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jess-frances-b · 1 year

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I posted 2,357 times in 2022

214 posts created (9%)

2,143 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@jess-the-vampire

@thanksiloveyou

@thisisjohannasstuff

@aro-culture-is

@invertedfate

I tagged 2,357 of my posts in 2022

#shows - 864 posts

#the owl house - 491 posts

#life and nature - 487 posts

#faves i didn't choose - 301 posts

#spooky or creepy - 284 posts

#animals - 246 posts

#jess is doing things - 239 posts

#games - 178 posts

#fan works - 176 posts

#in trouble - 154 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i have this theory that he might release most of the monsters but brainwash them into worshipping him and chara as part of his ideal world

My Top Posts in 2022:

Tags

I've decided to make a list of the main tags I use, which will also be the tags in this post. I don't know if they'll work on mobile or not.

jess is doing things - Posts I've made myself or have added to when reblogging.

things i've done - Anything creative that I've done.

abstract art - More specific than above, this is for my abstract pictures.

life and nature - Plants, animals, and anything else that doesn't quite fit in with the other two.

animals - More specific than above again, this is for animals.

flowers - Another more specific one, for flowers this time.

shows - Shows I've been watching.

films - Films I've seen.

games - Games I've played.

music - Music I like.

comics - Mostly webcomics or fan comics.

fan works - Fanfiction and fan comics I like and that sort of stuff.

faves i didn't choose - Posts involving characters that I became attached to without warning, basically just my favourites who I didn't get to choose as my favourites.

Some of these will overlap, and some of these will just be referring to them in some way and not actually about specific things. There are also other tags, but these are the main ones I'll publicly share.

4 notes - Posted March 15, 2022

I usually draw these at the youth club I volunteer at, but it was closed last week and I won't be able to go this week, so I drew this at home.

4 notes - Posted July 21, 2022

So as I said in my previous post, I peeked at a few spoilers just to assure myself that at least the kids would be alright.

Well, I did wonder if the episode would end with at least one person trapped in the Human Realm, but I wasn't expecting Luz to be one of them. But at least Hunter and Amity and Willow and Gus are alright. They'll have to hide their ears, though. I also saw a slight spoiler about a reference to Amphibia, but I didn't think it would be that blatant and imply that they're in the same world at the same time.

I wasn't really that surprised at Belos betraying the Collector. I mean, it's another magic being, so of course he would trick him just like everyone else. Seems like we were all wrong about Luz getting possessed, though, but he does still look very similar to her with a physical form.

I was a bit surprised that Kikimora knew about what happened to the previous Golden Guards. Did she know they were Grimwalkers too? Did she try to kill Hunter all those episodes ago because she was hoping Belos would give up, or that the next one wouldn't be in a higher position than her?

Some of us thought that Luz would make a deal with the Collector, but I wasn't expecting it to be King who made the deal. The way he talked reminded me a lot of a certain other character with just about the exact same voice who is known for making deals and using trickery.

The Collector is seriously powerful, though, he's basically a reality warper if he was able to move the entire moon that effortlessly. Hopefully everyone will be alright now. I'm not sure if Hunter not passing out was because of his lack of magic or out of sheer determination, but I was relieved it didn't come to that. Well, I wouldn't have minded if he'd recovered before the episode ended, that's part of the uncertainty I was worried about.

The end of the credits scared me a bit, though. It makes me think that Belos isn't completely gone...

6 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

To tell the truth, I'm kind of disappointed that the Owl House and Amphibia are coming back at the same time. I like both shows, but I don't want one to overshadow the other. And since Amphibia is ending soon and even if there's a hiatus between the end of TOH S2 and the specials, that means we'll once again be left without new content once those seasons have ended, as opposed to having them come back at different times.

6 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Before I watch the last 2 episodes of this season, I would like to know:

Without spoiling too much, do any of the characters end up in a cliffhanger situation that we'll most likely have to wait months to see if they survive (or get brought back if they were temporarily killed in some way)? And if so, is it any of the adults, or are any of the kids included too? And again if so, is it Luz getting possessed by the Collector like a lot of us have predicted (I don't mind having that spoiled for me as long as I don't know how or why it happens)?

If any of the kids are included and it's not Luz being possessed by the Collector (we know she'll be alright in the end cause she's the main character), I might put off watching it for longer until closer to when the third season starts. It depends on what it is, though. If it's being incapacitated or imprisoned in any way (or temporarily killed as I mentioned before) then that's what I'm afraid of, but if it's simply being trapped in the human world or on the run or de-powered but otherwise fine and not in a seriously injured state then I can live with that.

7 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #i'm glad one of my abstract pictures made it onto there #also most of my other posts are about the owl house which i find funny for some reason #the owl house #amphibia #inverted fate #in trouble #abstract art #might as well tag it #things i've done #jess is doing things

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bat-in-the-machine · 4 months

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Gonna share some of the Owl House fics that have entered the orbit of my hyperfixation lately, and hope some of you enjoy them:

Light's Song

by PitbullsRLife

This is my favorite crossover fic. In this story, Luz Noceda is the half-sister of the Winchester brothers, with all the emotional baggage that entails. The story places the beginning of The Owl House in the middle of Supernatural's seventh season, about a week after the death of Bobby Singer, who had been raising Luz up until his death.

It makes changes to the canon of both shows, but mostly the Owl House. It's currently 118 chapters long and just updated today.

In the Name of the Light

by MagnusBarefoot

This is a relatively new (6 chapters in) fic that was last updated mid-November. It shows a lot of promise in the "This ought to be fun" sense: One of two AUs in this post that involve some kind of pagan divinity (in this case a constructed pantheon with shades of Roman, Greek, and Celtic, along with probably others). This is sort of an invert AU: a lot of Boiling Isles characters live in Gravesfield, and Luz and Vee are avatars of their mother, the goddess Camila, in order to stop a human granted the ability to be untouched by god or demon.

An Everlasting Vow

by RiseAboveTheAshes_203

This is probably the most interesting Titan Luz story, one of a few that place a younger Luz, as a titan hybrid, in the Boiling Isles. This one reads like a dark fairy tale. A five year old Luz accidentally breaks the vial of titan's blood in the Old Gravesfield Graveyard, getting the blood into her bloodstream in the process. She is pulled through into the Demon Realm and found by a member of the Emperor's Coven adrift in the Boiling Sea.

This is kind of a Red String of Fate story, with the caveat that Luz and Amity, as small children, irrevocably bind their fates together by means of the titular Vow. There's a melancholy to the story that seems to be building into a catharsis. The current chapter, 31 at time of posting, seems to be the moment that catharsis starts.

Light of Hel

by BullFragGrenade

This is pure power fantasy, and the second of the pantheon fics. As indicated by the title, this one involves the Norse pantheon. This story, as narrated by the Norns, concerns a universe where Luz is the part-human child of Camila Noceda, Hel (Eda), and Baldr (Raine). When a member of a white nationalist cult kills her, Luz wakes up in Helheim, where she learns that her mama Eda is a half-dead goddess, her other parent is a dead god, her baby brother is a Jotunn, her sister a Tatzlwurm, and there are dead people everywhere getting made-to-order punishments.

#ao3 link #fanfics #The Owl House #fanfic recommendations

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clawsout83 · 4 years

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Dream fic - Were-Chat Noir

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Read on AO3

I sometimes dream about Miraculous Ladybug and these dreams, even though they often don’t make sense, have some fanfic writing potential.

Here’s one.

This doesn’t have an end (yet) and I don’t intend to work more than necessary on it. You’re free to had a continuation to it.

However, this one is still in writing. I really got carried away with this one and, even if this doesn’t really have a plot (yet), I still have plenty of stuff to write for it.

The part that really was in my dream will be right after the cut.

~~~~~~

Adrien’s life wasn’t the easiest. Sure, his father was rich and he was living a noble life, but above all the responsibilities Gabriel gave to his only child, he also kept him inside the mansion. “It is too dangerous outside” he constantly answered him each time he asked. But Adrien, despite all the warnings Gabriel gave him, was stubborn and decided to go out anyway.

What could possibly be that dangerous outside?

Granted, Gabriel only told him it was dangerous, but how and what was had always been a mystery to him. He understood the day he went out and met one… and the one infected him.

Apparently, what his father had failed to explain to him was that the outside world was populated by a were-fauna, were-animals roaming the lands. Usually, these creatures were folks and farmers, people who didn’t have the luxury to stay inside the house to avoid being infected. After that fateful day, Adrien did more research about these were-creatures.

There were multiple animals one could transform into. It was determined by one's personality and DNA, even if the latter wasn't part of their science yet. A were-raccoon could create a were-owl for example.

The transformation time and duration were unfortunately random. Adrien learned in horror that some were-animals had stayed transformed for weeks, months, even years. Most of the transformations lasted from a few hours to a few days, but could happen anytime. He hoped against hope that it would never come to last longer than a day or two, and these moments would never be inappropriate, but Adrien was a black cat at heart and had never been lucky enough for his karma to grant his wishes. It had been kind to him for now, but he wouldn't bet his life on it.

He was glad though when he found out most of the good people stayed good when they transformed. Actually, the were-fauna wasn't that dangerous, but there were always some individuals for whom the transformation brought back their feral side and made the entire were-fauna a threat. Some of their human conscience stayed intact, or barely lowered to a more basic, instinctive level. Cases of full feral regression were rare, but remarkable.

When he first transformed, his body ached so badly he almost passed out. He was covered in black fur with a short dirty blond mane and green feline eyes. He looked like an inverted-colors black lion. However, this first transformation put him in some kind of trance and he barely remembered what'd happened. When he retrieved his human form, Adrien learned he had destroyed houses and farms, and killed some life-stock. He swore to himself he'd never let that happen again.

He decided that, if his alter-ego had done so much destruction, it would be to his alter-ego to right its wrongs. During his next transformations, he tried to focus on his human mind, staying himself as much as possible. Only when he was able to write his name properly did he decide to go out.

The first times, he stole life-stock from the Agreste mansion to give them to replace the ones he had killed, making sure some people would see him. When words of a black were-lion spread across the land, people he had attacked were ready to chase him, but the more he gave back, the more they lowered their weapons. Soon, were-lion Adrien started to bring food he hunted for people while they were busy rebuilding, or chase wolves or foxes attacking the farms. He also did his best to protect them from thieves and bandits.

Folks began to trust him. They offered him treats, then pets and cuddles. Adrien realized how much he missed affection and craved for human warmth. His father, as well-willed as he could be, wasn't the typical cuddler. He could barely smile to his son, so receiving a hug from him was sure out of the ordinary. His furry alter-ego was even welcomed around children. Never did he lost patience when toddlers pulled on his whiskers or walked on his tail. He played with them so gently he became an unofficial babysitter.

The scary black were-lion became a giant lap pet. He became Chat Noir, the black cat.

His luck turned when his last transformation lasted a week. Adrien knew it’d brought him troubles, and he was right. As soon as he came back home, Nathalie was there to announce his father requested to speak with him. Fuck… That never was a good sign. But, of course, he didn’t have a choice and obeyed. “Yes, Father?” Adrien asked, his back straight and his arms on each side, standing like a soldier.

“Where have you been?” Gabriel demanded, knowing the answer already. And Adrien knew he knew. He preferred to stay silent, turning his gaze to the floor. Gabriel sighed. “I told you the outside world was dangerous. What were you thinking?”

Adrien took a deep breath. He had to answer and, well, live with the consequences. Even if they locked Adrien inside for the rest of his life, they’d never be able to stop Chat Noir from going out. “You never told me why it was so dangerous, and always refused to answer me when I asked. I’ve decided to look by myself, and so far, I’ve failed to see in what this is so dangerous. You’ve made me train in combat so I can defend myself, but what’s the point when there is nothing to be afraid of?”

He regretted his answer when he saw a pure rage in his father’s eyes. “There are things outside that could eviscerate you!” Gabriel growled. “How do you think your mother had died?!” Adrien looked at his father in shock. Of course, he knew his mother was dead, but no one ever told him how she had died. “I swore to myself I would kill everyone of them, the next one being this Chat Noir living in the lands…”

Adrien’s blood ran cold. “But, Father, Chat Noir never hurt anyone! He’s~”

“He’s one of them!” replied his father, hitting angrily the floor with his cane. “I swear I’ll make another coat out of his fur!”

This time, Adrien fought the urge to throw up. His father had became rich by creating coats and accessories out of fur, leather and feathers. He never let Adrien accompany him during his hunting parties, and he understood now why. “Th-They’re p-people!!” he stuttered, shaking from head to toes. “Th-They have f-friends and fam-families, and most of them a-are harmless!”

“Harmless?!” Gabriel repeated in stupor. “Your mother has been killed by a were-peacock. A were-peacock! If something as harmless as a peacock can kill a person, what about this black were-lion!?” He walked to Adrien, gripping his cane in fury and stopped when he was just at a few centimetres from him. “Do you want to go to your mother’s tomb and tell her how harmless these monsters are?”

The teenager was frozen in place. He was one of them. He was Chat Noir. He knew he was harmless, but his father refused to see the people behind the creatures. His own father was a threat to him, to the whole were-fauna in the country. How many did he have already killed? How many were to come? He felt his head spinning and his body ache. No… Not now!

Adrien made a few steps back as his nails grew into sharp claws and his hands covered in black fur. The stress of the situation had triggered his transformation, but transforming just a few minutes after coming back to normal wasn’t good for the body and the mind. It hurt Adrien even more than his first transformation, and his wailing changed to a loud growl. Gabriel stepped back, unsheathing the saber hidden in his cane. “No… Adrien…” he murmured. He gripped his saber, holding a fighting stance. “First, your mother; then you… How sad…”

Wait… “What are you talking about?” Adrien groaned, slowly losing his voice. “You said she was killed by a werrrrrrr…” Too late. He wouldn’t be able to complete his sentence, but it seemed that Gabriel perfectly understood.

“The were-peacock infected her, so I had to kill Emilie to free her from her misery” he corrected, thrusting his saber to his son. Adrien barely dodged, trying to stay focused on his father’s words. “Be sure I didn’t let her transform and become a monster like the one who got her!” Monster… He was one to talk… His mother could have been just fine, still in control of her human mind and soul like he was, but he never gave her the opportunity to find out. His father had killed his mother, not the were-peacock! Adrien dodged another thrust and scrambled to get back on his feet and fled. He wouldn’t stay there. He couldn’t stay there. His father knew now, and he wouldn’t rest until he got his skin - quite literally.

Chat Noir ran and ran as fast and as far away from the Agreste mansion as he could. His mind was flickering between human and wild beast, but he only knew he had to run. He ended up crawling into a small building. Even if he had a good night vision, he could barely make out where he was. He was exhausted and flopped in a pile of hay.

He badly woke up when he heard a female scream at the door and a sudden sharp pain on his upper arm. A teenager, around his own age, entered the stable, a sling in hands. Chat Noir looked at her, trying to figure out her features and his surroundings, but his spinning head couldn’t focus on anything. “Where’s Tikki?!” she asked, pointing at the box he had slept in. “You ate her?” She spun the sling again. “How could you eat my favorite piglet!?” Wh-What?! “I’ll make you pay!!” She swung her sling, but Chat dodged the pebble and scrammed by jumping out a window. He put some distance between the young lady and him, then tried to focus. His body was aching from the run, the forced transformation and the hunger. The piglet! He was hungry; he couldn’t have eaten the piglet! He took a look at his hurted arm. It was slightly bleeding, but the pain was sharp. He tried walking on it, but it sored too much. He’d had to deal with it.

Chat had slept in the box of the piglet - Tikki? - so his nose was full of her odor. Maybe he could help this girl? After all, she hurted him out of fear, not out of malice or hatred like his father could have done. He stopped. His own father had killed his mother and had tried to kill him. Could he still consider this man as a member of his family? Could he bare sharing the same blood? He sighed, then sniffed the air. He was too tired right now to think about it. He was Chat Noir; this was a problem for Adrien. He found a smell trace and followed it.

He found the piglet a few hours later, digging the ground with her groin in a peaceful place. It seemed like nothing could interfere with her search for food. The reddish with black spots piglet barely looked at him when he calmly approached to delicately take her in his mouth. If he really was hunting for food, this piglet would be easy prey. Tikki grumbled, bothered, but didn’t fight him.

Chat brought back the piglet to her box in the stable, but he’d just put Tikki down that he felt a sharp pain to the head. This time, the girl seemed to have been waiting for him and got him by surprise. He fell to the ground and passed out.

[That’s it. That’s the only part that really was in my dream...]

That morning, the girl got up early, waiting for the were-lion she saw the day before. If it had eaten one of her piglets, it would surely come back today as well. She didn’t believe in killing were-animals, but she was working hard at breading what she called her “ladybug-piglets”, small pink or reddish piglets with round black spots, and she wouldn’t let a were-animal eat all of her hard work. Tikki was her favorite one and she couldn’t bare the idea of having lost her.

When she got to the stable, she wasn’t surprised to find it there. She wasn’t a warrior, but she knew how to defend her precious piglets with her sling. It was down on the ground with a quick swing and a pebble rightly shot to its head. She sighed in relief, glad to get the threat taken care of, but as she was about to move it outside, she saw her precious Tikki back to her box, right next to the were-lion’s mouth. Tikki looked pretty calm around it as well.

Oh… shit...

Instead of moving the were-lion to the forest like she intended to, she moved it back to her house and treated the wounds she had inflicted. It was the least she could do. After all, she thought it had killed Tikki when she had just escaped and, even after having hurt it at first, it brought her back to her. This young were-lion wasn’t as dangerous as it looked.

She put a blanket on the floor right in front of the fireplace, and laid the black creature on it. She tended to its wounds, then left it to rest while she was going to look at her piglets.

When he woke up, Chat looked around, trying to figure out where he had ended up. He was in a small but cozy house, bandages on his upper arm and head. He leaned down, his head still spinning, but calmer than the day before. He sighed. He couldn’t return home. He’d lost everything and everyone he ever had. He was in his were-lion form and couldn’t know when he’d return to his human one. Adrien didn’t remember having ever read something about a were-animal having transformed right after returning to their human form. How did that affected the body? The mind? He could say his mind was intact, at least for now, but his body was still aching badly. What if he was stuck as Chat Noir for months? For years?! He shuddered at the idea.

He was resting, lost in thoughts, when he heard someone getting inside the house. He lifted his head, genuinely curious at who was taking care of him. His ears perked up when he recognized the petite figure from the stable. After all that happened, she had welcomed him in her house? “Oh! You’re awake!” she chirped. She approached slowly, calmly, making sure he would understand she meant no harm. He shifted on the blanket to face her properly, but stayed laid down. He felt too weak to get up anyway, and preferred to keep the little strength he had to flee if necessary. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you. All I saw was you in the box of my favorite piglet and I got scared for her.” For her, for Tikki, not even for her own life…

She sat down beside him. “How do you feel?” she asked softly. He put a paw on his head and growl. “Yeah, I guess you still have a headache” she commented, uncomfortable. “I hit you fair and square, after all...” He looked away from her. If only he could tell her how the pebbles weren’t so bad compared to everything else! “Hey!” She reached for him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder blade. “I get that things might not be easy for you right now, so feel free to stay here for as long as you want, okay? I owe you that much from bringing Tikki back despite the fact that I’d hit you.” He turned back to her, slightly bowing his head and making a soft prusten, basically a purr and a sigh mixed together. In the feline language, it was meant to be a friendly hello, but Chat Noir used it for anything meant to be positive - Hello, Thank you, Yes, Understood,...

She smiled, then stood up, heading for the kitchen. She suddenly stopped, turning to him. “Oh! I forgot! My name’s Marinette. Welcome to my house!” And she returned to the kitchen. Marinette… What a cute name! And what a nice person… She wasn’t addressing him like an animal that might understand. She was addressing him like a human, like a person to a person. That was a welcomed change. He laid back down with a happy purr.

Days passed, his body was back to normal - or as normal as it could be - and Chat accompanied Marinette pretty much everywhere. Her presence by his side was calming and he felt really protective of her. He discovered she was living alone, and her “ladybug-piglets” were her only source of revenue. He felt bad for her, but she seemed happy nonetheless. When she was done with her work, she gladly spent time lying on the blanket in front of the fireplace with him. She found out with a giggle that her furry friend was a big lap pet and cuddled with her at every occasion. Craving for affection before everything that happened, Chat became even more hungry for human warmth after he had lost everything. Soon enough, Marinette became the center of his universe.

Despite her desire to bring him everywhere she went - not that he would give her a choice in the matter - , his presence by her side made other merchants uncomfortable. He was an unusual black were-lion after all.

One day, they met a lady at the marketplace who looked intensely at Chat Noir for many minutes. He was lying down on a pile of crates, sunbathing, but still keeping an eye on Marinette and the piglets. When Marinette noticed, she quickly came to the lady. “Don’t worry about him, he won’t hurt anyone, I promise!”

The lady moved her gaze from the were-lion and smiled softly, shaking her head. “Oh! I know! He’s a sweet, big furry baby!” she answered with a chuckle. “Chat Noir used to babysit my daughter and other kids in the village. I was just surprised to see him so far away! We were wondering what happened to him…”

“Chat Noir?” Marinette repeated with a smile, looking at him. He was looking back at them, wide eyes and ears turned back, flat on his head. Marinette’s smile faded, transforming into a frown, then turned to the lady. “Madame, I would appreciate if you kept Chat Noir’s presence here a secret. He hasn’t transformed back yet and couldn’t tell me his story, but I can tell he’s uncomfortable with the fact that he has been discovered living here…” She looked back at him with a wink and he visibly calmed down. She would protect him as he was protecting her.

“Oh! Of course!” she assured. “But you need to know that, back to the village, we have heard that Gabriel Agreste has put a bounty on his head. No one in the village would give him away, so Kitty, please stay here and, it’s sad to say it, but, never come back…” Chat’s ears drooped on his head, looking away from the ladies. His father really wanted him dead.

“Chat Noir?” He heard the soft voice of Marinette calling him back to reality, her fingers combing his matted mane. The lady was gone already. He closed his eyes and made a sad prusten. She wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling his mane. “It’s okay. I already knew you didn’t want to go back. I don’t know what you did to this Gabriel Agreste, but I can tell you I’ll fight anyone trying to take you away from me.” He purred loudly, softly returning her hug with his huge paw. And he would fight anyone trying to take her away from him…

She chuckled softly. "It's nice to meet you, Chat Noir." He made a content prusten.

The next day, they saw the lady again as Marinette was packing her stuff and Chat was carrying the piglets in their transport crates Marinette had adapted for him. "Chat Noir!" She called as she waved. He trotted to her and was greeted by an ear scratch. He rubbed his head on her belly, making her and Marinette giggle. The latter had never seen Chat Noir acting like an actual cat, but she understood the need to do so. She had always seen him like a person in a were-cat body, when this lady probably had seen the monster before the cat. Seeing the person in the cat would take more time.

The lady beckoned Chat to follow her and came closer to Marinette. "I wanted to give a thank you gift to Chat before going home, kind of a souvenir from our village." She explained. She extirpated a vivid green collar with a golden bell attached to it from her bag. "I've heard that, in some cities, were-animals who behave wear this kind of collar" she said while letting Chat sniff the thing. "They mark the were-creature as a good one and they can walk around without any problems, like, say, a well-trained dog. You can even embroider their name and yours so they know who is responsible for them. Since no one knows his real name, it might be better to stitch only yours."

"Thank you" answered Marinette, Chat making a happy purr and lifting his head to allow Marinette to attach the collar. The bell was making a nice ringing sound. It wouldn't bother him to wear it. He even played with it, making the ladies laugh at his antics.

Since this day, the word of a black were-lion with a short blond mane and a bell collar walking around in the market spread like powder. Merchants got used to see it walking with the young lady with raven hair attached in pigtails and bluebell eyes. It was taking care of its human's piglets, kept the thieves away and even was taking care of errands she could send it to do.

Chat still had his human intelligence, so he still could count. Marinette sometimes gave him a basket with a shopping list and enough money to buy what she needed. Behaving perfectly, he would wait his turn, sit in front of the merchant with his basket in his mouth, and the list and purse attached to his collar. The merchant then would take the list, put in the basket what they offered, take the money they needed and Chat would thank them with a bow of the head before heading to the next stand. When the merchant tried to keep more money, Chat would growl and, if they wouldn't understand the first warning, they would meet Chat's fangs. It usually ended with a "Gees! Alright, alright! Here's the correct change. Happy?" Chat would huff impatiently, but move on.

Things were going smoothly and the more the time passed, the more they could work without Marinette having to give Chat instructions. And when they got home, he felt like home. Never in his human life did Adrien feel so much loved, even if his feelings aren't reciprocal.

~~~~~~

#clawstrash #dream fics

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roxywashere · 5 years

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Holding Out for a Hero

A young goddess gets wrapped up in another pantheon’s war

A young woman confidently strode into a small village at the base of a mountain range, wearing a golden breastplate with a shield, cape, and sword hanging on her back. A cool sea breeze was blowing in from the east, driving off the heat of the summer sun.

She smiled cheerfully as she walked past a farmhouse, with the shepherd sitting in front of it. His wife and daughter were crouching behind the windowsill, watching her suspiciously. That motif repeated several times as the woman neared the village’s central square.

When she reached the square, she found a squadron of red-armored soldiers, all standing easily a full head taller than the villagers. They were relaxing under an awning, where the villagers were giving them a wide berth.

The woman approached them. "You look to be in charge here," she remarked, drawing herself up to match them in height. "What is this place called?"

"Who are you to be asking us such questions?"

“You can call me Diana. Now, I won't ask again.”

"Don't you know who we are?"

"I'm quite proud to say no, if only because it appears to be irritating you."

The tallest of the 5 soldiers reached up and removed his helm, revealing a bald head and a single large eye perched above his nose. “The name is Brontes. I answer directly to Zeus.”

“Directly to Zeus? What’re you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, then?”

“You’re pretty thick for a human. What do you think that mountain right there is?”

Diana turned and examined the mountain, and saw its peak shrouded by clouds. “Hmmm. I take it that this mountain is special or something?”

“That’s Olympos, you idiot.”

“Oh! That sounds like where I need to go!”

“Go ahead, but I’ll warn you, if you just walk up to the gates they’ll kill you on sight.”

“That’s rude. Why?”

“You’re not from around here, are you? They gotta be careful. The gods are at war.”

“Why wasn’t I invited, then? I swear, they never tell us anything.”

“You aren’t no god.”

"You wouldn't know a real God if they stabbed you through the kidney." Diana then immediately began walking towards the mountain.

“Hey! Stop!”

“Stop me yourself.”

Brontes crouched down and leapt, landing in front of Diana. He clenched his fist, and a rod of crackling lightning grew from his palm. “I said stop!”

Diana continued walking, not even changing her trajectory to make to go around him. As she approached him, Brontes reeled back the thunderbolt and flung it at her.

Diana ducked to the side, and the thunderbolt flew past her. She then reached to the sword on her back and drew it, and lunged forward at Brontes, ramming the sword through his lower torso.

“Do you know me yet?” Diana asked. She carefully pulled the sword out of him, and the blade sizzled as it dried itself of blood. Diana held out her hand, which started glowing, and projecting light upon Brontes’ doubled-over form. The hole ventilating his kidney quickly healed over. “Stay out of my way,” she warned.

Brontes slumped to the ground, holding his side still even though the pain had passed. He remained there as he watched Diana continue onwards to the peak of Mount Olympos, even as the other soldiers checked him for wounds.

“What are we going to do about her?” one of them asked.

“Let her go. She’s the Olympians’ problem now.”

Diana kept walking until she reached the base of the cloud layer shrouding the mountain’s peak. She lifted the sword above her head, and whispered to it: “Shine."

The sword slowly began to glow, increasing in intensity steadily, until it began to burn the air around it and shot a beacon straight in-line with the blade, cutting through the mist and revealing the blue sky above.

It also revealed the massive palace that crowned the mountain, constructed out of marble and gold and designed in a hybrid of the Hellenic style and the even older Minoan and Mycenaean styles.

Standing in front of the only door through the wall surrounding the palace was a tall man wearing only a helmet and a red cloth around his waist, wielding a spear. He looked quite startled to suddenly be confronted by a stranger with a glowing sword who had destroyed the magical veil concealing his home.

“Stop! Explain yourself!” He yelled, running towards Diana with his spear held forward. “No mortal is allowed to step foot in Olympos.”

“If you’re not a mortal, you must be Ares, then.” Diana hypothesised. “Take me to Zeus. I demand an audience.”

“You will get no such thing. Leave, mortal!”

“You’re quite presumptuous. How do I prove my godhood to you?”

Ares responded by lunging at Diana and ramming his spear into her neck.

Diana was nonplussed. She slowly reached up and pulled the spear out, and the wound was healed almost as soon as she did. “Anything else? Or does that suffice?”

Ares, confused, stood down. “I... suppose so.”

Ares led Diana through the door and into the palace, most of which was open to the air, except for the rotunda which sat upon the exact peak of the mountain. At no point did Diana see another person inhabiting the massive compound, until Ares led her into the rotunda.

Despite the rotunda being relatively small and covered by a roof, the inside was massive, lined with columns, and open to the sky above, though it was a different sky than the one outside. It was glittering with stars even in the daylight, from horizon to horizon.

It reminded Diana of home, giving her a rare pang of nostalgia for a place long lost to her.

In the center of the rotunda was a circle of thrones, twelve in all, all but two of which were occupied. The council of gods was bickering about something to do with countering discontent in the ranks of their mortal soldiers, but they all fell silent as they saw Ares approach.

Zeus, with short hair and beard of a bright white, carrying a scepter passively crackling with lightning. Sitting in order clockwise from him were:

Poseidon, with long silver hair and beard, wielding a trident.

Athena, a comely woman dark of hair, with an owl perched upon her shoulder.

Hephaestus, stout and homely compared to the ethereal figures surrounding him, but the most obviously muscled of the group. A wheelchair sat next to his throne.

Aphrodite, the infamous beauty, the oldest of the council of gods but the most youthful.

Demeter, with earthen brown hair and lusch green eyes.

Hermes, with tanned skin and short-cropped hair, wearing his winged sandals.

The two empty thrones, one engraved with a familiar sun symbol and the other with a crescent moon.

Dionysus, dressed in a toga dyed dark violet to help hide the wine stains.

Hestia, with bright green eyes and vibrant orange hair.

And finally, at Zeus's right hand, his queen Hera, wearing a stern frown but with gentle eyes and wavy hair, both a light brown.

“Ho!” said Poseidon, the first to spot Diana behind Ares..

“Rude,” Diana replied.

“What is the meaning of this intrusion?” asked Zeus.

Diana stepped into the center of the circle. “I am a god from far away. I have traveled to this land seeking knowledge.”

“You could not have chosen a less opportune time, stranger,” said Athena. “We are occupied by discussions of war.”

“War with whom?”

“My father, and his siblings,” Zeus explained. “The Titans. Their reign over the earth must come to an end.”

“This... doesn’t quite line up with the story I know,” Diana noted.

“What do you mean?” Hera demanded.

“I have met with prophets who have told me... prophecies of the fate of this land, and while the general facts are accurate the details of the sequence of events are very different. Now I doubt the prophecies were accurate at all.”

Athena gave Diana a look, and then exchanged other looks with Hestia and Hephaestus. She whispered something in her owl Noctua’s ear, and he flew off, flying through the door Ares had led Diana in through.

“I think it would be best if we discussed this less pressing issue after the war council,” Athena announced. “Ares, take her to my chambers.”

Ares led Diana through the compound to one of the more secluded buildings, one with an observatory of almost industrial design upon its roof.

Ares left Diana in a spacious greenhouse with proper glass windows and an abundance of perches for Noctua, who was nowhere to be seen. The wall joining the greenhouse to the rest of the house was just a line of pillars.

A shape of smoke lurched out of the shadow between the columns, coalescing into a helmet of black metal and then a dark-skinned man in black robes. "You seek the truth, interloper?"

"I am Truth. I seek completeness."

"Then let me lead you to the place you truly belong." The stranger held out his hand, and Diana took it. When she did, a shadow wound around her arm and pulled her into a place of darkness, the same shape as the place she had been before but stripped of all light except a dull, ambient orange glow in the air. “Hold on tight. If you let go we’ll be discovered.”

“What is this place?” Diana asked.

“It is the Darkness. We can’t be seen here by anything, and it can only be reached with this,” he said, tapping the side of his helm.

“The Helm of Darkness...” Diana recognised the item. “You’re Hades.”

"For a stranger to these lands, you know quite a lot about us."

"I know many things."

“And yet there is more for you to learn.” Hades led her down into the depths of the palace of Olympos, remaining in the Darkness the whole time, until they reached a glowing door, the only thing Diana had seen in the Darkness that produced any light.

“Welcome to my domain,” Hades said as he pressed his hand against the door, which ignited with light and inverted the Darkness, causing it to become light all around them. When the light faded, they were on the top of a hill with a lone doorframe, looking out over a sunny but barren desert

“It’s dreary, I know, but it’s home,” Hades apologized.

“It reminds me of my own home.”

Hades led Diana through the desert to an oasis, passing hordes of wandering listless shades on the way. Next to the oasis was a two-story house, with a tan-skinned woman tending her garden.

Persephone waved as she saw her husband approaching. “A guest? If I had known I would have cleaned up.”

“Athena called a meeting of the Astron Society. Prepare for the others.”

Persephone straightened her back and dropped her trowel, and rushed inside the house.

“Isn’t it summer?” Diana inquired. “I thought she lived here over the winters.”

“Yet another of the details of our lives that mismatch what you were told,” Hades answered. “We are an outlier of the average story, this I can confirm with you.”

“You know of the metanarrative?”

“Our native prophets have espoused many of the main points of it, yes. Leto knows the finer details, she will be able to tell you more.”

“Where can I find her?”

Hades looked out at the desert surrounding his house, and pointed out at a figure approaching over the sand. “She is coming to us.”

Diana saw the figure, draped in a shawl to protect her from the sun, slowly treading across the sand. She was one of the most beautiful women Diana had yet met.

Diana then saw 5 others also approaching. From the direction Hades and Diana had come from came Athena and Hestia wheeling Hephaestus in his wheelchair, and from another came two strangers Diana couldn’t easily identify, wearing quite ornate armor. Each of them was wearing a glowing crown, which created a halo around their head.

“Helios and Theia, the other discontents among the Titans’ ranks,” Hades explained.

As the Olympians approached the house, Athena marched directly towards Diana. “Stranger, let me see your shield.”

Diana reached back to the shield hanging off her back, and handed it to Athena.

Athena examined the convex disc of black, silver, and gold with awe, and whispered: “ ‘And among them went bright-eyed Athena, holding the precious Aegis which is ageless and immortal.’ Where did you get this shield?”

“I have been carrying it for millenia, passed on to me from one of my allies who carried it far longer.”

Athena handed Diana her shield, and then held her hand out, beckoning something from far off. After a few short seconds a golden shape zipped over the horizon and flew onto Athena’s arm, slamming into place with her arm through the handholds.

Athena held her shield out in front of her, and Diana saw that it was exactly, perfectly, identical to her own.

“Aegis... how did you...” Diana was quite rarely ever confused, so the feeling she felt now unsettled her.

“My Aegis was bequeathed to me by the smith who trained Hephaestus.”

“Were they a short woman, with white hair and brilliant green eyes?”

“In fact they were. Our fates our bound together, stranger. What is your name?”

“My creator left me with the name Diana Kadmon.”

“Did you just say Diana?” Leto interrupted.

“You know the name?”

“We should have this discussion inside,” Hestia told the gathering of gods, wheeling Hephaestus through the front door of Hades and Persephone’s abode.

The group followed them inside, where Diana was surprised to find that the interior was much more spacious than the exterior implied. It was also much more extravagantly decorated than the house's plain exterior would have indicated. The entryway opened up to a ballroom-sized atrium, with a large marble table in the center of it. Hestia wheeled Hephaestus up to the table, and took her seat next to him. Persephone and Hades took their seats next to her, and Athena sat on the other side of Hephaestus. Leto, Theia, and Helios left an empty seat next to Hades and Persephone, and 4 empty seats between Athena and Leto.

Diana could suddenly feel the presence of a Void-Beast intruding upon local reality. On raw instinct, she drew her sword, and lunged in the direction the abomination would appear from, and as a humanoid figure appeared in front of her, she had her sword at its throat.

The figure was that of a handsome young man, with pale skin, white hair, and black robes, and a sword on his hip. Stretching behind him was a pair of wings which seemed to absorb all light that fell upon them.

“Diana!” Hades yelled. “Stop!”

Diana held her attack, but kept the sword in position.

“That is Thanatos. He serves me.”

Diana did not stand down. “Can you not smell the stench of death and chaos coming off of him? He is not a creature meant to exist in the same space as life or light.”

“He is death. That is his purpose. He collects the dead and brings them to this realm.”

“He is one of the protogenoi, yes,” Persephone explained. “The child of Night and Darkness. He may not be... the most pleasant. But he is bound to Hades and the underworld. He cannot betray them.”

Diana finally relented. “If you insist.”

#The Aftermath #Greek Mythology #Short Story #Diana Kadmon #Superhero Literature #Superhero #Writing

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sncwishes-blog · 6 years

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Task 01 Part 1: Dig a Little Deeper

BASIC INFORMATION.

What is your character’s full name?: Adriana “Snow” White How is it pronounced?: AI - d r ee - AA - n uh, Snō, Hwīt Is there a meaning behind it?: Does your character have any nicknames?: Their preferred name “Snow” has special name to them as it was given to them by their father. Their father called them Snow because “They were as beautiful and unique as snow” When and where were they born?: They were born January 13th in Munich, Germany. What’s their zodiac sign and what traits do they most relate to?: Capricorn, the traits they most relate too are patience and anxiety. What’s their nationality?: German, African American What’s their occupation?: Unemployed What gender do they identify themselves as?: Agender

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

What’s their eye color?: Dark brown Do they wear glasses or contacts?: Nope Hair color?: Dark black Have they ever dyed their hair or wanted to?: They’ve wanted to dye their hair blue or white before but got nervous and never did Height?: Five foot four Body build?: Thinly built and with an inverted triangular body shape Do they have any birthmarks?: They have a tiny birthmark on the bottom of their right wrist Do they have any piercings or tattoos?: They have any pierced ears but no tattoos. If not, do they want to get some?: Yes actually. They’d like to get a tattoo but they’re not sure what and are nervous to do it alone Do they have a healthy life style?: Yes actually. They make sure they and their roommates eat well and go for a jog everyday How easy do they get sick?: It’s rather hard to get them sick but when they do get sick they sleep a lot and don’t like to leave their bed Any marks on their body ( injuries, … )?: None What’s their personal style/how do they like to dress?: Their personal style is very feminine and with lots of bold colors(mostly reds, yellow and blues). They dress very modestly, not terribly fashionable but not terribly out of fashion either. What is their favorite and least favorite feature about themselves?: Their favorite feature about themselves is their hair which they take very good care of. Their least favorite feature about themselves is their chest because it causes them a lot of discomfort when they’re feeling dysphoric.

PERSONALITY.

Positive traits?: Kind, giving, positive, innocent and hard working Negative traits?: Sassy, sarcastic, naive, gullible, assertive and stern. What do they consider to be the best and the worst part of their personality?: Snow considers their positivity to be the best part of the personality because it’s what’s kept them going all through the years. They think their gullibility is the worst part of their personality but files it as “stupidity” instead of gullibility. Are they more extroverted or introverted?: They fit rather well in between actually. They’re not overly extroverted or incredibly introverted. Any talents?: They’re an amazing baker and singer. What are their fears?: Their biggest fear is of the dark and of being lost both literally and metaphorically with losing their purpose. Do they have any phobias?: They actually do have a slight Nyctophobia(Fear of the dark) What is their soft spot?: Animals are their softest spot. They’re incredibly caring and empathetic but seeing an animal scared or hurt tugs at their heartstrings the most. List 3 pet-peeves they can’t stand?: Things being dirty, pencil chewing and when their phone starts to overheart

EDUCATION.

How far did they go in school? Are they still studying?: They graduated high school but haven’t gone back to university yet. Do/Did they like school?: Snow adored school because they loved to learn and it got them time out of their home What type of student are/were they?: They were a very good student that got along with both students and teachers. They got good grades and never missed a day of school. What is/was their favorite subject?: Their favorite subject has and always will be history especially world history. And their least favorite?: Their least favorite subject was algebra because they could never come around to understand it. What were they/would they have been voted as “most likely to…” in the yearbook?: They would have been voted “Most Likely To Befriend The World” That was actually a joke suggestion put in by one of their friends

FAMILY.

Who are your character’s parents?: Kingston White(Father), Theresa White(Mother) and Evelyn Grimhilde(Step Mother) How would your character describe them?: Snow would describe their mother and father as incredibly loving and kind people that loved them very much and wanted the best for them. They’d describe their step-mother as a smart and ambitious woman. They don’t say anything negative about their step-mother and try to just not talk about her. Do they have any siblings?: No Are they close with their family?: They were very close with their mother and father but not with their step-mother. Now they’re not close to their family at all.

ROMANCE & SEXUALITY.

What’s their romantic and sexual orientation?: Biromantic and Bisexual Are they seeing anyone right now?: No though they daydream about dating a lot Have they ever been in an relationship?: They dated someone in Junior High(unbeknownst to their step-mother) but the relationship didn’t work out. Have they ever been in love?: They believe so, though they believe they fall in love everyday with everything and everyone. How easy do they fall for someone?: When they find someone they feel they truly click with then they fall fairly easily. It can take anywhere between a short few minute conversation to months long friendship. In their view, why didn’t any past relationships work out?: Because they and their ex just weren’t that “special someone” for one another What do they look for in someone?: They look for someone charming, kind and romantic Do they believe in love at first sight? or fate?: They absolutely believe in love at first sight and in fate. They believe everything happens for a reason and that when you find someone you love truly, you’ll know it by sight. What’s their views on romance? Do they go after it or avoid it?: They fantasize romance, a lot. They see it as something beautiful and heartwarming and something they believe will end with happily ever after. They don’t go after it or avoid it, they’re kind of just waiting for it to happen. Did they have their first time already? How was it in their point of view?: No they’re waiting to have an actual relationship before having sex What is their view on sex?: They like to imagine sex as something truly loving and intimate between a couple. As though both are agreeing to close distance between each other. What are their turn ons and turn offs?: They’re turned on by neck kisses. They’re turned off by the idea of public sex. Were they ever cheated on or have they cheated on someone?: They have not been cheated on and would never cheat on someone Do they want to get married in the future?: Absolutely! They dream of getting married to someone kind, loving, caring and charming Have kids?: Of course! They’d love to have kids someday and be a teacher

QUIRKS.

Are they right or left handed?: Ambidextrous actually What’s a word that’s always on their lips?: “Love” Is there a saying they keep on repeating?: “Everything’s going to be alright” Do they curse?: No they get embarrassed when trying to curse What’s their worst habit?: Their roommates would say them trying to bring animals into the house. But in reality their worst habit is constantly pushing themselves down Do they drink or smoke? How frequently?: They don’t smoke and have only had an Appletini which they tried during a friend’s graduation party, they didn’t like it. Are they an early bird or a night owl?: Early bird! Snow gets up before all their roommates every morning to go for a jog before making breakfast How tidy is their room?: Extremely tidy, everything is clean, has a place and is in it’s place. How long to they usually take getting ready in the morning?: About an hour and a half. They don’t wear much makeup, don’t take long to decide on their clothes and usually showering is what takes them longest in getting ready

FAVORITES.

What’s their favorite color?: Blue because it reminds them of the sky and blue birds Favorite movie?: The Princess Bride Music Genre?: Anything relaxing and calm actually Food?: Pies of course but also strawberries! Book?: The Long Nineteenth Century (Fontana History of Germany, 1780-1918) by David Blackbourne Favorite non-alcoholic drink?: Strawberry Green Tea Ice Cream Flavor?: Strawberry! Indoors or outdoors?: Outdoors

#carthaytask01 #carthaytask #;There's no body like you anywhere at all; Headcanons #((This is late/old af but it was fun!))#;Lips red as the rose hair dark as ebony heart pure as snow; Bio

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invertedfate · 7 years

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* Uncharted territory awaits you, for better or worse... Full Album (Part A) / Reddit Post Full Album (Part B) / Reddit Post This part was a HUGE undertaking, and I got a lot of help putting it all together. I’d like to give a quick shoutout to some of the folks who assisted in bringing this town to life. Here’s a list of who did what! Me - Octopus NPC, duck NPC, derpy business fish NPC (based on an artbook npc), the main tileset for the town, including the buildings, statue, many of the objects in a certain room during Part B. Overworld sprites for a certain old timer, along with his talksprites. The entire script besides Spout and the new weapons shop. All of the mapping. Deka/Ilumm - Owl NPC Leo/Spouting - Spout the spider merchant + the base for Spout’s shop. He also wrote Spout’s dialogue. His AU is at @ut-sudden-changes. Consider this a little cameo as thanks for past contributions. 441 - The new shopkeeper, shop background, the entire script for the shop. His AUs are @altereddestinyau and @undermythau. FMS - The spooky fence in one of the rooms, a certain hug sprite, finishing touches on Itsy & Bitsy. His AU is @ut-tantamount. E-Clare - The shell for a certain chap that I worked on, refinements on the house that MK is standing next to, the gazebo in part 24B. Clare is the sprite artist for @ut-scramble-saga! PineappleWithSunglasses - Basically all the other NPCs. He gave me a TON. The rock people, the clam and fishman guard, the lamp ghoul, the two kids, the dentist and the hairdresser, seaweed salesman, treasure turtle, and loch ness monster. He was a tremendous help in filling the town with distinct NPCs. His AU is @ut-metal-and-magic. TheTrueRyan - The water tiles used in the various rooms. There were other NPCs planned, but I ran out of space and intend to use them later. If you’re new to Inverted Fate, you can find a full list of chapters here! More misc commentary under the cut. I recommend waiting until after you’ve read the update before looking at it, as there WILL be spoilers for this part.

Forgespring was a relatively late addition to my Waterfall plans, but one I’d been toying with in some way or form for a while. I wanted to give a chance to flesh out the Waterfall area and explore how the civilians live there under the shadow of the Waterfall Incident and under the fort’s protection. I was inspired by the unused crystal and mining tilesets in the original game, thus came the idea that the buildings would be adorned with crystals. Forgespring lack’s Snowdin’s Holo-Sky and Hotland’s media and technology. While it has some technical innovations, it is very much a place of natural beauty, so the monsters interweave it into their homes and their lifestyles. Mining is one of the primary careers there, along with trade, in part due to the crystals and in part due to the dump’s close proximity. If I had infinite time, I would have gladly showcased more businesses, but in the interest of not having too much padding, I just focused on a few examples, like Spout’s Itsy & Bitsy shop, Masa’s Weapon and Armor shop, and the dental office and hair salon respectively. Spout’s shop interior will be shown in a bonus, by the way! I just felt that having two shops in a single update would have been too much, so I opted to go with the more relevant of the two for the main part.

I’m sure when a lot of people saw Masa for the first time, they thought he was related to Undyne. My goal was to have a bit more fish people in the town, as Toby had intended to do just that, according to the artbook, and I felt that a town in Waterfall would need some aquatic residents. With the fort so close, having a blacksmith seemed like a logical step, and 441 went wild in bringing this fellow to life. NPC-wise, we got the fishfolk, one clam NPC, an octopus, another goofy fish, an Aaron and a Woshua, a turtle and a plesiosaur... and then a bunch of other oddball NPCs. Here is the full set of NPCs pine created!

The rock monsters seemed like a logical inclusion due to the mines and crystals that fill Waterfall, and Pine felt that there is a severe lack of rock folk outside of the Ruins. I thought his idea of a rock monster being sculpted was really creative. Some of the less aquatic folk may have simply migrated to Forgespring out of a desire to be safe under the guard’s protection. If I ever go back and show more businesses, I’ll likely add more royal guards as well as a mix of civilians. There’s just only so much you can show without derailing things entirely. For the curious, the royal guards shown here were the fishman, clam guard, Cala Merry the weapon-obsessed Octopus, and the unnamed owl NPC (on vacation).

Now, you were all probably surprised to see these doofuses return! If you’re wondering why they’re hanging in Waterfall, they took a ride with the Riverperson because they didn’t wanna hang in the heat for too long... or near where Snowdrake’s dad is. They will be appearing again later, however! As for the graveyard itself, I couldn’t have gone over every object without padding the part out to hell and back. There are thirty-nine unique objects. I will probably do a full investigation later on as a bonus, however, so you can learn why the heck there is a “ceremonial drinking bowl” and a freaking refrigerator as graves. :P Anyhow, that’s all for now. I’ll let the rest of the update speak for itself!

#inverted fate #undertale #frisk #mettaton #napstablook #inverted fate comic #waterfall #forgespring #papyrus

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davidmann95 · 7 years

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I don't want to sound too, ah, plebian, but can you explain the meta-plot of Multiversity? The Just, SoS, etc, were all very fun, but the Ultraa Comics stuff went over my head.

Not at all! Multiversity was weird as hell,and in terms of getting what the point of it all was, it doesn’t help that mostof the one-shots only tie in thematically (aside from the basic idea that TheGentry are corrupting these worlds) rather than how in Seven Soldiers everythingcomes back plotwise for the finale. There’s breadcrumbs - a piece of Monitormythology here, a suggestion that comics reflect other events in the multiversethere - but by and large, the one-shots serve to lend context and emotionalweight rather than directly inform the larger plot with Uotan, Superman and therest of the heroes.

Iwrote about Multiversity before, always with the intent ofdoing a follow-up piece going more into the individual issues, so here’s mefinally getting around to that now that it’s been, oh my god, two years sincethe series wrapped; you’ll probably want to read that article first, since mywhole “Multiversity is about time” thesis from that is the centerof pretty much everything I’m going to talk about here, especially at the end.I’d also recommend David Uzumeri’sannotations for Comics Alliance of all the chapters up through Mastermen,and @charlotteofoz‘s excellent piece on UltraComics, as well as the piles upon piles of other great writing aboutthis book out there.

Continued below; this is a long one, obviously with plentyof spoilers.

Since Multiversity #1 is one half of alarger story that’s bookended later (it’s not even the first chronologically,since a couple characters from The Just are already at theHouse of Heroes), let’s start with SOS. More than each issue as anartifact unto itself - this thing would be even longer if I went into that, andthe annotations I linked to I think already do a more than satisfactory job inthat regard - I want to talk about these in terms of how they inform the whole,and Society of Super-Heroes sets down the template in twomajor ways in that regard:

1. Each of these stories correspond to a given decade of thehistory of the superhero - in this case, in spite of the 1920′s trappings, thatthey’re going through the parallel universe equivalent of World War II and thepresence of a number of Golden Age figures suggests this is meant to be read asrepresenting the pulpy heroes of the 1940s.

2. Each of the chapters of Multiversity correspondto a classic story published by DC Comics, but grotesquely inverted (similarly to how each arc of his Batman and Robin mirrored a classic Batman story, ending with Batman and Robin Must Die! inverting his own Batman R.I.P.); here, thefirst standalone installment of this latest multiversal threat is naturallymodeled after the original “Crisis on Earth-One!/Crisis on Earth-Two!”JLA/JSA crossover, except this time when the two parallel Earths make firstcontact (through the same crystal ball as in that original story no less), itleads to war.

And much more than a simple categorization like theabove, SOS introduces the major shared conceit of theone-shots: the degeneration of the superhero as a concept through theintroduction of time to the proceedings. In this case through wartime, as thepromise of the birth of the superhero at the beginning of the story is undoneby 5 years of hell, grinding our leads’ ethics down to the level ofkill-or-be-killed, with Doc Fate remorselessly torturing a man for information(in what I have to read as a reference to Doc Savage’s “Crime College”),Immortal Man reverting to his most primal roots, and Atom literally beating anopponent to death. It’s the most straightforward “well, in the real worldsuperheroes couldn’t be that moral” deconstruction possible, but framed as theconsequence of conditions the superhero wasn’t built to deal with rather thanan inherent failing. In that regard, while I don’t think Multiversity wastypically much influenced by the then-present goings-on at DC in the comics orelsewhere - Morrison’s said more than once that most of the issues werescripted years before the art was done, minus some tweaks here and there - it’shard not to read this issue as at least something of a reaction to the New 52and particularly Man of Steel, especially with lines like “Doc.I just killed a man. I–I brought you some time, but myprinciples–I–I killed a man.” And that fall is the direct, literalvictory of the villains of the story.

For The Just, while it owes a debt to All-StarSuperman since itwas originally planned as a spinoff of that book - an acknowledgeddebt given the appearance of Klyzyzk Klzntplkz’s Hyperpoon, even though thecircumstances of Superman’s death in here preclude this being set in that world- in spirit it’s a broken mirror to Kingdom Come and theglitzy, too-cool, airbrushed ‘90s milieu it inhabited, hence the legacy heroesand Ben Oliver’s photoreal style being notably similar to Alex Ross’s here.It’s Kingdom Come’s party scene, except for 40 pages, andSuperman never comes in to whip them all into shape. They just keep drinkingand dancing as the world burns.

In truth though, this isn’t really a comic about legacycharacters; they’re a shorthand for time having passed and the superheroicidentities having degraded over time, but it’s no coincidence that this is theonly issue to actually have characters going by Superman and Batman as theunambiguous leads (or that Superman’s a useless dope, while Batman’s the onlycompetent one but also infinitely more ridiculous and transparent than hethinks), because it’s about the DCU specifically as a decades-long construct atthis moment in history. If most of the other issues are about time damaging thesuperhero through inevitable contact with real-world morality, this shows thepainful endgame of spinning their wheels without end: they become heartlesscopies of copies of themselves, all their battles knowing pantomime, muggingfor the cameras even as there’s nothing left for them to do that anyone caresabout, least of all themselves as they question why anyone even buys comicsanymore. The Just is the CW’s DC Universe twenty years fromnow, where most of the audience has left and the budget has been slashed tonothing but just enough viewers are sticking around that they have to continueit somehow, so it devolves into old-fashioned CW soap opera bullshit, becausehow that’d apply to these characters is all they have left in their arsenal:Superman’s angry that Batman’s fucking Lex Luthor, but will they ever admitthey just want to fuck each other instead, readers? Tune innext month to find how out we’ll delay giving the answer!

Then we hop over to 1980s political horror and theinevitable shadow of Watchmen, in…maybe the best, or at leastmost remarkably-constructed single issue of a superhero comic of thedecade? Pax Americana certainly felt like it when it came out.In any case, our main concern here is another consequence of time as applied tosuperheroes: the desire, as embodied by President Harley, to force them to makesense in the real world in tune with an ‘adult’ perspective. In an attempt torectify his guilt for accidentally killing his father, the first superhero andthe only morally pure one - his entry to the murky world of adulthood, assignified by the second-to-last line “Remember? That was when it allmade sense, right?” - he wants to reconfigure superheroes into virtuous,regimented tools of the government, with himself as the greatest hero of all asa resurrected American Christ to lead the world into a new golden age.

It fails horrifically of course, because his worldview - theworldview shared by Captain Adam, and Doctor Manhattan, and Watchmen itself- is by Morrison’s perspective inherently flawed, incapable as it is ofperceiving the repercussions and chaos of truly ‘real’ humans. Take notewhen Harley’s consciousness expands that at first it fragments into personal,evocative, visceral imagery, but when that expanding holistic view of theuniverse is inevitably too much to hold all at once, it simplifies back downinto simpler symbols, shapes and geometric solids, much in line with howMorrison spoke of Watchmen’s structure in Supergods asconfining and inflexible. Where Ozymandias’s plan to save the world went offwithout a hitch - at least until it lead to him putting on a robe andkidnapping Tim Drake, as continued this November at a comic book store near youin Doomsday Clock* - Harley’s fails catastrophically, because inthe ‘real’ world superheroes wouldn’t obey genre and narrative conventionsto the extent the likes of Nite Owl and Rorschach still do, living as they doin a world that still has flying Owl-cars and villainous master plans; anyonewho put on a mask to fight crime would be violent, callous assholes of thedistinctly uncharismatic variety whose grand schemes fall apart, whoseinvestigations never reach resolution, and who end up inevitably co-opted andrendered obsolete. In the end, as we saw with Peacemaker defending Bush toHarley’s barely-restrained glee, and the V.P. lecturing about selling childhooddreams back to adults, underneath all his mature aspirations Harley just wantedto find a way to force the world to let him love something the way he did whenhe was a boy…but as Adam reminds us, when you take it all apart to thatextent, there’s not really much left, and even if you put it all back togetherit can never be the same.

* I maintain it’s a very real possibility that PaxAmericana, meant to close the book on Watchmen once andfor all, was a part of what led to its revival; that someone in DC caught windof it during production and figured “oh man, Watchmen’s aboutto get some play again, now’s the time to do something with it.”

That brings us to Thunderworld Adventures’ 1950scolor TV world of retro adventure, the logical retort to the rest of Multiversity andthe one it needed to be complete: if time destroys superheroes, why not justturn back the clock and make it like it was when you were a kid? But unlike itscounterpart comic All-Star Superman (Morrison mentionedrepeatedly in interviews that this was him giving Captain Marvel the All-Star approach,and the structure - of Marvel facing off against counterparts of himself in theface of his inevitable doom, with his scientist arch-enemy finding a way togive himself his powers - is more than a little familiar), this isn’t anattempt to recapture the best of those elements in a modern context, but a purenostalgia exercise.

Yes, that means a happy ending, and clever fun, and a nicemoral about the self-destructive nature of evil. But from a modern perspective, thatalso means the mad scientist experimenting on his own children, pointing outthat Billy Batson is an exploited youth not subject to child labor laws,Captain Marvel Jr. winning a fight by preying on a bullied girls’ insecuritiesabout her appearance with a smile on his face, and a monstrous Sivana coming ahair’s breadth away from graphically murdering Billy. Morrison mentioned ininterviews that deep down Thunderworld had signs of the sameugliness as the other issues, and it’s true; even if we go back to the good olddays, we’ve still been informed by our adult experiences, and it’s just notgoing to look quite the same. No matter how much we might want to go retreatinto a neverending Binder/Beck fairyland, we’ve seen the leering, muzzled faceof the serial-killing, likely pedophilic Hannibal Sivana. Not that it’ssecretly as cynical of its subject matter in the same way as the others - thewizard Shazam reminds us that there is something beautiful at the heart of themagic, and that we lose it the more we try and replace it with something coolerand colder - but it’s pretty on-the-nose that Sivana’s ultimate plan is to getpeople to buy years on the clock to waste, essentially selling their old livesback to them piecemeal. In the end, when Captain Marvel’s faced with theprophecy of a darker, more morally challenging threat, he doesn’t confront it,but tosses it in the trash to fly away with a picture-perfect smile. But weknow the truth: he has to. There is no such thing as timelessness, andattempting to capture it will ultimately show cracks in the foundation nomatter what.

Moving into the Guidebook’s extended homageto “The Flash of Two Worlds!” - one with a distinctly 60s feel, between all theKirby getting thrown around and the build-up of DC mythology - we get to seewhat comic book time actually looks like from the outside (via the perspectiveKamandi, from a world where time has truly passed to the tune of anapocalypse), with Fox and Infantino’s simple tale of a costumed crimefightermeeting his own childhood storybook hero metastasizing into a time-shatteringhistory of reboots and retcons and parallel worlds, and two wildly differentproducts of that process coming face-to-face. After Thunderworld andthe finale it’s the most openly optimistic of the bunch, with the irrepressiblejoy Morrison clearly takes in all the nerd arcana and Lightray’s assertion thatlight will conquer darkness in the end, but it also ends with a Justice League,reduced conceptually to animatronic cartoons of themselves, dying andresurrecting in one manufactured Crisis after another for all eternity.

Hitting Mastermen, this is probably the mostdiscounted of the bunch, especially given it reads the most like it’sunfinished. However, I’d say it’s a pretty complete tragedy (especially thanksto @globegander‘s essayon it as a spiritual adaptation of Der Ring des Nibelungen),and much like with The Just - the other least-loved of theseries - the trappings on display are largely a way of facilitating what it’s talkingabout. It’s the story of a nation in power of men with pipes looking overnuclear families with dogs, where rich white boys complain that they shouldn’tbe held responsible for the actions of their ancestors, newscasters refer togenocides perpetrated by their nation within the last century as “theethnic and ideological purges of the Hitler era”, and theretaliation against them by terrorist insurgents is from a nation they broughttheir war to. It’s very much a story of America (2000s America specifically, inline with the decade parallels in play), and while Overman still wants to makeeverything right because he’s Superman, unlike its counterpart in Superman:Red Son which shows him managing to redeem himself from similarcircumstances to some extent, Mastermen makes no bones aboutthe fact that he is damned, utterly and irrevocably, just as aconsequence of being born into this society. Time here has destroyed thesuperhero by way of conformity, with well-meaning champions of truth, justice,and the Nazi way as barely-witting defenders of a corrupted status quo,unquestionably incapable of transcending what they’ve become. Hence whySuperman already exists as a comic when Hitler learns of Kal-L, the symbolismof two Jewish kids in the depression co-opted by the powers-that-be as thefascistic representative of amoral nationalistic interests, corrupting whatSuperman is supposed to stand for until even his attempts at rectifying thingscan only compound the problem. In essence, it’s the darkest possiblecontinuation of The Curse of Superman from Morrison and GeneHa’s Action Comics #9 - and it comes to the same conclusion ofwhat it takes to fight back in the finale later on.

Ultra Comics - both the comic and the character,insomuch as there’s any meaningful division between the two - is the anti-FlexMentallo, down to the point of mimicking its four-act structure of thehistory of the superhero via montage, only replacing a ‘Renaissance’ asMorrison put it following comics ‘Dark Age’ with further brutality andadolescent defensiveness. It’s the horrors of every other chapter rolled intoone: Ultra’s an innocent superhero from circumstances that become moreunsettling the more you think about them, pre-packaged with his own ridiculousbackstory and history, who goes on an adventure forcing him to realize themorality his world is built on is impossible and defined by society rather thanan objective moral code, and he’s trapped forever in the violent structure ofhis story, consigned to repeat his life forever until it loses all meaning. Itis, as Charlotte Finn put it in her analysis, a killer bullet to the idea ofthe superheroes, hence why it’s a horrific cursed contaminant across themultiverse: in our world it’s just a depressing comic, but to a superhero it’sirrefutable evidence that their entire existence is meaningless, time almostliterally corroding him throughout the issue as he moves from optimisticsuperhero to cynical super-agent to old and realizing it was all for nothing todead. Even our own world is threatened after all, with the suggestion that allthe uplifting Flex Mentallo meta-stories and 70s Starlin-stylecosmic headtrip consciousness expansion comics that Morrison’s made so much ofhis own bread and butter on are as compromised as the rest of the genre.Incapable of saving us in the face of a larger culture preaching the embrace ofnihilism and a doomed tomorrow when the only thing a terrifying number ofreaders have gained from the message is a desire to complain about writers “rapingmy wallet” - and that without that ability to inspire, all comics, all fictionitself can do, is steal our time and rush us all the faster into thegrave courtesy of the Oblivion Machine.

With the bookends, there’s fairly little to say I didn’t inthe original article I linked to above - i.e. that it flips the premise of timeinto a positive, showing that rather than using it to spin the wheels of thesuperhero genre in perpetuity until it devours itself through exhaustion orcontact with elements it can’t bear, or framing it as something to bedisregarded in spite of the consequences, it can be used to push things forwardinto more diverse and fruitful territory (hence not only the premise of theseries, but Multiversity sounding similar to Diversity), coming up with new andbetter stories. Much as Morrison is historically onboard with pulp heroes andlegacy heroes indicative of expansive superhero universes and structurallycomplex comics and retro comics and American superheroes and meta superheroes,there’s a difference between coming up with new stories in those contexts, andrerunning the old ones over and over again, which is probably why each of thosecomics, like I said matches up with a previous decade and comic, including someof his own, finally spinning here into the 2010s and DC’s own Crisis cycle.

While the first half of the bookend is in Morrison’s ownwords him doing himself to the point of parody - the self-insert character, theMonitor mythology, the weird villains yelling about conformity, thecomics-talking-about-comics, running into alternate company equivalents as apossible commentary on the state of the industry, etc. - the second isexplicitly the analogue to Morrison using his ‘corruption’ of contact with thedarkness and perpetuation of the neverending story for a paycheck to introducethe forces of the absurd, impossible and unexpected, i.e. the New, to defeat ahomogenizing, corruptive force designed to make everything the same and bleakto the point of literally forcing the Multiverse to relive the same Crisis overand over again, i.e. More Of The Same. It’s a slight twist on his typical Youngvs. Old/Children vs. Parents concerns (as best exemplified in his DC work in Seven Soldiers of Victory), but in theend, all of this is Morrison talking about something very, very simple: thatsuperheroes can absolutely be broken, but there’s a chance to save them andmake them something good and true again that might be able to reach us,literally by the end of the book, and it’s not by rerunning the same oldstories into the ground and unthinking conformity, but through doing new anddiverse and exciting things with them to inspire us in new ways. It’s Action Comics #9 as a 400-page epic.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Multiversity is about.

#Multiversity #Grant Morrison #DC Comics #Analysis #Opinion

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