strikethrough is such a random text modifier to have included in tumblr's text editing capabilities alongside bold and italicize but u know what?? it was the right decision

About the yassification of GO2.

Warning: the following text is highly critical of the second season of Good Omens. If you enjoyed it, I am happy for you, and a non-negligible amount of jealous as well. Please scroll past before I inevitably rain on your fandom parade.

So, I did the thing. I binged the entire second season of what was, up to now, my favorite show ever, in one sitting. And I have a great deal of things to say, but hardly any of them is positive.

Let me start by saying that I don't mind the cliffhanger or the melancholy ending, like at all. In our era of Marvel apologists and the instant gratification culture, it is necessary for media to persevere and add nuance to romantic relationships. That said, what transpired during the six hours leading up to this sort of unearned climax hardly contains anything remotely close to nuance.

Who are these people? I don't mean the new characters, all of them written as cardboard-cut anthropomorphic personifications of stereotypes, yassified to the point of representation losing its purpose and getting in the way of, you know, actual writing. I mean the protagonists themselves, Aziraphale and Crowley, up to now my favorite characters in the entire world and -up to now- tangled in a love story so beautiful I had, for better or for worse, devoted a large part of my creative output on it, making art, songs, and metas on why what those two entities had was as close to perfect as anyone can hope to find for themselves.

These are not the characters I knew. The characters I knew spent hundreds of human lifetimes revolving around each other in a treacherous yet familiar dance- they both knew the love was there, it was comfortable like an armchair that has taken the shape of the body using it for years. They argued the way old couples do, and of course, like all fictional beings that are counterparts of one another, had differences to settle, but what stood in their way wasn't misunderstanding or miscommunication, in was their fear of Heaven and Hell, and their fundamentally different approaches on how to keep each other safe.

What is all this teen angst? This will-they-won't-they silliness that lacks any nuance, thematic coherence, or literally even trace amounts of understanding of the source material? Where is the dark humor, the quotability, the chaotic overarching plot, the self conscious camp? The season is so cynically written to cater specifically to a certain part of fandom, that I am losing respect for the original work- because if Neil Gaiman doesn't care for these fictional beings, and he evidently doesn't, why should I?

The thematic core of what made Good Omens what it was, had always been the "Love in unexpected places" trope Sir Terry Pratchett knew how to write so well. It had never been about the fantasy, because Sir Terry wrote satire wrapped up in a supernatural package, it had never been about the romance, because when the ship becomes the end instead of the means, the love rings hollow, like artificial light trying to pass as sunshine. The beating heart of GO lies in its philosophy, in the beautiful notion that the agents of two oppressive systems at war have more in common with one another than with their respective oppressors. That being a nobody, a mere cog in a larger machine, says more about said machine than it does about you, and that you can try to break free and build a life for yourself, where a happy ending looks like a dinner at the Ritz with the one you love most.

Shoehorning an underdeveloped "romance" between Beelzebub and Gabriel not only feels like bad fanfic (disclaimer: I like the ship and feel like it could have worked if developed in any capacity, and presented in a more humorous and character-appropriate way. I hate with passion how much they watered down Beelzebub in order to make them stereotypically romanceable, adding the Ineffable Bureaucracy to the ever-expanding list of characters I don't care about anymore.) but also, it muddles and grossly undermines the thematic raison d'être of Ineffable Husbands. If the ramifications for defecting and fucking off with the enemy were a slap on the wrist for the respective leaders of both sides, well surely the system can't be that oppressive after all. And if fear of the oppressive system wasn't, after all, what kept these beings apart, surely these two entities don't like each other as much as we thought. Or rather, one is reduced to a lovesick puppy and the other to a brainless husk of a character, a plot device, a means to go from place A to place B without spending much brainpower on the logistics.

And if these two new people got to kiss I care not, for they are not the same people I rooted for (props, though, to the actors, who gave, somehow, an almost Shakespearean gravitas to their love affair, underwritten and dumbed down as it was. They both love the characters, and it shows in the minuscule yet brilliant ways in which they added nuance where the script had none.)

What was that thing with the lesbians about? Though straight passing, I have always known myself to be attracted to women as well as men, and I am always highly suspicious when an "ally" writer (see: straight, no shade to straight people among which I live because they are, like, the majority) decides to make all characters queer, in the face of real-world statistics and despite NOT being queer themselves. When a person like Nate Stevenson does it they get a pass because writers self-insert and because, when done well, it can carry a message of equality. But when the ally writer does it, unless it is pitch-perfect, I am forced to examine the possibility of them being calculating about it and trying to score representation points, often because they need the rep as a fig leaf to cry homophobia behind when people start complaining about the atrocious plot.

Nina and Maggie were boring. They had no personalities, no cohesive backstories, nothing to make us understand what they are to one another and to the overarching plot ("plot" is used loosely here, for there was no plot: the series ended where it should have started, with six hours of -progressively more offensive to my intelligence- fanfic tropes in a trenchcoat serving as the, well, "plot"). I didn't care whether or not they'd end up together, because I have no idea who they are. The blandness of the dialogue had the actresses, both very talented as evidenced in the first season, grasping at straws with what little characterization they were left to work with, and the "ball" was so unbelievably bad a plot device no amount of suspension of disbelief was ever going to make it right.

The minisodes, though at parts clever and philosophical, felt out of place. This was another narrative choice I had to raise my eyebrows at, because it felt like a bunch of executives sat around a table and watched Neil Gaiman's powerpoint presentation of what made Season 1 financially successful. They were shoehorned in, largely irrelevant to the, eh, "plot", and most of them lasted far more than I personally deemed welcome, or necessary.

What else is there to say? The wink-winks and nudge-nudges to the Tumblr nation? The in-your-face Doctor Who reference? The narratively myopic choice to make Crowley a former archangel? The cheese dialogue, not one bit of which was quotable?

I am distraught. I am grieving an old friend, and a part of my fandom life I cannot, in good faith, return back to after this gross betrayal. I am happy for those who don't see it, because I wish I could love this season past its flaws. However, the writing isn't simply mediocre, it is irrevocably, immeasurably, undescribably bad, so bad I am shocked to my very core, so bad I find it offensive to Sir Terry's memory and everything his own creative output was lovingly filled with.

I am passing all five stages of grief and very much doubt I will return to this fandom. I loved the original story and the characters with all my heart- now the aforementioned heart is broken, not by the breakup or anything as pedestrian as cheap romantic tropes. But because my old friends, my family of fictional beings, are no longer the ones I loved and could relate to.

Deppie out.

Its time to talk about Stargate SG1, which literally nobody cares about anymore.

The two episodes "Heroes" at the end of season 7 are incredible, a true tour de force. It plays with both expectations set after 7 prior seasons, and examines the SG:C in an new and incredible light.

The first episode starts like an archetypal "questioning the SG program from an outside perspective" as a TV crew is sent to film a documentary inside Cheyenne Mountain. The journalist, Bergman, is presented originally as a fool, bumbling and stumbling all the way. Nobody wants to talk to him, and it’s understandable because again and again episodes over prior seasons have reinforced the necessity of secrecy. Bergman is an outsider who questions too much, too fast, and endangers the program.

However even in this first episode, Bergman’s point are relatable. Yes, filming is important, people will eventually learn the truth and footage is needed. Over the episode he turns from a bumbling fool to an annoyance to the guy you hate but makes a good point. He compares the program to D-day and to the Apollo missions, all positive examples.

And at the beginning of the second episode his turn is complete. He gives a speech that in fact he HAS to film, to show, because the men and women of the SG:C are giving their lives for the whole of humanity. People are dying, a war is being fought, and it needs to be recorded. I think this is the first time the audience is truly asked to consider what would the SG program look like if it went public. Not from a geopolitical perspective, but a human one. And not as a threat, but an eventual necessity.

Now the second episode is in 3 simultaneous parts 1) an almost textbook war documentary of a battle where it is known early on a casualty happened, 2) Bergman trying to learn about this battle and casualty and trying to show these airmen as heroes, and 3) a investigation being led by an ally of bad politician senator Kinsey, shot as a parrallel to the first episode investigations, but with a much darker purpose - this is the archetypal interfering outsider we thought Bergman was in the first episode.

This breaks the two-sided approach of the conflict. Its not "against or with" the SG program, its about what to do about the sacrifice and the danger it faces : keep it in the dark and hope to keep operating, but risk it being killed in the dark by opposing factions of the US government, or show it, admit it, record for posterity and the truth.

Now the second episode is also quite controversial because it plays with the idea of having O’neill die in the fight, its implied several times, but by 3rd act its reveal the beloved Dr Frasier is the casualty. She actually never comes back after this episode, she was a staple of the show, the voice of reason in many episodes. The pain shown by the characters is very much felt by the audience as well, this is a gut wrenching reveal.

I’m personally very conflicted about the bait-and-switch aspect. It somewhat lessens the blow, as we’re relieved its not O’neill… I think I would have preferred the episode to be more straightforwardly about Frasier. But after rewatching it, I think its the point. The characters are all devastated, they suffer, they know, but we don’t and we’re left confused. In many ways, we have become Bergman and his documentary. This episode shows people deserve to know, not because the SG:C is somehow dangerous, but because of the sacrifices being made.

The two episodes Heroes are a true turning point in Stargate SG-1, in the way it approaches its own subject. It questions the fundamental nature of its story, and establishes or rather re-establishes both the humanity of its characters and the stakes involved. Its not just about a vague and fundamentally incomprehensible "all of humanity may die", but a very real "your friend may die".

Its an incredible launching point into the last few remaining episodes of Season 7, which end up launching into both Season 8 of SG:1, and starting Season 1 of Stargate Atlantis. To me, its one of the highest points reached by this show, the hype is at its maximum.

Hiii i saw ur tortured poets department requests and these two came to mind instantly!!

idk if u still write for TVD but I feel like “who’s afraid of little old me” for Klaus mikaelson would fit, (it’s could be him 1000 years ago before & after he was a vampire) x reader

As well as Kol mikaelson w ‘guilty as sin’ x reader (it could be human reader watching him from a distance before he notices and makes a move??)

Even if u don’t write for these characters anymore/atm I appreciate u reading this :)

Guilty As Sin

[kol mikaelson x reader]

A/N: your idea was amazing (need more kol mikaelson requests tbh!) and I immediately thought about turning it into a slight darker plot... I hope you don't mind. since you didn't specify, reader will be gender neutral, though they will have some characteristics regarding hair and eye color and style, but that's it, gender isn't specified. and the klaus mikaelson request is in the process of being made.

A/N²: you will see "month signs" at some point but that means zodiac signs, this error is on purpose to depict that kol has no idea what astrology means. (he would probably hate it lol)

summary: and so the lion fell in love with the lamb. . . but what if the lamb also became the lion? pairing: kol mikaelson x gn!reader w.c: 2.9K warnings/content: blood and gore; descriptions of child abuse; sexual activities (my attempt on trying to write smut); moral values are twisted; good vs. evil; graphic descriptions of violence; language; morally grey characters!!; there’s fluff; paragraphs in italics mean it’s a memory.

navi

masterpost

the originals masterlist

the vampire diaries masterlist

[requested]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝ my boredom's bone deep 

this cage was once just fine 

am I allowed to cry?❞ 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Devil, for him, had short hair with dyed ends, dressed in ripped jeans, and carried the darkest pools in their eyes he had the pleasure of letting himself drown over and over again. He fell in love with the blood dripping from your lips and the taunting before proceeding for the final kill. You liked games when he created them. He thought he enjoyed the hunting, but you were born for this much more than he ever would. 

Kol Mikaelson met Evil when he was only a child. He watched as he beat his brother until he passed out from the pain and he turned a blind eye to it so he wouldn't be caught in his bad temper of every evening. Evil had a name and a last name, but he hadn't spoken these or acknowledged it existed from the moment he felt blood on his lips and life draining from a human body. Because now, he had power. Now, he had strength. Now he didn't need to corner and lower his head for a man whose only language was cruelty. He had defeated Evil.  

Kol was never a believer in God. He believed in the grey area between good and bad because he constantly leaned towards both once in a while — mostly the bad. Depending on his mood on the occasion. He didn't believe in a higher power, in month signs – because apparently, that's a thing in the modern world? People just have to seek something to feel less ordinary – or say something countless times for it to become true.  

He did, however, believe in magic. Not only believed, but he trusted magic. Kol was skilled enough to use it with pride and knowledge even after he lost his powers due to having become undead.  

Magic. 

It was exhilarating. The world was in his hands and he could burn an entire forest or make a flower grow.  

Some days, he missed magic like he missed breathing. So he would dig out his grimoire from an old box he kept his stuff and read it all over again like he hadn't memorized every single chanting and spell throughout his entire life. 

They called him Devil after seeing the wreckage he could cause in five villages in a week. The carnage that was left for the Earth to claim back as its own. But, one thing that nobody knew was that Kol met the Devil when he was casually strolling through a college party on Whitmore College's campus.  

Actually, the Devil was staring at him. And, surprisingly, it had blood pumping strongly to their heart. Life coursing through their veins. The Devil was human. And Kol was drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Like a man starved for months without food or water.  

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝he's a paradox, 

I'm seeing visions, am I bad?❞ 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He thought he had found his prey that night when, in reality, he had been the one falling into their trap.  

"I think you look too bored to be here." You observed, a normal tone of voice for someone who wanted the other person to hear in a loud party full of drunk people speaking loudly and fast. Kol heard it well, of course. Your voice was smooth like honey if he were to compare it to the awful music they had playing.  

"And you look like you're enjoying this." 

You lifted a brow, a teasing smile spreading across your mouth. "I'm not. My friends dragged me, I couldn't say no." 

"You've got a problem saying no?" He glared at a drunk kid who bumped into him and turned to look at you, who still had that look of satisfaction on your face. He didn't know why, not back then.  

"Not really, but I lost a bet so..." You shrugged. "It was my dare. Part of it, actually." 

Kol nodded. Why had he been so interested? Don't ask him. He won't know the answer. Maybe because the Devil had their ways of playing their little games, to turn saints into sinners. And what was Kol Mikaelson if not a sinner? 

"What was the other part?" Kol found himself asking. He was about to take off at any second. He was only in town because of Klaus's stupidity and his family needed him again. Until they didn't. He could be halfway out of town by now. Why wasn't he? 

You approached him slowly, head tilting as you surveyed Kol up and down. He noticed the ink in your neck, right where your pulse laid. A strong and inviting pulse.  

"Well, the first part was that I had to come to this stupid party..." You said, tongue moving between your teeth and forming a teasing grin. “the second part,” You drawled out, lifting a hand to his shoulder, fingers rising to the back of his neck. Kol didn't move away as he was pulled closer. He didn't move away when your breaths mixed. “they dared me to take a handsome stranger home so I could have some fun.”  

It was Kol's turn to smirk. And just like that, it took one night, a few minutes, for him to be whisked away into your world with no turning back. 

A human.  

How could he let himself get carried away because of a human? 

Perhaps because it had been so long since he was a mortal and you reminded him what that felt like. A tad nostalgic and a lot euphoric. This is how Kol felt every time he was in your presence. The strangest thing was that there was no magic.  

“I'm starting to think that paranoia may run in the family.” 

He offered you an eye roll, perching against your windowsill as he watched the street. It was fairly empty. Quiet. Two of the five vampires he compelled to keep an eye on you were by the parked Black SUV. 

“Kol.” You closed the book with a thud. He glanced at you, schooling an unimpressed look. “I do not need protection. I can handle myself.” 

“Alright.” 

You scoffed, annoyed at his ability to turn down a conversation because that would end in his favor.  

“Alright doesn't mean shit if you're going to be a controlling prick.” 

He raised a brow, “I'm being controlling? Do you know who my family is? How many times has my brother threatened y— Try to walk out of here without losing a limb, will you? That's what he's capable of.” 

“I don't care.” 

And maybe that had been the whole problem. You truly did not care.  

There were few things you cared for, fewer were those you considered worth your time. Kol should have felt flattered to even be worth a minute of your time, but he took a lot of things for granted, including your safety. 

Immortality was not something he asked for. It had been imposed on him like the heavy burden of life previously had. 

He felt guilty for learning to enjoy it over time. He felt guilty for finding someone to keep him alive when he had been dead for decades.  

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝why does it feel like a vow  

we'll both uphold somehow?❞ 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Then, he lost you. 

Because of retaliation. Because of his family. Which was always the reason for his undoing.  

He lost the human and met the Devil. Except that those were the same person in one and he only found out when he saw the glint of joy and the absolute exhilaration as you sucked someone dry and then tossed the body with a sigh.  

“I was sad when you stopped looking for me.” You whispered into his ear like his nightmares would on particularly bad nights. This was real, he just couldn't believe it yet. “Thought I was important for a minute.” 

“What happened?” 

You leaned back against the wall, leather jacket scrunching as you crossed your arms over your chest.   

“You sound disappointed.” 

Kol forced himself to move and you watched as he took a cautious step towards you. That was the first time you saw Kol Mikaelson hesitate about anything. When you reappeared in his life. 

Tilting your head a bit, you said in a casual tone, “I'm no longer fragile and broken, so your interest has vanished, is that it? The idea you had of me, that I needed your protection, it's completely shattered now. You're disappointed.” 

The Devil, for him, had slightly longer hair than the last time he saw them, still dressed in ripped jeans and the ink in their body had grown in numbers. The eyes didn't change. They were still the darkest he had ever seen, the night sky was jealous of them.  

Kol wasn't disappointed in you. He was disappointed in himself for not being able to protect too. Maybe he had grown a hero complex, Elijah had rubbed off on him, after all. 

To grasp the fact that he didn't lose you — because you were still here — wasn't easy. There was the fact that you were always on a different wavelength. Two extremes. Mortal and immortal. Human and vampire. Protected and protector. Destroyed and destroyer.  

There was no such a thing anymore. 

But he never saw you as fragile or broken. 

“Bonnie asked to turn my humanity back on.” You told him during a dinner in the Mikaelson compound. Kol placed the wine glasses on top of the counter, glancing up at you with careful eyes.  

“Did you? Turn it off?” 

He remembered thinking how cute it was when you scrunched your nose whenever confusion drowned your line of thought. He had never thought someone was cute. The person in front of him, nursing a glass of red wine as they pouted over something someone said to them a few days back, had killed around fifty wolves for threatening his family and somehow managed to acquire animosity with the Strix as well.  

He found you cute. What was going on with him? 

“How does one even do that?” You cracked a laugh, shaking your head at the idea. “What, you turn off your conscience to do unspeakable things to not remember them later? Is that a thing?” You placed the now empty glass of wine in front of the bottle so he could pour your another glass. “Then that means I'd have to grow a conscience first, wouldn't I?” 

Kol blinked, his lips stretching slowly into a soft smile that he couldn't hold back.  

He knew what was going on. You know, it's been known that Kol Mikaelson was an exceptional sinner and all the gods loathed him. So it made sense that he fell in love with the Devil, didn't it? 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❝crashing over my grave, 

without ever touching his skin, 

how can I be guilty as sin?❞

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Do you remember your human years?” 

You questioned him late in the evening. You were both in bed, you reading a book as he answered a text from Hope with one of the only memes he owned in his phone.  

“Yes.” Kol replied, turning his phone off and putting it in the nightstand. It wasn't until a few months ago that he stopped complaining after texting people. Big technophobe. You said he sounded like an old man whenever he complained about modernity. “Vaguely.” 

“Do you like remembering it?” 

“It depends.” A pause, the bed shifted. His hand wandered through your body, ending up on your hip, the shirt raising a little as he drew circles with his thumb. “Those weren't my favourite times.” 

You turned a page, avoiding his curious eyes on you. “Yeah?” 

“Mhm. I like it better now.” 

You stayed silent.  

He gently pulled the book away to be able to take a look at your face. 

“What's on your mind?”  

A lot.  

“Nothing.” 

Kol pecked your lips once. “Really?” He did it twice. “You don't know how to lie to me.” The corner of your lips lifted in amusement, which was always his intended goal. 

“Do I need to remind you what an awful liar you are?” 

He shrugged unapologetically, “That's why we're a good match. We're terrible liars.” 

You snorted, pursing your lips.  

“Is that what you think?” You said. “That we're a good match?” 

His forehead creased in confusion. He knew you were a bit odd during the day but he didn't push it when you didn't want to talk, figuring you would, eventually. But that? What did that mean?  

“What's going on?” He asked, thumb traveling across the back of your hand.  

“I don't know.” You bit your lip. “Sometimes I just feel like your life could be different. Without me.” 

He withdrew his hand to sit down on the bed, one leg under the other. The blanket falling on his lap, exposing his naked chest.  

“Yes, it would,” he said as if it was obvious. “It would be different in a way that I would never like to find out.” 

Your face twitched into a grimace. “Are you sure? Because people have a lot of opinions. About you and me. They say I make you worse.” 

“I was worse before you,” Kol interjected. “I didn't know you cared about people's opinions.”  

“I don't.” And that wasn't a lie. Oftentimes you had to stop Kol from shutting you out because of other people, mostly his family, interfering in your relationship. “But I'm a vampire now. And you... you're a Mikaelson. You're destructive and selfish and a lone wolf, except when you're with me. Do you really need someone who's the same?”  

“We're not the same.” He promptly disagreed. 

“Kol, we're both destructive.” 

“We were destructive before, what difference does it make now?” 

You sighed. 

“It doesn't bother you? That I'd kill and rip limbs out for you or my own benefit and not feel guilty about it?” 

With an arm beneath your legs, he brought you closer to him with a pull.  

“No. And neither should you.” He cupped your face, thump grazing your cheeks lovingly. “You didn't make me who I am—” 

“I'm aware, Kol. Your body count was above average way before I met you.”  

His forehead fell on yours as he chuckled in disbelief. “Fair enough.” 

You managed to smile a little.  

“If people tell you you make me worse, what do they say I make you?” 

Shrugging, you replied, “Satan, probably.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  

❝oh, what a way to die 

my bedsheets are ablaze  

I've screamed his name 

building up like waves  

crashing over my grave  

without ever touching his skin  

how can I be guilty as sin?❞

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He hummed into your skin, kissing down your collarbones and your chest and your stomach, until you exhaled with your eyes falling shut.  

“It's funny.” Kol mumbled against your lower stomach, his chestnut eyes boring into yours. “I thought you'd bored me out when I first met you, but it was the other way around, wasn't it?”  

You were about to respond maybe when there was a slight tug in your shorts and your body just worked on automatically lifting your hips so he could get rid of it. 

“You had a grip on me the first moment I heard your voice, darling.” He pressed soft kisses down the inner skin of your thighs with his raspy voice due to his position. “You don't make me worse, you make me better. Infinitely better.” 

The mattress beneath your head crumpled under your hold.  

“That's why I pledged my spot in Hell the first moment you laid eyes on me. I was yours. I am yours. And I will always be yours.” Your back arched as his mouth reached its final destination. “Proudly,” he whispered but you could hear it perfectly through the sounds that echoed throughout your bedroom. “Undoubtedly. . .”  

The Devil, for you, had the most beautiful chestnut brown eyes you've ever seen, a rather basic sense of style and carried an uncontrollable thirst for blood like you. He knew how to dance but he hid that ability out of embarrassment. He knew how to love and was too scared to lose that capacity of feeling after centuries of working through it.  

If people claimed that he was responsible for Hell on Earth, 

“. . . Unrepentantly.” 

Then you would gladly fall into the clutches of his undoing.  

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

For you, I'd wait till kingdom come

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Relationships: Luz/Hunter (romantic)

Characters: Luz Noceda, Hunter; MINOR - Amber (original antagonist)

Summary: Even after becoming what everyone wants her to be - quiet, passive, and obedient -, that isn't enough for her bullies.

Thankfully, Luz is not alone.

Word count: 1.989

AO3

TRIGGER WARNINGS - bullying, minor violence, and depression

Luz and Hunter are not canon siblings.

P/roship DNI.

--

Since returning home, school has been awfully quiet.

Maybe not school, but Luz Noceda herself, the famous troublemaker that could never fit in.

You’d think things would get better, now that she doesn’t drive everyone nuts anymore, now that Mamá doesn’t have to get called to the principal’s office to pointlessly help her daughter.

But Luz, at this point, should’ve learned to not keep her hopes up.

Admittedly, it’s different from the Demon Realm, but not better.

Luz is used to the gossiping behind her back. She’s more than used to people looking at her weird. Yet again, she did expect things to change now that she has become exactly what everyone wanted her to be.

Quiet. Passive.

Obedient.

The only “weird” thing Luz does nowadays is take her palisman to school, usually hiding it in a warm piece of cloth. As it’s still protected inside an egg, unsure about its purpose, what it’s going to be at all, Luz needs to be there for the palisman. She doesn’t want it to hatch while she’s absent. She doesn’t want anything bad to happen to it. It’s the only connection she has left of Eda, of the Demon Realm besides all her friends, who ended up stuck here with her.

If anything happened to her palisman… Luz can’t even imagine how much more of a failure she would feel.

At the very least, nobody seems to bother her with that. People leave her alone, despite the whispering and the multiple eyes watching and judging her every step.

Nothing seems to go beyond that.

…

Sometimes, small balls of paper are thrown at her head.

There is some annoying snickering behind her back.

Luz never turns around. Never looks back.

She just moves forward.

Even when the voices are talking to her.

“Hey, Luz! You didn’t bring snakes this time?”

She simply ignores them.

Even when they continue.

Even when they’re close to her.

Luz leaves.

It’s usually quick anyway.

It’s fine.

--

Her mother is not picking her up today, so Luz decides to walk all the way home on her own. She’s not banned from the school buses anymore, but Luz knows it’d be as lonely as her walking by herself, so she decides she won’t stay trapped with her peers this time, or ever.

The girl’s backpack is on her chest instead, so she gets to keep it in her sight, to hold it close. Luz is not focused on the world around her, because it doesn’t matter, none of it matters. She just wants the egg to feel safe to come out.

Luz hears the same voices behind her. The same laughter. She gives them no mind.

Nothing matters.

She wants to do one thing right.

But the world doesn’t want her to.

Suddenly, she’s pushed hard, so much that her things fall off the backpack.

Including the egg, completely unprotected.

Luz is not quick enough to take what’s hers before the bullies do.

The leader, Amber, is quite similar to Boscha. She’s the school’s football captain, and everyone else looks up to her rudeness, especially when it comes to the “weird girl” in question.

“Ooh, you’ve had a dinosaur egg this whole time?” She teases, holding the palisman like it’s a ball, not a living, fragile being.

Luz, though, tries to keep it cool.

“Give it back,” she says, voice low.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Give it back, Amber.”

“How do you say it?”

Luz inhales deeply, trying not to get angry, because that’s what bullies always want. That’s what they’ve been expecting her to do this entire time.

“Please,” she rephrases, “give it back.”

“That’s more like it.”

Amber holds out a hand for Luz to get her palisman back…

“Think fast!”

… Only for the jock to throw the egg to her other peer, and when Luz realizes, Amber’s team plays around with the palisman like it’s a game of hot potato, while the bystanders laugh endlessly. Luz attempts to stop the unfunny little game, to no avail.

“Stop it, you guys!” She pleads.

“What, Luz? Afraid we might break it?”

“YES!” Luz loses her patience, making the other kids laugh harder. “Be careful!”

She’s nearing the point of tears. The girl hasn’t cried because of school in a long time, and she hates that she’s giving in. That she’s letting them get to her, after everything Luz has gone through.

“What’s so special about this dumb thing, anyway?” Amber has gotten the egg again, analyzing it with a judgmental look. “Did you make a lizard baby or whatever?”

Luz groans, “You guys don’t get it, just give it back to me!”

“Whoa, Luz, where’s your fun?” Amber snickers, dodging the other teen. “You used to be so entertaining, and now you’re so…” she even pauses for dramatic effect. “Pathetic.”

Something breaks inside Luz.

Especially as all the other kids agree with Amber.

Luz sees red.

“I'm NOT PATHETIC!” She yells and advances.

The moment she does so, she sees life flash right before her eyes.

“Whoops!” Amber drops it.

“NO!!”

Luz’s first instinct is to take a glyph to save her baby, even when she knows it won’t work.

She’s failed.

Again.

…

In the speed of light, a hand has saved the egg from its cursed fate, taking it very carefully.

“Phew! That was close!”

Luz knows only one person whose snarky voice sounds so completely dorky .

Here, the savior is wearing a plain gray hoodie that covers his head, an old black cloak, and his mouth and nose are hidden behind a black kitty face mask. He really doesn’t look intimidating, yet everyone has stepped back in fear of his sudden, magical appearance.

“Who the heck are you?” Amber asks, trying to sound tough, but she’s more shocked than anything.

Snickering, the masked boy returns the palisman to Luz, who hugs it close to her chest, mentally apologizing to it for being so careless.

“I… am the Hunter of Gravesfield,” he tells the other terrified teenagers. “I hunt nitwits who should learn a thing or two about being careful with other people’s babies.”

Despite the jokey tone, Hunter actually sounds… angry . So much that even Luz gulps.

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, Hunter ?” A boy mocks his tone, and she almost feels sorry for him.

“Ah, you know,” Hunter makes a dismissing gesture with his hand, “teach you valuable life lessons. Here, why won’t I show our sports prodigy right here?”

A yellow light passes by, and one second later, Hunter disappears with Amber… until everyone suddenly hears screams from above.

Not too high up from there, Hunter is steady on his staff while he holds the bully by her leg as she shrieks helplessly.

“What are you DOING?!” Amber demands.

“Teaching you a valuable life lesson!” Hunter states rather joyfully.

“ABOUT WHAT?!”

“About how the egg must have felt when you dropped it!”

“The egg is not even real! Luz made it up!”

“But if Luz made it, then it’s real,” Hunter argues. “And guess what else is real? Your broken bones when I drop you.”

“You WOULDN’T!”

“Wanna find out?”

The moment Hunter releases a finger – his little finger even –, Amber is yelling louder in desperation, and the other kids gasp. Luz, admittedly, doesn’t share the same reaction, which might sound messed up.

“Wait! Wait, please, I’m-” Amber tries to say something… “I’m-!”

“Oh?” Hunter tilts his head. “Did anyone hear that? No? Ah well.” He shrugs.

He releases his ring finger…!

“WAIT! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!!” Amber screams immediately, at this point crying. “Please, I’ll do anything, JUST PUT ME DOWN!!!”

“Ooooh! Why didn’t you say so?”

Finally, the two are back on the ground in less than a second, with Amber falling on her face. Now, Hunter stands between Luz and the bullies, holding his staff like those heroes from old fairy tales, showing a sense of superiority and respect.

“I hope you all learned something today,” Hunter says, “because if I see anyone here messing with Luz or her egg again… I’ll know, and I’ll come back and make sure you get it through your heads”– he steps towards the crowd menacingly –“literally .”

For whatever reason, he has grabbed a random fruit and he crushes it with no mercy. Luz swears she sees everyone’s souls leaving their bodies as they all become pale.

A second later, Hunter resumes his silly Golden Guard persona.

“Alright, see you never, byeeeeeeee~!”

And immediately after, everyone else runs away the fastest they can, leaving only Luz, her palisman, and Hunter behind.

School is finally quiet.

Holding her palisman dearly, the brown girl can’t help the relieved laugh.

“You know you’re supposed to keep a low profile,” Luz scolds, yet not even sounding disappointed, really.

“Of course I’m keeping it low.” Hunter gestures at his clothes to prove his point.

“And traumatizing kids is your kind of low profile?”

“As if you don’t know me, Luz.”

Although she laughs quietly, her vision is blurring, after keeping it in for so long. In the end, her laughter grows into many, many sobs. Luz doesn’t hide it from Hunter, who is kneeling down to her level in support.

She doesn’t openly cry, not like she used to. She doesn’t think she will any time soon.

Hunter gets it.

Two arms pull her close, so Luz can cry on someone’s shoulder in the literal sense. She doesn’t have to hug back right now, and that’s more than alright. The hug doesn’t last too long, mostly because Luz starts shaking, and then Hunter is wrapping his cloak around her. He rubs her arms and shoulders gently both to soothe her and to warm her up. In the meantime, Flapjack is on Hunter’s shoulder, chirping as if trying to tell Luz that they’ve got her back, even if she can’t understand him.

“I can hold it for you,” Hunter offers, his hands going for hers, ready for her next command. “Do you trust me?”

Sniffing, Luz doesn’t hesitate to nod, allowing Hunter to tenderly and slowly take the egg off her hands, while Flapjack nestles himself in the empty space with his adorable noises. She laughs in comfort, bringing him to her face to snuggle him, as Hunter smiles from the corner of her eye.

Like that, after taking everything that was left from Luz’s backpack, the two teenagers make their way back home. Hunter is holding her things with her palisman protected inside the same way she did earlier, while the girl is not expected to be perfect or useful. Flapjack is half hidden inside her hat for further warmth.

Drying her still watery eyes, Luz has a million thoughts in her head. Many things she wants to say.

“Hunter?” She speaks up, her voice high and young.

“Hm?”

Luz sniffs. “Could we… get some coffee first? I didn’t really eat anything at school, and… I-I don’t want to go home just yet, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, that’s totally okay. We can do that.”

“Okay.” She bites her lip. “And Hunter?”

“Yeah?”

She takes his free hand, her cheeks blushing shyly.

“... thanks,” Luz whispers.

Although she can’t see most of Hunter’s face, only his magenta eyes, she knows he’s an even bigger blushing mess thanks to his reddened ears. Even inside the mask, he’s smiling like a dork in love.

“Anything for you, Luz,” Hunter replies.

In the end, Luz and Hunter are allowed to hold hands, reassuring one another of their presences, their bond. They stand together in the cold and the falling leaves of Gravesfield, against the bullies that want them to stop being who they are.

But right now, Hunter looks after Luz, and he holds the palisman like it’s his own. Like he would kill for them both.

It’s moments like these where Luz realizes things are worth it.

That she’s worth it.

Does hiilumaru mean anything? I'm curious about your username origins, and if you're comfortable, possibly a history of past usernames, I love hearing about how people evolve their users over time :0

It doesn't really mean anything, but it has a really long story! Kind of. Long in terms of I've been using it as my screenname since 2008 in its current form! Previous forms were used as early as uhhhh 2006 i think?

it started when I was on neopets and found an island lupe named Hilu, and for some reason i really liked the name. I know for sure i made a marapets account under Hilu, but i think there might have been more? At some point, though, I noticed that there were a few other Hilus here and there and i wanted my name to be unique, so I extended it into "Hilumar" (for no reason except i wanted it to be longer). I used it irl at school, and one of my peers (who later ended up being my least favorite ex like almost a decade later???) suggested i add the U and the end because it sounded better. It was Hilumaru for a while, and at some point I added the extra i because i like doing that. And then in 2008 I made my deviantart under Hiilumaru, and it's been the same ever since! ^_^

before Hilu, I didnt really use the internet much other than for lurking purposes because i was aware that you weren't allowed to join forums if you were under 13, but i had a neopets account under saphiretwilight (spelled like that and it made me so fucking mad when i noticed) and when i was like 9 I started my internet crime spree and joined a couple tamagotchi forums under the name Duskullgirl. Originally, My art blog (the one you're on now!!) was sweetsweetmayhem, because I made this one when my main tumblr was askshootingstarbow and i had a rarely-used personal blog under hiilumaru, but when i turned the pony blog into my main and deleted my personal bc nobody interacted with either of them anymore, I changed my main blog into hiilumaru. I think i kept it like that for all of highschool (hiilumaru as my main and sweetsweetmayhem as my art blog) and then once I stopped using the character i'd named mayhem because of the blog url as my fursona, I switched my art blog to hiilumaru and started messing around with other names for my main. I used a few sona-related ones before the switchblade symphony era, and a few after, but at some point i jsut got tired of being named after sonas i'd detached from, so I just started using variations of switchblade symphony songs - I got anmorata (second favorite song) by asking the person who had it if they'd give it up, so that's a special one in my arsenal now, but i prefer to use some variation of gutter glitter for non-art accounts because it's my top favorite song just in general.

Hiilumaru might as well be my real name considering how long i've been using it.

I need Ainur tragic stories

Ainur did not die. You can destroy their body but their spirits would always be there.

They were thoughts and ideas and concepts

However a concept can be forgotten twisted deconstructed reinterpretated

A concept can be shredded so fine that nobody remember its original form

A concept can be changed into the opposite of its former self

A concept can be consumed by other concepts

They were not immune from death and suffering

—————

I think Melian’s end was Ainur version of “death due to grief”

As Maia of passionate love (just my speculation) she was crushed and she lost her purpose and she just could not gather enough power to hold her physical form anymore. Even if she somehow managed to keep her form she would still not be able to keep the Girdle

A concept that lost its purpose and anchor point

(I suspect if elves can be so affected by mental trauma Ainur experience the thing even more intensely.)

(Depression makes you unable to perform daily tasks like leaving the bed and dress yourself. Physical bodies were like clothings to Ainur. Can Ainur in depression manage to dress themselves?)

(What if Melian did not actually leave she became the wind and shadows in the woods and caves of Doriath watching her descendants’ fate unfolding yet could not actually offer much help

(Guided her great-grandsons to hide and escape

(Making birds and beasts and plants to attack sons of Feanor

—————

I headcanon some dragons to be made by shredded Maiar

Morgoth could not create new things so he took Ainur spirits and minced them and reshaped them like making meatballs

The blend had to contain some Maia of Irmo that was related to memories

Would not be whole until the end of the world

—————

Sauron gradually lost his ability to change forms and it was due to people having clearer and clearer understanding of him

He bound himself to the idea of an evil dark lord and eventually got consumed by the concept in return and became unable to change and adapt

He used to be versatile like fire but he turned himself into steel

ult detective!chihiro !!!! she’s the protag of my randomized (strong word….if i couldnt see the new talent fitting well enough into canon i rerolled) thh talent swap!!!! more design notes + backstory brainstorms under the cut :)

(no masc terms for chi on this post please!!!)

so i. actually forgot to draw part of her design (her bag) when i was originally sketching……and didn’t wanna retcon it….so i just left it out! heres a pixel art i have of her swap design including their bag!

she keeps mints in her bag to offer to people whenever shes unsure what to say :)

her gloves are simply for aesthetic purposes (as you can probably tell by the lack of fingers) - no kyoko-esque trauma here. she just thinks they look cool!

(also im using she/they in this upcoming text dump if you’re wondering :] )

my idea for her backstory is still very loose but i think i have a general hold on it:

due to the bullying she faced from her peers that they just couldn’t seem to shake, chihiro’s parents agree to homeschool her for the time being. however, they are both working parents, which means they have family friends watch them when they can and when nobody is available, they hire people to watch over her (at least until she is old enough to reasonably stay home alone for a few hours, with people coming to check up on them occasionally).

however, she was naturally bright - and such, finished her daily schoolwork rather quickly. so they spent the rest of their time waiting for her parents to come home watching detective anime.

being Neurodivergent (tm), she quickly gained a healthy obsession with detective media - although they prefer anime in the genre as a lot of the genre is far too exaggeratedly grim for her tastes, and at least the animated style keeps some semblance of comfort.

eventually, she began solving the cases ahead of the characters, piecing together the evidence a few episodes in advance. they told their parents about her predictions as she made them, and then informed them whenever she was right (more often than not).

at some point, though, telling her parents wasn’t enough feedback for them - they wanted someone who’d give her genuine critique in the flaws of her reasoning, in order to get better as mystery solving so that the number of times they’re incorrect lowers.

and since she didn’t really have many friends - chihiro fujisaki, age 14ish (maybe 13 but like. if it is 13 then it’s late 13 yk), made an [unspecified fandom blogging website] account (it’s tumblr) (we all know its tumblr).

they shared her predictions and gained somewhat of a name within the communities she participated in - generally their word was taken as the most likely conclusion due to her credibility.

however, over time as all of her favorite detective shows either finished, cancelled, or went on hiatus, she was stuck with no content. they tried to ask her followers for recommendations - but she found all the mysteries way too easy and predictable for them.

in a fit of desperation to crave her sudden restlessness at the lack of mysteries to solve, they started investigating real life cases. she was hesitant to do so, and even more hesitant to tell anyone about it, but it was the only thing hard enough to keep her from feeling like they’re walking in circles.

and then….she solves one. and then another. and another. obviously all cases with evidence on public record - don’t ask me how this is realistic you’re reading an infodump about the au backstory of someone from danganronpa - but they feel like she can’t keep the cases she’s solving a secret anymore.

so she goes back to her roots, by telling her parents. they’re not entirely convinced - after all, who would believe their 14-15 year old is solving genuine cases on her own? but then…they solve another, telling them the outcome before it’s released to the public. and then another. and another. they believe her, in the end.

after a bit more of brewing on it - she decides to but her internet persona’s mystery solving to a (maybe temporary) close. they make a post explaining how not much mystery fiction is hard enough to be worth it anymore, so she’s moving on to more serious things, stuff that she isn’t sure they should post on a silly fandom blog publicly.

and with that, she kicks her solving into overdrive.

she solves every case they can, getting bored (but relieved, don’t get her wrong! she doesn’t wish for crimes to be committed even if it leaves her without anything to solve if they don’t!) whenever they lack a case to solve.

in between active cases, she chips away at a particular cold case that interests her. and, despite all odds, eventually, they’re pretty sure she’s solved it.

so she takes a deep breath and tells her parents right away. they all concur that the conclusion should be taken to law enforcement right away. and so it is! and they’re not quite sure if this is a prank or not - a schoolgirl? solving a cold case?

but no, she has it right. trained detectives confirmed that the original investigation had major oversights that chihiro managed to work through and untangle. she makes the news - and sheepishly admits she’d been solving active cases in real time as well, if only for how it provides their brain a challenge. knowing they solved the cold case, it’s no longer that unbelievable, especially with her parents to back the claims up.

the rest goes as normal - hopes peak scouts her as the shsl detective due to her prowess despite her age yada yada yada

tl;dr: chihiro “i was too neurodivergent about detective anime and it led to me becoming an actual detective” fujisaki

please please please PLEASE reblog im begging /nf. and maybe comment or something or leave tags about this super long backstory dump if you wanna??

Stack The Deck - PART 9

CW: regretful Whumper, Lima syndrom, trauma, paranoia

PART 8 ⇽ [Masterlist] ⇾ PART 10

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Things had gone worse during the short break they took from each other. Morris came back to look at him, silent and frantic, while gathering his luggage.

Everything went by quickly after that, Elliot being lifted from the mattress and stashed away in the Civic's backseat, waiting to be picked up. He couldn't overhear the mysterious call Morris made in the next room, but whoever he spoke to made quite an impact on his behavior. Amber; she had to be it this time. He deserved to live after all, the high court decided.

Wordlessly, Morris had joined him in the car just moments later. Quiet curses roamed through the space between, his eyes always fixed on the man in the windshield's reflection. 

It felt like a dream, entering the daylight again. Melting snow coated the meadows and industrial structures that slipped past them with anxious pace, hinting at the first signs of winter. It's Sunday, he realized, the first Advent.

Just a few more rehearsals, and their performance would be flawless. He couldn't wait to see the joy they always brought to the audience, the more reserved admirers of their art had their own way to express that.

Suddenly, the car came to a stop. Elliot faintly recognized the area, a few miles away from suburbia; he was closer to home than he imagined. As he admired the gentle blanket of white that glazed the street, an ice-cold gust of air surprised him. Morris pushed himself out of the driver's side to open the rear door, with a firm grab on his coat collar, he was pulled out to stand.

"Up you go, Ell!"

The soft crunch of snow underneath felt surreal, like it didn't belong there. Swaying lightly in the frosty breeze, boiling up from the inside but breathing out nothing more than little clouds, Elliot was held up by strong hands.

It was Advent Sunday in the deserted wilderness, nobody in sight. A perfect place to get rid of someone.

With a painful frown in his features, Morris continued to search for eye contact and was rewarded with a glassy stare. He prayed to never meet him again, to be something else than the stopgap.

"Ell, you're a decent guy. I wished we had met under nicer circumstances."

Silence. Elliot thought about spring, and his mother. He doesn't call often enough.

"I will end your life, if any of this gets to the authorities."

Nodding synchronously to his heartbeat, he didn't dare to take the chance.

It's a trick, he's going to put a bullet into my head the second I turn around. The fact that Morris was way more fond of everything that could stab didn't convince him otherwise. It's a trick.

"I thought - you know, I had this whole plan made up... Fuck! It's going to be okay." Pulling the sad piece of dried up cotton out of his pocket, Morris began draping the scarf around Elliot's neck, back to its original purpose. Fingers plucked at it, fluffing it up and around to offer the best protection.

"Listen, it doesn't matter how you feel about me right now, the second you're downtown, you need to go to a hospital."

"Yeah." A caw was all he would get out anymore.

"Nonono, listen. You go to the ER and tell them you, I don't know, slammed your hand in a car door. They won't believe a word, but that doesn't matter. Stick to that story, and they will stop asking eventually." 

Morris had other worries right now, planning to delete all his unnoticed messages before anyone would lay an eye on it, a witness to his failure.

"Don't call her, okay? That's not your problem anymore."

Amber didn't use to be his problem for quite a while, actually, not until two days ago. He had pressed her and the little quirks she brought far away, the walls had ripped open now, bleeding inside and out.

Brown eyes dead focused on the asphalt, skin red with infection.

"Okay?"

Only nodding, again.

"Two miles, this way," Morris whispered closely and pointed to the steeple in the distance. It was a fast gesture, nearly over in a blink of an eye, but Elliot could still sense the firm hug Morris gave him, pressing into his shoulders to send shockwaves down his spine.

"In another life, I'm sure we would've had a great time together, right?" Putting the phone back into Elliot's pocket, Amber's number deleted just in case, he held the weak figure at his waist to keep it upright. There was a lot to say, an apology or maybe just a lonely goodbye, but nothing came over Morris' lips.

The pressure left Elliot, standing on his own. It would happen any second, he knew that now, a quick stab between the ribs to let it all out. Morris wouldn't drag this out, he was a decent man too, after all. Watching the sky, blues and grays mixing together in the morning sun, he waited for the end of his suffering.

The motor that never stopped running sounded so far away suddenly, just a buzz in the shell of his ear. He waited.

I don't call mom often enough, really.

Through the back mirror, Morris traced the abandoned man at the edge of the road. He looked so tiny against the open nature, vulnerable to the forces of nature.

Even if he had the nerve left to look at the license plates, he seemed to pass on this opportunity. They would be changed in the near future anyway. Before making it around a curve, he could see how his legs started to stumble forward, too bruised and stiff to bend correctly, but still going. He was expected back home; at least that he had to get right, the rest was irrelevant.

--------

Elliot couldn't remember how he made it back to his apartment building, the world drifted around him in a blur of colors. At one point, he carried himself into a subway station, leaning against the handrails like a wasted lunatic. 

He heard laughter far away, normally anxious it could be about him, but these thoughts were nowhere near. He was glad nobody spoke to him, no help, no nervous interest. Morris would be back, and everyone who suspected foul play regarding the injuries put themselves at the same risk he lived through.

Just me, just me and nobody else. Nobody can know-

Struggling to get the door open, his forehead pressed violently against the wood to keep balance, until the keys finally slipped in to enter the only place left untainted. With a clumsy kick of his foot, it slammed shut again.

Elliot would have fallen asleep, if a silent hop hadn't greeted him near instantly. It felt wrong to have Ginkgo's soft hair next to his agony-ridden body, her noiseless presence coming over him in a wave of peace. She must have been starving by now, neglected for days.

What am I even good for?

Silently apologizing over and over again, he let his unmarked hand pet over her back, smearing wayward fluids all through her precious gray-brown fur. Any minute now, it's not safe.

So caught in his fear he tasted at the back of his throat, he tried to remember something that was promised just a few minutes earlier.

The rabbit's tiny snout nibbled and licked at his elbow, kissing away some scattered drops of blood. Oh, I forgot the yogurt drops.

Half of him wasn't present anymore, gone with time. He was a stain on the mattress, a pool on the bathroom floor. It's a trick, he will come back again. Lost in the feverish heat of his own grimy body, he continued to lay still, only being roused by Ginkgo from time to time. 

I need to feed her.

Acting on autopilot again, his body moved towards the pantry. He watched himself fill her bowl up with fresh water along with hay and her usual muesli, ending the basic task by sitting next to her on the floor, breathing heavily. 

"You're okay," he gasped, not sure who of the two he meant, "you're going to be okay!"

The whole left side of his body was numb, its mere existence scrapped from the mind's perception, like it didn't belong to him.

He needed to prepare for his captor's return: barricade the door, get a knife - a hammer, anything to protect himself. Later, his screaming muscles dictated, letting the husk of a person sink into the ground beneath.

Elliot was allowed to rest now, although his suffering was for nothing. Alas, that's the nature of it.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Thanks for reading 🤍 [Febuwhump 2023 Masterlist]

@febuwhump, @whatwasmyprevioususername

honestly thinking about how funny this all is. Patrick's out here having holes actively shot in every part of his dialogue by Jackles and co every single day. He's running around, like STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP trying to patch the hull while water's spraying in everywhere and hitting him in the face.

He's sitting here glubbing down trying to find a way to not look like he has a child's understanding of licensing or copyright, he's wiped out on every single declaration he's made about this prequel so far. everything he says is the daily rooster crow of absolute horse shit that's going to come around and smack him later. And he does it every day. Like an annoying cock.

meanwhile his own few followers are starting to be like HMMM? DUDE? THIS IS ALL KINDA SUSS?

And he's like yelling it's fine while slapping more duct tape on the hull and asking for help to bail out the boat.

Like even they're like "Wait, so two days before Jensen came in on the green and blue fuck jared padalecki and his fans parade, and a few days before Jensen/WB shut down use of the Winchesters name, Min made a public, bold faced warning that Jensen wasn't who we thought he was and the future was near???? HMMM. GOTTA SAY I'M KINDA UNCOMFORTABLE HERE. PATRICK, TELL ME SOMETHING I WANT TO HEAR"

And so it goes on a loop again and again and again. Like he's literally on the bottom end of a dump truck shoveling off a constant flow of manure dumping on his head at this point and he's still trying to crawl up this insurmountable wall of shit.

Whether you want to console yourselves it's Jensen or WB at this point, they don't want you.

Catch a clue.

They don't want you.

Go away.

Jensen could have franchised it as Supernatural: The Winchesters and not run into this issue at all. He fucking chose not to. Because he wants to keep his rights on his parts in his studio, and there's nobody upstairs left after the Zaslav-Roth cull to even argue with him on what to do with his character, WB licensing be damned.

Catch a clue.

Remember how you said the WB wanted hellers gone? Now it's your turn. The forced conversion of a property for you crushed out its ending value to a third of what it should have been. They're trying the other team now.

They don't want you.

Catch a clue.

Go away.

For all acting respects and purposes within the Supernatural universe, Jensen now *is* the WB. And that's why WB finally gives a fuck about it. Him, and Roth, are why Winchesters has a large enough budget to afford things like extended filming and reshoots, which the original never had.

The seniors at WBD are gone and replaced. Whatever boogeymen you had in your head at the time are different people, all new to the position. Roth is advising Zaslav and is the one behind everything Jensen's been DOING for the last few years. There's literally nobody to fucking argue with Jensen anymore and it's pure fucking desperate, open hope for corporate censorship of queer content to hope they can, so like, honestly, just say the quiet parts out loud guys.

In the meantime, just like I said, the whitewashed media coverage talking about the senior conversation missed the african american market in their maturing more into 25-49 demo realistically with their mixed bag. In the last 6-9 months, CW's administration has changed with roles like the head of DEI, and the head of television broadcast, being replaced by black, and queer or queer-friendly people, for example.

Former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov exposes the four stages of a Communist takeover of a country in rare 1984 interview

Former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov exposes the four stages of a Communist takeover of a country in rare 1984 interview He was instructed by the KGB to not bother the 'political prostitutes' but instead surround himself with large conservative media persons, rich filmmakers, academicians, and cynical egocentric people 19 June, 2020 Dibakar Dutta Former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov exposes the four stages of a Communist takeover in a rare 1984 interview In an interview with G. Edward Griffin in 1984, former KGB informant Yuri Bezmenov had exposed the insidious operations of the Soviet Union and how the Communist apparatus viciously overtakes the conscience of a country. He began his interview by revealing that people who towed the Soviet foreign policy, in their home country, were elevated to positions of power through media and manipulation of public opinion. However, those who refused to do so were either subjected to character assassination or killed. Bezmenov cited the example of the city of Hue in Vietnam where 1000s of people were executed in one night for being sympathetic to the United States. The city was under the seize of a mass political organization named Viet Cong for about 2 days when the mass killings took place. Even though the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) could never understand how the operation was carried out, Bezmenov pointed out the extensive network of local informants set up by the Soviet Union to execute those who didn’t tow its line. Recounting his time in India, the KGB informant revealed how he was shocked to discover the list of known pro-soviet journalists in India who were doomed to die. He said that even though those journalists were idealistically leftists, yet the KGB wanted them dead as ‘they knew too much’. Benzmenov emphasised, “Once the useful idiots (leftists), who idealistically believe in the beauty of Soviet socialism or Communism, get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies.” The former KGB informant reiterated there are no grassroots revolutions but one engineered by a professional, organised group. He revealed that the Awami League party leaders were trained in Moscow, Crimea, and Tashkent. He also added that the Indian Government chose to unsee the movement of 1000s of ‘students’ from India to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). His colleague at the Soviet Consulate in Kolkata had discovered guns and ammunition in his basement in a box titled ‘Printed material’ scheduled for Dhaka University. It indicated the role of the Soviet Union in arming the /Mukti Bahini/ during the war. The ideal recruits of KGB He was instructed by the KGB to not bother the ‘political prostitutes’ but instead surround himself with large conservative media persons, rich filmmakers, academicians, and cynical egocentric people. According to Benzmenov, the potential recruits and reputable people in the eyes of the KGB were narcissistic, greedy, morally devoid individuals who can help destabilise their country of origin. Citing the example of the United States, he stated that the KGB recruited professors and civil rights defenders to subvert and destabilise the country. “When their job is completed, they are not needed anymore. They know too much. Some (recruits) get offended when Marxists-Leninists come to power because they hoped they would come to power. That will never happen. They will be lined up against the wall and shot,” he remarked. *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfvXwuZ-bok* The Plan to execute Indian journalists The KGB informant reiterated that when the ‘useful idiots’ serve their purpose, they are either executed or exiled or held up in prisons. “We are a bunch of murders. There is nothing to do with friendship and understanding between the nations… We behave like a bunch of thugs in a country that is hospitable to us. I did not defect but I tried to get my message across. Nobody wanted even to listen, least of all to believe me,” he sighed recounting the inner turmoil he faced on learning about the scheduled execution of pro-Soviet Indian journalists known to him. *Read- This ‘theory’ about Sonia Gandhi’s Russia visits and Rafale ‘controversy’ is catching attention on Twitter * The Defection of Yuri Bezmenov His decision to defect and switch sides came during the Bangladesh Liberation War which was described by an American correspondent as the ‘Islamic grassroots revolution.’ Under the patronage of the KGB, Yuri Bezmenov lived a lavish lifestyle. He was, however, in love with India so much so that he did not want the country to be ‘irreparably damaged’ under the Soviet influence. Despite an affluent career and labels of treason against the nation, he finally defected from the KGB. And he disappeared as many had done in the past. The only possible difference was that he lived to tell the story. Interestingly, Indian newspapers carried ads citing a reward of ₹2000 for information on him. But, the informant had by then impersonated an American hippie and flew from Mumbai airport to Greece where he met with CIA officials. All of this happened under the nose of the KGB. The concept of ‘Ideological Subversion’ Yuri Bezmenov explained that KGB was more concerned about the psychological warfare against the American government through ideological subversion rather than espionage activities, which constituted only 15% of their work. He highlighted how brainwashing techniques were used on the American population to infuse an ideology, distinct from Americanism. He further emphasised how manipulation of public opinion can make people reject obvious facts to cater to the existing perceptions and interests. Demoralisation of a population The former KGB informant stated that the Soviet Intelligence Agency used four methods to alter the mindset and behaviour of people in foreign countries. The first step is that of demoralisation which according to him took 15-20 years. During the phase, young people are influenced to question the integrity of a country and raise suspicions through media propaganda and academia. Perception takes the centre stage and facts become meaningless. He attributes it to the lack of moral standards in society. For a population self-absorbed in a world of propaganda, and theories of Marxism and Leninism, truth loses its grip on the society. The older generation also loses control over the population due to consistent attacks on their moral fabric. Yuri Bezmenov revealed that the ‘demoralisation’ phase was completed before the interview and the Soviet Union was surprised at the ease of its execution. He also explained how those from the 60s were occupying high positions in the government, mass media, and civil services at the time of the interview. Yuri Bezmenov further claimed that another 20 years would take to create a new generation of patriotic American citizens. Destabilisation, Crisis and Normalisation As per the former KGB informant, destabilisation of a country also referred to as the second step, meant altering the nation’s foreign relations, economy, defence systems. He said that the process takes 2-5 years to execute. He stated that the Marxist-Leninist hold over the American defence and economic sector was ‘fantastic.’ Bezmenov said that he never thought that the process would be so easy to execute in the US when he landed there in 1971. He highlighted that a country could be brought to a state of crisis, the third step, in a short time as six weeks and cited the example of Central America to make his point. Coupled with a violent change in power structure and economy, the fourth phase of normalisation is kicked in that can last indefinitely. The word normalisation is derived from Soviet propaganda that seeks to downplay a drastic change in a country as a normal phenomenon. “This will happen in America if you allow the Schumuks to bring the country to crisis, promise people all kinds of goodies and paradise on Earth, destabilise your economy, eliminate the principle of free-market competition, put a Big Brother government in Washington DC with benevolent things,” he remarked. Yuri Bezmenov reiterated that the US was in a state of undeclared war, against the principles on which it was founded, under the Communist conspiracy. “You don’t have to be paranoid… Unless the United States wakes up! The time bomb is ticking every second and the disaster is coming closer and closer. Unlike myself, you will have nowhere to defect,” he emphasised. Read the full article

Technoblade’s purpose in the political narrative of the Dream SMP

I can’t sleep so I decided to finally write the post I’ve been struggling with for literal months, except way more casual because I can’t be bothered anymore and also I’m sleep deprived.

So the thing is: to me the DSMP storyline has always been primarily political, probably because I was introduced to it through Wilbur who was definitely going for political, and also because I’m just generally interested in political narratives right now. Obviously I appreciate the character work and the personal relationship stuff, that’s what makes it more interesting than just dry allegory, but when it comes down to it, this story is about politics to me. So that’s the angle I’m going to approach it from.

Also not to spoil the conclusions here, but I’m an anarchist, that’s my lens.

(Obviously all of this is about rp from here on out unless otherwise specified)

Basically the situation as Techno joins the server is this: L'Manburg exists as an autonomous nation and is de facto independent although not officially recognised by the Dream SMP. The self-appointed president Wilbur Soot decides to hold an election and rig it in order to consolidate his power over the nation he founded and he gets his VP Tommyinnit to join in on the plan. Their scheme fails and they end up voted out instead. The new president, Schlatt, immediately establishes himself as an authoritarian figure and exiles Wilbur and Tommy.

A couple of points on what the election arc demonstrates:

1: the appearance of democracy can be used for distinctly undemocratic purposes.

2: even if the elections aren’t rigged, the electoral system could be massively flawed and end up favouring a party that in fact didn’t have the popular vote

3: even if the winning government (the coalition in this case) has the majority vote, that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll actually act according to the popular will.

4: the supporters of the losing parties basically just have to let the majority overrule their wishes, espcially since apparently L’Manburg doesn’t have an established role for an opposition, yikes. That’s actually a MAJOR oversight in the system but I’m not gonna go into that too much.

5: frankly as an anarchist I am just deeply cynical towards representative democracy, and just because you have a token appearance of choice and consent doesn’t mean that it isn’t a hierarchical and authoritarian system. And to be fair, from my point of view this applies even to so-called liberal democracies and progressive parties. Full disclosure: even if L'Manburg was the ideal example of a representative democracy (which it very much isn’t) I would still be opposed to it because I fundamentally do not believe in top down systems, even electoral ones.

6: despite all these flaws, all the characters seem to implicitly accept the electoral system as legitimate. There’s criticism against the actions of individual characters acting within the system, such as Quackity calling out Wilbur for trying to rig the election, but nobody is questioning the system itself.

So at this point I’m sitting there, watching all this go down, and thinking “man, this would be so much more bearable if there was an anarchist point of view being represented in the story.”

And hey, look who IMMEDIATELY SHOWS UP.

Okay, I’m not gonna lie, early installation Technoblade is not the best representation of anarchism. I was mostly rooting for him out of sheer contrarianism initially. I didn’t really even care if it would be another Killmonger/Magneto/Zaheer situation because I’m used to reading against the authorial intent when it comes to these things. Sometimes any representation is better than no representation, even with political ideologies. That’s not to say that him just straight up spouting this hobbesian notion of a “dog-eat-dog world” didn’t grate on me, obviously it did.

That kind of worldview of humanity needing authority in order to prevent chaos and conflict is literally antithetical to anarchism and is the favourite talking point of authoritarians, the least anarchist people there are. It’s literally what people use to argue AGAINST anarchism. I think it’s mostly because cc!Techno obviously wasn’t particularly educated on anarchist thought and was just basically having fun roleplaying with his friends at this point. Which is frustrating but fair enough I guess.

Cynical ideas about human nature are pretty deeply rooted in the mainstream, unfortunately, most people just consider it common sense. And like I said, it’s a huge talking point in the propaganda against anarchism.

(… even though in fact these arguments were originally used against proponents of representative democracy. Hobbes himself was very much a monarchist, the idea of letting normal people vote for their representatives would have been terrifying to him. Like surely the world would descent into a free-for-all war, all against all. Imagine letting commoners have OPINIONS, the horror.)

So yeah, that stuff was pretty ehhhhh. It was basically what I’d expected though: cc!Techno isn’t an anarchist and we just don’t get accurate representation from non-anarchists, ever. What I dared to hope was that Techno’s character would at least stay consistent about his opposition to ALL governments. I was pretty sure that he would, even though it seemed like the majority of the fandom at the time was convinced that he would switch over to Schlatt’s side or something. It would have been a really shitty twist, I would have ragequit immediately. I mean what would have been the entire point of his character then? He might as well have been a random mercenary. Why even have his character be an anarchist if you were just going to make him work for a government?

(ftr this is kinda my biggest problem with the Hypixel Skyblock revolution event lol, honestly I think that was a worse depiction of anarchism than early DSMP Technoblade. I mean the speech was good, but… still became a government official, tho. booooooooo, cringe)

And yes, I was rooting against L'Manburg, obviously, and I would have even if it had meant having to deal with another badly written anarchist villain character. I never understood why people saw L'Manburg as the good guys, they were nationalist and exclusionary and their whole existence was based on trying to scam people for money.

I mean they were definitely funny, they were great entertainers. I have no problems with people rooting for them because they’re fun to watch; I did that for a bit too. But people were starting to get really into the story and talk about Wilbur and Tommy, the corrupt politicians, and the country that literally excluded people based on nationality as the heroes, unironically, which was wild to me. And when Wilbur started his “villain arc” well: people called it a villain arc, as if he hadn’t been pretty much a bad guy from the beginning, constantly just out for money and power and taking advantage of the people around him and then pretending to be the victim when challenged. I mean yes he got worse, but I wouldn’t call it a villain arc, more like just a mental breakdown arc.

More importantly, to me L'Manburg represented so many things I hate about the status quo in real life, and seeing the fandom mostly unquestioningly accept it as good just pissed me off. Still pisses me off tbh. I mean, to be diplomatic I could say that I understand the emotional attachment and the way L'Manburg was built up mirrors a lot of how real nations are built and how they create a sense of patriotism out of symbols and a sense of honour and loyalty, and it’s actually really fascinating how it even works in a Minecraft roleplay. Says something about the human mind I guess. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.

Anyway, I just wanted to see literally any kind of opposition to power, even if it had to come from a character that was unquestionably a villain, which I fully assumed Techno would be. Because political narratives so often just leave us out, or at best barely mention us. And even from a narrative point of view, adding an anarchist perspective to a political story just objectively broadens its scope and actually challenges people who are used to only arguing along the lines of conservative or liberal, welfare state or privatization, nationalism or multiculturalism, etc. Even if the original work dealt with it poorly, at least it would give me the excuse to rant about it on Tumblr, which is kinda why I revived my old Minecraft sideblog for this. (That and pig!Techno fanart.)

Also how can you have a story so fundamentally about power without its counterpoint: the rejection of power?

(Yes, Dream SMP as a whole is definitely a narrative about power, it’s a huge theme for Wilbur, Quackity, Dream, Eret and the Badlanders at least, as well as obviously the anarchist characters from the opposite direction.)

So yeah, the build up to November 16th for me was mainly about the anticipation for what Techno would do, how would Techno’s character respond to the seemingly inevitable formation of a new government. THAT was the point of interest for me, that was what I was the most invested in. Would we get an actual anarchist opposition as a new side to the conflict or would they just awkwardly drop that whole angle? Or even have him team up with Schlatt like a complete sellout? There was so much potential but I worried they might just waste it.

And I was right to worry since apparently in the original script Techno wasn’t supposed to do anything, he was just there to help fight Schlatt and witness the explosion along with everyone else.

And WOW that would have been so incredibly boring

Not even just from the political perspective, just talking about the narrative in general terms here: imagine November 16th without Techno’s plot points. Not only would it have been boring for Techno’s character but it would have been equally boring for basically everybody but Wilbur and Philza. An anticlimactic fight followed by a big explosion that pretty much everybody had seen coming already. Yes, the button room scene is dramatic and heartbreaking… for Wilbur and Phil. But nobody else was there to see it. For everybody else, it was just a big explosion. It would have been such a huge disservice to anyone watching the other POVs.

Techno’s intervention gave everyone an ACTUAL climactic fight, it allowed characters other than Wil and Phil to witness some actual drama happening and to participate in it, rather than just waiting around for the explosion, while also foreshadowing the explosion. Even better, it provoked SO MUCH discussion in the fandom AND gave a perfect hook for future conflicts to arise. Wilbur’s end was tragic but it was, at the time, final. L'Manburg would have still suffered a catastrophe but it would have been left with just the same exact antagonist as before: Dream.

And at this point Dream’s core goals had barely changed, just his approach was now different. Yes, that makes a difference for the plot, but it doesn’t really change much in terms of ideological conflict. Especially since there really isn’t that big of an ideological difference between Dream and Tommy, because arguably neither of them are particularly big on ideology in the first place, they just have conflicting goals and use different tactics to achieve those goals (well, the tactics aren’t always even that different *cough Spirit cough*).

Techno’s conflict with Tubbo and especially Quackity (and honestly most of the other characters in general) brings in so much more depth to the story, just by introducing another angle, not to even mention how much it brings to focus questions about power and violence. These are themes that exist in other characters’s storylines too but nowhere in the same way or as central as with Techno.

I’m getting kind of ahead of myself here, though.

The real twist of November 16th was the fact that Techno WASN’T a straight up villain, actually. It was a twist to me anyway, because with all my cynicism I just didn’t see it coming, I didn’t expect him to actually start making reasonable criticisms. I didn’t expect him to drop the hobbesian arguments entirely and start making points that actually sounded like anarchism.

I have to assume that cc!Techno must have seen some of the criticisms of his character and been inspired to adjust because the difference is pretty notable.

(Sidenote: I’m just forever kinda sad that Techno’s “I may seem like the villain here” monologue was cut from the video and most people never heard it.)

And I felt SO validated by the way, because it works so well in the story! Everyone is mostly content with the restoration of a status quo of some sort, Schlatt is gone, this is supposed to be the good ending, and then Techno calls them all out and turns the narrative around completely: This was just a coup d'état. This was just the previous political leadership retaking power by force. Why is everyone celebrating the same exact system that lead to Schlatt’s authoritarian rule in the first place?

What he does there is force the audience to question the narrative they’ve been presented so far, that they’ve accepted without a thought. It might not convince them, but they can’t just ignore it either.

Whatever you wanna say about the discourse around Techno on that day, in the ideological narrative THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART. Not who betrayed who or when is political violence justified, that’s about personal relationships and morality and it’s mostly all more relevant to the aftermath than the event itself. In my opinion, the REAL point in the moment is that the characters and the audience were comfortable with the ending only to be presented with a completely new perspective on the events.

It also recontextualises the finale, including Wilbur’s actions! It’s a much more ambiguous end to the Pogtopia vs Manburg arc and to Wilbur’s original run as the head writer. Wilbur’s “even with Tubbo in charge I don’t think [that ‘special place’] can exist again” is vague enough to be dismissed as just part of his paranoia and internal conflict, but with Techno, there’s a concrete question: what if Tubbo, given the same powers as Schlatt, will turn out to be just a new Schlatt? And suddenly you have to wonder what Wilbur meant by his words too. And was all this foreshadowing something about L’Manburg’s future?

Okay I’ve only made it to November 16th and there’s so much more DSMP to talk about but the post is getting too long and I’m starting to lose my energy. Will I ever make a part two? No idea. But I’ll try.

Standard disclaimer: I’m not the spokesperson of anarchism, other anarchists might disagree with my reading

This is a response to @rainbowsky​ ‘s questions about BJYX, as the original post got too long for reblogging (I hope this is okay!). 1) Should we be worried about GG and DD being outed? I often think about what it’s like to be in the closet and I know how it feels to need to be SEEN. But I also understand the reasons why that might not be an option for them. Still, I worry about them being involuntarily outed. There are so many antis after them.

 2) What would you speculate is the likelihood of this ever happening, and what might be the consequences if it happened?Is leaving an option for them, even as a distant goal years from now?

3)Does their fame and popularity hold any protective power in the situation (i.e. if they were to come out or be outed, would public opinion about what might happen to them have any impact on the outcome given the nature of the regime)? To what degree would that depend on how much money they are still able to make for interested parties?

My response is under the cut, as it got long, as usual ~

@rainbowsky, you’re among the first BXGs I followed! I’d like to thank you for your insightful posts as well!

Your questions ~ I don’t think I’m qualified to speculate because I’m still a very new turtle and also because of the volatility as well as inconsistencies of China’s sociopolitical policies. I do have a better sense of China’s politics than most international fans, but I also don’t live there and the only way to truly understand how things work at the ground level in a non-transparent country like China is to be there.

(For example, China has officially banned Christmas celebrations  for the last several years, but as we saw last week, commercials remain very “Christmas-sy” and Chinese fans happily said Merry Christmas to each other. It takes someone who lives inside to know where to draw the line — what is permitted by the state and what isn’t — when the line shifts and adjusts accordingly.)

Here’re my thoughts, as of today (2020/12/31): if the perpetrator is only some segment of the fandom and the purpose is merely to knock them off the popularity pedestal, outing isn’t a particularly effective way to do so. Homosexuality, being a highly regulated subject in Chinese news and social media, is likely to mean limit transmission of the accusations. The accuser also has to run to risk of being banned themselves first. Also, with BJYX + ZSWW + LSFY being the sizes they are, the people who will most consider turning against gg and dd, ie, the solo fans, have probably already heard something. Some will leave, but the news won’t be a bombshell to them.

The next possibility is if a legal case becomes possible, ie. if China suddenly outlaws homosexuality. This scenario may seem the most dire on the surface but is also one that I least worry about, because with China’s judiciary system being very biased to those in power, if someone wants to frame gg and dd, they do not need to use sexuality as the accusation and subject themselves to the same restrictions as mentioned above. Tax evasion, as @peekbackstage has mentioned with the actress Fan Bing Bing, is far easier, because it tends the turn the audience against the defendant: these stars are making so much money and yet they’re not contributing their share! And as long as the accusers have sufficient power — remembering that commercial and political power are married in the country — the accuser can make up any evidence to suit their needs for any crime.

The third possibility is what I see as the worst case scenario: that the government decides they don’t want their major stars / entertainment industry to be *perceived* as queer — whether the stars are officially out doesn’t matter — and signals the media and commercial companies to stop using any “suspect” star altogether. (Chinese term: 封殺). This is the case of career murder without blood —  laws aren’t changed; all the fans will hear are rumours confirmed by nobody. I see this as a possibility because of the Xi regime’s view of The Ideal Men , and my admittedly limited experience with dealing with older generations of Chinese, who I’ve found tend to confuse perceived femininity in men with queerness. I think, and this is only my opinion, that the sheer amount of adapted BL dramas in production (the so-called “dangai 耽改 101” phenomenon) and the heated discussions of them on Weibo will at some point trigger the government (which is made mostly of older generations Chinese). Even if gg and dd don’t do anything, should the government decide these adapted BL dramas, even after the elimination of their queer element, are “non mainstream socialist core values”, all the major people involved with the Untamed—arguably the classic and the drama whose success all these follow-ups are trying to imitate—can be cast as the culprit. If the same officials become aware of BJYX and if they’re somehow convinced that BJYXSZD, it can be easy be used as evidence of the bad influence these dramas can do—“they can turn people gay”—and it doesn’t help that according to reports, gg, at least, used to have a girlfriend.

Something more to consider: Gg and dd are also in a very special position now, in that not only are they immensely popular in China, no other native mainland Chinese stars have achieved this level of international fame with a native mainland Chinese production (ie, not a production from Hollywood, Hong Kong or Taiwan, or with a Kpop band). As such, they are likely subjected to high levels of scrutiny from the state. Depending on who’s in charge in the appropriate department, they may decide gg and dd have to be China’s image; they may have a set idea of what image it is and most likely, it won’t be queer. 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 are special times for China, image wise, both at home and abroad. 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, and gg and dd are both starring in its propaganda productions (dd as a police in BAH and gg as an army officer in AT). CCTV, the state-controlled TV station, is already promoting these shows. So, for 2021, gg and dd are slated to not only be the faces of Chinese entertainment, but also the image of Chinese uniformed forces. If gg and dd come out or are outed, their allowing themselves to be being perceived as queer while donning uniforms will most likely to be viewed by the current regime as an embarrassment; a career murder, then, is an apt response to such transgression. 2022 is the year of Beijing’s Winter Olympics, so again, it’s the time where image matters.

You may have noticed a pattern, as I have as I write this up: them being outed is something to worry about, but also ... nothing more than anything else. If someone wants to tear gg and dd down — and there will be, given their massive commercial power right now and the increasing evidence that they’re working more like collaborators than competitors (ie, they aren’t about to tear each other down any time soon) — they do not need their sexuality as a reason.

(And if these accusers really want to use homosexuality as a reason, the unofficial BTS is, IMO, more than enough, as long as the accusers have sufficient power.)

Your other question ~ can gg and dd’s fame, popularity, and ability to draw consumers protect them? My (slightly) educated guess of the answer, then, is that it’s very much a double-edged sword. Indeed, the one major thing that may be going for these adapted BL dramas, and for those who come to superstardom to it — with gg and dd being the prime examples — is the economic health of China, which, by some reports that can no way be verified, are far worse than what has been reported. This is the thing about countries lack transparency; without reliable news, there’s no way to get the facts. Reports on China outside the country tend to be either propaganda or demonising / filled with conspiracy theories, and the truth is probably somewhere in between. If the reports of poor economy are true, the commercial sector — which, again, is tied to those with political power; ie the money made in the former goes into the pockets of the latter — desperately needs stars like gg and dd to move products (based on those recent consumer reports!) and with that, it will want to keep gg and dd and these dramas that can potentially make more gg and dd around. This *seems* to be what’s happening so far, with the the state-run media happy to show gg and dd’s dramas (when it should know, at least, that they got to the height of their fame playing lovers-not-lovers) and gg and dd’s sponsors not-so-subtly wooing the BJYX segment of fandom, so I’m tentatively optimistic. However, the current regime has also shown a willingness to sacrifice the economy for the sake of political ideology, so it’s not something to be taken for granted. (What’s going on in Hong Kong is a good example of that.)

(I always think, eat each candy like it can be the last one. With this regime, it can be. We can wake up tomorrow and gg and dd have to break up BJYX to protect the fans.)

(I always think, treasure, treasure, treasure. Ask for more dy and lz and Weibo posts, but never anymore from gg and dd when it comes to insights of their relationship, even without considering it’s actually their private lives and they’re under no obligation to share.)

(They’ve shared with us far more than enough.)

There’s really no precedence for us to predict the future of an outed gg and dd from, as far as I know. Confirmed queer stars in Chinese entertainment (those with sufficient followers to make news) have all been from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries. The successful BL dramas before The Untamed — Addicted (2016) and The Guardian (2018) — didn’t have a real-person cp that truly took off. Addicted, a true BL drama (ie, it retained the queer elements), was banned before it finished its broadcast. The two actors were also banned from appearing together afterwards, and this “signal” from the government almost cost the two actors their career. Bai Yu from The Guardian, meanwhile, already had a girlfriend as he filmed, so there was never a Weibo supertopic dedicated to him and Zhu Yilong. gg and dd, along with their millions of turtles, are treading untrodden ground.

Something I should clarify ~ all the things I said above may sound very scary to international fans, but to those who live in the country, they understand it as the way things are, and they strategise and move accordingly. This is their way of life. What I wanted to say, in my first reblog, is that we who’re outside may not understand why they do things the way they do, why they don’t, for example, come out with all the candies they are spending so much effort to give out, but I do believe that gg and dd have a plan, not in the sense that they’re scheming or trying to trick anyone, but that they are moving things along at the pace necessary to meet the pre-requisites for the outcome they want. What this outcome is is anyone’s guess, mine being that they have the freedom to work together, not necessary in lover’s capacity — most of us are not required to perform our day jobs carrying our identity as so-and-so’s significant other and gg and dd shouldn’t be exceptions — but as colleagues, professionals and friends (lovers are friends). 

To some international fans, this may sound implausible, ridiculous: why do they need a multi year campaign for something as simple as this? As working together again? And I suppose, all these words I’ve typed so far is my attempt to answer this question, to ease the … unease, the frustration of those who may not understand. True to its marxist root, perhaps, many things that are considered mindless, effortless tasks elsewhere somehow become battles, grand struggles of sorts in China. That sea of sea lights on the night of Tencent awards, for example? It was the result of gg’s fans fighting, strategising in real time to smuggle those LED banners in when they realised the venue had forbidden their entry. They wrapped the banners around their bodies under their underwear because they were patted down by security at the underwear level; they hid batteries in their shoes. They ran batteries from one zone in the stadium to another during the whole show for whose who only managed to smuggle in banners or batteries. They fought the security guards inside the stadium, who continued to snatch away their banners even after seeing they were merely support material for the idols. They fought and fought, despite their identities were recorded by their COVID pass and facial recognition. Many confessed they had no idea what gg was singing during the show; they were too busy. They were there, some paying scalpers > 10x the ticket price, just because they promised the sea of red would be there for gg when he returned. When some realised dd’s banners were confiscated in high numbers because his fans happened to have seats right by the strictest security, they improvised, found an image of a green block to show on their cell phones to make makeshift green support lights for dd. They used Weibo to spread this trick to fellow fans. All these trouble, all these effort, all these planning and scheming and sweat and tears — all for one night, one concert and they laughed about it, called it a wonderful day.

(There are many ways for lives to be hard.)

The very first thing gg and dd need to accomplish, therefore, isn’t to announce what they do in the bedroom—the very first thing they need, for their plan to come to fruition, is to stay on top of the industry. How can they be on the same stage for the yearly Tencent Awards if either of them fails to make VIP? What’s their negotiation chip for a future collaboration, when the current norm is against cps like them working together again, if they cannot draw enough viewers and consumers, or if they offend Tencent and other media companies by refusing to see to the needs of the other side (for example, the need to promote new dramas)? So far, the two of them have accomplished this in flying colours. The other thing they need right now, the way I see it, is for their fans to get along. I think part of the reason they’ve made BJYXSZD so easy to believe in and love, in addition to their very human need to be seen when their careers may be safer otherwise (yes, I think they know what they’re doing, the candies they’re throwing), is because they want their fans to unite, as they have united. To make sure something like 227 cannot happen again, or at least, if it does happen again, their fans cannot be used as an excuse, as scapegoats. And this union is happening — slowly, but it’s happening. The size of BJYX (>2.8 million as of now, on Weibo supertopic) is a powerful indicator; I also had a wonderful time reading the comments of gg’s solo fans who went to purchase dd’s new song. This is the part gg and dd need their fan’s help. This is the one of the fews things we, as overseas fans who have limited access to their products, can help.

Your final question — sorry, this is getting so long again — about leaving. Of course, it’s always up to the government and It’s impossible to say what can happen so far ahead. But my perception, right now at least, is that gg and dd have no intention to leave, no intention to sacrifice their career for their personal lives and vice versa. After all, this is a pair who has answered those A vs B choice questions with a straight-faced “I want both” and “so annoying” without a follow-up reply. They’re right to want both. I like them for wanting both. And maybe, with their intelligence, charisma and hardwork and ambition and personalities that seem to clash but somehow complements each other’s, they will figure out a way. Maybe they are, as the Chinese turtles call them, the Chosen Pair, and they will be the ones who’ll change the perception fo queer artists in China, and we’ll one day get a biography about them and laugh at the candies we get right, laugh harder at those candies we get totally wrong.

(Dd ~ I want your honest opinion, in your own words, on the ones we get wrong.)

(Gg ~ videos of your expressions while reading the crazy theories the first time will be very much appreciated. By me.)

It’s a good day to look forward to.

Hermitopia AU Masterpost 1 [COMPLETE]

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

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

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

Summary posts:

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

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

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

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

Asks:

- (copied ask) [summarized mod comment]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- TFC was the first participant in project VEX

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Writing:

- Wels, Hels, TFC, and Grumbot

- Bdubs Concorp promotion and desertion

- Joe Hills in his time dilation hideout

- Etho clones, ZIT, and the nHo

- Keralis and Void

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

Art:

- Impulse suit design

Future Sailor Moon Reboot: Usagi must NEVER become queen!

Hello

As a huge Sailor Moon fan who firmly believes that even now, it is the best magical girl anime series ever written and still withstands the test of time as being feminist, feminine positive, progressive, LGBT+ positive and promoting the message at how love can make us heroes. And it is safe to say that the Crystal and Eternal reboots will not be the last time this exquisite series will ever be brought back to life because Sailor Moon isn’t just a series, it is a franchise and an icon like Wonder Woman, Batman, Spiderman and more.

However, just because I do think so highly of it doesn’t mean I am blind to its flaws or ideas that could have been better hence why I am open to another Sailor Moon series taking a different route altogether kind of like the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon TV series did. Nobody has to agree with me on what I am about to get off my chest and I warn you now that if you have never read the manga or seen any of the anime, you are in for some spoilers.

I believe it would be best for a modern retelling of Sailor Moon if Usagi Tsukino NEVER becomes queen and instead lives out her life as an ordinary person and I think everyone else should do that too. And here are the following reasons as to why and before you get ideas, Chibi-Usa is one of my favourite characters in the series and I want her to stay as she adds a lot to the story. More about how she still fits in and benefits from Usagi never becoming queen.

1- It is not Usagi’s duty or life purpose to become queen anymore anyway. - The original Queen Serenity didn’t reincarnate everyone to just go back to their old failed lives. She did so because she wanted everyone to live happy peaceful lives which meant being reborn as normal people. She was ok with them never becoming Sailor Guardians ever again or remembering their old lives. All that she wanted was for them to be happy and for her daughter to finally be with the man she loved. The queen even said it herself that the end all be all of Usagi’s life meaning is as a normal girl. She even gave Beryl a second chance at finding happiness in life, but she gave into temptation again which required the gang to rebecome Sailor Guardians and in the case of Usagi, become (the first ever) Sailor Moon. When you stop and think about it, Usagi is not really princess Serenity. She is just the princess reborn. Her life, her personality, her ambitions and even duties are completely different. Usagi’s true obligation in her current life is to be Sailor Moon Earth’s guardian hence why the story is even called “Sailor Moon” not “Princess Moon” or “Princess Serenity”.

2- Usagi and the rest of the Sailor Guardians as well as Mamoru are better this way. - Usagi going back to her old life means everyone else to go back to their old lives too. And while Usagi is living the dream life as a queen with Mamoru as her king at first glance, everyone is actually getting cheated at their second lives especially when it comes to everyone else. For one thing, the rest of the Sailor Guardians cannot find love, have families or be anything else beyond being guardians, and it was established that everyone was on their way to building their lives as normal people including Mamoru. And that’s especially rough for the Outer Guardians who would then have to go back to just being bound to a post for all eternity all alone. This is really sad for Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune who fell in love because it means they are destined to eventually separate for life. Also, nobody has a shorter stick in Usagi becoming Neo Queen Serenity than Sailor Saturn who will literally have to spend her existence being in some enchanted coma and only awaken to destroy worlds. Nothing about this is romantic or beautiful for anyone really. Everyone is actually getting cheated including Usagi and Mamoru. More on this in the next point.  As for what Usagi does with her life when she becomes an adult, she simply lives out her life and marriage happily with Mamoru who becomes a doctor just as he was studying for while she becomes a housewife like her mother does which is completely ok while they have kids together. And at that point, retires from being Sailor Moon because all evil has been eliminated for now while all the other Sailor Guardians also retire and live happily ever after doing what they want to do. If you ask me, that doesn’t sound so bad.

3- Usagi already decided she just wanted to be an ordinary person since the end of the Dark Kingdom arc which was the first arc too. - I have reason to believe that Naoko Takuechi herself was open to the idea of Usagi just remaining Usagi hence why in the first anime, Usagi turned back time one year and wiped out her own memories and in the manga as well as Crystal anime, she outright turned down the offer to be crowned queen once the Dark Kingdom was defeated. She did this because she knows what she is and what her limits are. Usagi respects her previous life and appreciates it very much hence why she takes being Sailor Moon seriously, but I since that moment, I go the impression that deep down, she doesn’t see herself as Princess Serenity or as a princess at all and I find that admirable. Accepting that this isn’t who she is anymore is in fact mature and intelligent. Not to mention she also letting go of the tragic past and moving on to the life she was really meant to have. And what I find even better is that Queen Serenity accepted that and considered that as the right choice. Having Usagi still become queen after she made her choice is contradictory and suddenly makes her choice lose all meaning.

4- Chibi-Usa needs a better backstory and reason for being anyway. - As I said before, Chibi-Usa is one of my favourite characters and I like her being related to Sailor Moon, but I must be blunt; I hate her backstory especially the manga version. I love her, but I don’t like her being 900 years old yet still a kid, a powerless princess, having a crush on her own dad and putting the moves on him as Black Lady, and being the direct daughter of Usagi and Mamoru yet looking nothing like either of them. Dropping the whole Usagi-becomes-queen idea would in fact benefit Chibi-Usa most of all because she has the opportunity to be given a much better backstory and reason for staying in the past that makes sense. I even have an idea for one;

Chibi-Usa is a very distant descendent of Usagi and Mamoru making her their very great granddaughter. Every single person in her family has powers in them, but remain dormant because since the last Sailor Moon (who was their ancestor Usagi, but that fact remains lost to the family), there has been no need for someone else to take up being Sailor Moon or Tuxedo Mask. The Silver Crystal is a secret family heirloom that gets passed down from mother to daughter to be kept safe and secret. By the 30th century, Earth has become a Utopia where Chibi-Usa’s mother is the ambassador of Japan making her a modern day queen in a way. The Ambassador is a sophisticated lady which Chibi-Usa aspires to be, but falls short because she is only a little girl and is very different from her. When the Black Moon Clan invades Earth, the Ambassador tries to get the Silver Crystal to save the day, but her daughter has stolen it not knowing would happen. Once everything is in ruin, Chibi-Usa cannot activate the Silver Crystal because she doesn’t know how, so she goes to the past to find the legendary Sailor Moon using the time key which is one of the many other relics her ancestor Sailor Moon had. Everything would go down the same way except now it makes sense; Chibi-Usa wouldn’t know that Usagi is Sailor Moon because the true identity of Sailor Moon was lost to history even in their family. Also, her having a crush on a teen Mamoru while having more of a sisterly relationship with Usagi makes sense because they have never met before and their relation is very distant at this point. Heck, even her outfit makes sense! She dresses like an average girl because she really is one and that’s ok! After Chibi-Usa rejects the Black Malefic Crystal, her Silver Crystal activates and he becomes the new Sailor Moon of her time. Once all is well and Chibi-Usa (not her mother) repairs all the damage done to the Earth, she makes peace with her mother and stays for a while in the past to be trained because there are no Sailor Guardians in the 30th century.

Now that I got my idea out of the way, back to the list...

5- Usagi not being queen doesn’t change anything important. - Everything that happens in the story of Sailor Moon happens while she is Usagi Tsukino not as a queen and even the Black Moon Arc can still work with some rewriting as I have suggested. So is it really such a huge loss for her to never become queen? Even with the Dead Moon Circus arc, that was not Usagi ascending to the throne because at the end of it, she just went back to being Usagi. Even at the end of the Stars Arc which is the final arc of the story, she doesn’t become queen. In the manga and in the live action TV show, she just marries Mamoru and even then, as Usagi. Dead Moon Circus arc was more like a story that showed Chibi-Usa’s growth as a Sailor Guardian as well as putting the last bit of the Sailor Guardians tragic previous lives to rest.

So that’s my argument. I say let’s not add frosting to an already iced cake. What do you all think and what is your input on this subject or perhaps your counter arguments? I would love to hear them.

Thank you for listening and as always, stay safe and have a great day.

Come back (Dark!Steve Rogers x Reader)

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: Dark! 18+, stalking, cults, kidnapping, blood, drugging, bondage.

Summary: Your father's death brings you back to your childhood home and the cult you grew up in. You just need a few days to pack things up before selling the place and leaving forever.

A/N This is for @tansypoisoning​ spooky challenge. I picked the words nostalgia and ritual as a prompt. It’s supposed to have a horror element. I was going for more of a suspenseful/creepy vibe.

It’s been eight years since you left. You walked away and never looked back, at least not until you got the call that your father had passed away in his sleep. His only possession, the small cabin you grew up in, was willed to you. So now you stand outside the cabin, suitcase in hand, taking deep breaths before opening the door and walking in. You look around the one room cabin, taking it all in. you’re surprised to feel nostalgia creep into your bones. A blanket on the couch reminds you of forts you used to build. The smell of the forest brings back memories of climbing trees and picking wild fruit. You notice a knife sitting on the kitchen counter and imagine your father whittling figures out of wood. You look back on your childhood with mixed emotions. It was a cult, plain and simple. Leaving was the hardest thing you ever did but it was necessary. You feel happy and free now. You’ve made new friends and family. You’ve gotten an education, a job. You’ve fallen in and out of love multiple times. You’ve lived life to the fullest. So looking around now and feeling loss is both unexpected and unwelcome.

“Y/N?”

A voice brings you out of your head. You look over to see a mountain of a man standing in the doorway. The last time you saw him was right before you left. The cult had told you that you and him were chosen to marry. It’s not that you hadn’t liked Steve or anything, you just couldn’t do it. You had made friends in the city who had helped you get out. They introduced you to the internet and taught you that there’s more to the world than the little community in the woods. You were to marry him as soon as you turned eighteen but instead you left without a word.

Steve stares at you with an intensity you’ve never seen before. His eyes travel down your body, stopping at your breasts for a few seconds. You cover them by crossing your arms and force yourself not to step back. You don’t owe him anything and shouldn’t feel intimidated by his presence.

“You look good Steve.”

“So do you.”

The two of you stand in silence for several moments longer than is comfortable.

“What are you doing here Steve?”

“Come back Y/N.”

Steve cuts in without interlude, his voice strong and commanding. You close your eyes and brace yourself. He’s always been like this, all of the men you grew up with had the same attitude, Stubborn and assertive. You had hoped you wouldn’t see Steve because you knew exactly what his reaction would be, that he would aggressively try to make you stay.

People in the cult can’t remarry. They have the belief that soulmates exist and once yours is picked that’s it. When you left you were condemning Steve to a lifetime alone. The price of your freedom was Steve's. He would not be allowed to rise in the cult without being married, would never have children or have what the cult deems is a fulfilled life. You remind yourself again that you don’t owe Steve anything. He can leave just like you did.  

“No.”

you make your voice sound as strong as you can. you were taught from childhood that women are supposed to be submissive and docile. It comes back now in full force, pushing you down like an invisible hand. You’re a boss now, having worked hard to create the life you have. You’re strong and confident but here, under the watch of Steve's cold blue eyes you feel like a child.

A look of apathy moves across Steve's face before his expression lands in a controlled smile.  Your body language wavers and you take a step back. Steve smirks at you, leaning against the doorframe.

“How long are you staying?”

“Just a few days, I’m just going through some stuff before I sell the place.”

Steve nods and places his hand on his chin, scratching the stubble that surrounds his jaw.

“Stay safe Y/N”

With that he leaves, shutting the door softly behind him. You walk to the window and look out to see a group of cult members dressed in white cloaks surrounding the cabin, half hidden in the woods. They just stand there, unmoving like zombies. You shudder and close the blinds, locking the door quickly. You need to get out of this place as soon as possible.

---

That evening you hear a knock on your door. You walk to the window and peak out. Nobody is there. You open your door and find a dead rat. A steak knife punctures through the eyeball into its head. You gasp and close the door quickly, locking it and stepping back. You check every window to make sure they’re all locked and look out at the woods only to see darkness.

After the sun rises you open your door and run to your car. It won’t start. You curse, returning to the cabin and grabbing your cell phone. There’s no reception and you curse again. You had reception yesterday. A knock makes you jump and you see Steve in the doorway, eyebrows knitted in concern. You could have sworn you had locked the door when you came back in.

“You ok doll?”

You always hated when he called you that.

“My car won’t start and my phone doesn’t have reception.”

“You want a ride to town?”

You eye Steve wearily.

“Do you think I’m going to kidnap you or something? I could do that right now if that’s what I wanted to do.”

He looks at you like he might pounce at any second. You can tell that’s exactly what he wants to do and the thought of him kidnapping you makes you want to lock yourself away. You’re in a tight spot though and don’t know what else to do.

“Ok, thanks Steve.”

You get in Steve’s truck and he drives you to a mechanic. He puts his right arm on the back of your seat casually, brushing his hand over your hair. the action is purposeful and you both know it.

“Did the cult, uh, leave a dead rat on my doorstep?”

Steve scrunches his face in disgust.

“Um, no we didn’t.”

You look out the window, not totally convinced Steve is telling the truth but also not sure that he’s lying. You never experienced any of the cults rituals as only married adults were allowed to do them. You have no idea if the dead rat is a cult thing or not but can’t really think of any other reason for the events of the evening prior.

You park at the mechanics and get out. It looks the same as when you were a kid. you remember running around playing hide and seek with other children in the woods nearby, coming over for a soda after an afternoon of playing.

“Y/N, long time no see.”

You smile sweetly at the mechanic, Mr. Stark.

“My car isn’t starting and I need to leave tonight.”

“Soonest I can come look at it is tomorrow sweetheart.”

You shift uncomfortably on your feet but nod. One more night won’t hurt. Steve drives you back to your cabin and walks you to the door. He leans over, placing his shoulder beside the door and looking at you. You refuse to make eye contact and unlock the door, opening it and walking in.

“Thanks for the ride.” you say, shutting the door and locking it.

“I’ll see you later.” Steve yells through the door. You hear him whistling as he walks to his truck and you watch though the window as he drives away.

---

That evening you sit at the kitchen table, hugging your knees and biting your nails. As soon as you hear any noise you stand up and open the front door confidently.

“Go away!” You yell to the empty yard.

You slam the door and lock it, moving to the window to look out. Shadows move through the woods but you can’t make out any defined shapes.

You find a baseball bat in the closet and check all of the doors and windows once more before getting in bed. You fall asleep cuddling the bat.

Half way through the night you hear whispering outside your window. It doesn’t sound like talking, more like chanting. You clutch onto the bat and sit up in bed waiting. There’s rustling outside and then suddenly banging on all sides of the cabin. You cry, holding onto the bat for dear life like it can save you. The banging stops as suddenly as it started and the cabin becomes eerily quiet. You run to the window and pull the curtain back but nothing’s there. The rest of the night is spent awake and shaking. You’re not sure if they’re just trying to scare you or do something more nefarious. You’re not going to wait to find out. Tomorrow you’re leaving and never coming back, if you stay here any longer you may never leave again.

---

Mr. Stark drives up around noon and you meet him outside. He takes a look at your car and you sit on the porch watching.

“I need to order a special part.” He yells and you walk to him.

“I can’t stay here any longer.”

“It’ll be in tomorrow and I’ll come as soon as I can.”

You’re stuck. Panic starts rising in you but you push it down. One more night. As soon as your car is fixed you’re getting in and leaving. You don’t care anymore about finishing work on the cabin. You’ll sell it as it, heck give it away. You’re sure the cult will take it.

Mr. Stark gets in his truck and drives away. You spend the rest of the evening working in the cabin, sorting and boxing things. You’re just trying to pass time by at this point and not actually trying to finish everything you originally wanted to.

You check all of the windows and doors obsessively. They’re always locked but that voice in your head tells you to check again and again. As the sun sets, your anxiety rises, finally falling asleep out of pure exhaustion.

“Y/N”

You jolt awake to find Steve standing over your bed.

“What the fuck are you doing here Steve?”

“I won’t tolerate that language once we’re married.”

“Get out!”

“It’s our wedding night Doll.”

Steve reaches out to grab your arm and you pull away, falling out of the bed and scrambling up. Steve looks like a monster in the dark. His tall frame blocks the light coming from the window, blurring most of his features. The only thing you see aside from his outline are his eyes. They glow in the dark, ethereal and terrifying. You run past him and out the door. The woods are familiar, having played in them all growing up and you take a well worn path. You hear Steve calling after you.

“You can’t fight this. We’re soulmates.”

You keep running and crouch down behind a fallen tree. You peak your head over to look back toward the house and see a white figure walking towards you. You stand again and run only to see another ghost like person. Every time you turn in another direction someone is there, walking slowly towards you. You’re surrounded and soon you’re standing in the middle of a circle of people, dressed in white cloaks. You kneel down, tears streaming down your face. Steve breaks the circle and walks toward you, needle in his hand. He sticks it into you and your eye’s flutter before closing.

---

When you wake up you’re strapped to a large stone slab. Memories come back of being told over and over never to touch it, never come near it. It feels wrong to be strapped onto it now and you wiggle trying to get away.  you look down and see that you’re wearing matching clothing to everyone else. How long have you been out? It’s dark outside so you assume it’s the same night. Everything is fuzzy and you look around at the people’s unintelligible faces.

“Steve, do you promise to love, to care for, and to control Y/N” You recognize the voice as an elder of the cult.

“I do.” Steve speaks clearly and you perceive a hint of pride in his speech, like he knows he’s won.

The elder brings a knife to your hand, making a small cut, doing the same to Steve. Your head becomes more and more clear and you pull on the restraints.

“You may kiss your bride.”

“No!” You yell before Steve’s lips cover yours.

When he finally pulls away you yell at him again.

“Leave me the fuck alone Steve, you have no right.”

Steve ignores your cries, undoing your restraints. You try to fight against him but he leans over and whispers in your ear.

“It’s done Y/N, your mine. Do you really want me to punish you now in front of all these people? You know I will.”

You still long enough for him to carry you to his cabin. You’ve never been here before, have never wanted to be here.  He sets you on the bed and you back into the headboard.

“Let me go Steve.”

“It’s done now Doll, you can’t leave ever. I own you.”

“You don’t own me Steve, none of it is real. It’s a cult. I’ll run away the first moment I can.”

Steve's eyes darken and he stalks toward you. You roll off the bed and try to run making it out the door but  fall as soon as you hit the treeline. It feels like something is stabbing your chest and you cry out in pain. Steve slowly walks toward you, letting out a displeased sigh before picking you up. The pain disappears as soon as you’re in his arms.

“It’s ok doll, You’ve just gotten false teachings in your head but you’ve been brought back to me like it’s always meant to be. I’m here to help you learn your place. Soon you won’t even be thinking about leaving.”

“This can’t be happening.”

Steve gives you a look of pure joy.

“Oh, trust me it is.”