Like the majority of society I’m obsessed with Nimona

And I rewatched it a million times and one thing always sticks out to me 

There are moments when Ambrosius is surrounded by light like a little protective bubble 

That keeps him away from the man he loves more than anything 

Some Hobie x Reader Headcanons

ft. secret relationship trope

 Gwen joins spider society and Hobie is quickly tapped to help her cope with the loss of her home.

(Hobie hasn’t really told any of the other spiders about his personal life but they’d known from the moment they recruited him that he was always on the side of the little guy, the disenfranchised, anyone who needed someone on their side)

That’s how they got him to join in the first place after all

As soon as he found out they were after a YOUNG BLACK BOY he was knew he’d need to bide his time, join up, and help this kid

He played nice for the most part, all talk of anarchy to avoid suspicion but generally good about following orders when they were given (meanwhile he spent all his spare time studying his watch, toying with it, figuring out how it worked)

Anyway, he hears Gwen’s story and even though he has a big secret at home, he knows he can’t just leave this girl to live in spider HQ (and it the not so tender mercies of Miguel and Jess) 

He explains to gwen that he’ll let her crash, but she has to swear she’ll keep his secret for him

That secret being you, of course. 

See, he’d been working to avoid a “canon event” since before Miguel put a name to it and told him that it was something every spider had to expect

He was never much of a fan of labels, but Hobie’s enemies are more than just superpowered maniacs; he’s on no small amount of government watchlists 

For that reason, Hobie insists that your relationship with Spider-Man and Hobie Brown are both kept secret. That means all of your dates are in abandoned buildings, on rooftops, and in general far away from where anyone could catch you two together

After hearing of the fate of many of the spiders’ lovers, you were pretty on board with it (unbeknownst to Hobie, you’d be fine with it before because that was Hobie’s condition to be with you and not being with him simply wasn’t an option for you at that point)

Gwen can tell Miles is jealous once he realizes that she’d been staying with Hobie, but she promised Hobie she’d help maintain your secret. Besides, she really liked you and didn’t want anything bad happening to you either

some sbr (and phantom blood!) thoughts for you in general, your highness, if you'll take the words of this lowly peon-- i've been watching some documentaries on the gilded age recently, and a thought came up on me; how would the blorbos of the sbr and phantom blood era handle the societal expectations of the era? like, they can't really be affectionate or anything in public, so i feel like some of the pda/jealous ones would really struggle. plus, it would be inconvienent for them to talk to darling, especially because an engaged couple or even just two single people weren't really allowed to commune with eachother in private in anything other then social occasions. it's a fascinating dilemma, really, and i'd be fascinated to here about how some yanderes from this time period would handle this stuff. your ever faithful, ever loyal, ever miserable peon-- 🌸 anon

Warning for discussion of gender roles, brief homophobia mention I'm not sure if you can count it really, typical yandere things.

What a good ask, peon. When I think of the old American west, I tend to think of those old cowboy movies focusing on the wild west. What a wild three decades. 

We have to consider where exactly they are in the world, and their social standing. Frilly fan language means absolutely nothing to someone who grew up on the streets- Although Dio has studied aristocratic courting rituals religiously. England and the US are different culturally, and the south is very different from the west and north. 

The Gilded age takes place from 1877-1900-ish, doesn’t it? Steel Ball Run takes place right in the middle of that, starting in 1890 and ending a year later. I tend to think of the Steel Ball Run cast as living in the ‘wild west,’ which takes place generally from 1865 to 1895, so it’s perfectly lined up. Phantom Blood’s main story is in 1888, but considering it’s entirely in England, it would be considered late Victorian era rather than the Gilded age. The entire concept of a débutante is so horrifying in a yandere context. If I’m misremembering and the entire concept of presenting a young lady to society for the purpose of marrying her off is not in the late Victorian era, or any of the other information I just presented is incorrect, ignore the inaccuracy. Débutante is used in a gender neutral way here I pinky swear.

Jonathan takes the entire courting process very seriously. Not that he’s any good at formalities, but there’s an attempt. The concept of marriage being something romantic was very new in the Victorian period- but not a foreign concept to Jonathan in the slightest. He grew up with a loving family, his future spouse should be the love of his life. It was generally important to the male identity to be educated, do a sport, and be a gentleman- Jonathan fits every one of those requirements. By all means, he fits in. The only thing stopping him from never getting a second glance is how eager he is to please his darling. “It’s odd how that boy follows his darling around like a dog all day.” is a common statement from those who recognize him happily trotting down the street to go see you- that’s right. He’ll walk instead of taking a carriage. He doesn’t want the visit to feel so formal, he really just wants to spend time with you, even if you aren’t out in society yet. Jonathan thinks it’s going to help his chances of being formally introduced to you when you really become a débutante- but it is not. Gifts, flowers, attention, it all comes off as too much. He mopes a bit when his efforts are proven to be futile, but that doesn’t mean that he’s discouraged. Well, it doesn’t matter, he can always just propose. Why would your parents turn down a proposal from a Joestar, who can take care of you forever? 

Erina tends to be rather shy. She sincerely prays that she’s caught your eye- and does just about everything she can think of to get it. She’s quite the stalker. Your interests are her interests! She’ll show up at any sport you play just to watch you and show you she’s right there to support you, even if she avoids directly speaking to you for quite some time. It’s improper, and she doesn’t want to come across as needy, or socially inept. She can hope, though. Maybe if she just keeps showing up in places she knows you’ll be. The best day of her life is likely the day you come to a débutante ball, assuming you’re of the same social class. She hovers quite a bit, and takes a moment to beg whatever God is out there to introduce you to her. When her wish is granted, she clings to you for the rest of the night, regardless of what is and is not appropriate. 

Dio is a man obsessed with social standing. When you’re denied something for so long, it’s obvious that you’d become infatuated until you get it. Dio’s temperament is closer to obsession; Even when Dio reached his comfortable spot, he still wanted more. He actually takes courting rather seriously in his youth, he does it the proper way. He waits until you’ve been formally introduced to society, and makes his initial move. Just one dance will do. He doesn’t want to come off as desperate- Despite being at every single ball you’ve ever attended, sans one or two for his reputation’s sake. He’ll only visit your home on the proper days, always brings gorgeous, full bouquets, and leaves within forty-five minutes. He’s not about to take up your entire afternoon, but he’s not about to let another suitor talk your ear off for that long, either. Whatever hobby you’ve taken up is his greatest interest for today’s conversation. When you see him in public he’ll offer a polite smile, but nothing more. Of course, this all goes out the window when he turns, since he can just take you with absolutely no repercussions. 

Johnny is always going to treat the world like it’s Danville, Kentucky. His stay in England didn’t have any effect on him development-wise, he sounds like he’s from Kentucky still, too. All that bullshit about waiting around for the chance to dance with his darling is his own personal nightmare- and it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. He has a bit of a ‘modern’ take on dating, if you could call it that. He’s not as obviously affectionate as someone like Gyro, but it’s not like there’s a lack of it. He’ll hold his darling’s hand while you wait in line, he’ll whine until you sit with him on his horse, he can’t sleep unless you’re right there… Johnny’s pretty forward, regardless of what society deems is fine. He’s a good boy, especially in his prime- there’s no reason for your family to not like him. If your family isn’t accepting of him… he doesn’t really want their blessing, anyway.

Gyro has adapted fairly well to life in America, but not when it comes to the culture shock of not being able to cling to his darling constantly. Whether or not his explanation of how being overly affectionate is the norm back home is true is up for debate. He loves to hang on his darling- putting his head on top of yours while you try to talk to some poor stranger is one of his preferred pastimes. Gyro does plan on returning home eventually, but he has some things to do here before he can- one of those things being finding a way to take you back with him. Gyro’s not really put off by getting told to stop, truly, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to get in the way of him and his darling? Don’t be stupid. Gyro will listen to his darling’s request to not have as much pda if you genuinely compromise with him. No pda, but full access to you in privacy? Cool, cool, we’re never going out again. Gyro gets his fill in little ways, he wants to at least hold hands, or be able to put his hand on your waist. You’re seriously denying him what he needs because it isn’t “socially acceptable”?? You’re being ridiculous. Gyro won’t humor silly courting rules because it’s what you’re used to, he’s right here, you’re right here, if the only thing between you is some traditions, then Gyro has nothing in his way. 

Firstly, Hotpants does not really acknowledge societal norms. She’s taking on the “man’s” role in the relationship anyway, so if her darling is feminine, it could pass as a “typical” relationship, as long as she’s presenting herself in a masculine way. She gets weird looks when she goes to get dinner for the two of you- she catches, you cook. People often try to haggle her when she needs to buy new gear, it’s annoying. It’s actually a giant pain in the ass for her, but it’s worth it if it’s to provide for you. Hotpants isn’t really interested in the whole courting process, she’s very quick to snatch her darling up and lock them somewhere safe, even if you're not sure who she is. You can play housespouse for her while she takes care of what she needs to, you’re being given the easy life, is it really that bad? She’s not even forcing you to be affectionate with her- just stay put and listen to what she tells you to do. You can even write to your family, if you want, just know that she’s going to skim it over to make sure it’s appropriate. You’ll even have some time alone while she goes out for the day- interrupted by the sound of her boots and the sight of her jacket hung up by the door. When you are eventually let out- Likely to transport you somewhere else, I cannot see Hotpants letting her darling back out again- she’s a bit cold, but firm. If you can be trusted to sit still, she’ll let you ride her horse while she guides it. If you cannot, she’ll ride with you, arms around your sides.

WIP Wednesday

Okay, so I've never done one of these before, but I wanted to ask for some input on my wip so far. Be aware:

This WIP is far from published!

I just wanted to see how it did on tumblr and maybe try to see if anyone is interested in this kind of story. DISCLAIMER: I am not much of a writer (this is my first official fic- I have written unpublished drabbles and one shots though), so apologies if this sucks. (There is more below the break btw)

“Would it change anything?” Pete asks through a tightened throat and he doesn’t feel Tom’s hand shift, almost like he was expecting Pete to say this. Tom doesn’t answer, at least not verbally, but his eyes tell Pete everything, like they always have. 

It couldn’t. 

Pete and Tom knew the consequences of their relationship. They knew they would never be a regular couple, able to hold hands out in public, or tell friends and their jobs about their relationship. 

But I wish it did. 

Tom didn’t want this either; apparently it was up to higher powers to make both of their decisions for them, no matter what they wanted. Pete didn’t choose to lose Goose. Or Carole. Or to never know his father. And Tom never chose to live in a society like this; where he had to choose between his dream career or a secret that would tear both of their reputations to shreds in a heartbeat. 

Tom closes the distance between them, leaning down to place his forehead against Pete’s. Their breathing matches pace, clicking them together naturally, as if four months haven’t passed since they’ve been together. He feels Tom’s other hand come to the left side of his face, holding onto it like it’s the last thing he’ll ever touch, before the man leans in to press their lips together. 

Pete hates that he kisses back. Hates that his hands grip Tom’s forearms automatically before deepening the kiss. He hates that Tom moves his hands to Pete’s back and presses them even closer together, and that he knows he likes that. Pete lets himself grip the back of Tom’s shirt and he hates that Tom knows what that means. 

Tom pulls the plain gray shirt over his head before continuing to kiss Pete harder. He lifts the hem of Pete’s shirt, placing his cool hands on the warm skin of Pete’s waist, causing him to stiffen at the drastic temperature change. Pete needs Tom closer… he pulls his shirt off, pressing their chest together before finally breaking the kiss off. He rests his head on Tom’s chest, breathing heavily to catch his breath.

This is a bad idea.

Pete feels Tom’s breathing soften and he uses his forehead to push his head off the other man’s chest. He keeps his eyes down before (he already hates himself for this) pressing a kiss to Tom’s collarbone. 

“Are you sure?” His voice is just above a whisper and Pete feels weak for nodding his head ‘yes’. He looks up at Tom and they lock eyes. They both know what each other is thinking-

This is a bad idea…

Tom presses Pete’s chin up and leans down to kiss him and it almost feels like old times. Like they’re in their old, shared assignment and Pete is home on shore leave. Like their relationship is perfectly fine and they’re just enjoying their time together. Back then it felt like nothing was looming over the both of them…

Tom pushes Pete into his bedroom, barely breaking kisses before trailing a line down his neck.

I know this is only about 500 words (don't worry I have more), but I did NOT want to spoil some MAIN plot points. If you have any tips, ideas, or critiques, they are all welcome (whether anonymously, in the tags, or comments)! Thanks for reading! (This is also a first draft, so hopefully it will become more polished in the future.)

18+ below:

Also, any idea how to write M-rated? If anyone has any fics that can help me grasp how to write smut (not really explicit-level), that would be great. I literally have no idea what I am doing, but I would like to make this fic M-rated.

Okay so I added You’ll Play Your Part to my Nog Playlist and I’m gonna ramble about the lyrics and stuff cause holy fuck that’s a Nog Song™️ if I’ve ever heard one.

Content Warnings for discussion of depression and suicidal ideation in relation to It’s Only A Paper Moon.

Okay so starting with Twilight's verse in application to Nog’s storyline, I have two or three spots where I feel it’s most relevant; directly after Heart Of Stone/Facets and directly after It’s Only A Paper Moon.

Both leave him resolute to move forward but undoubtedly uncertain, whether for one reason or another. On one hand, you have him breaking away from something he had been raised with his whole life, that he’s watched his family try to fit themselves into and fail, miserably. And even after getting that confirmation from Sisko that yeah, he’s been recommended to the Academy, there’s still so much uncertainty in whether or not he’ll make it.

Not even mentioning how much Quark is being an absolute ass about it, going as far as to attempting sabotage on Nog’s entrance exams to keep him from getting in. But thanks to Rom being one of the best dads on the station, he does get in. He’s found that purpose, he is making those contributions, and he is part of the plan.

And with post-Paper Moon the ‘future that I can’t see’ line has a lot more weight to it, as for a majority of the episode we see him coming to terms with his disability and the trauma that comes with it, going through what I see as a major depressive episode and passively suicidal ideation.

And as someone who’s been through a similar situation(ie. a major depressive episode with all the suicidal ideation that comes with it) in moving forward from it, the future feels nonexistent because you never thought you’d make it this far. And then you do and you’re stuck the thought of ‘Now What?’ and you’re not entirely sure of what to do.

In Nog’s case though, he had something to return to, and goals to move forward towards, which I feel might’ve made the adjustment post-Paper Moon a little easier. Still difficult as all hell, but a little easier.

Now moving on to the other princesses and who I feel takes those roles in both spots.

With the Heart of Stone/Facets portion, I feel like Sisko, Rom, and Jadzia take up these spots. Sisko as Celestia, Jadzia as Luna, and Rom as Cadence.

In MLP, Celestia is the one who sends Twilight off to Ponyville, just as Sisko is equivalently sending Nog off to the Academy via that recommendation letter. And in watching Facets we get a sense of how hard Jadzia worked to earn the right of being a joined Trill and I feel like she’d recognize that sort of stubborn endurance in Nog and understand why it’s so important to him.

And while Cadence is Twilight’s older-sister-figure-turned-sister-in-law, the way she reassures Twilight in this song very much reminds me of how Rom acts as a father towards Nog and stands up to Quark and allows Nog to both apply and go to Starfleet despite Quarks saying otherwise.

Moving on to the Paper Moon part of this; Vic takes up Sisko’s place as Celestia, Rom takes up Jadzia’s place as Luna, and Jake takes up Rom’s place as Cadence.

“Your destiny is uncertain, and sometimes that’s hard to take’, is quite literally the synopsis of Vic’s little speech to Nog before he finally leaves the holosuite. There’s no telling what’s gonna happen to him if he leaves and as hard as that is, he has to face that.

And I will stand by this for as long as I live but Rom and Nog had some of the best character development out of any of the secondary cast of characters, development that can rival even the main cast. (heh, mane cast(plz laugh))

Rom has gone from being the antsy not even second hand under Quark to being a major player not just on the station but in the war effort against the Dominion. In reflection, I can see him recognizing that same want for something more than what Ferengi society expects of him that Nog has, that Nog inspires in him.

And oh my fucking god I’m gonna lose it about Jake/Jake and Nog’s friendship for a hot minute because watching your best friend go from the local troublemaker aside from yourself to not only a respected officer in one of the major military forces in the quadrant, the same one that your own father is a part of, but also a victim of war that you also are is going to be fucking rough.

That the two of you have come so far from when you first met, ending up so far from where expectations put the two of you. That while both of you have witnessed the horrors of war, you got out with only a few scrapes, being able to move on from it because someone was there and experienced it with you and told you that your feelings were warranted and that you didn’t have to be ashamed of being scared, your best friend, on the other hand, lost a fucking limb, has felt like his problems with phantom pain were chalked up to just something in his head. That he’s just crazy. Your friend is now isolating (in one of the CMO’s holosuite programs no less) from everything and everyone and no one knows how to help him.

And the one time you try to visit him you end up getting socked in the jaw. Every attempt made just seems to push him further away. And then like a month or so later, on top of the three he’s already spent in intensive physical and mental therapy, he comes back out and moves back in with you.

I see it as initially being very tense. Both of them just trying to go about their days in the aftermath and move forward, not knowing how to acknowledge or begin to talk about what happened. And when they do finally sit down and talk about it, it’s probably just as gut-wrenching as when the news of Nog’s injury first reached Jake.

In cliche archetypes/dynamics, I’ve always thought of Jake and Nog as Sun/Moon, the position of who’s which switching. Prior to Nog going into Starfleet, I had Jake pegged as the Moon and Nog as the Sun, but afterward, it switched; Jake is now the Sun and Nog is now the Moon.

Either way, one can’t fully shine without the other.

They’re a packaged deal and to separate them just feels wrong. They love each other. They’ve stuck by each other through so much, I can’t see them just not trying to fix things after Paper Moon. It’s hard, but damnit if they’re not gonna try.

Rewatching The Emissary, you know it’s gonna be a while coming but his time will come soon.

As the Sun rises, so does the Moon

As love finds a place in every heart

He’ll be a captain, he’ll play his part

Peter Maximoff Relationship Headcanons

cause I’m currently suffering brain rot for this man

also, this is exclusively the X-Men saga Quicksilver. He’s just a little more superior than the MCU one, fight me. 

first of all I headcanon this man as bisexual with a lean towards women

so take that as you must

and you are a human in this. I may make another one where you are a mutant, but for now let’s keep things simple

you knew about his mutation immediately. It’s kind of hard for him to hide it

at first you were weirded out. D.C wasn’t loaded with a mutant population for a reason

but you got over it quickly, and you two hit it off within time

I don’t think it would have been as fast paced of a relationship as it could have been. There were things to get used to, and Peter can be a little much to handle at times

but things worked out

so this boy is a loser. We all know it

his inability to keep a job or maintain his own place in society has rendered him living in his mom’s basement. You know it’s something he can’t control, and you don’t fault him for it

he faults himself for it, though

he hates knowing that you have to pay for the majority of fancy dates and such. He does steal you some nice things, though, to make up for it. 

9/10 times you make him return it

that once you just really liked the vinyl and couldn’t part with it

you adore his sisters, Wanda and Lorna

you were in the room when Lorna’s mutations sparked for the first time. It was quiet frightening

Peter fully expected you to leave after that incident. His mutant family was surely too much for you to handle now

so what did you do after several days of pouting and whining from him?

you pushed him on the basement couch and showed him how you were staying, if you get my drift

a lot of your time together is spent at the arcade

you hate going to bars with him cause you know he’ll always win drinking games. You gets drunk in the process of the slight offhand chance that his metabolism may fail him on night, and he zooms you home. This became a routine for you

so much as to the point that he started faking drunkness just to let you feel like you won

your ego got a good boost that night

if you were together before he joined the X-Men, he quietly left town for a few weeks. He tried to get a word to you, but things were difficult... all things Apocalypse considered

you def thought he ghosted you and skipped town. Maybe he got in too much trouble with the law and couldn’t escape this time through the safety of his sister’s closet

this launched an interrogation of his mom. She claimed she knew exactly where he went, but promised not to tell you until word was received from Peter that things were safe

this launched you into a frenzy

where had he gone that could be so dangerous? when would you ever see your boyfriend again?

once things settled down and everything was restored at the school, Peter begged and begged and begged Charles to let him invite you to live at the school

Charles gave in, happy to incorporate more regular folk into the school

Peter rushed home to find you crying in your bedroom. It had been two months since he left. You were feeling things

you smacked him upon sight

he deserved it

fast forward a few weeks and you’re fully moved into the mansion, just in time for a new semester to start

since the loss of several teachers as of late, Charles was happy to have anyone new in staff. He didn’t care that you weren’t qualified

you and Peter got married a year later

it was definitely something to settle into. You didn’t feel right for the student to hand their problems to, seeing as you never experienced life as a mutant. You never experienced their same struggles

but you were willing to hand out boy advice to one specific twelve year old girl who you got close with, Charmaine. She was in your first class of the morning, and you two developed a mentor-apprentice bond

ha funny story

so Charmaine has the ability to pass through walls. One night on a dare she passed through your and Peter’s bedroom... and you had to beg Jean with blood sweat and tears to wipe her memory the next morning

you eventually got far more adjusted to life at the mansion

and then Jean became the Phoenix

As someone who respects your opinion I wanted to ask how you feel about Hawks. Personally Hawks holds a special place in my heart as does our beloved burnt baby. They each mean very much to me, but I still care and love them both in different ways but no less powerful and passionate. It probably says a lot about me that I genuinely felt guilty after Dabi burned Hawks wings because even after he attacked and hurt someone I care about I also couldn't stop caring about Dabi himself and wanting him to live. This got way too deep somehow.

That’s understandable.

Personally I don’t have any connection with Hawks the way I have with Dabi or Tomura etc, and it’s not like I hate him the way I hate Endeavor. Still, I don’t like him either. For the simple fact that he killed Twice. I know he did it to protect the others but still, going as far as killing? That’s not heroic, especially the way he did it. Backstabbing. That is the lowest thing someone can do.

Twice was the only one who truly wanted to give Hawks a chance and consider him as a friend, for the simple fact that Twice has been in that position as well and has suffered a lot in his life. And Hawks did him that dirty? That’s not what a real hero would do, I know he was under comission’s orders but at the end of the day, is the comission really right on what they were doing? Definitely not. Lady Nagant realized that as well, the comission people were trash.

Hawks can’t just tell Twice that “he’ll help him build a new life” or “will spare his life”, cause he isn’t doing Twice any favor at all. Twice would end up in Tartarus by law, did he really think Twice would agree to give up?

The League was a real family to Twice, something he never had. He can’t just expect Twice to give up on the League and on the cause that easily, he truly underestimated Twice and his loyalty. Hawks can’t just assume villains have it that easy, did he really think Twice will have a new life out there? Nobody would ever accept him back in the “normal life”, hence the reason why he is a villain. Twice was an outcast, Keigo never was an outcast in the society, so he can’t assume anything at all about certain villains.

At the end of the day this is just my personal opinion, I dislike Hawks, what he did was low, he could’ve gone for different ways because he is a clever man like that. Backstabbing a friend and killing, that’s not what a real hero would do.

Oh and just something else, Hawks idolizes a man like Endeavor, sooo.. yeah. That doesn’t sit right with me

I feel like I have more to add to this but I just woke up and my brain is fogged.

Anyway don’t come start arguments under this post or inbox, I don’t have the nerves to discuss this topic with people tbh.

lee dongwook. cis male. he/him. presenting lord won mujin, forty-year-old firebender loyal to house takao and house won. longanimous yet machiavellian, they find themself impartial to fire lord chaesan’s reign. will this be their salvation or their undoing ?

snoop dogg vc greetings loved ones.. lets take a journey!! i’m markus, 22, and solely existing to write muses that hurt me in gruesome unspeakable ways presenting none other than mr won mujin!! 

TLDR;;  mujin has a no good terrible time being the oldest son, hinges his entire identity on his usefulness to society and the honor he brings to house won and lives burdened by obligation to be great. he sees no problems in this. 

eldest  –—�� FIRST  BORN.  time  changes  and  wavers  all  things  but  never  this.  never  won  mujin,  the  wolf  upon  wolves.  

SPIRAL BACKWARDS —— A BOUNCING BABY BOY WITH AN APPETITE SO WIDE IT’LL SWALLOW HIM WHOLE !!

-— an  ouroboros,  eating  away  at  himself  and  learning  lessons  on  perfection  all  the  while.  like  most  things  that  get  out  of  hand,  he  was  young  once.  malleable,  with  a  need  to  please,  like  any  child.  his  first  mistake,  won  mujin’s  first  crime  was  to  be  a  child.  he  was  spoon-fed  venomous  dogma  that  he  fervently  enjoyed  with  equal  helpings  of  filial  piety  before  he  could  read.  free  will  is  for  stronger  boys  than  him,  for  boys  that  are  blessed  with  a  spine  or  at  least  the  beginnings  of  one.  (  born  into  the  greatest  nation,  with  greater  purpose  !  )  GREAT,  GREAT  !  he  is  nailed  to  the  pedestal  of  great  and  he  smiles  with  blood  still  in  his  teeth.  he  will  be  great  for  them.  if  he  is  not  great,  then  he  is  nothing  at  all.  

a  boy  of  extremes,  his  constant  spiral  to  more  fervent  dedication  to  religion  is  one  for  the  history  books.  bending  comes  like  breathing,  and  his  prowess  will  take  him  to  great  heights  just  as  expected.  he’ll  be  a  fire  sage  just  as  expected.  this  ability  puts  his  individuality  at  a  severe  handicap  and  his  existence  to  one  of  servitude.  a  boy  of  duty,  of  doing  exactly  as  expected  and  never  straying  a  toe  out  of  line.  family  is  everything,  and  for  them,  he’ll  do  everything.  TRUE  CONFUSCIANISM.  

life  is  unextraordinary  and  nothing  is  out  of  place.

&& HE CANNOT TELL YOU WHEN THAT CHANGED;

-—   won  mujin’s  second  crime  was  to  outgrow  his  own  body.  his  iron  spine  took  some  time  to  nurture,  like  a  gnarled  seed,  but  it  serves  him  for  years  to  come.  when  training  doesn’t  progress  as  planned,  when  tiny  slip-ups  impede  his  progress  —-  he’s  equipped  to  handle  it  all  because  that’s  his  job.  (  aged  just  eight  with  such  hefty  expectation.  )  he  wields  spirituality  nearer  to  him  than  anything,  and  that  spirituality  brings  untimely  altruism  and  a  resolve  that’s  never  broken.  (  to  the  day.  )  the  indomitable  will  that  sits  inside  mujin  and  the  adverse  effects  it  had  on  his  growth  to  keep  it  bitten  down.  in  the  midst  of  his  awakening,  the  second  child  of  house  won  is  born.

mujin’s  ongoing  detachment  is  only  bolstering  a  new  accessory  to  his  already  stoical  personality.  he’s  the  foundation —  the  baseline  to  all  the  children  that  will  come  after  him.  THE  WON  STANDARD,  a  pillar  through  which  no  darkness  reaches  and  a  fire  always  burns.  he’ll  guide  them  all,  like  he’s  supposed  to.

supposed  to,  he’s  SUPPOSED  TO.

GRAVE MISTAKES ——  THIS LIFE OF WASTED AMBITION, EVERY FIBER OF TIME SPENT LEFT HIM EMPTYHANDED!

-—    THINGS  HAVE  GOTTEN  OUT  OF  HAND.   out  of  hand  in  the  one  place  it  all  matters,  his  mind.  he’s  trailblazing  a  path  to  enlightenment,  already  hitting  the  roof  into  his  adolescent  years  by  the  time  the  youngest  is  born.  the  years  pass  and  darken  as  mujin  pours  the  sands  of  his  life  into  training  to  fill  the  shoes  of  a  fire  sage.  empties  his  years  into  being  great.  if  you  ask  if  he  is  happy,  you’ll  surely  have  to  rephrase  the  question.  he  was  demanded  to  be  great,  not  happy.  if  you  ask  if  he  is  content,  he  will  smile  with  blood  still  in  his  teeth  because  he  is  great.

—— NOTES :

i’ll have an actual solid bio later b ut i’m runnin on two hours of sleep and wanted to THROW THIS OUT ASAP

i have inability to explain my muses’ personality-itis so please forgive me

complicated is too easy a word but god almighty is this man somethin. an asshole and deeply rotten inside but also not at all. it’s hard to put into words

well put together to no one’s surprise. every seam carefully tucked and every smile artfully polished

acutely terrifying, too attentive, monitoring things and people alike.

will die for the fire nation at a moment’s notice so he’s an absolute ZEALOT and that is a terrifying mindset to have or to be at odds with ( which is really to say, his value on his own life?? yoikes.. )

—— PLOTS :

someone to shepherd cause boy does he love doing that!! #eldestcomplex. someone lost spiritually who comes often for his advice. anyone who’s in some varied state of confused and directionless to help center them. he’s pretty good at that.

childhood friendships? even acquaintanceships with fellow nobles he was forced to brush hands with when your muse was likely greatly younger than him!! 

god give me someone who hates his ass for being older and thusly wiser in anything your little heart desires. ( firebending, spirituality, holding himself together ) maybe they grew out of it and maybe they didn’t at all. hate fire sages? hate spirituality? hate him!! 

give me some romantic agony of some kind.. give me pining, give me the silent yearning for what you won’t allow yourself baby yeaa!! 

no one knows me quite like you do trope except, inevitably, close as they get to mujin he is still miles from them. but he’ll let them keep thinking so if it helps! 

and lastly if none of this catches your eye i love to brainstorm anyway!! 

“You’re leaving already?” He swallows, turning around to meet his brother’s eyes.

“Yeah,” He manages to croak out, throat suddenly becoming dry. “Yeah, I’m tired. I think after tonight’s fiasco, it’s better for me to just leave.” 

“Just ignore him. You know how Bruce is, he’s always talking out of his ass. You should st-”

“You, and I both know that’s not an option.” He bites out, jaw flexing. No way in hell is he staying. It’s a promise he’s made to himself, he’ll never let himself stay here again. Even if he’s injured, he’ll crawl himself home if he has to. It no longer feels like home, it’s no longer safe.

The hope in Dick’s eyes fade, and his shoulders slump. It’s a tad bit ironic. When he was younger, he knew that Dick would’ve preferred that he never came into their lives. Their jealousy always making them clash, and now, he always attempts to convince him to stay. A big brother born after tragedy.

“Ja-”

“Good Night, Dick.” He mumbles, averting his eyes as guilt grows the longer he maintains eye contact, and that’s the most infuriating thing about all of this. He shouldn’t feel guilt. Dick decided it, he chose to turn his back, chose to leave, he has no reason to feel guilt. He had no control over Dick’s mind, or the consequences behind his decisions, but it still overwhelms him because he knows that in a way it’s wrong. That if society knew, eyebrows would be raised, and mouths would open faster than anyone could expect. Hatred spewing from their lips as if they had a right to judge, and he doesn’t care about what others would say, but he does care about what his family would say, even though he pretends otherwise, because he knows the heartache that would follow if Dick found out, the fire that would run through his veins at what he would view as betrayal because no brother should cross that line, at least not a real one.

But he can’t leave, he’s tried. God, he tried. Tried so hard to leave, to convince himself it wasn’t more, tried to pretend like it wasn’t important, that his hands didn’t become sweaty, a cold tingle shooting down his fingers, even though it felt like he was running hot at the same time, as if he didn’t feel like he was running out of breath every time he was close, he tried, and he failed, and now he’s addicted. And maybe it’s genetic, maybe his mother passed it off to him. She became addicted to drugs, and he became addicted to his own special drug. One he won’t let go of, one he’s become obsessed with. He’s had a taste, and he wants to drown himself in it even if it means having his brother turn his back on him, and he knows it’s an unhealthy way of thinking, of feeling, but he can’t find it in himself to give a fuck.

Dick sighs, softly nodding, eyes becoming dark. “Good Night, Jason. Be safe.”

He sends him a firm nod, turning on his heels quickly, feeling his neck become hot at his brother’s stare, and he swallows in a gulp of air once the cold chill of the night hits him. The faint scent of wet ground relaxing him. He gets on his bike, mind feeling heavy, and the feel of the wind distracts him the longer he drives. He speeds up when his impatience gets the best of him because he wants to get home as fast as possible, yearning for another taste, another high, and he can’t help, but smirk at the danger he’s putting himself in. At the fact that he shouldn’t be speeding when the ground is still wet from the thunderstorm that had passed, and he’s not stupid enough to believe that it fully passed.

He shakes his head when he finally parks, hurrying to the elevator, rolling his shoulders when his anticipation pushes his muscles to twitch. The ding of the elevator snaps him back into reality, and he hurries to his door, head snapping up when he hears thunder. Trust Gotham to always change its mind in weather.

He inhales, opening the door, body melting when the warmth of his place slithers its way into his limbs. Jason drops his keys on his counter, shaking the water from his head, and he drops his head, holding back his groan at the faint smell his addiction left behind.

“You’re late.” Jason huffs out a laugh, guilt fading at the sound of her voice, and he turns his head, eyes darkening when he notices that she’s wearing nothing, but his shirt. Elegant hands firmly holding onto a mug of coffee.

“Well, Bruce has a talent for ruining my plans.” She raises an eyebrow, smirking, and he walks towards her, hands immediately reaching out to massage her hips before leaning in to press a soft kiss onto her lips, and he groans at her taste, head becoming fuzzy, and he wonders if this is what his mother felt when she shot up poison into her veins because fuck, does he want to lose himself in her completely. He wants to slide into her, and remain there, wants to dig himself into her until there’s nothing between them. Until her body recognizes that he's the only one allowed to do that, the only one allowed to claim her body as his now because she is. He’s all hers, and she's fucking insane if she thinks she's not his. 

He slants his lips over hers, and he grunts when she softly pushes him away, glaring when he notices the haughty look on her face. 

“Kori.” He mumbles, trying to lean in for another kiss, and he scowls when she hums, pushing him back. 

“Nope. You’re late, you don’t deserve another kiss.”

“Tease.” He states, huffing, and she laughs, walking around him to set her mug on the table. “I’m sor-”

A soft moan leaves his lips when she turns to yank him close, softly biting his lip before letting him get another fix.

“Make it up to me.” Kori whispers against his lips, and he runs his hands up her body before cradling her face into his hands, silently promising her that he would.

And isn’t this just fucked up? That he’s become addicted to his brother’s ex, that she’s the one he comes home to, that she’s the one he’ll follow blindly because it could’ve been anyone else, but instead, he chose her, even when he could’ve stopped it before he became too lost, he chose not to. That he’s betraying his brother in every way possible because he knows, knows, that Dick still loves her. That his brother’s pride had stopped him from reaching out before it was too late, before she silently decided that she wanted to move on, choosing to claim his little brother.

Jason knows that it had gone both ways, that he wasn’t the only one that tried to stop, that he’s not the only one that’s addicted. They’ve both given in to their selfishness, and they’ll stick by it because in the end, they’ll still have each other. He’s been alone for so long that he refuses to let this go, to let her go, she’s so ingrained into him that it’ll break him if she leaves, and he's a tad bit scared of what would happen if she did, of how he'd react. When he’s with her, his guilt fades, and the only thing that remains is the satisfaction at the knowledge that he’s the one that has her now, that he’s the one who has the right to touch her now, the only one. That it’s his name that she whispers, that she moans, and maybe he’ll go to hell for it, for hurting his brother once he finds out, for crossing a line, but when he feels her tighten around him, he finds that he would rather burn inside of her than care for Dick’s mistakes.

Lost Severus Snape Story

A/N: I wrote this awhile ago, I can't remember when, but I've been holding on to it hoping that I remember what I meant to do with it so I can finish it and share it with you all. Sadly I don't remember and I can't quite get the rhythm back. Hope you enjoyed what is there. All I know is that there was no happy ending.

------------------------------

She lays on her side, watching the shadows dance across the cracked wall beside her, and listens to the bed creak and groan underneath her. She strains her ears for footsteps or the rustling of clothes, but there's nothing but her breathing and the air conditioner unit’s spluttering. He was too good of a spy to ever make a noise.

The bathroom door gently shuts. She immediately turns over, wincing at the wetness she could still feel in between her legs.

A wordless and wandless Scourgify fixes the issue. There are more cracks in the ceiling this morning and she wonders what it would take to bring the whole place down on top of her. Her fingertips tingle at the possibilities, the permanent end to her existence, but she curls her fingers in and tugs them into her pillow, rolling over to finally face the bathroom door.

Yellow light can be seen underneath it, but she can’t see his shadow. She could hear the water running though.

He’ll head for Hogwarts then. Three days earlier than expected. She tries to ignore the tightness in her chest and breathe deeply as if she were asleep.

She doesn’t know what to do. Should she ignore orders and demand to go with him or should she continue to pretend she’s asleep and unbothered at being left in this decaying mausoleum that was just another metaphor for her place in his life?

Not that she asked to be here.

She thinks of her father’s brown eyes, the only window to his gentle soul he could never hide, and her mother’s soft steady hands, and wonders if they’re looking down at her from heaven terrified of what her life has become.

A death-eater’s -

The bathroom door opens and the harsh light floods her face before his figure blocks the doorway.

“You’re awake,” he states, his deep voice even lower at this time of morning. She clenches her thighs together at the same time as her eyes.

“You’re leaving,” she mutters in response. He doesn’t sigh because spies don’t do human things like that, but his silence is enough of a replacement. She feels bereft either way.

“You should go back to sleep,” he eventually says and she opens her eyes in time to catch him crossing the room to the bedroom door. “I’ll send Winky or Dobby to make you something for lunch.”

“I can make something myself,” she blurts out. He pauses, but doesn’t turn to her.

He never does. He must think she never notices or maybe he doesn’t care, but he never truly looks at her. Not even when they’re having sex.

She’s starting to think that his home was more of a metaphor for him.

[Or maybe it was just a metaphor of him. Determined to die for his guilt and the image of a childhood love that never cared. Unlike the living breathing woman who waits for him.]

[She doesn’t know what to do. Should she get up and ask him to stay or should she continue to pretend she’s asleep and fine with him leaving her in his dusty old house? Just another stain to add to his bleak past.]

[She’s his wife born out of wizard oaths and sacrifices of war. To keep her safe from the Dark side and to sustain him as a tool. They both knew they were being punished by a man that was more gray than actually good.]

[She was a Slytherin and the daughter of Blood purists and that was enough to condemn her. Regardless of the fact her parents hated You-Know-Who and separated from society to avoid her being married to one of his minions. Sometimes she laughs into her third wine glass as she thinks about what her parents would have thought in seeing she was forced to marry a Death-Eater.]

[It haunts her more than she would like to admit that she still doesn’t know which side killed her parents. She thinks Snape might know.]

🎵 (sakumayo)

SEND   IN   “ 🎵 “   FOR   A   SONG   /   SONGS   THAT   I   THINK   FITS   OUR   MUSES   &  AN   EXPLAINATION   AS   TO   WHY ! | @sakumayo

Runaway, runaway, let's sleep tomorrow Runaway, runaway, let's sleep tomorrow When the city floods we'll build our castle When the city floods we'll build our castle Little, I want to be a kid again Little, don't tell me this is home

Listen to me.  I am begging you.  Listen to me.  This asks you to accept a slightly different interpretation of the lyrics.  I’m basically only thinking about that one story where they’re riding a train home to visit their family but that story is everything to me.  Conceptually, anyway.  I could leave most of the content of it.

It’s really no secret.  Ritsu loves his brother very, very much.  They have some communication problems that are worse than what’s ordinarily expected of siblings, but there is very real love there, love that was never so much as damaged.  The trust, maybe, and the will and means to express it, but never the love itself.

That story tells all.  They’re going home for the holidays, and neither wants to.  Rei feels like he has to, though, and Ritsu even comments that it’s in his nature that he can’t and won’t say no.  They’ll show up, and as Rei is about to graduate at that point, the family will tell him that the time for games is over and he’ll have to come home to officially step up as head of the family.  And Ritsu, noting this, suggests that they simply... don’t.  They could run away together, live together out of the reach of everyone who would want to drag them back, and it would be as easy as sleeping through their train stop.

(Rei’s response utterly KILLS me but it’s not relevant.)

The point is, with regards to this song... just look what they’ve found.  Look at all the friends they’ve made.  Look at their fans and their careers.  They’ve built entire lives in the light, away from the secretive home they came from.  They can’t leave that.  They cannot possibly be expected to quietly step down and disappear.  

At the same time, there’s a sort of sense of “responsibility” that comes with age that asks of one to care for their family, despite the differences they might have.  There’s a really good bridge for that between the story I mentioned (with Rei mentioning he’s going to go back because it’s the right thing to do, he can’t just leave them, etc,) and Operetta (wherein Ritsu mentions he’ll help Rei to instead show the rest of their family what they’ve found, and help them find a place in society as well, so that this kind of thing doesn’t have to keep happening.)

Either way, it’s emotionally very, very difficult to walk that tightrope between what you need, personally, and what you feel you owe your family.  Stifling, even.  Sometimes you feel like you can only save a few, or even only one.  Sometimes you feel like it’s a lost cause and you just can’t be bothered with them.  They’ve made their choices, and it’s up to you to make your own, with or without them.

WELCOME TO RECREANCY, NICKY!

You have been accepted for the role of ELLIOT VANITY!

The shelter of his family name and his sister's protection allowed Elliot to be brave without ever having to be tested…at least until now. Now that he's in the Order of the Phoenix, where the stakes are so much higher than a scandal at a dinner party or a sneer in the street from one's social superior, will his bravery last? It's easy to scoff at society's norms when no one is paying attention to make you back up your words with actions, and that's the only sort of scoffing that Elliot has engaged in before. The only sort of rebellion. He has the confidence of an untried youth, and a person can go far on that sort of courage—but far enough to win a war?

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME & PRONOUNS: Nicky (she/her)

AGE: 30+

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL:  Moderate. Certainly I will more than meet the minimal requirements every week, and most weeks I expect to post multiple responses on most days, although there will be some days when I don’t post at all; I am more available later in the week than I am in the beginning (and regrettably, not available much at all most Saturdays until the evening, but as I understand that is most people’s best rp day I am perfectly willing to jump into events late and play catch-up after).

ANYTHING ELSE: Squicks: death of cats.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Elliot Alphard Vanity

AGE: 23

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: pronouns: he/him. sexuality: panromantic homosexual. gender: it's complicated.

Elliot has never thought about being anything other than a boy, because as far as he knew growing-up there were only two options and he knew he certainly wasn't a girl. Ergo, there was only one choice left, so he shrugged and went with it. And he's fine with the results, really. Being a wizard isn't hard for him. He's never really leaned-in on what it means to "be" a man, though—and he always quite enjoyed being dressed-up in ruffles and ribbons and mum's old dress robes for his sisters' tea parties and doll balls and garden fashion shows. Had he had better representation of diverse genders, Elliot might not actually be his parents' only son-and-heir—or maybe he would, but with the comforting flourish of cross-dressing and drag and general fluidity to blunt the sharper edges of masculinity when they chafe him. Perhaps that's part of why he's never felt like that role of son-and-heir really fits him. But it's the role he was given, and so he'll fulfill those family obligations…eventually. (He does sort of miss when he was little and his sisters treated him like their own personal living dress-up doll, though. That was the closest he ever came to getting to explore gender presentation outside the binary, and while he was too young at the time to really appreciate and understand the freedom of being himself without being him-self, he did revel in the experience even then. Perhaps he'll have the chance to come more into his own with the Order—or perhaps he's spent so long carving a space for himself out of the box that his parents placed him in when he was born that he no longer knows how to look beyond its confines to find the Elliot he might have been outside it. Or maybe he's fine with the box, and just wants to dress it up a bit more. We'll see. It's definitely something I'd be interested in exploring with him, should the opportunity arise.) As for romance, Elliot has flirted and will doubtless continue to flirt with people regardless of their gender, and he finds both male and female aesthetics attractive, but he appreciates the male form for its carnal attributes more. (In truth, his favorite aesthetic would be one that lies between the classical wixen standards of masculine and feminine, but that's not something he's encountered much of in his life so far.) He enjoys admiring women and flirting with or even dating them, but it's men who make his pulse quicken when the clothing comes off. Which isn't to say he doesn't fall in love with women, because he does; gender has no impact on Elliot's affections. He feels quite positively towards the idea of women in his bed, too. He has no complaints about how much fun it is to take a woman to bed. But while he can, and has, loved women, it's men he mostly lusts for. He considers this perfectly normal, and it was always all to the good in the past because Elliot comes from a school of thought that says it's best for young men to fool-around with other young men, because that way there's less chance of leading them on; less chance of promises—spoken or presumed—that a boy, or more importantly his family, may not want to keep later. Family comes paramount, of course, Elliot was taught that from an early age. That means that regardless of his inclinations or preferences, he knows that someday he will find a proper witch to wed. He knows his duty, even if he's in no rush to rush into it. But with any luck, the witch he falls in love with will be as pragmatic as most pure-blood spouses and will not only allow dalliance but will genuinely enjoy the company of Elliot's other lover(s). Preferably she will have her own extramarital entertainments, too, so that everybody's equally happy whether apart or together. Isn't that the sort of understanding that a proper relationship is built on, after all?

BLOOD STATUS: pure-blood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

ANY CHANGES: none.

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

On the surface, Elliot seems like nothing more or less than an ordinary bloke, and most people tend to overlook him for that very reason. He's nothing special, nothing significant. He leans into that assumption, happy to pass unremarked and thus unrestrained by society. He knows how to smile at the right jokes, nod to the right people, mouth the right platitudes and pleasantries. And if those empty, obligatory smiles never quite reach his eyes…well, who's going to be looking closely enough at simple, ordinary Elliot Vanity to notice? He's earnest and sincere but not (overly) naive. He understands how the world works; that's exactly why he's always taken care to hold himself a little bit apart from it. Elliot doesn't exactly wear his heart on his sleeve, but he's always preferred omission to outright deception. Better to not be noticed in the first place than to have a spin a lie to cover for yourself, isn't it? Not that he can't lie when he needs to, or has any moral objection to deception for a good cause—not in the least! But when you're a quiet and unpreposing lad with a habit of going overlooked, you have a front row seat to watch all the tenuous stacks of lies built by your more active social peers crinkle and crumble around them when the little details don't quite add up. Elliot thus learned early that it was easier to simply avoid having to spin a lie; then you don't need to worry about keeping it up later. He can be charming when he wants (or needs) to be, of course; he's not a bore. (His parents would never have stood for that.) He's perfectly amiable, perfectly pleasant. But his charm is a quieter, plainer sort than the ostentatious displays put on by most of his peers, so no one really tends to think of him as charming—which means no one tends to suspect they've been charmed by him, either. Elliot is subtle, but he can be sly when he wants to be, too. He's not flashy about that, either, and he doesn't feel the need to boast about his successes when he fools someone, which enables him to keep fooling people later. Ego tends to be most people's undoing, Elliot thinks; that's part of why he's always tried hard not to let himself develop much of one. He hasn't quite succeeded as much as he likes to think. He is, after all, the son of privilege and fortune and elegance, and in a society that puts a great deal of value on the weight of not just bloodline and lineage but the patrilineal descent of a family name, he is the only son. Elliot Vanity was always going to be a sheltered, spoiled boy to a certain extent and maybe a little more than that, even. Having an older sister who paved the way so well—who strove to be so perfect that everyone who looked at him after seeing her would assume that he'd tried and succeeded just the same—helped, but also hindered, because it meant Elliot never had to try even at that. He could simply exist, and be content. With nothing to strive against, he never bothered to learn how to strive for either. Like his sisters, Elliot is a victim of his family's expectations and complacency alike. He wasn't told "don't be smart," like Emma was; it's fine for a son to be smart, as long as he doesn't go so far as to become a swot. (Reading is fine; hiding in his room when there's a party going on in order to read wasn't.) He wasn't told to mind his tongue; he learned that lesson on his own, after seeing what happened to those who didn't. He was told to be charming and pleasant and jovial, told to be someone that people would like to be around. He learned, instead, to be someone unobjectionable—which is much like being liked, only smaller. He never learned to temper his flaws, only to smother them. To suppress rather than improve. The shelter of his family name and his sister's protection allowed Elliot to be brave without ever having to be tested…at least until now. Now that he's in the Order of the Phoenix, where the stakes are so much higher than a scandal at a dinner party or a sneer in the street from one's social superior, will his bravery last? It's easy to scoff at society's norms when no one is paying attention to make you back up your words with actions, and that's the only sort of scoffing that Elliot has engaged in before. The only sort of rebellion. He has the confidence of an untried youth, and a person can go far on that sort of courage—but far enough to win a war? Only time will tell…

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY: See more family details here.

Elliot loves his family. That's why he's here, even though he knows he can't tell any of them about his joining the Order of the Phoenix because they would never understand—well, at least he didn't think so. But it turns out that Emma understood better than he would have ever thought; turns out she was here before him. That's his sister: always leading the way for the rest of them, even when her siblings don't always notice or appreciate how hard it has to be. Elliot notices more than Evelyn, though. Well, he's older, he should. Evelyn still has a year left at Hogwarts, she's practically a child. Not that Elliot doesn't dote on his baby sister, because he does—but it's his big sister, the one he's only a year away from in age, that he was always closest to. Eugenia is fine as far as mothers go, Ignatius died so long ago that Elliot remembers him with fond distance, and Evelyn is the baby of the family, the precious younger sibling to be protected and guided. Emma was the other half of Elliot's childhood—at least until Hogwarts pulled them apart for a year, a gap that they somehow never managed to close. A gap that, maybe, now he finally can… Elliot's father died when he was seven. Maybe that was partly why he was so quick to acquiesce to his mother's insistence that there was a right way to be a son-and-heir: he was trying to make-up for the fact that he didn't have a father whose lead he could follow. Trying to make mum proud of him in Ignatius's stead. Maybe that's also why he was so quick to give-up on that plan and decide to wear that expectation as a thin coat to conceal himself behind rather than as an actual identity. Or maybe that was because of Emma: he saw how she embraced the role that their mother laid-out for her, saw how she diminished herself to become "the perfect daughter" and he decided that it was better to hide than shrink. Or maybe Emma sacrificing herself on the altar of those expectations just freed Elliot up enough that he could get away with not following her lead into that void. He was never a hero—heroism is for fools or those with something to prove, and Elliot was never either—but he wasn't a doormat, either. He didn't stick his neck out for other people, but he did have a knack for quietly diverting the attentions of bullies (or of his more boisterous housemates) when they were bothering someone. Not always, of course; sometimes a subtle comment wasn't enough to deflect unwanted interest; sometimes he was more interested in seeing what would happen next than putting a stop to it. But Elliot has never understood the appeal of picking on the underdog—of punching down. Isn't it more funny, more witty, more satisfying to poke the people on the top of the ladder? Yes, that does tend to be him a lot of the time given his position so near the top echelons of pure-blood society, but Elliot's never had any trouble taking a joke. And he certainly believes you shouldn't start something if you can't take it in your turn, so he's especially merciless to those who can't handle themselves when a situation reverses and puts the shoe on the other foot. Maybe that's why he ended-up quietly befriending the very sort of people whom his mum always told him he should look down on. Maybe that's why he wasn't insulated enough by his privilege to fail to see how much of that privilege was built on lies. (Doesn't mean he's necessarily deconstructed all of it, but at least he's caught-on to the artificiality of it all.) Maybe that's why he eventually ended up in the Order of the Phoenix when so many of the wix he'd grown-up with had their eyes turned towards the Dark Lord.

OCCUPATION:

Elliot's occupation is "son and heir" and everything else is just a hobby.That said, he did indeed have a "hobby" of a job for a few years there—insisting to his mother that understanding business would be useful once he inherited the family fortune and was thus responsible for the management thereof; she had to agree with the logic of this point, although she probably didn't expect him to choose a joke shop, of all places, as the means for learning those lessons. Elliot isn't what people think of when they think of a Zonko's employee, either: he's too quiet, too calm. He'd rather curl up in a corner with a book than bounce around the room telling jokes and pulling pranks. But he does like excitement; he just prefers standing well back from the splash-zone and observing from a distance, which made a joke shop—where he sells the products, and thus gets to hear the stories about their use—an ideal diversion for his time. Of course, now that he has a new "hobby" in the form of the Order of the Phoenix, Elliot has decided there's no reason to keep spending time at Zonko's, so he resigns only a week after his induction, much to his mum’s relief—although that relief would be short-lived indeed if she ever found out why he quit.

LIVING SITUATION:

Elliot lives at home in the family estate in Wiltshire. Between the floo and Apparition, it's not too inconvenient—but perhaps once he joins the Order, his sister Emma might invite him to join her in her London flat? After all, they both have to keep the same secrets, so it only makes sense for them to share lodgings outside their parents' gaze—and it's not like they need to keep those secrets from each other, is it?

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX:

Elliot's most obvious use is his very lack of obviousness: as someone who can move among the societal ranks from which many of the Death Eaters are drawn practically unobserved, Elliot is a useful source of information. Of course, other members of the Order are far more enmeshed in said ranks—but Elliot is distinguished from many of them by the fact that (although neither he nor most anyone else knows this) he actually is loyal to the Order, for one, and for another he's so much less noticeable than they are. People are used to seeing Elliot Vanity lurking around the edges of their parties without noticing him; can he sidle in a little closer and see what he can learn without getting spotted and killed? Maybe. Maybe it's worth trying. (Maybe he should snog Lucius Malfoy. The man's a little old for him, but undeniably gorgeous, and Malfoy would certainly be interested—and he certainly knows things, is privy to knowledge, that would help the Order. Elliot could totally flirt with him, or others like him, to get a little closer to information that could help save lives. It's not like it would be a sacrifice. Well, it would be in some cases—the Lestrange brothers, for instance, and not just because one of them dated his sister once; and getting too close to Crabbe’s dead-eyed stare already makes his skin crawl.) But surely he can be more than just another set of ears. For once, he'd like to do more than just observe. He's only just joined the Order of the Phoenix, and he's excited to be here. Excited to be part of something that matters. He just needs to prove—to them and to him, and to Emma—that he belongs, that he's valuable, that he's someone worth noticing instead of overlooking, for once. For once, he wants to be. (While he's a brand new addition to the Order, and thus likely to have to A: be trained and B: prove himself, I think that he'll actually prove to be good in a fight because while it will take him a bit to stop flinching and second-guessing himself in a duel, he's extremely observant and astute at gauging other people, which will help him adapt to and even anticipate his enemy's attacks. Anything that requires an eye for detail is something that Elliot would be helpful with, probably. He might even be useful as an assistant on strategy issues, because while he lacks the experience to necessarily be able to make good proactive suggestions for the Order, said keen-eye is likely to be handy for assessing the strategy of their enemies or targets. An unwillingness to risk others—at least at first—will hold him back there, but Elliot is likely to learn how to see the "bright, clear line" from A to B very quickly and once he grows a thick enough skin to understand that sometimes one has to be ruthless, he'll be able to apply those observations in a helpful way I think.)

RELATIONSHIPS:

His non-Order, pre-Order relationships are surprisingly unchanged by his new allegiance. Elliot has always been the sort of person whose friends take him for granted, assuming he'll be there; assuming he won't object; assuming he'll stay the same. And in large part, they're right and always have been. He's the back-up friend, the one who never gets called first for a gathering but is never unwelcome there, either. For the most part, Elliot likes it that way. Sometimes—sometimes—he wonders wistfully what it would be like to be somebody's first choice, somebody's favorite…but then he thinks about how much effort that would be, and decides he's happy with the way things are, actually. Especially now. Joining the Order would put strain on closer bonds with some of those old friends, but if Elliot Vanity can't make a party—well, the party just goes on without him, and no one will really notice if he's not there. Conversely, if he does show-up, no one is going to question it. No one ever does.

(Obviously all of the following is subject to change upon plotting with players!) Emma Vanity — he always loved his big sister, of course; they were so close in age that when they were small, it was almost more like having a twin than anything else. But then Emma left for Hogwarts and left Elliot behind, and suddenly everything seemed to change. Suddenly Emma had responsibilities that Elliot didn't; suddenly she wasn't just his sister but his older sister, always just a little bit wiser and more experienced. Always just a little bit more. And then…well, it wasn't that she ever became less, of course, but she never quite seemed to be as much of what she'd once been, before. She was still Emma but she was just…well, Emma. Always did what she was supposed to, never caused a fuss, never spoke out of turn, was never ever anything less than perfect. Elliot still loved her, he just didn't think about her much. Took her for granted, assumed she would always be just what she was and no more, no less, ever. Then he came to the Order and found her already here, and it was like someone had blown the blinders away and showed him a whole new sister. Just as he had always allowed the world to overlook him, he had somehow overlooked her. Incredible. He can't wait to get to know her true self now, finally, for the first time since they were small. How wonderful. Nicky Edgecombe — it's probably a good thing they weren't in the same year. Having Nicky in his classes would have been bad for both Elliot's grades and for his reputation of…well…not having a reputation. The problem with Nicky is that she's always been not just enthusiastic, but welcoming—sometimes whether the other party wants to be welcomed or not. Seeing Elliot sitting smirking on the sidelines like that told most of their housemates that he wasn't interesting enough to be worth reaching out to; for Nicky, that just put him in a convenient place from which to be dragged in to things. Elliot rarely protested; part of going with the flow means…well…going with the flow. And Nicky was always fun, if sometimes exhausting and almost always baffling. Elliot knows he can't keep up with her, and honestly doesn't really want to—but he has no objections to running alongside sometimes to catch the show up-closer. He's honestly not even surprised to find her here in the Order of the Phoenix. Where else would someone with such an explosive personality end up? Edgar Bones — for about ten minutes after realizing that his sister definitely has a huge crush on this kid, Elliot is going to be extremely distrustful of Edgar Bones. Then he's going to actually meet him, and probably very quickly decide that no, actually, his big sister has excellent taste in men, in fact, who would have figured? John Dawlish — Elliot doesn't exactly have a crush but…okay, it's a crush. So what? John is forthright and trustworthy and reliable and fair and strong and so so hot. Frankly the surprising thing is that more people don't have a crush on him, Elliot thinks, and he's not ashamed who knows it. He'd rather that John not hear about it from somebody else first, though, so he tries to keep said crush on the down-low for now…but he's not above mooning over the bloke in conversation with people he trusts not to blab, either. Andromeda Tonks — She was the cautionary tale, one that the Vanity family told almost like a fable to scare the children (not so young anymore, when Andromeda left, but there had been other stories before hers along the same theme; hers was simply the most current and the most shocking, because she wasn't just any pure-blood witch she was a Black). Elliot spent his whole youth assuming she must be miserable and lonely and mired in regret, when he bothered to think about her at all—which was more often than it might have been, given how many hushed whispers made reference to her sad fate—but now that he's met her, he realizes those assumptions were utterly wrong. Andromeda is happy. She might not have "everything she ever wanted" (presumably she would have wanted her new family and her old, together; Elliot certainly wouldn't want to give-up his parents or siblings in trade for a lover and child) but she's happy enough. Happier than anyone in the world she left behind would ever admit. Which makes Andromeda just one more piece of proof that so much of what his parents—his whole society—tried to teach him, to base his whole life on, is bullshit. That's in keeping with what Elliot has already observed, yes, but it's also a whole new level of that observation. Because this is Andromeda Black…happy. He's fascinated. And elated for her, of course. But also captivated by her existence, by her reality. By the reality of her. Maybe it's not the most comfortable thing, to be regarded with such unabashed wide-eyed wonder…but it's got to at least be flattering too, right? Right? Ted Tonks — the man who muddied Andromeda Black, who was somehow so enchanting that he lured one of the perfect sisters from the Noble House of Black to be not so toujours in her purity after all. Ted fascinates Elliot in an almost anthropological way: why this wizard, rather than any other? How? Was Tonks the first chink in the family's armor, the first crack that severed first Andromeda and then Sirius from that heretofore impregnable family tree? The scandal of him will live in infamy for generations! And yet, he seems so…normal? Elliot is captivated, but not in the way that Andromeda must have been. He's fascinated by the very ordinariness of Ted Tonks. He's nothing like the man that Elliot pictured before, when he heard the salacious stories and gossip about Andromeda's flight and fall. He's kind and honest and strong and genuine—all qualities that Elliot admires, of course. (And handsome, too. Definitely can't forget that.) But he's also just a man. How did someone so…grounded pull Andromeda Black down from her perch so far above the rest of them? It's incredible. Which makes Ted incredible simply for that feat alone…even if he doesn't look it. Daisy Hookum — He can't say he understands her (how crazy do you have to be to even contemplate the idea of giving up magic voluntarily?) but he understands where she's coming from. Sure, Elliot is quieter—less obsessive—in how he studies things, but he does like to learn and understand new things. People, mainly. That's a large part of why he watches the world the way he does: he's interested. The way Daisy goes through the world, so loud and bubbly and engaged with things, is anathema to him—but he understands why she does it, at least. He admires her for it, even if he shies away from the cacophony of her process; respects her for the urge they share to understand what's alien to them both. Alastor Moody — Elliot definitely. doesn't. have. a. crush. That would be weird! Alastor is so old. He's practically old enough to be Elliot's dad! Well, not quite. (Er, technically…?) But close. Close enough that it would be weird. (Probably.) Anyway, it doesn't matter if Alastor looks kind of a little hot despite being so old, because Elliot does not have a crush. He's just…impressed. By Alastor's competence. And efficiency. And alertness. And leadership. He's a very impressive man, and Elliot recognizes that. That's all. That's all, Emma! James Potter — on one hand, Elliot feels like he owes James (and the other three boys who formed Potter's little cohort) a debt. After all, with them around, it was easy to go overlooked due to always being overshadowed. Whatever Elliot did, whenever he did it, there was always somebody else in Gryffindor Tower doing something bigger, louder, and messier. And they were so good at it, too. They blazed like bonfires, those boys. Especially Potter. Beautiful, irrepressible James Potter. It was hard to look away from the blaze of him, sometimes. On the other hand…Merlin's teeth but they were noisy. Obnoxious, too. And Elliot didn't really fancy the way they tended to flock. Maybe it's because he was always a loner, but he didn't like their habit of outnumbering their prey before they picked a fight. Not that they picked on him much (it often seemed like they picked on everyone a little, because that's what boisterous boys like that were supposed to do, but it was never targeted enough that Elliot thought they were picking on him on purpose) but it was a matter of principle: he didn't like bullies. Not that he ever said much to them in opposition, either, so it's not like he could take a moral stance on the issue. But they made him nervous, those loud, happy, popular, wonderful boys. They seemed to have everything so easy, and to never quite understand how easy it was. Especially James. Especially James. Hearing that Potter was dead…well, it had shaken Elliot a little. Back at Hogwarts James had seemed like the kind of boy who would never die—but on the other hand, if he was going to die, burning out fast and early was fitting. Except he didn't, and now Elliot isn't quite sure what to make of James or his friends. They aren't the two-dimensional caricatures he remembers from Gryffindor Tower; aren't the happy, cheerful, perfectly united, skating-through-life-unscathed icons he always thought they were. They're people, with all the flaws and problems that that entails. Potter and his crew weren't ever Elliot's heroes, by any means, and yet…well, the fact that he didn't worship at their altar doesn't mean he didn't idolize them a little. They might not have been his heroes, but heroes they clearly always were. And now Elliot has met them up close as people, and the illusion is shattered. He supposes he ought to be pleased by that…but mostly, he just feels sad. Wila Travers — he was in the same year as her little sister. They didn't overlap a lot, with Sarai in Hufflepuff and Elliot in Gryffindor, but they shared some classes. And of course they attended the same sorts of social events. So he knew her, and he grieved when she died. Finding out that that didn't happen in the accidental way he had been led to believe…well, that was a shock. Sobering. Finding her sister here, fighting tooth and nail to avenge her…Elliot can understand that. He'd do the same thing for Emma or Evelyn, after all. He's not quite sure exactly how to act around Wila sometimes, because yes he knew her sister but they weren't super close so what's the appropriate way to show that he's sad without seeming ghoulish or exploitative or pretentiously overdone…? Certainly he doesn't dislike Wila! He thinks she's (intimidatingly) clever and (terrifyingly) beautiful. Being around her just feels awkward, because of circumstances that don't really have anything to do with being around her. Regulus Black — the newest addition to the Order before Elliot, yes, but because Regulus was there before him, Elliot will for quite a while at least have no idea that Regulus is such a new addition, nor will he had any reasons to distrust him the way so many others do (not any understanding of why they don't trust Regulus more). Elliot's initial assumption will be that Regulus faked his death years ago to help the Order somehow, and until that's corrected he'll be extremely confused why someone who has given so much to the cause isn't being treated with more respect and acceptance by the rest of their allies. Even after the truth manages to fight its way through Elliot's garbled presumptions and misunderstandings, he'll still lack the innate distrust that so many in the Order feel towards Regulus Black. After all, he's here just his sister is; Regulus is here just like his brother is. Both pure-blood heirs and younger siblings simultaneously, both grew-up closer to the world of their enemies than their allies, both chose to take a stand for right instead of sitting back in the safety of their privilege… Why, they're practically echoes of each other! Why wouldn't he trust—and appreciate—Regulus and his perspective?

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: 

Anything with chemistry. Elliot is very open to relationships of both romantic and casual natures, and while he's rather sweet in the expression of his affections he's not overly sappy either. He can definitely approach things in a pragmatic sense, and he's never experienced much in the way of jealousy. Of course, he's never really fallen in love before, either, for all that he's had several dalliances. So I'm really up for taking him wherever the dash (or Karli's sixth-sense) leads!

INTERPERSONAL STRUGGLES:

One of the hardest things for Elliot is going to be the way his optimism grates against the (justifiably) more cynical outlook of many of the Order members who have been here longer. He's only just joined this war, and he's still full of vim and vigor—a feckless youth who thinks he can change the world for the better just by hoping hard enough. Many of the people he's now fighting beside know from experience that it takes a lot more than just hope to rewrite the rules of the world, and no amount of optimism will stop a Killing Curse in its fatal tracks. But Elliot doesn't know that yet, and there's bound to be some strife between him and those who have learned that particular lesson the hard way. He also comes from a life of privilege and comfort and a strata of society that says he's not only safe from this war, but from the perspective of many their enemy is actually fighting for him. That's bound to rub some people the wrong way, especially those who have so much more to lose in this fight than he does. To some, Elliot's easy-going attitude is probably going to come across as indifference or even callousness due to that; to others, he may always be somewhat distrusted because he doesn't actually have a dog in this fight. The fact that he grew-up in a world that flung words like mudblood around as common slang likely won't help him endear himself to anyone, because while he knows it's not a good word, there's no guarantee it won't slip-out sometime when he's not paying attention. Which isn't to say that Elliot himself hasn't protested when others say it, or things like it; he has. But not often. Most of the time he keeps his head down and rolls his eyes where nobody can see him—and that's not exactly using his privilege in a proactive way, is it? Elliot might mean well—and he does. But good intentions only go so far. How far is a good question, especially for someone who has spent most of his life as a deliberate wallflower. He's used to being a bystander on purpose, and now he's in a war. An active, purposeful participant. Sure, it's a secret vigilante group—but while the Order doesn't go around advertising their identities, they certainly aren't standing on any sidelines. Acting instead of watching is going to be an adjustment for Elliot—and for anyone who knew him before this, and very likely might doubt just how much good he's going to do them. And then of course there's the fact that his beloved sister is working for the enemy… What will happen when that comes out? Will people leap to the conclusion that if Emma's a traitor, he must be one too? If he finds out the truth before the Order as a whole does, how will he balance his loyalty to the cause against the weight of his sister's secret? If he doesn't find out early, how will he balance his memories of a sister who would do anything for him and Evelyn against the reality of one who betrayed him? Elliot is an earnest, trusting young man. What happens when the person who matters the most to him shatters that?

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? This is what we do to each other, Karli. This is what we do. It's our lot in life. We were made to suffer.

PLOT DROP IDEAS (OPTIONAL):

 I'd love to eventually see something happen that either outs Emma as a spy, or causes her to feel like she has to confess her status as a double agent to her brother…or possibly even something that results in Elliot getting hurt (or even killed?) badly enough that he has to drop out of the fight, leaving Emma to shoulder the burden for both of them. Vanity Sibling Angst for the win!

More specifically, I was thinking it might be fun for the recent disastrous deception of the Death Eaters (nice unintentional alliteration there, wasn't it?) to be the impetus for Elliot's joining the Order. There's a little too much destruction—too much attention—to be brushed under the rug, and it's more than just a single home or business being visited by murder underneath a Dark Mark. This is something that Elliot (along with a great many other magical people) are going to notice. Perhaps he actually comes to the site of one of the incidents and tells whoever he finds there that he wants to help—no, not just in this one moment, but long term, please!—or maybe he somehow figures out the identity of someone who was there at one of them (a blurred photograph in the Daily Prophet that he recognizes from school or some social overlap?) and comes to speak to them individually afterwards, asking to join? I don't have anything specific in mind (other than that I don’t want it to be Emma he finds/recognizes, because I think it will be more fun for both of them if he’s brought to the Order and then they see each other), but this event does seem a good excuse for how he gets in touch with the Order, at least.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Zagreus AU

So, I’ve been dropping some stuff about this au for quite some time, but I haven’t fully explained it so I thought I give everyone a brief run down on what this AU is all about.

All his life Izuku has lived with his father All for One, instead of leaving Izuku and Inko to live a normal life, deeming the whole situation a failure, he just takes them with him wherever he goes. He did this because he believed at some point he need them (well more Izuku) for something else, and because he liked the faux family he created; made for a good cover among other things. However, he is still All for One so don’t expect him to be a good dad.

Basically, his dad grew up hot and cold around Izuku, loving and kind one moment and regretful and distasteful the next, Izuku was always the unknown factor in AFO plans; a well of potential that never went anywhere. Izuku would eventually grow to have complicated feelings over his father. Basically, Izuku never knowing his place in the world his father was creating, between his own feelings and his father’s wishes, Izuku has quite the identity crisis about who and what he’ll be.

Izuku is still quirkless, and All for One still gets injured when he was about nine. After that Izuku started having a more active role in his father criminal affirms, and it all came to head one day for (what Izuku is aware) no reason at all, All for One decides to take Inko away when Izuku is fourteen. Izuku tries everything to let All for One bring her back, but he doesn’t. Izuku knows that the only way to get his mum back is to trade her with something All for One can’t resist… One for all.

Izuku plans to take One for All from All Might, which involves some pretty manipulative tactics, but he does eventually get the quirk. Except his time with Yagi sort of changed him, when the dust has finally settled and Izuku is the ninth wielder of One for All, he is crushed with guilt, anger, and emptiness. Izuku who had been quirkless his whole life, useless to his father and his plan; somehow was able to get the quirk All for One never could, the most powerful quirk was in his hands. All that work, just to hand it over to his father for the chance to see his mum again.

Izuku finally comes to the point where he tell his father about what he did, All for One is shocked but at the same time overjoyed that One for All his finally in his grasp again. He holds out his hand and ask to have it, Izuku ask if this means he can see his mum again to which AFO states that of course Izuku can, he would have gotten to see her again anyway, just not yet, he’s going to have to wait for a while before he can.

Which cause Izuku to give the biggest middle finger to AFO and keep OFA for himself and decide to go off and create his own organisation to take down hero society. AFO isn’t very happy with this but surprisingly he let’s Izuku go, with the warning that it won’t go well for Izuku, especially with All Might hunting him down.

Three months In Izuku learns that he may have bitten of more then he can chew because he does indeed get caught. And due to his age and his criminal offences he is sent to the only prison that can hold him: Zagreus juvenal detention centre. A prison built solely to handle young criminals under the age of eighteen with a dangerous quirks or criminal connections.

Now Izuku is a dangerous criminal, but he’s also a child who needs interaction with other kids his age. So, he placed with 19 other children in Level 1 group A. Filled with all the kid who are the same age as him with the same amount of threat level as Izuku. These kids have very connection to each other and to the outside, and Izuku is last of the batch to officially fill up the 20 rooms. It’s quite the culture shock cause Izuku (despite having an extensive knowledge of the criminal underground) has never faced other his age with real criminal experience.

And in case you haven’t caught on yeah this is a villain class 1-A au. Basically, all of Class 1-A are bad guys. In this world each and everyone of them have had something happen to them that put them down the wrong path, which made them end up in prison, some by their own crimes, some making bad choices, and other getting screwed over by others. Izuku basically knows no one they’re except for his old friend Bakugou, who was last kid to get caught before Izuku.

As time goes on the groups grow closer with each other and Izuku and the rest of the class learn about their crimes, how the got caught and what drove them to become villains in the first place. Eventually someone gets tipped off about a possible hole in the security, The group begin working on a plan of escape out of the prison known as Zagreus.

Some random notes about the Au:

In the beginning Izuku had some what of a normal childhood, and Bakugou was his childhood friend. But at nine an incident with Bakugou and Izuku happened that changed the direction of both their lives. This is why Bakugou is a villain, and why him and Izuku have such bad blood between them, this incident was what nerfed bakugou hero career.

A few of class A know each other outside of meeting In Zagreus: Tsuyu and Uraraka are partners (Sometimes along with toga but she wasn’t caught). Kaminari, Bakugou and Kirishima used to work together, Same with Kaminari and Mineta. Momo and Jiro worked with each other, and Tenya and Aoyama used to be in UA together before they got arrested. Izuku apart from Bakugou also know Shoto vaguely from Tomura.

Shoto and Dabi work together before Shoto got caught, Dabi is trying to get his brother out but it’s complicated and Dabi got stuff going on.

Tomura has known Izuku and Inko since he came into AFO care, so since Izuku was about one. He is very much big brother Tomura telling Izuku not to get into trouble, he is also trying to get Izuku out of prison but it’s complicated. He does miss Izuku and was more then willing to help him out, but he’s very much on AFO side. Tomura also knows why AFO took Inko away.

Izuku doesn’t know why AFO took his mum away, Inko is also alive in this AU just missing.

Tsuyu and Uraraka knew toga before they got caught, Toga really misses her friends but won’t get caught to see them again. Tsu and Uraraka don’t mind Toga, but they are not as close as her compared to each other.

Tenya and Aoyama got caught because Tenya killed Stain and went on a spiralling revenge quest before he was stopped, and Aoyama got outed as the traitor. They are on awkward terms with each other, but even more so with the rest of group 1-A.

Zagreus was actually based of Tartarus, but more kid friendly, people literally call it Tartarus kid’s edition. Because of the whole prison is much more open compared to its adult counter part because of child protection laws, this is how the kids get to know each other better.

I do have a fic already posted about this which goes into some more explanation about the prison it's self:

request: sometimes time likes to be alone underwater. with his iron boots and zora helmet, it's easy to just take a stroll at the bottom of a deep enough lake, away from the rest of the world. he did not expect, however, to find legend relaxing inside a small hole in the stone. Mer Legend.

Oh boy! I was vibing with this one for a while, I just wanted to make it perfect!

I'm pretty happy with what I made too, but man is it long!

(I hope this makes you happy, anon!)

When he and Malon have kids, he hopes they don't have this many.

Nayru knows he loves his boys, but they can get a bit much sometimes. They can get loud and overwhelming, and as a man who’s used to traveling primarily alone, with maybe a fairy trailing behind him or his trusted mount, it’s a bit overwhelming. He’s not used to being around people so much, Malon and Talon are his only consistent company and even then, the work they share means that often times it’s only him and his thoughts as he mucks, mends and tends things around the ranch.

Sometimes, when the boys get especially rowdy and playful, it’s just nice to get a moment of quiet to himself. Between Sky and Twilight he knows that nothing overly chaotic will go down, and he trusts the boys to keep each other in check.

So, when they come to the Pup’s Hyrule, their battle in this world over and most of their number restless as they wait for the next portal to arrive and whisk them away, Time allows his boys their space, and with a quick exchange with the only two he can trust to not burn something down (at least while the younger ones can still see them) he heads off into the forest to get a little space to himself.

Of course, he can’t really go far, not if he needs to hurry back, but he doesn’t really need to. His destination is Lake Hylia, which is only a short distance from their camp, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, and, when he gets there, he allows himself to actually breathe for once.

Wild, Warriors and Wind had been locked in a game of cards when last he left, the champion soundly beating the other two both at cribbage while Wars bemoans his poor luck, and Twilight and Sky were discussing wood carving with Hyrule, with the occasional comment from the smithy, who is only too happy to throw in something related every so often as he looks up from his book. That leaves himself and Legend, and he’s long since learned that the vet was one to disappear for his own space when possible.

He’s not overly worried. Legend has items and experience that far outmatch most of their group, and if he runs into trouble Time has little doubt that he’ll be able to get himself out of it to at least gather reinforcements, if not handle the issue by himself.

A deep breath of relief escapes him as the eldest of the heroes pulls a few items from his own bag. The boots are a familiar if not welcome weight as he slips out of his armor and dons the tunic and cap of the Zora, his breath bubbling softly as he steps into the lake before him with a contented sigh.

The cool water floods over the top of him, tugging at his hair and bubbling in his lungs, but it’s doesn’t burn the way that it should. He breathes easily beneath the rippling surface of Lake Hylia, the Zora tunic granting him freedom beneath the waves.

There is little sound beneath, only the muffled noise from above the surface, the flow of the water and-

Time’s ears prick forwards as a single blue eye turns to search the space around him.

Someone is singing.

It’s a haunting sort of melody, one that draws you in and makes you dazed, and Time finds himself stumbling over his own feet as he searches for the source. It is not a Cursed song, nor anything powerful from what he can recall, in fact, it’s almost familiar. It sounds similar to something he hears hummed about their camp at night while the boys take watch. He’d never been able to place which of the young heroes hummed the lilting melody, but he’s let it carry him off to sleep many a time before. Only this song, the one that twines about his head and whispers in his ears and makes his feet trek closer and closer to its source, this song is different, it’s haunted and Broken, and it is sung in a Voice.

Not a voice like most of those above the surface have, but a Voice like a fairy or spirit might have. One that pulls at your very soul and sings in your mind, un-hampered by wind or waves, able to carry across miles to be heard by those that it Sings too.

Heavy feet trod faster.

He’s under no spell, but he is a Link, and by now he has learned that all of their kind are blessed or cursed with courage and curiosity both, and to be without the latter is simply unthinkable for the young-at-heart hero. Something –the forest imp in him maybe- tells him to find the Voice, find the Singer.

He’s only made it part of the way across the lake, hasn’t even left the shoreline properly, when the song stops. Unease creeps over him as he looks around, alert and ready for trouble, only to see nothing but the peaceful stillness of the lake bottom around him.

There! His mind supplies as something pink flits in the corner of his vision, and he’s whipping around to come face to face with-

Long tangled hair drifts in the waves as glistening scales reflect the light pouring down through the waves. Too deep, too dark eyes stare at him in shock for a brief moment, and then-

The creature, the thing, is gone in an instant. Whipping away as it’s glimmer fades into the waves around him, speed no doubt granted by the brilliant tail of the thing sending it rocketing out of his grasp before he even has a chance to speak.

He tried to follow it. He does! But quite soon the adult part of his mind is reminding him how dangerous the thing could be, and that he still has his boys to return to back on the surface. It’s been exactly thirty-two minutes and thirteen seconds since he left them at their camp, and by now they usually would have sent someone to check and make sure that whatever member of their party had strayed off was alright.

Removing his boots is all it takes to float to the surface, despite the fact that he still holds the things in his hands, and it’s with no small amount of relief that he realizes that the bank of the lake is free of other heroes.

Time gathers his things together, wringing out his hair and clothes before returning to his normal gear and heading back to the camp.

Smiles and chuckles greet him as the young heroes tease.

“Go for a swim, Old Man?” Legend quirks a brow, staring up from his place by the fire.

Time doesn’t answer him, but he does shake his head violently enough to spray the younger heroes with water, earning shouts and shrieks from them as they try and shield themselves from the wet. “Seriously, Time?” Warriors moans, wiping lake water from his face. “What are you, a dog?”

Time smirks at the captain and, to everyone's surprise (which produces no small amount of delight for him), he barks.

“What sorts of people have you met in your adventures?” Sky asks a couple of days later, head cocked to the side as he watches his brothers. “You all talk about so many races, but I don’t think I've heard of most of them.”

“Well,” Wild smiles, there’s a glint in his gaze that isn’t quite mischief, but it’s a warning to be wary anyway, because they all know what a crack-pot their cook can be at times. “There’s Hylians, of course, and Sheikah, Yiga, Gerudo, Rito, Gorons, Zora and koroks! You’ve probably already met the Sheikah, since you mentioned knowing an Impa during your journey, and the Yiga are an offshoot of that group.”

Twilight blinks and stares, Warriors furrowing his brow as he two older heroes stare at the younger, but Wild seem entirely unaffected.

“Gerudo are a desert people. They’re really tall, and extremely strong! Most of their race have long red hair and slightly darker skin than the people around Hyrule. They are a society of all woman, with only one man being born to them every hundred years. They worship the goddess Din for the most part, and live out of an opulent city set in the desert where they specialize in the crafting of weapons and jewelry, and the farming of exotic plants.” The champion then proceeds to run down traits and knowledge about the other races, matter-of-factly, as if the details he is sharing are things that everyone from the surface knows.

“Wow.” Sky laughs as Wild finishes. “I had no idea.”

“There’s also the minish.” Four adds. “And the Wind Tribe, who are sky people, of course.”

Sky looks curious, but Four says nothing more, instead gesturing to the other heroes to share their thoughts, which they do.

“Terminans.” Time offers. “Very similar to Hylians.”

“Ordonians.” Twilight adds with a fond smile. No explanation is needed.

The others all nod along, but Legend rolls his eyes. “Humans, like, non-Hylian humans, Shifters,” The vet stares upwards with a light scowl as he ticks the races off of his fingers. “Technically they’re humans too, but Wild counted the Sheikah and Gerudo, so there’s also the Lorulians, Labrynninians, Holodrumese folks, Hytopians, Drablanders, Subrosians, Catalians-” Legend frowns. “I could swear there are more but I can’t really recall.”

Time, for whatever reason, he can’t really say why, cocks his head. “Any water people other than Zora?”

The vet snaps his fingers. “Mer-folk! Thank you, Time. I guess fae and animal folk count on that note.”

There’s a scoff and Warriors is leaning forwards with a smirk. “Fairies and animals, sure, but mer? Seriously, Legend? Have you even met a mer before?”

“Many times.” The veteran drawls, cocking a brow in the captain’s direction. “On multiple adventures. What about you, cap? Jealous you couldn’t snag one for your guild of brides?”

Warriors blusters about indignantly, earning laughter from the others as Legend smirks, but the man recovers quickly enough. “I do not have a guild of brides! That is- that is utterly disgusting!”

“Could have fooled me.” Legend teases, sipping some water from a flask.

“Give him a break.” Twilight snickers, shoving the vet playfully.

The unfortunate thing about Twilight’s shoves though is that the ranch hand doesn’t seem to know his own strength, and Legend is small enough that the light push is enough to send him scrabbling to not hit the ground. More laughter rings about their camp, but this time at the vet's expense, as Legend topples over into the dirt, spilling his drink and failing his arms as he goes.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Legend huffs, pulling himself back up and dusts off his clothes, scowling at the water spilled on him. “Great.”

“Oh, come on, you came back soaked to the skin earlier, what’s a bit of water going to hurt you, huh, vet?” Warriors ribs, smirking.

Legend shoots him a half-hearted glare.

“Legend,” Time starts slowly. “How would you describe the mer?”

The vet pauses, gaze resting maybe a moment too long as his hands as he brushes off the hem of his tunic. He’s already done so and there’s really no reason for him to do it again, but he does anyway. “What you’d expect.” He shrugs haltingly. “Hylian on top, fish beneath. Tail, long hair, that sort of thing.”

The old man hums. Legends ears twitch, nose shivering slightly as violet eyes flit over their group. “Care to expand on your sky people story, Four?”

“I’m good.” The smithy replies lazily.

Time would pass it off as a strange one-time thing, he would, but there are... other factors at play.

They’ve traveled to Four’s time, fighting off monsters and solving puzzles the same as they’ve always done. The boys are taking some downtime, playing hide and seek, and just like the last time, Time takes himself down to the river they’ve made camp ear and dons his Zora gear.

He isn’t expecting to see the creature, the mer, again, much less hear them singing -after all, this is a Hyrule far before his Pup’s- but there the creature is. It- or they- frolic in the water, chasing fish and singing softly. The tune is lighter than the last one he heard, a different song entirely, but there is no denying that it is the same mer.

Gold flecked, petal pink scales shimmer beneath the twisted lights that invade the water, hair of the same colors flowing in the current as long fingers, tipped with pointed claws, reach out to swipe at the fish swimming wildly away. They don’t catch anything, but Time hears it giggle anyways, the tune of its voice bubbling in merriment as it rolls like and otter and turns to explore some other part of the river bed.

The cursed curiosity of a hero niggles in Time’s mind. How is the same mer from before in this timeline, ages before Twilight would even be born? And why do they play and explore as if they’ve never seen this river bed before in their life?

Long claws pull through sand, and although their hair blocks their face from his view, he can still hear the warble of delight as the creature removes something sparkling and bright from the river bed. The mer floats in place, turning the item over in their hands curiously before whisking it out of sight and returning to their search.

A mer that likes treasure, huh? Why is he unsurprised?

His own soft laugh startles them, and for a half of a moment, golden ringed, violet eyes, wide and bright and full of shock, meet his own.

The mer is gone before he can make a move.

He asks Legend about it the next day. As they travel along the path towards the nearest town, Time falls back to ask the vet more about mer.

“Do mer like treasure?”

Legend starts, eyes wide as they meet his own, and something in the back of his mind is nagging him that the look in the vet’s eyes is somehow familiar. “What?”

“Do mer like treasure?” He repeats himself.

Legend stares at him, blinking slowly as they continue along the path, but eventually the vet shakes his head and answers. “Depends on the mer. They’re people too, Time, they can have varying interests and hobbies. There is no standard for mer. None.”

“Don’t they all swim at least?”

Legend’s gaze is flat. “There are disabled Hylians aren’t there? Not all Hylians can walk, and not Mer can swim. Some just choose not to because they don’t like it!”

Time frowns. How does the vet know so much about mer culture? “How do you know this?”

The vet shrugs, eyes darting away. “I’ve been a lot of places and met a lot of people. Mer are no exception.”

“I thought you hated swimming and the water?” Wind breaks in, falling back to join the two of them with an odd look on his face. He looks like a puppy and it’s killing Time not to ruffle the kid’s hair.

“Didn’t always.” Legend returns, smiling wryly down at the sailor. “But enough of that. The real question here is if you’ve ever met one, sailor.”

“A mer?” Wind furrows his brow, looking away with a soft sigh. “The water in my world isn’t safe for the people who lived in it. There’s hardly even any fish in most places. The Zora in my time had to adapt to the air instead in order to survive.”

Awkward silence falls over them, the vet looking guilty for a half a moment before he settles a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “The goddesses aren’t always fair, Maliit, it’s not your fault.

Time hums his agreement, heart aching for yet another young hero and a world that suffered for Time’s failure to have properly saved it.

He sees the mer again. Not just when he’s in the water himself, but when he’s keeping watch during the night or on occasion when he goes fishing with Twilight. The Pup says nothing about seeing gold and pink beneath the water, but Time finds himself watching it all the same.

It darts beneath the dock they’re fishing on one time, and when Twilight’s line gets a tug, the rancher pulls it up only to find the one of his boots dangling from the other end.

Time can’t help it, he laughs.

So, this mer is a prankster, huh?

He takes to seeking them out, trying to catch their attention or try to talk to them, but nothing works. The minute that gold and violet eyes meet his own, petal pink scales flick deftly in the waves and the mer is swimming away.

But Time isn’t dumb.

He knows that the same mer cannot reasonably exist across all of time, not with all the changes that come to the world with each hero. He knows that this being is somehow following them, and h’s got a rather good idea exactly how it’s happening.

It’s a long shot, but he knows for a fact that Legend is always gone from camp before he sees the creature, and enough times startling the vet when asking about mer has taught him that the expressions between the two are the same. All he knows on the mer’s face is shock, but the vet’s eyes glimmer the same shade of violet, even if they are different in size and shape, and the petal pink hair that the vet comes out of the forest with one evening after their group was separated is uncannily similar to the shade of the mer.

They’ve made camp again, and rather than climbing into the water when he catches a moment alone, Time settles on the shore, not in the mood to be in the water but in need of its calming song. The air has been tense the past few days, and Time welcomes a brief moment to relax, forcing himself not to think of the gaping wound in his Pup’s side or the ragged breath that wheezes between the rancher’s lips.

Twilight will be fine, he reminds himself. Hyrule and Warriors had worked together to tend the wound and while it would definitely leave a scar, the danger of losing their beloved friend and brother (and maybe son?) is not so high anymore.

He welcomes a free breath, away from the hurt gazes of his boys as they try and process that their beloved canine friend and the rancher are one and the same. A chance to think without having to stop those who were out of the know from bombarding those who were in it with questions.

He’s glad to be free of the questions himself.

Legend seems to be too, if the glint of pink beneath the waves is to be believed.

He doesn’t approach this time, doesn’t try entering the water to speak. He’s tired and he wants his spae, and he imagines Legend would like his own too. So, instead, he sits on the bank, feet trailing in the water and ocarina on his lips as he plays softly.

The tune is a sweet one, one he’d written himself that lilts and dips softly, very nearly perfect for a dance, but far more suited to a night by a fire or watching the sunset. And sunset it is, fading light stretching out across the water, glinting of the surface and reflecting off of gold and pink-

He stops, eye wide as he turns towards the flash in his vision.

Gold and violet stare back at him, framed in curling pink as Legend freeze half-way through pulling on his tunic again.

Gold fades just as the scales dissapear and leave the vet siting on the shore, tunic still bunched around his shoudlers and violet eyes wide with fear as he regards his leader.

“I won’t tell.” Time forces, turning away his gaze and returning his focus to the instrument in his hand. He doesn’t play, but he doesn’t look up either.

“It’s an item.” Legend forces, strained. His voice is still tainted with whatever power had shifted him between forms, and it’s sweeter and more melodious than normal. “I found it on my third adventure. Got cursed.”

“Like the rancher?” Time hums softly, not having to look up to know that Legend is shifting nervously, foot tapping madly at the ground beneath him.

“Yeah.” Legend huffs.

“Okay.” And he does look up them, calm and as open as he can make himself seem as he meets the vet’s gaze.

“Just okay?” One brow cocks as Legend crosses his arms.

“Just okay. It’s your secret, Legend. I can’t change what I’ve seen, but I won’t tell the others either.”

Legend nods, wary bit willing to accept the words, if only for now. “If you say so.”

They’re on their way back to camp, Legend carrying an armload of fish and Time carrying both of their bags when the vet stops and glares at him. “I don’t want to hear any jokes, alright? I get enough of those from Twilight and Sky.”

“They know?” The old man tilts his head in question.

Legend flushes, ducking his head and setting off again at a speed some might label a scurry. “No. Hurry up, these fish are gonna rot!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waves lap around his head and it’s all Time can do to break the surface, coughing and hacking as he struggles to remain above the water.

The portal had come at the worst time ever, and no one had been ready to be dropped into the center of the ocean.

Lightning crackles overhead as waves swirl and crash about him. The ocean rages and Time is again reminded how small Hylian’s are in the face of Mother Earth herself.

“Boys!” The shout rasps from his throat as he spins to look about, praying to every deity he knows that he’ll find the rest of them safe and sound, or at the very least together. Never mind that Twilight still can’t walk, much less swim. Never mind the smithy’s shattered arm and Wild’s fear of the water. He can’t panic about those right now, he has to find them!

“Over here!” Sky’s voice answers him. The Chosen Hero clings to the shivering form of the smithy, both are soaked and trembling, but they’re managing to stay above the waves.

“My Hyrule!” Wind calls out as Time strikes out towards them, and the sailor continues once he’s close enough to see that at least five of his boys are safe. “We’re near land,” Wind nods in a random direction and Time wonders briefly how the sailor even knows that. “It could be a challenge in these waves, but we can make it. Have you seen the others?”

Hyrule looks up at him hopefully, the water-logged traveler fighting madly to stay above the water but succeeding despite the waves. Time reminds himself to help the boy learn to swim more effectively later, and more importantly how to properly tread water, but for now he focuses on answering Wind. “You're the firsts. We’ll have to hope the others are alright, getting y’all to safety is my first concern.

“But Wild!” Hyrule splutters, choking on some water as Time swims over to give the traveler someone to cling to. Freezing fingers latch ahold of his armor as teeth chatter, the waves are neither kind nor warm and with their health as it is he’s certain someone is going to end up with a cold when this is all over. “And Twilight! A-and Legend and Wars! They’re out there somewhere!”

“We have to hope Legend and Warriors can elp the other two. We can’t do them any good if we’re fighting to stay above ourselves.” He tries to same calm, but his own mind and heart scream with the same message that Hyrule’s voice does, and its all he can do to push it down.

Thunder rolls overhead and waves beneath as they push off towards the shore, each of the older heroes aiding a younger one as Wind guides them all towrads the supposed island.

Time hs never been so relieved to see sand in his life, and as Hyrule pulls himself up the bach and Wind helps Sky to settle Four, Time can only pray that he’ll find his way back again. “I’m going to look for the otehrs. Wind, stay and help Sky.” The sailor looks as if he wants to hesitate, but he knows better than anyone how a small body can be lost to the waves much easier than an adult. “Make a fire, warm up as best you can. Keep an eyes out. I’ll come back if- when I find the others.”

He stops only to shed his armor and don his Zora gear, but a single dive beneath the water is enough to tell him that it’s for naught. Wind wasn’t joking about his water being toxic, and a single breath of the stuff leaves Time heaving as soon as he breaks the surface.

His chances of finding the boys have lowered considerably.

Nayru above, don���t let anyone have sunk beneath!

Time swims for all he is worth, pushing past weariness as he battles each and every wave. And he’s just beginning to lose hope when he catches sight of something silver reflecting in the water as lighting flashes above.

“Time!”

Blue whips around to meet its twins as Warriors comes to swim beside him. “Have you found any of the others?”

“Wind, Sky, Hyrule and Four.” he breathes back. “You?”

The captian looks rueful but nods to his side. “Legend.”

Time can’t help but start as Legend’s eyes peek above the surface. Golden and violet are glassy in the pale ace of the vet, but they’re there and that means that Legend is alive.

“I’ve officially met my first mer.” Warriors sighs, but there’s worry in the captains voice and face both.

“Split up.” Legend’s voice rasps, and there none of the melodic song that Time is used to hearing from this form of the vet.

Legend is pale, far too pale.

“What’s-”

“Wind’s world.” Warriors tells him. “Water here is toxic.”

The water is toxic. The water, which mer have to breath to stay alive, is toxic.

Time’s gaze shoots to the vet but there’s only a flick of gold and pink as he disappears beneath the waves. Warriors groans.  “He keeps doing that! I swear, I have no way of knowing if he’s even still there, but he still insists on disappearing like the little shit he is.”

Usually, Time would scold his brother for such a tone, but he knows that Warriors is just sacred. He’s terrified, and it leaks into his voice and his actions, and the only way that the soldier knows how to hide the fear is by biting back with venom, not dissimilar to the vet’s own actions.

They swim together, searching and calling out for the two missing heroes. Hope is beginning to fade and Time can feel a gnawing fear eating away at his heart as he thinks of the gaping wound in his Pup’s side and the likelihood that Twilight would even be able to swim with it.

His pup’s chances aren’t high.

“Look!” Warriors shouts over the storm, jerking him from his thoughts as his eyes follow the captain’s pointing hand.

Pink bobs on the surface, backed by bedraggled and soaked black fur as Legend hauls Twilight’s limp form through the water.

“Pup!”

He’s taking the lad from Legend as soon as they’re in reach, and Legend seems to sag in relief as the weight is removed from his shoulder. “Was with Wild. Bring him to-” The vet wheezes and ducks beneath the water for a moment, coming up with a pained expression on his face. “Bring to shore. I’ll get Wild.” He gives them no time to respond, tail flicking as he disappears beneath the waves again.

Time and Warriors exchange a glance and head back to shore, supporting the weight of the rancher between them.

Wind and Sky have managed to get a virtual bonfire going on the shore, and the sailor has laid what blankets and bed-rolls he’s found of their equipment in front of it, allowing their dampened things to ry as he and the other three heroes bundle together for warmth.

It’s with a cheer that they al; greet Time and Warriors as the two emerge from the ocean, and Time can’t help but smile a bit in relief at seeing them all safe again. Only a little longer and Legend will be back with Wild, and then he can rest easy knowing they’re all out of the storm.

Rain still patters against already soaked skin and cloth, but with the fire flickering before them Time can’t bring himself to care over much.

Hyrule’s fingers shiver as they slide over the wound in Twilight’s side, cleansing it from the poisonous water that has soaked into the bandages, and while Twilight grits his teeth and winces, he’s at least conscious enough to do so, and that alone brings some peace to the others.

Warriors informs the others of the whereabouts of their two missing brothers, and Time helps to settle Twilight on one of the warming bedrolls. It made still be wet, but it’s better than getting sand in the pup’s wound.

They wait in tense silence, bundled together to share heat as nervous gazes watch the shore. Wind hasn’t stopped muttering under his breath and Four isn’t doing much better with his half formed sentences and steady murmurs.

It’s only when Wild’s golden hair can be seen on the shore that they all release a breath of air.

Cornflower blue is wide and glazed, likely from shock, but it doesn’t stop the champion from reaching back into the waves to pull out his companion.

Legend is a mess.

The veteran gasps and splutters for breath once he’s free, skin a sickly shade of white and eyes just as glazes as Wild's own as the two clings to each other, and when the two stand together Legend is leaning heavily against the shaking champion, and it’s only through sheer luck that Time and Sky get there in time to catch them before the duo collapses back into the waves.

Wild curls against Time’s chest, fingers shaking and eyes blank as the man carries him back to the fire. Legend doesn’t even stir, lying limp in Sky’s hold as the Skyloftian bustles back to join the other heroes.

Nothing is said about the glistening tail that fades into legs once Legend is warmed and dried, and even if anyone had dared the stern gaze of the first of their number would have been enough to silence them.

Violet blinks hazy and distant beneath the warmed fabric of Sky’s sailcloth, but they are all safe. They are all safe and they are alive.

“Thanks to Legend.” Wild whispers when he comes back, head resting against Times collar bone. “Without him I would have never got Twi back to shore.”

“Three cheers for the vet.” Wars forces a smile, and while the cheers are heartfelt and thankful, they do nothing to lighten the mood.

Legend doesn’t even seem to hear them.

JC’s deeply rooted resentment of WWX, JFM’s parenting, and the inevitability of the falling out of the ‘Yunmeng bros’.

In discussion of the breakdown of JC and WWX’s relationship, their falling out is often regarded as a mutual failing on both sides to properly communicate and maintain their relationship. I’m making the case here that their falling out was a foregone conclusion from the start, and in no part due to the actions of Wei Wuxian.

This is because YZY has instilled in JC the idea that JFM dislikes him, something he believes before WWX arrives in Lotus Pier, JC already feels inferior, thus as soon as potential competition for JFM’s attention comes along in the form of WWX, JC resents him, believes JFM prefers him, and looks for reasons to justify this. 

Summarising their very first interactions - from chapter 71 - WWX arrives at LP, sees JC with his puppies and is so terrified that he refuses to come down from JFM’s arms the entire day. The second day, JFM gives JC’s puppies away.

Now, I would like to think that no one seriously believes that this is an act of favouritism, but I have seen this case being made so I just want to make clear that WWX is obviously traumatised by his previous interactions with dogs. After trying for a whole day to comfort WWX, with no success, JFM does not exactly have any other choice than to give the puppies away, WWX cannot be expected to live in constant terror in the place that is supposed to be his home.

Consequently, ‘This angered Jiang Cheng so much that he threw a big tantrum. No matter how much Jiang FengMian comforted him gently, telling him that they should ‘be good friends’, he refused to talk to Wei WuXian.’

JC’s reaction is fairly understandable for an 8 year old. JFM comforts JC, and does not treat him callously or dismiss him, however it takes several days until JC will even talk to WWX.

When JC does start to warm up to him, JFM thinks it’d be a good idea for them to have a sleepover, JC is on the ‘verge of agreeing’ to this, which JFM is overjoyed by - so much so that he picks WWX up.

This is not an example of favouritism, JFM doesn't repeatedly give affection to WWX and not JC, he holds him twice - the first instance being purely because WWX was too terrified to leave his arms, the second being this one. These are the only two times where JFM is described as being affectionate towards WWX, JC is still in the lead on this count. But JC interprets this as JFM preferring WWX.

This results in the JC shutting WWX out at night.

At that time, Wei WuXian didn’t know what Jiang Cheng was mad about at all. After a pause, he replied, “I didn’t steal anything. It’s Uncle Jiang who told me to sleep with you.”

Hearing that he was still bringing up his father, almost as if he was purposely showing off, Jiang Cheng’s eyes reddened as he yelled, “Go away! If I see you again, I’ll call a bunch of dogs to bite you!”

This is the important part - JC sees WWX in the worst possible light, and rarely thinks of WWX as a person outside of how he directly impacts JC - he concludes that WWX is purposefully antagonising him, this is a trend that continues well into adulthood.

Then, when WWX flees LP after JC threatens him with dogs, JYL tells JC to find people to help search for him. However,

‘If any other disciple or servant learned about this and told Jiang FengMian, after Jiang FengMian knew how he threw Wei WuXian’s sheets out and made him hurt his leg, Jiang FengMian would definitely dislike him even more. This was also why he only dared chase after them alone and didn’t get anyone else.’

JC has obviously behaved wrongly here, and JFM would be right to scold him for it, but JC interprets this as JFM disliking him. We haven’t seen anything to suggest that JFM actually dislikes JC, he always treats him quite gently, actually. But JC is already at the conclusion that JFM dislikes him, and twists events to suit this - if his dad scolds him for misbehaving, it’s because he dislikes him. This pattern repeats after the Xuanwu Cave arc too.

This is because Madam Yu has ingrained into him the idea that JFM dislikes him, because he’s her son. This has nothing to do with WWX - because both her and JC already believe that JFM dislikes JC prior to WWX’s arrival -  she only sees him as additional fuel to use.

The only other person who mentions JFM supposedly treating WWX better than JC is JZX. I’m sure it's a coincidence that he’s the son of YZY’s best friend.

‘“Doesn’t he treat you better than treating his own child or something?”’

Note the ‘or something’, - JZX doesn’t seem to know this with certainty - he’s repeating what others have said, despite having visited Lotus Pier several times (as stated in ch.69), JZX hasn’t seen evidence for himself that JFM prefers WWX.

‘“Maybe I should’ve let you hit him, while I stand aside and watch. This way, Uncle Jiang might not need to come. Oh well, I really couldn’t hold back!”’

We know that WWX doesn’t see JFM as favouring him - so what does he mean by this? Well, LQR has had it out for WWX from the moment they met, and has already sent a letter to JFM complaining of his behaviour - at this point WWX doesn’t know that this results in them breaking the JZX/JYL engagement either, so he’s probably purely thinking that LQR summoned JFM to CR to discuss WWX’s repeated offenses. JC hasn’t done anything to invoke LQR’s ire (or rather, he’s gotten away with everything he has done), so WWX thinks that if JC fought JZX, it would not have been treated so seriously, compared to WWX, who has repeatedly misbehaved.

Contrary to fanon interpretation, WWX is not oblivious to other people’s feelings, he’s very empathetic, and additionally understands JC very well. He doesn’t see how JC is feeling here, because JC’s feelings are just so illogical...

‘Although it was only Wei WuXian’s casual words, he held mixed feelings, because he knew that this wasn’t a lie.

Jiang FengMian had never hurried to another sect in one day for anything related to him, no matter if the issue was good or bad, large or small.

Never.’

Once again, JC’s at the conclusion that JFM dislikes him, he twists events to support this. He’s looking at this scenario very strangely - JFM didn’t rush to CR because he likes WWX, he was called there by LQR, to discuss JYL’s engagement with JZX. Secondly, we’re never given any examples of scenarios where JC does anything to warrant JFM rushing over. As far as we know, they never even stay with other sects. Knowing JC’s personality, his dislike of doing anything to rock the boat, it’s extremely unlikely that he’s ever done anything to warrant JFM rushing over like this. Moreover, it’s a bizarre thing to be jealous of, WWX is in trouble, he’s not on the receiving end of positive attention from JFM. 

JC’s flawed reasoning is once again illustrated after the Xuanwu Cave arc...

‘Jiang Cheng’s expression was complicated after he had finished listening.’

This is Jiang Cheng’s reaction after WWX credits LWJ with killing the tortoise of slaughter - this is before JFM congratulates him. Before JFM says anything, JC is purely resentful about WWX having done something heroic, more so, resentful that WWX is willingly to let LWJ take most of the credit - he’s annoyed about this, most likely feeling that WWX is rubbing in his face that he doesn’t need the recognition that JC so desperately craves.

‘Jiang FengMian nodded and said, “You did well.”

Killing a giant 400-year-old beast at only 17 was way beyond what one would call ‘doing well.’’

JFM knows about JC’s… issues, he knows how he’ll react to WWX’s receiving recognition, he likely purposefully downplays his praise to avoid upsetting him. (Who’s really being favouritised? Lol)

But, even to this, JC reacts badly, he lashes out at WWX, once more interpreting him in the worst possible way.

‘Jiang Cheng hissed, “Too fucking bad, then. You shouldn’t have been so damn stubborn and you shouldn’t have cared so damn much about such a trivial thing. If you’d never moved in the first place –”’

JC’s response is to basically tell him the entire incident was his fault. Which is objectively not true - WWX only gets involved in the conflict after it has already started, and then he acts deliberately to try to end it, rather than impulsively fighting. He also starts to say that WWX should have left their allies - LWJ and JZX - to die. This is where JFM cuts him off, and tells him it’s not appropriate to say such things - he’s not scolding him harshly, JC is not being unfairly treated here, he’s done wrong, and JFM is trying to teach him why, you know, parenting. But JC, and YZY, take this to mean JFM dislikes JC.

JFM tries to teach JC about the Jiang sect’s motto once more - this is of course, not just about the motto, but about the values that JFM wants to instill in him, as a parent.

This is where Madam Yu arrives.

“Yes, he doesn’t understand, but what does it matter, as long as Wei Ying understands?!”

Of course, what she says is nonsensical, it does matter to JFM that JC understands the motto, that’s why he’s trying to teach him. If he did not care, he would have given in already.

This is further supported...

‘Jiang Cheng’s appearance and temperament all resembled his mother’s. Jiang FengMian guided him from childhood, but no matter how much he tried, he still couldn’t change his son’s nature. As such, it always seemed like he disliked his son.’

JFM has never been dismissive of JC just because he’s YZY’s son, he’s always tried to teach him, but JC always had his mother’s nature - YZY’s nature being harsh, standoffish, foul tempered, with no care for others - Note that is says it ‘seems’ like he dislikes his son, solely because he’s trying to teach him to be a better person. He has good reason for doing so - as a kid, JC never had friends, he doesn’t seem to as an adult either, he only has Jin Ling, whom he pushes away with his foul temper. JFM was just trying to raise JC to being an even-tempered person, capable of functioning in society, which is kind of what parents are supposed to do. But once more, this is taken as dislike.

Note that during JC’s outburst, every single thing JC claims about what JFM thinks of him, he’s parroting what YZY has said, none of these points have any actual evidence.

The next point to consider is how JC blames WWX for the fall of LP, despite it objectively not being his fault - JC knows this too.

‘In his heart, Jiang Cheng knew clearly that back in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter at Dusk-Creek Mountain, even if Wei WuXian hadn’t saved Lan WangJi, the Wen Sect would have found some reason to come over sooner or later’

Even if WWX’s actions did prompt the Wens to act sooner than they otherwise might have - coming sooner or later would have made no difference at all because YZY outright stated she had no intention of preparing for an attack, even after WWX suggests they should, and JFM was still going to the Wens asking for their swords back - they were still uselessly trying to suck up to the Wens, thinking it would save them.

Despite knowing deep down that WWX was not to blame - he still uses it to fuel his resentment of WWX, because the resentment was there from the beginning, the only uncertainty is the means he uses to justify it.

During the ancestral hall confrontation - he uses this excuse again.

‘Jiang Cheng responded contemptuously, “You really are forgetful. What’s called a shameful person? Let me remind you. Just because you decided to be a hero and save this Second Young Master Lan, the entire Lotus Pier including my father and mother was buried. If this wasn’t enough, after the first time, you still want a second time, even wanting to save Wen-dogs and implicating my sister and her husband, how noble of you. Even nobler, you are so magnanimous to bring these two to Lotus Pier. Allowing the Wen-dog to stand at the front of my gates and letting Second Young Master Lan offer joss sticks, purely trying to antagonize me.’

Obviously, WWX did none of these things to antagonise JC, in fact he was going through a complex emotional journey of realising that he has feelings for LWJ, and that LWJ probably has feelings for him too, he doesn’t go to the ancestral shrine to mess around - he’s ‘introducing’ LWJ to JFM, YZY, and JYL, because he’s thinking about marrying him.

The problem is, JC never really sees WWX as a person, WWX has always been more of a concept - someone to compare himself to, the reason his father doesn’t like him, the reason his mother uses to berate him. It doesn’t occur to JC that WWX is a person outside of what he is to JC, and he is therefore incapable of empathising with what WWX might be feeling right now, instead the only possible conclusion is that he’s antagonising JC.

He follows the same line of thinking when WWX defects with the Wens. JC knows what he and WWX owe them, in fact JC owes them, far, far more than what WWX does - it was his parents whose bodies Wen Ning retrieved, and it was him who WN had to rescue from LP. But JC thinks, he can get away with not paying this debt, so why should he? JC is selfish, he doesn’t understand why WWX would want to help others when he doesn’t have to, so JC concludes, this is WWX showing off, ‘playing the hero’. 

Because from the moment they met, JC has never tried to know WWX for who he is, whatever WWX does, JC interprets in a negative light - when WWX tries to get LWJ’s attention, (despite it being painstakingly obvious that WWX has a crush on him) JC concludes that WWX is messing around foolishly, without reason (parroting the untrue things YZY says about WWX always seeking trouble). When WWX wants to help people, he’s playing the hero, one upping JC. JC only ever thinks of WWX in relation to himself - when WWX disappears for three months, JC’s immediate complaint is that WWX kept him waiting, that he’s put JC out by making him search for him. You could argue that JC was just worried about WWX, and not able to express it - and on some level that’s true. But there’s a very intentional contrast between how LWJ and JC react to WWX’s return - LWJ is worried about WWX, about how his cultivation method is affecting him, moreover, WWX is very clearly not himself. JC, however, does not care for that - he only sees WWX, and modao, as a tool for killing Wens.

It takes almost nothing for JGS to manipulate JC into turning against WWX in ch.73 - he readily believes every negative thing JGS says about WWX, despite being called out directly for lying by LWJ. JGS talks as if he is a servant who has forgotten his place, unlike JYL, JC does not defend him. He refuses to speak up for him - he claims that no one will - yet LWJ and MianMian did. JC didn’t turn on WWX because it was impossible for him to speak up - he was living proof that WQ and WN did not support the Wen sect in the war, he drops him the moment he can because he’s resented him from the beginning.

Another interesting tidbit about JC just fundamentally not understanding who WWX is as a person, is that he only blames LWJ for the Xuanwu Cave incident - not JZX, despite him behaving no differently to how LWJ does. This is probably because he realises WWX’s fixation on LWJ, and supposes that this is the reason that WWX got involved in the conflict. But of course, WWX would have done something whether it was solely JZX, or just a random person.

Taking all this into account, it seems almost inevitable that WWX and JC would fall out eventually, because JC was, from the start, looking for reasons to dislike WWX, he turns against him at the first opportunity he got. For the ‘Yunmeng bros’ to have a healthy relationship, JC would simply have to fix his entire personality.

JC is unable to see WWX as a person, right up until the very end of the novel - when he recalls how he impulsively put himself at risk in order to save WWX. Finally, for the first time, JC is able to understand why WWX stood up for others in Xuanwu Cave, why he helped the Wens, because JC did the same thing, put himself on the line for WWX, probably the only time JC has ever acted so selflessly. And this is why he lets him go, he lets go of the things he blamed WWX for. For the first time, he is able to empathise with WWX, he understands that WWX was never ‘playing the hero’, seeking praise or recognition, he understands that WWX helps people purely because he feels in the moment that it’s the right thing to do. This is what enables him to finally let go of WWX.

I’m always a bit baffled when people claim mxtx never gave JC a happy ending, because this is his happy ending - him being able to realise that WWX never wronged him - when he finally lets go of this, he can live freely. 

MHA at a CON or FEST

Hi, so over the last couple day I have been going to the local Fan-con in my state and I was curious while there what some of the MHA characters would be like as panel or meet and greet guests and you as a vendor. 

Hawks- He is a fan favorite. For him I’d imagine the tickets to meet him would sell out almost immediately and if someone was lucky to catch one late, it would likely be from a peddler outside the stadium. He is so good with his fans very professional in his hero costume, taking pictures and signing things. (he kind of has to be.) As sort of a subliminal messaging thing, he’d keep some of your merch just strewn on his table, like it was just left there and would send feathers to you periodically throughout the day to let you know he’s thinking about you, or has some major tea about a crazed fan. You’ll know which depending on the frantic-ness of the delivery. 

Mirkou- She is so unashamed about her nerdiness. You cannot convince me you two don’t ren and, "women with swords" is her aesthetic. So don’t expect her in her hero costume. Not the one she actually works in at least. Her meet and greet costume is a modified knight-core version with chainmail and leather. She had a special bit of her armor etched with a little symbol of your two’s design. like a crest of your love... lol... nerds.... Preferably she can see your table from where she is, so she can point you out as her (royal title). “for I am their knight, and they are my Queen/King” is what she says all Stokely. Don’t expect to much professionalism from her, she’s too excited.  

Aizawa- How TF someone got him to do a meet and greet is beyond me, but he’s not happy about it. Its too loud, too crowded and he’s often asking himself why this big of an event is important to hero work and if its safe to have so many heroes in one place. (its a pretty big target.) But he’s amiable enough. He does it mostly because some of his students are there and so are you. At first he’s rather fitful, but when a little kid hands him a picture of a kitten drawn by them he softens. Its a complete coincidence he became the children's favorite. Parents wondering why their child chose a homely gremlin over Hawks. When he has any time free he’s watching you wow people with your own products just in awe of your passion, but behind that is a small excitement building for the epic sleep that yall are having tonight after such an involved day. 

Bakugou- You cannot convince me he isn’t into this. For a couple reasons. One he gets to show off a little bit. I feel like the Bakugou that would get big enough to have a meet and greet is not the “I’m better than everyone,” guy we’re used to, but he does like the idea of seeing what kinds of people flock to him. It’s def not what he expected. Book nerds, and introverts. If you’d have told him that was his fan base, he’d have laughed in your face, but now that he’s seeing it with his own eyes the pieces start to click. its very “every Hufflepuff needs a Slytherin” vibe. (though I don’t think Bakugou is a Slytherin, different post different time.) He actually begins to enjoy the time. Its not as loud as the other panels despite the doubled mass at his stand. When he has any time away from the greet table he’s with you, checking out the food truck district. of course their is a radius so he’s not swarmed, but he does tip the staff really really well.

Midoryia- Despite going to so many cons for Allmight stuff when faced with his own booth, and seeing his own fan art, Midoryia becomes very, very overwhelmed. This results in a lot of check ins with you and sloppy smiled pictures. It’s not that he tries to be awkward, but people constantly telling him how much they love him makes him wonder if he ever became so overbearing to his mentor. After a while you make some arrangements to move your booth into veiw of his and after that, his demeanor completely changes. Not having to stare at the art booth with only his face in various mediums staring back at him, but you with your passion sprawled out across a table and your friendly smile. It gives him courage to relax a little. Overall he’ll only do those kinds of events if you are there. If you’re not public with your relationship, how long will it take the public to realize you’re always so close?

Ochako- Baby girl is eating it up! Not because of the crowd per say, but because of the smiles. She’s had to use her quirk to save lives so many times, I could see her floating peoples hair and floating up to make funny faces behind people in photos. Her and some of the other hero's decided to get in on a corner of the meet and greets together so they can interact with fans together. (photobombing each others pics and such.) When she has the time she’ll sneak off to you with a churro in each hand with a social battery check in and a mandatory water check. If you’re feeling drained she’ll ask one of her assistants to watch your booth while she floats you both somewhere to watch the crowd from above.  

Mina- She is too hype for the occasion. Her and Ochako def got a space near each other. She goes above and beyond for her fans, decorating her whole booth in flower vines and twinkle lights. she did it for the gram for sure. She is great with her people and loves to ask them actual questions when they meet her. “how are you really babydoll?”, “tell me about your day.” and is the queen of complements. when she’s on break she’s with you hyping up your booth to anyone within hearing distance. “hey! have you all seen how amazing my love is?!” she def is out here to do the most in the best way.

Kirishima- Baby boy is nervous. He’ll never admit it if not forced, but he’s never been to an event like this, as a guest or greeter and the sheer magnitude of it all is.. daunting. It isn’t until he sits down and actually people watches the line of fans ready to meet him does he calm down. specifically a little boy with foam hands of his signature fist to fist in hardened mode. (Like the Thanos gauntlet you can buy at walmart) The kid was so excited to meet his favorite “shark” and it was that day that Kiri saw how far that comparison (him to a shark) actually went. He overall realizes his fan base is mostly made up of people like him. People who didn’t feel like they had the right bits in their bones to fit into society. He loved being that oddball for them. At lunch he sneaks away with you to eat junky foods hidden in an empty stage room or somewhere secluded. He’s got so many stories about so many cool people and keeps a copy of the pictures of his favorite fans for himself. to remind him why he does what he does.