounds of approval, George even reaching forward to shake her leg excitedly.

"He really came to ask you about the potion?" Wren asked, and Fred nodded solemnly.

"Seemed genuinely interested too," George added.

Wren offered a real smile then, and the group seemed to (accurately) take that as an end to the  conversation.

The rest of the afternoon passed happily. George finally ended Alicia's streak in Exploding Snap and Lee came into the Common Room about an hour later and recounted recent would-be entrants' failures for them. Now that Wren wasn't wracked with worry and guilt with Fred and George, she was able to laugh along with the rest of the group, especially over Lee's dramatic impersonation of Milicent Bulstrode breaking down into hysterics over her newfound beard.

By the time it was dinner, the events of the morning felt like they had passed weeks ago, and Wren traipsed down to the Great Hall with the group more than ready for the Halloween feast.

She wasn't, however, ready for the selection of Champions. Her heart stilled for a moment as Cedric's name was pulled from the cup, her eyes skipping over the group of Hufflepuffs shaking his shoulders and cheering, and instead focusing on Nora.

If Wren were in Nora's shoes, she'd be pale. But instead her cousin was alternating between clapping loudly and cupping her hands around her mouth to cheer.

She was only silenced when a fourth name came out of the cup.

In fact, the whole Great Hall went quiet for a beat. And then another one. And then the whispers started, moving through the room like wind rustling through the trees.

"Harry got his name in?" Angelina hissed next to Wren.

"How?" Katie whispered back, her eyes moving to Wren, but Wren was already focused on Harry, whipping his head around with surprise and saying something hushed and quick to his friends. Dumbledore called him up to the front table and her eyes followed his path, a clawing tightness in her chest as she watched him pass behind Fred.

How had he, a fourth year who by all accounts was not the smartest in his year, managed to get across the age line when the combined minds of her, Fred, George, and Lee hadn't managed it?

Her jaw clenched as a hand closed over hers. "Hey," George said, leaning across Angelina to get her attention. "If You-Know-Who wasn't able to kill him as a baby, you won't be able to now, even with that look."

The joke, coupled with Harry's disappearance into the chamber behind the professors' table, drew the small group's attention to Wren.

"I'm not trying to kill him," Wren protested as Dumbledore and other adults disappeared into the back room as well. With the disappearance of those in charge, the hall grew noisy once more, the chatter electric. "I just don't understand how he got in is all."

The look of mild annoyance on Fred's face melted as he took her in. "She's jealous!"

"Am not," Wren huffed.

"Come on, Wren, a win for Harry is a win for Gryffindor," Angelina said, but her smile was a bit tight, and Wren felt a bit embarrassed at being jealous when Angelina, who had legitimately entered, hadn't been chosen.

"And more than that," Fred said, bending his head forward conspiratorially. "It's a reason to party."

By the time Harry Potter, the guest of honor and very reason for the party, arrived at the Gryffindor common room, the party was in full swing. Students had come together to lay out a solid stash of snacks on a few tables, and Fred and George had procured a few cases of Butterbeer in a suspicious amount of time. This of course meant that everyone was almost vibrating with excitement to greet Harry. Indeed, all of Wren's friends left her the moment he came through the portrait hole to bombard him with well wishes and questions.

Wren, for her part, hung back with Alicia, making her way through a bag of crisps while staring warily at Harry. "Reckon he'll tell anyone how he did it?" Wren asked as Alicia took a long sip from her butterbeer.

"Harry?" Alicia asked, her voice a bit raw from the carbonation. "Probably not. He's rather tight-lipped. It'd be easier to get it out of Ron."

Wren nodded, scanning the room for the twins' younger brother. As her gaze skipped from redhead to redhead, none of them belonged to Harry's best friend. "Where is Ron?"

"This is really bothering you, huh," Alicia asked, her expression sympathetic. "I know you wanted it to work, but honestly Wren, it was always a long shot. The twins knew that."

Wren had no intention of trying to get Ron Weasley to tell her how Harry entered, but she would have been lying if she dismissed Alicia's claim outright.

She had known it'd been a long shot too. She always had a healthy dose of skepticism throughout the endeavor.

But she couldn't get rid of the small, irritating feeling of disappointment that scratched at the back of her mind.

She doubted Dumbledore would want her potion recipe now that someone had had an actually successful workaround.

"Why the long face?" Fred asked, walking back up with George. Over their shoulders, Wren could see Lee tying the Gryffindor banner around Harry's shoulders.

The two followed her gaze and Fred snorted. "Still on about that, then?"

"No," Wren said petulantly. The twins exchanged a knowing look, and she scowled, swatting at them. "I'm not!"

Fred's eyes darted over her shoulder, and she whipped around to catch Alicia mid-nod before pretending she was sipping from her drink.

"I'm not!"

Fred and George exchanged another look, although this one seemed to be more of a conversation between two pairs of eyebrows than just a look.

"Alicia, we're stealing Wren," Fred announced, wrapping an arm around Wren's shoulders and guiding her forward before Alicia could even respond to the statement. George trailed after the two of them, the group stopping in a relatively quiet nook of the common room, away from the thick of the party.

"It has recently come to our attention that you, Wren Collings, are a natural born inventor."

Wren quirked an eyebrow, staring dubiously back at Fred. "What?"

"You're upset that you didn't find the solution to the age line and Harry did," George filled in.

"Plus, you greatly enjoyed the plotting involved in making our potion," Fred nodded.

"So we were talking…" George started

"And we think you'd be an excellent addition to the Weasley Wizard Wheezes product development team," Fred finished with a smile.

"The what?"

"Fred and I have always dreamed of opening a joke shop. We've been working on a few products over the summer," George explained.

"Fake wands."

"Tom-tongue toffees."

"Trick quills."

"And we think that your mind and potions and Herbology expertise would help us with our next  venture," Fred said.

"Your next venture?" Wren repeated.

"Puking pastilles," the twins chorused with a nod.

"Puking pastilles." What they were proposing was so ridiculous, Wren wasn't able to come up with a coherent original thought. Instead she was turning the idea over in her mind--product development with the Weasley twins. It was true she'd enjoyed developing the aging potion with them, but that had been a one time thing. A deal. And even then it hadn't worked. Now they wanted her to come up with entirely original recipes for members of the public to eventually consume? She could poison all of London. Or worse, she could--

"You're spiraling," Fred said matter of factly. "I can see it right here," he said, poking at the crease between her eyebrows, and Wren slapped his hand away. He grinned at her. "Come on Wren, this is an exciting new venture. Nothing to get too in your head about at this stage."

"I just don't think I--"

"If this is going to be another self-deprecating statement, I should warn you. You're wasting your breath," George interrupted, holding up a hand.

"We happen to think you are nothing short of a genius, and there isn't anything you can say to convince us otherwise," Fred added.

Wren blinked at them. "I--" they cast her reproachful looks and she switched directions. "Thank you."

Fred smiled. "I'm going to take that as confirmation that you're in."

Wren shook her head, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. It would be easy to tell them no. To stick to the plan of just studying for her classes and spending free moments trying to track down Simon. But she didn't want to.

"Yeah," Wren said with a tentative smile. "I'm in."

While working with Fred and George on the creation of puking pastilles was fun and often led to Wren laughing so hard her sides hurt, it was still, at its core, work . She was fairly certain she had never used her brain so much. Not even for NEWT-level Potions or Transfiguration.

Still, there were far worse uses of her time than being tucked away in the common room or a corner of the library, drawing up plans and theories with Fred and George and sometimes Lee.

"I need a break," Wren announced, placing her book on top of the stack they had pulled.

"Breaks are for the faint of heart," George said automatically, not even bothering to look up from his reading. It had been the line the three used to keep each other on track.

"I fear I'm going into heart failure," Wren answered, dramatically, dropping in her chair. "If I have to read another line about common Italian plants' side effects, I think my heart will finally give out."

"Alright Georgie, I think a break's in order. We don't want poor Wren's heart to explode," Fred said, snapping his book shut.

"So when Wren's going through heart failure, we get a break, but when I'm dying of boredom, you just eulogize me."

"That's about the size of things," Fred nodded, and George grinned, shutting his book and looking over at the two. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he had the chance, a look of curious confusion crossed his face.

"Hullo," he greeted, and Wren turned to see Simon walking towards the group.

"Hi, love," Wren smiled up at Simon. His bronze hair curled above his eyes, and she reached out a hand for him. He shot a quick look at her and then at the Weasley twins, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets. Wren curled her hand back in, resting it on her shoulder as if that was what she intended to do. "What are you doing here?"

"Searching for my girlfriend," Simon offered a small smile. "Have you seen her?

"Simon," Wren laughed lightly as Fred and George exchanged mortified looks at the excuse of a joke.

"Oh! I hardly recognized you. Haven't seen you in ages."

"Ha ha, very funny," Wren smiled and let out an exhale as if he was joking, but he had that look in his eyes that she knew too well. He turned to Fred and George.

"So you're the reason my girlfriend's gone missing."

"What can I say, our presence is a delight." It wasn't the tone of Fred's voice as much as the look of George's face that made her stomach drop.

"Thank you for sharing Wren with us," George stepped in. "Must be hard to let this one go."

"Indeed," he swiveled to Wren. "Speaking of which, have a second?" Simon asked, flashing a seemingly charming smile. Wren looked up at him, and a flash of fear, which she hoped was unnoticeable, crossed her face. She slowly nodded.

"For you? Always," she said, standing up to follow him. Had he heard about George? What did he want? She had heard that tone of voice before, and it never ended well. She followed him a couple of rows over so that it was deserted and nobody would hear them.

"I didn't realize you three were so close," he commented, his voice still friendly, but in the dangerous phase. If Wren thought that her research was going to give her heart failure, she was certain that this conversation might give her a heart attack. It pounded away in her chest, as she racked her brain for an explanation. She had a feeling after Simon's reaction to the aging potion that he wouldn't particularly care for the truth.

"We're not that close," Wren dismissed. "We've just been studying together this year, is all. They're a whiz at Charms, and honestly this NEWT schedule is keeping me so busy--"

"Wren," Simon stopped her. "Don't insult my intelligence."

"What?"

"You're lying. I can see it all over you. What are you really up to with them?"

"What am I really up to?" Wren repeated, her heart beating faster. "Studying. Simon, where is this coming from? Why are you upset?"

"Why am I upset?" Simon asked. "After how you acted when you saw me walking down the hall with Wendy? I should have seen that you were projecting--accusing me of cheating while you're off spending your  afternoon in a dark corner of the library with the Weasley twins!"

"Simon, it's not like that. You've just been busy and I—" Wren started to argue, jerking away and shutting her mouth quickly as Simon shoved a finger in her face.

"Do not turn this into my fault."

"It's nobody's fault. There's nothing wrong here!" Wren began to grow hysterical. "You're reading into things that aren't there."

"So I'm crazy?" He dropped his hand, but moved closer to her, and she took a half step back.

"No, of course not," Wren held her temples "I just--there's no reason to be upset. I would never choose them over you. I-I'll go tell them I have to go. We can go to the courtyard, or wherever you want. "

"Don't even bother. I don't want to be your pity pick. Just go back to them," Simon scoffed, shaking his head. "At this point, I'm used to being left behind. Makes sense you'd do it too."

"Simon, I'll come with you. Just let me get my stuff. Please--" Wren reached forward grabbing his arm, and he snatched it away from her, sending her toppling into a bookshelf. A few books came loose, tumbling to the floor in a messy pile.

"You always do this," Simon's lip curled. "Make a mess of everything. I wonder if your precious twins will put up with half the things I do." Wren watched him leave, trying to blink back the tears forming in her eyes. He was right. She did always make a mess of things. She knew what she should have done--what she should have said. She should have packed up as soon as he came over. She should have told the twins she'd see them in class and told him she had more than a second--she had hours for him. She shouldn't have argued.

Wren wiped away a few tears as she bent down to begin picking up the books and finding their proper places. Footsteps approached the end of the aisle, and her head snapped, hoping Simon had come back.

"Everything ok?" Fred asked, standing at the end of the aisle where Simon had been moments before. Wren quickly glanced back at the book she was shoving into the shelf, as if that would hide her splotchy red face.

"Fine," her voice came out high and not quite as lighthearted as she'd hoped.

"And that's why you've decided to take up a part time job as a librarian?"

She let out a sigh that could maybe possibly be construed as a laugh. "No, I just--um--we stumbled into the books." She hoped that would explain the red face if not for Simon's conspicuous absence.

"Ah," Fred nodded, and she could hear the disbelief in his voice. "And where is the other half then?"

“He…he had to run off. Prefect duties. I told him I'd handle it.”

Fred's eyes rested on her, as she picked up another book and shoved it between two other ones, not able to even concentrate on making sure they were in alphabetical order. She couldn't understand why Fred had taken it upon himself to interrogate her. He was silent even as she picked up another book, as if for once he were carefully choosing his words.

"Must've run off pretty quick. I came as soon as I heard the books."

It was Wren's turn to furrow her brow at him. "Why?"

“What happened here?” George appeared over Fred's shoulder, stopping him from continuing the sentence.

“Simon couldn’t keep his hands off Wren,” Fred said to George. Wren flushed from the choice of words.

George wiggled his eyebrows at Wren. “Kinky.”

She turned redder if possible and Fred’s jaw ticked.

“Need a hand?”

Despite the fact that George asked the question, Wren looked at Fred. “That would be lovely.”

George moved around Fred and picked up the last few books, sliding them onto the shelf.

“Thanks, George,” Wren smiled. He reached over and squeezed her hand. His brow furrowed slightly. Wren looked over his shoulder at Fred who caught her eye before turning and heading back towards their seats. She looked back at George and offered a tight smile, standing up. "Let's go back to take our break."

#fred weasley #fred weasley fic #fred weasley x oc #fred weasley x f!oc #fred weasley imagine #weasley twins #weasley twins fic #weasley twins imagine #fred weasley fanfiction #harry potter fic #harry potter imagine #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter and the goblet of fire #harry potter book 4 #fred and george #fred and george weasley #series: the fool #fred wealsey x wren collings #wren collings x fred weasley #oc: wren collings

[hellsbellschime]

Ok, so I’ve always noticed some of the racism on TVD , most notably the treatment of Marcel and Emily, and the founders day parade episode (which, as a Virginian I have to say that the episode made me low-key ashamed when I re-watched it years later). But it took me a while to catch onto the racism on Bonnie‘s character. I was wondering if you have done a meta about it and could link me to it, or if you could do one?

Well it only took me like a year but here ya go!

Despite the fact that The Vampire Diaries is a show that was ostensibly created for girls and young women, the show undeniably seems to lack a certain level of respect or basic interest in its female characters. And while every single significant female character demonstrates that misogynistic point of view in one way or another, one of the most unique, distinct, and apparent instances of The Vampire Diaries' sexism is on peak display with one of it's leading female characters, Bonnie Bennett.

Bonnie obviously occupies a particularly interesting role in the series because she's the only black leading character, and it's also hard to miss that The Vampire Diaries universe has a pretty apparent issue with it's non-white characters as well.

The race problem on TVD expresses itself in a few different, extremely blatant ways. The most obvious issue with people of color on The Vampire Diaries is that those who are actually PoC within the narrative itself are typically pushed to the sidelines and relegated to supporting players at best, but there is also an issue with presenting PoC performers who are white-passing as white characters.

None of the PoC characters in The Vampire Diaries get very good treatment, but the series seems to be exceptionally problematic when it comes to its presentation of black characters. While black people arguably get more representation than any other non-white characters in this fictional world, they are almost all outrageously attractive, extremely light-skinned, and conveniently lacking in any emotional needs or inner life that needs to be addressed within the narrative, seemingly designed to show up, perform whatever service is necessary, and once again fade into the background if not just be killed off entirely.

This is an issue with every black character in the series, but given that Bonnie is the most significant and prominent in the series, it comes as no surprise that she was affected the most intensely by these biases. It's one thing to be a black character, it's one thing to be a female character, but being a black female character in the TVD universe is exceptionally crippling. But how exactly did the misogynoir of The Vampire Diaries completely neutralize Bonnie Bennett as a character?

Bonnie was mistreated, dismissed, and outright ignored in many big and small ways throughout the course of the show. But, a lot of that treatment can be pretty easily sorted into a few categorizations. The Vampire Diaries went through a pretty seismic shift from the start of the show to the end, but it has always been a series that falls primarily into two genres, the supernatural thriller genre and the romance genre.

The show pretty clearly transformed from a show that was firstly a supernatural story with a romantic subgenre into an almost entirely romantic story with a supernatural backdrop, but it's safe to say that the vast majority of the plotlines were either focused on magic or love. And, it's not particularly difficult to see how Bonnie was forcibly excluded from a predominant storyline in each genre, even when it made absolutely no sense.

Bonnie was a completely inexperienced witch at the start of TVD, so her cluelessness and powerlessness made a certain amount of sense at that point. But by the end of season 2 at the very latest, it seems fully established that she is one of the most powerful living witches in the world, and for the bulk of the series it is plainly acknowledged that she is one of the most powerful witches who ever lived. Which is exactly why Bonnie's position in the narrative is baffling.

In quite a few instances, Bonnie's magical abilities seem to be somewhat inconsistent, at least in the sense that, if she can solve some of the biggest problems that the Mystic Falls gang is confronted with, then it's very odd that she can't solve the others. And while plenty of characters in TVD are occasionally used as plot devices rather than characters, Bonnie seems to be the one who is specifically designed to show up, fix what needs fixing, and then become set dressing once she's no longer necessary as the mystical solution to every unsolvable issue.

And this is actually a significant problem with the witches at large, but of course is most recognizable with Bonnie because she is the most prominent witch. While not all witches are women of color, it seems like they are far more represented in that faction of the magical world than in any other. So then, it's interesting that the witches are presented as servants of nature who are meant to selflessly restore order to the world without actually using their abilities for their own personal gain.

Of course there are plenty of witches who appear to use their powers for themselves, but still, it's incredibly meaningful that the lone black main character in the series is constantly sacrificing herself for the sake of the otherwise entirely white cast of characters. It's even more meaningful that she seems to willingly put herself in the line of fire every time, and it's also extremely telling that she suffers and even dies without complaint for the sake of other people.

And while TVD has never been the kind of show to linger on emotional moments for too long, Bonnie seems to stick out like a sore thumb in this circumstance as well. Most of the main and even supporting characters have moments where their pain is acknowledged and at least has a second to breathe, but there are quite a few situations where Bonnie should be upset but isn't, or where her emotional journey as a character literally takes place off screen.

This lack of acknowledgment and nearly complete omission of an internal emotional life that doesn't involve sacrificing herself for her friends only further makes Bonnie feel like a plot device instead of a character. And, while no character needs a romantic relationship to make their character complete, it is incredibly relevant that, on a series that was built largely on a foundation of romance and arguably became a completely romantically driven show by its end, only one of the female leads was pretty much never presented as a viable love interest.

Nearly every character is either threatened or charmed into doing what someone else wants them to at some point during The Vampire Diaries, however, Bonnie's charm-to-threaten ratio seems to lean very heavily in favor of threatening. That in itself wouldn't necessarily be a huge issue, but it seems to punish Bonnie in a way that is so severe that it's completely illogical.

Trying to intimidate Elena or Caroline, people who at best have the strength of a baby vampire and at worst are as powerful as a normal human, makes sense. But trying to strongarm the most powerful witch in the world instead of just convincing her to do what you ask seems like an incredibly dangerous and completely baffling decision.

And yet, that is how Bonnie is forced to do nearly everything that she doesn't want to do in eight seasons of the series. By the end of season 2, TVD has canonically confirmed that Bonnie is powerful enough to destroy Klaus Mikaelson, and yet people like Klaus, Katherine, and even vampires as young as Damon get Bonnie to do things by simply bullying or even assaulting her into doing it. And what does Bonnie typically do in response? Absolutely nothing.

At a certain point, the consistent contrast between Bonnie's mystical strength and the way that people treat her in order to use that strength becomes a pretty gaping plot hole. And while it's not unheard of for someone to try to sweet talk Bonnie into joining their team, it is almost always done by a character who is far less powerful than she is and who is completely irrelevant to the narrative at large.

In contrast to characters like Elena and Caroline, the distinction between them becomes even more obvious. Perhaps a thin argument could be made that because Elena is a doppelganger that makes her a tad more unique, but when one of the most powerful creatures on the planet was wrapped around Caroline's finger, it really begs the question, why wasn't anyone ever as invested or even obsessed with Bonnie as they were with the other two female leads on the series?

After all, Elena's love was consistently treated as if it was the greatest prize that anyone could possibly win, and the two male leads were completely obsessed with her and willing to do anything they could to try to win her over. And despite the fact that Elena was at the center of the love triangle that was a significant driving force behind the story for the entire series, she still managed to score a few love interests that weren't Salvatores throughout the show's eight seasons as well.

And, while Caroline was actually treated as more of the reject love interest in comparison to the unattainable Elena, her record with romance is also incredibly varied. Even though she was portrayed at best as the consolation prize and at worst the abuse victim, she did have some sort of romantic relationship with the two male leads in the show. Or at least, that is how The Vampire Diaries chose to portray it.

In addition to her horrorshow with Damon and her incredibly brief marriage with Stefan, Caroline is also a love interest for Klaus, Matt, Tyler, and disgustingly, Alaric. Arguably the only main male character who doesn't serve as Caroline's love interest or potential love interest at any point is Jeremy.

Although this laundry list of love interests can be partially excused by the fact that Caroline is characterized as someone who wants to date a lot, the contrast bet0ween characters like Caroline and Elena and characters like Bonnie is astonishing.

Over a nearly decade-long run, Bonnie's only legitimate leading men are Jeremy, Elena's kid brother who Bonnie will willingly die for but who also prefers a literal dead person over her at one point, and Enzo, her epic love romance that comes about at the very end of the series in a relationship that almost entirely develops off-screen.

Of course, female characters do not need love interests to validate their characterization or very existence, however in an environment where every single barely significant supporting character seems to get at least two love interests, it's incredibly telling that Bonnie Bennett gets two important love stories in eight seasons of storytelling.

It seems even more relevant that the show seemingly went out of its way to sidestep almost any and all opportunities for romance in Bonnie's character arc. Whether it was Kol, Kai, or Damon Salvatore, there were quite a few instances where there was a clear and easy route to develop a love interest for Bonnie in a way that made sense and had a pretty solid amount of audience support, and yet the series always went out of its way to avoid it.

In stark contrast, Caroline is still seen as a viable option for a burgeoning love story when she's pregnant, and Elena is an acceptable love interest when she's literally unconscious. And yet, in a series that began with romance as its secondary genre and that evolved into a romance series with a supernatural backdrop, Bonnie is supposedly not as appealing of a love interest as Elena and Caroline regardless of any circumstances, no matter how insane.

If these issues existed in a vacuum then they might be excusable, but considering how poorly The Vampire Diaries treated its female characters and black characters, it's pretty much impossible to avoid the reality that Bonnie Bennett's entire character arc was likely hamstrung by the fact that she was a black girl.

In any reasonable circumstances, Bonnie would have arguably been at the center of every single supernatural storyline, and she logically would have been a far more appealing love interest to any powerful characters in the series. But instead she spent the vast majority of her screentime with her inner characterization ignored, her personal development unexplored, and serving as little more than a glorified deus ex machina who didn't even want her friends to bother mourning her when she literally sacrificed her life for them.

Representation was always an issue in The Vampire Diaries universe, and unfortunately it seems like Bonnie was the definition of their token black character. Although the series had eight entire years to course correct and had many seasons where they were desperate for new ideas and decent character development, the racism and misogyny of the series seemingly prevented them from ever tapping into the enormous untapped potential of someone who should have been one of their flagship lead characters.

#bonnie bennett #anti tvd #anti the vampire diaries #misogynoir #racism #sexism #misogyny #tvd #the vampire diaries #bonnie bennett meta #anti tvd meta #tvd meta #meta #my videos

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Ok I want to know your take on the Magic Council. Because to me it’s one of the most inconsistent things in fairy tail. Like “the magic council is extremely powerful and fairy tails fears them” and “the magic council ain’t shit”, the council acts like a magic military but also guilds do all the actual work, the magic council holds significant importance and the magic council doesn’t actually do anything.

The thing that’s especially annoying to me is that the concept of the magic council had a lot of potential if it was explored and expanded on in a narrative way. If they had more structure and impact on the story. Especially if the effects of the council were mentioned throughout the story and not just brought up when narratively nessasary for some plot hole or something. I feel as if some great characters who were magic council members could of been written if the council was explored.

Anyway I want to hear your thought on the magic council. How would you fix it/redo it, anything, please. I’m begging.

What can i say except i wish the magic council was used more?

Like from day one it was established that the council is the main military force in universe and exist to monitor and police wizard and guild activity. They're also the ones who create and enforce laws regarding wizards as well as dealing out punishment.

They're basically cops for wizards only, and seeing as how in universe wizards only make up 10% of the overall population its interesting that theres a specific set of laws to deal with such a small percentage of the population (wizard racism? Its more likely than you think)

In universe they've even been around for a long ass time too. With them being noted as far back as Mavis' time a few years after the events of FT Zero (after the events of the second trade war where they passed the Interguild Dispute Interdiction Treaty which prevented guilds from participating in wars)

In my head the council is an extra branch of the government that exists outside of the jurisdiction of the royal family amd has far reaching influence to a few other countries outside of Fiore as well.

They have a large military consisting mostly of non magical people with few mages, they work to disband dark guilds, they confiscate forbidden magical items (they have the lullaby flute after that whole incident) alongside literal magical weapons of mass destruction ( face and etherion). To the general public they're a good force that doesnt sway under the influence of royal whims. To guilds they're a nuisance always on their backs.

But they do shady things. They plant spies in guilds to gather intel and to hopefully destabilize them into disbanding (I hesitate to think that Mest was the only council spy ever. I'd like to think that the council has spies everywhere in guilds). They use S class wizards as public examples of their power, see Erza being arrested in the way early series and do under the quiet shady research projects ( Brain from Oracion Seis was apart of the Bureau of Magical Development which did the experimentation on Ultear. While not canonically apart of the council i like to think that they are).

(I also like to think that Wizards who are possible candidates to become S class have to be tested by the council before the guilds can carry out their own trials. Because i feel as though the council should be involved in that process.)

Wizard Saints? Public figureheads to show companionship between them and the guilds but the saints only have power in title. Nothing more.

They're shady af, and who doesn't love a shady government in stories?

There could've legit been an ongoing thing in the background of the arcs of the council working to destabilize FT in the eyes of the public because FT is one of the few old guilds in operation present and is not only powerful but a inspirational figure that literally thrives on going against the law(wouldnt want more of those popping up would you?). If it goes logically others trying to follow in FT's footsteps will fall in line and be easier to control.

It could've gone on that the council got real close to their goal of tearing fairy tail down but due to the events of tartarus (see Jackal crazy murdering everyone) they literally lost almost all their forces and had to be built from ground up.

Mest, being one of the few original council members of a high position, gets promoted and having seen both sides of the situation from his spying days rebuilds the council by doing more work alongside wizards and guilds thus bettering the relations, law reforms, decomissioning the weapons of mass destruction, working with the royal family on stuff yadda yadda yadda resulting in good magic council in the end blah blah blah.

But thats just my 2 cents i suppose °3°

#fairy tail #fairy tail headcanon #i rlly should work on my rewrite #i got 3 scripts done but yknow #time #i even got the logo done for it lol #makes the scripts feel official when i slap it on top of the document🤣🤣🤣