#and this is why they don't interfere because they want to keep learning more
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The Knuckles show
The announcement of a live action Knuckles streaming miniseries was surprising, to say the least. I mean, what would such a show even be about in a version of the Sonic universe with no Angel Island and barely any characters from the games around? Is he gonna go treasure hunting with the gang from Montana or something? Would a streaming miniseries have the CGI budget to squeeze in any new game characters, even briefly? Rouge? Amy? At least one member of Team Chaotix? Anyone?
Now the show is finally out, and it turns out what they actually made was a comedy show about bumbling deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, the minor comic relief character played by Adam Pally who you might not even remember all that well from the first two movies, with Knuckles as his sidekick. While, yes, Knuckles does get a decent amount of screentime and opportunities to punch bad guys and do cool moves from the games, large stretches of this show focus on Wade's personal life, to the point that a couple times I almost forgot I was watching a Sonic-related show. If you're judging it purely by the metric of how well it adapts and engages with its source material, this surely must be one of the worst adaptations the Sonic franchise has ever seen.
So then, despite some huge complaints... why do I kinda like it?
(This will contain full spoilers for the Knuckles show.)
A brief summary of what the show is actually about because I know half of you aren't going to watch it
The show picks up not too long after the end of the second movie. Knuckles is now living in Montana with Sonic, Tails, and the Wachowskis out of a sense of debt to them, though he doesn't really see it as his home. He doesn't feel like he belongs on Earth, and his life currently lacks direction. After communing with the ghost of Pachacamac, though, Knuckles is instructed to keep his culture alive by teaching "the ways of the echidna warrior" to a new apprentice: deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, who's currently more concerned about winning a bowling tournament in Reno than anything else.
Things are complicated by the interference of two rogue GUN agents - Agent Willoughby, played by Ellie Taylor in a bad wig, and Agent Mason, played by Kid Cudi. (Yes, the artist behind the second movie's credits song is one of the bad guys in this.) They want to steal Knuckles' power and sell it to a former associate of Robotnik's played by Rory McCann (The Hound from Game of Thrones), who now works as a black market arms dealer. Yes, they're still doing the thing where Sonic and friends' quills radiate some kind of super-energy that the bad guys all want. No, I don't particularly love this element of the Paramount Sonic continuity. Anyway, they go after Knuckles and Wade, complicating their straightforward road trip to Reno. Antics ensue.
The Wade show
So here's the thing. While the first episode focuses largely on Knuckles, the entire rest of the show is very much the story of Wade, and by extension the other original human characters invented for this miniseries.
Episode 2 is about Wade having to rescue Knuckles from captivity after the GUN agents get him. Knuckles spends most of the episode in a cage.
Episode 3 is about introducing Wade's Jewish family, including his slightly overbearing mother and weird sister, so that Knuckles can learn about their family traditions and have Shabbat dinner with them (and then save them from bounty hunters that the GUN agents hired).
Episode 4 only features Knuckles at the very beginning and very end of the episode, probably for less than a minute total. Wade is captured by a bounty hunter he personally knows, and Knuckles decides to let that be a trial for Wade to overcome on his own.
The last two episodes feature the climactic showdowns with the GUN agents and their arms-dealing ally, who comes in with a mech for the obligatory final boss fight. You'd think this would be Knuckles' time to shine, but really, these episodes are mostly about the bowling tournament in Reno where Wade encounters his estranged father, wrapping up his own personal arc. While Knuckles does get some fights, a lot of the finale is spent on lengthy bowling scenes where Knuckles isn't in the room or even mentioned. It frequently feels more like a spiritual successor to '00s sports comedy movies like Dodgeball, Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory than it does a part of the Sonic franchise, and the presence of ESPN 8: The Ocho commentary in the finale only drives those Dodgeball comparisons home. They get so immersed in the bowling stuff that it's genuinely hilarious when the show suddenly pivots and remembers "oh shit we still need to do the final boss fight"
Throughout all this, Wade is the protagonist. He's the character we spend more time with, he's the character who drives most of the major events, he's the character who gets more of an arc. The emotional core is Wade's journey. Knuckles is still present - sometimes, at least - but he's there as Wade's wingman, and also just as the excuse for there to be some fight scenes.
How much Sonic stuff is actually in this show?
Honestly? Not much.
Sonic and Tails are only in the first episode. Sonic gets some good scenes, but Tails gets a grand total of five lines. I counted. Unsurprisingly, Jim Carrey is absent as Robotnik, though he does get mentioned a fair bit. (For that matter, basically the entire established human cast beyond Wade is absent, even including Tom, though Maddie is there in episode one.)
GUN is involved in the story, which helps it feel slightly more connected to Sonic, but it kind of feels like it's GUN in name only. They don't use any recognizable GUN tech, and they don't call in the military. It's just two agents in suits. They might as well be the Men in Black.
The Master Emerald is mentioned as something Knuckles has to guard, but it's never seen. Angel Island is pictured as a drawing during the show's intro, appearing exactly how it does in Sonic 3, but it's never referenced at all beyond that.
I guess the climax taking place in and around a Reno casino is a reference to Sonic's many casino-themed levels. That's something. I'll give them that.
Oh, and if you're wondering if this is the point where we finally start to get actual music from the games: no, it's not. The soundtrack consists of a lot of '80s needle drops, many of which are generic Hollywood picks like "Holding Out for a Hero" for the billionth time, thought it at least has some slightly less obvious picks than the Mario movie. The theme song is '80s rock song "The Warrior" by Scandal. You'll hear it many times. You'll hear the Adventure era Knuckles raps zero times in this. You'll briefly hear classic A Tribe Called Quest song "Can I Kick It?" before Knuckles takes the question too literally and breaks the radio in Wade's car.
Beyond a handful of surface level references for nerds (one of which is admittedly wild - we'll get to that), this is probably the least an officially licensed adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has ever tried to actually engage with its source material. I struggle to think of another Sonic adaptation that has less to do with Sonic. For as much shit as I and countless others have given Penders for seemingly ignoring the content of the games in favor of building his own convoluted mythos, his Knuckles comics honestly included way more elements from the games than this show does.
Somehow, the one new(-ish) Sonic character introduced in this is the ghost of Pachacamac of all characters. Not even Tikal! Pachacamac! A very minor character nobody has particularly strong feelings about! You can't even use the excuse that they already had the character model, because they completely redesigned him compared to his cameo in the first movie to better match his Sonic Adventure design. And he's voiced by Christopher Lloyd! Honestly, so many of his lines are strained that it sounds like he's on death's door here, but then he'll surprise you with a more casual line like "just do it, man" and it catches me so off guard that I can't help but laugh.
Pachacamac here has basically nothing to do with the game character he takes his name and appearance from. Where the game character was a cruel warlord who kicked off a 3000 year cycle of violence, Paramount Pachacamac is now just this chill old man who gives Knuckles (and later Wade) advice in two episodes of the show. Hell, he also feels completely disconnected from his established role in the movies, where he's literally the guy who shot Longclaw. The show will not grapple with this contradiction at all. He's just here to be a thing fans like me will recognize from the games. Again, if that's all they wanted, it's kind of baffling that they didn't just use Tikal.
I don't love Knuckles in this
But what about Knuckles himself? Well, he doesn't feel all that much like Knuckles to me. Ironically, he sometimes feels like one of the weaker elements in his own show.
Back when the second movie came out, I noted that Knuckles' characterization seemed to be pulling heavily from MCU Thor as a gallant warrior from an archaic alien culture who doesn't really understand modern day Earth stuff. That worked for me in that movie. It was just there for spice. Just a little extra flavor for the character in what was otherwise a very faithful adaptation of Knuckles' storyline in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Without those familiar elements grounding him and with a much higher reliance on comedy, Idris Elba's Knuckles becomes a pretty one-note character in this.
In damn near every scene with Knuckles, he's going to say something about being a proud, honorable echidna warrior, or brag about his glorious feats of strength, or be confused about some Earth thing and call it sorcery, or act like every other character is also a member of some noble warrior clan. He still has his moments for sure, but this schtick kinda gets old fast, and it just doesn't feel like Knuckles to me. His entire character feels derived from the scene in the diner where Thor smashes the cup on the ground and goes "Another!" Sure, I can picture game Knuckles smashing a radio to turn it off and being a little too gung-ho about busting holes through walls. That's Knuckles behavior. But building a barbarian combat pit in the living room so the Wachowski family dog can fight the mailman? Nope. That's some other guy now. It really does just feel like them taking a broad character archetype from something popular that kinda sorta fits Knuckles and just running with that, rather than trying to actually adapt the character.
Oh, but don't worry, he wears the OVA hat for like two minutes! AND he loves grapes! See, Sonic nerds? We read the wiki! That's his favorite food! Grapes! This is gonna come up like five times!
Knuckles kind of gets an arc here, but not as much as Wade does. I think the stuff about him starting to feel at home on Earth thanks to Wade's mom and the way he connects with their Jewish family traditions is oddly sweet. This arc is kind of let down, though, by the fact that Knuckles' heritage is treated as a complete joke. He's a cartoonish pastiche of various historical warrior cultures stuck together in a blender and used mostly for comedic effect. When Pachacamac's ghost appears, he's reading a newspaper and bemoaning the fact that the Mets lost again. This is not the place for a serious examination of Knuckles' feelings on being the last of his kind.
This is far from the only time the show undercuts itself with its jokes and attempts at self-parody. In the first episode, for instance, Knuckles clashes with GUN Agent Mason and his tech-enhanced punches, leading to an extremely on-the-nose inversion of the "Do I look like I need your power?" scene showcased in the trailer for the second movie. Except this time, Agent Willoughby butts in and points out how stupid that line is in this new context, since they're literally trying to steal Knuckles' power. The fight can't just be cool, they have to get cute with it. A lot of stuff like that happens in this show.
Given all these complaints, the first two episodes left me thinking I'd be fairly negative on this show overall. This seemed like the version of the show from the fandom's collective nightmares, one that undoes all of the progress the movie series seemed to have been making towards faithfulness to the games. Like, just look at these cast posters. Is this what you want out of Sonic? Do these excite you?
But then, something strange happened. Over time, I just kind of let the jokes and shenanigans wash over me and basked in how fucking weird this show is.
And I started to actually enjoy it.
Look. The Wade & Knuckles Show was never going to be peak Sonic. But that sure as hell doesn't mean it can't be entertaining.
This show is so fucking goofy
Here's the thing.
The show is funny.
Unlike a lot of other people, I didn't hate all the wedding stuff in Hawaii in Sonic 2, because I thought a lot of it was funny, both in its actual jokes and in the ways in which they tied everything back to Sonic. Tom looking wistfully at some bodybuilders doing Top Gun shit and spraying each other with beer and being like "I wish Sonic had that" is weirdly funny. The twist that those muscle bros are all agents of the newly formed GUN, who orchestrated the wedding as an elaborate scheme to catch Sonic, is funny. Mr. Olive Garden becoming the fucking GUN Commander is VERY funny. Are any of these elements of my dream Sonic movie? No, of course not. But my dream Sonic movie was never gonna happen in live action.
The Knuckles show follows up on the comedy of the previous films by being probably the funniest live action Sonic release yet. Did every joke land for me? God no. There are some stinkers in there that made me roll my eyes. But enough of them landed that it worked out for me overall. A big part of this is the fact that they've got a good cast of actors and/or comedians here.
Adam Pally is funny as Wade, and I found myself liking him more and more as a character as the show went on. He becomes an oddly endearing loser, with some sweet moments in his personal arc that made me feel for the guy. I like Wade more than Tom now, thanks to this show. I will now be happier to see Wade in Sonic 3 than I would have been previously.
The supporting cast is frequently great, too, many of whom are playing completely cartoonish, over-the-top characters. They took a cue from how exaggerated Carrey's performance was as Robotnik and decided to just abandon all pretense that this is the real world. Stockard Channing as Wade's mom is funny, and carries some of the more sincere parts of the show. Cary Elwes as Wade's very British dad who abandoned him as a child to run off and be the world's most egotistical professional bowler is funny. Edi Patterson as Wade's sister Wanda is... well, she's kinda trying too hard, but she has her moments. The Mighty Boosh co-creator Julian Barratt(!!) as a scenery-chewing bounty hunter, who was also somehow Wade's former best friend and bowling partner, is VERY funny. I love this guy.
(Honestly, they should let more people who were on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace be in Sonic stuff. Where's Matt Berry)
This is kind of a stacked cast for a bunch of stupid side characters in a live action Knuckles show! And honestly, that just makes it funnier to me. Even when they're not funny, the fact that this exists makes it funny. They somehow convinced Paramount to give them a bunch of money to make a spiritual successor to Dodgeball about a schlubby guy who wants to beat his dad at a bowling tournament... except also Knuckles the fucking Echidna is there as his personal life coach. My life is richer for the fact that I can say that sentence. I think about all the little kids who are probably watching this show this weekend, going in expecting a show about Knuckles the Echidna and having to sit through extensive bowling scenes and lore about Wade's family, and sorry kids, but I just have to laugh. Wade isn't even on the poster! The poster is just a picture of Knuckles!! They punked those kids!!!
In a franchise where every single aspect is so carefully micromanaged these days, it feels truly special to get an adaptation this bonkers. It frequently appeals to the same part of me that enjoys the fact that there's an officially licensed Knuckles comic in which Charmy Bee's best friend (also a bee) dies of an accidental LSD overdose from a drug-laced chili dog. Or like, everything about the original 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. Or the fact that they made seven direct-to-DVD sequels to Alpha and Omega, one of which is half a retread of the adventure from the first movie (with more annoying supporting characters in tow this time) and half a literal clip show of the first movie. The sheer absurdity of the fact that these things exist is charming to me. Except, with the Knuckles show, it has the added benefit of frequently being funny on purpose! This is why I'm not sure I'd call it "so bad it's good." Like, it's not amazing, but there were a lot of parts that I enjoyed in the exact way I was supposed to enjoy them.
Look. Here's a list of real lines of dialogue from the Sega-approved Knuckles the Echidna streaming show that they're billing as a pillar of the Paramount+ lineup, to drive this point home. Let these marinate for a minute:
"I only eat grapes, and Cool Ranch Doritos™."
"Annihilate this little girl, Wade. Crush her spirit. Humiliate her so badly her parents won't even look at her again." "Doesn't that seem like we're going a bit far?" "Not far enough."
"So is he Jewish?" "Half, I think."
"I had a friend who when he listened to Alien Ant Farm he could lift a Toyota Corolla over his head."
"I'm in dire financial straits. Due to my lawsuit against an unnamed rainforest-themed restaurant franchise, I don't have two pennies to my name."
"We're here in sunny Reno, Nevada, which is so close to Hell you can smell the sparks."
"You can't threaten me with your Jewish karate chops because I am a federal agent."
"I will say, regardless of how you feel about child abandonment - and I'm against it! - the deals at TJ Maxx can't be beat."
This is a Sonic show in which they got Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel to appear as ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators.
This is a show where Wade's mom insists upon pronouncing "Knuckles" with the throaty Hebrew "ch" sound, and declares that Knuckles is basically Jewish. Later, they watch Pretty Woman together while enjoying a nice slice of key lime pie. Knuckles comments: "I don't understand. This young streetwalker with a heart made of gold, why do the others treat her with such disdain? Is it so wrong to walk the streets?"
This is a show where the fourth episode is directed by one of the guys from The Lonely Island and features a hallucinatory low budget rock opera stage musical put on by the ghost of Pachacamac. It recounts Knuckles' life story, with Wade playing Knuckles and the "evil" Longclaw played by the bounty hunter guy who's played by the Mighty Boosh guy.
Look at this.
And also, Knuckles' singing voice is provided by Michael Bolton, which they proudly announce in the middle of the musical.
And also...
Also...???
IBLIS IS IN IT????????????
Yes, Iblis!
From Sonic '06!!
Knuckles is said to have looked for a mythical power called the "Flames of Disaster" to avenge his clan, which ended up being the power that was within him all along that lets him do fire punches yadda yadda yadda. As part of this, he apparently fought Iblis off-screen at some point, as conveyed with the giant singing papier-mâché Iblis in the musical.
...Then Iblis sings about hitting up Facebook Marketplace
How? How does any of this exist? Why reference '06 of all games? How did Iblis get into the live action Sonic movie universe before Amy and Metal Sonic? Why are they using Iblis and the term "Flames of Disaster" in such a goofy way that completely disregards their original context?
I don't know. I don't know how any of this happened. But I love it. We got a Knuckles miniseries in which Michael Bolton sings the phrase "the Flames of Disaster." The world is a beautiful place sometimes.
Some people will tell you to skip episode four. "Knuckles is barely even in it," they say. "It's dumb and pointless," they say. "They clearly just ran out of special effects budget," they say. These are people whose opinions you should disregard. The episode with the least Knuckles in it is somehow the most entertaining episode of the show. I would, in fact, go as far as to say that if you only decide to watch one episode of the Knuckles show to see what goofy bullshit they get up to, it should be this one.
I cannot be mad at this show. It's so dumb, but it completely owns the fact that it's a dumb and unnecessary spinoff. Inferiority is baked into its very DNA. It's very self-consciously redoing the premise of the first movie, but stupider. It's about The Other Cop from the movies, instead of the competent one. Instead of being into a "cooler" sport, his life revolves around professional bowling. Instead of going to Vegas, he goes to Reno. Even his tragic backstory that shaped his entire life sucks. He was abandoned by his pro bowler dad in a TJ Maxx. Not even a nicer department store. A fucking TJ Maxx. This whole show is a Dril tweet.
They put a ton of effort into making it dumb in an occasionally spectacular way. So much effort was put into that joke rock opera that fans will just write off as stupid filler. They put their whole pussies into it. This is not a poorly made show. This has better production values than half the shit made for Disney+. This was made with love. Maybe not as much love for the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games as we'd like, but it's love nonetheless.
Maybe this show broke me and these are the ramblings of a madwoman. Maybe I'm just really nostalgic for the '90s and '00s comedy movies all the Wade stuff is modeled after. Maybe the Alan Wake fan in me just really loves it when a story pivots to a silly rock opera for no real reason. I won't discount any of these possibilities. This isn't high art. This isn't something I would recommend to anyone with zero interest in Sonic, and it also isn't going to sway Sonic fans who hate the Paramount universe. I really can't blame them for being bewildered by this show. But for a specific type of person, this is the absurd three-star Sonic-adjacent comedy miniseries of your dreams. It's a mid masterpiece.
Again, I just have to step back, realize the fact that this shouldn't exist, and smile. Sega's too afraid to do stupid bullshit with the franchise like this these days. And I can't blame them, after years of Sonic being a treated as a laughingstock. But part of me misses some of the goofy shit. No matter how much I tore some of the Archie comics apart as I was reading them for this blog, I just look back on stuff like Cal and Al or the Many Hands issues and laugh. And that same part of me looks at this show about Knuckles being the sidekick to this fucking guy, and just goes...
"We're so back."
In conclusion, I genuinely think this was a more enjoyable TV show than Sonic Prime.
I wouldn't go back and rewatch Sonic Prime anytime soon, aside from maybe, like, a couple of the Shadow-heavy episodes. Huge stretches of that show bored me to tears. The writers squandered all of that show's potential. But I would rewatch the Knuckles show, which takes a terrible premise and has a lot of fun with it, in a heartbeat. Even the bowling parts. The bowling scenes in the Knuckles show are more engaging than 70% of the fights in Sonic Prime. I am not trolling. I mean that sincerely, with all my heart. Don't @ me.
Stray observations
There is effectively zero meaningful setup for the third movie in this, unless Wade's family or the two GUN agents come back or something. Project Shadow is not mentioned in this. There is no secret post-credits scene with Gerald
The CGI in this is pretty good. Not quite on par with the movies, but pretty good. Sonic's weird forehead wrinkles are distracting in his scenes though. Please fix that
I wouldn't say I liked this as much as the second movie, which obviously gets a ton of points for, you know. The Cool Sonic Shit. But I had more fun with it than the first movie, which I still feel is a painfully generic family movie that was only saved by Tyson's redesign
"Grapes are an interesting choice for someone who doesn't use his individual fingers."
Agent Willoughby was apparently the one at GUN who had to buy the Olive Garden gift cards and set up the fake wedding. Her origin story is that she hated doing shit like that and wanted to go fight aliens
This miniseries contains another Keanu namedrop because Wade's childhood bedroom has a Speed poster on the wall. I swear, if Sonic doesn't say Shadow sounds just like Keanu...
Knuckles is familiar with Paul Blart Mall Cop
Near the end the ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators say that the 1974 Reno bowling championship was also interrupted by an extraterrestrial, and given that was exactly 50 years ago I can't write off the possibility that that was Shadow. Please for the love of god give us a sequel series after the third movie where Wade takes Shadow the Hedgehog bowling. I need this more than I need air
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too fast
pairing: miguel o'hara x spider!fem!reader
warnings: more angst
summary: he should've stopped you...
word count: 2.4k
author's note: this will be the last installment! since we don't know what happens after atsv we're gonna leave it here for now! thanks for giving too slow so much and i hope you enjoy part 2!
part 1
If Miguel O’Hara had to guess, it all started going downhill when you accidentally discovered that your sister was going to die. It wasn’t supposed to happen, you finding out. Like everything else in a Spider person’s life, it was a canon event that was bound to happen, a significant event that would truly make you who you were now. The White Spider. An event that would happen naturally, like all tragic ones do.
Because the truth was, they happen. And there was nothing you could do to stop it.
That’s what Miguel tried to tell you. That if you tried to interfere, then your dimension would unravel just as his did. He didn’t want that for you. Couldn’t want that for you. There were worse fates and that was one of them.
But of course, you were determined.
“Don’t tell me to stand by and let it happen, Miguel, all because of some stupid canon shit. Don’t tell me that.” You gritted out as you stalked down the hall, him right behind you.
“I am, Domino.” Miguel argued desperately. “I am telling you not to endanger your dimension over something that is supposed to happen. I am doing this to protect you—“
You whirled around on him, causing Miguel to stop short in front of you, “This is your way of protecting me? By telling me to stand by and let my sister die all because of some computer program?! Be fucking for real, Miguel!”
“Yes, because I know the dangers of what’s going to happen if you—”
“No, Miguel, no you don’t.” It hurt, your words. You knew what he had gone through, what he had lost. But you were too stubborn. He knew this. “I’m gonna try. Because that’s what we do. We try even if the odds are against us. That’s what all this shit that happened to me has led up to, right? Why stop now?”
It wasn’t like Miles Morales. No, this was before he learned that there were more forceful ways to stop something like this from happening.
He should’ve stopped you.
But things just fell apart too fast for him to keep up in the end.
Miguel practically dove through the portal to your dimension with Jessica and a few other Spider-men at his side. The crisis was a disaster. The Brooklyn Bridge was halfway in the water, cars either destroyed or hanging by black webs made by you. Immediately, Miguel and the others played damage control. There was yet another villain that had escaped their world and fell into another. This time it was a Green Goblin. One large enough to do this much damage.
It didn’t take long for Miguel to spot your white suit swinging about frantically, your head turning quickly every second. Which meant he had arrived just in time to stop you from making the biggest mistake you could’ve ever made for yourself and your universe. Miguel kept his eyes glued to you while leading people to safety. Until he spotted your sister’s car being thrown up in the air, quickly being caught by your black webs.
You were at the top of the bridge, trying to convince your sister to calm down, revealing your identity to her. Miguel landed on top of the bridge, you sent him a scowl and raised your hand, “Don’t!”
“You know what will happen, Domino.” He tried warning you. “One life or an entire universe? Over other families? Other brothers and sisters? What then?!”
You ignored him and shot a web down to your sister to grab onto. “If I don’t do this, then I will never forgive myself. I’m not like you, Miguel.” You looked at him pleadingly, desperately. “I can’t—”
The green hulking figure hurtled right into you, taking both you and Miguel off guard.
Your grip on your sister slipped but she was able to grab onto another web and hold on while you were preoccupied with the Green Goblin. A wave of rage—fear?—hit Miguel as he dashed toward the ugly beast, using his whole weight to throw it off of you and tackled it down to the ground.
“You don’t get to touch her!” He growled, pounding the goblin’s face until it was finally unconscious.
The bridge began to fall. Jessica began ordering every spider person around to quickly gather all the civilians left on the bridge. The top of the bridge where your sister was hanging began to crumble and Miguel watched as you swung back toward her.
He should’ve stopped this long before. He shouldn’t have let it get this far.
You were already dashing across the top of the bridge, Miguel had ended up behind you in seconds. You glanced over your shoulder at him, “Miguel, don’t!”
But he ignored you and shot his scarlet webs toward your figure. But of course, you were quicker than him, You always were.
His webs had missed. The web holding your sister up snapped. She was falling.
And you had dived after her.
Miguel leaped off the bridge, shot a thick web toward you and above him. In seconds the fall had stopped. You were now hanging and attached to Miguel’s web while the other half of his web kept him attached to what was left of part of the bridge.
But your webs had already been released.
You had already caught her.
No. No. No. No. No.
You had been too fast for him.
When the adrenalin cooled down a bit, you shot your head up at him, the angered glare evident on your face, “Were you really about to fucking stop me?!”
Instead of acknowledging your anger, Miguel shot back, “Do you realize what you’ve done?!”
“I saved my sister!”
“You’ve given your universe a death sentence!” Miguel shouted. “Why do you have to be so fucking selfish?!”
“Selfish?!” You snapped. Now you were quite pissed. Truly, he had never seen you this angry before now. He supposed that it made sense that it would be him to cause this. There had been many close calls. Now, it was different. You couldn’t keep your resolve. “I didn’t invade another universe and replace a girl’s father! Did you ever think that your situation was different?! Did you ever think that what you did was a lot worse than me saving my sister?! You can’t project your problems onto me, Miguel. It’s not the same and you know it—”
“Did it ever occur to you that I did this because I love you?” Miguel hissed. “Did it ever occur to you that I couldn’t bear to watch you lose everything over the same mistake I made?! Did it, Domino? Did you ever stop and think—”
“Wait.” He realized then that you weren’t looking at him anymore. Instead you were looking down. At the end of your web. “If I screwed everything up, then how come my dimension isn’t unraveling?”
The way you asked this, the way you posed the question made him go silent for a moment. Because he just then realized things weren’t changing. Other than the chaos that was happening around them already, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. No holes in the dimension. Nothing disappearing.
“I….” Miguel looked back to you, “I….M-Miguel I saved her, didn’t I?”
He still couldn’t respond.
You reached your web up and tied it to Miguel’s wrist before snapping his web attached to you apart.
“Domino—”
But he watched you fall toward the bottom.
It didn’t take him long to get there too. It didn’t take him long to see the limp body attached to the end of your web. It didn’t take him long to realize that your universe wouldn’t unravel any time soon.
Your sister was dead. Just like it was supposed to….
This was supposed to be better. This was supposed to be what kept you and your universe safe.
Miguel O’Hara always made the tough calls. The decisions that no one else could.
So why did it feel like the dimension was tearing itself apart in front of his eyes? Why did it feel like you were going to disappear at any second? Why did it feel like he had already lost you even though you were right there.
He did. He lost you.
You slipped from his fingers so fast…
“Is this what you wanted?” A weak whisper left your lips, your back still turned to him.
There were no words he could say that could fix any of it.
Miguel removed his mask, so that you could see his face. So that you could see how sincere he was. Only for you to see. Only you mattered in that moment.
“Sometimes you can’t stop what’s meant to happen.” When you glanced over your shoulder at him, when you looked at him through glassy eyes—your mask now gone—it made the words a lot harder to force out, “I never wanted any of this. Not like this…”
Jessica and the others arrived but didn’t say anything. Jessica had been one of the people on Miguel’s side about the whole ordeal, but even she was smart enough not to say anything. You were already hurting too much.
You glared at him through the water falling from your eyes, you glared at Jessica, you glared at all of them.
“Well, congratulations.”
“Y/N…” Jessica tried, only she went silent when she noticed your sister’s body limp behind you. There was nothing to be said.
You tore off your bracelet and threw it at Miguel’s feet. “You saved the canon, O’Hara. You should be proud.”
After that, you stopped coming to HQ. Except for that one time when you announced you were quitting the society for good. After that he stopped seeing the White Spider swinging around your dimension and stopping bad guys. The only time he saw you don your suit was to fight a new villain called the Electro. After that, he hadn’t seen you in the newspapers nor social media ever again.
This wasn’t something he really didn’t see coming. Frankly, he wasn’t even sure if the canon knew this was what exactly would happen after your sister’s death. That you would just stop being the White Spider. That you would give it all up.
Fuck. Of course this would be the last straw. He knew you. He met your sister multiple times.
You weren’t like Miguel. You would not bounce back easily. That was never you.
He should’ve stopped it. He shouldn’t have let it get that far…
The fight on the train didn’t last for long. Like you had said beforehand, you hadn’t planned on fighting him. Only keeping him at bay so that Miles was given time to go back to his dimension. So you had gotten your licks in, getting to kick your man’s ass was something so refreshing and should’ve happened sooner if you were being honest.
You landed a few kicks at Miguel—his waist, face, and legs—before he grabbed you and threw you off the train. But you fell gracefully, knowing that you had done your part. So you entered your data into your bracelet, a portal appearing behind you.
“He’s just a kid, Miguel.” You called.
The last thing you saw was Miguel, an unreadable expression on his face as you disappeared through the portal.
Gwen had recruited you to help Miles a couple hours after you had gotten back to your dimension. Apparently, he had been sent to the wrong Earth so now it was your job to track him down and help him complete his goal. Helping him succeed at something that you couldn’t.
So before you started this long fight, the long journey ahead, you went to your sister’s grave. You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you were here. After the funeral, you weren’t sure you even came here alone yourself. Just to see her.
It hurt too much before. It only just kept reminding you how much you failed. Why you stopped being the White Spider. Why your relationship with Miguel could never quite be the same.
Your spine shuddered and you turned your head slightly away from your sister’s grave. “It’s kind of insensitive to do a sneak attack when I’m visiting my sister, O’Hara.”
Behind you, Miguel stood a little further away. His mask was off. You didn’t move from your sister’s grave and he didn’t move from where he stood. The two of you took to staring at each other for a long moment.
Since it didn’t seem like he was going to say anything first, you sighed, “Don’t act so surprised. I thought you knew me better than that—”
“I thought I did too.” Miguel scowled, though the harshness was mixed with something looser. Something that would’ve made you crumble on the spot.
You cleared away some of the dead rose petals from the last bouquet of flowers that were left here, “Is that what you came here for? To berate me into changing my mind? I’m convinced already—”
“I’m not here to convince you. How can I do that when you won’t listen to reason?” Miguel hissed. “If you are willing to die over this, destroy another universe, then…” You looked at him fully then. Perhaps you were too far away to see, perhaps your mind was playing tricks on you, but you could’ve sworn his eyes were red. Not from his unique abilities.
The emotion in his eyes, god you wanted to look away. You didn’t want your resolve to fail again. Not this time.
This time was too important.
“Then what?” You asked him quietly.
Miguel never responded to your question. He ducked his head down for a moment. The words that left his mouth almost barely audible. “How many times will I have to lose you, Domino? How many times will you leave me?”
You stood and slowly inched toward the man. Cautiously, you gently grabbed his face once you were close enough and leaned your forehead against his. Your thumb caressed his cheek. His larger hands wrapped around you until his face is buried into your neck, practically inhaling your scent.
God, it was always like this. One moment you were in each other’s arms and in the next throwing each other off of trains or running until neither of you could run anymore. Moments like this, the gentle, the quiet. It never lasted.
In the next moment Miguel wasn’t in your arms anymore. You weren’t on your Earth anymore. Now you were flying about in search for Miles, hoping to find him before Miguel and his gang did. You were never sure when the two of you would ever find that semblance of peace again. Those moments were gone in seconds and you were back to the real world. That’s how your cycle went.
That was your canon.
#miguel o'hara#miguel o’hara x reader#miguel o'hara x you#miguel o'hara x y/n#miguel o'hara fic#miguel o'hara one shot#across the spiderverse#miguel o'hara across the spider verse#spiderman 2099#spiderman atsv#atsv#marvel#jessica drew#hobie brown#gwen stacy#peter b parker#mayday parker
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Ghost Hunting Vigilantes #2
Ties to: Ouija Board Prompt and Ghost Hunting Vigilantes
A/N: The electric gun thing was inspired by Elton from TFIL Overnight. They used it in one of their videos I just don't remember which and what they called it. Also thanks to @cyber-geist for sparking this follow up idea.
Danny was pressed flat against the wall and floating close to the ceiling. His hands still covering his mouth. What the actual fuck? How prepared was this teen? Sam had made him watch a lot of ghost hunting videos online but none of these 'hunters' appeared and held themselves like Red Robin.
Ancients, he wouldn't be surprised if they also had some Fenton Tools now.
Danny watched how Red Robin was frowning at the screen, the camera was still pointed at him. Once more the Ghost King looked down at himself, feeling for the familiar hum of his powers. He definitely knew he was still invisible.
"It's all a little blurry but I think the SLS Camera is picking something up…" The Teen muttered and Danny watched how the girls wandered over to look at the screen too.
"That's just a bundle of yellow lines. Doesn't even remotely look like a stick figure." Spoiler commented and Danny really wished he could let out a sigh of relief. So the camera was not picking him up. That was good to know.
"That is strange. When I tested it before the background image was still clearly visible but it looks like everything is blurry and static like." Red Robin muttered and Danny couldn't help but suck in a breath when the teen looked up directly at him.
The Ghost King knew they couldn't see him but right now this feels like the teen could. Danny let out the breath he sucked in once the teen turned to the vigilante in blue.
"Hey Nightwing. Could you spark some electricity?"
"What?"
"Your escrima sticks." The teen deadpanned. "Use them and spark some electricity into the air to charge the molecules."
"Why the fuck should he do that?"
"The interference I am getting on the camera is probably because the ghost used up most of its energy with the little music stunt it pulled. So to recharge and offer them some energy to keep communicating with us, we will release some electricity into the air. This will also prevent the ghost from attempting to drain any of our batteries or in the worst case our own energy or stamina if you want to say it like that."
What? Danny blinked. Okay he was the Ghost King, yes he had learned from his tutors that there are some ghosts that feed on electricity but most of them had an electric core and as far as Danny knew he was not sucking up battery power or life energy, not a power he had developed…. yet? He probably should ask his former rogue Technus if he knew anything about what Red Robin just said.
While Danny contemplated this the other vigilantes were staring at Red Robin and his explanation and the teen sighed. "Look if you don't want to use them, under the table to your left is a case with a modified stun gun that will do the same."
"We are not giving this Pit Demon power!" Robin declared as he moved to sit in front of the case blocking Nightwing as well as anyone else potential access to it.
Nightwing only shrugged and took out his weapons letting them spark to live.
There was a very hearable sharp intake of air and suddenly the rooms temperature dropped. The vigilantes watched how a sheen of ice spread around the walls and ice flowers started to bloom on the windows and glass like surface.
"What the fuck?!" Red Hood yelled, dropping the controller he was holding and pulling out his guns.
"We didn't invite Mr. Freeze, did we?" Spoiler asked no one in particular, rubbing her arms for warmth. Orphan was taking on a fighting position with her eyes surveying the room. Robin had sprung up on his feed, katana out and ready to fight once more, even Nightwings whose escrima sticks were still crackling with electricity assumed a fighting position.
The only one who appeared unconcerned was Red Robin, his eyes were still glued onto the screen that was still blurry and static like at times. "Hmm they weren't drawing energy front he camera... but now we know that the ghost has temperature changing abilities. I wonder… if I use the integrated heat-vision of our masks...."
"RR not the time to get stuck in your head!"
Danny couldn't breath as he pressed himself further into the ceiling. Green glowing eyes focused on the visible electricity sparking and humming from the blue ones weapons. His entire focus was on that and he hated it.
He had fucking trauma with a capital T. His friends knew that. His siblings knew that. His parents knew that. His former rogues knew that. Ancients. Even Dan had admitted it once to him that he had a similar problem with electricity!
Everything in him screamed to get away from that electric hum, he barely remembered to keep his invisibility up as he sought out the point farest away from what he probably presumed were tasers sticks. He hated how his core trembled and he wanted to do nothing more than fly as far away as he could.
"HEY GHOST FUCKER! STOP TRYING TO MAKE US POPSICLES!"
Green eyes snapped away from the crackling electricity and Danny could only stare at Red Hood who clearly didn't know where Danny was but still yelled profanities at every wall of the room not once moving from his spot though.
"Like yelling at the ghost will work. Anyone happen to have a blow torch on hand?"
"<tt> I told you it's a Pit Demon and now because of Red Robins stupidly we might end up frozen."
"Look how was supposed to know that the Ghost would use the electricity to change the Temperature this drastically? I knew they could change the temperature slightly but not like this!"
"Nightwing stop fucking sparking electricity already!"
"Oh right." The electric hum stopped and Danny felt himself relax slightly. "How do we get out of this? Think we could get B on the coms to bring us something?"
"Isn't he with the Justice League, right now?"
"<tt> You are all too relaxed for this."
"Oh, do you have a better idea than Demon Brat?"
Blinking Danny realized he had frozen over the entire room and that the ice had traveled up to the knees of the vigilantes. Nervously he rubbed at the back of his neck as he let his powers run and told the ice to withdraw from the vigilantes.
-Sorry, I am not got with electricity like that.- The Ghost King apologised in ghost speech sheepishly as soon as that spirit box was no longer covered in ice and his own trauma infused panic had settled down. It was probably better not to let them hear his voice right now.
Red Robin instantly turned his attention back to the SLS Camera Screen only to find it shut down. The cold had messed with something in it, making it blue screen and shut down. The vigilante narrowed his eyes, had the ghost maybe done this on purpose like Robin had said?
"Okay fucking noted. No sparking electricity if we don't want to be popsicles." Red Hood grumbled clearly not happy with what happened as he dramatically stomped with his boots like he was testing if he could feel all his toes.
"Did you die getting electrocuted? That was a pretty strong reaction." Nightwing couldn't help but ask. A little worry as well as curiosity layering his voice.
"Wait didn't Mr. Ghost say last time that asking about how he died is rude?"
"We are not pissing of that fucker any more than we already have." Red Hood decided, crossing his arms, guns still in his hands, while the EMF Meter lay forgotten by his feet.
"This Pit Demon is clearly tricking us. This was an attempt to get rid of us."
"Stop saying that! We still don't even know if it's a Pit Demon in the first place!"
Danny felt a presence appear next to him as he continued watching the vigilantes argue, a little amused as well as still apologetic because of the ice. Carefully he side eyed the presence hoping for all there was that it wasn't who he felt it was only to gulp. Next to him was Lady Gotham and she was once again holding the ghost club in her hands. A new kind of panic settled in the Ghost King's stomach, he slowly started to understand why Clockwork had such respect for this spirit.
"Oh look at the time. It has gotten late. Gotta go! BYE!"
Okay he panicked and once again forgot about ghost speech when he opened the portal home right next to him to escape her first swing but in his defense: That spirit had a mean swing that rivaled all the females of his family when they had the Creep Stick at hand and were pissed.
#danny fenton#dp x dc#fanfic#tim drake#jason todd#damian wayne#richard grayson#stephenie brown#cassandra cain#crossover#danny phantom#ouija board#and other ghost tools unedited#direct follow up part to the ghost hunting vigilantes#Danny has electricity related trauma#they didn't know#his response is to freeze everything#Tim was prepared#but not for that#He will plan better for next time#Lady Gotham was still not happy at the end#Damian still thinks Danny is a Pit Demon#no beta we die like Danny#dpxdc
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Yesterday I came across a Gwynriel comment on a pro-Elriel post that said: “I like Azriel. Which is why I want him to find his mate.”
I’ve always found this Gwynriel/Elucien rhetoric ironic because they’re making it clear they don’t actually like Azriel. Because if they like Azriel, wouldn’t they want him to find LOVE, first and foremost? SJM has mentioned multiple times that a mating bond is not equivalent to romantic love, and yet Gwynriels, especially, only ever argue that they want Azriel to find his mate.
I’ve found that this is the biggest differentiator between Elriels and Gwynriels/Eluciens: Elriels want Az to find happiness. We want him to find LOVE—whether it’s through a mating bond or not. The emphasis is always on LOVE.
To be honest, it took me a really long time to think through this, because I have SO many things to say on the topic! But in the interest of keeping this concise (false when have I ever kept things concise), and addressing this issue head on, we are going to go ahead and say yes, sure, maybe SJM is a "fated mates only" author (even though some of my favorite SJM couples are not mates) and that has no bearing on whether or not Azriel and Elain are still likely to be endgame.
It comes down to active and inactive storylines, as well as facts from the books versus ideas and theories of what could be true.
Throughout her multiverse, Sarah has told the "Fated Mate" story in a variety of ways, and she continues to tackle it in new ways. We have had faked mating bonds, villainous cosmic interference with mating bonds, bonds that were revealed slowly, bonds that snapped quickly, bonds that solidified over oceans before two people even met, two people literally just *deciding* they are mates and making it so, and mating bonds where the pairs were miserable and not well suited, and they lived in misery until they died.
Prythian is the only world in the multiverse where there is even a conversation about the female being able to reject the mating bond. Those are the rules set forth in Prythian. You cannot ignore them. If Elain doesn't want Lucien, she gets to reject him. Them's the rules. This isn't even an *option* or mentioned on the other worlds. Prythian is the only one where, time and time again, we are reminded that there are many unhappily mated pairs. Rhysand's own parents were miserable. So miserable that Cassian thought the mating bond was all lies and bullshit for over 500 years, until Rhys and Feyre, for the first time in his centuries of life, proved him wrong. (ACOFAS, Chapter 2.)
Narratively, Prythian has set up and established a mating bond rejection. No other SJM world has. More than that, Feyre questioned why Lucien and Elain were paired together, and seeing Elain be placed with Lucien even though Feyre thought Elain and Azriel would be a better fit made Feyre realize how lucky she and Rhys were to be mated *and* in love. Directly comparing Elain and Lucien to Feyre and Rhys further proved how special Feysand was.
Then Azriel questions the Cauldron, asking if it could be wrong. (again, the second time this question has been asked in regards to Elain and Lucien specifically.)
Now, in HOFAS, the most up to date publication, that narrative continues as we discover the Asteri pooled their power into the Cauldron to make it serve their will. (HOFAS, Chapter 25) This answered Feyre's question; Who are the powers that decide to force people who don't like each other to be mated and create the most powerful offspring? (the Asteri, because they need to eat their souls for sustenance and gain control of the world) And of course Azriel is the one watching this all unfold and learning this information. Azriel questioning the Cauldron has now been laid out not only in ACOSF, but the last two books Sarah has published. These are the facts that will set up the next book, just as Feysand and Nessian were set up in previous books.
Feyre and Rhys were already tied together in book one. We knew, heading into book two, that Feyre and Rhys had connected. They trusted each other. And while their bargain was not consensual, she chose to go to him when he called through her bond of her own free will, because they had developed a connection. We head into book two knowing exactly where things were headed. She has an interesting/developing relationship with Rhys, and she is guaranteed to see him again. This sets up the "Ordinary World" (I've made a few posts on the hero's journey book structure SJM follows, more on that here) for book two. By the end of ACOTAR, Rhys and Feyre are in an active storyline together that picks up in ACOMAF.
Nesta and Cassian had their entire plot laid out in A Court of Frost and Starlight. Cassian is dealing with Devlon and the struggle to get Illyrian females training. He describes the Blood Rite, and muses on what the one from the upcoming spring will bring. Nesta is in her alcoholic I hate my family era, and Cassian is fighting to get back what occurred between them during the war. The kiss they shared, and the willingness to die together. And they are both fighting like wildfire. By the end of ACOFAS, these are active storylines. Everything discussed about or between them in ACOFAS picks up and comes to pass in ACOSF.
Whether you want them to be together or not, the active storyline in ACOSF and HOFAS is between Elain and Azriel. Questioning the Cauldron, fighting their feelings for each other, and the tension between them escalating was their story in ACOSF. People who argue the bonus chapter ended their story are factually incorrect. Because as of this day, in this year 2024, Azriel's "What if the Cauldron was wrong" storyline CONTINUED in House of Flame and Shadow.
Azriel stood there and learned first hand how the Cauldron had been corrupted and warped by creatures who came to Prythian in search of sustenance, and, as previously mentioned, "pooled their power into the Cauldron so that it would work their will." (HOFAS, Chapter 25) They then "protected their interests" by turning the Cauldron into a killswitch, ensuring it could never be destroyed and that their will could continued to be enacted on Prythian or the world would cease to exist.
So, these are the active storylines when Azriel and Elain wake up in Prythian today (thus setting up the Ordinary World in the three act structure) that expand upon the previous two books:
Elain and Azriel have feeling for each other.
Azriel's feelings for Elain are so strong that he questions the Cauldron, and is willing to fight to the death over it.
Azriel has learned that the Cauldron was completely corrupted and fucked up by an evil species that used to rule over Prythian, and now rules over Midgard, and eats souls by churning them through a "soul meat grinder for food." (HOFAS, Chapter 16)
Azriel has learned that all of the Dread Trove items were created by the Asteri in the Cauldron, the same beings that warped the Cauldron and turned it into a kill switch to ensure power over their world. (HOFAS, Chapter 24) Only the Archeron sisters can wield the Trove, and are protected from it being used against them.
Azriel learned that Truth-Teller and the Starsword were also made in the Cauldron by the Dusk Court ancestors to destroy the Asteri. Currently, only Azriel can wield both Truth-Teller and the Starsword. Elain can also wield Truth-Teller. (Possibly Nesta as well, but Elain used it to travel through shadows while Nesta used it to cut off a head.)
All Cauldron Made items, both for and against the Asteri, are now in possession of the Inner Circle along with the knowledge that they need to discover what they can truly do, and to find the hidden cache's of magic stored in their world.
Elain has stated that she is a member of the Night Court and will do what is needed to serve it.
Elain is reacquainting herself with her powers, and is ready to be used to locate and wield Trove items.
Elain has feelings for Azriel.
Azriel has feelings for Elain.
Here are inactive storylines:
Elain using her sight to deal with Koschei, which is what I understand to be the largest E/ucien theory at play tying Elain to the BoE. Elain has not been involved in the Koschei storyline since ACOWAR, nor does she have an active storyline with Lucien besides shrinking into herself when he is around, not speaking to him, and not liking his presents.
Lucien however, is involved in the Koschei storyline as of ACOSF as it pertains to Vassa. He stares at the sea, as if setting his target on Koschei, (ACOSF, Chapter 7) and is living with Vassa and Jurian. This is what is active for Lucien. Nothing else. Any possible storyline for him outside of this is theory and speculation does not exist yet.
Gwyn does not have an active storyline at the end of ACOSF. "Gwyn, despite the Rite, had returned to living in the library. Gwyn had said she might leave for Nesta and Cassian's mating ceremony in three days." (ACOSF, Chapter 80) Her story as a Valkyrie completing the Blood Rite with Nesta has resolved and she has not presently been tied to anything else. Any ideas on how she might have a plot created are theories and speculations, but she is inactive.
Elain and Azriel are both active regarding the Trove, the Star-Sword and Truth-Teller, their feelings for each other, and Azriel is personally so propelled forward in being the Cauldron's number one hater that if a mating bond were to suddenly snap between him and Gwyn in his current headspace, he would not just forget about Elain and the dark damage done to the Cauldron and would likely not entertain the bond without more information.
If Sarah wants to make Azriel and Elain fated mates, she will. She has done everything under the sun with mates and will do more. She can do whatever she wants with magic. But you have to understand that the next book will start, as Sarah always structures it, with the "ordinary world" picking up where the last books left off. And it left off with Azriel and Elain, the fight against the Cauldron, their feelings for each other, and the reveal that all Trove items as well as the Dusk Court and Starborn heir items are now in the Inner Circle's possession, to be wielded by the sisters and Azriel alone.
And yes, as mentioned by @enigmaticexplorer we want Azriel to find love. He already has found it with Elain. Now it's just a matter of if Sarah chooses to make them mates, or if they say to hell with mates because we chose each other. Either option is great in my book!
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A lot has been happening today that rep calls could affect. UN vetoes, KOSA, Julian Assange, UNRWA's funding crisis and Israel's demands that it be completely dismantled, the large number of bills we just learned are on the docket for the coming week, and even the good news that is recent successes by the BDS movement.
And like... I care about this stuff. I want to talk about it. But it takes an emotional and mental toll to do it, and it takes time, and... there are two reasons to write up reference, update, information posts:
Compensation. I'm not a journalist, but if I were, I would in theory be getting paid for the information I collect and share to my audience. However, I am not, and am doing this for free. I have gotten maybe $5 in donations since I started this project, and while I recognize that this is probably because people are (quite rightly) donating instead to Palestinian charities or local campaigns or something, it's a basic fact that I am not actually being compensated for this work.
Promoting change and activism. This is in fact my main goal: to have a positive impact on current events by giving people a guide on the news and politics because there's so much happening that's hard to keep track of, and if I'm already doom-listening to half a dozen political podcasts, I might as well save other people the trouble, right?
The thing is, like... most of the reblogs on my guidelines and helpful posts are from me, to me. I am the one reblogging. I am desperately trying to get these things to circulate so I can make a difference, but... no dice. Some of the posts are admittedly pretty long (my 'how to call your reps, here's some verbiage' post is 3.4k words), and I can imagine some people are saving it for later, and then maybe forget, or they don't want to share something controversial, and like... I do get that. I do.
But it does mean the posts aren't circulating, and thus they're having less of an impact, and I can't help but feel like there are other things I could be doing to help that would be more effective. More bang for my buck, except it's my time and effort instead of my money. Like, maybe it would have more an effect if I hunted down a wider variety of elected officials I could bother instead of instructing other people on how to bother theirs? Maybe going to protests (which would be a huge commitment due to distance) would be more effective than trying to help ensure that the effectiveness of "I actually have a vote and you are losing it" of calls has the weight of numbers behind it.
Especially since I did try to blaze it, and tumblr mods rejected the post. I don't know why. It's not against ToS, since none of it was disinformation or election interference, which is the only reason given on the FAQ for why things might not be approved for blazing, but who knows.
Maybe tumblr just decided the possible blowback on them for blazing a pro-ceasefire post would be too much.
I don't know. I just... it's just really disheartening to try to help and it gets stymied because, as much effort as it might be, it doesn't reach more than a (comparatively) tiny audience, especially when my relatively low-effort polls and shitposts get easily ten times as many notes with way less energy put in.
EDIT: This is not a post that I need to have reblogged. this is just me bitching. This a vent post. What I am asking people to reblog is my activism posts that I spend hours on to try and help nudge things in a better direction. Please reblog THOSE. This one doesn't need reblogging unless you have an actual comment. Reblogging this post just to reblog, with neither useful comment nor encouragement, is not helping me with my issue of 'not paid, not making an impact' or helping with any important causes.
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The Mechanisms of Nobara's Return
The Setup
Her injury is the smallest transfiguration Mahito made without interference
This injury didn't kill Nobara instantly
Nitta used his CT to stop her from dying
Affirmation that Nobara has a chance of survival even if that chance is less than 1%
This setup itself is the biggest indication/confirmation on a meta level that Nobara's return will happen. Because otherwise, Gege wouldn't have written it like this in the first place or he would've written later scenes about her death more explicitly.
Nobara is the female lead of JJK and is often compared to Sakura from Naruto in that regard. I find it hard to believe that Shonen Jump would let Gege discard that lead so early in the story. It would also be an unpopular decision to replace the female lead with another female character (Maki) even for Shonen standards.
Temporarily replacing one on the other hand, is a decision I can see happening. I'm no expert in this but it's known that editors keep the number of female characters low in their titles in SJ. Gege most likely wanted to do something shocking as well, so this a course of action many would be fine with.
If Nobara's death had been meant to be final then not only in the story but also outside of it we would've gotten definite confirmation on it. Instead, I don't recall something like that being said. In story and outside, we have this wishy-washy Schrödinger's Cat situation going on.
Her injury
Idle Transfiguration cannot be healed with positive energy or any other means
That's because positive energy doesn't recognize damage to the body if it's in the same shape as the soul
At this point, her death was suspended in a similar fashion to how Megumi's death was suspended inside his exorcism ritual
This suspension can theoretically be kept up indefinitely as long as Nitta can use his CT
A popular theory in this regard, is Nobara learning Reverse Cursed Technique while at death's door.
Nobara is a Black Flash user, her use of cursed energy is more refined than that of the average sorcerer
Her learning RCT would parallel Gojo learning it after being sliced open. For her, it just takes longer
Having to use RCT constantly would also mirror Gojo, bringing her narratively closer to her teacher after being the one most distant from him
Her Return
Why did Megumi say she was dead?
Theory: because Shoko told him that she was dead:
Because Shoko thought it cruel to keep the hopes of Megumi and Yuji up. She still wasn't finished to try and save her though
Shoko was afraid of the higher-ups interfering in her treatment after Yaga was executed
Having Megumi believe that she died also makes Sukuna believe that she's dead, which makes her comeback unforeseeable to him.
Why don't we see her in the flashbacks?
To keep up suspense. But do you know who else we don't see in the flashbacks? Todo. And that guy isn't even dead.
What is she doing now?
We have some possibilities for the flashbacks:
Learning to function under her RCT
Learning to function on Nitta's CT
Training/secret missions with Todo
Recovering with her grandma/learning to use new forms of her own CT
For the current fights:
She's waiting her turn
Popular theory is that Nobara will use Resonance on Sukuna's last finger. If she does this too early, she will explode. My favorite way for her to do this is like this:
Utahime and Gramps will enhance her CT and she will attack Sukuna's finger right at the moment when Sukuna attacks Yuji to kill him, mirroring the Mahito scene.
Which are the instances where her death wasn't made explicit?
We never saw her corpse
She wasn't at the airport
No one talked to Gojo about her death, they only talked about Nanami
Only Megumi and Yuji talk about her death. The second and last time about Hana potentially replacing her
I think this is about it about Nobara's Return. If you have questions, I will answer.
...
I lied.
There is a way to heal Nobara.
And the person who's going to do that is Megumi.
Megumi will have to infuse one of his shikigami with Mahoraga's Adaptation ability
The Adaptation doesn't happen with CTs, it happens with phenomena
A transfigured body and soul is a phenomenon
After the adaptation, Megumi can order his shikigami to reshape or reverse the transfiguration
This Adaptation to Idle Transfiguration also has a second use: stopping the merger (or reversing it).
Kenjaku used Mahito's IT to change Tengen's barriers. If I remember correctly, he will use IT again in the future or the effects of IT will be relevant later on. And that's when Megumi will have his biggest role.
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"Time & the Trickster"
a Loki/Doctor Who crossover
Chapter 13: The Ones Left Behind
Sylvie chases you into the bowels of the TARDIS, leaving Loki at her mercy on one side, while you and The Doctor are stranded on the far end. It's a race back to the time vortex to determine who gets control of the TARDIS in the final hours of reality!
CHAPTER WARNING (18+): none
Previous Chapter · Next Chapter
MASTERLIST
“How does she know where to go?” you asked as you followed The Doctor further into the depths of the time machine. The lights flickered as the TARDIS itself continued to react to Sylvie’s defiance, as well as the time stones’ interference. Because of this, you and The Doctor weren’t running as you continued your descent.
“She’s been here with me for a few days, she’s had time to explore,” he replied.
“Ah,” you nodded. “Yet you said you never fully warmed up to her. Why?”
“Oh, well when you’re as old as I am, you learn to pick up on things. Holes in stories, feelings that don't line up with actions and the like, y’know?”
“I guess so.”
The time lord went on. “If someone like Sylvie thinks it’s Loki’s ultimate destiny to make a sacrificial move, then why did she storm in here like a Judoon looking for a fugitive? There’s too much brute urgency in the way she acted. You’d think someone’s literal other half sent to retrieve them for imminent imprisonment would be a bit more reluctant and solemn at the task.”
“She is NOT his other half,” you insisted with a brief sigh.
The Doctor stopped in his gtracks, giving you the first serious once-over he’d lent you since arriving. “Oh, I see,” he said with quiet sympathy. “How long did it take you?”
“Take me? To what?” you asked defiantly.
“To fall in love with Loki, of course!” he said casually. “It’s plain as the eyestalk on a Dalek’s face.”
You shrugged. “Not long at all.”
The Doctor thought back for a moment. “It’s the worst thing a traveler can do, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Fall for someone. Anyone.”
The two of you went onward toward the vortex chamber.
“You’re talking about Rose,” you decided.
The Doctor wilted. “Yeah.”
He was suddenly way too quiet. “She chose to go to the throne--err, I mean--risk falling into the Void. She only got lucky at the last moment, which is why she’s still alive.”
“Loki won’t be so lucky unless we get Sylvie to go to his place.”
The Doctor asked if you’d planned for any way of doing that. You brought up your plan to fake her out with Loki’s dramatized death. “It’s a bit Disney, but it’s frankly better than anything I got,” he mused. “But, are you ready to let go of him if it fails?”
You nodded without words.
“It’s a burden that all travelers endure,” The Doctor went on. “Sometimes it feels like a pair of binary stars circling, basking in the glow of one another but never fully combining, because there’s always some force of nature keeping you from fully coming together.”
“I was a fan of his character,” you explained. “I’d dreamed of him for ten years. When he literally came to life before me, I didn’t know what to think. But…he’s even better than the character. I didn’t want to know that. It would’ve made things so much easier if I hadn’t--”
“--now, now,” The Doctor pouted his lips, “regret doesn’t solve anything.”
“Regardless,” you sniffed back, trying to stifle any crying before it started. Getting emotional was the LAST thing you needed in the moment. “I know I have to give him back. There are others who need him. I’m just afraid of the heartbreak, and how lonely it’s going to make me.”
“Are you alone in the world? Aside from Loki,” he asked.
“No,” you said quickly. “My brother…who seems to be having trouble finding a parking space,” you added, “we live together. Our parents died a while back. Neither of us socialize much out of work…aside from with the beat cops at the precinct, I suppose.”
“I see,” he replied. “Family’s good.”
“He’s younger, and sometimes he’s difficult to pin down, but sometimes I think I’m the dependent one,” you moped. “He’s the only one who knows how to quell my panic attacks, and if it weren’t for him, I’d absolutely be alone in the world.”
“How often do you have them? The anxiety attacks?”
You rolled your eyes. “More than my share as of late.”
“Of course! Though after the way you tried to take Sylvie all on your own, I was already under the impression that you could take of yourself.”
You smirked. “That wasn’t strength, it was anger.”
“Oh no, you were brilliant back there, truly!” The Doctor insisted. “Have you forgotten she’s Asgardian like Loki? You don’t seem to fully understand that you challenged a god face-to-face just now.”
That perspective hadn’t occurred to you. Your chin went up in pride. “I guess I did, huh?”
The TARDIS shook, but you were able to grab on to your escort’s shoulder to steady yourself. “Sounds like we should move faster,” he mumbled. “Blimey, I thought Loki was going to be the difficult one.”
“Well, in a way--”
“--yeah, don’t try explaining that Variant stuff to me. I regenerate my face and body, and even I think that version of the universe has too many rules and holes.”
You nearly snorted in laughter. “One of you is more than enough, is it?”
He laughed in turn. “Oh absolutely! Just ask every foe from here to Raxacoricofallapatorius.”
“I’d rather not.”
The Doctor led you down a flight of metal stairs and through an archway to the next level of the time machine. “You know, if we didn’t come from separate realities, I’d invite you to go see some places with me.”
“Really?” you asked airly. “I’d love that. It’s such a shame I’m trapped on the most worthless branch of the least interesting, magic-free cardboard box of a timeline there is.”
The Doctor clicked his tongue. “I suppose I pity you a little there.”
Gee thanks, Doctor, you thought. That sure helps.
“Loki has shown me so much since being in my life. Now that he has to leave it one way or the other...I don’t know where to begin processing a life after seeing magic, seeing that he exists beyond a film screen, and hereafter never seeing it or him again. It’s like he’s about to climb back into the TV and turn it off.”
“Echos fade,” The Doctor promised. “Healing will come. You just have to be willing to give it a try once it’s time.”
You sensed the sorry in his words. You knew he’d managed to move on from his Rose. “What’s it like? Losing the one you love like that?” you dared to ask, regretting it as soon as the words left your lips.
The Doctor put his hands in his pockets, looking down at his shoes for a moment in thoughtful silence. He looked sullen, quietly sad, his face forlorn. “Would you like the kind answer or the real one?”
“You know what I want to hear.”
He sighed. “You’ll blame yourself for a long time. You bargain with every invisible force to take their place. Even if you know they are alive and thriving, wherever they are, the room always feels a little larger to you after they go.”
“I wish I couldn’t feel at all,” you said woefully. “Feelings suck.”
“Well, don’t talk like that, you’ll start to sound like a Cyberman,” The Doctor joked lightly, breaking a bit of the drama in the corridor.
You giggled until he interrupted you with, “But…the night sky will suddenly hold a lot more meaning for you. You’ll begin to appreciate the smallest things that remind you of them, and smile when their face enters your thoughts. The smells that bring you back to the times you shared will become addicting and delicious.”
You took one more turn around a sharp-angled corner, and were met with a pair of large, heavy double doors. You heard voices speaking in muffles within.
“But the one thing that tops them all, Y/N, the one thing you need to remember if things come to the worst possible scenario: what they did is not your fault. They made their choices because of their love for us. It wouldn’t do to cry in their wake for long. It’s our duty, as the ones they leave behind, to live.”
It made you think, and the sigh you let out felt as if it weighed fifteen pounds. What more could you and Loki ask for? The possibility that you could run off together that was infinitesimal at best? Perhaps it was asking for too much. Ultimately, no matter what came of the grand finale of this adventure, you would carry the love he’d given you and the lessons he’d taught you for as long as you went on.
“Well, no time like the present,” The Doctor said, indicating that this was your destination. “We’ll need to act quickly. Get the stone into her hand and by whatever means necessary, get her to drop it over the time vortex without anyone falling in.”
“How will I know what that is?”
He gave you a look as if to say you’ve got to be kidding me.
“Oh right,” you mumbled awkwardly. “Wibbly wobbly.”
He nodded with an encouraging smile. “Wibbly wobbly. But I must warn you not to look directly into it. Looking into the time vortex can do unspeakable things to you.”
You and The Doctor each laid a palm on a door, ready to fight the moment you got inside if needed. “Just remember, Y/N, if you want even a slight chance for Loki to escape his sacrifice, Sylvie needs to stay alive.”
“Right,” you said quickly, even as you longed to curl your fingers around her skinny throat. “For him. For all of us.”
Sylvie may have been quicker, but Loki’s legs were longer. Thus, keeping up with her was a simple task, even if she was weaving methodically through tiny passageways, leaping down entire stairwells, and cutting through the oddest array of rooms, some of which seemed wholly unnecessary for a time machine (why was there a swimming pool and art gallery down here?).
She knew where to go to head you off, to guard the time vortex from any stones getting within and shipping her off to a place that would only welcome her with an escort to an eternity of existing for others. All her hard work and suffering would be for naught!
Loki wasn’t speaking to her, even as she found the time vortex chamber in minutes. The TARDIS was still shaking intermittently, each time a bit more violent. She was breaking, and soon she would probably fall apart entirely. That would doom everyone to the collapse of reality, and it could not happen.
Sylvie opened the double doors, stepping cautiously inside. Loki slipped through before she slammed them shut.
“If you move more than one step toward that…” she pointed to the center of the room, where a large, closed basin stood, bright white light leaking out from under the stone lid. “…or if I see you take that stone out…” She held her dagger to Loki’s throat, causing him to still his breath as much as possible.
Loki gritted his teeth against the burning sensation against his thigh where he’d quickly stashed the stone before giving chase. He put up his arms and shook his head quietly. “You’ll run me through, I imagine.”
Her eyes never left his face. She wasn’t sure whether to relish his hesitation, or to be on higher guard. Meanwhile, Loki was beginning to observe the room for himself from his position against the doors.
In addition to the large basin, the room held a cool, dark blue hue, nearly completely made of stone and entirely too ostentatious for its singular purpose, it seemed.
“Don’t let anyone in here,” she commanded.
“You expect me to listen now?” asked Loki.
“You expect me not to use this?” Sylvie replied, the very tip of the blade cutting the skin of Loki’s neck.
Loki swallowed. “If you kill me, what then? Who becomes the one to heal time in my place but you?” He stood up a little straighter as the realization hit her. She took two steps back and brought the blade down to her side without putting it away.
“So…now what?” she asked.
Loki brushed some hair away from his face, coated in sweat. “We go back to the TVA.”
“I said NO!” Sylvie shouted, stomping her foot and turning her back on him. The floor shook with such force that Loki nearly tumbled to the ground.
“Well, then neither of us do it, and everyone and everything dies.” He shrugged once the room was still underfoot. “Including us.”
“Is that worse than sitting at the edge of time being a slave?” she scoffed, beginning to walk a slow lap around the vortex basin. “After all I’ve been through!”
There it was. The words Loki needed to hear to finally put everything about Sylvie together in his mind. After all I’ve been through. No matter what he said, she was lost. It would never be about anyone else no matter what he said.
Still, he had to try. “You’d consider it slavery?”
“What else is it, eternally serving others?”
“I have spent weeks traveling as mortals do across land and sea,” he said. “The first hour after my arrival I was knocked out cold by a drunkard. I have been in TWO prison cells AND a shipwreck, and I paid an inordinately large sum for a tower of fish food. I may not have spent my life running and hiding in apocalypses, but I did spend it among lying fathers, purple conquerors, and with so little to hold on to that for so long I didn’t see a reason to do so.”
He slowly walked deeper into the room, taking in the vastness of it. “Then she happened.”
“That hot-headed human?” Sylvie mocked. “First Mobius, now her?”
Loki smirked in a way that would make Tony Stark proud. “I’m starting to think Midgardians just make better lovers.”
Sylvie rolled her eyes in her trademark scowl. “In the end, they don’t matter. The only one in our lives who never betrays us is ourselves!”
Loki shrugged. “I beg to differ. I happen to think I’ve been the biggest detriment to my own existence for eons. The only reason I’m not dead this minute is because of others.”
Something peculiar changed in Sylvie’s energy, almost like it had reached its zenith and was beginning to fall. “And I understand it’s awful when you feel there’s no one in the world to rely on but yourself, but no one is EVER alone unless they ask to be!”
She was quiet, refusing to look back at him. “I suppose…”
“…you surely must trust me a little.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You have your back to me right now.”
She shot around to find Loki only about five feet away, holding a handkerchief by the gathered corners, a smoking green morsel inside. She widened her stance and brandished her dagger again.
“You can do this, Sylvie. Maybe this is your purpose,” he suggested softly. “It’s how you can prove to the TVA and every one of your transgressors that you—”
“—how simple do you think I am? We’ve spent so much time together! No, it’s not my place. They don’t deserve my protection!”
Loki felt his eyes go hot as he held back a tear for her. Sylvie, you fear the cosmos too much, as I once did.
Perhaps if she had a Thor (Thora?) to play with as a child, or was allowed to live on her version of Asgard without the TVA’s interventions, she would’ve learned how to open the gates to her heart. She wouldn’t be such a hardened warrior with no faith in the world.
I need to get this to the basin over there, he thought, when he senses a presence from behind the double doors. He knew you and The Doctor had arrived.
Sylvie jumped when you and The Doctor bursted in, Sylvie’s cracked stone in your hand.
“It’s time, Sylvie,” you said, standing up straight and brandishing the rock between your fingers. “This is all down to you. We can do this without anyone getting hurt, or I can drag you to the TVA by your ankles. Now, what’s it going to be?”
Life Update: I got some life-altering news this weekend. My dad is dying of a fast-acting gastrointestinal cancer, and I'm quite close with him. I have yet to see how this is going to affect my presence here for the next few months, but rest assured whether or not I go away or annoy everyone here to death with my need to distract myself, this fic is finished and the remaining chapters are queued.
@crashingwavesofeuphoria @kkdvkyya @red-shirt-mania @misschris1412 @salvinaa @marygoddessofmischief @spiderstyles04 @fireflymoonwitch @mochie85 @loz-3 @lcolumbia1988 @lokilurker @eleniblue @gruftiela @starkzdaughter @mrsbarnes-avenger @thedistractedagglomeration @km-ffluv @lokisgoodgirl @holdmytesseract @itsthattimedarling @wolfsmom1 @scully2u @shinisenko @mischief2sarawr @ririsutty73 @lulubelle814 @meg81589 @gloriuspurposeposts @theonetruepotato87 @linllewellyn @wistfulclueless @etherealkistar @tinydancer40 @hardtravelerwizard-blog @fangirlofmanysstuff @krabog @soulpiercing @archivelaurarps @banjo-bastard
#loki#fanfiction#mcu#mcu loki#loki fanfiction#loki x reader#mcu fanfiction#loki laufeyson#loki/reader#adventure#time travel#crossover fic#mcu crossover#doctor who#doctor who crossover#mcu/doctor who crossover#tenth doctor#time stone#tva#marvel loki#loki series 2#loki series spoilers#loki season 2#anti-sylvie#anti-sylki
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so if AEIWAM has Rukia starting off as lieutenant, what's the justification for sending her to the Living World at the beginning of the story?
(in the manga, she doesn't get the lieutenant's position until after the end of the Soul Society Arc, even though everyone agrees she's the obvious candidate for it. the position is left vacant after Kaien Shiba's death, with the actual duties being split between 13th company's two 3rd seat officers -- whose names ofc I don't remember, but one of them is Isane Kotetsu's younger sister?)
(I seem to remember Rukia initially not actually having *any* officer's seat because Byakuya wanted her kept away from the more dangerous missions. which is why she's on bog-standard Hollow patrol at the beginning of the series)
(idk if this throws a wrench in your worldbuilding, but you've got a whole construction site going on so what's one more trip hazard? 😅)
About four months before the canon series begins:
-----
Ukitake probably would have been less upset if he'd received the message at the office. Or in person.
Instead, the message had been delivered to him by private courier at his home, right in the middle of dinner. Interrupting his dinner after a long day was enough of a reason for Ukitake to read the boy the riot act, but the sheer- What the hell was he thinking? Was he thinking at all??
He squinted at the letter again. Technically, it was only sent to him on the order of "The Kuchiki Clan" so this could, theoretically, be the nonsense of several different people, and not necessarily Byakuya specifically.
"Best to go address them collectively." He sighed, folding up the letter, sticking it inside his robe, and getting up.
"Sentaro? Kiyone?" he called from the hallway, putting on his Captain's Haori, as this was Official Business. "I need to step out for a bit, you two are in charge until I get back."
"Sir!" Sentaro saluted with enough force that he winced from hitting himself in the head.
"Let me come with you!" Kiyone said cheerfully.
"No, this is a private matter. You stay here and make sure the Division doesn't catch fire." Ukitake said, tying Sogyo No Kotowari to his belt. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but the average mule could learn a thing or five about stubbornness from Byakuya and a show of force might be necessary. He waved to his two third-seats, and stepped out the door.
It wasn't a long walk, but the cool night air gave him some time and space to think.
Someone in the Kuchiki clan had filed a Legal Injunction to prevent the promotion of one Rukia Kuchiki to any seated officer's position. It had arrived less than an hour after Ukitake had sent in the paperwork to finally fill his long-open lieutenant's position, and Rukia wasn't back from her patrol in the Rukongai, so it wasn't Rukia who had told them. Someone was keeping a much-too-close eye on the 13th's operations, and interference like this was dangerous as well as disrespectful.
There was a brief pause at the front gate of the compound where the new guard attempted to rebuff Ukitake by saying he needed to have an appointment.
Hm. I actually am angry. Ukitake decided, as the little prick went on about the importance of security to the clan. He turned away from the guard, squared up in front of the gate, and with a moment's concentration, he kicked through the bar and both doors to the gate neatly off their hinges, quietly enjoying the way one of them cartwheeled over the grounds and around the main building until it came to a stop with a loud splash inside the koi pond.
"Ah. Ukitake-Taicho is on his way to the main house." The guard said over his communicator as Ukitake strode into the compound, having done a very sensible about-face. "Perhaps open the main doors for him."
Indeed, he watched the servants scramble to open the main doors to the house, the maid taking her post to greet him and the others scuttling away at speed to not be on the scene, one of them going so far as to dive into a nearby bush.
"Welcome Ukitake-taicho." Bowed the maid. "The family is currently at dinner."
"Oh good I can speak to all of them!" He beamed, breezing past her and any pretense of etiquette and striding into the family home.
There was an ominous rustle of blossoms in the courtyard.
"I love him like a son, Senbonzakura, but he's behaving rather badly and needs to be corrected." Ukitake explained, not breaking his stride save to give the zanpaktou a sideways glance. "-Unless this is somehow Ginrei's tomfoolery, in which case your master will probably turn him inside out before I have the chance."
Satisfied, the ancient tree stilled.
"Thank you." Ukitake nodded, turning down the hall and came to the dining room, whose doors seem to have been surreptitiously left open rather than risk the wrath of his foot.
"Jushiro," Byakuya spoke calmly as though this were no more than a social call. "-this is a surprise."
"It is a surprise!" Ukitake agreed, voice strained as he tried to keep his tone lighthearted, tossing the legal injunction onto the table. "-I thought you all knew better than to try to tell me how to run my division!"
Byakuya, two of his uncles, a spare cousin and a handful of houseguests all stared at the letter.
"Sorry to interrupt dinner, but the letter only designates that the directive has come from a clan member so I'm not entirely sure whose nonsense this is." Ukitake explained, hands casually on his hips as he waited for an answer.
Byakuya took a sip of water, set his glass down, delicately dabbed his lips dry, and then stood up. "It is my directive, and no-one else's." Behind him, Ginrei reached over to swipe the document from the table and read it at speed. "I think that I've been quite reasonable, given the circumstances."
"Would you like to elaborate on your reasoning here?" Ukitake asked, a sentence that most people recognized as a giant red flag to about face on whatever they had been doing.
If Byakuya had a spiritual animal though, it was probably a Bull, and he interpreted the red flag as a signal to charge. "Given the paucity of heirs the Kuchiki Clan possess, as the head of the family I cannot allow any member to be exposed to an unnecessarily risky position. I am perfectly content for Rukia to be a shinigami but I cannot condone the additional risk of being a seated officer, let alone a lieutenant."
"Are you INSANE?" Hissed Ginrei, staring bug-eyed at his grandson.
"I don't see what all the fuss is about." Byakuya huffed.
Ukitake pressed his hands together in front of his face and sighed deeply. Ah. Yep. That's what I thought.
"Captain Kuchiki." He said, tipping his hands forward for emphasis. "Do you want to step out into the garden with me?"
"Not particularly. I am in the middle of-" Byakuya began and Ginrei grabbed the entire tablecloth in both hands and pulled, ripping the entire meal from the table with a loud shattering of dishware and even Byakuya flinched at the severity of the display.
"OH HOW CLUMSY OF ME." he snarled at his grandson, sauce dripping off his kimono. "Why don't you take our guest out to the garden while this gets cleaned up?"
"...Yes." Byakuya muttered. "I understand the Koi pond has a new architectural feature."
Out in the garden, it was darker, calmer, and easier to speak freely.
"Do you remember the oaths you took when you joined the court guard, and the additional ones you took as captain?" Ukitake asked as they stood in front of the Kio Pond and observed the actually rather aesthetically pleasing way the door had managed to land mostly upright with one end buried in the mud at the and then tipped just enough to be caught by one of the carefully placed standing stones in the middle of the pond, fish gumming at it excitedly.
"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Citizens of the Soul Society against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Court Guard and None Other, that I take this obligation freely, without any compulsion, reservation or secret purpose, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter." Byakuya recited easily.
"Good, good- um." Ukitake rubbed his hands and grimaced as he tried to figure out how to put this "-That bit about 'allegiance to the Court Guard and None Other' You understand what that part means, right?"
"That I have sworn loyalty to the Court Guard and nobody else." Said Byakuya, still confused.
"Right. Right- you understand how 'Nobody Else' includes your own family, right? You're Captain first and Kuchiki second, and an injunction like this looks like the head of a Noble House interfering with the running of the Court Guard and that a hell of a lot like Sedition." Ukitake growled the last word.
Byakuya's eyes widened and he was silent for a long moment. "...Ah."
"Gods help me if Yamamoto had seen this- you understand why we have these rules, right?"
"The warring clans era-" Byakuya started.
"-was still going on when I was a boy!" Ukitake yelped. "It's not long gone-!"
"-Least of all for the Captain-General." Byakuya nodded, wincing. "I. Have made a mistake. I will withdraw the injunction immediately."
"Thank you." Ukitake sighed.
"Thank you also for your. Discretion." Byakuya said, carefully eyeing Ukitake.
"He won't hear about it from me." Ukitake put his hands up in disengagement, the major crisis averted but still- "Look. Is this about how I run my division or is it about you and Rukia?"
Byakuya watched a particularly round red carp swim by, knuckle between his teeth, before answering. "...The Latter."
Ukitake nodded slowly, and took off his captain's Haori and undid Sogyo no Kotowari from his belt, folding up the coat and setting it aside on the ground, sword atop it. "There. My Official Business is concluded. May I speak to you as a friend?"
Byakuya glanced up at him and nodded, turning to face his longtime friend-
The crack from Jushiros backhand rang out through the night loud enough to startle the fish.
"How DARE you disrespect Rukia like that? Do you think she's stupid? Weak?" Jushiro snarled, wide eyed and furious.
Byakuya didn't react for a moment out of shock. Some of his colleagues always had violence on the table as an option (Unohana could reassure someone they would be alive for a long while yet in a way that make one's blood run colder than a january morning), but coming from Ukitake was a nasty surprise, like being bitten by a previously friendly dog. Byakuya's cheekbone reddened and Jushiro tried to pretend his knuckle wouldn't be bruised in the morning, but eventually Byakuya closed his eyes, turning away from him.
"...No."
"Then what's this about?" Jushiro demanded.
"She has to do a tour in the living world to be a seated officer." Byakuya spoke quietly. "-And even someone like Kaien Shiba was killed by a Hollow."
"I know." Jushiro sighed, rubbing his brow in frustration. "I know." he repeated, softly this time, dropping his hand and grimacing.
Byakuya looked sideways at him, eyes shining.
"Believe me- I've done everything I can to prepare her for this and then some. She's as ready for this as anyone can be." Jushiro tried to reassure him. "...But you can't keep her locked away from the horrors of the universe. That'll kill her more surely than anything she might face in battle."
Byakuya sighed, rubbing his face, but nodded. "No. You're right." He mumbled, looking exhausted. "She needs to go, and I have no right to stop her."
Jushiro opened his arms, offering Byakuya an embrace, and to his surprise, Byakuya stepped in, leaning heavily on his friend's shoulder.
"It hurts." Byakuya mumbled.
"I know. Gods above, I know." Jushiro sighed, rubbing Byakuya's shoulder. "Can you believe what you just said?"
Byakuya nodded into his shoulder.
"As in, can you believe it right now?"Jushiro asked, pushing Byakuya back upright and holding him by the shoulders. "Because Rukia is going to be here any-"
"NII-SAMA! NIIIII-SAMAAAAA!!" Rukia almost shrieked with joy, bounding through the house behind them and sliding onto the porch with such force that she actually slid right off it and into the garden lawn, quickly recovering and sprinting for them. "GUESS WHAT?! UKITAKE-TAICHO JUST NOMIN- oh hey Ukitake-Taicho! What are you doing here?" She started and stopped.
"I lightly misjudged your arrival home, but don't worry, I haven't told anyone yet!" he smiled cheerfully.
"Oh- Um- Ukitake-Taicho nominated me to be his Lieutenant!" She beamed, all brightness and joy at Byakuya. "This means I can finally take my tour of duty in the Living World! I know, I know it's a serious responsibility but- Oh come on! It's so cool! I'll get to see what's been going on in the human world- there's that magical Cocola Juice that Kira tried that almost cured his depression, and building with the Tests Of Skill Renji saw-oh! Maybe I'll learn how to drive an Automobile like Momo did!"
Byakuya managed to smile softly at her as she rambled about the other wonders of the living world, and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm very proud of you." he said, and meant it, even if he was holding back the and I'm absolutely terrified for you.
Rukia sniffled, eyes welling up with tears. "R-really?"
"Of course. You've grown into a fine shinigami. Hisana would be proud too." he smiled gently, opening his arms.
Rukia's lip wobbled, and then she tackled him for a hug, sobbing into his chest. Byakuya stroked her back as she babbled her apologies about being so excited but she's waited AGES for this and she wanted Hisana to see and-
Byakuya looked up at Jushiro as she cried, looking on the verge of tears himself. Jushiro squeezed his arm to reassure him before putting his own hand on Rukia's shoulder. "Rukia! This is a happy occasion!" he teased.
"Sorry, Ukitake-taicho." she sniffled, almost rubbing the tears away on here sleeve before stopping and pulling out a handkerchief, a habit Byakuya had spent the previous forty years ingraining into her.
"Why don't you go tell Ginrei the good news and I'll see if the kitchens can whip up something celebratory?" Jushiro smiled and Rukia nodded, bolting off, nearly sliding off the porch again, and calling for her adopted grandfather.
"Thank you, again." Byakuya whispered. "I had been exceptionally foolish. If the injunction had gone through- even without the captain-general's reaction- ...I would have terribly hurt her."
"Yes. Yes you had." Jushiro nodded. "But I'm glad I caught you in time, for both your sakes. Let's go see about getting Rukia some cake, or should we break out the good sake?"
***
The following morning, Byakuya awoke to a bright light and a piercing headache.
"Nii-sama?" Rukia called softly, and once again, Byakuya was forced to wonder what God had blessed Rukia with an apparent immunity to Hangovers.
"Rukia?" he groaned.
"Can I ask you something? Well. Two things?"
"Sure, just- ow. Come in and close the door after you?" He groaned, sitting up. Six AM, barely four hours since the party had wrapped up. Rukia entered, shutting the door against the early morning light and sitting down beside his bed.
"I- it occurred to me while I was cleaning up and I couldn't sleep, but- I promise, I won't be angry, but I need to know-" She sighed. "It's been one thing or another preventing me from doing my required tour of duty in the living world for AGES, and- You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?"
Byakuya was silent for a moment. "Some of it, yes." He admitted.
"...Why?" She asked, sounding pained. "I- I promise I've trained and studied as hard as I can-"
"If something happened to you, after I promised Hisana- I- I don't know what I would do!" He snapped, entirely too distraught for this hour of the morning. "I'm sorry, Rukia. You're my sister and all I have left but it was still wrong of me to try to hold you back, just because I was scared of losing you."
Rukia stared at him, stunned, before she tackle-hugged him again, slamming him back into the bed.
"...I love you too, Nii-sama." She mumbled from the middle of his chest. "-But you are so STUPID sometimes!" she groaned from his chest.
"My Apologies." he sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "It's genetic, so you need to watch out for it too."
Rukia tipped he head up, squinting at him.
"That is. A Joke." he smiled down at her and she groaned, rolling off his chest to lie next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, enjoying her presence while he could.
"What was the other thing you wanted to ask?" he said after a few moments of pleasant silence, the morning chorus of birds starting to sing.
"Oh yeah!" Rukia sat up, gesturing out in the general direction of the gardens with her thumb. "What's the front gate doing in the Koi pond?"
#AEIWAM#an elephant is warm and mushy#Bleach#bleach fanfic#byakuya kuchiki#rukia kuchiki#jushiro ukitake
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What are the four seasonal gods like generally? Sol seems to just be A Little Bit Chaotic, Midnight is said to be benevolent, but what about Rock and One Eye? (I know One Eye requires sacrifices? But ig that wouldn't necessarily make him malicious? Idk fsgcghdfj)
I'd like to learn more in general! Gods and mythology go brrrrr
ALL of them can actually take sacrifices, it just so happens that only Sol and One Eye have actually done it in the timeframe of BB.
It doesn't HAVE to be blood either, it can be anything of value. Sol and One Eye are just like that.
SOL
He gets bored easily.
It's not that he's evil, he's just self-absorbed. Everything is about having fun.
He really was a pretty terrible god, though. Fallenleaf comes to learn his services are in high demand, and he was really needed.
You might think he's vengeful, but he's not. If you beat him according to the rules they agreed on, that's winning fair and square.
I feel like he feels kind of bad he abandoned Harry so quickly, like he knows it was a dick move and he kiiiiinda doesn't want to think about it.
Something about him is more mortal than anyone realizes, but even I'm not sure how. He's strange compared to other gods, as if he didn't lose himself in the ascension to godhood.
Ironic for a God of Change.
MIDNIGHT
Is lonely. So lonely.
She can give you eternal life, but no one ever takes it. Why does no one ever take it?
But she's too nice to overstay her welcome or defy a request. And too cowardly to explore the world and find more people who leave eventually.
So she just stays in her den by the ocean, hosting all who pass through.
Minds her own business and draws cats to her as visitors.
Fallenleaf liked her at first, but has actually grown a negative view of her. Midnight wants something and won't go get it, using her immense power to just stare at the ocean.
What a waste!
I feel like she keeps a distance from mortals because she feels like she has some kind of obligation to not interfere. Besides, what good is a god no one wants to visit?
Shouldn't people WANT to go out of their way to seek her wisdom??
(And then she drags them towards her anyway lmao. Actually a very funny character. I have thoughts about her)
ONE EYE
He likes to see what words people use for him.
He likes to see what people call upon him, too.
This entity is not one who forces himself upon the land. He simply comes when he is called and they call him evil. Another one of his many names, he says.
At leaaaast... that's what he says. He is a VERY vindictive being when he feels slighted. If you declare war upon him, he will finish it.
"Scorched Earth" translates directly.
He can be incredibly cordial though. Surprisingly so. I actually have been thinking of having him visit each Clan in Thunderstar's Justice, meeting with its leaders, testing who would be his greatest partner.
During Hollyleaf's Century, Lion's Roar summoned him with a certain number of sacrifices.
But once One Eye moved into his body as a vessel, he didn't let go.
He was still using Lion's Roar as a vessel in DOTC. Lion's Roar had lost all control of his body, practically hollowed out.
I have a really clear feeling of his personality but it's hard to put into words. He's charming. He's well-spoken. His words smell like roses and sound like trickling blood. He asks to be invited and refuses to leave. If you offend him he will destroy you. He is interested in you. He watches hungrily like a snake.
And he ate Tom, partially because he was delicious, but primarily because he was a disobedient and disrespectful rat who did not know his place.
Star Flower is expected to know her place, too. She serves him. He is kind to her, and she loves him, but if she has to give up her life for him-- he expects her service.
As a god of war, sun, and fire, he's every bit as dangerous as you think he is.
You don't kill Gods. You trick them. Sun Shadow tricked him, seeing his body was unstable, and challenged,
"You are not the sun. Behold the sun that shines above us! It is there and you are here!"
"Haa. Your taunt shall not work. I am the sun and I shine just as bright."
"You do not shine now. I see no shine."
"Then behold!"
And that's how Sun Shadow got the guy to explode himself inside his shitty battered vessel LMAO
I have this full story in my head I just need to write it out tbh.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST
ROCK
He wants to be left alone. He does not like you
He wasn't always this way. He is a god of measurement, archival, the night sky, memory. Quintessence and moonbeams, that which subsisteth, and what seems.
And once upon a time, he hosted a trial for those who wished to be his temporary vessels. Going down into the tunnels wasn't a trial for ALL warriors, just those who sought his ancient knowledge.
Once upon a time, he believed that the purpose of knowledge was to be shared, but only to those who would do right with it. He chose his vessels carefully and benevolently.
But what happened in Hollyleaf's Century changed him. It killed him. A selfish tyrant, the actions of her opposition, the senseless destruction of the victorians humans...
And then his vessel, Jay's Wing, was murdered. He felt him die and he couldn't save him; he's just a god of truth. Not of affecting it.
He's kinda got Sotha Sil vibes. His last big action was burying his vessel and casting a great spell upon a patch of Old Growth forest in what's now ThunderClan; the humans did not see it for many years, as if it simply wasn't important.
When the illusion faded, the humans simply believed they had not noticed it, or had underestimated its size.
Funfact: humans have big brains and lots of meat and are easy to disorient. That patch has a reputation for confusing people, hikers get lost there a lot.
Doesn't like people. Especially doesn't like Sol or Fallenleaf, refusing to distinguish that they are two different entities.
"You won't be, eventually. No I won't help you avoid that fate. Fuck you"
Has a softness for Jayfeather in particular and no one else. He would have let Hollypaw and those kits drown if he wasn't part of the group, that day.
But also Jay knows how to annoy him. If it wasn't for the fact he was the reincarnation of his beloved and tragically killed Final Vessel, he would have let him drown long ago.
Lightly malicious, in a way. Doesn't value mortal life. Mean.
Kinda ironic that Jay's reincarnation is more like Rock in this life than he is to Jay's Wing. Rock would lament that his influence has ruined him.
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Hey I would like to request a good omens Crowley x reader angsty sad fic where they are pining over him but he loves aziraphale and they don’t want to interfere. Kind of Laufey’s song Let You Break My Heart Again vibes. Thx!!❤️
"Why couldn't I have what THEY had, [y/n]?! Maybe it's...it's all part of God's great ineffable plan! As if fallin' weren't enough...y'know? Why not allow him to walk outta my life and crawl back to the other angelss, too? Keep fuckin' me over, I suppose. This must be karma, I swear.."
"Crowley.." You began, only to stop as the demon on the other end of the line continued his drunken sorrowful ramblings.
He was still clearly hurting, and you were his only company left.
The only one who knew about him and Aziraphale and everything they've done together for the past 6,000 years.
You've been around for a thousand or so, not aligned with Heaven nor Hell, but living as a simple immortal being.
However, only very recently have you learned that they've in fact known each other since the very dawn of Creation.
So their history goes way back.
It's no secret that Crowley's been pining after the angel all these years, forced to pretend he hates him just because he was on the "opposite side".
But he was sick of doing all of that, and finally got the courage to tell him how he really felt. He begged him to stay, to stop taking sides, and to think about just them for once.
In the end, Aziraphale still chose the side that shunned him for conspiring with a demon, halting Armageddon, and hiding Gabriel on Earth...all because he was offered a higher position of power and couldn't so easily let go of Heaven.
Not as easily as Crowley could. He couldn't understand that, or why Gabriel and Beelzebub could go off together and they couldn't.
Now you were here, having to comfort the very same demon that you've fallen in love with yourself.
It felt like such a selfish desire, knowing that you haven't lived nearly as long as either of them. You weren't there at the beginning of Everything. You weren't there at the Garden of Eden.
You could never fully understand their deep-rooted bond.
There's no way he would ever see you in a remotely similar light.
Even still, the heart wants what it wants..even if it's unobtainable.
"Listen, Crowley.." You tried speaking again. "I'm next in line, do you want anything?"
Perhaps that was rather poorly worded, as you heard a sniffle and what sounded like him holding back a sob. "I just want him to come back.." His voice broke.
There was that feeling again, constricting your human heart with pain.
It was such a fickle organ, you often thought. It kept people alive, yet when put through emotional toil..it felt like it was killing them, and they wanted nothing more than to rip it out of their chest to be rid of the pain.
But right in this moment, you felt like that because deep down...you wish he instead said that he wanted-
"W-Wait..you're..at that café 'cross the bookshop, right?" You heard Crowley mumble. "I'll get the usual..assuming she remembers. Actually...don't bother-"
"It's fine, Crow. It'll be my treat. I'm getting something, too...not that we actually need it. But we both enjoy it, right?"
"...right." He chuckled depressingly. "Fine. I'll be outside."
That was a surprise, although when you briefly glanced outside the window of Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death, you noticed the Bentley parked next to the sidewalk. You sighed, hanging up the phone before you stepped up to the register, smiling at Nina.
"Hello, Nina. I'll have my usual..and Mr. Crowley's, too. Six espresso shots, was it? And one of those [favorite flavor] pies, pretty please." You pointed to the menu.
"On it." She nodded, already getting to work on your order. "You know, I haven't seen that chap around in a while. How's he holding up? I heard he took it pretty hard."
"Yeah." You muttered, recalling how you've talked to her about your own feelings for Crowley.
You weren't expecting a human to solve the relationship woes of immortal beings when she herself was going through her own issues.
She worried that her and Maggie's little "intervention" caused the demon and angel to split up, but you didn't blame her. And neither did Crowley, although he was torn between wishing he didn't kiss Aziraphale and wondering if he'd regret not doing that at all.
He hasn't been back at the coffee shop since.
"Well, do you plan to tell him anytime soon?"
You nearly choked on your own spit. "N-Nina...I..I can't just do that. He clearly doesn't see me that way. He talks about him every day and night. I've stayed up past midnight consoling him, letting him stay with me the moment I learned he's sleeping outta his car. But...it's him he loves, not me. And I can't interfere with that..it would be wrong."
"Then...what's your plan from here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"..I'm not sure anymore. I guess hope that one day..I'll stop falling in love with him. Maybe his angel will come back and everything will be as it was."
"Sounds like wishful thinking at this point, but I'm sure things will work out. Maybe he'll move on."
"I doubt it, but time will tell."
"Right." After finishing the drinks, she set them down into a cupholder, before giving you the pie as well. You paid and bid her farewell before heading out of the café and to the Bentley.
Inside, you saw Crowley sulking, lost in thought until you knocked on the passenger's window. He sat up with a start, fixing his glasses when he realized it was you. "S-Sorry."
The door opened, and you slid inside, passing him the tall cup with tons of espresso shots. "It's okay. So..where did you wanna go today?"
"I was thinkin'..St. James Park. Feel like I've been neglecting the ducks for far too long."
You blinked. 'Wasn't that..his and Aziraphale's thing-?'
"Yeah, I know..it...was our thing." He responded as though he read your mind. "'s just..been so lonely without him to chatter to. I hate siting all alone on that bench. But it's not like I can just walk Upstairs and tell him to screw all of them, right?"
"Sadly..no." Shaking your head, you glanced over your shoulder at the plants he's shoved into his backseat. Closest to you was a venus fly trap that had spots and other flaws, looking rather frail and wilted and sad.
Not too different from how its owner felt.
You smiled sadly and stroked the top of its head with your thumb, feeling it cease its trembles. Its mouth closed as it seemed to...purr?
How cute.
"Well would ya look at that...ya even treat the bloody things the same as he did.."
You tensed, looking back to Crowley and frowning upon seeing the tears sliding down his cheeks. But he was quick to wipe them away once you noticed them, yet a sniffle still managed to escape him.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to keep doing stuff that reminds you of him.." You set a hand on his back. "Do you...want me to drive?"
"No, it's fine.." He shook his head, sniffling loudly one last time before he managed to pull himself together. "Let's just..go."
You nodded, taking a sip of your coffee and a small bite of your pie, before you reached for the radio-
However, you forgot that the Bentley was sentient, instead turning it on for you and playing a song that nearly made you choke once again.
"--All I've had is coffee and leftover pie. It's no wonder why. Ooooh, still you take up all my mind. I don't even think that you care like I do. I should stop, Heaven knows I've tried..."
Even Crowley froze as he listened to the lyrics.
And not because it wasn't a Queen song.
"One day, I will stop falling in love with you."
Neither of you spoke a word, instead staring at the dashboard with looks of sadness upon your faces. You thought he would've changed the song by now, but...when you looked over, you could see his glasses now resting on the bridge of his nose.
His golden irises have almost completely taken over the whites of his eyes.
What little you saw of them..
Were growing redder and glossier.
"Some day, someone will like me like I like you."
You felt your own eyes start to sting, too, so you looked away and opted to pet the venus fly trap that was nuzzling your hand, clearly asking for more much-needed affection.
Sentient plants were easy to comfort.
If only your demon friend could be the same way..
If only you could show him that you wished to be more than just friends..but this simply wasn't your place to tell him that.
Not here, not now...and possibly not ever. For as long as you lived on this mortal plane.
All you could hope was that one day, the feeling will pass.
If Aziraphale came back, things might be better. You wished the idiot would at least check in with you both once in a while so you knew he was alive.
If that's the last time you hear from him, well....you weren't sure if Crowley would ever want to try loving again after what he's suffered through. He poured his heart out, only for it to get broken and stomped on before being left all alone on Earth.
He couldn't go through that again.
And you didn't wanna say anything about how you felt for the centuries you've known him. He could very well perceive that as you trying to replace him and ruin this friendship.
The wounds in his heart are still clearly fresh..and they likely will be for a long, long time.
For now, you'll just be by his side and be mindful. Perhaps he'll eventually realize how you felt about him...but you doubt it.
"Until then, I'll drink my coffee, eat my pie. Pretend we are more than friends. Then of course, I'll let you break my heart again-"
Crowley's hand suddenly shot towards the button, the car filling with an abrupt silence as he shut off the music. Then he switched between several Queen songs, eyebrows furrowed as none of them seemed to suit his current mood.
If Queen didn't make him happy anymore...he was seriously in emotional distraught.
But eventually he settled for "Somebody to Love", and you smiled, wiping your eyes as you leaned back in the seat. "Good choice."
He nodded absentmindedly, before finally driving off to the park after adjusting his glasses.
No further words were exchanged. You didn't even scold him for speeding down the tightly-knitted roads of London. That's the last thing he needed right now.
Especially since you picked up that habit from Aziraphale.
But even as Freddie's voice reverberated through the Bentley, you two couldn't stop thinking about the lyrics of Laufey's song and what it meant to both of you.
Yet the people it reminded you of...were completely different.
#ough i listened to this song on repeat while editing this </3#hurts like a bish#clanask#good omens x reader#good omens 2 spoilers#crowley x reader#ineffable husbands#immortal reader#angst
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Atsushi joins the Sheep
Atsushi running away from the Orphanage at 9 years old, knowing about his ability.
Trying to get as far from the place as possible and ending up in Suribachi City.
Atsushi manages to lay low for a while, but one day he realises the food he just stole was from 13 year old Chuuya Nakahara himself.
Whoops.
Chuuya is pissed because that my food damnit, and than amused and confused when he finally corners and sees the teeny theif.
Atsushi is just like I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm so sorry Mister Nakahara!
Chuuya sighs, tells him to chill out and splits the food with him.
Atsushi, poking his head out from his hands and carefully taking a piece before lighting up and eating it.
Chuuya will deny it later, but the kid is adorable.
They end up running into each other more, at one point Chuuya uses his ability and Atsushi with all the tact of a kid is like "you're a monster too?!"
Chuuya frowns, but notices that Atsushi isn't saying it as insult. Kid's looking at Chuuya in starry eyed awe.
Chuuya: Monster? Wait...lights up You have an ability too?!
Atsushi: excited, loud whisper I'm a tiger!
Chuuya: pauses That's not poss....thinks about Arahabaki you know what, why not.
They grow close and Chuuya asks if Atsushi can join the Sheep, as a way to give him some protection.
The Sheep are reluctant especially with Atsushi's young age but allow it once they find out he's got an ability.
Atsushi, ecstatic to have a family soon worms his way into everyone's hearts.
Though he stays at Chuuya's side, to the point people joke he's like Chuuya's guard dog.
This doesn't please everyone, because some of the Sheep are friendly but others see Chuuya as more of a weapon than human.
And that starts to include Atsushi.
Especially when the full moon comes and Atsushi transforms, Chuuya is able to get him somewhere where he can't harm anyone and stays by his side throughout his transformation.
Atsushi is afraid Chuuya will leave and Chuuya just hugs him close and says he never will.
Some of the Sheep, especially Shirase think of setting Atsushi onto their enemies during a full moon but don't voice those ideals.
Chuuya is very protective of him and the threat of his wrath keeps them quiet.
Atsushi is oblivious to all of this, he can sense somethings up but they all act kindly to him so he has no idea.
He learns to steal, learns to be stealthy and even control his ability better, though full moons are still eventful.
Each one Chuuya stays at his side.
2 years later, Port Mafia Executive Osamu Dazai comes a calling and Chuuya ends up going with him to learn about Arahabaki.
It's the first time Chuuya is away from Atsushi, not wanting him to get in danger nor for Dazai to learn about him.
After finding out about Chuuya's deal with Dazai and the Port Mafia, the Sheep turn on him.
They consider turning on Atsushi too because of his loyalty to Chuuya.
But learn Atsushi has no idea about what Chuuya's been up to and realise that they can use Atsushi against him.
Atsushi ends up being drugged so he can't interfere when they and the GSS attack Chuuya.
When Atsushi wakes up he's told he was drugged by the Port Mafia who were trying to kidnapp him.
Atsushi is told that Chuuya abandoned the Sheep to join the Mafia, which he doesn't believe at all but than sees footage from the arcade of Chuuya's deal with Dazai.
And is asked to decide if he will leave or stay.
Atsushi's heart shatteres because yes the Sheep were all like family too him but Chuuya was his big brother.
His big brother who promised he'd never leave him... And now he's gone.
For the first time in Atsushi's life he feels angry. Angry at Chuuya for leaving him, angry at Dazai and the Port Mafia for taking his big brother away.
But most of all he's angry at himself for not being able to protect his family, for not being enough for Chuuya to stay.
The Headmaster was right, Atsushi was never made to be loved.
He was a monster and Chuuya had finally realised that.
But he could protect those he had left....
Atsushi now 11 years old, makes his choice and kneels before Shirase, the new King of the Sheep
Elsewhere Chuuya kneels before Mori, head of the Port Mafia.
Atsushi: Then I dedicate my blood and all I am to you, your majesty.
Chuuya: I will protect this organisation that you work to support.
Atsushi: And I will work with you to decimate your enemies.
Chuuya: Our enemies will come to fear my crushing gravity.
Atsushi: That will crush those who oppose the Sheep.
Shirase: smirks because he's won Welcome to the Sheep, Atsushi Nakajima.
Mori: smiles Welcome to the Port Mafia, Chuuya Nakahara.
Chuuya doesn't go back for Atsushi because he was badly injured, and was lead to believe that when Shirase stabbed him that he'd already killed Atsushi.
Chuuya goes on but even at 22 he refuses to work on a full moon night. On those nights he spends alone grieving his little brother.
While Atsushi transforms alone, locked up and chained so he doesn't hurt anyone.
With no Chuuya to comfort him and none of the Sheep able to deal with his tranformed state.
Atsushi grows, he stays kind at his core but he's also bitter and cold. There was no one to sheild him when Chuuya left, and he had to learn fast.
He's ruthless in a way he never was, he's beloved by the Sheep but their King and many of its members see him as nothing but a weapon.
More beast than man.
That is how they both remain until years down the line when Chuuya drops his glass in shock during a meeting.
"Did you... Did you just say a tiger...?"
"Hm? Well yes there's been tale of a rampaging tiger in Yokohama.
It's believed to be the work of an ability user, quite a crafty one indeed there's a seven billion yen bounty on its head."
#Atsushi joins the Sheep#atsushi nakajima#chuuya nakahara#bungou stray dogs#bsd#chuya nakahara#bsd chuuya#bsd atsushi#dazai osamu#bsd port mafia#bsd 15
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TRANSPARENCY
ver they/them is sherlock he/him mod
john he/him is johns mod.
all purple are links.
hello,, i think to start this, i will have to be very transparent. this is going to push a lot of my comfort zones, and... well, writing this is going to... be very difficult for me. i'm sorry. if i give too much leeway, some friends may be upset. if i speak at all, i fear i'm losing some automatically.
but, i wanted to speak up. push myself. my friend gave me the okay, and along with bewitched they are both giving me the courage every day. 🥺🥺🥺
i struggle with speaking up. my co-mod was always the one who, spoke for me. in my life; i am very much a wallflower. in my personal life, people don't like how i am so very willing to see the good in people, even if they hurt me. this is because i was abused and neglected started from a young age.
due to my abuse;
i have a dissociative disorder
it makes it very hard for me to interact with people around me in my day to day life. whenever i am stressed, whenever i feel i should be quiet-i was conditioned well-or if anyone so much as changes their tones, i'll be gone. it's questioning when i come back, but it's often when i'm more comfortable.
so, when someone is out of line, or otherwise mean to me, i would dissociate, and often forget about it. my caretaker once commented on how i wasn't there mentally, i didn't have the ability to hold a grudge. it was not because of a mental deformity, but the neglect i suffered.
i was only ever "real" during happy moments. i would lose focus during un-happy moments. it was easy to create false memories, especially if all i had to go on was my (caretakers) retelling of any story.
my memories, my thoughts and feelings on people, are based entirely of whatever i can remember of them at that moment, and what other's tell me about the memories/people. my reality is easy to be altered. (which is why i stepped back so long, all my thoughts are based on my partner of 10 years, childhood friends who do not interact with this website or anyone in it, or some of my friends who have been helping me correct my behavior who have all stayed out of it for their general lack of like of drama and also it helps me tremendously to interact with the world "alone" and learn how to proceed in my life/process. alone as in they don't interfere, other than advice i ask for. mostly i'm saying i purposeful stepped back from ver and bewitched -and john- anyone involved and spoke to those not involved for my opinions here. )
the best coping mechanism we found is to be extremely grounded. the last year has become the best year of our life after we became aware how severe the abuse was and why i've been the way i have. (we as in my partner and i. we have been together for 9 years now. )
this is why i struggle keeping a narrative for long. i'll lose it, i'll go through various stages of understanding, or memory loss. my narrative is based on those around me and what i see, and other things i can trust. it takes awhile, so i can gather what other's think of what's happened around me, so i can base the truth off it.
(i stayed out of this because i couldn't just, listen to everyone when this is /my/ experience. hence why i talked to my partner, or other -childhood friends not related to anyone here in this space- about such topics for so long, or other trusted friends, until i could gather an idea that isn't biased from my friends. because i trusted john, it hurt a lot for this to happen, it was hard to believe, hence dissociation and why it took so long. heughhh... )
also, yes, co-mod
i co-moded this blog once. if you know who the co-mod is, please keep it private. we have since talked and he has agreed to stay out, he's leaving me to handle the experiences on this account. he has remained quiet by my request. he now has only commented on his own experiences on his blog, only. john never knew the identity of this other person, in fact i don't think i told him my identity either. we spoke as "i" or "we".
edit: gdi pookie i said keep it private wts
my co-mod quit the fucking whore
thats a joke i don't mind they quit. poor communication, i would dissociate and he disapproved that i was continuously supporting him [john] even though i was clearly, by my own mind's definition, in discomfort talking to him. i wanted to be a good mod, keep contact with the other mods. ): i didn't like how he treated people behind the scenes, gossip and stuff. devaluing sherlock for a long time.
my friendship and thoughts on john and ver
i don't think ver is emotionally manipulative, but i didn't think john was abusive either. john has certainly shown he has been abusive since the split at least, but it suspects he could have always been abusive.
john planned replacing sherlock with his friend, from early january at least, but i suspected it back around august 2023
he said early on ver would deserve being replaced. said mine would be a better sherlock once, said he was tired of ver's sherlock, supported the idea of the other sherlocks popping up since jan but said they were also crazy and not to talk to them.
but anyway, here's wonderwall
aka my statement
there are boundaries. revealing personal information about ver, at first in private (with me, who else could he have? ) and then later in public, or messaging them after they (publicly ) told him to stop. then slander, or public harassment (public attempts to communicate, or throw accusations at, or now accuse of sending anon asks without proof -turn off anon asks then john. ) i don't know what happened in private, but publicly john has continuously escalated a situation that ver has attempted to be quiet and respectful on continuously.
i ended my friendship with john because of his continued abuse towards ver since he abruptly and without warning replaced ver.
uh , last thoughts? and a message from me
john was a mean girl who decided to fully bully and harass ver now that ver was free.
ver is just emotional and reacted to johns /empty/ threats of quitting.
which again is mean of him, empty threats, he knew he wanted to replace ver, not quit lol
since he kicked ver out and cut them off, he has continuously reached out, even after ver requested he stop. he has no even made a new account (sherlockbbc-rp blog ) so that he could interact with us (we all had to re-block him, or otherwise ignore him ) since we all have been trying to move on
he is obsessed with ver, which is weird when john is the one who wanted ver gone. ver even tried to help john every step of the way (and wanted the same respect and help. ) which john refused. i believe ver and believe john blew them off until he replaced him, since he's refused my help in similar ways countless times.
i hope ver can move on and recover, they do seem really shaken up and shy because of this event, and john continuously just, escalates. now that we've all done statements, i want to help ver move on. i want to plan and plot more interactions, i want to help cheer them up. i hope johns friends continue to watch and take care of him too, but i honestly am happy i'm not one of them now. it's stressful. i don't need to be friends with someone who puts that much thought into slandering and harassing someone and has no intentions of growing as a person and stopping that behavior. i've been trying, and i'm sure most of my friends would agree i'm doing so much better. i am proud of my improvements, and i am so very proud of ver for moving on and taking all steps i would have. i am not proud of john. i am proud of me for leaving john. my friends are proud, it was difficult for me, very very difficult.
this was difficult to write. as said, in my personal life, i am too soft, too nice. last ex, i remember we talked it out and ended with me saying (so us agreeing ) we were both too immature for the relationship. in reality they were cheating and petty lol. i.. i am often harassed for, not... speaking up, for taking blame, for ending so many things on good terms. two people i respected a lot even judged me when it took me so long to cut john out of my life. it hurt a lot. i've withdrawn a lot, since then. i am excited to move on from this chapter of my life, and continue growing as a person, from poor behavior to just being more assertive.
thank you for reading this, i... i feel no one really cares, but a close friend comforted me, and reminded me that even if no one else cares, that my friend ver appreciates me helping. i was silent so long, partially their request, some was a mutual agreement between me and my co-mod, and a lot was processing... what was going on with john. please be respectful, please be patient with me. this was my friend too. this was ver's friend once too. thank you to my friend, thank you to my continued friends for always helping me in correcting my behavior, or just remaining patient with me during this journey the last year with my own personal growth, and thank you to bewitched and ver for giving me the courage and help to speak out in the first place. i love and appreciate all of you very much.
john, please stop trying to contact me.
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Announcements and Updates
I already mentioned this with my anniversary comic this morning (I'm glad people seemed to like "it's back on air"), but Dungeons and Daddies the Manga is a whole year old today and I wanted to talk about a couple things!
For starters, thank you to everyone who's been on this journey with me, from those of you who have been here since lesson 1 to those of you who only just discovered lesson 42 yesterday (you probably don't exist because the tags hated lesson 42). Whether you like or reblog every single lesson, you silently read the updates without ever interacting with them, and even if you fell out of the fandom but you read the manga at some point, I appreciate you all so deeply.
I might be making this a bigger deal than it actually is, but Dungeons and Daddies the Manga is a really special project to me. I'm so proud of my growth and I've put a genuinely crazy amount of time and effort into this. There was a time when I was trying to catch up when this was basically a second job. I would come home from work and draw manga pages until I went to sleep, it was all I did, it probably wasn't healthy tbh. People in the discord know, I've gotten crazy efficient at making these, if I don't have anything else going on, I can pump out 2-3 of these a day when new episodes drop. I've never undertaken a project this big before, I'm more the kind of person with a million abandoned first chapters, so to actually still be keeping up with this is huge for me, so I'm hyping this up a little bit.
If anyone has ever thought, "wow, I would love to support cereal financially! They seem to work very hard and would probably really like some money! I would also love some of cereal's cute art to plaster on my belongings," please keep your eyes open, I'll be dropping stickers in near future (Taylor in the trash can will be one of them)! I meant to have them ready for today, but I've never sold anything online before, and I'm kind of stumbling through the process. I'll try to have them up soon! So keep an eye out in the upcoming weeks.
For those of you who only care about Dungeons and Daddies the Manga, you can stop reading here, thank you so much for enjoying my manga this past year! For anyone interested in some personal updates and projects, please keep reading, I've been working on something I'm finally ready to announce.
I've learned a lot from my work on Dungeons and Daddies the Manga. My art has improved a lot, and it's still improving all the time, and I've really come to love making comics. Which is why maybe it won't be so surprising to learn I've decided to start an original webcomic. This webcomic won't interfere with my work on the manga, no need to worry, but as much as I love the manga, and the DnDads community, there's only so much I feel like I get back from it. I've been pouring so much time, energy, and love into Dungeons and Daddies the Manga over the past year, and I'm so proud of my product, but I want to start putting some of all that into something that's actually mine. I've been through a weird past couple of months where I went through some really bad burnout, looked around my life and realized "oh wow, this ALL sucks! I don't like a single thing I have going on here!" So, I quit my job, moved, and while I've been restructuring my life, I started dusting off some of those old abandoned first chapters I mentioned earlier and getting back into original work.
The webcomic is called The Rotting Things, I've teased it a very little bit here and there. It's about a boy with a power that is slowly but surely killing him and a man said to be unable to die trying to maneuver through a world of magic that hates anyone unlucky enough to be able to wield it.
I'm kind of nervous about starting a webcomic, but I've been waiting to be "good enough" to put something out there for a very long time, and I'm trying to come to terms with the fact I'll never be fully happy with my own work and just diving in. It would mean a lot to me if anyone wanted to give it a chance.
An eight page prologue will be dropping next Friday, September 29th, after which pages will start to drop one at a time every Friday. We'll see how I handle the one update a week schedule, it might go up to two pages a week depending on how confident I feel. Just like the manga was, this will be a learning curve for me, but I'm eager to try it out! Please give it a shot!
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Kedreeva, may I ask your opinion on a fic commenting issue?
If a reader leaves a comment on a fic that results in the writer giving up on it, would you automatically think that reader was in the wrong?
Here's why I'm asking. I've been writing a fic for almost a year, but I've been struggling with it for the last month or so. I've lost focus, don't know what I'm doing with it anymore, can't keep the plot on track, no longer feel the joy for it that I used to feel.
This morning, a reader left a comment on the fic saying what I know in my heart. It's wandering off, it's lost focus, it's become long and bloated and isn't going anywhere anymore. I need to learn to edit, to tell a proper story instead of just wittering on and on.
Not gonna lie. The comment made me cry. But at the same time, the reader is absolutely right. Everything they said was true.
Reading the comment gave me the courage to do what I should have done two months ago. I put up a note telling readers I've lost my way with the fic and it's time to move on to other projects. I felt sad, but a little relieved at the same time.
I explained the situation to an online fic buddy, and they were furious at the reader who left the comment, said they had no business saying something like that, and the remarks were completely uncalled for.
But I feel like the reader's honesty made me realize the truth of the situation. The fic has turned into an unfixable mess - I just couldn't acknowledge that until someone said it loudly right to my face.
Was that reader in the wrong? I don't feel they were, but my buddy disagrees. Would love to know what you think.
Your buddy is right that the reader was in the wrong in so far as etiquette goes. Whether or not the reader was correct has no bearing on the etiquette of the situation, which is that (at least on AO3), unsolicited criticism is considered rude to leave.
Compare the context to another situation; if a writer makes a typo and a reader comments to correct the typo, without being asked to do so first, it doesn't matter that the spelling correction is correct. The correctness of the comment has no bearing on the etiquette of giving unsolicited criticism. It's still rude to leave because the author didn't request interference or assistance, and the reader has no idea what effect the comment will have on the author.
Now, that in no way means that you, personally, have to be angry with this particular reader or hurt by their action. If you feel it helped you, then it helped you. Individual writers may have mixed or even positive associations with crit, solicited or not, and that's totally cool. I, myself, am not going to suffer any great consequence if someone criticizes my work (I don't like it, but fuck 'em, it's not going to stop me or anything), but they're still going to get an earful back, because I have seen too many people hurt or leave because some readers can't follow the golden rule, and I don't want to see the more vulnerable people pushed out of my community.
Because the point of the etiquette here IS to protect the vulnerable people in our communities. Fandom in general is FULL of vulnerable people, and fanfiction often exposes soft bits of the author. You may have taken it well enough and resolved a personal issue because of it, but that same type of comment given to someone just starting out or to someone in a delicate/sensitive part of their life (for example, if they are experiencing hardships in real life and writing to escape that for a little while) or just simply writing as a fun hobby... that kind of comment can do a lot of damage. You chose to stop because you already knew you were having problems with the story. Another person may choose to stop not because they want to or because it's a positive step for them, but because their RSD now makes it horrifying to try to write instead of being a happy endeavor. Or a hundred other, negative reasons.
And the reason your friend is likely angry on your behalf is that the reader had no way of knowing whether you would take it well, and did not (as far as I know from what you've said here) make any attempt to inquire with you first as to whether you wanted that kind of advice. It would be different if they had said "hey, i've been reading along, and I was wondering if you'd mind some advice?" first. That at least would have given you an opportunity to talk about it willingly or say "I'm not really in a place where I want/can handle that, but thank you for the offer!" Regardless of outcome, you deserved to have had that option in the first place.
I'm glad that the comment helped you, as an individual. But your friend is also right, in that that type of comment is typically rude and potentially harmful to others. That being said, your friend should also be able to let go of their anger about it if there was no harm done in this instance. There's room for coexistence in this case; I'm sure that you can understand that just because you weren't hurt doesn't mean no one would be, and I'm sure your friend can understand that just because it was rude doesn't mean it was bad for you (specific) this once.
#anon asks#asks#commenting#writing#reading#ao3#and I wish you luck in your continued writing endeavors!#as an aside#you CAN always always always just leave a note#saying that you're fine with crit#like if it doesn't bother you or if it helps you#you can just blanket give permission!#then your friend can relax because it's not unsolicited anymore
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InDomitable
Ozpin: DAMN YOU, WHY?! WHY DID YOU KILL THEM?!
Summer: (Pushing Longest Memory off her) I'VE KILLED YOU BEFORE, AND I'LL DO IT AGAIN!
Ruby: ...
Ozpin: You're welcome to try! I won't be killed so easily twi-
Summer: (Grabs his throat, Rips it out) Hah... You always did talk too much...
Ruby: M... Mom..?
Summer: Ruby... We need to talk. It's time I told you the truth. The real truth about who I am and why I'm really here.
===============================
Summer: ...And now it's time for you to join me. Help me prepare this realm for it's time of ascension at the hands of our people.
Ruby: ...
Summer: I... I know this is a lot for you to take in all at once, but soon enough, you'll see... Just give it time and you'll understand why we need to do this. I'm sorry you had to learn this way, but I tried to talk to you earlier. And I know seeing me like this, all covered in the headmaster's blood can be very... unsettling.
Ruby: I... No... No, this... This doesn't make any sense. You love dad. I know you do.
Summer: Ruby, stop. Listen to me. Do you have any idea how long our lifespan as Silver-Eyed Warriors are? The older we get, the slower we age. We're not meant to live among these frail things like humans and faunus. Your father... He's more like a pet. Everything that makes us who we are is so pure, I can create near perfect Silver-Eyes with almost ANY compatible creature. Soon, very soon, you'll be as strong as me. Maybe even stronger, and you'll outlive everyone down there by at LEAST a thousand years! Everyone you know and love down below will die before you even LOOK thirty. You don't belong here. You don't want to watch your friends live and die, do you?
Summer: I know you're confused, and it may even feel wrong, but we... we don't belong here. This world, and these... things are all beneath us. This planet has an invaluable resource sum that would support our race for generations beyond us! With you by my side, we could rule this planet for centuries before we're relocated. Think about it, Ruby; you know this is the right choice. (Shoulder hold) Trust me. This is the only way.
Ruby: (Swats) DON'T TOUCH ME!
Summer: Ruby. Calm down.
Ruby: No, I will NOT calm down! This is insane! You're insane! Just because we're different from everyone else, we're entitled to enslave our friends and families for a bunch of dimension hopping freaks I've never even met?! THIS IS MY LIFE! AND THESE ARE MY PEOPLE!
Summer: Ruby, please. You're not thinking straight. We have a responsibility to our people, to our race. You may not understand now-
Ruby: I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT YOUR SILVER-EYED WARRIOR BULLSHIT! Even if I live for a million, billion years, I won't let you destroy my home!
Summer: Ruby, you don't understand what I'm saying. I CAN'T LET YOU INTERFERE.
Ruby: I know exactly what you're saying!
Summer: ...
Summer: (Clenches fist) So be it.
===============================
One Silver-Eyed Curb Stomp Through Vale, The Black Sea and Solitas later...
Ruby: (Crashes into an icy crater, Bloodied)
Summer: (Gently floats down, Unscathed) Have you had enough yet? (Pulls Ruby up)
Ruby: Ah... I will beat you.
Summer: (Backhands her into a mountain) I'm ready when you are. (Flies close to her) You're doing this for nothing, you know. Humans and faunus will be advanced in both magic and technology beyond their current standing by thousands of years. They'll be brought up to speed with with every other dimension already conquered. In time, Remnant will be better than it ever could have been without us!
Ruby: (Struggles to her feet) Wh... What if... What if they resist?
Summer: Then they'll die. Down to the last one. But that's why we're here! To keep them from resisting.
Ruby: (Rushes in) I won't let you enslave these people, Mom! It isn't right-
WHAM!
Summer: WHY?!
WHAM!
Summer: WHY?!
WHAM!
Summer: WHY DO YOU KEEP FIGHTING?! WHAT HAS THIS WORLD OFFERED YOU THAT'S ANY BETTER THAN WHAT IT COULD?!
Summer: Whatever you're fighting for right now will be gone in just a hundred years, long before you could ever enjoy it! You're fighting so you can watch everyone around you die!
Summer: THINK, RUBY! THINK! WE get older! WE age slower! YOU will outlive everything and everyone frail in this realm! You'll live to see kingdoms rise and fall! Watch civilization itself crumble to dust! EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER LOVED WILL BE GONE!
Summer: WHAT WILL YOU HAVE AFTER YOU LIVE FIVE HUNDRED YEARS?!
Ruby: ...Y-You, Mom. I'd still have you.
Summer: (Raises fist)
Ruby: Mom..?
Summer: (Hand shakes)
Ruby: ...Mom?
Summer: (Gone, Teardrops in the snow left)
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Here's a post about Hiram and the Deviless, under the cut because it got a little long. Their story follows the Intimate of Devils storyline, but I wanted to elaborate on my headcanon too.
They meet at the Brass Embassy around 1870, not even a decade has passed since the Fall, and Hiram is still in the process of rebuilding his life (again) after his first arrest. He's also in the process of studying the Neath and the Correspondence, and he decides to keep in touch with the Deviless to learn more about the neathy languages. He's often at his Brass Embassy guest room, the only lodging able to withstand the incendiary side effects of his studies. He had enough experience in dealing with the devils, having resorted to spirifage to make a living in the past, to know that the Deviless is only after his soul, but he's after information, and she's charming, so he doesn't mind indulging her.
Their meetings are always pleasant, and things progress smoothly, in a mutually beneficial arrangement that results in a series of empty gestures of politeness and tenderness. It's only after some time that he has his italicised "Oh." moment, which is more of an italicised "Oh no." moment, as he realises that even if she's only after his soul, he's not exclusively interested in information anymore, and their meetings are something he looks forward to.
Things progress with less and less empty gestures on his part, until she invites him over for the Abstraction. Hiram knows enough about spirifage and soullessness, and he considers the option very carefully. The violant incident is still recent, and soullessness would probably help him get rid of headaches and flashbacks; nightmares are becoming very inconvenient and dampening their effect without always resorting to laudanum would be ideal. But most of all, he knows he just can’t say no to the Deviless, and he knows she knows it. His soul would make a lovely gift, she adores it so much, after all. He wonders if she knows his heart belongs to her, too.
Meanwhile, the Deviless is having a really good time meeting this random human who seems to be in posession of a very nice soul. Their meetings are always pleasant, Hiram is an interesting interlocutor, he's always asking the most peculiar questions about the languages of the Neath and the nature of Hell, and she always responds truthfully, entertained by his curiosity. He can't seem to get rid of headaches and nightmares but that's not her problem, even though she sometimes catches herself wondering how he’s doing. One time, he even manages to give her a flashback and a mild headache, immediately excusing himself. He shows up at their next date wearing an irrigo tinted monocle, and she gets the distinct impression that he commissioned it just for her sake. She doesn’t mind the attention, or the gifts, or the conversations, or even that one eventual headache, it all makes his soul so very alluring.
It's not always easy to charm humans into giving away their soul, and Hiram is no different at first, but he's always looking for something and, whatever that is, the concept of Abstraction won’t interfere with his plans. As they talk about it, she notices an eagerness on his part that she never noticed before, but that's what happens when humans mess around with things they don't understand, and he has a tendency to do that a lot. Maybe that's why his soul is so alluring.
Her very own italicised "Oh no." moment happens right at the Abstraction. As she sees his blank expression, she realises she might have made a mistake. Admittedly, she cared very much about the attention, and the gifts, and the conversations, and yes, even that one headache. She gained one lovely soul, but a soul all by itself can’t bring her roses, or dance with her, or invite her out to dinner, or read her poetry, or play with her bat. It just floats in its little bottle. She realises she was in fact as interested about the man as she was about the soul, which is frankly baffling and somewhat embarassing if you are a soul snatching being from outer space. But the damage is done. She seals the contract with her ribbon and she leaves a little rose with it.
Hiram wakes up the following day not feeling tired, or sore, or scared, or particularly alive. His memories of the evening are a little fuzzy, but he knows exactly what happened as soon as he sees the contract. He doesn't feel particularly anything actually, but for the first time in months his night wasn't plagued by nightmares. The Deviless left a ribbon and a rose with the conctract, and he presumes it to be a sweet gesture on her part.
As the days go on, he still gets flashbacks and headaches. Sometimes he still feels the flashbacks, but they don't bother him as much as they used to. Nothing feels consequential, as inconsequential are his conversations with friends and acquaintances, his affairs, his studies, the evenings at Mahogany Hall, and his usual routine. What doesn't feel inconsequential is the little rose drying on his desk. He finds himself coming back to the little rose trying to figure out how he feels about it. He remembers how he's supposed to feel about a drying flower, and about the person who left it for him, but he doesn't seem to be able to pinpoint what he's feeling now. Whatever he's feeling must be strong because it's enough to get him a flashback and make him feel something. The little rose seems to make him very upset for some reason. He decides the unpleasantness derives from the fact that the little rose is losing a petal, and it should be dried properly, or at least substituted. It would be a pity to buy another rose and don't get at least one more, though.
As the days go on, the Deviless gets a little disappointed about not receiving any more gifts, and not being asked about the specifics of hellish Laws. All her new human acquaintances seem to be lacking in hubris, she notices. The exquisitely brilliant soul on her shelf is still floating in its little bottle but it's not capable of doing anything particularly interesting, except floating and being mesmerising, so after a few days she decides to sell it away. It makes a valuable collector item, but what use have collectors items if they won't bring you out to dinner, or ask you to a dance. Life can get boring sometimes if you're a soul snatching being from outer space.
After two weeks she starts asking around the Embassy about their regular visitors, but it's Hiram who finds her first at her house. He's wearing her satin ribbon and he brought a few roses. "It would have been a pity to buy a new one and not get at least one more." he says, handing her an entire bouquet. He's more detached and distant, but their day goes swimmingly, and soon enough they fall back into their usual routine of dates, dinners, soirées, dances and outings. His mannerism falls very flat every now and then, and she wonders how much of it is rehearsed and how much is genuine. Whatever the answer is, he could have asked her the same thing weeks ago, and it would've been the same. But neither of them minds it.
Eventually, she asks him how much does he actually care about the Neath, and London, and everything in general. Oh, he's very interested, especially about the everything in general, he says. The Neath holds much more everything than he thought possible, and it has been truly marvellous to figure it out so far. There are so many things to figure out, and he's interested in every single one of them. But, at the present time, what he truly cares about, the most marvellously intriguing thing to figure out is if she would be amenable to meet again tomorrow? Maybe at Dante’s? She would love to.
#usual disclaimer: english is not my first language so if you see some spelling mistakes please be merciful and tell me#this is very lovey dovey for my standards but the brainrot is real so i had to elaborate#the deviless: i can make him worse ;)#the deviless after the abstraction: oh no i made him too worse#fallen london#oc lore#hiram lore#hiram hargrave#hiram x deviless#my writing#backstory
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