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#POSSIBLY A NEW TEAM MEMBER?? WHO IS ALSO PROBABLY A ROCK HUMAN???
maiaczy · 3 months
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I've been kinda slow with the requests lately coz uni work is kicking my ass rn, but since it's jojolands day I felt morally obligated to do this one
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@cailaope
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ramzawrites · 3 years
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OMG might I say I have cried many tears already.
Also can I request a part 2 to your hybrid iron golem story? Maybe one where he has to deal with torture from the butcher gang, and even has to help exile techno. But eventually he ends up teaming with techno blade and dream after they save him. And he starts training with them and gets better at pvp and eventually kills/greatly injures one of the butcher gang as revenge, before returning to his village? LOVE YOU AND YOUR FICS❤️ your also like the only writer I know who writes he/him or gn fics so thank you❤️
IronGolem!Hybrid!Reader - Protector - Part 2
Part 1
Male
Pairings: none
Characters included: Quackity, Tubbo, Fundy, Ranboo, Technoblade, Ghostbur, (mentioned) Philza
Warnings: mention of burn wounds,captivity,fighting
Series: a part 2 of my previous fic per request <3
Summary: After weeks of working Y/N to the bones the Butcher Army has a different need of him. After managing to get the best gear possible from Y/N and having trained enough, it was finally time to get revenge! It was time to “peacefully” get Technoblade so he can stand trial, of course taking Y/N with them, after all he worked so hard on their gear and was now a part of their little army.
Words count: 3893
Authors Note: Thank you for the nice words! 💙 :D I’m sorry I broke this request up in two parts! I will concentrate on finishing up another or two requests and while I do that, I will also try finishing up part 3 since I am already in the middle of writing it! So don’t worry it is coming!
Y/N pressed his back against the cold stone wall. Enjoying the coolness on his body. Pressing his burned palms against the cold floor beneath him. The coldness was like a soothing balm that engulfed him after working for hours at the forge.
It was probably a bad idea pushing the wounds down onto the dirty floor, but he didn’t care. The temporary relief of pain just felt too good that he couldn’t stop himself.
A small break from the constant stress on his body.
Basking in the break from the constant supervision of the Butcher Army, even if that break came at the cost of him being locked inside a cell.
He had no idea how long he has been here in L’Manberg. An interesting city built inside a crater. They led him to this place, riding on their horses while pulling him along with a rope. It was a grueling two-day trip and as soon as the group arrived, they almost immediately put him to work.
First it just started out with him looking over their current armor and repairing what he could, then they began forcing him to create multiple sets of iron armor, claiming they would give him the resources and he should just work.
So, he did. He created armor sets, weapons and tools. Making new ones when they lost the gear, or it got destroyed. They put his work to the test. Fighting against each other to train. Using it against a horde of mobs, so there was never really a shortage of work.
The real trouble came when they suddenly presented him with diamonds. Ordering him to make them diamond armor but he didn’t know how. His expertise laid with iron work nothing else, but the group wouldn’t hear a no from him. Forcing him to figure out how to best create this diamond armor by showing him their old ones.
Luckily his knowledge seemed to somewhat extend to the new material as well. It took a while, but he soon found out different ways to create a similar product to that of his iron gear.
Diamond armor light but strong, the tools incredibly sturdy and in some cases sharp.
This seemed to be what the group was looking for. Yelling things like “This could rival netherite!” as they tried it out for the first time.
One day they brought him a new material. It was netherite. It was good thing that netherite behaved more like iron and was used as a coating for diamond gear, so Y/N could make this upgraded gear for them fast and easily.
The netherite complimented his work quite well. It received greater durability but also made it possible to sharpen the weapons even more so. Something about this material seemed to behave otherworldly to him which got confirmed to him once he found out that it came from the nether.
Naively Y/N had hoped that this was enough and that they would finally let him go and return to his village. His one true home. Though of course they didn’t let him go, saying that they still haven’t reached their goal and needed his help.
Still working him to the bone. His hands getting more and more hurt over time as he worked with the materials. The metal that coated them cracking more and more.
The villagers back home were left with the only few defenses he put up, which should be fine but also, he wanted to be there and make sure they were alright.
As he sat alone in the dark room, he let himself silently cry. He missed them so much. They would make sure he was alright, giving him an abundance of food and materials and whenever he refused to take more, they would look so insulted. If anything, the villagers were good-natured beings that believed in true reciprocity.
This seemed to be a foreign concept for the L’Manberg people or at least the Butcher Army. Increasing his fear and wariness for other humans even more. He never actually had any contact with other people outside of them, but he did learn a few things about the little group and what their opinion was of others.
For starters there were two people they saw as their ultimate enemies.
One called Dream and another called Technoblade.
From the things he heard and even the few question he managed to ask despite of his fear and anxiety, he gained the idea that these two must have been horrible tyrants. He almost got the idea that they were just beasts out here hunting their prey and trying to subject the other people under their own rule or ideologies.
And Y/N was scared of them. He didn’t want to meet them and make sure to stay far away but this was also how he felt towards the Butcher Army, conflicting thoughts and emotions brewing inside of him. The Butcher Army acted like they were the good guys, doing bad things for a good goal and Y/N wanted to believe in that. Wanted to believe that him suffering will bring something good as well but there were doubts.
Y/N laid his hurting hands on his biceps, squeezing them in pain as he tried to stifle his sobs. No matter what, he will make sure to not cry in front of them. It was stupid and unnecessary, but he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. Though then again, the only person who seemed to enjoy the feeling of power was Quackity. Fundy was a close second, but he looked mostly just forward to the new goods and the power he seemed to gain through them.
Tubbo and Ranboo were more passive. Especially Ranboo.
Quackity seemed to string Tubbo along most of the time, speaking to his pride as president of the nation and basically just whispering him what he should do, and the young president listened.
Ranboo tried to sometimes help Y/N. Giving him things like bandages for his wounds or giving him extra food and water, even trying to do small talk with him to lighten the mood. If the situation were different Y/N would have laughed at his awkward attempts for conversation.
While he appreciated it, it just hammered back in the feeling of homesickness.
He bit his lower lip as his thoughts began running a mile an hour again. Ranging from despair to him cursing out his captors. He was too kind to actually think things like “I hate them. I hate them so much.” Trying to believe there was a good reason for this, but he was getting tired. His work is getting more and more sloppy, and it was only a matter of time until Quackity and the others noticed.
There was no telling with how long he could take this anymore.
Y/N got back up only to fall into bed. There was nothing better to do here than sleep through the days and wait for the others to get him out.
As it turned out the others needed him early in the morning but this time it was different.
Quackity opened up the iron door to his cell with a sterner expression than usual. It surprised Y/N when he saw that Quackity had put the white apron on top of his new netherite armor. This was not a good sign. The last time he saw that armor on him was when Quackity escorted him to L’Manberg.
“Get up. We have something to do.” His voice was cold and strained. A hint of anxiety mixed in, or maybe it was anticipation after all.
Not even daring to hesitate, Y/N jumped off his bed. Wordlessly following his captor, soon noticing that this would not be a usual day for him.
Instead of turning to the smithy they set up for him, Quackity led him to the town middle where he saw the rest of the Butcher Army waiting. Decked out in Y/N’s best armor and horses in tow. Expressions pulled down into deep frowns.
But what confused him the most was that he counted five horses when there were only four members of the army. A bad feeling begun building up at the bottom of his stomach. Like a rock sinking down into the depths of water.
“What is going on?” Y/N managed to rasp out as the two reached the others.
Quackity collected the reigns of all the horses and pushed it into Y/N’s rough hands “It is time we finally get some retribution. We are going after Technoblade and we need your help for that. Your own armor is over there. Get ready while we have a little talk with Philza.”
He didn’t wait for an answer and instead moved towards Philza’s home, only to turn around one more time before they rung the bell in front of the house “And I swear by Ender if you run away, we will find you. We know the only probable place you would seek refuge in and even if you don’t, we will wreck that place.”
Then they sounded the bell. A familiar ringing that made Y/N’s heart ache even more.
There was no real choice, he just looked around and found his old iron armor laying on the ground. The scratches and damages from back when the Butcher Army found him still there. He never got the chance to repair it.
Y/N never really talked with Philza. He only saw him here and there. Usually whenever Philza passed him he would just stare. Just stare him down. Something going through his mind, but Y/N couldn’t possibly tell what. His expression always grim only to jump back into a relaxed smile. Y/N always thought his smile felt a bit off. Wrong even. Not the truth or hiding something.
When the door swung open again it gave away to a smug looking Quackity who happily swung around a compass by its chain around his finger. A proud looking Tubbo behind him, followed by Fundy who looked almost like he was sulking and Ranboo who had a complicated expression on his face. He didn’t feel comfortable.
“We’ve got what we need. Now, to Technoblade. Everyone on their horses! This includes you, Y/N.” Quackity exclaimed.
The bad feeling increased, creating a lump in his throat. Shakily he opened up his hand and let everyone get on their horses, leaving him with a beautiful black one.
Nervous he put his foot in the pedal of the saddle and heaved himself up on it.
He wanted to scream. Run away. What would they need him for? His armor was way inferior to that of the others, ignoring the fact that he couldn’t fight at all.
No, they didn’t need him to fight but be a shield for them. A moving shield. After all he was an Iron Golem Hybrid. Big areas of his skin covered in thin metal plates, not all connected so he could still move but it gave him more protection. That plus his height was what they counted on, wasn’t it? That he would still be imposing enough to draw attention.
This was the conclusion he came to due to Quackity. He heard him talking. All Y/N was to him was a tool, a resource to be used and the worst part was that Y/N just couldn’t defend himself against this. Too scared anything might happen to his home because Quackity was right, they knew exactly where his home was and how important this place was to him.
Y/N didn’t realize how suddenly Quackity slowed down his horse as they arrived in the snow biome only pulling him out of his anxiety filled thoughts as he began speaking to him directly.
“Here is the plan. We want to get Technoblade and-” He stopped himself as he searched for the right words “And hold him accountable. Yes, we will put him on trial. If we are lucky, he will just follow us, but we doubt it. If he refuses, he will likely fight us. We just need you to draw your attention on yourself but don’t worry, we will jump right in to take care of him.”
“I- I don’t, Quackity, I don’t- I can’t fight!” Y/N croaked out. It felt like ages since he last spoke.
But Quackity just smiled “Don’t worry.”
That was all he said before hurrying along to be back at the front of the pack. Holding the glowing compass close to himself.
Y/N knew. He knew this was the case and yet it felt like someone stuffed snow down his shirt. A cold shiver running down his spine. Panic rising even more. It was a good thing he was sitting on top of a horse, otherwise he wasn’t sure if his shaking legs could carry him for the rest of the way. Each step closer to what felt like his doom.
His doom? Would Technoblade kill him? The way the small Army described him, he wouldn’t hesitate to cut him down.
Was it bad he didn’t fear dying but just the potential pain?
Realizing where his thoughts were running off to, he shook himself. No, his home, his real home, needed him. He couldn’t die yet. He needed to find a way to survive.
Suddenly Fundy stopped his horse and moved his fist up in the air, signaling for the others to stop as well. While the others wondered why he did this, Fundy pointed ahead through the trees towards a figure? A person? Out here in the snowy tundra?
Without saying anything Quackity jumped off his horse, the others following suit and begun tying the animals to the trees. Once Y/N understood what was happening he did the same. His eyes darting back towards the figure that seemed to interact and cuddle with a blue sheep while he made sure his horse was secured to one of the trees.
“What’s Ghostbur doing here?” Ranboo whispered more to himself but Y/N caught it.
He heard of Ghostbur but actually never met him. Apparently, the ghost of the man that blew the nation up but that was really all he knew.
They approached the ghost on foot, calling out to him in the process to gain his attention. The ghost immediately waved towards them with an earnest and big smile on his face. Y/N was fretting for his life at the moment but something about Ghostbur almost calmed him down.
Maybe it was just the fact of meeting a new friendly face after being surrounded by the Butcher Army for so long.
Ghostbur approached them, the sheep following him via a leash “Hello Quackity! Hello Fundy! Hello Tubbo! Hello Ranboo! Oh! I don’t know your name! I’m sorry! Hello though! I’m Ghostbur!”
Y/N was a bit taken aback. He was so friendly.
“Y/N. My name is Y/N.” he surprised himself a little bit with how he just blurted it out.
Ghostbur cocked his head to the side as he listened “Nice to meet you Y/N! You don’t look too good! Are you doing alright? Oh no, was this rude? Do you want some blue? Maybe that will help!”
Before Y/N could even properly process what he could possibly mean with blue Quackity jumped in “Hey, Ghostbur. You know if Technoblade is close? Is he somewhere around here?”
Somehow Ghostbur managed to lighten up even more, which should be impossible but Ghostbur’s eyes widened into a fond recognition and he turned around “Yes! Yes! I got lost but I found Techno! He told me to go though! He is over there! Come with me, I’ll show you!”
The Ghost then begun floating off, leading the group between trees and soon arriving on a small hill that gave them a good view of a cottage house.
Seeing the homey build, it was difficult for Y/N to imagine that a monster lived there. If anything, it reminded him of his own home. Maybe he won’t fight? Maybe this will end peacefully? But somehow Y/N doubted it by the serious but eager expressions on half of the Butcher Army’s faces as their eyes fell on Techno’s home.
“Let’s go.” Quackity trotted down the hill “We all know what to do.”
Y/N’s heartbeat took on speed again. Everyone got their weapons out and even though Y/N was technically really strong due to his constant smithing work, the iron sword in his hand felt heavy. Like it could slip out of his hand any second.
Worried his eyes darted across the few windows of the house. Trying to get a glimpse of Technoblade but all he saw was a shadow moving away from one of the windows.
Did he see them approaching?
“Techno get out!” Quackity suddenly yelled, pulling Y/N back out of his anxiety filled thoughts once again.
It took a second but suddenly the wooden door opened up slowly and Technoblade got out. He wore netherite armor, a red gown with white fluff on his shoulders on top of the armor, a crown on top of his head, his pink hair pulled back.
With his scowling expression and stature, he looked scary.
Technoblade took a step outside on his porch, Y/N suddenly became very aware of how sharp his tusks looked.
“What do you want?”
With a deep breath Quackity took a closer step towards the Pig Hybrid “We are here to get you! We, the Butcher Army, are here to put you on trial!”
“Yes! It is time you take responsibility for the destruction of L’Manberg!” Fundy added on. Tubbo just nodded to show his support to this statement.
“And why should I follow you? I’ve retired, I don’t want to be a part of any of this anymore. I’m done.” Techno spoke.
Quackity turned around to look at Y/N for a second only to continue speaking with Techno “Well, either you follow us peacefully or we will force you. You can’t run away from what you have done! Come with us and stand trial!”
But he didn’t answer immediately, Techno moved down the porch. Almost circling the group, his eyes jumping around between them.
“Listen, guys. The voices in my head. They begged me for more blood. They demanded more but I refused. I purposefully got out here to deny them, just leave me be.”
“Techno, you spawned Withers in L’Manberg! People got hurt! They destroyed a huge part of our nation! You have to stand trial!” Tubbo readjusted his grip on his axe. He looked angry and almost bewildered.
Technoblade slowly shook his head “No, you don’t understand. I’m trying to keep away from all this for a reason! You are just pulling me back to things and-“
“No! You either come with us or we will make you! Five to one Techno, you think you can do that?” Quackity interrupted him, pointing his weapon at Techno.
Y/N was overwhelmed with the situation. The man in front of him, Technoblade, wasn’t how he imagined him. He tried to reason but the others wouldn’t want to hear it which Y/N could understand as well but this man didn’t look like the blood thirsty monster the others described him as.
The Pig Hybrid sighed, his eyes now instead of jumping around finally decided to rest on Y/N, who in return suddenly felt small under his gaze. Did Techno realize that Y/N was the attack bait? Is he falling for it? Or did he notice his trembling arms and legs. The fear and worry in his eyes. The burn wounds covering his hands and arms. The clearly damaged iron armor.
Was he seeing Y/N as prey or as the scared man that feared for his life he really was?
“What will it be, Techno?” Fundy snarled, showing of his sharp teeth.
His hands moved towards his side “If it has to be like that, then I choose blood!”
Then everything went really fast. His hands pulled out a few flask from his belt, hidden by his gown that he threw on the ground to buff himself.
The Butcher Army immediately grew panicked and barked orders, a clear and loud order from Quackity flew through the chaos and reached Y/N “Attack him, Y/N!”
And he didn’t know why but he moved in. He was scared, his heart felt close to exploding in his chest, but he was somehow more scared of Quackity and what could happen shouldn’t he listen. Scared that he would force him to work even more, refusing him sleep and food again. Not letting him treat his wounds properly that he got from the work.
So, he moved in. With shaking legs and what felt like without strength in his arms. The world turned blurry. Was he crying or just his nerves? He couldn’t tell.
All he remembered was Techno coming close to him, looking like a demon. His eyes wide and filled with what Y/N assumed to be bloodlust.
Y/N moved his arm up, just trying to hit Techno with his own sword, but Techno was faster. He slammed the blunt end of his netherite sword into Y/N’s neck. Shocked by the sudden attack, he fell to the ground. The world growing dark for a few seconds as he coughed and tried to breathe again.
As he sat in the cold snow, trying to calm down he heard the Army yelling. Metal clanging on metal.
Then it suddenly stopped.
A neighing. A horse? What?
Luckily Y/N seemed to have regained somewhat control over his own body and could assess the situation in front of him.
The Butcher Army seemed to be alright. Y/N’s armor really held through, no obvious damage on it. They were out of breath and sweating but alright.
A bit ashamed Y/N couldn’t help but be proud of his work that it withstood a buffed-up Techno with a netherite sword.
But what really caught his attention was Quackity who held the reigns of a horse with diamond armor. His axe held up close to the animal’s throat.
Technoblade moved the tip of his blade towards him “Get away from that horse, Quackity!”
“Follow us peacefully and nothing will happen to the horse, Techno. Your choice.”
There was a slight hesitation as Techno undoubtedly tried to gauge if he could somehow deal with Quackity differently but ultimately, he suddenly dropped his weapon as well his armor.
Perplexed Y/N got back up, still rubbing his neck.
Techno spared him. He obviously just tried to either knock him out or make him unable to fight, which he succeeded in. Wouldn’t it have been for Y/N’s reinforced skin due to his Iron Golem side he would have been knocked out for sure.
Fundy did not hesitate to jump in and wrap chains around Techno’s wrists “Y/N! You are the strongest one of us. You hold on to him, we will be close by to ensure he won’t run off.”
Avoiding looking at the others directly after having been taken out of the fight so easily, he made his way towards Fundy and grabbed the chains. Wrapping it a few times around his own arm as well. Feeling sick to his stomach as he realized that he was doing the same thing to Techno like back when the group escorted him out of his own village.
He couldn’t help himself but whisper towards Techno a quick “I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
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zosonils-art · 3 years
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Do you have a robot master OC (of the eight plus Drum) that you’d say is your favorite? If you haven’t done an infodump for them yet then you should do that one next
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i couldn't choose a favourite if i tried, i love them all, but since you mentioned drum i thought i'd give her some new art and a proper dedicated post too! infodrump [ayyy] under the cut
drum, serial number SWN-002, is my take on the popular [????? i'm still a bit of a mega man fandom newbie i don't know hjdfn] 'wily equivalent to roll' oc template! she keeps things running at the various castles and fortresses and hideouts and whatever else her dad holes up in, whether that's by doing housework, planning schemes, or dodging taxes. whenever wily is trying to take over the world, drum acts as his second-in-command, ensuring that everything goes according to plan and ordering around the latest group of robot masters
she's every bit the edgy mid-00s teenager she looks: sarcastic, apathetic, and always talking back to her dad. she's more obedient than bass is, but she doesn't care for her job at all and will resort to any flimsy excuse or act of malicious compliance she can come up with to slack off. due to her purpose as an organiser and commander, she's a bossy control freak who's quick to anger when things don't go exactly her way, although when she's off work the worst of these traits recede in favour of more conventional teenage apathy. she sees herself as above the time and effort it takes to go out of her way to be mean to people like wily and bass tend to do, but she's equally uninterested in being nice on purpose and her default attitude is squarely on the nastier side
when she doesn't have work to focus on - and sometimes when she does anyway - drum is the lead vocalist and guitarist in a garage band, of which she is [currently - a friend's ocs get involved later, but that's a whole different post] the only member. i'm not good with music terms but she's into whatever genre stuff like wake me up inside and crawling in my skin is [i know those aren't the names hdfjf it's just the words i know people will recognise]. the sort with the crunchy guitar and the very loud lyrics about being sad and/or angry. playing or blasting music helps her to calm down when she's in a bad mood, which is pretty much all the time. the first warning sign of a new wily plot is a spike in search popularity for my chemical romance
i haven't gotten around to designing it, but drum has a non-armoured form like most of the other more explicitly kid-like robots, which she mostly uses for loitering around malls when she has an excuse to not be at home. she rarely buys anything, just hangs out and radiates an aura that makes suburban white women hurry their three kids into the next shop. drum often ends up hanging out with like-minded teens in the same vague area of the goth/punk/emo venn diagram she occupies, and makes a bit of a game out of seeing how honest she can be about her life without revealing that she's one of the world's most wanted robots. she tells herself that it's just something she does out of boredom and curiosity towards humans, but it mostly stems from loneliness and the desire to have literally any friends that aren't her brother's dog
as a sort of contrast to the healthy and positive relationship between their lightbot counterparts, drum and bass absolutely DESPISE each other and make no secret of it. each of them thinks of the other as an insufferable prick and they'll get into petty arguments over just about anything, from whose turn it is on the xbox to who treble loves more. [for the record, it's drum. she lets him hang out in the kitchen while she's cooking and sneaks him food scraps when bass isn't looking. he's the only family member she has an even remotely positive relationship with.] pretty much the only thing that can get them to stop fighting is mutual hatred of a bigger prick, and so far the only person to consistently get them to put their differences aside like this is wily himself - as much as the wily kids hate each other, they hate their dad just a little more, and have a history of teaming up just to mess with him. sometimes mega man can spark that spiteful cooperation, but drum's total apathy towards the light-wily family rivalry means she usually sees him as not worth her time and just finds bass' obsession with beating him even more annoying
drum wasn't made for combat, and as such she doesn't have a signature weapon or any fancy tricks like the copy chip. usually she just orders other robots to do the fighting for her. however, she is equipped with a standard arm-mounted buster, and can hold her own in battle with a 'fight smarter, not harder' approach if she has to. she's also outfitted with the same treble adapter that bass has, so if she's backed into a corner she can call on him for a power boost. treble is capable of supporting both adapters simultaneously, so as an absolute last resort they can all combine into treble-boosted drum & bass, who theoretically has all the combat power of bass plus the strategic thinking from drum and the boost in power from treble. in practice, though, drum and bass are so at odds with each other that they can barely hold together in the same body without either fighting for control or outright splitting apart to argue harder. again, it takes a lot of spite to get them to work together, but if something draws their combined ire and convinces them to cooperate they're an utterly terrifying force to be reckoned with
the game idea i vaguely have in my mind would feature drum as the final-not-final boss before wily reveals he was the mastermind behind it all and surprises absolutely nobody. she was put in charge of the latest world domination attempt, probably as the result of a 'why don't YOU take over the world if you're so smart' conversation, and in true drum fashion she follows a standard wily plot outline to the letter - including the blatant flaws, like all eight of her chosen robot masters forming a rock-paper-scissors wheel just begging to be exploited by the copy chip, and making a clear path from just outside the death fortress to her base of operations. after she's defeated in combat, she sarcasically wonders aloud how mega man could have possibly bested her plan and then helpfully points rock directly to wily's castle. she didn't wanna do the stupid scheme in the first place
again, i love all my ocs too much to possibly choose a favourite, but i'd say drum was the most fun to come up with if only because i had the help of some mates in a discord server. someone was like 'hey if there's bass is there a roll equivalent called drum or something lol' and i SPRINTED to microsoft paint to rough out a character design and the next entire day was just a constant stream of all of us bouncing ideas off each other and creating the meanest girl in the universe. her design changed a little bit from the initial sketch, most notably she used to have the half-shaved hairstyle that every gay person tries at some point before that changed to a midpoint between phoenix wright and sonic the hedgehog, but overall everything about her as a character flowed really well from the start. while she's fallen mostly into my hands since the initial brainstorm, she absolutely wouldn't exist without those friends' input and i feel that that's important to mention!
i'm very tired and i've been working on this on and off for the past day so i'm gonna call the infodrump finished here - thanks for giving me the excuse to talk about her! unfiltered and transparent versions of the art below as always
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minart-was-taken · 4 years
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Linkverse writing?? I guess??! It’s a tad simple and rough around the edges, but hey, isn’t everything if you look close enough? I’m proud enough of it to share, so that’s a win in my books!
Title: Tree Trekking Characters: Twilight, Sky, Time, and Wild No warnings for this one (Although highly vague twilight princess spoilers?) “Tags” First meetings - the start of bonding - Sky being a good boy - Time is a little bastard - Twilight is tired
Enjoy!
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“Those look like rain clouds…” Link signed, dreading the thought.
“Ah- I think you’re right.” Feathers replied the same way.
Link winced, but gathered himself quickly after, making sure his adventure pouch was properly attached to his belt. They didn’t need a member of the group complaining AND also him having a loose adventure pouch.
...He sounded like a dork- Goddesses, he was panicking a little wasn’t he? Rain wasn’t a big problem, but on top of everything else it felt like a slap to the face.
He had been snapped to another world, teamed up with two strangers who were also him, apparently, and now it was going to rain.
The little guy had nothing to say either, but that wasn’t anything new.
Taking leading action, Link gathered himself, found his posture and signed to the Link whose Hyrule this apparently was. “Do you know anywhere we could find shelter?”
The little guy turned to look at him, with an expression that made it seem like he had insulted his entire family. “It’s just rain.”
Link sighed. “We don’t have much on us, a town with an inn and a shop to purchase a bedroll or two seems like a good idea.”
The little guy was quiet, before turning around and walking off. By this point Link knew that was his way of saying “follow me.”
He quickly checked Feathers, who with a slight stumble and a check on his items was on his way to follow as well.
With the small one in the lead, followed by Link and Feathers, the day continued like the past few had.
It had been strange, suddenly ending up here with a bunch of strangers like this. With Feathers it had been easy, the guy seemed to have a good heart. However with the little guy it was a different story. He seemed to speak the minimum possible, and didn’t especially want to stay as a group- Making it a daily battle to convince him to keep helping them navigate this hyrule.
Still, they were managing.
“We should probably try to get you a sword too.”
Feathers seemed taken back by this, before smiling awkwardly: “We’ve not run into anything, though, have we? Besides, you two seem quite used to wielding yours.”
“I don’t trust this situation.” Link confessed. “Something is bound to go wrong.”
Feathers gave him a sympathetic look.
“I’m serious.” He insisted. “The air doesn’t just crack and cause people to teleport through time and space. Something bad is in the air.”
Feathers seemed to want to say something to deny it, but couldn’t. He turned his head forwards again, facing where they were going. “I have other weapons.”
Link still felt unsure, but accepted it for now.
A bit more traveling, now down what seemed to be a dirt path, Link felt the silence beginning to grind on him. He clenched his hands to fists, and released them, repeating this action a few times to calm his nerves. When it wasn’t enough, though, he shook his head and fastened his walking pace.
This way he caught up to the small guide, and signed: “Can you share the route with me? I’d like a better understanding of what to expect.”
The kid looked annoyed again, but after a moment replied: “Kakariko is down this road, to the west until we reach a big rock, and then down the road next to it.”
“Thank you.” He said, breathing with purpose to calm himself, as he fell back behind to walk next to Feathers again.
It had been a long time since he had panicked like this last. It had been at a cell, in a strange body and shackled to the floor. It had been when Midna’s hold on his fur had weakened further as he tried to be faster despite the pain. It had…
Link sighed. He’d survived all of those, he had been hurt, but he survived. He could handle yet another journey to an unknown world. This is fine.
The little guy disappeared in that second.
Link blinked.
The kid had genuinely disappeared- One moment he was there, the next he wasn’t. 
This was not fine, actually.
“Where did he go?!” He signed frantically to Feathers.
“I don’t know!” Feathers responded, equally bewildered. “Did I see that right?! Did he-”
“Did he vanish…?” He signed as well, turning to look at the spot again.
“Maybe-” Feathers, panicking much more clearly than Link was: “Maybe he got sent to another world, like we were.”
“That beats him being dead.”
Feathers was shaken by that addition, but Link ignored it in favour of walking over to where the kid had been and looking around. It was of no use, of course, but he felt powerless and not doing anything felt wrong.
Not again- Not again-
There was a loud crack inside his ears, and the space between him and Feathers looked like it was cracked glass. This strange scene lasted as long as it took it to arrive, and in the next moment: instead of reality looking broken, there was another boy.
This new stranger took a hitched breath, taking a quick step backwards, Having immediately noticed Link. The step however lead him right into Feathers, which caused the stranger to yelp and manifest a blade twice his size from blue light.
Feathers threw his hands in the air, panic filled eyes looking between the armed boy and Link.
Link breathed in and out, as he moved to walk around the newcomer and next to Feathers, with his hands up in the air as well. He hoped that moving from behind the stranger would make him realize he didn’t care for that tactical advantage, and was looking for peace.
The stranger watched, the weapon still in hand, but took no action.
“Are you-” Link signed: “L-I-N-K?”
The stranger’s eyes grew suspicious with each letter, and Link figured he had made a mistake of some sorts.
Quickly trying to bridge the miscommunication, he added: “So are we.”
The stranger shook his head, which wasn’t ideal.
“No?” Link signed. “What do you mean no?”
To that the stranger didn’t seem to have an answer for. Simply shrugging like it was obvious.
“He’s being honest.” Feathers joined in. “We’re both Link, the hero of courage.”
After eyeing the two over like they had lost their minds, the stranger sighed. “I don’t believe you.” He signed. “But I’m also not sure where I am.”
“That’s fair.” Link supposed. “We’re willing to share our information.”
“Spill it, then.”
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After explaining their understanding of how they got here, and what they were doing, the stranger sighed and agreed that going to a town would seem smart in his eyes as well.
However he chose to walk behind Feathers and Link, which Link couldn’t blame him for. He had his own fair share of paranoia of the situation, after all.
Besides, he’d know if the kid tried to approach with a blade in hand, he was awfully good at keeping an eye on his surroundings.
Not good enough, though. Despite following the route the first angry kid had given: they somehow got lost anyway. Sure they found a big rock, but there was no path near it that led to anywhere other than more wilderness.
“Did we misunderstand?” Feathers asked him.
Link furrowed his brow, unsure of the answer. He was quite sure they had gone the exact route the kid described.
The newcomer whistled suddenly, causing the two older to turn and look at him.
He seemed annoyed, and signed: “Is this a trap?”
“I mean, if it was we wouldn’t tell you.” Feathers signed back, at which Link elbowed him.
“It’s not a trap. This is neither of our Hyrule, so we don’t know where things are. The person who gave us instructions either forgot something or we failed to follow it right.”
The stranger crossed his arms, and pouted. Suspicious.
Link, wanting to hit his head against the trees until he could disappear from this situation, tried to breathe in and out and figure this situation out before anything worse happened. “We can probably try and find it on our own.”
“Oh, true.” Feathers replied, smiling again.
“Alright.” The newcomer accepted, still tense.
“Great.” Link responded, tired. “What does everyone here know about scouting?”
Feathers looked a bit flustered, and admitted: “I spent most of my life on a single island- In the sky.”
“Ok.” was all Link could muster.
“I’m okay at it.” The newcomer said, looking a bit less confident than before. “I know what signs to keep an eye out for.”
Link nodded at this. Back in the day he could’ve asked Midna to change his form so he could simply smell the strange scent that towns had, but that stopped being an option a long time ago.
He could still manage with human senses. He had done so for the majority of his life.
So after they pooled their knowledge of what to look out for, they began trekking forwards. Although it was more the two actually experienced people describing some basic things to the one from the sky.
After one man-made path diverged into two, the tired air of the group only grew worse.
“So- Which way?” Feathers asked, trying to not cause anymore tension with the question, by smiling gently.
The newcomer lifted the strange slate he had on his belt, and used it to get a better look forward. It wasn’t enough, though: “The foliage is too thick, I can’t see where either of them leads.”
Feathers pouted.
Link, quite frustrated at this point, signed simply: “Just one thing we can do, then.” And proceeded to scan the area for the tallest tree.
Feathers looked in mild curiosity as Link walked up to an alright specimen, and proceeded to climb it with almost no trouble. Branch to branch, and a good grip on the wood while still being mindful of it’s well being.
From high up he could take a far better look around the area, and found his nerves eased as he spotted smoke from further on and down the right path, as well as the gentle breeze that flowed freely up there. He smiled, despite himself, and climbed back down.
Once he landed with a gentle thud, he let Feathers know what he had seen, before turning to look at the newcomer.
He had stayed by the path, unlike Feathers who had gone to wait for him at the trunk of the tree, and was looking at him with what Link would describe as surprise.
“I was raised on a farm.” Link stated, feeling actually a little up for joking, before he started walking down the right path.
The journey went alright, and although the smoke turned out to be from but a small cottage, it meant they weren’t entirely on the wrong track. Someone was able to live here, so it would mean a town could exist nearby as well.
The newcomer, who hadn’t said much, spoke up another few minutes into the walk, as they tried to decide between three paths this time. “I could climb this time?”
Link was a little surprised, but nodded and gave him a supportive smile. “Go for it.” It was nice seeing the hostility gone, and in its place a want to help.
What he saw then, was… Unexpected. The newcomer proceeded to pick a tree at ease, and then climb at a speed Link had never seen before. It was extremely impressive, and somewhat terrifying.
“Woah.” Said feathers.
Link nodded, slow and stunned.
When the kid returned to ground level- With a thud and an expert landing to boot -he explained that with the zoom on his slate he was able to spot a town. He wasn’t sure which path would lead to it, but if the rest were fine with just going to that general direction until they got to it, he’d be able to lead them.
Feathers and Link approved of the plan, and now followed after the newcomer who was walking forth, at times checking the slate.
Feathers began to talk to him about beacons, apparently something on the slate reminded him of his adventure. Link tuned it out due to not really getting it, and breathed in the forest air.
This was all very strange, but it was nice that no-one was being a grump for once.
At sunset they reached the town, and having moved along with the rain cloud, it only caught up to them at the village gates.
Link gave the newcomer a pat on the shoulder, which surprised him. “Good work.” He signed before heading forward to look for an inn.
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The rain only caught them when they had a roof above their heads, as they had moved in the same direction as it had been heading.
Sitting in a shared room, there was that strange snap-crack again, and the other kid was back. Strange face markings as clear on the face of annoyance as always.
The newcomer didn’t disappear, so their three person room had just become crowded.
“Oh.” The kid commented, looking at them all, including the newcomer. “You made it.”
“...Were we not supposed to?” Link asked.
“I gave you the wrong directions.”
Link blinked. He was stunned, having trouble processing the situation. Not because it was so unexpected, but because he hadn’t seen it coming despite how obvious it was this kid wouldn’t help them properly.
“Why?!”
“I didn’t want you to find the town.”
“Again, why?”
“I don’t trust you.” The response was instant.
Link sighed, it wasn’t a reason he could exactly fight.
Giving up, he sat down on one of the beds. This was going to be a stressful adventure, wasn’t it? He lent back a bit, looking at the ceiling. He couldn’t deny the truth of that question, but a part of him wasn’t entirely bothered. It had been a while since he’d slept in a room with another living being.
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kaypeace21 · 3 years
Note
Do you think that the hellfire club is a D&D group or some sport team or what do you think it is? (BTW big fan of your theories)
I think it’s a d&d club. I talked about it in past posts.I think being about d&d makes sense since the game would foreshadow future plot points- like it did in prior seasons . And the “hellfire club” is even an X-men group relating to the dark Phoenix which was referenced in s1 by Will . And I think they’ll take inspiration from that comic book arc for future seasons too . (So it’s an eastergg) . But, also , being called “the hellfire club” is probably an inside joke with the club members- since in the 80s, adults claimed d&d was about devil worship.)
In Bts photos- one of the members has a ‘Wasp’ pin which is a heavy metal band formed in 1982 -so the club is not so shockingly confirmed to be into rock.Along with d&d (if the leaks are legit) . Makes sense since both things are part of counter culture that was demonized by the “satanic panic” in the 80s. In the 80s. D&d (similar to rock music) was believed to be satanic - so the club name (for the club members)is a joke making fun of these people who think that’s true . But also (as a show is) another dark Phoenix ref . One of the s4 movies ‘paradise lost’  (was about a real life case) of small town teens   who were into punk music, horror movies, stephen king, wore black,  into wicca, and accused of being gay. They were unfairly blamed for ‘ satanic child m**ders (in the woods & near a river). They weren’t guilty . But, because ‘satanic panic’ was still alive and well ...the town’s people used their hobbies/ punk look/ and perceived sexualities as ‘proof” they were guilty. The case was later described as a ‘witch hunt’. Meanwhile the other (more likely suspect) at the time was John “Mark” Byers- who was a hunter, had a thing for hunting knives, religious, admitted to hitting his kids, and was  accused of s**ually abusing his son, shot pumpkins (s2 ref), and sang a song about creating a portal to another world without light , that you could enter via a tree (s1 ref). Years later-after the doc- it’s implied he wasn’t guilty either. But, one of the other victims’ fathers - Terry was assumed to be guilty - he was also was accused of m***esting his son and daughter (by his own family members). Admitted to hitting his wife and kids. And had a police report filed on him - describing breaking into a women’s house , while she was in a tub and trying to attack her. He was also formerly charged for m*rdering one of his wife’s family members- but got away with it claiming self defense). Heck if the names John byers/Terry being in the film/st wasn’t crazy enough- the victims were named Steve, Michael, and Chris byers (luckily ours don’t have that same horrible fate/back stories).
I kind of assume - the d&d club will be looked at suspiciously as teens go missing/ kidnapped/ or maybe found k*lled in the woods/quarry. And the cops/others think they’re “satanic k*llings” and rumors about the d&d club insue. And maybe our teens suspect it’s the demogorgan again. But as a subversion- it isn’t and it’s a human . A human that by ab*sing Will- caused Will to unconsciously create many things including the demogorgan (which in d&d is called the “deep father”) . Also, in s3 they called Will “the devil’s baby” (Aka lonnie is the real “devil” ).And such incidents in the woods/ near the quarry would connect back to s1 demogorgan & Will being found in the quarry. And if paying attention you already noticed s1 demogorgan paralleled Lonnie a lot! So s4 would start bringing things to the surface- in regards to how evil Lonnie really is.Not to mention more hints (I previously posted) that hinted they’ll go with this “ch*ld serial ki##er plot line...
But then again I think it may not be literally Lonnie. My guess: Brenner (who I think was created/based on lonnie) is possibly doing failed experiments of teens to open portals (in the basement of pethurst -like in hellraiser 2) . And dumping failed experiments in the woods/water. A few movies had the d*ad victims have numbers carved in them. And then El/kali team up and maybe sneak into the facility (like in ace Ventura people posing as siblings investigate a m*rder and one fakes being ‘crazy’ to sneak in and find a murderer) . In ‘peanut butter solution’ 2 kids - 1 of them is goth/not american teams up with a girl to find a man named ‘senior ‘who is kidnapping kids. 1 of them also sneaks in and is captured on purpose to investigate. Kali already busted Dottie out of a psych hospital and lucas referenced El being there in s1. Alexi (like el-another alter of Will) watches roadrunner- in that papa bear throws him in a psych facility. And assasains creed/dream warriors - the psychiatric facility was similar to the lab with sensory deprivation tanks, cameras, solitary confinement in dark rooms. We already know 1 new character is against the mistreatment of people at the facility. Also the real pethurst (in Pennsylvania) -known for human rights a*use issues- wasn’t a psych facility (but a place for people with intellectual disabilities). So El being at the psych hospital version in Indianna (and maybe having id herself like I mentioned before -would be a nice ref). And in assasains creed- when the character starts sneaking around investigating - the dr reveals how the character is actual the reincarnation of their ancestor ( brenner tells el she’s an alter of Will’s ). And before that the dr was making that person relive the traumatic past of their past life/other person -which they couldn’t change (sort of like el seeing Billy’s past in s3). Also kali said her and El should team up to face their father- which I think they’ll do. And I’m excited about it!
I still think brenner was created by Will and based on Lonnie so he could be responsible and connected to Will/Jon’s backstory with Lonnie/the Woods. In an abstract way. Like how brenner/Lonnie forced their kids to k*ll animals. Brenner threw El in a dark room/ Lonnie threw Will in a trunk. Brenner’s name being associated with the woods and Lonnie being a hunter , etc.
Also we know s4 involves this dark-storyline involving c**ld m*rders cause of foreshadowing
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* Also, mentioned here how in s4 rolling a 11 isn’t actually a good thing and that it’s a callback to Will rolling a 7- in s1. Before things go array.In “paradise lost” when blaming the innocent goth boys someone asks the chief “on a scale 1 to 10 how confident are you? You have the right men?” And he laughs and says “11.”
*And , just for historical context of how ‘metal ‘ and ‘scary ‘ d&d was to nonplayers (in the 80s).
“In 1985, 60 Minutes dedicated a full hour to the supposed connection between D&D, Satanic rites, murders and su*cides . 2 years earlier, Patricia Pulling formed Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD) . She described D&D as ‘a fantasy role-playing game which leads to demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, r*pe, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, pr*stitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings.’ In 1987, Peter Leithart and George Grant published The Catechism of the New Age, a pamphlet where they introduced the idea that D&D was immoral because roleplaying allowed too much freedom for critical thinking, which might lead to heretical ideas. That same year, Chris Pritchard and two friends conspired to murder Pritchard’s stepfather in his sleep, the media ignored the obvious financial motivation and instead focused on the men being in the same D&D group.”
( I think quite a few of those themes will come up in s4/5 - although d&d isn’t the actual cause). It’ll just be a subversion.
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ready-to-obeyme · 4 years
Text
[OM!] (American) College!AU Demon Brothers
Scenario: Headcanons on the demon brothers as college students (specifically in the US because I don’t know how college works elsewhere), their possible majors, career goals, extracurriculars, ~GPA~ and whatever else I could think of + how meet you in college
Note: I’m hoping to do a Part 2 with the Undateables but honestly… we’ll see lol. This is based off something ~A~ and I thought of for our specific university but we’ve made it broad enough to share HAHA this turned out VERY long
Lucifer
Majoring in Political Sciences with a minor in Psychology
Pre-Law-- most likely immigration law or child custody (there’s definitely a backstory here)
Initially went to community college for the first two years to save up money to take care of his younger siblings
Rejected an offer to go to an Ivy League because it was too expensive; if his siblings ever found out they’d be furious that he’d give up on that chance, but he knows he can succeed wherever he goes (and besides, family is first) 
Transferred into a 4-year university his junior year 
Very high GPA-- VERY
In a professional fraternity with Diavolo and Barbatos 
He didn’t think he’d join one either but Diavolo was the vice chair when he transferred in and the president the year after so… ~nepotism?~ and also Lucifer is charming as heck so no surprise he’d get in
Also rooms with Diavolo and Barbatos
Goes to the gym regularly just to keep fit; gets goaded by Diavolo and Satan into joining an IM team with his frat brothers and actual brothers-- probably basketball or flag football
Probably meets you at a interclub council meeting and mutters under his breath how useless the board members are and you overhear 
“Never have I met more incompetent people.”
“Lmao mood”
“!!!”
Keeps sitting next to you at every interclub meeting then after because at least there’s someone that can keep his mind stimulated (thinks you’re hot if you’re competent btw)
If you somehow meet him on campus, he’s the type of guy to put his hand up and pretend he didn’t see you (just kidding, he always ends up saying hi anyways) 
Will Absolutely Lecture You if you are procrastinating on studying especially if your midterm is, like, TOMORROW
Always ends up studying with him because he’s actually focused on studying and glares at you if you get distracted (but hey you get good scores in the end)
Mammon
Majoring in Business Econ/Economics, Minoring in Statistics
(always ends up in the middle of the “is econ a humanities or a STEM major” debate that leaves him left for dead) 
Planning to work in Business as Finance -- probably has been treasurer or finance director for a club; can even see him being a banker if it suits his plans better
Goes to a four-year university
Decent GPA (or Lucifer would absolutely destroy him), and does REALLY well in mathematics classes
Would room with Lucifer and his posse if they all go to the same school 
Probably in a Business Frat as well because he’s pretty charismatic when it comes down to it but  was an RA for some of his years for the free rooming and dining hall privileges 
Is a very chill and understanding RA (as in he smokes weed with you when he’s off-duty) but is surprisingly well-versed in dealing with roommate issues
Works part-time (gasp) to buy stuff off of Amazon and go out to places 
Spends a lot of time exploring places with his friends, going hiking, rock-climbing, clubbing-- which is expensive, as it turns out, so he needed to be able to afford it somehow
Meets you when you’re eating your lunch outside somewhere and he asks you if you have a dollar he could borrow for a vending machine snack
You exchange numbers with him so he can pay it back (even though you honestly don’t really need it, but why not) and turns out he’s in your GE class
“Heyyy wassup! So glad I have a friend in this class” 
“Oh by the way, did you finish the homework? Haha, I forgot it.” 
Mammon always repays you for your help in food though so you aren’t complaining
Leviathan
Majoring in Computer Sciences
And honestly that’s too much for me already-- the man is doing computer programming, coding-- WHEW-- and they do NOT rest
Goes to a community college but honestly has no problems cinching internships. The computer is his domain-- online applications are EASY, doing projects NOT as easy, interviews? HARD-- REALLY HARD (someone help him)
Probably intends to work with a big company like Google if only to help supply his income so he can live his life going to AX and buying merch 
Most likely moved out of his house mid-college with his online friends (who are luckily compatible with him living-space wise) and visits home once a week 
There’s two potential sides you can meet first: 
Either you meet him at a convention and you both gush about the same character and anime and somehow find each other online (not college related) 
Or his favorite Ruri-chan keychain gets broken off in the computer lab, and you’re the one running after him to give it him
He may or may not owe you his life after that (and if you enjoy anime, well that’s a bonus)
Both of these meetings can happen if he doesn’t recognize you in class because you were in cosplay-- imagine the surprise
The two of you as friends are MASTER PROCRASTINATORS at every assignment the two of you have-- so low-key not a great influence-- but you have fun together watching animes, playing games, talking about life-- anything but actual work 
Always ends up scrambling to finish things-- but he keeps doing it because it’s been working for him so far
You help him prepare for interviews because he’s always nervous before each one regardless of how well his application looks
Satan
Majoring in Comparative Literature AND Anthropology (ya boy is doing the whole nine yards)
Planning to get his Master’s and then a PhD in one of his majors (whichever proves to be more engaging for him)-- visibly excited to become a Professor
College was meant for Satan-- like REALLY; the man is in LOVE with learning; most likely to go and be accepted to an Ivy-League after Lucifer but... truly believes you can get a good education anywhere so it depends on his financial standing (and how much scholarship he gets)
Does get a little disgruntled when his classes aren’t available but doesn’t mind learning something new-- if the professor bores him to death, he’ll read the book
Really good at tutoring people; someone suggests that he works as a peer-learning facilitator/writing tutor and he does-- might as well make bank doing something you always do anyways   
Joins a writing/journal club as an extracurricular and a club that provides tutoring services to the underserved community-- surprisingly good with kids!
He knows friends in high places, so if he wanted to, could get into any party without batting an eye and his favorite professors love him
Spends a lot of his time going out to the city and exploring places, similarly to Mammon, rock-climbing, hiking, paragliding-- anything
He is VERY well-rounded as you can see; competes with Lucifer to see whose GPA is better though
You probably meet him during office hours, and you can only stare in awe as he asks questions that you had in mind, but better; if you’re visibly confused about something, he’ll take his time to help you too (it’s habit at this point)
Ask him for his contact info and you’ll get it, and maybe repay him in coffee? (You always see him at the cafe on campus.) 
Most likely to have a specific spot in a cafe that he is always at that the workers actually save a spot for him or give him his usual order before he even arrives-- may or may not have helped them edit their essays or with their homework as a thank-you so you KNOW they’ll love him forever
The type of person to help you make flashcards and cram if you need it
Asmodeus
Majoring in Dance and Fine Arts (I HC going to NYU specifically)
Considering going for an Master of Fine Arts degree but he might just move to New York and go for being a Broadway Star
College is mainly just training for him and hoping to land gigs in local theater-- and the university theater if there is one-- and building his resume for his big break 
Has SO many extracurriculars, all pertaining to his career choice, but also because he enjoys what he does: drama, competitive dance team, acapella, fashion design
Makes an unbelievable amount of friends, incredibly good at networking
The first time you saw him was when he was performing for a local theater and you were in love with his performance, and the next time you saw him in the hallway of a classroom building, you told him how much you enjoyed it
Always accepts compliments about his looks with grace, but there’s something about truly being admired for his acting and singing that has him preening
Invites you to come out to his next performance, and if not his, then to another play-- and it can be a date, but up to you ;) 
The man is the KING of Multiple Talents and has big dreams to match 
Always finds a way to hang out with you and drag you to every club that he can use his fake-id for (and when he’s actually 21 and above, gets a little offended that he doesn’t get ID’d) 
A night in the town with you is always a good night! 
Sometimes when he has practical exams coming up, he asks you to watch him perform-- and he likes your compliments but actually takes getting all the moves seriously so you better pay attention!
Most likely to move far away to reach his dreams, but he would take you with him if he could-- his little star
Beelzebub
Majoring in Physiological Sciences
Pre-Nursing or Pre-Sports Medicine 
He’s a little undecided, but he’s definitely going to go into the health field because he likes the idea of being able to use his strength to help others
Gets a scholarship from the university because he’s part of the football team, which is actually pretty hard on him because Fall Semester/Quarter he has to keep skipping classes for games  
Always brings a snack to eat with him during lecture-- and is not afraid to bring his entire lunch and make it right in the front row, though he tends to stick to the back because they tend to have electrical plugs 
You most likely meet him during lecture: he offers you an entire sandwich (not a chip bag, not fruit snacks, an entire LUNCH) because he heard your stomach growl during class 
From then on, you collect notes for him when he’s gone from games and even go to games if you aren’t usually the type to just to see how he’s doing; it’s hard trying to find you among the huge bleachers, but he always asks you where you’re sitting anyways 
Really appreciate it if you help him study into late at night because it IS hard balancing sports and academics 
He most likely doesn’t really have any time for anything else so he usually makes up for it during the rest of the year when training is less to volunteer in the hospital or at the gym as a personal trainer 
If you ask him to teach you how to properly lift weights, he’ll definitely help out and the both of you can work out together-- though you feel bad when he has to add four extra weights to each side after you finish your reps
Belphegor
Majoring in Computer Graphics/Animation
Intending to go into making animation or game design-- is one of the brothers who doesn’t really know exactly what he wants to do yet because he’s afraid that doing what he loves as a job will ruin it for him
His family reassures him that they’ll support him whether or not he continues with his path in life, but he’s considering art school and then taking internships in places so he has a better idea on what he wants
Most likely to sell his own original work and become a full-time artist regardless
I think you already know how you meet him-- he’s sleeping in a lecture hall-- either against the wall or on the small piece of wood they call a desk when class ends and he’s still sleeping; and you wake him up 
Sleepily thanks you and continues to sleep through every class that you wake him up to; when you ask him why he doesn’t just go home and sleep, he tells you he’s too lazy to walk back and forth from his dorm/apartment to campus (mood) 
When you add each other on Snapchat or something, he sends you pics of ‘places to nap’ on campus
You always end up studying together because he’s actually pretty good at understanding lecture stuff despite not being awake for most of it-- apparently he’s used to teaching himself 
Will make you art for your birthday and will vehemently refuse payment so he just tells you to take him out for dinner instead 
If you talk about how you’re not sure on what you want to do in life too, he’ll probably say ‘mood’ but is most likely to encourage you to do whatever you want to do in life too 
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awesomerextyphoon · 3 years
Text
A Warrior’s Heart
Prologue 
Main Paring: Stucky x Black!OFC (Ifekerenma ‘Ife’)
Warning: Graphic Depictions of Violence, War Crimes, Corruption, Smut, Mentions of Anxiety, Depression, and possible Panic Attacks
Rating: 18+/Explicit
Word Count: 1,461
Summary: Ife didn’t mean to have her employers be the subject of a hostile takeover by Stark Industries. She just held up the city of Novi Grad long enough for the Avengers to defeat Ultron. So naturally, Tony finds and blackmails her into joining the team. No good deed goes unpunished, huh?
A/N: This is my first long form (12+ chapters) story. I’m including characters and/or aspects from Disney’s Atlantis: the Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Big Hero 6, Gargoyles, Inuyasha, and Toriko. Furthermore, I will be including elements of Netflix MCU and Agent Carter as well. Special thanks goes to @jtargaryen18​ for the title. Reposting on any site without my permission is strictly forbidden. Reblogs are welcomed! 😊
Series Masterlist 
Main Masterlist
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Just keep the lie going.
That’s the line many of us have to repeat every day, and by us, I mean Non-Humans. Throughout history, humans have created myths and legends about us; some are true, others complete nonsense, but most are somewhere in between.
Let’s rewind a bit, okay?
Life on Earth lines up with most of what the textbooks say until about 5M BCE. Beings that would later be called gods and goddesses start to form with Mother Earth (the Amazing Gaea) as the focal point with other beings such as dragons, elves, and giants start to show two million years later.
The Celestials (sanctimonious assholes) came to Earth to see what’s happening after hearing about various fantastical anomalies (or that they were just bored). Gaea encouraged some (about 30K) of the human ancestors (Homo Erectus) to ‘the Space Gods’ direction. It took a few months, but they were able to create the species that later be known as Eternals. They also did some other shit but Gaea kicked them out when they wore out their welcome.
Around 200KBCE, the Kree (galactic genocidal nationalistic maniacs) happened upon a group of Eternals living on Uranus and traveled to Earth to ascertain whether other beings had similar potential. They experimented on a good number of early humans (about 150K survived) thus creating the first Inhumans (Inhomo Supremis). Several members of the Kree expedition tried to turn the Inhumans into weapons of the Kree Empire but were kicked off the planet by remaining Eternals and Non-Human factions.
Ten thousand years later (190KBCE), other early humans congregated around ‘magical hotspots’ which led to the births of the Homo Magi, Homo Superius, and Homo Animalis sub-species.
Soon after (okay, 15,000yrs later. Leave me alone.), the Mother Crystal (a semi-sentient comet, or Matag Yob) descended onto the island continent of Atlantis, imbuing the human inhabitants with longevity, knowledge, prosperity, and protection. At its height (around 55KBCE), Atlantis became the technological/cultural center on Earth (besides the Eternals).
It didn’t last long, though.
Five thousand years later (50KBCE), the first (and hopefully only) Pantheon War broke out. What exactly happened is lost to history (none of the people involved will fess up.), but what we do know is that shit went down.
Hard.
All that is known (admitted) is that almost all of the pantheons got into a Pantheon War (probably over some dumbass reason), a failed invasion by the Kree (really?), and the whole continent of Atlantis ‘sank’ into the sea in the span of three years (though some escaped).
Neat.
Fast-forward about 38K years (yeah, we’re making some jumps here) to the beginnings of the three most technologically advanced human nations of Earth: Wakanda, Sypavê, and Fetuilelagi; each with their own extraterrestrial metals/minerals.
Earth was pretty quiet until the ‘Christianity Dilemma’. So around 90CE, several ‘deities’ from the Greco-Roman, Norse, Germanic, and Celtic pantheons called for a Council of the Godheads’ to discuss ‘the ‘threat’ with Archangel Michael. It worked out well enough (no one wanted another Pantheon War).
Most of the world was in a pretty good state with a few ‘hiccups’ until the Bubonic Plague aka ‘The Black Death’ hit in 1346/7. It ravaged Eurasia and North Africa killing at least ½ the population and was seen as the start of non-belief in Europe. Worse, it was the beginning of Non-Human persecution and discrimination. You see, while the Black Death took out humans left and right, the worse a Non-Human got was a two-day flu. Many started to return to their respective realms once the Plague subsided and their once friendly neighbors started to accuse and persecute them.
The feeling of unease did not end but rather subsided. A tip from a Non-Human in Queen Isabella’s court alerted several groups in the Pre-Columbian Americas. Genocidal rapist, sex-trafficker, and all-around monster, Christopher Columbus does make it to the ‘New World’ (people were already there, dumbass) and devastated the indigenous population for centuries to come. By the time Columbus was executed in 1498, it was too late.
As many as 40 – 70% of the indigenous population was wiped out due to ‘virgin soil epidemics’ such as smallpox and influenza. Pantheons from negatively impacted areas called for a Council of the Godheads and demanded the ‘deities’ of the colonizers take action.
It went about as well as you’d think.
Earth was about to be embroiled in another Pantheon War until a few ‘level-headed’ individuals struck a bargain. No one was to interfere with human affairs whether it be good or ill. It was later amended to not have any ‘divine’ intervention (Sure). So by 1593, they had ‘bowed out’ of Earth affairs outside of their respective demi realms.
Outside of the matters of the ‘gods’, the rest of the world was dealing with its own problems. Tensions between humans and non-humans grew since the immediate aftermath of the Black Death. The Age of Enlightenment had started to pop up in intellectual circles across Europe around 1647. It focused on reason and free-thinking (Neat), but it also stoked up fear and anxiety towards Non-Humans (Boo!). Things came to a head in the 1670s. It got so bad that the Inter-Realm Parliament ordered all Non-Humans that weren’t exiled to return. They later founded the Bureau of Non-Human Affairs, BNA, in 1692 to deal with such matters in the future.
Two white-passing Non-Humans, Marcus Ashton and Jakob Schwartz founded Ashton & Schwartz Inc in 1809 along with a private partner. The company made waves in biomedical, chemical, agricultural, and climate science (they had to explain it to the populace) as well as pollution cleanup/prevention. One of their biggest inventions was a truly biodegradable plastic-like substance called biokivó̱tio or biokivo for short. The company made an even bigger impact with Non-Humans by solving issues pertaining to agriculture, large scale portal creation, and maintenance.
When the founders’ private partner decided to shut down the company in 1928, Ashton & Schwartz were a household name (especially since all major fossil fuel investments ended in 1900).
Barely ten years later and the threat of World War II rocked the planet to its core, especially the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war Council went behind current President Henry Wallace’s back and had them done on the same day,  August 7, 1945.
Well, that got everyone’s attention.
The Inter-Realm Parliament issued an edict that every one of ‘age’ (biologically 18+) would have to spend at least five consecutive years amongst the humans. It didn’t take long for BNA to lay the groundwork.
Wakanda, Sypavê, and Fetuilelagi (who will now be known as The Unconquered Alliance or UA.) saw this as a ‘we need to end this’ type of situation. Within three weeks of the bomb dropping, they formulated a plan and got to work kicking the colonizers out of Africa, starting with Belgian-colonized Congo (80% of the uranium used in the bombs were mined from there). They also made a deal with British-colonized India.
Once they were successful in their test run, The U.A. moved forward with similar models until they were to liberate the continent in 1955. Meanwhile, Sypavian forces kicked out most of the Nazis that fled to South America and ended US/European influence in Central and South America.
The United States tried to play it neutral until The UA (mainly Fetuilelagi) freed Hawai’i from US occupation in 1951. The war was sold as “We must fight to preserve our freedom!” (Keep telling yourselves that).
Once both South/Central America and Africa were liberated, other colonized nations asked for their aid. UA agents/dignitaries offered to relocate Black people from the Caribbean, Europe, and the United States. As many as five million African-Americans took the offer, including former Howling Commando, Gabe Jones. By then the US was clamping down domestically through the FBI and local/state police.
Irked by the knowledge that the UA had satellites, the US jumpstarted the Space Race (they had more than a few satellites, but good for you).
As with most wars, both sides partook in some ‘questionable actions’ (i.e. Syria, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Cambodia, and Laos).
The war climaxed in 1977 when a UA (Sypavian) agent discovered plans for a super-weapon in the US. A Special Ops team led by N’Jobu realized that the weapon was a mega bomb that would’ve wiped out the African Continent.
After weighing their options, The UA came to an agreement with BNA: BNA would gather their most powerful Homo Magi and cast a spell to erase the memory and evidence of the war from every human outside of the UA in exchange for letting some Non-Humans live openly in UA borders.
They shook on it, unaware of the chaos that would follow.
Next>>
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Taglist:@opheliadawnwalker3​ @sherrybaby14​ @stargazingfangirl18​ ​ @hevans-angel​ @threeminutesoflife​ ​ @cockslut-padalecki​ @golden-ariess​  @sapphirescrolls​ @holylulusworld 
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technomaestro · 3 years
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Oh? Tell us about the characters on that list then
*slaps character sheet* this bad boy can fit so much of my own repressed trauma in it
This one could be fuckin *all* of them, but it's probably Kelarvia Arana, aka Kel. Poor dwarven fighter exile from Orzamar who turned to the Qun, was trained wrong as a spy, failed her family, failed the qun, failed her friends, and kept trying to do right. She was... not bright. She took a face full of acid breath for her troubles, got repeatedly stabbed by everyone around her, and still kept fucking trying. She was not in a great place by the end of that campaign.
Closeted Trans Person Gender Envy Character™
So, while I'm very much cis, I did toy around with the idea of genderfluidity and transness at one point. And the closest character to that would have been a major NPC that I had in my pokemon game, Claire deVire. She was a literal illusionist / Fairy Type mage, and honestly one of my favorite NPCs to use in the game. I played her as a confident and experienced trainer who had an air of mystery, was clever and flirtatious, and who had a very accomplished team including trans icon Sylveon. She is/was one of the main *villains* of the campaign, but that's besides the point. If I was a girl, she's who I'd want to be - but I'm pretty solid in my gender at this point.
sexy
That would be Lucas Maignard, the Silver Lion. Not just your average silver fox, but a nobleman who absolutely could rock it. Think Rollo from Vikings except salt and pepper hair. He was power hungry, a staunch revanchist of his family's ancestral title and he would go to every length it took to reclaim it, including trying to seduce the King's consort. He, notably, caused at least one if not more international incidents by insulting the soccer abilities of a neighboring kingdom.
He may have had the highest charisma of any character I've played.
idealized version of myself
Allow me to introduce you to Broderic Gullet, a 6'6 tall constantly drunken scotsman Barbarian with a hammer who was unkillable. Literally - he actually died at one point and came back to life because he was too damn stubborn to leave before his friends had gotten to safety, and some passing spirit possessed him and turned him into an abomination. He was jovial, friendly, could talk to his cat Mr. Pickles, and wonderfully buff enough he could hug all his friends at once. Plus he was a trained chef.
As Fruity And Extra As Possible
Oh this is easy. The Satyr Diplomat Cheldric delWolpertinger, a man who *honestly* should have read the recommended reading before being sent to deliver very important documents (these were actually talking frogs!). He was supposed to board a new train on the mountainous passage to Westport, but forgot his ticket. When the train left, he literally jumped (and I mean I cast "jump" and specifically was a Satyr for their Mirthful Leaps feature which adds 1d8 to my jump distance) onto the back of the train. Unfortunately, the murder of the conductor was a bit of an issue, but Cheldric and some other passengers put their heads together to solve the mystery.
furry
So, allow me to set the stage for Albie, Traitor to Crowkind. A Kenku that was as much benefit to the party as he was walking, curse triggering hazard, this absolute buffoon would do what he could to simultaneously help the party while also doing his best not to piss of Strahd too much. A lighting bolt cast into the middle of melee that hit everyone totally gives him plausible deniability for who survives.
I think my favorite memory though is when one of the other party members just opened his beak and he started reciting the Book of Strahd like Stitch plays that record in Lilo & Stitch
A good runner up here would also be Nilbo, a Kobold Druid who only became a druid because it let him wild shape into progressively bigger lizards and dinosaurs. No other animals, just scales.
I Saw One Of The Extra Fantasy Races That Aren’t In The Player’s Handbook And Almost Had A Stroke
Listen. Listen to me. I fucking love Warforged. I will *always* go to bat for magical robots. They're amazing and I've played so many, from psions to storm domain clerics to the most recent one, Hymn, a gender-neutral Celestial Pact Warlock Warforged who got his abilities because he was a socialist. No, I'm not joking - he was made for usage by the Church of the Sovereign Host, but when a wandering heretical priest came by wondering why the church didn't do more, Hymn started going out at night to perform direct action and mutual aid. Being not that smart, he accidentally wandered into a cult's base and released a captive celestial, who gifted him the power to help more.
a race + class that typically would not go together
I'm of a tossup here - the Halfling Artificer Posco Harfoot, who was a member of the Justicars and in order to even the playing field, built himself a goddamn magitek mech in order to go toe to toe with the other peacekeepers, or of Tiberius Vanderwhinn, an elven Path of the Zealot barbarian who was *extremely* keen on getting his libraries late fees sorted, and gods help you if you dared shout in his library.
sexy criminal
Very few things are sexier than a tiefling, and that would be Boreo Lieran, the Tiefling Bard. Boreo was a staunch contender for the "As fruity as possible" but this pansexual beast is much more in line here because the man seduced half the party prior to or during session 1. Having a prehensile tail and the ability to pick up the gnome lass in the party by it for him to tease probably helped.
Of course, such a man was hilariously illegal, because not only did he smuggle and steal like, 90% of his luxury goods that he used to pamper himself with, he would absolutely flaunt a total disregard for property rights and find himself making grand entrances into peoples homes and lives as part of his wayward caravan, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.
himbo
One of the more recent characters I've played. Cadmus, Son of Abraxes! A "human" wizard on the plane of Theros, this man is the half-divine son of the literal personification of the pride of a polis that was wiped off the face of the world by the gods for their Hubris. So, an active devotee of the god of victory, and actively blaspheming the goddess of destiny at every turn (As he would put it, we hold the pen in our hands, she merely hoards the ink), his goal was to perform deeds good enough to earn a place as a constellation under the stars. He would only *ever* sleep outside at night, even in cities, because he wanted to rest with them as he knew one day he would for eternity.
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kaldurcalm · 3 years
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I've been meaning to do a black girls in webtoons reclist and I'm a little nervous about it because I'm white, but I haven't seen any comparable lists yet so. Here I go.
Note: this is based on the characters.
I haven't checked to see whether the authors are black or not because although that approach is well-meaning and has its own purpose (boosting black women who make comics), it can also lead to gatekeeping and invasive behavior on the part of fans.
The creators on the webtoons platform often use psuedonyms, so I usually don't go looking for more information than they provide.
My focus here is black girls and women who are treated well by the narrative, because I've seen from other posters that those are the kinds of stories that they would like to read.
With that in mind! I'm just going to go with the first one I see on my subscription list:
This is a superhero comic with a black female lead. She's the one who gets the gang together, and she comes from a society that has some interesting eyewear. (It's kind of a cultural thing.)
All of this is explained in the comic as a part of an ongoing plotline, and everyone's powers feel fresh and interesting.
Note: I do actually know that one of the creators is a black man! It's a team of people who seem pretty neat.
This one is probably suitable for most ages, but there's superhero violence and associated trauma sometimes. They get into social injustice as an ongoing theme for the entire comic, and the characters collectively decided to crash at the place of the richest guy on the team.
He is not thrilled about this.
I love this disaster trans girl.
Mal is a fan of a band called the Crawmamas, and her bff accidentally lands her a job as their social media manager. She is, unfortunately, head over heels for the dirty rat man guitarist.
This comic is going to have themes that are considered adult, like drinking and smoking and sexytimes.
Mal's mom doesn't approve of her wrist tattoo, but she's supportive of "her baby girl" and the other characters either don't know or are supportive (so far).
(I can't vouch for how the narrative will handle things in the future, but she's touring with a tits out type of rock band some of the crew members are gay. I'm not worried about the way the story will handle it.
Even if almost every single character is a disaster human. Help them.)
It's the story of Shahrazad! I read The Shadow Spinner when I was a kid, but not the original story, so I've never seen it like this before.
If you're not familiar: the main character is forcibly married to the rule of her kingdom.
Or, well, she volunteers for the forced marriage process so that she can get revenge on him for killing her best friend.
Along the way, she unveils a curse, and sets about trying to unravel it.
There's violence in this story, but I don't think it's super graphic. It's only a feel-good story if you're into clever, booksmart women who learn to fight injustice in their own ways.
(If you don't like the idea of her catching feelings for the caliph, this story might not be for you.)
If I were to narrow this list down to just soft love stories, this comic would be included. (Gonna be honest: I almost didn't read the whole thing because of the art style, but I'm so glad I did.)
Yani is a short, chubby black girl, and Cage is the tallest, biggest guy in highschool.
... unfortunately this means that she's scared of him at first.
The feeling isn't mutual at all: he saw on stage in a school play and immediately became 100% more interested in Shakespeare.
When their teacher sets him up to tutor her (it's not a romantic thing), he's stoked and she finds out that mostly? He's just shy.
This comic talks about sex in an informative way in the later chapters, and Yani's friends help her overcome a phobia that she's embarrassed to tell people about.
Overall, it's really sweet and wholesome. And it's pretty much completed, so no surprises here!
This is one of my favorite comics of all time, I think.
Ray is a college-age lady who's struggling to figure out her career path--as a seer in a world where you can bake magic into food.
She likes to go to her favorite bakery once a week to have a slice of romance. (Not sure if the romance is in the jam, the bread, or both, but it looks really pretty.)
She seems to have a crush on the lady who owns the bakery (who is also a black woman and happens to be a happily married lesbian), and she helps her love interest overcome his fear of (broomstick) flying (which is similar to driving in this universe-- you have to get a license.)
This one should be safe for all ages, I think! It's one of the softest, sweetest comics I've ever read.
So the actual main character in this comic is basically black gay batman in a purple devil suit, but I'm recommending it because it has two women of color as main characters in the first two seasons.
If you want a smooth recap of the entire thing, read the latest update. Here's the short version:
Honoria Crabb is a hard-nosed cop, until she sees that the entire city is corrupt and and the police force isn't what she'd hoped it would be. She's basically tying the story together right now--you might see what I mean if you click the last link.
Theresa Ferrier is a famous detective, the line of Sherlock Holmes. I say this not because of her personality, but because has a best-selling series about her adventures and has a comparable reputation in this universe.
She's also bald, uses a cane, and is married to the love of her life--Margeurite, a famous painter with a rare brain disease. (Margeurite can't see very well, uses a wheelchair, and is usually carrying her beloved bulldog. )
Theresa basically comes out of retirement to help fund her wife's treatment, and by the end of the second season she retreats so that she can devote herself to her care.
It doesn't even feel like the author is sidelining her or anything--she's influenced the other characters a great deal, and she just wants to care for her wife and be happy.
Overall, you'll like this comic if you like detective stories and masked vigilantes. There's violence and blood, and associated trauma.
I love this comic so much, and I'm a person who tries to stay away from zombies as much as possible.
...let me just show you the main cast:
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Spoiler: there's healthy polyamory at the end.
...not with all of them. Two of them in this picture are involved, though, and one of them is black.
(The coach is also black. He gets bitten by the first zombie they see, so the girls have to take care of him. They do a decent job of it.)
I'm not sure how much more I can say without spoiling it because I get too excited. Ya got your jock black girl and your soft cute black girl on the same highschool basketball team, though, so that's why it made this list.
This comic is hilarious and it feels like a slice of life in spite of the fact that it's set during a zombie apocalypse. 10/10 would recommend.
(I also highly recommend the author's other work, which is more graphic and uses more colors in its palette, but that one centers a gay couple. There's some great black ladies in it but they're not the focal point, so I'm just going to mention it as an aside.
You can find it by clicking on the comic description and scrolling to the bottom.)
So the main character starts out a bike messenger. The best damn bike messenger in town.
This is how she becomes a bike messenger for the gods.
It's all very dramatic, and the new job comes with a teleporting magic vending machine for helpful bike parts that help her navigate the godly realm.
Her best friend is another black lady, who works with books and is a badass in her own right, and Dare herself is definitely not straight.
This comic is completed and everything ends well! Dare gets a satisfying love life with another woman and the world is no longer ending.
This comic is sweet, so I'm going to include it, but I don't think it's ever going to be finished.
Ola and her family are illegal immigrants. This comic is a slice of life about her trying to navigate highschool without exposing her family.
The overall tone is pretty light, but I'd you have any experience with that then if might make you nervous.
I don't want to pick favorites, but this one's my favorite.
In a world where you can modify your body the same way we can currently mod videogames, our main character notices another girl who takes the subway because she doesn't use any mods at all.
It's because she has a chronic illness, so she uses technology that others consider outdated (that seems futuristic to us) to help her navigate the world.
She's not in pain all the time, but she has to be careful. Certain types of technology in their world can affect her very badly, so she has to avoid them the same way you'd avoid allergens.
The main character changes her look frequently, but she's always shown as black and, towards the end of the comic, she shares a conversation she had with her mother as a child about the importance of her natural features.
This is an interracial relationship, and the love interest is a white hispanic. She has two dads, and the main character has a mom, a dad, and her mom and dad's partner.
...I'm not super clear on their relationship as it is in the comic but the creator confirmed that they're in a polycule.
This is the kind of comic that makes you feel like you light up inside as you read it. It should be safe for most ages, I think the most adult things in it are job opportunities and kissing. (I'm going off memory, here. I'm doin my best.)
The author also has another comic about a college age magic user who bulldozes her way into an apprenticeship because she's determined to not let her magical form of dyslexia get in the way of her life plans.
(She can't read the spell books at all, so makes herself seeing eye familiar out of what looks like a floppy stuffed animal and a ritual.
The ritual itself isn't clear yet.)
The main character isn't black herself, so I'm not including it as its own entry, but her mentor is black. She's a sweet lady with an adopted son, anxiety, and an understanding girlfriend.
This one doesn't have a final ending because the author came up against a pretty heavy duty mental block, but it did end on a series finale and although it's bittersweet, I think it's pretty good.
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internalsealpanic · 4 years
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Hug Tutorials
summary: Constantine is stuck baby sitting. Not exactly his area of expertise. So how is he supposed handle a feral 8 year old? Help comes from an unexpected source.
A/n: I am pretty new to the Hellblazer fandom so forgive the characterization. I own nothing except Ruta (in all his bratty glory) and the plot. Maya belongs to the wonderful @birdy-bat-writes who is a wonderful human being. This thing is kind of part of a crack au me and Riya have been brain storming.  I will probably edit or rewrite this later.  Yes, I need a better title. 
warnings: awkward hugs, implied child neglect, and a lot of swearing
word count:  1,709 (This is actually really short.)
Ruta knows it hadn't started out like this.
He remembers when his mother used to try and help him read. She tried her best but the shapes on the page just made no sense to him. Not the way it did for Raffie or Mimi. 
He tries memorizing the words she said to him and parroting them back to her. It works! For awhile...  
He also remembers the walks to the park and how they'd listen to him about transparent people. 
They probably think he's too young to notice the change. 
His mom's slowly cut back on their nightly reading sessions opting for game night with his siblings. They were playing monopoly and that required a little too much reading for him to play. 
They haven't read together in months. Maybe he's the only one keeping track. 
He still tells them about the transparent people and now he tells them about the shadowy people but now they simply nod out of time with what he says. They used to be better at pretending and nodding in time with what he said. 
His dad got mad at him once when he started crying about the shadow people when they were at the market. He shook him, just a little, just enough to make him feel woozy, looking red with embarrassment. Ruta felt bad about it. He felt really horrible about  embarrassing his dad that he decided never to mention them again even when they got too close. 
The good news is he now had Count Von Bon Bon who listened and read aloud to him. He wasn't allowed inside the house because he was such a big bird but when they went outside he kept the shadow things away.  
He doesn’t need anyone else. He’ll be ok. 
-------------
If you asked John Constantine how on Earth he found himself in the mess, he'd likely give you a dumbfounded look, shrug, and mumble something about being too sober. 
But in all honesty, how does one find themselves watching their 8-year-old charge about to throw hands with not one but two Green Lanterns who should know better? 
Ruta stood , small and imperious, with his little arm crossed and his head thrown back after a great laugh. "I'd like to see ya do it, dumb carrot headed shit!" 
Guy, looking as red as, well, Sinestro, looks like he's about to deck the kid.  "Oh, I'm gonna,"  
John with all the good sense he's got fumbles over to the tiny terror.  "Sorry 'bout that lil' Ruta 'ere's just a bit nippy from 'avin' to wake up early. Yanno 'ow kids are,” He grabs the kid by his sweater who makes a little squawking noise not too different from his devastatingly posh familiar who would have been really helpful right now.  The kid wriggles a little, trying to claw John's hand away from the sweater.  He pauses and John thinks that maybe, just maybe, the kid had gotten some sense knocked into him.
Unfortunately for him, John Constantine is one unlucky bastard.
With the smarmiest grin plastered on his little face, Ruta slips out of the, admittedly, ill-fitting sweater. The kid basically sprinted back toward the lanterns who, by the way, still looked pissed as all hell. 
"Oh for the love of-" John is honestly going to pop a blood vessel.  He grabs the kid's arm since the kid despite his speed hadn't made it far. 
Ruta did not have the expected reaction.  He froze. Breath seizing. Body going rigid. John thought about letting go but thought better of it. 
"Ruta-" 
Ruta begins to thrash violently and make petulant noises. John rolls eyes even as the kid snarls a few colorful words. "Yer gonna hafta do bettern’ that lad if-"
CHOMP
"Sonuva! Zee, a little help would be appreciated, love,"
"Sorry John, I’ve got no clue about how Maya usually gets him to settle down,"
Well, that helped.
Justice League members gather in bewilderment as they watch Constantine let out a string of curses as he tries to pry Ruta off his arm. The kid's teeth were actually digging into his flesh.  John is pretty sure he would rather be fighting off all the demon's he's encountered over the years than be here, right now, getting his flesh torn.  
Bats and Supes enter the room. Now, John normally didn't give a rat's ass what those two thought but there was a special kind of embarrassment that comes with a tantruming child.  He now had a little more sympathy for people with kids in grocery stores. 
The next few seconds are hard to process. 
Bats discussing something about Earth's defenses with Supes wordlessly walks over to John, pats Ruta on the head,  the kid- miraculously- relinquishes his death grip on John's arm, and in a disturbingly fluid motion Bats scoops him up into his arms, settles Ruta on to his hip, walks back to his conversation as if nothing happened. 
The kid makes a brief distressed noise and a weak attempt at fighting before huffing and wrapping his wreathy little arms around Bats’ neck as Bats rubs circles on his  back. 
God, the kid looked so small all of a sudden. Had Ruta been that tiny this whole time? 
He looked a little relieved aside from his face which was red and screwed up like all his effort  was being devoted to trying not to cry. His breath is still uneven but it was settling down. He’s limp against Bats. For once, he looked like he wasn't about to turn tail and run or to tell someon to fuck off or  bite someone's face off.
Fuck, when was the last time the kid looked so relaxed?
The newer league members watch with a mix of awe and confusion while the older ones shake their head and murmur something about not seeing that in a while. 
It takes a few minutes, the entire conversation actually, for Batman to realize that all his kids are too big for him to comfortably carry like this even with his size. He panics thinking he accidentally kidnapped a young child.  It takes him a moment longer to realize who it is. 
"How the fuck did you manage that?" John finally stiffles out, awe clear in his voice.
Batman glares at John for cursing in front of the kid.
 "Wot? He’s said worse,"
"That’s cus you’re a fucking cunt," Ruta mumbles his cheek still smooshed into Bats' shoulder. Bats looks as stone faced as ever but from the frown tugging at his lips he seemed mortified but he made a grunt that sounded more nostalgic than reprimanding. Batman adjusts his hold on the kid looking like he was honestly debating on whether to keep carrying the kid around and keep working or give him back to the clearly inexperienced Constantine. He decides it was probably best to give him back to Constantine but a part of him just really wanted to keep holding the little one trembling in his arms. When was the last time he held someone this small. It kind of reminded him of when Jason was small right down to the fowl mouth. 
Ruta clearly also doesn't want to let go. Bats is sturdy and surprisingly warm.  He looked like he would cry if he let go. The kid’s knuckles were white from gripping Bats’ cowl for Christ’s sake. Sadly, Igris, his annoyingly posh familiar, shows up from who the fuck knows where. 
 "Little prince, this is no way to behave," He admonishes in an eerie vernacular that was only barely understandable due to exposure. Ruta's face grows hot from embarrassment and with a nod he extricates himself from the caped crusader's arms. 
The kid definitely looks like he's about to cry but he mutters a glum ‘Yes, Count Von Bon Bon’.  
 "Where the bloody hell have you been?" John asked. God, he needed a smoke. 
"I've been watching over Maya as the little prince had asked," John gives him a questioning look. "I got bored" The bird adds, shrugging in an oddly human manner.  
Ruta extricates himself looking sheepish but mostly tired. Kid has probably been stressed and on adrenaline for a while. The sudden feeling of safety just made him crash.  
John hesitantly wraps his arms around the kid. The kid freezes but hugs back hesitantly. John tries to lift the kid but the kid stiffens. John honestly had no idea how to hold this kid. He maneuvered his hands clumsily around the kid. Ruta made no objections but he was clearly uncomfortable. 
 "No. You have to support both of his back and legs. Sometimes you have to lean back a bit to get them to so he leave into you- yeah just like that,"  Bats instructs, sounding oddly gentle. His usual gravel absent. It kind of scared  John, to be honest, so he did his best to follow along.  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
At some point, Maya shows up after her ‘date’ with Damian- not much of a date when there are a bunch of people watching you- and finds Bruce coaching John on how to hold a tired elementary schooler who was drooling on John's favorite beige coat. She tried her best to stifle a laugh. Thankfully, she didn't have to try too hard. 
 "EXCUSE ME????? B, since when were you a child whisperer?" Dick exclaims as dramatically as humanly possible. Damian and Tim radiated second hand embarrassment while Jason just plays it like he doesn't know his older brother. Maya guessed that if Bruce wasn't used Dick he would be cringing too. 
 "Nightwing, I've had more than 5 children. I believe I know how to handle children,"  
"Uhuh- sure, B.  Whatever you say,"
Bruce makes a neutral grunting noise. 
"Please tell me you're not adopting that one,"
"Of course no-"
"Yeah sure, B,"
"He's- He's Constantines,"
"Tt, father, you are a terrible influence,"
It is a spectacle to watch Bruce's kids team up on him. 
Maya shakes her head and laughs before heading over to John. 
“Well, bring me a biscuit and call me Christy Bats’ was right” He mutters rocking the feral child.  Ruta’s little arms wrap around him a little tighter. 
“‘Course he is, Christy. He’s Batman,” Maya drawls smiling innocently.
"Please never leave him with me again,"
"Dunno, Christy. Looks like you're doing fine,"
tag list:
@idkmanicantenglish (You said any DC content)
@birdy-bat-writes (You enabler)
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gyllen-haall · 4 years
Text
I haven't been posting the Lance Shirtless oneshots on here. Sorry. Look for me on Ao3 because I've got all of them of there.
This chapter covers abuse and it's a College/University Au.
'What if anyone finds out?' The brunette asked himself mentally, staring at his pitiful figure in the mirror. Bruises bloomed all over his body, a sick smile slowly creeped onto his face as tears leaked out of ocean blue eyes. If he stood back far enough, he just looked like another cast out painting. 
One full of the colors of anger and hatred, making a painful masterpiece against the boring tan of his skin tone. 'I deserve this,' He thought bitterly, looking more like a human punching bag than like an actual person. It wasn't abuse, none of this was abuse, it was his coaches way of teaching him to do better. 
At least that's what he kept telling himself.
Shaking away his thoughts, Lance decided to stop feeling sorry for himself and find a way to cover the visible bruises. The worst one was on his face, where the coach had harshly kicked him because one of his teammates had missed a shot at the goal in the previous game. 
Even though the beating today hurt, pidge was safe. She was the youngest player on their team, pretending to be a boy so that her secret identity as a student council member. He was grateful for his team, they always made sure to support him through everything because he always looked out for them. 
Which is why he had a bottle of foundation to help cover up the bruises during school, it was a hassle but it kept prying eyes away so he couldn't care less. Unfortunately, makeup can't cover up everything, so he had to throw on a blue turtleneck, and some black pants.
He put his dirty laundry in a hamper, and folded the rest of his clean laundry. It honestly hurt to even move, but he knew better than to have a messy room. The soccer coach did a dorm check once a month on a random day, and anyone who failed to meet his expectations...well...we all knew what happened to them. 
A soft knock at his door broke him out of his thoughts, he called out a soft "hold on please," as he finished with his dresser and walked to his door. He opened it with a yawn, only to be met with the Head of the Student Council, Takashi Shirogane. He stepped aside and let the other in, knowing that the elder would make himself at home.
When he first met this man, he was in complete and utter awe. This man was a legend, from his perfect score on the entrance exam to all the new programs he set up in the school just by himself. This man was his hero, after all, he was part of the reason Lance had transferred to this school from Cuba.
Yet after getting to know the man, his opinion had changed. Shiro stopped being his hero, turning into another basic man, that in many ways, was just like him. But that didn't mean that Lance kept himself from falling for the elder, in fact, him and the councilman were locked in some sort of weird relationship thing. 
But someone as great as Shiro deserved better.
Yet here he was, checking up on the brunette whenever he had the chance. "Hey, you okay? Pidge seemed really worried about you earlier," his gorgeous gray eyes searching the soccer players body for any signs of fatigue or injury. But Lance waved him off with a practised smile, making sure not to react to the twinge of pain along his side. 
"I'm perfectly fine Shiro, she was probably just worried because I pushed myself harder during practise today." He replied simply, wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible. Lance turned around and started boiling a small pot of water in hopes of making a heat pad for the bruises later. 
"Then why was she talking about you needing to wear foundation?" The sudden question made Lance freeze before he pieced together an excuse, focusing solely on the stove in front of him. "Uh, the coach wanted to take some pictures in a few days so she wanted to make sure I covered up any fatigue." 
This drew a inquisitive hum out of the councilman, "Then why are you wearing some now?" Caught off guard, he replied a little too quickly, "Because I wanted to...practice! Yeah, that. I totally just forgot the word for a moment, sorry about that." He said as he sat down on the bed to join the other, not even registering that his turtleneck pulled up a bit.
"No problem," Shiro said, catching onto the boy's weird behavior but deciding to let it be for now. He looked the brunette over, catching a small purple mark underneath the hem of Lances shirt on his stomach. “Hey Lance what's that?” With the way Lance's eyes darted around the room with shuttle panic, the elder knew he had figured out what was wrong.
Pulling himself together, the soccer player rushed to find an answer. “No need to worry about it man," Lance said as he pulled the bottom of his shirt down to hide the mark. Unfortunately for the brunette, Shiro didn't believe anything Lance just said for even a second.
"You're lying, show me.” 
Shiro looked over the soccer player carefully, taking note that the brunette had his legs and arms crossed defensively. But Lance was also sitting on the edge of the bed, meaning that he was going to get ready to bolt if the elder didn't stop him.
Gently, the councilman placed each hand on either side of Lance, keeping them a few inches from the brunette's waist. “I want you to show me, I don't want to ask again.” He said sternly, making uncertainty and a small flicker of hope arise in those bright blue eyes before it was clouded by despair.
“I can't.” Lance whispered pitifully, the wet tone in his voice letting Shiro know that the brunette was close to tears. So he softened his expression and brought the junior into his arms, the way the younger clung desperately to his neck broke his heart. Soft cries escaped the Cuban as Shiro slowly rocked them back and forth, whispering comforting words into Lances ears as he cried.
"You're okay, I'll protect you, I'm not going anywhere."
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mareebird · 4 years
Text
a wee fic for sunday night
Tumblr media
By request, from @diggerkaren​: “"How about a side trip in the Relic universe - where Nebula and Rocket come to visit Thor.... Has Loki met Nebula before?"
So this takes place in the Relic universe, but Relic isn’t totally Infinity War or Endgame compliant, so I’ve taken a few liberties.  Nebula has never met Thor, but Rocket still has.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I don’t think it’s going to hurt anyone’s brain too much.
Rated: Teen and Up, TW: Serious physical injury; Wordcount: 3977
Read on Ao3, or below here on Tumblr...
The Relic is also on Ao3
------------------------------------
I Got Better (by Mareebird)
As usual, they needed to make a side trip.  “Needed” to make one.  Nothing could ever be over and done when traveling with her sister’s friends.  Rocket tried Nebula’s patience sometimes.  There was always some item the small creature needed to buy (or steal) or a person he wanted to see (or rob).  She did not care, not in any moralistic sense, but there was never anything quick about it and she hated wasting time.
They had been in New York for a day, dropping off equipment to Tony Stark.  It was what they had come to do.  It was a regular delivery, one they made every few months, in Rocket’s modified Class-M.  Nebula did not typically come along, because she did not like Earth, but Rocket needed a co-pilot, and all of the capable members of their team were otherwise occupied.  Not even the Flora Colossus had come along.  He was shedding leaves and needed privacy.  Nebula suspected that it was code for something and she did not want to know what.
It was her first time seeing Tony.  Nebula was glad the man had lived.  He seemed happy.  He had a wife and child.  She told the softer, organic parts of her brain not to think about what might have been, had she needed more oxygen and food while the two of them were adrift on the Benatar.  Tony was fortunate to have been trapped with her, of all possible companions, although it would have been easier to survive had he been alone.  Nebula could have lasted for months on her own, if she cared to go on that long.  Tony had kept her alive in his own way.
She enjoyed hugging Tony and his family when they said hello and goodbye.  She did not hug any of the other humans they encountered.  Perhaps they thought it might offend her.  They would not have been entirely wrong.  No one dared to touch Rocket at all.
After one night of sleep, it was time to depart, but not for home.  Unfortunately.  They needed to make their quick side trip first.
“Where is this Norway?” asked Nebula.  “And is this absolutely necessary?”
“I just want to see how an old friend is doing,” said Rocket.
Nebula scowled.  Rocket did not have old friends.  He barely had new ones.  They were similar that way, but she strapped into her seat without comment.  Arguing was merely a waste of time on top of what was already going to be a waste of time.
And she hated wasting time.
--
Norway, as it turned out, was on the same planet as New York, to the east and slightly north.  The flight was short, but the star Sol was straight overhead by the time they touched down.  They landed in a remote field, at coordinates which Tony had given.  It lay several miles from where Rocket’s friend had been conducting...whatever it was he that was doing here.  Apparently, this friend was not native to Earth.  That he happened to be here at the same time was fortuitous, if only for the fact that it saved time.  Nebula made peace with letting it play out.  Interference would only lengthen their stay.
They had arranged to meet Rocket’s friend at a safe distance from the city, so as not to cause alarm.  Earthlings were embarrassingly skittish.  The field in which they landed was pocked with rocks and patches of snow.  It was pretty, in a barren, naturalistic sort of way.  There were mountains in every direction.  It could not have been more different from New York.  Nebula had not been aware that places like this still existed on Earth, unruined.
Rocket unfastened his flight restraints.  “You coming?”
Nebula shrugged.  Her intention was to stay inside and let Rocket take care of whatever this was on his own.  “Is it necessary?”
He rolled his eyes.  “Suit yourself, friendly.”
Through the view-shield, she watched him march steadily through the field, frowning to herself.  Sometimes, Nebula wished she was not the way that she was.  Then again, someone would probably die if she allowed herself to become as easily distracted as the rest of them.
Rocket’s friend was not alone when he appeared on the horizon.  They were so far off that Nebula first mistook the figures for a ripple in the wind.  She honed in on the pair with her artificial eye, curious as to what sort of deplorable miscreants Rocket considered his buddies.  They were two males, Terran in appearance.  Both were tall, nicely-built specimens.  Nebula wondered if she wanted to say hello to them after all.  Her remaining organic parts still appreciated the company of attractive people.  One man had light hair, the other, black.
And he was familiar.
The black-haired one, fox-faced and angular and...
Her bald brow furrowed like a cabbage as she leaned closer to the view-shield and a chill rippled down her spine.  Her organic parts, it seemed, could also still react to shock.
Nebula threw off her flight restraints and ran outside, tearing through the dead grass at full speed.
“You’re alive!” she cried out.
The black-haired man’s eyes sharpened on her while she was still far away.  He leaped backward and, for a flash, appeared as though he might bolt, like he was laying eyes on a predator, which was fair enough.
The other man simply looked confused, as did Rocket, but he raised a hand to hold her off, positioning himself in the center of it all.  He was ruddy and muscular and effortlessly in command.
Nebula halted.  She did not blame the man for attempting to run, nor did she underestimate him.  He was Asgardian.  (Well, really he was Jotun, that was detail.)  He was an Asgardian prince.  But more importantly, he was one of the finest fighters she’d ever sparred against, if you could call her father’s predilections training.  They were more...exercises in survival.
She had to stop calling Thanos that.  Father.  He was not her father.
“Loki?”  She uttered his name cautiously, but she knew it was him.  Those eyes were unforgettable, deep-set and haunted.  She knew that he recognized her, too, the way that the harrowing memories of their time together splintered in his gaze like broken glass.  The face that surrounded them was a little different.  Older.  His youth was utterly gone.  When they met, he had almost looked like a boy.
Nebula wondered if her face would ever change, or would parts of her simply fall off as time passed?  She tried to be pragmatic about such things, because what was the alternative?  But that Loki had aged at all, that he was alive, that he was actually standing before her -- it was almost more than her brain, sharp as it was, could process.
How was this possible?  Thanos had hunted Loki like a cat after the last mouse in the universe.  And by the story he told after leaving the Asgardians behind, he might as well have come home with a tail between his teeth.
“Hey, you know Nebs?”  This came from Rocket, who sounded more concerned than impatient for once.  Slowly, Loki nodded.
“Norns…” breathed the other man -- the taller, thicker, fair-haired one.  “She’s one of Thanos’s daughters, isn’t she?”
Nebula grit her teeth.  The other man was Thor -- Nebula realized it all once.  The other Asgardian prince…the older one...was he the Allfather now?  Loki’s brother.
Thor had been a mark.  He had been part of the reason why Thanos wanted to train Loki in the first place, rather than kill the poor boy straight away, when he first arrived at Sanctuary.  It was surreal to see him on the flesh, standing before her.  He looked so different than the person she had been shown, and nothing at all like Loki, but there was no reason to expect that he would.
What were the two of them doing in Norway?
Except for the fact that Asgard no longer existed.
Loki cleared his throat.  He put on a smile, of all things, and returned to the group.  “Forgive me for reacting as I did.  Old habits.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said coolly.
Rocket snapped his fingers until everyone looked down.  Being the size that he was, it was necessary for him to be rude to get attention -- or at least, that was his excuse.  “Hey, I’m dying to know the story.  Really, I am.  But is there any chance we could catch up, I don’t know, indoors?  And not in the middle of a frozen wasteland.”
Nebula was vaguely offended.  She blinked at the mountains in the distance.  It was beautiful here.  But Thor waved a hand and ushered them forward.  “Right.  The portal is at the bottom of the hill.”
With a glance over his shoulder, Rocket jogged ahead.  Nebula lingered, standing very still, as did Loki, as though he expected her to wait.  “I was told you were dead,” she said.  “Thanos told everyone about what happened on that ship.”
Loki’s eyelids fluttered.  And then, with a wry smile, he patted his chest, proving how solid he was.  “Surely, you think more highly of me than that.”
Nebula did not laugh.  There was nothing funny about this.
He gestured that they ought to catch up.  “I’ll explain once we get into town.”
---
The next few minutes of their journey would remain a blur in Nebula’s mind.  Loki brought them through a portal, one which he may or may not have created himself.  Passages through magical doorways did funny things to her non-organic parts.  It never lasted very long, and she had only traveled using them a handful of times, but It always left her feeling staticky and dull until the effects faded.  It was an annoyance, but she couldn’t do anything about it.
All she could recall was following everyone, like the runt of a litter, as the mountains transmuted to a seaside street, until her fleshy brain and cybernetics synced up with one another.  With a jolt, Nebula realized that she was sitting in a hard chair, indoors.  There was a table in front of her.  There was a cup of something hot in her hand.
She tilted her head.
She was in...a coffee shop?
Two tables had been pushed together, around which, in addition to herself, Loki, Thor, and Rocket were seated.  At the counter, a human man and woman were buying drinks.  They finished, turned around, and offered polite smiles as they passed.
Nebula anxiously flexed her blue hands and vaguely recalled Loki saying something about casting a spell on her and Rocket, so that they would appear Midgardian.  Human.  Apparently, it was not something she could see with her own eyes.  Pity.  She was curious what sort of disguise Loki would choose to paint on her.
But not curious enough to ask.  The longer Nebula thought about it, the less she wanted to come face-to-face with a flesh-and-blood version of herself, free of the metal that held her together.
A bell jingled as the door closed.  The woman behind the counter circled around and locked it.  Apparently, she was an insider to their meeting.  She was a woman of average height and build, for a human.  She sat down next to Loki and Nebula noted the way he leaned ever so slightly into her presence at the table.
So, not only was Loki alive, but he was apparently doing well for himself.  It still boggled her mind.
Though it did make her feel slightly less guilty for what had happened between them.  That horrific moment.  Involuntarily, she shivered.  She hoped no one noticed.
“All right,” said Rocket, “now that we’re alone, time to tell the story.”
“There isn’t much to say, other than the obvious,” said Nebula.  She lifted her coffee to her lips and took a sip and hoped no one had noticed just how dazed she had been seconds ago.  “We trained together.  Briefly.  All of Thanos’s children did.”
It was not the whole truth.  That wasn’t hers to tell his people.
Across from her, Loki lifted his heavy brows, but he did not comment.  Rocket shifted in his chair, trying to get a little more height at the table.  “Right,” he said, “but training with you was top of the class, wasn’t it, Nebs?”
Was that a compliment?  She shrugged.  “Thanos wanted Loki trained quickly.”
“I think I learned more from you than a thousand years on Asgard,” said Loki.  She noted a tightening of his throat, as well as his fist around his drink.  He looked to be drinking tea, not coffee.
Nebula remembered pitying him when he’d first arrived, even though there had been no logical reason to care about a fallen Asgardian prince.  Pity was a dangerous thing.  She knew that far too well.  “But how are you still alive?”
Whatever was left of Loki’s thin smile vanished, like a shadow blotting out a little sliver of sun.  The woman beside Loki turned ashen, as well.  Nebula wondered if she had been given her name.  She did not remember.
With gravity, Loki turned his eyes upon his brother.
Thor shifted his weight against his seat.  “I brought him back using magic, I suppose you could say.”
Nebula lifted her brows, or what sufficed for them on her face.
“And not to forget,” said Loki, “there are times when one benefits from having a sister who guards the gates of Hel.”
“So you were dead?” Nebula asked.
“I got better.”
Everyone chuckled.  Everyone except her.  She did not understand why they laughed.
But she was not one of them.  And they were not her.  And they had not been there the day Thanos shipped her off to Ronan.  Only Loki had been there.  Only Loki knew.
So why did he laugh, too?
Her organic parts felt numb.
----
Nebula never finished her coffee.  She’d never cared for the drink all that much.  Mild stimulants were fairly useless.  What she really wanted was strong alcohol, but it was clear she wasn’t going to be offered any.  Rocket had a supply on the ship.  She would help herself to it later.  He would get pissed off, but he wouldn’t get in her way.
She didn’t divorce herself from the rest of the conversation, not completely; she tried her best to focus.  She was good at that, focusing on two things at once; the others probably couldn’t tell that her mind was elsewhere.  She suspected Loki could tell, though.  His mind was probably stuck on the same thing as hers. 
His eyes were glassy.
It was Rocket who rose first, signalling their exit.  He was satisfied to hear that Thor was doing well.  Nebula did not fully understand his concern, and she assumed she would never hear the full story.  Once they left, Rocket would move on to other things and so would she.  Thor seemed well enough, aside the missing eye.  She knew what that was like.
Rocket tried to make a trade for the eye, but Thor didn’t accept.
Rocket was disgusting sometimes.  Nebula didn’t know why she enjoyed traveling with him so much, except that he was the least idiotic member of their little crew.  Except for her sister, of course, but that was a given.
She pushed her mug aside and stood.  Good-byes were said.  Thor hugged Rocket, which was a sight to behold.  Maybe the little beast was a niche interest.
No one hugged her, not even Loki, though she hadn’t expected he would.  They weren’t old friends; they had briefly been in the same place at the same time.  Nebula dipped her head in a formal farewell.  Chances were slim they would ever run into one another again.  “It was good to see you,” she said.
Loki bowed.  Stiffly.  When he rose, his face was drawn, and he looked somehow older still.  He lifted his eyes over Nebula’s shoulder, to the door, through the tiny window.  “Actually, would you mind if we spoke in private?  Just for a minute.”
Nebula blinked.  She did not want to waste time.  She glanced over her shoulder at Rocket and Thor, still chatting outside.  Laughing loudly.  She wondered what on earth Loki was doing to shield his non-human appearance, because Thor was still looking at the ground when they spoke.  Was Rocket playing the role of a foul-mouthed child?
The blond woman whispered something in Loki’s ear and shuffled outside.  Their eyes met.  The door shifted into its latch with a click and Loki locked his hands behind his back.  She remembered that stance and how his limbs went rigid when he was frightened.  Was he frightened now?  What did he intend to say?
Nebula tilted her weight from hip to hip.  “Your woman seems nice,” she said.
Loki made a funny sound, losing some, but hardly all, of the tension in his jaw.  “I’ll tell her you said so.”
He stared at her, then, taking too much time.  Slowly, he drew a breath in and out of his nostrils.  Nebula’s chest tightened.  
“I wanted to say thank you,” he said.  Nebula felt the floor tilt beneath her feet.  Thank her?  For what?  The corners of Loki’s mouth twitched, as though he had felt the little earthquake himself.  “You’re surprised.”
“I…”  Nebula opened her mouth to discover it had gone dry.  She tried to clear her throat.  “I didn’t do anything.”
“Isn’t that the point?”
The image of Loki suddenly wavered before her, like water over a pane of glass.  “I…”
“You could have finished me off,” he said.
“Your back was broken.”  She sent it bluntly, like she was finding her voice, like it was an excuse.  It was.  But Nebula had never spared anyone else during Thanos’s training sessions.
Loki unclenched his hands long enough to massage his right hip.  The fated moment flashed in her mind, not for the first time today.  His blood curdling scream, his bent body.
“I was the one who broke it,” she said.
Loki shrugged, as though he disagreed, somehow.  “I tripped.”
“Hardly.”  She swallowed, and then she whispered.  “But it was not intentional.”
“I know.  Just as I know you could have finished me then and there, but chose not to.  You could have impressed your father.  I’m sorry.  Thano--”  Loki’s voice wavered before grinding to a halt.  His Adam’s apple lifted high and fell.
“He was not my father,” she said quickly.  “And nothing I ever did impressed him, anyway.”
Loki nodded, his eyes taking on a far-away glint.  He blinked and it vanished, like one of the tricks that he’d shown off before every playful impulse had been beaten out of him at Sanctuary.
What happened that day felt as though it had taken place in another lifetime, but it had not been so long ago.  Still, it seemed like someone else’s life that she’d been living, a person without freedom, without control over her own mind.   She had jobs to do; occasionally training her father’s latest acquisitions was one of those jobs.
She’d been fucking fed up with it.  She’d known all about Thor and about Odin, or as much as Thanos had wanted her to know.  She'd known Loki was the younger brother of the future Allfather, the son of the current Allfather -- and she'd known he was no Asgardian.
She'd had every intention of proving that.
Loki’d spoken of impressing Thanos, but he’d gotten it completely backward.  She was sick of the game, sick of her father, sick to death of herself.  What was Loki to her, but the latest in a long, long line of challengers to her fly-speck of a purpose in this damned galaxy?  Another thorn in what remained of her hide.  He was a threat.  Nothing but a threat.
He’d proven a more worthy opponent than his meager, hungry look suggested, but Nebula underestimated no one.  She remembered it was raining that day.  Thanos preferred they train in real conditions, real settings.  He obsessed on being one with nature, which was why it was such cruel punishment to cut her up after every failure and, piece by piece, slowly turn her into a machine.
If she killed Loki, she would at least be spared that.  For only a day, perhaps, but her life was a day-by-day existence, minute-by-minute.  She numbered her small victories and her even smaller rewards.
Loki tripped that day, but in reality the water-logged ground beneath him had given way.  The earth swallowed him.  The fall alone should have been his end.  Perhaps he would have been luckier to die, but Nebula suspected the man had never possessed a lot of that.  Luck.  Neither had she.  People like them scraped through life without luck.
The sound that erupted from his twisted body was the most agonizing noise she had ever heard, minus her own screams, when Thanos spliced her into pieces.
He never bothered to dull the pain.  He always made sure it hurt, that it was flame and agony.  He made sure everyone heard her scream until she begged for release.  Until he was satisfied that everyone knew that the Mad Titan could make a machine weep real tears.
Nebula remembered tearing down the wet hill, over the rocks, through the mud.  She’d been shocked to see that Loki was still alive, but he was a retching, shivering, gnarled mess.  She remembered her hands shaking just as much as she stupidly reached for him.  Stupid, stupid girl!  She remembered the blood and snot and mud slapped across his youthful face.
Her heart exploded.  And then came the frigid snap of numbness, shock, and disbelief.
Loki was nothing to her, nothing except a threat.  Thanos had plans for him, plans he did not have for her.  She ought to have ended Loki, thwart her father and remain blameless, because it was her job to weed out the weak.
Loki was nothing.  Nothing.
The poor boy was nothing...
Nebula recalled the shouting of her father’s footsoldiers in the distance, racing toward them to assay the damage.  Loki drew a sharp breath and held it, lifting his eyes, not blinking as the rain pelted them.
He knew.  He knew he was nothing to her, to anyone.  He was a prince who would never be a king, a son without a father, without a family, and now he was physically broken.  Nebula had every right and reason to put him out of his misery.  He wanted her to do it.
But it was too late.  Loki had already become something to her.
She could not kill him.
That night, her father tore out what little flesh still remained in her left hand.
Loki went on to do terrible things.  So had she.
There were years behind them, now.  Thanos had bragged about finally catching the younger Asgardian prince.  She’d made peace with his death, because what else could she do, but apparently Loki had more luck that she realized.  If she had not spared him that day, perhaps his brother never would have been able to ultimately revive him.
And now, as she stared at his gently lined face in a Norwegian coffee shop, she was happy to see that he’d had the opportunity to leave his youth behind.
“I wish you safe travels,” said Loki, “wherever you’re off to next.”
“Back… Back to where my sister is.”  Nebula dipped her head, bowing her farewell and blinking quickly, before she teared up.  It wreaked havoc on her cybernetic parts.  “What happened to Asgard was...unfortunate.  I’m sorry.”
“Yes, well, I have my brother.  Sometimes that’s all the home you get.”
Nebula almost laughed.  She turned toward the door.  “How is your back, by the way?”
“Honestly, it was never quite the same, but it could have been far worse.”
She nodded.  “Yes.  It could have been much worse.”
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sciencespies · 3 years
Text
Tens of Thousands of 12,000-Year-Old Rock Paintings Found in Colombia
https://sciencespies.com/history/tens-of-thousands-of-12000-year-old-rock-paintings-found-in-colombia/
Tens of Thousands of 12,000-Year-Old Rock Paintings Found in Colombia
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Toward the end of the last Ice Age, prehistoric artists painted tens of thousands of images—including depictions of mastodons, giant sloths and other now-extinct animals—on cliff walls in the Amazon rainforest, reports Dalya Alberge for the Guardian. Archaeologists found the first of the enormous set of images in 2017 but kept the trove secret while continuing work and preparing a television series on the discovery.
A British-Colombian research team funded by the European Research Council spotted the paintings stretched across eight miles of cliffs in the Serranía de la Lindosa, which is part of the Colombian Amazon. The red-ocher art features fish, lizards, birds, geometric patterns and humans, including people dancing. In at least one image, a human dons a mask suggestive of a bird’s face. Also shown are an extinct camelid known as a palaeolama and a type of horse that lived in the region during the Ice Age.
“The pictures are so natural and so well made that we have few doubts that you’re looking at a horse, for example,” team leader José Iriarte, an archaeologist at Exeter University, tells the Guardian. “The [Ice Age] horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed, we can even see the horse hair. It’s fascinating.”
Live Science’s Laura Geggel reports that ancient artists created the works between 12,600 and 11,800 years ago. At the time, the area was transforming from a landscape of savannas, shrubs and forests into the tropical rainforest seen today. According to team member Mark Robinson, also an archaeologist at the University of Exeter, the people who made the images were probably among the first humans to live in the western Amazon.
“The paintings give a vivid and exciting glimpse [into] the lives of these communities,” says Robinson in a statement. “It is unbelievable to us today to think they lived among, and hunted, giant herbivores, some which were the size of a small car.”
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The art shows a variety of animals (including now-extinct species), plants, humans and geometric patterns.
(Marie-Claire Thomas / Wild Blue Media)
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The people who created the artwork were among the first to live in the western Amazon.
(Marie-Claire Thomas / Wild Blue Media)
The archaeologists’ work includes investigations into ancient agriculture and the ways in which humans transformed the Amazonian landscape. In rock shelters located near the art, researchers discovered the remains of food eaten by the artists, including fruits, alligators, capybara and armadillos.
Until recently, the area had been inaccessible to researchers due to Colombia’s 50-year civil war. Per Brian Boucher of artnet News, the investigation began after the 2016 signing of a peace treaty. But archaeologists still had to obtain permission from rebel forces who had not signed on to the agreement to make the five-hour trek through the forest to the cliff sites.
Iriarte tells artnet News that the artists’ choice of smooth rock walls sheltered from rain served as an ideal canvas for the detailed paintings. Some of the works are located so high up on the cliff walls that the researchers had to use drones to photograph them.
Speaking with the Guardian, Iriarte says the images themselves offer clues as to how artists reached such heights. Several show wooden towers and humans who appear to be jumping from them.
According to Iriarte, the pictures may relate to religious practices. For example, some show large animals surrounded by small human figures with their arms raised, possibly in worship.
“For Amazonian people, non-humans like animals and plants have souls, and they communicate and engage with people in cooperative or hostile ways through the rituals and shamanic practices that we see depicted in the rock art,” he tells the Guardian.
The researchers published some of their findings in April in the journal Quaternary International. A documentary about the findings, “Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon,” will air on British public television station Channel 4 later this month.
#History
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catflowerqueen · 3 years
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Logistics of a “Speed Run”
So, this is probably going to end up on my what if…? List eventually, so I think I’ll just do some vague outlining here.
Starting Premise: The original expedition members are the only ones who go on the expedition to fogbound Lake.
1st Time Gear Located: Mesprit’s
Dugtrio rationalizes his not being chosen as Wigglytuff and Chatot deciding he needs more quality time with his son, but Diglett is not yet at the level where he could handle a full expedition. He… might be right? At least partially? Like I said—I don’t think they would have separated the two long-term quite yet, but, in all honesty, Diglett does seem to be the more responsible of the pair at this moment. However, he also seemed to be leaning on his dad quite a bit during the actual expedition itself (looking to him for approval, for example) once they hit Base Camp, so it is also possible that his confidence is only because of his familiarity with the Guild and Treasure Town.
Whatever the case—Dugtrio decides to take this bonding opportunity to mentor his son on the complexities of the move Dig, and upon realizing/remembering that Laura also knows this move (or her expressing interest in learning it) decides to take her along, with Paula as a spotter. For some reason he decides the best place to do this is around the Northern Desert—likely as an intermediate sort of lesson, for how to deal with loose soil and cave-ins? Or something? Or, like, there just so happens to be a lot of jobs for that area, so he just decides once they finish them to start working on Dig lessons.
Croagunk remains behind to watch the guild and his Swap Cauldron.
The group ends up accidentally tunneling into Quicksand Cave and either decide to take the opportunity to explore, or have no other choice because the tunnels collapsed and they can’t get out otherwise. This is possibly Laura’s fault, if her feelings of déjà vu and familiarity for the place (which she did canonically feel there in canon, but to a somewhat lesser degree since she was comparing it to her experience at Foggy Forest—meaning that she would be feeling it even more here) distract her to the point of making some digging mistakes. The result either way is that they end up meeting Mesprit and seeing her Time Gear. She doesn’t really have good defenses like Uxie does—she can sort of project feelings of disinterest, fear to make others leave her alone, but only if she’s paying attention and considering that Laura is in the party, it might not work. So, they’re going to have to try and get through to her via words.
Team Rainbow may or may not reveal the whole “human” thing to Mesprit—unlike in canon where the stories about Uxie made them think he was directly involved in the amnesia, there isn’t really a correlation between Mesprit’s powers and Laura’s situation that they can tell, in addition to the fact that they are not alone here, and might feel awkward about bringing it up around Diglett and his dad.
Either way, Mesprit extracts a promise from them not to tell, and they go home. Croagunk remains oblivious.
 2nd Time Gear located: Azelf’s
Probably at some point they’ll run into Grovyle—who has a little more freedom of movement since he hasn’t been identified yet. He may or may not go into the guild itself at some point to gather news, but at some point he and Laura will spend some time standing next to each other—or she just happens to be in his vicinity for some reason, like if he’s on the Beach muttering to himself and she overhears and wanders over to listen.
We already know he has somewhat of a habit of talking to himself—which probably stems from how quiet Laura was while travelling with him, so he would basically just soundboard off of her whenever they were planning/he felt it was relatively safe to talk (because he was a bit more socialized and had parents who would have encouraged him to talk/theorize/ask questions when the environment is safe. Not to mention he had a friend in Celebi before she was forced to relocate). But because he got in the habit, he sort of forgets at times that his partner isn’t actually around at the moment, resulting in him, well, talking to himself. And then when, unbeknownst to him, Laura is around… well, he would sort of sense the familiarity and just fall back into those habits even easier.
The result of this is that she catches him debating which Time Gear location to go after next (though he wouldn’t actually say that part out loud) and she picks up the name Crystal Cave before he finally catches on to what he’s doing and makes a hasty exit. The name sounds familiar/intriguing, though, so Laura suggests that Team Rainbow go there next if they can find some jobs on the board. Which they do, so they do.
In the course of their work and exploring, they stumble upon the Crystal Lake. They are extremely nervous/panicked/general freaking out about finding another Time Gear when that was in no way their intent, and Azelf is curious/amused enough by the spectacle that he comes and investigates. He can tell they are determined to keep things a secret, and probably heard about the situation from Mesprit, so he’s actually pretty chill about the whole thing, and they probably even chat a little bit before the duo leaves. Laura probably gives him a warning that there might be a Grovyle coming to sight see or something in the near future, since that’s where she got the idea from to explore the place. So she unintentionally gives him the warning to be on the lookout, even though they still think at this time that his travelling plans were innocuous.
 3rd Time Gear located: Uxie’s
The guild finally returns, feeling a little bummed that their expedition was a failure—because, as I’ve said before, I think it is unlikely Uxie would have let the group (minus possibly Wigglytuff) see the lake if not for the hero and partner accidentally stalling for time and seeking unrelated information in the game, which would have endeared them to him more and made him more willing to risk it. Without them there—and without the partner finding the drought stone, since that may or may not have happened if they weren’t there (because, privately, I think the reason they found it in the first place was that everyone stampeding to explore accidentally unearthed it [and Uxie probably just goes and deposits it in a random place in the forest whenever it is successfully used and he has to resort to Groudon/memory wiping to drive them away] and then the partner just happened to look down at the right moment. But with fewer people in attendance, that part might not have happened).
Though, it is entirely possible (and likely) that Bidoof might have managed to find the stone if he got lost in the Forest Path loop one too many times, and then just decided to take it with him as a treasure, the way he did that random crystal in canon. And maybe they could successfully find the statue, but have to wait for Chatot or someone to decipher the footprint runes (because I get the feeling that’s an uncommon skill, but is one of the things the partner learned in preparation for fulfilling their dream), and then no one has any idea what the drought stone is. Possibly Bidoof doesn’t even pick it up until they’re leaving, and the group might not have had the cohesiveness they did in canon to all go and share their finds since Dugtrio wasn’t there to suggest the apprentices work as one. That left the group each holding a bunch of different puzzle pieces, but not being able to put them together.
Anyways, they return, life gets back to normal, Dusknoir shows up, yadda yadda. At some point Bidoof lets Laura look at the pretty rock he found, and she has a Dimensional Scream about its purpose (though she doesn’t yet know what her ability is called). This… probably gets shared with the guild at large? Especially if Dusknoir still happens to be hanging around when Bidoof is showing off? …Or if it happened the night they got back (before Dusknoir arrived), and then all the apprentices got excited and caught Chatot’s attention.
So, Wigglytuff decides that Bidoof, Paula, and Laura should go back there the next day to figure things out—since they’re the ones with the most pieces of the puzzle. And he probably lets them go alone, at that, so Bidoof can actually get another chance to fulfill his wish and actually teach his friends things. So they do, and find Uxie and his Time Gear. And probably also ask him about the memory thing (since I feel like Bidoof’s presence is less awkward as far as spilling that goes? He is kind of their teacher, and the one that they’re probably closest to, even if he doesn’t generally get to do as much for them as he’d hoped). More conversations ensue and promises of secrecy are made—as well as some vows to look into things since it is extremely weird that this duo keeps finding Time Gears when they aren’t even trying to do so—though Uxie is going to be vague about it with Bidoof’s presence, only mentioning that they’d made contact with his siblings without bringing up what they guard.
Uxie either gives them a random treasure or helps them come up with a cover story to tell everyone else—probably something like “it turns out that the legendary lake is just what happens when the fog “lifts.” Or, more “accurately,” what happens is all the fog and water vapor condense and absolutely drenches and waterlogs the forest. The groudon statue is, therefore, somewhat of a misdirection.
…Laura probably comes up with that explanation, purely because of how complex it is and how many logical leaps it requires. But they just let her have her fun with it, considering the personal disappointment she just went through.
Also—Grovyle’s timeline is a bit delayed from what it was in canon since he got a bit scared off by that brush with Laura and decided to lay low for a little bit. So he either shows up a day after they leave, or they happen to see him on their way back—but don’t pick up on the fact that he’s there to steal the Time Gear. Uxie does not think they told Grovyle about him both because of just how quickly he appeared after the trio left and because Azelf probably told him about Laura’s tourist warning.
 Fallout:
There is awkwardness among the Dugtrio family, Bidoof, and Team Rainbow when the news breaks about the Limestone Cavern gear being missing, and then even more when Grovyle is finally revealed as the thief—especially since that particular revelation comes with Laura blurting out about how she saw the guy earlier, and how he was making travel plans—so now she feels guilty that she didn’t think to question him about it. …And then with that comes the revelation that the remaining Time Gears’ locations are already known. Which does make it a little easier to actually go and fortify them, since they don’t have to spend time searching.
The end result is probably that they catch Grovyle at whichever lake he targets next, and the whole “getting dragged into the future” thing happens a lot earlier, and without the massive injury and illness from the Crystal Lake fight that gets alluded to in Missing Scenes. This also means that the Town Meeting scene probably doesn’t happen, since Dusknoir doesn’t actually need to utilize all those resources. Though there would have to be a scene or something that happens afterwards with the guild, at least—and probably Officer Magnezone—where Dusknoir would have to explain why he should get custody of the criminal.
This… leads to some interesting possibilities as far as whether or not the whole “the hero and partner get dragged into the future” thing would even happen. Because at the very least Dusknoir would have to give a reason for why Laura would need to come with him, and depending on where they do all this planning, and whether or not Grovyle happens to be in earshot for this…
Well, I’m imagining a scene or something where Dusknoir “suggests” that Laura (and probably Paula) guard Grovyle while he goes and gets all the sableye ready to prepare for a return trip (because that way he can keep the two of them close together if he needs to quickly grab them and run). Laura probably would accidentally touch him at some point and set off a dimensional scream, which would reveal, if not everything about her own personal history, then at least some inconsistencies in Dusknoir’s story. So Grovyle’s innocence would probably get sorted out fairly quickly, and then the issue would become how to protect him and the Time Gears from Dusknoir, as well as how to find the Hidden Land. …Or that dimensional scream happens right before Dusknoir drags him to the future, so Laura is still reeling from that revelation when she and Paula get dragged there as well—which would endear Grovyle and his efforts to them very quickly, and they would be on board with his plans from the start.
In any case, they would have a lot more time to plan, bond, and search for the Hidden Land after that. Which means discussion of Laura’s past and history would become inevitable, and the whole “we will disappear” thing might get figured out. But I don’t see this particular “what if…?” scenario being one where Relatia actually gets called to fix things, simply because Laura wouldn’t have quite enough time here to figure all of that out.
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worldofandromeda · 4 years
Text
Stray Kids Headcanon: As Boyfriends.
A/N: I spent over two and a half hours writing this, I hope you fucking enjoy it. Requests are open. (I swear, if the fucking gifs don’t work, I’m gonna sue my mother for making me exist).
Requested: No. By Who: my fucking imagination.
Word Count: 2052.
Not proofread or edited.
BANG CHAN
extremely loyal but also a bit of a shameless flirt, so he would need a partner that is able to snap him out of that habit
doesn’t overreact in fights, is actually pretty calm and rarely loses his temper
indecisive, so his partner would nearly definitely always end up being the one picking where you two eat or going on vacation together, stuff like that
loves when you compliment him but will give you ten more for every single one you give him, he just wants to make you feel loved
I feel like he would really enjoy simple date nights at home like when you two have a movie night or cook together, it doesn’t matter what you do, he just wants to be with you
but, I also feel like he is a big money spender, so i feel like he would spend a lot of his money buying you unnecessary gifts when he travels and treating you to really expensive and fancy dates whenever it is possible for him to do so
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KIM WOOJIN
impulsive, probably really into spontaneous sex, maybe even public but he wouldn’t do anything you weren’t comfortable with even if you were misbehaving (I think he’s a dom but eh, who knows, his personality seems a bit sub to me, so maybe a switch, who knows?)
easily jealous, will actually hit a guy if he won’t leave you alone, yelling at anyone who looks at you the wrong way and don’t get me started on if some dude groped you or slapped your ass, cute little Woojin is about to unleash his inner WWE wrestler
would love being near you but also needs his alone time, so sometimes he would just turn his phone off for a couple of hours, just to have a bit of time to himself and you understand that, so you’re all good, no fighting about it, except maybe the first time he does it without letting you know, making you worry for him when he wasn’t replying
gets bored easily and is probably really adventurous, so sometimes you two would just be watching TV when he’ll say, ‘wanna go rock climbing?’ or ‘I want to go on a hike this weekend, you in?’ something like that.
problem solver, you got an issue? Tell him. Will encourage you to be open with your feelings and he will try his hardest to find a solution and make you feel happy and content again (p.s. he loves your smile)
his partner will most likely plan most of the dates but he would really love them if they had to do with something active, like ziplining or ice skating, even just going through a haunted house will really excite him (but be ready for him to cling onto you whenever there is a jump scare)
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LEE MINHO
wants to know everything about you, might come off as a little nosy but really, he just wants to feel like he knows you better than anyone else because that would make him feel really proud
it would probably take a bit of time for him to open up to you and also, he would probably be the most cautious member when it came to announcing your relationship to the stays
would tease you a lot but he does it out of love, sort of like a little boy pulling his crush’s hair to get her attention (except he already has your attention, have you seen him?)
wouldn’t let anyone else’s thoughts of you change his opinion, if he thinks your beautiful then he thinks you’re beautiful, if he thinks you’re his soulmate and the most intelligent person he has ever met, then you’re his soulmate and the most intelligent person he’s ever met, he doesn’t care about what others think of you or your relationship as long as you are both happy, healthy and together
I swear, he’s a psychic, knows what his partner is thinking before they do. notices when his partner is sad, even when they try to hide it. he can tell how his partner is feeling just by the littlest things and he always tries his best to make them smile and feel better
is very good at knowing when his partner is lying, will find their tells very quickly and he would be really sad if they were lying about something that could hint at them cheating but he would feel even worse if they lied about their problems as to not ‘burden’ him. he wants to know about their problems, so he can help.
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SEO CHANGBIN
always wants your attention, probably a bit clingy but not in the annoying way, in the cute way, would love just talking with you, no phones or anything, just you two, focused on each other
dramatic, always showing you off and yelling about how pretty you are and about how perfect he finds you, even when you’re not there with him
i feel like he’s actually really sensitive (i mean, when chan wrote that letter, remember?), so, there’s a chance a chance that when you guys argue he would start crying, most likely after though because he wouldn’t want you to see him break down
low maintenance, you don’t need to do much to make him happy, kiss his cheek and ruffle his hair affectionately and damn bitch, you got yourself a tamed and cheery pup
would probably really like singing with you, so, look out for all of those karaoke dates, even if you do sound like you’ve just swallowed a pineapple whole, including the skin and leaves (leaves, stalks? i don’t fucking know)
will always try to impress you, showing you new dances and raps, really wants to make you proud (even though you obviously already are)
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HWANG HYUNJIN
hates fighting with you, so he tries to quickly resolve fights but if he’s actually really pissed off then it would probably end up with him breaking down and you having to comfort him
probably didn’t make the first move but was definitely crushing on you and really excited when you approached him and introduced yourself
will blush whenever you kiss his cheek or doing anything affectionate, especially in public or in front of the members, no matter how long you’ve been dating
really romantic, gets you flowers all the time, always takes you out for a fancy dinner whenever he sees you after a long time, buys you cute gifts, etc.
tells you that he loves you all the time. no matter the situation, when you leave the room, come back to the room, go out, when you wake up or at just random times, he just blurts it out. you two could be paintballing on opposite teams but he would still yell those three words across the field to you.
really loves holding your hands or just touching you in general (sexual and not 😉), puts his hand on your thigh when you two are in the car, always has his arm around your shoulders, kisses your jaw head every time you hug
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HAN JISUNG
for some unknown reason i feel like he would have really high standards, so his future partner better feel fucking good if he chooses to be with her
gets shit done, you need to pack? bitch it’s done before you get to your bedroom. you want food? he’s already on the phone calling the local pizza place.
would notice all the little things about you, like the way you bite your nails or pull at your hair when you’re annoyed. he would be able to easily figure out how you’re feeling because of his observations
loves planning dates with you and always has the most ridiculous but ultimately hilarious and really fun ideas.
loyal as fuck, no hoe is getting their hands on your man, probably really sassy with anyone that hits on him.
bit picky about everything but i think he would try his best to compromise with you when it comes to certain things.
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LEE FELIX
Plays video games a lot which really annoys you sometimes and you tend push him off the bed if he accidentally yells at you when you unintentionally distract him.
Really talkative and has the most random conversations with you but you don’t mind because they either turn out really cute or funny as all hell. Said conversations tend to happen at 3am in the kitchen while you two eat ice cream out of a tub with you sitting on the counter and Felix standing between your legs.
Loves taking you everywhere, whether that be to events, dance practice, concerts, on tour, everything. He just wants to be as close to you as possible and refuses to let anything get in the way of that.
Tends to show up late to dates but it definitely isn’t intentional, he just loses track of time or on some occasions dance practice, recording or song writing ran late. Always makes it up to you though.
A bit crazy but I mean so are you if he agreed to date you. Dance battles, food fights and hysterical laughter are all very common within your relationship and you both adore those regular occurrences.
Something you are very jealous of is his ability to look like the human definition of a rotten egg (bitch, he could never look anything less than perfect) and then, 10 minutes later, this GREEK MOTHERFUCKING GOD walks out of the damn bathroom.
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KIM SEUNGMIN
really good problem solver and refuses to let arguments get out of hand. He doesn’t want you to be yelling at him when you could be cuddling or making out or watching tv or making music or laughing (etc.) with him.
does random things for you, like grabbing your phone for you, carrying your bag, bringing your dishes to the sink, answering your phone (if you say he can because you’re busy doing something), brushing your hair and more. He just likes helping you out as much as possible even if it’s with little mediocre tasks.
is very, very honest with you. Will tell you the truth about anything, how an outfit looks on you, his feelings, what happened to your leftovers, that rash on his ass (CUNT, WHAT-).
likes easy dates, going to the cinema, aquarium or zoo, a small picnic, a music festival maybe, even an art museum.
sometimes gets insecure and needs you to help him out of that bottomless pit, like, when he had so much trouble confessing to you because of his fear of rejection, it was fine though seeing as you liked him back (obviously! Who wouldn’t?)
is randomly silent sometimes which worries you but most of the time he’s either staring at you or daydreaming about you.
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YANG JEONGIN
sometimes gets randomly moody but tries his best not to take it out on you and instead, walks out of the room to try and calm himself down or sometimes he just ignores you, so he doesn’t accidentally hurt your feelings, even though that would end up annoying you, lol.
Really likes receiving sentimental gifts, he doesn’t care if it’s not expensive or designer, he would definitely love a scrapbook or photo album about your relationship more than some stupid Gucci belt (can’t say the same for Taehyung though, lollll, I’m not funny).
Whenever you guys fought, he would leave because he hated the drama of it all. He would probably write you a letter as a form of apology. Speaking of letters, love letters! Or poems! Wait! Songs, he would fucking write songs for and about you, yes. Bitch!
Always sees the best in you and literally nothing about you seems like a flaw to him. In his opinion, you are legitimately perfect and bitch, if you tried to change anything, just know that this cutie would throw you over his shoulder before you even tried to change your style to look like everyone else.
He would love every second he spent with you, always taking pictures of you and everything you guys do, he’s just really fucking cute, which we all obviously already know.
If you rejected him because you were worried about him hurting you, get ready for this determined boy to prove you wrong, if he wants you, he’s going to get you (as long as it doesn’t make you uncomfortable).
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didanawisgi · 3 years
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U.S. still hasn't ruled out lab accident origin for Covid because China hasn't been transparent. U.S. officials haven't shown any evidence pointing to a lab escape, and scientists call the scenario unlikely. The U.S. wants China to share information.
By Ken Dilanian, Carol E. Lee and Keir Simmons
“WASHINGTON — Despite a finding by the World Health Organization that the Covid-19 outbreak in China most likely first infected humans through an animal host, the United States is still not ruling out the possibility of a laboratory accident, as officials continue to sort through intelligence about the Chinese government’s initial handling of the outbreak, American and Western officials told NBC News.
A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told NBC News the agency is standing by a public statement it issued in April, which said that American intelligence agencies "will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
U.S. officials have not made public any evidence pointing to a lab accident, and most scientists who have studied the matter said that such a scenario is unlikely. But Biden administration officials have faulted China in recent days for what they have termed a lack of transparency around the origins of the virus. And they have criticized how the WHO last week presented the initial findings of a visit to Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have emerged.
WHO investigators, after visiting three labs in Wuhan, said last week they found no signs that a lab accident could have caused the outbreak. One WHO researcher told reporters at a news conference the organization was halting any further inquiry into that theory.
But the director general of the WHO appeared to walk back that definitive statement a few days later, saying that "all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and study."
A Western intelligence official who has seen classified material told NBC News the U.S. has substantial intelligence that has not been made public about actions the Chinese government took — related to the Wuhan lab and other issues — that were designed to obscure the origins of Covid-19 and conceal its early impact. A former U.S. official who has also seen the intelligence agreed that it was significant, if inconclusive.
Both sources said the material, which they did not detail, did not add up to evidence that a lab accident occurred. But they said it raised enough circumstantial questions that analysts have been unable to rule out the lab scenario. U.S. intelligence officials declined to comment.
The intelligence, which includes documents, paints a picture of a Chinese government initially trying to hide the burgeoning pandemic from the outside world.
"There is no doubt that, especially when Covid-19 first hit but even today, China is falling far short of the mark when it comes to providing the information necessary to the international community," Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told NBC's Andrea Mitchell this month. "All of the — that lack of transparency, that lack of being forthcoming, is a profound problem and it's one that continues."
The lab theory
The so-called lab theory refers to a hypothesis that the Covid outbreak emerged in Wuhan as a result of an accidental release from one of the labs working with coronaviruses in that city — perhaps from an improper disposal of lab waste or an employee who got infected at work and then infected others.
U.S. intelligence agencies and scientists say they have ruled out that Covid-19 was human-made or intentionally released. The lab theory hypothesizes an accidental release of a virus found in nature by researchers and brought in for study.
Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
Scientists say that scenario is unlikely on its face, because animal-to-human transmission of viruses are common, while lab accidents are relatively rare. The key scientists studying viruses in Wuhan say they were not studying the Covid-19 virus, which had not been previously documented in nature before the outbreak.
Intelligence officials counter that one key lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, removed from public view a database of 22,000 virus samples for security reasons, and has not allowed a detailed look at the lab's notes or other records.
They say it's suspicious that the virus outbreak arose in Wuhan, a hub of virus research in China, while the bats that commonly carry coronaviruses are typically found in caves a thousand miles from that city.
They note that scientists also have not found a host animal that could have transferred the virus to humans, after a year of looking.
WHO researchers acknowledged last week that the "wet" or live-animal market in Wuhan, which was originally thought to be a likely source of the outbreak, may not be the whole story, since early cases have been identified in people who had no connection to the market.
The WHO team included international and Chinese scientists. They say their summary report will be published within weeks.
One member of the team, Australian microbiologist and infectious diseases expert Dominic Dwyer, told NBC News that the scientists didn't get all the data they sought from the Chinese government, and that team members disagreed about various aspects of what they saw and heard.
"There were tense moments and disagreements and, you know, arguments about what things meant and so on, between both sides," Dwyer said. "And some of that is just because the data isn't strong enough to give a single, a great conclusion."
Dwyer says the team was given "aggregated data," as opposed to detailed, line-by-line case information, for the 174 known Covid cases from Wuhan in December.
Case information would enable researchers, he said, to "go along to a person who had this disease and say, OK, you know, how old are you? You know, what sort of work do you do? Who's in your family? What do you do for your hobbies? You know, do you go to the market? What sort of market do you go to, you know, what's your general health, like, all of those sorts of things to try and understand where a person had been, and where they could have been exposed to something."
Several members of the WHO team told NBC News they were provided with just 13 DNA sequences from the 174 cases. Of those, five had small genomic differences, suggesting a wider pool of virus, Dwyer said, though the sample was so small it was hard to draw conclusions.
"Actual infections is probably much higher than the 174," Dwyer said.
WHO investigators tasked Chinese researchers with surveying the wider community, he added.
According to Dwyer, the Chinese researchers said they examined the cases of 76,000 people presenting with fever or pneumonia from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2019, and found 92 people with Covid-like symptoms. Of these, they tested 67 people, Dwyer said, and found no Covid-19 antibodies.
Those tests were carried out in January 2021, more than a year after the potential exposure. Scientists don't yet know how long Covid-19 antibodies remain in the body after infection.
Pompeo and the lab theory
The Trump administration, and in particular, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, repeatedly said there was significant evidence in support of the lab theory.
On Jan. 15, five days before the end of the Trump administration, the State Department published a "fact sheet" making a series of allegations about the Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory.
Among them: "The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses. This raises questions about the credibility of WIV senior researcher Shi Zhengli's public claim that there was 'zero infection' among the WIV's staff and students of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-related viruses."
The fact sheet added, "Despite the WIV presenting itself as a civilian institution, the United States has determined that the WIV has collaborated on publications and secret projects with China's military. The WIV has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017."
One former official familiar with the intelligence on which Pompeo's statement is based said it was less than rock solid, and that some officials were surprised that the secretary aired it publicly. Pompeo did not respond to requests for comment made through his spokesman.
Dwyer told NBC News the WHO team inquired about the testing of researchers at the WIV lab and was told that there were standard tests of all staff in April 2019 and then again in 2020. They were told those tests were negative. But it's not clear when the 2020 tests were carried out, again raising questions about whether Coronavirus would be detected. The head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology Dr. Shi wrote on July 31, nine months after October 2019, that she "recently" tested all WIV employees and they were negative.
"I think the jury's still out," State Department spokesman Ned Price said last week about the origins of Covid-19. "Clearly the Chinese, at least heretofore, have not offered the requisite transparency that we need."”
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